New Zealand- Satellite representation. Image: Google Maps.

New Zealand has begun to gradually lift some of the restrictive measures imposed to limit the spread of coronavirus in the country over the last month.

People are able to travel to work, order take away food and spend more time outside.

The government’s announcement to downgrade the security level from 4 to 3 led to long queues waiting for takeaway outlets such as McDonald’s.

New Zealand has eased into a less restrictive lockdown, with 400,000 more people heading back to work and 75% of the country's economy operating. But the country isn't celebrating yet. https://t.co/BGW07VZV1J

— CNN (@CNN) April 28, 2020

Trump criticizes China for mishandling the coronavirus outbreak

US President Donald Trump says his administration is conducting an investigation over China’s management of the virus outbreak arguing that it could have stopped earlier.

Trump’s criticism comes after last week’s statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Beijing failed to respond in time to the global threat of the respiratory disease.

He also alleged China covered up how dangerous and contagious it is.

President Trump criticized China again for the spread of the coronavirus and said his administration is conducting ‘serious investigations’ into what happened https://t.co/AVnu7qfny6 https://t.co/WvxQ9kboEp

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 28, 2020

Meanwhile a survey has revealed that 30% of Americans have witnessed someone blaming Asian people for the coronavirus pandemic.

Over 30% of Americans have witnessed someone blaming Asian people for the coronavirus pandemic, a new survey says. https://t.co/0wspycHVwS

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 28, 2020

Brazil could be the next epidemic hotspot

The number of coronavirus cases and deaths is beginning to soar in Brazil despite President Jair Bolsonaro’s view of the virus as common flu.

Scientists say that COVID-19 cases could rise over a million and hospitals are reaching their capacity.

It’s believed that a growing number of people are dying at home.

Brazil has confirmed around 67,000 COVID-19 cases and 4,500 deaths but the lack of testing could hide the true scale of the outbreak.

Mass burials are taking place in Manaus, Brazil where deaths have tripled since the #coronavirus outbreak. pic.twitter.com/xvlWFP4ZpI

— DW News (@dwnews) April 27, 2020

New York emergency department doctor takes her own life

The medical director at a New York hospital’s emergency department has committed suicide.

49-year-old Lorna Breen had been on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus in the city which is the epicentre of the pandemic in the US.

Her father Philip Breen told the New York Times that Lorna had seemed detached and told him, patients were dying in ambulances before arriving at the hospital where dozens are being treated.

New York has seen roughly a third of America’s 50,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

Dr. Lorna M. Breen, a top emergency room doctor at a Manhattan hospital that treated coronavirus patients, died by suicide on Sunday, according to her father, Dr. Philip C. Breen. “She tried to do her job," he said, "and it killed her." https://t.co/9eOiEMdkrV

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 27, 2020