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India woke up on Wednesday to a sweeping lockdown of its 1.3 billion people, one of the world's most ambitious efforts to fight the coronavirus, but the order didn't stop crowds of people thronging to stock up at grocery shops and chemists.

The number of people in France who have died from coronavirus is much higher than the official daily government tally, which only accounts for those dying in hospitals and does not include those dying at home or in retirement homes, the head of the hospitals federation said.

New York state suffered another quick and brutal rise in the number of COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, staggering hospitals at the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic, as California said it could be facing the next major wave of the disease.

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

E.ON, Germany's largest energy group, has been hired by Tesla to design the energy solutions for its planned Gigafactory near Berlin, chief executive Johannes Teyssen said.

Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said on Tuesday the government would allow people to go on foot to buy groceries in neighbourhood shops to ease daily life for the nearly 10 million inhabitants under a tight curfew to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Healthcare companies Novacyt and Yourgene Health Plc said on Wednesday that they would be teaming up to produce coronavirus testing products in the United Kingdom.

Australia said on Wednesday it would force passengers on a ship into quarantine on a tourist island and refused entry to another vessel as authorities slapped heavy curbs on people movement to stop the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

The existence of a substantial but unknown number of asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus in China has raised concerns among the public that people could still be spreading COVID-19 without knowing they are sick.

Malaysia will extend a two-week restriction of movement order and unveil a second economic stimulus package as the number of coronavirus cases continue to climb, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Wednesday.

The Indian government said on Wednesday that it is banning the export of hydroxychloroquine and formulations made from the medication, as experts test the efficacy of the drug in helping treat patients infected with COVID-19.

Mainland China reported a drop in new confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday as imported infections fell and no locally transmitted infections were reported, including in central Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak in China.

China said on Wednesday that it encourages local governments to temporarily stockpile poultry and aquaculture products in a bid to support the farming sectors after the unprecedented coronavirus cut production and supplies.

South Korea said it will send medical equipment to the United States to fight the coronavirus if it has any spare after an urgent request from U.S. President Donald Trump in which he promised to help Korean firms gain U.S. government approval.

The United States could become the global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as India announced a full 24-hour, nationwide lockdown in the world's second-most populous country.

In impoverished Haiti, where access to clean water is tricky and education is lacking, Boy and Girl Scouts are taking to the streets with portable sinks to allow passersby to wash their hands and teach them the importance of doing so to ward off the novel coronavirus.

Australian officials warned that an accelerating number of coronavirus infections could start overwhelming the country's intensive care units, as stricter social distancing measures came into force on Wednesday.

It had never occurred to Michael Bednark to make face shields at his Brooklyn factory before last week, but by Sunday he was carrying a prototype into New York City's health department headquarters, to be appraised by city officials desperate for resources.

As Brazil's largest city went into lockdown, President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday took aim at the "hysteria" over the coronavirus and urged that life must continue and jobs be preserved.

Smita Paul has been sewing scarves and clothing for her small fashion business since 2003 but ever since the coronavirus struck the Bay Area and created a shortage in personal protective equipment for hospital workers, she has switched from sewing scarves to sewing masks.