Coronavirus live news: Europe fatalities approach 100,000 as China reports no daily deaths

The British government is under fire after it emerged that it ignored key recommendations made three years ago after a major simulation exercise found that Britain’s National Health Service would not cope in the face of a flu pandemic, my colleague Jamie Doward reports.

It is the latest in a series of scandals the government is embroiled in over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, including its delayed efforts to procure ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare staff.

The Sunday Times newspaper revealed in an investigation today that prime minister Boris Johnson had missed five emergency cabinet office meetings between late January and early March, causing Britain to “sleepwalk into disaster”, as the reporters wrote.

Iran has extended furloughs for prisoners for another month, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, as the Middle East’s worst-hit country tries to prevent the virus from spreading in its crowded jails, Reuters reports.

Iran’s reported temporary release of 100,000 prisoners since February – including prisoners of conscience and dual and foreign nationals – was welcomed by the United Nations on Friday as a good step, but one that must be expanded.

“Furloughs of those prisoners, who pose no threat to the society, have been extended until May 20,” Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting.

However, a letter by U.N. human rights experts, including Special Rapporteur on Iran Javaid Rehman, said “most prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders, conservationists and dual and foreign nationals” remained imprisoned in Iran.

Rouhani said mosques and holy sites in Iran would remain closed until at least May 4.

Iran allowed so-called low-risk businesses – including many shops, factories and workshops – to resume operations in Tehran on Saturday, a week after re-opening in the rest of the country.

Schools and universities, as well as theatres, gyms, saunas, beauty salons and shopping centres remain closed, and a ban on cultural, religious and sports gatherings has been imposed.

Iran has reported 80,868 confirmed cases of infection and more than 5,000 officially recorded deaths.

Ireland is highly unlikely to allow large gatherings this year and the “cocooning” of people over 70 years old in their homes may persist for quite a while, health minister Simon Harris said on Sunday.

“What’s not going to come back quickly are scenarios in which we can’t safely socially distance,” Harris told the Sunday Independent newspaper.

“I can’t see how people can be in packed pubs again as long as this virus is still with us and we don’t have a vaccine or an effective treatment,” he added.

Ireland’s chief medical officer declared on Thursday that the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak had been contained in the population at large, raising hopes that stay-at-home restrictions could begin to be rolled back from May 5, Reuters reports.

But Harris cautioned that any easing back of the most severe constraints will be done on a slow and phased basis.

“I’d like to see a situation where you could expand somewhat the areas in which people can go beyond their home,” he said.

Currently people can only go out to shop for groceries or for brief physical exercise within a 2 kilometre radius of their homes. Over 70s have been told not to leave their homes. Harris said he would like to see a situation where schools could reopen or at least partially reopen.

Allowing students back just one day a week “would provide breathing space for families and information and I think that would help,” Harris said.

Last week, a comparison of the lower death rates in Ireland with the death rates in Britain provoked a debate on differences between two countries, dividing experts.

Russia has reported 6,060 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, compared to 4,785 on the previous day.

So far, 313 people in the country are confirmed to have died from Covid-19.

My colleague Richard Orange reports that anger is growing in Sweden as the elderly are paying the price for the governments’ coronavirus strategy, which is much more relaxed than in other countries.

A third of the 1,511 recorded fatalities in Sweden have been people living in care homes.

Last week, the Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven said that the country faced a “serious situation” in its old people’s homes, announced efforts to step up protections, and ordered the country’s health inspectorate to investigate.

The Israeli government has announced a series of relaxations of some of the country’s lockdown restrictions, including partially reopening the economy, the Haaratz newspaper reports.

All stores that operate outside shopping centers will be allowed to open, praying in groups of up to 19 will be permitted in an open space and special education is to resume activity in classes of up to three childre.

The measures will come into effect today and will last until May 3.

An additional 596 cases of coronavirus infections were confirmed in Singapore today, the Straits Times newspaper reports. This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 6,588.

The majority of these cases are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.

So far, 11 people have died from Covid-19 related complications in Singapore.

My colleague Ben Doherty reports that wild animals are being spotted in Australian cities as they reclaim an increasingly deserted world.

First Llandudno in Wales being noisily browsed by a herd of goats, then deer venturing into Nara, Japan.

Here is a video of a kangaroo checking out the streets of Adelaide.