More than 500 Easter eggs that were due to be used during an annual hunt at a wildlife park have been donated to a food bank.

Shepreth Wildlife Park, in Cambridgeshire, said not being able to hold the event was a big loss to the park, but it hoped people would still get pleasure from them.

The park says it needs thousands of pounds to keep it afloat while its doors are locked during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, external is launching its fastest ever clinical drugs trial to see whether a cancer medicine can help people with Covid-19.

Image source, AstraZeneca

The Cambridge-based company says it is rushing through global testing for Calquence, currently used to treat some blood cancers.

It believes the drug could help to cut deaths from Covid-19 and the need for patients to be put on ventilators.

Covid-19 can trigger an exaggerated immune system response in some patients, increasing harm on the respiratory system.

There have been encouraging early clinical results, the firm said, which suggest that suppressing the inflammation caused by the immune response may reduce coronavirus's respiratory impact.

Trials are due to open in the next few days, with the firm's Jose Baselga saying: "This is the fastest launch of any clinical trial in the history of AstraZeneca."

A park near Cambridge says it has "lost all income required to keep it open as a viable park" because of coronavirus.

Milton Country Park, which is managed by the charity Cambridge Sport Lakes Trust, is trying to raise £10,000 as it says it "receives no regular external funding and its survival is reliant on the support of its users and the activity and events programme it provides".

"We are fighting to remain open to provide a safe green space for people to access, exercise, and take time in while, and if, they are still able," managers say.

While the park areas are still open for people to take exercise, abiding by regulations about social distancing, no events or activities can take place and the cafe and visitor centre are closed.

So far £3,300 has been raised by more than 100 supporters.

Image source, N Chadwick / Geograph

Police are renewing their appeal for help identifying the body of a woman found in a river in Deeping St James at the weekend.

Image source, PA Media

Police were called to the River Welland near houses on Eastgate at about 07:30 on Sunday morning after a call from a local resident.

The woman's body was recovered from the water and her death is currently being treated as unexplained, according to Lincolnshire Police.

The force has now released a more detailed description which it hopes will jog someone's memory.

The woman is thought to be in her late 70s-80s, about 5ft 4ins tall, of medium build, with white/grey hair.

She was wearing a brown tartan woollen coat with a hood, over a bright orange top, a brown silk headscarf worn round the neck, cream trousers, blue socks and blue sandals.

It is possible she may have used a wooden walking stick with a curved handle, officers say.

Anyone with information about who the woman might be is being asked to contact police.

The body of the woman, thought to be in her 70s or 80s, was found in the River Welland at Deeping St James.

Individuals and companies have donated the chocolate to give front line staff an Easter treat.

More than 500 Easter eggs that were due to be used during an annual hunt at a wildlife park have been donated to a food bank.

Shepreth Wildlife Park, external, in Cambridgeshire said not being able to hold the event "is a massive loss" to the park.

Image source, Shepreth Wildlife Park

"It was good to be able to donate these chocolate eggs to others in need and we hope some people will at least get a bit of pleasure from them still," it said.

A "dedicated clinical engineering team" at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge have built ventilators to help treat patients.

The hospital said in total 35 machines had been made and were now ready to use.

Alex Pope
BBC News Online

Police in Cambridgeshire have taken to Twitter to clarify that they are not "monitoring what people are buying from supermarkets".

The force said an earlier message was sent out "with good intentions" by an "over-exuberant officer who has been spoken to since this tweet was published".

The now-deleted tweet said when officers visited a local supermarket as part of its patrols, it was "good to see everyone was abiding by social distancing measures and the non-essential aisles were empty".

Police said: "We have had to issue a small number of fines to those who are flouting the rules. None of these have been in relation to shopping or supermarket visits."

BBC cameras capture the emotional moment a woman meets her son after surviving coronavirus.

A nurse treating coronavirus patients talks of the mental "challenge" of working in intensive care.

This is the time of year for religious celebrations.

Passover started yesterday, it's Easter this weekend - and Ramadan starts towards the end of the month.

Churches across the East are set to live-stream their Easter services because of the ban on gatherings - and social distancing rules.

You can catch services throughout Holy Week and Easter week at Peterborough Cathedral, external - and Norwich Cathedral , externalstaff will post a series of videos and podcasts.

Monsignor John Armitage, of Our Lady of Walsingham, told the BBC the shrine had 500,000 views of a re-dedication service last weekend alone.

"Our website was ready and the live stream was ready - but we weren't ready - the site crashed," he said.

"It made it the largest 'pilgrimage' in the history of the shrine - since 1061. That's quite an achievement!"

Two people have been jailed - and two others fined - for breaching coronavirus restrictions after a supermarket theft in King's Lynn.

The four, all from Peterborough, were arrested after reports of shoplifting at the Sainsbury's store on the Hardwick Industrial Estate on Monday evening.

They admitted the offences and appeared at Norwich Magistrates' Court for sentencing via video link.

Image source, Google

Scarlett Harvey, 29, of Eastern Avenue was found guilty of theft, drug possession and breaching movement restrictions and breaking a community order. She was jailed for 13 weeks.

Anton Oakley, 31, of Redmile Walk, was jailed for 14 weeks for a number of drug and driving offences.

Junior Modest, 46, of Crabtree, was found guilty of theft and breaching movement restrictions. He was fined £317 and given a community order.

Tanveer Bashir, 39, of Gladstone Street was also convicted of breaching movement restrictions and was fined a total of £317.

A quicker coronavirus test has begun to be rolled out, giving results in just 90 minutes.

Here's how the local newspapers in Cambridgeshire are reporting the coronavirus pandemic:

• The Cambridge News, external reports that a popular Cambridge restaurant has announced it will permanently close its doors after 11 years of trading, citing the present coronavirus crisis as the reason behind the closure
• The Peterborough Rape Crisis Care Group is pioneering new technology to continue to offer essential helpline services to survivors of sexual violence throughout lockdown (and beyond), the Peterborough Telegraph, external reports

Tennis star Andy Murray has recorded a video thanking NHS staff at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge as they battle the coronavirus outbreak.

"I just wanted to send you a quick message to say thank you so much for all of the work that you're doing just now. It's obviously an extremely difficult time for everyone but none more so than the healthcare workers," he said.

Murray, who attended Addenbrooke's for a scan a few months ago, spoke of staff's "dedication and sacrifices" and said when he was there, everyone was "fantastic and extremely helpful".

He said he had chosen to make a donation to Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, external "to say thank you very much for everything you're doing".

The trust said it was "so grateful" and his support would be "a massive boost".

Katy Lewis
BBC News Online

Staff at City College, external in Peterborough are rustling up hot dishes and delivering them to vulnerable residents and homeless people.

A team at the college’s Brook Street campus have used their catering facilities to cook meals including beef stew, Quorn shepherd’s pie and fish & chips while social-distancing.

Image source, City College Peterborough

Executive principal, Pat Carrington, said: "I’m really proud of the team - they’ve been fantastic and become a really well-oiled machine.

"They’re now in their second week of making hot meals - on their first day they made 20 but now they’ve got into a real rhythm and are making and delivering around 150 hot meals and 70 sandwich lunches a day - it's an incredible effort."

Zoe Applegate
BBC News

A hospice in Cambridgeshire has started an urgent fundraising appeal after forecasts have shown it could lose £700,000 over the next six months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Image source, Arthur Rank Hospice Charity

Arthur Rank Hospice has a site in Cambridge, a day centre in Wisbech and also cares for people in their own homes - helping more than 4,000 people a year in the county with a life-limiting illness.

It said while the crisis had already been tough for staff who were now unable to "offer a comforting hug or a hand to hold... at moments of heart-breaking loss", it had also had a "devastating impact" on fundraising.

It has prompted the charity to issue its SOS! Support our Services appeal, external.

Sharon Allen, chief executive of Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, said: "Never would we have anticipated something like Covid-19 and how this would affect us all in the way it has."

Katy Lewis
BBC News Online

The Helping Whittlesey Facebook group will be testing out a cooked meal delivery service next week.

On 15 April, chef Colin Wilson, from the Falcon Hotel, is cooking cottage pie which volunteers will deliver to vulnerable people in and around the town near Peterborough.

If you know somebody who would benefit, please contact the group using the number on the Facebook, external page.

Image source, Helping Whittlesey

Richard Westcott
BBC Science and Tech Correspondent

A scientist is co-ordinating a network of independent laboratories across the UK who want to help support the NHS with coronavirus testing.

Chief executive of Cambridge Clinical Laboratories, external, Dr Anthony Cooke, said his team was testing HIV and cancer samples, but with financial support they could easily use the same equipment to test for coronavirus - and other places are ready to do the same.

He said of the government target of doing 100,000 tests a day that "absolutely it can be done" if there was co-ordination to bring the labs together, get the chemicals needed and provide funding.

"We have the capability of virtually matching what Germany have done. We can bring in... up to possibly 100 extra labs into this process to do the testing," he said.

However, ramping up testing would cost his lab, in Milton, £30,000 a day, money he said they simply don't have and they have struggled to get a bank loan.

"They really need to understand that this is not a normal situation, we are not looking at businesses that are trying to make huge profit out of this," he said.

"If anything we'll make a loss, because we're trying to do it in a benevolent way and the banks need to get on board with that."