Arsenal's first-team players and head coach Mikel Arteta take a 12.5% pay cut to assist the club during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sam Francis
BBC News, London

Image source, Gov.uk

Employers have complained they are unable to access the government’s job furlough scheme on its first day of operation due to website errors.

The programme funds 80% of workers' wages, up to £2,500 a month, if they are put on leave.

More than 140,000 companies employing a total of about a million workers have applied for the scheme which sees the government cover 80% of workers' wages, up to a maximum of £2,500 per worker, per month before tax.

The Treasury said the system can process up to 450,000 applications an hour.

But some employers are complaining that they cannot access the scheme due to website errors.

One business owner told the BBC said: "I employ four members of staff including myself and wanted to furlough three of them.

"I regularly paid PAYE , and I had all the details ready to apply today.

"We got a message telling us to try again in a few minutes. This has been happening ever since, we can’t get through.

"All I get is a message saying, 'sorry we are experiencing technical difficulties, please try again'."

Sam Francis
BBC News, London

Over half of all deaths in London are linked to coronavirus, according to latest figures.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed there were 2,832 fatalities in the week up to 10 April, of which 1,506 were linked to coronavirus - or 53% of all deaths.

More people are dying from coronavirus in London than anywhere else in the country. The West Midlands had the second highest proportion of deaths linked to covid-19, accounting for 37% of deaths registered.

The figure is 13% higher than previously believed, based on deaths recorded in London hospitals.

The ONS figures rely on death certificates where the cause or contributory factors are listed and includes deaths in all situations - including care homes and in the community.

Just under one in eight deaths (189) in London were recorded outside of hospital was linked to coronavirus - below the national average of one in every six.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary release from an Iranian jail has been extended for one month, her MP has said.

The London charity worker has been wearing an ankle tag and remain within 300m (984ft) of her parents' home in Tehran.

The 41-year-old was jailed for five years in 2016 after being convicted of espionage charges that she has always denied.

St John Ambulance has transformed its day-to-day operations to focus on fighting coronavirus in London.

Inside Croydon

One of Croydon's biggest and longest-established firms of undertakers has put out an appeal for people to show a bit of old-fashioned respect.

Full story, external

Sarah Lee
BBC London

Image source, Getty Images

A junior doctor working in London has told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there were "very, very significant gaps" in PPE provision.

Referencing a Doctors' Association UK survey with more than 1,100 responses in 250 settings, Katie Sanderson said 38% of doctors had no eye protection, 38% who need FFP3 masks do not have access to them and 47% do not have access to long sleeve gowns.

It comes after the hospital doctors' union said officials responsible for the UK's "disgraceful" lack of adequate PPE needed to be held "fully accountable for their abject failure" to protect frontline health staff.

The criticism comes as the Government appointed London 2012 Olympics chief executive Paul Deighton to "unleash the potential of UK industry to scale up domestic PPE manufacturing".

More than 15,000 patients have now died in hospital after testing positive for the disease in the UK, with thousands more deaths expected in care homes.

Tom Edwards
Transport Correspondent, BBC London

Image source, Getty Images

The number of transport workers who have died in the capital after contracting coronavirus is now 28, Transport for London (TfL) have said.

Twenty-two of those have been bus workers.

On Monday, front-door boarding on all London buses was stopped as part of attempts to further protect drivers.

A group of masked men sprayed an elderly couple in the face with fire extinguishers then attacked them with a weapon during a break-in in an east London home.

On Saturday, a group of three or four suspects entered the house in Parkstone Avenue, Hornchurch, a about 20:45.

After letting off fire extinguishers they cut the male victim's hand with a weapon, thought to be a screwdriver.

The female victim was then pushed to the floor and forced to stay behind a chair as her partner was questioned about the whereabouts of any money.

The group eventually left with a small amount of cash and the man was taken to hospital as a precaution.

No arrests have been made but the Met said they would "do everything possible to catch these criminals".

“It is despicable that these callous individuals attacked an elderly couple in their home while the vast majority of Londoners are either working hard to keep each other safe or simply isolating to protect themselves and others," Trainee Det Con Ciara Arthur said.

Image source, Getty Images

High Street restaurant bosses have asked the chancellor for a nine-month rent holiday to help them survive the coronavirus crisis.

Without it, some two million hospitality jobs are at risk, warned London bar owner Jonathan Downey.

He's persuaded bosses at chains such as Burger King, Wahaca and Nando's to back his plea.

Under the idea - called the #NationalTimeOut - the next nine months' rent would be pushed back so that restaurants pay nothing until the first quarter of 2021.

"Leases are extended by nine months so that those payments aren't lost, just postponed to the back-end," said Mr Downey, who owns bars Milk & Honey and London Union in the capital.

Mr Downey added that the the idea was "fairly simple and won't cost the taxpayer a thing".

Image source, Family Handout

A London bus driver has died after contracting coronavirus, his family have confirmed.

Errol Gordon, who worked as a bus driver for more than 17 years, died on Sunday evening.

The father of seven from Camberwell was a "family man" who was "loved by everyone" his family said in a statement.

"Errol was a dedicated, popular and long-serving memebr of our team and he will be greatly missed," John Trayner the managing director of GoAhead London, said.

Mr Gordon would be the 28th London transport worker to die from coronavirus, the BBC understands.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, PA Media

The Bishop of London has praised the work of NHS staff across the capital and the rest of the UK.

Dame Sarah Mullally, who is the first female Bishop of London, was also the former chief nursing officer between 1999 and 2004.

In an interview with BBC London, Bishop Mullally expressed her thoughts on the human loss and financial difficulties being caused by coronavirus.

"I think the existing chief nursing officer Ruth May is doing a really great job at the moment,” Bishop Mullally said.

“And I want to encourage her in what she is doing, but also to re-iterate some of her words that she has given to NHS staff.

"Not just encouragement but knowing this is a very stressful time and it is okay to not be okay.

"I know they put a lot of things in place to support the mental well-being the NHS staff and I would encourage staff to access it so to look after themselves while they look after us.

"This is unprecedented and I am incredibly proud of them.

"We will come through this storm."

Experts give advice on how to exercise outdoors without putting yourself or others at risk.

Jonathan Ganesh, badly injured in the London docklands attack in 1996, is driving an ambulance car.

A south-east London funeral directors say their workload has doubled since the outbreak.

Most remaining services are for freight, supplies and repatriation of people from overseas.

British-Somalis have been badly hit in both economic and human terms.

The health secretary criticised "unbelievable" behaviour after people packed into sunny public parks.

The family were making a round-trip from London to Bristol when they were stopped near Reading.

Donald Suelto died alone after treating a patient infected with coronavirus, his family say.