In this daily round-up, we'll bring you a selection of the latest news updates on the coronavirus pandemic, as well as tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected.

In today's top stories: An update on the numbers as COVID-19 continues to spread; US President Donald Trump issues a dire warning; signs of hope in Spain; and a round-up of some of our latest COVID-19 content.

1. How COVID-19 is spreading around the globe



At time of writing, there are currently more than 1,213,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection around the world, with 65,652 confirmed deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Almost 250,000 people are known to have recovered from coronavirus.

The US remains the worst-affected country in the world, with over 312,000 confirmed cases.

Meanwhile, in the city where the coronavirus pandemic began - Wuhan in China's Hubei province - parts of the city are showing tentative signs of reopening. Residents have slowly been returning to the streets to buy street food - with some allowed to leave their homes for the first time since 23 January.

However, on a more cautious note, mainland China reported 30 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, up from 19 a day earlier. Most of these were cases involving travellers from abroad, but five new locally transmitted cases were reported in Guangdong, highlighting the difficulty in stamping out the outbreak.

Image: Reuters

2. President Trump warns Americans to brace for spike in cases

In the United States, President Donald Trump told Americans to brace for a sharp rise in fatalities in the coming days, as the country faces what he called the toughest two weeks of the pandemic.

“There’s going to be a lot of death,” Trump said at a briefing with reporters.

In New York, the state hit hardest by the outbreak, Governor Andrew Cuomo said cases in Long Island, east of New York City, are "like a fire spreading".

“We’re not yet at the apex, we’re getting closer ... Our reading of the projections is we’re somewhere in the seven-day range,” Cuomo said.

“It’s only been 30 days since our first case,” he said. “It feels like an entire lifetime.”

3. Spain records smallest percentage rise in infections since start of crisis

Spain has overtaken European neighbour Italy in terms of the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19. There are now more than 130,000 cases in the country, though the death toll in Italy is still the highest in the world, at over 15,000.

There are, however, signs that Spain is passing the peak of its outbreak. Official figures show a 5% rise in infections - the smallest increase since the start of the health crisis. The number of people to have died in Spain in one day has fallen for the third day in a row, to 674.

Writing in Spanish newspaper El País and British newspaper the Guardian, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned against complacency and said that the European Union’s very survival was at stake.

"It is time to break with old, national dogmas. We have entered a new era and we need new responses. Let us hold on to our positive values and reinvent the rest," he wrote.

4. The UK's biggest horse race went virtual

One of the most noticeable changes to our daily lives is the lack of competitive sport, which like many sectors and industries has understandably come to a complete halt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One huge British sporting event - the annual Grand National horse race - found a novel way to circumvent the restrictions and stay engaged with fans: it went virtual.

Image: REUTERS/Lee Smith

5. Some of our top stories from this week