Coronavirus - 6th May

Summary for Wednesday, 6th May

• Schools reopen in China's virus epicentre for the first time since the outbreak began
  
• Senior students in Hubei return - but most pupils will remain at home
  
• The Queen tells Australian PM Scott Morrison she is "so pleased" at the country's Covid-19 success
  
• The head of state also tells the PM she is pleased the country continued its horse racing
  
• In the UK, an adviser resigns after claims he had a relationship that broke lockdown rules
  
• The UK now has the world's second highest death toll (29,502) after the US (70,646)
  
• President Trump announces a "different group" will replace the White House coronavirus taskforce later this month
  

Hello and welcome back to our rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. We’re writing to you out of Singapore this morning, and will be joined by our colleagues across Asia and London later on today.
Starting off with some better news today. Queen Elizabeth has called Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, congratulating him on Australia’s success in fighting the virus. It comes as Australia prepares to ease virus restrictions, aiming to re-start the economy and get millions back to work.
The UK’s death toll has passed Italy’s to become the highest in Europe and the second highest in the world. According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the UK has 29,501 deaths, while the death toll in Italy stands at 29,315.
Over in the US, President Donald Trump has confirmed that the coronavirus task force will be winding down, with his VP Mike Pence saying it could be disbanded within weeks.
The number of cases worldwide has now exceeded 3.65 million, with the global death toll at 256,928, according to JHU data.

Queen pleased with Australia's progress

Prime Minister Scott Morrison shared on Instagram that he had received a "check in" call from the Queen last night.
The Queen was "very interested" to hear about Australia's progress in its virus fight and "was so pleased [that] we have managed to prevent the terrible impacts," he said.
He also noted she was pleased "to hear our horse races were still running" in Australia - one of the few sports still operating.
Of course, Australia and neighbouring Commonwealth state New Zealand, are both being viewed as world leaders for containing the disease so far. Both have reported significantly lower per-capita and death rates than in the UK, US and Europe, and new case numbers have flatlined in the past three weeks.
The island nations' geographic isolation has played a big part in this (and travel could resume between the two at some point)- but experts have also praised the widespread testing and lockdown measures enacted.
Australia, which has counted less than 100 deaths and around 6,800 cases, is now gearing up to reopen business and get people back to work - more on this later.

UK death toll highest in Europe

As we've mentioned, the UK has hit a grim milestone, surpassing Italy to have the highest number of deaths related to Covid-19 in Europe and the second highest in the world.
According to Johns Hopkins data, the UK has 29,501 deaths, ahead of Italy at 29,315.
However, the numbers aren't quite as straightforward as they seem. For one, the UK's population is about 10% larger than Italy's.The geographical spread of the virus looks quite different too. In Italy, half the deaths have happened in Lombardy. In the UK however, they've been much more spread out.
Taking these factors into account will take time, and experts say it could be months before full global comparisons can be made.
Read more here.

White House plans to end virus task force

US President Donald Trump says the White House coronavirus task force will be winding down, saying the administration was now looking at "safety and opening".
"We are bringing our country back," Trump said during a visit to a mask-manufacturing factory in Arizona.
The US currently has more than 20,000 new daily infections, and daily deaths remain above 1,000. Health officials warn the virus may spread as businesses begin to reopen.
There have been just over 1.2 million confirmed infections in the country so far and more than 70,000 Covid-19 related deaths.

First Hubei students return to school

The first batches of students are returning to school in China's Hubei province, which was the epicentre of the country's outbreak.
Grades 12 and 9 students who have big exams coming up in the summer will be the first to head back to school. For the older batch it will the infamous gaokao exam they're prepping for which will determine what university they can get into.
Most grade 12 students in other parts of China already returned to school in March.
All of the Hubei students had to do a coronavirus test before returning to school and there will be measures to ensure social distancing like partitions in the school canteen, state media report.

UK coronavirus adviser resigns

The UK's Professor Neil Ferguson has quit as a government adviser on coronavirus after admitting an "error of judgement".
It follows a story by the Daily Telegraph that a woman, said to be his "married lover", visited his home in lockdown.
"I accept I made an error of judgement and took the wrong course of action," he said in a statement.
It was Prof Ferguson's advice to the prime minister that led to the UK lockdown, after his modelling of the virus suggested 250,000 people could die if no drastic action was taken.
Read more about what he had to say here.

Air fares could rise sharply when flights restart

Air fares should fall when flights restart but then rise by at least 50%, warns a global airline industry body.
Airlines are keen to get planes back in the skies quickly which could lead to over-capacity, says the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
With passenger demand likely to remain low this should put pressure on carriers to reduce the cost of flights.
But if airlines are forced to keep middle seats free they will need to raise air fares significantly.
Under current social distancing proposals, airlines may be required to keep middle seats free which would have a major impact on their profitability.
Read more about this here.

A stressful exam at a stressful time

If you have been finding it hard to focus on school or college work while at home, spare a thought for the millions of students in China whose turn it is to take the annual gaokao exams.
The gaokao is a nationwide exam which determines which college a student will get into, and therefore sets them up for their entire career. There are huge pressures on students to do well and studying is intense.
The exam usually takes place in early June but at the end of March, with all schools closed, China announced it would be postponing it until July. It was felt it wasn't fair to expect students to sit it after so much disruption. There was particular concern for students from homes with limited access to technology or the internet, or those who didn't have a quiet place to study.
The return to school in China is being staggered, to manage the risk of new virus cases. But in Hubei province - the origin of the virus - students sitting the gaokao this year are now able to go back and start studying.
Read more on the gaokao here

Laos reports no virus cases for 3 weeks

Laos has confirmed no new virus cases for 23 consecutive days, its deputy health minister Phouthone Meaungpak said, according to a report by The Star. There have only been 19 confirmed cases and zero deaths in Laos so far, of the 2,223 people who have been tested.
But though the number of cases are low, it might not be an accurate reflection of what's happening on the ground. The country has over seven million people - which means only a tiny fraction of the population has been tested.
Despite this, the country is cautiously reopening. Restaurants, hotels and coffee shops were among the places that were allowed to open from Monday, with safe-distancing measures in place.
However, places like bars, cinemas, night markets and casinos will remain closed.

China's Hubei hits 32 days with no new infections

The Chinese province of Hubei, home to the capital Wuhan where the virus first emerged last December, has seen no new virus cases for 32 days, says China state media outlet Xinhua.
It's encouraging news for China's fight against the outbreak as the country slowly eases restrictions in a bid to return to normal life.
And today, China reported just two new cases nationally, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 82,883, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,633.
However, critics have questioned if China's numbers can be trusted - especially at the very beginning when the outbreak was first reported. But whether or not the data it's providing is accurate, the trends do show that China is starting to emerge from the worst of the crisis.

India prepares massive mission to rescue stranded citizens

India is preparing one of the largest evacuation exercises in recent years.
It plans to operate 64 flights from 7 to 13 May to bring home thousands of its citizens stranded abroad due to Covid-19 lockdowns.
In the first week of this mammoth exercise, dubbed the Vande Bharat Mission, the flights will be sent to 12 countries and bring back nearly 15,000 Indians, civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri said in a press conference on Tuesday.
The countries include the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar and Malaysia, reported local media.
But Indians wanting to return will be expected to pay for their tickets (the prices will vary based on the port of departure) and will only be able to board if they're not showing any symptoms for the virus. They will also be subject to extensive screening when they return as well as be quarantined.
The country's naval fleet of warships is also taking part. Earlier this week, three ships went to the Maldives and the UAE to rescue stranded Indians.
Eventually, about 200,000 Indians will be brought back, reported local media. If successful, this would become one of the world's largest evacuation exercises since 1990, when India rescued 170,000 civilians from Kuwait during the Gulf War.

Virus is 'biggest threat to conservation'

The coronavirus outbreak is the biggest threat to conservation, the head of a charity which protects African wildlife has said.
The number of virus cases in Africa remains relatively low but the outbreak has devastated Africa's tourism industry, which is worth an estimated $30 billion a year.
Charlie Mayhew of Tusk told the BBC that his organisation expects to lose two million dollars from cancelled fundraising events alone.
Mayhew said organisations across the continent were having to lay off thousands of staff members - leading to a decline in the number of rangers protecting wildlife, but also increasing the number of now unemployed people who are having to turn to poaching to survive.
"This is definitely the biggest threat we have seen to the conservative world in the thirty years I've been working in it," he said, adding that the years of progress made across Africa could be "undone very quickly" by the virus

How an Iranian plane helped to spread coronavirus in the Middle East

An investigation by BBC News Arabic has analysed flight tracking data and open source footage which shows how Iran's largest airline - Mahan Air - continued to fly while government flight bans were in place, and contributed to the spread of Covid-19 in the Middle East.
Mahan Air is sanctioned by the US for its links to the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

How will Australia reopen workplaces?

With the virus now relatively contained in Australia, the government is forging ahead with plans to restart the economy safely.
They've set a target of July for getting people back into the office. But how do you get a "coronavirus-safe" workplace?
Chief medical officer Dr Brendan Murphy said workplaces would need to stagger employee shifts and increase cleaning. Hand sanitiser should be in every office, meetings held via video, and handshakes are still banned.
Offices could learn from the other workplaces kept open throughout the lockdown: construction sites, childcare centres, retail shops and even hair salons.
Those running industries helped cushion the economy, which has still lost about A$4bn (£2bn; $2.5bn) every week, the treasury said yesterday.
More than 1 million people have lost their jobs, while a further five million sought out the government's subsidy for employers. That means 40% of the workforce has needed welfare to survive.

How India's lockdown sparked a debate over maids

Geeta Pandey - BBC News, Delh
At the weekend, India extended the nationwide coronavirus lockdown by another fortnight, but said that domestic helpers can now return to work. The decision has had millions of middle-class homes debating a key question - to let the workers in or not?
A friend once said that if she had to choose between her husband and her maid, she would pick the latter.
The comment was made as a joke, but it's an example of how much Indians depend on their domestic helpers.
According to official estimates, more than four million people are employed as domestic helpers, while unofficial ones put that number at a whopping 50 million.
But with the lockdown extended twice already, and the idea sinking in that this is going to be a long haul, middle-class India has begun to miss the maids.
You can read the full story here

Scenes from Wuhan schools

The Chinese city of Wuhan -where the virus originated- had for months fallen silent as it went into lockdown.
But today, the chatter of voices and the dragging of chairs have once again returned to some of the city's classrooms.
Only senior students who are prepping for upcoming exams are back at school though, that's about 57,000 pupils in Wuhan, according to state media.

A busy classroom in Wuhan, though all students are seen with masks




Students have to first pass through temperature checks before being let in

UN raises alarm over migrants at sea

Several UN organisations are raising the alarm about "thousands of refugees and migrants in distress" at sea in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.
The agencies said they recognised that the pandemic had led to states bringing in new border controls, but said these measures "should not result in the closure of avenues to asylum, or in forcing people to either return to situations of danger or seek to land clandestinely, without health screening or quarantine".
The people at sea are mostly fleeing unrest and persecution in Myanmar - which is facing trial accused of genocide against the Rohingya minority. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled violence in Myanmar in several waves in recent years - the worst crisis came in 2015 when thousands took to boats and became stranded at sea after Thailand closed people smuggling routes through its territories.
The statement from the UNHCR, IOM and UNODC said they were concerned about "reports that boats full of vulnerable women, men and children are again adrift in the same waters, unable to come ashore, and without access to urgently needed food, water and medical assistance"

What's the picture in the UK this morning?

If you're just waking up and joining us, then good morning and welcome. We'll be keeping you up to date with all the latest coronavirus updates from across the globe.

• There is a grim milestone for the UK, which now has the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, overtaking Italy, and the second highest in the world after the US - according to Johns Hopkins University, the figure has reached 29,502
  
• Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called it "a massive tragedy" but would not be drawn on international comparisons. Johns Hopkins says the global death toll is at 256,928
  
• Meanwhile, Prof Neil Ferguson - whose advice to the prime minister led to the UK lockdown - has quit as a government adviser following a Daily Telegraph story that a woman, said to be his "married lover", visited his home in lockdown
  
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to face opposition leader Keir Starmer in his first Prime Ministers Questions since recovering from the virus
  
• And the Queen has called Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, congratulating him on Australia’s success in fighting the virus. It comes as Australia prepares to ease virus restrictions, aiming to re-start the economy and get millions back to work.
  

Germany set for extensive lifting of restrictions

Germany has already lifted restrictions on religious services and allowed many shops to reopen. Now Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet state premiers from Germany's 16 states with a draft agreement on going a lot further.
Under the plan, decisions on how fast to reopen will be handed to the states themselves rather than the federal government, but there will be a relapse clause. States have been trying to move at different speeds, so Bavaria in the south plans to reopen restaurants on 18 May while Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the north plans to do that this Saturday. According to the German press agency DPA, the government wants all pupils to return to school gradually by the summer holidays.
If the plan is agreed, states will have to reimpose tougher restrictions if new infections go above 50 per 100,000 inhabitants within a week. This morning, Germany's RKI public health institute has reported another 947 new infections nationally and another 165 deaths.
There have been some 167,007 infections and almost 7,000 deaths in Germany, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The Bundesliga could return this month

The draft agreement in Germany that we've just reported on could also see professional football resume this month.
The Bundesliga has been suspended since mid-March but players have been back in training.
Politicians are expected to decide when games can begin in a telephone conference later on Wednesday, with 15 and 21 May possible dates for restarting the competition.
They say restarting play in the first and second divisions to "limit the economic damage" for the 36 clubs is "acceptable".
A draft document seen by Reuters and AFP news agencies says the start of matches must be preceded by two weeks of quarantine, possibly as a training camp.
Germany has banned large events with crowds until 24 October, so games will be behind closed doors.

India's 'corona warrior' who is also fighting cancer

Sushila Singh - BBC Hindi
Rama Sahu is what the Indian government calls a "corona warrior" - a community health worker who is helping fight the pandemic. But she is doing so while battling cancer.
Every morning, 46-year-old Sahu leaves her home in the eastern state of Orissa to conduct door-to-door surveys and distribute rations.
She questions families to find out if any one of them is showing symptoms of Covid-19, advises them on isolation and social distancing norms, and distributes food.
And even though she encounters the same faces every day, none of them know that she has been diagnosed with uterine cancer. Her condition is so bad that she wears a diaper throughout her rounds.
"When I work, I forget all my problems,” she says. “The mind is always at work.”
Read more about her story

Conte hits out at German court over bonds

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has criticised Germany's constitutional court after it ruled that the European Central Bank's mass bond-buying to stabilise the eurozone partly violated the German constitution.
Mr Conte told the Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper that the ECB's independence was a key element of the European Union and no constitutional court should decide what it could or could not do.
The German court ruled on Tuesday that there was not enough German political oversight in the purchases and it gave the ECB three months to justify them or risk the Bundesbank pulling out.
Italy is among the countries most reliant now on ECB bond purchases because of the severe economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic

Europe's leaders hint at easing rules for summer breaks

Many European resorts are closed to the public because of the pandemic

In the same interview, Italy's prime minister said he hoped Italians would be able to enjoy a summer holiday this year if the country's coronavirus epidemic stays under control.
Giuseppe Conte's comments to Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper came as the numbers of confirmed cases and deaths in the country continued to fall.
Other European governments are also considering whether to ease restrictions over the upcoming holiday period.
Germany's tourism commissioner, Thomas Bareiss, told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper earlier this week that if the outbreak stayed under control, people might be able to take foreign breaks "in the next four to eight weeks".
He said destinations would mainly be neighbouring countries but added: "I would not yet write off other regions in Europe, such as the Balearic Islands or the Greek islands."
Greek Tourism Minister Haris Theocharis has told the BBC his country plans to open up gradually to visitors. He said that travelling by road "will be safer initially than flying and we'll see that kind of tourism earlier".
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, has sounded a note of caution. He told reporters it was "too soon to say whether we can take holidays" but it would become clear by the start of June.

UK warned to avoid climate change crisis after pandemic

The UK must avoid lurching from the coronavirus crisis into a deeper climate crisis, the government’s advisers have warned.
The Committee on Climate Change recommends that ministers ensure funds earmarked for a post-Covid-19 economic recovery go to firms that will reduce carbon emissions.
In a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the committee says the public should work from home if possible, and to walk or cycle, while investment should prioritise broadband over road-building and people should be encouraged to save emissions by continuing to consult GPs online.
It also says jobless people should be re-trained for work in geographically-spread labour-intensive “green” industries such as home insulation, tree-planting and peatland restoration.
The government will reply later, although Energy Secretary Alok Sharma has already spoken in favour of a green recovery to the recession.

The patients who just can't shake off Covid-19

Dominic Hughes - Health correspondent

David interacts with his family through a window

It's been seven weeks since David Harris first developed Covid-19 symptoms.
At first, he began to feel better after a week or so. But then the symptoms returned. Then he got better, until they returned again.
He did not know if he had the virus but he chose to be safe rather than sorry - self-isolating in his room, eating and sleeping away from his wife and baby daughter.
"Probably one of the most stressful things is trying to work out at what point you ask for help," he says.
"You don't want to pester the NHS, because there are obviously people in much worse situations than me. But certainly, I didn't want to fall into the trap of not asking for help and then something bad happening because [of that]."
Read more about David and others who have been plagued by their symptoms.

Ghana 'pool testing' to increase detection

Thomas Naadi - BBC News, Accra
Ghana has adopted "pool testing" of samples to maximise the use of coronavirus test kits that are in short supply globally.
It involves testing up to 10 samples in a single test. If any of the samples tests positive, then the entire batch is tested individually to identify the infected sample.
Scientists believe that the method is a valuable time saver in the fight against Covid-19 and has seen Ghana test more than 100,000 samples so far.
But it is only efficient while Ghana's infection rates remain low and the accuracy of the method has been disputed in some quarters.
"The limitations come in when the majority of the wells test positive in which case you have to rerun the majority of the pooled samples again and you lose the benefit of the efficiency of doing them concurrently," says Nana Kofi Quakyi, a research fellow at New York University’s School of Public Health.
Germany and India have adopted similar methods in testing for the virus - allowing them to expand their screening capacity and improve detection in communities.
Ghana's medical drones have being deployed to deliver Covid-19 samples directly to laboratories, the first country to do so in the world.
This enables authorities to identify and isolate infected persons quickly and contain the spread of the virus.

Jump in Airbnb bookings as Europeans plan breaks

As we reported earlier, some European leaders have been talking up the prospects for the summer holiday season. Many people seem to be thinking along the same lines - online holiday booking platform Airbnb has seen a jump in bookings from Europeans as they begin to plan their holidays after lockdown, according to the Financial Times.
Chief executive Brian Chesky told the paper there had been a surge in domestic bookings in Denmark and the Netherlands. Norway, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland have also seen some improvement in their domestic bookings, the company said.
"The recovery is better than what we had forecast even two weeks ago. Is it a temporary recovery? Is it a permanent recovery? Nobody knows," Chesky said.
Airbnb announced on Tuesday that it was to cut about 25% of its staff- some 1,900 people of its 7,500-strong workforce - due to the coronavirus pandemic.

'Prof Lockdown' did right thing resigning, says security minister

Prof Neil Ferguson resigned after the story was published

As we reported earlier government adviser Prof Neil Ferguson has resigned after admitting an "error in judgement" after the Daily Telegraph reported a woman, said to be his "married lover", visited his home in lockdown.
Security Minister James Brokenshire said Prof Ferguson, whose advice to the prime minister led to the UK lockdown, did the right thing in resigning.
"Prof Ferguson has obviously set out that he should have abided by the rules, that it was a lapse, an error of judgment and those rules on social distancing are very firmly still required," he told BBC Breakfast.
He added: "We have a range of experts who will continue to support ministers in making those right decisions but I'm obviously sad to see this development but ultimately Prof Ferguson, I think, has very firmly taken the right course of action."
We have more on this case

Bonds, curbs, discussions, elections: Europe round-up

German politicians discuss easing lockdown even further while Spain seeks to extend its state of emergency once again. Here is the latest from Europe:

• Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with leaders of the country’s 16 states about further lifting lockdown restrictions. Under draft proposals, the states themselves will get to decide how fast to end the lockdown - but if infections rise again above a certain level, they will have to reimpose measures
  
• While Spain has started to ease its lockdown, the government wants to extend the state of emergency yet again on Wednesday - and the opposition have said they will not back the move. The vote is expected to be tight, although Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has made a deal with the centre-right Ciudadanos party which could see the measure pass
  
• Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has criticised a German court after it ruled that the European Central Bank's bond-buying strategy violated the German constitution. It is a decision that could cause a major crisis in Germany and the EU. You can read more about it here
  
• And Poland is at a political crossroads after its Senate rejected plans for a presidential election held entirely by postal vote on 10 May. It is unclear when - or if - the vote will be held
  

Expert 'on verge of virus findings' shot dead in US

A researcher who was said to be on the verge of making significant findings about the corinavirus has been shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide, US officials said.
Bing Liu, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was found dead at an address in Ross Township, north of Pittsburgh, on Saturday, the local medical examiner said.
Shortly afterwards police found the body of a second man, Hao Gu, in a car less than a mile away. Investigators told NBC they believed Hao Gu had killed Dr Liu and then died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said an investigation was under way.
In a statement on its website, the medical school described Dr Liu - who had studied at the National University of Singapore - as an "outstanding researcher" who had made unique contributions to science. It said Dr Liu "was on the verge of making very significant findings toward understanding the cellular mechanisms" behind the coronavirus, adding: "We will make an effort to complete what he started in an effort to pay homage to his scientific excellence."

Cutout crowds as Korean baseball season begins

Fans in South Korea have been replaced with placards

The baseball season began in South Korea on Tuesday... but things looked a little different.
With no fans allowed in the stadium, SK Wyverns' opening fixture against Hanwha Eagles was instead watched by a crowd of spectator cutouts.
All 10 teams in the league were in action, at five stadiums across the country, with a series of new protective measures in place to keep players, coaches and officials safe.
As well as the absence of fans, face masks are required, chewing tobacco in the dugout has been banned and the Korea Baseball Organization is reportedly screening players and coaches for fever before they enter the stadiums.

'Student mask deaths' spark discussion in China

As more Chinese students go back to school, lots will be wearing masks as part of the new normal in China - though there have been complaints that it is not practical in some cases.
In recent days, Chinese mainstream and social media have been discussing the deaths of teenage students who allegedly collapsed while exercising in school and wearing face masks.
Reports have centred on two particular cases that apparently happened within days of each other: a 15-year-old boy who died during a physical education class in Henan province, and a 14-year-old boy who collapsed in Hunan province while running laps for a physical fitness test.
None of these cases have officially been linked to the use of face masks, and none of the families consented to post-mortem examinations. But in interviews with local media, the family of the Henan boy have insisted there is a connection between his death and the fact he was wearing a mask at that time.
As an indication of new anxieties arising in China, the cases have now become a talking point online with some criticising school authorities for forcing students to exercise with masks. Some regions in China are reportedly now adjusting the way they conduct physical fitness tests.
Experts quoted in Chinese media have said it is not a good idea to wear a mask while exercising strenuously as it could impede breathing, but have also pointed out that it is unlikely a mask could kill someone. "The students' deaths might have resulted from other underlying causes, like some other diseases," respiratory expert Zhang Shunan told the Global Times. There is also the fact that your health could deteriorate after spending several weeks on lockdown, even if you are a young and healthy person. Louie Hung-tak Lobo, an associate professor in physical education with Hong Kong Baptist University, told Apple Daily that students who had stopped exercising for some time would not be able to regain their fitness immediately, and recommended a period of three to four weeks of gradual fitness reconditioning.

Russian cases up by more than 10,000 for fourth day

The number of new coronavirus cases in Russia has risen by more than 10,000 for the fourth consecutive day.
There were 10,559 cases recorded over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 165,929, the coronavirus crisis response centre said on Wednesday.
It also reported 86 new deaths, bringing the country's total toll to 1,537.

'Three-stage plan' to ease UK lockdown

The UK government is expected to announce plans to ease the lockdown in the coming days

The UK government has drawn up a three-stage plan to ease the coronavirus lockdown that was imposed at the end of March, The Times newspaper reports.
The government must review lockdown measures by Thursday but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made it clear that he is worried about triggering a second spike in cases.
The first phase will involve small shops reopening alongside outdoor workplaces while the second will include large shopping centres reopening and more people encouraged to go to work, the newspaper said.
Entertainment venues such as pubs, hotels and leisure centres will be among the last to open.

Shoppers 'returning to more normal habits'

Customers have returned to "more normal" shopping habits after a huge increase in demand amid the coronavirus lockdown, says Ocado.
The online grocer said shoppers were putting fewer items in their baskets, and more fresh products.
Ocado, whose revenues in April were up more than 40% from a year earlier, said it had made changes to increase the delivery slots available, including suspending the delivery of mineral water.
"At the beginning of the outbreak demand increased significantly, almost overnight," the retailer said.
It initially limited the number of items on sale in order to stop customers from panic buying, but has since rolled these back as the number of items shoppers are putting in their baskets "appears to have passed its peak but remains high".
Read more here

Mass test reveals very few Czechs exposed to virus

Rob Cameron - BBC Prague Correspondent

The Czech Republic was one of the first European countries to introduce a lockdown

The Czech authorities say the results of a mass antibody study carried out on 23 April has revealed a tiny proportion of the population has so far been exposed to Covid-19.
Of 26,549 people tested in eight locations across the country, just 107 tested positive for antibodies in the serological test.
The authorities have not given a single nationwide result in percentage terms, rather a range for each testing location (Prague, Brno, Olomouc and several smaller towns). Nowhere does the number exceed 5%. In Prague, the figure was 1.48%.
As of Wednesday morning, the number of confirmed infections is 7,899. Some 295 people are in hospital. Some 4,017 have recovered, and 258 have died.
The Czech numbers are amongst the lowest in Europe, and the government says this is due to one of the first lockdowns introduced in the EU. The country is now slowly lifting restrictions, and is still reporting an R number of 0.7%.

Theresa May criticises world leaders for lack of cohesion

Theresa May said there was "little evidence" that politicians around the world were working together to fight the pandemic

Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May has criticised world leaders for failing "to forge a coherent international response" to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter to the Times she called on the government to "embrace its wider international role beyond the day to day of the pandemic" and not shy away from our "responsibilities on the world stage".
She said the virus had been "treated as a national issue for countries to deal with alone" and while researchers and scientists may work together, there was "little evidence of politicians doing so".
Mrs May said it was understandable that governments wanted to protect their own citizens first, but warned while there was not a collective international view on fighting the virus it risked "exacerbating the shift towards nationalism and absolutism in global politics".

Denmark leads way on social distancing in schools

Sean Coughlan - BBC News, Education correspondent


In Denmark primary children are trying out the socially-distanced school day


Can reopening schools be safe - and who should go back first?
Denmark and Germany, where schools have already restarted, are attempting to answer these and other questions.
"There was anxiety in the community," says Dom Maher, head of the international section of St Josef's school in Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand.
But almost three weeks after re-opening, he thinks it has worked better than might have been expected.
Read more about what he has to say.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania create free travel zone

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have agreed to reopen borders to each other.
On Twitter, Latvia's Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said freedom of movement for all citizens of the three countries would restart on 15 May after the "successful containment" of the virus.
Those arriving from elsewhere will however have to self-isolate for 14 days.

Spain daily deaths rise as PM seeks emergency extension

Spain's death toll rose by 244 in the last 24 hours, the first time since Saturday the number has risen above 200.
In total there have been 25,857 confirmed deaths from the virus, and the country has confirmed 220,325 cases - a rise of 996 compared to Tuesday.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is asking parliament to extend the state of emergency for a few more weeks, telling lawmakers on Wednesday that "the goal is near" but "we are not there yet".

Health secretary 'speechless' at scientist's lockdown breach

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he was left "speechless" by Prof Neil Ferguson's breach of lockdown rules that led to his resignation from the UK government's scientific advisory body.
"It's extraordinary. I don't understand," he told Sky News.
He said Prof Ferguson, whose advice to the prime minister led to the UK lockdown, was right to resign from Sage, adding it was "just not possible" for him to continue advising the government.
"Prof Ferguson is a very eminent and impressive scientist and the science that he has done has been an important part of what we have listened to," he said.
The social distancing rules "are there for everyone, they are incredibly important and they are deadly serious", Hancock added.
Earlier we reported that Security Minister James Brokenshire said Prof Ferguson did the right thing in resigning.
Read more about what led to Prof Ferguson's resignation.

What could 'new normal' in UK look like?

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to announce his plans to ease lockdown and restart the economy on Sunday.
But what will everyday life be like?
One of the first things many people will be desperate to know is whether they can visit friends and family again while others will want to get out to the High Street for some retail therapy.
Here are some thoughts on what the "new normal" might look like.

Virus 'threatens wildlife conservation'

Claire Marshall - Environment correspondent, BBC News

Tourists are keeping away from national parks meaning less revenue and a higher chance of poaching, Tusk says

The head of a charity which works on protecting African wildlife, Tusk, says the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest threat to conservation in his 30 years of working in the sector.
Charlie Mayhew told the BBC that his organisation expects to lose $2m (£1.6m) from cancelled fundraising events alone.
The number of coronavirus cases across the continent is relatively low, but despite this, the tourism industry has collapsed.
Almost four million people work in the conservation industry - guiding safaris, working in lodges and hotels, and protecting wildlife.
Now, with large numbers of people out of work, there are reports of an increase in poaching.
Tourism can often make up half the revenue for wildlife reserves, and the loss of that income will make it much harder to fund the rangers that protect the animals.
Tourists and their guides out on safari can also act as a deterrent to poachers. Now those extra pairs of eyes and ears are gone.

Poland chaos over election during pandemic

Adam Easton - Warsaw Correspondent
Although the number of infections and deaths is much lower in Poland than in many western European countries, the pandemic has caused unprecedented confusion over whether to hold presidential elections this month.
According to Polish law, the first round of the election is scheduled to take place on Sunday, with Poles going to voting stations despite the coronavirus restrictions. Postal voting would be available to the over-60s.
The governing Law and Justice party has proposed holding a postal-only presidential election as a safe and legal way to hold the ballot this month. With only four days left, the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, is due to vote on the proposal later on Wednesday or on Thursday.
If parliament rejects the postal-only election then, by law, Poland is heading for a traditional election on Sunday. But that is not likely to happen. The state electoral commission has said the election cannot be properly organised in time.
So there is likely to be some form of postponement. The postal-only proposal, if passed, allows for the election to be held on May 17 or May 23.
Other potential solutions would postpone the election to a later date. One long pushed by the opposition is for the government to impose a state of natural disaster, which automatically bars any elections, and would put off the ballot until August at the earliest.
One of the reasons Law and Justice wants to hold the election in May, despite the pandemic, is because it calculates that its ally President Andrzej Duda, could win in the first round. If the election is postponed for months, President Duda's chances could be diminished by rising unemployment and an overall gloomy economic scenario.

Johnson back for PMQs

Boris Johnson is back in the UK's House of Commons for Prime Minister's Questions from 12:00 BST.
It's his first appearance opposite Labour's Sir Keir Starmer, who was elected as his party's leader in early April.
And it's the PM's first time back since having coronavirus and since having another child - a baby with his fiancée Carrie Symonds.
He will answer MP's questions as the UK's death toll becomes the highest in Europe and as a government adviser on coronavirus quit amid reports he broke lockdown rules with visits from a woman.

Rory Stewart pulls out of delayed London mayor contest

Rory Stewart has pulled out of the race to be mayor of London

Former Conservative cabinet minister Rory Stewart has pulled out of the race to be mayor of London citing the difficulty of running as an independent candidate after the contest was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement on Twitter, Stewart said while the "considerable challenges" of running as an independent candidate were "manageable for a normal race", they were "forbidding for an extended and delayed election".
He added it would have been the "honour of his life" to serve London as mayor and praised the city's "courageous" response to Covid-19.
The election was originally due to be held on Thursday.

More than half of workers at US meat plant test positive

Meat factories in the US say they are doing their best to protect staff from Covid-19

More than half the workforce at a US meat processing plant have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials have revealed.
Some 730 employees at Tyson Foods in Perry, Iowa, representing 58% of staff, have contracted the virus, the Iowa Department of Public Health told a daily news conference.
Tyson's plant at Perry was one of 22 US meat factories across the US Midwest that temporarily closed in April. A company spokesman told the Des Moines Register that it had undergone a "deep cleaning" before reopening.
US meat processing plants have come under close scrutiny during the pandemic. Late last month, US President Donald Trump ordered them to stay open to protect the nation's food supply. At that time, an estimated 3,300 US meatpacking workers had been diagnosed with coronavirus and 20 had died.
Last month, we told you about the oubreak at the Smithfield pork plant in South Dakota, where more than 600 cases had been confirmed.

Iran cases rise above 101,000

The number of Covid-19 infections in Iran has reached 101,650, the government said, as confirmed cases picked up again after a drop in recent days.
A health ministry spokesman said the number of deaths had risen by 78 in the past 24 hours to 6,418.
Iran has been the worst-affected country in the Middle East and some observers say the official figures may understate the true situation.
A BBC News Arabic investigation has revealed how Iran's largest airline, Mahan Air, ignored flight bans and contributed to the spread of Covid-19 in the region.

Heathrow to trial temperature checks to detect virus

Tom Burridge - Transport correspondent
The boss of Heathrow has told MPs that a temperature-check system for health screening is being trialled at the airport on people departing for countries where this type of check is a requirement.
The airport's chief executive John Holland-Kaye said he hopes a common international standard can be agreed soon for health screening at airports.
He also said Heathrow was in the process of working out how many front-line staff at the airport would be made redundant. A third of management roles have already been cut.
He warned that the UK government needed to produce a plan on what common standardsairports in the UK should adopt so that they can increase operations safely and as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, he said, large numbers of front-line jobs at Heathrow would be lost.
Holland-Kaye had previously warned social-distancing would be impossible at airports.

Next week crucial for English football return

A general view of the London Stadium: one of the ideas for the return of English football is having fixtures being played at neutral grounds

Next week could be crucial in the potential return of English football, according to two people involved in the sport.
The Premier League hopes to return on 12 June, with a vote due on Monday on various proposals, including playing at neutral grounds.
The league wants to remove home and away fixtures to avoid crowds congregating outside stadiums and it needs 14 of the 20 clubs to vote in favour for that proposal to pass.
League Managers' Association chief executive Richard Bevan has told the BBC the season will probably be cancelled if that idea is voted down.
Meanwhile, Coventry City chief executive Dave Boddy says the "middle of next week... is the tipping point" for whether the Football League can return.
England's second to fourth tiers need to finish by 31 July and Boddy thinks if players do not start training next week that will be impossible.
The German Bundesliga is hoping to return this month - although reports in Germany now suggest the government has pushed it back to 22 May.

PM: 'It is good to be back'

House of Commons - Parliament
"The whole House is delighted at his recovery," Sir Lindsay Hoyle says, speaking about the prime minister.
"It is good to be back," says Boris Johnson.
"I would like to pay tribute to the 107 NHS and 29 care workers who have sadly died from coronavirus," he adds.
Johnson faces six questions from the leader of the opposition - who is asking about protective kit and the death rate in care homes.

Weekly death figure falls in Scotland

The number of people dying from coronavirus in Scotland has fallen for the first time, according to new statistics.
Data from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) showed that the virus was mentioned in 523 death certificates in the week to 3 May.
This was lower than the 656 deaths that were recorded the previous week.
NRS said it was the first weekly reduction in the number of Covid-19 deaths since weekly reporting began on 16 March and brought the total number of people who had died from confirmed or suspected cases to 2,795.

Lockdown costs India more than 120 million jobs

Nikhil Inamdar - BBC Business correspondent, Mumbai
A lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus has seen 122 million Indians lose their jobs in April alone, new data from a private research agency has shown.
India's unemployment rate is now at a record high of 27.1%, according to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE).
The new data shows India's unemployment figures are four times that of the US.
India does not release official jobs data, but CMIE data is widely accepted.
The country, which has close to 50,000 confirmed infections, has been in lockdown since 25 March to curb the virus.
Read the full story.

Further deaths in England and Wales

In England, another 331 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 22,049.
Of those announced today 54 occurred on 5 May; 121 on 4 May; 28 on 3 May 3; 28 on 1-2 May; 84 in April; and 16 deaths in March.
The difference in some of those figures is because of the time it takes for death figures to be confirmed and processed.
A further 21 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Wales, taking the total to 1,044. And 95 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 10,764.
We expect to hear an update on UK wide figures later.

First phase of pandemic is behind us - Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken with the leaders of all 16 German states, and is now giving a press conference about how to lift the lockdown.
"The first phase of the pandemic is behind us," she said, although she said the country is "still very much in early phases of pandemic and will be in it for the long haul".
Social distancing will remain in place until 5 June - but Germany will now start to loosen its restrictions.
Two households will be allowed to meet in public, she said.

Headlines round-up

If you're just joining us, welcome - and here are some of the top coronavirus stories from across the globe.

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced Labour leader Keir Starmer for the first time in Prime Minister's Questions after the PM recovered from coronavirus. The PM, among other things, has said there is an "epidemic" in care homes in the UK "which is something I bitterly regret"
  
• Several European leaders - including Italy's prime minister - say people may be able to take summer holidays this year if the coronavirus epidemic stays under control. Airbnb has already seen a jump in bookings
  
• US President Donald Trump says the White House coronavirus task force will be winding down, with Vice-President Mike Pence suggesting it could be disbanded within weeks
  
• More than two-thirds of people surveyed in 20 African countries said they would run out of food and water if they had to stay at home for 14 days
  

EU predicts 'historic recession'

The European Union faces a "recession of historic proportions", the European Commission has warned.
In its spring forecast, the Commission - the EU executive - predicted a decline in the economy this year of 7.7% due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, followed by an uncertain recovery that will be felt unevenly. The deepest contraction forecast is for Greece at nearly 10%, which would be slightly more than the worst single year the country experienced during the financial crisis.
The EU project and the single currency could be under threat without some form of common rescue plan, said Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.
The recovery would be much healthier in Germany's economy, which was predicted to sink by 6.5% in 2020 and recover 5.9% in 2021.
Unemployment in the eurozone is predicted to rise by two percentage points to 9.6% in 2020 with Greece and Spain widely above the average.

Scotland lockdown plans due on Thursday

James Shaw - BBC Scotland reporter
Earlier we reported lockdown in Scotland would continue for at least another three weeks.
But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said a decision on that will in fact be announced on Thursday.
She also said that the drop in the total number of deaths per week from 658 to 523 is the first in Scotland since the pandemic began.

'No action' by Scotland Yard against Prof Ferguson

Scotland Yard has said it would not take action against Prof Neil Ferguson, the government scientist who has quit after it was revealed by the Telegraph that he had breached lockdown restrictions.
Scotland Yard has said Prof Ferguson's behaviour is "plainly disappointing" but officers "do not intend to take any further action" after he accepted his error.
The scientist said he had made an "error of judgement" and had stepped back from the government's scientific advisory board, Sage.

Africans fear food 'would run out in 14-day lockdown'

More than two-thirds of people surveyed in 20 African countries said they would run out of food and water if they had to stay at home for 14 days.
Just over half of the respondents said they would run out of money.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention research was conducted to help governments map out future policies on how to tackle coronavirus.
It warns that if measures are not adapted to local needs, there is a risk of unrest and violence.
Find out more here.

Peru sees surge in virus cases

Peru has more than 50,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the second-highest number in South America, after Brazil, which is far more populous.
The Peruvian death toll - 1,444 - is also now the third highest on the continent, after Brazil (7,958) and Ecuador (1,569).
Yet Peru was one of the first countries in the region to implement strict social-distancing rules. It closed its borders after just a handful of cases were discovered.
So how have things got so bad?
The jump in confirmed cases is partly attributable to expanded testing - a reminder that straight-forward country comparisons are flawed as every place has a different approach to the pandemic.
However, there have also been significant outbreaks in food markets, prisons, mining areas and homeless communities.
People from poorer areas say they have felt compelled to break the rules to earn money or get food.
Hot zones for contagion have also been detected among the long queues forming outside banks as people seek government subsidies, according to Reuters news agency.
Peru has high poverty, remote communities with little infrastructure and densely populated areas with poor hygiene facilities. There is a similar picture across the region, so others countries will be looking at the Peruvian numbers with concern.

Latest from South America

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the virus

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said he was hopeful Tuesday’s figures would show "the worst [was] over". But the daily numbers came out shortly after he spoke: a record increase of 600 deaths. The country is now approaching a total of 8,000 deaths. The mayor of one of the worst-affected cities, Manaus in the Amazon, has sent a letter to world leaders, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump, asking for help securing equipment to combat the outbreak.
Uruguay is beginning to resume activity in public offices and shops in the capital, Montevideo. Those who do not need to work have been asked to remain at home. The government says it was encouraged to allow more economic activity after a pilot project tested 400 construction workers and all the results came back negative. The small country (670 confirmed cases, 17 deaths) has resisted a full lockdown, unlike its neighbour Argentina.
Colombia's mandatory quarantine will be extended by a further two weeks, although some sectors will be allowed to return to work. President Iván Duque also said children aged between six and 17 will be able to go outside three times a week for 30 minutes, starting 11 May. The country has recorded 8,613 cases and 378 deaths.

No 'return to normal', scientists and celebrities say

About 200 scientists and celebrities have signed a letter published in French newspaper Le Monde, saying the world cannot go "back to normal" after the pandemic.
Famous actors including Robert De Niro, Juliette Binoche, Adam Driver and Monica Bellucci put their name on the letter, as well as Nobel Prize winners, economists, philosophers and astrophysicists.
"Adjustments are not enough, the problem is systemic," the letter reads.
Signatories called on leaders to "overhaul objectives, values and savings".

Russian veteran, 97, takes inspiration from Captain Tom

Inspired by Captain Tom Moore, who turned 100 last week and has raised more than £32m for the UK's health service, Zina Korneva, a Russian war hero who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad, is doing some fundraising of her own.
Due to a broken hip, Sergeant Zina, 97, isn't able to replicate Captain Tom's 100 laps of the garden. Instead, she is sharing her wartime memories online and asking for donations to help the families of Russian doctors.

One million under-25s 'face unemployment'

School leavers could be among the worst hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Youth unemployment in the UK could rise by 640,000 this year - taking the total to above one million, a report from the Resolution Foundation think tank found.
It says school leavers are hit the hardest by recessions.
The report, called Class of 2020, said that more than one in three school leavers and one in five graduates normally found their first job after education in those sectors worst affected by the lockdown, such as cafes, bars and retail.

'Brazen' NZ thieves target cars during lockdown

It must have looked like the heist of their dreams. A whole yard full of well-maintained rental vehicles, all lined up, unlocked and ready to go - with the keys inside.
So, under cover of New Zealand's exceptionally strict virus lockdown, a group of thieves cut through the fence of rental company Jucy in Auckland and began driving them away. A total of 97 vehicles were stolen.
"It was like a kick in the guts to be honest," Tom Ruddenklau, Jucy's chief rental officer, told the BBC. "We couldn't believe that when everyone was pitching in and looking after each other as a nation, there would be this brazen theft."
But as news spread, the lockdown which made the whole theft possible in the first place also became its undoing.
Police say the country's standstill actually made it easier to track down the cars and those who stole them.
Read the full story here.

Airlines outline plans for in-flight restrictions

Tom Burridge - Transport correspondent
UK airlines have written to the government suggesting a graded system so that there are common standards on aircraft for preventing the spread of Covid-19 in the future.
The airlines have suggested three levels of restrictions.
The idea would be for countries to adopt a specific level and then a flight between two destinations would have to comply with the highest level at either end of the journey.
Tim Alderslade, CEO of Airlines UK, told MPs that level one, the least strict, could be measures such as visible cleaning, no on-board purchases and staff wearing masks.
He said level three, the strictest, could include all passengers wearing masks, staff wearing personal protection equipment (PPE) and no movement allowed once passengers are on board.

Bot or not?

Marianna Spring - Specialist disinformation and social media reporter
Rumours have been circulating on Twitter that bots are pushing a repetitive message defending the government and accusing journalists of "missing the mood” of the UK. Several people with big followings have suggested that something suspicious is going on.
Some suggested that the campaign is being run by bots, or automated accounts. Bot networks certainly do exist, but in this case the people behind the accounts appear to be real.
The copied messages - shown in Gary Lineker's tweet below - appeared only about a dozen times, across several days beginning in late April, and none of the examples were particularly popular. It might seem odd, but people sometimes copy and paste messages rather than using Twitter’s retweet function.
One man from Bournemouth admitted as such to the BBC. Another started her tweets by explaining "hope you don’t mind I’ve copied this".
Co-ordinated campaigns are certainly not unheard of on social media. But whatever the motivations, this one failed - the only thing that went viral were tweets calling out the copied and pasted messages for looking suspicious. We produced a guide to bot spotting in 2018.

  :tweet:  :Left Quotes: Gary Lineker:
What a coincidence that they should all tweet the same response.

Briton stuck on cruise ship for almost 50 days

"It's a logistical nightmare," Eddy O'Brien says

A British cruise ship worker has spoken of his "nightmare" after being stuck on a vessel in the Philippines for nearly 50 days.
Sound engineer Eddy O'Brien, 25, from Accrington, Lancashire, said crew members were unsure when they would return home because of the complexities of air travel created by coronavirus.
"It's a logistical nightmare and quite frustrating. It has been a strange atmosphere," he said.
About 3,000 passengers were repatriated after leaving the ship on 18 March. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said it would continue to help.
Read more about his experience.

Lockdown costs India more than 120 million jobs

Nikhil Inamdar - BBC Business correspondent, Mumbai
A lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus has seen 122 million Indians lose their jobs in April alone, new data from a private research agency has shown.
India's unemployment rate is now at a record high of 27.1%, according to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE).
The new data shows India's unemployment figures are four times that of the US.
India does not release official jobs data, but CMIE data is widely accepted.
The country, which has close to 50,000 confirmed infections, has been in lockdown since 25 March to curb the virus.
Read the full story.

Further deaths reported across the UK

In England, another 331 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 22,049.
A further 21 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Wales, taking the total to 1,044.
Meanwhile, another 14 coronavirus deaths have been reported in Northern Ireland, bringing the total number to 418, the Department of Health said.
In Scotland, the number of people who have died with a confirmed or suspected case of the virus to 2,795, according to the latest figures.
We expect to hear an update on UK wide figures later.
The tallies for individual nations can differ from the UK-wide total, because they are calculated on a different timeframe.

First phase of pandemic is behind us - Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken with the leaders of all 16 German states, and is now giving a press conference about how to lift the lockdown.
"The first phase of the pandemic is behind us," she said, although she said the country is "still very much in early phases of pandemic and will be in it for the long haul".
Social distancing will remain in place until 5 June - but Germany will now start to loosen its restrictions.
Two households will be allowed to meet in public, she said.

Merkel 'very pleased' by drop in infections

Angela Merkel has also said the latest figures from Germany's Robert Koch Institute, which has been reporting on confirmed cases and deaths, have been "very good news".
"The figures are still low [after lifting measures] so that's something I'm very pleased about," she said.
But restrictions will be put back in place if those infections rise again.

German football cleared for May return

Germany's top football league - the Bundesliga - can return this month behind closed doors after Angela Merkel confirmed it had been given government approval.
The league will decide the exact return date tomorrow, with the weekend of 16-17 May a possibility.

More on Germany's announcements

More now on the announcements by German Chancellor Angela Merkel after her discussions with the heads of the country's 16 states:

• Large shops will be able to reopen, those in residential care homes will be allowed to have visitors, and two households will be able to meet together in public
  
• German's Bundesliga football league will also be allowed to return later this month
  
• The states will decide how to reopen things like cinemas, restaurants and theatres
  
• Social distancing rules will stay in place until 5 June, such as maintaining a distance of 1.5m (5ft)
  

The chancellor stressed that if infections begin to rise, restrictions will be brought back swiftly. But she was optimistic, and thanked the German people for listening to the rules - in particular the public health authority.
"The first phase of the pandemic is behind us," she said, but added that Germany is "still very much in the early phases of the pandemic and will be in it for the long haul."

Bundesliga to be first major football league to return

The German Bundesliga will be the world's first major football league to return following the coronavirus pandemic when it does restart.
The last game was played on 11 March with each club having nine or 10 matches left to play. Games will be behind closed doors.
The English and Spanish top flights are hoping to return next month, while Italian teams have been allowed to start individual training. The top leagues in France and the Netherlands are not finishing after being cut short.
Only a handful of low-profile football leagues - in countries like Belarus and Nicaragua - have continued during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tuesday saw the return of South Korea's baseball division, with their football league set to return on Friday.

Handyman spends lockdown in Bamburgh Castle

A handyman spending lockdown at a picturesque coastal castle says it is a "surreal" experience.
Bamburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast is normally busy with visitors during the spring and summer months, but it is currently closed amid the coronavirus crisis.
Maintenance man Andrew Heeley is still living at the castle with his family.
He said chores included a weekly winding of the 16 clocks, cutting the extensive lawns and painting cannons.
"It's slightly surreal but I'm sure everyone can say exactly the same."
Read more about what he has to say.

Shops in Belgium to reopen next week

Belgium will become the latest country to allow shops to reopen from Monday as lockdown restrictions are eased, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes has said.
Businesses that do not have contact with the public have already re-started work, however schools, restaurants and bars will remain closed.
The country has one of the highest mortality rates from Covid-19 in the world. Read more about why so many people are dying there.

Trump to reframe task force for safety and reopening

US President Donald Trump says the White House coronavirus task force will "continue on indefinitely" but shift its focus to safety and reopening the country, as well as vaccines and therapeutics.
"We may add or subtract people to it as appropriate," he said in a tweet, without giving further details on who those individuals might be.
On Tuesday, the president had suggested "a different group" would be set up to look at issues going forward, and Vice-President Mike Pence, the chairman of the task force, told reporters it could soon be disbanded.
The US virus task force was set up on 29 January.
Its members include more than 20 experts and officials, tasked with leading "the administration's efforts to monitor, contain and mitigate the spread of the virus" and inform the public.

Analysis: Trump's political calculus is clear

Anthony Zurcher - BBC North America reporter
Is a task force with different people and a different focus still the same task force?
This sounds like a philosophical question, but it is one that has very real implications for the direction of US coronavirus policy.
On Tuesday, Vice-President Mike Pence confirmed the White House was considering winding down its coronavirus task force, perhaps as early as the end of May, shifting public health responsibilities to subsidiary agencies.
Donald Trump walked that back a bit on Wednesday morning with his tweet that the current task force would continue "indefinitely" - but the bottom line is the same.
The group's members may change, and its priorities will shift.
However the president wants to dress it up, it is clear that even while the virus continues to spread throughout the nation, the White House urgently wants to prioritise addressing the economic fallout of the pandemic.
The state of the economy, after all, frequently determines the fate of a president seeking re-election.
And if Trump cannot pull the nation out of its fiscal nosedive soon, his November general election outlook appears grim.
The public health wisdom of the White House's move may be debatable, but the political calculus is clear.

What's happening in the UK?

We are expecting the daily UK government press conference in around 30 minutes.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, Prof Yvonne Doyle from Public Health England and Dr Nikki Kanani from NHS England will take questions from regional outlets.
Meanwhile, here is a round-up of the top stories from around the UK:

• At Prime Minister’s Questions Boris Johnson pledged to reach 200,000 tests for coronavirus per day by the end of May
  
• He also said he "bitterly" regrets the epidemic in care homes
  
• And he announced some measures to ease the lockdown could start on Monday
  
• In Scotland the number of people dying with coronavirus has fallen for the first time
  
• Heathrow Airport is trialling large-scale temperature checks at the departure gates
  
• A report by the Resolution Foundation think tank says youth unemployment could rise by 640,000 this year due to the virus
  
• The online retailer Ocado says "more normal" shopping habits are back after a huge jump in demand amid the lockdown
  

If you're just joining us...

Good afternoon and a warm welcome to our live coverage. Here's a round-up of the latest news from around the world:

• Germany is continuing to ease its lockdown restrictions, as the chancellor announces football can resume behind closed doors and small shops can open
  
• In India, 122 million people have lost their jobs due to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic
  
• The European Union predicts a 'historic recession", with a decline of 7.7% due to the impact of coronavirus
  
• US President Donald Trump says the White House coronavirus task force will be re-shaped, after reports suggested he was closing it
  

• A record daily number of 600 deaths are reported in Brazil, with Manaus in the Amazon particularly affected
  

UK death toll passes 30,000

There have been a further 649 coronavirus deaths recorded, taking the UK's total to 30,076, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said at the Downing Street briefing.

What did we learn from the UK daily briefing?

• The UK has become the first country in Europe to pass 30,000 coronavirus deaths, according to the latest government figures
  
• For the fourth consecutive day the government missed its 100,000 per day testing target - with 69,463 tests provided in the 24 hours to 9.00am on Wednesday
  
• Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the government would be setting out detailed plans on how "every local economy" can "restart and recover"
  
• He also called on infrastructure and construction work "to begin again wherever it is safe to do so"
  
• He said it was the government's "strong preference" that lockdown measures should be eased in the same way across the UK. Earlier, the PM said lockdown measures could start being eased from Monday
  
• Mr Jenrick also said it was too early to restart religious services
  

Ex-Google chief to lead NYC commission

Former Google chief Eric Schmidt will chair a 15-member commission to reimagine the state's systems in the wake of the pandemic, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced.
"How do we really use new technology in the economy of tomorrow? That's the lesson we're all learning," Cuomo said, calling Schmidt "the best mind in this country" to lead the effort.
Schmidt said the commission will first focus on telehealth, remote learning and broadband access.
Other key points:

• There were 232 deaths in New York State on Tuesday and 230 on Monday
  
• Cuomo said some analysis showed most individuals ending up in hospital were predominantly not working or travelling and were staying at home, which reinforces the idea that people must take steps to protect themselves, like masks, distancing and hygiene
  
• The governor said New York has the virus "on retreat" in all regions, calling out other states that are reopening with cases still on the rise, saying "that's a mistake"
  
• Airline company JetBlue is donating 100,000 round-trip flights to medical personnel, starting with 10,000 New York health workers
  

Remember Brexit? The latest from Europe

Germany is through the 'very first phase' but the pandemic is far from over, Chancellor Merkel said

Germany lifts its lockdown even further and Russian doctors leave Italy. Here's the latest from Europe:

• Chancellor Angela Merkel says all shops can now reopen in Germany. Families can meet and eat in public, people can visit relatives in care homes, and pupils will return to school before the summer break. You can read all about it here
  
• To top it all off, Germany’s Bundesliga football league becomes the first major European league to restart, with permission to start games later this month. Officials are discussing exactly when, and will announce a date on Thursday
  
• Russia is bringing its army medical teams home from Italy. The country sent about 100 personnel in March to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak - a mission Moscow dubbed "From Russia With Love"
  
• Spain's parliament has voted to extend the country's state of emergency for another two weeks, to allow the government to control movement as it loosens restrictions
  
• And in case you had forgotten - Brexit is still rumbling along behind the scenes, with talks between the EU and the UK about their new relationship in trouble. Our Europe editor Katya Adler has covered all the drama
  

US not certain virus came from lab - Pompeo

The US does not have certainty regarding the origin of the novel coronavirus, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told reporters.
"We don't have certainty and there is significant evidence that it came from a laboratory," he said. "Those statements can both be true. I've made them both."
On Sunday, Pompeo said he had seen "enormous evidence" the virus came from a Wuhan laboratory, prompting China to ask him to reveal the evidence behind his claim.
The intelligence community has said the virus was not manmade or genetically modified, though they are looking into its origins. On Tuesday, the Pentagon said it had no conclusive evidence Covid-19 was intentionally released.
In response to a question from the BBC's Barbara Plett Usher on his assertions about the virus' origins, Pompeo said there was "no separation" in the answers from different US officials.
"We're all trying to get clarity."
Barbara Plett Usher says Pompeo's comments are "the latest salvo in what's been a torrent of criticism from the Trump administration".
"Other countries have criticised Chinese behaviour and some are demanding accountability," she notes. "But critics believe the Trump administration is also trying to deflect attention from its own slow response to the virus by hitting Beijing so hard."

'Tentative effort to loosen the lockdown'

Jessica Parker - BBC political correspondent
At the UK government's briefing today, questions from regional journalists spoke to an array of anxieties - from stretched local councils; to jobs at risk in manufacturing; and the question of when the tourism sector might thrive again.
But while it’s been made crystal clear that the route out of lockdown will be gradual and cautious, the details beyond that have been more opaque.
Ministers have been keen not to distract from the core ‘Stay at Home’ message as they take in dynamic and changing data,.
But it’s clear the groundwork is being laid for incremental adjustments.
A focus, it seems, will be nudging elements of the economy back into activity.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick suggested that the construction sector should return to work wherever possible.
And he talked about plans to adapt offices, public spaces and transport systems while emphasising the need to keep on staying safe.
It's a tentative effort to try and loosen, just a little, parts of the rigid life of lockdown.

Latest from the Middle East

• Yemen's rebel Houthi movement has reported the first coronavirus death in territory under its control. Health officials said a Somali migrant died in Sanaa on Sunday. Three deaths have been confirmed by the government elsewhere in the country
  
• One of the most prestigious universities in the Middle East, the American University of Beirut, says its survival is at stake as it tries to cope with Lebanon’s economic crisis, which has been compounded by the pandemic. Programmes and departments may well be closed
  
• The authorities in Jordan have arrested media workers and others under emergency legislation that could discourage online discussion about their response to the pandemic, Human Rights Watch has said.
  
• Israel is preparing to carry out antibody tests on some 100,000 citizens to see how widely the Covid-19 virus has spread and help plan for a possible second wave of infections, its health ministry chief has told the New York Times
  

Mexico welcomes ventilator shipment from US

Mexico has welcomed a planeload of medical ventilators from the US to help treat Covid-19 patients, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard says.
The 211 machines arrived in Mexico City on Tuesday, having been purchased from a US firm following an informal agreement between the neighbouring nations' leaders in mid-April.
Last week, several hospitals in Mexico City said they were turning patients away because they were overcrowded and lacked equipment.
According to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, US President Donald Trump agreed to sell Mexico 1,000 ventilators, with the option to buy more, when they spoke on the phone last month.
"During times of adversity, you know who your friends are," said Ebrard, after the first deilvery, adding that he was expecting six such flights bringing equipment.
Mexico has recorded 26,000 confirmed cases and 2,507 deaths.
However it has conducted a very low number of tests and the government said on Sunday that statistical modelling would put the real number of cases at more than 104,000.

Books, bookings, baseball: Asia round-up

Tens of thousands of students have returned to school in China’s Hubei province - where the coronavirus pandemic began. At the moment only senior students facing exams are allowed back.
In other news around Asia:

• India is preparing to repatriate tens of thousands of citizens stranded overseas by its lockdown. The first of dozens of flights will begin operating on Thursday. Passengers will have to pay their own fares
  
• The baseball season has begun in South Korea... without fans. Spectator cutouts took their place, along with face masks for players. "This doesn't feel like the opening of a season at all,” tweeted one fan. Football and golf are also set to resume in the country, which was quick to get on top of the outbreak
  
• In Bangladesh police have detained 11 people accused of spreading rumours about the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. Critics say draconian digital security laws are being used to stifle free speech
  
• Shanghai's Disneyland park is set to reopen on 11 May, as most of China begins getting back to normal
  

Facebook removes networks of fake accounts

Shayan Sardarizadeh and Olga Robinson - Disinformation specialists at BBC Monitoring

Facebook said the disinformation networks were from a number of countries

Facebook has removed disinformation networks from a number of countries, including Iran, Russia and the US, that promoted misinformation about coronavirus.
Hundreds of Facebook and Instagram accounts were removed for violating the company's "co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour" policy either domestically or on behalf of a foreign government.
One network in the US was linked to QAnon, a conspiracy theory about a "deep state" plot against President Donald Trump. Initially dismissive of concerns about Covid-19, it later shifted its narrative to promote false remedies and conspiracies about 5G or "global elites" having caused the virus.
The Iranian network was run by the state broadcaster, the IRIB. It criticised the handling of the pandemic by the US and Israel while backing China’s response.
While the Russian network was linked to two pro-Kremlin media outlets operating from Russian-annexed Crimea. Some of the accounts recently promoted speculation and conspiracy theories about coronavirus.

US hair salon owner jailed for defying lockdown

A hair salon owner in Texas has been jailed for a week for staying open despite coronavirus restrictions that have shut all non-essential businesses.
Shelley Luther, owner of Salon à la Mode in Dallas, appeared in court on Tuesday after defying a cease-and-desist letter and a restraining order.
The judge said she could avoid prison if she apologised for being selfish, shut the salon and paid a fine. But Luther refused, saying "feeding my kids is not selfish".
Read the full story

Beer 'about to run out' in Mexico, brewers say

Mexico is days away from running out of beer, the country's brewers' association is warning.
Brewing is not among the industries which the government declared essential and therefore had to halt production at the end of March.
"There's no production, there's no distribution, we're not producing a single beer," said Karla Siqueiros, president of Brewers of Mexico.
Siqueiros said she did not have an estimate of how many beers were left in supermarkets and shops, but that she had already received reports of prices shooting up as speculators took advantage of shortages.
She reassured beer lovers that brewers were poised to restart production as soon as they were allowed to by the government - but cautioned that she had not been given any hint as to when that could be.

Cases increasing outside Western Europe, WHO says

We have been watching the World Health Organization's regular news conference. Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained that while the number of cases in Western Europe is declining, they are increasing in Eastern Europe, Africa, South-East Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Americas.
He also warned governments that unless the lifting of lockdown restrictions is managed carefully, "the risk of the virus returning remains very real".
He described six criteria to meet before lockdowns are lifted:

• Cases must be declining, and surveillance of cases strong
  
• Health systems are able to test, treat and isolate cases
  
• Hospitals and care homes have minimal outbreaks
  
• Preventative measures in place in workplaces and schools
  
• Imported cases (from abroad) can be managed
  
• Communities are adjusted to the "new normal"
  

Dutch PM outlines exit strategy

Anna Holligan - BBC News Hague correspondent
The Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has been outlining how the Netherlands plans to slowly unlock the partial lockdown.
From 11 May schools and day cares will reopen (this had been previously announced) and hairdressers, beauticians and other contact professions can start operating again next week, along with libraries opening. People should try to keep their distance but Rutte has acknowledged this will not always be possible but face masks won’t be required.
From 1 June everyone on public transport must wear a face mask, although Rutte, speaking during a press conference this evening, urged people to make their own masks, saying “medical masks are for medical staff”.
Rutte has recommended face masks in situations where it’s not possible to keep a distance of 1.5 metres - not because they stop you contracting but to stop people infecting others.
Also from 1 June Dutch bars can reopen their terraces - reservations and limited numbers with 1.5 metre spacing. Restaurants, bars, cinemas, theatres and museums can start operating again, under strict conditions: only with reservations, but again people must maintain a distance of 1.5 metres.
As of 1 July, camp sites and churches can open doors again.

'At least 90,000' health workers infected

At least 90,000 healthcare workers are thought to have contracted coronavirus, although the number could be as much as twice that, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) said.
More than 260 nurses have lost their lives to Covid-19, it said. The estimate is based on data collected from 30 countries.
The ICN urged governments to maintain accurate records to assist in stopping the virus spreading among staff and patients.
"The figure for health care workers infections has risen from 23,000 to we think more than 90,000, but that is still an under-estimation because it isn't [covering] every country in the world," Howard Catton, ICN's chief executive officer, told Reuters.

Iran orders overall death figures hushed

Siavash Mehdi-Ardalan - BBC Persian
Iran’s Central Registrar Office has confirmed that it has been ordered not to publish the overall death rates in the country over the past three months, increasing scepticism over the official coronavirus statistics.
Iran's official tally is 6,418 dead and more than 100,000 cases since the first coronavirus case was confirmed on 19 February.
The real figures are thought to be much higher and authorities on Tehran's city council have disputed the official numbers.
A parliamentary report published last month also estimated that the real numbers of cases and fatalities were 10 times higher.
The government of President Hassan Rouhani has boasted that its management of the pandemic has helped to contain the spread and to keep the numbers of fatalities down.

What's happening in the US?

Here are some updates from across the US today:

• There are currently more than 1.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the US, and nearly 72,000 deaths
  
• Trump said the White House virus task force would be re-framed to focus on reopening; he had earlier suggested the group would be disbanded, but told reporters on Wednesday: "I thought we could wind it down sooner, but I had no idea how popular the task force is"
  
• Nearly 4,900 inmates or detained individuals have Covid-19
  
• , and 88 have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control, along with nearly 2,800 correction staff, 15 of whom have died
  
• A farmer in Kansas who sent New York Governor Andrew Cuomo an N-95 mask has received an honorary degree from his state university, thanks to his "kindness and lifelong career in agriculture"; he was two credits away from graduating in 1971 but had left school to care for his mother
  
• New Jersey, which has been a hotspot for the virus, will extend its state of public health emergency for another 30 days
  
• An Ohio Republican state lawmaker has said he will not wear a mask due to his Christian religious beliefs, as the image of God is "seen the most by our face"
  

Uber to sack 14% of its workforce

Uber has announced it will cut 3,700 full-time staff - or around 14% of its workforce.
Business has plunged for the company since the pandemic began.
But even before, Uber was struggling to balance its books, making a loss of $8.5bn (£6.8bn) in 2019.
The staff cuts will come mainly in its customer support and retail teams, the company says.
The chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, will also waive his base salary - set at $1m in 2019 - for the rest of the year.

German football to restart on 15 May

Earlier today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country's top football league, the Bundesliga, could resume this month and we now have the date: 15 May.
The last Bundesliga match was played on 11 March, before football across most of Europe was halted because of the coronavirus pandemic. All remaining matches in Germany will be played behind closed doors.
Top-flight leagues in England, Spain and Italy are trying to find a way to complete their campaigns, although France's Ligue 1 will not resume and Paris St-Germain have been declared champions, while the Netherlands' Eredivisie season has been abandoned, with no champions, relegation or promotion.

Canadian province set to reopen

Canada's most populous province is taking its first baby steps towards reopening the economy.
Hardware stores and nurseries in Ontario, where about 40% of Canadians live, will be able to open fully to the public on Friday. Customers will still be asked to maintain social distancing.
All retail stores with street access (such as small shoe and clothing stores) will be able to offer curbside pickup starting Monday.
The province is also extending the hours at liquor stores and cutting the mandatory minimum pricing for booze in restaurants and bars.
Coronavirus cases are still on the rise there, albeit at a slower pace. There were 412 news cases Tuesday, up from 387 on Monday.
On 25 April, Ontario hit a high of 640 cases in a single day.
Other provinces have also started to reopen, including Quebec, which has had the most cases in the country.

'Polite request to PM'

In today's UK Prime Minister's Questions, Boris Johnson said the number of coronavirus deaths in the UK should not be compared with those in other European countries - and quoted a newspaper article from Professor David Spiegelhalter as part of his argument.
However, Spiegelhalter has since gone on to Twitter to say: "Polite request to PM and others: please stop using my Guardian article to claim we cannot make any international comparisons yet.
"I refer only to detailed league tables - of course we should now use other countries to try and learn why our numbers are high."

Islanders react to app: 'I won't be a guinea pig'

The UK government has chosen the Isle of Wight to test its coronavirus tracing app, but what do the islanders make of it?
Some like parish councillor Daryll Pitcher say they do not want to be "guinea pigs".
"I am greatly concerned that this trial has been imposed on the Isle of Wight and I believe that the final say should have been local," he said.
Pitcher, who is the Covid-19 response co-ordinator for the island's Wootton village, said he had concerns regarding his civil liberties and data security, because the app traces anyone who has recently been in contact with someone with the virus.
He also said he felt the island was "not a suitable testing area" due to its demographics and geography, both of which vary from the UK's national average.
Read more reaction from the island.

Chicago prisoner 'uses mask to escape'

An inmate in Chicago, Illinois, was wrongfully released from jail over the weekend after he swapped identities with another inmate who was due to be released - with the help of a mask.
Quintin Henderson, 28, gave his identity to 21-year-old Jahquez Scott, who allegedly promised him $1,000 (£810) for the swap, the Cook County Sheriff's office said, according to CBS Chicago.
While wearing a face mask, given to inmates to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Scott allegedly gave Henderson's name and personal details and was released. Staff realised what had happened after the real Henderson later came to finish paperwork for his release, officials said.
An investigation is under way and the authorities are searching for Scott. His record includes aggravated battery, possession of a controlled substance and criminal trespass.

Coronavirus to be in Coronation Street storylines

Characters in one of the UK's biggest soap operas, Coronation Street, will be seen dealing with life during the coronavirus pandemic when filming resumes, its producer has said.

Filming has been suspended because of the pandemic

But the crisis will not "dominate every single story", Iain MacLeod promised.
The ITV soap has suspended filming and is making plans to return when real-life restrictions start to be lifted.
MacLeod said he decided the virus "has to exist in our world", but that the issue would be "handled with a light touch".
He did not say whether any characters would catch the virus, but its impact will be seen through things like hand-washing protocols and food outlets switching to takeaways.

UK government plans to help dairy farmers

England’s dairy farmers will be able to access up to £10,000 ($12,000) each to help them overcome the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the government has announced.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said: "Our dairy industry plays a crucial role in feeding our nation and we're doing all we can to ensure they are properly supported during this time.
"We’ve already relaxed competition laws so dairy farmers can work together through the toughest months, but recognise there's more to be done. That's why we have kick-started a new campaign to boost milk consumption and announced a further package of funding. We will continue to stand alongside our dairy farmers through this difficult period."
Last month, the BBC revealed that some dairy farmers were having to throw away thousands of litres of fresh milk because of the disruption to the supply chain caused by coronavirus.

Iceland is almost free of coronavirus

And now for some more positive news.
Iceland says it has almost entirely eliminated its outbreak of coronavirus. Only two new cases have been confirmed in the past week and 97% of all infected patients have recovered.
"We have been pleasantly surprised to see a very fastdeceleration of the pandemic in Iceland," said the country's chief epidemiologist, Thorolfur Gudnason.
But he added it was very important to remain vigilant to minimise risks of further outbreaks.
Iceland carried out very extensive testing of its population, so much so that anyone who wanted a test received one. Randomised tests showed that half of people showed no symptoms at all.
Listen here to understand more about the country's approach.

'Nonsensical' to test every American

At a briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the US had conducted 7.5m Covid-19 tests thus far.
When asked why not every American was able to get a test yet, she said it was a "myth" that everyone needed testing.
"If we tested every single American in this country at this moment, we’d have to retest them an hour later and an hour after that, because at any moment you could theoretically contract this virus," McEnany said.
"The notion that everyone needs to be tested is simply nonsensical. The people who need to be tested are vulnerable populations."
The press secretary also repeated Trump's stance on masks, saying it's "the choice of the individual".
Other key points:

• McEnany said the US mortality rate was 218 per million, comparing it with Spain's at 548 per million and Italy's 485 per million
  
• McEnany said the president had "decided that coronavirus taskforce is here to stay"
  
• The press secretary described the current US-China relationship as one of "disappointment and frustration", reiterating the administration's criticisms that China had not done enough to warn the world
  
• More than $181bn (£146bn) has gone out in the second wave of small business pay protection loans
  

More on the situation in the US:

• Texas banned abortions - how did that affect women?
  
• Why is there a US backlash to masks?
  
• 'I got a life-changing opportunity in lockdown'
  

Irish people return old favour by donating to Native American fundraiser

The Hopi Indian Reservation is in Arizona, US - the community need clean water, food and health supplies

If you help someone during this pandemic, one day the favour might be returned.
That's what two Native American communities in the US have learned.
The Choctaw Nation sent $170 (around $5,000 in today's money) to Ireland in the 1840s when one million Irish people died during the potato famine. Their genorosity was sparked partly by the deaths of many Native Americans on the Trail of Tears, the forced displacement of 60,000 people.
Now the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Reservation are badly affected by the coronavirus, partly due to a lack of clean water, and Irish people are recognising the old kindness by donating $100,000 to a fundraiser.
One message, from Pat Hayes, read: “From Ireland, 170 years later, the favour is returned! To our Native American brothers and sisters in your moment of hardship.”
The organisers of the fundraising wrote to praise the “acts of kindness from indigenous ancestors passed being reciprocated nearly 200 years later through blood memory and interconnectedness.”

Today's main headlines

We're pausing our live coverage for the time being. Our colleagues in Asia will be picking it back up shortly.
In the meantime, here's a reminder of the main developments on Wednesday:

• A gradual relaxation of lockdown restrictions continues in several European countries - Germany will allow football to resume behind closed doors and shops can open, while in Belgium retailers will be allowed to open from next week
  
• It comes the World Health Organization (WHO) warned countries there is a real risk of the virus returning if governments are not vigilant
  
• The WHO also warned that infections are rising in Eastern Europe, Africa, South-East Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Americas
  
• 30,076 people have now died in the UK - the highest in Europe - while the government missed its target of 100,000 daily tests for the fourth day running
  
• Around 90,000 healthcare workers are thought to have been infected globally, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) says
  
• The economic fallout continues, as the European Union warns of a historic recession, 122 million in India have lost their jobs due to the economic downturn, and Uber plans to sack 14% of its workforce
  
• US President Donald Trump said his coronavirus taskforce will be re-shaped, rather than disbanded as he earlier suggested
  
• And finally, for something lighter, take a look at this new painting by Banksy, hung in a hospital in England
  

Our live page is written and edited by our journalists in Singapore, London and Washington. Wednesday's coverage was brought to you by: Ritu Prasad, Georgina Rannard, Deirdre Finnerty, Michael Emons, Claire Heald, Robin Levinson-King, Emlyn Begley, Hugo Bachega, Toby Lockhurst, Simon Fraser, Kate Whannel, George Wright, Thomas Spender, Alex Bysouth, Sarah Collerton, Doug Faulkner, Krutika Pathi, Yvette Tan, Tessa Wong, Andreas Illmer, Anna Jones, and Saira Asher.