Deaths in the state of New York have surpassed 10,000, as sectors of Spain re-open for business and Serbia arrests the head of an aged care centre over a coronavirus outbreak among elderly residents.
This story will be updated regularly throughout Tuesday. You can also stay informed with the latest episode of the Coronacast podcast.
New York's swab supply declines as cases pass 10,000
State-wide deaths in New York from coronavirus have risen to 10,056, up from 9,385 from a day earlier, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
The state has become the epicentre of the outbreak in the United States, which has recorded more than half a million infections and more than 22,000 deaths across the country.
It has also been announced that New York City is in danger of running out of swabs for COVID-19 tests and is urging medical providers to continue testing only patients who are gravely ill, the city health department said in a memo to health care providers.
"As the swab supply continues to decline, there is a real possibility hospitals will completely run out," a recent health alert said.
"At this time, providers are reminded to only test hospitalised patients in order to preserve resources that are needed to diagnose and appropriately manage patients with more severe illness.
The warning came amid repeated pleas from New York City and state officials for the Federal Government to provide widespread testing in order to move to a containment phase in the coronavirus outbreak.
"We can't make that transition back to normal without testing on a much larger scale," Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday (local time) on MSNBC.
Through Sunday afternoon, 462,000 people in New York have been tested for the virus, according to state figures. Of those, nearly 189,000 had tested positive.
Because of rationing, just 44 per cent of tests conducted in the state have been done in New York City, even though the city represents 74 per cent of the state's fatalities from the virus.
Lack of testing capability, partly due to rationing of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the people who would have to administer them, has also stopped officials from doing widespread testing of hospital and nursing home staff who might be passing infections to each other and to patients.
'The way down is much slower'
The head of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that decisions about lifting social distancing restrictions must be based first and foremost on protecting human health, and guided by what is known about the virus.
"While COVID-19 accelerates very fast, it decelerates much more slowly," Dr Tedros said.
"In other words, the way down is much slower than the way up."
Dr Tedros added that the United States would continue funding the UN agency, which is leading the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite recent criticism by US President Donald Trump.
Asked about reports that Trump might "cut off" funding this week, Dr Tedros said he had spoken with him two weeks ago.
"What I know is that he is supportive and I hope that the funding to WHO will continue. The relationship we have is very good and we hope that this will continue."
NZ nurses' parents say taking care of Boris Johnson was 'surreal'
The parents of the nurse UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson mentioned in his speech, in which he thanked health workers for saving his life, spoke of their reaction to the news on Monday.
Jenny McGee was personally named, along with Portugal's Luis Pitarma, as one of the nurses who stood by his bedside for 48 hours during his time in intensive care.
Ms McGee's mother, Caroline McGee said it was only when the Prime Minister was out of danger and left the ward that Jenny told her parents she took care of him.
"Our daughter's very professional," Caroline McGee said.
"She said she had just had a most surreal time in her life, something she will never forget and that she had been taking care of Boris."
Her father said he knew Mr Johnson would have received "the same level of care that she would have given anybody else".
Mr Johnson was discharged from St Thomas' Hospital in London on Sunday.
Meanwhile, deaths surpassed 11,000 in the UK as infections approached 90,000.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the death toll showed "we're still not past the peak of this virus".
Serbian police detain aged care director over coronavirus outbreak
The director of a state-run centre for the care of the elderly where there has been a coronavirus outbreak was detained by Serbian police on Monday and charged with both "an aggravated crime against public health" and spreading diseases.
Serbia's interior ministry said that the man, who under Serbian law was only identified by his initials MS, was charged after 139 people were infected with the coronavirus at the centre in the southern city of Nis.
Neither he nor his lawyers could be reached for comment.
Branislav Tiodorovic, a epidemiologist in charge of Serbia's southern region, told a news conference that a "lack of discipline" and the "allowing of walks outside and visits" had led to the outbreak in the aged care centre.
Most of the 135 people who lived in the centre and four staff have so far suffered from mild symptoms of the coronavirus, which has killed 85 people in Serbia.
Of 20,985 people tested in the country, 4,054 have been found to have contracted the disease, including dozens of doctors and nurses.
Spain re-opens some businesses
Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic, has started to ease tough restrictions that have kept people confined to their homes for more than a month and put a brake on economic activity.
Spain's cumulative death toll from the coronavirus rose to 17,489 on Monday, the Health Ministry said. Confirmed cases totalled 169,496.
Monday's rise was the smallest proportional daily increase in the number of deaths and new infections.
With signs indicating the situation was taking a tentative turn for the better, some businesses, including construction and manufacturing, were allowed to re-open.
But most of the population were still confined to their homes, and shops, bars and public spaces will remain closed until at least April 26.
People at main transport hubs were handed face masks by police as they went to work on Monday morning.
"The health of workers must be guaranteed. If this is minimally affected, the activity cannot restart," Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Cadena Ser radio station.
Lockdown restrictions have helped slow a spiralling death rate that reached its peak in early April, but they have tested the resolve of people cooped up inside their homes.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday the decision to restart some sectors was taken after consulting a committee of experts.
"We are still far from victory, from the moment when we can pick up our normal lives again, but we have made the first decisive steps in the path towards victory," Mr Sanchez said.
Indonesian president didn't know what was needed
President Joko Widodo said Indonesia will be able to conduct more than 10,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests a day for the new coronavirus after criticism of its testing rates.
Mr Widodo told foreign media on Monday that Indonesia had sourced new PCR kits from Switzerland and its extra testing capability would be on stream by next week, with plans to expand testing to 78 labs.
The world's fourth most populous nation has one of the lowest testing rates for the coronavirus, drawing criticism from the World Health Organisation and public health experts.
As of Monday morning, Indonesia had tested 27,000 people, a ten-fold increase in the past three weeks but still only about one test for every 10,000 people. Australia has tested 140 people per 10,000.
"We were very serious about testing from the beginning. But we didn't know what kits we needed," Mr Widodo told reporters.
Indonesia imported some 500,000 rapid test kits in mid-March, but a lack of accuracy meant those found positive had to be re-tested by the PCR method.
Putin may bring in the military
President Vladimir Putin said Russia might need to call in the army to help tackle the coronavirus crisis and warned the contagion was getting worse after the number of confirmed cases rose by a record daily amount.
Russia reported 2,558 new cases on Monday, bringing the overall nationwide tally to 18,328.
Eighteen people diagnosed with the virus died overnight, pushing the death toll to 148.
Moscow, the worst-hit area, and several other regions have imposed a lockdown, ordering residents to stay at home except to buy food, seek urgent medical treatment, take out the rubbish, or go to work if absolutely necessary.
"You need to use this experience, of course, and bear in mind that all these options, including the options of the defence ministry, if needed, can and should be involved here," Mr Putin said
Amazon offer struggling US workers a boost
Amazon.com said on Monday it plans to hire 75,000 more people for jobs ranging from warehouse staff to delivery drivers as the coronavirus epidemic kept Americans locked in their homes and demand for online orders surged.
With shoppers clearing out shelves in fear of quarantines or product shortages, retailers are racing to keep food and hygienic items in stock and have employees on hand for in-store work or delivery.
The e-commerce giant now expects to spend over $500 million globally to increase wages for the workers during the pandemic, it said, up from a previous estimate of $350 million.
The new hiring are in addition to the 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers it hired recently to deal with the demand surge.
"We know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis and we welcome anyone out of work to join us at Amazon until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back," the company said in a blog post.
AP/Reuters
