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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Helen Sullivan (now and earlier); Kevin Rawlinson, Damien Gayle, Gregory Robinson and Aamna Mohdin (earlier)

Brazil sees record increase in Covid-19 cases – as it happened

We’ve launched a new blog at the link below, where we’ll be bringing you the latest updates from around the world:

Trump says he won’t extend distancing guidelines as death toll passes 60,000

Donald Trump has said the federal government will not be extending its coronavirus social distancing guidelines once they expire on Thursday, even as the number of Americans who have died of coronavirus surpassed 60,000.

The country has recorded 60,207 deaths from coronavirus, and 1,030,487 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the US according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US accounts for around one third of all confirmed cases worldwide.

Summary

Here are the most important recent developments from around the world:

  • The official global death toll exceeded 225,000, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University researchers, with the official toll at 226,771. At least 3,187,919 people have been infected worldwide.
  • Half world’s workers ‘at risk of unemployment’. The International Labour Organisation has warned that almost half the global workforce – 1.6 billion people – are in “immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed” by the economic impact of Covid-19, Philip Inman, a Guardian economics writer, reports.
  • More cases of ‘Covid-linked’ syndrome in children. Doctors around the world have reported more cases of a rare but potentially lethal inflammatory syndrome in children that appears to be linked to coronavirus infections. Nearly 100 cases of the unusual illness have emerged in at least six countries, with doctors in Britain, the US, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland now reported to be investigating the condition.
  • Official UK death toll up by 4,419, after the government included deaths outside hospital for the first time. As of 5pm on Tuesday, total of 26,097 patients had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, according to Public Health England.
  • Brazil sees record increase in cases. Brazil has reported a record increase in cases, with its ministry of health confirming 6,276 more infections in a 24-hour period, taking the country’s total to 78,162.
  • Ireland looks set to extend its lockdown, despite growing calls to ease restrictions and salvage the economy.The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said on Wednesday that new cases of Covid-19 infections, deaths and intensive care admissions appeared too high to start relaxing rules that are to expire on 5 May.
  • Swiss government extends ban on large public events. The Swiss government has extended its ban on public events exceeding 1000 people until the end of August, even as it announced the easing of some other restrictions on sporting events, shops, restaurants and museums.
  • Sweden passes 20,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Sweden rose past the 20,000 mark on Wednesday, after the Nordic country reported another 681 infections.
  • Five coronavirus cases have been reported in Aden, southern Yemen, by the country’s internationally recognised government, raising the prospect that the war-ravaged country will soon also have an outbreak of the new disease.
  • China’s parliament is to hold its annual meeting from 22 May - more than two months later than planned. Conditions for holding the meeting have been met as the coronavirus situation has improved, decision makers said.
  • Russia’s coronavirus case tally neared the 100,000 milestone, after the country reported 5,841 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing its overall nationwide tally to 99,399, Reuters reports.
  • UK government is still aiming for 100,000 daily tests by tomorrow, according to the environment secretary, George Eustice. He said the search for an effective antibody test was still under way and denied that earlier introduction of testing at care homes would have saved lives.
  • The coronavirus outbreak needs to be contained before 2021 Olympics can go ahead, the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said. “The Olympic Games must be held in a way that shows the world has won its battle against the coronavirus pandemic.”
  • The UK prime minister Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds announced the birth of a baby boy. Johnson returned to frontline work on Monday after falling ill with coronavirus and spending time in intensive care.
  • Air passenger numbers are down 99% in the UK, the home secretary told MPs, as she defended the government’s decision not to test individuals entering the country. On Friday, a total of 9,906 people entered the country.

Now, first things first, there is a new Olive and Mabel video:

Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now and for the next few hours.

A reminder that you can get in touch with me directly on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Trump has said his administration will soon release a plan to help US oil companies, which the treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said could include adding millions of barrels of oil to already-teeming national reserves.

We’re also exploring potentially having the ability to store another several hundred million barrels, so we’re looking at lots of different options.

And, as oil-producing nations try to deal with the pandemic-driven fall in prices, Norway has agreed to slash its output from June to December, marking the first time in 18 years western Europe’s principal producer of oil has joined up with other major nations to shore up prices. Its oil minister Tina Bru has said:

We will cut Norwegian production by 250,000 barrels per day in June and by 134,000 barrels per day in the second half of 2020. In addition, the start-up of production of several fields will be delayed until 2021.

Consequently, the total Norwegian production in December 2020 will be 300,000 barrels less per day than originally planned by the companies. The regulation will cease by the end of the year.

Updated

In Washington, the US president Donald Trump has suggested a vaccine may not be needed as part of a recovery from the pandemic.

If you don’t have a vaccine, if the virus is gone, you’re like where we were before.

At least 89 vaccines are in development, according to the World Health Organization. But even the most promising options still need to undergo rigorous safety testing, which could take a year to 18 months.

But without a vaccine, why does Trump think the pandemic will just go away? He dodged the question. “It’s gonna go, it’s gonna leave,” Trump said, without explaining his thinking. “It’s gonna be eradicated.”

Brazil’s new health minister Nelson Teich has said he does not know when the epidemic will peak in Brazil and that a “second wave” is a very real possibility.

According to the O Globo newspaper, Teich said a “critical point” is a lack of ventilators in the country, adding: “We’ve never had so many big problems at the same time.”

In the Amazon city of Manaus, where the overloaded health system has collapsed, reports from Yahoo News said many people were dying at home without being tested and others in ambulances as they drove around the city looking for beds in intensive care. Relatives of some victims were even opening the sealed coffins of relatives being buried in mass graves to ensure they were really inside.

Talking privately, one Manaus doctor working in the public health sector said there are about 100 people on the waiting list for intensive care beds. Hospitals are also struggling to remove bodies.

There’s no room and nowhere to put them. The refrigerated containers fill up occasionally.

In Rio de Janeiro, a doctor also speaking anonymously said one hospital was running out of sedatives and neuromuscular blockers used for intubating and managing intubated patients. Local media has published photos of the vertical structures cemeteries are building to stack coffins up to eight high.

Brazil sees record increase in cases

Brazil has reported a record increase in cases, with its ministry of health confirming 6,276 more infections in a 24-hour period, taking the country’s total to 78,162.

It has also suffered another 449 deaths in that time, raising its toll to at least 5,466 people since the outbreak began. Health specialists believe the real numbers are much higher.

Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has dismissed the rising death toll and, in recent weeks, has insisted the virus was “going away”. He shrugged off Tuesday’s news that the official Brazilian total had surpassed the WHO-reported death toll in China, saying: “So what? I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”

Now, he has sought to blame state governors and mayors for the deaths – even though they have introduced social distancing measures against his orders while he repeatedly mingled with supporters and other Brazilians.

He argued that they should be asked why they “took such restrictive measures and people kept dying” and told reporters: “You won’t put that bill on my lap.”

Asked what responsibility he held for rising deaths, he replied: “The question is so idiotic I’m not going to reply.”

Another 31 people have died in Ireland and 376 more cases have been diagnosed, the country’s chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has said.

One of the deaths reported on Wednesday involved a person in the 15-24 age group, the second in this category. Dr Holohan warned the number in intensive care units was too high as the prospect of a rapid easing of movement restrictions dwindles.

That is simply too high and we need to get that down further not only because it is about protecting occupancy but the lower the figure is it is a reflection of better protection of the public and lower levels of spread of the infection.

Bolivia will extend its lockdown against the pandemic until 10 May, the government has announced, though it is planning to relax rules in less affected parts of the country from the following day.

The president Jeanine Áñez has said Bolivia will move to a “dynamic” or “less rigid” quarantine on 11 May, allowing some people to return to work.

Future policy will hinge on the country’s success at containing the pandemic, which has killed 55 Bolivians so far with a total 1,053 cases confirmed.

Opening the quarantine a little or closing it completely will depend on how the pandemic is being controlled in each region. The Ministry of Health will evaluate every seven days how the pandemic evolves in each region. On that basis, decisions will be taken to relax or harden the quarantine.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a total of 1,005,147 cases; an increase of 23,901 from its previous count. The number of deaths in the US has risen by 2,247 to 57,505.

The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.

Slovenia is to lift a restriction prohibiting citizens from traveling outside their local community, the prime minister Janez Janša has said.

The country has confirmed 1,418 cases and 89 deaths. Janša thanked citizens for following restrictions that have been imposed from the middle of March and told them:

Thanks to you Slovenia is the most successful (in curbing the virus) among all neighbours of the focal country Italy.

He claimed that Slovenia is also among countries that have suffered less economic and social damage than most due to the government’s quick response, which included financial help of about €3bn (£2.6bn) or some 6% of GDP to companies and citizens hurt by the epidemics.

He said more restrictions will be lifted on Monday but gave no details. The government said earlier hairdressers and beauty parlours, as well as outdoor bars and restaurants and a number of shops, will be able to open from Monday. Libraries and museums are also expected to open on Monday.

South Africa’s health department has reported another 354 cases; the greatest number in one day, which brings the country’s total to 5,350.

Venezuela is asking the Bank of England to sell part of the South American nation’s gold reserves held in its coffers and send the proceeds to the United Nations to help with the country’s pandemic efforts, Reuters is reporting. The agency cites two sources with knowledge of the situation.

For decades, Venezuela has stored gold that makes up part of its central bank reserves in the vaults of foreign financial institutions. That included the Bank of England, which provides gold custodian services to many developing countries.

But, since 2018, the Bank has refused to transfer the 31 tonnes of gold to the government of the president Nicolás Maduro, whom the UK has refused to recognise as the country’s legitimate leader after his disputed 2018 re-election.

Reuters reports that the effort signals Maduro is desperately seeking financial resources around the world as the country’s economy struggles under low oil prices, crippling U.S. sanctions and a paralysing quarantine.

Bosnia has reported its sharpest daily rise in new infections after its two autonomous regions gradually began to ease lockdowns.

There were 93 new infections and two deaths in the previous 24 hours, compared with 20 new infections a day earlier and 49 the day before that, officials have said. The total number of infected people rose to 1,677 with 65 deaths, while 29,130 have been tested.

The reproduction number for the virus in Germany has dropped to 0.75, according to Wednesday’s daily report by the Robert Koch Institute, the German government’s disease control agency.

The basic reproduction rate, which indicates how many people become newly infected on average per already infected person, had been announced as edging up to one in Monday’s report – causing concern as it seemed to suggest the spread of the virus was gaining momentum again.

Already, politicians around the globe defending themselves against calls to relax their lockdowns had begun to cite Germany’s case as an example to heed.

But, while Angela Merkel has identified the reproduction number as a key indicator of whether states can allow to relax social distancing measures, it is also always an estimate. And some mathematicians have questioned the method by which the Robert Koch Institute arrives at the number.

It attempts to take into account the time lag in data gathering by ignoring data from the last three days and back-dating known cases to their likely day of infection around a week earlier.

The reproduction number announced on Tuesday was therefore always only able to give a definitive indication of the pandemic’s development at a point about a week and a half ago, when a relaxation of social distancing measures had been announced by Merkel but not yet come into effect.

US drug trial shows 'clear cut' effect, says top medic

We reported earlier that a Chinese trial had demonstrated no “significant clinical benefits” to administering the antiviral drug remdesivir to Covid-19 patients.

But a separate trial in the US has shown a “clear-cut” effect, according to the head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci.

He hailed it as proof a drug can block the coronavirus shortly after the medicine’s maker, Gilead Sciences, revealed it had met its primary goals. Fauci said the “data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery”, adding that it proves “that a drug can block this virus”.

The institute he leads is expected to release a detailed summary of the results soon. While it is not yet possible to quantify the drug’s effectiveness, the trial would represent the first time any medication has been shown to improve outcomes.

Dr Fauci said the Chinese test, which had to be halted early for a lack of subjects, was “not an adequate study”. The US-led trial is the largest to investigate remdesivir.

Updated

Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán has announced an easing of population movement restrictions outside Budapest, which has reported the most cases, saying shops will be allowed to reopen without time limits.

However, the wearing of masks covering the face will be mandatory in shops and on public transport, Orbán said. He added that the easing of restrictions will be reviewed every two weeks.

More cases of 'Covid-linked' syndrome in children

Doctors around the world have reported more cases of a rare but potentially lethal inflammatory syndrome in children that appears to be linked to coronavirus infections, Ian Sample and Denis Campbell report.

Nearly 100 cases of the unusual illness have emerged in at least six countries, with doctors in Britain, the US, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland now reported to be investigating the condition.

The first cases came to light this week when the NHS issued an alert to paediatricians about a number of children admitted to intensive care units with a mix of toxic shock and a condition known as Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory disorder that affects the blood vessel, heart and other organs. So far 19 children have been affected in the UK and none have died.

The French health minister, Olivier Veran, said on Wednesday that the country had more than a dozen children with inflammation around the heart, and while there was insufficient evidence to prove a link with coronavirus, he said the cases were being taken “very seriously.”

Veran told Franceinfo news radio he had received an alert from Paris concerning “about 15 children of all ages”, adding that other cases had been reported in Spain, Italy and Switzerland. He listed the symptoms as fever, digestive problems and vascular inflammation.

At least three children in the US aged six months to eight years are being treated for a similar condition. Mark Gorelik, a specialist treating the patients at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, said all had fever and inflammation of the heart and gut. “Right now, we’re at the very beginning of trying to understand what that represents,” he told Reuters. Gorelik believes the cases are not Kawasaki disease but a similar condition that shares a common cause, namely an infectious agent that triggers an immune response.

The UN humanitarian aid agency is set to ask for substantially more than $2bn it requested in March to fight coronavirus, in the face of evidence that the virus is impacting more countries than previously sought and may take three to six months to reach its peak in the poorest parts of the world, writes Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor.

The Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs fears that as many as 250 million people will be left on the brink of starvation, a rise of more than 130 million on the current figure.

The opening UN humanitarian appeal for $2bn to fight coronavirus was made on 25 March and a substantially increased updated appeal will be made on 7 May incorporating an extra 10 countries, and taking the total number of countries closer to 50. So far the March coronavirus appeal has generated $1bn.

The extra money would be used to help with testing, basic aid as well as the easing the logistics of continuing the delivery of aid in a pandemic. OCHA expects the biggest impact may be economic due to collapse in commodity prices, fall in trade flows, elimination of tourism and ending of remittances home.

Mark Lowcock, the head of the agency, is predicting for the first time in 20 years the proportion of people living in poverty will rise. One reason will be that the numbers classified as one step away from famine and dependent on food aid will rise from 130m to 260m. He is arguing with wealthy countries that unless they respond there will be a spate of famines, and problems stored up for as long as a decade, including migration and terrorism.

Overall OCHA has proposed $90bn could protect the poor with two thirds dedicated to social protection programs coming from the strengthened balance sheets of international financial institutions. The remaining third - $30bn – may will have to be delivered by humanitarian agencies funded by an increase in official development assistance.

Novel forms of protection are being experimented in low income countries, including open air education, less frequent food distributions, an increase in cash distribution through text messaging and on line education of health workers

The increased appeal comes despite a slower than expected spread of the virus than previously foreseen, but OCHA admits information on the spread of virus is still primitive in some countries such as Afghanistan and Yemen.

A video emerged on Wednesday of an illegal horse race in Palermo, Italy, that went ahead in defiance of the coronavirus lockdown, writes Lorenzo Tondo, who is based in the city.

The clips show dozens of scooters, surrounding the horses that are running in a street near the University of Palermo. Some of the motorcyclists, accompanying the race, wore masks. A military police car that was refuelling in a petrol station immediately gave pursuit.

The authorities have launched an investigation to identify those responsible for the illegal race, which allegedly occurred on Monday at around 6am.

Illegal horse races are a very common phenomenon in Sicily, where, as the sun rises over Palermo, Messina and Catania, stretches of asphalt are transformed into racetracks.

For years, illegal horse racing has been the prize business of the ruthless Sicilian mafia, the Cosa Nostra. The value of a single bet ranges from 50 euros to 5,000, with sweepstakes of up to 20,000.

Riders on scooters and motorbikes pursue the horses, goading them to the finish line by sounding their horns and shouting. Races are held on an uphill slope to avoid injuries to horses that have already had their foot nerves surgically severed so they feel no pain racing fast on hard asphalt.

Cyprus poised to ease lockdown

Cyprus is also poised to ease lockdown restrictions with the island’s Greek Cypriot president due to announce the time-frame in which the measures will be reversed this evening, writes Helena Smith, the Guardian’s Athens correspondent.

The war-split island’s internationally recognised Greek-run south has been under strict lockdown since early March with precautionary policies including a nightly curfew. So far the tough measures have paid off: Greek Cypriot authorities have recorded 15 deaths and 837 confirmed coronavirus cases in a population of some 800,000 – one of the lowest infection rates in the EU.

A man wearing in a mask is seen through a car window as he walks outside of a closed pub in central Nicosia, Cyprus
A man wearing in a mask is seen through a car window as he walks outside of a closed pub in central Nicosia, Cyprus Photograph: Petros Karadjias/AP

But speaking earlier on Wednesday finance minister Constantinos Petrides warned the Mediterranean island was also entering “the most difficult and dangerous [phase]” – one that could prove catastrophic if handled badly.

Petrides was quoted as telling an online economic summit:

This where our success in achieving the recovery of the economy will be judged. We are taking a step forward but if we don’t observe the rules of this second, difficult phase, then we could take two steps back. Two steps back would be catastrophic for our health and the economy.

The island’s breakaway Turkish-run north has recorded 108 coronavirus cases and four deaths. No new cases have been registered in the statelet for the past ten days, it’s health minister Ali Pilli told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency on Tuesday.

Five more patients have died from Covid-19 in Serbia, and 227 more people have been found to be infected with the coronavirus, Telegraf reports.

The latest figures bring the total death toll in the country to 173, while 1,292 people have recovered, out of a total of 8,724 confirmed cases.

They come as anger begins to boil over at containment measures in the Balkan country, with a second night of noisy protests reverberating through Belgrade and other cities as Serbians bang pots and pans, beat drums and blow whistles and horns from their homes while stuck under curfew, Reuters reports.

Opposition activists gather to protest government’s policies during the coronavirus crisis in Belgrade on Wednesday
Opposition activists gather to protest government’s policies during the coronavirus crisis in Belgrade on Wednesday Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters

The government has begun to lift stringent measures - including a state of emergency, closure of borders, daily curfew, and total lockdowns all weekend - but said that a lockdown during the Labour Day holiday on May 1, a important celebration in Serbia, should remain in place.

Reuters reports that at the balcony of his apartment in Belgrade’s Vracar neighbourhood, Dragan Djilas, the head of the opposition Alliance for Serbia, and a former leader of the student protests of the 1990s, used a wooden spoon to bang a pot.

“This energy (from the 1990s) has re-emerged as the people cannot endure any longer ... these lockdowns, these 80-hour incarcerations,” Djilas told Reuters.

A surge in coronavirus infections on Ireland’s border with Northern Ireland has prompted concern about a possible spillover between the two jurisdictions, writes Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s Dublin correspondent.

Seven of the eight counties in Ireland with the highest incidence of cases are now clustered in the north-east, epidemiological reports from Ireland’s Health Service Executive showed this week.

Cavan, a largely rural landscape, has overtaken Dublin as the county with the highest rate of infection, with an incidence of 753.5 per 100,000 people compared with Dublin’s 684.6. Cavan has a 43-mile border with the county of Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, which has a looser lockdown than the republic.

Infection rates have also increased sharply in Monaghan, which has an incidence of 570.2, and Louth, with 463.2.

War-ravaged Yemen reports five cases of coronavirus

Five coronavirus cases have been reported in Aden, southern Yemen, by the country’s internationally recognised government, raising the prospect that the war-ravaged country will soon also have an outbreak of the new disease.

The country, already declared “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis” by the UN, had so far apparently avoided a mass epidemic, with just a single case reported in early April in the southern government-controlled province of Hadramawt.

But five new cases were reported in the southern city of Aden, the interim capital of the internationally-recognised government, the committee monitoring the outbreak said in a Twitter post.

Over the past six years, tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in waged by a Saudi-led coalition, armed with billions of dollars’ of high-tech British and American weapons, on Houthi rebels backed by Iran.

Humanitarian agencies recently warned that only half of the country’s medical centres are operational. According to the UN more than 24 million Yemenis - more than two thirds of the population - need aid to survive.

UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told a virtual news briefing in Geneva

Yemen is already considered to be the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

The country is now also facing the overlapping threat of the coronavirus pandemic, and the impact of recent torrential rain and flooding.

Deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy increased by 323 on Wednesday, compared to 382 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new infections stood at 2,086, broadly stable from 2,091 on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on 21 February now stands at 27,682, the agency said, the second highest in the world after that of the US.

The number of officially confirmed cases, which includes those who have died and recovered, amounts to 203,591, the third highest global tally behind those of the US and Spain.

The UK now has Europe’s second-highest official Covid-19 death toll after Italy, after revised figures were published including deaths from the virus outside hospitals.

With 27,359 deaths, Italy remains Europe’s worst-affected country; Spain is now in third place with 24,275 deaths; France is fourth with 23,660.

As reported below, the official death toll in the UK is now 26,097. With high numbers of deaths still being reported, it seems set to overtake Italy’s toll soon.

Updated

Official UK death toll up by 4,419

The official UK Covid-19 death toll has increased by 4,419 after the government included deaths outside hospital for the first time.

As of 5pm on Tuesday, total of 26,097 patients had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, according to Public Health England.

The figures have been revised retrospectively by PHE since the first death on 2 March 2020. They include 765 deaths reported in the 24 hours to 5pm on 28 April.

The change comes after weeks of criticism of the way that the UK had been reporting its coronavirus death toll, which made effective comparisons with other European countries impossible.

Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at PHE, said:

“Every death from COVID-19 is a tragedy. Tracking the daily death count is vital to help us understand the impact of the disease.

“These more complete data will give us a fuller and more up to date picture of deaths in England and will inform the government’s approach as we continue to protect the public.”

Updated

No clinical benefits from remdesivir, study finds

Treating coronavirus patients with the antiviral drug remdesivir showed no “significant clinical benefits” in the first randomised trial of its kind, according to research released on Wednesday, AFP reports.

In a study among more than 200 Covid-19 patients in Wuhan, China, published in The Lancet, doctors found no positive effects of administering the drug compared with a control group of adults.

The findings were released after US pharmaceutical giant Gilead, which makes remdesivir, said a separate large-scale trial with the drug had showed positive results.

“Unfortunately, our trial found that while safe and adequately tolerated, remdesivir did not provide significant benefits over placebo,” said Bin Cao from China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Capital Medical University in China, who led the research.

“This is not the outcome we hoped for.”

Updated

Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday that his government wants a presidential election due in May to go ahead by postal ballot, despite widespread criticism that it will be neither free, fair, legal nor safe.

It was unclear on Wednesday whether Morawiecki’s governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party would scrape together enough votes to pass legislation allowing the postal ballot at a 7 May sitting of parliament.

Polls show that PiS-allied incumbent President Andrzej Duda could receive 50 percent of the vote for a likely round one victory. But only one in four voters want the election to go ahead as scheduled on 10 May, according to a fresh opinion poll.

Liberal opposition leaders have called on voters to boycott the election, should it go ahead as scheduled.

Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki wears a protective mask as he attends a parliamentary debate in Warsaw
Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki wears a protective mask as he attends a parliamentary debate in Warsaw Photograph: Radek Pietruszka/EPA

Poland will reopen hotels, shopping centres and childcare facilities next week, Morawiecki said as he outlined steps to ease the country’s coronavirus lockdown. Hotels, malls and some museums will reopen on 4 May, while childcare facilities will resume work two days later, he said.

Wearing masks outdoors and social distancing would still be mandatory, he added, appealing for “social discipline” on the “bumpy road to flattening the curve” of infection and death.

“We’re opening up the economy significantly, but we’re not loosening safety rules by an inch,” Morawiecki said, adding that stores would continue to allow only one person per 15 square meters (yards).

“We can’t be irresponsible, I ask you to maintain social discipline,” he said.

Poles have been required to stay home since last month. The country reported 197 new cases and 10 new deaths on Wednesday, bringing its total death toll to 624 out of 12,640 cases, while 3,025 patients have been recorded as having fully recovered.

Germany extends travel warning to 14 June

Germany has extended its global travel warning until 14 June, and has said it will review the situation once again then, Kate Connolly, the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, reports.

But with German summer holidays, which are staggered across the country, already due to start in some regions on 22 June, some have been calling on the government to make a more definitive call as to whether summer is on or off.

Many Germans are already gearing themselves up for a staycation, or ‘Heimaturlaub’ as it’s being dubbed here, though even that is uncertain, as the government message remains “stay at home”.

A decision on domestic travel - currently restricted to anything but essential journeys - is due to be announced on 6 May.

Heiko Maas, the foreign minister, said the travel warning was in line with the many other countries in the world which have entry bans and stay at home orders, and airlines who have drastically reduced flights, meaning that even if the German government allowed people to travel they risked getting stuck abroad.

The government recently spent several weeks and millions of euros bringing home 240,000 Germans stranded abroad due to the coronavirus.

Maas said: “We will not be repeating anything similar in the coming summer”.

He said he still had hopes that the travel restrictions could be lifted in June, “towards which everyone can do their bit, by sticking to the rules still in place,” he said, meaning first and foremost physical distancing. “We are simply not yet there in fighting this pandemic, where we would like to be,” Maas said.

By Wednesday afternoon, Germany had 160,553 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 6,451 people had died.

The government’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute said yesterday the country’s reproduction rate is currently at 1, which means every person with the illness is passing it on to one other person. This slight rise - from 0.7 two weeks ago - is not, as has sometimes been reported, attributable to an easing of lockdown conditions, as they only happened a week ago. The figures to watch will be those next Wednesday, as the virus’ incubation period is up to two weeks.

Updated

A dozen European Union member states have called for a relaxation of air-passenger rights rules to help airlines deal with the economic fallout from coronavirus, writes Jennifer Rankin, the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent.

France, Poland, the Netherlands and Ireland are among the 12 countries who have proposed amending EU rules, so airlines can reimburse cancelled tickets with vouchers, rather than cash.

Air-France/KLM and Lufthansa are currently negotiating government bailouts, while British Airways has announced plans to make 12,000 employees redundant, as the virus has brought international travel to a near standstill, leaving planes grounded.

The 12 member states argue the requirement of a 2004 EU regulation to reimburse cancelled flights in cash is adding to airlines’ cash-flow problems.

The joint statement calls on the European commission, which oversees EU law, to urgently amend the law.

The goal shared by the European Union and its member states must now be to preserve the structure of the European air traffic market beyond the current crisis, while considering the interests and necessary protection of passengers.

British Airways branded aircraft grounded at Cardiff airport
British Airways branded aircraft grounded at Cardiff airport Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

The EU’s 27 transport ministers are holding a conference call to discuss an exit from current restrictions. So far the commission has declined to say publicly whether it backs the voucher plan.

“The debate is ongoing so I am not now giving you the final word,” European commission vice president Vĕra Jourová told reporters earlier today. But her colleague in charge of transport, Adina Vălean, has previously said airlines can only offer vouchers if passengers can accept them.

Ministers are also looking at what green strings should be attached to airline bailouts. France’s transport minister Élisabeth Borne has said government aid for Air France would be linked to cutting pollution, including a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2024 for domestic flights and fleet renewal to cut total emissions.

The World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is outlining what happened before his declaration of a worldwide public health emergency three months ago.

There have been continual questions raised - most prominently by the US - about the actions of the WHO in raising the alarm over the virus, so Ghebreyesus’s statement today is probably to some extent a defence of its decisions.

Updated

Here are the latest coronavirus statistics from Somalia.

Today’s World Health Organization press briefing is just beginning. You can tune in live in the player at the top of the blog.

In South Africa more than 6 million people have been screened for Covid-19 and 200,000 tests have been carried out, says health minister Zweli Mkhize.

The country is yet to publish its coronavirus statistics for today.

Online demand for the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine surged by more than 1,000% after Donald Trump endorsed it as a potential treatment for Covid-19 without providing evidence it worked, a new study has found, writes Guardian US reporter Jessica Glenza in New York.

There are no proven prescription therapies to treat Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Despite the lack of evidence, the presidential endorsement drove up online searches for buying hydroxychloroquine, and its chemical cousin chloroquine, by 1,389% and 442% respectively.

Internet searches remained high, researchers said, even after NBC News reported an American couple had accidentally poisoned themselves by taking a liquid containing chloroquine meant to treat parasites in fish tanks, following a Trump press briefing in which he promoted the drug.

Michael Liu, a graduate student at Oxford University and the study’s first author, said in a statement:

We know that high-profile endorsements matter in advertising, so it stands to reason that these endorsements could spur people to seek out these medications.

The research was published as a letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine.

The UK home secretary has said she is considering enforced quarantine and thermal screening at the border, among possible measures to prevent further spread of coronavirus, as she was challenged by MPs over the UK border policy during the pandemic, reports Jamie Grierson, the Guardian’s home affairs correspondent.

Many other countries have implemented some kind of border screening regime to ensure they are not importing new cases of the disease. Some even closed their borders entirely.

Appearing before an online session of the home affairs select committee, Priti Patel said the UK’s approach was being informed by advice from the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) but added that “everything is under review”.

UK home secretary Priti Patel giving evidence to a remote session of the parliamentary home cffairs committee on dealing the coronavirus outbreak
UK home secretary Priti Patel giving evidence to a remote session of the parliamentary home cffairs committee on dealing the coronavirus outbreak Photograph: PRU/AFP via Getty Images

Patel was told 130 countries had taken stricter approaches at the border than the UK, including Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Italy, Singapore, Australia and Greece. She said:

We are not similar to those countries, in terms of travellers and passenger flows. It’s a fact that the UK has one of the largest numbers of international arrivals, very different flows to some of the countries mentioned that is a key consideration of Sage.

But the home secretary said discussions were ongoing, adding: “We rule nothing out.”

Several hundred small business owners protested in Kiev, Ukraine, on Wednesday, demanding the authorities ease anti-virus restrictions to save them from bankruptcy, AFP reports.

Wearing surgical masks, demonstrators briefly blocked traffic outside a government building in the centre of the capital in defiance of rules against public gatherings, an AFP journalist reported.

“One more day of your protection and we will disappear!” read one slogan.

Police speak with small business owners holding a rally against the lockdown measures in Kiev, Ukraine
Police speak with small business owners holding a rally against the lockdown measures in Kiev, Ukraine Photograph: Ukrinform/REX/Shutterstock
A police officer scuffles with a protester
A police officer scuffles with a protester Photograph: Ukrinform/REX/Shutterstock

Ukraine reported 456 new cases and 11 new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 9,866 coronavirus cases and the death toll to 250.

The country has been under lockdown since March, when authorities ordered all non-essential businesses to close - with only grocery stores and pharmacies permitted to remain open.

Public transport has been reserved for employees of essential services, including police and hospital staff.

Venezuela has said it is ready to accept humanitarian assistance from anywhere in the world to deal with its coronavirus outbreak, after US officials apparently said it had refused help.

In an announcement on the government website, Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, said:

We are ready to receive any humanitarian aid or donation from any country wants today. We have very clear priorities.

The situation in Venezuela was discussed on Tuesday at the UN security council, with EU members warning after the meeting that the coronavirus pandemic risks inflicting “a devastating human impact in a country grappling with an already grave economic, social and humanitarian situation.”

In a statement, members of the group said:

The EU members of the Security Council call for the depoliticization of humanitarian assistance and for safe and unhindered humanitarian access throughout the country.

The EU members of the Security Council reiterate that EU sanctions in Venezuela are targeted against individuals responsible for grave human rights violations and explicitly designed not to affect the population. Therefore the sanctions do not impede humanitarian or medical assistance in any way.

The EU is the largest donor to the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis, providing more than half of all funding. We call for more efforts to respond to the underfunded relief efforts for this complex humanitarian emergency.

Egypt is the African country with the most coronavirus infections, according to a daily round up reported by the World Health Organization’s regional office for the continent.

With 5,042 infections, according to the update posted earlier today, Egypt is slightly ahead of South Africa, which has 4,996 confirmed cases. The country which has recorded the most deaths so far is Algeria.

The WHO has repeatedly warned that the outbreak in Africa is in its early stages and could prove devastating, although many African countries have acted fast to impose lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.

Some point to a low overall level of testing on the continent as a reason why there are comparatively few confirmed cases among its 1.3bn people.

US plane manufacturer Boeing plans to axe 16,000 jobs – one in 10 of its global workforce – in a drastic round of cost cutting in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the grounding of its 737 Max plane, Jasper Jolly reports.

The job losses come after the US manufacturer made a core operating loss of $1.7bn during the first three months of the year during an unprecedented crisis for the global aerospace and aviation industries. It has also increased estimates of the 737 Max costs to $5bn in total.

Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, where its 737 Max airliners are built
Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, where its 737 Max airliners are built Photograph: Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

The manufacturer has been bleeding money after two fatal crashes in two years prompted the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max, while the coronavirus pandemic has wiped out global demand for air travel. Boeing’s airline customers have cut thousands of jobs to adjust to lower demand, such as British Airways’ plan to make 12,000 workers redundant.

Boeing’s chief executive, Dave Calhoun, said the crisis was putting “unprecedented pressure” on the company, but said it was “progressing toward the safe return to service of the 737 Max”. It had already suspended 737 Max production in December as it awaited regulatory approval to fly again.

The airline manufacturer is seeking a bailout worth tens of billions of dollars from the US government as it tries to survive.

Updated

Germany faces its worst recession since the second world war, with its GDP predicted to shrink by a record 6.3%, the government said on Wednesday.

AFP reported the economy minister Peter Altmaier as saying:

We will experience the worst recession in the history of the federal republic.

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic will push our economy into a recession after 10 years of growth.

Germany in particular will feel the pain from disruptions to supply chains and lower demand for made-in-Germany goods from abroad, with exports expected to plunge 11.6%, Altmaier said.

The government offered a glimmer of hope however, predicting that the economy would bounce back in 2021 and grow by 5.2 % as the virus impact wanes and businesses reopen.

Half world's workers 'at risk of unemployment'

The International Labour Organisation has warned that almost half the global workforce – 1.6 billion people – are in “immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed” by the economic impact of Covid-19, Philip Inman, a Guardian economics writer, reports.

Of the total global working population of 3.3 billion, about 2 billion work in the “informal economy”, often on short-term contracts or self-employment, and suffered a 60% collapse in their wages in the first month of the crisis. Of these, 1.6 billion face losing their livelihoods, the ILO warned on Wednesday.

“It shows I think in the starkest possible terms that the jobs employment crisis and all of its consequences is deepening by comparison with our estimates of three weeks ago,” the UN agency’s director general, Guy Ryder, told a briefing, foreseeing a “massive” poverty impact.

For millions of workers, no income means no food, no security and no future. Millions of businesses around the world are barely breathing They have no savings or access to credit. These are the real faces of the world of work. If we don’t help them now, they will simply perish.

Measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in jails should not lead to impunity for prisoners convicted of serious violations of human rights, genocide or other crimes against humanity, a UN expert has said.

Fabián Salvioli, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, has published guidelines for governments in dealing with such serious criminals.

In the first instance, Salvioli says, they should be relocated to prisons where they can be detained in safe and healthy conditions. Only if this is impossible should they be placed under temporary house arrest. Under no circumstances should they be pardoned or otherwise become exempt from their criminal liability.

In the guidelines, published on Wednesday in English and Spanish, he added:

These individuals usually enjoy conditions of detention - established for security reasons - that avoid mass contact (for example, through detention in special establishments and/or in individual or two or three person cells), which places them at an advantage in terms of safety and health compared to other persons deprived of their liberty.

Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that former Chilean military agents convicted of serious human rights violations under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet could be freed by a ruling that sought to halt the spread of the coronavirus among the country’s prison population.

Some government senators had argued that it should also apply to inmates at the infamous Punta Peuco prison – a comfortable facility housing about 70 inmates convicted of dictatorship-era human rights violations.

More than 5,000 people in Brazil have lost their lives to the coronavirus – even more people than in China, if its official statistics are to be believed.

But, writes Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro, on Tuesday night Brazil’s president shrugged off the news. “So what?” Jair Bolsonaro told reporters when asked about the record 474 deaths that day. “I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”

Bolsonaro’s 11-word response – the latest in a series of remarks belittling the pandemic – sparked immediate fury. One newspaper, the Estado de Minas, stamped the president’s words on to a black front page beside Brazil’s death toll: 5,017.

“Bolsonaro isn’t just an awful politician and a bad president, he’s a despicable human being,” tweeted Marcelo Freixo, a leftwing opponent.

A wave of disgust swept over social media as word of the president’s comments spread. “A sociopath,” tweeted the musician Nando Moura. “What a tragedy,” wrote the journalist Sônia Bridi.

“It’s a mockery. An insult. It is intolerable,” tweeted Mariliz Pereira Jorge, a scriptwriter and commentator.

Damien Gayle back at the controls now after my break. Remember you can reach me with any tips, comments or suggestions for coverage via email at damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter DM to @damiengayle.

The Japanese government are planning to extend the state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic by about one month for the entire country, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

A man wearing a face mask stands in front of the Tokyo Skytree in Tokyo on April 29, 2020. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP) (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)
A man wearing a face mask stands in front of the Tokyo Skytree in Tokyo on April 29, 2020. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP) (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images) Photograph: Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images

The government will make a final decision after hearing from experts at a meeting on Friday, the Nikkei said.

The state of emergency is currently scheduled to end on 6 May.

Updated

A fruit and vegetable seller waits for customers after street markets were reopened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A fruit and vegetable seller waits for customers after street markets were reopened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 29, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic. - Rio de Janeiro’s municipality authorized the reopening of street markets but under safety measures as the use of alcohol gel, face masks and keeping a distance of two meters between each stand. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel / AFP) (Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty Images)
A fruit and vegetable seller waits for customers after street markets were reopened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 29, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic. - Rio de Janeiro’s municipality authorized the reopening of street markets but under safety measures as the use of alcohol gel, face masks and keeping a distance of two meters between each stand. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel / AFP) (Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty Images) Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

Guinea-Bissau’s Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam has tested positive coronavirus alongside three members of his cabinet, AP reports.

Nabiam, Interior Minister Botche Cande and two other ministers were diagnosed on Tuesday and have been quarantined at a hotel in the capital Bissau, Health Minister Antonio Deuna told journalists.

He did not provide details of the officials’ condition or treatment, but warned the country’s rate of infection could rise.

The West African nation has so far confirmed more than 70 cases and one death - a senior police commissioner.

Swiss government extends ban on large public events

The Swiss government has extended its ban on public events exceeding 1000 people until the end of August, even as it announced the easing of some other restrictions on sporting events, shops, restaurants and museums.

Some border restrictions will also begin being eased from May 11, it said. Moreover, professional sports teams can resume play on June 8, the government added, though without spectators.

It will decide on events of less than 1,000 people on May 27. At this stage, gatherings are limited to five people.

This is Gregory Robinson, taking over the live blog for the next hour. If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter to share insight or to send tips, I’m on @Gregoryjourno or send me an email at gregory.robinson@guardian.co.uk

Updated

Here is the latest coronavirus update from Kenya’s Ministry of Health.

Sweden passes 20,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus

The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Sweden rose past the 20,000 mark on Wednesday, after the Nordic country reported another 681 infections.

The latest update from Sweden’s Public Health Agency showed there were now 20,302 cases of coronavirus in the country, which has held back from the kinds of strict lockdowns seen elsewhere in the world.

Another 107 deaths were reported, bringing the Swedish Covid-19 death toll to 2,462, while 1,005 patients have so far recovered.

India’s confirmed coronavirus death toll passed 1,000 on Wednesday following its highest daily increase, but the numbers remain low compared with Europe and the United States in a phenomenon that is puzzling experts, AFP reports.

With massive slums and a shaky healthcare system, there were fears India would be ravaged by the pandemic that has killed more than 214,000 people worldwide.

The latest daily toll of 73 deaths was India’s highest, offering a warning that the giant South Asian nation was not yet in the clear.

A lack of testing and many other factors mean that India’s official toll of 1,007 deaths could be far below the real number of coronavirus victims.

Virologist T. Jacob John told AFP:

We see low numbers but we do not know how to validate those numbers or rates ... Governments desire under-reporting and ... we are flying blind for true rates and numbers.

Throughout this outbreak we have been gripped by the Johns Hopkins University world map showing the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. Now the Manchester-based Omega Research Foundation has published another kind of coronavirus map, plotting the spread of coronavirus-related civil rights abuses. The researchers say:

In recent months many states have created emergency powers to slow the spread of coronavirus. Law enforcement agencies have frequently been tasked with enforcing lockdowns, quarantine and social distancing measures. During this time a large number of allegations of excessive force in implementing such measures have emerged.

… This map seeks to gather together instances of alleged excessive use of force that have occurred in the context of coronavirus measure or protests arising from coronavirus-related concerns. Due to the sheer number of cases the map does not include all incidents reported; instead it seeks to provide a barometer of the nature and geographic spread of such cases.

Ireland set to extend lockdown

Ireland looks set to extend its lockdown despite growing calls to ease restrictions and salvage the economy, reports Rory Carroll in Dublin.

The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said on Wednesday that new cases of Covid-19 infections, deaths and intensive care admissions appeared too high to start relaxing rules that are to expire on 5 May.

We’ll be getting new advice from the chief medical officer on Friday as to when we should start that process of reopening the economy and the country. I don’t think I’d be out of school by saying that those numbers just aren’t good enough yet. Maybe it will change significantly by Friday, but as things stand I don’t think we’re there yet.

Delays in ramping up testing, which are at only half the promised rate of 15,000 tests a day, are another reason the lockdown may be extended.

Speaking during a visit with health officials to a community assessment hub in Dublin, Varadkar said the government would this week outline an “exit strategy” to reopening the country.

Compliance with restrictions remains high but some business leaders, politicians and commentators are demanding more clarity and urgency about restoring economic activity.

Varadkar was photographed on Monday wearing scrubs and a face mask while helping with Covid-19 testing at a Traveller site in his west Dublin constituency. A medical doctor before becoming a full-time politician, he re-registered last month to do one shift a week.

Updated

Another 145 people have died from Covid-19 in the Netherlands, the highest daily reported number in more than a week, bringing the country’s total reported death toll from the virus to 4,711.

According to the latest update from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), 386 more people have been found to be infected with the coronavirus - more than double the number reported on Tuesday, when the lowest number for several weeks was recorded.

So far the country has recorded 38,802 confirmed cases.

Of those, 10,685 have been treated in hospital, with a further 76 Covid-19-related admissions reported on Wednesday.

Not all of the reported hospital admissions or deaths occurred within the last 24 hours, RIVM said.

Euronews correspondent Oliver Miočić has discovered that a dozen EU countries are to ask the EU commission for a temporary suspension of passengers’ rights to a refund for flights cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

It comes as the airline industry is on its knees from a collapse in international travel as a result of the outbreak.

The World Bank has allocated $195m to 64 poor countries to help finance their efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a press release from the bank, which provides loans and grants to poorer countries for capital projects, the money is to go towards medical equipment, therapeutics and medicines, and to support health workers.

Annette Dixon, Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank, said:

This funding is in addition to the World Bank Group’s commitment of up to US$160 billion to fight COVID-19. PEF funding will supplement the critical emergency support operations underway to help save lives, detect, prevent and respond to coronavirus in poor countries.

The funding was on Wednesday welcomed by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization.

Russia has extended an entry ban for foreigners to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The decree barring foreigners from entering the country, which was introduced in mid-March, was set to expire Wednesday. But instead prime minister Mikhail Mishustin extended it apparently until further notice.

According to a report on AFP, Mishustin told officials meeting to discuss Russia’s response to the pandemic:

I have signed a government resolution on extending it until the fight against the infection is over and the epidemic situation has improved.

Russia reported 5,841 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing its overall nationwide case tally to 99,399. The official nationwide death toll reached 972 on Wednesday after 108 more deaths were announced.

President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that Russia had not yet reached the peak of coronavirus infections and extended lockdown measures in the country for two weeks.

Russian nationals arriving at the Sheremetyevo International Airport on an Aeroflot repatriation flight from New York
Russian nationals arriving at the Sheremetyevo International Airport on an Aeroflot repatriation flight from New York Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

Summary

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:

  • The official global death toll exceeded 217,000, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University researchers. They said at least 3,116,680 people have been infected worldwide and at least 217,168 have died since the outbreak began.
  • China’s parliament is to hold its annual meeting from 22 May - more than two months later than planned. Conditions for holding the meeting have been met as the coronavirus situation has improved, decision makers said.
  • Russia’s coronavirus case tally neared the 100,000 milestone after the country reported 5,841 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing its overall nationwide tally to 99,399, Reuters reports.
  • UK government is still aiming for 100,000 daily tests by tomorrow, according to the environment secretary, George Eustice. He said the search for an effective antibody test was still under way and denied that earlier introduction of testing at care homes would have saved lives.
  • The coronavirus outbreak needs to be contained before 2021 Olympics can go ahead, the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said. “The Olympic Games must be held in a way that shows the world has won its battle against the coronavirus pandemic.”
  • The UK prime minister Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds announced the birth of a baby boy. Johnson returned to frontline work on Monday after falling ill with coronavirus and spending time in intensive care.
  • Air passenger numbers are down 99% in the UK, the home secretary told MPs, as she defended the government’s decision not to test individuals entering the country. On Friday, a total of 9,906 people entered the country.

Updated

A group of major Portuguese authors have found a way to keep themselves and their readers busy during the lockdown: they’re writing a serial novel, with each writer given 24 hours to respond to the previous chapter, writes Guardian books reporter Alison Flood.

Portugal’s literary version of the exquisite corpse game was dreamed up by the award-winning author Ana Margarida de Carvalho, who challenged her fellow writers to join her in writing a collective, serial novel with her as Portugal went into lockdown. More than 40 responded, their story opening with a group of scientists trying to find a cure for a virus that has caused a global pandemic.

Describing the project, De Carvalho said:

For us, writers, it is normal and it may even be a good condition to be closed and focused to write our books. But when we are compelled to do so, when we find ourselves under a catastrophe of such an overwhelming scale, I think that what could be an ideal time to write turns into extremely suffocating conditions. So, instead of dedicating myself to my own book and making a quarantine diary, describing trips around my room as Xavier de Maistre, I thought it might be more interesting to break the walls around us through literature, and bypass the social isolation.

Schools in Turkey will remain shut until the end of May, education minister Ziya Selcuk has said, in keeping with growing indications the country will try to reopen after the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, reports Bethan McKernan, the Guardian’s Turkey and Middle East correspondent, in Istanbul.

Schools were initially closed on 12 March, after Turkey confirmed its first case of Covid-19. Officials have since instigated wide-reaching measures to slow the spread of the virus, but resisted calls to shut down the economy completely, fearing that a second recession in as many years will further damage the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party’s already waning popularity.

Kadikoy dock in Istanbul remains nearly empty due to precautionary measures taken against the coronavirus
Kadikoy dock in Istanbul remains nearly empty due to precautionary measures taken against the coronavirus Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Turkey is one of the worst affected countries in the world with nearly 115,000 cases and a death toll of nearly 3,000, although doctors’ unions say infections are underreported. There has been a fall in newly reported deaths over the last eight days.

Both international and domestic Turkish Airlines flights will stay grounded until 28 May, the national carrier said in a statement on Tuesday.

Earlier this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised forthcoming details on a timeframe for reviving both the public and private sectors.

As France prepares to end its lockdown on 11 May, the government has published a number of key dates for the gradual reopening of public life, Kim Willsher, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent, reports.

All will depend on the spread of the virus. If there are still too many cases, the lockdown restrictions will not be eased. In any case, decisions on where to ease restrictions will be taken in consultation with local authorities and will differ in different regions.

A sticker reading ‘for all our health, let this seat free’, stuck on a seat to encourage social distancing among commuters on the Paris metro
A sticker reading ‘for all our health, let this seat free’, stuck on a seat to encourage social distancing among commuters on the Paris metro Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images

30 April: the head of the health authority, French Public Health Jérôme Salomon will begin giving data on the virus in each French department in his evening coronavirus figures. This data will be used to decide where lockdown restrictions will be eased and where some may continue.

7 May: Depending on where the virus is “circulating”, each department will be designated “green”, where restrictions will be lifted on 11 May, or “red” where they may not.

11 May: Masks will be available for the general public. Shops - excluding shopping malls and centres - and businesses will reopen. Public transport will be up and running but masks will be obligatory and half the seats on trains, metros, trams and buses will be left empty to maintain social distancing.

Nursery and primary school staff will return to work to prepare for the reopening of establishments. Places of worship can reopen but no services to be held. Some parks will open in areas designated “green”.

12 May: Nurseries and primary school school classes reopen. Children in groups no bigger than 10 with no contact between them.

18 May: The two lowest secondary school (collège in French) years open. These are 6ème - ages 11-12 and 5ème (12-13). Classes of 15 pupils maximum, masks mandatory for pupils and professors, and hand gel to be widely available in schools.

May/June: Decision to be made on when bars, cafés, restaurants, cinemas and cultural establishments can reopen.

2 June: Further easing or tightening of restrictions will be introduced depending on the presence and spread of the coronavirus in the previous three weeks.

Updated

Paris coronavirus 'exiles' should return to the city at the end of lockdown

Paris coronavirus “exiles” should return to the city at the end of lockdown in France on 11 May, but not all at once, transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari has said, Kim Willsher, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent, reports.

The exodus of city-dwellers in the hours before the strict lockdown came into effect at noon on 17 March was hugely controversial. Those who left the capital were accused of spreading the virus to rural areas where they had holiday homes, and it also served the highlight the inequalities of Covid-19 dividing Parisiens into those lucky enough to have second homes who could flee Paris, and those confined in small flats often with no gardens, terraces or balconies who had no choice but to stay.

Those returning to the city by train must reserve their seats, which will be limited to half the number of passengers they would normally carry to avoid crowding.

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has warned non-essential long distance travel - journeys more than 100km - will be strongly discouraged even after 11 May.

There are several bank holidays in May in France, but Philippe said the population should not even think about “going away for the weekend”.

Updated

Vietnam says no domestic transmission for two weeks

As Europe and the US grapple with coronavirus outbreaks, agonising over plans to exit economically devastating lockdowns, one small south east Asian country has all but beaten the outbreak.

Vietnam has now gone five days straight without reporting any new confirmed cases of coronavirus, and nearly two weeks without any domestic transmission, with its prime minister saying on Tuesday that his country had “basically put the pandemic under control.”

By Wednesday, the country had recorded a total of just 270 cases, of whom 222 had been announced to have recovered, and zero deaths.

However, of those who still had active coronavirus infections, 11 had already tested negative at least once before relapsing, chàohanoi reported. According to the news site, Vietnam had conducted more than 210,000 coronavirus tests, without recording any domestic transmission for 13 days.

A man wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of coronavirus walks next to a hoarding marking the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon
A man wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of coronavirus walks next to a hoarding marking the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon Photograph: Nhac Nguyen/AFP via Getty Images

On Friday, Vietnam began easing some of its strict lockdown conditions, but it remains to be seen how it can continue its remarkable record without remaining effectively cut off from the rest of the world. Many other countries have since abandoned efforts to contain the disease, with some, such as the Netherlands and Sweden, now saying their strategy is to allow for a controlled spread through their populations to eventually achieve “herd immunity”.

Two new cases confirmed last Friday were Vietnamese patients who had recently returned from Japan.

Updated

In India, where there are now upwards of 25,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, misinformation and attacks on both the living who have caught the virus, and the dead, are becoming widespread, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, the Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, reports.

Digging the grave was slow, harrowing work. As Dr Pradeep Kumar and his two assistants shared only a single shovel between them, they took to using their hands, desperately and hurriedly grabbing fistfuls of mud, looking fearfully around every few minutes.

At about six metres deep they stopped. Kumar, convulsing with sorrow, rolled the wrapped body of his colleague, Dr Simon Hercules, into the grave, then quickly covered it over with earth. Under the cover of midnight darkness, the three men ran for their lives out of the cemetery.

“What happened to Dr Simon made me lose my faith in humanity,” said Kumar. “It should never happen to anyone ever, ever again.”

Updated

Another 325 people died of Covid-19 in Spain , in a slight increase in the daily figure that pushed the overall toll in the country past 24,000, the government said Wednesday, AFP reports.

Despite the rise from Tuesday’s figure of 301, it was the sixth consecutive day that the number has been below 400 in Spain, which has now lost 24,275 lives as a result of the coronavirus.

The number of people who have recovered from the virus rose by 6,399 over the past 24 hours in what was a record daily high since the start of the epidemic, raising the overall number to 108,947.

The latest figures show Spain has so far counted 212,917 cases of COVID-19, the second-highest figure in the world, although the health ministry only registers cases confirmed by testing.

Until late last week, the government was also including the numbers of those shown to have developed antibodies.

Spain has suffered the third-highest death toll in the world after the US and Italy.

Updated

Covid-related slaughterhouse shutdowns in the US are leading to fears of meat shortages and price rises, while farmers are being forced to consider “depopulating” their animals, reports Sophie Kevany for the Guardian’s Animals Farmed project.

More than 20 slaughterhouses have been forced to close, although some have subsequently reopened. On Tuesday President Trump issued an executive order to keep slaughterhouses open which would, he said, help solve liability problems for meat companies.

At least two million animals have already reportedly been culled on farm, and that number is expected to rise. Approved methods for slaughtering poultry include slow suffocation by covering them with foam, or by shutting off the ventilation into the barns.

A nationwide advisory issued last Friday by the US Department of Agriculture and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said state veterinarians and government officials would be ready to assist with culls, or “depopulation”, if alternatives could not be found.

Germany on Wednesday reported 1,304 more cases of the novel coronavirus and 202 more deaths, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.

The numbers, reported by Reuters, were a slight increase on the 1,154 new cases and 188 deaths announced on Tuesday.

Europe’s most populous country now has a total of 157,641 confirmed cases and 6,115 deaths, according to the tally.

From today in Germany, masks will be needed to enter shops, which began to open last week after the government declared its outbreak under control.

Nose and mouth coverings are already compulsory on buses, trains and trams.

Earlier, German MEP Dr Peter Liese said he agreed with his country’s decision to implement new rules legally requiring most people to wear face masks on public transport, long-distance trains and in shops.

Updated

This is Damien Gayle taking the reins on the live blog now for the next eight hours or so, keeping you up to date with the latest new of the coronavirus pandemic around the world.

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions for coverage please drop me a line via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle. I look forward to hearing from you.

Israelis celebrated their Independence Day at home Wednesday amid a nationwide lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Israeli medical teams of Sheba Medical Center, greet with their flags the passage of the voltage team of the Israeli Air Force above the hospital during the festivities of the day Independence of Israel (Yom Ha’atzmaut) on April 29, 2020 in Ramat Gan.
The Israeli medical teams of Sheba Medical Center, greet with their flags the passage of the voltage team of the Israeli Air Force above the hospital during the festivities of the day Independence of Israel (Yom Ha’atzmaut) on April 29, 2020 in Ramat Gan. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

The Associated Press reports that the the national holiday is usually a festive occasion with people heading to the beach, hosting barbecues and watching fireworks, but that was not possible this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Israeli air force devoted its annual fly-by to health workers, with planes crisscrossing the nation and performing aerial acrobatics over hospitals and medical centers. Other events were to be broadcast online, with no live audience.

A member of an Israeli Medical team, wearing a face mask, waves a nation flag as the Israeli Air Force (IAF) aerobatic team (unseen) flies in formation over the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) during Israel’s Independence Day.
A member of an Israeli Medical team, wearing a face mask, waves a nation flag as the Israeli Air Force (IAF) aerobatic team (unseen) flies in formation over the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) during Israel’s Independence Day. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA

Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has reached 5,957, according to a report by Reuters.

A health ministry official said the total number of coronavirus cases has reached 93,657.

Indonesia confirmed 260 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking the total in the south-east Asian nation to 9,771, Reuters reports.

Health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said there was 11 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 784, while 1,391 people have recovered. More than 67,700 people have been tested.

Updated

A demonstrator displays a banner that reads: ‘Hong Kong revolution of our time’ during a protest in a shopping mall in Hong Kong, China, 29 April 2020.
A demonstrator displays a banner that reads: ‘Hong Kong revolution of our time’ during a protest in a shopping mall in Hong Kong, China, 29 April 2020. Photograph: Jérôme Favre/EPA

Demonstrators chanted pro-democracy slogans in a luxury mall in Hong Kong on Wednesday, the latest in a string of small but determined protests as the city’s coronavirus outbreak slows, AP reports.

More than 100 protesters gathered at lunchtime in the Landmark Atrium mall in Central, a prestigious business and retail district, despite social distancing rules that prohibit public gatherings of more than four.

Malaysia reported 94 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with no new deaths, the health ministry said.

Reuters reports the country has so far recorded a total of 5,945 infections, with 100 fatalities.

In Afghanistan, the health ministry has warned that the country is heading toward the peak of coronavirus as Kabul recorded its biggest one-day rise of new infections amid a war raging across the country.

The health ministry confirmed 110 new Covid-19 over past 24 hours, pushing total number of infections to 1,939. This was triggered by biggest one-day rise of infections in Kabul and continued surge of transmission in Kandahar.

There were 58 confirmed cases in the capital Kabul, which has so far been country’s worst affected area with 555 confirmed cases. The city of six million is under a lockdown in a bid to contain spread of the virus.

Three patients died in Herat on Tuesday, Abdul Hakim Tamanna, the head of Herat’s health department, said, bringing the number of deaths to 61.

The number of new infections continued to surge in Kandahar on Wednesday as 15 new patients tested positive for Covid-19, Kandahar has so far recorded 249 cases.

President Ashraf Ghani has issued a decree Monday to release 12,399 prisoners convicted for different crimes to contain spread of virus in prisons. This is in addition to 10,000 already in the process to be released.

Wahidullah Mayar, a health ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday that the peak of the virus is yet to come and said a “number of new infections are rising daily so we’re heading toward the peak and I ask people to stay at home”.

Meanwhile, at least three civilians were killed and eight others were wounded in a suicide attack this morning in Kabul. The Afghan Commandos Special Unit said that the victims have been transferred to the hospital by Afghan commandos. No group has claimed responsibility.

Updated

Banks set on fire in Lebanon during deadly riots

Protests against growing economic hardship erupted in Tripoli and spread to other Lebanese cities, as the shutdown to fight the new coronavirus made matters worse for the economy

Banks were set ablaze as violence boiled over into a second night. One demonstrator was killed in riots, as a collapse in the currency, soaring inflation and spiralling unemployment convulse Lebanon, a country in deep financial crisis since October.

The Philippines’ health ministry said on Wednesday that confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the country have risen to more than 8,000, according to Reuters.

The health ministry recorded 254 new infections and 28 additional deaths.

The total coronavirus cases has reached 8,212, while deaths have hit 558.

Updated

Guardian reporter Febriana Firdaus has written about the fear and illness that’s been stalking Indonesia’s packed jails as prisoners hope for early release as part of the Covid-19 pardon programme.

Updated

Russia's coronavirus case tally nears 100,000 milestone

Russia reported 5,841 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing its overall nationwide case tally to 99,399.

Reuters reports that the official nationwide death toll reached 972 on Wednesday after 108 people with the virus died in the last 24 hours.

Singapore’s health ministry confirmed 690 more coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking total cases to 15,641.

Most of the new cases are among migrant workers living in dormitories in the city-state, which has among the highest number of coronavirus infections in Asia, according to a report by Reuters.

Coronavirus needs to be contained before 2021 olympics can go ahead

It will be difficult to host the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 unless the coronavirus pandemic is contained, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday.

The Tokyo Olympic games were postponed until next year following the rapid spread of the coronavirus. But Abe appeared doubtful about whether that could go ahead if the coronavirus remained a global issue.

Reuters reports when asked by an opposition lawmaker whether Tokyo could host the Games next year, Abe told parliament: “The Olympic Games must be held in a way that shows the world has won its battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

“Otherwise, it will be hard to hold the Games.”

Updated

President Donald Trump response has come under fire - again. This time, the criticism comes from Hu Xijin, the editor of the Chinese state-backed English-language paper, the Global Times.

German MEP Dr Peter Liese said he agrees with his country’s decision to implement new rules legally requiring most people to wear face masks on public transport, long-distance trains and in shops.

Liese also told Kay Burley on Sky News this morning that he was glad the UK was in the European research programme despite Brexit.

He said:

I think it’s a good decision when you are in a shop or public transport to wear a mask. You should still keep the distance, especially on public transport. There may be occasions where you can’t your distance and then the mask will help to reduce risk.

I’m happy the United Kingdom is still attributed to work with us in the European research programme. Even though we had Brexit and a transition period, we need to work together in developing therapy and vaccine in the United Kingdom, in the European Union, and in cooperation with other partners.

Updated

Vaccinations for up to 12 million children to prevent the spread of polio in Africa will be delayed, in a major redeployment of polio eradication resources to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Polio prevention campaigns, which are vital to avert outbreaks, will be suspended until at least the second half of 2020, said Dr Pascal Mkanda, the head of polio for World Health Organization Africa. The decision will inevitably lead to a rise in polio cases.

“We took the difficult decision to suspend these plans and considered it would have a significant impact on preventing the spread of new outbreaks,” he said. “New outbreaks of polio will appear because we will not be able to administer the vaccines in time.”

The move is the “right decision”, Mkanda said, “because we need to tackle Covid-19 and because the process of administering vaccinations can actually increase the spread of the virus”.

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan. I’m handing over from Sydney to my colleague Aamna Mohdin in London.

If you’ve not yet encountered this extremely Australian Youtube cooking show, well … here’s your chance, “Iso-Lords”:

Updated

Summary

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

  • Known global death toll exceeds 217,000. According to the Johns Hopkins researchers, at least 3,116,680 people have been infected worldwide and at least 217,168 have died since the outbreak began. The numbers are likely to be significant underestimates due to suspected underreporting and differing testing and recording systems around the world. US cases account for roughly a third of the known global total, at over 1 million.
  • China’s parliament will start its annual meeting on 22 May. China is set to hold its annual parliamentary meeting on 22 May, two months later than originally planned. China’s top political consultative body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, has also proposed to start its annual session on 21 May. It’s not clear yet how long the meetings will last. More than 5,000 delegates traditionally descend on Beijing from all over China for at least 10 days.
  • China warns relationship with Australia could be damaged ‘beyond repair’. The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has defied China and defended the “entirely reasonable and sensible” call for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, as the international political fallout over the pandemic deepened.
  • Three US children with coronavirus are being treated for rare inflammatory syndrome. Three US children infected with the coronavirus are being treated for a rare inflammatory syndrome that appears similar to one that has raised concerns by doctors in Britain, Italy and Spain, Reuters reports.
  • Nearly 70 residents have died at a Massachusetts home for ageing veterans. Sixty-eight veteran residents at the state-run Holyoke Soldiers’ Home who tested positive for the virus have died and it’s not known whether another person who died had Covid-19.
  • Virus crisis could lead to 18,000 more cancer deaths in UK, experts warn. Almost 18,000 more people with cancer in England could die after the coronavirus pandemic led hospitals to suspend treatment and deterred patients from seeking NHS care, research has found.
  • Fitch downgrades Italy’s rating to BBB-. Italy is the European country most affected by Covid-19 and trails only the US in the number of deaths.The government has said it expects the country’s economic output to shrink by 8% this year and has launched a host of stimulus measures.
  • USS Theodore Roosevelt navy sailors will begin moving back on board. Navy sailors who have been quarantined on Guam for weeks will begin moving back to the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Tuesday night, US officials said.
  • Streamed films to be eligible for Oscars. Films released on streaming platforms only will be eligible for Academy Awards next year because of the pandemic’s disruption to the industry, the organisers of the Oscars have said. The change will only apply to films released this year.

Updated

Hotels in Poland will be open for summer holidays, government spokesman Piotr Muller told state radio on Wednesday, while adding that the novel coronavirus infections were still on the rise in the country, Reuters reports.

On Wednesday, the Polish government is set to announce its decision with regards to reopening some businesses closed until now due to the pandemic.

Summer holidays are traditionally held over July and August in Poland, but it is not entirely clear if that will be the case this year. The government has just extended school closures until 24 May.

A pink Easter bunny statue wearing a protective mask is seen in front of the Grand Hote in Sopot, Poland
A pink Easter bunny statue wearing a protective mask is seen in front of the Grand Hote in Sopot, Poland. Photograph: STAFF/Reuters

Updated

Extend coronavirus wage subsidies or risk delayed redundancies, firms warn

The UK government’s plan to subsidise the wages of workers affected by the Covid-19 lockdown should be extended until at least autumn to prevent it from becoming a “waiting room” for redundancy, employers groups have argued.

Demanding the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, make urgent changes to protect workers, firms and the wider economy, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said the Treasury’s multibillion-pound coronavirus job retention scheme needed to be made more flexible to allow furloughed staff to work reduced hours.

It also said the scheme should run until at least the end of September to help firms through continuing lockdown measures or the gradual easing of tough controls on social and business activity across Britain.

UK Papers, Wednesday, 29 April

BBC could quarantine actors and crews on dramas to aid filming

The BBC could put actors and directors in quarantine and remove the studio audience from Strictly Come Dancing under plans to help restart television production after the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the industry.

The proposals, which could affect everything from EastEnders to light entertainment and high-end dramas, are being considered as broadcasters face up to the prospect of enormous gaps in their schedules after much of British television production was stopped dead in mid-March.

China bristles at call by Australia to investigate Covid-19 origin

The Guardian’s Paul Karp and Helen Davidson report:

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has defied China and defended the “entirely reasonable and sensible” call for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, as the international political fallout over the pandemic deepened.

China has been pushing back against criticism from other governments about how it handled the outbreak of coronavirus, which is believed to have started in Wuhan and which has now infected 3 million people worldwide and killed 200,000.

Donald Trump’s accusation at the weekend that Beijing could have done more to prevent the deadly spread of the disease was met with fierce criticism from China’s state media.

While Australia has eschewed the more strident approach of the US, which has stopped funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it has urged its allies to back an overhaul of the WHO and suggested recruiting independent investigators akin to “weapons inspectors” to determine the source of major disease outbreaks.

On Wednesday Morrison said his government “will of course continue to pursue what is a very reasonable and sensible course of action”.

Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Podcast: why are women less likely to die from Covid-19?

Hannah Devlin speaks to Prof Sabra Klein about why women are much less likely to become seriously ill or die from Covid-19, and what the implications of this knowledge for future treatments might be:

Summary

Here are the most significant developments from the last few hours:

  • Known global death toll exceeds 217,168. According to the Johns Hopkins researchers, at least 3,116,680 people have been infected worldwide and at least 217,168 have died since the outbreak began. The numbers are likely to be significant underestimates due to suspected underreporting and differing testing and recording systems around the world.
  • China’s parliament will start its annual meeting on 22 May, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, more than two months later than originally planned due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. China’s top political consultative body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, has also proposed to start its annual session on 21 May.
  • Three US children with coronavirus being treated for rare inflammatory syndrome. Three US children infected with the coronavirus are being treated for a rare inflammatory syndrome that appears similar to one that has raised concerns by doctors in Britain, Italy and Spain, Reuters reports.
  • Nearly 70 residents infected with coronavirus have died at a Massachusetts home for ageing veterans, as state and federal officials try to figure out what went wrong in the deadliest known outbreak at a long-term care facility in the US, AP reports.
  • Virus crisis could lead to 18,000 more cancer deaths in UK, experts warn. Almost 18,000 more people with cancer in England could die after the coronavirus pandemic led hospitals to suspend treatment and deterred patients from seeking NHS care, research has found.
  • Fitch said Tuesday it was downgrading Italy’s rating to BBB- due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Italy is the European country most affected by Covid-19 and trails only the United States in the number of deaths.The government has said it expects the country’s economic output to shrink by 8% this year and has launched a host of stimulus measures.
  • USS Theodore Roosevelt navy sailors will begin moving back on board. Navy sailors who have been quarantined on Guam for weeks will begin moving back to the USS Theodore Roosevelt Tuesday night, US officials said. A coronavirus outbreak sidelined the aircraft carrier in late March, AP reports.
  • Brazil’s total number of confirmed deaths has now overtaken the WHO’s figure for China as cases accelerate in Latin America’s biggest country. The number of deaths in Brazil has now passed 5,000.
  • US confirmed coronavirus cases pass one million mark, accounting for a third of cases worldwide, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The US death toll is now over 57,000 people.
  • Streamed films to be eligible for Oscars. Films released on streaming platforms only will be eligible for Academy Awards next year because of the pandemic’s disruption to the industry, the organisers of the Oscars have said.
  • The head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases called on people to stay at home as much as possible as new figures show the country’s infection rate has increased.
  • France began outlining the schedule for the end of the lockdown. The prime minister, Édouard Philippe said: “Who could have envisaged a France where schools, universities, cafes, restaurants, the majority of businesses, libraries … beaches, stadiums … would be closed?”

Updated

‘Take your time over a sandwich’: lessons for lockdown from two years of bedrest

In 2016 Australian woman Kathryn Wilson was diagnosed with a rare and advanced tumour, which meant she spent two years confined to hospital beds, or her recovery bed at home. She offers some lockdown advice out of her two years of bedrest.

“Firstly, you need to make your world smaller,” Wilson says. “You need to learn to value things and people that are in your immediate field more highly than things that are inaccessible for you right now, so surround yourself with things you care about – that is your bubble.” For Wilson, that list included houseplants, the full Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson back catalogue and working out which two-minute noodle was superior.

Kathryn Wilson at home with her dog
Kathryn Wilson at home with her dog Photograph: Kathryn Wilson

For the majority of people, home is where we are going to be spending all our time until lockdown restrictions are eased, which is why you need to make it somewhere you want to be, she advises. “Put up artwork you like; if you hate your old sheets buy crisp new ones. I’m not saying you can shop your way out of this, but you’re going to be clocking a lot of time on your bed so upgrade anything you use daily that irks you.”

You need to readjust your thinking: you don’t want to save time, you want to fill it. When you don’t have anywhere to be you might as well take your time over a sandwich. Don’t be utilitarian about your lunch, apply relishes, make your own mayo. Meals are an important way of marking the passage of the day so make them something to look forward to.

Updated

At least five of Mexico City’s largest private hospitals have filled up with coronavirus patients and have no room for new ones, doctors and hospital workers said on Tuesday, though more than 100 other medical centres have available beds, Reuters reports.

The ABC medical centre, Medica Sur, Hospital Español and two of the Angeles group of hospitals were no longer receiving patients with Covid-19, the disease transmitted by the novel coronavirus.

Members of the Red Cross, nurses, and workers from the cement company CEMEX sanitise the Red Cross Hospital’s ambulance area in Monterrey, state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, on 28 April 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Members of the Red Cross, nurses, and workers from the cement company CEMEX sanitise the Red Cross Hospital’s ambulance area in Monterrey, state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, on 28 April 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. Photograph: Julio César Aguilar/AFP via Getty Images

Mexico has confirmed 16,752 coronavirus cases and 1,569 deaths, with the capital accounting for 4,400 of the cases and 348 of the deaths, the most of anywhere in the country. The government has said the real number of infected people is significantly higher than the tally of confirmed cases.

Overall, Mexico City still had 42% of its general hospital beds available and 67% of beds with respirators, the Mexican government’s head of epidemiology, Jose Luis Alomia, told a news conference late on Tuesday.

“The National Health System still has beds available to be able to attend these type of patients,” said Alomia. “But, as the cases increase ... we may see a decrease in the availability of beds.”

The UN Security Council took no action after discussing the humanitarian situation in Venezuela behind closed doors on Tuesday but its European Union members said the coronavirus pandemic risks having a devastating human impact in a country grappling with an already grave economic, social and humanitarian situation, AP reports.

A teenager student Jose Lara uses his computer at the roof of his house while trying to connect to the internet and receive his homework for the week during the second month of quarantine in the Country on 27 April 2020.
A teenager student Jose Lara uses his computer at the roof of his house while trying to connect to the internet and receive his homework for the week during the second month of quarantine in the Country on 27 April 2020. Photograph: Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Getty Images

A statement by France, Germany, Belgium, Estonia and former council member Poland reiterated EU concerns about the sharply deteriorating crisis in Venezuela and its destabilizing effects across the region, including its severe humanitarian consequences.

The members said the European Union is the largest donor to Venezuelas humanitarian crisis, providing more than half of all funding, and they called for stepped up efforts to respond to the countrys underfunded humanitarian emergency.

Kim Jong-un could be sheltering from Covid-19 pandemic, say US and Seoul

Kim Jong-un is not ill and could be sheltering from the coronavirus pandemic, according to South Korean and US officials, in the latest possible explanation for the North Korean leader’s recent absence from public life.

North Korea insists it has yet to identify a single case of Covid-19, despite sharing a border with China, where the outbreak is believed to have started.

Despite recent reports claiming that Kim had missed a key anniversary event after undergoing heart surgery, the South Korean unification minister, Kim Yeon-chul, said it was reasonable to assume that he had decided not to attend as a precaution.

Kim was absent from a 15 April ceremony to mark the anniversary of the birth of his grandfather – and North Korea’s founder – Kim Il-sung.

“We have intelligence capacity that allows us to say confidently that there are no unusual signs [in North Korea],” Kim Yeon-chul told a parliamentary hearing.

New Zealand looks on Australia’s loose lockdown with envy - and horror

Looking across the Tasman at their nearest neighbour’s Covid-19 elimination measures during their own strict lockdown of the past month, New Zealanders were torn: some complained that Australians were allowed to buy takeaway coffees and get haircuts under some more permissive lockdown measures. Others shuddered at pictures on social media of Sydney beachfronts thronged with people, saying the images made them “stressed” and “anxious”.

Either way, the topic of Australia’s more relaxed lockdown – and whether it would prove an economic saviour or a breeding ground for the virus – has never been far from the lips of opposition politicians, commentators, or New Zealanders stuck at home.

Both countries have been lauded internationally for their efforts to squash the coronarvirus curve, with a similar number of cases per capita – Australia’s is very slightly lower, with higher hospitalisation rates. New Zealand’s death toll from the virus is 19 compared with Australia’s 88, but it has a fifth of its neighbour’s population of 25m.

Mexico’s Interior Department urged towns and states Tuesday to stop putting up roadblocks and curfews to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, as hundreds have done.

The department said in a statement that such measures violate constitutional rights like the right to free movement, and argued that local governments don’t have the authority to enact them, AP reports.

The department said in a report that almost 20% percent of Mexican municipal governments, about 340, have put up checkpoints or filters to limit peoples movements. Most were concentrated along the country’s coasts, where many beach towns have tried to exclude travellers who might spread the coronavirus.

Workers use ozone to sanitise the Food Market area in Guadalajara, Mexico on April 28, 2020.
Workers use ozone to sanitise the Food Market area in Guadalajara, Mexico on April 28, 2020. Photograph: Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images

Dozens of towns have enacted curfews and at least three of the country’s 31 states have threatened to arrest people who don’t obey social distancing measures.

The department said the measures involving the use of force are not proportional, they encourage the abuse of authority, and they can have serious effects on supplies of food and medicine.

Mexico has about 16,750 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,569 deaths.

Coronavirus could cause ‘unprecedented’ backlog of court cases in the UK

The coronavirus outbreak could lead to court case delays of up to six months and record prisoner numbers once the lockdown has been lifted, according to a leading Whitehall thinktank.

Pressure on the criminal justice system from the pandemic combined with an anticipated rise in suspects facing charges could cause an “unprecedented” backlog of court proceedings in England and Wales, the Institute for Government (IfG) said.

Working alongside the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa), researchers said waiting times to hear cases could increase by more than 70% after a six-month lockdown, with many defendants and victims forced to wait more than half a year for crown court trials.

This could result in the highest average waiting time ever recorded, the IfG said.

A recap of recent news from Australia:

A national mental health program will be rolled out to ensure any gaps in access are closed. Some 800,000 people have had their claims for unemployment benefits processed.

So far 2.8 million people have downloaded the Australian government’s Covid-19 tracing app.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has linked the app’s take-up to restrictions being relaxed.

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern received a phone call from the Queen. Scott Morrison has heard from Prince Charles.

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 29 April 2020.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 29 April 2020. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA

Updated

In China, it’s not clear yet how long parliament’s annual meeting and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference will last, Reuters reports. The gatherings traditionally see more than 5,000 delegates descend on Beijing from all over China for at least 10 days, but the capital’s local government has imposed stringent quarantine rules for anyone entering the city from elsewhere and policymakers are wary of a possible resurgence.

Delegates line up to leave the hall after the opening of the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 5 March 2019.
Delegates line up to leave the hall after the opening of the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 5 March 2019. Photograph: How Hwee Young/EPA

Updated

China's parliament to hold annual meeting starting 22 May

China’s parliament will start its annual meeting on 22 May, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, more than two months later than originally planned due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.

Conditions for holding the annual meeting of parliament have been met as the coronavirus epidemic situation has improved in the country, Xinhua quoted the top decision-making body of the Chinese parliament as saying.

China’s top political consultative body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, has also proposed to start its annual session on 21 May.

Updated

Podcast: Where is the kit to protect NHS workers?

As medics and carers report widespread shortages of protective equipment, the government is facing pressure to explain why it appears the UK went into a pandemic under-resourced. Daniel Boffey and Rob Davies unpick the strategy and its failures:

Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, says international travel and mass gatherings will not be resuming ‘anytime soon’.

On lifting restrictions, Scott Morrison says don’t get your hopes up for a return to normal as we knew it.

Not until there is a vaccine (and even then, things will continue to be different. We are not going back to what we knew before):

Putting the protections in place for a Covid-safe Australia, which means we can get an economic growth occurring again, and move on to what Australians like doing again.

It won’t be exactly like it was before. I can’t see international travel occurring anytime soon. Can’t see that. The risks there are obvious.

The only exception to that, as I have flagged, is potentially with New Zealand, and we have had some good discussions about that. But outside of that, that is unlikely.

Virus crisis could lead to 18,000 more cancer deaths in UK, experts warn

The Guardian’s Denis Campbell and Caroline Bannock report:

Almost 18,000 more people with cancer in England could die after the coronavirus pandemic led hospitals to suspend treatment and deterred patients from seeking NHS care, research has found.

Cancer experts claim that an extra 6,270 people in England who have been newly diagnosed with the disease could die from it over the next 12 months as a direct result of the disruption caused by coronavirus, and the additional toll taking into account all those living with cancer could be 17,915.

That is an increase of 20% on the 89,576 deaths among cancer patients recorded annually in England, according to the latest available statistics.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday his administration is considering requiring travelers on certain incoming international flights to undergo temperature and virus checks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, AP reports.

“We’re looking at doing it on the international flights coming out of areas that are heavily infected,” Trump said at the White House. We will be looking into that in the very near future.”

Trump said it has not been determined yet whether the federal government or the airlines would conduct the testing. “Maybe it’s a combination of both,” he said.

Trump’s comments came during an event showcasing a loan program designed to help small businesses weather the coronavirus pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program. He said the Small Business Administration has processed more loans in 14 days than it has in the previous 14 years.

Fitch downgrades Italy rating to BBB-

Fitch said Tuesday it was downgrading Italy’s rating to BBB- due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reports.

Italy is the European country most affected by Covid-19 and trails only the United States in the number of deaths.

The government has said it expects the country’s economic output to shrink by 8% this year and has launched a host of stimulus measures.

A view of empty Piazza del Duomo is seen as coronavirus precautions are taken in Florence, Italy on 16 April 2020.
A view of empty Piazza del Duomo is seen as coronavirus precautions are taken in Florence, Italy on 16 April 2020. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

“The downgrade reflects the significant impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic on Italy’s economy and the sovereign’s fiscal position,” the Fitch ratings agency said in a statement.

Italy’s finance ministry responded by saying that “the fundamentals of the Italian economy and public finances are solid.”

“The other rating agencies have adopted a more cautious attitude,” the ministry said in a statement.

Here’s the full story on the deadliest known outbreak at a US long-term care facility, which left 68 veterans dead:

Lebanese protesters confronted soldiers for a second day Tuesday as anger over a spiraling economic crisis re-energised a months-old anti-government movement despite a coronavirus lockdown, AFP reports.

Lebanon has 717 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University figures, and 24 people have died.

Anti-government Lebanese protesters throw pieces of concrete during a protest against growing economic hardship.
Anti-government Lebanese protesters throw pieces of concrete during a protest against growing economic hardship. Photograph: APAImages/REX/Shutterstock

Tuesday’s confrontations were the latest in a string of anti-government protests fuelled by unprecedented inflation and a plummeting Lebanese pound.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than half of its value against the dollar on the black market, hitting record lows of 4,000 pounds to the dollar this week. Economy Minister Raoul Nehme on Tuesday said that prices have risen by 55%, while the government estimates that 45% of the population now lives below the poverty line.

In the city of Tripoli, protesters hurled rocks at security forces, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

The violence came after a protester died on Tuesday from a bullet wound he had sustained during overnight confrontations between troops and hundreds of demonstrators in Tripoli.

Following the funeral of 26-year-old Fawaz al-Samman in the city’s central Al-Nour Square, demonstrators torched and vandalised banks and military vehicles.

A reminder that you can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Speaking of award-winning camerawork, here’s the Guardian’s Andrew Wheeler on what we know about the Oscars making streamed films eligible for the awards (gasp!) :

The Academy Awards will for the first time allow films that debuted on a streaming service without a theatrical run to be eligible for nominations, a break with tradition in direct response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Academy announced the new criteria for the Oscars in a statement on Tuesday. The change is not permanent, however, and will only apply to films released this year.

The Academy also said it will condense the two sound categories into one, and, in an effort to become more carbon neutral, prohibit DVD screeners for 2022’s 94th Oscars.

Previously, a film would have required a minimum seven-day theatrical run in a Los Angeles county commercial theater in order to be considered for the Academy’s highest honor. Now films that had a previously planned theatrical release but are made available through on-demand service may qualify for best picture and other categories.

Updated

The story of an unlikely self-isolation cooking hero from Australia now, from the author Jenny Valentish:

Nat’s What I Reckon: the sweary, ranty YouTuber who’s become an isolation cooking sensation

“What’s going on, Iso-Lords?” he says, introducing his latest clip, The Crowd Goes Mild Curry. “We’re back in the kitchen, saying no to jar sauce.”

Behind a sparkling-clean counter laden with fresh vegetables, spices and herbs stands Nat: black band T-shirt, hair halfway down his torso, arms and neck covered in tattoos. He walks us through the ingredients before getting stuck into the methodology.

“If you’ve got one of these cheeky bastards, use this. It’s called a microplane. I know it sounds like a small aircraft, but it’s just a pretentious name for a fine grater. If you don’t have one of these pratty things you can just use a normal grater, and if you don’t think you’ve got one of these, you’re wrong. You’ve got four of them and they’re buried behind the other three.”

USS Theodore Roosevelt navy sailors will begin moving back on board

Navy sailors who have been quarantined on Guam for weeks will begin moving back to the USS Theodore Roosevelt Tuesday night, US officials said. A coronavirus outbreak sidelined the aircraft carrier in late March, AP reports.

Hundreds of sailors are expected to reboard the ship over the next several days, after spending about a month in gyms, hotels and other facilities while the ship was cleaned, officials said. The sailors were expected to begin moving back during the late evening and overnight Eastern time, which would be Wednesday in Guam.

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, is docked at Naval Base Guam in Apra Harbor amid the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, 27 April 2020.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, is docked at Naval Base Guam in Apra Harbor amid the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, 27 April 2020. Photograph: Tony Azios/AFP via Getty Images

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss events ahead of the announcement.

The ship gained attention when it was forced to dock in Guam because of the virus outbreak. The ship’s commander, Navy Captain Brett Crozier, was fired for sending an email pleading with commanders to take faster action to address the virus.

As of Tuesday, 940 sailors have tested positive for the virus, and 29 have recovered.

Updated

The European Union’s Ambassador for the Pacific, Sujiro Seam, has tweeted a short video of a plane carrying 88 British and European passengers departing Nadi International Airport in Fiji.

Updated

China has reported zero new deaths as of the end of 28 April.

There were 26 new asymptomatic cases, down from 40 the day before, but 21 new imported cases, compared to three a day earlier, and 22 cases in the mainland, compared to six the day before, Reuters reports.

The total number of cases stands at 82,858 and 4633 people have died.

A woman wearing a face mask whips a spinning top at a square in Beijing, China 28 April 2020.
A woman wearing a face mask whips a spinning top at a square in Beijing, China 28 April 2020. Photograph: Carlos García Rawlins/Reuters

Updated

Trump offers rosy predictions for coronavirus testing as US passes 1m cases

Donald Trump has predicted a “great” economic rebound in the fall and claimed the country would soon be performing 5m coronavirus diagnostic tests a day, as the number of confirmed cases in the US surpassed a million.

Some health experts have suggested that the US would have to carry out 5m tests a day by June to reopen its economy safely. Others have suggested as many as 20m tests a day would ultimately be needed. The US daily rate is currently 200,000.

Addressing a news conference on aid to small businesses on Tuesday, Trump appeared unaware of the current figures, suggesting “it could be that we’re getting very close” to 5m daily tests. “We’re going to be there very soon,” he said.

The US has carried out 5.6m tests over the past two months, which as Trump pointed out was far more than any other country, but represented about 1.6% of the population, a higher percentage than most countries, though significantly below Italy.

Trump was also bullish on the prospects for economic recovery in the fall. In what looks almost certain to become another hostage to fortune, the president implied that the pandemic would be largely cleared by the fourth quarter of the year.

The number of US deaths from the novel coronavirus has surpassed the toll of Americans killed in the Vietnam War, the Johns Hopkins University tracker showed Tuesday.

The pandemic has killed 58,365 people in the United States, the Baltimore-based university said.

According to the National Archives, 58,220 Americans were killed in combat and from other causes such as accidents during years of war in Southeast Asia.

The US death toll and number of cases - in excess of one million - far exceeds that of any other country.

Vietnam, a neighbour of China, has recorded 270 cases and no deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.

The false belief that toxic methanol cures the coronavirus has seen over 700 people killed in Iran, an official said Monday. That represents a higher death toll than so far released by the Iranian Health Ministry, The Associated Press reports.

An adviser to the ministry, Hossein Hassanian, said that the difference in death tallies is because some alcohol poisoning victims died outside of hospital. Some 200 people died outside of hospitals, Hassanian told AP.

A man drives past a mosque during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in southern Tehran, Iran, Monday, 27 April 2020.
A man drives past a mosque during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in southern Tehran, Iran, Monday, 27 April 2020. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

The national coroner’s authority said that alcohol poisoning killed 728 Iranians between 20 February and 7 April. Last year there were only 66 deaths from alcohol poisoning, according to the report.

Separately, the Iranian health ministry spokesman, Kianoush Jahanpour said that 525 people have died from swallowing toxic methanol alcohol since 20 February, state TV reported on Monday. Jahanpour said that a total of 5,011 people had been poisoned from methanol alcohol. He added that some 90 people have lost their eye sight or are suffering eye damage from the alcohol poisoning.

Hassanian also said the final tally of people who lost their eye sight could be much higher.

Iran is facing the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East with 5,806 deaths and more than 91,000 confirmed case.

Nearly 70 residents have died at Massachusetts home for ageing veterans

Nearly 70 residents infected with coronavirus have died at a Massachusetts home for ageing veterans, as state and federal officials try to figure out what went wrong in the deadliest known outbreak at a long-term care facility in the US, AP reports.

While the death toll at the state-run Holyoke Soldiers’ Home continues to climb, federal officials are investigating whether residents were denied proper medical care and the state’s top prosecutor is deciding whether to bring legal action.

Sixty-eight veteran residents who tested positive for the virus have died, officials said Tuesday, and it’s not known whether another person who died had Covid-19. Another 82 residents and 81 employees have tested positive.

An ambulance is parked outside of the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where nearly 70 residents have died from the coronavirus.
An ambulance is parked outside of the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where nearly 70 residents have died from the coronavirus. Photograph: Hoang ’Leon’ Nguyen/AP

The home’s superintendent, who’s been placed on administrative leave, has defended his response and accused state officials of falsely claiming they were unaware of the scope of the problem there.

The superintendent, Bennett Walsh, said earlier this month state officials knew that the home was in crisis mode when it came to staffing shortages and were notified early and often about the contagion at the facility.

There were nearly 230 residents living at the home in late March and only about 100 remained on Monday, The Boston Globe reported.

Updated

Three US children with coronavirus being treated for rare inflammatory syndrome

Three US children infected with the coronavirus are being treated for a rare inflammatory syndrome that appears similar to one that has raised concerns by doctors in Britain, Italy and Spain, Reuters reports.

All three children - who range in age from 6 months to 8 years - have undergone treatment at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, and all had fever and inflammation of the heart and the gut.

“Right now, we’re at the very beginning of trying to understand what that represents,” Columbia’s Dr Mark Gorelik told Reuters.

Italian and British medical experts are investigating a possible link between the coronavirus pandemic and clusters of Kawasaki disease, a severe inflammatory disease among infants arriving in hospitals with high fevers and swollen arteries.The syndrome has been largely undetected in the United States, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Gorelik said he believes the cases are likely not Kawasaki disease, but a similar process that shares an underlying mechanism with Kawasaki, which is thought to be triggered by an infectious agent that sparks an immune response.

Updated

Summary

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic from around the world.

I’m Helen Sullivan and I’ll be with you for the next few hours. Please do get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan with any questions, comments tips, and news from where you live.

The number of deaths in Brazil has now passed 5,000, more than China’s official toll, with confirmed cases at 71,886. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been notoriously dismissive of the coronavirus pandemic, sparking outrage across the political spectrum and pot-banging protests.

Meanwhile, cases in the US have passed 1 million, accounting for roughly a third of the global total, which currently stands at over 3.1 million.

  • Known global death toll exceeds 215,000. According to the Johns Hopkins researchers, at least 3,110,219 people have been infected worldwide and at least 216,808 have died since the outbreak began. The numbers are likely to be significant underestimates due to suspected underreporting and differing testing and recording systems around the world.
  • Brazil’s total number of confirmed deaths has now overtaken the WHO’s figure for China as cases accelerate in Latin America’s biggest country. The number of deaths in Brazil has now passed 5,000.
  • US confirmed coronavirus cases pass one million mark, accounting for a third of cases worldwide, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The US death toll is now over 57,000 people.
  • Streamed films to be eligible for Oscars. Films released on streaming platforms only will be eligible for Academy Awards next year because of the pandemic’s disruption to the industry, the organisers of the Oscars have said.
  • The head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases called on people to stay at home as much as possible as new figures show the country’s infection rate has increased.
  • Vladimir Putin extended a non-working period in Russia until 11 May, as he warned the rate of infection in the country has not yet peaked. The Russian president made the announcement during a meeting with senior officials and regional heads.
  • France began outlining the schedule for the end of the lockdown. The prime minister, Édouard Philippe said: “Who could have envisaged a France where schools, universities, cafes, restaurants, the majority of businesses, libraries … beaches, stadiums … would be closed?”
  • The number of confirmed cases in Saudia Arabia passed 20,000 as its health authorities reported 1,266 new infections. The kingdom reported eight deaths, bringing its total death toll to 152.
  • The UK said it would begin including deaths in care homes in its daily reports, as official figures show they account for almost a quarter of the total death toll in England and Wales, with yet more occurring in private homes, hospices or elsewhere. Britain also expanded the list of those eligible for coronavirus tests to asymptomatic NHS and care staff, over-65s and those who travel to work will now qualify.
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