New Zealand has declared a national state of emergency New Zealand has declared a national state of emergency, Reuters reports. More on this soon. Summary As Hubei, China lifts some restrictions, Italy’s Prime Minister has promised theirs will end sooner than July 31st, and Trump insists the US doesn’t need a national lockdown. The global number of cases reached 417,582. According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking the pandemic, 18,612 people have died and 107,247 people have recovered. France confirmed it has seen more than 22,000 cases. The director general of the country’s health service, Jérôme Salomon, said the pandemic was now across France and “rapidly getting worse”. Trump insisted on an easing of restrictions by Easter. Despite much of the rest of the world choosing to accelerate restrictions designed to control the virus’ spread and the World Health Organization warning the US is in grave danger of a rapid escalation in the severity of its situation, Donald Trump has claimed the nation is nearing the end of the fight against then virus. The Australian market opened up almost 6%. The news followed the extraordinary gains of as much as 11% on US markets. European countries tried to mitigate the economic damage. A series of measures was approved in the Czech Republic, Romania and Norway. There was speculation over the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s diagnosis. Brazilian media reported that two names were scrubbed from a list of patients handed over by the hospital where he was tested, leading some to speculate he and his wife contracted the virus and were treated in secrecy. Global cases surpass 400,000. Figures collected by Johns Hopkins University suggest 407,485 have been infected and, since the data is based partially on official releases, the true extent could be even greater. The institution says 18,227 people have died, while 104,234 have recovered. Poland, India and Egypt all implemented lockdown measures, while South Africans prepare to do the same after the number of confirmed cases increased by more than a third in a day. The WHO said the US risks becoming the next centre of the coronavirus outbreak as the country is seeing a “very large acceleration” in cases. The Japan Olympics will be delayed for one year. After a conference call between the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike, and the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, the29 Olympics will be postponed for 12 months. The European Union has been urged to evacuate asylum seekers from overcrowded camps on the Greek islands in order to save lives. The first case was confirmed earlier this month when a Greek woman on Lesbos tested positive. Spanish doctors complain of lack of equipment. The latest figures also revealed that Spanish healthcare workers accounted for more than 13% of the country’s 39,673 cases. Greta Thunberg believes she had Covid-19. The environmental campaigner, Greta Thunberg, says she believes it “extremely likely” she has had Covid-19. In an Instagram post, she wrote that she has been staying inside for the past two weeks.