Global death toll from COVID-19 nears 70,000 as number of infections rise above 1.27 million.

The United States entered one of the most critical weeks so far in the coronavirus crisis with government officials warning the death toll in states such as New York, Michigan and Louisiana was a sign of trouble to come in other states.

“This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localised,” US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on US media network Fox News on Sunday. 

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The warning came as Europe began to see glimmers of hope with Italy’s death toll at its lowest in more than two weeks and its infection curve finally on a downward slope. In Spain, new deaths dropped for a third straight day.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, was admitted to a hospital for tests, in what his office said was a “precautionary step” and that he remains in charge of the government.

Globally, the death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new virus, neared 70,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, while the number of infections rose above 1.27 million.

Here are the latest updates:

Monday, April 6

02:25 GMT – Older Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in ‘imminent danger’

Amnesty International is warning that older Rohingya refugees in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh are being left behind in the humanitarian response to COVID-19.

The rights group says basic accurate information about the illness and measures to prevent its spread is failing to reach people in the camps, especially older refugees.

There are more than 31,500 refugees aged 60 or older among the 860,000 people residing in the camps, according to UN figures.

02:05 GMT – Can an ‘immunity passport’ ease coronavirus lockdowns?

Going back to work and getting the economy moving again may take a long time in many countries. But there is one idea already in the works, with the hope that it may ease worldwide lockdowns.

It is called an “immunity passport”, a certificate for those who have recovered from COVID-19 and have been declared immune to the virus.

“The idea behind this is that if people get immune through natural infection, they are in a similar situation as someone having received a vaccination. We could use antibody tests as soon as proper tests become available to document that immunity,” says Gerard Krause, who heads the Department for Epidemiology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany’s Braunschweig.

Watch this report from Al Jazeera’s Priyanka Gupta for more on this topic.

1:51 GMT – New cases in S Korea fall below 50 for first time since February peak

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting 47 new cases of the new coronavirus, down from 81 cases a day earlier and the fewest daily infections since its February 29 peak.

The figure brings South Korea’s total infections to 10,284.

Three people died from the virus at the end of Sunday, raising the death toll to 136.

1:45 GMT – World sees ‘horrifying surge in domestic violence’ amid pandemic

Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, is appealing for an end to domestic violence as fears grows that victims are unable to escape to safety because of the lockdowns imposed as the world battles the new coronavirus.

“Over the past weeks as economic and social pressures and fear have grown, we have seen a horrifying global surge in domestic violence. In some countries, the number of women calling support services has doubled,” he says in a statement.

Governments must make the “prevention and redress” of violence against women a key part of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he adds.

01:12 GMT – China reports increase in cases

Mainland China reported 39 new coronavirus cases at the end of Sunday, all but one of them imported from abroad, up from the 30 reported a day earlier, as the number of asymptomatic cases also surged.

The National Health Commission said 78 new asymptomatic cases had been identified on Sunday, compared with 47 the day before.

Only one new death was recorded on April 5, the new data showed.

00:46 GMT – US ‘will reach a horrific point’ in virus deaths 

US President Donald Trump is warning of an increase in coronavirus deaths in the US in the coming weeks. 

“I think we all know that we have to reach a certain point and that point is going to be a horrific point in terms of death. But its also a point at which things are going to start changing,” the president says. 

“We are getting very close to that level right now. The next week and a half, two weeks are going to be very difficult.”

00:30 GMT – Haiti reports first death

Haiti recorded its first death from the coronavirus, a 55-year-old man who had underlying health conditions.

He was one of only 21 confirmed cases of the respiratory disease in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

00:20 GMT – Trump hopes for ‘levelling-off’ of coronavirus in hot spots

Trump is expressing hope the US is seeing a “levelling-off” of the coronavirus crisis, citing a slight drop in deaths in New York, the hardest-hit state.

“Maybe that’s a good sign,” Trump told reporters, referring to the drop in fatalities. “We see light at the end of the tunnel. Things are happening.”

The death toll in New York state rose to 4,159 on Sunday, up from 3,565 the day before. 

00:00 GMT – US braces for ‘hardest, saddest’ week

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams is bracing Americans for what he says is going to be “the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives” because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localised,” the top doctor warned on Fox News on Sunday.

“It’s going to be happening all over the country. And I want America to understand that.”

He also has a message to the nine governors who haven’t yet imposed shelter-in-place orders in their states

“If you can’t give us a month, give us what you can. Give us a week. Give us whatever you can to stay at home during this particularly tough time when we’re going to be hitting our peak over the next seven to 10 days.”

Hello, this is Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives, with Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. 

You can find all of the updates from yesterday, April 5 here. 

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