Posted March 28, 2020 01:03:15

Photo: The Queen and Boris Johnson conducted their weekly meeting via telephone earlier this week. (Twitter: @RoyalFamily)

Buckingham Palace has confirmed the Queen is in good health despite UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson testing positive for coronavirus, Spanish officials say the country's death toll is stabilising, and a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people comes into effect in South Australia.

This story is being updated regularly throughout Saturday. You can also stay informed with the latest episode of the Coronacast podcast.

'The Queen remains in good health'

There have been concerns about the health of the Queen following news that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned a positive test for COVID-19. Buckingham Palace has confirmed that the Queen is healthy, and released the following statement:

"Her Majesty The Queen remains in good health. the Queen last saw the PM on the March 11 and is following all the appropriate advice with regards to her welfare. We will not be commenting further."

Thursday's meeting with the PM was conducted over the phone, a moment that was captured by the Royal Family Twitter account.

Number of virus fatalities stabilising in Spain

Photo: Spain extended a nationwide lockdown by a further 15 days and said it was fighting a "real war" over medical supplies. (AP: Bernat Armangue)

Spain's death toll from the coronavirus rose by 769 overnight to 4,858, but a senior health official said the daily increase in the number of fatalities was stabilising.

Spain is second only to Italy in the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide and the number of people infected in the country rose overnight to 64,059 from 56,188 on Thursday.

"Today we have more deaths than registered yesterday, but it is also true that in percentage terms, today's increase is roughly equivalent to that of the past three days, in which we seem to see a clear stabilisation," health emergency chief Fernando Simon said.

Spain is struggling to cope with the outbreak, with Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium being used as a medical supply store and a fairground in Madrid turned into a mass testing area.

More than 9,400 health workers have tested positive for the virus, Mr Simon said. That is about 15 per cent of those infected in Spain.

South Australia gathering ban comes into effect

As of midnight, gatherings of more than 10 people are now banned in South Australia.

Groups of less than 10 people are restricted to one person per four square metres.

Topics: infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, covid-19, australia, china