As it happened - Trump: 'We're opening up our country'

We're now wrapping up our live page for the evening. Thanks for tuning in.

Here's a round-up of what's happened around the world today:

• US President Donald Trump has unveiled a plan to reopen the country
• UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced the lockdown there will continue for at least three more weeks
• Ninety-nine-year-old war veteran Captain Tom Moore has now raised more than £14m ($17m) and counting for the NHS.
• EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered a "heartfelt apology" to Italy, saying "too many were not there on time" when the country "needed a helping hand"
• France reported another 753 fatalities in 24 hours bringing its death toll to 17,920
• Iran's number of infections rose by 1,606 to reach 77,995. The country's official death toll rose by 92 to 4,869
• Brazil's health minister has been sacked for his response to coronavirus. President Jair Bolsonaro had been critical of Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who had urged people to observe social distancing and stay indoors
• The Galapagos Islands, almost 1,000km off the coast of Ecuador, have confirmed 78 cases of coronavirus
• Singapore has seen its highest daily spike with 447 new cases, bringing the total to 3,699
• Germany has announced that schools will start to reopen from 4 May. Shops under 800 square metres can operate as long as they implement strict safety measures

Join us again on Friday, when we'll be bringing you more updates from our teams around the world.

"It's going to be bigger and better and stronger than ever before," says Trump of the US economy, as his remarks end.

In a veiled dig at China and the World Health Organization, Trump laments that the US government was not sufficiently warned to prepare for the coronavirus.

"I was angry, because it should have been told to us sooner," says Trump.

"People should have told us about this. They should've told the rest of the world, too."

Asked if he means China, Trump responds: "I'm not saying anything."

White House memos show he was first warned of the new virus in January. After moving swiftly to ban travel from China to the US, critics say the Trump administration wasted precious time until mid-March.

A reporter asks Trump when he will resume hitting the campaign trail, and he responds: "I want to make the country better. I don’t care about campaigning."

Critics have accused the president of using the White House briefing room as a campaign soap box. His re-election team continues to hold virtual campaign events.

Trump says each of the states are different, and make up a "mosaic" of readiness to reopen.

"I call it a beautiful puzzle," he says of the US map, adding that around 29 states are in good condition to begin reopening soon.

On a personal level, he says he knows people who have suffered from the virus.

"I have a number of people who were very great people who were just decimated by what happened," he said.

He says one person he knows - but does not name - was dead four days after testing positive for Covid-19.

Earlier this week the president paid his respects to a New York real estate developer he knew who died with coronavirus.

When asked about protesters who have been rallying against lockdown measures from Michigan to North Carolina to Kentucky, President Trump expresses sympathy for them.

"There's death and there's problems in staying at home, too. It's not all 'isn't it wonderful to stay home'," Trump says.

He is asked what his message is for the demonstrators, who are demanding their states reopen.

"They seem to be protesters who like me and express this opinion and my opinion is just about the same as all of the governors," he says.

He calls on the demonstrators, many of whom carry Trump campaign flags, to heed the guidelines issues by the federal government.

"You want to call it the new normal, you can call it whatever want," says top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci.

"But it's not game over."

He warns that the virus may rebound, and there could be setbacks along the way.

"It may very well be, as we go this cycle around, that there may be this virus that wants to come back us.

"But I think we can handle it" until a vaccine is found, he adds.

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Here are the slides shown at the briefing just now, detailing how the country will be reopening from phase one to three.

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As states work through the three phases, they may allow for more and more employees to return to work in increments, suggests Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus taskforce co-ordinator.

Phase three, she says, will be the "new normal" and will still include suggestions that vulnerable people avoid spending time in crowded spaces.

Other people can begin to meet in public, but should still adhere to physcial distancing.

Gyms, for instance, can open "if they adhere to strict social distancing guidelines," Dr Birx continues.

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Trump has pledged that "the sacrifices our citizens" will be "honoured for generations to come".

He also praised the spirit of bipartisanship that allowed the passage of the massive congressional bailout, and united people across the country.

However, it comes hours after he attacked Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Twitter, calling her "an incompetent, third-rate politician".

In that post, he claimed the California lawmaker had deleted a tweet with a video, taken back in February, where she encouraged people to visit San Francisco's Chinatown to help struggling businesses.

He claimed that this meant she was "responsible for many deaths".

However, fact-checkers have found that Trump's claim is untrue - because Pelosi never tweeted the video in the first place.

The video is a clip from a CBS report on 24 February. San Francisco issued a shelter in place order in mid March.

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"We will reclaim the magnificent destiny that we share and we will carry our nation forward to new heights of glory," Trump finishes as he hands over to Vice-President Mike Pence.

Pence is now outlining the provisions of the White House plan, called "Re-Opening Up American Again".

"Every state is different," Trump says, meaning some may open very quickly but others will need more time.

He calls on governors to move "very, very quickly, depending on what they want to do."

He also calls on states to work together with other nearby states to "harmonise their regional efforts," as several have already done.

"We will continue to work with governors to guide them on testing," he says.

Earlier this week, the president was at loggerheads with state governors about who had the ultimate authority to ease restrictions and reopen businesses. He has since agreed that it is a decision for governors to make, and that his powers are limited to issuing guidelines.

Trump has long been conscious of the impact that the outbreak, and social distancing measures, have had on the US economy.

At the briefing, he stresses: "We're opening up our country... America wants to be open."

"We must have a working economy and we want to get it back very quickly and that's what's going to happen."

"We closed our economy in order to win this war. And we are winning it now," he adds. Individual states will re-open on different schedules, he adds.

More than 20 million people in the US have filed unemployment claims over the last four weeks, and experts expect the unemployment rate to hit double digits.

Trump says Americans all over have "joined together in a shared national sacrifice to halt this disease".

He says mitigation efforts prevented worst-case scenarios from coming true.

"It's looking like we will come far under," projected death toll figures, he continues.

He adds that one death is too many, but overall "the peak is behind us".

"A sustained shutdown is not a long term solution," he says, before outlining the plan for getting American re-opened.

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President Trump has begun speaking and is expected to announce his plan for when and how governors should lift lockdown orders in their states.

He is joined in the briefing room by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr Deborah Birx, the coronavirus taskforce co-ordinator.

You can watch it live here.

Trump is now addressing reporters from the White House about his plan to re-start the American economy. We'll bring you more updates shortly.

President Trump will announce plans to re-open the US in his briefing - but many US media outlets have already obtained a copy of the new guidelines.

The “Opening Up America Again" plan includes three 14-day phases that states should consider implementing as they allow schools and businesses to re-open.

The first phase calls for social-distancing measures and for schools and businesses to be shut.

If states see a steady decline in cases, they can move to phase two, in which some businesses can open but in a diminished capacity and groups of up to 50 may gather.

The third phase calls for workers to fully return to business, and for some at-risk people to continue to take precautions. Visits to hospitals and elderly care homes can begin under phase three.

Some large gatherings could begin again as early as 1 May, according to Trump's plan.

In a call with state governors earlier today, Trump walked back his earlier claim that he had "absolute" power to dictate when states should re-open.

Instead, he told governors: "You're going to be running it, we're going to be helping you. We're going to be supplying you as needed, if you need something that you don't have."

"You're going to call your own shots," Trump added on the call, according to a recording obtained by CBS News. "We'll be standing right alongside of you and we're going to get our country open and get it working and our people want to get working."

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We're expecting a White House press briefing shortly, where President Donald Trump is expected to give guidelines on reopening the US economy.

In the meantime, here's a quick recap of how the outbreak unfolded in the country.

21 January 2020: The first case is reported in the US. The patient is a man in Washington state who had returned from Wuhan. In the days that follow, cases are reported in Illinois, California, Arizona, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, all thought to be related to visits to China

29 January: The government announces a coronavirus task force to handle the outbreak

31 January: The US suspends entry to foreign nationals who have travelled to China in the past 14 days. It does not include immediate relatives of American nationals and permanent residents

24 February: President Trump asks Congress for $1.25 billion (£1 billion) for the country's response to the virus.

26 February: The US reports its first case of suspected local transmission.

29 February: The first coronavirus death is announced in the country. The government issues "do not travel" warnings for countries including China, Iran, South Korea and Italy.

13 March: President Trump declares a national emergency.

17 March: The death toll in the US rises to 100. The deaths were reported in 18 states.

19 March: California becomes first state to order residents to stay at home.

20 March: New York state follows suit, issuing its own stay-at-home order.

22 March: The US records 32,000 cases and at least 400 deaths.

26 March: US confirms 81,321 infections, making it the country with the most confirmed cases.

12 April: The US confirms more than 20,000 deaths.

16 April: President Trump says the US has "passed the peak" of new coronavirus cases. So far the country has reported over 650,000 cases and over 32,000 deaths.

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Brazil's health minister has been fired by the country's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The pair had been at odds for weeks over their differing views on tackling the virus.

President Bolsonaro had publicly criticised Luiz Henrique Mandetta for urging people to observe social distancing and stay indoors.

The Brazilian leader disagreed with these measures, instead downplaying the virus as "a little flu".

A total of 1,924 people have died with Covid-19 in Brazil, while the country has had 30,425 confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.

However, Brazil tests just under 300 people for every million inhabitants and one group of Brazilian researchers says there could be as many as 313,000 cases in Brazil.

The situation is difficult at Vila Formosa in Sao Paulo, Latin America's biggest cemetery, where workers say they bury about 40 people per day.