21:12

World roundup as of Saturday evening, April 11

The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 1.7 million people worldwide and an estimated 100,000 deaths have been recorded.

Here is the latest on the situation from around the world, from the Associated Press:

- INDONESIA

Angry inmates set fire to an overcrowded prison on Sulawesi island during a riot over measures imposed to contain the coronavirus, officials said.

Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed to take control of Tuminting prison in Manado city, the capital of North Sulawesi province, which is designed to house 490 inmates but has more than 550, said the Justice and Human Rights provincial office.

A preliminary investigation revealed that many inmates, mostly drug offenders, were angered by restrictions on family visits and envious following the early release of 115 inmates to curb the spread of the coronavirus in prisons.

They went on the rampage and started fires, and other inmates joined the protest and it turned violent, but there were no reports of deaths.

- TURKEY

Ankara has reported more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases, pushing the total above 50,000 since recording its first confirmed infection exactly a month earlier.

Health minister Fahrettin Koca said there were 5,138 cases over the previous 24 hours, taking the country’s total to 52,167. The death toll rose to 1,101, up 95.

The minister said the rise in cases reflects a greater number of tests - 33,170 over 24 hours to take the total number to 340,380.

- CHINA

Chinese regulators say ventilators, masks and other supplies being exported will be subject to quality inspections following complaints that substandard goods were being sold abroad.

The customs agency says masks, ventilators, surgical gowns, goggles and other supplies will be treated as medical goods. This requires exporters to show they meet the quality standards of their destination market.

The agency gave no details but the newspaper Beijing Daily said shipments would be inspected by a government agency before being approved for export.

China is the biggest producer of surgical masks and other medical products and has increased output following the coronavirus outbreak.

Regulators in Australia, the Netherlands and other countries have complained masks, virus test kits and other products were faulty or failed to meet quality standards.

- INDIA

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has extended the nationwide lockdown by two more weeks.

Mr Modi held a meeting Saturday with at least 13 chief ministers of Indian states through video conferencing. The unprecedented order for lockdown is meant to keep India’s 1.3 billion people at home and prevent the virus form surging.

The country’s current three-week lockdown was to expire Tuesday. Authorities have reported 6,565 confirmed cases and 239 deaths.

- IRAN

Iran began reopening government offices on Saturday after a brief nationwide lockdown to help contain the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, which has killed more than 4,300 people in the country.

Government offices outside the capital, Tehran, reopened with two-thirds of employees going in and the remainder working from home, state media reported.

Women who have young children were given priority in deciding who works remotely. Businesses outside the capital were also allowed to reopen Saturday, the first day of the working week.

Businesses in Tehran will be allowed to reopen next Saturday, provided they register with authorities and follow guidelines on social distancing set out by the Health Ministry.

- SPAIN

Spain has reported its lowest daily death count in nearly three weeks, after 510 people died, having contracted coronavirus, between Friday and Saturday. That is down from a national high of 950 deaths reported on April 2.

The country saw a slight rise in confirmed infections, with 4,830 new cases reported, compared with 4,576 the day before.

Spain has confirmed 161,852 infections and 16,353 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak, making it and Italy the hardest hit countries in Europe.

More than 59,000 Spaniards have recovered from Covid-19. A month-long national lockdown has helped Spain slow the daily increase in the numbers of infected people from more than 20% two weeks ago to 3%.

Authorities said they will distribute 10 million face masks at major rail and subway stations to help reduce a coronavirus spike.

Interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska made the announcement on Saturday, two days before factory and construction workers will be allowed to go back to work.

- JAPAN

Japan has broadened a request for people to stay away from bars, clubs and restaurants across the whole country. The measure previously covered seven urban areas, including Tokyo.

Prime minister Shinzo Abe said that “many cases of infections have been confirmed at places where people are going out at night, and that spread is nationwide”.

Japan’s state of emergency, issued on April 7, carries no penalties but asks people to stay at home as much as possible.

Mr Abe reiterated his plea for companies to allow people to work from home, stressing that commuter train crowds had thinned, but more was needed. Although department stores and cinemas have closed, some retail chains are still open.

- SRI LANKA

Authorities have extended a curfew in key parts of the country.

A government statement said the curfew will continue in six districts, including Colombo, until further notice. These six districts have been identified as “high risk zones”.

Sri Lanka has been under curfew since March 20, and the government has banned non-essential travel during the curfew hours. Police strictly enforce the curfew and have arrested nearly 20,000 people for violations.

Police say they are trying to stop people swapping instructions for how to produce illicit alcohol.

Alcohol shops and bars are closed under the curfew, which has caused black market alcohol prices to triple.

Posts on social media have been widely shared with tips for producing moonshine using locally available items such as sugar, coconut water and yeast.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana says that people who promote consumption of alcohol or methods to produce it could face a prison sentence of up to two years. He says special teams are examining posts on social media.

- AUSTRALIA

About 1,300 Australian travellers being kept in mandatory quarantine in Sydney ended their two-week confinement in time for the Easter Sunday holiday.

They had arrived at Sydney International Airport after a government-ordered clampdown on March 29 and were finishing their 14-day quarantine, New South Wales police said.

They will undergo a final health check before they are allowed to leave. Police are overseeing the departures, assisted by health authorities, the Australian defence force and hotel staff.

The New South Wales health minister issued an order directing all overseas arrivals to go directly to a quarantine facility from March 29.

- UNITED STATES

The coronavirus pandemic may be making a dent in illicit business, too.

In Chicago, one of America’s most violent cities, drug arrests have plummeted 42% in the weeks since the city shut down, compared with the same period last year.

Part of that decrease, some criminal lawyers say, is that drug dealers have no choice but to wait out the economic slump.

“The feedback I’m getting is that they aren’t able to move, to sell anything anywhere,” said Joseph Lopez, a criminal lawyer in Chicago who represents reputed drug dealers.

Overall, Chicago’s crime declined 10% after the pandemic struck, a trend playing out globally as cities report stunning crime drops in the weeks since measures were put into place to slow the spread of the virus.

Even among regions that have the highest levels of violence outside a war zone, fewer people are being killed and fewer robberies are taking place.