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By Reuters 
16h ago
More than 2.97 million people were reported to be infected with the new coronavirus globally, and 205,948 died, according to a Reuters count, at 0200 GMT on Monday.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
EUROPE
* Italy reported 260 more deaths on Sunday, the smallest daily number since March 14, and said it plans to allow factories and construction sites to reopen starting May 4 and allow limited family visits.
* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce plans to ease a month-long blockade as early as this week after he returned to Downing Street on Sunday night, the Telegraph reported.
* The death toll in France increased by 242 to 22,856.
Dutch teenagers cheer on their schooner Wylde Swan, in the port of Harlingen, in the north of the Netherlands, after sailing home from the Caribbean across the Atlantic when coronavirus blockades prevented them from flying. Image: Peter Dejong / AP
* A group of 25 Dutch high school students arrived in the Netherlands on a two-masted schooner on Sunday as airline restrictions forced them to sail home from the Caribbean.
* Total cases in Turkey increased by 2,357 in the past 24 hours, and 99 more people have died.
A woman sings on her decorated balcony during the traditional annual April Fair in Seville, Spain. Image: Miguel Morenatti / AP
AMERICAS
* Total infections in the United States were more than 970,000 and the number of deaths was 54,822, according to a Reuters count at 0200 GMT on Monday.
* Colorado, Mississippi, Minnesota, Montana and Tennessee joined other states to reopen businesses, while the Oklahoma governor asked the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to declare the pandemic an “act of God”.
* The United States government notified lenders on Sunday that it will limit the amount each bank can lend under the emergency loan program.
President Donald Trump speaks before signing a coronavirus aid package to direct funds to small businesses, hospitals and tests, in the Oval Office of the White House. Image: Evan Vucci / AP
* Argentina will extend a mandatory national quarantine period until May 10, while Honduras will extend the general curfew for one week until 2100 GMT on May 3.
* Mexico reported 835 new cases and 46 additional deaths. It also returned most of the occupants of government migrant centers to their countries of origin.
* Confirmed cases in Panama reached 5,779 on Sunday, an increase of 241 from the previous day, and deaths increased from six to 165.
PACIFIC ASIA
* China reported three new cases on April 26, up from 11 the previous day, while there were 25 new asymptomatic cases on April 26. The total number of cases in mainland China is 82,830.
* Japan’s Osaka Prefecture said it will name and shame more pachinko game stores that challenge coronavirus block requests.
A station hallway is crowded with commuters wearing face masks during rush hour in Tokyo. Image: Eugene Hoshiko / AP
* Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians to comply with a national blockade and social distancing measures on Sunday, the day after some of the world’s toughest restrictions eased slightly as Covid-19 cases continued to escalate.
* More than a million Australians were quick to download an app designed to help authorities trace close contacts of patients with Covid-19.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Egypt has requested financial support from the International Monetary Fund and will begin talks with it in a few days.
* Iran plans to reopen mosques in parts of the country that have been consistently free of the outbreak.
* Saudi Arabia reduced curfews across the country, while maintaining 24-hour curfews in Mecca and in previously isolated neighborhoods.
A Kashmiri Muslim man offers prayer on the banks of Dal Lake on the second day of Ramadan during the confinement to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Srinagar, India-controlled Kashmir. Image: Mukhtar Khan / AP
* Israel allowed the reopening of some businesses and said it would consider allowing children to return to school.
* South Africa is seeking 95 billion rand ($ 4.99 billion) from multilateral lenders to help it combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
ECONOMIC FLOLOUT
* Asian stocks rebounded when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced more stimulus steps, while oil spilled again when the world ran out of space to store everything.
* National Australia Bank Ltd asked investors for A $ 3.5 billion ($ 2.2 billion) and cut its dividend. * The Bank of Japan increased purchases of risky assets and promised to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds.
Reuters
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