Coronavirus-related deaths in the US exceed 40,000 with nearly half of all casualties in New York state, as protests against “stay at home” orders flared in a number of states.
Italy reports lowest number of deaths in a week, while the pace of new infections also slowed. Spain registered its lowest daily death toll in almost a month.
New Zealand will relax some of its restrictions – among the most stringent in the world – from next Monday.
Globally, more than 2.4 million people have been diagnosed with the virus while over 167,000 have died, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. More than 639,000 people have recovered.
China has said Australia’s calls for an investigation into the origins and spread of the virus are baseless.
