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On Tuesday, March 31, France reported its highest daily coronavirus death toll with 499 deaths - a 17% increase. Its total death tally from the virus now stands at 3,523. France's death toll only includes those who died in hospital, and excludes those who die in old people's homes or in personal homes. Its total number of coronavirus cases has increased to 52,128 - a 17% increase in 24 hours - following an increase of 5,565 new cases. At a news conference, State health agency director Jérôme Salomon said the steep rise in cases was a result of ramped up testing in the country. France is in its third week of lockdown and has increased its ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds from 5,000 to about 10,000 and its goal is to reach 14,500. 22,757 are currently hospitalized with Covid-19 in the country, including 5,565 in intensive care.

According to state and county health agencies, the coronavirus death toll in the US has exceeded 3,500. New York City is the epicenter or "Ground Zero" of the outbreak in the US. New York has more confirmed cases than any other state, with more than 70,000 cases.  More than half of all confirmed cases in the US were recorded in the past five days. The US recorded its highest daily death toll from the virus on Monday, with more than 500 deaths. The US death toll has surpassed that of China, the break-out zone of the virus. The US has the third highest coronavirus death toll, with Italy and Spain being first and second respectively. Globally, more than 823,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 40,000 have died.

New cases of coronavirus are showing signs of slowing in Italy. On Tuesday, March 31, the number of new cases remained steady; 4,053 new cases today, pretty similar to yesterday's 4,050. The death toll from the virus climbed by 837 to 12,428. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stand at 105,792. The slight decline in the rate of new infections and deaths could be indicative of the beginning of a recovery from the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. Italy has had the highest death toll from the virus in the world, and accounts for over a third of global fatalities from the virus. Dr. Silvio Brusaferro advised that Italy's lockdown measures should not be relaxed despite a decline in the rate of new infections. 'The curve suggests we are at the plateau. We have to confirm it, because arriving at the plateau doesn't mean we have conquered the peak and we're done. It means now we should start to see the decline if we continue to place maximum att...

Tuesday, March 31 has been Spain's deadliest day as far as the coronavirus crisis is concerned. A record 849 people died today, taking the grim tally of fatalities to 8,189. There was also a significant increase in cases (11% increase) - 9,222 new cases, raising to total number of cases to 94,417.  Maria Jose Sierra, from the Health Ministry's emergencies coordination unit said: "It's true that today we have a slight increase in the number of cases." She however said the downward trend "is continuing", which is true, given that this time last week, the rate of new infections stood at around 20%. Madrid remains the worst-hit area in Spain, and counts 3,609 deaths and 27,509 cases.

On Monday, March 30, Spain overtook China for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases as its total number of cases rose to 85,195. Italy and the US also have more than 85,000 cases. There was however a slight decrease in the number of deaths today with 812 reported deaths; there were 838 deaths on Sunday. Spain's total number of fatalities now stand at 7,340. A minute of silence for coronavirus victims was held in a central Madrid square at midday. More than 46,000 people have been hospitalized for Covid-19 in Spain, and 16,780 have been discharged after their recovery. Health Ministry official Fernando Simon has tested positive for the coronavirus.

On Monday, March 30, Italy's Civil Protection Agency reported 812 coronavirus deaths, a slight increase from Sunday's 756. The number of new infections dropped, with 4,050 cases on Monday, a decline from Sunday's 5,217 and Saturday's 5,974. Italy has 101,739 coronavirus cases in total and a total of 11,591 deaths. In total, 14,620 people have recovered, including 1,590 in the past 24 hours - the highest number of recoveries in a day since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. There are currently 75,528 active coronavirus cases.  According to Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri, Italy is on course to start seeing "a drop in the number of people infected within seven to ten days". "The number of people testing positive is falling, despite the fact that we are continuing to carry out the same number of tests, and the number of people who need to be placed in intensive care is no longer as markedly high as it was at the beginning of last w...

As of Monday, March 30, (morning hours), Germany's coronavirus count shows 62,095 cases and 54a deaths. As of Saturday, March 29, Germany's fatality rate was just 0.72%, a sharp contrast to Italy and Spain whose mortality rates are 10.8% and 8% respectively. Britain has three times less cases than Germany, but twice as many deaths. This extremely low coronavirus death rate in Germany could be explained by the prompt measures taken by the German government to contain the virus. On January 28, Germany recorded its first coronavirus case in Bavaria - a man who works for a car parts company. Two days after identification, authorities successfully traced the person who had infected the first case, tracked their contacts and quarantined them. The plant in Bavaria was shut, travel to China stopped, and all employees in the plant tested. Many turned out to be positive and spread was contained, with the same protocol implemented throughout the country - testing, tracking, quara...

The official figures released by the Spanish Health Ministry on Sunday, March 29, showed that 838 people had died from the novel coronavirus on Sunday - the highest day-on-day increase seen so far in the country. This takes the total death toll in Spain to 6,528, with 5,000 of these deaths occurring in the past seven days. The coronavirus death rate in Spain is currently at 8.3%. The total number of confirmed cases stand at 78,797. 4,907 of those cases are currently spread out in intensive care units throughout the country. So far, 14,709 people have recovered from the virus in Spain. Spain's Equality Minister, Irene Montero, who tested positive for the virus several weeks ago, has once more tested positive, and will be working in isolation from home. Her partner, Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, tested negative.

For the second day in a row, Italy has reported a decline in its coronavirus casualties. On Sunday, March 29, Italy's Civil Protection Agency reported a daily toll of 756 deaths, a decline from Friday's 900+ and Saturday's 889. There was however an increase in the number of new cases, 5,974 new cases, which is an increase from Saturday's 5,217. Italy is still the country with the highest coronavirus death toll in the world, with 10,779 deaths. Italy now has 97,689 total cases in total, fewer than the U.S. and more than China, where the disease’s first outbreak occurred.  Governor Attilio Fontana on Sunday, said the northern region of Lombardy may be nearing the peak of infections. Italy's Vice Minister for Health Pierpaolo Sileri said on Sky TG24 that the country as a whole could be getting closer to the peak of infections.

Pop icon and beauty mogul Rihanna has donated $5 million via her charity organization, the Clara Lionel Foundation to coronavirus relief efforts. Rihanna started the Clara Lionel Foundation in 2012 and named it in honor of her grandparents. The foundation funds education and emergency response programs around the world. A news release from the Clara Lionel Foundation read: " CLF is supporting on-the-ground partners working on the frontlines of disaster response especially those focused on protecting and serving marginalized communities — helping the most vulnerable in the United States, the Caribbean and in Africa prepare for what is to come." Justine Lucas, executive director of the Clara Lionel Foundation, said in a statement: "Never has it been more important or urgent to protect and prepare marginalized and underserved communities - those who will be hit hardest by this pandemic." The money was donated to Direct Relief, Feeding America, Partners in He...

There were 5,704 new coronavirus cases in Spain on Saturday, March 28, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 72,248. 12,285 of the over 70,000 confirmed cases have recovered - about 17% of all infections. 832 new deaths were also recorded, an increase from Friday's 769 deaths. Madrid, the epicenter of the pandemic in Spain, reported a total of 19,243 cases and 2,412 deaths (as of Friday). Fernando Simón, the Spanish Health Ministry's emergencies coordinator said the coronavirus epidemic could be nearing its peak in Spain. "We are reaching the peak that we have been so worried about. In some parts of the country they may even be moving past it, but we need to be cautious.  "The increase is slowing or stabilizing little by little," he added. He also addressed the increased pressure on hospitals' intensive care units. "We still have a big problem with the saturation of our intensive care units," he said. "The pati...

On Saturday, March 28, Italy's Civil Protection Agency revealed that the country had recorded 889 new deaths, taking the total number of deaths from the virus in Italy to 10,023. 3,651 more people tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, which brought the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy to 92,472. There are currently 70,065 active cases in the country (excluding deaths and recoveries). In the past three days, 2,520 people had died in Italy, figures higher than the total number of deaths in either France or the United States. Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Saturday's edition of the Il Sole 24 Ore financial newspaper: "If Europe does not rise to this unprecedented challenge, the whole European structure loses its raison d'etre (reason for existing) to the people."

An Australian nurse has revealed that long nails are one of the fastest spreaders of the coronavirus. In other words, vigorous hand sanitizing and constant washing won't offer much protection if your nails are long. To be truly safe, keep your nails short. The nurse offered some advice on how to test your nail length on Facebook: " Among all the hand-washing instructions and the fun 20-second song suggestions, I haven’t seen anyone note that it is impossible to wash your hands properly if your fingernails are long. ‘If you can’t put your fingernails straight down against your other palm without your nails adding too much distance to do it, you cannot wash under your fingernails properly unless you use a nail brush every time.’  If you can’t rub the very ends of your fingers against the other palm, then your hands aren’t truly clean after you wash them, no matter how long you soap up. ‘Please, during this global emergency, keep your nails short,’ she added. Also, tho...

The Islamic Republic of Iran has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Middle East - 32,000+, and the highest number of deaths from the virus in the region as well - 2,300+. They are not only faced with the burden of rapidly growing coronavirus numbers, but also with treating hundreds of cases of methanol poisoning. There's a common but rapidly spreading false belief in the country that methanol protects from the coronavirus, do many are ingesting the industrial alcohol they buy illegally from bootleggers as alcohol consumption is banned in the country. A five-year-old boy has been rendered blind by his parents as they ignorantly gave him methanol to drink as protection from the virus. An Iranian health worker in charge of the boy at hospital begged the public to stop consuming methanol as he stood over the intubated kid. Dr. Hossein Hassanian, an adviser to Iran's Health Ministry, told The Associated Press on Friday that approximately 480 people ha...

France's confirmed coronavirus cases as of Saturday, March 23 (morning) stand at 32,964, and deaths, 1995. French President Emmanuel Macron imposed a lockdown on March 17, due to last all month long to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the country. The lockdown has now been extended to April 15 as the country recorded its highest daily death toll on Friday, announced France's Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. After a cabinet meeting held by videoconference, the PM made a statement: "We find ourselves in a crisis that will last, in a health situation that will not improve any time soon. Frédéric Valletoux, president of the French Hospitals Federation told French broadcaster BFM TV: "We will be at the limit of our capacities in 24 or 48 hours. We will need to show real solidarity between regions, hospitals and increase the numbers of patient transfers. "If we let hospitals cope by themselves, and let every territory that has been swept by the epidemi...

On Friday, March 27, Spain’s Health Ministry reported 769 new deaths from the coronavirus pandemic (a 19% increase), taking its total to 4,858 deaths. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 64,059 given Friday’s addition of 7,871 new cases. Spain’s total number of confirmed cases on Thursday was 56,188. Currently, Spain is only second to Italy in terms of total deaths from coronavirus worldwide. Health Emergency Chief, Fernando Simon, told a news conference: “Today we have more deaths than registered yesterday, but it is also true that in percentage terms, today's increase is roughly equivalent to that of the past three days, in which we seem to see a clear stabilization.” He also said that more than 9,400 health workers had tested positive for the virus, that’s about 15% of confirmed coronavirus cases. Spain is experiencing a shortage of test kits and medical supplies. On Thursday, it was revealed that the country has purchased a batch of 9,000 rapi...

On Friday, March 27, Italy recorded its highest number of deaths from the coronavirus in a 24 hour span. 969 fatalities were recorded, taking the country's total number of deaths from the coronavirus crisis to 9,134, as reported by Italy's Civil Protection Agency. The Agency also revealed an increase of 4,401 coronavirus cases in the past day. The country's total number of confirmed cases (including deaths and recoveries) stand at 86,498. According to the Italian National Institute of Health, 6,414 health care workers have been infected by the virus as of Thursday. 51 of those have died, with Lombardy - the worst-hit region accounting for 32 of those deaths. Gloria Lisi, the deputy mayor of the Italian city of Rimini, said a 101-year-old man was released from hospital on Thursday after recovering from the  coronavirus.  "Mr. P made it. The family brought him home yesterday evening. To teach us that even at 101 years the future is not written," she said. C...

On Thursday, Italy's Civil Protection Agency recorded 712 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic - a number slightly higher than Wednesday's 683. Italy's total number of fatalities now stand at 8,165. There was also an 8% increase (6,153 new cases) in the number of cases as the number of confirmed cases reached 80,589. Of that number, 10,361 have recovered. Lombardy is still the epicenter of the outbreak in Italy with 4,861 of the 8,165 deaths in Italy. Italy's coronavirus death rate currently stands at 10% but the head of the Civil Protection Agency said there are likely to be as many as 10 times more cases in the country that are yet to be detected.

On Thursday, March 26, Spain reported less deaths from coronavirus than it did the day before. It had over 700 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday (its highest one-day national death toll), and 655 on Thursday, a mild improvement but an improvement all the same. Spain's Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, said the data should be read with caution, though it could mean Spain had entered a "phase of stabilization". "Nobody knows exactly when we’ll reach the end … we still have many difficult weeks ahead," he added.  The total number of deaths from coronavirus in Spain stand at 4,089 and total number of confirmed cases, 56,188. Globally, 491,623 coronavirus cases have been confirmed, 117,443 people have recovered, and 22,168 have died.

On Thursday, March 26, the US coronavirus death toll had grown to 1,050, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University. As of Thursday morning, the US counts more than 69,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. The US' death count was 600+ on Tuesday, and 900 on Wednesday, then 1,050 early Thursday. On Wednesday, the global death count from the virus surpassed 21,000. As of now, five other countries have coronavirus death tolls higher than the US - Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France, with Italy's death toll more than doubling that of Spain. On Wednesday, the US Senate agreed on a $2 trillion aid package that includes $150 billion to assist hospitals and medicals centers with the growing number of coronavirus cases.

On Wednesday, March 25, Italy's Civil Protection Agency reported 683 deaths from coronavirus, taking its total death count to 7,503. This is a decline from yesterday's 743. The death count from Monday, Sunday and Saturday are: 602, 650, and 793 respectively. The number of confirmed cases today rose from 69,176 to 74,386. Italy has recorded 9,362 recoveries from the virus so far. Angelo Borelli, the head of the Civil Protection Agency, was absent from the customary new conference to display the data because he came down with a fever on Wednesday and was being tested for coronavirus.

On Wednesday, March 25, Iran's Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 2,206 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the past 24 hours. The total of confirmed cases stands at 27,017, total number of deaths, stand at 2,206. “9,625 infected patients have recovered and been discharged from the hospital,” Jahanpour added. He also said that 47.5 million Iranians had been screened as part of a national mobilization plan. In a televised statement, Ali Rabiei, a government spokesman, said that President Hassan Rouhani took new measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including an international and intercity travel ban.

On Wednesday, March 25, Spain's Ministry of Health reported a 20% spike in coronavirus cases, taking its total of coronavirus cases to 47,610. So far, more than 5,000 have recovered. The country recorded a daily increase of 738 deaths. Its overall death count stands at 3,434, overtaking China's tally of 3,285. El Pais quotes  Fernando Simon, director of the Center for Coordination of Sanitation Emergencies, as having said: "(It’s) an increase equivalent to the one we saw in the last days, and lower than the ones we were observing last week. "These increases are variable to the different communities, but the evolution of the epidemic in which we are approaching the peak does not go hand-in-hand with the overload in the hospital system, because it takes a few days from the first symptoms." El Pais newspaper reports that more than 3,100 people are hospitalized under intensive care in Spain.

As of March 24, Johns Hopkins University's data shows that at least 53,972 people have been infected with the coronavirus in the US, and 728 of those have died. Find below the number of cases and deaths in each state, presented in an alphabetical order. Alabama: 242 cases Alaska: 42 cases, 1 death Arizona: 326 cases, 5 deaths Arkansas: 232 cases California: 2,566 cases, 51 deaths Colorado: 912 cases, 11 deaths Connecticut: 618 cases, 12 deaths Delaware: 104 cases Florida: 1,467 cases, 20 deaths Georgia: 1,097 cases, 38 deaths Guam: 32 cases, 1 death Hawaii: 90 cases, 1 death Idaho: 90 cases Illinois: 1,535 cases, 16 deaths Indiana: 367 cases, 12 deaths Iowa: 124 cases Kansas: 100 cases, 2 deaths Kentucky: 162 cases, 4 deaths Louisiana: 1,388 cases, 47 deaths Maine: 118 cases Maryland: 349 cases, 4 deaths Massachusetts: 1,159 cases, 11 deaths Mic...

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has donated €1m to Barcelona Hospital Clinic, a health institution which is both researching the coronavirus and treating its victims. Spain counts close to 49,000 Covid-19 cases, and has recorded almost 2,700 deaths from the virus. On Tuesday evening, Barcelona's Hospital Clinic tweeted: "Leo Messi makes a donation for the fight against Covid-19 at the Clinic. Many thanks for your commitment and your support." The amount donated was reported by Mundo Deportivo. Earlier on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola, Manchester City's manager donated the same amount to the Barcelona Medical College. Messi has also partaken in a number of campaigns to raise awareness on coronavirus over the past week. These campaigns highlight the importance of staying at home and washing one's hands often to prevent the spread of the virus.

On Tuesday, March 23, Italy recorded its second-highest daily death toll from the coronavirus outbreak. Italy's Civil Protection Agency figures reveal 743 more deaths today, but a decline in the number of new cases - 3,612 new cases were recorded today, a drop from yesterday's 3,780. There has been close to 900 recoveries in the past 24 hours. The total number of recoveries in Italy stands at 8,326. In sum, 6,820 people have died from the virus in Italy. There are currently 54,030 active cases in the country. The percentage of new infections was just eight percent, the lowest level Italy registered since its first death on February 21.

As of Tuesday, March 24, the number of coronavirus deaths in Spain have increased to 2,696, an increase of 514 deaths. On Monday, March 23, the total number of deaths stood at 2,182. This is the highest daily increase of deaths in Spain since the outbreak of the coronavirus, according to data from Spain's Ministry of Health. The number of confirmed cases also rose from 33,089 to 39,673. On Saturday, Spain became the second European country to register more than 1,000 deaths from Covid-19. Spain is in its second week of lockdown that is set to end on April 11, 2020. Madrid is the region worst hit by the coronavirus crisis, and the city's government has had to set up make-shift hospitals in hotels to alleviate the stress on its public health service that is already operating at full capacity.

In a bid to expand testing capacity and reduce human exposure to the coronavirus, Spain will be deploying a fleet of robots to automate coronavirus testing in the country. Currently, about 15,000 to 20,000 tests are carried out in Spain, so robots would quadruple the number of tests currently being done. Also, given that 12% of the 35,000 coronavirus cases in Spain are health workers, the risk of new cases of health worker contaminations would be greatly reduced. The head of Madrid's Health Institute Raquel Yotti said: A plan to automate tests through robots has been already designed and Spain has committed to buying four robots that will allow us to execute 80,000 tests per day.' The Spanish government is yet to give a deployment date or explain the robots' mode of operation.

As of March 24, 2020, the United States of America counts 46,371 cases and 560 deaths. The following states account for the 560 deaths: New York: 154 Washington state: 95 New Jersey: 90 California: 42 Louisiana: 35 Georgia: 25 Michigan: 14 Florida:14 Illinois: 9 Texas: 9 Connecticut: 8 Colorado: 7 Indiana: 7 Virginia: 6 Ohio: 6 Massachusetts: 5 Pennsylvania: 5 Wisconsin: 5 Oregon: 5 Vermont: 5 South Carolina: 3 Kentucky: 3 Maryland: 3 Missouri: 3 District of Columbia: 2 Oklahoma: 2 Tennessee: 2 Arizona: 2 Nevada: 2 Kansas: 2 South Dakota: 1 Mississippi: 1 Minnesota:1 Utah: 1 Globally, more than 378,000 cases of coronavirus have been recorded, with 100,900 people recovering, and more than 16,500 dying.

A video of a man licking grocery store products - a Missouri grocery - has been circulating on social media, and has been repeatedly shared on Twitter. In the clip, the man says 'Who's scared of coronavirus?' before running his tongue along the shelf. He bends downs and licks the toiletry items on the shelf while staring at the camera. The video is captioned: 'I'm a nasty motherf****r.' The man's identity is unknown for now. Many are outraged by the video on social media and are calling for his arrest. Piers Morgan, one of Good Morning Britain's hosts, aired the clip and furiously said: " This is of somebody in America, who went to a supermarket knowing the coronavirus is attacking everyone in the United States and he did this and posted it online. "What I would like to happen to him is I'd like him found, and I am sure they will get him. "I would like him put in prison, immediately. And then I would like him deprived of a...