22:56

We are closing this blog now, after another dramatic, alarming and at times confusing day in a country shut down by the coronavirus outbreak.

With some reports putting the US death toll above 2,000, here’s our nightlead, by Richard Luscombe and Victoria Bekiempis:

Cuomo: Trump New York quarantine would be 'federal declaration of war' Read more

Here, meanwhile, is Tom McCarthy and Ed Pilkington’s coruscating look at how Donald Trump failed his greatest test – preparing for Covid-19:

The missing six weeks: how Trump failed the biggest test of his life Read more

And Sam Levin, from Los Angeles:

'Like a bad sci-fi movie': life in a deserted Los Angeles under coronavirus Read more

And Oliver Milman itemising some of Trump’s most misleading claims about the coronavirus outbreak:

Five of Donald Trump's most misleading coronavirus claims Read more

And finally, our updating map of coronavirus cases in the US: