A coronavirus-free tropical island nestled in the northern Pacific may seem the perfect place to ride out a pandemic -- but residents on Palau say life right now is far from idyllic.

Johnson & Johnson said on Monday it had selected a lead candidate vaccine for the new coronavirus that would move to human trials by September and could be ready for emergency use by early next year.

France on Monday reported its highest daily number of deaths from COVID-19 since the coronavirus epidemic began, saying 418 more people had died in hospital to bring the toll to 3,024.

Italy on Monday extended an economically crippling lockdown until "at least" mid-April to stem coronavirus infections that have claimed a world-leading 11,591 lives.

More than 35,000 people have died worldwide from the coronavirus pandemic since it emerged late last year in China, most of them in Europe, according to an AFP tally at 1615 GMT Monday using official figures.

Florida's governor said Monday that he does not want a cruise ship with passengers suspected to be suffering from coronavirus to dock in his southern U.S. state.

Harsh lockdowns aimed at halting the march of coronavirus around the world widened on Monday to include Moscow's capital as the death toll mounted and fears grew for the fate of the global economy.

A military hospital ship arrived in New York Monday as America's coronavirus epicenter prepares to fight the peak of the pandemic that has killed over 2,500 people across the U.S.

Spain confirmed another 812 deaths in 24 hours from the coronavirus on Monday, a slight decline on the previous day's toll, bringing the total number of deaths to 7,340.

Iran's official coronavirus death toll reached 2,757 on Monday and the number of infections crossed 40,000, as President Hassan Rouhani's political opponents slammed his response to the outbreak.