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Britain has more work to do to understand why COVID-19 has a disproportionate effect on black and minority ethnic minorities, health minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday.

Scientists have found 27 key proteins in the blood of people infected with COVID-19 which they say could act as predictive biomarkers for how ill a patient could become with the disease.

Sweden's testing for the new coronavirus rose last week to its highest level since the outbreak began but still fell far short of the target, in what has increasingly become a focal point of criticism of the government's pandemic policy.

EU regulators are seeking feedback about a possible new power to investigate businesses and demand changes even when no competition rules have been broken, in a move aimed at stopping companies from abusing their dominance.

Fewer than one in 10 of coronavirus test samples collected daily in Afghanistan are being processed, officials said on Tuesday, and of those more than 30% are consistently testing positive, suggesting a high and hidden number of infections.

India launched a $6.65 billion plan on Tuesday to boost electronics manufacturing, saying it would start by offering five global smartphone makers incentives to establish or expand domestic production.

Japan on Tuesday approved saliva-based tests for the coronavirus, offering a safer, simpler way to diagnose infection than nasal swabs as it looks to boost its testing rates.

Black and Asian people in England are up to 50% more likely to die after being infected with COVID-19, an official study said on Tuesday, reinforcing previous reports which indicated ethnic minority groups were more at risk from the virus.

Keeping at least one metre apart and wearing face masks and eye protection are the best ways to cut the risk of COVID-19 infection, according to the largest review to date of studies on coronavirus disease transmission.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus outbreak began, has found no new cases of people suffering from COVID-19 after testing almost its entire population, and 300 asymptomatic carriers of the virus, officials said on Tuesday.

The United Kingdom's COVID-19 death toll neared 50,000 on Tuesday, confirming its place as one of the worst hit countries in the world just as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to ease the stringent novel coronavirus outbreak.

British health minister Matt Hancock has spoken to the head of the country's statistics watchdog to pledge his commitment to work closely with it after David Norgrove criticised the government for publishing testing data that were "far from complete".

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Several southern U.S. states reported sharp increases in COVID-19 infections, with Alabama, South Carolina and Virginia all seeing new cases rise 35% or more in the week ended May 31 compared with the prior week, according to a Reuters analysis.

India's government said on Tuesday it has approved Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir for emergency use for five doses in treating COVID-19 patients.

U.S. drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb Co said on Tuesday its treatment Zeposia, which it gained through its $74 billion buyout of Celgene last year, met the main goals of a late-stage study testing it in patients with an inflammatory bowel disease.

With temperatures checked, masks fitted, and hand sanitizers at the ready, many Singapore children returned to school on Tuesday after a novel coronavirus lockdown of nearly two months.

High-flying shares in Novacyt dropped as much as 12% on Tuesday after the healthcare diagnostics firm said a French regulator had decided against approving the company's coronavirus test for reimbursement by the state.

Voicing worries over a new cluster of coronavirus cases, Hong Kong decided on Tuesday to keep its borders almost completely closed to foreigners until mid-September, and extended a ban on gatherings larger than eight people by two weeks.

New cases of COVID-19 reported daily are steadily declining in Western Europe, but not in hotspots in Russia and Eastern Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.