COVID-19 Informer: Unrest as global shutdown prompts protests

Why? Because there's a skerrick of good news.

The UK's daily death toll dropped significantly for the first time in days. Britain's deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries said the latest figures showed the spread of the virus was "heading in the right direction".

At the daily update she said: "There is some very good news. Today the UK deaths were down to 596, from 888 yesterday."

Yet there is no consideration for ending the lockdown, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said overnight: "The facts and the advice are clear at the moment that we should not be thinking of lifting of these restrictions yet."

The Spanish government will allow children to go outside after six weeks of confinement, bowing to pressure from an emotive campaign to "free our children".

While adults have been permitted to leave the house to shop for essentials or walk their dogs, the majority of Spain's 8.3 million children have been confined to their homes since March 14.

The push started with a Facebook post by Barcelona's mayor, Ada Colau, before it gathered pace with an online petition and celebrity endorsement.

At the opposite end of the spectrum an entire Italian town has been placed under strict quarantine measures after a large crowd turned out for the mayor's funeral in Saviano, near Naples,

In Brazil, hundreds of people protested in major cities against anti-virus lockdowns as has been the case in the US.

Rallies in Arizona, Colorado, Montana and Washington state overnight followed on from earlier protests in half a dozen states.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday all indications are "we are on a descent" in the COVID-19 outbreak but "it is no time to relax".

"We are not at a point when we are going to be reopening anything immediately," Cuomo said.

US President Donald Trump, whose administration waited months to add to stockpiles of key medical supplies and equipment, appeared to support protesters.

Governors in several states are taking it more gently and have begun discussions to plan reopening amid signs of the slowdown, but some regions remain under strict lockdown.

Today's the day the New Zealand Cabinet will decide whether to end four weeks of level four restrictions, mirroring many of Australia's restrictions.

That will include re-opening schools, allowing more businesses - including the construction and forestry industries - to get back to work and let restaurants operate for delivery orders only.

It will also allow Kiwis to extend their bubbles of people with which they have personal contact, which presents a challenge for contact tracing.

Just as Australia has planned a tracking app may be used to help the process, along with Prime Minister Jacinta Adern's homespun idea of "diary entries".

"I would ask New Zealanders to think about doing that. Just keeping a quick note of where you've been, and who you've been with," Ms Ardern said.

Simple, yes. Practical? Well, let's see.

Just for a point of reference for later this week, these are Johns Hopkins University's big picture stats: confirmed cases 2,382,064 confirmed cases, 6547 in Australia; total deaths 165,636, 71 in Australia; 611,791 total recoveries, 4124 in Australia.

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