U.S. President Donald Trump admitted that he tried to minimize the lethal threat of the coronavirus early on in the pandemic, according to excerpts reported Wednesday from a new book by veteran US journalist Bob Woodward.

"I wanted to always play it down," Trump said in an interview with Woodward on March 19, according to a CNN preview of the book "Rage," due to be published September 15.

Pope Francis was seen on Wednesday wearing a face mask for the first time since the start of the pandemic but took it off to chat to the faithful.

The European Commission announced Wednesday it has reached a deal with a sixth pharmaceutical firm, this time BioNTech-Pfizer, to reserve a further 200 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine.

France's cabinet will Wednesday hold its weekly meeting remotely for the first time since the end of the virus lockdown, after Prime Minister Jean Castex spent part of the weekend with the boss of the Tour de France who tested positive for Covid-19.

More than 40 members of UN staff and their families have caught coronavirus in Syria, a UN official told AFP Tuesday, warning the illness was spreading in the war-torn country.

Pick one that contains mostly alcohol, and has few other ingredients.

Mohamed Fathi, an Egyptian man who has recovered from Covid-19, winced as he watched tubes running down his arm to donate blood plasma, but insisted: "if I can help just one person, that's a very good thing".

China has passed "an extraordinary and historic test" with its handling of the coronavirus, President Xi Jinping said Tuesday at a triumphant awards ceremony for medical professionals decorated with bugle calls and applause.

Morocco imposed a lockdown on Casablanca and shut its schools Monday, the day they were supposed to reopen after summer, in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19.

India overtook Brazil on Monday to become the second-worst affected country in terms of coronavirus cases behind the United States, according to an AFP tally.