April 10 coronavirus news

New Zealand has recorded its second death from Covid-19 and an increase in new cases, said Public Health Director Caroline McElnay in a press conference today.

The fatality is a 90-year-old woman in Christchurch.

After four consecutive days of decreasing new daily cases, New Zealand reported 44 new cases today, up from 29 new cases yesterday. 

Fourteen of the 44 cases are linked to existing clusters.

This brings the national total to 1,283, which includes confirmed and probable cases.

She warned that the country is “not out of the woods yet” and acknowledged this weekend would be a test. 

“This is an Easter unlike other Easters. But I really want to re-emphasize the Prime Minister's message that this is a time for us all to get behind the country and stay at home over Easter,” she said.

The US now has at least 462,135 cases of the coronavirus and 16,513 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 

The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as all cases repatriated from abroad.

Wyoming is the only state or territory that has not yet reported a death from coronavirus.

Alaska is the latest state to extend school closures through the remainder of the academic year. 

“We're trying to give as much certainty as we can to the public. To wait another two or three weeks when we’re already close to the (end of the) school year at that point, we feel would cause more disruption and more confusion,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy in a press conference today.

The state is also extending its social distancing order for another ten days, effective through at least April 21. 

“We wanted to make sure we continue that we continue the good work that all Alaskans are doing," said Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum.

Twenty five more detainees at the Cook County Jail in Chicago have tested positive for Covid-19, raising the total number of cases among inmates to 276, said the Cook County Sheriff’s Office today.

Of these infected detainees, 21 have been hospitalized and 36 have been moved to a recovery facility. One has died of “apparent” complications, but an autopsy remains pending.

172 employees at the county sheriff’s office also tested positive, with the majority of employees being correctional deputies at the jail.

Releasing detainees: The sheriff’s office said today that they will continue help identify individuals for release. This process has already reduced the jail population by 1,247 detainees since March 9.

But also today, a federal judge denied a motion to order the immediate release of medically vulnerable detainees at the jail to prevent the spread of Covid-19. 

Instead, here's what they're doing: There will be a mobile testing site at the jail for sheriff's office staff, capable of testing up to 100 people a day, said Sheriff Thomas Dart.

Jail officials say they have moved inmates from double cells to single cells to increase social distancing, and have created an off-site 500-bed quarantine and care facility for detainees.

China reported 42 new confirmed coronavirus cases and one new death at the end of Thursday, according the country's National Health Commission.

This raises the national total to 81,907 cases and 3,336 deaths, according to the NHC.

This case total doesn't reflect the number of active cases, but rather the total number of people infected since the start of the pandemic. Of those total cases, 77,455 patients have now recovered and been discharged from hospital.

Out of the 42 new cases, 38 were imported from overseas. In a separate count, 47 new asymptomatic infections were reported, including 14 imported cases. There are now 1,097 asymptomatic cases under medical observation.

New York City has 7,521 new coronavirus cases and 518 new deaths, according to the city’s website.

That brings the city's total to 87,725 cases and 4,778 deaths.

This case total doesn't reflect the number of active cases, but rather the total number of people infected since the start of the pandemic.

That means, according to official statistics, New York City alone now has had more infections than the whole of China, which has reported 81,907 cases, according to the Chinese National Health Commission.