Three million people around the world are now infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus, with the global death toll more than 200,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The true toll is believed to be much higher, because of inadequate testing, differences in counting the dead and efforts by some governments to conceal the extent of their outbreaks.
The number of dead in the US reached about 55,000 — close to the 58,000 US troops killed during the Vietnam War.
Italy, Britain, Spain and France accounted for more than 20,000 deaths each.
Many governments are working on mobile virus-tracking apps and other technology, keen for automated solutions to the time-consuming task of tracing an infected person’s contacts.
In Australia, which has had about 80 Covid-19 deaths, 1.1 million of the country's 26 million people downloaded a new contract-tracing app within 12 hours of its becoming available.
Other countries, including Italy, France, Switzerland and Britain, are also developing their own.
In another encouraging sign amid the gloom, New York state reported 337 deaths for the lowest daily count this month, down from a high of nearly 800 almost three weeks ago.
And Italy registered its lowest day-to-day number of new cases of Covid-19 since practically the first day the nation was put under lockdown in early March.
Over the weekend, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte laid out a timetable for easing restrictions, with plans to open parks, gardens, stores, museums and restaurants in stages between May 4 and June 1.
His counterparts in Spain, France and Greece will likewise detail their plans on Tuesday.
Spain's easing of restrictions kicked off Sunday when children under 14 were allowed to go outside and play for the first time in six weeks.
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