Spain's PM to ask for lockdown extension as deaths top 20,000 – as it happened

That’s it for this live blog for today. We’ve launched a new one at the link below – head over there for all of the latest developments:

A summary of coronavirus news from my US colleagues now:

• Hundreds flock to Florida’s reopened beaches as state death toll hits 726. Some beaches open with distancing restrictions after governor OKs openings ‘in a safe way’.
• Protesters decry stay-at-home orders in Maryland, Texas and Ohio capitals. Rightwing media and Donald Trump have supported demonstrators but they appear to represent a minority opinion.
• Cuomo believes New York may be past the peak, but more than 500 people died yesterday. The New York governor said the net change in total hospitalizations are down over the last three days. More worryingly, there were 2,000 new hospitalizations yesterday.
• Former treasury secretary to George W Bush dies. Paul O’Neill, a former Treasury secretary who broke with George W. Bush over tax policy and then produced a book critical of the administration, died Saturday. He was 84.
• Amy Klobuchar on US response: ‘There was never a national strategy’. The former presidential candidate and sitting Minnesota senator, whose husband caught coronavirus, accused the Trump administration of losing time by not having a national strategy to combat the coronavirus.

Britain has appointed the former Goldman Sachs investment banker who led the country’s 2012 Olympic planning to organise the domestic manufacture of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers treating coronavirus patients.

The government has faced severe criticism from doctors and health workers over shortages of equipment, including masks, visors and gowns, and the suggestion that some items might have to be re-used if supplies run out.

Paul Deighton, who was chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, was appointed by Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Sunday.

“He will lead a singular and relentless focus on PPE as the country’s top manufacturing priority, with the full weight of the government behind him,” Hancock said.

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Deighton’s unpaid role will be to scale up production domestically, where brands like Barbour and Burberry have already switched factory lines from high-end fashion to PPE.

“Countries around the world face unprecedented demand for personal protective equipment and this necessitates an equally unprecedented domestic manufacturing response,” said Deighton.

19 Apr 202019.18 EDT

Molly Blackall

UK care home Covid-19 deaths ‘may be five times government estimate’

The number of care home residents who have died from coronavirus could be more than five times the government’s estimate, the sector’s main charity has warned.

Care England, Britain’s largest representative body for care homes, told the Daily Telegraph that up to 7,500 care home residents may have died of the virus.

This is significantly higher than the figure of 1,400 people estimated to have died by the government earlier this week.

Hello, Helen Sullivan with you now and for the next few hours.

A quick reminder that can get in touch with me at any time on Twitter @helenrsullivan – and away we go.

I’ll be logging off shortly. Here’s some of the key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today:

Spain’s PM to ask for extension of lockdown to 9 May

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday he would ask parliament for a third 15-day extension of the lockdown imposed to curb one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the new coronavirus, taking the restrictions up to 9 May.

Restrictions to be lifted in some US states

US president Donald Trump said on Saturday that Texas and Vermont will allow certain businesses to reopen on Monday while still observing coronavirus-related precautions and Montana will begin lifting restrictions on Friday.

Turkey’s coronavirus cases overtake Iran to become highest in Middle East

Turkey’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday, overtaking neighbouring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East.

Morocco has extended its lockdown measures by another month

Morocco will extend lockdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus for another month until May 20, the government said on Saturday.

France reports 642 more coronavirus deaths as country’s toll hits 19,323

France registered 642 more deaths from coronavirus infections on Saturday, bringing the total to 19,323, the fourth-highest tally in the world, although the number of people in hospital declined for a fourth day running.

Donald Trump said on Saturday that China should face unspecified consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic.

The US president told reportings at a daily briefing:

If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, I mean, then sure there should be consequences.

Trump and senior aides have sharply criticised China for a lack of transparency after the coronavirus broke out in its Wuhan province.

Trump on Saturday also continued casting doubt on China’s death toll, which was revised up on Friday.

US president Donald Trump said on Saturday that Texas and Vermont will allow certain businesses to reopen on Monday while still observing coronavirus-related precautions and Montana will begin lifting restrictions on Friday.

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“We continue to see a number of positive signs that the virus has passed its peak,” Trump told reporters at a daily briefing.

Some state governors have warned that they will not act prematurely to reopen their economies until there is more testing for the virus, however. Business leaders have also told Trump the country needs to have widespread testing in place before their companies can return to normal operations.

On Saturday, Trump said “our testing is getting better and better,” but offered no concrete evidence.

He said both Republican and Democratic governors “have announced concrete steps to begin a safe and gradual phased opening.” Texas and Vermont “will allow certain business to open on Monday while still requiring appropriate social distancing precautions,” he said.

Several dozen protesters gathered in the Texas capital of Austin on Saturday, chanting “USA! USA!” and “Let us work!”

British actress Jameela Jamil on Saturday kicked off an eight-hour global event of music, comedy and personal stories aimed at bringing hope and unity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pop and classical musicians from the North America, Asia and the Middle East, all performing from their homes, appeared on the One World: Together at Home live stream due to run for six hours to pay tribute to frontline workers battling the health crisis around the world.

Jamil, known for her TV series “The Good Place,” told viewers the event was meant to be “a moment of respite.”

“Put your wallets away. This is not a fundraiser. We are just here to give you an incredible show with amazing live performances,” she said.

The livestream’s first hours featured the likes of David Beckham, American R&B singer Jennifer Hudson, Hong Kong singer Eason Chan, India’s Vishal Mishra and Emirati musician Hussain Al Jassmi.

That will be followed by a two-hour concert broadcast on Saturday night across multiple television channels and featuring stars including The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.

The event, curated by Lady Gaga and organized by WHO and Global Citizen, is the biggest celebrity effort so far to mark the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 people worldwide.

Watch the event here:

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family must wait for another day to find out if her temporary release for a prison in Iran has been extended.

The British-Iranian mother was temporarily released from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s furlough was extended by two weeks in late March, and she was scheduled to return to prison on Saturday.

The Free Nazanin Campaign said on Twitter that her family had not yet received a decision on whether or not her furlough is to be extended, and were told to return to the Prosecutors Office in Iran on Sunday.

“Nazanin’s family spoke with the Prosecutors Office today for an update on whether her furlough is to be extended beyond this weekend, or if she will have to return to prison,” the tweet said.

“They were told to come back tomorrow for an answer.”

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been living in relative isolation at her parents’ house in Tehran while the country gets to grips with the outbreak.

She has to wear an ankle tag during the furlough, and can only go within a 300-metre range of her parents’ home.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport while travelling to show her young daughter, Gabriella, to her parents in April 2016.

She was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Tehran government.

She was later afforded diplomatic protection by the UK government, which argues that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.

Twickenham has become the latest major sports stadium in Britain to be given a role in the fight against the coronavirus, reports AFP.

The headquarters of English rugby union, located in south-west London, will host a drive-through coronavirus testing facility that is part of the British government’s nationwide effort to increase testing for thousands more NHS staff and other key workers.

“This new service will help end the uncertainty of whether NHS and social care staff and other key workers need to stay at home, meaning those who test negative will be able to return to work,” said health minister Lord James Bethell.

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday he would ask parliament for a third 15-day extension of the lockdown imposed to curb one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the new coronavirus, taking the restrictions up to 9 May.

Sanchez said he wanted to relax restrictions on children, who would be allowed out of their homes after 27 April, though that allowance would be “limited and subject to conditions to avoid contagion”. He did not go into further details.

Spain has begun to ease a strict lockdown imposed on 14 March and this week opened up some sectors of the economy, including manufacturing. But most people are still confined to their houses except for essential outings including shopping for food.

The UK government is arranging a repatriation flight on Wednesday to bring back nationals in Sierra Leone, PA Media reports.

British tourists, short-term visitors and their direct dependents in Sierra Leone will be able to book tickets for the special flight on Wednesday for £600 per person, but only those who are normally resident in the UK will be eligible to travel.

The flight will leave Freetown International Airport at 6.55pm on 22 April, arriving at Stansted Airport in the early hours of 23 April.

Passengers travelling from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, must report to the Sea Coach terminal in the Aberdeen area of the city between 12pm and 3pm on Wednesday.

Some 5,000 people are or have been repatriated from India on 21 previously announced flights operating from 8-20 April.

A church in Bergamo that served as a temporary morgue at the height of Italy’s coronavirus epidemic “is finally empty”, the mayor said Saturday.

Where dozens of coffins once stood, nothing but flowers are left to be seen in a photograph tweeted by mayor Giorgio Gori that symbolises the easing of a crisis that has killed over 23,000 people in Italy.

Bergamo is in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy, which accounts for over half Italy’s virus victims.

Italy’s coronavirus emergency czar Domenico Arcuri said Saturday that five times as many people had died in the region during the epidemic than had been killed in Milan during World War II bombings.

“We are living through a great tragedy, which we have not yet overcome,” he said, describing the nearly 12,000 Lombardy dead as an “astounding” figure.

About 20 workers in Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani’s palace have tested positive for the coronavirus, two officials told AFP on Saturday, but so far, there is no indication the president himself has been infected.

“Twenty-odd people are infected with COVID-19 in the presidential palace. However, it is (being) kept under wraps to ensure no panic is caused,” one government official said.

A second official confirmed the number and said an additional 12 people from the president’s administrative office had also contracted the virus.

Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi declined to comment and referred questions to the health ministry, which also would not comment, saying it did not disclose the identity of its patients.

Kabul is currently on a coronavirus lockdown, which authorities recently extended for three weeks, and all government offices are shut.

Afghanistan has officially reported only 933 cases of coronavirus, including 33 deaths.

France registered 642 more deaths from coronavirus infections on Saturday, bringing the total to 19,323, the fourth-highest tally in the world, although the number of people in hospital declined for a fourth day running.

France’s public health authority said in a statement that the total number of people in intensive care units also fell for the 10th day in a row, to 5,833 - the lowest level since March 31.

The figures show that the numbers of infections and deaths remain at a high level but having reached a plateau a week ago the curve is beginning to go noticeably downwards.

Unlike in the UK, deaths in care homes are included in the figures.

France has been in virtual lockdown since March 17 as part of efforts to curb the outbreak.