Reported cases of the coronavirus have
crossed 2.41 million globally and 165,854 people have died,
according to a Reuters tally as of 1000 GMT on Monday.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
AMERICAS
* New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it could take weeks if
not months before the country's most populous city reopens due
to a lack of widespread testing, even as officials elsewhere
began rolling back restrictions on daily life.
* The US death toll from the coronavirus rose to more than
40,000 on Sunday, the highest in the world and almost double the
number of deaths in the next highest country Italy, according to
a Reuters tally.
* Protests flared in US states on Sunday over stay-at-home
orders while governors disputed President Donald Trump's claims
they have enough tests.
* The number of people with the new coronavirus in Canada is
trending in the right direction but strict physical distancing
will need to stay in place, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said
on Sunday.
* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he hoped this would be
the last week of stay-at-home measures to try to slow the spread
of the coronavirus.
* Mexico has registered a total of 8,261 confirmed coronavirus
cases and 686 deaths as of Sunday.
* Chile reported on Sunday that there were more than 10,000
people in the country with the coronavirus.
* Peru reported over 15,000 cases on Sunday, the second-highest
tally in Latin America.
* Guatemala said a total of 50 migrants deported by the United
States to the country have tested positive for coronavirus.
EUROPE
* The coronavirus has penetrated more deeply into Moscow's
population than official data shows, private testing results
among people without symptoms suggested, as President Vladimir
Putin said the peak of the outbreak still lay ahead.
* The spread of the new coronavirus in Spain seems to be slowing
despite more than 200,000 people now having been infected,
officials said.
* Police and youths clashed for a second night in a low-income
Paris suburb on Sunday as strict lockdown rules threaten a
fragile social peace in deprived areas.
* Britain needs to be sure that any lifting or easing of social
distancing measures does not lead to a second wave of the
coronavirus outbreak, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris
Johnson said.
* Poland may reverse the loosening of restrictions if the number
of new cases rises significantly, Health Minister Lukasz
Szumowski said.
* Luxembourg began easing coronavirus restrictions along with an
order that the public cover their mouths when entering confined
spaces such as public transport or shops.
* Ireland is highly unlikely to allow large gatherings this year
and the "cocooning" of people over 70 years old in their homes
may persist for quite a while, Health Minister Simon Harris
said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* China's health authority called for a stronger and more
rigorous testing regime to ensure that the new coronavirus does
not escape detection.
* More than 150 Australian economists on Monday warned the
government against easing social distancing rules.
* New Zealand will extend lockdown measures by a week and move
to a lower level of restriction from April 27.
* South Korea extended its social distancing policy for another
15 days but offered some relief for churches and sporting
fixtures.
* Thailand extended a nationwide ban on alcohol sales until
April 30 as the number of confirmed cases reached 2,792, but the
health ministry suggested some measures could soon be eased.
* Pakistan has started repatriating some of its citizens from
the United Arab Emirates, which had threatened to review labour
ties with countries refusing to take back their nationals during
the novel coronavirus pandemic.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Shopping malls and bazaars reopened in Iran despite warnings
by health officials that a new wave of infections could ripple
through the country.
* The coronavirus crisis is stirring anti-Semitism around the
world, fuelled by centuries-old lies that Jews are spreading
infection, researchers in Israel said.
* Ghana is using delivery drones from U.S.-based startup Zipline
to enable it to test people more quickly outside major cities.
* Saudi Arabia's highest religious body, the Council of Senior
Scholars, urged Muslims worldwide to pray at home during Ramadan
if their countries require social distancing.
* Turkey's confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 86,306, the
highest total for any country outside Europe or the United
States.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* Plunging US crude oil prices pulled global equity markets
lower on Monday, kicking off a busy week of data and earnings
that will further reveal the economic damage of the coronavirus
pandemic.
* Neiman Marcus Group is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection
as soon as this week, becoming the first major US department
store operator to succumb to the economic fallout from the
outbreak, people familiar with the matter said.
* China cut its benchmark lending rate as expected on Monday to
reduce borrowing costs for companies and prop up the
coronavirus-hit economy.
* Japan's exports slumped the most in nearly four years in
March. The country boosted its new economic stimulus package on
Monday to a record $1.1 trillion to expand cash payouts to its
citizens.
* The Spanish government will propose to its EU partners that
they create a 1.5 trillion euro recovery fund financed through
perpetual debt to aid countries worst-hit by the coronavirus
crisis.
* Spain's tourism-dependent economy could shrink as much as
12.4% this year if its coronavirus lockdown lasts 12 weeks, the
Bank of Spain said.
* The number of UK finance professionals seeking new jobs rose
by more than 40% in the first quarter, compared with the last
three months of 2019.
* Thailand's king approved laws to implement spending measures
worth 1.9 trillion baht ($58.44 billion) to mitigate the impact
of the coronavirus on the economy.
* With shuttered mosques, coronavirus curfews and bans on mass
prayers from Senegal to Southeast Asia, some 1.8 billion Muslims
are facing a Ramadan like never before.
* Dubai's Arabian Travel Market, one of the Middle East's
biggest travel and tourism fairs, has been cancelled this year.
* For the first time since September 2004, no merger and
acquisition deal worth more than $1 billion was announced
worldwide last week, according to Refinitiv.