Thank you for joining today on the cornavirus live page. We'll be back tomorrow from 07:30 BST.

Apparently England has been having its hottest day of the year so far (although it was a very different picture if you were looking out any windows in Northern Ireland).

Image source, Press Association

Thanks for following along with the live page today, here are some of the big talking points.

• There has been one further Covid-19 related death recorded by the Department of Health, bringing its total to 547.
• Amnesty International has called on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to suspend the use of spit hoods after "an admission they provide no protection from Covid-19".
• Updated guidance has been published on how hotels, pubs and other businesses in Northern Ireland can reopen safely from 3 July.
• Graeme McDowell has pulled out of this week's Travelers Championship in the USA because his caddie Ken Comboy tested positive for coronavirus.
• Masks to protect healthcare staff against coronavirus had not been properly tested, Northern Ireland's Public Health Agency (PHA) has said.
• Scotland has announced its pubs and restaurants will reopen from 10 July, a week after Northern Ireland.

Ireland's largest business group Ibec has called for international travel restrictions in the Republic of Ireland to be ended.

At the moment, people entering the country from abroad have to quarantine themselves for 14 days on arrival.

Image source, Reuters

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One's Today with Sarah McInerney programme, external, its chief executive Danny McCoy said there are benefits from quarantine but there are costs too, and the benefits will only accrue if the quarantine is effective.

He said that filling out forms is an "ineffective quarantine".

Mr McCoy added the proportion of people with the virus is so small that testing and tracing would be more effective than a "crude" quarantine system.

A 14-day quarantine is also in place in Northern Ireland, external, with visitors required to provide passenger information and location details.

Hospitality Ulster, an industry body which represents businesses across Northern Ireland, has issued its own guidance ahead of the lifting of restrictions on 3 July.

The online guide has information about what steps businesses need to take, and other less obvious concerns - such as legionella caused by bodies of water being left to stand, and potential security threats that come with adapting to the changes.

Northern Ireland's hotels, bars, restaurants, and cafes will be able to reopen from 3 July with restrictions in place.

The Department of the Economy and Tourism NI also published a 30-page guide for reopening for businesses.

A Limavady gym owner tells BBC Radio Foyle there is no sense in keeping gyms closed while other businesses start to reopen.

Andy Chapman says his business has been able to keep going, running online classes via Zoom.

"But we've got quite a large membership and people come to our gym for lots of different reasons," he says.

"One of the main reasons is for their mental health, it’s the one hour of the day where they get their own time".

Image source, iStock

Gyms remain closed in NI and there is not yet a timetable for them to reopen.

Indoor leisure facilities are included in phase four of the executive's plan, but this is not accompanied by a date

Andy says the size of his premises allows for safe and socially distanced exercise. There's hand sanitising provision and multiple exit and entry points, the building is well ventilated and people could exercise considerably more than 2m apart.

"We are good to go today", he says.

"It seems every other industry has been talked about but we haven't even been mentioned," he adds.

We may be coming out of lockdown and Thursday evening's Clap for Carers may be over, but three-year-old Emily McVea is still cheering for NHS staff with some brightly coloured paintings,

Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

A new group has been established "to learn from care home experiences of Covid-19," Health Minister Robin Swann has announced.

The group "to identify learnings that can be taken forward in the short term" includes representation from the independent care home sector, the Health and Social Care system and the Royal College of Nursing.

It will be taking forward the Rapid Learning Initiative on care home experiences announced by the minister earlier this month.

“I must stress that the Rapid Learning Initiative is not a research project, an investigation or an inquiry, Mr Swann said.

"There will be a time to consider such processes," he added.

Mr Swann said "Covid-19 has hit our care homes very hard" and this group will "help us understand what our health and social care system needs to do ahead of any future wave".

"We must do everything we can to protect them.”

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has told BBC's Talkback that Brexit negotiations have not been disrupted by Covid-19.

"The negotiations have continued, albeit by Zoom," Mr Donaldson said.

"I do a lot of my business by Zoom these days and that does not prevent me from getting things done," he added.

The MP for Lagan Valley tells the programme that "businesses don't want any more uncertainty" and the executive will continue engaging with the UK government for "Northern Ireland's best interests".

Image source, PA

The SDLP's Claire Hanna disagrees and says it always was an "ambitious timeframe" and that Covid-19 has "derailed" Brexit.

"Zoom isn't the same," she adds.

The Belfast South MP appreciates that businesses would like to be told a framework to operate in, but she said that "there are no economic benefits" from Brexit and says that businesses have already been left "punch drunk" by the affects of Covid-19 to "supply chains" and to "their own organisations".

The daily statistics released by Stormont's Department of Health shows two further cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed here in the last 24 hours.

These occurred in the Ards and North Down and Belfast council areas.

The one coronavirus-related death occurred in the Ards and North Down council area.

There has been one further Covid-19 related death recorded by Northern Ireland’s Department of Health, bringing its total to 547

The department’s daily figures are mostly comprised of hospital deaths and where a patient had previously tested positive for the virus.

The latest figures on the department’s dashboard show a further two confirmed positive cases of the virus, bringing that total to 4,873

Professor Siobhan O’Neill, Professor of Mental Health Sciences at Ulster University has accepted the role of interim Mental Health Champion for Northern Ireland.

In a statement, Health Minister Robin Swann said the Covid-19 pandemic has "underlined the need for this area of health care to be given the priority it deserves".

Robbie Meredith
BBC News NI Arts and Education Correspondent

Almost 300 children with a statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) are still without a school place for September.

That means that more than 10% of statemented children seeking a place this year do not yet have one.

Image source, PA Media

The Education Authority (EA) said securing them a school place was a "key priority".

BBC News NI understands the pressure for places is most acute in schools in the greater Belfast area.

Read more here.

People in Scotland will be allowed to meet up with two other households indoors from 10 July and pubs and restaurants can re-open from 15 July.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also said the five-mile travel limit will be lifted from 3 July, while beer gardens can re-open from 6 July.

Ms Sturgeon said the move was possible thanks to "real and sustained progress" in suppressing the virus.

But she said the changes depended on keeping the virus under control.

Read more on this story here.

Labour's Sir Keir Starmer says Germany has a coronavirus app tha has already been downloaded 12m times.

PM Boris Johnson says "he's completely wrong" adding no country in the world has a working contact tracing app.

Julian O'Neill
BBC News NI Home Affairs Correspondent

Amnesty International has called on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to suspend the use of spit hoods after "an admission they provide no protection from Covid-19".

The organisation said there were implications for other UK police forces which have the same make of equipment.

The PSNI began using the hoods during lockdown, after incidents where suspects coughed or spat at officers.

Amnesty claimed the pandemic had been used "as cover" to roll out their use.

Image source, HAMPSHIRE CONSTABULARY

Robbie Meredith
BBC News NI Arts and Education Correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Northern Ireland teachers who have booked holidays which run into the last two weeks of August will not have to return to work early for the new term.

It follows an agreement between unions and teaching employers.

However, teachers who have to go into quarantine after travelling abroad will have to work from home.

Some pupils are due to begin the 2020/21 school year on 24 August, but staff will be expected to go back to work up to a week before that.

There were concerns the earlier start to term could disrupt any holidays teachers had already booked in August.

Read more here.

Feeling fit and well?

If so, the NI Blood Transfusion Services says it still needs blood and platelet donors to save lives.

For more information on blood donation and coronavirus click here, external.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Society is reopening. The long national hibernation - to quote Prime Minister Boris Johnson - is coming to an end with the biggest lifting of restrictions so far due to take place in England at the start of July.

Lockdowns are also being eased in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, albeit at slightly different paces.

Image source, AFP

It is a massive moment - and one certainly not without risk.There have been warnings it could lead to a second peak in infections.

So how tight a grip does the UK have on coronavirus?

Read this article here.

The issue of getting pupils to school has come up at Stormont's Education Committee.

DUP MLA Maurice Bradley asks the department's permanent secretary to outline guidance that has been given to private transport operators around “what shielding needs to be done between the driver and pupils” and “what supervision needs to be on the bus” to ensure social distancing is maintained.

“The answer is no, we haven’t issued guidance on home-to-school transport,” says Derek Baker.

Image source, pacemaker

He adds that work is ongoing around this issue between the department, EA, Department of Infrastructure and Translink.

“It’s a real difficulty and we need to look at all possibilities there,” says the permanent secretary.

“We could issue guidance today and it could be obsolete in three weeks' time.”

Mr Baker adds, “it’s one of those many issues where we’re trying to come up with solutions to problems that we have never ever faced before”.

Image source, NI Assembly

“School meals, Derek. What is happening?” that’s the question from the SDLP’s Justin McNulty asks of the Department of Education's permanent secretary Derek Baker.

Mr Baker, appearing at the Stormont Education Committee, says he is “hopeful the executive will provide the funding”.

The first minister, finance minster and education minister have all said they support the scheme says the civil servant,adding, when you get that level of positivity, “I would be very confident we’ll be able to roll forward”.

He adds: “It’s not difficult to roll it forward in logistical terms.

“We just need to flick the switch and it continues” says the permanent secretary, but adds that it is a decision which is down to the executive.

Image source, NI Assembly