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China dismisses Australia's questioning of how Beijing handled the coronavirus pandemic, while New York is set to remain in lockdown for weeks and the Mayor of Estonia's 'corona island' resigns.
This story is being updated regularly throughout Monday. You can also stay informed with the latest episode of the Coronacast podcast.
China rejects Payne's calls for independent investigation
China dismissed Australia's questioning of how Beijing handled the coronavirus pandemic as groundless, saying it had been open and transparent, despite growing scepticism about the accuracy of its official death toll.
On Sunday Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne called for an international investigation into the origins and spread of the virus, joining a chorus of concern over how China tackled the virus that emerged in its central city of Wuhan late last year.
Since then the virus has caused over 2.4 million infections and more than 165,000 deaths worldwide, paralysing life and business in major cities.
"Australian Foreign Minister Payne's remarks are not based on facts. China is seriously concerned about and firmly opposed to this," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
"Any doubt about China's transparency is not only inconsistent with the facts, but also disrespectful of the tremendous efforts and sacrifices of the Chinese people."
Senator Payne's comments came amid rising criticism of China in recent weeks from the United States, including President Donald Trump, who said on Saturday that China should face consequences if it was "knowingly responsible" for the pandemic.
Mr Geng urged Australia to "treat this issue in an objective, scientific and scrupulous manner".
"We hope that Australia will do more things to deepen China-Australia relations, enhance mutual trust and help epidemic prevention and control in both countries, rather than dancing to the tune of a certain country to hype up the situation," he said.
On Monday, China's National Health Commission reported 12 new infections, taking the mainland's tally to 82,747, while the death toll stood unchanged at 4,632.
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New York could remain in lockdown for months
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it could take weeks if not months before the country's most populous city re-opens due to a lack of widespread testing, even as officials elsewhere began rolling back restrictions on daily life.
Mayor de Blasio, whose city is at the epicentre of the coronavirus crisis in the United States, said New York needed to be conducting hundreds of thousands of tests a day and to see hospitalisations decline further before reopening the economy.
"We could get there but we can't do it without widespread testing and so far the Federal Government still can't get their handle on that," Mayor de Blasio said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," adding that ending social distancing too soon could rekindle the virus.
"The Federal Government, especially, needs to get the memo that this thing ain't over and if you pretend it's over it is only going to boomerang back and make it worse."
Mr de Blasio's warning on testing echoed comments by several governors over the weekend disputing President Donald Trump's claims that the US has enough tests for COVID-19.
The United States has by far the world's largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 760,000 infections and over 40,700 deaths, nearly half of them in the state of New York.
'Corona island' mayor resigns in Estonia
The mayor of an island in Estonia that's become a coronavirus hotspot has resigned for allowing a volleyball match that sparked a spread of infection.
Madis Kallas says the wrong decision was made to host matches in early March against a team from Milan — the northern Italian city where COVID-19 gained a major foothold.
Half the residents on the island of Saaremaa are thought to be infected.
No one is allowed to leave or enter the island, which locals have dubbed "corona island".
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'We need life again': Germans flock to shops
Germans returned to the shops on Monday, craving retail therapy after a month of lockdown, but Chancellor Angela Merkel is concerned that could increase coronavirus infections again just as the number of new cases had started to slow.
Shops up to 800 square metres, as well as car and bicycle dealers and bookstores, are allowed to reopen this week under an agreement with the leaders of Germany's 16 states. Schools are set to begin reopening in two weeks.
Europe's largest economy has relied more on domestic demand in recent years as the strength of its traditional export engine has faded, and the move echoes a slow easing in neighbouring countries, equally desperate to revive business and society.
"We need life again. This whole time it was like a ghost town," said Michaela Frieser, not wearing a face mask, in Frankfurt's main shopping district.
"The sun's out, we saved enough money and now we need to go out and spend it!"
The federal and state governments have strongly recommended that Germans wear face masks when shopping and on public transport, and some states have even made that compulsory.
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'The world should take a week of quarantine every year'
Even though they only had mild symptoms, Idris Elba says he and his wife had their lives "turned around" after contracting coronavirus, calling the experience "definitely scary, unsettling and nervous".
"You know, everyone's sort of feeling the way we have been feeling, but it has definitely been sort of just a complete upheaval," Elba told The Associated Press late last week.
But the British actor feels that there are life lessons to be learned, and the pandemic serves as a reminder that "the world doesn't tick on your time".
"I think that the world should take a week of quarantine every year just to remember this time. Remember each other. I really do," he said.
The British actor and his model wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, spoke to the AP as they began a push with the United Nations to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on farmers and food producers in rural areas, launching a $US40 million [$62 million] fund.
"People forget that 80 per cent of the poor population live in these rural areas." Dhowre Elba said.
"What we are really worried about at the moment, and why we are launching this fund is that those people are being forgotten."
Elba said it was difficult for rural villages and slums in densely-populated parts of the world to prevent the spread.
"Social distancing is almost laughable," he said.
ABC/Wires
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Topics: infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, covid-19, united-states