- The head of the US agency in charge of developing a vaccine against the coronavirus says he was removed from his job for opposing the chloroquine treatment promoted by US President Donald Trump.
- The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says there are "worrying upward trends" in early epidemics in parts of Africa and Central and South America, warning that the "virus will be with us for a long time".
- More than 2.5 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
- The United Nations is warning global hunger could double as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, putting 265 million people at risk.
Here are the latest updates:
Thursday, April 23
09:40 GMT - Spain's death toll from coronavirus rises to 22,157
The Spanish health ministry said 440 people died from the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, which brought total fatalities to 22,157.
That was slightly higher than the previous day when 435 people died. The number of diagnosed cases rose to 213,024 from 208,389 the day before.
09:20 GMT - French economy 'under anesthesia' as virus lockdown takes toll
France's coronavirus lockdown has eroded economic activity to a bare minimum, the national statistics office said Thursday, as officials weigh the risks of trying to reopen businesses even as infections remain high.
"Like a person placed under anaesthesia, the French economy can now ensure only its vital functions," INSEE said, estimating that activity in the private sector, which makes up around three-fourths of total GDP, had plunged 41 percent overall.
Some industries, like construction, restaurants and tourism, have effectively been at a standstill since the business closures and stay-at-home orders were announced in mid-March.
"Like a person placed under anaesthesia, the French economy can now ensure only its vital functions," INSEE said, estimating that activity in the private sector, which makes up around three-fourths of total GDP, had plunged 41 percent overall.
Some industries, like construction, restaurants and tourism, have effectively been at a standstill since the business closures and stay-at-home orders were announced in mid-March.
France's coronavirus lockdown has eroded economic activity to a bare minimum, the national statistics office said Thursday, as officials weigh the risks of trying to reopen businesses even as infections remain high.
09:00 GMT - The UK activists creating multilingual coronavirus content
A large number of people who have contracted the coronavirus in the United Kingdom have ancestry in other regions, and according to research, many who have died since the start of the epidemic were from ethnic minority backgrounds.
While a nationwide campaign about the benefits of social distancing and proper hand-washing attempts to inform people how to limit the spread of the coronavirus, much of this information has been in English, meaning large sections of British society are unable to access important messaging and even services.
Read more here.
08:40 GMT - Unilever sees pandemic changing consumer demand
Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever reported Thursday a slight rise in first quarter sales and said the coronavirus has caused hygiene product sales to rocket while those of ice cream melted.
The firm, which produces Magnum ice cream, Domestos household cleaner and Lipton tea among other things, said sales edged up by 0.2 percent to 12.4 billion euros ($13.3 billion) from the same period a year earlier.
Unilever withdrew its outlook for the year however, and its shares fell sharply in Amsterdam.
The firm, which produces Magnum ice cream, Domestos household cleaner and Lipton tea among other things, said sales edged up by 0.2 percent to 12.4 billion euros ($13.3 billion) from the same period a year earlier.
Unilever withdrew its outlook for the year however, and its shares fell sharply in Amsterdam.
08:10 GMT - Pakistani doctors warn of catastrophic consequences of easing lockdowns.
Pakistani doctors have warned the government of the possibly catastrophic consequences of easing a countrywide lockdown, asking that restrictions be enforced for several more weeks to avoid a collapse of the country's healthcare system.
The appeal comes as Pakistan registered its highest single-day rise in cases for the second time in three days, with 765 new cases taking the country's tally to 10,513. The pace of the spread of the virus has increased in the last five days, with more than 500 new cases registered each day, according to government data.
Addressing a press conference in the southern city of Karachi, senior doctors called for a continuing ban on all public gatherings, including those at shopping malls and at mosques.
In a letter addressed to the government, a number of prominent epidemiologists and other doctors made special mention of the government's decision to reopen mosques this week, saying those gatherings could prove a significant vector for the spread of the virus.
07:50 GMT- Singapore confirms 1,037 new COVID-19 cases
Singapore's health ministry said it had preliminarily confirmed 1,037 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the Southeast Asian city-state's total infections to 11,178.
The health ministry said the vast majority of the new cases were migrant workers residing in dormitories, many of which are under government-ordered quarantine due to mass outbreaks.
07:35 GMT - China to donate additional $30 million to WHO for COVID-19
China is to donate an additional $30 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the global fight against COVID-19, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
Hua said on Twitter the donation was aimed in particular at strengthening developing countries' health systems and added that China had already donated $20 million to the WHO in March.
China has decided to donate additional $30 million in cash to WHO to support its global fight against #COVID19, in particular strengthening developing countries' health systems. China already donated $20 million in cash to WHO on March 11.
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07:18 GMT - Malaysia coronavirus cases reach 5,532, over 3000 recovered - foreign minister
Malaysia now has 5,532 recorded cases, with 3,452 people recovered, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a virutal meeting with other ASEAN foreign ministers and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The morbidity rate was at 1.6 percent, the minister told ASEAN leaders.
"Just one month ago on 26 March, we were faced with a peak of 235 new cases recorded in a single day, the highest Malaysia has ever experienced. Today, I am proud that we have recorded only
double-digit new cases for 5 days in a row," Hishammuddin said.
double-digit new cases for 5 days in a row," Hishammuddin said.
"I admit, these numbers look promising, but a full victory goes beyond just focusing on the statistics," he added.
The Malaysian foreign minister went on to brief his counterparts about measures the country was taking, on the political, economic and social front to combat COVID-19.
07:05 GMT - US offers to Pakistan on fighting COVID-19
The United States has offered its support to Pakistan in aiding the fight against the country's coronavirus outbreak, promising to provide ventilators and unspecified help "in the economic arena", a Pakistani statement released after a telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says.
"Prime Minister Imran Khan also highlighted Pakistan’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus. He emphasized that Pakistan was facing a dual challenge of overcoming the pandemic and saving people, particularly the most vulnerable segments of the population, from hunger due to lockdown," said the statement from Khan's office.
Khan, alongside other leaders from the developing world, has been calling for developed nations to offer debt relief to developing countries in the wake of a global economic slowdown due to the coronavirus.
On Thursday, he will launch a $595 million appeal to fund Pakistan's Preparedness and Response plan to COVID-19, mainly targeting international financial institutions and world powers.
07:00 GMT - In shadow of coronavirus, China steps up manoeuvres near Taiwan
Beijing has escalated the number and intensity of military drills around Taiwan in recent weeks, making risky manoeuvres that appear set to test the political waters in Taipei and Washington while signalling the mainland’s continuing animosity towards Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected in a landslide in January.
While China has long held military exercises in Taiwanese territorial waters and airspace, this month the People’s Liberation Army Airforce conducted a 36-hour endurance exercise.
While China has long held military exercises in Taiwanese territorial waters and airspace, this month the People’s Liberation Army Airforce conducted a 36-hour endurance exercise.
Read more here.
06:45 GMT - French clashes this week unlikely to lead to scenes like 2005 riots - minister
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that he did not think that this week's outbreak of violent clashes in French housing estates would result in scenes similar to the 2005 riots that broke out throughout the country.
"We are not in this sort of scenario," Castaner told BFM TV.
06:25 GMT - Migrants in Greece shot after apparently breaking quarantine
Two asylum-seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos were shot and injured after apparently violating coronavirus quarantine rules, officials said.
The two men, an Iranian and an Afghan, reported to the camp's infirmary with buckshot wounds late Wednesday, sources at the Moria camp said.
They were taken to the local hospital but their condition was not deemed serious.
06:10 GMT - Digital video game spending hits record high under virus lockdown
Spending on digital video games hit a record high $10 billion in March as people stuck at home under coronavirus lockdowns turned to gaming, market tracker SuperData reported.
Money spent on major console games leapt to $1.5 billion in March from $883 million in February, while spending on games played on high-performance personal computers climbed 56 percent to $567 million in the same comparison.
Console and PC games tend to be popular in Europe and North America where restrictions on going out were ramped up in March due to the pandemic.
05:52 GMT - Vietnam relaxes virus restrictions as cases plateau
Communist Vietnam eased social distancing measures Thursday, with experts pointing to a decisive response involving mass quarantines and expansive contact tracing for the apparent success in containing the coronavirus.
Despite a long and porous border with China, the Southeast Asian nation has recorded just 268 virus cases and zero deaths, according to official tallies.
Although numbers tested for COVID-19 are relatively low and experts caution the authoritarian government's health ministry is the sole source for the figures, they also say there is little reason to distrust them.
05:35 GMT - US sees 1,738 new coronavirus deaths in 24 hours: Johns Hopkins
The United States recorded 1,738 deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, a lower toll than the day before, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The new deaths bring the total number of COVID-19 fatalities in the US to 46,583 since the outbreak began there, by far the highest figures recorded by any country caught in the global pandemic.
05:20 GMT - Half of German firms using shortened working hours due to coronavirus - Ifo
Half of German companies are using the government's short-time work facility as most see a decline in revenues due to the coronavirus outbreak, a survey published by the Ifo economic institute showed.
Short-time work is a form of state aid that allows employers to switch employees to shorter working hours during an economic downturn to keep them on the payroll. It has been widely used by industry, including Germany's car sector.
Hello, this is Usaid Siddiqui in Doha taking over from my colleague Zaheen Rashid.
04:45 GMT - Using pandemic to erode human rights is 'unacceptable'
Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, has warned that the coronavirus pandemic risks becoming a human rights crisis with some governments using the outbreak as an excuse to adopt repressive measures for unrelated reasons.
"This is unacceptable," he says, unveiling a report on how human rights should guide the response and recovery to the health, social and economic crisis gripping the world.
"We see the disproportionate effects on certain communities, the rise of hate speech, the targeting of vulnerable groups, and the risks of heavy-handed security responses undermining the health response," he adds.
04:20 GMT - Philippines's Duterte to decide whether to continue lockdown
Little more than a week remains before the scheduled end of the Philippines's strict community quarantine measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus and the country is expected to find out how the government plans to transition out of the lockdown later on Thursday.
But has the Philippines flattened its curve?
Find out in this report from Ana P Santos in Manila.
04:09 GMT - Australia says all WHO members should support virus inquiry
Scott Morrison, the prime minister of Australia, said all WHO member nations should support a proposed independent review into the origins of the coronavirus and its spread.
"If you're going to be a member of a club like the World Health Organization, there should be responsibilities and obligations attached to that," Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
"We'd like the world to be safer when it comes to viruses ... I would hope that any other nation, be it China or anyone else, would share that objective."
Beijing has fiercely rejected calls for an inquiry, describing the efforts as US-led propaganda against China.
03:38 GMT - Red Cross calls for proper planning to handle dead bodies
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has urged governments across the world to prepare and plan for mass casualties from the coronavirus, warning the number of deaths caused by the new coronavirus could overwhelm local capacity to handle dead bodies properly.
Failure to plan ahead risks people being buried in mass graves, with few records and little understanding of who died and where the body was taken.
"Mass fatality planning doesn't mean there will be mass fatalities. But it's imperative that plans are made and, if needed, carried out to help lower the pain that families and broader society feel in the face of a high death toll," said Oran Finnegan, the head of the forensics unit at the ICRC.
03:24 GMT - Top UK adviser says social distancing may last until year-end
Professor Chris Whitty, the British government's chief medical adviser, has warned that social distancing measures in the United Kingdom may have to stay in place for the rest of the year.
"In the long run, the exit from this is going to be one of two things, ideally. One of which is a highly effective vaccine ... or highly effective drugs so that people stop dying of this disease even if they catch it," he says.
"Until we have those, and the probability of having those any time in the next calendar year are incredibly small and I think we should be realistic about that. We're going to have to rely on other social measures, which of course are very socially disruptive as everyone is finding at the moment."
Ministers will have to decide what mix of measures will have to remain in place once the UK goes through the peak of the coronavirus and beyond, he adds.
01:50 GMT - Italian cruise ship docked in Japan has 14 more coronavirus cases
Japan's NHK broadcaster reported that 14 more cases of coronavirus infections have been confirmed on an Italian cruise ship docked for repairs at Japan's Nagasaki prefecture.
The figure brings the total number of cases on the Costa Atlantica to at least 48.
The Italian cruise ship is carrying 623 crew members and no passengers, officials say.
01:25 GMT - South Korea posts biggest GDP fall since 2008 financial crisis
South Korea said its economy shrank 1.4 percent during the first three months of the year, the worst contraction since late-2008, reflecting the enormous shock unleashed by the coronavirus on domestic demand and trade.
The Bank of Korea said domestic consumption decreased 6.4 percent from the previous quarter as people, while staying at home to avoid virus transmissions, spent less on restaurants, leisure activities, clothing and cars.
Amid worldwide lockdowns, exports shrank 2 percent despite a seasonal rebound in shipments of semiconductors, one of the country's major export items.
01:12 GMT - China reports 10 new coronavirus cases in mainland
Health authorities have reported 10 new coronavirus cases in mainland China, down from 30 a day earlier as the number of so-called imported cases involving travellers from overseas declined.
The National Health Commission said six of the new COVID-19 cases confirmed on Wednesday were imported, down from 23 a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases for mainland China now stands at 82,798. No new COVID-19 deaths were reported, leaving the toll unchanged at 4,632.
00:49 GMT - Trump downplays threat of coronavirus returning
Trump has played down the possibility that the coronavirus could be worse this winter in the northern hemisphere despite medical experts' warnings that COVID-19 could combine with the flu to make a more complicated return to the US.
"It's not going to be what we've gone through, in any way, shape or form," Trump said.
"If it comes back, though, it won't be coming back in the form that it was. It will be coming back in smaller doses that we can contain," he continued. "You could have some embers of corona ... (but) we will not go through what we went through for the last two months."
00:45 GMT - Trump 'disagrees strongly' with Georgia's plan to reopen economy
Trump said he told Georgia Governor Brian Kemp that he "disagreed strongly" with Kemp's decision to begin allowing some nonessential businesses to soon reopen.
"The people of Georgia ... have been strong, resolute, but at the same time he must do what he thinks is right," Trump said of Kemp, a Republican.
"I want him to do what he thinks is right. But I disagree with him on what he's doing... But I think (opening) spas and beauty salons and tattoo parlours and barbershops in phase one ... it's just too soon."
In addition to pushback from Trump, Kemp's plan to begin cracking open the Georgia economy faces two key hurdles - the state is struggling to increase testing for new coronavirus infections and boost tracking of those in contact with infected people.
00:19 GMT - US vaccine expert 'removed for opposing Trump-backed chloroquine'
Dr Rick Bright, the head of the US agency in charge of developing a vaccine against coronavirus, said he was removed from his job for opposing the chloroquine treatment promoted by Trump.
The director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) was moved to a lesser position in the National Institutes of Health on Tuesday.
"I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit," he said in a statement.
Bright said he will be asking the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the Trump administration's politicisation of BARDA and its pressuring of scientists to favour companies with political connections.
The full statement from Dr. Rick Bright, who says he was ousted for resisting hydroxychloroquine, is worth a read. Via @axios
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00:13 GMT - Canada provinces seek military help to combat pandemic
Canada's Ontario and Quebec provinces have asked the military to help overwhelmed staff at elderly care homes hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The requests came as Canada surpassed 2,000 COVID-19 deaths - half of them at long-term care facilities.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said soldiers are needed at five of the most affected care homes in the province, saying the coronavirus in these places is spreading like a "raging wildfire".
Francois Legault, Quebec Premier, told reporters he asked Ottawa to send 1,000 troops, saying "it will help us a lot to have lots of extra hands to do tasks that are less medical and help the staff".
Hello, I'm Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives, with Al Jazeera's continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. You can find updates from yesterday, April 22, here.
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