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Coronation Street's Ken Barlow has "recovered well" after testing positive for coronavirus.

Actor Bill Roache, 88, has been taking time off from the ITV soap, prompting rumours in the press.

On Saturday, an ITV spokeswoman said: "Following recent reports about his health, William Roache has asked us to clarify that he took time off work after testing positive for Covid.

"He has recovered well and is looking forward to returning to the cobbles as soon as possible."

Scriptwriters are limiting appearances for the older cast members during the pandemic.

Coronation Street resumed filming in June last year with social distancing in place.

Cardiff Bay welcomed back visitors from outside the area on Saturday as Wales' "stay local" travel restrictions were lifted.

Elmer Harres, 85, and wife Anne, 82, who live about 60 miles in Carmarthenshire, have been able to form a "bubble" to visit their daughter.

But Mr Harres said being able to travel further afield was a "refreshing change".

"You do, after a lockdown period, get a bit depressed being confined to your home," he said.

"When you come to the autumn of your life it’s been rather unfortunate that this virus has hit the elderly like myself when we could be enjoying ourselves.

"I’ve had my first jab. It gives you some security but you’ve still got to be careful," he said.

Owen and Donna Pettit from the Vale of Glamorgan were also enjoying a coffee at Cardiff Bay on Saturday morning.

They are hoping to go away with their children to west Wales for Easter but have yet to "set anything concrete", according to Ms Pettit, a carer and cleaner.

“It’s nice to have the freedom after being locked in," said Mr Owen, a lorry driver.

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GP Dr Sarah Jarvis has told the BBC it is "highly likely that we will be having boosters of the Covid vaccine" in the near future.

"Most people will get some immunity [from the first vaccine], but they will need to have a booster just to top it up - and to protect against new variants."

"We don't yet know how long immunity from the vaccine lasts... and we don't know how many variants there will be down the line," she told BBC Breakfast

"Certainly I think two vaccines per year - one for flu and one for Covid - is likely to be the norm for some time."

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One-fifth of the Philippines' population is going into lockdown as hospitals in the city of Manila struggle to cope with a surge in infections.

From Monday Manila's 24 million people will begin a week-long lockdown to try to control the spread of Covid-19, which the government says is being driven by new variants.

A night-time curfew from 6pm to 5am will be enforced, mass gatherings are banned and public transport is closed as non-essential workers will be told to work from home.

Restrictions in the city have already dramatically reduced planned celebrations of Holy Week for the country's large Catholic population before Easter on 2-4 April.

The country has reported record rises in virus cases in three of the past five days, according to the health ministry. Since the pandemic began, the Philippines has recorded more than 700,000 cases and 13,159 deaths..

Several people have been arrested after a third night of ''Kill the Bill'' protests in Bristol, against the government's Police and Crime Bill.

Police said a "minority" of protesters "showed hostility" and arrests were made after a sit-down protest in front of a police station.

Mass gatherings are currently banned under Covid regulations.

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Now we turn to India, where cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has tested positive for Covid-19.

Tendulkar - widely considered the greatest batsman of all time - tweeted out a statement confirming his diagnosis on Saturday.

The former Indian captain, 47, said he had “mild symptoms” and had quarantined himself at home.

His announcement comes as India grapples with a huge surge in coronavirus infections as it scrambles to roll out vaccinations.

India recorded 59,118 new infections on Friday, the highest 24-hour rise so far this year. Many of the new cases were reported in the western state of Maharashtra, where Tendulkar lives in the city of Mumbai.

Tendulkar’s tweet was met with a flood of messages wishing him a speedy recovery. He remains a popular figure in India since his retirement from cricket in 2013.

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Boris Johnson has said he is looking forward to having a haircut and a pint when lockdown further eases in England in the coming weeks. (Both those things will be allowed from 12 April.)

In a video message released on Saturday to launch the Conservative Party's local election campaign in England, the PM said: "In just a few days time, I'm finally going to be able to go to the barbers. But more importantly than that, I'm going to be able to go down the street and, cautiously but irreversibly, I'm going to drink a pint of beer in the pub.

"And as things stand, I can see absolutely nothing in the data to dissuade me from continuing along our road map to freedom, unlocking our economy and getting back to the life we love.

"Of course there are plenty of risks and we have got to be honest about the difficulties ahead. We are in a different world to last spring."

Wales' "stay local" rule has been relaxed to allow residents to travel anywhere in the nation.

Self-contained tourist accommodation can reopen from today, but only for people living in Wales.

That's because non-essential travel to and from other UK nations is banned for at least two weeks under the remaining restrictions.

Six people from two households are able to meet up in Wales, an increase from the four-person limit that was in place prior to Welsh government review of its Covid restrictions.

Organised outdoor activities and sports for under-18s can also resume, and libraries and archives can reopen their doors.

Rules also allow a limited opening of outdoor areas of some historical places and gardens.

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We often hear when celebrities or politicians get their coronavirus vaccines - with Boris Johnson, Sir Ian McKellen and Mary Berry all making headlines.

Now Northern Ireland's first minister is the latest politician to get hers.

Arlene Foster was given her first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab from a GP at the Castle Park leisure centre in Lisnaskea in her Co Fermanagh constituency on Saturday morning.

The 50-year-old politician became eligible for the vaccine earlier this month when over-50s started being offered the jab.

As of the latest figures on Friday, a total of 825,310 jabs had been administered in NI - 711,673 of which were first doses and 113,637 were second doses.

On Monday a new mass vaccination centre will begin operations in Belfast's SSE Arena.

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The answer is, some have been postponed, others are due to go ahead.

It partly depends on the date. According to the government's reopening roadmap for England, restrictions on social contact could be lifted from 21 June, depending on case numbers and official reviews.

But here's the latest on what we know:

• Glastonbury: The main festival has been cancelled, but organisers are still working on plans for gigs at the site this summer. They are applying for a licence for a two-night concert and another to open the farm as a campsite - although nothing is definite
• Download: This was due to take place in the first weekend of June but has been cancelled. Dates have been announced for 2022
• Isle of Wight: Originally scheduled for June, the Isle of Wight festival has been pushed back by three months to mid-September
• Latitude: It hasn't been given the definitive green light yet, but organisers say planning for the July event is "well under way"
• Reading & Leeds: Still set to go ahead in August
• Notting Hill Carnival: Organisers are planning as usual but will not make a decision until closer to the summer
• BST Hyde Park: So far, it's still on
• Creamfields: Still scheduled to go ahead in August, organisers are promising fans "the party of the summer" after a year locked indoors
• Wireless Festival: Tickets are on sale - although it's being held in September, rather than the usual July

For more details - including on other festivals - head to our guide here.

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Government ministers are reported to be facing pressure to expand the "red list" - those countries from which travellers must quarantine in a hotel of the government's choice when they arrive in the UK.

The aim is to protect the rollout of the UK's vaccination programme against the import of new variants from abroad.

More than 30 countries are currently on the UK government's red list, external, including South Africa, Brazil and UAE.

A government insider told the Guardian there could be “quite a few additions” to the red list., external

Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds has called for "a comprehensive hotel quarantine system now".

"The UK Government are yet again doing too little, too late to secure our borders against Covid - and it's the British people that will pay the price," he said.

"Ministers need to do everything possible to stop new variants reaching the UK."

Read more about the red list and the rules on quarantine.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken of the "disgraceful attacks against police officers in Bristol" on Friday night.

"Our officers should not have to face having bricks, bottles and fireworks being thrown at them by a mob intent on violence and causing damage to property," the PM tweeted on Saturday.

"The police and the city have my full support."

It follows a third night of protests in the city, opposing the government's Police and Crime Bill.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said it was "clear these thugs were only intent on causing trouble".

"I’m in no doubt the silent, law-abiding majority will be appalled by the actions of this criminal minority," she tweeted., external

Ten arrests were made following what police called unacceptable "violent conduct" at the protest.

The proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill would give police in England and Wales more power to impose conditions on non-violent protests.

Labour's shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds told BBC Breakfast that "whenever there is violence, that is completely unacceptable".

She said protesters should be using "other ways of expressing whatever dissatisfaction they have".

Friday's protest started peacefully on College Green, in the city centre, before 1,000 people marched with a "significant" number stopping outside Bridewell police station.

Police moved in to clear the area shortly after 22:00, after eggs and glass bottles were thrown at the police.

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Families in Wales say it feels "like Christmas Day" as they prepare to visit loved ones with lockdown travel rules eased within the nation's border.

Ed Pugh, 55, and his wife Tracey, 56, have not seen their daughter Alys, 23, since December.

They are making the two-hour journey from their home in Monmouthshire, to meet Alys for a walk on the beach near her home in Aberystwyth on Sunday.

"We knew this day would come and it's been building up to it and thank God, here we are now," said Mr Pugh.

"So Sunday's going to be like Christmas Day, if I'm honest."

Kathryn Eastman is looking forward to seeing brother Peter, face-to-face for the first time in over a year, as he lives about seven miles from her home in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Ms Eastman said the "last proper chat" they had was during a pub lunch in February last year, although they have seen each other at a distance when he was able to drive by.

She told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast she was "excited" as they would "get to see each other properly and chat".

BBC Trending

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France is among those nations hardest hit by coronavirus, with one of the highest Covid death counts.

Yet it is one of the most vaccine-sceptical nations in the world.

The number of followers of pages sharing extreme anti-vaccine content in French grew in 2020, from 3.2m to nearly 4.1m likes, research from BBC Monitoring found.

"I felt in my gut that this whole thing was overrated and wrong," says Gilles, who runs a conspiracy-themed French-language Facebook group.

He doesn't want a Covid vaccine, because of posts he's seeing on the group. He fears, despite the weight of scientific evidence, that jabs have been developed too quickly to be safe.

And his concerns are part of wider trend in France.

The BBC's specialist disinformation reporter Marianna Spring has been looking into the vaccine misinformation battle that is currently raging in France.

Image source, Reuters

One of our top stories in the UK today is following comments from the government's vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi.

He told the Daily Telegraph, external that people in the top four priority groups of the vaccine rollout could start receiving Covid booster jabs from September.

That includes the over-70s, staff working in health and social care, and people considered clinically vulnerable.

The idea is that the booster jab would protect them from new variants. Scientists believe that current vaccines could be less effective against some new variants - although experts say jabs can be easily adapted.

Revealing details of the plan to the Telegraph, Mr Zahawi said the "most likely date" for booster jabs to begin would be September.

He said deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam thought "that if we are going to see a requirement for a booster jab to protect the most vulnerable, [it] would be around September".

Read the full story here - or if you're still waiting on your first dose and want to know when you might get it, that's here.

Ten people have been arrested in Bristol after police took action to disperse protests last night.

Area commander Supt Mark Runacres, of Avon and Somerset Police, told BBC Breakfast that police had sought to deter people from attending during the week because of the coronavirus rules and risk to public health.

Mass gatherings are currently banned under coronavirus restrictions and fines can be given out for anyone breaking the rules.

He said many people went home after peacefully protesting, but officers came under attack towards the end of the evening.

"From Monday, changes in the legislation will allow us hopefully to engage effectively with protest organisers which is what we've always done previously, prior to the legislation changes around the Covid regulations stopping that happening."

Downing Street has said the lifting of the stay-at-home order on March 29 will mean protests will be able to resume.

However, they will still be subject to the previous Covid-secure precautions meaning that organisers need to submit risk assessments and ensure there is "appropriate" social distancing.

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Professor Stephen Reicher, a member of the government's scientific advisory panel on behaviour, doesn't think the idea of vaccine passports to get into the pub is a good idea. In many ways it could be "counter-productive", he says.

He cites studies showing that for people who are reluctant to get the vaccine, making the jab compulsory "led to anger and to lowered uptake".

"One of the main factors in being against the vaccine is the sense it's not being done for us, it's not being done for our health, it's being done to us. The problem is by making things compulsory, you feed into that fear," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

But won't people need an incentive to get the vaccine? Prof Reicher says it depends on the incentive - and whether it's giving people something extra to their everyday life.

"People actually aren't averse to the idea of vaccine passports to be able to travel internationally. But when it comes to negative incentives, to in effect barring people from their everyday lives, from social activity, then they work in a very different way and people behave very negatively."

He also warns that vaccine passports for pubs or other venues could also lead to social division, with communities who are less likely to get vaccinated becoming excluded from social life.

The idea of vaccine passports made headlines this week after Boris Johnson said it could be a matter for pub owners. He later suggested that they could only be introduced once everybody has been offered the jab.

We've got more on vaccine passports here.

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Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has told the Telegraph the over-70s are likely to be offered a booster jab from September, to defend against new coronavirus variants.

Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Spi-M modelling group which advises the government, said was "good news" that the booster may be available before the British winter kicks in.

"Because of the issue of these variants that might evade the vaccine, my hope was that as we got towards the autumn, we could provide boosters to the elderly and the vulnerable," he told Times Radio.

"In the shorter term, we are worried about new variants, but if we can keep these out for a longer period of time - enough time for these boosters to be developed - then that should hopefully protect us as we go into the winter."

Image source, Reuters

Police have arrested a number of people in Bristol - after another night of demonstrations against the government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Around 1,000 people took part in a sit-in near Bridewell police station, which was the location of violent scenes last Sunday.

Mounted officers and dog units were used to drive the crowds back.

Mass gatherings are currently banned under coronavirus legislation and anyone breaching regulations could be fined, though some MPs have said the law should change to allow protests.

Recent weeks have seen a number of protests and demonstrations, with campaigners gathering in support of various causes.

Read more on the protests here.