Tim Addicott
BBC Radio Norfolk

A percentage of the salaries of Norwich City's, external playing squad, head coach and executive committee is to be spent on helping people within the community.

The club announced that more than £200,000 will be used to buy and distribute food and essential toiletry packages.

Club captain Grant Hanley said: "The lads have heard at first-hand stories and challenges that some of our supporters are currently facing.

"We need to make sure we're reaching out and helping those who have been hit hard and are struggling at this time."

Image source, Norwich City Football Club

The packages will be assembled at Carrow Road, with the help of volunteers.

The club's owners and directors have also contributed to the cause, the club said.

Orla Moore
BBC News

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge says his frontline staff are "anxious but prepared" for a peak in coronavirus cases "in four weeks' time".

Image source, PA Media

Roland Sinker said the hospital will need 460 beds, including 135 in critical care, at that time.

He told the BBC: "All of our planning has been focused on getting to that capacity with a staff group who are safe, and have the right testing infrastructure and the right support.

"Ordinarily we have 50 intensive care beds. We now have ventilators to get up to 100, so we're looking for another 50 to 100 ventilators."

Mr Sinker thanked "partners across the region", including the University of Cambridge, for stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE), but appealed for "certainty of supply" from the authorities.

More than 60 patients with Covid-19 are currently being treated at Addenbrooke's.

Five people who tested positive have died there in the last five days.

Orla Moore
BBC News

This is the new rapid diagnostics machine that is bringing test result times for coronavirus down from 24 hours to just 90 minutes.

Image source, DRW Ltd

It's called SAMBA II - and has been adapted from an on-the-spot HIV test.

Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge has become the first in the UK to use the new Covid-19 test for staff and patients.

It has been developed by the Cambridge company Diagnostics for the Real World.

Businessman Sir Chris Hohn - who donated millions of pounds to roll the test out nationwide - told the BBC it could be a "game-changer" in helping hospitals cope with the crisis.

Image source, AFP

SAMBA II looks for tiny traces of genetic material belonging to the virus, amplifies it and then uses this to detect infection.

It is faster than existing tests that look for antigens (the components of a virus to which antibodies bind) or antibodies (which show that an individual is currently or has previously been infected).

Patients provide a nasal and throat swab.

BBC Essex

Barriers, tape and padlocks have been removed from a play area that was cordoned off by a local authority.

Thurrock Council in Essex said it had reports that people were "climbing into these areas".

"This kind of behaviour puts the most vulnerable at risk and will only help spread the virus and possibly prolong restrictions," a spokesman said.

Image source, Thurrock Council

Simon Dedman
BBC Essex political reporter

I've been told an A&E nurse is being treated for coronavirus in intensive care at Southend Hospital.

They have been intubated and are being ventilated.

We will bring you more as we have it.

Image source, Geograph/Glyn Baker

St Albans' Sustainability Festival, external 2020 has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The event was due to take place on 23 May to 7 June.

Organisers are now working towards holding it again in 2021.

They said: "Both Sustainable St Albans and St Albans Friends of the Earth will be exploring new ways to continue their work, and we hope that you will also be continuing to do what you can."

Image source, Sustainable St Albans

Michaela Davies plans to give a cupcake to every key worker in her area.

Volunteer rickshaw riders are bringing a "smile" to people self-isolating by dropping off supplies.

Southend put "several staff and some players" on temporary leave because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a tweet, external, Essex Police said a car took a "last minute turn to avoid" officers when they were carrying out a stop-check on drivers in Southend-on-Sea in England.

Image source, Essex OSG

Officers found the driver hiding in a car park. An arrest was made for possession of drugs and drug driving.

Debbie Tubby
BBC Look East

With the supply of protective equipment so crucial, ingenious ways of making it are being tried out.

Andy Proctor, a former ambulance community first responder, is using a 3D printer to make about one face shield per hour in his garage in Suffolk.

He said: "It's out with an ambulance trust and a hospital at the moment, who are checking that they're fit for purpose.

"Anyone can do this. I'm going to get them out to shop staff and carers who are visiting homes."

Elsewhere, a dentist in Norfolk has been working on a prototype 3D-printed component to convert snorkelling masks into face shields.

Matt Precey
BBC Look East

The number of people who have died from coronavirus in the East of England continues to rise.

Last night, Public Health England, external released its latest figures for the past 24 hours.

Below is a list of hospitals where the deaths occurred.

• Luton and Dunstable - 1 (total - 11)
• Milton Keynes Hospital - 2 (total - 13)
• Peterborough and Hinchingbrooke - 2 (total - 9)
• Addenbrooke's - 2 (total - 5)
• Princess Alexandra - 8 (total - 22)
• Colchester - 2 (total - 11)
• Basildon - 6 (total - 23)
• Southend - 1 (total - 8)
• East and North Herts - 3 (total - 12)
• West Herts Hospitals - 2 (total - 15)
• Norfolk and Norwich - 2 (total - 10)
• James Paget - 2 (total - 5)
• Queen Elizabeth - 3 (total - 10)
• Northampton - 2 (total - 9)
• Kettering - 4 (total - 5)
• West Suffolk - 2 (total - 4)

The total number of confirmed (tested) regional cases now stands at 2,219, compared to 29,474 in the UK as a whole.

Across the UK, the death toll stands at 2,352.

Alex Pope
BBC News Online

Thank you for joining us this morning as we continue our regular updates about the coronavirus pandemic.

The team will be here sharing news from the East of England until 18:00.

The east coast's fishing industry has been hard hit by coronavirus, a merchant said.

In Lowestoft, one firm sent half its 40-strong workforce home since the collapse in demand from the hospitality sector, but they have started a home delivery service.

Sam Cole, managing director of Sam Cole Food Group, said: "Overnight 60% of our customers disappeared.

"It’s left us servicing the small local supermarkets and local fishmongers… but with half the staff on reduced hours."

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

Three British backpackers have managed to get a place on one of the few commercial flights leaving India.

Image source, Will Stammers

The country went into lockdown on 23 March including grounding most flights and stopping all travel, to try and curtail its coronavirus epidemic.

Graduate Joseph Hunt, 21, from Putney, west London, Will Stammers, 20, from Snetterton, Norfolk and Danny from Attleborough, Norfolk arrived in India at the beginning of March.

They along with 30 other travellers have been staying at the Moustach Hostel, in Pushkar.

Mr Stammers said he had been in a hotel at first but was forced to leave by police who said foreigners "had to go".

He added they were "extremely sad" to be leaving India, and that they had been very well taken care of by the hostel staff, with regular meals of dhal daily.

The travellers, who were not allowed to leave the hostel during their stay, kept their spirits up by playing football on the building's roof top.

They each paid £450 for a Finn air flight which they are due to board on Thursday morning.

Image source, Will Stammers

Weather forecasts could be affected by the global pandemic, a BBC meteorologist from Norwich has said.

Planes help to gather weather data, but the high number of those now grounded could start to hamper forecasters.

So far there has not been a massive impact on forecasting quality, but Dan Holley, from Weatherquest based at the University of East Anglia, said there was a developing problem.

"There are still a lot of flights going on in America right now... a lot of our weather depends on the jet stream configuration over the US, so as more flights get grounded over there it may have a knock-on effect," he said.

Sarah Jenkins
BBC News

A children's music class which usually takes place at The Red House in Aldeburgh, external, Suffolk, is being streamed online while the building is closed to the public.

The house is a museum and research centre dedicated to its former resident - composer Benjamin Britten, who founded the Aldeburgh Festival (which has been cancelled this year).

Mini Music Makers by Joe Carr will be streamed live every Friday between 10:00 and 10:30 with new songs being posted on Facebook, external and Twitter, external every weekday.

Mr Carr moved the classes online as he said "the need to help families feel less isolated at this difficult time was really important".

He said the reaction had been "fantastic" and that it was "wonderful to see how this has helped families cope".

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

As we live through this unprecedented situation, a museum has called for stories, photos and videos about how residents responded to the changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Dacorum Heritage Trust, external, which covers the Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley and Tring area, wants our help to build a collection that will tell the story to future generations.

It is looking for anything from signs that have been put up, people practising social distancing, children's window art or things people have done to combat social isolation.

It is also looking for volunteers to record their personal stories about how life has changed.

To make a contribution, email info@dacorumheritage.org.uk

Graham McKechnie
BBC Radio Northampton sport

A primary school PE teacher hopes to keep children "occupied" and "break up" their day by giving them daily challenges.

Sam Chambers who teachers at Weedon Bec Primary in Northamptonshire has been posting videos each school day on Twitter, external.

They have included keepy-uppies with a rugby ball, throwing pairs of socks into a clothes bin and a make-shift game of ten-pin bowling.

He said: "That daily contact for the children is maybe something we take for granted.

"Those daily videos children can interact with, by giving their scores, it's a massive part of their day and something I've been told they are looking forward to."

BBC cameraman Shaun Whitmore shares his top tips for getting great shots without leaving your house.