Follow latest updates

Good morning and welcome to the Independents rolling coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.Here are the latest updates:
– The UK government is set to announce today a three-week extension to the countrys coronavirus lockdown. The emergency Cobra committee, chaired by foreign secretary Dominic Raab, will discuss Britains position in its fight against the pandemic and the efficacy of the countrys containment measures. Labour has said it will support an extension but has called for the publication of an exit strategy.
– The World Health Organisation has warned countries that are easing containment restrictions to do so in two-week phases, in order to avoid the emergence of a second wave. WHO has said the world stands at a “pivotal juncture” in the fight against coronavirus.
– Asias economic growth this year will grind to a halt for the first time in 60 years, the IMF said on Thursday, as the coronavirus crisis takes an unprecedented toll on the regions service sector and major export destinations.
– The number of people who died from coronavirus infection in France jumped by 1,438 to 17,167 in the biggest single-day increase as a number, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The number of people who died in hospitals rose by 514, but the cumulative death toll in nursing homes rose by 924 to 6,524, compared with 221 on Tuesday.
– Donald Trump has given credence to the theory that the pandemic began when the pathogen accidentally escaped a Wuhan laboratory, and has further questioned Chinas figures on the outbreak. Responding to a question from Fox News on the lab, he said: Well, I dont want to say that John, but I will tell you more and more were hearing the story.
– Hospitalisations of people with coronavirus fell for a second day in New York, which will send ventilators to Michigan and Maryland, in further signs that the hardest-hit US state is gaining some control over the outbreak, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.
– China reported 46 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the mainland, the same as a day earlier, according to the country’s health authority on Thursday. Of the new cases on Wednesday, 34 were imported, compared with 36 on Tuesday, the National Health Commission said.