As it happened: Trump denies any plan to change date of election

Here's the final question of the evening.

A reporter asks: If an American president loses more Americans over the course of six weeks than died during the entirety of the Vietnam war, does he deserve to be reelected?

Trump took the question in stride.

"So, yeah, we've lost a lot of people but if you look at what original projections were, 2.2 million, we're probably heading to 60,000 - 70,000," he says.

"It's far too many - one person is too many for this. I think we've made a lot of really good decisions," he adds. "The big decision was closing the border, doing the ban on people coming in from China."

He also brings up the "unbelievable" job his administration did with ventilators.

"I think we've done a great job. And I will say this - one person is too many."

And with that, the briefing is concluded.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Trump is asked if he has considered delaying the November presidential election.

"I never even thought of changing the date of the election," he answers. "Why would I do that? November 3rd. That's a good number."

Trump calls the suggestion "made up propaganda" and says that "sleepy Joe" Biden - his presumptive Democratic rival - was likely unaware his campaign had put the statement out.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden said at a virtual fundraiser last week that he thought Trump would "try to kick back the election somehow".

The president has frequently leveled insults at his Democratic opponent by questioning the former vice-president's mental fortitude.

"I look forward to that election," Trump says.

President Trump says his administration has launched "very serious investigations" into China's response to the novel coronavirus.

"And we are not happy with China, we are not happy with that whole situation, because we believe it could have been stopped at the source," he says. "It could have been stopped quickly and it wouldn't have spread all over the world."

Trump has been critical of China as the pandemic has progressed and has frequently touted his decision to close the US borders to China in an effort to curb the outbreak. Some health experts have said the effort bought time for the US to prepare, but the Trump administration has been accused of squandering the opportunity.

"Nobody except one country can be held accountable for what happened," Trump says.

"Nobody's blaming anybody here, we're looking at a group of people that should've stopped it at the source."

The US will never forget those who were "sacrificed for a reason of incompetence or something else other than incompetence," he adds.

"They" - referring to China - "could've protected the whole world - not just us - the whole world," he says.

Trump says people who can’t open up their stores because of lockdown measures face losing their livelihoods.

"The fact that people aren’t allowed to have their freedom causes a tremendous amount of problems, including death," he says.

A reporter asks Trump about the state of Maryland reporting more emergency calls regarding ingestion of disinfectants after the president suggested that they could be used to treat Covid-19.

"I can't imagine why," Trump responds. "I can't imagine that."

Last week, the Maryland governor's office said it issued an alert warning against ingesting or injecting disinfectants after receiving more than 100 calls.

The president has said his comments were made sarcastically.

The reporter asks if the president takes any responsibility for the increase in calls.

"No," he replies.

The president responds to a question criticising Health Secretary Alex Azar's early downplaying of the disease by saying it was "unfair". He claims Democrats did the same, including Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.

"I was very fortunate through luck or whatever that we closed the border, we put a ban on China," he says.

"But I could tell you that Nancy Pelosi was dancing in the streets in Chinatown. She wanted to go, let's go out and party. That was late in February."

Back in February, Mrs Pelosi had encouraged people to visit San Francisco's Chinatown to help struggling businesses. She did not propose any parties, as the president suggested.

The city issued a stay-at-home order in March.

White House coronavirus task force co-ordinator Dr Deborah Birx and Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir have begun outlining efforts to improve the US testing system.

Mr Giroir says the federal government will be able to supply every state with the tests they need.

But the fine print on the White House's new guidance for states suggests that the testing burden will fall to states.

Documents obtained by CBS News, the BBC's US partner, show that the guidelines direct governors are expected to craft their own plans for increasing testing. Most sentences begin with the words "states should".

States "must be able to proactively monitor for and respond to local outbreaks", the documents say, "and develop rapid response programmes that enable quick isolation and contact tracing of individuals who test positive".

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The president has suggested an unnamed individual "a long time ago" could have stopped the "unnecessary death[s]" due to Covid-19.

"There has been so much unnecessary death in this country," he said.

"It could've been stopped and it could've been stopped short, but somebody a long time ago, it seems, decided not to do it that way and the whole world is suffering because of it."

He did not say who he was referencing and gave no other details.

Industry executives say they are working on expanding testing, including self-swab tests.

Executives from retailer Walmart; pharmacy chains Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS; and health diagnostics company LabCorp, as well as the US Cotton industry group said they would make more tests and testing sites available across the country.

LabCorp said it would release an at-home Covid-19 test in the coming weeks.

But even as commercial labs say they have expanded the capacity for testing, medical officials throughout the US have said they still face shortages of key materials, including testing swabs, reagents, and pipettes.

For example, the Ohio Health Department told CNN that the state is focused on testing the most “vulnerable patients” because of a “global shortage in supplies”. Ohio is due to begin reopening some businesses on Friday, 1 May.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The president begins by saying Covid-19 cases are declining or stablising across the country.

"In all cases getting better," he says. "Really a horrible situation that we’ve been confronted with, but they’re moving along."

He adds there's a "hunger" to get back to work.

"Ensuring the health of our economy is vital to ensuring the health of our nation - these goals work in tandem."

We asked three Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 to rate the US president's response to the virus, including his recent comments about disinfectant.

The BBC first spoke to these voters before the president's inauguration in January 2017 and we've caught up with them several times since.

Here's what they had to say.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The 28-day lockdown in three parts of Nigeria was due to end tonight but, during a televised address to the nation, President Buhari just announced measures would continue for one more week.

And then, from next Monday, a new “phased and gradual easing of” restrictions will kick in to allow the restoration of some economic and business activities - but the easing comes with nationwide conditions.

It will now be compulsory for everyone to wear face masks in public, there will be an overnight curfew between 20:00 and 06:00 with only essential services allowed to move during those times. President Buhari also said there would be a ban on “non-essential inter-state passenger travel until further notice” and all bans on social and religious gatherings would remain in place.

He also expressed his deep concern over the “mysterious deaths” of a number of people in the northern state of Kano. As well as sending a government team to investigate, he said he’d issued a total lockdown for two weeks with immediate effect.

President Trump is expected to hold a news conference on the pandemic in the next 20 minutes or so, having earlier cancelled it.

His press secretary said it would be held in the Rose Garden and would "brief the nation on additional testing guidance and safely opening up America again".

Some of Mr Trump's advisers had called for a pause in his almost daily updates, following amazement at his suggestion last Thursday that injecting disinfectant might be a way of treating Covid-19.

Some Republicans have warned that the president's briefings were harming his chances of re election.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

California Governor Gavin Newsom has pledged to step-up the enforcement of coronavirus-related measures after images spread of people flocking to the coast over the weekend.

A stay-at-home order was implemented statewide last month, but some counties have reopened beaches and thousands flocked there during recent hot weather.

“This virus doesn’t take the weekends off. This virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful sunny day around our coasts," Governor Newsom said on Monday.

California, a state of about 40 million people, is one of the heaviest impacted areas in the US.

BBCCopyright: BBC

If you’re working remotely you might be hunching over your laptop or computer all day – and that’s really not good for your back. We asked an expert on some simple ways to maintain good posture and make working from home a more comfortable experience:

BBC OS on World Service radioCopyright: BBC OS on World Service radio

New Zealand has said it has stopped community transmission of Covid-19, effectively eliminating the virus, while some non-essential business, healthcare and education activities will resume on Tuesday.

Jin Russell, a doctor in Auckland, spoke to BBC OS on World Service radio and said: “I’m at the end of a five-week lockdown staying at home with my two little boys and my husband. I’m really proud of my country. We’ve taken such strong collective action to keep each other safe.

“When our prime minister, Jacinda Arden, announced five weeks ago the lockdown was going to start I remember crying with relief because my whole family are doctors. My mum is a GP in her 70s, my dad is a full-time pathologist at the hospital, and my brother is a rheumatologist.

"I work at the children’s hospital here and when I saw what was happening with healthcare workers overseas catching coronavirus and being at risk, I was so relieved we locked down, went hard and went early. I feel very confident that New Zealand is going to show the world how to do this.”

New Zealand has reported fewer than 1,500 confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus and 19 deaths.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Some of us may be guilty of using lockdown as an excuse to indulge in our favourite unhealthy foods, but now Belgians are being urged to eat more chips for a good cause.

The nation, known for its love of fries, is said to have 750,000 tonnes of potatoes piled up at warehouses because of coronavirus disruption.

Now Belgapom, the country's potato growers' union, has presented the "twice a week" chips initiative as a matter of survival for farmers.

Read more about the campaign.

A fake news article circulated on social media, claiming that the first volunteer taking in a coronavirus vaccine trial in Oxford had died. She is alive and well – as BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh confirmed when he spoke to her on Skype.

The false claim seems to have originated in an article shared on a site with both genuine and fake global news stories. It was set up in March and registered in the US, but there’s very little information about who’s behind it.

Most articles are written by a mysterious character who is hard to find on social media. We’ve decided not to use their name or the site's at the risk of amplifying false information. The articles have been pushed out by a Facebook account, which has no information but a name.

BBC News has contacted the account, but had no response. This specific fake news story was re-shared in big Facebook groups which oppose vaccinations – or support conspiracy theories. BBC Monitoring's Shayan Saradarizadeh said: “In less than 48 hours, the fake story has been posted to a potential audience of millions. And it continues to spread – despite debunks and posts being removed.”