There have been at least 4,226 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 75 deaths in total in the US, according to the latest figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), external.

Most of the cases have been reported in the states of New York (669), Washington (708) and California (369), the CDC says.

US media outlets have put the number of confirmed cases much higher, with some tallying as many as 5,000 cases across the country.

The true figure could be even higher as testing has been limited so far in the US.

In Tuesday's press conference at the White House, President Trump announced what he called “groundbreaking new policies to further increase testing".

“All states can now authorise tests developed and used within their border," Mr Trump said.

More on coronavirus in the US:

• Pandemic throws US primary elections into uncertainty
• Trump angers Beijing with 'Chinese virus' tweet

Lorna Gordon
BBC News Scotland correspondent

The Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman is to use legislation to formally place the NHS in Scotland on an emergency footing for the next three months.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament she said the NHS was undergoing the most rapid reconfiguration in its 71-year history.

Ms Freeman said the Scottish Government plans to double intensive care beds, and increase the number of hospital beds by 3,000.

She said non-urgent elective operations will be suspended, but that urgent care and cancer treatment will continue.

Image source, PA Media

The UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to join Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the country's scientific and medical advisers in the next hour for today's news conference on coronavirus.

He is set to unveil help for UK businesses following warnings that many enterprises both large and small are on the brink of collapse.

It comes after a £12bn package of emergency funding measures were announced in the Budget less than a week ago to help the economy cope with the outbreak.

On Monday, the prime minister used the first of his now daily news conferences to unveil stringent social distancing measures to try to control the spread of Covid-19.

Saudi Arabia has suspended all prayers in mosques, with the exemption of one in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, and another in Al-Medina, the state news agency says.

The deeply religious country had previously banned foreign pilgrims from performing Umrah or pilgrimage in the kingdom.

The move comes just weeks before Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayers, begins at the end of April. The country has 133 confirmed cases of the infection.

We're reaching the end of the health committee but UK MP Jeremy Hunt uses one of his last questions to ask if NHS England will advise hospitals that they should ban all but essential visitors.

"Yes, that is essentially what we are saying," replies NHS England chief exec Sir Simon Stevens.

However he adds that there may be exceptions "in the case of parents and children and end of life care".

Asked if the new coronavirus measures could be in place for 18 months, the government’s chief scientific officer, Sir Patrick Vallance told the Health Select Committee he doesn't know.

However he said they are likely to last for months, “certainly not a couple of weeks”.

He told MPs the UK is "nowhere near ready" to be talking about releasing the measures.

"When we have got to the stage where we can keep the outbreak below NHS capacity and keep it there, that’s the time when can talk about releasing it," he said.

"It is going to be data driven," he added.

Local authorities in England are to be given £3.2m of emergency funding to help rough sleepers self-isolate to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick says the money cover the cost of providing accommodation and other services.

He adds: "We are working closely with councils and charities to ensure they have the support they need throughout this period."

Image source, Getty Images

Nissan says it is is suspending vehicle production at its plant in Sunderland, north-east England due to the impact from coronavirus.

The Japanese company says "further measures" are also under consideration as it assesses "supply chain disruption and the sudden drop in market demand caused by the COVID-19 emergency".

The plant is the UK's biggest car factory, producing the Qashqai, Juke and Leaf models.

The Queen is to cancel her annual garden parties and begin her Easter break earlier than planned because of the coronavirus outbreak, Buckingham Palace says.

The 93-year-old monarch will carry out a number of small scale duties at the palace in the next few days, including meeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

But she will then leave for Windsor Castle on Thursday - a week earlier than scheduled - and will remain there beyond the Easter period, the palace said.

In a statement, the palace says the changes were "a sensible precaution", adding that "a number of public events with large numbers of people due to have been attended by the Queen, and other members of the royal family, in the coming months will be cancelled or postponed".

The latest set of Brexit talks will be delayed due to coronavirus. A UK government spokesperson has said: “We will not formally be convening negotiating work strands tomorrow in the way we did in the previous round."

They said both sides were "fully committed" to the negotiations and were considering "alternative ways to continue discussions, including looking at the possibility of video conferencing or conference calls, and exploring flexibility in the structure for the coming weeks.

The transition period - during which the UK remains in both the EU customs union and single market - ends on 31 December 2020.

More from the White House - and Treasury Secretary Sreve Mnuchin says the administration is “looking at sending cheques to Americans immediately”.

“Americans need cash now and the president wants to get cash now. And I mean now, in the next two weeks.”

Mnuchin did not disclose how much would be distributed but said he was discussing with Republican lawmakers.

Speaking with Mnuchin with the White House coronavirus task force, Donald Trump said there would be four or five ways to get Americans payments immediately.

“We are going big,” the president said. “We don’t want people losing their jobs to not have money to live,” adding that the banks are “record-setting strong”.

Amid increasingly aggressive efforts to contain the spread, the US president has maintained an optimistic tone.

“We’re going to win and I think we’re going to win faster than people think.”

The US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has said the administration is working on a big economic stimulus package, reported to be worth some $850bn, which he'll be discussing with Congress in the coming hours.

Under the plans, Americans will be allowed to defer up to $300bn worth of taxes. It also includes payments to small businesses and loan guarantees.

More from Mr Mnuchin and President Donald Trump, who are speaking to reporters at the White House, shortly.

Image source, MonteHermoso residential centre

Spain has seen over 11,000 cases to date and 491 deaths and Madrid is facing the biggest challenge with 355 deaths in the capital alone.

Reports say at least 19 of the deaths have been at a care home for the elderly called MonteHermoso.

Rosana Castillo, whose mother lives there, told Europa Press that the home has seen 70 cases and El País quotes a health source saying “more people are probably going to die”.

A company spokesperson has confirmed the number of deaths, the paper says, adding that some patients have been transferred to hospital.

Ana Ruíz tells the paper that her 86-year-old mother Ana María Artola is among the residents who have died and that her father is in quarantine there. She says a worker at the care home said the hospital did not take her in “because she did not meet the criteria”.

Yolanda Cumia’s father has also died in the care home. “I’m afraid they’ll all drop like flies,” she told El Mundo.

Vicki Young
Chief Political Correspondent

The government is fighting this virus on all fronts.

Of course there is the impact on the NHS, but there is also the economic impact.

You can see it from what is going on in the streets we walk down each day - people are just not out there, not using the shops, the pubs, the restaurants, because the government has told them to stay away.

The cabinet met this morning and the PM said we are "engaged in war" against the disease and we need to support business.

There were some measures laid out in the Budget last week, but now, looking at what we are facing in the coming months, we are going to have to do a lot more.

And most alarmingly, from what we have heard from the experts today, we simply don't know how long this is going to go on for.

Millions of people are adapting to a new reality of spending much of their time indoors. For some professions, it's harder than others. In Poland, where schools closed last week amid national quarantine measures, one singing teacher has posted on social media about her first virtual singing lessons.

"I meet the students on messenger, we have good picture and sound quality," Ewa Nawrot wrote from Poznan.

"The only thing that's different that we need to adapt to is that we can't sing simultaneously together, because of the delays in the technology.

"But this will make us improve our listening, and train our ears better!"

One of the world's major tennis tournaments, the French Open, has postponed the competition until the autumn. Instead of starting on 24 May, it will be held from 20 September to 4 October 2020, organisers Roland Garros announce.

More here.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

The Democratic primary season has crashed headlong into the growing coronavirus pandemic.

This was supposed to be a day of reckoning for Bernie Sanders, when Joe Biden posted dominating wins in a handful of major states – Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona – and effectively secured the Democratic presidential nomination.

It may still end up that way, but Ohio governor Mike DeWine’s decision to postpone his state’s primary, after an chaotic evening of court battles, has changed the equation. The biggest story out of the day may be how the routines of American democracy – in-person ballot-casting, elderly polling-place volunteers and the occasional crowded rooms and long queues – can exist in a time of contagion.

The other states – including those, like Florida, with older populations - have decided to go ahead with their balloting as best they can. It remains to be seen what turnout will look like and if that shapes the results.

With a presidential election looming in November, however, the challenges and issues being raised now, such as when and whether a political leader can order voting postponed for public health reasons, could be just a taste of things to come, when the stakes are even higher.

Trials that involve a jury in England and Wales should be urgently halted, the Bar Council says.

In Scotland no new jury trials will start, but those that have already started will run their course, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service announces.

"Being in a jury trial should not be a game of Russian roulette with participants' health," says Amanda Pinto QC, the Chair of the Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales.

All those involved in court proceedings, including barristers, witnesses, defendants, jurors or members of the public should not expected to attend court, she adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Pregnant women in the UK have been urged to attend antenatal appointments as normal, despite government advice to limit their social contact.

The UK's Royal College of Midwives said the appointments were "essential to ensure the wellbeing of pregnant women and their babies".

New advice, issued on Monday, asks pregnant women to minimise social contact for up to 12 weeks from this weekend.

Further guidance is expected shortly.

Image source, Reuters

More now on our earliest post about Euro 2020 being postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

European football's governing body Uefa made the decision to hold the tournament in 2021 during an emergency video conference involving major stakeholders on Tuesday.

The tournament, due to take place from 12 June-12 July this summer, will now run from 11 June to 11 July next year.

The postponement provides a chance for European leagues that have been suspended to now be completed.

Uefa said it wanted to avoid "placing any unnecessary pressure on national public services" of its 12 host countries, as well as helping allow domestic competitions to be finished.

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said: "We are at the helm of a sport that vast numbers of people live and breathe that has been laid low by this invisible and fast-moving opponent.

"It is at times like these, that the football community needs to show responsibility, unity, solidarity and altruism."Read more here