China on Saturday observed a national day of mourning for the thousands of "martyrs" who have died in the new coronavirus outbreak, flying the national flag at half mast throughout the country and suspending all forms of entertainment.
The country, where the virus first appeared in late December, has officially recorded over 3,300 deaths in the pandemic, which has killed over 58,900 worldwide. On Saturday, the global total of infections passed 1.1 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, with over 226,800 recovering from the disease caused by the virus, COVID-19.
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As China's reported deaths have dropped off significantly in recent weeks, the death toll in Europe has surged to about 40,000, while in the United States the number of deaths hit more than 7,000, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The number of cases also continues to rise, with the US reporting more 275,000 infections, while Italy, Spain and Germany combined recorded more than 300,000 cases.
Meanwhile, the World Bank Group President David Malpass on Friday said the health emergency was expected to cause a "major global recession" that would likely hit the poorest and most vulnerable countries the hardest, while the International Monetary Fund described the situation as a "crisis like no other".
Here are the latest updates:
Saturday, April 4
08:40 GMT - Tokyo area sees daily coronavirus cases topping 100 for first time
Some 118 people were newly infected with the coronavirus in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, NHK public broadcaster has reported, citing metropolitan government officials.
It marked the first time that daily confirmed cases exceeded 100 in the Tokyo area, bringing the number of confirmed cases there to 891, NHK said.
Tokyo's metropolitan government has strongly urged people to stay at home at the weekend as the mega-city faces a rising number of cases and as speculation simmers that Japan may declare a state of emergency, leading to lockdown.
Japan has so far escaped the kind of explosive surges seen in Europe, the United States and elsewhere, with some 3,000 cases and 73 deaths as of Friday.
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08:20 GMT - Poachers in Nepal take advantage of lockdown
Poachers in Nepal are taking advantage of slack monitoring and sparse public movement during the coronavirus lockdown, with the country seeing a surge in killing of wildlife under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials say that an elephant and three crocodiles have been killed since the country went into lockdown on March 24, a period which also saw a deadly encounter between poachers and wildlife rangers.
"We have increased patrolling following a rise in the movement of poachers; But its not surprising as ww were expecting that something like this would happen," Bishnu Prasad Shrestha, a spokesperson for Nepal's Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), told DPA news agency.
DNPWC officials said that three critically endangered Gharial crocodiles were killed around Chitwan National Park, while the elephant was found electrocuted in the buffer zone of the Bardiya National Park in western Nepal.
08:00 GMT - Philippines records 8 new coronavirus deaths, 76 more infections
The health ministry of the Philippines has reported 76 new coronavirus infections and eight new deaths.
In a bulletin, the health ministry said a total of 144 people have died in country while 3,094 have been infected.
07:45 GMT - UK could relax some coronavirus lockdown rules in weeks: Leading epidemiologist
The UK could relax some social-distancing measures in a matter of weeks if the spread of the coronavirus eases and testing steps up, a leading professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London has said.
"I'm hopeful that in a few weeks' time we will be able to move to a regime which - will not be normal life, let me emphasize that - but will be somewhat more relaxed in terms of social-distancing and the economy but rely more on testing," Neil Ferguson, who advises the government, told BBC Radio.
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07:25 GMT - Israel infections rise to 7,428 with 41 deaths
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Israel has risen to 7,428, according to the health ministry.
To date, 41 people have died from COVID-19.
07:00 GMT - Remote Pacific islands prepare for worst
As the number of cases of COVID-19 worldwide exceeds one million, the 22 island nations and territories scattered across the Pacific Ocean have so far managed to escape the worst of the outbreak, with 119 cases identified across the region as of April 1.
But Pacific Island governments are acutely aware of the potential for catastrophe in closely-knit communities and densely-populated urban centres, should an outbreak take hold, and the lack of capacity of their under-resourced health services to cope.
"We are having to work from an already disadvantaged position compared to most countries … The major concern for most of us is that we don't and will not have the capacity to deal with an outbreak of the magnitudes that we are witnessing globally, which will have the potential to cripple our struggling health system and country as a whole," Dr Lynda Sirigoi, a physician in Papua New Guinea's capital, Port Moresby, and president of the PNG Women Doctors Association, told Al Jazeera.
Read more here.
Geographical isolation has helped protect the Pacific Islands from the coronavirus, and governments also closed borders to keep visitors out, recognising the risk the disease poses to their communities [File: Fazry Ismail/EPA]
06:15 GMT - Coronavirus cases exceed 1.1 million globally
The number of confirmed coronavirus infections has passed 1.1 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
At least 181 countries and territories in the US have been touched by the virus, which has killed over 58,900 people. Over 226,600 people have recovered.
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05:45 GMT - US paves way for federal prisons to speed up prisoner releases
US Attorney General William Barr has said that the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is facing emergency conditions due to the fast-spreading coronavirus, paving the way for the agency to begin releasing more inmates out of custody and into home confinement.
Barr said under his emergency order, priority for releasing vulnerable inmates into home confinement should be given first to those housed in federal prisons that have been hardest hit by COVID-19, including facilities such as Oakdale in Louisiana, Elkton in Ohio and Danbury in Connecticut, according to a memo dated Friday.
Barr's order comes after five inmates at FCI Oakdale 1 and two at FCI Elkton 1 died from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus. The BOP said Friday that 91 inmates and 50 of its staff throughout its 122 institutions have fallen ill with COVID-19. Union officials have said the number is much higher.
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05:30 GMT - Australia says temporary visa holders should go home as soon as possible
The Australian government has said over 2 million people on temporary visas, including students, skilled workers, and visitors, in the country, should "go home" as soon as possible amid an economic downturn and joblessness due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There are 2.17 million foreigners currently in Australia on different temporary visas, and are "extremely valuable to the Australian economy and way of life," Alan Tudge, the acting immigration minister, said Saturday in a statement.
But, Tudge said, "temporary visa holders who are unable to support themselves under these arrangements over the next six months are strongly encouraged to return home...For these individuals, it’s time to go home, and they should make arrangements as quickly as possible." This does not include permanent residents, he said.
Tudge added 203,000 tourists in Australia needed to "return to their home country as quickly as possible."
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This is Joseph Stepansky in Doha taking over the live updates from my colleague Ted Regencia.
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05:08 GMT - Hong Kong to remind domestic workers against public gathering
Hong Kong's labour department has announced that beginning on Sunday, it will conduct mobile broadcasts in popular gathering places of foreign domestic helpers, to call upon them to comply with the regulation on the prohibition of group gatherings in public places.
The public broadcast will be in Chinese, English, Filipino, Bahasa Indonesia and Thai, according a press release.
With effect from March 29 to April 11, group gatherings with more than four people in public places are prohibited and offenders are liable to a fixed penalty of HK$2,000 ($258), or if charged in a court, a maximum penalty of a HK$25,000 (US$3,225) fine and imprisonment for six months.
04:13 GMT - South Korea issues new guidelines to slow pandemic
South Korea has extended government guidelines urging people to socially distance to slow the spread of the coronavirus for two weeks as infections continue to grow in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.
During a meeting on anti-virus measures on Saturday, Prime Minster Chung Sye-kyun expressed concern over rising infections linked to recent arrivals amid broadening outbreaks in Europe and the United States.
“We very well know that continuing social distancing comes with massive costs and sacrifice,” Chung said, referring to the economic shock. “But if we loosen things right now, the effort we so far invested could pop and disappear like a bubble.”
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday confirmed 94 new cases and three more deaths, bringing national totals to 10,156 cases and 177 deaths.
03:30 GMT - From zero cases and casualties, why is Indonesia seeing a sharp surge in coronavirus statistics?
From zero reported infections and fatalities in January and February, Indonesia now faces a sudden jump in its coronavirus statistics.
As of Friday, there were 1,986 confirmed cases and 181 deaths, making it the country with the most coronavirus deaths and the highest fatality rate in Southeast Asia. Indonesia's death rate stood at 9.1 percent compared to 5.2 worldwide as of Friday.
Rea full story here.
02:25 GMT - Thousands of Central Americans detained for flaunting coronavirus rules
Thousands of people have been detained across Central America for violating rules put in place by their governments to curb the fast-spreading new coronavirus in a region that has fewer medical resources than developed countries.
Central America is home to a large, poor population with no options to work from home, take paid sick leave or observe social distancing rules because its people work in the informal economy and live in crowded conditions.
Honduran authorities said about 2,250 people have been arrested for violating the curfew imposed since mid-March while Guatemalan authorities said 5,705 people had been detained for leaving their homes without justification.
In Panama, more than 5,000 people have been detained in recent weeks for violating curfew rules; another 424 people have been detained for not complying with recent rules that limit men and women to leaving the house on alternate days.
01:20 GMT - Day of mourning set for China's coronavirus 'martyrs'
China declared Saturday a day of mourning for the thousands of "martyrs" who have died in the new coronavirus outbreak, flying the national flag at half mast throughout the country and suspending all forms of entertainment.
The day of mourning coincided with the start of the annual Qingming tomb-sweeping festival, when millions of Chinese families pay respects to their ancestors.
At 10am (02:00 GMT) Beijing time, the country observed three minutes of silence to mourn those who died, including frontline medical workers and doctors. Cars, trains and ships sounded their horns and air raid sirens wailed.
China has officially reported more than 3,300 deaths from the coronavirus.
People pause at an intersection during a national moment of mourning for victims of coronavirus in Beijing on Saturday [Mark Schiefelbein/AP]
00:40 GMT - Mainland China reports 19 new confirmed coronavirus cases
Mainland China reported on Saturday at least 19 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, down from 31 a day earlier, including one new infection in central Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak in the country.
Of the new cases, 18 involved travellers arriving from abroad, the National Health Commission said in a statement. The new infections bring the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China to 81,639 as of Friday. China also reported four new deaths, raising the death toll to 3,326 as of Friday.
00:05 GMT - Trumps says he will not wear mask but orders halt on export of masks, gloves
Trump ordered the federal government on Friday to freeze exports of N95 masks and gloves under the Defense Production Act [File: Alex Brandon/AP]
The White House says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that Americans cover their faces when leaving their homes, especially around other people. But President Donald Trump is calling it "voluntary" and says he himself will not wear a mask.
"I’m choosing not to do it," he said late on Friday, even as he ordered a freeze in the exportation of N95 masks and surgical gloves under the Defense Production Act.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that everyone should wear masks in public to help contain the spread of the deadly infection.
23:05 GMT - New York governor signs order to take unused ventilators
President Donald Trump says his administration is "doing our best for New York" even as Governor Andrew Cuomo warns the state is in danger of not having enough ventilators to help coronavirus-stricken patients in a matter of days.
Earlier on Friday, Cuomo signed an executive order allowing the state to take unused ventilators and personal protective equipment from hospitals within the state. New York State, which has recorded around 3,000 coronavirus deaths, has been the hardest-hit area in the US by the pandemic.
I'm Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur with Al Jazeera's continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Read all the updates from yesterday (April 3) here.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFsamF6ZWVyYS5jb20vbmV3cy8yMDIwLzA0L3JlY2Vzc2lvbi1jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1jcmlzaXMtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzLTIwMDQwMzIzMzAxMjYyNi5odG1s0gFpaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYWxqYXplZXJhLmNvbS9hbXAvbmV3cy8yMDIwLzA0L3JlY2Vzc2lvbi1jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1jcmlzaXMtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzLTIwMDQwMzIzMzAxMjYyNi5odG1s?oc=5
2020-04-04 08:35:41Z
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