Niall McCracken
BBC News NI

A long-term back injury and fibromyalgia left 26-year-old Rebecca Browne unable to leave her house.

“I was like a prisoner in my own home, so I eventually had to look into getting a wheelchair,” she said.

Rebecca received a wheelchair loan through the British Red Cross Mobility Aid Service. It’s available to people when hospitals don’t have wheelchairs available for short-term use.

"When I got the wheelchair I was able to go out to the shop or go to the park."

Red Cross manager Fionnuala Molloy says there has been an increase in wheelchair loans across Northern Ireland since lockdown began.

Image source, Stars

Next year's Oscars ceremony has been pushed back by two months, the latest big celebrity event to have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Academy Awards were due to take place on 28 February next year but have now been put back until 25 April 2021.

Organisers have also agreed to extend the eligibility window for film releases beyond 31 December 2020 to the end of February.

Next year's British Academy Film Awards (Baftas) have been pushed back to 11 April, keeping in line with the Oscars.

Read the full story here.

The University and College Union (UCU) said it is "extremely concerned" by plans to partially reopen further education colleges.

Economy Minister Diane Dodds announced the move on Monday.

It will allow more than 2,850 vocational students in areas like construction, engineering, hospitality and hairdressing to achieve their final qualifications this summer.

The UCU said it was "shocked" by the plans.

Read more on this story here.

John Campbell
BBC News NI Economics and Business Editor

Image source, PA Media

The increase of 5,700 in the claimant count from April to May was less dramatic than the jump of almost 30,000 from March to April.

The claimant count is now above its most recent peak in February 2013 when it hit 64,800.

Nisra estimates that the claimant count unemployment rate is now 7%.

The other, preferred, method of measuring the unemployment rate is the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

However, the current survey results only cover the early period of the coronavirus lockdown.

The figures also suggest that more firms are planning to make redundancies.

Just under 350 redundancies were proposed in May but more than 1,400 were proposed in the first two weeks of June.

John Campbell
BBC News NI Economics and Business Editor

Unemployment in Northern Ireland more than doubled in two months, official figures suggest.

They show that claimant count unemployment increased from 29,700 in March to to 65,200 in May.

Claimant count includes Jobseeker's Allowance claimants and those people on Universal Credit who were claiming principally for the reason of being unemployed.

The figures are from the NI statistics and research agency, Nisra.

Robbie Meredith
BBC News NI Arts and Education Correspondent

Image source, PA Media

The Department of Education (DE) is considering two-week summer schools for pupils going into Years 5 ,6 and 7.

The department wants to gauge interest from primaries and community organisations about whether they can hold the schools in late July.

However, no school or organisation will be required to do so.

"This is subject to funding being available and with the agreement of the executive, teaching unions and schools," a DE spokesperson said.

More details are contained in an email from departmental officials seen by BBC News NI.

Read more on this story here.

Good morning and welcome to our live page on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Stay with us for updates throughout the day.