People applaud from their houses in support of the medical staff that are working on the COVID-19 outbreak in Barcelona, Spain, March 29, 2020. (EMILIO MORENATTI / AP)

WASHINGTON / PANAMA CITY / JOHANNESBURG / LAGOS / MOSCOW / MONTEVIDEO / LONDON / LA PAZ / ROME / MADRID / AMSTERDAM / DUBLIN / KHARTOUM / LJUBLJANA / PARIS / ABIDJAN / KIGALI / BERLIN / BRUSSELS / GENEVA / ZURICH / VIENNA - Spain's health emergency chief Fernando Simon, who leads the country's response to the coronavirus epidemic and maintains regular contact with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, has tested positive for the virus, health official Maria Jose Sierra said on Monday.

Speaking at a daily news conference where she replaced Simon, Sierra said the trend in daily infections had changed since the introduction of lockdown measures, with new infections now rising at roughly 12 percent a day, compared with around 20 percent before March 25.

Spain's total number of coronavirus cases rose to 85,195 on Monday from 78,797 on Sunday, the country's health ministry said, as the infections surpassed those reported in China, at 81,470 according to the latest data.

Some 12,298 health workers have tested positive for coronavirus in Spain, deputy health emergency chief Maria Jose Sierra said at a news conference on Monday.

That is equivalent to around 14 percent of the country’s confirmed cases, roughly the same proportion as last week.

Spain reported 812 coronavirus deaths on Monday, a slight decline on the previous day’s toll. The death toll from the virus in Spain rose to 7,340 on Monday from 6,528 on Sunday, the ministry said.

Spain prepared to enter its third week under near-total lockdown on Sunday, as the government approved a strengthening of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Global virus toll tops 30,000

The global death toll from COVID-19 has climbed to 30,105 as of 18:00 CET (1600 GMT) Sunday, according to the situation dashboard by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The death toll in Europe has risen to over 21,000 out of more than 360,000 confirmed cases.

A total of 638,146 coronavirus cases of COVID-19 have been reported globally, among which 555,790 cases were reported outside China. The United States has reported 103,321 infections, according to WHO's dashboard.

Italy, Spain and Germany - the severely affected countries with over 50,000 confirmed cases each - have seen nearly 220,000 infections in total as of Sunday afternoon.

A total of 148 countries and regions have seen local transmission of COVID-19, according to the WHO dashboard.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, March 29, 2020. (PATRICK SEMANSKY / AP)US

US President Donald Trump on Sunday extended his stay-at-home guidelines until the end of April, dropping a hotly criticized plan to get the economy up and running by mid-April after a top medical adviser said more than 100,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus outbreak.

The reversal by Trump, which he said would be disclosed in greater detail on Tuesday, came as the US now has more than 142,000 confirmed cases, with the death toll currently standing at 2,489, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

"The peak, the highest point of death rate, is likely to hit in two weeks," Trump said at a coronavirus briefing in the White House Rose Garden, flanked by top advisers and business leaders. 

ALSO READ: Trump stops short of quarantine threat against NY, NJ and CT

Earlier on Sunday, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN that the pandemic could ultimately kill between 100,000 and 200,000 people in the United States if mitigation was not successful.

New York state on Sunday reported nearly 60,000 cases and a total of 965 deaths, up 237 in the past 24 hours. 

Trump said that the country was stepping up developing treatments for COVID-19 patients, including conducting experiments on the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and the use of a blood-related therapy.

The Health and Human Services Department accepted 30 million doses of the drug, hydroxychloroquine, from Novartis AG’s Sandoz unit, Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement late Sunday.

The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorization to hydroxychloroquine and a related malaria drug, chloroquine, according to the statement. 

A man walk alone on the promenade under the FDR Drive in Lower Manhattan, New York, March 29, 2020. (MARY ALTAFFER / AP)

Argentina

Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez said on Sunday that the country would extend a mandatory nationwide quarantine period until the middle of April in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The tough measure was initially until the end of March. It will now be in place until the end of the Easter Holy Week, Fernandez said, which would mean it would be lifted on April 12.

The country has recorded 820 coronavirus cases with 20 deaths, although the increase in cases has shown some signs of slowing in recent days.

Venezuela

Venezuela should form an emergency government made up of the opposition and some members of the ruling Socialist Party to receive foreign aid needed to confront the coronavirus outbreak, opposition leader Juan Guaido said in an interview on Sunday.

President Nicolas Maduro has been broadly discredited among Western nations after his disputed 2018 re-election, leaving few foreign financiers willing to provide funds to improve a health care system decimated by years of economic crisis.

The emergency government would not include Maduro or other top allies, Guaido said, a group of whom were indicted by the US Department of Justice on Thursday on accusations of narco-terrorism. He declined to reveal the names of potential participants.

Venezuela as of Sunday had reported 129 cases of coronavirus and 3 deaths, and the country remains under quarantine ordered by Maduro to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Italy

Italy's government will "inevitably" extend beyond April 3 the containment measures it had approved to stem the coronavirus outbreak in the country, the regional affairs minister said on Sunday.

The number of deaths in Italy fell for the second consecutive day on Sunday, with the Civil Protection department saying that 756 people had died in the last day, bringing the total to 10,779 - more than a third of all deaths from the virus worldwide.

There were 133 fewer deaths than the 889 deaths reported on Saturday, when the numbers fell from a record high of 919 on Friday.

While the total number of confirmed cases rose to 97,689 on Sunday from a previous 92,472, it was the lowest daily rise in new cases since Wednesday.

The daily deaths in the northern region of Lombardy, the area that has borne the brunt of the emergency, were down sharply from Saturday's tally.

A flutist plays music on her balcony in Erfurt, central Germany, March 29, 2020. (JENS MEYER / AP)

Germany

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany has risen to 57,298 and 455 people have died of the disease, statistics from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

Cases rose by 4,751 compared with the previous day while the death toll climbed by 66, the statistics showed.

The highest number of cases, 13,989, are in the southern state of Bavaria, where the disease first appeared in Germany.

France

France used two high-speed trains and a German military plane to move more than three dozen critically ill coronavirus patients on Sunday to ease the pressure on overwhelmed hospitals in eastern France.

The outbreak has infected 2,599 more people and killed 292 others in France, General Director of Health Jerome Salomon said.

President Emmanuel Macron has deployed the army to help to move the sick while a field hospital has been set up in the eastern city of Mulhouse.

Paramedics in hazmat suits loaded several patients on life-support into a German Airbus A400M aircraft in Strasbourg for transfer across the border to the German city of Ulm.

Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday secured the right to rule by decree after his Fidesz party passed a law in parliament granting him open-ended extra powers to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

Orban has said the epidemic was expected to peak in Hungary in June or July and flagged economic stimulus to be announced next month

The legislation extending a state of emergency has triggered criticism from opposition parties, human rights groups and the Council of Europe, Europe’s main rights forum, as it contains no timeframe.

It also imposes jail time of up to five years on those hindering measures aimed at containing the spread of the virus and on those spreading false information related to the crisis.

Rights groups said this could be used to muzzle journalists.

The government has rejected the accusations, saying the law would empower the government to adopt only measures that were necessary to fight the virus, and parliament could revoke the special powers. Fidesz has a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Orban has said the epidemic was expected to peak in Hungary in June or July and flagged economic stimulus to be announced next month. Hungary has 447 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and 15 deaths.

Poland

Poland expects rapid growth in coronavirus infections, Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski said on Monday, as the country braces for new restrictions aimed at curbing the pandemic.

As of Monday, 1,984 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the country of 38 million, while 26 people had died, according to the health ministry.

“We are entering a new phase of the epidemic ... We are expecting a very rapid growth in the number of infections in the coming weeks. This number will be rising at an exponential pace,” Szumowski told news conference.

Szumowski said further restrictions on people’s movements were needed as earlier measures were not sufficient to contain the virus. He did not say what the new restrictions would be.

Poland has shuttered schools, theaters and cinemas and limited public gatherings. It has also closed its borders until mid-April, told Poles only to leave their homes for essential purposes and announced measures to support the economy.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is expected to announce further restrictions, an aide said.

UK

The coronavirus outbreak at the heart of the UK government spread on Monday with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, self-isolating with symptoms just days after the British leader himself tested positive.

READ MORE: British PM Johnson, health chief test positive for coronavirus

A Downing Street spokesman said Cummings, one of the most powerful men in the government, had developed symptoms of COVID-19 over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Neil Ferguson, a professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, said that the coronavirus epidemic in the United Kingdom was showing signs of slowing and antibody tests could be ready in days.

On Sunday, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries said that Britons may be subject to some form of lockdown measures for six months or longer, warning the country faces a second wave of coronavirus if they are lifted too quickly.

As of 0800 GMT on March 29, a total of 127,737 people in the UK have been tested, of which 108,215 were confirmed negative and 19,522 were confirmed positive.

A further 159 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in England, the National Health Service said on Monday, taking the total number of confirmed deaths in the country to 1,284.

Meanwhile, Britain has ordered more than 10,000 ventilators from a consortium of leading aerospace, engineering and Formula One racing companies, with production to begin this week.

The UK, which initially only had 5,000 ventilators available in its National Health Service, has been scrambling to secure more ventilators.

A red phone box stands in an empty street in Westminster, in London, March 29, 2020. (ALBERTO PEZZALI / AP)

Netherlands

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands passed 10,000 on Sunday, health authorities said, adding that the rise in deaths and hospitalizations continued to show signs of slowing.

In its daily update, the Netherlands' National Institute for Health (RIVM) said confirmed cases rose by 1,104 to 10,866, an 11 percent increase. There were 132 new deaths, bringing the number of fatalities to 771.

Ireland

Ireland's government is to roll out a voluntary phone-tracking app to alert users if someone they have been in contact with develops COVID-19, its health service said on Sunday, two weeks before the pandemic is expected to peak in the country.

Ireland has so far reported a total of 2,415 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 36 deaths. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday ordered citizens to stay home until April 12.

The health executive, which on Sunday unveiled plans to turn a 750-room hotel into an isolation facility, said it was planning on the assumption that the virus' impact on Ireland will peak between April 10 and 14.

South Africa

South Africa's confirmed cases of the coronavirus increased by 93 to 1,280 people on Sunday and the death toll doubled to two, the Health Ministry said, as the country entered the third day of a national lockdown and officials announced new measures to deal with the economic fallout.

Treasury officials said on Sunday they were considering approaching the International Monetary Fund for emergency funds to fight the outbreak, the largest so far on the continent and which some experts fear may overwhelm the already stretched health system.

The Treasury said it was also introducing a tax subsidy of 500 rand (US$28) a month per worker to employers for the next four months to cushion financial losses suffered by firms from the coronavirus.

Police cars stand guard in an empty Red square, with St. Basil's Cathedral, center, and Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower, right, in Moscow, Russia, March 30, 2020. (PAVEL GOLOVKIN / AP)Russia

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin asked regional governors to consider introducing a partial lockdown to halt the spread of coronavirus after Russia on Monday recorded its biggest one-day rise in cases for the sixth day in a row.

Russia's official nationwide tally of coronavirus cases rose by 302 on Monday, taking the total to 1,836. Nine people across Russia have died, the authorities say.

Authorities in the Russian capital announced a partial lockdown, ordering residents to stay at home from Monday in their toughest move yet to slow the spread of coronavirus after the number of official cases in Moscow passed the 1,000 mark.

Muscovites will only be allowed to go out to buy food or medicines at their nearest shop, get urgent medical treatment, walk the dog, or take out the bins, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Sudan

Sudan's Health Ministry on Sunday registered the second death due related from COVID-19.

"The death occurred for the case No. 6, which was announced earlier on Sunday," said the ministry in a statement.

The country reported its first virus death on March 13 and now has a total of six confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Ivory Coast

Cote d'Ivoire reported Sunday the first death due to COVID-19 after the detection of 25 new cases, which brings the total number of COVID-19 cases to 165 in the country, according to the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene.

Angola

Angola registered its first two deaths caused by COVID-19, Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta announced at a press conference here on Sunday.

According to the minister, the two patients both died on Saturday, one being a 59-year-old man, who regularly resided in Portugal and returned to Angola on March 12, and the other a 37-year-old Angolan man, who returned to Angola on March 13.

Angola now has seven positive cases of COVID-19.

The country has since March 27 been under a state of emergency.

Mali

Mali held its long-delayed parliamentary election on Sunday despite concerns about the coronavirus.

Handwashing facilities were meant to be available, but the kits arrived too late for early voters.

Mali had confirmed 20 cases of coronavirus as of Sunday morning.

READ MORE: Mali holds election despite coronavirus and insurgency

Congo

Another 16 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 81 with 8 deaths, according to the weekly bulletin published by the health authorities.

Among the 16 new cases, 10 cases were imported, including two cases confirmed in the city of Bukavu in the eastern South Kivu province and eight others from the capital city, which has remained the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.

The DRC reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 10. With the two new cases in Bukavu, the disease has affected three provinces of the country.

Nigeria

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday ordered the cessation of movement in Lagos and the capital Abuja for 14 days in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Nigeria has 97 confirmed cases, most of which have been in its two main cities. Buhari said the restrictions would begin at 11 pm (2200 GMT) on Monday, March 30. He said the measures would also apply to Ogun State, which neighbors Lagos State.

Meanwhile, the country's petroleum regulator has ordered oil and gas companies to reduce their offshore  workforce and move to 28-day staff rotations as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, according to a circular seen by Reuters. 

Signs of support are shown on a window in Montreal, Canada, March 29, 2020. (GRAHAM HUGHES / THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP)

Canada

Canada is not planning for the moment to use troops to help combat the coronavirus outbreak, although the option remains on the table, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday.

All 10 provinces have declared states of emergency and ordered people to stay home. The number of cases rose to 5,866 from 5,655 on Saturday while the death toll is 63, up from 61, medical officials said.

Almost half the people with coronavirus are in Quebec, where Premier Francois Legault said on Sunday that the incidence of new cases appeared to be stabilizing. 

Trudeau also said Ottawa would spend more than C$200 million (US$145 million) on additional help for vulnerable people such as the homeless, women and children fleeing violence and counseling services for the young.

Meanwhile, Trudeau said he will continue self-isolating after his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on Saturday announced her recovery from COVID-19.

Switzerland

The Swiss death toll from coronavirus has reached 295 people, the country's public health bureau said on Monday, rising from 257 people on Sunday.

The number of confirmed cases increased to 15,475 from 14,336 on Sunday, it said. The government is due to give an update later on Monday on the epidemic situation.

Austria

Austria will require the public to wear basic face masks in supermarkets, where they will be handed out probably from Wednesday in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday.

Austria is also banning the use of hotels for tourism as part of wide-ranging efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus with Easter holidays approaching, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober said.

Bolivia

Bolivia has confirmed its first death related to the coronavirus.

Bolivia's health minister Aníbal Cruz said on Sunday that a 78-year-old woman in the lowland city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the region most affected, had died of severe respiratory distress after contracting the virus from a family member.

Bolivia, which has 81 confirmed cases, has taken aggressive measures to slow the spread of the disease including a nationwide quarantine and closing the country's borders.

Uruguay

Uruguay also reported its first coronavirus death on Sunday, while total cases climbed above 300 in the grains and cattle producer, which has a population of around 3.5 million people.

The country's health ministry said in a report that a 71-year-old former electoral court minister, Rodolfo González Rissotto, had died after contracting the virus.

To date, Uruguay has reported 304 cases of COVID-19. 

Brazil

President Jair Bolsonaro visited a market area in Taguatinga, just outside the Brazilian capital, on Sunday to press home his case for keeping Latin America's largest economy ticking instead of locking down activities to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Bolsonaro told reporters he was considering an executive decree that would allow all professionals and informal sector workers to work if their income is vital to feed their families.

Despite confirmed Brazilian cases of COVID-19 almost tripling in seven days to 4,256 by Sunday, Bolsonaro has continued to deny the gravity of the disease, calling it "a small cold" that would kill only old people. The disease has caused 136 deaths in Brazil so far.

Mexico

Mexico's health ministry on Sunday confirmed 145 new coronavirus cases and four new deaths in the last 24 hours, for a total of 993 cases and 20 deaths.

Panama

Panama's government on Sunday confirmed 7 new deaths from coronavirus, bringing the toll to 24 since the outbreak hit the Central American nation.

The national director of Epidemiology, Lourdes Moreno, said there are 88 new confirmed infections, bringing the total number of cases to 989.

Honduras

The government of Honduras said on Sunday that it was extending a curfew through April 12 as the fast-spreading disease has killed three in the Central American nation, where there are 110 confirmed cases.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica's health ministry said on Sunday it has confirmed 19 new coronavirus cases in last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the Central American nation to 314.

Portugal

Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal, said it would limit the number of people allowed to enter its islands to 100 per week from Tuesday onwards, with freed up hotel space used to quarantine people with symptoms of coronavirus.

A total of 34 confirmed cases have been reported on Madeira. Portugal has confirmed 5,962 cases and 119 deaths.

Four major hotels will be used to quarantine people displaying symptoms of the COVID-19 virus. The 100 passengers allowed must remain in quarantine for 14 days, the regional government said.

Slovenia

Slovenia will further tighten its restrictions on citizens' movements, imposing restrictions on people moving outside their local municipalities from Monday, as it battles the spread of coronavirus, the government said on Sunday.

The country has so far confirmed 730 coronavirus cases with 11 deaths.

The government also unveiled a 3-billion-euro (US$3.34 billion) package on Sunday designed to help citizens and companies hit by the coronavirus. The package is expected to be passed by parliament in coming days.

It said schools, which closed two weeks ago, will stay closed until the epidemic slows.

Serbia

Serbia plans to offer about 5 billion euros (US$5.54 billion) in loans and subsidies to businesses to help them cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus, President Aleksandar Vucic said.

Ecuador

The death toll from COVID-19 has hit 57 in Ecuador, with 1,890 people testing positive, the deputy minister of health, Julio Lopez, said on Sunday.

The latest report adds nine more names to the list of fatalities and 67 new cases to the total over a 24-hour period, the official said.

The majority of fatalities (37) and infections (1,376) were centered in the southwest province of Guayas, home to the bustling industrial port of Guayaquil.

To contain the epidemic, the government declared the province a special security zone, and deployed both military troops and police officers to the region to enforce prevention measures. 

Tunisia

The Tunisian Health Ministry on Sunday reported 34 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 312.

Tunisia's first confirmed case has recovered, while eight more deaths from the coronavirus were reported in the provinces of Ariana, Sousse, Mahdia, Sfax, El Kef and Tataouine, the ministry said in a statement.

Egyptian security forces cordon off roads during curfew hours, in downtown Cairo, Egypt, March 29, 2020. (NARIMAN EL-MOFTY / AP)

Egypt

The Egyptian Health Ministry announced on Sunday 33 new cases of COVID-19, raising the total number of cases in the country to 609, including 40 deaths.

In addition, 11 Egyptians infected with the disease has recovered, raising the number of recoveries to 132, said Khaled Megahed, the ministry's spokesman, in a statement.

He also announced four more deaths.

Libya

Libya's National Center for Disease Control of the UN-backed government on Sunday announced five new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to eight.

The UN-backed government of Libya on Sunday issued a decision to ban movement between cities in order to curb the spread of the disease.

Starting from Sunday, a previously imposed curfew has been extended to to start from 2 pm to 7 am.

Morocco

The number of COVID-19 cases in Morocco rose to 463 as of Sunday 6 pm (1700 GMT), the Moroccan Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The death toll in the country has risen to 26, while 13 patients have recovered, according to the statement.

Greece

Greece reported a total of 38 fatalities linked to complications due to the novel coronavirus out of a total of 1,156 confirmed infections, health authorities said at a regular press briefing on Sunday.

Six people lost their lives and 95 new cases were registered since Saturday, Greek Health Ministry's spokesman and infectious diseases professor Sotirios Tsiodras said.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia's Ministry of Health on late Sunday reported two more confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total cases in the East African country to 21.

According to the Ethiopian health minister, with the two additional confirmed cases, the East African country have confirmed five new cases on Sunday alone, bringing the tally in the country to 21.

Earlier in the day, the health ministry had disclosed three COVID-19 cases.

Zimbabwe

At least 13,500 Zimbabweans have returned home from South Africa, raising fears that new coronavirus infections could rise, Zimbabwe's Minister of Health and Child Care Obadiah Moyo said on Sunday.

Zimbabwe has so far registered seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one death.

Rwanda

Rwanda's health ministry on Sunday reported 10 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total in the central African country to 70.