Putin said Russia had not yet reached its peak of virus cases as he announced that the 'non-working period' would continue past its previous deadline of April 30.

Major retailers such as Amazon and Walgreens appeared to be experiencing shortages of the medication.

The testing for China's fourth vaccine candidate has started today, said China National Biotec Group. It comes as CDC chief said that China could have its first coronavirus vaccine ready by autumn.

The new modeling is based on a nationwide shutdown of non essential services from April to September, meaning if the pandemic persists, the losses could be significantly higher.

Australia is standing firm in its calls for an independent probe into the origins of COVID-19. China has dismissed any potential investigations, describing the proposal as a 'political manoeuvre'.

Digital share broker CommSec, which provides financing to buy shares, is predicting Australia's border closures will cause immigration levels to plummet to levels that will harm the economy.

The virus hits men harder as they suffer more severely and have a death rate that is around 2.5 times higher, researchers from China found.

A comment article in the People's Daily , which parrots the views of the Chinese government, said Mr Morrison is targeting China to score political points with the Australian public.

The actress, 37, said she first heard about the Covid-19 pandemic at the World Economic Forum in January as the outbreak was taking hold in China.

New charity Mail Force has brought 20 tons of vital coveralls and masks - worth over £1 million - fresh from China. The packages are destined to help NHS tackle a dire shortage of equipment.

Dr Zhang Jixian, 54, has been hailed by China as the first person to report the virus to local officials. She found out that the disease was contagious in December after treating a family of three.

Shi Zhengli, a lead researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said the pathogen in the report was different from the strain of coronavirus that has triggered the pandemic.

China suggested Tuesday that Donald Trump is 'blackmailing' them by blaming Beijing for the coronavirus pandemic and demanding it pay compensations to the U.S.

The Jade Spring Hill, located in north-western Beijing, is a villa complex for China's Central Military Commission. A report suggested that party officials fled there amid coronavirus outbreak.

The Morrison government stood firm on its calls for an independent probe into the origins of COVID-19. In response, Chinese diplomats threatened to cut economic ties with the country.

Victorian China Consul-General Zhou Long arrived alongside billionaire miner Andrew Forrest at the official ministerial event in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.

Dr Scott Gottlieb, who led the FDA between 2017 and April 2019, says its vital the US manufactures the first coronavirus vaccine because it will then be the first nation to recover.

Jingye Cheng triggered a diplomatic firestorm by warning Scott Morrison's push for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus could lead to a boycott of Australian food, universities, and tourism.

The billionaire invited Victorian China Consul-General Zhou Long -  who did not take questions but credited the 'transparent' manner with which China had dealt with the COVID-19 outbreak.

Researchers found fake vaccines were being sold with a median cost of $575, but some allegedly sourced from China were priced at $15,300 with the most expensive being sold for $24,598.

Geoff Leong, 43, who owns Dumplings' Legend in London's China Town, told how people had been assaulted, children ostracised at school and others spat at while they went about their lives.

A study by the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that the virus's attack rate among children was 7.4 per cent, on par with the 6.6 per cent seen in the general population.

A review of paediatric coronavirus evidence revealed 'the China/WHO joint commission could not recall episodes during contact tracing where transmission occurred from a child to an adult.'

The Frozen link has been responsible for lots of visits in Hallstatt, along with a view that gained renown in Asia thanks to a South Korean TV series filmed there and a partial replica of it built in China.

Laxman Narasimhan, chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of Durex condoms, said sales of condoms had been hit particularly hard in UK and Italy.

At least 128,141 Americans have been confirmed to have recovered from coronavirus, which is double the number who've died from the illness, which sits at 62,547.

Hu Xijin, the outspoken head of Communist propaganda outlet the Global Times, has launched an astonishing attack on Trump, accusing the US president of 'publicly lying about China'.

Trump said late on Thursday his trade deal with China was now of secondary importance to the pandemic, as his administration crafted retaliatory measures over the outbreak.

One deleted article about the situation in Wuhan (pictured) that caused particular outcry was typed out again and re-posted by dozens of social media users in 10 languages to test out censorship levels.

In the animation posted online by China's official Xinhua news agency, a warrior Lego figure wearing a face mask warns a Statue of Liberty figure of the dangers of the virus.

HARRY COLE: One MP who says he's a victim of attempts to trick him into giving information over the internet is Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat.

An influential academic who writes for a Chinese Communist Party newspaper has accused Australia of 'stabbing China in the back' over its calls for an international coronavirus inquiry.

Intelligence reports show China covered up the impact of COVID-19 to hoard supplies needed to battle the pandemic, which President Donald Trump says proves he wasn't late in addressing the crisis.

The United States and China are locked in a race to develop a coronavirus vaccine as fears mount that the latter country would use its success as economic and diplomatic leverage.

A senior former MI6 official says that UK Ministers were told 'not to believe Beijing's claims' from the beginning and to pour cold water on all information coming from Chinese officials on the virus.

The Defence Secretary reignited a war of words over whether China suppressed information about the virus which prevented other countries from taking steps to save more lives.

Mi Feng, a spokesperson from China's National Health Commission, said Monday that the number of active infections in China dropped to 481, the lowest number recorded since January 23.

At least 3,506,729 people have been sickened by the virus since it emerged in China late last year, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.

China's 'bullying' responses to Australia's calls for an international coronavirus inquiry were slammed as 'outrageous' as experts rethink the diplomatic relationship.

Sadam Abdusalam's wife and Australian citizen son have been trapped in China's Xinjiang province for three years as part of the communist regime's systemic persecution of its Uyghur population.

Kerry Stokes transferred the registration to his new his new Bombardier Global Express 6000 jet.Stokes was criticised after recently he used the front page of The West Australian to call for Canberra to back down.

The index of Britain's biggest firms dropped by nine points to 5,763, with further losses in the eurozone markets which were 3.5 per cent lower at close today.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, panned the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology on Monday.

President Donald Trump suggested that the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe is the result of a 'horrible mistake' made by China, during a Fox News virtual town hall on Sunday.

Sir Patrick Vallance told MPs.a large number of cases in early March were from Europe and 'seeded right the way across the country' because Brits arriving back were allowed to return home.

Multiple activists, journalists and ordinary internet users have already vanished after criticising Beijing's approach to the crisis as the country tries to control the COVID-19 narrative.

Mahan Air, a private company linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is accused of lying about these flights after Tehran barred all flights to China on January 31.

Documents released today from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) show that UK scientists believed that the number of cases was vastly higher than admitted by Beijing.

A middle-aged woman has been filmed telling a Chinese cafe worker to 'go back to China and keep your disease over there', in a vile racist attack in Melbourne.

One Chinese study found school closures can lower a peak in coronavirus cases by 40% to 60% and a Germany study found children carry as high levels of the virus as adults can.