Brazil passes 20,000 deaths Brazil has had another terrible day with coronavirus figures passing the 20,000 Covid-19 deaths, as the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Philips, reports: Brazil has just passed another grim coronavirus milestone, with more than 20,000 deaths from Covid-19 now officially confirmed here. On Thursday evening Brazil’s health ministry announced a daily record of 1,188 deaths confirmed in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of officially recorded deaths to 20,047. Brazil also confirmed another 18,508 infections, taking the total number to 310,087. That is the third highest number in the world, after the US and Russia. Despite Brazil’s rising death toll the country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, continues to downplay the dangers of the coronavirus, which he has repeatedly dismissed as “a bit of a cold” and “a little flu”. On Thursday, just hours before the new death toll was announced, Bolsonaro claimed the pandemic’s threat had been exaggerated with “a great deal of propaganda”. “This has brought dread to the heart of the Brazilian family,” Bolsonaro complained. Sub-notification and low rates of testing mean the real number of infections and deaths are likely to be s Trump declines to wear mask, calls for churches to open It’s been another controversial day in the US for President Trump, who visited a Ford plant in the crucial battle state of Michigan. Trump toured the Ford plant, which has been recast to produce ventilators and personal protective equipment, without wearing a face mask in front of TV cameras. This was despite Ford on Tuesday reiterated its policy that all visitors must wear them. Surrounded by Ford executives who were wearing masks, Trump told reporters he had put one on out of the view of cameras, “I had one on before. I wore one in the back area. I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” Trump said. When asked if Trump was told it was acceptable not to wear a mask in the plant, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said, “It’s up to him.” “Honestly I think I look better in a mask,” Trump added jokingly. Trump has been highly critical of the state’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer, who is seen as a potential vice presidential running mate for Joe Biden. On Thursday the president called for churches to reopen and said guidelines on that should be issued soon. Guardian US’s Joanna Walters says it looks like the president is putting pressure on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue guidelines of some kind that will indicate it’s okay to restart in-person services. Walters says Trump made an eyebrow-raising statement a little earlier when he told a gathering of African American leaders: “We are opening our churches again. I think the CDC is going to put something out very soon, spoke to them today. I think they are going to put something out very soon. We got to open our churches.” The president said the guidance was expected today or tomorrow. “I said you better put it out and they’re doing it and they’re going to be issuing something today or tomorrow and churches are going to get our churches open,” Trump said. Leading federal public health officials have repeatedly urged caution about easing social distancing restrictions, warning it could cause a surge in coronavirus infections. You can read all of our US coverage on our US blog here. Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s ongoing live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Donald Trump has promised that he is working on plans to allow churches to hold Sunday services again, and “you’re going to see something come out very soon”. He made his remarks at a Ford factory in Michigan, where he did not wear a mask, despite, the state’s attorney general writing an open letter to him yesterday saying the president had “not only a legal responsibility, but also a social and moral responsibility” to wear a mask during his tour. Trump has locked horns with Michigan’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer, over the states lockdown rules and restrictions. In other coronavirus developments. Brazil’s death toll from Covid-19 has passed 20,000, after a daily record of 1,188 deaths announced on Thursday. The country’s surge in cases and fatalities comes despite President Bolsonaro’s assertion that the virus was nothing more than “a little flu”. Russia’s industrial output fell by 6.6% in April compared to the previous year, dampened by the country’s coronavirus lockdown, according to the state statistics agency Rosstat. Italy’s coronavirus death toll in March and April could be nearly 19,000 higher than the official figure of 32,000, the national social security agency said on Thursday. Indonesia recorded its biggest one-day jump in cases with 973 new infections. It now has the highest death toll in Asia outside China, at 1,278. Austria’s hotels will reopen as planned on 29 May, chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Thursday. Puerto Rico will cautiously reopen beaches, restaurants, churches, malls and hair salons next week under strict new rules as the US territory emerges from a two-month lockdown that stifled business activity on an island already beset with economic woes. Half of Facebook’s workforce could shift to permanent home working by the end of the decade, founder Mark Zuckerberg has revealed Let’s get started.