Covid-19 - Ethiopia and Barbados have reported their first coronavirus deaths

Here are the key developments of today ...

Italy has reported its lowest increase in deaths in two weeks, with 525 new coronavirus deaths on Sunday. For the first time, the total number of people hospitalised fell – down 61, from 29,010 to 28,949 – in a day.

Ethiopia and Barbados have reported their first coronavirus deaths. The Ethiopian victim was a 60-year-old Ethiopian woman who had spent six days in intensive care, while in Barbados the victim was an 81-year-old man with an underlying condition.

Scotland’s chief medical officer has withdrawn from daily media briefings after it was revealed she had twice visited her family’s second home. Catherine Calderwood will remain in the post and continue advising the Scottish government.

Pakistan has quarantined 20,000 worshippers and is looking for tens of thousands of others who attended a religious event in Lahore in March. Authorities want to test or quarantine 100,000 people who were at the event held by the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary movement.

Lebanon has started repatriating nationals in its first flights in weeks since it closed its international airport in response to the pandemic. Authorities said more than 20,000 people had signed up to be repatriated.

Pope Francis has celebrated Palm Sunday mass without the public due to the pandemic, which he said should focus people’s attention on what’s most important.

Austria’s number of new cases had risen by 270 since Saturday morning, while the number of recoveries increased by 491. Authorities said that the daily rate of new infections has fallen significantly in recent days.

Sweden’s government is drawing up legislation to allow it to take “extraordinary steps” to tackle Covid-19. On Sunday, Sweden reported a total of 401 deaths – an 8% increase from Saturday.

Belgium’s coronavirus outbreak appears to be reaching its peak according to reports after the number of intensive care hospitalisations rose from 1,245 to 1,261.

Singapore reported 120 new cases of the virus on Sunday, compared to 75 on Saturday. It marks the most infections confirmed in a day for the city-state, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,309.