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16.8 million Americans out of work; French deaths pass 12,000; South Africa extends lockdown by a fortnight. Follow the latest updates.

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3.29am BST

According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, at least 95,699 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic.

There are also now more than 1.6 million confirmed cases worldwide, with the exact figure at 1,600,427.

3.19am BST

Michael Baker and Nick Wilson write for the Guardian:

New Zealand only embraced the elimination strategy in mid-March. Up until then, the country was taking a similar approach to Australia. Both countries were following their pandemic plans, which were based on managing influenza pandemics. Both were applying increasing border restrictions to “keep it out”, with controls increased after 15 March to require 14-day periods of self-isolation for all arrivals. Familiar methods of case isolation, contact tracing and quarantine to stamp out cases were also being used.

But then the countries diverged. On 23 March New Zealand committed to an elimination strategy. Both countries had relatively low case numbers at that time: New Zealand had reported 102 cases and no deaths and Australia had reported 1396 cases and 10 deaths. On that day the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced that New Zealand was going to rapidly escalate levels of physical distancing and travel restrictions, reaching the level of a full national lockdown on 26 March (level four on the alert scale).

Related: Elimination: what New Zealand's coronavirus response can teach the world | Michael Baker and Nick Wilson

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After spreading from China into parts of east Asia, the coronavirus hit Europe with a major cluster in northern Italy. But while much of the continent scrambled to shut down cities, Britain left it late to go into lockdown. Michael Safi and Patrick Wintour continue the story of the outbreak’s first 100 days

• Listen to part 1

Having spread through China and then into neighbouring countries, by March the coronavirus had gone global and was formally declared a pandemic before the middle of the month. In Europe, it was Italy that recorded the first major cluster of cases and soon some of its hospitals were overwhelmed with patients requiring intensive care.

The Guardian’s Michael Safi and Patrick Wintour join Anushka Asthana to continue the story of the first 100 days of the worst global health crisis in a generation. (Listen to part 1 here.)

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Every day, student Xiong Yanfei sits at her desk in her parent's small apartment in Wuhan, studying for an exam that could change the course of her life.

New Zealand’s drive against Covid-19 is showing promise and it is not too late for other countries to follow

Epidemiologists love to evoke the memory of John Snow, who famously advocated removing the handle from the Broad Street pump in London, an action that helped to end a severe outbreak of cholera. In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic we need to take the same kind of decisive action, yet western countries have appeared remarkably slow to do so, despite the advantages of immense scientific knowledge and modern tools of pandemic control.

New Zealand now appears to be the only “western” nation following an articulated elimination strategy with the goal of completely ending transmission of Covid-19 within its borders. The strategy appears to be working, with new case numbers falling. Most cases are now returning travellers, who are safely quarantined at the borders, and the few remaining case clusters in the community are being traced and further spread stamped out. But it is far too soon to claim victory, and the country is remaining under an intense lockdown to support the elimination effort.

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A maritime patrol has filmed fin whales powering through Mediterranean waters off the coast of southern France – showing how wild animals are roaming more freely while people isolate indoors because of coronavirus. The graceful pair appeared off the Calanques National Park, a protected reserve next to the usually bustling but now locked-down Mediterranean port city of Marseille. Fin whales are among the largest whales, weighing as much as 70 tonnes and growing 20 metres (65 feet) in length. Didier Reault, who heads the park’s board, says it is very rare for them to be spotted and filmed at such close quarters in the reserve’s waters. ‘The absence of human activity means the whales are far more serene, calm and confident about rediscovering their playground that they abandon when there is maritime traffic,’ Reault said

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Prices fall as traders fear reductions will fail to offset biggest demand collapse in history

Bereft of actual sports to preside over, Cotter turns to his two competitive pets

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• Read more in The good place series

It is a common refrain among pet-owners right now that dogs are the only group of people whose lives have been improved by coronavirus. But the animals are making our isolation more enjoyable too.

Exhibit A: BBC sports commentator Andrew Cotter who, bereft of actual sports to commentate, has turned his attention to his two labradors: the older Olive and the younger Mabel.

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Grim milestone comes as New York City hires laborers for mass burials on Bronx island

New York broke its record for the largest single-day coronavirus death toll for the third consecutive day, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday, as he warned the effect of the outbreak on the state’s economy is expected to be more devastating than 9/11.

The grim milestone came as New York City officials hired contract laborers to bury the rising number of dead in its potter’s field on Hart Island, an area which has for decades been used to bury those with no known next of kin.

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Border closures, lockdowns and rising infection rates frustrate economic plans in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea 

Second straight week of inflows as investors switch back into stocks 

Panama registered 224 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the country's total to 2,752 cases, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The United Nations Security Council met for the first time on Thursday to discuss the coronavirus pandemic as the 15-member body - charged with maintaining international peace and security - struggles to agree on whether it should take any action.

Malta can no longer guarantee the rescue of migrants or allow their disembarkation during the coronavirus emergency, the Malta government said on Thursday.

Spain's prime minister warned on Thursday that nationwide confinement would likely last until May even though he said the worst should soon be over as the death toll slowed from one of the world's most devastating coronavirus' outbreaks.

In the usually bustling streets of the downtown Santiago this week, Chilean great-grandmother Luz Maria Rios was ignoring a coronavirus quarantine and risking her health to sell Easter eggs.

Canada's coronavirus death toll is set to soar from more than 500 currently to as high as 22,000 by the end of the pandemic, health officials said on Thursday, while the economy lost a record 1 million jobs last month.

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

• Follow our latest coronavirus blog for live news and updates

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:

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Life is unlikely to return to normal overnight even once the battle against the virus is won, but several gradual approaches have been suggested

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While ministers and their medical advisers refuse to be drawn on an exit strategy from the UK lockdown, discussions are under way in Whitehall to explore how a graduated return to work could soften the economic blow while avoiding an upsurge in deaths from the virus. What options are available?

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Accord on emergency package leaves longer-term questions on burden sharing for recovery unresolved

Reductions in response to coronavirus crisis amount to 10m barrels per day, or 10% of global supplies

Opec and its allies led by Russia agreed on Thursday to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered in the coronavirus crisis.

The cuts by the oil cartel plus its allies, a group known as Opec+, amount to 10m barrels per day (bpd), or 10% of global supplies. Reductions of 5m bpd are expected to come from other nations to help navigate the deepest oil crisis in decades.

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Lockdowns in Brazil's largest cities to slow the coronavirus outbreak are beginning to slip, according to new data this week seen and analyzed by Reuters, with more people leaving their homes as President Jair Bolsonaro continues to criticize the measures.

Study argues prices for potential treatments are far higher than the actual cost of production

Institutions promise to limit student intake and cut spending in return for bailout funding

British universities have made a plea for billions of pounds’ worth of research and bailout funding to survive the coronavirus crisis, offering to slash budgets and cap student recruitment in return.

The Guardian has learned that the University of St Andrews – one of the UK’s leading higher education institutions – is among those facing a black hole in its accounts due to the pandemic.

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The coronavirus death toll in English hospitals rose 765 to 7,248, the health service said on Thursday.

The number of confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus were reported to have exceeded 1.5 million globally and the death toll rose above 89,400, according to a Reuters tally as of 1400 GMT.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab led a nationwide show of appreciation for health service workers on Thursday, standing in for his boss, Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

National-security concerns cited in recommendation to FCC, which will have the final say

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