Coronavirus live updates: China reports 30 new cases, South Korea says it has 81 more cases

A worker wearing protective garments sanitizes the Duomo square, during the coronavirus disease outbreak in central Milan, Italy.

Flavio Lo Scalzo | REUTERS

This is a live blog. Please check back for updates.

• Global cases: At least 1,197,405
• Global deaths: At least 64,606
• Top 5 countries: United States (308,850), Spain (126,168), Italy (124,632), , Germany (96,092), and France (90,848). 

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of 9 a.m. Beijing time. 

All times below are in Beijing time.

12:50 pm: Thailand reports 102 new cases, 3 more deaths

Thailand reported 102 new cases to a total of 2,169 cases, according to its health ministry. It had 3 more deaths.

The country banned all incoming passengers flights effective Saturday, in a bid to curb the rise in imported cases. — Weizhen Tan

11:35 am: Italy's daily death toll drops to lowest in two weeks

Italy on Saturday reported its lowest daily rise in COVID-19 deaths in nearly two weeks, according to a Reuters report. It also said the number of patients in intensive care fell for the first time.

However, new cases rose by nearly 4,805 on Saturday — slightly higher than previous days, and officials urged people not to ease up on the lockdown measures they said were starting to show results, according to the report.

The total number of infections in the country was at 124,632, with overall fatalities at 15,362, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. — Weizhen Tan

10:20 am: United Airlines cuts flights to New York

United Airlines said it will drastically cut flights to two New York-area airports. Starting Sunday, it will reduce its 157 daily flights to Newark and New York LaGuardia to 17 a day, according to a statement from its Chief Operations Officer Greg Hart.

The cuts will be in effect at least three weeks, the statement said. “As the situation in New York and New Jersey worsens, we are taking another major step at Newark and LaGuardia to help keep our employees safe and play our part in helping to mitigate the spread of the outbreak in the Tri-State area,” Hart said.

New York has been the most affected state amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of confirmed cases nearly doubling since last Friday. There's a total of 113,704 cases and 3,565 deaths in the state as of Saturday, according to the governor's office. — Weizhen Tan

9:50 am: Mexico reports jump of 202 new cases, 19 new deaths

The number of new cases in Mexico increased by 202 to a total of 1,890 cases, according to its health ministry. The number of deaths jumped by 19 to 79 fatalities in total. 

Its Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatel blamed decades of poor eating habits in the country, causing obesity, diabetes and other conditions that made its people more vulnerable to the coronavirus, according to a Reuters report. — Weizhen Tan

9:40 am: South Korea's new cases jump by 81

New cases in South Korea jumped by 81 as of Sunday morning, and its number of deaths increased by six, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The country's total now stands at 10,237 cases, and 183 fatalities. The government said Saturday that it would extend its social distancing measures by another two weeks in an attempt to curb the number of new infections to around 50 a day, according to a Reuters report. — Weizhen Tan

9:30 am: Mainland China reports 30 new cases, 3 more deaths

China's National Health Commission (NHC) reported 30 new cases, and three more deaths as of April 4. Of those, it said 25 were “imported,” or attributed to people traveling from overseas.

That brings the country's total to 81,669 confirmed cases, and 3,329 deaths, according to the NHC.

Separately, there were 47 new asymptomatic cases, where people tested positive for the virus but did not show any symptoms. China started including asymptomatic cases in its daily reports starting April 1. That brings its total number of asymptomatic cases under medical observation to 1,024, the NHC said. — Weizhen Tan

All times below are in Eastern time.

5:43 pm: Dr. Birx warns three US hotspots will all reach peak mortality in the next week

Dr. Deborah Birx, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, warned the hardest hit U.S. hotspots could reach their mortality peaks, simultaneously, in the next week. 

“The Detroit area, the New York area, the Louisiana area … They're all on the upside of the curve of mortality,” Birx said at a White House briefing. “By the predictions that are in that healthdata.org, they're predicting in those three hotspots, all of them hitting together in the next six to seven days.” 

New York leads the country in terms of coronavirus cases, with more than 113,000 confirmed cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. At least 63,000 of those cases are in the New York City area. Michigan has more than 14,000 confirmed cases of the virus, and Louisiana has more than 12,000. 

“What we're seeing today are the people who were infected two or three weeks ago,” Birx said. “If mitigation in New York worked, and we believe it is working, the cases are going to start to go down, but the mortality will be a lag behind that because of the co-morbidities and other conditions.” —Sara Salinas

4:40 pm: Trump says 1,000 military personnel are deploying to New York City

President Donald Trump announced that 1,000 military personnel are deploying to New York City to help fight the coronavirus. 

“We're taking people now out of our military. We've been doing it but now we're doing it on a larger basis,” the president said at a White House press briefing. —Emma Newburger

3:59 pm: Coronavirus patients spend night on Navy hospital ship meant for non-infected New York patients