China's official death toll from the new coronavirus spiked dramatically on Thursday after authorities changed their counting methods, fuelling concern the epidemic is far worse than being reported.

As doctors scramble to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus, a potent brew of anti-retroviral and flu drugs has emerged as a possible defence against the disease that has killed hundreds.

China on Monday extended its biggest national holiday to buy time in the fight against a viral epidemic, as the death toll spiked to 81 despite unprecedented quarantine measures and travel lockdowns.

Three separate research teams are to start work on developing potential vaccines against the new coronavirus that is causing a disease epidemic in China, a global coalition set up to fight diseases said on Thursday.

A measles epidemic in Samoa has now claimed 25 lives, with children bearing the brunt of the deadly outbreak, official data in the Pacific island nation showed Monday.

Former DR Congo health minister Oly Ilunga has been arrested over allegations he embezzled public funds to tackle the Ebola epidemic, police said on Saturday.

An ‘epidemic’ has erupted in global ransomware attacks, taking over computers as well as internet-linked devices like routers and CCTV cameras to turn them into tools for criminals ...

The cholera epidemic, the most explosive on record in terms of its rapid spread, has continually confounded expectations.

More than half a million people in Yemen have been infected with cholera since the epidemic began four months ago and 1,975 people have died, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

Yemen's cholera outbreak is set to hit 400,000 cases on Tuesday but there are signs the three-month-old epidemic is slowing, according to World Health Organisation data analysed by Reuters.

Sri Lanka deployed hundreds of soldiers to destroy mosquito breeding grounds as the country battles the spread of deadly dengue fever that has killed a record 215 people this year, officials said Sunday.

At least 570 suspected cases of cholera have surfaced in war-torn Yemen in the past three weeks, sparking fears of a potential epidemic, Doctors Without Borders said Sunday.