Candace Piette
Americas editor

Image source, Reuters

Brazil's biggest city Sao Paulo is speeding up efforts to empty old graves in cemeteries to make room because of the soaring number of deaths from Covid-19.

Officials say there has been a record number of deaths this week.

At the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, workers in masks and protective gear have been digging rows of graves under floodlights. Similar scenes are being played out in the city's other cemeteries, with many now staying open until 10 at night.

Gravediggers have had to speed up the routine clearance of old graves to make more space for the stream of coffins arriving each day, many in adapted school buses.

The city of Sao Paulo recorded more than 400 burials on Tuesday - the most since the pandemic began.

Officials say they expect the situation to get worse as Sao Paulo's health service becomes overwhelmed.

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West End theatres, comedy clubs, the Glastonbury Festival and Canterbury Cathedral will get a share of £400m emergency government culture funding.

A total of 2,700 English culture and heritage venues will share the latest round of the Culture Recovery Fund.

Canterbury Cathedral has the biggest grant with £2m, while the Serpentine Galleries in London has been awarded £1.9m and Camden Roundhouse has £1.5m.

West End chain Nimax Theatres and Glastonbury will receive £900,000 each.

Earlier this week the Somerset festival announced Coldplay, Haim and Damon Albarn, among other acts, would be streaming sets from the Worthy Farm after the main event was cancelled again this year.

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Pubs in England will be able to reopen, with customers sitting outdoors only, in 10 days' time but the industry is calling on the government to "just make it practical for venues to try and recover their businesses".

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, explains that under the guidance people will be able to go inside to use the toilets but are not allowed to go inside the venue to pay for alcoholic beverages.

She tells BBC Breakfast: "This is a problem for many of our pubs, particularly those in rural areas, that perhaps do not have a wifi that extends to an outdoor area and where payment for them at the table would be impossible for them.

"It is just an impracticality for many businesses."

She asks the government to show some "common sense" and suggests if people can go in to use the bathroom, then they should be allowed to socially-distance to pay at the bar.

Image source, Getty Images

The health ministry in Iran has urged people to stay indoors on the last day of the Persian New Year holiday because of a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.

All gatherings in parks and public gardens have been forbidden on what is known as Nature Day - when Iranians traditionally go out to have picnics and celebrate the coming of spring.

Iranian state radio says the official daily infection rate for the virus has increased by 40% compared with a month ago, raising fears of a possible fourth wave.

Iran's death toll now stands at 62,759.

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Campaigners are taking legal action against the government over guidance that bans care home residents in England aged 65 and over from taking trips outside the home.

John's Campaign says the ban is unlawful and is also challenging the requirement for residents to self-isolate for 14 days after such visits.

The government says its guidance provides a "range of opportunities" for visitors to spend time with loved ones.

Julia Jones, co-founder of John's Campaign, says: "People living in care homes are people very often living towards the end of their lives, or they are people living with a learning disability, for whom their wellbeing is dependent on their routines.

"These people have been comprehensively ignored."

Image source, EPA

Police in Belgium have used tear gas and water cannon to break up a crowd of people who had gathered for a fake concert that was announced on social media as an April Fools' Day joke.

About 2,000 people attended the event in Brussels' Bois de la Cambre park, in defiance of the country's Covid-19 measures.

When police arrived, on foot and on horseback, some in the crowd shouted "Freedom!" and threw projectiles.

Police said four people were arrested.

Three police officers were injured in clashes, according to officials. Reuters news agency reported at least two other people were injured.

The announcement for the concert was posted on Facebook in March, promising a host of famous DJs.

Organisers said the invitation was a hoax, but many people still showed up.

"We are all depressed. I'll be 18 in two weeks, we want to take advantage of our youth," one student who attended the gathering told Reuters. "We came not to annoy the police, but to show that we also have a life and want to enjoy it."

Read more here.

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Labour's former shadow attorney general Baroness Shami Chakrabarti has called vaccine passports a "tool of discrimination, oppression and bullying".

The member of a cross-party group of politicians warning against introducing them, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's dangerous, it's discriminatory, it's counter-productive."

She says: "It seems to me, and many others, that on the one hand, if this level of intrusion into our lives were to be proportionate, then probably it's not safe to open up the economy.

"On the other hand, if it is safe to open up the economy, to come out of this lockdown and this crisis that we have been living under, if it is safe to do that, why create this tool of discrimination, oppression and bullying?"

The former director of human rights group Liberty says: "It's one thing to have a passport to travel internationally, that is a privilege, even a luxury, but participating in local community life is a fundamental right."

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Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, has been admitted to hospital.

Tendulkar has tweeted he decided to go to a hospital in Mumbai "as a matter of abundant precaution under medical advice".

The former captain, who is loved by millions, added he was hoping to be back home in a few days.

Several Indian cities, including Mumbai, have seen a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the past few weeks.

Tendulkar, 47, shared the news at a time when India is staring at what experts have called a "deadlier second wave".

India reported 81,466 news cases and 469 deaths on Thursday - the highest daily spike since December.

Read more here.

Image source, REUTERS/BBC/GETTY

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and senior Tory Iain Duncan Smith are among more than 70 MPs to launch a campaign opposing Covid passports in England.

Any demand to prove vaccination status to access jobs, businesses or services would be "divisive and discriminatory", the cross-party group says.

The government is undertaking a review into whether such a system could help to reopen the economy in England, but says no decision has been made.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously said people could be asked to provide a vaccine certificate for entry into pubs in England, saying it "may be up to individual publicans".

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Ukraine’s Covid crisis has deepened with record numbers of infections and deaths reported this morning. Health Minister Maksym Stepanov says 433 people died in the past 24 hours and 19,893 new cases were reported. The capital Kyiv has imposed a strict lockdown.

French schools close later today for at least three weeks as stricter anti-Covid measures start kicking in across the country. Secondary schools will shut for four weeks, although two of those include France’s spring holiday. A new opinion poll suggests seven out of 10 people back the decision to go into a new national lockdown tomorrow night which is looser than last year.

Most EU countries have agreed a complicated formula to give 2.85 million extra BioNTech-Pfizer vaccines to five struggling countries, including Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia. Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic objected to the deal. Austria’s Sebastian Kurz has criticised what he sees as uneven distribution of vaccines.

A Serbian anti-vaccination campaigner was questioned by police yesterday on suspicion of spreading panic through social media posts and media appearances. Jovana Stojkovic has been in trouble before for posting misleading information.

A baby has been born on Spain’s Balearic island of Ibiza with Covid antibodies after his mother was vaccinated in the final three months of her pregnancy. Baby Bruno’s umbilical cord was tested for antibodies after he was born. Meanwhile, a million Oxford-AstraZeneca doses will be distributed across Spain this morning to enable vaccinations to continue throughout Easter week.

Greece starts easing restrictions on movement from tomorrow with retail opening up from Monday. Schools will start opening up again on 12 April.

Speculation about coronavirus passports - and plans for foreign travel this summer - dominates this morning’s front pages.

The Daily Telegraph, external expects Covid certificates will be trialled at major events including the FA Cup final and the BRIT Awards in May, while the Daily Mail, external says the passport scheme will begin once the NHS test and trace app has been updated to show if someone has had their vaccine or recently tested negative for the virus - so those unable or unwilling to have a jab are not discriminated against.

But the Daily Express says Boris Johnson still faces a backbench revolt over the plan.

"The planes to Spain now mainly to Bahrain" is how the Sun, external describes the likely conclusion of the prime minister's international travel review on Monday.

Read more here.

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Here is what is happening around the world today.

• More than 70 MPs are launching a campaign opposing the introduction of vaccine passports in England, saying any demand to prove vaccination status to access jobs, businesses or services would be "divisive and discriminatory"
• The government is also facing legal action from campaigners over guidance that bans care home residents in England aged 65 and over from taking trips outside the home. John's Campaign says the ban is unlawful
• A lack of "adequate" funding for schools in England during the pandemic is placing staff and pupils at risk, teachers union Nasuwt says
• Police in Belgium used tear gas and water cannon to break up a crowd of people who had gathered for a fake concert that was announced on social media as an April Fools' Day joke – in defiance of the country's Covid-19 measures
• Tennis’ governing bodies the ATP and WTA are urging players to get vaccinated against Covid-19 after several leading players expressed scepticism against the jab. But neither organisation will force players to be inoculated
• In Northern Ireland schools are being told that there can be no singing indoors when pupils return after Easter
• While in Scotland the “stayat home” order is to be replaced by an instruction to “stay local” as the nation’s coronavirus restrictions ease.

Hello and welcome to our coronavirus live coverage on this Good Friday morning.

We will be bringing you updates on the pandemic from around the globe throughout the day.