As New Zealand enters its eighth day of lockdown, the virus behind COVID-19 has continued its near-unstoppable march across the globe.
On Thursday morning (NZ time), more than 887,000 confirmed cases of the disease had been reported, with nearly 45,000 dead.
Here's the latest from around the world overnight.
Europe
United Kingdom
More than 2300 people who tested positive for the virus have died in UK hospitals, up 563 from Wednesday's (NZ time) figure.
Tennis tournament Wimbledon has been called off for the first time since World War II.
And Prince Charles has called on people to look forward to better times in his first appearance since being diagnosed with coronavirus.
In a video posted on Twitter, he said his self-isolation period had now ended but warned that social-distancing could be a "strange, frustrating and often distressing experience".
Lastly, specially trained sniffer dogs could help identify carriers of COVID-19 and help control the spread of the disease, according to scientists in the UK.
Medical Detection Dogs, a UK charity that trains animals to detect diseases, say they are preparing to train dogs to work on the front line, sniffing out cases of coronavirus within seconds.
"Six weeks should be sufficient in order to train these dogs and get them out actually working and finding this disease for real," Dr Claire Guest, co-founder and CEO of Medical Detection Dogs told Reuters.
"We know that dogs have this amazing ability to smell and to learn smells and so if COVID-19 has a smell, and a distinctive smell, then we would be able to train dogs to detect it," said Professor James Logan, LSHTM's head of the Disease Control Department.
Italy
The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has climbed by 727 to 13,155, the Civil Protection Agency said on Wednesday, a significantly smaller increase than seen on Tuesday and the lowest daily tally since March 26.
However, the number of new cases rose more sharply than a day earlier, growing by 4782 against a previous 4053, bringing total infections since the outbreak came to light on February 21 to 110,574.
Spain
The number of cases of coronavirus in Spain has surpassed 100,000 while the number of fatalities reported overnight reached a new record, the country's health ministry says
The number of cases rose to 102,136 on Wednesday up from 94,417 on Tuesday, the ministry said.
Overall fatalities caused by the disease rose to 9053 from 8189 on Tuesday.
The daily death toll reached a record 864, though the increase was lower in percentage terms than during the previous days.
Hungary
Butterfly world champion Boglarka Kapas is among nine swimmers on the Hungarian national team to have tested positive for coronavirus, the country's swimming association said in a statement late on Tuesday.
So far 525 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Hungary, while 20 people have died.
Russia
In Russia, where some doctors have questioned the accuracy of official data, the official tally of confirmed cases is 2337 cases with 17 deaths.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a government meeting by video conference, the Kremlin says, a day after a doctor who met Putin last week said he had been diagnosed with the virus.
Denis Protsenko last week gave Putin a tour of Moscow's main coronavirus hospital and shook hands with the Russian leader. Protsenko is now self-isolating in his office.
The Kremlin, which has said that everything is fine with Putin's health, said on Wednesday he was keeping his distance from other people and preferred to work remotely.
The Americas
United States
A Russian military transport plane has taken off from an airfield outside Moscow and headed for the United States with a load of medical equipment and masks to help Washington fight coronavirus, Russian state TV reports.
President Vladimir Putin offered Russian help in a phone conversation with President Donald Trump on Monday, when the two leaders discussed how best to respond to the virus.
Trump himself spoke enthusiastically about the Russian help after his call with Putin.
Confirmed US cases have surged to 187,000 and nearly 3900 people have already died there from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
Brazil
An indigenous woman in a village deep in the Amazon rainforest has contracted the novel coronavirus, the first case reported among Brazil's more than 300 tribes, the Health Ministry's indigenous health service Sesai said on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old woman from the Kokama tribe tested positive for the virus in the district of Santo Antonio do Içá, located near the border with Colombia some 880km (550 miles) up the Amazon river from the state capital Manaus.
"Unfortunately, we have an indigenous person with the virus," said a Sesait spokeswoman by telephone.
The patient, whose name was not made public, is a medical worker who had traveled upriver to several villages, including the town of Tabatinga, and returned home with fever, a sore throat and chest pains, the O Globo newspaper reported.
Four cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the same district, including a Brazilian doctor who tested positive last week, raising fears that the epidemic could spread to remote and vulnerable indigenous communities with devastating effect.
Asia
China
China's National Health Commission has reported 36 new COVID-19 cases, one day after announcing that asymptomatic cases will now be included in the official count.
The commission said all but one of the new cases was imported from abroad, while seven more deaths from the disease had been reported over the previous 24 hours.
While the proportion of people who have contracted the virus but remain asymptomatic is currently unknown, scientists say these "carriers" can still pass COVID-19 onto others who do end up getting sick.
As China's domestic outbreak has largely abated, some questioned whether the country's failure to count asymptomatic cases would lead to a resurgence of infections.
China, where the virus was first detected in December, has recorded a total of 81,554 cases of COVID-19 and 3312 deaths from the disease.
Singapore
Singapore reported 74 new cases in its biggest intraday jump, bringing its total to 1000.
Japan
Japan will ban entry to foreigners from 73 countries and ask everyone arriving from abroad to quarantine themselves for two weeks as it struggles to contain the coronavirus, with a senior minister warning the country had been pushed "to the brink".
Japan had confirmed 2,362 domestically transmitted cases of the coronavirus and 67 deaths as of Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK said - relatively small tallies compared with those of the United States, China and Europe.
But Tokyo has seen the biggest jump in cases, with another 66 on Wednesday for a total of 587, NHK said, adding to pressure on the government to take more drastic measures. NHK said later that Japan overall had seen its highest daily increase yet with 237 new cases, though it was not clear if that number was included in the total tally for Wednesday.
"We are barely holding the line and remain at a critical point where virus cases could surge if we let down our guard," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary committee.
Indonesia
Indonesia has confirmed 149 new coronavirus infections, taking the total in the Southeast Asian country to 1677, a health ministry official says.
Achmad Yurianto reported 21 new deaths from the virus, taking the total to 157, while 103 had recovered.
Middle East and Africa
Israel/Palestine
Israel linked any coronavirus aid it might offer the Gaza Strip to recovering two Israeli soldiers.
Iran
Iran's President says the US has lost a historic opportunity to lift sanctions on his country over the coronavirus, while adding that the penalties had not hampered Tehran's fight against the infection.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the possibility that Washington might consider easing sanctions on Iran and other nations to help fight the coronavirus, but gave no concrete sign it plans to do so.
"The United States lost the best opportunity to lift sanctions," Hassan Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting. "It was a great opportunity for Americans to apologise ... and to lift the unjust and unfair sanctions on Iran."
The coronavirus has killed 2898 people and infected a recorded 44,606 in Iran, making it the worst-hit country in the Middle East and prompting China and the United Nations to urge the United States to ease sanctions.
Elsewhere
The COVID-19 pandemic is "the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War," said the United Nations chief on Tuesday (March 31).
Speaking via videolink, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "On one hand of a disease that represents a threat to everybody in the world. And second, because it has an economic impact that will bring a recession that probably has no parallel in the recent past. The combination of the two facts and the risk that it contributes to enhanced instability, enhanced unrest and enhanced conflict."
"This is indeed the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War and the one that needs a more stronger and more effective response that is only possible in solidarity if everybody comes together and if we forget the political games and understand that it is humankind that is at stake."
Guterres also called for a coordinated, global response to the health threat with an emphasis on developing nations.
"Let us remember that we are only as strong as the weakest health system in our interconnected world."
During his statement from the UN headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General also called for increased financial aid from the International Monetary Fund and debt relief.
Reuters / Newshub.
