United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says there has been “a horrifying global surge in domestic violence” in recent weeks as fear of the coronavirus pandemic has grown along with its social and economic consequences.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to declare a state of emergency over the spread of the new coronavirus, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Monday citing a government official. The declaration is expected on Tuesday, and will take effect Wednesday, according to an administration source. But first Abe is required to specify which areas will be targeted and for how long. Major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka will likely be targeted, the government official added.

Ukrainian authorities on 5 April reported a spike in radiation levels in the Chernobyl nuclear accident zone, which was hit by a devastating forest fire. According to reports, the fire caused radiation levels to rise above normal in the restricted zone around Chernobyl. Yegor Firsov, head of Ukraine's state ecological inspection service, took to Facebook where he informed about the bad news by sharing a video of Geiger counter showing radiation levels 16 times higher than normal. 

Pope Francis celebrated Palm Sunday Mass without the public, as the traditional ceremony in St. Peter’s Square was scrapped because of the coronavirus pandemic, news wires reported.

Pro-European centrist Keir Starmer was on Saturday confirmed as new Labour party leader. He will replace Jeremy Corbyn, who announced he would step down after a bitter defeat at the last election that saw sweeping gains for the ruling Conservatives.

Queen Elizabeth will make an extremely rare address to the nation on Sunday amid an increasingly deadly coronavirus outbreak in the UK, news wires reported.

Iraq has thousands of confirmed COVID-19 cases, many times more than the 772 it has publicly reported, according to three doctors closely involved in the testing process, a health ministry official and a senior political official.

Coronavirus cases across the globe surpassed 1 million on Thursday with more than 52,000 deaths as the pandemic further exploded in the US and the death toll climbed in France, Spain and Italy, news wires reported. So far Italy had the most deaths, more than 13,900, followed by Spain. The US had the most confirmed cases of any country, more than 240,000, the data showed.

Romania’s Ministry of Defence has contracted construction works worth €18m million for a temporary military base, north of Bucharest, Profit.ro reported. Infrastructure capabilities according to NATO standards will be developed in a local military facility in Tunari, and will include accommodation spaces, administrative buildings, roads, alleys and platforms for the storage of technology, perimeter and interior fencing, according to the specifications.

Coronavirus deaths soared. New York City playgrounds were targeted for shutdown to help slow an outbreak projected to grow worse for another month. Overtaxed hospitals began transferring patients north of the city. And residents near one struggling hospital have become all too used to ambulance sirens. New York’s COVID-19 death count more than doubled in 72 hours to 1,941.