Angie Brown
Edinburgh and East reporter

Image source, Lenny Warren

Robina Bonar has been "crying inside and singing outside" while driving her empty bus down the eerie streets of Edinburgh and the Lothians.

The First Bus driver is "heartbroken" by the lack of passengers and said she was finding it hard to remain upbeat.

Robina, 41, said she rarely saw anyone in the empty streets.

"Some days there is nobody on my bus all day, and other times there are just one or two. It is very demoralising," she said.

"Edinburgh is like a ghost town. There is no traffic, no stopping, and no getting annoyed as people suddenly cross the road in front of you. It's the wee things you miss.

"The longer this is going on the harder it is mentally to keep going. I want it to end and to go back to normal."

Read more here

A former Labour MP has spoken about being unemployed for the first time and having to apply for universal credit during the coronavirus lockdown.

Paul Sweeney lost his Glasgow North East seat to the SNP at last December's general election.

Until then, he had been expected to rise through the Labour ranks and was working on Angela Rayner's bid to become party leader.

Now he finds himself with no income as the jobs market has ground to a halt.

He said: "The last six months of my life has been bizarre to say the least."

Read the full story here.

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Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Commitee: Impact of Covid-19 on tourism:

SNP MSP Stuart McMillan says 92% of tourism businesses have inadequate or no relevant insurance and he calls for dialogue with the insurance industry.

The tourism secretary says many businesses have paid their premium for business interruption insurance, precisely for events like this epidemic.

"They are now finding that in many, many cases the insurance companies are not paying out."

He says these are private contracts but he thinks it would be helpful if the prime minister would tell insurance companies they have a social contract and should show they care.

Mr Ewing says he has spoken to "businesses that were on the verge of tears" as insurance companies would not pay out as it was the "wrong sort of pandemic".

The Financial Conduct Authority has ordered insurance companies to pay out claims to firms "as soon as possible" or explain themselves to the watchdog.

John Ireland and Claire Murdoch from the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) are discussing the impact of Covid-19 with the Finance and Constitution Committee.

The SFC estimates, external the Scottish government will receive an additional £3.5bn from UK government commitments aimed at tackling the economic fallout of the pandemic.

However, it opted not to update economic forecasts for Scotland due to the uncertainty of how long lockdown will last and what the differences in effects between Scotland and the rest of the UK will be.

You can watch the session on this live page.

Holyrood Live
BBC Parliaments

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Finance and Constitution Committee: Impact of Covid-19 on public finances:

Will there be a difference in tax revenues if lockdown continues much longer in Scotland than in England?

Mairi Spowage says this is difficult to qualify because it is unclear what the impact of lifting restrictions in England will be.

She highlights issues around safety at work, access to childcare and commuting to work safely which may limit how much economic activity can actually return.

Image source, Getty Images

A test to find out whether people have been infected with coronavirus in the past has been approved by health officials in England.

Health officials in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make their own decisions, but are likely to follow suit if England does adopt it.

Public Health England said the antibody test, developed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, was a "very positive development".

The blood test looks for antibodies to see if a person has already had the virus and might now have some immunity.

Read more.

Holyrood Live
BBC Parliaments

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Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee: Impact of Covid-19 on tourism:

Fergus Ewing calls on the UK government to do more to help Scotland's medium sized tourism businesses and stresses his focus is on saving them.

The tourism secretary points out in terms of international visitors there may be no season in 2020 at all.

Visit Scotland are looking at how other countries are adapting their tourism industries going forward to learn lessons, Mr Ewing says.

The tourism secretary says he was saddened to hear of the action the National Trust for Scotland had taken and adds the economy secretary will meet with the Trust soon with the hope of making progress.

It emerged earlier this week more than 420 staff at the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) were at risk of redundancy.

Holyrood Live
BBC Parliaments

Finance and Constitution Committee: Impact of Covid-19 on public finances:

Mairi Spowage from the Fraser of Allander Institute suggests one of the differential impacts on Scotland from the rest of the UK may come from the north-east and she points to how the downturn in oil in 2016 affected the Scottish economy as a whole.

She also warns of distinct regional impacts due to reliance on the tourism sector, for example in the Highlands.

Ms Spowage suggests there is the possibility for the UK government to relax borrowing limits placed on Scotland and she also highlights there is room within the existing fiscal framework to allow for additional borrowing if there is a Scottish-specific economic shock.

However she warns this has not been tested and it is not clear exactly how this would be calculated.

The FAI deputy director also says the Scottish government may need to look at its spending priorities and its own budget to support recovery.

The Scottish government is giving further details about the so-called "R" number to journalists of camera - and the impact it's having on coronavirus policy planning.

What is R? It is a simple, but crucial number at the heart of understanding the threat posed by the coronavirus. It is guiding governments around the world on the actions needed to save lives, and it gives us clues to the extent that lockdown can be lifted.

Find out all the answers to your questions about R here.

Nicola Sturgeon has said the R rate here was between 0.7 and one. The rate for the whole of the UK is between 0.5-0.9.

If the number is higher than one, then the number of cases begins to increase exponentially.

Holyrood Live
BBC Parliaments

Plans are being put in place to ensure the safe running of tourism attractions, the tourism secretary tells MSPs.

He agrees the public must be reassured of safety, particularly the people living in rural areas worried about an influx of people on staycation.

"These recovery plans are absolutely essential," Fergus Ewing says, but the overwhelming majority of businesses are taking it very seriously.

The Scottish government is expecting staycations to be particularly popular this year and thinking about managing, for example, the provision of public services on the road up to Ben Lomond which is likely to be "jam-packed" on the first weekend restrictions are lifted.

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Holyrood Live
BBC Parliaments

Holyrood's Finance and Constitution Committee is taking evidence on the impact of Covid-19 on Scotland's public finances and the Fiscal Framework.

MSPs will begin by hearing from:

• Fraser of Allander Institute deputy director Mairi Spowage

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and then the committee will hear from:

• Scottish Fiscal Commission chief executive John Ireland
• Scottish Fiscal Commission head of social security and public funding Caire Murdoch

Watch the committee here on the live page with us by clicking on the play icon at the top of the page.

Image source, bbc

An organisation involved in collecting royalties says it doesn't expect the live music industry to recover until the end of this year at the earliest.

PRS For Music warned the coronavirus pandemic could prompt music fans to become wary of concerts where social distancing was difficult.

Holyrood Live
BBC Parliaments

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Tourism Secretary Fergus Ewing tells the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee the restrictions put in place to preserve life and protect the NHS have been "devastating" for the tourism sector.

He said: "The impact on tourism has simply been devastating and there is essentially no tourism in Scotland at the this time."

He points to financial support available to businesses facing loss of income, adding: "The various support streams that we have put in place in Scotland, and the UK government has put in place, will be continued for some time."

He explains any phasing out of these measures will be gradual because recovery for the sector will be slow.

The cabinet secretary adds the Scottish government is regularly reviewing the restrictions, but it is not possible to say what measures will be in the future nor how they will impact tourism.

A 13-year-old boy has vowed to run 100 miles in the hope of raising at least £1,000 for NHS funds.

Cameron Troup, from Kintore in Aberdeenshire, is a second year pupil at Kemnay Academy.

The keen Scout plans to run at least 5K - more than three miles - a day until he reaches his target, to help NHS Grampian.

He said "I am doing this challenge because our local NHS heroes deserve to be supported during these tough times."

People from the most deprived backgrounds being more likely to die from Covid-19 and a legal investigation into care home deaths dominate today's Scottish newspapers.

See our full review here.

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The Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee, external will now taking evidence from Tourism Secretary Fergus Ewing.

We'll bring you any news lines from this or you can watch here:www.scottishparliament.tv, external.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on tourism in Scotland has been described as "complete devastation".

However speaking on Good Morning Scotland earlier, Riddell Graham from the tourist agency, says they're hoping to capitalise on people choosing to holiday closer to home in future: