Covid-19 - Italy's death toll far higher than reported, Cases in Germany likely to be 10 times higher than official count

Traditional Thai dancers wearing protective face shields perform at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, which was reopened after the Thai government relaxed lockdown measures. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

Italy's death toll far higher than reported, says country's statistics office
French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December; cases in Germany likely to be 10 times higher than official count, say researchers; Japan extends state of emergency as global cases top 3.5m
German cases ‘may be 10 times higher than official figures’
Italy begins cautious exit from lockdown
Trump predicts up to 100,000 US deaths

Confirmed global death toll exceeds 250,000. According to research by both the Reuters news agency and Johns Hopkins University, at least a quarter of a million people are now known to have died as a result of the pandemic. Globally, 3,062 new deaths and 61,923 new were cases recorded over the past 24 hours, taking total cases to 3.58m. Experts worry the available data is underplaying the true impact of the pandemic. The Johns Hopkins researchers put the known death toll at 250,687.

Germany set to ease restrictions – report. Germany’s state premiers will agree on further measures to ease restrictions during a telephone call with the chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, Reuters reports, citing two people familiar with the preparations.

French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December. The hospital retested old samples from pneumonia patients and discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as 27 December, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.

Italy’s death toll far higher than reported. Statistics bureau ISTAT said its analysis showed an extra 11,600 deaths were unaccounted for, and it was reasonable to assume these people either died of Covid-19 without being tested or that the extra stress on the health system due to the epidemic meant they died of other causes they were not treated for.

World leaders pledge $8bn to fight coronavirus. At a video-conference summit hosted by the European Union, Japan pledged more than $800m while Germany offered €525m. Italy and Spain each said they would provide more than €100m.

Austrian unemployment at all-time high. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the number of unemployed Austrians to historically high levels, with a year-on-year rise of almost 60%.

Carnival to resume cruises in August. Carnival Cruise Line has announced plans to resume operations at the beginning of August despite dozens of deaths on cruise ships during the Covid-19 pandemic and investigations into the industry’s possible role in spreading the disease around the globe.

Plane carrying aid supplies crashes in Somalia. The accident, involving an African Express Airways plane, killed seven people on board, a security official said.

US supreme court hears arguments by teleconference for first time. In a break from tradition caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the nine justices participated remotely via a dial-in format, while the audio feed was broadcast live.