Global confirmed Covid-19 cases top 400,000 – as it happened

That’s it for this live blog. Follow me, Helen Sullivan, to the link below for the latest coronavirus pandemic news:

The New York Times editorial board says “It’s time for a national lockdown” in the US.

In an op-ed titled “Coronavirus Is Advancing. All Americans Need to Shelter in Place,”

The board – made up of opinion journalists – write:

We are not suggesting that Mr. Trump has the authority to order a national lockdown, much less advocating that he attempt to enforce one. Instead, we are urging him to use the bully pulpit to put pressure on, and provide political cover for, governors to take the hard steps that are needed.

As the president’s own health advisers warn, the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is yet to come. The nation’s slow and spotty response has allowed the virus to spread to every state. Modelingby researchers at the Imperial College London indicates that upward of two million lives could be lost to the pandemic unless America somehow manages to “flatten the curve.”

Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now. If you have any tips, news you think we need to know or something funny to share, get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Turkey’s death toll from the coronavirus increased by seven to 44 on Tuesday as the number of confirmed cases rose by 343 to 1,872, health minister Fahrettin Koca said.

He said on Twitter that 3,952 tests had been conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests carried out in Turkey to around 28,000.

The Australian market rose 5.81% at the opening bell on Wednesday, following extraordinary gains of as much as 11% on US markets overnight.

With markets extremely volatile, it’s become something of mug’s game to try to explain the latest gyrations. While some analysts put the US market’s increase down to hopes a long-awaited stimulus package was close to being approved by congress, a more likely - if grimmer - explanation is that traders have reacted with glee to talk from Donald Trump that he might soon lift coronavirus restrictions.
This would cost many lives but get cash moving in the economy again.

On the Australian bourse, the biggest gainer at the open was debt collector Credit Corp, which was up 39% - a second day of big gains - and the biggest loser was funeral home operator Invocare, which told the market it would be hit by new restrictions limiting the number of people at funerals to 10.

California scrambles to avoid Covid-19’s worst case scenario: ‘It will take a heroic effort’

Leaders in California are scrambling to prepare the state amid a shortage of hospital beds, limited access to masks and ventilators and a patchwork approach to testing, as a surge of cases in New York provides a warning of how quickly the coronavirus crisis could spiral out of control.

A statewide stay-at-home order took effect Friday, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, was readying the state for a 90-day surge in cases, a demand that would require adding 50,000 hospital beds to the state’s portfolio. Tuesday saw the death of a patient under the age of 18 in Los Angeles, who is believed to be the nation’s first child death from the virus.

New York is reporting more cases — it’s also testing more.

Today’s briefing made clear that New York is now being treated as a hot zone. The state reported 25,665 cases of Covid-19, as of. this morning, with 210 deaths. Nearly 15,000 cases were concentrated in New York City.

New York is also testing residents more often.

In Washington, both Trump and Pence indicated in that press briefing that the Defence Production Act (DPA) would not be invoked to compel private companies to produce masks, ventilators and other vital supplies.

But their comments appeared to contradict what Peter Gaynor, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said earlier today. This morning, Gaynor told CNN that his agency was “going to use the DPA for the first time today”.

A FEMA spokesperson said minutes later that the act had indeed not been needed.

Last week, Trump issued an executive order invoking that the 1950 law, so the government could ask companies to prioritize the production of crucial medical supplies. Ever since, the administration has undermined the need for such measures arguing that companies are voluntarily stepping up to make necessary products, and ordering companies do this work would have amounted to socialism.

In Washington, the White House has issued new guidance for people who have already left New York to self-quarantine for two weeks. The vice-president, Mike Pence, said:

We are asking anyone who has traveled out of the New York City metropolitan area to anywhere else in the country to self-isolate for 14 days. We have to deal with the New York City metropolitan area as a high-risk area.

Antony Fauci emphasised that one out of every 1,000 New Yorkers may be infected.

In the UK, Birmingham’s NEC has said it “stands ready” and is “well equipped” should the centre be considered as a suitable location for a temporary hospital. A spokeswoman has said:

As a cornerstone of the local community, we are committed to playing our part in ensuring the health and wellbeing of everyone in our area.

As such, we stand ready and willing to help our emergency services - especially at a time like this.

The NEC is well equipped to be used as a support base if such need arises so please be assured, that if we are requested to do so, we can action this with immediate effect.

We are and have been in constant communication with the local NHS trust, police and fire service, and the services are fully aware of the capabilities of the venue. We will do our utmost to support the effort in combating the virus.

Back in the UK, the Metropolitan police have released footage of officers clearing sunbathers from Shepherd’s Bush Green, in west London, on the first day of the UK-wide coronavirus lockdown. “Can you all go home please,” one officer can be heard saying. “It’s not a holiday, it’s a lockdown.”

Under tough new measures announced by the prime minister Boris Johnson, people are allowed to leave their homes only to exercise once a day, to travel to and from “absolutely necessary” work, and to shop for essential items.

Trump evaded a question about why he’s fixated on easing back distancing measures by Easter. “I just thought it was a beautiful time” he said. But he said he’ll “be guided very much by Dr Fauci” and Dr Deborah Birx. “Maybe we do sections of the country,” Trump said.

Fauci said timeline of when the US should ease physical distancing measures is “really very flexible”. He said people “can look at a date but you have to be very flexible”. Fauci once again emphasised the need for data to inform public health policies.

Anthony Fauci, who has resurfaced for this briefing, addressed the crisis. He emphasised the need to test more widely, to gather more data that can inform public health officials as they develop policies.

“The idea about self-isolating for two weeks will be very important,” Fauci said, especially for New Yorkers living in the most severely impacted areas in the country.

Fauci did not address how realistic Trump’s wish to scale back physical-distancing measures by Easter was. Instead, he obliquely referenced the importance of testing and gathering data.

Trump has moved on to talking about immigration. “This experience shows how important borders are,” he has said, referencing his exclusionary immigration policies. He also said that the US should “never be reliant on a foreign country” and that his wish for America is for it to be a “self-reliant nation” that is “dependant on no one”.

Despite Trump’s claim, experts at the World Health Organization have said the US risks becoming the next centre of the coronavirus outbreak as the country is seeing a “very large acceleration” in cases.

Trump has claimed the US is already beginning to “see the light at the end of the tunnel”, even though Covid-19 is still spreading throughout the nation.

He also reiterated his hesitation to invoke the Defense Production Act to increase production of crucial medical supplies, saying some businesses are already beginning to do so.

The US president, Donald Trump, is reiterating his desire to ease restrictions in less than three weeks.

“Ultimately the goal is to ease the guidelines and open things up,” he has told a press conference at the White House. He addressed his earlier comments that he hopes the country will be able to ease back social distancing by Easter.

Easter is a very special day for many reasons. And what a great timeline that would be.

Libya has announced its first case, Reuters quotes its National Centre for Disease Control as saying.

My colleague, Barney Ronay, has just published this very interesting piece on London – a city officially under lockdown conditions that doesn’t particularly appear to have locked down:

A 31-year-old from Mexico has become the first person in immigration detention in the US to test positive for Covid-19.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) said the person was being held at Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, in New Jersey, when they tested positive. The agency said they had been quarantined and were receiving care at an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, the intake of new migrants at the jail will be suspended.

Ice previously said a member of the medical staff at the Elizabeth Detention Centre in New Jersey tested positive.

The postponement of the Olympics is “hugely disappointing” for Britain’s athletes, the UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said.

Of the 87 UK deaths announced on Tuesday, 21 were at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, in the north of the capital. A spokesman for the trust has said:

Sadly, we can confirm that a further 21 patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 have passed away between Friday 20 March and Monday 23 March, and our thoughts remain with those people who have lost loved ones.

Our trust is seeing a high number of intensive care unit cases and we are stepping up our support in response to this demand, having already significantly increased the number of intensive care beds at our hospitals. But we need everyone to also do their bit by staying at home and washing your hands.

Madrid’s annual Gay Pride march, which was scheduled to be held on 4 July this year, has been postponed indefinitely, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Organisers have said the event will be “postponed due to the exceptional circumstances we are experiencing” since “people’s health and safety is the priority”. The march “will take place when the sanitary and security conditions are adequate and this is guaranteed by health authorities and security forces”, they have said.

The number of confirmed cases in Costa Rica has risen to 177, the country’s health ministry has announced, with the ages of those infected ranging from two to 87 years-old.

There is still hope that the virus can be contained in the Central American country as no community transmission has been recorded so far, according to local media.

Costa Rica has the second largest outbreak in the region behind Panama, where confirmed cases have surged in the last few days. On Monday, six people had died and 345 cases had been recorded.

The aircraft manufacturer Boeing will not be allowed to go out of business as a result of the pandemic, the US president Donald Trump has said. In an interview with Fox News, he said:

We’re not letting Boeing go out of business. You have to help them temporarily. It’s not going to be a long time, temporarily.

And they’re going to pay interest and they’re probably going to give stock in their company to the people of our country, to the taxpayers of our country, to the citizens of our country.

Fitch has cut Boeing’s credit rating to “BBB”, with a negative outlook, citing a rapid escalation of the pandemic and its impact on the firm’s markets and operations. The agency said it has downgraded long-term ratings for Boeing Co and Boeing Capital Corp to “BBB” from “A-”.

Speculation is continuing to mount in Brazil over whether its far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has in fact been tested positive for coronavirus.

On 13 March, there were reports – initially confirmed and then subsequently denied by one of Bolsonaro’s sons – that an initial test on president Bolsonaro had come back positive. More than 20 members of a delegation Bolsonaro led to the United States to meet Donald Trump have been infected, including his ambassador in Washington and two members of his cabinet.

The military hospital where Bolsonaro and others were tested, in Brazil’s capital Brasília, was this week forced to hand over a list of names of the patients it had treated, amid concerns Brazil’s leader might in fact have tested positive.

But a leading Brazilian newspaper, the Folha de São Paulo, reported that two names had been omitted for reasons of official “secrecy”.

Now, another newspaper, the Correio Braziliense, has published a report claiming insiders within the presidential palace believe it is possible those two patients “could be Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro and first lady”.

The newspaper claimed all discussion of the list of names was now a “taboo” within the palace. “There is an order against revealing any information about the tests of the president and his wife ‘for national security reasons’,” the newspaper claims.

Bolsonaro has so far refused to make the results of his tests public but is now facing growing calls to do so from political rivals and members of the public.

Countries across Europe are taking steps to deal with the economic effects of the pandemic.

The Czech parliament’s lower chamber has approved a package of emergency government measures that includes temporary tax relief for self-employed workers, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, Romania’s centrist minority government will also enable banks to allow monthly loan repayments to be postponed for several months, its finance minister, Florin Citu, says.

In Norway, the central bank says it will offer banks a loan in US dollars with a maturity of three months, in a move coordinated with Danish and Swedish central banks. The auction will will open at 2pm CET (1pm GMT) on Thursday and will have a maximum allotment volume of $5bn (£4.26bn).

Protective facemasks used by medics battling coronavirus are being stolen from emergency departments in Northern Ireland, the health minister has said. Robin Swann expressed concern at the thefts as he announced he was releasing 30% a stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) ahead of schedule.

Sean O’Callaghan, the assistant chief constable at British Transport police, said:

The measures announced yesterday by the prime minister are there to save lives which is part of the work our officers do every day.

We are supporting rail operators and those key workers making their journeys home tonight by deploying 500 officers across the rail network nationally. They will be patrolling stations, supporting railway staff and reminding the public of the urgent need to follow the government advice – only those making essential journeys for work should be using the Tube and rail network.

We strongly urge the rest of the public to do the right thing and help us save lives by staying at home and slowing the spread of the virus.

In the UK, 500 British Transport police officers will be on the rail network on Tuesday evening (GMT) to remind passengers that only those making essential journeys for work should be using the London Underground and trains.

The United Arab Emirates has announced 50 new Coronavirus cases, raising the total number to 248.

Its health ministry said all patients are in stable condition and receiving the necessary medical care. Four patients recovered, raising the total number of recovered patients to 45.

Turkey’s death toll has risen by seven to 44 people, according to Reuters, which quotes the country’s health minister as saying the total number of cases in the country has now increased by 343 to 1,872.

*This post originally said the number of cases had increased to 343. It has been corrected.

In his daily update, Jérôme Salomon, the director general of the French health service, has said the epidemic was now across France and “rapidly getting worse”.

France has 22,300 confirmed cases of coronavirus. There are 10,176 people in hospital 2,516 in intensive care, of whom 34% are aged younger than 60 years. There have been 1,100 deaths of patients with the coronavirus in hospital. 85% of these deaths are people over 70 years of age. The increase in deaths is 240 people in 24 hours.

Staying in the UK, the sister of one victim has described the pain of being unable to say goodbye. Joan Fulton’s brother, 67-year-old Billy Allan from Newtownards in Northern Ireland, died in the early hours of Monday morning. Fulton has told UTV Live

That number had a face, and it’s the face of my brother Billy. My brother Billy is the number three person who has lost his life – yesterday morning at 3am – to this virus.

Why am I sharing this? Because this is the hardest journey I’ve ever been on.

This virus is just ripping families apart. When my brother left his house on Friday night he thought he had a chest infection and he went into the hospital. I didn’t know, or the family didn’t know, we wouldn’t be seeing Billy again.

We couldn’t be with Billy, we couldn’t say goodbye, we couldn’t be there, we can’t even be together to bury Billy.

Fulton had a stark message for those failing to heed social distancing rules:

Stop thinking about you, stop thinking about you. But think about others. This disease will kill many, if you don’t act properly – stay at home. That’s a simple message.

Foreign nationals unable to return home from the UK because of the pandemic will be able to extend their UK visas, the country’s home secretary has announced. Priti Patel has said the measure is designed to give people “peace of mind” and to ensure that those working in “vital services” can continue their work.

The extension will apply to anyone whose leave expired after 24 January and who cannot leave the country because of travel restrictions or self-isolation. It will last until 31 May, but will be kept under regular review, the Home Office has said.

The department is also temporarily expanding the in-country switching provisions to help those who want to apply for visas to stay in the UK long-term, meaning people can apply to switch visa routes while remaining in the country. Patel said:

The UK continues to put the health and wellbeing of people first and nobody will be punished for circumstances outside of their control. By extending people’s visas, we are giving people peace of mind and also ensuring that those in vital services can continue their work.

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is warning retailers and other businesses not to increase prices due to coronavirus, following news that the sportswear chain, Sports Direct, has raised prices on several exercise products A CMA spokesman has said:

We have already warned all traders not to exploit the current situation through unjustifiable prices. Our new Covid-19 taskforce is reviewing evidence of harmful sales or pricing practices, and we will do whatever is required to stop a small minority of businesses that may seek to exploit the present situation.

As a lockdown in Cyprus comes into effect, the country’s president Nicos Anastasiades is warning of even harsher restrictions if citizens fail to comply with the new rules.

If there is misuse or disobedience towards the new measures, the next step will be to ban all movement without exceptions.

At 6pm (EET), a blanket bank on “unnecessary” circulation came into force in the island’s internationally recognised southern sector through to 15 April. Exceptions include travel to and from workplaces, visits to supermarkets, doctors, pharmacies, banks, caring for the needy, outdoor exercise and walking dogs. Anastasiades said:

Today, we lost two more citizens as a result of the pandemic. We all need to realise that if there is no full compliance with the measures, there will be asymmetrical consequences for all. To win this war stay at home, in the shelters.

As in Greece, those who violate the new measures will be fined €150 (£137.37) on the spot.

Paraguayans have expressed outrage over videos circulating on social media which show police officers using humiliating punishments on people found on the streets during the country’s nationwide coronavirus quarantine, reports William Costa in Asunción.

Punishments seen in the videos—recorded and shared by officers themselves—include forcing people to do star jumps while threatened with a taser and making others repeat “I won’t leave my house again, officer” whilst lying face down on the floor.

Interior Minister, Euclides Acevedo, supported the actions taken by officers to enforce the quarantine in the South American nation, which sees all citizens other than key workers confined to their homes until April 12.

“I’ve seen some of the videos. I congratulate them--I don’t have the same creativity as those that are making the videos”.

But others expressed concerns that these actions trivialise the dire economic and social challenges being faced under quarantine by large part of the population.

Alberto Ruíz, of a residents’ social organisation in the poor Tacumbú neighbourhood in the capital Asunción, told The Guardian that authorities have done very little to support vulnerable families left without any income because of the quarantine.

“They tell you to stay at home, to protect your family. But in poor neighbourhoods, you have to go out to earn a living: if you don’t, you die of hunger”.

They have also raised uncomfortable memories in a country which only returned to democracy in 1989. Óscar Ayala, executive secretary of the Paraguayan Human Rights Coordination Group (CODEHUPY), tweeted: “They are having a great laugh by sharing humiliating videos, which are celebrated by a desensitised audience as a bit of fun, but they are belittling human dignity”.

Strong early measures were taken by the Paraguayan government to contain the virus on March 10 following the discovery of just the second case of coronavirus. At present, the country has registered 27 cases of infection and 2 deaths.

The Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte denied reports from earlier in the day that lockdown measures would be extended until 31 July, adding that he hoped restrictions would be lifted “much earlier”.

“In late January we approved a state of emergency, which was declared until 31 July,” he said.

“It does not mean that restrictive measures will be extended until then. I repeat and want to clarify – the date of 31 July is the [end] date for the current restrictive measures, we hope to remove them much earlier.”

Conte also said regional authorities would have the power to impose stricter restrictions in their territories and that people who violate quarantine rules will be fined between €400 and €3000 .

“I am satisfied and proud of all the Italians who are respecting the rules…the majority of citizens are complying,” he said. “As I have said since the beginning, to fight this emergency we all respect the rules, it doesn’t only protect you and your loved ones, but allows us to exit this emergency sooner.”

The some times breezy and contradictory declarations of Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, on coronavirus has been met with disbelief, anger and bafflement among some international observers.

From a piece compiled by Guardian correspondents, it appears that many consider Johnson’s initial laissez-faire approach to the crisis, followed by contradictory signals about his government’s strategy, as an inexplicable bout of British exceptionalism.

At a time when good news appears to be thin on the ground, here is video of applause ringing out at the emergency field hospital at the Ifema exhibition centre in Madrid when nurses said farewell to the first coronavirus patient to be given the all-clear at the facility.

The temporary healthcare facility, which is still under construction, will be able to treat 5,500 patients when it is fully operational.

The coronavirus pandemic could wipe out populations of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, leading scientists have warned.

Our closest living relatives, which share about 98% of human DNA, are known to be susceptible to catching respiratory diseases from people.

Even pathogens producing mild symptoms in humans have been lethal to great apes in the past. The fact that Covid-19 is fatal for some humans leads experts to fear it could potentially prove devastating to great apes.

No great apes have yet been reported to have contracted Covid-19, so the true impact is unknown. But many great apes are already at risk of extinction due to forest destruction and poaching, so the researchers say closing national parks, reserves and zoos must be seriously considered.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is a critical situation for humans, our health and our economies,” said Thomas Gillespie, at Emory University, US, and a lead author of a letter from 25 experts published in the journal Nature. “It’s also a potentially dire situation for great apes. There is a lot at stake for those in danger of extinction.”

The number of surviving mountain gorillas has been rising, but the recent gains could rapidly reverse if disease is introduced, the WWF has warned.

On our Science Weekly podcast, the Guardian’s Health Editor, Sarah Boseley, has been speaking to Prof Deenan Pillay about how the Covid-19 contaminates surfaces and why headlines about how long it can survive may be misleading.

Following a number of listener questions, we also find out whether or not Sars-CoV-2 can survive in a swimming pool

The remote Pacific outpost of Easter Island has confirmed its first case of COVID19 – a 42-year old who is reportedly in stable condition.

Authorities on the island, which has been ruled by Chile since 1888, had attempted to seal it off after the virus was first detected on the mainland in early March. After mounting pressure, LATAM – the only airline with direct flights to the island – eventually cancelled fights last Tuesday, and all tourists were evacuated.

Subsequently, Chile’s Health Minister announced the island would be quarantined for a period of 14 days.

Easter Island is 2,182 miles away from Chile’s mainland - around a 6-hour flight. Given its isolation, and lack of medical facilities, an outbreak on the island is cause for concern.

Any critical patients would have to be transported back to the mainland, which typically takes around two days to organise.

Despite the precautions taken by local authorities, it is unclear how the virus reached the island. The patient had not been off the island, nor in contact with anyone with confirmed symptoms.

The mayor, Pedro Edmunds Paoa, has criticised Chile’s central government for their slow handling of the situation.

In mainland Chile, citizens are calling the government to order a total lockdown. Over the weekend, President Sebastian Piñera declared a curfew from 10 pm-05 am, but health professionals argue such measures are not enough to stop the spread.

More than 1,500 medical and other academics in Sweden ranging from full professors to post-doc researchers have signed a petition calling on the government to change its coronavirus strategy.

Sweden has closed senior high schools and universities, banned gatherings of more than 500, asked all citizens to avoid non-essential travel and advised those who feel ill and are aged over 70 to stay at home.

But unlike most EU countries it has not introduced stricter suppression and social distancing orders, such as closing lower schools, non-essential shops, cafes and restaurants, or confining citizens to their homes.

The country, which on Tuesday reported a total of 2,272 confirmed cases and 36 deaths, an increase of 44% from Monday, is also no longer testing the majority of people who show symptoms of Covid-19.

Anders Tegnell, the country’s chief epidemiologist, has described Sweden’s strategy as trying to ensure “a slow spread of infection, and that the health services have a reasonable workload”, arguing that it is important for part of the population to acquire immunity.

Initiated by six professors at the Karolinska Institutet, the country’s largest centre of medical research, and Goteborg university, the petition urges the government to “immediately take measures to follow the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) to their full extent, including interventions to reduce mobility and contact in the population and ... increase our capacity to test for Covid-19 infections.”

The professors say that experience from China and South Korea “confirms that these measures are important and that they need to be incorporated as soon as possible, similar to what most of our neighbour countries in Europe are doing, instead of only hoping to create herd immunity”.

Scientific evidence for the ability of the coronavirus to rapidly create herd immunity in the same way as an influenza virus is weak, the petition says. It concludes: “We still have some time to react and suppress the virus. Our nation should not be the exception in Europe. We request that our government takes action now!”

The president of Harvard University, Larry Bacow, and his partner Adele have announced that they have tested positive for Covid-19.

In a statement issued by Harvard, they said: “Earlier today, Adele and I learned that we tested positive for COVID-19. We started experiencing symptoms on Sunday—first coughs then fevers, chills, and muscle aches—and contacted our doctors on Monday. We were tested yesterday and just received the results a few minutes ago. We wanted to share this news with all of you as soon as possible.

They add: “Neither of us knows how we contracted the virus, but the good news—if there is any to be had—is that far fewer people crossed our paths recently than is usually the case.”

Britain’s health minister has appeared to implicitly criticised transport authorities in London for not running enough train services on the city’s underground network, something which has become increasingly controversial as health workers found themselves being crammed into crowded carriages.

It’s an issue that has also caused controversy elsewhere in Europe. Swedish media reported yesterday about anger among people in Stockholm towards authorities for running a reduced bus service.

At a press conference in London - which is being covered in detail here by my colleagues on our UK liveblog - UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock implied that Transport for London, which oversees London’s transport network, is not running enough carriages.

Other developments from that press conference include the news that the government has brought 3.5m antibody tests.

The UK’s deputy chief medical officer, Jennifer Harries, said the antibody testing will give the British government a real insight into the way that the disease has spread.

In Greece there are now 743 confirmed coronavirus cases with the death toll from Covid-19 climbing to 20, health authorities have announced.

Professor Sotiris Tsiodras, an expert on infectious diseases who has emerged as the health ministry’s leading spokesperson on coronavirus, told reporters that 134 patients had been hospitalised with 45 in intensive care.

In Cyprus the health ministry also reported an increase in fatalities saying two men had succumbed to the disease, bringing the death toll to three on the Mediterranean island. The country has 124 confirmed coronavirus cases after a rise of eight overnight, it said.

Slovenia is to introduce health checks on Wednesday on its border with Austria, a measure already in place on its border with Italy.

Only people with a certificate showing they tested negative for coronavirus within the past three days or those who show no signs of fever will be able to cross the border into Slovenia, according to Jelko Kacin, a government spokesperson

He told a news conference that the decree would not apply to Slovenian citizens and foreign citizens who live or work in Slovenia, and those transporting cargo.

The country of 2.08 million people has so far confirmed 480 cases of coronavirus and four people have died. It has cancelled all public transport, including air traffic, closed all schools, bars, restaurants, hotels, sport centres and prohibited any socialising in public spaces.

The pope has invited all Christians to take part in a day of prayer tomorrow.

Places of worship have been closing in recent days, including in the UK, where Catholic Churches closed following the announcement on Monday by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, of restrictions on movement and assembly.

The Church of England announced today that its churches are to close with immediate effect, including for private prayer, in an effort to help limit the transmission of the coronavirus Covid-19.

The archbishops and bishops of the Church of England have written collectively to clergy, telling them : “These are unprecedented times.”

“We are all having to get used to being the Church differently. It is not easy.”

“However, our belonging to Christ has never been measured by the number of people in church on a Sunday morning (though we long for the day when this way of knowing Christ can return) but by the service we offer to others.”

Saudi Arabia has announced its first coronavirus death.

A spokesman for the kingdom’s health ministry said the case was an Afghan national who died on Monday.

Saudi health authorities also announced 205 new coronavirus positive cases on Tuesday, raising the total to 767.

A partial curfew is being implemented to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Arab news reported that the Saudi ministry of interior has issued a statement and announced that first-time violators of the curfew would be fined 10,000 riyals (£2,270).

Second-time violators of the curfew would be fined 20,000 riyals, and the penalty for a third violation is imprisonment for a maximum of 20 days.

Train services are due to resume from Wednesday at train stations across China’s Hubei province, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, according to AFP’s correspondent in Hong Kong, quoting Chinese state media.

Donald Trump has gone on a retweeting spree, relaying messages in support of his coronavirus response and controversial plan to “reopen” the US economy well before public health experts expect the outbreak to have subsided.

He managed, however, to apparently commit something of a “self-own”, retweeting footage of Dr Anthony Fauci at a White House briefing last week which most thought showed Fauci expressing clear concern at the president’s words.

The footage shows Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reacting to Trump’s reference to “the deep state department” during a briefing last Friday.

The Australian sharemarket closed up 4.2% on Tuesday, almost clawing back losses from Monday.

Despite the solid performance, the market is still more than a third down from where it was a month ago, before it was gripped by a coronavirus-inspired selling frenzy.
And several big companies that are most affected by the pandemic are suspended from trade, meaning they cannot weigh down the benchmark ASX200 index.
Graincorp shed more than 50%, but its drop was not coronavirus-related - today was the first day of trade for its malting arm, which it has spun off into a separate company.
Consumer-exposed financial stocks that were smashed on Monday bounced back, with debt collector Credit Corp ballooning 46% and buy-now-pay-later operator Afterpay skyrocketing 26%.

Travel agent Corporate Travel, which has been smashed by the virus and is also a perennial short-seller target, soared 31%.

Russia is to close nightclubs and cinemas due to the coronavirus, reports the RIA Novosti news agency.

Italy’s economy minister, Roberto Gualtieri, has said the eurozone’s bailout fund should be used to help economies hit by the coronavirus crisis, with no strings attached.

“We must use all the resources available at the EU level, including the ESM [the European Stability Mechanism], without any conditionality,” Gualtieri told parliament.

The minister added that the EU should consider issuing a common debt instrument, or safe asset, something so far resisted by some of its richer members.

Cuomo goes on to take aim at Donald Trump’s tweet that the “cure must not be worse than the problem itself”.

It’s all very well, the New York governor says, “But if you ask the American people to choose between public health and the economy then it’s no contest.

“No American is going to say, accelerate the economy at the cost of human life because no American is going to say how much a life is worth. Job one has to be save lives. That has to be the priority.”

New York is “the canary in the coalmine” and will be “going first” in terms of the impact of the virus in the US, says Cuomo.

He says that the ventilators should be moved around the country depending on how the “apex” of the outbreak moves to different states.

“Don’t leave them sitting in a stockpile and say we are going to wait to see how we allocate them across the country,” says the New York governor, who adds he will take personal responsibility to move the equipment to any state that needs them, along with healthcare professionals.

Reaction to Cuomo’s comments and the developing situation is being covered live here on our US blog

New York State governor Andrew Cuomo is giving the latest of his now daily briefings ( watch live), which has produced some quite concerning news.

The State had need for 110,000 hospital beds at the apex of the virus, according to Cuoma, but the rate of infection was now increasing.

New projections showed New York may need 140K beds.

This is Ben Quinn picking up the blog again

Pictures have emerged of that visit to a hospital by Russian president Vladimir Putin to a hospital in full protective gear.

Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has toured Russia’s main hospital treating coronavirus patients, donning a full-body protective suit and respirator mask, reports my colleague Andrew Roth in Moscow.

The number of confirmed victims of the virus in Russia now stands at 500 people.

The visit by Putin, 67, comes as Russia gradually tightens quarantine measures on its citizens, with Moscow telling seniors to stay at home and the mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, warning Putin that the true number of infected was likely higher than the official numbers showed.

“The dynamics are quite high. It’s a serious situation,” said Sobyanin, the mayor, during a meeting with Putin

A video of Putin donning the yellow protective suit and respirator mask were published by Russian journalists on Tuesday. The Russian president has in the past developed the image of an action man, posing shirtless on a horse, diving beneath the waters of the Black Sea in a minisub and shooting a whale from a dart gun on a rubber dinghy.

Although seniors in Moscow have been told to self-quarantine, Putin’s staff have said that he’ll continue to work a normal schedule. The order has an exemption for executives working in “vital roles” in the government.

The visit came on the same day as a woman reportedly died at the Kommunarka hospital near Moscow. Russian officials have said that the woman was not infected with the coronavirus infection, and had passed away due to complications from cancer. So far Russia has had only one death officially attributed to the virus, but there are concerns that infection cases have gone under-counted, including as pneumonia.

Putin on Tuesday also visited a pop-up hospital being built on Moscow’s outskirts with a reported 500 beds for victims of the coronavirus.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has announced $100m to boost testing and buy medical supplies

Because we all need to watch an Italian dog doing yoga right now:

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has dampened hopes his government could loosen coronavirus restrictions after Easter, and vowed to expand the Alpine country’s capacity to carry out faster tests for the Covid-19 virus, writes my colleague Philip Oltermann in Berlin.

“After Easter we will be in a phase that will be more similar to the current one than normality”, Kurz said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

He said his government were hoping to have better data by Friday on how the country’s tough restrictions on free movement and social interactions had affected the spread of the virus.

The government’s goal was nonetheless to gradually phase out the current measures gradually by 14 April: “The emphasis is on goal and gradually”, Kurz said.

Austria, which has a population of 8.8 million, has so far tested around 24,000 people, with nearly 4,500 cases confirmed.

On Tuesday Kurz said his government was planning to expand authorities’ capacities for testing to a rate of “around 15,000 per day”. Equipment for “rapid tests” was currently being checked for reliability.

Switzerland has nearly 9,000 confirmed coronavirus infections and 90 deaths, the Federal Office of Public Health said on Tuesday, adding it was premature to say the number of new cases was flattening out.

The number of new cases rose by fewer than 1,000 since Monday, the data indicated, slightly less steeply than increases in recent days.

“We will definitely need a few more days to be able to really speak of a consolidation of the numbers or the trend,” said Patrick Mathys, head of the health ministry’s crisis management division. “There is hope. I think that’s also what we cling to with numbers like that. But seriously, it just takes a little bit of time to make conclusive statements.”

It would have been unthinkable for sporting bodies to continue to prepare for an Olympic Games at a time when the world is enduring great hardship, UK sporting bodies have said in a joint statement.

Andy Anson, chief executive of the British Olympic Association (BOA), said: “It is with profound sadness that we accept the postponement, but in all consciousness it is the only decision we can support, in light of the devastating impact Covid-19 is having on our nation, our communities and our families.

Mike Sharrock, CEO of the British Paralympic Association, said: “Stemming this global public health crisis and doing everything possible to safeguard the health and wellbeing of people should clearly take priority in these unprecedented times.

“We welcome the clarity this now gives Paralympic athletes throughout the world who have had their training and qualification plans severely disrupted but also recognise it will still be a deeply unsettling time for athletes who have worked for years focussed on delivering their best possible performance in Tokyo this summer.

The IOC’s decision to postpone the Olympic Games by up to a year has been met in Japan, the host nation, with a mixture of disappointment and resignation.

Opinion polls taken before the announcement indicated that the Japanese public had already accepted that Tokyo 2020 would be sport’s biggest victims of the coronavirus pandemic.

One Twitter user reacted with humour, posting an image of the “new” Tokyo 2020 logo, with the zero crossed out in traditional Japanese style, its replacement numeral verified by the personal seals of the organising committee head Yoshiro Mori, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike and the prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

Others voiced disappointed that they would have to wait another year to watch their favourite athletes compete in Tokyo.

“I’ve been looking forward to the Olympics and feel like crying,” one user tweeted.

“But I understand it’s inevitable under the circumstances. My heart goes out to the athletes who have been striving to make the Olympics over the past four years - or even six-and-a-half years since Tokyo was chosen as the host city.”

Yuki Ota, vice president of the Japan Fencing Federation, thanked everyone who had been involved in the Olympic preparations, telling them in a post: “What you have done means a lot.” He added. “But first we have to get through the coronavirus. Health must come first.”

Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, has announced the country will go into a full lockdown on Wednesday to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, with the army deployed to help enforce it.

“Romanians will face new restrictions,” Iohannis said in a televised address, citing the “complexity of the situation”.

Romania had already introduced a state of emergency and a night-time curfew but Iohannis announced that as of Wednesday, the previous “recommendation” to citizens to stay indoors “will become an obligation based on the principle: ‘We’re staying at home’”.

The AFP news agency reported that Romanians will only be allowed to leave their houses during the day to go to work or get essential supplies.

People over 65 years old - one of the groups most at risk from complications from the virus - are to be barred from leaving the house altogether.

Police and gendarmes have been enforcing the night-time curfew since Monday evening and will now be joined by the army.

Romania reported 762 confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, a jump of almost 200 from the previous day, with eight deaths.

There may be 10 non-recorded coronavirus cases for every registered, according to the Italy’s emergency commissioner and civil protection head, Angelo Borrelli.

Some recent scientific studies have suggested that the percentage of asymptomatic people who have contracted Covid-19 may be very high. In some areas of Italy, it is estimated that asymptomatic patients, capable of transmitting the virus, are over 50%.

But on Tuesday, Borrelli said the report - stating there could be 10 non-recorded coronavirus cases for every registered one - is “credible”.

Borrelli also called for urgent action to find intensive care equipment and face masks, saying that national production of these essential items must begin as soon as possible.

If, on the one hand, this means the number of infected people in Italy is much higher than the official data, it also means that the mortality rate could be significantly lower than the official estimates.

The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics will come as a blow to the host country, which has spent more than $12bn on the event, while huge sums are also at stake for sponsors and broadcasters.

Goldman Sachs estimated this month that Japan would lose $4.5bn (550bn yen) in inbound and domestic consumption in 2020 if the Olympics did not take place as planned.

The Nikkei, a Japanese business daily, claimed on Monday that G7 leaders had agreed to a postponement during their teleconference last week, after Abe persuaded them that cancellation was not an option.

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe told the group that he was determined to hold the Games “in their complete form” – with the full quota of athletes and spectators – as a symbol of the world’s triumph over coronavirus, the Nikkei said. Boris Johnson reportedly responded with a thumbs-up, while other leaders nodded their approval.

Abe this week hinted that postponement was a possibility, hours after the IOC said it could take up to four weeks to decide the fate of the Games. “If the IOC’s decision means it becomes impossible to hold the Olympics in their complete form, then a decision may have to be made to postpone them,” he told parliament on Monday.

The statement postponing the Olympics referenced “the unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating”.

The postponement marks the first break in the four-year cycle for the summer Olympics since the 1940 and 1944 Games were cancelled during the Second World War.

While the move is being broadly welcomed already, there are also those pointing out the knock-on impact on games scheduled to take place afterwards.

We’ll be bringing you reaction to that decision. This is Ben Quinn in London picking up the blog from Lexy Topping.

We have a full story running here from the Guardian’s Justin McCurry in Tokyo.

The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, has been tested for coronavirus along with his staff, it was announced today, reports my colleague Helena Smith in Athens.

The test was described as “precautionary” by the government spokesman, Kyriakos Kousios, who said cabinet ministers would be doing the same in the coming days.

To date, 116 people have contracted coronavirus in the ethnically divided island’s Greek-run south, including three cases recorded in Cyprus’ sovereign British base areas. By Monday evening 40 cases had also been confirmed in its Turkish-held north. There has been one death – reportedly a Briton, with underlying health problems resident on the Mediterranean island.

In a TV address last night, Anastasiades announced that as of 6PM today a lockdown restricting any “unnecessary movement” will come into force applicable through to April 13.

“We are truly at war … it’s a war that can only be won if we remain in our shelters,” he said warning that the health system would collapse in the event of transmissions spreading uncontrollably. “I cannot conceive that we can be led to the scenes we have seen in Italy and Spain where doctors in duress are forced to choose who lives and who will be left to die.”

In echoes of a similar ban in Greece, exceptions will be made for visits to supermarkets, doctors, pharmacies, banks, caring for the needy, outdoor exercise and walking dogs.

Travel to workplaces, if absolutely essential, is also allowed. But at all times citizens will be expected to have their ID or passport and a certificate from their employer. Authorities, Anastasiades said, will be “merciless” with those who violate the new measures with fines of 150 euro being handed out on the spot.

The country had already effectively sealed its borders instituting a widespread ban on civilian air traffic on 21 March that has allowed only Cypriot citizens and resident foreigners in.

Serbia’s president has announced a dramatic change of tactic in the fight against coronavirus, after taking the advice of a team Chinese epidemiologists who flew into the country, writes my colleague Shaun Walker in Budapest.

After speaking with the Chinese experts, Aleksandar Vučić said Serbia would move to a regime of mass testing, and would isolate those who tested positive in makeshift facilities, even if they had light symptoms, as lockdown alone will not work. He said he hoped the new strategy would be able to contain coronavirus in the country within a month. Serbia currently has 249 cases, and three confirmed deaths from coronavirus, though until now testing has been minimal.

“We are ready to put up 3,000 beds right away, these are the easiest patients, who will get in and out quickly, but we will see their illness through to the end so that they cannot infect anyone else,” said Vučić. More serious cases will be placed in hospitals. China has provided Serbia with shipments of masks and other medical equipment.

It is another sign that China is positioning itself as a saviour for European countries hit by the coronavirus. When the medical team arrived in Belgrade on Saturday, Vučić met the plane at the airport, and kissed the Chinese flag in gratitude. “Although China hasn’t finished the fight against Coronavirus yet, they say they will help Serbia. The Serbian people will never forget this kindness,” he said.

Belgian public health officials have chided people for treating the coronavirus lockdown like “an alternative holiday” and getting in their cars to go to the beach or the countryside, reports my colleague Jennifer Rankin in Brussels.

Belgium’s crisis centre announced on Tuesday that 526 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 4,269. The pandemic has claimed 122 lives, with 34 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours.

For the second day running hospital admissions fell, with 256 people admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours, compared with 290 on Monday and 335 on Sunday. Health experts see this as a step in the right direction, but have warned against any relaxation of the nationwide lockdown.

Since last Wednesday, Belgium’s 11.5 million population have been instructed to stay home, going outside only for essential trips, such as buying food, medicine or doing a vital job that cannot be done at home.

Benoît Ramacker, a spokesman for the federal crisis centre, said it was “incomprehensible and unacceptable” that people were not following the rules, with some treating the lockdown like an “alternative holiday”.

He was speaking after the mayor of the Flemish town of Izegem was criticised for taking part in a street party at the weekend. Bert Maertens claimed no party had ever taken place, with social distancing maintained during the event. He said a neighbour had decided to play a DJ set from their house and invited others to listen from their homes or gardens. But a police source told Belgian media that “people were standing far too close to each other”.

An app to help track the spread of Covid-19 and explore who is most at risk from the disease has been launched by researchers in the UK in a bid to better understand the pandemic, reports my colleague Nicola Davis.

The free COVID Symptom Tracker app asks users to fill in various data, including their location, age, sex and existing medical conditions before asking them to report every day on whether they feel healthy and, if not, to answer questions on a wide-range of symptoms, from coughs and fever to fatigue, diarrhoea and confusion.

The team behind the app say they hope it will provide real-time information on how the disease is spreading in the UK, including hotspots.

“The concept is it is an early warning radar device because we are asking about non-classical symptoms as well, because many people are reporting non-persistent cough, or feeling unwell or a strange feeling of a lack of taste, or chest tightness that aren’t in the classical list but if we see it across the country in clusters we know they are probably real [symptoms of Covid-19],” said Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, who is leading the work.

The driver of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has reportedly been taken to hospital with breathing problems and been tested for coronavirus, reports my colleague Tom Phillips in Rio.

According to the Correio Braziliense newspaper the driver was admitted to a hospital in the capital Brasília and is waiting on test results.

If confirmed, the driver would be at least the 24th person close to Bolsonaro to come down with the illness. Twenty-three members of a delegation Bolsonaro recently led to meet Donald Trump in the United States – including his US ambassador, chief foreign policy adviser and communications chief – have tested positive.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has claimed he has tested negative but refused to publish the results and many Brazilians are unconvinced by Bolsonaro’s claims.

On Monday, Brazilian health officials said they had registered 1,891 cases of coronavirus and 34 deaths from coronavirus, the majority in the south-east of the country.

The Guardian’s Africa correspondent Jason Burke has this dispatch from the Nabadoon refugee camp in Mogadishu as Covid-19 arrives in Somalia:

In the Nabadoon camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Asho Abdullahi Hassan, a 40-year-old mother of seven, has heard about the coronavirus on the radio.

“I am very scared about this deadly virus. I only heard about it from the news. It is like we are waiting for death to come,” she says.

The camp hosts about 3,000 families, most recently displaced from Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region following an intensification of fighting and US airstrikes.

Humanitarian activists are warning that it may be impossible to stop the spread of the virus in such places, where sanitary precautions are difficult and social distancing impossible. In Nabadoon, few can afford soap and water is rare.

“This can get very bad. It will be hard,” said Patrick Youssef, deputy director for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross. “Our fear is that governments will seek to protect those they see as their own populations and people … in refugee camps will be left to fend for themselves.”

Read his full dispatch here:

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan for today. I’ll now be handing over to my colleague Alexandra Topping.

For those of you who have been in touch on Twitter for clarification on what the UK’s lockdown measures mean for moving or going to work, I have passed these on to my colleagues who will be providing you with the best latest information throughout the day.

For those of you working from home in the UK and elsewhere for the first time, good luck! A reminder that at least you’re unlikely to encounter a five-metre python on your doorstep:

In Tokyo Olympics news now, Paris 2024 Olympic Games president Tony Estanguet says a delay of the Japan games is likely, Reuters reports.

We’re getting a few requests on Twitter from UK readers who are concerned about what the new restrictions mean for those who need to move house in the next few days or weeks.

We’ll try to get clarity on this for you shortly.

British nationals stuck on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali are calling on the government to bring them home, saying they face the prospect of being trapped for months due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

A Facebook group, set up to help stranded Britons there, had more than 130 members on Tuesday, with many sharing the same stories of being turned away from flights because they transited through places such as Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, all of which do not accept passengers from Indonesia.

Among those sharing their stories in the group were key workers including NHS staff, teachers, a prison custody officer, firefighter, pharmacist, food distribution worker and army reservist.

Several said they had been told by airline Emirates that they might have to remain in Bali for three months.

Turkey imposed restrictions on Tuesday on grocery store opening hours and numbers of shop customers and bus passengers, adding to steps to combat the spread of the coronavirus after the country’s death toll from the illness rose to 37, Reuters reports.

Ankara has already closed schools, cafes and bars, banned mass prayers and indefinitely postponed matches in its main sports leagues, as well suspending flights to many countries as it looks to limit the spread of the virus.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced the new death toll overnight and said the number of confirmed cases rose by 293 on Monday to 1,529, with a total of more than 24,000 tests carried out on people.

In the latest moves, the Interior Ministry said grocery stores and supermarkets’ opening hours will be limited to between 9 am and 9 pm, with a maximum of one customer for every 10 square metres of shop space.

Buses within towns and between cities will not be allowed to exceed 50% of the vehicle’s capacity, with space to be kept between the passengers, the ministry statement said.

Taiwan’s cases are now over 200.

Taiwan’s government on Tuesday announced 20 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total to 215.

All new cases were imported, with the patients having travelled to countries including Britain, Ireland, Turkey and Indonesia, the government said in a statement.

In UK news from simpler times, which I hope will allow you to slow down for two minutes: fewer potholes are being repaired in England and Wales.

Although it’s not exactly a great development, it is strangely calming to read about.

If you see anything we haven’t covered but possibly should, have something you’d like more clarity on, or think you’ve seen something new that might make our readers laugh do let me know on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

In Australia, Amnesty International wants state and territory governments to release children who are on remand and are detained in adult watch houses.

“We’re talking about kids as young as 10 in adult prisons,” Amnesty International Australia Indigenous Rights Lead, Lidia Thorpe said.

“Most of these kids are later released without conviction, only underlining that it’s totally unacceptable to leave them in prison when they would be safer at home with their family.

Thorpe said under the Convention of the Rights of the Child, detention of a child before trial or after sentencing must be used only as a measure of last resort, for the shortest time possible, and separate from detained adults wherever possible.

“Given that the spread of COVID-19 is a particular public health concern in custodial environments, the authorities should urgently release these children and seriously consider the same for other groups at special risks,” Amnesty said.

Earlier today the NSW government announced new emergency powers aimed at keeping the justice system functional, including giving the corrections minister power to early release or parole certain prisoners on a case by case basis.

And for those of you watching the markets in Australia, the Guardian’s Greg Jericho has just shared this graph:

For those of you just waking up in the UK, here is a reminder of what the nationwide lockdown measures mean for you.

What do the new restrictions involve?

In brief: an Italian-style lockdown to force people to stay at home beyond a small range of very limited circumstances. Under the terms explained by Boris Johnson in his TV address, people will be allowed to leave home only for the following reasons:

• shopping for necessities, as infrequently as possible;
• one form of exercise a day, such as running or cycling, alone or with household members;
• for medical or care needs, for example to help a vulnerable person;
• travelling to and from work, but only if you cannot work from home.

Meeting friends, shopping for anything beyond essentials, and gathering in crowds are now banned.

Even though it was 56 years ago, Kazuo Goto still vividly remembers his pride as he carried the Olympic flame on the last day of the torch relay when Tokyo hosted the Games in 1964, AFP reports.

But with the coronavirus threatening the torch relay and even the Olympic Games themselves, the 73-year-old believes the 2020 version should be scrapped, as torchbearers need to be able to carry the flame with a “clear conscience.”

“We are not in a position where we can go ahead with the torch relay as planned,” Goto, a former insurance broker, told AFP in an interview at his house in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo.

Plugging ahead regardless seems to be “egoism” on the part of organisers, he said

Goto questioned what would happen if the torch relay begins but the Olympics are postponed in the middle of the event - a fairly likely scenario with the International Olympic Committee giving itself four weeks to make a decision.

“Do they let them run and then they say they can’t hold the Olympics?” he asked.

“I ran with my head high and chest out under the sunshine, representing my country. That’s the significance,” Goto said, cradling the torch he carried in 1964.

“It’s best for torchbearers to run with a crystal-clear conscience.”

Around 20% of global population under coronavirus lockdown

One in five people around the globe are under lockdown, ordered or asked to stay home as the world enters a critical week in responding to the accelerating coronavirus pandemic.

As of Tuesday there have been at least 378,679 confirmed cases of people with the virus across the world. More than 16,500 people have died while almost 101,000 have recovered.

The first 100,000 cases took 67 days to appear, while the most recent 100,000 just four days, noted the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. But “we are not helpless bystanders”, he said.

An estimated 1.7 billion people have been ordered to remain at home as governments take extreme measures to protect their populations.

Australia’s move to a stricter lockdown was beginning to show visible signs of social stress with long queues forming outside offices of the main welfare agency, Centrelink, across the country.

Westpac bank economists said that the extraordinary measures in place to counter the spread of the disease would push the unemployment rate above 11%, which would be the highest since the country was last in recession in the early 1990s.

For many, there has been anger over mixed messages from officials in Australia’s system of federal and state governments, which are separately responsible for regulating different services.

The operation of schools has been a flashpoint, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison advising they remained open and safe for students to attend, while some state leaders urged parents to keep their children home.

“It is as clear as mud and no wonder parents are confused out there,” Anthony Albanese, the leader of the federal opposition party, told ABC Radio.

Morrison was due to meet with the national cabinet formed to deal with the crisis, comprising state and federal political and health officials, later on Tuesday to discuss the next steps.

More now on the cases in Australia, which jumped on Tuesday almost entirely as a result of passengers who disembarked a cruise ship in Sydney several days ago, prompting widespread criticism of the official response to the pandemic.

The ship, Carnival Corp’s Ruby Princess, became the country’s largest source of coronavirus infections as one of its passengers also became the eighth fatality nationally.

In a chain of events described by New South Wales state Police Minister David Elliott as a “monumental stuff-up”, about 2,700 passengers were allowed to leave the ship when it docked in Sydney on 19 March.

By Tuesday, around 130 of those passengers had tested positive and officials were frantically hunting down other travellers to test them and track their movements.

Australia stepped closer to a full lockdown on Tuesday, with authorities warning of harsher penalties for anybody violating self-isolation orders as they began to worry that hospitals were starting to feel the strain.

With 1,984 cases, Australia has registered significantly lower rates of coronavirus compared to elsewhere in the world, but the infection rate has quickened in recent days and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was now at a “critical stage.”

While schools officially remained open in most of the country, parents were strongly advised to keep their children home, as all other non-essential services, including cinemas, pubs and houses of worship, were closed for the first full day.

Authorities had initially classified the ship as low risk because it was returning from an 11-day round trip to New Zealand, despite around a dozen passengers showing signs of ill health. About 60% of the passengers were Australian, and 20% were from the United States, ship records showed.

As Donald Trump pushed to re-open the US economy in weeks, rather than months, the lieutenant governor of Texas went on Fox News to argue that he would rather die than see public health measures damage the US economy, and that he believed “lots of grandparents” across the country would agree with him.

“My message: let’s get back to work, let’s get back to living, let’s be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves,” Lt Gov Dan Patrick, a 69-year-old Republican, told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday night.

“Don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick said. “Don’t do that.”

Patrick said he feared that public health restrictions to prevent coronavirus could end American life as he knows it, and that he is willing to risk death to protect the economy for his grandchildren.

“You know, Tucker, no one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’” Patrick said. “And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”

Asian stocks rallied on Tuesday as the US Federal Reserve’s promise of bottomless dollar funding eased painful strains in financial markets, even if it could not soften the immediate economic hit of the coronavirus.

While Wall Street seemed unimpressed, investors in Asia were encouraged enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 by 2.7% and Japan’s Nikkei 4.7%. If sustained it would be the biggest daily rise for the Nikkei since late 2016.

Europe also looked a shade brighter as FTSE futures rose 2.9%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan jumped 3.5%, to more than half Monday’s drop.

South Korea’s ravaged market climbed 5.2% after the government doubled a planned economic rescue package to 100 trillion won (US$80bn).

Kyrgyzstan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in its three biggest cities including the capital Bishkek, a move that will allow authorities to lock them down to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

In addition to the cities of Bishkek, Osh and Jalal-Abad, local emergencies were also declared in three provincial districts, which will open the way for measures from banning layoffs to imposing curfews.

The Central Asian nation bordering China has reported 16 cases of coronavirus infections so far.

Vietnam’s seafood exporters have seen up to 50% of their export contracts cancelled or delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak, the country’s seafood exporters association said on Tuesday.

Seafood and other aquatic products, such as farmed fish, are among Vietnam’s top exports to China and Europe, both of which have been hit hard by the virus.

Farmed fish exports to China were halted in January due to travel curbs, and this month clients in other parts of the world started to cancel and delay orders, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors said in a statement.

Vietnam’s aquatic product exports in the first two months of this year fell 10% from a year earlier to $989 million, according to government customs data. Its seafood exports fell 2.8% last year to $8.54 billion and accounted for 3.2% of total export earnings.

A Twitter user has taken it upon himself to compile interactions between New York state governor Andrew Cuomo and his brother Chris Cuomo, a CNN anchor, from the last few days.

“There’s always time to cut your fingernails and call your mom,” is one breathtakingly beautiful line among many.

If you see anything we haven’t covered but possibly should, or come across something that might bring our readers a little bit of comic relief, do let me know on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Trump’s push to shorten the coronavirus shutdown proves the captain is flying blind

Due to social distancing, there were only two dozen or so reporters in the White House press briefing room on Monday, making it feel like a flight with numerous empty seats and lots of legroom.

But when Donald Trump let rip for nearly two hours, it was as if the captain had announced a sudden whim to land the plane on water while wearing a blindfold. We sat tight for an unnerving journey.

On a day that a hundred American deaths were reported, the US president made clear his intention to reopen the country for business much sooner than expected and, seemingly, sooner than medical experts believe to be safe. Everything we know about him suggests this impulse has been guided by Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the stock market, poll numbers, the imminent election and pure gut instinct. Not science.

To watch Trump talk himself into this rash action in real time from a seat 30 feet (10 metres) away was to witness the awesome and terrifying power of the American president over life and death. It is a solemn burden that he, the first White House occupant with no prior political or military experience, is uniquely unqualified to bear.

The New York Times reports that the total number of Americans under stay home orders or advice, in entire states and parts of states now stands at 158 million people in 16 states. This means that close to half of the country’s population is being asked or ordered to stay at home.

US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and senate democratic leader Chuck Schumer have told Reuters they are optimistic about finalising the country’s coronavirus stimulus deal on Tuesday, as negotiators noted that there had been progress, but some issues were still under review.

More than 300 Australians are stranded across Peru, which has closed its borders and enforced a nationwide curfew, enforced by the military and police.

Australian citizens there are scrambling to book seats on potential commercial charter flights out of the country – which have not yet been confirmed – but many in regional areas can’t leave because all internal movement is prohibited.

Australia’s ambassador to Ecuador and Bolivia Diana Nelson posted a video message from Lima, assuring citizens the government was seeking ways to get its citizens home:

Meanwhile in Australia, people are crying out for clearer messaging about the coronavirus pandemic.

Many Australians have struggled to comprehend the range of announcements at the weekend, which included the New South Wales and Victorian governments flagging stricter lockdowns of businesses and potential school closures before Scott Morrison held talks with the national cabinet on Sunday night.

Members of the public who were confused by which services might shut down rushed out to buy alcohol, and continued to congregate in large numbers, despite being told to engage in social distancing. Later on Sunday, despite the messaging from other states, the prime minister insisted schools would remain open.

Meanwhile, some gyms closed their doors while others in the industry remain confused as to whether they should, given the various types of health facilities and services they offer, including childcare. On 13 March Morrison was talking about going to the football. By Monday he was admonishing the public for going to the beach.

Have any tips or news you think I may have missed? Please get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

‘Where’s Fauci?’ America panics as doctor absent again from White House briefing

Moments after Donald Trump stepped to the lectern on Monday evening to deliver a daily briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, mild panic broke out online.

Where is Dr Anthony Fauci, the 79-year-old infectious disease expert who has become a regular fixture and a calming presence alongside the president? A hashtag questioning his whereabouts trended on Twitter.

The alarm reflected just how much the nation has come to rely on Fauci’s wisdom as the coronavirus pandemic spreads, with the worst yet to come. For many anxious Americans tuning in from the confinement of their homes, Dr Anthony Fauci is a a voice of reason in a time of deep uncertainty.

His absence at yet another press conference raised even more urgent concern. Had he been sidelined for contradicting the president? Was he in good health?

Here’s the full story from US president Donald Trump’s White House press briefing earlier.

Donald Trump has said he was eager to re-open the US economy in weeks, not months, even as the death toll from the virus continued to rise.

The president, who has been anxious about the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the US economy repeatedly refused to confirm that he would listen to public health authorities if they advised him to keep restrictive public health measures in place, even at a cost to the economy.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said.

White House officials announced at the briefing that New York City, New Jersey and Long Island were emerging as a concerning hot spot for many new coronavirus cases.

The US reported more than 100 deaths on Monday, the first time the daily death toll has entered the triple digits. There have been 557 deaths and nearly 44,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US, according to figures from Johns Hopkins.

Here is Trump jokingly moving away from White House coronavirus task force response coordinator Dr Deborah Birx after she mentioned having had a ‘low grade fever’.

More US news now: orders by the governor of Texas to stop all non-essential surgeries in those states have unleashed a new battle over access to abortions during the coronavirus pandemic, AP reports.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a statewide order Sunday to curb the use of medical supplies hospitals will need as they prepare for escalating infections in the spreading of Covid-19.

The order bars hospitals from performing surgeries unless the patient faces an immediate risk for serious adverse medical consequences or death, as determined by the patient’s physician.

An Abbott spokesman confirmed that would include abortion in most cases – meaning these could not take place – while the order is in place until 21 April.

Texas anti-abortion activists hailed the move.

“The abortion industry has been consuming and hoarding medical supplies that are in desperate need around the state including masks, gloves, and other protective gear for medical professionals,” Texas Right to Life said in a statement Monday.

A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Politico reports that the US Postal Service may be bankrupt by June without financial support from Congress.

The service shut down would have an impact on the ability of US voters to cast ballots by mail in the country’s presidential elections.

Macau’s leader Ho Iat Seng said on Tuesday that visitors from the Chinese mainland, neighbouring Hong Kong and Taiwan who have travelled overseas in the past 14 days will be banned from entering the world’s biggest gambling hub.

Visitors from greater China account for more than 90% of overall tourists to Macau. Those who have not travelled abroad in the past two weeks will still be subject to 14 days of quarantine, Ho said.

Macau has 25 confirmed coronavirus cases. The former Portuguese colony last week banned all foreign visitors and foreign non-resident workers from entering the territory but had exempted those from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Have any tips or news you think I may have missed? Please get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Life under Jordan’s harsh virus lockdown

The quarantine law says anyone caught outside will be jailed for up to a year. The car is parked on the street outside, with a box of water in the boot. Do you risk it?

Such have been the sort of dilemmas facing people in Jordan since Saturday morning, when the Middle Eastern kingdom introduced one of the most stringent anti-coronavirus regimes in the world.

It was announced at 7am by rounds of air-raid sirens: every person in the country indefinitely confined to their homes. No grocery shopping. No trips to pharmacies. Not even a walk around the block. Those with medical emergencies could call the authorities, but anyone caught outside would be arrested. More than 800 people have been picked up so far, the military says.

Beijing’s city government is further strengthening quarantine rules for individuals who arrive in China from overseas, as the Chinese capital seeks to minimise coronavirus-related risks, Beijing Daily reported on Tuesday.

The paper, the official publication of the city’s Communist Party organisation, said all people entering the Chinese capital will be subject to centralised quarantine and testing for the coronavirus.

Those who entered the city and have travelled from overseas to China in the past 14 days will also be subject to the measures.

New Zealand: coronavirus cases almost double in one day as lockdown nears

Just over 24 hours before New Zealand is due to enter full lockdown, 40 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed, bring the country’s total to 155.

Four of the cases were confirmed as contracted through community transmission and six people were in hospital, but none in intensive care, said the director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

The increase in cases came as New Zealand prepared to enter a month-long lockdown and panic buying occurred across the country. Following the prime minister’s announcement on Monday New Zealanders bought enough food to feed 10 million people, the Countdown supermarket said, despite being a nation of fewer than 5 million.

Police were called in to break up fights at supermarkets, despite the prime minister repeatedly calling for “kindness” and calm. Long lines formed outside gun and hunting shops, with some New Zealanders – even in urban areas – appearing to stockpile weapons and ammunition.

South Korea reported 76 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, maintaining a downward trend in new infections which raised hopes that Asia’s largest outbreak outside China may be slowing.

The daily tally brought the country’s total infections to 9,037, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death toll rose by two to 120.

It marked the 13th day in a row the country has posted new infections of around 100 or less. South Korea reported its lowest number of new cases on Monday since with the peak of 909 cases recorded on 29 February.

And, now that you’ve been warned again of just how important it is to socially isolate yourself and to wash your hands, here is some news that is not so much directly related to coronavirus as it is a story of how weird being at home can get.

Have a neighbour learning to play the violin? Kids playing Old Town Road on repeat? Well, at least it’s not a five-metre (16-foot) python on your doorstep.

Here is a reminder of the incredible rate at which the spread of the coronavirus is accelerating.

Earlier, the World Health Organization explained it in these simple terms:

• It tool 67 days from the first reported case or Covid-19 until the first 100,000 cases were confirmed
• It took 11 days for until the second 100,000 cases were confirmed
• It took just four days for until the third 100,000 cases were confirmed

In Argentina, riots in several jails have resulted in at least one death and five wounded.

On Monday, over one thousand prisoners revolted, demanding the improvement of sanitary conditions to prevent the spread of coronavirus within the prison population. Flames were seen rising from the prison at Coronda in Santa Fe province.

There were riots also at several prisons in the provinces of Córdoba and Buenos Aires and in the capital city of Buenos Aires.

There were 36 new cases of coronavirus reported in Argentina Monday, bringing the total to 301 with four deaths so far. But the lack of widespread testing with only one testing facility operational for the whole country of 45 million people suggests the actual number could be far higher. Only persons with severe symptoms or returning from high-risk countries such as Spain, Italy or the US, are being tested so far.

Press reports meanwhile indicate that Argentina will extend its mandatory nationwide quarantine beyond its original March 31 deadline, until at least the end of the Easter holidays in April.

We’ll be moving away from US developments now for a moment.

In Tokyo Olympics news – though there is still no official announcement that the games have been postponed, Japanese Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto has told reporters that the world needs to put an end to the coronavirus before the Tokyo Games can be held in their “complete form”.

“I believe the Tokyo Games cannot move toward the ‘complete form’ that the prime minister [Shinzo Abe] has mentioned as long as countries of the world have not put an end to the coronavirus,” Hashimoto said.

“So, it’s first and foremost for us to join forces and respond firmly for putting an end to the coronavirus,” she said.

Washington state’s inclusion in the list of US states under stay home order brings the portion of the country being asked to shelter in place to around 40% of the United States, or more than 130 million people.

More now on the stay-home order in Washington state.

Hallie Golden reports for the Guardian:

Calling this the only weapon we have to fight against the virus, WA governor Jay Inslee said during a public address broadcasted online Monday that “the less time you spend out in public, the more lives we can save.”

The order will be in place for a minimum of two weeks and involve a ban on all gatherings and the closure of many businesses, except those deemed essential or those where employees can work remotely. It requires all Washingtonians to minimize social interactions and postpone such events as weddings and funerals.

The announcement came after a weekend full of reports of locals congregating in large groups at parks and standing close to one another in line at coffee shops and restaurants.

On Monday, Washington state health officials confirmed 2,221 cases of coronavirus, including 110 deaths. The majority were reported in King County, which includes Seattle.

Inslee had already banned gatherings of more than 50 people, as well as sit-in service at all food establishments, including restaurants, bars and coffee shops. He also recently announced that all kindergarten through 12th grade public and private schools in Washington will be closed for at least six weeks.

But a growing group of Washington residents had taken to social media to call on local leaders to implement some type of shelter-in-place policy in order to better address the spread of the virus.

The decision follows similar announcements made by officials in at least a dozen other states, including New York and California. Washington has the 2nd highest number of cases in the US, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says Republican and Democratic senators and Trump administration negotiators are nearing a deal on a coronavirus stimulus bill.

“I think we’re very close,” Mnuchin told reporters, while shuttling between offices in the US Capitol. “We’re trying to finish it up tonight,” he said.

Washington governor Jay Inslee’s stay home order means the state joins a growing list of others in the country where residents have been asked not to leave their houses unless necessary - either immediately, or starting Tuesday night. In some cases these are orders, in others, like Massachusetts, they are advisories.

These states are:

• California
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• New Jersey
• New York
• Ohio
• Oregon
• West Virginia
• Washington

Washington state governor Jay Inslee, who has on Twitter just issued a stay home order effective immediately has urged people not to panic buy or hoard in response to the order.

Residents will still be allowed to go to grocery stores – as well as doctor appointments and essential work – under the order.

Here’s a summary of the news from the televised press conference given by Donald Trump from the White House today:

The main message was that Trump wants to get the US economy going again as soon as possible, and isn’t open to the country shutting down for months.

Asked by a reporter if that meant “weeks or months,” Trump said, “I’m not looking at months, I can tell you right now.”

Trump repeatedly suggested that a damaged American economy could create “more death” than potential deaths from the coronavirus. My colleague Oliver Laughland has fact checked that claim here.

Other key messages from that briefing include:

• Dr Anthony Fauci, who was absent from the press briefing, ‘doesn’t not agree’ with need to re-open the economy, Trump said.
• The mortality rate will be ‘a very big factor’ in Trump’s decision to ease restrictions.
• New York, New Jersey and Long Island are at the centre of US coronavirus cases.
• No deal expected tonight on Congress’ nearly US$2tn stimulus bill to help Americans and American businesses during the crisis.
• Trump’s posted a tweet calling for the protection of “our Asian American community in the United States” and saying the virus is “not their fault”, a message he repeated during the briefing.

Fact-checking Trump’s claim about suicide deaths from a bad economy

In a marked low point of Donald Trump’s Monday press conference, the president argued that public health measures to slow spread of the coronavirus might have their own death toll, because the public health guidelines hurt the economy, and economic crisis leads to suicide.

The president implied that quickly ending ending restrictive health measures, in order to open the economy back up again, might avert an outbreak of suicide in the United States.

The president said: “People get tremendous anxiety and depression. And you have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies. You have death, probably, I mean definitely would be in greater numbers than the numbers that we’re talking about with regard to the virus.”

What does the data show?

It is reasonable to suggest that a pandemic-linked recession can increase the risk of a rise in suicides.

According to research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, North America and Europe experienced 10,000 more suicides during the 2008 recession. The outbreak of Sars in Hong Kong in 2002 and 2003 also led to a “significant increase” in suicides in those aged over 65, according to 2010 research.

But experts also caution that there is no single cause of suicide.

While the figures for the mortality rate of coronavirus continues to evolve, recent research from Wuhan, China, the city where the outbreak began, indicates the mortality rate there was around 1.4%. Experts at Harvard University have projected an infection rate in the US of between 20 - 60%, meaning that while it is impossible to reliably estimate the American coronavirus death toll a reasonable scenario could result in hundreds of thousands of lives lost.

On first look, given the potentially devastating death toll directly associated with coronavirus, it appears unlikely to be matched by an increased rate in suicide, making the presidents claim almost certainly inaccurate.

• In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found atwww.befrienders.org

The mortality rate will be ‘a very big factor’ in Trump’s decision to ease restrictions

Asked if he was concerned that if he eased government restrictions to prevent coronavirus “too early”, the virus might continue to spread unabated, Trump said that he was looking to the mortality rate for coronavirus, and he found it encouraging.

At the beginning, “nobody knew anything about this particular virus”, and Trump said he heard numbers that the mortality rate for the virus might be as high as 5%, compared with “.001 or 2 or 3” percent for the normal flu.

Now, Trump said, he was hearing potential mortality rate numbers that were lower.

“The mortality rate, to me that is a very big factor,” Trump said.

“We’re under 1% now,” Trump said. “It’s still terrible. The whole concept of death is terrible, but there’s a tremendous difference between something under 1% and 4 or 5 or even 3%.”

Trump citing “under 1%” as the mortality rate for coronavirus is roughly in line with some expert estimates looking at data from other countries.

CNBC reports that the Centers for Disease Control has found that coronavirus survived in cruise ship cabins for up to 17 days after passengers had disembarked.