DUBAI: The highly contagious coronavirus has already affected over 1.85 million people globally, with the western world bearing the brunt of infections. The United States has been the worst hit country, with almost one third of the total COVID-19 patients and recording nearly 2,000 deaths a day – while Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the UK make up another third of cases. In the Middle East, countries have extended their lockdown periods as part of preventive measures to flatten the infection curve and continue to repatriate nationals stranded abroad the regional and the global economies suffer the consequences. Monday, April 13 (All times in GMT) 19:14 - Health ministers from the Group of 20 major economies will speak by video conference on April 19 to address the impact of the new coronavirus on the global health sector and society, the Saudi G20 secretariat said. 18:00 - Italy’s death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 20,000 on Monday but its number of critically ill patients dropped for the 10th successive day. 17:51 - The death toll in France from the new coronavirus outbreak has risen to 14,967 from 14,393 a day earlier, the French public health authority said. The body added 6,821 patients were currently in intensive care units, down from 6,845 on Sunday. 17:30 - More than 6,000 Saudi doctors are working across the globe in the fight against coronavirus and they have a message of hope and support for the world. 16:30 - Britain"s foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Monday that he does not expect the government to make any changes to the lockdown measures currently in place until it is confident they can be made safely. "We don"t expect to make any changes to the measures in place," he said. Raab, deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is recovering from COVID-19, told a daily press conference that people had stuck with the rules for lockdown over the long Easter weekend. 16:25 - Turkey’s confirmed cases of the coronavirus increased by 4,093 in the past 24 hours, and 98 more people have died, taking the death toll to 1,296, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Monday. The total number of cases in the country stood at 61,049, he said. A total of 3,957 people have recovered so far, and the number of tests carried out over the past 24 hours was 34,456, the minister said. 16:15 - Italy’s death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 20,000 but its number of critically ill patients dropped for the tenth successive day as its rate of infections slowed. The 566 new deaths reported by the civil protection service takes Italy’s fatalities total to 20,465 — officially second in the world behind the United States. 15:55 - Algeria recorded 20 new coronavirus deaths and 68 new confirmed cases. 15:40 - The death toll from the new coronavirus in New York state — the epicenter of America’s deadly pandemic — has passed 10,000, Governor Andrew Cuomo said. Cuomo said 671 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities in the state to 10,056. 15:35 - The number of people killed by the coronavirus in Canada rose by almost 9% to 734 in a day, official data posted by the public health agency showed. By 1500 GMT, the total number of those diagnosed with the coronavirus had risen to 24,804. The respective figures at the same time on Sunday were 674 deaths and 23,719 positive diagnoses. 14:30 - A flight from Jeddah to London, originally scheduled for 17 April, has been brought forward to Wednesday 15 April for operational reasons, the British embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Monday. 13:45 - UK death toll in hospitals from coronavirus rises to 11,329 up from 10,612 the day before, according to health ministry figures. 12:45 - Boris Johnson’s spokesman said Monday the British prime minister is continuing his recovery from COVID-19 and, on the advice of his doctors, is “not immediately returning to work” and will follow their advice on when he should return. FULL STORY HERE. 12:30 - UAE confirms 172 new coronavirus recoveries and 3 deaths, bringing the total of recovered people to 852 and deaths at 25. The emirates said residency visas will not be cancelled for those who are outside the country for over 6 months in light of coronavirus regulations. 11:45 – Qatar confirmed 252 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 3,231 infected people. 10:30 – Bahrain reported 212 new coronavirus cases, and the number of total cases at 1,348. 10:50 – Coronavirus testing has resumed in the Gaza Strip after Israel allowed five testing kits purchased by the World Health Organization (WHO) into the enclave, a Gaza health ministry spokesman said. 10:45 – Dubai airline Emirates is operating limited outbound flights to selected destinations to facilitate the return of UAE residents and visitors wishing to go back to their home countries. READ THE STORY 10:30 – The Asian Development Bank said it will roll out a massive $20 billion package to help developing member nations weather the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. 10:10 – Abu Dhabi has taken further precautionary measures, limiting travel to within the emirate’s territory of Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain and Al-Dhafra, and preventing workers’ movement out of the emirate. 09:55 – Kuwait said that there were 66 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 1,300 infected people. 09:30 – Spain’s coronavirus cases rose to 169,496 on Monday from 166,019 on Sunday, while the death toll hit 17,489 from 16,972 a day earlier. 09:25 – Iran’s total number of infected cases with coronavirus has climbed to 73,303, while death toll has gone up to 4,585, health officials said. 09:10 – Morocco reported 85 new coronavirus cases and two fatalities, bringing the total to 1,746 infected people and 120 deaths. 09:10 – Indonesia announced 316 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 4,557, according to data provided by a health ministry official, Achmad Yurianto. 08:25 – The Philippine health ministry on Monday reported 18 new coronavirus deaths and 284 additional infections. 08:10 – Tokyo saw 91 new cases of coronavirus infections on Monday, Japan’s media reported, as the tally of infections in the country’s capital continues to rise. A sign reminding customers of social distancing rules to help stop the spread of coronavirus is posted at a drugstore in Tokyo on April 13, 2020. (AFP) 07:55 – Russia on Monday reported 2,558 new cases of the novel coronavirus, a record daily rise, bringing its overall nationwide tally to 18,328. 07:10 – Oman confirmed 128 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 727 infected people. 07:05 – Tunisia recorded 22 new coronavirus cases and three fatalities, bringing the total to 707 infected people and 31 deaths. 06:50 – Kuwait said that eight people have recovered from coronavirus, bringing the total to 150 recoveries. 06:40 – Singapore is preparing to house hundreds of foreign workers in accommodation vessels typically used for offshore and marine industry staff as it races to find alternatives to dormitories where the novelcoronavirus has been spreading rapidly. 05:40 – Israel said the number of people who died of coronavirus was now at 106. 05:35 – Thailand reported 28 new coronavirus cases, two new deaths. 04:40 – Germany’s number of confirmed coronavirus infections has risen by 2,537 to 123,016, data from the Robert Koch Institute showed. 02:10 – The United States may be ready to start gradually reopening next month, the government’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday, as signs grew that the coronavirus pandemic was peaking. READ THE STORY Above, people wearing face masks walk past a closed Louis Vuitton fashion store along the Las Vegas strip in Nevada. (Reuters) 00:50 – Mainland China reported 108 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, up from 99 a day earlier and marking the highest number of daily infections in more than five weeks amid continued rise in patients entering the country from overseas. 00:45 – The United States recorded 1,514 deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic over the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 8:30 pm Sunday (0030 GMT Monday). Sunday, April 12 (All times in GMT) 19:10 – The UAE has conducted over 22,000 additional COVID-19 tests among UAE citizens and residents over the past few days, in line with the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s plans to intensify virus screening in order to contain the spread of COVID-19. The accelerated investigative measures resulted in the detection of 387 new coronavirus cases among various nationalities, all of whom are in a stable condition and receiving the necessary care, taking to 4,123 the total number of infections in the country, according to a health ministry statement. 18:05 – As many as 740 Omanis constituting the last batch of those wishing to be repatriated from other countries in view of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic outbreak – returned to the country over the past two days, bringing to 3,746 the number of repatriated citizens. 17:10 – Eight new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Jordan, bringing the total caseload to 389, of which 181 people were still receiving treatment at hospitals, Minister of Health Sa’ed Jabir announced. 16:20 – Oman’s Ministry of Health confirmed the death of an expatriate, aged 37, due to coronavirus disease. It is the fourth death of its kind in the Sultanate since the outbreak of the global pandemic.