As the day unfolded: Boris Johnson admitted to hospital, Ruby Princess docks in Port Kembla, Australian death toll stands at 41

Thanks for following along today - here's what you may have missed:

• The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 69,000. There are more than 1.2 million known cases of infection, while more than 259,000 people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally
• The death toll in Australia is now 41, after a sixth death at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Macquarie Park.. The number of cases in Australia is just under 5700.

• Coronavirus testing is being expanded to 13 new hotspots as far away as Broken Hill, as the number of mystery community transmissions continues to rise.

• The NRL will give consideration to scrapping competition points from the opening two rounds of the season when the innovation committee reconvenes on Thursday to discuss the potential of a two-conference system.

• Victoria and NSW's dependence on tourism and education have put them at particular risk from the looming slowdown.

We'll continue our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic throughout the night and into Tuesday in a new blog, which you can read here. Thanks for joining us.

Today's episode of Please Explain features state political editor Noel Towell and national editor Tory Maguire. They discuss Victorian Premier Daniel Andrew's hard-line stance and his backflip on the confusing partner visiting ban.

Coronavirus testing is being expanded to 13 new hotspots as far away as Broken Hill, as the number of mystery community transmissions continues to rise.

A Bondi Beach car park was on Monday turned into a drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic, with NSW Health deploying resources to test symptomatic people in areas of significant community transmission including Lake Macquarie, Manning, Woollahra, Waverley, Ryde, Macquarie Park, Dee Why, Manly, Nowra, South Nowra, the Byron Bay area and Port Macquarie.

Testing had been previously restricted to only symptomatic people who had returned from overseas, those who had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases or healthcare workers.

In anticipation of what the traditionally busy long weekend, Bunnings is encouraging customers to plan ahead for their Easter projects and shop earlier in the week.

Independent research commissioned by the hardware giant said that two thirds of Australians have at least one unfinished DIY job to do at home or are tackling a DIY job once a month with general gardening, decluttering, painting and landscaping topping the list of activities planned for the Easter long weekend.

“We know the importance of customers being able to access the products they need, whether it’s for urgent home repairs and maintenance, supplies for tradies to keep their businesses running or items for home projects to keep people active,” said Mike Schneider, the company's managing director.

“We’ve been working hard with our suppliers to ensure availability of key products and we’re committed to keeping our team and customers as safe as possible. We’ve had a number of changes in place in stores over the last few weeks as we continue to follow government advice."

The company have been limiting customer numbers in stores and in busy aisles at any one time and have used tables and tape to enforce social distancing in stores.

“We’d like to thank our customers for taking these changes in their stride – shopping solo wherever possible, planning ahead to shop more efficiently, observing social distancing and product restrictions and making cashless payments," Mr Schneider said.

The pace of Spain's coronavirus deaths slowed again on Monday as 637 patients died overnight, taking the total to 13,055, the government said.

Though Spain has the second-highest death toll in the world after Italy, the number of deaths each day has been falling since Thursday's peak of 950, according to health ministry figures.

Monday's data showed total cases up to 135,032 from 130,759 the previous day.

Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will propose to declare a state of emergency in seven prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka for about a month, after a renewed surge of coronavirus cases in some of the nation's biggest metropolitan areas.

The move hands powers to local governments to try to contain the spread of the virus that causes Covid-19, including by urging residents to stay at home. Unlike countries like France - where residents can be fined for leaving their homes - there is no legal power to enforce such requests.

Abe also said the ruling party was backing a 108 trillion yen ($1.62 trillion AUD) stimulus package to help people and firms hit by the virus.

An emergency declaration enables local officials to take measures such as ordering the cancellation of events, restricting use of facilities such as schools and movie theaters and appropriating land or buildings for temporary medical facilities.

The announcement comes after pressure from the public and the medical community. After last week saying the situation didn't yet call for such a move, Abe changed course after cases in Tokyo surged over the weekend.

Bloomberg