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The UK government will give its daily briefing at 5pm.

It will be led by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab,who is deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson while he recovers from coronavirus.

He will be joined by the government’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and its chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance.

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A new national helpline is being set up by the Scottish government to provide essential assistance to those who don’t have a network of support but who are at high risk of contracting COVID-19.

The service – which opens tomorrow – will offer help to those who do not have family or existing community support and cannot get online.

It is for those who are over 70, disabled, require the support of mental health services, are pregnant or receive a flu jab for health reasons.

This service is in addition to localised support already available for people who have received letters advising them to shield themselves.

However, any of those in the shielding category who are not yet receiving assistance, who do not have family and cannot get online can access support via this new helpline.

Anyone not in these categories but still looking for support should visit readyscotland.org

The helpline –0800 111 4000– will initially operate during normal working hours, while plans are developed and implemented to extend it to operate for a longer period each day.

Callers will be automatically connected to their local authority who will support them to access the service they need, such as:

• essential food and medication
• links to local social work services for vulnerable children or adults
• emotional support
• contact with local volunteer groups

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European countries have seen steep rises in cases and deaths, but slowing infection rates are raising hopes that strict social distancing measures are curbing the spread of the coronavirus.

Italy has the highest toll outside the US, with nearly 20,000 deaths so far, but recent data suggests the infection rate is slowing.

Spain's death toll is not far behind, on 17,500 - the third-highest of any country. There are now nearly 170,000 confirmed cases in Spain, but the rate of new cases is falling there as well.

A series of maps and charts tracking the spread of the virus since it emerged in China in December last year can be seen here.

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Scotland's coronavirus lockdown is not likely to be lifted "in the very near future", Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The first minister said there were "early optimistic signs" that social distancing measures were having an impact on the spread of the virus.

But she said that "until we know more and have solid evidence, we must stick with it".

She said the lockdown would not be in place "for a single minute longer than necessary", but it remains "essential".

Interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith also said the lockdown measures were expected to remain in place for a "significant period of time".

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A coronavirus vaccine could be available for the general public by September, according to a professor of vaccinology at Oxford University.

Professor Sarah Gilbert told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that clinical trials of the vaccine would "be starting quite soon" and that production processes need to be set in motion quickly.

"We need to start manufacturing large amounts of the vaccine," she said.

"It is not uncommon for companies to start manufacturing a new vaccine before they really know for certain it works. No-one wants to be in a position where you have a vaccine which you have shown does work and then not have any of the vaccine to use.

"The sooner we start the quicker we're going to get to the billion dose scale.

"That probably won't be this year but if we don't start we're not going to get there next year either."

The number of people who have died in the UK after being hospitalised and testing positive for coronavirus has now reached 11,329.

The government's department for health and social care said it is a rise of 717 from Easter Sunday's total.

Medical chief Dr Gregor Smith raises concerns over the potential strain on funeral and mortuary services during the virus pandemic.

David Henderson
BBC Scotland

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The first minister made it clear there'll be a review of lockdown restrictions this week - but they're not likely to be lifted in the very near future.

The key goal, she said, was saving lives. What then of an exit strategy?

On this, there was caution - a need to wait and see how lifting controls might work - or backfire -- in other European countries. Nicola Sturgeon said the more consistency across the UK the better, when restrictions are eased. But if Scotland has to take a different approach for practical reasons, she's happy to do so.

Key in her mind is the need to control the virus. It's not gone away, she said, and the danger is that it will come back.

There was talk today of a mobile phone app which may allow us to trace infected people more quickly. But with no timetable or specific measures outlined, there's no sign that life will return to normal any time soon.

Here's the main points from today's Scottish government briefing:

• There have now been 575 deaths with coronavirus, an increase of nine from yesterday
• 6,067 people have tested positive for the virus, an increase of 155
• a total of 31,813 people have now been tested
• 211 people are now in intensive care
• FM says coronavirus lockdown not likely to be lifted in the very near future

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• A new telephone helpline for people facing significant challenges from Covid-19, but not in the shielded group is launched:0800 111 4000 (during working hours from tomorrow)
• Charities can now bid for cash from £50m government wellbeing funds
• Interim CMO says don't delay funerals
• health secretary reveals ICU capacity has trebled to 585 beds
• Concerns about care homes acknowledged by first minister, better data is promised later this week

Responding to another question from the Daily Telegraph's Izzy Lyons, Nicola Sturgeon says it is unlikely that lockdown restrictions will be eased when the Scottish government reviews the current situation later this week.

"I would not stand here and give people any expectation that these restrictions are going to be eased come the end of this week," the first minister replies. "It is not something that is going to happen imminently"

However, she adds that "as we get more evidence this week", the government will "look carefully" at what is likely to be possible further in the future.

Izzy Lyons, from the Daily Telegraph, asks the first minister to respond to claims that the care industry death toll in Scotland could be up to 300.

Nicola Sturgeon replies that these figures are expected to be available on Wednesday from the National Records of Scotland, and says it is not "helpful to speculate" ahead of those.

She points out that the health minister had revealed at the weekend that 40% of care homes had been affected by Covid-19 but that it was important to wait for a proper breakdown of those figures.

Tom Peterkin from the P&J asks about Prof Jason Leitch's plea yesterday for parents with sick children to use the NHS, for example if they have asthma or diabetes.

Mr Peterkin asks if the health of children is a concern in relation to the unexplained non-coronavirus deaths we heard about last week.

That factor in the NRS report last week, of a higher number of deaths in the week that was being reported compared to the five year average, is a concern, replies the first minister.

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Ms Sturgeon says some of that was explained by the coronavirus and some of it was explained by the registration anomaly, but not all of it can be explained by these two factors.

She says it would be wrong to draw a direct link between this and health care for children.

The first minister reiterates the message that children, and indeed adults, should not delay in coming forward to the NHS if they have worrying symptoms not related to coronavirus, because they are concerned about the pressure on it.

Paul Hutcheon from the Daily Record asked if the first minister thought the UK's approach had been effective for Scotland considering New Zealand, a country of similar size that had a much stricter lockdown and carried out more testing and more contact tracing, had recorded deaths that were "tiny compared to the 575 announced today".

Nicola Sturgeon replied: "I don't think it's possible to draw firm conclusions looking at different countries right now, although I think that kind of scrutiny is really important."

She stressed that it was important to "make sure we are comparing like with like, both in terms of how we are measuring things, population size, population density, for example.

Ms Sturgeon stressed that "we are not yet through this pandemic" and pointed out that some countries who adopted an earlier lockdown strategy were seeing a resurgence of the disease once restrictions were lifted.

Chris Musson from the Sun asks: "Are you counting the number of Covid-19 deaths due to hospital acquired infection of the disease and if so will you release these figures?"

The first minister says the whole issue of nosocomial infection (infections caught in hospitals) is one of acute study to understand the extent of it and to ensure everything is being done in hospitals to restrict and reduce that.

"Where we have robust information our default will always be publishing it."

So in principle the government will publish hospital acquired infection rates of coronavirus when the data is robust enough, she adds.

The interim chief medical officer concurs with this pointing out that at the moment the information is not reliable enough to publish this data on a regular basis.

"This virus loves institutions, and of course hospitals are an environment where, if we are no careful, then it can spread very, very easily."

Lessons must be learned from other countries says Dr Gregor Smith.