The coronavirus death toll in New York dropped again, a sign that Governor Andrew Cuomo said means the state is "on the other side of the plateau" and that ongoing social distancing practices are working to stem the spread of the virus.
Cuomo said 507 people died yesterday, down 43 from the previous day. Hospitaliations and other medical indicators are trending downward.
France's prime minister warned that his compatriots will need to "learn to live with the virus" after the country lifts its lockdown.
People will probably be required to wear masks in public transport, and those who can work from home should continue doing so, even after France starts easing confinement rules May 11, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said.
And he suggested that no one should be planning faraway holidays for the northern summer.
The virus has hit France especially hard, killing nearly 20,000 people.
Philippe said France is "far from herd immunity," citing estimations that about two million to six million French people have been infected with the virus, or about 3 per cent to 9 per cent of the population.
Italy registered the lowest number of deaths of people with coronavirus in a month, with the death toll rising by 433 in the past 24 hours.
That brings the national total to 23,660, still the second-highest in the world after the United States. The number of positives rose by just over 3000 to 178,972 — the lowest increase in more than a month.
An industry group estimates thousands of deaths related to Covid-19 in British nursing homes have not been reflected in official figures.
The National Care Forum represents non-profit nursing home providers and says its research suggests 4040 people have died after contracting the illness in British nursing homes.
The figures are based on data from nursing and residential care homes looking after 30,000 people, which is 7.4 per cent of Britain's nursing home population.
Japan's Health Ministry said that 568 new cases of the coronavirus were reported the day before, bringing a domestic total to 10,361. A combined total including 712 others from a cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo earlier this year came to 11,073, with 174 deaths.
The number of cases is still relatively small compared to the US and Europe, but that's only as many as Japan's limited testing has detected and actual infections are believed to be far more widespread.
Japan has finally started setting up additional testing centres in Tokyo and elsewhere, allowing primary care doctors to send suspected patients directly to testing stations rather than having them go through public health centers to screen eligibility, an earlier requirement that had prevented and delayed testing and treatment of many people.
Experts have noted that their strategy of going after clusters to trace infections is no longer effective to keep up with the surging cases and more tests are needed.
South Korea has reported eight more cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the first time for a daily jump in the country to drop to a single digit in about two months.
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says the additional figures took the country's total to 10,661 with 234 deaths.
It says 8,042 of the total have been recovered and released from quarantine and that 12,243 others were under tests to determine whether they contracted the virus.
- AP
