Coronavirus: Singapore confirms 486 new cases, reports one additional death

Markets across Pakistan were teeming on Monday after opening up for the first time in over a month as the country began to lift its lockdown despite a rise in the rate of coronavirus infections.

Pakistan announced last week that it would begin a phased lifting of its lockdown because of the effect it was having on the economy and an impoverished workforce. Public transport remains shut, but factories and offices have been allowed to resume operations. Restrictions on mosque attendance had already been lifted before last week’s announcement.

“We opened today after almost two months; I am almost bankrupt and owe workers their salaries,” said Muhammad Sattar, a garment shop owner in one of the busiest commercial areas of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and financial capital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced a gradual easing of coronavirus lockdown measures despite a new surge in infections which took Russia’s tally past Italy’s, making it the fourth highest in the world.

Putin, in a televised nationwide address, said that from Tuesday he would start lifting restrictions that had forced many people to work from home and businesses to temporarily close.

He unveiled new support measures for businesses and for families with children who have seen their livelihoods devastated. He said unemployment had doubled to 1.4 million in a month and he wanted to try to stop it spiralling higher.

India's automakers have warned that total automobile sales could fall as much as 45 percent in the current fiscal year in a worst-case scenario as economic growth slumps due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and they are seeking government help through the crisis.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), an industry trade body, told government officials last week that if India's economy contracts by 2 percent in the year starting April 1, sales of cars, trucks and motorbikes could decline by as much as 45 percent from a year before.

SIAM presented two more scenarios to the government — one where the economy grows by 2 percent-3 percent, which would lead to a 20 percent decline in auto sales, and a second where growth stagnates from last year, resulting in a 35 percent decline in sales.

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The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the "slow, steady lifting of lockdowns" was key, as a jump in new coronavirus cases in South Korea and Germany raised global concerns about a second wave of infections.

"Lifting lockdowns are both complex and difficult," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online news briefing, adding that Germany, South Korea and China all had systems in place to respond to any resurgence in cases.

Lebanese authorities warned of a new wave of coronavirus cases after the number jumped to its highest point in more than a month as the government eased some restrictions on public life.

The country has been under lockdown since mid-March to rein in an outbreak that has infected 859 people and killed 26.

Lebanon started lifting restrictions last week as part of a longer-term plan, letting restaurants, hair salons, construction sites and other businesses open so far at lower capacity. But the government may shut the country down again to ward off any resurgence, with Lebanon’s higher defence council set to convene on Tuesday.

France’s armed forces minister blamed an outbreak of coronavirus aboard the navy’s flagship aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on mistakes taken to counter the disease.

“An inquiry shows the ship’s commanders and their medical advisors over-estimated the ability of the aircraft carrier and its flotilla to confront the coronavirus,” Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told a parliamentary committee.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak, plans to conduct city-wide nucleic acid testing over a period of 10 days, according to an internal document seen by Reuters and two sources familiar with the situation.

Every district in the city has been told to submit a detailed testing plan by Tuesday for their respective area, the document showed.

The Wuhan health authority could not be immediately reached for comment outside of business hours.

The city of 11 million people reported its first cluster of new infections over the weekend, after a months-long lockdown was lifted on April 8.

London’s commute will be very different when people start to go back to work as demand on buses and the underground railway will be reduced by 85%, the city transport operator said.

“The national requirement to maintain 2m social distancing wherever possible means that TfL will only be able to carry around 13-15 per cent of the normal number of passengers on the Tube and bus networks even when 100 percent of services are operating once again over time,” Transport for London said.

“Challenge is far greater than the 2012 Olympic Games, with the need to reduce pre-Coviddemand on buses and Tube by over 85 per cent,” it said.

President Donald Trump accused Democrats on Monday of moving to reopen states from coronavirus lockdown measures too slowly for political advantage, without providing evidence to support his claim, as the virus has killed more than 80,000 people in the United States.

The Republican president, who is running for re-election in November, is working to reopen the crippled US economy quickly against recommendations from health experts to move more cautiously to avoid a resurgence of the virus.

Trump has encouraged states to ease restrictions designed to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. On Monday, he targeted the election battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Britain faces the most delicate point in its battle against COVID-19 as it passes a peak in infections and starts gradually to ease guidance on social distancing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.

“Our journey has reached the most perilous moment where a wrong move could be disastrous,” he told parliament. “So at this stage, we can go no further than to announce the first careful modification of our measures.”

On Sunday, Johnson encouraged employees who cannot work from home to return to their workplaces this week where businesses remained open and it was safe to do so.

It makes sense for Britain to introduce quarantine measures for travellers arriving in the country now that the reproduction rate of the coronavirus domestically has fallen, foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Monday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Sunday that Britain would “soon” impose quarantine measures on people coming into the country by air. Raab said the measures would cover arrivals to both ports and airports.

“Now that (the reproduction rate) has come down and is still coming down even further, it makes sense to introduce it to stop ... reinfection coming in from people carrying it from abroad, particularly those who would not necessarily be showing symptoms,” Raab told parliament.

Chile has surpassed 30,000 cases of coronavirus, the health ministry said on Monday, amid a spike in infections that has seen critical care units fill up quickly, leaving the country teetering on edge ahead of the coming southern hemisphere winter.

The health ministry said total cases since the outbreak began in early March had hit 30,063, while 323 people had died from the disease.

Belgium allowed most of its shops to reopen on Monday with strict hygiene rules for customers, following in the footsteps of Spain in an easing of its eight-week lockdown as the number of Covid-19 cases fall.

Belgians must now shop alone and should wear face masks and in some stores even gloves. But many still thronged shopping streets for the first time since mid-March, albeit with a cordon system in place to create one-way routes and avoid pedestrians from bumping into one another.

“At first, we weren’t following the indications, but now we get it, we see the markings on the ground,” said shopper Ambroisine Igouanga, who works in Brussels, wearing a brightly-coloured homemade cotton face mask.

Avianca Holdings Latin America's second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, after failing to meet a bond payment deadline, while its pleas for coronavirus aid from Colombia's government have so far been unsuccessful.

If it fails to come out of bankruptcy, Bogota-based Avianca would be one of the first major carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic, which has crippled world travel.

Avianca has not flown a regularly scheduled passenger flight since late March and most of its 20,000 employees have gone without pay through the crisis.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson published his plan for exiting the coronavirus lockdown on Monday, allowing some people back to work but cautioning that all should wear face coverings in enclosed spaces as Covid-19 was here to stay.

"This is not a short-term crisis," said the 51-page "Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK Government's Covid-19 recovery strategy".

"It is likely that Covid-19 will circulate in the human population long-term, possibly causing periodic epidemics. In the near future, large epidemic waves cannot be excluded without continuing some measures."

The government said it would introduce a 14-day quarantine on international travellers with some exceptions. It also said people should wear face coverings in enclosed spaces where social distancing was not possible.

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Global travel demand will take years to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and many business travellers may never return to the skies, the head of Qatar Airways said on Monday.

State-owned Qatar Airways has been one of few airlines to continue regular, scheduled flights during the global lockdowns to contain the novel coronavirus, maintaining services to around 30 destinations.

It said this month it would gradually resume flights to some of the 165 destinations it served before the outbreak, aiming to fly to 80 destinations by the end of June.

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Germany reported on Monday that new coronavirus infections were accelerating exponentially after early steps to ease its lockdown, news that sounded a global alarm even as businesses opened from Paris hair salons to Shanghai Disneyland.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute reported that the “reproduction rate” - the number of people each person infected with the coronavirus goes on to infect - had risen to 1.1. Any rate above 1 means the virus is spreading exponentially.

German authorities had taken early steps to ease lockdown measures just days earlier, a stark illustration that progress can swiftly be reversed even in a country with one of the best records in Europe of containing the virus so far.

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The number of coronavirus cases in the six Gulf Arab states surpassed 100,000 on Monday, with 557 deaths, according to Reuters calculations based on official figures.

Coronavirus cases in the energy producing region had initially been linked to travel. But despite taking early measures to combat the virus Gulf states have seen a spread of the virus among low-income migrant workers living in cramped quarters, prompting authorities to ramp up testing.

Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf state with a population of some 30 million, has the highest count at 41,014 infections and 255 deaths. It recorded 1,966 new cases and nine new deaths on Monday.

The number of foreign tourists in Thailand may plunge by almost two-thirds to 14 million this year, the lowest level in 14 years, as the coronavirus pandemic hits global travel, estimates from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) showed on Monday.

The TAT now predicts only 14 million to 16 million foreign visitors this year, sharply down from 33.8 million projected in March. Last year’s foreign arrivals were a record 39.8 million.

Tourism is crucial to Thailand as spending from foreign tourists amounted to 1.93 trillion baht ($59.98 billion), or 11 percent of GDP last year. The tourism authority is hoping foreign visitors will return to Thailand in October, the country’s high tourist season, TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn told Reuters.

Bicycles could play a central role in more major European cities as governments scramble to get commuters back to work without crowding buses or trains after coronavirus lockdowns are eased.

Britain, a laggard compared to its continental neighbours when it comes to cycling to work, is now encouraging people to get in the saddle as part of a 250 million pound ($308 million)emergency active travel fund announced last week.

And in France, home to the world's most famous bike race, the government plans to invest 20 million euros ($22 million) to develop and subsidise two-wheel travel, which like Britain will include temporary bike lanes.

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Nigerian comedian Maryam Apaokagi has a sure-fire way of getting people to listen to her coronavirus health advice - she delivers it with a hard slap in the face.

The 21-year-old has joined a line-up of the nation’s top performers working health tips into their routines to spread the word about Covid-19. In one of her online videos, she plays the role on an all-knowing, all-controlling Nigerian mother who watches in horror as a young man sneezes into his hands.

Within seconds she grabs a bottle of sanitiser from the bosom of her dress, slathers it over her palms, then hits him hard in the face. “Ah, a sanitised slap,” her companion gasps in mock horror, as the young man learns his lesson the hard way.

Apaokagi, who goes by the stage name Taaooma, said she decided to put out the video to try and reach people who would usually ignore or dismiss advice from the usual official sources - people like her own mother.

Thirsty Czechs were allowed to return to beer gardens on Monday in one of the the government’s most eagerly anticipated measures to relax coronavirus restrictions.

Authorities also permitted some schools, hairdressers, malls, cinemas and other businesses to reopen. Museums and galleries opened their doors and the government gave the green light for weddings, cultural and religious events of fewer than 100 people. Professional sports teams resumed full training. But for many Czechs - who rank as the world’s biggest beer drinkers per capita - the reopening of restaurant terraces and beer gardens was a highlight of the government’s plan to re-start the economy in stages.

“Considering the beer is finally in a glass rather than a plastic cup from a take-away window, it is absolutely great,” said Ivan Verner, a retiree sipping a Pilsner Urquell at the historic U Pinkasu pub in central Prague.

Japan could lift a state-of-emergency in many regions this week if new coronavirus infections are under control, the economy minister said on Monday, as the country inches toward a gradual return of economic activity.

The emergency in place since last month gives governors of the 47 prefectures stronger authority to urge people to stay at home and businesses to close, but there are no fines or arrests for non-compliance. The government last week extended the emergency to the end of May. But some non-essential businesses, even in the 13 hardest-hit prefectures designated “special alert districts”, including Tokyo and Osaka, have already reopened despite the extension.

Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said the government plans a meeting of medical experts probably on Thursday to lay out guidelines for lifting the state of emergency. The government would also consult economists.

France tiptoed out of one of Europe’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns on Monday, allowing non-essential shops, factories and other businesses to reopen for the first time in eight weeks as the risks of a second wave of infections loomed large.

With the world’s fifth highest official death toll, France is also re-opening schools in phases and its 67 million people can now leave home without government paperwork, although documentation is still needed for rush-hour travel around Paris.

Theatres, restaurants and bars will remain closed until at least June, as the scramble in South Korea to contain a cluster of cases linked to nightclubs highlighted the peril of new outbreaks emerging.

Oyster farmers in Croatia are worried this season’s harvest will go to waste as the outbreak of the new coronavirus means tourists, the main consumers of the delicacy on the Dalmatian coast, stay away.

Now that the government has begun to partially lift a lockdown imposed in mid-March, some are hoping that the reopening of restaurants will restore at least some of the demand. The oyster farms of Mali Ston, a stunning bay on the southern Adriatic Peljesac peninsula which lies 50 kilometres (31 miles) northwest of Dubrovnik, produce around two million oysters every year. Their industry has taken a severe hit from the pandemic.

“Some 90 percent of our production of oysters goes to restaurants here and in Dubrovnik area. There is little consumption among the locals. So, we can expect huge losses this year,” said Marija Radic, who heads an association of oyster producers in Mali Ston.

Emblazoned with Turkish flags and presidential seals, crates packed with medical equipment are loaded onto planes, part of a major aid campaign by Ankara which has dispatched supplies to dozens of countries since the new coronavirus pandemic erupted.

"There is hope after despair and many suns after darkness," says a message on every shipment - a line from 13th century Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi, which looks to better days not just in the battle against Covid-19 but also for Turkey's fraught diplomacy.

With its relations with NATO allies in Europe and the United States darkened by disputes over Russian missile defences, human rights and Western sanctions on Iran, Turkey hopes the virus crisis is an opportunity to soothe recent tensions.

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New Zealand businesses including malls, cinemas, cafes and gyms will reopen on Thursday after some of the tightest restrictions in the world to stop the spread of the coronavirus were further loosened on Monday.

The Pacific nation was locked down for more than month under “level 4” restrictions that were eased by a notch in late April. It has continued to enforce strict social measures on many of its citizens and businesses, helping prevent widespread community spread of the virus.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the staggered move to “level 2” restrictions will mean retail, restaurants and other public spaces including playgrounds can reopen from Thursday.

Schools can open from next Monday while bars can only reopen from May 21, Ardern said. Gatherings would be limited to 10 people.

Starbucks Corp said on Monday it would begin a phased reopening of all its drive-thru locations and some takeaway-only stores in the United Kingdom as the country eases coronavirus-led restrictions on road travel.

The stores will start reopening from Thursday, the company said with social-distancing protocols in place as well as increased cleaning and sanitizing.

In China, 90 percent of Starbucks stores are now open and about 85 percent of its stores in the United States serve food.

Earlier this month, McDonald’s Corp said it would reopen 15 restaurants in the United Kingdom for delivery only and UK media has reported other chains are looking at ways to get business going again.

In the past few weeks, Manila Bay in the Philippines has been transformed into the world’s biggest parking lot for cruise ships, none of which have any guests.

More than 20 vessels collectively weighing about 2 million tonnes are clustered off the coast of the capital, awaiting coronavirus clearance for more than 5,300 Philippine staff to return home from abandoned cruises, with no guarantee of a job at sea again.

More ships are set to join the flotilla, says the coast guard, which has been shuttling between ships to administer 4,991 virus tests for crew quarantined for the 14 days mandatory for repatriates. No suspected cases have been reported.

Waiters in face masks served coffees and “bocadillo” sandwiches at cafe terraces in Seville on Monday morning as parts of Spain eased restrictions amid a slowing coronavirus epidemic that saw the number of new fatalities drop to a near two-month low.

“I’m very happy, I really wanted to work. We’ve been shut for two months now,” Marta Contreras, a waitress in central Seville, said, smiling from behind her mask.

About half of Spain’s 47 million people progressed to the so-called Phase 1 of a four-step plan to relax one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns on Monday after the government decided that the regions in which they live met the necessary criteria.

The number of people claiming emergency coronavirus-related unemployment payments in Ireland fell on a weekly basis for the first time on Monday, although a greater number of people signed up to a separate government wage-subsidy scheme.

The number of recipients of the higher, temporary payment introduced in March edged down to 589,000 from 598,000, an official from the prime minister’s office told a news conference. When including these recipients, Ireland’s unemployment rate hit a record 28.2 percent in April.

The adjusted unemployment rate does not include 456,200 people on the subsidy scheme for impacted companies, where the state agreed to pay 70 percent of wages up to a maximum of 410 euros a week until at least June. That was up from 427,400 a week ago as the economy prepares to gradually reopen from next week.

Michigan was due to allow its factories to resume production on Monday after more than six weeks of a coronavirus lockdown, removing a major obstacle to North American automakers seeking to bring thousands of idled employees back to work this month.

Michigan, a major Midwest industrial powerhouse hard hit by both the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, is the latest of several states permitting the restart of assembly lines halted in mandatory business closures meant to contain the outbreak.

But in announcing plans last week to reopen manufacturing, Whitmer, a Democrat, extended a stay-at-home order requiring residents to remain mostly indoors, except for outings like grocery shopping, doctor visits and limited recreation.

Villages and urban communities in Thailand have turned to helping neighbours left jobless due to the coronavirus lockdown by creating dozens of local food banks comprising instant noodles, canned food, rice grains and soap bars.

Within days, “Pantry of Sharing” locations have sprung up in 44 provinces across Thailand and number more than 150 cabinets.

“We realized that many Thais are facing a crisis of no income and no money to buy food due to Covid-19,” said Supakit Kulchartvijit.

Supakit initiated the project in Thailand starting with five pantries - four in Bangkok and one in the western province of Rayong - inspired by the Little Free Pantry in the United States.

Around the world, sufferers of coronavirus and health professionals have faced stigma due to fear and ignorance. Medical workers in the Philippines have had bleach thrown at them. Doctors in India have been forcefully evicted by their landlords over infection fears.

In Haiti though, the poorest country in the Americas, that stigma has become a major concern among health authorities trying to contain the outbreak. Haitians have long been distrustful of their institutions, wariness that a corruption-fuelled political crisis, food insecurity and a surge in gang crime have only exacerbated. Now fear of contracting coronavirus has some taking matters into their own hands.  

Violence erupted during the last major epidemic, a nearly decade-long cholera outbreak that began in 2010; more than 800,000 people were sickened and around 10,000 died. At least 45 priests of Haiti’s voodoo religion were killed, some hacked to death, by mobs who blamed them for causing it with their spells, the government said at the time.

Coronavirus so far has proven far less lethal that cholera. Haiti has registered just 182 cases to date and 15 deaths. But harassment of patients such as Fontilus poses a major challenge to authorities trying to get those who contract Covid-19 to come forward for treatment.

Thailand began the year with a ban on single-use plastic bags that Bangkok office worker Nicha Singhanoi hoped would cut back the waste that puts her country among the world’s top five choking the oceans with plastic.

Then the coronavirus pandemic forced school closures and authorities told people to stay home, and far from falling, Bangkok’s plastic waste has soared 62 percent in volume in April, as more people opt for food and goods to be delivered to homes.

“There is so much bubble wrap and product packaging, or bags and containers from food deliveries,” said Nicha, 27, an avid online shopper, who said that working from home deprived her of the time to cook.

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Spain’s daily coronavirus death toll fell on Monday to 123, the health ministry said, its lowest level in seven weeks.

The overall death toll from the epidemic rose to 26,744 on Monday from 26,621 on the previous day. The number of confirmed cases rose to 227,436 from 224,390 on Sunday.

India announced a limited re-opening of its giant rail network beginning on Tuesday after a nearly seven-week lockdown, despite also reporting its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus cases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced increasing calls to end his government's stringent lockdown of the nation's 1.3 billion population, with political parties, businesses and citizens saying the containment measures have destroyed the livelihoods of millions that rely on daily wages for sustenance.

The shutdown, which has been repeatedly extended to stave off a surge in infections, is in force until May 17. Ahead of that, though, the railway ministry said it would gradually restart passenger services with 15 trains from Tuesday, connecting Delhi to Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and other big cities.

Men in the lowest-skilled jobs had the highest rate of death involving Covid-19 among working-age people in England and Wales, according to data on Monday which also showed deaths among nurses and doctors was no higher than the average.

The data was published after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that manufacturing and construction workers should be encouraged to go back to their jobs, drawing concern from trade union groups.

Men in the lowest-skilled jobs suffered 21.4 Covid-related deaths per 100,000 males in the period up to April 20, more than double the average for working age males of just under 10 deaths per 100,000, the Office for National Statistics said. The average death rate for working age women was 5.2 per 100,000.

Authorities at kindergartens and primary schools in Vietnam took children’s temperatures at the gates when they re-opened on Monday from a months-long closure over the coronavirus pandemic, following last week’s partial re-opening of other schools.

With just 288 infections and no deaths, the Southeast Asian nation has seen no community infections for nearly a month, putting it on course to resume activities sooner than most others in the region.

“The teachers told us to use hand sanitizer and not to touch one another at school,” a fifth grade student, Vu Tuan Phong, said outside his primary school in Hanoi.

Samik Sarkar was managing to eke a profit out of his online apparel store before the coronavirus crisis hit India, forcing the 36-year old to reinvent his business overnight.

“I started selling masks because that’s all I could sell,” Sarkar said. “I have salaries to pay.”

The rapid global economic slowdown, India’s coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people and an exodus of venture capital are testing a start-up community that has quickly become one of the world’s biggest, raising a record $14.9 billion last year.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Monday give details of how to get the economy back to work, after his attempt to plot a nuanced exit from the coronavirus lockdown prompted confusion, opposition and even satire across the United Kingdom.

In an address to the nation, Johnson said the lockdown would not end yet but encouraged some people to return to work, though the leaders of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland said they were sticking with the existing "stay-at-home" message.

"This is not the time simply to end the lockdown," Johnson said on Sunday evening. "Anyone who can't work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work."

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The White House has begun informal talks with Republicans and Democrats in Congress about what to include in another round of coronavirus relief legislation, officials said on Sunday, while predicting further US jobs losses in the coming months.

Officials in President Donald Trump's administration, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, said they were holding discussions with lawmakers on issues including potential aid to states whose finances have been devastated by the pandemic.

Another White House economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, said future legislation could include food aid to help Americans struggling with hunger amid widespread job losses that have ruined the finances of many people. It also could include broadband access for those who lack it, Hassett added.

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Australia’s second-most populous state on Monday relaxed bans on social visits, religious gatherings and community sports, joining other states which have begun to ease measures intended to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

From Tuesday, the 6.3 million residents of Victoria, which includes the city of Melbourne, will be allowed to visit friends and family in groups of up to five, while groups of 10 could participate in a host of community events, Premier Daniel Andrews said.

Much of Australia has now made tentative steps to unwind a national shutdown which began almost two months ago to contain the flu-like illness. The measures, which included border closures, have been credited with slowing the spread of the illness across the country to a crawl, from a daily rise of 25 percent per day at its peak in March.

Russia’s coronavirus cases overtook Italian and British infections on Monday to become the third highest in the world after a record daily rise hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to review the country’s lockdown regime.

The official tally surged to 221,344, meaning Russia now has more registered cases than Italy or Britain and only trails Spain and the United States, as the number of new cases of the novel coronavirus jumped by 11,656 in the past 24 hours.

More than half of all cases and deaths are in Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s outbreak. On Monday, it reported an overnight increase of 6,169 new cases, bringing its official total to 115,909.

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Bangladesh today confirmed yet another single-day highest 1,034 new cases of coronavirus infection and eleven more deaths, after testing 7,208 samples at 37 laboratories in the last 24 hours.

With this, the death toll from the deadly virus rose to 239 and the number of total infections stood at 15,691, Then Business Standard reported. 

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Singapore’s health ministry said on Monday it confirmed 486 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally of infections to 23,822.

Commuters wait for a transport hours before a lockdown on travel due to the coronavirus outbreak March 17, 2020/REUTERS

The health ministry said the number of cases, the lowest in a week, were partly distorted by fewer tests being processed as one of its laboratories was recalibrating apparatus after 33 false positives were identified, Reuters reported. 

Avianca Holdings, Latin America's second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, after failing to meet a bond payment deadline, while its pleas for coronavirus aid from Colombia's government have so far been unsuccessful.

If it fails to come out of bankruptcy, Bogota-based Avianca would be one of the first major carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic, which has crippled world travel, Reuters reported. 

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Pakistan will allow markets and shops to open for several days a week from Monday, as it eases its coronavirus lockdown, Al Jazeera reported.

The country’s confirmed cases have exceeded 30,000 with 667 deaths but Planning Minister Asad Umar reiterated on Sunday the government's approach to containing the outbreak would be to focus on targeted lockdowns in areas where a large number of cases were reported.

Markets can open for between three and four days a week depending on the province.

New Zealand businesses including malls, cinemas, cafes and gyms will be allowed to reopen from Thursday as tight restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus were further eased on Monday.

The Pacific nation was locked down for more than month under "level 4" restrictions that were eased by a notch late last month. It has continued to enforce strict social measures on many of its citizens and businesses, helping prevent widespread community spread of the virus, Reuters reported. 

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Mexico’s health ministry confirmed 1,562 new cases of coronavirus infection on Sunday, along with 112 additional deaths, as government models projected that infections could peak this weekend.

Since Saturday, 3,500 new infections were logged, according to the official tally, Reuters reported. 

Reported coronavirus cases in the country total 35,022, with 3,465 deaths attributed to the highly contagious Covid-19 respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus. But the true number for both figures is almost certainly significantly higher due to the low level of testing nationwide.

Thailand reported six new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing its total to 3,015 cases since the outbreak began in January.

The new cases were all in Thailand’s southern provinces, including four on the tourist island of Phuket and one each in Narathiwat and Yala provinces, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman of the government’s Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, Reuters reported. 

A tourist wears a protective mask at Wat Pho, Buddha Temple which is usually full of tourists, amid fear of coronavirus at Bangkok, Thailand March 16, 2020/ Reuters

Daily new cases in the single digits have prompted Thailand to begin cautiously reopening some businesses that had been closed to slow the spread of the virus.

The death toll remained at 56, while 2,796 patients have recovered.

Millions of people in France and Spain were set to embrace a relaxation of stay-at-home rules on Monday, but Britain extended its lockdown as countries plot their way tentatively through the coronavirus crisis.

Fears of a second wave of the pandemic, which has killed more than 280,000 people worldwide and wrecked the global economy, stalked much of Europe and the world, AFP reported. 

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China has issued a lengthy rebuttal of what it said were 24 "preposterous allegations" by some leading US politicians over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak.

The Chinese foreign ministry has dedicated most of its press briefings over the past week to rejecting accusations by US politicians, especially Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, that China had withheld information about the new coronavirus and that it had originated in a laboratory in the city of Wuhan, Reuters reported. 

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China reported 17 new Covid-19 cases in the mainland on May 10, rising from a day earlier and marking the highest daily increase since April 28, highlighting the difficulty in stamping out the disease.

Though the new case count remains sharply lower than the peak of the outbreak in February, the data underscores continued risks posed by Covid-19. With the pandemic having spread globally, Beijing continues to exhort vigilance even as it tries to restart the economy, Reuters reported.

Police officers wearing face masks stand guard at an entrance to a middle school as students return to campus following the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Yantai, Shandong province, China May 8, 2020/ Reuters

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The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Africa has topped 10,000, including 194 fatalities, Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize announced on Sunday.

“As of today (Sunday), the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 10,015, the minister said in a statement, AFP reported. 

“We note with concern that the Western Cape and Eastern Cape combined comprises 84 percent of the total new cases,” Mkhize added.

The death toll of 194 is an increase of eight on the previous figure.

South Africa is the worst-hit country in sub-Saharan Africa

Since May 1 the government has gradually eased the confinement measures put n place in late March to stem the spread of the virus.

The United States recorded 776 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 79,522, according to the real-time tally by Johns Hopkins University at 8:30 pm Sunday (0030 GMT Monday).

The figure was the lowest daily tally since March, with 24-hour totals in recent weeks ranging from 1,000 to 2,500, AFP reported. 

A nurse wearing personal protective equipment watches an ambulance driving away outside of Elmhurst Hospital during the ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the Queens borough of New York, US, April 20, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

The country — hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities — has now confirmed a total of 1,329,072 cases, the Baltimore-based school reported.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 357 to 169,575, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

The reported death toll rose by 22 to 7,417, the tally showed, Reuters reported.