As it happened: Italy virus deaths rise

New York has become the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the US.

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday pleaded for medical supplies, warning the virus was spreading in his state faster than "a bullet train".

New York now has over 25,000 confirmed cases and over 200 deaths, with the number of new cases doubling every three days.

"The apex is higher than we thought and the apex is sooner than we thought," Mr Cuomo told reporters.

The governor's warning comes as President Trump suggested having the US open for business by early next month while criticising Mr Cuomo for not having ordered more supplies years before.

Read the full story: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52012048

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The Tokyo Olympics 2020 is the latest - and largest - sporting event to be postponed. The coronavirus crisis has decimated this year's sporting calendar. Here is just a snapshot of the major international events which have been affected:

• Football: Euro 2020 postponed to 2021
• Football: English and Scottish football suspended until 30 April at the earliest
• Tennis: The ATP and WTA Tours, including the French Open, suspended until 7 June
• Formula 1: The opening eight races of the 2020 season postponed or cancelled
• Golf: The Masters, the first men's major of the year and scheduled for 9 April, postponed
• Rugby Union: The Six Nations tournament postponed, with domestic leagues in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and South Africa suspended indefinitely or postponed
• Basketball: The NBA season suspended until further notice
• Athletics: The London Marathon moved from 26 April to 4 October
• Cricket: The English county cricket season delayed by seven weeks, not starting before 28 May

For a full timeline of all sporting events affected go here.

The Dow Jones index rallied more than 11% (or over 2000 points) for its best day on the US stock market since 1933.

Investors are hopeful that Congress will pass a $2 trillion (£1.7 trillion) stimulus package to help businesses and households weather the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The S&P 500 also rallied more than 9%, its biggest gain since October 2008.

Shares of companies likely to get help from the government saw some of the biggest gains, including Chevron, American Express and Boeing whose stock prices all jumped more than 20%.

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has said it was “extremely likely” that she fell ill with coronavirus but has now recovered.

The 17-year-old said she felt “tired, had shivers, a sore throat and coughed” after returning from a trip in Europe, so self-isolated for two weeks.

“Everyone feeling ill are told to stay at home and isolate themselves. I have therefore not been tested for Covid-19, but it’s extremely likely that I’ve had it, given the combined symptoms and circumstances," she wrote on Instagram.

She warned people to stay at home because “our actions can be the difference between life and death” for others.

Siim Metsmaa/Saarte HaalCopyright: Siim Metsmaa/Saarte Haal

The largest island in Estonia is at the heart of the Baltic state’s coronavirus outbreak, with 114 of the country’s 369 cases.

The outbreak in Saaremaa is thought to have begun when an Italian volleyball team from Milan played a local club at the beginning of March.

The island, which has a population of 33,000, has spent the past 10 days sealed off from the rest of Estonia.

“We’ve been living under in a constant state of emergency for the last two weeks and are aware of an imminent danger of an explosion (of cases). The situation could get much more dramatic,” Mayor Madis Kallas told the BBC.

The hospital on Saaremaa was the first in Estonia to set up a drive-in testing facility, but it has been struggling with a lack of supplies of protective gear. Patients in a serious condition have been sent to hospitals on the mainland.

Trump, in common with all populists and demagogues, favours simple solutions to complex problems.

However, the coronavirus outbreak has required the kind of multi-pronged approach and long-term thinking that seems beyond him.

This has always been a presidency of the here and now.

It is not well equipped to deal with a public health and economic emergency that will dominate the rest of his presidency, whether he only gets to spend the next 10 months in the White House or another five years.

Read more from Nick here.

Chris BockmanCopyright: Chris Bockman

The Crystal market in the centre of Toulouse is one of the biggest daily outdoor markets in south-west France.

When Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced the closure of outdoor food markets with almost immediate effect late on Monday, stall owners feared the worst. Although they were given a reprieve on Tuesday morning, they know this could have been their last day.

Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc has appealed for the markets to stay open, warning that closure could create food shortages and hit the most vulnerable.

Toulouse is home to one of the biggest British communities in France. Many work in the aerospace industry - European plane maker Airbus is based here.

For the past eight days PR consultant Trudi Harris and her family have been confined to their home. She says the highlight of her life now is the walk to the corner shop every three days.

Aerospace engineer Richard Tookey says working from home has made him into something of a battery hen - working, eating and sleeping.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has donated 1m euros (£920,000) to help fight the coronavirus outbreak in Spain.

Almost 2,700 people have now died in the country and close to 40,000 are infected. Italy is the only European country to see more cases.

Guardiola, who is from Catalonia and currently at home in Barcelona, has been working with his lawyers over the past few days to decide the best way of using the money.

Read more here.

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Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Until now, limited testing has meant that experts don’t have a hold on who’s really had the virus and who has not. Many of us in the UK will know someone who has been told they probably had it but they weren’t allowed a laboratory test to confirm it. That’s where a finger-prick antibody test to check for immunity would make a big difference.

Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it would be a "game changer". In the words of the Chief Medical Officer – Professor Chris Whitty – it means “we'll be able to say to somebody, you've had this virus, you’re not likely to get it again at least in the immediate term, and now we can be confident you can return to work and you don’t need to be taking some of the precautions you’ve been taking to date."

This would be especially useful for healthcare workers who’ve already had the virus but perhaps displayed few or no symptoms. It would mean they wouldn’t need to spend several days in self-isolation just because a fellow family member is now sick.

The news from Health Secretary Matt Hancock that the UK has now purchased 3.5 million of these tests is especially welcome as the death toll grows. This week Spain also took delivery of 640,000 test kits, thought to be of a similar kind, from China and South Korea. They will be used on healthcare professionals first.

Big questions still remain: not least, how reliable are these new tests? And for how long does immunity to Covid-19 last?

Here are some of the biggest developments from around the world that we have been covering over the past few hours:

• A new temporary hospital is being opened in London, which will hold up to 4,000 patients
• The news came as the UK's death toll rose by 87 in 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 422

• India, the world's second most populous country, announced a total lockdown for 21 days, effective from midnight local time
• Italy reported a jump of 743 deaths in the past day, bringing the death toll to 6,820. But while the number of fatalities has increased, the rate of infections has seemingly slowed
• Global coronavirus cases surpassed 400,000, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University

• The World Health Organization warned that the US has the potential to become the global epicentre of the outbreak
• The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have been postponed by a year

A US man has died and his wife is in critical condition after taking a form of a drug that has been touted by President Donald Trump as a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus.

The couple took chloroquine phosphate - a form of chloroquine used to clean fish tanks - in an apparent effort to guard against Covid-19.

Chloroquine itself is one of the oldest and best-known anti-malarial drugs, but the US Food and Drugs Administration has made it clear it has not been approved for treating those infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus.

The couple - both in their 60s - fell ill within 30 minutes of taking the substance, said Arizona-based hospital system Banner Health.

Read our full story on this case here.

Nigeria also reported cases of chloroquine poisoning that had officials there issuing their own warning:

American playwright and librettist Terrence McNally has died of complications from the coronavirus at the age of 81, his publicist has confirmed.

McNally won four Tony Awards during his career, including Best Play for both Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class.

His other works include musicals Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Full Monty and Ragtime.

Publicist Matt Polk said McNally was a lung cancer survivor who had been living with a chronic inflammatory lung disease.

McNally is survived by his husband Tom Kirdahy.

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It’s now become normal to see people everywhere wearing face-masks. You might be wondering if you should wear one and if they work.

The World Health Organization advises that most people don’t need masks unless they are sick.

Watch this video to better understand what experts are recommending:

The most common signs of Covid-19 are a fever and a dry cough, which can lead to breathing difficulties.

For most people the symptoms will be mild but the coronavirus can be serious for some, including the elderly or people with certain pre-existing conditions.

Some of the early symptoms can easily be confused with other winter bugs including colds and flu. But for now the UK government is advising anyone with a high temperature or a new, continuous cough sto self-isolate at home for at least seven days just in case.

Under current guidance, most people may not need to get tested. If you are in the UK and worried about having the symptoms, use the NHS 111 advice service here.

You can also read more on the BBC about the symptoms and how to protect yourself.

Frances Hughes, 74, from Merthyr Tydfil, has been in self isolation for just over a week.

Her daughter Melanie Lewis has been visiting her daily with deliveries of corned beef, coffee and evaporated milk. Ms Lewis has been filming their encounters and sharing them on social media.

The videos, which show the pair laughing and bickering, have been shared hundreds of times.

Even though the decision to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games looked inevitable, today's announcement has come as a relief for the many athletes who have not been able to train properly because of the restrictions.

“We felt under pressure to train and compete," British swimmer Adam Peaty, who won gold at Rio 2016 in the 100m breaststroke, told BBC Sport.

“The decision from the IOC lifts that relief that we don’t have to be in shape over summer and we don’t have to put unnecessary risk on others.”

Heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the current world champion who was among the favourites for gold, described the postponement as "heartbreaking". But she also joked: "Waited eight years for this, what’s another one in the grand scheme of things?"

British golfer Justin Rose, who described his gold-medal win four years ago as the "biggest gift" of his career, says he would be making the Olympics his "priority" in a rejigged 2021 schedule.

Paralympic cycling and athletics champion Kadeena Cox also backed the decision, saying the Games and its legacy can be enjoyed "when the time is right".

Read more reaction from leading athletes on BBC Sport.

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There is a moment at an Olympic Games, some point after the opening ceremony and around the time where everything around you is drama and smashed records and new heroes, when you look around and think: there is no other square mile or so of the planet that has as many people staring at it as this.

That's what the summer Games do. They make you feel like you're at the centre of the world. And it's why it took the International Olympic Committee so long to realise that Tokyo 2020 had to be postponed, and why there could be no other decision.

The IOC has the history, the power and the self-regard to pull off something as complicated, expensive and vainglorious as an Olympics. Those same characteristics can also leave it out of touch with wider forces at play around it. It is used to nations wooing it and coming in supplication, not the other way round.

Read more from Tom here.

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Long queues of people stocking up on essentials formed outside markets and supermarkets in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi, minutes after Narendra Modi’s announcement this evening.

Two people were being allowed in at a time into a leading supermarket and only five people in total were allowed to shop inside.

The utter confusion and lack of information over how the government plans to keep essential supplies going has led to confusion and panic, reminiscent of what happened after Mr Modi’s currency ban in 2016.