Coronavirus latest: at a glance

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:

Italy may begin to lift current lockdown measures

Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, told the BBC that some restrictions could be relaxed by the end of April if the spread of the disease continued to slow. On Wednesday, there were 542 coronavirus-related deaths in the country, compared with 604 the previous day.

At least 88,950 deaths worldwide

According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University close to 1.5 million people are confirmed to have been infected. There have been more than 432,000 cases in the US and 14,800 deaths in the country. In the UK there have been more than 61,400 confirmed cases and nearly 7,100 deaths.

Iran’s Covid-19 death toll passes 4,000

The official death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran has passed 4,000, the country’s health ministry reported on Thursday, after 117 more people were confirmed to have died from the disease in the past 24 hours.

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6,000 passengers on cruise ships at sea

At least 6,000 passengers remain at sea on cruise liners around the world despite the coronavirus pandemic, Guardian analysis has found. Dozens of deaths have been linked to cruise ships, with both passengers and crew dying while at sea and after disembarking. According to analysis using the ship-tracking site CruiseMapper, at least eight ships remain at sea with passengers – including one vessel on which 128 people tested positive for coronavirus.

US hopeful of avoiding projected death toll

Mitigation efforts are working, White House officials have said, leading to cautious optimism the pandemic will not claim between 100,000 and 240,000 American lives. One model run by the University of Washington School of Medicine predicts the virus will kill 60,000 people in the US over the next four months. The virus response coordinator Dr Deborah Birx said: “What has been so remarkable to those of us who have been in the science field for so long is how important behavioural change is and how amazing Americans are in adapting.”

Concern in China over asymptomatic cases of Covid-19

According to the People’s Daily, a state council body has ordered reporting and monitoring of those not showing symptoms despite carrying the virus to be stepped up in China.

Spain hopeful that latest data is ‘encouraging’

The Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has told parliament that the latest figures are “encouraging” and that “the fire starts to come under control” on Thursday. The country has the second highest number of global cases.

Fighting continues in Kashmir despite outbreak

Indian and Pakistani troops are continuing to fight over disputed Kashmir, despite surging coronavirus outbreaks. Data from the Indian army shows there were 411 ceasefire violations by Pakistan’s military in March, compared with 467 in the same month last year.

Lockdown expected to be extended in UK and Ireland

The UK and Ireland are expected to extend current lockdown measures over the Easter weekend. It comes as deaths in the countries continue to grow, while the British prime minister remains in hospital suffering from coronavirus.

Security concerns over Zoom

The US senate has asked its members not to use the video-conferencing app Zoom over security concerns. The app has experienced a surge in usage after lockdown measures were put in place around the world, but concerns have been raised about its lack of end-to-end encryption and uninvited guests crashing meetings.

Coronavirus could double number of people going hungry

Food supplies across the world will be “massively disrupted” by the coronavirus, and unless governments act the number of people suffering chronic hunger could double, some of the world’s biggest food companies have warned.