At least 1 million coronavirus cases were reported on Thursday, with
infections in the United States totaling 240,000, accounting for
24% of cases worldwide and 40% of the 74,300 cases reported in
the past day, according to a Reuters tally.
Here's the latest developments from around the world:
EUROPE
* The coronavirus death count in France surged to nearly 5,400
people on Thursday after the health ministry began including
nursing home fatalities in its data.
* The death toll in Italy has climbed by 760 to 13,915, as the
head of the European Commission apologised to the country for a
lack of solidarity from Europe in tackling its coronavirus
crisis.
* Britain's health minister promised a tenfold increase in the
number of daily tests, as a poll said more than a half of
Britons think the government was too slow to order a
lockdown.
* At least 570 people have died in nursing homes in France's
eastern region, suggesting the national death toll could be far
higher than thought.
* Switzerland's government said it was still far too early to
relax measures.
* Spain's death toll exceeded 10,000 after a record 950 people
died overnight, but health officials noted a slowdown in
proportional daily increases in infections and deaths.
* Portugal extended its state of emergency by another 15 days.
* Greece has quarantined a migrant camp after 20 asylum seekers
tested positive, its first such facility hit since the outbreak.
* President Vladimir Putin prolonged until April 30 a paid
non-working period across Russia, which has reported 3,548 cases
and 30 deaths.
AMERICAS
* U.S. President Donald Trump said he underwent a second
coronavirus test on Thursday, using a new diagnostic that
produced a result in less than 15 minutes, and it determined he
has not been infected.
* Morgues and hospitals in New York City, the epicenter of the
U.S. outbreak, bent under the strain on Thursday, struggling to
treat or bury casualties.
* An ocean liner forced by the coronavirus to languish at sea
since mid-March pulled into a South Florida port on Thursday,
after authorities settled plans for the vessel and its sister
ship to dock and most passengers to come ashore.
* The coronavirus crisis is beginning to do something the city
of San Francisco has been unable to accomplish for years - move
homeless people off the streets and into shelters, including
some of the city's now-empty hotels.
* A record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits
last week, and another four states told residents to stay at
home - orders which now affect more than 80% of Americans in 39
states as cases in the country rose to 213,144, with the death
count at 4,513.
* Canada faces "a critical week" in fighting the coronavirus, a
senior official said, as the death toll jumped 21% to 127.
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
* Australian officials closed internal borders on Friday and
warned people to stay home over the upcoming Easter holiday as
the country seeks to capitalise on a further fall in the rate of
new coronavirus cases.
* The Japanese government said on Friday it has told regions
that have suffered the most serious outbreaks of coronavirus to
save hospitals beds for severely ill patients, while keeping
others with milder symptoms at home or in hotels.
* China's commerce ministry pledged its support to help foreign
invested firms in the country get back to work in the face of
disruptions in global supply chains.
* After blocking the entrance to their village with logs, half
the people of Jemeri fled into the surrounding forest in fear as
the coronavirus spread in Malaysia, infecting the first
indigenous 'Orang Asli' person.
* Australia's healthcare system should be able to cope with the
coronavirus pandemic based on its current trajectory, Prime
Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.
* Mainland China logged fewer new infections, but measures
restricting movement were tightened in some areas due to a fear
of more imported cases.
* India will pull out of a three-week lockdown in phases, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said as officials battle to contain the
country's biggest cluster of infections in New Delhi.
* Indonesia's coronavirus death toll rose to 170, passing South
Korea as the country with the highest number of recorded
fatalities in Asia after China.
* WHO expects the number of cases in Malaysia to peak in
mid-April, saying there are signs of a flattening of the
infection curve.
* Singapore suffered its fourth death, a day after it reported a
record number of new cases that took its total to 1,000.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew in the Muslim holy
cities of Mecca and Medina, while other Gulf Arab states locked
down districts with large migrant worker populations.
* Iraq has thousands of confirmed Covid-19 cases, many times
more than the 772 it is has publicly reported, according to
three doctors closely involved in the testing process, a health
ministry official and a senior political official.
* Hackers linked to the Iranian government have attempted to
break into the personal email accounts of staff at the World
Health Organization, sources told Reuters.
* Turkey's tourism minister said he expected flights to return
to normal by the end of June, as the country planned to step up
measures if the virus keeps spreading and people ignore
"voluntary" quarantine rules.
* A United Nations agency has negotiated a humanitarian corridor
to keep food aid flowing in southern Africa after most countries
shut borders.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* World equity markets climbed on Thursday on the back of a
surge in risky assets like oil, offsetting concerns over an
increasing death toll from the pandemic.
* China has ample policy tools to stabilizes economic growth,
and the impact of the coronaries outbreak is likely to be
temporary, the central bank said on Friday.
* Malaysia's central bank said on Friday the economy could
shrink by as much as 2% or grow 0.5% this year due to the
coronavirus pandemic, in what would be its worst economic
performance in more than a decade.
* China's recovery from the coronavirus outbreak may hold
investable lessons for the rest of the globe, according to fund
managers who are closely watching - and have begun cautiously
buying - in the world's second-biggest economy.
* Developing Asia's already slowing economic growth is set to
weaken even more sharply this year, hit by the fallout from the
coronavirus pandemic before it bounces back strongly next year,
the Asian Develpoment Bank (ADB) said on Friday.
* The Trump administration said it was allocating $25 billion in
emergency funding grants to public transportation systems.
* The World Bank said its board of executive directors approved
an initial $1.9 billion in emergency funds for coronavirus
response operations in 25 countries, and said it was moving
quickly on projects in 40 additional countries.
* Years after Japan made a cautious recovery from its long
deflationary spell, the world's third-largest economy may be
headed back into a cycle of falling prices.
* Global financial regulators said they are in talks with
governments to allow key staff at financial firms to work on
site to keep markets open.
* The European Commission proposed measures to protect the EU
economy, including a short-time work scheme and easier access to
funds for farmers and fishermen.