* China reported one new coronavirus case for May 4, down from three the day before, data from the national health authority showed on Tuesday (May 5). The number of confirmed cases in China has reached 82,881. With no new deaths reported, the death toll remained at 4,633.
* The number of new coronavirus cases in Russia has risen by 10,102 over the past 24 hours, compared with 10,581 the previous day. This brought Russia's nationwide tally to 155,370, the country's coronavirus crisis response centre said on Tuesday. It also reported 95 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total death toll in Russia to 1,451.
* California on Monday announced the state's first tentative steps to reopen from a lockdown designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus, giving a green light for retail stores to open this week, though with restrictions. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the nation's most populous US state, among the two dozen that still has full restrictions in place, would allow some counties to go further if they met certain testing and protection guidelines.
* France is hoping to deploy its state-supported "StopCOVID" contact-tracing app by June 2, the Minister for Digital Affairs, Cedric O, said on Tuesday.
* Singapore's health ministry on Tuesday confirmed 632 new coronavirus cases, taking the city-state's tally of infections to 19,410.
* Indonesia's economy grew at its weakest pace since 2001 in the first quarter, as the coronavirus pandemic halted business activity in Southeast Asia's largest economy and fuelled expectations of a looming recession. Gross domestic product in January-March expanded a slower-than-expected 2.97% from a year earlier, the weakest pace since the first quarter of 2001, statistics bureau data showed, and down from the previous quarter's 4.97%.
* Malaysian health authorities on Tuesday reported 30 new coronavirus cases, bringing the cumulative total to 6,383 cases as the country entered the second day of relaxed curbs on movement and businesses. The health ministry also reported one new death, raising the 7total fatalities to 106.
* The Philippines' health ministry on Tuesday reported 14 new coronavirus deaths and 199 additional infections. In a bulletin, the health ministry said total deaths from the outbreak have reached 637, while confirmed cases have increased to 9,684. But 93 more patients have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 1,408.
* UK stock markets headed higher on Tuesday as investors counted on a revival in economic activity with several countries lifting coronavirus-induced restrictions, while energy stocks tracked a jump in oil prices. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to review a nationwide shutdown this week, with a report saying the government will recommend sweeping changes to workplaces to avoid a second wave of infections.
* Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike will ask businesses in Japan's biggest city to refrain from operating until the end of this month, following the central government's extension of the state of emergency, a public broadcaster NHK reported. Japan on Monday extended a nationwide state of emergency to May 31, saying the new coronavirus infection rate had yet to drop enough to justify ending measures aimed at slowing the outbreak.
* The United States and Britain launch trade negotiations by videoconference on Tuesday following the UK's exit from the European Union, as both allies struggle with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and aim to shore up domestic supply chains. The talks will be Washington's first major new trade negotiation in 2020, and take place at the same time as London works out trade terms with the EU, with a year-end deadline.
* The province of Quebec, worst hit in Canada by the coronavirus, began gradually reopening its economy on Monday but pushed back plans for a restart in the city of Montreal, citing health concerns. Quebec is allowing stores with an outside entrance for customers to serve shoppers, but that excludes Montreal, Canada's second-largest city. It is joining some other provinces, like Manitoba, in taking steps to reopen the economy.
* Unemployment in Spain rose again in April, pushing the number of people depending on unemployment benefits to a record 5.2 million as one of the world's strictest coronavirus lockdowns brought the economy to a halt. The number of people in Spain registering as jobless rose by 7.97% in April from a month earlier, or by 282,891 people, leaving 3.8 million people out of work, the Labour Ministry said on Tuesday. The number of registered jobless people had risen in March by 9.31%.
* The reproduction rate for the coronavirus pandemic in Germany is currently estimated at 0.71, the head of public health authority RKI said on Tuesday. That number indicates that 100 infected people infect on average 71 others, meaning the number of new infections would fall over time.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has extended to June 5 a state of emergency declared in areas under his administration in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in response to the coronavirus crisis, the official news agency Wafa said on Tuesday. In the Gaza Strip, 17 cases have been reported among a population of some 2 million.
* Uganda began to loosen one of Africa's strictest anti-coronavirus lockdowns on Tuesday after President Yoweri Museveni declared the infection "tamed." The country of 42 million reported 97 confirmed cases and no deaths in 45 days of restrictions, and Museveni said it was now better equipped to trace and detect new infections faster.
* Lebanon's supreme defence council will advise the government to extend a shutdown to curb the spread of coronavirus by two weeks until May 24, a security source said after the council convened on Tuesday. A decision is expected at a cabinet meeting later on Tuesday. Lebanon has recorded 740 cases of the novel coronavirus and 25 deaths.
* The collapse of a mine in western Liberia has killed an unknown number of miners, Assistant Minister for Mines Emmanuel Swen told Reuters on Tuesday. Swen said he did not yet know the number of casualties at the artisanal mine in Liberia's western mining hub.
