New York City authorities advise residents to wear facemasks when they leave home
President Trump issues new guidelines for care homes for the elderly in his daily news conference
More than a million confirmed cases of coronavirus have been registered globally
The worldwide death toll has passed 50,000; more than 200,000 have recovered
UK Health Secretary sets a goal of 100,000 tests in England per day by end of month
People across the UK clap and cheer for key workers
The World Bank launches a $1.9bn emergency fund to help 25 countries, starting with India
In the US, new weekly unemployment claims hit a record high of 6.6m
The global death toll is now 47,208. These are deaths where the patient has Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
Italy 13,155 deaths
Spain 9,387 deaths
US 5,116 deaths
France 4,043 deaths
China 3,316 deaths
Iran 3,036 deaths
UK 2,357 deaths
Netherlands 1,173 deaths
Germany 931 deaths
Belgium 828 deaths
The global number of people with confirmed infections now stands at 935,817. Here's a quick overview of the worst hit countries.
Remember, these are only the confirmed cases - and the numbers depend on the level of testing. The actual number of infected people might vary greatly.
US 215,417 infections
Italy 110,574 infections
Spain 104,118 infections
China 82,381 infections
Germany 77,981 infections
France 57,763 infections
Iran 47,593 infections
UK 29,865 infections
Switzerland 17,768 infections
Turkey 15,679 infections
The data is from the Johns Hopkins University in the US, external.
Israel's Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus, his ministry has confirmed.
Mr Litzman, aged 71, is currently the most senior Israeli official to have been infected.
The couple are being “suitably treated and are in isolation”.
Last month, Israel announced that everyone arriving in the country would have to self-quarantine for 14 days.
The country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says the Jewish, Christian and Muslim observances of Passover, Easter and Ramadan should take place with immediate family members only.
More than 6,000 people in Israel have been infected and 26 have died.
Image source, Getty ImagesSales of new cars in the US, the world’s second biggest automotive market, are tumbling amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Toyota, the first major carmaker to report March figures, said sales are down 37% compared to the same month last year. It’s expected to be a similar story for other car brands.
Fiat Chrysler said sales were down 10% for the first two months of the year, before the US brought in stricter measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Car market analysts JD Power said it expects new car sales in the US to have fallen by 40% for March - typically one of the best months of the year for carmakers.
Fans and celebrities around the world are mourning the death of 52-year-old Adam Schlesinger - calling him "one of the most brilliant songwriters of his generation".
The artist has died in New York state after catching Covid-19.
"He took pop music writing to its classiest and most untouchable place," tweeted Jack Antonoff of pop band Bleachers.
"Fountains of Wayne was a band that got me through high school, college, my 20s, my 30s... Adam Schlesinger was one of the great, unheralded songwriters of my lifetime," said Emily VanDerWerff, a Vox writer in a tweet.
"Music will miss him," a Twitter user summed up.
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Image source, ReutersTo wear or not to wear - that seems to the be question on many people's and experts' minds.
Whereas wearing face masks is much more prevalent in Asia, Western countries are mostly saying it's only something for health workers and sick people themselves.
Now, the question is to be reassessed by a panel of advisers to the World Health Organization.
The panel's chair, Prof David Heymann, told BBC News that the new research may lead to a shift in advice about masks.
Peter Bowes
North America correspondent
According to the Washington Post, the US emergency stockpile of respirator masks, gloves and other medical equipment is so low, it’s led to the federal government and individual states competing for supplies - in a market place rife with profiteering and price-gouging.
Health workers around the country have complained of a critical shortage of protective clothing, as they treat patients with Covid-19.
President Donald Trump admitted the reserves of equipment were depleted - but because new supplies were being shipped directly to hospitals from manufacturers, rather than to the emergency stockpile.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says parents in Australia will be offered free childcare.
The new measure, to cost the government A$1.6bn (£0.77bn; $0.96bn), involves paying childcare centres to ensure they remain open - provided they do not charge parents.
"If you have a job in this economy, then that is an essential job - in my view - in terms of running the economy," he told reporters.
"And it is important that all of those parents who have children... get access to childcare and those facilities will be there for them in the many months ahead."
Daniel Gallas
BBC South America business correspondent
Companies in Argentina are not allowed to fire workers for the next 60 days, according to a decree published on Tuesday by President Alberto Fernandez.
The country is under one of the most severe quarantines in Latin America, which will last until 12 April.
Argentina has more than 1,000 virus infections and 28 deaths. The Central Bank also extended credit card payment deadlines until the end of the quarantine period.
Argentina was already suffering with a severe economic crisis before the onset of Covid-19.
Image source, Getty ImagesGlobalisation has been one of the buzzwords of - at least - the past 25 years.
Easier travel, the internet, the end of the Cold War, trade deals, and new, rapidly developing economies, have all combined to create a system that is much more dependent on what is happening on the other side of the world.
Which is why the spread of coronavirus, or Covid-19 to be specific, has had such an immediate economic effect.
So what does this latest crisis mean for globalisation?
Award-winning singer-songwriter Adam Schlesinger, known for his work with band Fountains of Wayne, has died at the age of 52 after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
The band, which formed in the 1990s, is best known for hits Stacy's Mom and Hey Julie.
Schlesinger also wrote music for US TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - going on to win an Emmy for outstanding original music for his work - and for the film Ice Age: Continental Drift.
He wrote for a number of other artists, including Bowling For Soup, and also won a Grammy for his work on comedy special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!
He died on Wednesday morning in New York state..
US band Dashboard Confessional confirmed his death, saying they were "grasping for the right words".
"My dear friend Adam has passed away from Covid-19," said the band in a tweet.
"You knew him best through his music. I knew him best as a mentor and a friend. We must take this seriously. People are sick and dying."
Image source, Getty Images
Howard Johnson
Philippines Correspondent, BBC News
"Shoot them dead" - that’s Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s new order to the police and the military to deal with violent protesters during the country’s period of strict quarantine measures.
Duterte issued the order after members of a leftist group started a protest that became unruly over food distribution in Metro Manila.
"If there is a conflict and there is an occasion that they fight and put your lives in danger, shoot them dead," said Duterte, during an impromptu televised address last night.
Duterte, who is best known for his violent drug war that has claimed the lives of thousands of addicts and dealers, currently has emergency powers over the country, approved by congress last week.
A so-called "Enhanced Community Quarantine" has been placed over many parts of the country, with travel restrictions and curfews imposed to try to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Human rights groups have expressed concern after images of curfew violators locked in dog cages or being forced to sit in the midday sun circulated on social media.
This week the Philippine National Police said more than 70,000 people nationwide have been apprehended for violating quarantine regulations.
Many Filipinos are wary of military abuse of power after the country experienced martial law in the 1970s and 80s under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
At the time thousands were either killed, tortured or held arbitrarily for being alleged communist sympathisers - or disagreeing with Marcos’s rule.
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Image source, EPAUS Vice President Mike Pence has compared the US trajectory to Italy's, the worst-hit country in Europe with the highest global death toll.
Mr Pence said the latest models for the outbreak suggested that Italy might be the country most comparable to the US.
Washington has already warned that up to a quarter of a million Americans could die in the pandemic, even if strict social distancing was practised.
New York remains the country's worst hit state. Sobering pictures from New York City have shown bodies being loaded onto refrigerated morgue trucks outside hospitals.
Other clusters are also flaring up in places like New Orleans and Detroit. In Connecticut, a six-month-old has died from Covid-19, believed to be America’s youngest victim of the virus so far.
Karishma Vaswani
Asia business correspondent
Singapore confirmed its fourth coronavirus death on Thursday. Four deaths, out of a 1,000 cases: those numbers mean that the death rate is relatively low compared to other countries.
Still, any death is one too many, and Singaporeans who have until now been largely reassured by the government's handling of this pandemic are starting to feel nervous.
Bar and nightclub closures, social distancing measures and fines for not working at home if your company can have kicked in over the past couple of weeks. But some people aren’t paying attention and still going out for what officials here call "non-essential" outings.
Up until now the key concern for Singapore was imported cases - but in the last few days that’s changed, and now local transmissions are the problem.
The government says the next two weeks are critical for Singapore to contain community spread. Otherwise, a lockdown hasn’t been ruled out.
Frances Mao
Sydney
Good morning from Sydney. Australia's cases have risen by over 300 in the past day to more than 5,000. There have been 23 deaths in total.
There were 884 deaths in the United States linked to the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University said on Wednesday evening.
It is a record number of deaths in a single day for the US.
Globally, the country with the most deaths in a day was Italy with 969 on 27 March, reported AFP.
The number of reported cases in the US rose by 25,200 over the past 24 hours to 213,372, according to the university's tracker.
There have been over 4,600 deaths in the US since the outbreak began.
The White House coronavirus task force this week issued a projection suggesting that, even with mitigation measures, the US could see between 100,000 to 240,000 deaths from the virus.
Welcome back to our live coverage of the global virus pandemic as Asia wakes up to a new day.
Here's a rundown of the situation this Thursday morning.