April 6 coronavirus news

Sydney is closing more of its beaches until after Easter as crowds defied social distancing rules and gathered to take in the sun and sea over the weekend.

From Tuesday, five beaches will be closed until after the Easter long weekend, according to the Northern Beaches Council.

They include:

The closures will be reviewed on April 14 ahead of any decision to reopen.

New South Wales health authorities said Manly and Dee Why beaches have become hotspots for community transmissions of Covid-19.

It comes about two weeks after authorities closed the city's iconic Bondi Beach after massive crowds gathered there.

On March 27, the Sydney district of Waverley Council reported more coronavirus cases than any district in Australia, Mayor Paula Masselos said in a statement.

Waverley includes some of Sydney's famous beaches, including Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte.

The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to batter much of the world, with total global cases past 1.27 million.

The US now has more than four times China's total cases, and is the worst-hit country.

This is how the pandemic looks around the world:

Queen Elizabeth II offered reassurance to the British public and called for unity on Sunday in a rare televised speech.

The address comes as UK authorities warn people to stay at home, and as Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to the hospital for tests, after days of coronavirus symptoms. Johnson tested positive for the virus on March 27.

It's extremely rare for the Queen to address the nation like this: She typically only speaks to the country during an annual televised Christmas message and when a new parliament is installed.

She's only held these types of emergency national addresses a handful of times in history -- one time during World War Two, which she alluded to during her speech on Sunday.

The Queen, 93, concluded by again calling for unity saying, "we will succeed."

Singapore has reported 120 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours -- its biggest daily jump of reported infections since the coronavirus outbreak began -- the country's Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The cases were reported from 12 p.m. Saturday to 12 p.m. Sunday, Singapore time.

Of the new infections, 116 were identified as local cases with no recent travel history.

Fifty cases were linked to existing clusters, while contact tracing is ongoing for the remaining 66, the statement said.

Dormitories locked down: On Sunday, Singapore said that it has locked down two foreign worker dormitories as the number of reported cases continued to rise, according to another notice posted by the Ministry of Health. 

The dormitories, the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan dormitory, have been declared isolation areas. Foreign workers are banned from moving between blocks or reporting to work for 14 days, but will continue to receive their salary during this period.

The S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, has 13,000 resident workers, while Westlite Toh Guan has 6,800.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25, Indian Railways took the unprecedented move of suspending passenger trains across the country until April 14.

It was the first time in 167 years that Asia's oldest rail network had been suspended.

Now the railway network has decided to convert as many as 20,000 old train carriages into isolation wards for patients as the virus spreads.

The network, which is the world's fourth-largest rail operator and India's biggest employer, already operates 125 hospitals across the nation, so has the expertise to expand into mobile beds.

While India's hospital system isn't overwhelmed yet, the repurposed trains could ease some of the pressure if the number of coronavirus patients begin to rise.

For more on how India is turning train carriages into turn into hospitals, read here:

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India has closed its railways for the first time in 167 years. Now trains are being turned into hospitals

There was a heated disagreement in the Situation Room this weekend over the efficacy of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine -- but multiple sources say it was mostly one-sided.

President Donald Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro feuded with other officials inside the coronavirus task force over the unproven drug's treatment for the virus. 

Medical experts have repeatedly explained to the President that there is a risk in touting the drug in case ultimately it doesn't work. But other aides and outside advisers have sided with Trump, including Navarro, who is still not a formal part of the task force but has wedged himself into the meetings.

What happened: While discussing the latest on hydroxychloroquine this weekend, Navarro lashed out at Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert and one of those advisers who has urged caution about the drug, a person familiar with the meeting told CNN. 

Not data: Navarro had brought a stack of paperwork with him into the Situation Room on the drug, arguing it was proof that it could work to treat coronavirus, which Fauci disagreed with because it was not data. 

Not a proven treatment: A source close to the task force said Fauci is not backing off of his belief that hydroxychloroquine is not a proven treatment for coronavirus. When CNN’s Jeremy Diamond asked Fauci to comment on the matter Sunday night, Trump stepped in and didn’t allow Fauci to answer. But a source said the doctor has already offered his opinion on the drug in other venues and would continue to do so.

The argument highlights how deep the divide runs over the task force's response to the coronavirus outbreak: Another source told CNN that despite the disagreement in the Situation Room with Fauci and Navarro, Fauci continues to have a good relationship with Trump and Vice Presdient Mike Pence, though some staffers have shown irritation when his opinions differ. 

Read more here:

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Heated disagreement breaks out in Situation Room over hydroxychloroquine

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said there has been a "horrifying global surge in domestic violence" and urged governments to make women’s safety a key part of their national coronavirus response plans.

Watch his address here:

Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the Global Justice Center, said the call "recognizes how violence and crisis situations exacerbate existing inequalities in society and emphasize the need to center those most impacted in responses."

"However, to date, we have consistently seen that Covid-19 responses have inadequately taken women’s rights and human rights into account. And there’s been a lack of inclusivity in the groups responsible for crisis response and decision-making," she said.

New York City is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, with emergency frontline workers saying they are facing "battlefield conditions."

The city now has a total of 64,955 cases and 2,472 deaths, according to the government site.

Hopeful signs: After a few weeks of social distancing and business shutdowns, the number of deaths has begun dropping "for the first time," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday -- but he cautioned that it's too early to tell whether this means New York has passed the peak.

In the meantime, China is stepping in to help. The Chinese government has facilitated a donation of 1,000 ventilators that were scheduled to arrive at JFK Airport on Sunday, Cuomo said.

There are at least 337,274 cases of coronavirus in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

At least 9,633 people have died in the US from coronavirus. 

As of Sunday, there have been at least 25,029 new cases and at least 1,137 new deaths reported in the US.

Over the weekend:

The total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as all repatriated cases.

Wyoming is the only state not reporting a death from coronavirus.

CNN is keeping track of coronavirus cases across the US and an interactive map can be found here:

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Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US