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Coronavirus latest news: Donald Trump denies US has most deaths and says 'strange things are happening' in China
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President Donald Trump says that "a lot of strange things are happening" regarding the origins of the coronavirus and claims that China has far more deaths than its figures suggest.
Mr Trump cast doubt on China's official death toll, which was revised up on Friday. China said 1,300 people who died of the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan - half the total - were not counted, but dismissed allegations of a cover-up.
The US president said that many more people must have died in China than in the US, which is currently the epicentre of the global pandemic and has reported 36,773 deaths, the most in the world.
"We don't have the most in the world deaths," Mr Trump said.
"The most in the world has to be China. It's a massive country. It's gone through a tremendous problem with this, a tremendous problem - they must have the most."
The White House has told states that the US has enough tests to begin lifting the lockdown and re-opening America's economy.
Follow the latest updates below.
Response stirs row over status of east Jerusalem
Israel's arrest of senior Palestinian officials for "illegal" efforts to contain coronavirus and the Jewish state's closure of a clinic have exacerbated a long-running row over the status of east Jerusalem.
Since the onset of the health crisis, Palestinian officials allege the Arab population of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has been overlooked by Israeli efforts to curb the spread of the virus.
Israeli police recently shuttered a Covid-19 screening facility in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan - the testing was unauthorised, they said, because it was only overseen by the Palestinian Authority, and not Israel.
Japan struggling with infection rates
Hospitals in Japan are increasingly turning away sick people as the country struggles with surging coronavirus infections and its emergency medical system collapses.
In one recent case, an ambulance carrying a man with a fever and difficulty breathing was rejected by 80 hospitals and forced to search for hours for a hospital in downtown Tokyo that would treat him. Another feverish man finally reached a hospital after paramedics unsuccessfully contacted 40 clinics.
The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Emergency Medicine say many hospital emergency rooms are refusing to treat people including those suffering strokes, heart attacks and external injuries.
Summary of world news
- World deaths surged past 150,000 on Friday and more than 2.2 million cases have been reported in 193 countries and territories
- The daily number of confirmed deaths across the globe remained at over 8,800. Out of the total deaths since the outbreak erupted, the US has recorded 36,773, Italy 22,745, Spain 19,478 and France 18,681
- Illustrating the increasing threat in countries less in focus, Africa reported its 1,000th death on Friday
- China raised its estimate of deaths to 4,636 on Friday. That came after it increased the official toll for the city of Wuhan by 1,290 to 3,869
- Germany became the latest country to unveil plans to lift some restrictions. Switzerland, Denmark and Finland were also gradually re-opening shops and schools, and even in hard-hit Italy, people began emerging from lockdown. But Japan, Britain and Mexico all expanded current restrictions
- Russia recorded infections topped 32,000 as President Vladimir Putin warned that "the risks surrounding the epidemic's spread are still very high"
- President Donald Trump, whose re-election in November could hinge on how fast US life returns to normal, appeared to endorse protests against stay-at-home orders in several states
US death toll jumps by nearly 4,000
The United States on Friday passed 700,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and has more than 36,000 deaths.
With the highest number of cases and deaths of any country in the world, the US had recorded 700,282 cases and 36,773 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
That marked an increase of 3,856 deaths in the past 24 hours, but that figure likely includes "probable" virus-linked deaths, which had not previously been counted.
This week, New York City said it would add 3,778 "probable" virus deaths to its official count.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave a toll on Friday night of 33,049 dead, including 4,226 probable virus-linked deaths.
Mexico: Trump promised us 1,000 ventilators
Mexico's president says Donald Trump has promised that Mexico will be able to buy 1,000 ventilators and other intensive-therapy equipment used in treating severe cases of coronavirus.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he spoke with Mr Trump on Friday about Mexico's request to purchase the machines, relatively few of which are available in Mexico.
Mr Lopez Obrador wrote tweeted that Mr Trump "guaranteed me that by the end of this month we would get 1,000, and we can acquire more."
Mexico currently has 6,875 confirmed coronavirus cases and 546 deaths.
NHS staff 'should not be asked to put their lives on the line'
Doctors and nurses should not be asked to "put their lives on the line" to save others, the British Medical Association said, after they were asked to reuse protective equipment.
Healthcare staff treating patients with Covid-19 have previously been made to wear long-sleeved disposable fluid repellent gowns.
But Chris Hopson, chairman of NHS Providers, said some trusts will run out of supplies in the next 24-48 hours.
Public Health England changed guidance on Friday, asking doctors and nurses to work without full-length gowns and to reuse items, as "some compromise is needed to optimise the supply of PPE in times of extreme shortages".
Chile gets ready to lift lockdown
Chile's president has said that his government is preparing a "progressive" restart of economic activity in the country that has been in lockdown for 45 days.
"We're preparing for a progressive opening or reopening, taking a lot of precautions," said Sebastian Pinera, adding that there would be "much stricter health measures".
Chile has recorded more than 9,200 coronavirus cases and 116 deaths.
"We're going to have to learn to get used to (the fact that) the normal life we had before the coronavirus will not return for a long time and we have to get used to a new normal," the president added.
Chile has also ordered the mandatory wearing of masks on public transportation, in elevators and at gatherings of more than 10 people.
7,500 people may have died in care homes
The number of care home residents who have died of suspected coronavirus may have reached 7,500, according to the latest estimate, The Telegraph has learned.
New data collated by Care England, the country's largest representative body for care homes, suggests the number of deaths from Covid-19 is far higher than its previous estimate of 1,400 from earlier this week.
The number is also far in advance of the official figure from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which has recorded 217 care home deaths from the virus up to April 3 – the most recent date for which official data is available.
However, as the Government published its daily update on coronavirus hospital deaths on Friday, which showed a rise to 14,576, it emerged that the death toll in UK care homes is suspected to be much bigger than previously feared.
Today's top stories
- Latest estimates suggest that as many as 7,500 people may have died from the coronavirus in care homes
- Cabinet ministers have admitted there is no lockdown exit plan as they wait for Boris Johnson's return
- Captain Tom, who has raised more than £20 million for NHS charities, is set to get Spitfire flypast on his 100th birthday
- Peers are demanding a £323 daily allowance to log in to virtual parliamentary proceedings from home
- The NHS is rationing oxygen with doctors instructed to downgrade blood saturation targets
- Donald Trump has echoed protesters by urging three states hit by anti-lockdown gatherings to 'liberate!'
- China added nearly 1,300 coronavirus deaths to its official Wuhan toll, blaming reporting delays
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