Deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 431 today, down from 619 yesterday.

The tally of deaths was the lowest daily rise since 19 March.

The number of new cases slowed to 4,092 from a previous 4,694.

The Civil Protection Agency said the total death toll since the outbreak came to light on 21 February rose to 19,899, the second-highest in the world after that of the United States.

The number of officially confirmed cases climbed to 156,363, the third-highest global tally behind those of the United States and Spain.

There were 3,343 people in intensive care on Sunday against 3,381 yesterday, a ninth consecutive daily decline.

Of those originally infected, 34,211 were declared recovered against 32,424 a day earlier.

The United States has surpassed Italy as the country with the highest reported coronavirus death toll, recording more than 20,000 deaths since the outbreak began, according to a Reuters tally.

The grim milestone was reached as US President Donald Trump mulled over when the country, which has registered more than half a million infections, might begin to see a return to normality.

The Trump administration views 1 May as a target date for relaxing stay-at-home restrictions across the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said today.

He cautioned that it was still too early to say that target would be met.

"We see light at the end of the tunnel," he told ABC's This Week programme.

However, there were many factors to take into account in finally determining when it would be safe to lift restrictions.

Bodies moved to a refrigerator truck serving as a temporary morgue outside a hospital in Brooklyn last week

The US has seen its highest death tolls to date in the epidemic with roughly 2,000 deaths a day reported for the last four days in a row, the largest number in and around New York City.

Public health experts have warned the US death toll could reach 200,000 over the summer if unprecedented stay-at-home orders that have closed businesses and kept most Americans indoors are lifted when they expire at the end of the month.

Most of the curbs, however, including school closures and emergency orders keeping non-essential workers largely confined to home, flow from powers vested in state governors, not the president.

Nonetheless, Mr Trump has said he wants life to return to normal as soon as possible and that the measures aimed at curbing the spread of the Covid-19 disease caused by the coronavirus carry their own economic and public health cost.

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In New York, the state's governor and New York City's mayor engaged in a fresh squabble over their efforts to combat the virus in what is now the global epicentre, in this instance over how long schools might stay closed.

Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo has announced 758 people have died from Covid-19 in the state in the last 24 hours.

The state was sometimes slower to impose social-distancing curbs than elsewhere, notably California, while New York's two most powerful officials, both Democrats, sometimes disagreed over matters of jurisdiction and the best terminology for certain measures.

They have not appeared in public together since 2 March.

Yesterday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared that New York City's public schools would no longer reopen on 20 April, but stay closed for the rest of the academic year, saying it was "the right thing to do".

The current federal guidelines advocating widespread social-distancing measures run until 30 April.

Meanwhile, in Spain, the country's daily death toll from the coronavirus has risen by 619 after falling for three straight days, the government said.

The toll was 510 yesterday, the lowest since 23 March.

Spain is "far from victory" in its fight against Covid-19, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned today as the country's death toll from the pandemic rose again after falling for three days in a row.

But the number of new infections continued its slow, rising by 4,167 to 166,019, a smaller increase than was recorded yesterday.

Although health chiefs say the pandemic has peaked, they have urged the population to strictly follow a national lockdown which was put in place on 14 March in order to reduce the spread of the virus.

"We are still far from victory, from the moment when he will recover normality in our lives," Mr Sanchez said during a televised address.

"We are all keen to go back out on the streets... but out desire is even greater to win the war and prevent a relapse," he added.

His comments come as Spain braced for the reopening of some sectors of its economy, with some factory and construction workers set to return to work tomorrow.

Social isolation for elderly may last until 2021: EU chief

Elderly people may have to be kept isolated until the end of the year to protect them from the coronavirus, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in comments published today.

She told the Germany daily Bild: "Without a vaccine, we have to limit as much as possible contact with the elderly."

Ms Von Der Leyen added: "I know it's difficult and that isolation is a burden, but it is a question of life or death, we have to remain disciplined and patient.

"Children and young people will enjoy more freedom of movement earlier than elderly people and those with pre-existing medical conditions," she said.

She said she hoped that a European laboratory will develop a vaccine towards the end of the year.

To ensure that people can be quickly vaccinated, authorities are already in talks with producers on gearing up for world production, she added.