Pope says Easter mass by live stream as global Covid-19 deaths pass 110,000 – as it happened

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Peru police arrest Chinese man for illegal Covid-19 testing

Police in Lima on Sunday arrested a Chinese citizen for illegally conducting rapid Covid-19 tests on the public with newly-delivered kits stolen from Peru’s health ministry, AFP reports.

Tianxing Zhang, 36, was arrested in the Brena district of Lima as he was about to take samples from two women at the door of their house, police said.

He “was proceeding to carry out rapid tests for Covid-19 that he had stolen” from the Lima Sur health authority where he worked, according to a police statement.

Zhang was wearing a mask and a light blue medical apron at the time of his arrest by the state security police.

Both women had paid him to carry out a rapid home test, without health ministry approval.

“When questioned, he acknowledged he was not authorised to carry out this rapid test and that the Rapid Diagnostic Tests had been stolen from the Directorate of Integrated Health Network of Lima Sur where he had worked,” the police said.

According to the police, the bespectacled Zhang confessed to stealing two batches of the test to use, for monetary gain, on people who suspected they were ill with the coronavirus.

Police found a backpack with 25 Covid-19 tests and other medical supplies at his home.

More than 3,300 deaths across the US have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, an alarming rise in just the past two weeks, according to the latest count by the Associated Press.

Because the federal government has not been releasing a count of its own, the AP has kept its own running tally based on media reports and state health departments. The latest count of at least 3,321 deaths is up from about 450 deaths just 10 days ago.

But the true toll among the 1 million mostly frail and elderly people who live in such facilities is likely much higher, experts say, because most state counts don’t include those who died without ever being tested for Covid-19.

Christians around the world celebrated an Easter Sunday upended by the coronavirus without the usual crowded church Masses and large family gatherings.

Instead, they turned to the internet, television and radio from home to follow services that noted the grave impact of the pandemic. Some found novel ways to mark the holy day. Others still assembled in groups, but took precautions to try to avoid infection, AP reports.

Here’s a sample of Easter events around the world:

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At the Vatican, St Peters Square was empty of crowds and ringed by police barricades. Pope Francis celebrated Easter Mass inside the largely vacant basilica, calling for solidarity the world over to confront the epochal challenge posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

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In the central German city of Hildesheim, around 400 people participated in a drive-in Catholic Mass for Easter Sunday.

At one of the biggest churches in South Korea, Seoul’s Yoido Full Gospel Church, a small number of masked church followers attended the service broadcast online via the church’s website.

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In the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious diseases expert and a key member of the White House coronavirus task force said on Sunday that the economy in parts of the country could have a rolling reentry as early as next month, provided health authorities can quickly identify and isolate people who will inevitably be infected with the coronavirus.

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Dr Anthony Fauci also said he can’t guarantee” that it will be safe for Americans to vote in person on Election Day, 3 November.

Fauci said the process will be gradual and based on the status of the pandemic in various parts of the US, as well as the availability of rapid, widespread testing. “Once the number of people who are seriously ill sharply declines, officials can begin to think about a gradual reentry of some sort of normality, some rolling reentry,” Fauci said.

In some places, he said, that might occur as soon as May. But whenever restrictions ease, Fauci said, “we know that there will be people who will be getting infected.”

Social distancing guidelines imposed by President Donald Trump are set to expire 30 April. Trump is eager to restart the economy, which has stalled because most Americans are under orders to stay at home to help slow the virus spread.

But other senior US public health officials have pushed back on Donald Trump’s eagerness to reopen the country quickly, as a senior World Health Organization (WHO) figure warned that Covid-19 “is going to be a virus that stalks the human race for quite a long time to come”:

Hi, I’m Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours.

You can get in touch with me directly at any time on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

I’m handing over to my colleague Helen Sullivan in Sydney now. Thanks for reading. Here is a quick roundup of the latest developments.

• The global number of confirmed cases has passed 1.8m, reaching 1,844,410, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. There have been over 113,000 deaths globally.
• Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno and his cabinet members have taken 50% pay cuts in a bid to tackle the pandemic’s economic effects on the country.
• A former Israeli chief rabbi has died from coronavirus complications. Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron died from complications from the virus in a Jerusalem hospital, aged 79.
• UK government is facing mounting criticism over its coronavirus response, particularly over its failure to secure enough personal protective equipment and tests for NHS and care workers as the country’s death toll passed 10,000. This follows a warning that that the UK could experience the highest coronavirus death toll in Europe.
• China has vowed to improve treatment of Africans in the southern city of Guangzhou following international pressure. Facing accusations of discrimination linked to the pandemic, China said it rejected all “racist and discriminatory” remarks.
• Süleyman Soylu, a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has resigned following the bungled handling of the country’s lockdown, only to have his resignation rejected by Erdoğan.
• Jordan has extended its month-long lockdown until the end of April. The country, which has registered 389 coronavirus cases and seven deaths, declared a 24-hour, nationwide curfew on March 20.
• Sudan has announced it is banning all passenger road transport between cities and introducing emergency laws to enforce measures aimed at stopping Covid-19’s spread. The country has 19 confirmed coronavirus cases and two deaths.
• Senior US public health officials have pushed back on Donald Trump’s eagerness to reopen the country quickly, as a senior World Health Organization figure warned that Covid-19 “is going to be a virus that stalks the human race for quite a long time to come”.
• France’s death toll has continued to slow, with the country reporting a drop in coronavirus deaths on the previous 24 hours. There were 315 deaths in hospital over the last day, compared with 345 the day earlier.

Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno and his cabinet members have taken 50% pay cuts in a bid to tackle the pandemic’s economic effect on the country.

In recent weeks, the outbreak has overwhelmed sanitary authorities in the largest city of Guayaquil, where corpses have remained in homes or on the streets for hours.

The salary reductions will also affect state officials including lawmakers in the National Assembly, who have heavily criticised Moreno’s plans to increase taxes to protect government finances amid the pandemic.

“I have arranged a 50% reduction in the monthly income of the President, Vice President, Ministers and Vice Ministers,” Moreno tweeted.

Ecuador has registered 7,466 infections and 333 deaths. Reuters reports that another 384 people are believed to have died of coronavirus, but the cases have not been confirmed because the victims were not tested.

Moreno has proposed creating a humanitarian assistance fund that would collect 5% of the profits with reported revenue exceeding $1 million in 2018, and would tax workers with monthly salaries of more than $500. The measures have been criticised as unfair on workers.

A former Israeli chief rabbi has died after contracting the coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.

Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, who served from 1993 to 2003 as the state’s top chaplain for Sephardim, or Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent, died late on Sunday from complications from the virus in a Jerusalem hospital, aged 79, Israeli media said.

“Tragically, Rabbi Bakshi-Doron contracted the coronavirus and doctors’ efforts to save him did not succeed,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Israel has reported 11,145 confirmed cases and 103 deaths.

In case you missed it, here’s a handy explainer on how to make sense of the constant flurry of coronavirus statistics

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan has rejected the resignation of interior minister Süleyman Soylu.

“The resignation of our interior minister has not been accepted by the president, he will continue his duty,” the presidency’s communications directorate said.

Soylu had said he was resigning after criticism of the implementation of the country’s weekend lockdown.

Criticism of the UK government’s response to the crisis is growing, report Rowena Mason and Haroon Siddique, particularly over its failure to get enough personal protective equipment and testing kits to NHS and care workers.

It comes as a government adviser also warned that the UK could experience the highest death toll from coronavirus in Europe on a day when the number of fatalities in British hospitals passed 10,000. Read the full story here:

The Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli performed inside the empty Milan Duomo on Sunday as millions tuned in via livestream.

Bocelli said: “I will cherish the emotion of this unprecedented and profound experience, of this Holy Easter which this emergency has made painful, but at the same time even more fruitful, one that will stay among my dearest memories of all time.”

The Andrea Bocelli Foundation has started a fundraiser to help hospitals purchase the necessary instruments and equipment to protect their medical staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has so far raised more than 200,000 euros.

The UK has cancelled an order for thousands of units of a simple model of ventilator developed to treat Covid-19 because more sophisticated models are now needed, Reuters reports.

“We are no longer supporting the production of the BlueSky device following a reassessment of the product’s viability in light of the ever developing picture around what is needed to most effectively treat COVID-19,” said a spokesman for the Cabinet Office, which is coordinating ventilator orders.

“We are continuing to work at unprecedented speed with a number of other manufacturers to scale up UK production of ventilators.”

The government has appealed to industry to come forward with new models that could be produced on a large scale at short notice. Over 30,000 ventilators in total have been ordered from various firms from sectors including aerospace, engineering and Formula One.

Following international pressure, China has vowed to improve the treatment of Africans in the southern city of Guangzhou after facing accusations of discrimination linked to the pandemic, and said it rejected all “racist and discriminatory” remarks.

Africans in the industrial centre of 15 million say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing, particularly as Beijing steps up its fight against imported coronavirus cases.

The African Union expressed its “extreme concern” about the situation, calling on Beijing to take immediate corrective action. Meanwhile, the United States denounced what it called “xenophobia towards Africans by Chinese authorities.”

A recent cluster of coronavirus cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou, southern China’s largest city, sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus-prevention officials. Several Africans told AFP they had been forcibly evicted from their homes and turned away by hotels.

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“The Chinese government has been attaching great importance to the life and health of foreign nationals in China,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a statement.

“The Guangdong (provincial) authorities attach great importance to some African countries’ concerns and are working promptly to improve their working method,” he added.

Among the measures Zhao announced were non-discriminatory health management services and hotels for foreigners who are required to undergo medical observation, to be offered at reduced rates for those in need.

In the UK, police are looking for thieves who stole personal protective equipment (PPE) from an NHS building, according to the Press Association.

The raid took place at the offices of the Care Homes medical practice in Salford, which cares for patients living in nursing and residential homes. Police were called to the premises shortly before 7.50am on Sunday and discovered that a number of laptops and a quantity of petty cash had also been taken. Inquiries are ongoing.

A spokeswoman for Salford Royal NHS foundation trust said: “We are shocked and saddened that one of our community bases has been burgled and belongings stolen, including some items of PPE equipment. Our priority has been supporting staff based at this unit and ensuring they have access to the equipment that they need to carry out their roles.

“It’s a testament to staff that service delivery has not been significantly impacted today following this incident. We will support Greater Manchester police in their ongoing inquiries.”

Police have caught a church in Paris holding a traditional Easter mass with dozens of worshippers, flouting the strict rules imposed to fight coronavirus, AFP reports.

Religious services and all gatherings have been banned in France for the past month, but the traditional Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet Catholic church in the centre of Paris held an Easter mass late on Saturday, police sources said.

The priest was warned and booked for not respecting the confinement rules, the source said. This would have made him liable for a €200 (£176) fine.

Police had been tipped off by local residents who had heard music coming from the church in the fifth arrondissement in the heart of the French capital.

12 Apr 202015.03 EDT

Turkey's interior minister resigns

Bethan McKernan

This has just come in from the Guardian’s Turkey and Middle East correspondent, Bethan McKernan:

Turkey’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has resigned from his post after the bungled handling of a total lockdown across 31 Turkish cities over the weekend to contain Covid-19.

The government announced on Friday at 10.30pm that a 48-hour-long lockdown during which people would not be allowed to leave home would go into effect at midnight, causing panic across the country as people rushed to shops and bakeries to stock up before the curfew.

While officials rushed to reassure citizens that the lockdown would not affect basics such as groceries and pharmacies, the last-minute decision was heavily criticised by civilians and politicians alike. Istanbul – home to 16 million people – had a significant surge in panic buying and traffic backed up as people made late-night trips to check on loved ones.

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The city’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu of the opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP), said in a video posted to Twitter that his municipality had not informed in advance of the expected shutdown.

Soylu addressed the criticism in remarks to Turkish media on Sunday morning, accepting “full responsibility” for Friday’s events, but announce his resignation via Twitter on Sunday evening.

“I acted in good faith ... to prevent the epidemic spreading,” Soylu wrote. “The scenes that occured before the lockdown began, even for a short time, are my responsibility. My actions should not have caused this.”

Political resignations are rare in Turkey. The last time a minister from the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party stepped down was in 2013.

Turkey has become one of the countries with the fastest rising number of recorded cases, which stood at 56,956 on Sunday.

Erdoğan, usually no stranger to heavy-handed tactics, has resisted calls by doctors’ unions and opposition politicians to order people to stop going to work and stay home, insisting that the “wheels of the economy must keep turning”.

Jordan has extended its month-long lockdown until the end of April, according to Reuters.

A government spokesman said Prime Minister Omar Razzaz took the decision in light of “developments and recommendations” related to the pandemic. The country has registered 389 coronavirus cases and seven deaths.

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Jordan declared a 24-hour, nationwide curfew on March 20. The lockdown followed the Jordanian monarchy enacting emergency laws to give the government powers to restrict civil and political rights.