Pope Francis was preparing to break with centuries of tradition and livestream the Easter Sunday mass during the coronavirus lockdown in the Vatican. The service will be broadcast in a near-empty St. Peter's Basilica on the Holy See's YouTube channel at 5 a.m. ET.

The big picture: Europeans and Americans are desperate to move beyond the worst of the crisis and return to something approaching normal, as the number of cases exceed 1.7 million worldwide. But the World Health Organization has cautioned that moving too fast will undermine sacrifices made so far.

The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases exceeded 529,000 in the U.S. early Sunday, per Johns Hopkins data. The United States death toll surpassed that of Italy's on Saturday. Over 20,600 Americans have died of the virus.

The big picture: The pandemic is exposing — and deepening — many of the nation's great inequalities.

Department of Justice spokesperson Kerri Kupec signaled in a tweet Saturday upcoming DOJ action against local authorities that have cracked down on religious services as part of restrictions introduced in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Why it matters: While many religious leaders have moved to online services, some churches and conservatives are pushing back ahead of Easter Sunday against local government orders preventing them from holding in-person gatherings during the pandemic.

President Trump was informed in late January of a memo from White House economic adviser Peter Navarro that warned the novel coronavirus could kill up to half a million Americans and cost trillions of dollars, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: Trump has repeatedly denied seeing January and February memos that Navarro sent, while insisting he did "more or less" what his adviser suggested by banning non-U.S. citizens from traveling from China effective Feb. 2.

The journey from field to plate has been interrupted in our locked down world.

Why it matters: With some crops rotting in fields and others subject to export bans, the coronavirus crisis could cause shortages in richer countries and hunger in poorer ones.

America is facing what feels like a Darwinian moment where the strong in business, wealth and health are more likely to survive, while many others will sadly wither.

Why it matters: The pandemic is exposing — and deepening — many of the nation's great divides.

Leading coronavirus modeling has recently lowered its projection for the number of American deaths, a sign that social distancing is working.

As the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the U.S., Axios is answering readers' questions about the pandemic — how it spreads, who's at risk, and what you can do to stay safe.

What's new: This week, we answer questions on exercising outside, safely doing laundry, soaps and disinfectants, and the pneumonia vaccine.

Police around the globe are taking extra efforts to enforce social distancing over Easter weekend.

Why it matters: Officials say that mitigation efforts like social distancing are beginning to flatten the coronavirus curve in crucial areas across U.S. and Europe, like New York and Lombardy in Italy. Large Easter Sunday gatherings would mean some of that crucial progress is squandered.

The U.S. reported the highest coronavirus death toll in the world as of Saturday, per Johns Hopkins data. 18,860 Americans have died.

The big picture: More than 1,000 people in the U.S. have died every day from COVID-19 since April 1. China has reported fewer infections and deaths, but its reporting is encountering considerable skepticism.

The coronavirus may be a defining experience for Generation Z that shapes its outlook for decades to come — disrupting its entry to adulthood and altering its earning potential, trust in institutions and views on family and sex.

The big picture: Demographers have observed lasting impacts from national crises — like the AIDS epidemic, 9/11 and the Great Recession — on the political, economic, health and societal aspects of Americans who came of age at the time.

Battelle, an Ohio nonprofit research and development firm, has employees working to disinfect thousands of face masks used by health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic, The New York Times reports.

Why it matters: There is a shortage of personal protective equipment, even as companies from fashion and tech industries are stepping up to manufacture masks.

As the coronavirus pandemic drags on, tech companies are stepping into the void left by a reluctant or incapable federal government — enabling contact tracing, wrestling with testing, and ramping up the capacity of government operations like unemployment services.

Why it matters: In the U.S., these giant firms — teeming with creative and restless employees, cushioned by big financial reserves and spurred on by the urgency of the moment — have stopped waiting for the government to move and begun taking their own initiative.