The Philippines will lift key coronavirus lockdown measures in the nation's capital, President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday, aiming to resuscitate a faltering economy after nearly three months of strict home quarantine.

Manila has endured one of the world's longest lockdowns, which has hit the livelihoods of millions of workers but not halted a steady stream of new infections.  

England launched a "test and trace" system on Thursday, the latest weapon deployed in a battle to halt the coronavirus's spread in one of the worst affected countries in the world.

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said Thursday that it is planning to test whether a mix of its arthritis drug tocilizumab and Gilead's antiviral drug remdesivir could treat severe cases of COVID-19 effectively.

Unthinkable just a few months ago, the United States on Wednesday surpassed the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, as the pandemic tightened its grip on Latin America.

With the European Union unveiling a massive recovery plan to step up its emergence from the crisis, the US figure was a sobering reminder of the devastation being wreaked around the globe by a virus that only emerged late last year.

As the novel coronavirus wreaks global havoc, Bill Gates is the new bete noire for conspiracy theorists worldwide including in Africa where a Kenyan politician's false online post has added major fuel to the spread of misinformation.

- Massive EU aid plan -

The European Union proposes a 750-billion-euro ($825-billion) post-virus recovery fund for Europe and urges skeptical member states to back it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said the European Union should take more global responsibility in the coronavirus crisis, especially as ties with the United States were currently "difficult".

The United Kingdom is “working together with countries across the Middle East to tackle coronavirus and protect the most vulnerable,” UK Minister for the Middle East James Cleverly has said, as Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr.

More than 350,000 deaths from the new coronavirus have been recorded worldwide since it first appeared in China in December, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources as of 0600 GMT.

The French government on Wednesday banned treatment of COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine, a controversial and potentially harmful drug that US President Donald Trump has said he is taking preventively.