Confirmed coronavirus cases have now topped three million worldwide, as hard-hit France and Spain are today set to detail their exit strategies from lockdowns imposed to stem the spread of the deadly disease.
More than 209,000 people have been killed around the world by Covid-19, a quarter of them in the US.
The three million figure probably reflects only a fraction of the actual number of infections, as many countries are testing only the most serious cases.
Forecasts warn of the worst global recession in a century, with oil prices tumbling and the travel and tourism sector badly hammered.
For parts of the US, the lockdown has begun to ease - despite criticism from health experts.
With a handful of US states taking steps to revive their closed economies, schools and shops in some parts of Europe also opened up as the rate of people dying slowed in the worst-hit European nations.
Italy - the first European country to go into lockdown seven weeks ago - began allowing some construction and factory workers to go back to work yesterday.
From next week, Italians will be able to exercise outdoors and visit relatives - but only if they wear masks and refrain from hugs and handshakes.
Spain has already begun easing its tight lockdown and was set to announce more detailed plans today, as was France, which has said it will begin to ease confinement on 11 May.
Florists, dentists and others went back to work in Switzerland in the first stage of a three-phase plan.
But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who emerged from his own battle with the virus, called for patience in the UK, saying it was too early to follow suit.
He said he could not "throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British people and to risk a second major outbreak."
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His comments stood in stark contrast to those made the previous day by New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, who said the nation had won the battle against "widespread, undetected community transmission".
New Zealanders indulged in fast food and coffee-shop treats for the first time in five weeks as the country eased its strict lockdown that banned any form of takeaway.
Surfers and swimmers also returned to catch the waves at Australia's Bondi Beach, which was closed in late March, but the white sands remained off-limits to sunbathers, joggers and families.
Most US states do not yet have sufficient Covid-19 testing to consider relaxing stay-at-home orders, according to an analysis by Harvard researchers and the health news site Stat.
Mr Trump said yesterday that testing was being rapidly expanded and that he expected to see a "lot" of schools open up, even if there is not much time left in the school year.
Germany, which started lifting restrictions last week, has seen small but regular protests against remaining curbs on personal freedom.
This comes as first signs that transmission of the virus has again picked up.
The reproduction or infection rate under close watch by health authorities mounted again to around 1.0, meaning each infected person passes the virus on to one other, figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control showed.
Ministers and virologists have hammered home the importance of squeezing the number below 1.0.
And the country has seen days of intense media and political debate after Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Germany's federal states against loosening their lockdowns too quickly.
Since mid-April, the infection rate had sunk as low as 0.7 before inching back up again.
Meanwhile the mortality rate from the disease has also been rising day by day.
By Tuesday, it had reached 3.8% according to RKI figures, which remains well below some neighbouring countries such as France.
The latest data showed 156,337 cases in Germany and 5,913 deaths.
Starting yesterday, masks became obligatory on public transport and in most shops in Germany.
