Latest updates from around the world as death toll reaches more than 32,000

Covid-19 continues its relentless spread, as the daily number of infections worldwide continues to jump sharply.

World Health Organisation figures show the increase in new infections is now about 70,000 per day - up from about 50,000 just days ago. More than 32,000 people have died worldwide.

Here is the latest on the situation from around the world:

RUSSIA

Latest updates from around the world as death toll reaches more than 32,000

President Vladimir Putin said the country has managed to slow down the spread of coronavirus but should be prepared for contagions to quickly grow.

Russia has been relatively lightly hit by the outbreak, with 1,836 cases and nine deaths. But the number of new cases has mushroomed, forcing the authorities to brace up for the worst.

Mr Putin hailed a lockdown declared on Monday in Moscow and warned that other regions should prepare to take similar steps.

Speaking to his envoys in Russian provinces in a video call, Mr Putin said they will bear personal responsibility for the availability of hospital beds, lung ventilators and other essential equipment. He said the authorities need to call professors of medical universities and students to help deal with the outbreak.

The Russian leader also talked about the need to counter "provocations, stupid gossip and malicious lies" about the outbreak.

TOKYO

The Tokyo Olympics will open next year in the same time slot scheduled for this year's games.

Tokyo organisers said the opening ceremony will take place on July 23 2021 - almost exactly one year after the games were due to start this year.

"The schedule for the games is key to preparing for the games," Tokyo organising committee president Yoshiro Mori said. "This will only accelerate our progress."

The rescheduled closing ceremony will take place on August 8 2021.

ISRAEL

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will enter self-quarantine after an aide tested positive for the virus.

His office said he has undergone a test and will remain in quarantine until he receives results or is cleared by the Health Ministry and his personal doctor.

His close advisers are also isolating.

GREECE

Greece's prime minister is calling on all his cabinet ministers of his centre-right New Democracy party to donate 50% of their salaries over the next two months to the fight against the spread of the new coronavirus.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the country's politicians "must stand in the front line of solidarity".

He said the money generated from the "symbolic gesture" would be deposited in a special account set up to tackle Covid-19.

"We are all equal in the face of the health threat. But in the fight against it, each one of us must contribute according to their means," Mr Mitsotakis wrote in his post.

"I am sure that the other (political) parties will also follow this choice."

BRUSSELS

The European Council says that EU member states have suspended airport slot requirements until October 24 in a move aimed at easing the impact of the coronavirus crisis on aviation and helping airlines adjust to the falling demand caused by the epidemics.

Under EU regulations, airlines are subject to a "use it or lose it rule" and are required to operate 80% of their allocated slots, the right of an aircraft to take off or land at a congested airport at a certain time of the day. If they do not abide by this rule, they face losing their right to the slot.

"It seems clear now that this crisis will not be over very soon. Waiving the 'use it or lose it' rule until October will help mitigate the heavy economic impact on airlines and give them certainty over the whole summer season," said Oleg Butkovic, the Croatian minister for the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this month that abandoning the rule temporarily will not only help the aviation industry, but also have a positive impact on the environment.

"It will also decrease emissions by avoiding the so-called ghost flights, when airlines fly almost empty planes simply to keep their slots," she said.

PAKISTAN

Pakistani health officials have confirmed eight deaths from coronavirus, raising nationwide fatalities to 21.

It was the biggest jump in deaths in the past 24 hours, which rose from 13 on Sunday to 21 on Monday.

Authorities have so far confirmed 1,658 cases, and at least 10 patients are listed as being in a critical condition in hospital.

The increase in cases and deaths happened despite a nationwide lockdown and the closure of Pakistan's borders with neighbouring China, India, Iran and Afghanistan. Authorities are trying to provide food to needy and poor people who have been unemployed and badly affected by the nationwide lockdown.

AFRICA

Cases across Africa rose closer to 5,000 on Monday morning as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 4,760 cases in 46 countries, including 146 deaths.

South Africa has the most cases with 1,280, but testing shortages and backlogs in that country and others could mean that the real numbers are higher.

Zimbabwe's three-week lockdown began on Monday and more cities across the continent were shut down.

THAILAND

Thailand's popular resort island of Phuket has closed all land and sea entry and exit points until April 30 to try to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana said a ban on air travel will start on April 10. Phuket attracts many foreign tourists whose travel plans have been disrupted by the widespread cancellation of international flights.

Thailand registered 39 million international arrivals last year, with Phuket a top destination for tourists, hosting more than 10 million visitors annually, including Thais.

Phuket's land travel ban, which became effective on Monday, makes exceptions for transport of food and essential items, emergency vehicles and vehicles carrying publications.

Ships are banned from entering and leaving Phuket's international port, with exceptions for cargo ships, which can unload their cargoes but not allow crews to disembark before leaving as soon as possible.

IRAN

Prisoners in southern Iran broke cameras and caused other damage during a riot, state media reported on Monday, the latest in a series of violent prison disturbances in the country, which is battling the most severe coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East.

Iran had temporarily released around 100,000 prisoners as part of measures taken to contain the pandemic, leaving an estimated 50,000 people behind bars, including violent offenders and so-called "security cases", often dual nationals and others with Western ties.

Families of detainees and Western nations say Iran is holding those prisoners for political reasons or to use them as bargaining chips in negotiations.

The state-run Irna news agency quoted Governor Enayatollah Rahimi, of the southern Fars province, as saying a riot broke out at Adel Abad Prison, the main jail in the city of Shiraz. He said prisoners broke cameras and caused other damage in two sections housing violent criminals. No-one was injured and no inmates escaped.

JORDAN

Jordan has begun releasing thousands of travellers who had been quarantined for the last two weeks at five-star hotels on the Dead Sea in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

More than 4,200 Jordanians and 1,500 foreigners have been held at the hotels. The Jordanians will be sent home via Uber and are requested to remain at home for another 14 days.

Travellers with other nationalities will be released on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear where they would go, but authorities said they would be in contact with their embassies and the Foreign Ministry.

Jordan has reported 259 infections and three deaths from the Covid-19 illness caused by the virus. At least 18 people have recovered.

EUROPE

Toyota said on Monday that its car plants in Europe will halt production, at least until April 20, because of the new coronavirus outbreak.

Its European factories are in the UK, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey and Portugal.

All of the company's plants in China resumed normal production on Monday, spokeswoman Kayo Doi said.

CHINA

China's National Health Commission reported 31 new Covid-19 cases on Monday - only one of them a domestic infection, with all the others in individuals recently arrived from abroad.

As outbreaks have surged in the United States and the rest of the world, China's reported cases have dwindled four months after the then-unidentified illness first emerged in the central province of Hubei.

The country is now easing the last of the controls that confined tens of millions of people to their homes while they sought to contain the spread of the virus. At the peak of China's restrictions, some 700 million people were in areas covered by orders or official requests to stay home and limit activity.

The focus of China's prevention measures has shifted to overseas arrivals, who have made up the bulk of new infections for more than two weeks. Virtually all foreigners were barred from entering the country from Saturday.

NEPAL

Nepal's government has extended the nationwide lockdown by a week in an attempt to stop the coronavirus spread.

A government notice said the lockdown imposed since last week would now last until April 7, shutting down businesses and major markets, and stopping transport. Flights are also halted until April 15.

A flight has been arranged to take stranded Americans back home on Tuesday. Another flight is planned for Wednesday to repatriate Australians to Sydney.

The government also banned imports of alcohol, luxury vehicles and gold while ordering rent and school fees to be waived for a month.

Nepal has reported five confirmed cases, including one person who has recovered from it.

PANAMA

The Panama Canal Authority said two cruise ships carrying more than 1,800 passengers and crew, including some infected with Covid-19, has begun transiting the canal.

The announcement came after the passengers on the Zaandam and its sister ship, the Rotterdam, received mixed signals about their fate.

While Panamanian officials said they would let the ships through the canal, Holland America Lines said it had not been given official permission and the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said he did not want it to dock near his city as planned, at least without extensive precautions.

On Sunday evening, the canal authority released a statement saying the ships had started transiting the canal.

Holland America Lines said on Friday that four people on board the Zaandam had died - though the cause was not reported - and at least two had tested positive for Covid-19. It has been at sea since leaving Argentina on March 7.

AUSTRALIA

Paramedics evacuated three crew members from a cruise ship that has become Australia's largest source of the new coronavirus.

New South Wales state chief health officer Kerry Chant said on Monday that the three patients are not Australian citizens and were taken from the Ruby Princess to a Sydney hospital with the help of water police.

Authorities have been criticised for allowing 2,700 passengers and crew to disembark when the ship docked in Sydney on March 19 despite Covid-19 test results remaining unknown.

Many of the passengers travelled interstate and overseas before the health risk was known.

More than 300 people have contracted the virus from the ship, including two women, aged 77 and 75, who died.

More than 1,100 crew remain on board in quarantine.

Ruby Princess's owner, Carnival, said in a statement that the three crew members were suffering acute respiratory symptoms.