Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include: Global number of cases surpasses 400,000 At least 417,582 people have been confirmed as having contracted the virus, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. The Baltimore institution, which has been tracking the pandemic, says 18,612 people have died and 107,247 people have recovered. France sees more than 22,000 cases The director general of the French health service, Jérôme Salomon, said the epidemic was now across France and “rapidly getting worse”. The country has 22,300 confirmed cases. There are 10,176 people in hospital, with 2,516 in intensive care, of whom 34% are younger than 60. There have been 1,100 deaths of coronavirus patients in hospitals, with 85% of the deceased aged over 70. The increase in deaths is 240 in 24 hours. Italy dares to hope outbreak is slowing Italy received more reassuring evidence that its coronavirus infection rate is slowing, thanks to a painful lockdown that other nations are starting to apply at great economic cost. Health officials across the country are poring over every new piece of data to see if two weeks of bans and closures have made a dent in the crisis. The harshest restrictions are theoretically due to expire on Wednesday evening – although the government is all but certain to extend them in some form for weeks or even months. Italy’s 743 new deaths broke two days of successive declines that had taken the number down to 601 on Monday. Trump insists on Easter easing of restrictions Despite much of the rest of the world choosing to accelerate restrictions designed to control the virus’s spread, and the World Health Organization warning that 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 the virus. And he has stressed that he is serious about scaling back restrictions by Easter in order to get the US economy moving. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, it was confirmed that a person aged younger than 18 had died – believed to be the first child to succumb to the disease in the US. And anyone who has recently left New York was told to self-isolate for two weeks. ASX opens almost 6% up The Australian market rose 5.81% at the opening bell, following extraordinary gains of as much as 11% on US markets. While some analysts put the US market’s increase down to hopes that a long-awaited stimulus package was close to being approved by Congress, another explanation is that traders have reacted with glee to talk from Trump that he might soon lift coronavirus restrictions. European countries try to mitigate economic damage The Czech parliament’s lower chamber approved a package of emergency government measures that includes temporary tax relief for self-employed workers. Romania’s centrist minority government will also enable banks to allow monthly loan repayments to be postponed for several months. And, in Norway, the central bank said it will offer banks a loan in US dollars with a maturity of three months, in a move coordinated with Danish and Swedish central banks. The auction will will open at 2pm CET (1pm GMT) on Thursday 26 March and will have a maximum allotment volume of $5bn (£4.25bn). Speculation over Bolsonaro diagnosis Speculation is mounting in Brazil as conflicting reports about its president’s test results come in. It was initially confirmed Jair Bolsonaro had tested positive, before that was denied by his son. Now, according to Brazilian media, two names have been scrubbed from a list of patients handed over by the hospital where he was tested, leading some to claim he and his wife did indeed contract the virus and were treated in secrecy. UK death toll now more than 400 A further 87 people are confirmed to have died in the UK, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said, taking the total death toll to 422. According to the latest Department of Health and Social Care figures, 8,077 people have tested positive, while 82,359 have tested negative. Britain recruits volunteers and brings in equipment Hancock said the country is recruiting 250,000 volunteers in good health to help the health services. He confirmed a new 4,000-capacity hospital will open at the ExCeL Centre in east London. And he said the government has got hold of 3.5m antibody tests and “moved” 7.5m pieces of protective equipment. Tokyo Olympics to be delayed for a 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, the Olympics has been postponed for 12 months. Abe said a postponement was unavoidable if the 2020 Games could not be held in a complete manner amid the pandemic.