E3: Coronavirus live news: US may never restore funding to World Health Organization, says Mike Pompeo

Unemployment in US up by 4.4 million to a total of over 26 million; world has ‘a long way to go’, warns WHO chief; Iran reports lowest new daily infections for a month

5.24pm BST

Sweden on Thursday said it had had recorded more than 2,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the country, while revising earlier statements about when the capital Stockholm was believed to have passed the peak of infections, AFP reports.

The country’s public health agency said it had recorded 16,755 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, and 2,021 deaths. It also corrected a report it published earlier this week on Stockholm, the epicentre of the Swedish epidemic.

5.13pm BST

Criminal justice experts have warned that chronic overcrowding and underfunding have left prisons around the world vulnerable to being ravaged by coronavirus, Hannah Summers reports.

The challenges of a record global prison population of 11 million have been brought to light in a report published by Penal Reform International (PRI) which found that 102 countries have prison occupancy levels of more than 110%.

5.13pm BST

Health authorities in Kenya have reported 17 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total in the country to 320.

COVID-19 UPDATE
✔️668 samples tested
✔️17 positive cases today
✔️Total confirmed cases stand at 320
✔️6 recoveries today
✔️Total discharged and recovered stands at 89#KomeshaCorona

All the 17 are Kenyans.
✔️12 from Mombasa
✔️5 from Nairobi.

✔️15 were picked by the surveillance teams.
✔️2 are from mandatory quarantine centers.

Gender distribution:
✔️9 males.
✔️8 females#KomeshaCorona update by @DrMercyHealth pic.twitter.com/GWVh6U97rj

#KomeshaCorona update pic.twitter.com/c1NJdjXI8F

5.04pm BST

European Union leaders were expected to clash over the size and scope of a coronavirus recovery fund on Thursday, as they stand on the precipice of an economic slump unparalleled since the 1930’s Great Depression, Jennifer Rankin reports from Brussels.

The bloc’s 27 leaders meet in a video-conference summit on Thursday and will debate a variety of trillion-euro proposals to resuscitate the single market, following the global pandemic that so far has claimed more than 108,000 lives in the European Economic Area and UK.

4.51pm BST

Zambia has reported two new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours - and two recoveries.

Catch the daily update by Hon. Chitalu Chilufya on the @mohzambia facebook page https://t.co/RgMSnWnnKR the last 24hrs, #Zambia recorded 2 new confirmed cases of #COVID19 from Chingola, Copperbelt. 2 recoveries were recorded from Levy #StayHome #StaySafe #WashYourHands #MaskUp pic.twitter.com/ugHeUY1fxY

4.48pm BST

Javier is a 50-year-old forest ranger in Soria, a popular tourist region in the north-east of Spain and one of the regions hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis. Alongside local firefighters and trainee police, he has joined a group of volunteers dedicated to containing the spread of Covid-19 in the most vulnerable settings: care homes for the elderly

4.33pm BST

Mirroring a similar move by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates has shortened its nationwide coronavirus curfew by two hours for Ramadan, Reuters reports.

The curfew will run daily from 10pm to 6am for the Muslim fasting month, the state news agency WAM said on Thursday. It had been in force from 8pm to 6am daily.

4.25pm BST

Health care services in Gaza are not ready for an outbreak of coronavirus, the Red Cross has warned, as it donated intensive care equipment to the territory.

Palestinians say 13 years of economic sanctions by Israel and its border blockade have crippled their economy and undermined the development of medical facilities, weakening their ability to face a pandemic.

The prospect ofCovid-19 escaping control in Gaza is frightening, given the weakness of the health system and the dense population of the Gaza Strip.

For the time being there have been only a handful of cases, but Gaza needs to stay vigilant. This equipment will help, yet much more is needed to help the local health facilities cope with any kind of scenario, including the worst-case one.

4.10pm BST

The president of Botswana and all the country’s MPs ended 14 days of self-isolation on Thursday, after they were quarantined following contact with a nurse who had contracted the coronavirus.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi and the country’s 63 legislators all tested negative for the virus, AFP reports. It was Masisi’s second period of quarantine in the past month. His office said in a statement:

The director of health services has released [President] Masisi … and [Vice-president] Slumber Tsogwane from home quarantine today.

This follows release of their Covid-19 test results which came out negative.

PRESS RELEASE

The Office of the President wishes to inform the public that Director of Health Services has released His Excellency, Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, President of the Republic of Botswana and His Honour, pic.twitter.com/u99d0KLk5X

4.00pm BST

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has said his country, until recently the World Health Organization’s biggest donor, may never restore funding to the UN health body.

Last week Donald Trump announced he was freezing donations to the WHO, accusing it of “severely mismanaging and covering up” the threat posed by the coronavirus outbreak.

3.51pm BST

A key minister in the government of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has urged the media to stop using footage of coffins and bodies, after images of mass graves in the jungle city of Manaus emerged, and Brazil’s death toll from coronavirus continued to rise, Dom Phillips reports for the Guardian from Rio de Janeiro.

Gen Luiz Eduardo Ramos said an overload of negative new coverage was spreading fear among the population, as Brazil’s confirmed cases reached 45,757 and deaths hit 2,906 – 165 of those reported in the last 24 hours.

Manaus começa a enterrar vítimas de coronavírus em trincheiras. Um vídeo que circula na redes sociais mostra máquinas usadas para o sepultamento de várias pessoas pic.twitter.com/mg0QzYMGnu

3.42pm BST

China did not cover up the coronavirus outbreak and the US should not seek to bully the country in a manner reminiscent of the 19th century European colonial wars, the Chinese ambassador to London said on Thursday.

Liu Xiaoming was quoted by Reuters as saying:

I hear quite a lot of this speculation, this disinformation, about China covering up, about China hiding something – this is not true ... The Chinese government was transparent and very quick to share data.

... Some other country – their local courts sued China – it is absurd ... Some politicians, some people, want to play at being the world’s policeman – this is not the era of gunboat diplomacy, this is not the era when China was still a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society ...

Beyond the pandemic: Confidence and solidarity https://t.co/79MhcCzjoN

3.30pm BST

Egypt has shortened its night-time curfew for an hour for the month of Ramadan, the prime minister, Mostafa Madbouly, has said, according to Reuters.

The curfew will start at 9pm instead of the previous 8pm and run until 6am, Madbouly told a televised news conference.

3.16pm BST

The WHO’s Africa director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, in a briefing today again emphasised the risk that lockdowns across Africa could hamper health services on the continent from tackling other diseases.

Dr @MoetiTshidi: "On Saturday we commemorate #WorldMalariaDay. These are two reminders of the importance of essential health services."

"In 2018, there were 213 million malaria cases & 360,000 related deaths in the African Region – accounting for over 90% of the global burden."

3.13pm BST

Deaths from malaria could double across sub-Saharan Africa this year if work to prevent the disease is disrupted by Covid-19, the World Health Organization has warned, Kaamil Ahmed reports.

The UN’s global health agency said that if countries failed to maintain delivery of insecticide-treated nets and access to antimalarial medicines, up to 769,000 people could die of malaria this year. That figure, which would be more than double the number of deaths in 2018, would mark a return to mortality levels last seen 20 years ago.

3.08pm BST

The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care in Belgium has fallen below 1,000 for the first time since the end of last month.

According to the latest epidemiological bulletin from Belgium’s Sciensano health institute, 993 patients were in intensive care beds with Covid-19 related health complications, a fall of 27 on the day before. It is the first time there have been fewer than 1,000 Covid-19 patients in Belgian ICU’s since 30 March. Overall, 4,527 patients were in hospital with the disease, 238 fewer than on Wednesday.

2.55pm BST

Damien Gayle back at the controls now.

Remember, you can reach me with any tips, comments or suggestions for coverage at damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter DM to @damiengayle.

2.51pm BST

Another sign that the world of sport is attempting to return to some version of normality, via Sid Lowe, in Madrid.

Spain’s footballers will undergo daily coronavirus tests under a protocol for a return to training La Liga hopes to set in motion from the second week of May.

There will be three stages to training – individual, small group and full team – and the first tests are pencilled in for next Tuesday. From the second stage, squads will be obliged to live together in isolation, away from their families. A match-day protocol, first drafted in March, is being updated, with the league’s president, Javier Tebas, warning clubs that fans are unlikely to be able to attend games until after Christmas.

2.44pm BST

Face masks have become a familiar sight throughout the world, and in many different forms, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Here is an extensive gallery of some of the contexts in which they are being used globally:

2.39pm BST

Indonesia has banned all domestic air and sea travel until June to try to prevent further spread of coronavirus, Reuters reports.

The ban on air travel will be in place until 1 June, Novie Riyanto Rahardjo, the transport ministry’s director general of aviation, said. The ban on travel by sea will be in place until 8 June, the sea transportation director general, Agus Purnomo, said.

2.35pm BST

Humanitarian agencies are in a “race against time” to help Yemen address Covid-19, according to the UN.

“The threat of Covid-19 is so terrifying we have to do everything we can to stop the spread of the virus and help the people who may become infected,” said Lisa Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.

2.23pm BST

From our UK-focused live blog, NHS England has announced 514 more deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 16,786.

Wales has also announced another 17 deaths. Its total now stands at 641. The figures for England and Wales are broken down here:

2.18pm BST

Earlier today, the Chelsea and Germany footballer Antonio Rüdiger announced that – through the foundation he runs – he will provide 60,000 face masks to low-income traders in Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. So far, 61 Covid-19 cases have been reported in the country, with no deaths.

I am pleased to announce that my Foundation Antonio Rüdiger For Sierra Leone will be partnering with @madam_wokie and @LunchBoxGift to provide 60,000 face masks to low income market traders in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This will hopefully reduce the spread of Covid19.

2.11pm BST

Deaths from malaria could double across sub-Saharan Africa this year if work to prevent the disease is disrupted by Covid-19, Kaamil Ahmed writes.

“While Covid-19 is a major health threat, it’s critical to maintain malaria prevention and treatment programmes,” said the WHO’s Africa director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti. “The new modeling shows deaths could exceed 700,000 this year alone. We haven’t seen mortality levels like that in 20 years. We must not turn back the clock.”

2.04pm BST

Emmanuel Macron has told mayors in France that a plan to unwind the country’s Covid-19 lockdown will be unveiled around Tuesday next week, Reuters reports. France’s lockdown was imposed in mid-March. It currently has the fourth-highest Coronavirus death toll, with 21,340 deaths recorded from 157,135 confirmed cases.

Plans are already well underway to refine what form the easing of present restrictions might take. The government wants retailers to open when the lockdown ends on 11 May although restaurants, bars and cafe will not be among those allowed to start up again. Curbs on travel between regions are expected to remain after that date.

1.50pm BST

This is Nick Ames taking over for the next hour or so of global coronavirus news. As ever, any tips, updates or suggestions are always warmly welcomed. You can email me on nick.ames@theguardian.com or tweet/direct message me at @NickAmes82.

1.38pm BST

An additional 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, adding to a total of more than 26 million since the coronavirus pandemic shut down swathes of the US and brought its economy to a near standstill, report Dominic Rushe and Amanda Holpuch in New York.

The pace of layoffs appears to have slowed slightly, but a backlog of claims means millions more are likely to file in the coming weeks. States across the country are encountering problems with the sheer number of people applying for unemployment benefits.

1.12pm BST

If astronomers, clerics and officials agree, tomorrow will mark the first day of Ramadan. And amid a global pandemic, this year’s month of fasting and reflection for the world’s Muslims will be very different, writes Martin Chulov, the Guardian’s Middle East editor.

Normally a sociable time, where abstaining from food and water during daylight hours gives way to sumptuous meals and gatherings at dusk, the 2020 rituals have been modified to fit public health directives that urge people to maintain a distance from each other while the coronavirus remains active.

1.02pm BST

In most of the world, medical staff have been lauded as heroes for their response to the coronavirus pandemic. But in Mexico, the growing number of Covid-19 cases has brought with it a wave of violence against nurses and doctors who have wrongly been accused of spreading the disease, reports Analy Nuño in Guadalajara.

At least 21 medical workers have been attacked in 12 states across the country, according to Fabiana Zepeda, the head of nursing for the Mexican Social Security Institute.

12.46pm BST

Greece is extending coronavirus lockdown measures by a week to 4 May, the government said on Thursday, AFP reports.

“Restrictive measures that apply until 27 April are extended by a week to 4 May,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas told reporters.

12.36pm BST

One of the Bank of England’s top policymakers has warned that, because of the coronavirus crisis, the UK faces potentially its worst economic shock in several hundred years.

Jan Vlieghe, a member of the Bank’s interest-rate setting committee, made this warning in a speech just released:

Based on the early indicators, and based on the experience in other countries that were hit somewhat earlier than the UK, it seems that we are experiencing an economic contraction that is faster and deeper than anything we have seen in the past century, or possibly several centuries.

12.26pm BST

Regular readers of the blog will have tracked how Singapore has shifted from one of the world leaders in tackling the coronavirus outbreak, to in recent weeks facing accelerating transmissions.

It turned out that even while the city state had been aggressive in testing, contact tracing, quarantining, and blocking travel from infected areas, the disease was silently spreading through the army of migrant workers it relies upon to carry out basic services. Yesterday, after days of recording more than a thousand new infections a day, the number of cases in Singapore passed 10,000

The dormitories in which Singapore’s migrant workers live have, until recently, been almost hidden from view. The vast, steel buildings are mostly on the outskirts of town, tucked inside industrial estates, far away from the city-state’s glittering skyscrapers and luxury hotels.

Inside, the men who carry out back-breaking work to build Singapore’s infrastructure sleep on bunk beds, crammed into rooms with as many as 20 people. The biggest dormitory complex houses up to 24,000 workers.

12.11pm BST

Iran has reported its lowest daily number of new coronavirus cases since 21 March, with 1,030 detected in the past 24 hours according to its health ministry spokesman.

Ninety more people had died from Covid-19 since Wednesday, Kianoush Jahanpour said, while 3,105 patients with the disease remain in a critical condition. However the latest figures suggest that the epidemic in the country, which has so far suffered the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreak, is on a downward curve.

11.54am BST

Ratings agency Fitch says the world is heading for a recession of “unprecedented depth in the post-war period” with global gross domestic product to tumble by 3.9% in 2020. “This is twice as large as the decline anticipated in our early April GEO [global economic outlook] update and would be twice as severe as the 2009 recession,” said Fitch’s chief economist.

11.54am BST

Vietnam eased social distancing measures on Thursday, after reporting no new coronavirus infections for six consecutive days.

After a decisive - and early - response to the pandemic, including mass quarantines and aggressive contact tracing, the Southeast Asian nation has recorded just 268 virus cases and zero deaths, according to official tallies.

We go to each and every alley, knocking on each and every door. We follow the guidance from our government that ‘fighting the pandemic is like fighting our enemy’.

11.40am BST

The number of new coronavirus cases has fallen in Russia for a second day and remained below record levels for four days, raising hopes that the disease may have reached a plateau in the country, Andrew Roth, the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, reports.

But concerns remain that the disease’s progress into the regions beyond Moscow may fuel a new explosion of cases in the weeks to come.

11.28am BST

More than 24,000 Covid-19 cases have been reported on the African continent, with over 6,250 recoveries and 1,100 deaths, the World Health Organization reported on Thursday morning.

In his press conference yesterday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, said he believes that Africa is still at the beginning of its coronavirus outbreak.

11.16am BST

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

I’m always interested in hearing about any tips, suggestions or updates from where you are in the world. If you have anything to share, please send me an email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or a direct message on Twitter to @damiengayle.

11.10am BST

I can’t be alone in finding evidence of wildlife benefiting from the absence of humans heartening in these times.

This is an excellent example - Thai authorities have released drone footage of a herd of dugongs - a rare sea mammal - cruising off an island in the south of the country.

Watch: Thai authorities have released drone footage of a herd of dugongs – a rare type of sea mammal – cruising slowly off an island in the south of the country. Travel restrictions imposed to counter the COVID-19 pandemic have left coastal regions undisturbed pic.twitter.com/GYcYF9EXEd

10.59am BST

The Spanish government has just given more details on what the loosening of lockdown restrictions means for children in Spain, who have been confined to their homes since 14 March, writes the Guardian’s Sam Jones in Madrid.

From Sunday, children who are 14 or under will be allowed out to walk and play in the streets for an hour a day between 9am and 9pm.

They will need to stay within one kilometre of their homes and be accompanied at all times by an adult, who will be permitted to take a maximum of three children out at a time.

10.41am BST

Germany has agreed on a further aid package to help its economy survive the coronavirus crisis. The extra 10.8bn euros (£9.4bn, $11.7bn) will go towards tax cuts for businesses and further employment benefits for workers. Families are to be given help to buy equipment like computers for home learning.

Workers staying at home due to the lockdown will now receive 70-77% of their net salary from the fourth month of unemployment, a 10% increase over what they got for the first three months. From the seventh month, they will receive 80-87%.

10.17am BST

The Spanish health ministry said on Thursday that 440 people died from the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, which brought total fatalities to 22,157.

That figure ids slightly higher than the previous day when 435 people died. The number of diagnosed cases rose to 213,024 from 208,389 the day before.

10.02am BST

China said on Thursday it would donate a further $30 million to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is seeking more than $1 billion to fund its battle against the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 180,000 people worldwide, Reuters reports.

The pledge comes about a week after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended funding to the WHO and accused the Geneva-based organisation of promoting Chinese “disinformation” about the virus, which emerged in the central city of Wuhan last year.

China has decided to donate additional $30 million in cash to WHO to support its global fight against #COVID19, in particular strengthening developing countries' health systems. China already donated $20 million in cash to WHO on March 11.

I hope the U.S. believes that this an important investment, not just to help others, but for the U.S. to stay safe also.

9.51am BST

In the UK, vaccine trials on humans lead by Oxford University are due to start on Thursday.

The New York Times says that Germany has joined the race for a vaccine, giving the green light to human trials of potential vaccines.

Germany gave the green light for human trials of potential coronavirus vaccines developed by German biotech company BioNTech, which is racing teams in Germany, the U.S. and China to develop an agent that will stop the pandemic.

The trial, only the fourth worldwide of a vaccine targeting the virus, will be initially conducted on 200 healthy people, with more subjects, including some at higher risk from the disease, to be included in a second stage, German vaccines regulator the Paul Ehrlich Institut said on Wednesday.

9.46am BST

The Philippines’ health ministry on Thursday reported 16 new coronavirus deaths and 271 confirmed infections, ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision whether to lift or extend quarantine measures on the country’s main island

In a bulletin, the health ministry said total deaths have increased to 462 while infections have risen to 6,981. But 29 more patients have recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 722.

9.16am BST

Afghanistan has recorded its biggest one-day rise of coronavirus cases as the number of confirmed patients with Covid-19 reached 1,226, triggered by a surge of infections in Kandahar and Kunduz, writes my colleague Akhtar Mohammad Makoii in Herat.

In the last 24 hours 83 new cases have been reported, most in the southern province of Kandahar.

9.05am BST

Germany’s confirmed virus cases have increased by 2,352 to 148,046, officials said on Thursday. The number of deaths linked to Covid-19 has risen by 215 to now 5,094.

8.55am BST

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has thrown her support behind the embattled World Health Organization, distancing her government from President Donald Trump’s pause in US funding to the global body.

Speaking in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, Merkel said:

The WHO is an indispensable partner and we support it in its mandate.

It’s not the end phase but still just the beginning. We will be with it for a long time.

I know how difficult the restrictions are, it’s a challenge to democracy, it limits our democratic rights.

It’s the biggest challenge since World War Two, for the life and health of our people.

The question of how we can prevent the virus from overwhelming our health system and subsequently costing the lives of countless people, this question will for a long time be the central question for politics in Germany and Europe.

8.43am BST

Russia recorded 4,774 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, a fall in the number of daily new cases for the third day running, bringing its nationwide tally to 62,773, the Russian coronavirus crisis response centre said on Thursday.

Forty-two people with the virus had died in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 555, it said.

8.21am BST

European Union leaders are expected to sign off on a huge rescue package for countries hardest-hit by the coronavirus crisis when they hold a video conference later on Thursday.

The €500bn (£438bn) package was agreed after fierce debate between richer countries in the north of the EU and weaker economies in the south which have suffered most from the pandemic.

8.08am BST

The French interior minister, Christophe Castaner, has said he does not think this week’s outbreak of violent clashes in French housing estates will result in scenes similar to the 2005 riots that broke out throughout the country.

“We are not in this sort of scenario,” Castaner told BFM TV.

8.01am BST

More than a thousand Hong Kong residents are still stuck in India, after the country went into a sudden lockdown last month, writes my colleague Helen Davidson.

The Hong Kong legislator Priscilla Leung has told reporters today the government is working on bringing them home in groups, but that the 200 or so citizens among the group should be first priority. The rest are Hong Kong permanent residents with Indian or other passports.

7.43am BST

This story from my colleagues in the US is worth flagging:

A senior US government doctor who worked on the search for a coronavirus vaccine has claimed he was fired after resisting Donald Trump’s push to use the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit.

While I am prepared to look at all options and to think ‘outside the box’ for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public.

7.29am BST

I’m sure that the whole world now shares an aversion to using handles to open doors, or cupboards or fridges in supermarkets or literally anything else.

Well, those good folk in Finland have starting thinking about this tricky problem and come up with the below. Once again proving beyond doubt that Finland is the best country in the world.

Hands-free door handles at this Finnish supermarket allows customers to open doors with their arms pic.twitter.com/a1fSJOID5z

7.12am BST

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. I’ll now be handing over to my colleague Alexandra Topping – but before I go, here’s a Welsh minister not switching off his mic and being caught ranting about one of his colleagues on an especially crowded Zoom chat:

pic.twitter.com/JWDJKd4a9u

7.07am BST

6.55am BST

GUARDIAN: Revealed: scale of coronavirus’s deadly toll on ethnic minorities #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/mYntYpDCyn

Army of thousands to help trace virus victims#TomorrowsPapersToday @hendopolis pic.twitter.com/HvDrfJZEXt

Tomorrow's @independent front page #tomorrowspaperstoday To subscribe to the Daily Edition: https://t.co/XF8VnDpHYF pic.twitter.com/ViWtn4oWgm

TELEGRAPH: Social disruption will last for a year #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/mP1BlMfnlw

FT: Universities plea for £2bn rescue falls on deaf ears in the Treasury #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/WXRzV3E3ZS

6.50am BST

The world-famous song “Pata Pata”, a South African dance hit from 1967, is being re-released with new lyrics to spread information about coronavirus to vulnerable communities.

Meaning “touch touch” in the Xhosa language, “Pata Pata” was written by Grammy-winning singer Miriam Makeba who named it after a dance move popular in Johannesburg at the time:

This new Angélique Kidjo version of Miriam Makeba's Pata Pata – coronavirus edition – SLAPS: https://t.co/rjDoCqVqPk

6.38am BST

Caelainn Barr, Niko Kommenda, Niamh McIntyre and Antonio Voce have this report for the Guardian:

The UK government has been urged to recognise that race and racial inequalities are a risk factor for Covid-19 after Guardian research which has revealed that ethnic minorities in England are dying in disproportionately high numbers compared with white people.

6.34am BST

More than 232,000 people might have been infected in the first wave of Covid-19 in mainland China, four times the official figures, according to a study by Hong Kong researchers.

Mainland China reported more than 55,000 cases as of 20 February but, according to research by academics at Hong Kong University’s school of public health published in the Lancet, the true number would have been far greater if the definition of a Covid-19 case that was later used had been applied from the outset.

6.25am BST

Thanks for following along. A reminder that you can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

6.23am BST

At least 183,441 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University data, with the number of confirmed cases worldwide at more than 2.6 million.

The US accounts for more than 842,000 cases and almost 47,000 deaths.

6.20am BST

As the coronavirus lockdown continues, many of us holed up at home with family will be wondering how much more of it we can take. But what is it like if you have 11 kids or live with your extended family? We asked some of Britain’s biggest families how they are coping.

6.16am BST

Here’s the full story on the Australian billionaire who was allowed to self isolate at home, despite the Australian government having ordered 11 days earlier that everyone arriving from overseas would be held in a hotel or other accommodation for a period of supervised quarantine

Australian media mogul Kerry Stokes and his wife were allowed to avoid mandatory hotel quarantine on medical grounds when they arrived in the state of Western Australia by private jet two weeks ago, and instead spent 14 days holed up in their Perth mansion.

6.12am BST

Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 2,352 to 148,046, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday, marking a third consecutive day of new infections accelerating.

The reported death toll rose by 215 to 5,094, the tally showed.

6.07am BST

With endorsements from a controversial French physician, Fox News, and Donald Trump, hydroxychloroquine – an old anti-malarial drug that is today more commonly used to treat lupus – has received a disproportionate amount of attention as a potential treatment for Covid-19.

6.05am BST

The government must not ignore the “slave-like” conditions of migrant workers making rubber medical gloves in Malaysia in its rush to source protective equipment to keep frontline NHS staff safe from coronavirus, human rights groups say.

Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of rubber gloves, but the industry has been accused of grossly exploiting its workforce, mostly impoverished migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal.

6.02am BST

Thailand reported 13 new coronavirus cases on Thursday and one more death, a 78-year-old woman who had other health complications.

Of the new cases, five were linked to previous cases and five had no known links, Reuters reports.

Three other new cases were reported from the southern island of Phuket where the authorities are aggressively testing the population because the infection rate there is severe, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

Since the outbreak escalated in January, Thailand has reported a total of 2,839 cases and 50 fatalities, while 2,430 patients have recovered and gone home.

5.48am BST

Isolated in a recent European Union council of ministers, with attitudes described by European leaders past and present as “repugnant”.

5.41am BST

5.26am BST

5.05am BST

In case you haven’t seen it yet, and need a little something to pick you up, this video, showing the perils of videoconferencing is truly one for the ages.

4.47am BST

Asian stock markets rose on Thursday as the combination of a rebound in crude prices from historic lows and the promise of more US government aid to cushion the coronavirus-ravaged economy helped calm nervous markets, Reuters reports.

4.35am BST

All members of the World Health Organization (WHO) should cooperate with a proposed independent review into the spread of coronavirus, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.

Morrison on Wednesday spoke with several world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump to canvass support for a review into the origins and spread of coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year, Reuters reports.

Escalating his calls, Morrison said all members of the WHO should be obliged to participate in a review.

“If you’re going to a member of a club like the World Health Organization, there should be responsibilities and obligations attached to that,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

“We’d like the world to be safer when it comes to viruses... I would hope that any other nation, be it China or anyone else, would share that objective.”

4.17am BST

And here’s South Korea’s response to the coronavirus pandemic explained in video form:

4.06am BST

Late last week millions of South Koreans queued patiently at polling stations to cast their votes for a new national assembly.

3.56am BST

Dave Lewins is a healthy, 60-year old helicopter pilot, who in March found himself in intensive care with Covid-19. He describes the experience and how it has changed his life:

3.49am BST

South Korea’s economy saw its worst performance in more than a decade in the first quarter as the coronavirus epidemic raged across the country, the central bank said Thursday, with officials warning of a bigger impact still to come, AFP reports.

The world’s 12th-largest economy endured one of the worst early outbreaks of the disease outside China, although it appears to have largely been contained thanks to an extensive “trace, test and treat” programme.

3.38am BST

Staying in Asia Pacific for now: Australian treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has announced that Australians have withdrawn a total of AU$3.8bn (US$2.4bn) from their superannuation (Australia’s compulsory retirement savings scheme).

The government has allowed early access to superannuation savings as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic. 456,000 people have applied for early access.

3.19am BST

The New Zealand government will spend NZ$50m (£25m) on ailing media businesses during the coronavirus-induced downturn.

News organisations have pleaded with Jacinda Ardern’s government for support over the past month, given the advertising streams that funded commercial operations have all but dried up.

3.13am BST

Donald Trump has rebuked a state governor and Republican ally over his decision to reopen bowling alleys, hair salons and other businesses on Friday “in violation” of the phased federal guidelines.

3.09am BST

Australian billionaire Kerry Stokes has been “exempted from [the country’s] strict quarantine rules after arriving in Perth from Aspen by private jet,” The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The exemption, granted by WA Police after advice from the State Health Incident Coordination Centre, meant Mr and Mrs Stokes could self-isolate in their Dalkeith home rather than be locked down in a hotel room like thousands of other West Australians returning from overseas.

@WAtoday scoop: Kerry Stokes exempted from strict WA quarantine rules after arriving in Perth from Aspen by private jet https://t.co/mpGlMkVH7G

3.03am BST

Australia has called on G20 nations to end wet wildlife markets over concerns they pose a threat to human health and agricultural markets, a move which could further strain ties with China after Canberra called for an international inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.

The pandemic which originated in China was thought to have started in a wet market in the city of Wuhan. Wet markets are a key facet of China’s daily life, and not all sell wildlife.

China imposed a temporary ban on selling wildlife on 23 January and is now reviewing its legislation to restrict commercial wild animal trading on a permanent basis.

Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud said on Thursday he had asked government officials from the Group of 20 major economies to back a plan to end wet wildlife markets.

“There are risks with wildlife wet markets and they could be as big a risk to our agricultural industries as they can be to public health,” Littleproud told Australia’s Channel 7 television.

US officials have also called for wet wildlife markets across Asia to be closed.

2.55am BST

New Zealand Says It Has Recorded Two New Deaths Related To Covid-19, and three new cases.

The deaths announced today take the country’s total to 16.

Two of the three new cases are confirmed and one is probable. However there is no change in the overall total of confirmed and probable cases, the number remaining at 1451. This is because the ministry understands that the three cases linked to the Greg Mortimer Cruise Ship, reported on Wednesday, were tested in Uruguay. Therefore, the cases may have been reported by Uruguay to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The ministry is currently investigating this, as the cases would therefore be counted under Uruguay’s total rather than New Zealand’s.

2.43am BST

Fourteen more cases of coronavirus infections have been confirmed on an Italian cruise ship docked for repairs at Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture, bringing the total to at least 48, public broadcaster NHK said on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, 34 crew members on the Costa Atlantica had tested positive for the new coronavirus, raising concerns about the impact on the local community.
Nagasaki prefecture will hold a press conference from 10:30am (01:30 GMT), according to NHK.

2.30am BST

The US government will assess whether the World Health Organization is being run the way that it should be, after President Donald Trump paused US funding to the global body, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Acting Administrator John Barsa said on Wednesday.

Reuters reports Washington will also use this pause to look for alternative partners outside the WHO to continue to carry out “important work” such as vaccines, to ensure it does not have a disruption in its aid efforts, said Barsa, who heads USAID, the key US government agency that administers foreign aid.

“The review is going to be all encompassing, get into all manners of management operation questions,” Barsa told a news conference at the State Department.

“There’s numerous questions in terms of the management of the WHO; how they have been operating holding member states accountable in their actions.”

“Is the management of the World Health Organization running it the way it should be run?,” was the question at the heart of Washington’s review, Barsa added.

Trump announced a halt to US funding for the Geneva-based WHO last week while Washington reviews the organization’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

2.15am BST

Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first confirmed cases in companion animals in the US, federal officials said Wednesday.

The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and are expected to recover, are thought to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, the US Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

2.10am BST

China has reported ten new coronavirus cases today, six of which are imported infections, according to the People’s Daily.

There were 27 new asymptomatic cases, and no coronavirus-related deaths for the sixth day in a row.

On Wednesday, the Chinese mainland reported:

- No new #COVID19 deaths
- 4 new domestic cases and 6 more imported cases
- 27 asymptomatic cases
- 959 active cases in total, including 63 in critical condition pic.twitter.com/SD0QJLb98o

2.02am BST

Hayley Canal writes for the Guardian:

As international borders were shut and airlines stopped flying, I scrambled to get out of what may just be the safest place on earth at the moment – Samoa, one of the last countries without a case of coronavirus.

Fighting to come home to the US as the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic became apparent felt ironic from the start. The feeling has only grown stronger as I sit alone, writing these thoughts with a fever as the death toll from coronavirus in the US continues to climb.

1.56am BST

A federal appeals court has allowed Arkansas to enforce a ban on most surgical abortions, as part of a state directive aimed at postponing medical procedures not deemed urgent during the coronavirus outbreak.

The ruling from the eighth US circuit court of appeals in St Louis, Missouri, lifted a federal judge’s order which had allowed abortions to continue. The new ruling does not affect abortion induced through medication in the early stages of pregnancy, which is still allowed.

1.53am BST

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said the United States strongly believes that China’s ruling communist party failed to report the outbreak of the new coronavirus in a timely manner to the World Health Organization, Reuters reports.

Speaking at a State Department news conference, Pompeo also accused Beijing of failing to report human-to-human transmission of the virus “for a month until it was in every province inside of China.”

Citing WHO rules implemented in 2007, Pompeo said, “We strongly believe that the Chinese Community Party did not report the outbreak of the new coronavirus in a timely fashion to the World Health Organization.” He said that even after Beijing notified the WHO of the outbreak “it did not share all of the information it had. Instead it covered up how dangerous the disease is.”

1.34am BST

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