A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak
Thu 2 Apr 2020 12.34 BSTLast modified on Thu 2 Apr 2020 12.59 BST
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Coronavirus daily briefing Illustration: Guardian Design/EPA/GETTY
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Spain’s coronavirus death toll rose to 10,003 on Thursday, up from 9,053 on Wednesday, an increase of 950. On Tuesday Spain had recorded 864 deaths related to coronavirus, its previous highest figure.
The Cambodian government has been accused of manipulating the coronavirus pandemic to assert absolute power “over all aspects of civil, political, social, and economic life”.
Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has reached 3,136, with 124 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told state TV, adding that the country had 50,468 total cases.
France’s interior minister Christophe Castaner warned the country to stay at home as the Easter holidays begin. He said roadblocks would be set up on major highways and extra police or soldiers dispatched to train stations and airports to verify the documents of anyone stopped out and about.
Indonesia reported a further 13 deaths and 113 new cases, taking its total number of deaths to 170 and its confirmed infections to 1,790. South Korea has reported 169 deaths and 9,976 infections, according to the latest figures released there.
According to data collected by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, 951,901 (as of 12pm BST) people around the world have become infected, 48,284 of whom have died.
American officials reportedly believe China has been underreporting the total number of cases and deaths. The conclusions of a classified report from the intelligence community to the White House were revealed to Bloomberg by three anonymous officials who declined to detail its contents.
President Trump is also resisting calls to issue a national stay-at-home order to stem the spread of the new coronavirus despite his administration’s projections that tens of thousands of Americans are likely to be killed by the disease.
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