It feels like anyone working from home is using the Zoom video conferencing app - and now MPs will be too.

Members of the House of Commons Commission approved using the app earlier, which will see up to 120 MPs at once take part in proceedings virtually, with about 50 allowed in the Commons chamber.

The move to a “hybrid” House of Commons will have to win the approval of MPs next Tuesday, but should be in operation by Wednesday, in time for Prime Minister’s Questions.

Image source, Getty Images

Under the plans, MPs will be able to take part in departmental questions, urgent questions and statements via video link.

Screens will be placed around the chamber to allow MPs and the Speaker to see their colleagues.

If the moves are deemed a success, House authorities expect to roll out the “virtual” House of Commons to proceedings like debates and legislation “as quickly as possible”.

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has paid tribute to the work of those ensuring the supply of "clean drinking water" during the coronavirus crisis.

She told the Assembly NI Water has "worked tirelessly to ensure that continues" and has worked to change some practices to ensure "social distancing rules are adhered to".

She adds "keeping staff and customers safe has been a key focus of NI Water" and that they "deserve our respect and thanks".

Image source, NI Assembly

She says "NI water is also doing what it can to support its customers".

"NI Water will not implement the increase in tariffs planned for April, but will hold off until October at the earliest.

"The company will also defer issuing bills until July at the earliest," she says.

She adds that this will mean a cash flow problem but that she is working on plans to cover the issue in her current budget.

The Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride has written to all fellow doctors and GPs in NI and also posted a message to social media.

"As always it remains to make our patients our main concern", he says.

He says he knows and shares the levels of "acute anxiety" that being on the front line can bring.

A union, which represents staff in care homes, has called for Covid-19 testing to be introduced in all care homes "immediately".

Patricia McKeown, who is regional secretary of Unison, told BBC Radio Foyle that current testing guidelines, whereby staff and residents will only be tested if they are symptomatic- is not enough.

Ms McKeown told the programme that "remarkably" older people in care homes have been left at the "end of the list," despite being identified as one of the groups in "greatest danger and in need of special protection."

When approached for a response, the Department of Health referred to a statement issued by Robin Swann earlier this week saying that care home residents and staff who are symptomatic are being tested.

In the statement, Mr Swann said testing of health care workers has been a "key priority of his."

There is a Northern Ireland testing strategy and Mr Swann said that the overall testing policy will be "adjusted over time."

Image source, Getty Images

LGBT charity The Rainbow Project is urging people to continue to report hate crimes to police during the coronavirus pandemic.

It tweeted, external that over 64% of hate crimes targeting an LGBT person have never been reported to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

On Wednesday the PSNI reminded people that "we are still here to respons to calls for service when you need us".

The below table shows the number of Covid-19 cases in each council area in Northern Ireland.

Picking a few places out of the table, Belfast has 689, Armagh, Banbridhe and Craigavon has 246 and again Fermanagh and Omagh has the lowest at 61

The graph below shows the rise in coronavirus cases in NI since 27 February.

It also shows the rise of deaths since March.

Another 18 people diagnosed with coronavirus have died in hospital in Northern Ireland. It's the highest rise in deaths in a 24-hour period since the outbreak began.

That brings the total number of hospital deaths in NI to 158.

A further 113 new cases have been confirmed, bringing the total positive cases to 2,201.

The figures are correct as of 11:00 BST on Thursday.

Claire McLernon, whose grandmother Deirdre died in a nursing home in Belfast having tested positive with Covid-19, says her family took "a lot of comfort" from knowing someone was with her at the end.

"I was very aware of how vulnerable and already quite ill my grandma was, so it was about four or five weeks ago when the nursing home locked down, and quite rightly so, that I almost went into a bit of a panic," she told Talkback.

"I knew grandma was still alive, but it was quite likely I might never see her again so I just had to come to terms with that.

"It was almost as if the grief started before she had actually passed away, so that was quite tough."

She added: "I understand that grandma had someone with her from the home at the end so that gives us a lot of comfort as well."

As pressure mounts to allow families to say goodbye to loved ones, what happens after the goodbye?

William Miller, NI spokesman for the National Association of Funeral Directors, told Talkback how challenging the restrictions have been for both families and undertakers.

"We want to maintain health and safety of everybody but we are put in a difficult position," he said..

Image source, Getty Images

He explained that burial services at the graveside were limited to 15 minutes, and a restriction of about 10 immediate family members.

"We have big families in Northern Ireland and trying to restrict grandchildren, and great grandchildren from attending is very, very hard," he added.

He said that funeral directors and families themselves have tried to counteract that by using Facetime or Zoom to try and make it more "intimate".

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political correspondent

The Health Minister Robin Swann is facing growing pressure to allow relatives to say goodbye to loved ones with Covid-19 in hospital.

Many families in Northern Ireland, under current guidelines, have been unable to say goodbye in person.

The focus on potential changes here came after Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced new guidelines that advised visits should be allowed "at the end of life,"on Wednesday.

Image source, Getty Images

Such measures could potentially see a separate room be made available in hospitals for family members, or for families to don PPE to help ease trauma.

First Minister Arlene Foster has said she hopes "there will be something that we can do here" to help families in such circumstances.

Mrs Foster said an announcement was expected from the health minister.

It looks like new guidance issued by the NI Executive in the coming days will include an update on exercise for people with autism or a learning disability.

Concerns have been raised that people with autism may need to exercise in an open space, away from noise in some circumstances, more than once a day.

Sinn Féin MLA Jemma Dolan has posted a correspondence she has had with the health department, in which it said it was aware of the situation and was taking its lead from the Cabinet Office.

Leo Kelion
Technology desk editor

Coronavirus: NHS contact tracing app to target 80% of smartphone users

A contact-tracing app could help stop the coronavirus pandemic, but 80% of current smartphone owners would need to use it, say experts advising the NHS.

The University of Oxford's Big Data Institute has modelled a city of one million people to simulate the software's impact.

If there is lower uptake, academics say the app would still help slow the spread of Covid-19.

They add that letting people self-diagnose the illness could be critical.

That means users would only have to answer an on-screen questionnaire.

Read more here.

Máirtín MacGabhann, whose son Dáithi is waiting for a heart transplant, says it's "heartbreaking" having to separate him from his grandparents and other family members, but "it's the right thing to do".

The three-year-old, who was born with a congenital heart defect, has been on the waiting list for 685 days.

"Dáithi is a very vulnerable person," his father told Talkback.

Image source, Máirtín MacGabhann

Máirtín says the lack of transplants taking place at the present time is "totally understandable", but adds "for those families in our situation it is absolutely terrifying".

"Dáithi and all those other people awaiting a life-saving transplant, they're already on an uphill battle and this will make that already steep hill a little bit steeper."

More than 8,300 patients in NI have had surgery or treatment cancelled since the Covid-19 lockdown on 18 March.

However, Dr Mark Taylor of the Royal College of Surgeons has stressed that "emergency, life-saving surgery is available and will continue to be available" throughout the crisis.

Speaking on Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, he said the "difficulties lie when we look at elective surgical practice".

"The reason we have increasing waiting lists is because we don't have the capacity and demand is rising.

"But in these circumstances, we have one other factor and that's the risk to the individual themselves [of infection].

"So, whilst we may have an empty theatre or a team that could carry out an elective procedure, we know from China that if you have major surgery and develop Covid-19 in hospital, the outcome is much, much worse."

Image source, Getty Images

For this reason, he said, "procedures that could possibly wait should be delayed because of that risk for the post-operative period".

Dr Taylor also paid tribute to the people of NI for adhering to social distancing measures, saying that because of this, frontline staff are "managing the crisis at this current moment".

There has been a jubilant reception over the past couple of days for the fundraising efforts of World War Two veteran Captain Tom Moore.

The 99-year-old has raised more than £12m for NHS charities.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said it was "great" people were raising money for the NHS, but questioned why they had to.

"There needs to be a big conversation when this is over about how we properly fund the health service and the public sector in general," he said.

Cancer specialist Prof Karol Sikora told BBC Talkback that the overall picture in NI was “very good”.

“I look at the figures every day and you are doing extremely well,” he said.

“I think the problem we're all facing whatever speciality you're in, outside infectious disease or intensive care, we've all been pushed aside in our hospitals, and that's quite right.

“Covid has to take precedence," he added.

Image source, Getty Images

He said that there does have to be a point where we need to start the “whole machine of the NHS” and he said it must be done in a set order, so, for example “cancer and cardiac services” will be the first to start.

He warned that the NHS was now going to be “set back”.

“People with hip replacements and other elective surgery are probably at the back of the queue.

“Unless we get going now they're going to suffer longer periods of pain and immobility," he said.

“Let's get the NHS kick-started and move forward," he added.

Rodney Morton, Director of Nursing at Public Health in NI, told the Health Committee at Stormont that significant work has been done in issuing PPE guidance for social workers.

He says the use of PPE in social work depends on three factors; the nature of task being undertaken; level of risk the individual practitioner believes they may be exposed to; and the organisational risk assessment.

Image source, Getty Images

He says he understood there has been further work regarding those working in Childrens’ Services and that will be available shortly.

“Every effort is being made to ensure we have the right level of PPE for our staff and, of course, that means appropriate use of PPE as well,” he said, adding that the Business Services Organisation monitor stocks of PPE daily.

“If an organisation is running low, there are well-defined mechanisms to ensure that that organisation gets stock as well as mutual aid.”

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political reporter

Senior medical figures have urged the Dept of Health to produce formal guidance around how families in Northern Ireland can visit dying relatives during the pandemic.

Dr Hamish Courtney, from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, told Stormont’s Health Committee that practical advice had already been produced in Scotland.

“It’s not about infection control, it’s about humanity and understanding families,” Dr Courtney said.

Stormont health officials should adopt similar guidelines, he added.

Image source, Getty Images

Dr Mark Taylor, from the Royal College of Surgeons, said he hoped it would mean a small number of family members could be with their relatives in their final moments, with appropriate PPE being provided for them.

“We’re advocates for our patients and that includes in their final moments of life,” said Dr Taylor.

Earlier today, Arlene Foster said the Health Minister Robin Swann is considering the matter, and an announcement is expected.

The UK must keep a "significant level" of social distancing until a vaccine for coronavirus is found, a scientist advising the government has said.

Prof Neil Ferguson told the BBC there was "little leeway" to relax measures without "something... in their place" - such as testing and contact-tracing.

Image source, Reuters

A three-week extension to the lockdown is expected to be announced later.

Labour said it would support an extension, but called for details on how and when the lockdown will end.

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