Coronavirus live news: 600 die in Nigeria outbreak; Madrid denies not treating care home residents

By Damien Gayle (now); Nick Ames and Alison Rourke (earlier)

Brazil passes 700,000 infections; WHO says asymptomatic transmission ‘appears to be rare’; Moscow to lift lockdown

1.50pm BST

The Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has seized on a comment from a World Health Organization official that transmission of coronavirus by people with no symptoms could be “rare” as proof his country should be reopening for business, writes Tom Phillips, the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent.

Brazil has the second highest number of infections after the US and is set to overtake the UK this week as the country with the second highest number of deaths.

1.39pm BST

As the number of cases of coronavirus continue to rise rapidly in South Africa, health officials are warning the outbreak may last between one and two years, writes Jason Burke, the Guardian’s Africa correspondent.

There are now more than 50,000 confirmed cases in Africa’s most industrialised nation, with 1,080 deaths.

Source: Coronavirus live news: 600 die in Nigeria outbreak; Madrid denies not treating care home residents

Category: Coronavirus outbreak, Brazil, Russia, World Health Organization, Europe, Americas, World news