Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. China answers Brazil plea for medical equipment to fight coronavirus

Brazil faces a tense period in the coming weeks in its battle against the coronavirus, with supplies of medical and protective equipment running low and fresh shipments from China not expected to arrive in the country for another month. The Health Ministry said on Thursday the federal government's stock of personal protective equipment for health professionals, such as masks and gloves, had been entirely disbursed to local authorities. Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said Brazil had to turn to several countries before it could find a taker for its 1.2 billion reais ($228 million) order to restock. Spain's coronavirus deaths rise above 10,000, yet there is 'glimpse of hope'

Spain's death toll from the coronavirus rose above 10,000 on Thursday after a record 950 people died overnight, but health officials were encouraged by a slowdown in daily increases in infections and deaths. Spain has the world's second-highest death toll after Italy at 10,003 but Thursday's one-day toll was the highest for any country since the start of the epidemic. Under pressure, UK government promises 100,000 daily coronavirus tests

Britain's health minister promised a tenfold increase in the number of daily tests for coronavirus by the end of the month after the government faced criticism for failing to roll out mass checks for health workers and the public. Appearing for the first time on Thursday since recovering from the virus himself and ending a period of self-isolation, Matt Hancock announced a new strategy to ramp up the UK diagnostics industry. Australia grapples with coronavirus case tracing as state border controls bolstered

The leader of Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, said on Friday that authorities did not plan to impose further lockdown restrictions, despite concerns more coronavirus cases were emerging without a known source. New South Wales (NSW) remains the epicentre of the disease in Australia, although the rate of infection has fallen steeply in recent days. France's coronavirus death toll jumps to nearly 5,400 as nursing homes included

The number of cumulative known deaths from coronavirus in France surged to nearly 5,400 on Thursday as the country started including fatalities in nursing homes in its data. Jerome Salomon, head of the public health authority, said the number of coronavirus-related deaths in hospitals rose 12% on Thursday to 4,503 from a day earlier. Pakistan court set to free four accused in Daniel Pearl killing

A Pakistani court on Thursday commuted the death sentence of the main person accused in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of an American Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl, and acquitted three other co-accused in the matter. All four had been convicted in connection with Pearl's kidnapping and murder, including British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding the murder. He has been in jail for 18 years awaiting the outcome of an appeal. Putin extends Russia's coronavirus non-working period until April 30

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday prolonged until April 30 a paid non-working period across Russia, stepping up measures to stem the spread of coronavirus just a week after the Kremlin said there was no epidemic. Russia, which has reported 3,548 cases and 30 deaths, has already imposed a partial lockdown on many regions, including the capital Moscow, which has become the epicentre of the country's outbreak. The religious retreat that sparked India's major coronavirus manhunt

It was late on Sunday night when officials in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh received the alert. Federal authorities said they needed to track down more than 1,000 people linked to a large Muslim missionary gathering nearly 2,000 km away in the capital New Delhi. Authorities in Andhra Pradesh, a region of about 50 million people, used cell phone towers, government databases and even village volunteers over the next five days to find almost everyone on the list -- from attendees to the people they had been in close contact to fellow travellers. Global coronavirus cases surpass one million

Global coronavirus cases surpassed 1 million on Thursday with more than 52,000 deaths as the pandemic further exploded in the United States and the death toll climbed in Spain and Italy, according to a Reuters tally of official data. Italy had the most deaths, more than 13,900, followed by Spain. The United States had the most confirmed cases of any country, more than 240,000, the data showed. At Brazil's biggest cemetery, grave diggers take own measure of coronavirus toll

As Oswaldo dos Santos watched several men in protective suits dig a hasty grave for his 36-year-old son, his grief was mixed with fear: What if he had the coronavirus? What if they all did? Dos Santos lived with his son until Sunday, when he was suddenly hospitalized with severe respiratory problems. Like so many now filling the graves in Brazil's biggest cemetery, the son died before getting the results of a coronavirus test.