BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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BEIJING -- All of the 52 new confirmed imported COVID-19 cases reported in the Chinese mainland during the past 14 days entered the country via airports, a health official said on Saturday.

The continuing outbreak of the pandemic overseas has increased the pressure on China to prevent imported cases, said Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission, at a press conference in Beijing.

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WASHINGTON, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Germany's federal intelligence agency doubts U.S. allegations that COVID-19 "originated in a Chinese laboratory", saying the allegations were aimed at diverting attention from U.S. failure to contain the disease, U.S. television network CNBC said, citing a German magazine report on Friday.

The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) had asked members of the U.S.-led "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance for evidence to support the allegations, but none of the five wanted to back the allegations stemming from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CNBC said in an article on its website.

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HONG KONG, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Researchers from the University of Hong Kong found that the triple antiviral therapy was more effective in alleviating COVID-19 symptoms than lopinavir-ritonavir alone, according to a study released on Friday in the Lancet.

The university's research team recruited 127 COVID-19 patients, median age 52, between Feb. 2 and March 20 from six public hospitals in Hong Kong. Eighty-six of them were assigned to the combination group and were prescribed interferon beta-1b, lopinavir-ritonavir, and ribavirin, while the rest formed the control group, receiving lopinavir-ritonavir only.

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KIGALI -- Rwandan Health Minister Daniel Ngamije on Friday said the health ministry plans to employ robots in coronavirus treatment centers and other public places.

The five imported robots that have been given Rwandan names will serve as an interface between the doctor and the patient, thereby reducing human contacts and risks of the virus's transmission, the minister said in a news program of national Radio Rwanda.

Besides being applied in the treatment centers, the robots will also be used to measure temperatures in other public places such as bus stops and entrances of shopping arcades, he said.

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NEW DELHI -- India's federal health ministry Saturday morning reported 95 more deaths and 3,320 new COVID-19 cases since Friday in the country, taking the number of deaths to 1,981 and total cases to 59,662.

On Friday morning the number of COVID-19 cases in the country was 56,342, and the death toll was 1,886.

According to ministry officials, 17,847 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement. "The number of active cases in the country right now is 39,834," read the information.

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CANBERRA -- Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has praised Australians for their response to the COVID-19 as the nation prepares to ease restrictions.

Hunt told reporters on Saturday morning that by abiding by the government restrictions introduced to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 Australians have made the country "the envy of the world."

"You have made Australia the envy of the world and it's been difficult, it's been tough," he said. "We have started on the road to recovery for our health, our economy, and for our jobs. Thank you."

As of Friday afternoon there had been 6,914 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 in Australia.

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WELLINGTON -- New Zealand reported one confirmed case and one probable case of the COVID-19, taking the number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 1,492, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

Both of the new cases are linked to an aged care facility in Auckland, which had a COVID-19 cluster outbreak. Enditem

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