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New York state reported its lowest number of daily coronavirus deaths in many weeks – 84 – in what governor Andrew Cuomo described as a critical benchmark. The daily death tally peaked at 799 on April 8th.
It comes as there are fears the US will suffer a second wave of coronavirus infections as it opens up for summer, just days away from the grim milestone of 100,000 Covid-19 deaths.
Every state has relaxed restrictions to some extent, with many flocking to beaches and outdoor areas. The New York Times filled the entire front page of Sunday’s paper with the death notices of victims from across the country as the country recorded more than 97,000 deaths.
Globally there have been more than 5.3 million cases, and 342,000 deaths. The US accounts for more than 1.6 million of those cases.
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In Arizona, holiday travellers flooded Interstate-17, causing a 15-mile traffic jam on the roadway used to reach some of the desert's most beautiful canyons.
Some areas, including Saguaro Lake, became so crowded that authorities had to shut them down. Mr Trump was spotted playing golf at his Trump National club in northern Virginia on Saturday, a move that attracted some criticism, although it falls under the category of activities encouraged by the president's White House task force.
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China
The Chinese virology institute in Wuhan, the city in China at the heart of the coronavirus pandemic, has three live strains of bat coronavirus on-site, but none match the Covid-19 strain, its director has said.
The director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology told state broadcaster CGTN that claims by US president Donald Trump that the virus could have leaked from the facility were “pure fabrication”.
In an interview filmed on May 13th, but broadcast Saturday night, Wang Yanyi said the centre had "isolated and obtained some coronaviruses from bats. Now we have three strains of live viruses ... But their highest similarity to SARS-CoV-2 only reaches 79.8 per cent."
Argentina
Argentina has extended the mandatory lockdown in Buenos Aires until June 7th and tightened some movement restrictions, after a steady increase in the city's confirmed coronavirus cases in recent days.
Officials will tighten traffic controls between the capital and Buenos Aires province, the area with the second highest concentration of cases. The country recorded 704 new infections on Saturday, one of the highest single-day increases since the pandemic began.
Brazil
Brazil registered 965 new coronavirus deaths on Saturday, taking the total number of fatalities to 22,013, the Health Ministry said. The country now has 347,398 confirmed cases, according to the ministry, up 16,508 from Friday, when it surpassed Russia to become the world's virus hot spot behind the US.
The actual number of cases and deaths is believed to be higher than the official figures disclosed by the government, as the testing capacity of Latin America’s largest country still lags.
New Zealand
New Zealand's health ministry has announced there were zero new coronavirus cases confirmed in the last 24 hours. According to NewsHub, there are now only 27 active cases left in New Zealand, with one more patient recovered, bringing the country's total to 1,154, with 21 deaths.
Australia
In Australia, Victorian state premier, Daniel Andrews, has said Victorians will be allowed to have 20 people in their homes as well as overnight stays in hotels from June 1st. In New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, health minister Brad Hazzard announced that beauty, tanning, nail and waxing salons would all be open from June 1st.
France
French churches were preparing to hold their first Sunday masses in more than two months after the government bowed to a ruling that they should be reopened. Nearly two weeks into the relaxation of its shutdown, the government finally allowed churches, mosques and synagogues to reopen.
Worshippers will have to wear masks, there will have to be disinfectant gel on hand and the seating will need to be organised to ensure people keep a safe distance from each other. – Guardian/agencies