New Zealand has ended its strictest lockdown phase and entered Level 3, with 400,000 Kiwis returning to work, takeaways open, and fishing, surfing and swimming permitted. Local media reported lines outside McDonald’s drive-through from 3am on Tuesday morning, and by 10am the food app Regulr – which many local cafes and restaurants are using to allow pick-ups – had crashed nationwide. Fast-food chains such as Dominos and Hells Pizza have warned customers to expect signficant delays as demand surges, and hired hundreds of extra employees to cope with the rush, and deliver food. NZ Domino’s general manager Cameron Toomey said “zero contact delivery”, more frequent hygiene and sanitisation practices, and physical distancing and temperature testing were now underway in all their stores, and essential workers would have priorities for pizza. Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, has announced it will start easing its lockdown restrictions from Friday. Currently, social visits to friends and family are not allowed, unless you already live in the same house. From Friday, up to two adults will be able to visit another household. “Two adults will be able to go and visit anybody else in their home on the basis of care, on the basis of reducing socialisation and everybody’s mental health,” the state’s premier, Gladys Berejiklian said. However, people should still practice physical distancing and not visit friends if they were sick or even had “the mildest sniffle,” she said. Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach also re-opened today, after days of closures due to overcrowding. And seeming to add to his criticism of China, Trump said that the response to coronavirus had led to “so much unnecessary death”. “It could have been stopped and it could have been stopped [faster] but someone a long time ago decided not to do it that way.” In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Trump also claimed that he had “a very good idea” about the health of Kim Jong Un and said he wishes him well. The US president was asked if he had any information about the North Korean leader’s health. He said: “I can’t tell you exactly. Yes, I do have a very good idea but I can’t talk about it now. I just wish him well. “I hope he’s fine. I do know how he’s doing relatively speaking. We will see – you’ll probably be hearing in the not too distant future.” In that latest US briefing, the Trump also announced an 8-part plan for increasing testing. He introduced the chief executive of pharmacy chain CVS Health, who said it would expand testing to 1,000 of its 10,000 stores. Hello and welcome to today’s rolling global coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s Naaman Zhou here, bringing you the latest. Donald Trump has just given a White House briefing after an absence over the weekend, following his controversial remarks on Friday about injecting disinfectant. In a combative briefing, he said he “does not” take responsibility for reports that people have may have followed his suggestions which were universally discredited by medical experts. Trump also hit out at China, saying Beijing could have stopped the virus at its source and said his administration was conducting “serious investigations” into what happened: “We’re doing very serious investigations ... We are not happy with China,” he said. In other news, the World Health Organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says that the agency sounded the highest level of alarm over the novel coronavirus early on, but that not all countries heeded its advice: “The world should have listened to WHO then, carefully,” he said. Other key developments over the past few hours include: The number of people has passed 3 million according to Johns Hopkins University, with 207,583 deaths globally. Switzerland and Nigeria say they will begin easing its restrictions. Tedros has said he is concerned about people missing vaccines for diseases such as polio and measles because of the coronavirus pandemic. UK hospital deaths rose by 360, taking the total to 21,902. Mexico’s president declared the country had “tamed” its coronavirus outbreak, despite widespread suspicions that Covid-19 cases are being undercounted. WhatsApp claims to have cut viral messages by 70% after introducing a limit on the number of people to whom users could forward messages. Afghanistan has recorded its biggest one-day rise in cases, triggered by a continued surge of transmission in Kandahar. And Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach has reopened again, after it was shut for being too crowded.