Coronavirus

"We have just come too far, we've lost too many loved ones, we've already sacrificed far too much to ease up now, especially when we are beginning to see the evidence that our efforts are starting to pay off," Raab told reporters.

Raab is deputising while Prime Minister Boris Johnson recuperates from Covid-19 complications that nearly cost him his life.

There are now seven confirmed coronavirus cases in PNG.

One of the new cases had been confirmed by the Emergency Controller, Police Commissioner David Manning, yesterday.

Prime Minister, James Marape said the seven people who have contracted the disease are all well.

"This includes the, first imported case, a male adult Australian mine employee who is now in Australia who have recovered. And the second local in the East New Britain Province."

He said all the new cases were consistently positive after repeated tests.

A group working against domestic violence in Tahiti has raised its concerns in a letter to the president Edouard Fritch and the French High Commissioner Dominique Sorain, saying the ban has unintended consequences.

After widespread partying in defiance of restrictions, the sale of alcohol was stopped in late March for two weeks but the ban has been extended until the end of the curfew on 29 April.

The ban was also justified as a measure to reduce violence within the family.

Over the last two weeks, a total of four quarantined residents registered fevers and were subsequently moved from the transit stations after arriving on Nauru for further observation as their samples were sent away for testing in Australia. All results have returned negative.

Two COVID-19 testing machines are now on island; testing kits are due any day, and online virtual training will prepare health staff in their operation, delivering test results within days, not weeks.

There are now 135 confirmed coronavirus cases in Guam.

Five people have died from the virus.

Governor Lou Leon Guerro said the Health Department tested 30 samples and all were negative.

But she says one postive case was reported from the Diagnostic Laboratory Services.

66 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Guam.

Johnson, 55, was taken to London's St Thomas' Hospital on Sunday (local time) - 10 days after testing positive for Covid-19.

He spent three nights in intensive care before returning to a ward on Thursday.

He said in a video on Twitter that he had witnessed the "personal courage" of hospital staff on the front line.

Johnson said two nurses - Jenny from Invercargill, New Zealand and Luis from Portugal - stood by his bedside for 48 hours at the most critical time and named several other hospital workers who cared for him this past week that he wanted to thank.

He stressed that a mix of social distancing, testing, contact tracing and isolation, will be crucial to further curb the spread of the new coronavirus already devastating much of the globe. 

“We’re all learning all the time and adjusting our strategy, based on the latest available evidence”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, summarising the guidance which will be available in full on the agency’s website on Tuesday.   

A tally from the US-based Johns Hopkins university shows the number of reported cases worldwide has roughly doubled since April 2, while the global death toll stands at 119,483.

Restrictions imposed to halt the spread of coronavirus have been slightly eased in some countries although health officials around the world are concerned that halting quarantine and social distancing measures could easily undo hard-earned progress.

Nine people have now died in this country from the coronavirus, with six of them residents of the Rosewood Rest Home in Christchurch.

This is the highest number of deaths in a day in New Zealand.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said all four deaths were men, and three were linked to the Rosewood cluster. Two of them were aged in their 80s, and one was in his 90s.

The fourth death was a man in his 70s in Wellington, with that death linked to overseas travel. He was admitted to hospital on 22 March and had been "quite unwell for some time".

Ifereimi Waqainabete's comments came after reports that six families in the greater Suva area had refused screening procedures, including having their temperatures taken.

The minister said officials were returning to convince the families to be screened as part of a greater community programme which had involved more than 6,000 locals.

But Mr Waqainabete said ultimately, the families did not have a choice.