More than 1.6 million have been infected.

More than 1.6 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and over 100,000 have died, according to global trackers.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus crossed 100,000 as Christians around the globe marked a Good Friday unlike any other - in front of computer screens instead of in church pews - and some countries tiptoed toward reopening segments of their battered economies.

Around the world, public health officials and religious leaders alike warned people against violating the lockdowns and social distancing rules over Easter and allowing the virus to come storming back. Authorities resorted to roadblocks and other means to discourage travel.

Some churches held services online, while others arranged prayers at drive-in theaters. Fire-scarred Notre Dame Cathedral came back to life briefly in Paris, days before the first anniversary of the April 15 inferno that ravaged it.

The death toll kept by Johns Hopkins University neared another sad milestone, though the true number of lives lost is believed be much higher because of limited testing and different rules for counting the dead. The number confirmed to be infected was more than 1.6 million.

In the US, deaths climbed past 16,700, with close to half in New York state.

Still, there were signs of hope.

New York state reported 777 new deaths, down slightly from the day before, for an overall toll of more than 7,800.

"I understand intellectually why it's happening," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "

"It doesn't make it any easier to accept."

With the pandemic slamming economies, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned that the global economy is headed for the worst recession since the Depression.

In Europe, the 19 countries that use the euro currency overcame weeks of bitter divisions to agree on spending $550 billion to cushion the recession caused by the virus. Mario Centeno, who heads the eurozone finance ministers' group, called the package "totally unprecedented. ... Tonight Europe has shown it can deliver when the will is there."

Premature lifting of restrictions warning

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that a premature lifting of restrictions could "lead to a deadly resurgence."

In Italy, the industrial lobbies in regions representing 45% of the country's economic output urged the government to ease its two-week lockdown on all nonessential manufacturing, saying the country "risks definitively shutting down its own motor, and every day that passes the risk grows not to be able to restart it."

Italy reported 570 additional deaths for a running total of more than 18,800 - the highest of any country - but said the number of hospital admissions is falling along with the number of patients in intensive care.

Malaysia's prime minister announced a two-week extension to the country's lockdown but said selected economic sectors can reopen in phases while following strict hygiene rules.

In the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, people desperate for food stampeded, pushing through a gate at a district office in the Kibera slum. Police fired tear gas, injuring several people.

In some of the worst-hit countries, Italy and Spain, new infections, hospitalizations and deaths have been leveling off. But the daily tolls remain shocking.

Britain recorded 980 new deaths, its highest daily total, for close to 9,000 in all.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved out of intensive care on Thursday after spending three nights there being treated for the virus. The 55-year-old remained hospitalized in London. His father, Stanley Johnson, said the prime minister needs to "rest up" before returning to work.