COVID-19 Informer: US COVID-19 cases hit 1m as UK increases testing in care homes

Coronavirus cases in the US have eclipsed every other country and now represent nearly a third of all global infections. US deaths account for more than a quarter of the 213,000 world's toll.

The true number of infections is much higher. Some disease researchers have estimated the true number of infections may be about 10 times the known number, and preliminary testing of how many people have antibodies to the virus seems to support that view.

As the UK discovered overnight, including aged care homes in the reporting changes those numbers significantly.

The UK government now will publish daily numbers of deaths from coronavirus in care homes and in the community, it has been decided. This comes after an Office of National Statistics official said more than 5500 care home residents in England have died with the virus.

Testing also will be expanded to all care home residents and staff, regardless of whether they have COVID-19 symptoms.

The US, like parts of Europe, is mulling over the question of reopening schools.

France will start opening schools on May 11; Italy isn't thinking about it until September and in the US, President Donald Trump said states should seriously consider resuming classes.

New doubts were raised over whether Japan will be able to host the already postponed Summer Olympics next year without the development of a vaccine.

Meanwhile here's something Australia's epidemiologists can aim for ... their face tattooed on a complete stranger's arm.

That's exactly what happened in Sweden where state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has become a household name. So much so that one 32-year-old from Stockholm, Gustav Lloyd Agerblad, decided to forever carry him on his arm.

"I like to have tattoos that represent something for me and, I mean, this Covid-19 will be a part of my life, for the rest of my life," Agerblad explained. He makes a reasonable point ...

On the homefront expect to hear more about the $13 billion incentive offered to private schools to restart classroom teaching within four weeks. The dramatic offer intensifies pressure on state governments to hasten the end of online learning at home as Australia curbs growth in coronavirus cases.

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