Brazil’s death toll also surpasses 25,000 while other Latin American countries countries announce easing of lockdown.

• The United States death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 100,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The country now has more than 1.69 million confirmed cases. 

• Brazil’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 25,000 people on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said. Deaths from the disease caused by the coronavirus over the last 24 hours were 1,086, while the number of cases rose by 20,599, reaching 411,821.

• The number of coronavirus cases in the Arab Gulf region, which includes Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Oman, has passed 200,000, as the largest economies, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have begun to ease restriction.

• More than 5.68 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed around the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. At least 355,575 people have died, while about 2.4 million have recovered.

Here are the latest updates:

Thursday, May 28

01:28 GMT – EU governments ban hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19

European governments moved to halt the use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients, and a second global trial was suspended, further blows to hopes for a treatment promoted by US President Donald Trump.

The moves by France, Italy and Belgium followed a World Health Organization decision on Monday to pause a large trial of hydroxychloroquine due to safety concerns.

A UK regulator said that a separate trial was also being put on hold, less than a week after it started. The study, being led by the University of Oxford and partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was expected to involve as many as 40,000 healthcare workers.

01:09 GMT – South Korea logistics centre reports spike in COVID-19 cases

South Korea on Thursday reported a continued spike in new coronavirus cases linked to a logistics centre in a city west of Seoul, according to Yonhap news agency.

A total of 69 cases had been traced to the logistics centre operated by the country’s leading e-commerce operator, Coupang Inc in Bucheon, as of early Thursday, Yonhap quoted health officials as saying.

The company said all employees at the facility who had contact with the patient were put under self-isolation and that the facility has been shut down.

00:38 GMT – Colombia to begin easing restrictions from the start of June

Colombia will begin easing restrictions put in place to control the spread of the coronavirus starting from June, President Ivan Duque has announced, though he asked the public to continue isolating at home and keep using measures to contain the disease.

Colombia has reported more than 24,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, as well as 803 deaths. The country began a nationwide quarantine in late March.

00:10 GMT – Egypt reports country’s highest daily rate of infections

Egypt’s health minister announced 910 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 12 hours, the country’s highest daily rate of infections since the virus was detected in mid-February, according to The Associated Press.

The ministry also reported 19 new deaths from COVID-19. Wednesday’s figures have brought Egypt’s tally to 816 deaths among 19,666 confirmed cases.

Egypt, the Arab World’s most populous country, has the highest announced deaths from COVID-19 in the Arab World, and the third in the Middle East tailing Iran and Turkey, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

00:01 GMT – Turkey’s average number of cases hovers around 1,000 daily

Turkey’s health minister has announced 34 new deaths, bringing the death toll from COVID-19 to 4,431.

Fahrettin Koca tweeted Wednesday 1,035 new infections were confirmed in the past 24 hours. The total number of cases has reached 159,797.

Turkey ranks ninth in a tally by Johns Hopkins University for the number of cases, but experts believe the rate of infections globally could be much higher than reported. The average number of new cases has hovered around 1,000 this week, AP news agency reported.

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Read all the updates from yesterday (May 27) here.

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