- Sweden on Tuesday reported another 114 coronavirus deaths, bringing the total to 591 in a country that has adopted a softer approach to containing the outbreak than some of its European neighbours.
Sweden's Public Health Agency said it had recorded a total of 7,693 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country of around 10 million people.
It reported 114 new deaths on Tuesday, an uptick from preceding daily tolls, but cautioned that some of the fatalities occurred in previous days.
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said Tuesday the country has been averaging an average of "a little over 40" deaths a day.
He added that Sweden saw a slight decrease in the number of daily new confirmed cases of the new coronavirus over the last few days, but said it was to early to say whether numbers had peaked.
Sweden has not imposed extraordinary lockdown orders seen elsewhere in Europe to stem the spread of the virus, instead calling for citizens to take responsibility to follow social distancing ...

Sweden reports over 100 coronavirus deaths

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Paris officials said Tuesday that they would ban daytime jogging as people continue to flout the nation's anti-coronavirus lockdown rules, after France recorded its highest daily death toll from the outbreak.
Under the confinement rules that came into force on March 17, people can leave their homes only for essential purposes, which had included a solo walk or run within one kilometre (0.6 miles) of their homes.
But as sunny days arrived at the weekend, large groups of Parisians were seen running, walking and congregating in groups, even as police issued fines for lockdown violations and hospitals struggled to cope with the influx of patients.
On Tuesday, as France entered its fourth week of lockdown, Paris toughened the confinement rules, announcing a ban on individual outdoor sports between the hours of 10:00 am and 07:00 pm starting Wednesday.
Also Tuesday, the Atlantic coastal resort city of Biarritz limited the amount of time people could sit on public benches or in other public .

Paris bans daytime jogging to fight virus spread

Formula One team Mercedes will start delivering breathing devices to Britain's National Health Service this week to aid the fight against the coronavirus.
The Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices, which help coronavirus patients with lung infections to breathe more easily, were produced in less than a week and have been cleared for use after patient trials across London.
The British government has ordered 10,000 of the devices which are being produced "at a rate of up to 1,000 a day" in the Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains technology centre in Brixworth, Northamptonshire.
"Since the project was announced, we have received an incredible number of enquiries about the CPAP device from around the world," Andy Cowell, Managing Director of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, said on Tuesday.
"Making the design and manufacturing specifications available on an 'open source' basis will allow companies around the world to produce these devices at speed and at scale 

F1 team Mercedes to deliver breathing devices to UK hospitals in virus fight

Hundreds of Greek healthcare workers demonstrated on Tuesday to protest at working conditions and lack of manpower and equipment in public hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.
The demonstrations were staged to coincide with World Health Day, according to the federation of hospital personnel.  "You only saw us when we covered our faces," proclaimed a poster printed by hospital trade unions, bearing a picture of doctors wearing anti-coronavirus masks.  Demonstrators at the large Evangelismos hospital in central Athens held up signs demanding job hiring, virus testing and hospital equipment.  Police tried to enter the hospital courtyard where the rally was taking place before being forced back by demonstrators, an AFP photographer said.  A similar protest was held at the main hospital in Larissa in central Greece, according to images from public television ERT.  Despina Tossonidou, president of the doctors' union at Voula hospital in southern Athens, said that in addition to the ...

Greek health workers demonstrate over coronavirus conditions

Britain could see as many as 66,000 COVID-19 deaths during the first wave of the current pandemic, new research showed Tuesday, making the outbreak there by far the deadliest in Europe.
Modelling conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington's School of Medicine showed that approximately 151,680 people were likely to die from the virus across the continent.  While the novel coronavirus emerged in China and was initially focussed in east Asia, the World Health Organization now says the pandemic is centred in western Europe, with Spain, Italy and France experiencing devastating death tolls.  Most European nations have introduced strict social distancing measures to try to stem the virus spread.  More than 5,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Britain, fewer than in Spain, Italy and France.  But Britain's epidemic lags behind the rest of the continent by several days, and its death toll trajectory is already steeper than other ...

Britain set for 66,000 COVID-19 deaths, most in Europe: study

The Kremlin on Tuesday "categorically" denied allegations that Russia had bribed FIFA officials for the right to host the 2018 World Cup.
"Russia absolutely legally got the right to organise the World Cup," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He said the decision was "not linked to any bribes, we categorically deny this." "Russia organized the best football World Cup in history. We are proud of it," he added.
According to US Justice Department documents released Monday, FIFA officials received bribes to vote in favour of awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the tournament in 2022 to Qatar.
"We have read the articles in the media. We do not understand what it is about," Peskov said.
The allegations are linked to a wide-ranging 2015 corruption scandal that left world governing body FIFA in turmoil and led to the downfall of then-president Sepp Blatter.
In the ensuing years, the US government has accused a total of 45 people and various sports companies of more than 90 ..

Russia denies bribing FIFA officials to host 2018 World Cup

La Liga could return to action as early as next month, its president Javier Tebas said on Tuesday, as the league awaits a chance to restart following the coronavirus shutdown.
Tebas also warned Spanish clubs could lose as much as one billion euros (USD 1.1 billion) if the season is not completed, pushing football bosses in the country to search for a late finish to the current campaign.
"The different scenarios we have been looking at with UEFA to go back to competing are most probably starting on the May 29 June 6-7 or June 28," Tebas said.
"We're not just looking at what happens in Spain... the job is to get all our calendars (in Europe) in line so all the competitions are able to finish together."
However Tebas said no team training could take place until after the state of emergency ends in Spain -- currently set until April 26. Should that end date be pushed back the chances of restarting in May would likely vanish.
Tebas said "it is not an option" to cancel the season given the .

La Liga eyeing May return, says league boss Tebas

Former French rugby captain Thierry Dusautoir said that he felt "lucky" after surviving coronavirus infection along with former teammate Sebastien Chabal.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 75,000 people worldwide, including nearly 9,000 in France, according to the latest tally compiled by AFP from official sources.
"In the current context, we count ourselves lucky," Dusautoir, who captained the French a record 56 times, told Canal + television.
He said he initially felt symptoms on May 14 after which he was diagnosed but not tested.
"Then came two weeks that were pretty gruelling and tiring," added the 38-year- old voted world player of the year in 2011.
Chabal said that the infection has laid him out for "a good week or so." "But it was nothing like what we are hearing and what is affecting us all around us," said the former forward who won 62 caps.

Dusautoir, Chabal, 'lucky' to survive coronavirus

The head of the union representing Premier League players says they have "agreed to play their part" during the coronavirus pandemic as pressure mounts to find a collective pay deal.
England's top-flight stars have come under fire over their lack of action, which contrasts sharply with significant pay cuts taken by players at other leading European clubs such as Barcelona and Juventus.
The Premier League has urged players to accept wage cuts of 30 percent but ongoing talks have hit a stumbling block, with the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) warning that Britain's National Health Service could suffer from the loss of tax receipts as a result of players taking pay cuts.
FIFA has urged players and clubs to reach agreement over wage reductions and players are reportedly set to start negotiations on a club-by-club basis.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock was among senior politicians calling for players to take a cut and "play their part", a call that sparked off angry ...

Premier League stars will 'play part', says union chief

- Germany's centre for disease control on Tuesday urged people with smartwatches and fitness bands to share their health data to help keep track of the spread of the coronavirus.
The Robert Koch Institute said it was launching an app called Corona Datenspende (Corona Data Donation) that would allow people to voluntarily and anonymously share information from their fitness trackers that could reveal signs of a COVID-19 infection.
The free app will log a person's postcode, age and weight and keep track of any changes in activity and sleep habits, heart rate or even body temperature that could be symptoms of an acute respiratory disease, RKI head Lothar Wieler said at a press conference.
The app "would help to better estimate where and how fast COVID-19 is spreading in Germany," Wieler said.
But he stressed that the app, developed with e-health company Thryve, could not make a diagnosis or replace a coronavirus test.  The RKI will use the combined fitness data to create an online map of .

Germany enlists Fitbits and smartwatches in virus battle

Iran on Tuesday reported 133 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of officially confirmed fatalities to 3,872.
In the past 24 hours, 2,089 new cases of COVID-19 infection were recorded across the country, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.
That brought the number of confirmed cases to 62,589, he told a televised news conference.
Iran announced its first COVID-19 cases on February 19, when it said two people had died from the illness.
The country is by far the worst hit by the pandemic in the Middle East, according to official tolls released by regional states.
There has been speculation abroad that the real number of deaths and infections could be higher in the Islamic republic.
Jahanpour said that while 3,987 patients were in critical condition, recoveries had increased and a total of 27,039 people had left hospital.
The spokesman added that Iran had carried out 211,136 COVID-19 tests to date.
In an attempt to limit the spread of the ...

Iran says virus deaths rise 133 to 3,872

Two elderly South Korean coronavirus patients recovered from severe pneumonia after being treated with plasma from survivors, researchers said Tuesday, offering hope in the face of the global pandemic.
Scientists have pointed to the potential benefits of plasma -- a blood fluid -- from recovered individuals who have developed antibodies to the virus enabling the body's defences to attack it.
Since emerging in China in December, the coronavirus has killed almost 75,000 people as drugmakers worldwide race to develop a vaccine and treatments for the disease.
Plasma therapy could become "an alternative treatment for patients in critical condition who do not respond to antiviral drugs," said Choi Jun-yong, a doctor and researcher at Severance Hospital in Seoul, where both patients were treated.
But large-scale clinical trials were needed to prove its effectiveness, he added.
One of the two patients was a 71-year-old man with no underlying conditions who only improved when treated with ...

Two South Koreans recover from coronavirus after plasma therapy

Bayern Munich forward Thomas Mueller has signed a new deal that will keep him at the club until 2023, the Bundesliga champions announced on Tuesday.
"I'm happy that we've reached agreement with Thomas. Thomas is a special player for us, a figurehead for the club and our fans, a leader who shows the way on the pitch and has achieved a lot with FC Bayern," Bayern's sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said in a statement.
Mueller, 30, has played more than 500 times for Bayern since rising through the youth ranks to reach the first team in 2008, winning eight league titles, five German Cups and the 2013 Champions League.
The new deal comes after he worked his way back into the team under coach Hansi Flick after being frozen out by previous coach Niko Kovac.
Flick himself signed a deal last week to become permanent coach until 2023 after guiding the reigning champions back to the top of the Bundesliga.
Mueller has played 100 times for Germany and was a key part of the 2014 World ...

Mueller extends Bayern stay until 2023

The start of the MotoGP season has been pushed back to June 21 at the earliest after organisers on Tuesday postponed the Italian and Catalonian Grands Prix due to the coronavirus.
The Italian MotoGP was scheduled for May 31 with Catalonia fixed for June 7, but both have been pushed back with no new date. Last week organisers postponed the May 17 French MotoGP after previously calling off the Spanish event set for May 3.
"As the situation remains in a state of constant evolution, new dates for these Grands Prix, as well as the recently-postponed French and Spanish GPs, cannot be confirmed until it becomes clearer when exactly it will be possible to hold the events," MotoGP's governing body said in a statement.
"A revised calendar will be published as soon as available."
The Italian and Catalonia events are the latest MotoGP casualties of the coronavirus pandemic and follow the cancellation of the elite category season-opening MotoGP in Qatar on March 8.
The next three legs of the 2020 .

Italy, Catalonia MotoGPs postponed over coronavirus

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday wished British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a speedy recovery from the coronavirus, saying his "optimism and sense of humour" would help him get better.
"I would like to express my sincere support at this difficult moment for you," the Kremlin quoted Putin as saying in a message to Johnson. "I am sure that your energy, optimism and sense of humour will help to defeat the disease.

Putin says 'optimism and sense of humour' will help Johnson recover

He is small and ferocious with a deadly name, but a Bengal tiger called Covid has given hope to a zoo in Mexico as the pandemic ravages the world.
The cub was born last month at Bio Zoo in the eastern state of Veracruz as the virus that causes COVID-19 spread like wildfire, forcing half the world's population to stay home and devastating millions of businesses -- including the privately-run zoo.
"The birth of Covid was a gift for us, an incredible gift for both Bio Zoo and us as a family -- it was a bit of hope in the current situation," said Kitzia Rodriguez, a vet at the zoo run by her family.
"It is a name of hope, of a virus that came to teach us to look after ourselves." Though he still struggles to stand up and constantly sticks out his tongue demanding milk, Covid is already showing his Bengal tiger roots with energetic roars.
"Covid was born very strong, he was born big, although no one knew that his mother was pregnant," Rodriguez added.
His eight-year-old mother was rescued .

Bengal tiger called Covid gives Mexico zoo hope during pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 75,000 people people worldwide, the majority of them in Europe, since it emerged in China in December, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources at 0945 GMT Tuesday.
A total of 75,538 deaths have been recorded, including 53,928 in Europe, the continent worst hit by the virus.  The official tallies probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of cases.

Global death toll from coronavirus tops 75,000: AFP tally

The Olympic flame will be removed from display in Japan, officials said Tuesday, as the country braces for a state of emergency due to the coronavirus that also forced the historic postponement of Tokyo 2020.
It had been on public display in the northeastern Fukushima region since last week, but Japanese Olympic organisers decided to shelve it as coronavirus cases climb in the country.
The ill-fated flame, lit in Greece, arrived in Japan on March 20 for a torch relay originally scheduled to start six days later and climax at the Olympics opening ceremony on July 24.
But the raging pandemic prompted the first postponement of the Games in peace-time, with the opening ceremony now slated to take place on July 23, 2021.
To keep the Olympic spirit alive in Japan, local organisers decided to maintain the flame in a lantern and display it in Fukushima, where the torch relay was going to start.
"Originally we wanted to hold the public display until the end of April. But considering recent ...

Japan ends Olympic flame display due to virus

Spain's daily coronavirus death rate shot up to 743 on Tuesday after falling for four straight days, lifting the total toll to 13,798, the health ministry said.
The number of new infections in the world's second hardest-hit country after Italy also grew at a faster pace, rising 4.1 per cent to 140,510, it added. The number of new cases had risen by 3.3 percent on Monday.
Health ministry officials have said deaths occurring on the weekend are often registered a few days later, which may explain the rise.

Spain daily virus deaths rise to 743 after drop

Australian and New Zealand passengers on a cruise ship off the Uruguay coast will be flown home this week after coronavirus cases on the liner jumped to 128, the vessel's operator said Tuesday.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases on the MV Greg Mortimer -- currently anchored off Montevideo -- jumped from 81 to 128 on Tuesday with a medical flight for the around 100 Australians onboard expected as early as Thursday.
While flights for other passengers were still being arranged, negotiations were underway to allow New Zealanders to fly with the Australians, tour operator Aurora Expeditions said in a statement.
"The plane going to Australia is set up with medical facilities for this type of situation and will be managed in alignment with current COVID-19 protocol to ensure the health and safety of all onboard," the company said.
The aircraft, which will carry passengers who test both positive and negative for the virus, will head to Melbourne where the arrivals will be quarantined for 14 days.
Six ..

Aussies to be flown home as virus cases jump on Uruguay ship

Boeing will relaunch an uncrewed test flight of its Starliner spaceship, the company said Monday, after an earlier mission failed due to multiple glitches.
The aim of Starliner is to take US astronauts to the International Space Station.  A test run in December was ended early when the spacecraft failed to engage its thrusters on time.
Another problem was intermittent space-to-ground communications, impeding the flight control team's ability to command and control the vehicle.
"We have chosen to refly our Orbital Flight Test to demonstrate the quality of the Starliner system," Boeing said.
"Flying another uncrewed flight will allow us to complete all flight test objectives and evaluate the performance of the second Starliner vehicle at no cost to the taxpayer.
"We will then proceed to the tremendous responsibility and privilege of flying astronauts to the International Space Station." A Boeing spokeswoman was quoted by CBS News as saying the company hopes to fly the mission "in the ...

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