This archive report was first published on 5 May 2020.
As of May 5, 2020, the global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic had surpassed 250,000, with the majority of fatalities occurring in the United States and Europe.
According to an AFP tally of official figures, Europe was the hardest-hit continent, with approximately 145,000 fatalities, while the United States recorded close to 68,700 deaths.
Despite the grim numbers, both regions were slowly moving away from lockdown, with governments in Europe believing they had passed the peak of the disease.
Restaurants in Italy partially reopened, and Germans queued for haircuts as Europe edged gingerly out of lockdown.
However, the pandemic-induced economic crash had led to widespread economic hardship, with many countries seeking to ease restrictions to allow businesses to remain afloat and workers to earn a wage.
"Today is wonderful," said Lagos fruit and vegetable vendor Adewale Oluwa, opening his stall in Africa's largest city after a five-week lockdown.
Confirmed cases since the disease surfaced in China late last year had risen to almost 3.6 million across 195 countries and territories.
Despite the progress made in some regions, the threat of the virus remained, with Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin warning citizens that the threat was "apparently on the rise".
Meanwhile, the United States remained far more severely affected than any other nation, with an internal study by the US government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicting that new coronavirus cases would surge more than eight-fold to 200,000 per day by June 1.
The study also forecast that the toll could rise to 3,000 a day, up from the current 1,000-2,000, which could more than double the number of US coronavirus deaths over the next few months.
A special telethon backed by the World Health Organisation but snubbed by Washington pulled in 7.4 billion euros ($8.1 billion) to support international efforts to develop and manufacture a vaccine to slow the coronavirus spread.
