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The number of global cases of COVID-19 passes the 2 million mark. Of those cases the United States has roughly 30 per cent.
This story will be updated regularly throughout Thursday. You can also stay informed with the latest episode of the Coronacast podcast.
Two million cases worldwide
The number of cases of COVID-19 reported worldwide passed two million overnight, reaching 2,000,984, according to the Johns Hopkins database, after the United Kingdom reported its latest figures.
It took 83 days to reach the first million cases worldwide and just 14 days for the second million.
The global death toll now stands at more than 128,000 but experts caution that the virus is likely to have infected far more people, as the virus can be present in people who display mild or even no symptoms and haven't necessarily been tested.
The biggest cluster of current cases has moved from China, where the new coronavirus first emerged in December, to the United States, which now has the highest death toll at more than 26,000 from over 600,000 confirmed cases.
Four other countries have over 100,000 confirmed cases: Spain [over 177,000], Italy [over 162,000], Germany [over 132,000] and France [over 131,000].
The virus has reached all continents except Antarctica.
UK was too slow to act: Sir Keir
As the United Kingdom's death toll rose again by 761, bringing the total deaths there to 12,868, the Leader of the Opposition accused the Government of being too slow to impose a lockdown.
Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer also raised concerns that the UK could have the highest death rate in Europe.
"I am worried that it looks like we are going to have a higher death rate than any other country in Europe and there will obviously be searching questions about why that has happened," Sir Keir told LBC radio.
"I did think the Government was going too slowly."
A total of 313,769 people have been tested for COVID-19 in the UK, of which 98,476 have tested positive.
The official British death toll is the fifth-highest globally after the United States, Italy, Spain and France.
US relief cheques to bear Trump's name
President Donald Trump's name will be printed on the stimulus cheques that will be sent out to tens of millions of Americans, in an unprecedented move finalised this week.
"President Donald J. Trump" will appear on the left side in the memo section of the paper cheques, officials said.
It would be the first time a president's name appears on a stimulus cheque distributed by the Government.
The cheques are signed by civil servants to ensure government payments are nonpartisan. A president is not an authorised signer for money sent by the US Treasury.
The payments are part of the $US2.2 trillion rescue package signed into law at the end of last month aimed at combating the economic free-fall caused by shutdown orders in the coronavirus pandemic.
Tour de France to go on
The Tour de France has new dates, and it will be followed by cycling's two other major races.
Because of restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, the iconic race around France will now start on August 29 and finish on September 20. The Giro d'Italia and the Spanish Vuelta, cycling's two other Grand Tours, will take place after Le Tour.
The International Cycling Union announced the Tour's new dates on Wednesday after consulting with race organiser Amaury Sport Organisation.
The race was originally scheduled to start on June 27 in Nice.
It's the first time since the end of World War II that the race is not starting in July.
"Holding this event in the best conditions possible is judged essential given its central place in cycling's economy and its exposure," the UCI said in a statement.
The race's finish on the Champs-Elysees will coincide with the start of the rescheduled French Open tennis tournament a short distance away on the clay courts of Roland Garros, in western Paris.
French cyclist Julian Alaphilippe, who led last year's race for long spells before fading to finish fifth, welcomed the news.
"It's great news and a great joy. To be honest, I was starting to lose a bit of hope," he told France 2 television channel.
"It's a great source of motivation for the riders and it should give the French a lot of pleasure. Whatever happens it will be a great celebration."
Postponing the initial Tour dates became inevitable when French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that all public events with large crowds would be cancelled until at least mid-July.
It is unclear, however, if the two-month delay will be enough. Macron extended France's lockdown to at least May 11, and the race would send hundreds of riders and team staff from around the world traveling across the country for three weeks.
Borders would have to be open, too, so racers like last year's winner — Colombian rider Egan Bernal — can travel to France.
Questions raised over Iran's death toll
The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus pandemic is likely nearly double the officially reported figures, due to undercounting and because not everyone with breathing problems has been tested for the virus, a parliament report said.
Iranian health officials offered no comment on the report, which represents the highest-level claim yet of the figures being questionable, something long suspected by international experts.
Iran on Wednesday put the death toll at 4,777, out of 76,389 confirmed cases of the virus — still making it the Middle East's worst outbreak by far.
The report comes as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani continues to push for a slow reopening of the country's economy, which remains the target of US sanctions.
If its own figures offered to the World Health Organisation are wrong, it adds to fears by some that encouraging people to return to work will spark a second wave of infections.
"In order to have more compatibility between protocol and estimated statistics, it is necessary to increase laboratory and testing capabilities in the country," the report said.
"Needless to say that through increasing the capacities, diagnosis of disease will be more possible and spread of the disease will be more limited."
The 46-page report by Iran's parliament research centre, published online, carries the weight of being written by nonpartisan experts within the country.
It said Health Ministry death toll figures counted only those who died in hospitals and had gotten positive test results for the virus and disregarded all coronavirus victims who died in their homes.
If correct, the report's worst-case figures would put Iran's death toll potential as high over 8,500, with some 760,000 total cases and would catapult Iran to the country with the highest number of infections in the world, behind only the US.
Finland begins to lift lockdown around Helsinki
Finland will lift roadblocks in the region around its capital, Helsinki, in a first step towards easing coronavirus-related restrictions.
Travel restrictions to and from the area began on March 28, to prevent people from spreading the virus to other parts of the country.
Prime Minister Sanna Marin said the Government no longer had legal grounds to continue the lockdown, considering it an extreme measure to restrict people's freedom of movement so strictly.
"It is no longer an absolutely necessary restriction measure in the way required in the Emergency Powers Act," Ms Marin said.
The government still recommended people avoid all unnecessary travel.
Zimbabwe police burn tons of food
In a pre-dawn raid in food-starved Zimbabwe, police enforcing a coronavirus lockdown confiscated and destroyed 3 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables by setting fire to it.
Wielding batons, they scattered a group of rural farmers who had travelled overnight, breaking restrictions on movement to bring the precious produce to one of the country's busiest markets.
The food burned as the farmers went home empty-handed, in a country where food is in critically short supply.
It was an extreme example of how lockdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus may be choking Africa's already-vulnerable food supply.
Lockdowns in at least 33 of Africa's 54 countries have blocked farmers from getting food to markets and threatened deliveries of food assistance to rural populations.
About one in every five people in Africa, nearly 250 million, already didn't have enough food before the virus outbreak, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
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Topics: covid-19, infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, australia
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