The World Health Organisation has warned that rushing to ease coronavirus restrictions will likely lead to a resurgence of the illness, AP reported.

“This is not the time to be lax. Instead, we need to ready ourselves for a new way of living for the foreseeable future,” said Dr Takeshi Kasai, the WHO regional director for the Western Pacific.

The warning comes as governments start rolling out plans to get their economies up and running again.

Despite concerns from health officials, some US states announced aggressive reopening plans, while Boeing and at least one other US heavy-equipment manufacturer resumed production. Elsewhere around the world, step-by-step reopenings were underway in Europe, where the crisis has begun to ebb in places such as Italy, Spain and Germany.