Spain – the European country with the highest number of deaths after Italy – reported its lowest daily death toll in more than five weeks on Sunday, with 288 new fatalities. On Sunday, children could go outside for the first time in six weeks.
In Switzerland, garden centres and hairdressers will open their doors on Monday, followed by schools and shops selling items other than food in two weeks’ time.
But gatherings of more than five people remain banned until 8 June, and it is unclear when bars and restaurants will be allowed to reopen.
In neighbouring Germany, facemasks have become mandatory in public transport. The new rules have created huge demand for the product and, as a result, a growing shortage, so the government is planning to manufacture millions of masks in Germany.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to work on Monday, after recovering from the virus. Mr Johnson spent a week in hospital, including three nights in intensive care, after being admitted on 5 April.
In the US, where more than 54,000 deaths and over 940,000 cases have been confirmed, Tennessee, Colorado and Montana joined four other states in allowing certain businesses to reopen.
Eight states led by Republican governors – Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming – never issued mandatory stay-at-home orders.
On Sunday for the second day in a row, the White House did not host a coronavirus briefing. And, in a series of tweets, President Donald Trump claimed he was being misrepresented by the media and not given credit for his work.
The president was heavily criticised after suggesting at Thursday’s briefing that disinfectant could potentially be used as a treatment for the virus. He later said he was being sarcastic.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has extended the ban on public gathering by two more weeks to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The directive comes into effect at 01:00 GMT on Monday.
The president last week lifted a three-week lockdown that had been imposed on various parts of the country.
Schools in Kenya are to remain closed for another month as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus, the country’s health ministry has tweeted.
The East African nation has had a partial lockdown in place for several weeks, with travel in and out of major cities banned.
Schools were closed in mid-March and had been due to reopen on 4 May.
