In reversal, Texas orders face masks in public: Coronavirus live

• The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution demanding an “immediate cessation of hostilities” for at least 90 days in key conflicts including Syria, Yemen, Libya, South Sudan and Congo to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

• Italy’s hard-hit northern region of Lombardy accounted for considerably more than half of the nation’s latest confirmed 187 coronavirus cases – raising the total to 240,760 nationwide. The Ministry of Health also reported 21 new deaths, raising to 34,788 the total of known deaths.

• Some 10.8 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, over 5.7 million have recovered, and more than 520,000 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Here are the latest updates.

Friday, July 3

01:20 GMT – US issues guidelines but no new rules for air travel

Federal agencies in the US said airlines should consider limiting capacity on planes to promote social distancing, but stopped short of requiring them to do so.

In a new report, the Transportation, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services departments also recommended – but did not move to require – travellers wear face coverings in airports and on planes. All leading US airlines now require passengers to wear masks, but regulators have refused a request by the airlines to make it a federal rule.

The agencies said airlines and airports should take steps to increase social distancing, clean surfaces touched by passengers, give specialized training to airline crews, and provide more information to help with contact tracing if passengers test positive for the virus.

00:34 GMT – In stark reversal, Texas issues statewide mask order

Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, ordered that face coverings must be worn in public across most of the state.

The order requires “all Texans to wear a face covering over the nose and mouth in public spaces in counties with 20 or more positive COVID-19 cases, with few exceptions”.

He also banned gatherings of more than 10 people, and mandated social distancing of six feet. 

The Republican governor, who had pushed Texas’ aggressive reopening of the state economy in May, had previously said the government could not order individuals to wear masks. His prior virus-related orders had undercut efforts by local governments to enforce mask requirements.

00:11 GMT – Coronavirus outbreak hits Africa health workers

The World Health Organization (WHO) said more than 6,000 health workers have been infected with the coronavirus in 38 countries across its Africa region since the pandemic began.

Hundreds of health workers already have been infected in the latest hot spot of South Africa’s Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria. Across South Africa, more than 2,000 health workers across have been infected. In Nigeria, nearly 1,000 have been sickened.

The WHO’s 47-country Africa region has the most severe health workforce shortage in the world, and concerns about adequate personal protective gear against the coronavirus are widespread.

Already a handful of countries have seen more than 10 percent of their health workers infected as of Tuesday: Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Niger, Mozambique and Burundi.

Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives. 

You can find all the key developments from yesterday, July 2, here.