As the US death toll goes beyond 100,000, the question is whether the country could have done anything different to contain the virus.

Having watched Asian and European countries struggle against Covid-19, the US was slow to ramp up testing and order its residents to stay at home.

Earlier this months, we looked at this crucial time period and what exactly was done or not done to prevent the outbreak.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides an age breakdown of Covid-19 deaths in the US., external

The following data is from January to 20 May, and covers almost 70,000 Covid-19 deaths. It shows the hardest-hit age group is the over-85s.

It is important to note the average age of Covid-19 deaths does vary from country to country.

According to Johns Hopkins University: "15% of Covid-19 deaths in Brazil have been in patients younger than 50 years old, and nearly a quarter of deaths in Mexico have been between the ages of 25 and 49 years."

Image source, New York Times

As the US passes 100,000 deaths linked to Covid-19, the New York Times' front page from Sunday is still being widely shared online.

As the death toll approached 100,000, the paper printed the names and basic details of 1,000 people who died with the virus in the US. Read the online version here., external

"Numbers alone cannot possibly measure the impact of the coronavirus on America...none were mere numbers," the paper said.

The Brazilian paper O Globo did something similar on 10 May after Brazilian deaths passed 10,000. Since then, the death toll has passed 25,000.

Image source, O Globo

South Korea has reported 79 new virus infections for the past day, the largest daily increase since 5 April.

At least 68 of the new cases were local transmissions and and come as the country struggles with a growing cluster linked to a logistics centre.

Around 69 cases have been traced to that new cluster so far. Over the past weeks, South Korea was already battling another cluster, linked to the capital's nightlife district.

The country was the first hotspot of the virus outside China but had managed to bring new infections down to a single-digit trickle before the new clusters emerged.

Simon Atkinson
BBC News, Sydney

With New Zealand’s borders shut for the foreseeable future, a judge has delayed setting a date for the sentencing of the Christchurch mosque attacker.

In late March, Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 49 counts of manslaughter and a terror charge. But at the time of the pleas, New Zealand was in level four lockdown with great uncertainty over when sentencing could be held.

With restrictions now eased considerably, most New Zealand-based relatives of victims and others impacted by the March 15, 2019 attacks will be able to attend in person. But Judge Justice Cameron Mander has acknowledged that some families are overseas and will be unable to get to New Zealand.

The court will now wait until at least 13 June before deciding on a sentencing date. In the interim it will ascertain how many victims families are overseas - and try to gauge how satisfied they’d be with using video conferencing technology.

Judge Mander said the sentencing date decision would “take into account the need to bring finality and closure to the majority of victims who are resident in New Zealand and the extent to which it may be possible for those unable to attend in person because of the pandemic to participate remotely”.

The death toll in the US became the highest in the world in early April and has risen dramatically since then.

President Donald Trump initially said "50 to 60,000" people could die during the outbreak but in May he said he was hopeful the toll would be lower than 100,000.

That benchmark has now been hit though and there are still about 1,000 deaths a day on average.

We've taken a look at how US figures compare to other countries around the world and how the situation could develop over the next few months.

Read the full piece from Mike Hills on our Visual Journalism team here.

In the UK and beyond, professional and Olympic athletes have been striving to maintain their strict training regimes, whilst adhering to lockdown restrictions.

Click here to see the full gallery.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

One of Australia's most popular sports - the National Rugby League - is resuming play today with a game between a NSW and Queensland team.

Fans are very happy to have the sport back on their screens - even though they won't be able to attend games for a while under restrictions.

It's the first professional sporting competition to restart in Australia, and one of the only contact sports in the world. As one commentator described it to the BBC: "They've got to sweat all over each other, wrestle all the time; bursting breath".

But officials say that there are tough restrictions in place - and players and officials have to self-isolate outside of training and games.

Image source, Getty Images

And the nation has recorded no new cases for a sixth consecutive day. However, one 98-year-old woman in Auckland has died bringing the toll to 22 cases.

The last time there were signs of community transmission in the country was also more than a month ago, said director general of health Ashley Bloomfield.

From tomorrow, New Zealand will allow gatherings to increase from 10 to 100 people.

It has also indicated it may open up its borders to Australia in July. A tentative plan is due next week.

Jon Sopel
BBC North America Editor

Image source, Getty Images

It's an uncanny and almost tragically perfect piece of symmetry.

The number of US servicemen and women killed in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan - over an aggregate 44 years of fighting - is almost exactly the same as the number of Americans who've now lost their lives to coronavirus in just three months of America's war against the hidden enemy, as Donald Trump likes to refer to Covid-19.

Now I know you could replace the Covid-19 deaths with US cancer deaths or road crash victims and come up with similarly stark or perhaps even more dramatic statistics.

But sadly, fatal automobile accidents and terminal tumours have always been with us. A global pandemic has not.

And out of nowhere 100,000 American families are, this spring, mourning loved ones, whose lives have been cut short by this virus.

US deaths in conflict:

• Korean War (1950-1953): 36,500
• Vietnam War (1961-1975): 58,000
• Iraq War (2003-2011): 4,500
• Afghanistan (2001-today): 2,000
• Covid-19 (Feb 2020- today): 100,000

Read more from our North America editor here

Image source, Reuters

The US has passed 100,000 deaths in the coronavirus outbreak in less than four months.

That's more fatalities than any other country, while its 1.69 million confirmed infections account for about 30% of all cases worldwide.

The country's death toll stands at 100,276, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University.

But on a per capita basis the US ranks ninth in its mortality rate behind the likes of Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and Ireland, according to the university, external.

Globally there have been 5.6 million people recorded as infected and 354,983 deaths since the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Welcome back to our rolling coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. We begin with the grim news that more than 100,000 people have now lost their lives in the United States. Our correspondents and reporters will bring you analysis and insight into how we got here and what happens next.

Here are the other updates from around the world:

• A new cluster of infections in South Korea has been linked to a logistics centre outside Seoul
• Japan's government has approved a massive stimulus package to stop the pandemic pushing the world's third-largest economy deeper into recession
• The EU has proposed a recovery fund worth €750bn (£670bn; $825bn). The package of grants and loans will be distributed among member states to help tackle the "unprecedented crisis"
• Cyprus has pledged to cover the holiday costs of anyone who tests positive for the virus after travelling there