Coronavirus live news: Japan extends state of emergency by a month; China lowers Hubei emergency response

France’s education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, is today expected to announce the strict rules for the reopening of crêches, nursery and primary schools later this month, writes Kim Willsher, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent.

A provisional document seen by Le Monde and AFP suggests rules will be strict in applying accepted barrier and social distancing regulations, but it has already been declared unworkable by teachers, especially for classes of younger children.

Teachers are expected to return on 11 May to prepare for the restarting of classes the following day.

The draft health protocol says children must wash hands on arrival at school, before and after visiting lavatories, before and after each meal, after playtime, after blowing their nose, coughing or sneezing and touching shared objects and before going home. Taps and running water are to be preferred but sanitising gel must be provided if this is not possible.

Ball games and contact games are banned and there is to be no exchange of personal objects. If more than one child touches an object it should be disinfected.

There must be staggered recreation and play breaks, and limited changes of room – French children tend to take different subjects in different classes – as well a one-way system organised in school buildings so pupils can maintain a 1m minimum distance from each other. Classes to be regularly disinfected and aired and doors left open to avoid pupils touching handles.

The wearing of masks is not obligatory for nursery school children, but is advised, and staff must wear masks

There will also be a limit to the number of children in each class – reportedly 10 children for those in crêches and nurseries, and 15 in primary schools.

It must be stressed, these are details in the provisional protocol, which needs to be confirmed by the education minister today.

The two lowest years in secondary schools will start back the following week, 18 May. A decision on other years will be made at the end of May for a possible return to class on 2 June.

Another unknown factor is what say local mayors will have in deciding whether schools in their areas should reopen or if restarting classes poses too much of a risk, particularly in areas designated “red”, where the virus is circulating.

Thousands of people in the US plan to take part in a rent strike on Friday, calling for state leaders to cancel rent during the coronavirus crisis, writes Guardian US reporter Adam Gabbatt.

Activists in New York, Pennsylvania and California are encouraging tenants to withhold rent, whether they are able to pay or not, to draw attention to the plight of those unable to pay.

The protest is expected to represent the largest coordinated rent strike in America in decades, and comes as the labor department announced another 3.8 million people lost their jobs last week, with pressure growing on state leaders nationwide to increase their efforts on housing.

More than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the past six weeks, as the coronavirus has caused widespread business closures.

The New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among those voicing support for the strikes, which are being coordinated by an array of housing groups.

“People aren’t striking because they don’t feel like paying rent, they’re striking because they can’t,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Spain has recorded 281 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, compared with 268 yesterday, as it prepares for the first phase of the lockdown exit strategy. The total number of deaths stands at 24,824.

On Saturday, people of all ages will be allowed out for exercise for the first time in seven weeks, a week after children were allowed out to play if accompanied by an adult. To avoid overcrowding, separate time slots have been allocated for the elderly, people with the children and everyone else.

Barcelona has opened half of its parks and closed 44 streets to traffic in order to facilitate social distancing. The Madrid region will monitor 2m mobile phones to observe how the relaxed lockdown is progressing.

Today, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the Madrid regional president, formally closed the vast field hospital at the capital’s IFEMA exhibition centre, which opened 41 days ago. The temporary hospital, which came to symbolise the nation’s fight against the virus, had 5,500 beds. Of the thousands of coronavirus patients admitted, 98% survived.

In a provisional assessment of the economic impact of the health crisis, the government estimates Spain’s GDP will fall by 9.2% this year. Ministers said today the virus has so far cost the nation €139bn, of which around €17bn has gone on paying furloughed employees. After ending 2019 with a public deficit of 2.8%, this year it is expected to be 10.7%.

In Afghanistan, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continued to surge on Friday in Kandahar as nationwide number of infections reached 2,335, amid increasing number of health workers testing positive.

A health ministry spokesman said 164 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in last 24 hours, most of which were new infections recorded in southern province of Kandahar as total number of confirmed cases reached 339 with 45 confirmed today in the province.

Four patients died in the same period, taking the death toll to 68 in the war-torn country. There have so far been 310 recoveries, 50 of which have been in last 24 hours.

Wahidullah Mayar, the health ministry spokesman, said 228 health workers have so far tested positive for Covid-19, most of them are confirmed in Kandahar with 38 cases.

In Kabul, the country’s worst affected area, the health ministry reported 44 new Coronavirus cases, bringing the total number to 617.

Mayar said spread of the virus in Afghanistan is “fast” and asked people to stay at home as the country is yet to reach its peak in number of deaths and infections.

Despite the lockdown, in most of cities streets were still crowded with vehicles and people walking freely around.

Hundreds of workers at Amazon warehouses, Whole Foods grocery stores, Target retail stores, and shoppers at Instacart and Shipt called out sick on Friday as part of a coordinated one-day strike across the US in protest of working conditions and inadequate safety protections during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 1 May walkout began after Amazon ended its unlimited unpaid time off policy for workers at the end of April.

“The fact they took it away prior to the sick-out lets you know they’re aware of the sick-out and trying to stop people from participating in that,” said Derrick Palmer, an Amazon employee at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, who has worked at Amazon for more than four years. “Now they’re forcing people to go to work because if you run out of unpaid time off, that’s it, you’re fired.”

Palmer was one of the workers who participated in protests outside of JFK8 warehouse a few weeks ago in demand of safety protections for Amazon workers. An assistant manager at JFK8, Chris Smalls, was fired shortly after he organised the protest.

Palmer said that after the protests, Amazon began providing personal protective equipment to workers and enforcing social distancing rules and temperature checks, but he said cleaning procedures remain inadequate.