Record covid-19 deaths in New York and UK., lockdown in Jeddah

As the global death toll from coronavirus passed 60,000, with 1,140,000 confirmed cases, New York state on Saturday saw a record 630 virus deaths in a single day, with 113,704 positive cases on record. Spain will extend its lockdown until April 25 after 11,744 deaths. The UK also hit a record with 708 deaths in one day rising by 20pc to a total of 4,313. Testing is finally being ramped up for a true picture. Queen Elizabeth has scheduled a speech to the nation on Sunday. While UK numbers are doubling exponentially every three days, deaths in Italy are slowing.

Saudi Arabia has announced a lockdown and partial curfew on seven neighborhoods of the Red Sea city of Jeddah from Saturday, after the oil kingdom recorded the highest rate of coronavirus infection in the Gulf region – 1,885 confirmed cases and 21 deaths. A 15-hour curfew was clamped down on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina with uncertainty hanging over the Hajj in summer.

Iran officially reported 138 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 3,036. The number of confirmed cases also rose by 2,987 to 47,593.