New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has warned that “perfection” in response to the Covid-19 pandemic “is just not possible” as she urged New Zealanders against complacency and laid out her government’s plans for future outbreaks.

“Every country we have sought to replicate or have drawn from in the fight against Covid has now experienced further community outbreaks,” Ardern said in a speech at New Zealand’s parliament in Wellington.

“We only need to look to [the Australian states of] Victoria, New South Wales; Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea to see examples of other places that like us had the virus under control at a point in time only to see it emerge again.”

Some of Norway’s funeral homes have found themselves without work and have turned to the state for aid, AFP reports.

Due to declining mortality and cancelled funeral ceremonies, half a dozen Norwegian undertakers, according to a public registry, have turned to the state for help after the initial success of Norway’s handling of Covid-19 left them struggling to make ends meet.

On 12 March, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg announced what she dubbed “the strongest and most intrusive measures” the country had seen in peacetime.

Those included the closure of schools, bars and many public spaces, a ban on sports and cultural events and a curb on foreign travel.

Since then nearly all of the measures have been lifted and the virus has been mostly contained, in stark contrast to neighbouring Sweden which is still seeing community spread.

Tokyo is considering raising its alert for coronavirus infections to the highest of four levels, officials said on Wednesday, after a spike in cases to record numbers in the Japanese capital.

Fearing a second wave of infections spreading from the capital, local municipalities and opposition lawmakers also urged the central government to suspend a major campaign aimed at boosting domestic tourism.

Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, however, said on Wednesday the government would proceed with the so-called ‘Go To’ travel aid campaign, which includes offers such as discounts for shopping and food, but move cautiously.

“Obviously we will consider the thoughts of many of our people, while monitoring the situation ahead,” Nishimura, who leads the government’s coronavirus policy, told parliament.

In Tokyo, daily coronavirus cases exceeded 200 in four of the last six days, touching an all-time high of 243 cases last Friday as testing among workers in the metropolis’s red-light districts turned up infections among young people in their 20s and 30s.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike confirmed that Tokyo would hold a “monitoring” meeting with experts on Wednesday, moving up the weekly gathering by a day, to discuss the recent rise in cases.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 351 to 199,726, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.

The reported death toll rose by three to 9,071, the tally showed.

Melissa Davey and Elias Visontay report:

The Australian state of Victoria has recorded 238 new cases of Covid-19 and the death of a woman in her 90s and New South Wales has recorded 13 new cases, including 10 linked to the Crossroads Hotel cluster in south-west Sydney which has now affected 34 people.

Victoria’s deputy police commissioner, Rick Nugent, has outlined disappointing breaches of Covid-19 lockdown measures including people refusing to leave KFC restaurants, playing Pokémon Go and poker in groups, and hiding in garages and closets when caught by police on Wednesday.

There are now 105 Victorians in hospital, an increase by 20 from Tuesday, and 27 people are in intensive care. Of the new cases recorded, 209 are still under investigation. The cases have prompted questions about whether tougher restrictions may be needed in Victoria, as Nugent said some people continued to flout lockdown rules.

The New York Times reports that the White House is stripping the CDC of control of coronavirus data:

The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all Covid-19 patient information to a central database in Washington beginning on Wednesday. The move has alarmed health experts who fear the data will be politicized or withheld from the public.

Andrew Cotter, the sports commentator turned labrador commentator in lockdown, has a new dispatch from Olive and Mabel. A shocking crime has taken place: