Confirmed coronavirus cases top 2.5m worldwide

There’s so much oil sloshing around the system and no demand for it that oil futures have plunged below zero for the first time in history.
Globally, more than 2.5 million people have been diagnosed with the virus. More than 170,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US accounts for about a quarter of all deaths.
Tuesday, April 21
18:20 GMT – Lebanon: MPs meet in theatre, protesters out in cars

Dozens of protesters poured back onto the streets of the Lebanese capital Beirut, protesting in their cars to maintain physical distance as the country combats the coronavirus outbreak.
Large convoys of cars drove from Martyrs’ Square, the birthplace of the country’s uprising against the civil war-era ruling class in October, to the vicinity of a large theatre complex where MPs met on Tuesday to approve dozens of laws, including legalising the cultivation of cannabis for medical and industrial use.
17:45 GMT – ‘Xenophobic scapegoating’: Trump plan to ban immigration slammed

Democrats, immigration lawyers and advocates slammed US President Donald Trump after saying he will “temporarily suspend immigration” due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Opponents, such as Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, said that the proposed executive order amounts to “xenophobic scapegoating”.
17:15 GMT – Companies join UK effort to build ventilators

Several engineering, aerospace, automotive and Formula One companies in the have joined forces to produce ventilators with the aim of building more than 1,500 per week.

The VentilatorChallengeUK consortium was formed in response to a call by the UK government for companies to help boost the production of medical equipment.

Dick Elsy, who leads the consortium, said the group could produce more than the current government order of 20,000 ventilators, according to Reuters news agency.