Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak on Friday include:
Global death toll passes 98,000
At least 98,401 people have died, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who have also counted at least 1.6m infections worldwide. The institution says more than 365,000 people have recovered.
UK’s death rate worsens
The country recorded 980 deaths in a day, the worst such toll since the outbreak began, taking the cumulative total of those who have died in hospitals to 8,958. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, says about 19,000 tests are being carried out each day and more than 19,000 people are now in hospital with symptoms.
Boris Johnson’s condition improves
The UK prime minister has been “able to do short walks, between periods of rest, as part of the care he is receiving to aid his recovery”, Downing Street says. Johnson was moved out of an intensive care unit on Thursday.
UK health workers to get protective equipment
Hancock says the government is issuing guidance on who needs personal protective equipment and who does not, adding that it will only be used when there is a clinical need. He promises that equipment will be distributed to hospitals daily from next week and production and imports will be increased for the future.
Ministers have come under increasing pressure over their continued failure to provide all health workers with the means to protect themselves.
South Korea: 91 ‘recovered’ patients test positive again
In what could be a further blow to hopes of ending the pandemic, officials in South Korea report 91 patients thought to have been cleared of the virus have tested positive again. The prospect of people being reinfected is of international concern, as many countries hope infected populations will develop immunity.
Spain lifts some restrictions
Some non-essential workers will return to work from Monday and face masks will be handed out at metro and train stations under government plans to ease some of the restrictions on public life.
Factory and construction workers are to start back next week despite warnings the relaxation of the lockdown could drive a rise in contagion. Spain recorded 605 deaths from Thursday to Friday, down from 683 during the previous 24 hours, in a sign that the lockdown strategy is working.
Ireland extends its restrictions
Ireland must endure at least three more weeks of restrictions, the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, says, as secondary school exams are cancelled. The original measures were going to expire on Sunday.
“Many of us would like to know when things will go back to normal. The truth is nobody knows for certain when that will be. All we can do for now is take one day at a time,” he says.
Bolsonaro booed in Brasília while buying doughnuts
The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, a vociferous critic of social isolation who has dismissed coronavirus as “a little flu”, was booed and jeered by people in the capital, Brasília, after going to a bakery.
“Go home!” people shout from nearby apartment buildings, and “Bolsonaro out!” Others could be heard banging pots and pans in videos widely shared online, echoing the protests many make from home at 8.30pm every night.