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Tesco has announced a rise in sales but a sharp fall in full-year profits after spending nearly £900m to carry on trading through the Covid pandemic.

The UK's largest supermarket says "exceptionally strong" revenue grew by 7% to £53.4bn.

However, pre-tax profits dropped by nearly 20% following a number of Covid-related costs including giving full pay to staff off work ill or shielding.

It also incurred £535m after forgoing business rates relief.

Tesco's full-year pre-tax profit fell from £1bn to £825m.

You can read the full story here.

Concern is growing in Brazil about the rising number of young people who are critically ill in hospital with Covid-19.

Research suggests more than half of patients being treated in intensive care last month were under 40.

The BBC's Mark Lowen visited Latin America's largest cemetery, a makeshift hospital and a vaccine hub to find out why the handling of the pandemic in Brazil has become a public health disaster.

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Easyjet has announced steep losses due to the pandemic but says it is ready to "ramp up" for summer holiday demand.

The airline says it expects to make a pre-tax loss of £690-730m in the six months to 31 March, which is slightly better than expected.

Its boss says it is "ready to resume flying, prepared for the ramp up and looking forward" to people travelling as lockdown restrictions ease.

But he also warns that tests required for passengers may be too costly.

Foreign holidays are currently banned, and returning travellers have to quarantine on arrival. The earliest possible date for foreign travel from England has previously been given as 17 May, but it has not been confirmed.

You can read the full story here.

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Earlier we received the latest figures, external on how many people in the UK are estimated to have antibodies for Covid.

Antibodies help the body fight off the virus, and can be present in the body after someone is either vaccinated or has already had the virus - although the levels of antibody varies between different people.

According to the Office for National Statistics, as of the week ending 28 March about one in two people would have tested positive for antibodies.

However, the ONS says it is possible that some people have antibodies but the levels are too low to be detected in the test, although they would still have protection from Covid.

This means more people than suggested in the survey could have some protection. That would make sense, since the government has said that three in five adults have now received their first dose of the vaccine.

And there are is also another element of your immune system like T-cells, which are not being measured by the ONS tests. There's some evidence to suggest T-cells - which also offer some protection - might be detectable for longer than antibodies. T-cells are not being measured in this survey.

“There is a clear pattern between vaccination and testing positive for antibodies, however the detection of antibodies alone is not a precise measure of protection granted by vaccines," the ONS says.

Nuala McCann
BBC News NI

Driving lessons and tests could resume in Northern Ireland next week, BBC News NI understands.

A proposal has been submitted for the Stormont executive to consider when it meets to review Covid-19 lockdown restrictions tomorrow.

Lessons in England and Wales resumed on Monday with practical and theory tests due to restart next week.

Stormont ministers have said they are hoping to provide reopening dates for some other services tomorrow.

Read the full story here.

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Israel is leading the world in its vaccination rate, and now one of the country's leading doctors believes it may be close to reaching herd immunity.

Herd immunity happens when enough of a population has protection against an infection that it stops being able to spread - and even people who don't themselves have immunity are indirectly protected.

For Covid, the estimated threshold for herd immunity is at least 65%-70%.

Prof Eyal Leshem, a director at Israel's largest hospital, the Sheba Medical Center, says herd immunity is the "only explanation" for the fact that cases continue to fall even as more restrictions are lifted.

"There is a continuous decline despite returning to near normalcy," he says.

But scientists in the UK are more cautious. Dr Sarah Pitt from the University of Brighton urges "extreme caution" in concluding that herd immunity had been reached - something she believes will be difficult even at high vaccination rates.

She says it is still too early to tell: "We need to see whether the cases in Israel continue to fall and stay at low levels."

Read the full story here.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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A major UK trial, external looking at whether Covid vaccines can be mixed is recruiting adults over 50 who have had a first dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca to take part.

The participants' second dose could be the same again, or a shot of Moderna or Novavax.

Prof Matthew Snape, chief investigator, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme the volunteers will not know which jab they are getting in the randomised trial.

The study will look for reactions and will test immune responses, he says, adding that there are "some hints from studies in mice that a combination of vaccines might give a better response overall".

Read more in our story here

An estimated one in two people in England have antibodies to the coronavirus, according to a sample of the population in the week ending 28 March.

This figure is largely unchanged from the previous two weeks.

Antibodies against Covid can be found in the body after either a past infection or somebody had been vaccinated. They are proteins in the blood that recognise specific infections and fight them off.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in England an estimated 54.9% of the population would have tested positive for antibodies in a blood test in the week ending 28 March,

This number was 49.1% in Wales, 54.5% in Northern Ireland and 46% in Scotland.

The ONS said the figures varied across regions, with the West Midlands having the highest percentage of antibody positivity in England, and the North East had the lowest.

“There is a clear pattern between vaccination and testing positive for antibodies, however the detection of antibodies alone is not a precise measure of protection granted by vaccines," said the ONS.

“It is possible that antibody levels in some people are now too low to be detected by our tests but still high enough to grant a level of protection."

More than 32 million people have had their first dose in the UK and 7.8 million people have had both doses.

On Tuesday, it was announced that people aged 45 and over in England can now book appointments for their Covid vaccinations and Scotland is set to follow suit this week.

In Northern Ireland and Wales, people aged over 40 are eligible.

The UK government insists all adults will be offered their first dose - in decreasing age order - by the end of July.

So when will you get your vaccine? BBC health reporter Philippa Roxby explains...

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Hundreds of devotees, including nine top saints, have tested positive for Covid-19 in India's Haridwar city, where huge crowds have gathered to participate in the Kumbh Mela festival.

More than three million people took a dip in the Ganges river on Tuesday to mark one of the most auspicious day of the two-month-long festival.

Millions are expected to repeat the ritual on Wednesday.

India reported 184,372 new cases on Tuesday - its highest-daily spike yet.

Many have criticised the government for allowing the festival to go ahead amid a raging pandemic.

You can read the full story here.

BBC Breakfast

When asked about PM Boris Johnson's remarks that lockdown has played a large part in reduction coronavirus infection rates, Prof Anthony Harnden says both lockdown and the vaccination programme "have been really important".

"He’s probably concerned, as I am, about the scenes in London that we saw, for instance, of people enjoying the outside of the pubs and the crowded spaces," Prof Harnden tells BBC Breakfast.

"What that will do is push infection rates up so every time that we unlock."

He says they do not want new strains of the virus to become prevalent and the prime minister is trying to be "cautious".

"We still need to bear social distancing in mind," he adds.

BBC Breakfast

The UK needs to keep a "very close eye" on the situation in the US, which has paused the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over cases of rare blood clots, a government scientist says.

"[The US] found six of this very unusual thrombosis associated with low platelets in the US amongst 6.8 million doses, so we must keep this in context," Prof Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, tells BBC Breakfast.

"The problem is that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the same viral vector platform vaccine as the Oxford-AstraZeneca, and we know we are seeing some safety signals in relation to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in this country, which is why - though incredibly rare still - we have advised that well under-30s received the choice for alternative vaccine."

So-called viral vector vaccines use a modified version of a different virus to deliver important instructions to human cells to trigger an immune response.

Asked about whether the pause in the US of the Johnson & Johnson jab will affect the UK rollout, Prof Harnden says: "We have a whole portfolio of vaccines in the pipeline.

"I wouldn’t worry too much about the 30 million doses [of J&J vaccine ordered by the UK] and of course this is a preliminary review, the vaccine may well go ahead."

Read more: How does the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine work?

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People living with adults with weakened immune systems are to be offered a Covid vaccine, the Welsh government says.

Adults with a compromised immune system are less likely to be able to fight infections.

Evidence is growing that vaccinated people are less likely to pass the virus on to others.

Following official advice, people over the age of 16 in these households will now be called for a jab.

The Welsh government says it has accepted the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's advice on the subject.

England announced the same policy in March.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

"Will a lockdown happen again?"

Over a grainy video call last week from a grotty little room in the western Indian city of Mumbai, the Sethi brothers repeatedly asked me this question, their voices trembling in nervousness.

More than a decade ago, Santosh and Tunna Sethi left their families and homes in the eastern state of Orissa, also called Odisha, in search of work. They arrived in Mumbai, more than 1,600km (994 miles) away.

Here, the brothers toiled in the shadows of the city's imposing skyscrapers that migrant workers build for the affluent. Ferrying cement, sand, bricks and stones, they earned 450 rupees ($6; £4.35) every day for eight hours of work. They lived, ate and slept in unfinished buildings, and sent most of their savings home to support their families.

Of India's more than 450 million migrants, 60 million are inter-state "labour" migrants, according to Chinmay Tumbe, the author of India Moving: A History of Migration. These workers are the backbone of the booming informal economies of India's cities, but now they fear a new lockdown will lead them to have to beg for food to get by.

You can read the full piece here.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's suggestion that lockdown has played a significant part in reducing coronavirus infection levels is backed up by the data, says Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, a statistician from the University of Cambridge.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It is the lockdown that has caused the major drop, of course, because we've seen that happen in the huge reduction in the people who haven't been vaccinated.

"We've estimated that the vaccination programme has maybe saved 10,000 lives - a fantastic success.

"But that is not what has brought the enormous reduction since earlier in the year - that is lockdown.

He pointed to the "huge surge" of cases in mainland Europe and said there was "an anxiety" about what might happen in the UK as lockdown eases.

"There is definitely a considerable caution at the moment because they (ministers) have said they are not going backwards and so I think that is dictating the caution of the policy and does seem to have considerable public support."

Jon Ironmonger
BBC Look East

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The family of a pregnant nurse who died with Covid-19 have yet to receive any money from a fundraising campaign that names them as beneficiaries.

Mary Agyapong, 28, died after giving birth in April 2020 at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, where she worked.

A GoFundMe page set up by family friend Rhoda Asiedu has raised more than £186,000 and her lawyers said the money had been placed into a trust.

Ms Agyapong's widower said he found it "surprising" he had not been involved.

You can read the full story here.

Johnson & Johnson has issued a statement, external, saying that it shared "all adverse event reports" with the health authorities.

It says it is "aware that thromboembolic events including those with thrombocytopenia have been reported with Covid-19 vaccines".

"At present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen (J&J) Covid-19 vaccine."

Image source, Getty Images

The easing of lockdown may need to be reversed if coronavirus variants spread rapidly, a scientist advising the government has warned.

Prof Peter Openshaw told BBC Newsnight that he and his fellow scientists are "very concerned" after a cluster of cases of the South African coronavirus variant were found in Lambeth and Wandsworth in London.

Surge testing for those who live, work or travel through those areas is being made available and there is additional testing in an area of Southwark where a case linked to the other cluster has been identified.

Prof Openshaw, a member of the Covid-19 clinical information network, says they are "just hoping" the easing of lockdown will "be ok".

But he adds: "If we get rapid spread of the South African or other more resistant variants, it may well be that we are going to have to put the reductions of lockdown into reverse."

Image source, Getty Images

Young black people have been hardest hit by unemployment during the pandemic, new research indicates.

Over the past year, the UK jobless rate for young black people rose by more than a third to 35%, the Resolution Foundation think tank said.

That compared with a rate of 24% for young people of Asian descent and a rate of 13% for young white people, both up three percentage points.

The foundation said Covid had widened existing gaps between ethnic groups.

It added that young people in general had borne the brunt of job losses in lockdown, because they disproportionately worked in sectors hit by the crisis, such as hospitality and leisure.

You can read more about the research here.

Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online

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A major UK trial looking at whether Covid vaccines can be mixed with different types of jabs used for first and second doses is being expanded.

Combining vaccines might give broader, longer-lasting immunity against the virus and new variants of it, and offer more flexibility to vaccine rollout.

Adults over 50 who have had a first dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca can apply to take part in the Com-Cov, external study.

Their second dose could be the same again, or a shot of Moderna or Novavax.

Chief investigator on the trial Prof Matthew Snape, from the Oxford Vaccine Group, says he hopes to recruit 1,050 volunteers who have already received one dose on the NHS in the past eight to 12 weeks.

More than 800 people are already taking part in the research.

Read more here