Coronavirus

Now Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez aims to relax the rule on 27 April so they can "get some fresh air".

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, who has young children herself, this week pleaded with the government to allow children outside.

Spain has seen more than 20,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic and almost 200,000 reported cases.

In a televised briefing on Saturday evening, Mr Sánchez said Spain had left behind "the most extreme moments and contained the brutal onslaught of the pandemic".

Starting last night's address to the nation, Prime Minister Henry Puna thanked God for giving people courage and strength during the country's greatest threat in modern history.

He said hundreds of Covid-19 tests taken in the Cook Islands had come back negative, and the country can officially be confirmed as a Covid-free zone - one of the first nations in the world to do so.

This means some of the more restrictive Code Yellow measures introduced in late March to stop the virus, will now be eased.

UN officials also say it is likely the pandemic will kill at least 300,000 people in Africa and push nearly 30 million into poverty.

The past week in Africa has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.

There have been almost 1000 deaths and almost 19,000 infections across Africa, so far much lower rates than in parts of Europe and the US.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa - which warned 300,000 could die - called for a $US100bn ($NZ166bn) safety net for the continent, including halting external debt payments.

"We have just come too far, we've lost too many loved ones, we've already sacrificed far too much to ease up now, especially when we are beginning to see the evidence that our efforts are starting to pay off," Raab told reporters.

Raab is deputising while Prime Minister Boris Johnson recuperates from Covid-19 complications that nearly cost him his life.

There are now seven confirmed coronavirus cases in PNG.

One of the new cases had been confirmed by the Emergency Controller, Police Commissioner David Manning, yesterday.

Prime Minister, James Marape said the seven people who have contracted the disease are all well.

"This includes the, first imported case, a male adult Australian mine employee who is now in Australia who have recovered. And the second local in the East New Britain Province."

He said all the new cases were consistently positive after repeated tests.

“Port Vila Municipal Council will use the time to correct the hygiene deficiencies at the Market House,” City Clerk Peter Sakita said.

It is now a widely held fact that poor hygiene spreads coronavirus and PVMC has to address the hygiene, cleanliness, social distancing issues because the Port Vila markets attracts hundreds of people daily.

The aid was flown from China via Darwin, Australia on a chartered A320 flight over the Easter weekend.

The flight which was approved by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) carried critical COVID-19 medical equipment and supplies onboard.

According to Airports Vanuatu Limited,all supplies were disinfected at the port of origin prior to transport to Vanuatu.

A group working against domestic violence in Tahiti has raised its concerns in a letter to the president Edouard Fritch and the French High Commissioner Dominique Sorain, saying the ban has unintended consequences.

After widespread partying in defiance of restrictions, the sale of alcohol was stopped in late March for two weeks but the ban has been extended until the end of the curfew on 29 April.

The ban was also justified as a measure to reduce violence within the family.

There are now 135 confirmed coronavirus cases in Guam.

Five people have died from the virus.

Governor Lou Leon Guerro said the Health Department tested 30 samples and all were negative.

But she says one postive case was reported from the Diagnostic Laboratory Services.

66 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Guam.

Johnson, 55, was taken to London's St Thomas' Hospital on Sunday (local time) - 10 days after testing positive for Covid-19.

He spent three nights in intensive care before returning to a ward on Thursday.

He said in a video on Twitter that he had witnessed the "personal courage" of hospital staff on the front line.

Johnson said two nurses - Jenny from Invercargill, New Zealand and Luis from Portugal - stood by his bedside for 48 hours at the most critical time and named several other hospital workers who cared for him this past week that he wanted to thank.