Image source, Reuters

Los Angeles is going to vaccinate people aged 16 and over from tomorrow, ahead of the state of California's plans to widen vaccine eligibility.

"We are excited to open vaccination appointments for Angelenos 16 and older," Mayor Eric Garcetti tells US broadcaster CNN, adding that teenagers aged 16 and 17 would get the Pfizer vaccine.

Los Angeles was previously the US city hardest-hit by Covid-19.

Between November and January, deaths in California surged by more than 1,000%. In just one week in mid-January, almost 2,000 people died in Los Angeles alone.

ICUs hit capacity, oxygen was rationed, and makeshift morgues had to be set up across the state.

Los Angeles had to lift air quality limits for cremations in January because of the unprecedented number of deaths.

Now that non-essential retail is reopening in England, you may be wondering how to shop safely.

Our video below sets out what you can expect, and steps you can take to minimise any risk.

While many businesses are excited to be reopening today, not all have survived the pandemic and some shops stand empty.

More than 17,500 chain stores and other venues closed in Great Britain last year, according to the Local Data Company.

In Cheltenham, Topshop and Topman - which used to occupy a large store on the main high street - is one of the most high-profile casualties.

Online fashion retailer Asos bought the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands after Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group fell into administration - but the deal did not save the shops or those working in them.

Staff in the Cheltenham store placed a sign in the window to say goodbye to their "incredible customers".

Sarah Corker
Business presenter, BBC Radio 5Live

In Sheffield City Centre the shoppers are out in force. There have been queues outside Primark since 07:30 BST.

At the other end of the high street, Debenhams department store has temporarily reopened for a closing-down sale.

Early bird shoppers waited patiently in a queue snaking around the block to take advantage of the 70% off sale.

Sheffield has been hit hard by a series of big name closures.

The John Lewis store - a Sheffield institution known locally as Coles - will never re-open. A huge space to fill in a prime location.

A pub in Coventry is under investigation by the local council after a long queue of people arrived for its opening at midnight when lockdown restrictions were eased.

Videos posted on social media showed more than 100 people lining the street outside the Oak Inn, near the city's university, after it advertised plans to open its large outdoor space with heaters, marquees and blankets.

A Coventry City Council spokeswoman confirms the pub is under investigation and says: "We would like to remind everyone about the importance of following the rules.

"This includes social distancing and staying two metres apart, wearing face coverings in public and washing hands regularly when visiting hospitality venues."

Darren Lee, manager of The Oak Inn, tells the BBC the pub was "absolutely mobbed."

"The customers supported us - they stood out there in the cold and they didn't complain," he says. "It was brilliant."

The pub has outdoor seating for 64 tables seating 260 people, he explains.

"We had about three and a half hundred through the whole night, but there was probably about another three or four hundred we had to disappoint because we couldn't get them in."

Image source, EPA

Bangladesh is to enter a strict eight-day lockdown from Wednesday, officials say, which will shutter all offices, and halt international and domestic transport.

Shops are also going to be closed, except those that sell food. Factories will be allowed to stay open, but only if companies can organise their own transport for workers.

The daily number of Covid cases in Bangladesh has increased seven-fold in the space of a month, while the daily number of deaths has doubled.

"There is no alternative now to this in order to curb the Covid-19 surge," Farhad Hossain, junior minister for public administration, said before the official government announcement.

The country, which has a population of 160 million, has recorded 684,756 cases and 9,739 deaths in total.

Image source, AFP

The Duke of Sussex is due to attend his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral on Saturday.

It's the first time that Prince Harry, who now lives in Los Angeles, has visited the UK since he and his wife Meghan stepped back from royal duties last March.

But how is Harry able to travel? Well, he will be following the government coronavirus rules for travel.

These state that people arriving in the UK must:

• Take a Covid-19 test during the three days before departure and test negative
• Fill out a passenger declaration form (giving details of where they will be staying)
• Quarantine for 10 days and take further Covid-19 tests on day two and day eight

He doesn't have to stay in a hotel as the US is not on the government's "red list" of countries, from which travel is banned.

Guidance on holding a funeral in England - during lockdown - says that mourners who have come from abroad can leave their place of quarantine , external"in limited circumstances, including on compassionate grounds".

The prince could also be choosing to end his 10-day quarantine early under the government's "Test to Release" scheme, external, which allows you to take a test five days after arrival in the UK and leave isolation if it is negative.

Image source, Paul Lyas

Primark is proving a popular choice for shoppers with long queues forming outside stores across England and Wales.

But Paul Lyas says "people are nuts" for waiting outside in the cold for more than an hour before the store opened.

He was out early working on a campaign with Rotherham Council using a truck with light-up signs to remind people to socially distance.

He says: "There is now a 90-minute wait to get into Primark. I can see Rotherham and other areas going back into tiers. People are not listening.

"But Primark was very good making everyone disinfect hands before they go inside."

Image source, Paul Lyas

For those not wanting to brave swimming outdoors, today is the first chance they'll have had to get back in the water.

Indoor pools are open for business again as of today in England, as lockdown restrictions ease.

These pictures above show people making the most of the opportunity at Clissold Leisure Centre in north London.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Anna Holligan
BBC News Hague correspondent

Image source, Inge Heesterbeek

For most of us it remains a distant fantasy... a couple of Pina Coladas, beneath a parasol, embraced by Greek sunshine.

It's the reality for 187 Dutch nationals who are today swapping the snow and hailstones of the Netherlands for eight days on the island of Rhodes in an experiment designed to help policy-makers assess whether foreign holidays are feasible during a pandemic.

But travellers won't be allowed to leave the resort - not even to dip a toe in the Mediterranean.

They'll be tested for Covid before and after the trip and will have to quarantine for at least five days when they return home.

Inge Heesterbeek is excited about celebrating her 30th birthday with her boyfriend while dining a la carte - but she realises the temptation of a splash in the ocean will be tough to resist.

"Our hotel room has a sea-view but we know the limitations and we will follow the rules. This year has been difficult, so I'm excited to get out."

The Dutch government's current travel advice is that all non-essential overseas trips should be avoided, at least until the middle of May. This excursion has been approved as an exception.

"It's scientific and that's important to me," Inge says. "Another pandemic might come, so it's not a bad idea to try things out now so for the next time we know if this might be a solution. Many people here are not social distancing, like at the supermarket, while on the resort there will be rules and people reminding us, so it feels very safe actually."

Image source, Inge Heesterbeek

Image source, PA Media

Northern Ireland is the last part of the UK to lift the "stay at home" rule today and it'll be at least a couple of weeks before all shops and pubs reopen.

But non-essential stores can restart click and collect and outdoor retailers including car dealerships and garden centres can reopen.

The limit on the number of people allowed to attend a wedding, civil partnership or funeral has also been removed and venues must manage the numbers.

Ten people from two households can meet up in private gardens.

Read our guide to the easing of restrictions in Northern Ireland.

Shoppers across England were waiting in anticipation for their favourite stores to reopen this morning.

Walk-in barbers were in demand, as were Primark and Footlocker in Nottingham, with queues forming down the high streets in Portsmouth and Nottingham.

Shoppers were also ready for Debenhams to open its doors for its final closing-down sale before it shuts stores for good. Its online business has been sold to Boohoo.

Image source, Hayley Ellery

Image source, Francesca Peacock

Leo Kelion
Technology desk editor

Image source, PA Media

An update to England and Wales' contact tracing app has been blocked for breaking the terms of an agreement made with Apple and Google.

The plan had been to ask users to upload logs of venue check-ins - carried out via poster barcode scans - if they tested positive for the virus. This could be used to warn others.

The update had been timed to coincide with the relaxation of lockdown rules.

But both tech giants had explicitly banned such a function from the start.

Under the terms that all health authorities signed up to in order to use Apple and Google's privacy-centric contact-tracing tech, they had to agree not to collect any location data via the software.

As a result, Apple and Google refused to make the update available for download from their app stores last week, and have instead kept the old version live.

When questioned, the Department of Health declined to discuss how this misstep had occurred.

Scotland has avoided this pitfall because it released a separate product - Check In Scotland - to share venue histories, rather than trying to build the functionality into its Protect Scotland contact-tracing app.

Read more here.

Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to the government, has raised concerns about a third wave of infections in Chile.

He told Sky News: "Chile is a country where the rate of vaccination amongst the population was third highest in the world - they were ahead of us in terms of the number of people who have had the vaccine - and they're suddenly now into a third wave.

"They now have 7,600 cases a day and the total number of people in Chile now who have Covid-19 is over a million.

"So what has happened in Chile is very, very surprising - a high percentage of people have been vaccinated, but here's a variant of the disease coming through the country."

Image source, Getty Images

There were queues outside branches of Primark, JD Sports and TK Maxx on Monday as non-essential shops reopened in England and Wales after more than three months.

Beauty salons, barbers and pub gardens also reported a surge in bookings.

Footfall is predicted to rise 50% this week as shops hope to woo shoppers back and recoup lost sales but it is unclear if the demand will last.

There are also fears snow in parts of the UK will deter shoppers on Monday.

• Read more on this story

BBC Radio 5 Live

As the rest of England begins to enjoy Monday's easing of restrictions, this couple are on their way to Scotland to get married, after reorganising their wedding four times during the pandemic.

Beth Wheatley, 34, and Dan Gibson, 27, are travelling from Newton-le-Willows, in Merseyside, to the Scottish Highlands for their wedding on Wednesday.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live from a lay-by in South Lanarkshire, Beth says: “It’s been incredibly stressful changing it, this has been the fourth time – the third iteration.

"[We’ve spent] the last few months pouring over not just the law and the guidelines for England where we're from but for Scotland, checking the rules as to what essential travel is... working out can we do it in a way that’s safe and legal?

"It is just, for us now, about being married, and that’s the big thing, it’s not about the wedding as such.”

She adds: “It’s minus six at the moment which is a lot colder than we were expecting. We were meant to get married in Scotland in January, we bought coats and then sent them back, because it was April... but we had to re-order the coats because it’s looking like snow.”

While there won't be any guests at the wedding, Beth had her hen do in England over the weekend.

"My three best friends came round on Saturday, we sat in the garden under blankets two metres apart under a gazebo, it rained, it was absolutely freezing, but it was brilliant," she says.

There will "never be zero risk" of catching Covid-19, even if all precautions are followed, a scientist has warned as restrictions ease in England today.

But Dr Mike Tildesley says people can minimise risk if they follow guidelines such as wearing masks and social distancing.

Dr Tildesley, reader in infectious disease modelling at the University of Warwick, said any form of reopening "could lead to higher risk".

Asked what effect reopening might have on infection rates, Dr Tildesley told Times Radio: "It's hard to tell categorically but I think we do need to remember that with any form of reopening there's going to be more mixing, and so we might expect that that could lead to higher risk.

"This is exactly why this road map has got five weeks in between the next couple of relaxations - it gives us enough time to monitor what happens if we do start to see a concerning rise in cases and, more importantly, if we see a concerning rise in hospital admissions and people sadly dying from the disease."

He said all the signs were "pretty good" - but that people needed to continue to follow the rules.

He added: "There's always the possibility that even with those precautions you could get infected but you're minimising your own risk of being infected and also potentially passing the virus on."

Image source, Getty Images

There are moves to ease restrictions in parts of Europe but the third wave is hitting many countries hard.

• A Dutch travel firm is flying nearly 200 people to Greece for an eight-day holiday, to test whether tourism is feasible during the pandemic. Travellers won't be allowed to leave the resort on the island of Rhodes, not even for a swim. The all-inclusive trip costs €399 (£344; $472) per person. They will be tested for Covid before and after the trip and must quarantine for at least five days when they return. The Dutch government advises against all non-essential overseas travel but approved this trip as an experiment
• Romania’s cash-strapped, struggling hospitals have only six intensive care beds free nationally, health minister Vlad Voiculescu warns. The authorities say 13,500 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, 1,531 of them in intensive care, the Romania Libera daily reports. Each ICU bed when fully equipped costs about €60,000 - about as much as a luxury car
• Italy is easing its lockdown, including in its worst-hit region of Lombardy in the north. The regions are designated “orange”, instead of “red”, under the traffic-light system for coronavirus intensity. Now people face fewer travel curbs and shops can reopen, but there is still no indoor dining in bars and restaurants
• France is expanding its vaccinations to all those aged 55 and above. They will receive the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccine. So far France has prioritised healthcare workers and care homes. Just over 16% of French adults have been vaccinated. French ICUs have 5,769 Covid patients, and the total capacity is 8,000 ICU beds.

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live has been speaking to stallholders at Barnsley Market, which has reopened this morning.

Here's what they had to say:

Debbie Lynch, of Cloverleaf Flowers, says: "Day one and I couldn't wait to get back! It's been really hard seeing supermarkets able to trade and we haven't been able to trade.

"We've missed Valentine's Day and we've missed Mother's Day.

"Now we're back, we hope everything gets back to normal and people come in."

Neil Conway's stall is Neil's Bedding Towel and Home Textiles.

He's been a market trader for 40 years and says, "It's good to be back!"

And Sharon Wreakes, of Amy's Cards, says she is "pleased to be back, but apprehensive".

Image source, Marc McLaren

Many people will be raring to get back to the gyms as they open in England today.

Gyms in Scotland are due to re-open on 26 April, in Wales it's 3 May and it's not been announced when they'll be back in Northern Ireland.

But people have been warned to take it easy when they do return.

Marc McLaren, a gym manager and personal trainer in Manchester, says: "I've already seen it on the group chats, online, on social media - people can't wait to get in and use this machine, that machine - everybody's got in mind what they're going to do.

"But as hard as it is - and it will be the same for myself and the personal trainers - take it slow, easy.

"With us coming back after such a lay-off, everybody's in the same boat. Just take your time. You won't have the same intensity or weight you did last year."

He says that even after a few session with lighter weights or less intensity than before, you'll still feel more of a burn that you'd get working out at home.

It's even more important than usual to warm up and cool down, he says.

Read more here.