The insidious path of COVID-19 across the planet is a blunt reminder of how small the world has become. For the coming weeks, Worldcrunch will be delivering daily updates on this crisis from the best, most trusted international news sources — regardless of language or geography. To receive the daily Coronavirus global brief in your inbox, sign up here.

SPOTLIGHT: WHY WE CARE ABOUT BORIS JOHNSON

Boris Johnson Taken To Intensive Care: It's a headline that stands out among the non-stop flow of disturbing coronavirus news flashes. We already knew the 55-year-old British Prime Minister had been infected two weeks ago, and even Sunday's news that he was being brought to the hospital with a persistent fever was presented as routine testing.

But there's nothing routine about the ICU, nor the oxygen he was being given after breathing difficulties had suddenly appeared on Monday. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is running the country, and Boris Johnson is by all appearances fighting for his life.

There will be time another day to reflect on what this means politically in the UK, where Johnson has been questioned for his choices in fighting the pandemic and more generally criticized about his policies on healthcare. But serious illness turns every politician into a person.

He is of course hardly the only person: 1.4 million have been infected, and more than 76,000 people have died from COVID-19 around the world. On Tuesday, Britain's death toll alone hit a one-day high of 854. Yet for those not touched directly, the gravity of this pandemic hits home again as a very public person deteriorates in real-time before our eyes. Indeed, Johnson had posted a video just before being taken to the hospital where he seemed a bit fatigued, but otherwise his usual moppy-haired wry self. So it's him this time, we tell ourselves. Who will be next?

This has happened before in Britain, in 1918, when the nation's war hero prime minister David Lloyd George caught the flu during a ceremonial visit to Manchester's Albert Square. As his condition worsened, and with World War I in full swing, the prime minister's illness was kept hidden to prevent the news from reaching the country's enemies.

A century later, the stricken leader is very much in plain view — it's the enemy that we can't see.

— Jeff Israely

THE SITUATION: 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Hopeful threshold in China: For the first time since January, Chinese officials reported no new coronavirus deaths.

• BoJo in ICU: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent the night in intensive care after his COVID-19 symptoms worsened. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has taken over duties.

• Two tolls: France recorded its highest daily death toll with 833 victims. Mexico reports a record 296 new cases and 31 deaths in 24 hours.

• Japan response: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declares state of emergency, unveils massive stimulus package.

• Bad recession: JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon forecasts a "bad recession" in stockholder letter, saying U.S. GDP could drop a 35% annual rate in the second quarter.

• Releasing the drug stocks: India agreed to lift some restrictions on hydroxychloroquine export after Donald Trump threatened "retaliation".

• Beach breach: New Zealand Health Minister David Clark called himself an "idiot" after ignoring national lockdown measures and driving his family to a beach.

In Ecuador — one of the worst-hit nations in Latin America with 3,747 confirmed cases and 191 deaths — El Universo"s front page today reads "COVID-19 deaths don't stop, but people are still on the streets."

TRUTH TOLL: Today marks a landmark for China, where the country reported no new coronavirus deaths since the government officially started tracking the disease in early January. While this offers a distant ray of hope for countries where the virus is currently ravaging through their populations, it may also be a time to ask some hard questions about death tolls and how they are being calculated around the world. The reporting on deaths linked to the virus vary widely, due a combination of factors that can include governments trying to downplay the severity to discrepancies in whether certain deaths are attributed to COVID-19 or to another condition.

• Over the past week reports have been emerging from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the coronavirus, questioning the official death toll of 2,563 in the city of more than eight million residents. According to interviews with residents of Wuhan in Radio Free Asia, the eight funeral homes that serve Wuhan and the surrounding cities have been producing at least 3,500-5,000 crematory urns per funeral home per day, already greater than the disclosed total death toll of Wuhan in a single day.

• In the city of Bergamo in northern Italy, one of the places hit hardest by coronavirus in the world, there is a sharp discrepancy between the official death toll of 2,060 released by the regional administration and what locals report over social media, according to L'Eco di Bergamo. Using data provided by local municipalities, they found that more than 5,400 people have died in Bergamo province in March 2020, 4,500 of those deaths from COVID-19. While there is no data on the deaths of the other 2,500, many of whom were older and died at home or in assisted residential homes.

• Lack of testing for the elderly seems to be among a common theme, as grim scenes have begun to surface from behind the closed doors of quarantined French elderly care homes, where protective equipment is in short supply and distance is being kept, Le Monde reports. Thursday of last week, the French government reported that at least 884 people had died from the coronavirus in care homes, the first official estimate since the epidemic started, yet many healthcare workers in the field say they're witnessing deaths among France's most at-risk population at unprecedented levels. As one nurse put it, "We're not doing real care work here, the conditions won't allow it. We're doing survival work."

• The coronavirus death toll in the U.S. is much higher than the official 10,000, which is only a "tip of the iceberg" due to lag in testing and muddled oversight, experts and medical professionals warn. Not only have there been many deceased who had shown the telltale signs of infection but were not approved to be tested, The New York Times reports, many deaths, particularly in rural areas, are likely mistakenly attributed to influenza or pneumonia.

COVID-19 HITS POOR AROUND THE WORLD: While it should come as no surprise that the coronavirus takes a heavier toll on society's most vulnerable, emerging demographic data from cities around the world on its impact is a grim reminder of the consequences of inequality.

• An interactive map of the regional government of Catalonia shows that residents of poor neighborhoods in Barcelona are six to seven times more likely to contract the virus than those in wealthy areas, La Vanguardia reports.

• In Mumbai, doctors are warning that Asia's biggest slum, Dharavi, could become a hotbed for the virus Times of India reports. Experts have pointed to a 2016 study showing that Delhi's slums have previously served as citywide accelerants for influenza outbreaks.

• In Milwaukee County, African Americans made up half of the 945 cases on Friday and 81% of 27 deaths despite the population being only 26% black. Similarly in Michigan, with a 14% black population, African Americans made up 35% of cases and 40% of deaths.

• In Hong Kong, so-called "McRefugees' — homeless who used to find shelter in 24-hour McDonald's joints — are now being forced onto the streets as the government banned dine-in services from April 1, reports South China Morning Post.

• At Oslo Metropolitan University, researchers are quantifying the effects of poor housing conditions, low access to healthcare and higher rates of pre-existing illnesses. They also find that lack of education also plays a part, as people neglect or misunderstand health care advice, reports Swedish daily Dagens Arena.

PROTECTING STATUES: We used to worry about vandals defacing statues in public squares with graffiti. Now people are, well, "protecting" them from coronavirus with a face mask. This photo collection from The Guardian shows that the same irresistible urge is shared around the world: to include our bronzed heroes in the experience of getting through the pandemic, with a wink wherever possible.

• Be there or be square: You can help Minecraft players virtually recreate the Earth, one block at a time.

• Easter Egg hunts may be canceled, but you can still print these paper eggs and hide them in your house. Or just eat a whole lot of chocolate, that works too.

• Don't miss tonight's "pink supermoon" ... from your window, of course.

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