Howard Johnson
Philippines Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Filipinos are proud that their country has the highest Christian population in South East Asia.

More than three-quarters of its population are Roman Catholic and on big occasions like Good Friday, hundreds of thousands normally flock to churches for special services.

But with strict quarantine measures in place, mass gatherings are prohibited.

In recent weeks, images have appeared of small gatherings divided with yellow tape to ensure social distancing. Bishops are also taking to social media to broadcast services across the country.

In an online service streamed last night, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David compared Covid-19 to the devil.

“Once it gets into us, the battle becomes more difficult,” said Bishop David. “A ventilator is needed. In the spiritual virus, the Holy Spirit is the ventilator.”

There are 4,076 virus cases and 203 deaths in the Philippines, say local reports.

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It's an anxious time for all of us, but especially for new and expecting mothers.

This hospital in Thailand is taking an extra protective measure, giving newborn babies mini face shields.

Pictures from the Praram 9 Hospital in Bangkok show them swaddled in their blankets while nurses attempt to put on the plastic shields.

There were 54 new virus cases and two new deaths recorded in Thailand on Thursday, bringing the total death toll to 32 and confirmed cases at 2,423.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Are you still unsure about what exactly the coronavirus is or how it affects you?

Our health correspondent tells you everything you need to know - in just one minute!

Aparna Alluri
BBC News, Delhi

Good morning from Delhi, where the BBC online team is in a 21-day nation-wide lockdown and working from home like many of you.

Despite that, India recorded its biggest spike in a single day yet with more than 750 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday.

Here are some of the other updates we are watching from the region:

• Bangladesh has locked down a district that houses more than a million Rohingya refugees in camps, following a sharp rise in cases
• Pakistan, whose tally of positive cases has crossed 4,500, has launched a relief package worth more than $860m (£693m) to pay its poor and daily-wage earners a monthly stipend

• Hundreds of workers from Nepal continue to be stranded at the border with India, which has closed after both countries imposed a lockdown.

There has been a second death from Covid-19 in New Zealand, the country said on Friday.

The woman in her 90s was at the Burwood hospital in Christchurch when she died. She had been one of 20 residents transferred out of a rest home - which was later found to be the city's first cluster, say local reports.

New Zealand recorded its first fatality in late March, but has managed to keep the coronavirus spread contained so far.

The country reported 44 new cases today - this is up from a low of 29 cases yesterday. Overall, there are 1,283 cases in the country.

Anna Jones
BBC News, Singapore

Image source, Reuters

Singapore had been a master class in how to handle the Covid-19 outbreak.

But in recent days, the number of confirmed cases has rocketed. Thursday brought the highest number of new infections to date at 287.

Mostly, these are coming from densely-packed migrant worker accommodation.

Having avoided it for months, Singapore is now effectively under a partial lockdown - though it's officially called a "circuit-breaker".

Experts say one of the world's wealthiest nations - which seemed to be doing everything right - has important lessons for poorer countries, and there's still time to put them in place.

• Read more here

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here is a quick glance at what you need to know from Asia:

• South Korea on Friday reported 27 new cases for the past day, a new low since daily cases peaked at more than 900 in late February
• China says it will put more resources into its land borders to stop the virus from being reimported
• In Japan, Tokyo's Disneyland will extend its closure after authorities declared a state of emergency for the capital. Despite social distancing measures in place, the number of new cases continues to rise.
• Indonesia reported its biggest daily jump in deaths on Thursday, with another 40 people passing away, bringing the overall toll to 280.
• Singapore has seen another spike with 287 new positive tests, a sudden jump the city says is due to extended testing in workers' dormitories
• Thailand has banned the sale of alcohol for 10 days starting this Friday, hoping to keep people sober and responsible during the Songkran water festival

Image source, Getty Images

Clothing factory workers and owners in developing Asia are struggling to keep operations open with shops closed amid coronavirus lockdowns.

Vijay Mahtaney employs a total of 18,000 workers in three countries - Bangladesh, India and Jordan. But the outbreak has forced him to shut down the majority of the business, with just one factory, in Dhaka, partially operational.

Coronavirus lockdowns aren't the only thing affecting their ability to pay their workers. They say their main problem is unreasonable demands from big clients - mainly in the US and the UK.

• Read more here.

A new film explores race and fear in the age of the coronavirus. Watch the BBC's Tom Brook interview the director.

It's the start of the school year in South Korea.

The teacher's in place, ready to start her lesson. She begins by taking roll call - no one in the classroom responds. Instead, voices chime out from a laptop.

This is how classes are now taking place at one school in South Korea.

"It can never be like a proper class, but in a situation like this, it's the best option," Miss Ha, head of the English department at the Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies told the BBC's Laura Bicker.

Read more from Laura on this here.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved out of intensive care but remains in a London hospital for his coronavirus infection.

According to the government Johnson "is in extremely good spirits".

"The prime minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery," a spokesman said.

It is not clear yet when he will be able to return to full time work. The UK government is urging people not to ignore the coronavirus lockdown over the Easter holiday weekend.

A row has broken out between the chief of the WHO and Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen.

WHO's Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had been subjected to racist comments and death threats - and that the abuse had originated from Taiwan.

But President Tsai said Taiwan was opposed to any form of discrimination.

This tension between the WHO and Taiwan is not new - Taiwan has long called to be included in the WHO.

WHO membership is only given to countries that are members of the United Nations, external- which does not recognise Taiwan, which means the island has been excluded from emergency meetings and briefings.

"For years, we have been excluded from international organisations, and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated," said Ms Tsai, according to Reuters.

Read more about Taiwan and the WHO here.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The number of people worldwide who have tested positive has just hit 1.6 million, up from 1.5 the day before. Just as a reminder: on Friday last week, that number was at just under a million.

The worst-hit countries currently are the US (465,329 cases), Spain (153,222), Italy (143,626), France (118,783) and Germany (118,235), China (82,885), Iran (66,220) and the UK (65,872).

China is a bit of an exception here. While it's the country where the pandemic started, more than 77,600 people have already recovered there. Globally, some 354,000 people have recovered.

Overall, it's important to remember that all those stats (collected by the Johns Hopkins University, external) are only the confirmed cases and depend on the level of testing. The actual number is thought to be higher.

Passover, Easter, Vaisakhi and Ramadan. These are just some major religious festivals that are taking place in April.

But with lockdowns in place across almost the entire world - how are people still supposed to celebrate?

Here are some tips:

Yvette Tan
BBC News

Singapore has reported its biggest spike in infections yet.

There was once a time where it looked like the country had its virus spread well under control, but yesterday's 287 new infections show that this no longer the case.

A large majority of them have been linked to foreign worker dormitories - home to mostly male migrant workers from countries like India and Bangladesh.

Most of these workers typically share rooms in tightly packed quarters, eating and sleeping together with hundreds of their colleagues.

Around 20,000 workers in two main dormitory "clusters" have now been quarantined. And authorities are working to move healthy foreign workers out of their dorms and into hotels, army camps and public flats to prevent them from being infected.

There are now 1,910 confirmed cases and six deaths in the country.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, AFP

The United States has renewed its criticism of the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing the body of not having warned the global community early enough.

The US accuses the WHO of putting politics before health by ignoring early warnings by Taiwan which due to pressure from China is not a member of the global body.

President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold funding from the body.

The US is the biggest overall contributor to the WHO with more than $400m (£350m) in 2019 while China's contribution was about $44 million.

Yet Beijing has contributed more than the US to the WHO's specific coronavirus appeal so far.

Image source, Reuters

The state of New York has recorded another 799 deaths linked to Covid-19, that's once again the highest number of deaths for the state in a single day since the start of the outbreak in the US.

The state is by far the worst hit in the United States and Governor Andrew Cuomo said he'd had to call in extra funeral directors to cope with the crisis.

But the number of patients newly admitted to a hospital in the state dropped for a second day, to 200. Cuomo said it was a sign that social distancing was working and warned people not to relax their adherence to the guidelines.

Overall, the US has seen more than 16,500 coronavirus deaths, and currently has more than 430,000 confirmed infections.

Image source, Get

It's a Good Friday celebration unlike any other.

The pews will be empty, parish doors closed, and there will be no hymns in the air - on a day that's supposed to mark the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.

But that doesn't mean services aren't going ahead. In the Vatican, events will be live-streamed for a global audience, and then archived for later viewing.

Thousands of churches around the world are doing the same. In Singapore, some pastors have begun pre-recording their Good Friday messages.

In Australia, the St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney will additionally stream an Easter Vigil Mass as well as an Easter Sunday Mass which will be broadcast live on TV.

"Never before in modern times has the Catholic Church here been so stripped of our rich liturgical traditions," said the Archbishop of Singapore William Goh. "While it is painful. I believe this is a period for us to dig deeper into our faith."

Image source, Getty Images

China has reported 42 new virus cases - of which 38 were imported - bringing the total number of cases to 81,907.

One death was also reported in Hubei, where the virus epicentre of Wuhan is located. A total of 3,336 people in the country have died from the virus.

Good morning from the BBC’s bureau in Singapore and welcome to our rolling coverage of the virus pandemic.

Here’s a rundown of the latest global developments.

• It’s Good Friday but millions of Christians will have to mark the day at home, under lockdown
• In the US, New York state has seen another increase in deaths, although falling hospital admissions do give some hope
• In China, new cases are largely imported - and the number is dropping after the country tightened its borders
• Japan continues a steady rise of infections, showing no sign of slowing despite a recent state of emergency
• The US has continued its criticism of the WHO - which rejects claims it failed to warn the world in time