Saudi Arabia partially lifts curfew and thousands hit California beaches as pandemic reaches another grim milestone.

• The coronavirus global death toll exceeded the 200,000 threshold, according to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) warned against countries issuing so-called “immunity passports” to those recovered from COVID-19, saying there is no evidence yet the previously infected cannot be reinfected.

• In the United Kingdom, an additional 813 people died in hospital after testing positive for the disease caused by the new coronavirus, bringing the country’s total to 20,319.

• India allowed a limited reopening of shops in neighbourhoods and residential areas, a month after the country of some 1.3 billion people went into lockdown.

• Worldwide, the number of confirmed infections stood at more than 2.88 million people, with some 813,000 recoveries.

Here are the latest updates:

Sunday, April 25

03:18 GMT – South Korea reports 10 new cases

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it recorded 10 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths at the end of Saturday.

The new infections involve travellers from abroad, while three are in Daegu, the epicentre of South Korea’s coronavirus outbreak. The figure brings the total number of infections to 10,718.

The death toll remains at 240 for a third consecutive day.

03:14 GMT – China reports 11 new cases in mainland

Health authorities in China are reporting 11 new coronavirus infections in the mainland, five of which involved travellers from overseas.

The National Health Commission says there were no new deaths in the mainland at the end of Saturday.

The new figures bring the total number of infections in the mainland to 82,827. The death toll remains at 4,632 people.

02:25 GMT – Heatwave draws thousands to California beaches

A heatwave is driving thousands of people to open beaches in southern California, including Newport Beach and Huntington Beach despite stay-at-home orders for people across the state.

“We’re seeing a summer day crowd,” says Brian O’Rourke, a lifeguard battalion chief in Newport Beach in Orange County, which saw an estimated 40,000 people on Friday.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is urging people visiting the shore to practise social distancing.

01:22 GMT – Saudi Arabia partially lifts curfew, except in Mecca

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is ordering the partial lifting of a curfew in all regions of the kingdom, except in the city of Mecca and previously quarantined neighbourhoods, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

The curfew will be lifted between 9am and 5pm from Sunday onwards, while malls, wholesale and retail shops will be allowed to reopen from Wednesday onwards for two weeks.

The kingdom has more than 16,000 confirmed infections and 136 deaths. 

00:44 GMT – Mexico coronavirus cases rise to 13,842

Health authorities in Mexico are reporting 970 new cases of coronavirus infections and 84 additional deaths.

The figures bring the total confirmed cases in the country to 13,842 and the death toll to 1,305.

00:38 GMT – WHO ‘wants to discourage voluntary or coerced self-infection’

Chris Smith, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, says the WHO cannot afford to back immunity passes until they are sure about the long-term effects of the virus.

“I think the WHO is taking the stance they are because what they want to discourage is the possibility there could be the voluntary or coerced self-infection,” the medical virologist tells Al Jazeera.

“There’s a concern that if people thought this was their passport not just to travel internationally, but to not worry about this any more, there might be a temptation to go out and actively seek out infection. That’ll be a high-risk strategy, it’ll be uncontrolled and as a result it could lead to another surge in cases, surge of transmission.”

00:12 GMT – Tajikistan closes schools, cancels sport events

Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon is cancelling sport events and ordering the closure of schools for two weeks.

The order is unexpected as Tajikistan is yet to acknowledge any coronavirus infections in the country. Alongside schools, theatres and cinemas are also to be closed.

The central Asian nation’s football association says it will suspend its football season until May 10.

Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives. 

For all the key developments from yesterday, go here. 

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