Latest updates from around the world...

THE coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 1.8 million people worldwide and an estimated 112,000 deaths have been recorded.

Here is the latest on the situation from around the world: AUSTRALIA

Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy has said the country is “in a good place” in its fight against the coronavirus as the death toll rose by three to 59.

Mr Murphy said there is “no place in the world I would rather be than Australia at the moment”. Australia now has 6,289 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.

Mr Murphy said people in the community are still transmitting the virus so it is necessary to “keep our pressure on and make sure that we don’t end up like countries in the world that you have all seen on the news”.

He said the country was “in a good place... but we have to maintain that good place”.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said it would be “very dangerous and unrealistic” to remove social distancing restrictions too soon.

He said those restrictions will stay in place across Australia “for as long as it takes” based on medical advice.

EUROPEAN UNION

The head of the European Union’s executive branch has recommended people hold off on booking summer holidays for now, pointing to uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

Most planes are currently grounded and many countries have put in place wide-ranging travel restrictions. Some nations are considering first steps out of weeks-long shutdowns of public life but much of Europe is at a near-standstill.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper she “would advise waiting with such plans”.

She added in an interview that “no one can make reliable forecasts for July and August at the moment”.

ISRAEL

The Israeli government has approved a tight quarantine of several areas of Jerusalem, including the historic Old City, in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus in the city’s most susceptible areas.

A ministerial committee approved the shutting down of movement in and out of several predominantly ultra-Orthodox areas of the city in order to contain the disease that has already resulted in more than 100 deaths in Israel and almost 6,000 around the Middle East, the vast majority in Iran.

The measure faced resistance from ultra-Orthodox ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government who rejected singling out their constituency. Israel’s health ministry has documented more than 10,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 100 deaths. Roughly a fifth of all cases in Israel are in Jerusalem, the ministry said. A large percentage of the Covid-19 cases are in the country’s largely insular ultraOrthodox community, which for weeks did not adhere to orders to maintain social distancing. JAPAN

Japanese healthcare facilities are getting stretched thin amid a surge in coronavirus patients.

Workers’ groups the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Emergency Medicine issued a joint statement warning about a “collapse of emergency medicine,” which may lead to the collapse of medicine overall.

The statement said many hospitals were turning away people brought by ambulance, including those suffering strokes, heart attacks and external injuries. Some who were turned away later turned out to have the coronavirus.

Masks and surgical gowns were running short, the statement said.

Japan has nearly 7,000 coronavirus cases and about 100 deaths, but the numbers are growing. The government has declared a state of emergency, asking people to stay at home. SOUTH KOREA

South Korea reported 32 additional cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, a continued downward trend in new infections in the country.

The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the additional cases increased the country’s total to 10,512.

It said 7,368 patients have recovered and been released from quarantine, while 13,788 are undergoing tests to determine whether they have contracted the virus. The centre said that South Korea’s death toll from the coronavirus increased by three to 214.

UNITED STATES

Walt Disney World plans to stop paying wages to 43,000 workers in about a week while allowing staff to keep their benefits for up to a year in what is the largest wave of furloughs since the Florida theme park resort closed in mid-March.

Workers will be able to keep their medical, dental and life insurance benefits for the length of the furlough period, or up to a year. Seniority and wage rates will remain unchanged for the workers whose furloughs start on April 19, according to a statement from the Service Trades Council, the coalition of unions representing the Disney World workers.

About 200 workers will remain on the job performing “essential duties” during the closure, and they will be offered positions based on seniority, the union said.