DW: Billions Mark Good Friday in Isolation

The world is set for an unusually quiet Easter, with lockdowns imposed across the globe. While the US death toll continues to climb, New York State has seen a fall in patients hospitalized. Follow DW for the latest.

• Global confirmed cases stand at over 1.5 million with over 94,000 dead
• The EU is set to release half a trillion euros immediately to tackle a pandemic-induced recession
• The UN Security Council is meeting for the first time to discuss COVID-19
• On Good Friday, over 2 billion Christians will stay away from church and many other events and vacations have been canceled

07:22 Billions of people under lockdown around the world have been urged to stay home during the Easter weekend, despite public holidays and religious commemorations. However, those living in northern Germany's state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have been told they can go on day trips to the coast and the Baltic Sea islands.

A court in Greifswald on Thursday overturned a travel ban imposed by the state government, which had only redrafted the regulations a day earlier to list the tourist resorts as prohibited areas.

The ruling means that trips to the coast and the Mecklenburg Lake District are now permitted until and including Easter Monday. The ruling doesn't apply to tourists from other German states, who are banned from entering the area until at least April 19.

07:14 New York City has shortened the time it will hold unclaimed bodies before they are buried in a public cemetery. The medical examiner's office will now keep
remains in storage for just 14 days before they're sent to a burial ground on Hart Island. Normally, about a handful of bodies per day are interred there — people whose families can't...