The head of Milan's economically vital Lombardy region began waging a lonely campaign Thursday to get Italy to end its virus lockdown and reopen for business.

French President Emmanuel Macron said there were grey areas in China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak and that things "happened that we don't know about", speaking in an interview with the Financial Times published Thursday. 

Spain's coronavirus death toll soared past 19,000 on Thursday with another 551 deaths, but questions over the counting method have raised some regional concerns the real figure is much higher.

After nearly five weeks of confinement, the rise in deaths and infections has slowed over the past fortnight, with the overnight fatalities taking the toll to 19,130. 

Britain will extend its coronavirus lockdown for "at least" another three weeks, foreign secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday, as hundreds across the country continue to die daily from the outbreak.

The wealthy Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation called Wednesday for global cooperation to ready COVID-19 vaccines for seven billion people, while offering $150 million toward developing therapeutics and treatments for the virus.

Switzerland announced on Thursday a three-stage easing of the restrictions imposed to suppress the COVID-19 pandemic, with some shops and services allowed to reopen from April 27.

There is a "tremendous danger" of a COVID-19 resurgence in China due to Beijing's censorship and suppression during the coronavirus outbreak, Human Rights Watch warned on Thursday.

Iran on Thursday announced 92 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, the third straight day that official fatalities remained in double digits in the Middle East's worst-hit country.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday expanded a state of emergency due to the coronavirus to cover the whole country to stem the growing spread of the disease.

The British government was on Thursday expected to extend a nationwide lockdown for another three weeks, amid signs the coronavirus outbreak is peaking, but warnings of more deaths to come.