Coronavirus latest: National and international news
Anyone over the age of 65 can now access a coronavirus test in the UK if they have symptoms.
The announcement was made by health secretary Matt Hancock at the daily Downing Street press briefing on Tuesday and includes people both in care homes and those living in their own homes.
Care home staff can also access a test if they have symptoms.
The government was aiming to hit a target of 100,000 tests per day by the end of this week.
Spain is planning to lift its lockdown in four phases, returning to a “new normal” by the end of June, according to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Sanchez said each region would ease restrictions at a different pace, starting with four islands on Monday, with the mainland following a week later.
The virus has killed almost 24,000 people in Spain, but signs are it is in decline, with 301 deaths declared on Tuesday compared to 950 in early April. The number of new daily infections stands at just over 1,300.
More Americans have now died with coronavirus than perished during the Vietnam War.
The US death toll on Wednesday had topped the 58,000 who died in Vietnam as the country announced one million infections.
The toll for the coronavirus also tops the number of deaths from seasonal flu in recent years, except for the 2017-2018 season according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Flu deaths range from a low of 12,000 in the 2011-2012 season to a high of 61,000 during 2017-2018.
Germans could be forced back into stricter lockdown measures after a surge in coronavirus infections.
A policy of mass testing had put Germany in a much better position than many European countries to easy lockdown earlier.
But the country’s virus reproduction rate – known as “R” – which measures how many people the average person with Covid-19 infects, has bounced back to just below one.
That means one person with the virus infects one other on average and earlier this month, the rate was at 0.7.
The country’s overall cases grew by 1,018 on Monday and by 1,144 on Tuesday.
A drug that could be taken as a nasal spray can block the coronavirus from invading the lungs, according to laboratory trials.
The medicine, marketed as Neumifil, is used as a treatment for flu, but may be able to prevent Codid-19, according to experts.
A study by the University of St Andrews in Scotland found it could bind to the ‘spike’-shaped proteins on the outside of the virus and stop it latching to cells found in human airways.
Only lab tests have been done so far, but the results give hope that the drug could be used on Covid-19 patients.
A drug being trialled to tackle coronavirus in the UK is now being tested on patients.
The Department of Health revealed that compounds Bemcetinib, MEDI3506 and Acalabrutinib are being looked at to treat the virus.
Bemcetinib is an experimental cancer drug currently undergoing trials, while MEDI3506 is being tested for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), dermatitis and diabetic kidney disease.
Meanwhile, Acalabrutinib is a medication used to treat a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma known as mantle cell lymphoma.
Pictured top: A drug that could be taken as a nasal spray can block the coronavirus from invading the lungs, according to laboratory trials
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