As Covid-19 spreads around the world, it can be daunting keeping up with the information. For RNZ, our responsibility is to give you verified, up to the minute, trustworthy information to help you make decisions about your lives and your health. We'll also be asking questions of officials and decision makers about how they're responding to the virus. Our aim is to keep you informed.
The head of the World Health Organisation voiced deep concern about the rapid escalation in cases of the new coronavirus, which has reached 205 countries and territories.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: AFP
"In the past five weeks there has been a near-exponential growth in the number of new cases and the number of deaths has more than doubled in the past week," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"In the next few days we will reach 1 million confirmed cases and 50,000 deaths worldwide," he said.
The WHO, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund backed debt relief to help developing countries cope with the pandemic's consequences, he said.
Climate summit postponed because of virus
The COP26 climate conference due to take place in Glasgow in November has been postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The two-week summit had been supposed to galvanise renewed international commitment to an accord brokered in Paris in 2015 aimed at stabilising the Earth's climate.
A separate summit on preserving threatened species, which had been due to take place in Kunming, China in October, were both being pushed back to next year.
- If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP - don't show up at a medical centre
Australian police put a 90-day limit on tough virus measures
New South Wales police leadership said enforcement of restrictions on personal movement intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus would last three months.
After a federal government order limiting groups of people gathering outside to two, Australian states have instructed their police to issue fines of up to A$11,000 to people who violate the restrictions.
In New South Wales, police have also threatened prison terms of up to six months for people who violate the rules. State police commissioner Mick Fuller said the "turn-off period" for these orders was 90 days.
"People will have gotten the message by then, hopefully."
See all RNZ coverage of Covid-19
Spain's deaths pass 9000 as infection rate slows
Spain has recorded another 864 deaths related to coronavirus, the highest in one day, as the total number of deaths across Europe has gone beyond 30,000.
More than 9000 people have died in Spain, which is second only to Italy in fatalities caused by the virus.
Confirmed cases in the country have passed 100,000, but numbers show the infection rate continues to fall.
UK deaths pass 2000
The British government is facing growing pressure to ramp up coronavirus testing, as the UK saw its biggest daily increase in deaths.
Some 2352 virus patients had died in hospital by Tuesday evening - up 563 in a day, the latest figures show.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said testing was "massively increasing" and it was "the way through" the pandemic.
Elsehere in Europe
* Italy will extend lockdown restrictions to 13 April , as data from this week suggests a slowdown of growth in total cases, though its national health institute says official death toll could be underestimated.
* France became the fourth country to pass the 4,000 coronavirus deaths threshold.
* Measures to limit the outbreak in the Netherlands appear to have halved the rate of infection but need to be continued to be really effective, a top health official said.
* Germany will extend social distancing measures introduced last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus to 19 April and the government will re-evaluate the situation after the Easter holiday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking precautions to protect himself, as Moscow launched a smartphone app designed to track people who have been ordered to stay home.
* European scientists and engineers will launch an initiative to support the use of digital contact tracing applications.
United States
* The governor of New York cracked down even harder on public gatherings, calling residents who disregarded stay-at-home rules "selfish" as California's governor warned his state will run out of hospital beds by next month.
* Canada's death toll jumped by 35 percent in less than a day and Quebec said it was running low on key medical equipment.
Asia
* Mainland China reported dwindling new infections on Wednesday and for the first time disclosed the number of asymptomatic cases, which could complicate how trends in the outbreak are read.
* Singapore reported 74 new cases in its biggest one-day rise bringing its total to 1,000.
* Japan will ban entry to foreigners from 73 countries and ask everyone arriving from abroad to begin quarantine.
* India scoured mosques to trace people who attended a Muslim gathering in New Delhi that later emerged as a hotspot.
* The rate of new infections in Malaysia appears to be slowing amid month-long curbs on movement, a senior health official said.
* A team of Chinese scientists has isolated several antibodies that it says are "extremely effective" at blocking the ability of the virus to enter cells.
South America
* Presidents Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday discussed cooperation between the two countries in the fight against coronavirus, as Brazil's health minister warned that infection rates and lack of medical supplies were a big concern.
Criticism has grown over Bolsonaro's handling of the crisis. The Health Ministry said on Wednesday that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil rose by 1119 to 6836 and the death toll by 39 to 240.
* A Chilean consul in the Argentine grains hub city of Rosario has died after being infected by the coronavirus, Chile's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, as the global pandemic spreads through South America.
Argentina's health ministry said late on Wednesday that confirmed cases had reached 1133 with 32 fatalities, including a 66-year-old Chilean man in Santa Fe.
* An indigenous woman in a village deep in the Amazon rainforest has contracted the coronavirus.
* Cuba suspended arriving international flights and asked all foreign boats to withdraw from its waters.
* Nearly 30 medical workers at a hospital in northern Mexico have been infected, as the national tally climbed to 1215.
Middle East and Africa
* Iran's president said the US had missed an opportunity to lift sanctions on his country, though he said the penalties had not hampered Tehran's fight against the virus, which has killed more than 3000 people and infected close to 48,000.
* Ugandan doctors accused the government of endangering the lives of those in medical emergencies by requiring that all seek permission to secure transportation to hospitals.
* Egypt has ramped up efforts to fight the coronavirus, ordering manufacturers to channel medical protective equipment to public hospitals.
- RNZ with partners
Read more about the Covid-19 coronavirus:
- See all RNZ Covid-19 news
- A timeline: How the coronavirus started, spread and stalled life in New Zealand
- Covid-19 symptoms: What they are and how they make you feel
- Touching your Face: Why do we do it and how to stop
- Scientific hand-washing advice to avoid infection
- Coronavirus: A glossary of terms
- The Coronavirus Podcast
