Westminster is reacting to the news that Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus.

Former Tory Cabinet minister Mel Stride says the PM has done the "right thing" to self-isolate and it is clear he "is very much still in charge" of the government and its coronavirus response.

Acting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has wished the PM a "full and speedy recovery" and said his thoughts were also with his fiancée Carrie Symonds, who is expecting their first child.

James Forsyth, the political editor of the Spectator, says while the PM will not be able to "go to work as usual", he will still be able to lead the government using technology - pointing out that Mr Johnson chaired a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday using the Zoom conferencing tool.

However, he says the PM has had close contact with other key figures in the government, including the chancellor and health secretary, in recent days and there are concerns about what will happen if the infection spreads more widely in Whitehall.

Another leading British politician has said they have shown symptoms of the virus and is self-isolating.

Angela Rayner, Labour's education spokeswoman who is favourite to be the party's next deputy leader, says she felt unwell overnight and has "got gradually worse".

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Obviously this is a significant moment.

Boris Johnson has been in close contact with the government’s chief scientist and all of the people in charge of trying to handle how the government’s various responses are going.

The prime minister is well enough to keep working, using technology, so for now he is not stepping back from the job he is doing in terms of running the government's response.

There is a standby in Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who would step up if Boris Johnson has to take time off work. For now, Mr Johnson is still in charge.

This thing has moved so quickly but it is some time since Nadine Dorries, the health minister, was confirmed to have the disease. At that point it felt like a shock in Westminster. Since then, Westminster - the borough, not just the political village - has been seen to be a hotspot of the disease. Various MPs and officials from Whitehall have been self-isolating.

But until Thursday last week, the prime minister was appearing at a press conference on a podium, certainly much closer than two metres away from other people very critical to this effort: Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.

Since then, they taken steps to change that and press conference have been taking place online. However, at this stage we don't have a calendar of when Mr Johnson fell ill and when he was aware he was in a position to test positive. But there will be great interest in these dates.

Spaniards have seen the daily number of deaths rise from 462 at the start of the week, to 769 in the past 24 hours. The latest figure is the highest in one day so far, and brings the total since the outbreak began to 4,858.

But top health official Fernando Simón is holding out hope that the numbers could soon start going down, saying the latest figures "indicate little by little the possible arrival at the peak". Around one in seven of the 64,059 Spanish cases is listed as recovered, external, and there's been a big rise in the past 24 hours.

This health ministry graph illustrates the spread of Covid-19 across Spain.The green bar shows those who have recovered, the pale blue highlights the number in hospital, the yellow those in intensive care and the red the growth in fatalities.

Image source, Spanish health ministry

A quarter of new cases have come in the Madrid area, but Catalonia in the north-east has seen 1,348. A police officer in the region's Mossos d'Esquadra force is among those who have died in the past 24 hours.

A member of Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration staff has tested positive for coronavirus, the Kremlin has confirmed.

The president's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, is quoted by Russian media as saying Mr Putin, 67, is working as normal.

Russia has reported its biggest one-day jump in cases - with 196 new diagnoses, taking the total number up to 1,036. Three people have died.

Image source, Getty Images

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has introduced a new nationwide lockdown for two weeks hoping to slow rates of infection.

In an interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Radio, Mr Orban said that, from 28 March, residents would only be allowed to leave their homes for work or to run essential errands.

Between 9:00 and midday local time, grocery shops and pharmacies will also be required to close their doors to any shoppers aged under 65.

Mr Orban said people would still be allowed to go outside, so long as they avoided travelling in groups.

From Monday, every hospital in the country will be designated a "commander", who will be responsible for ensuring it adheres to epidemiological regulations.

Hungary has reported 300 cases of coronavirus and 10 deaths. British diplomat Steven Dick died in the country on Tuesday.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will continue to lead the nation from home after testing positive for Covid-19.

"I've developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus, that's a temperature and a persistent cough," Mr Johnson said in a video posted on his Twitter account.

"On the advice of the chief medical officer, I have taken a test and that has come out positive.

"I'm working from home and self-isolating. That's entirely the right thing to do.

"I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of technology, to communicate with my top team and lead the national fightback against the virus."

Coronavirus has been spreading rapidly across the world, affecting more than 175 countries and claiming more than 24,000 lives.

There are more than 537,000 confirmed cases worldwide, with the US now recording more than any other country, including China. Southern Europe has also seen a surge in cases.

BBC News has produced a series of maps and charts to help you understand what is going on.

It shows how:

• the global pandemic continues to grow
• Europe is struggling to slow the spread
• cases are rising quickly in the US
• millions are living under movement restrictions

See our full visual guide to the pandemic here.

Mr Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus, Downing Street says. His symptoms are mild and he will continue to lead the government response to the virus while he self-isolates, a spokesman says.

The UK will update its guidance for health workers on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) within two days, the BBC has been told.

At the moment, health authorities across the UK say equipment such as masks, gloves and gowns should only be used if patients have suspected symptoms or have been diagnosed with coronavirus.

But the NHS Confederation says staff feel "at risk" of contracting Covid-19 unless they wear PPE while dealing with all patients.

Guidelines from the World Health Organization currently recommend health staff wear a full gown and visor.

Meanwhile, two GPs who say they are experiencing coronavirus symptoms have told the BBC they believe they contracted the virus while seeing patients.

Read the full story here.

Here's the latest from the region on how countries there are tackling the virus:

• Iraq has extended a nationwide curfew, due in force until Saturday, by a further two weeks. The air force is being used to drop public information flyers
• Lebanon has also extended its "lockdown" - under which people are only allowed out to buy food and medicine - by two weeks, and ordered citizens to stay indoors entirely overnight
• A day after imposing an inter-city travel ban, police in Iran will stop cars with non-local number plates, fine owners and confiscate vehicles in order to enforce the measure. The country has so far confirmed more than 2,200 deaths and reported another surge in infections over the past 24 hours
• Oman, Jordan and the UAE have suspended print editions of newspapers over fears that copies could carry the virus
• Israel's Mossad intelligence agency has obtained 400,000 "essential components" for testing for the virus, the prime minister's office says. It is unclear where the material - identified in Israeli press as chemical reagents - has come from. Mossad has already brought in 100,000 kits, but they proved to be unusable.

Image source, Getty Images

The US National Football League (NFL) player draft for the 2020 season will go ahead as scheduled next month but players, fans and media will not be present because of the coronavirus pandemic.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says, external the draft can serve "a very positive purpose for our clubs, our fans, and the country".

The annual event, which allows teams to recruit newly eligible players from the American collegiate system, was attended by 500,000 fans in Nashville last year.

This year's draft will be held from 23-25 April in a television studio, with players interviewed via video conference.

It was due to take place in Las Vegas. The NFL had already cancelled all public events.

Image source, Getty Images

Health officials say the number of deaths in Spain has risen to 4,858, up 769 in the past 24 hours. The previous day saw 655 deaths. Overall Spain has seen an increase of 7,871 cases in the past day to 64,059. The number of people who have recovered is now 9,357.

At his press conference on Thursday, Donald Trump said the US was doing "tremendous testing"

The BBC's Reality Check team has been fact-checking some of his recent claims, including that "the United States has done far more 'testing' than any other nation, by far".

The US has seen a significant rise in coronavirus testing - more than doubling the total in the last few days. According to the latest available data, the US has now tested 540,252 people, external- that’s almost one in every 600.

But this is still some way behind South Korea, which has tested the most people per capita - about one in every 140.

You can read more from Reality Check on Donald Trump’s claims about the coronavirus here.

Image source, Getty Images

Every local authority in England has been told by the government to house all of its rough sleepers - as well as people in hostels and night shelters - by the weekend.

A letter from Dame Louise Casey, Boris Johnson's housing adviser, tells councils to redouble efforts to ensure everyone is "inside and safe by this weekend" due to the "public health emergency".

She says: “These are unusual times so I’m asking for an unusual effort. Many areas of the country have already been able to ’safe harbour’ their people which is incredible. What we need to do now though is work out how we can get ‘everyone in’.”

It is important to close down street encampments as they are "high-risk" for spreading coronavirus, Dame Louise says.

In a trial last weekend, rough sleepers were put up in about 300 hotel rooms in London.

Homeless charity Crisis says the move is a "landmark moment" but questions remain about what support local councils will receive to achieve this.

"The Government has committed to ending rough sleeping by 2025 - this proves it can be done in 2020 if we make it the priority it deserves to be," says chief executive Jon Sparkes.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has not yet commented.

Katya Adler
Europe Editor

Image source, Twitter/Sophie_Wilmes

After six hours of talks, EU leaders - by socially distant video conference - failed on Thursday to agree to share the debt they are all racking up fighting Covid-19, with finance ministers instead reporting back in two weeks' time.

The EU is famous for kicking difficult decisions down the road but in coronavirus terms, with spiralling infection and death rates, two weeks feels like an eternity.

Spain and Italy - ravaged by the effects of the virus on their populations and their limited public finances - were deeply disappointed.

Italy was already one of the EU's most Eurosceptic member states before Covid-19 hit. Italian Twitter was littered with expletives on Thursday - and those were just the posts from politicians.

President Emmanuel Macron of France is said to have told leaders the political reaction after the crisis could spell the end of the EU.

The thing is, the coronavirus simply highlights already existing, well-known difficulties in the EU.

Read the full analysis from Katya here.

Image source, Getty Images

"Fifty-eight, widowed, lonely, locked-down, straitened, and fat - but NO ONE can take my kippers."

Broadcaster and former pop star Rev Richard Coles, who marked his birthday with a picture of his breakfast on Twitter, external, is just one of the many people in the UK coping with bereavement while stuck at home alone.

Charities say bereavement is often an "extremely lonely and isolating time", but Linda Magistris, from The Good Grief Trust, says the grief of those who are self-isolating may be made worse because of the stress and anxiety brought on by the pandemic.

Several people who have recently lost loved ones spoke to the BBC about their own coping mechanisms.

Read the full story

Image source, Getty Images

Firefighters in the UK are planning to drive ambulances, deliver medicines and transport bodies during the "humanitarian crisis" of the coronavirus outbreak.

Even though emergency services are already under pressure, "we can and will get through it together," Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

A new agreement between fire service organisations will allow firefighters to take on extra duties to support other services, driving emergency vehicles or delivering supplies to vulnerable people.

"Many fear the loss of life in this outbreak could be overwhelming - and firefighters, who often handle terrible situations and incidents, are ready to step in to assist with body retrieval," Mr Wrack said.

"Firefighters and control staff have always stepped in when the public has been in danger and this crisis is no different."

The deal, which lasts for two months but could be extended, comes as the Metropolitan Police calls for retired officers to rejoin during the crisis.

The smiling face of a Parisian teenager named Julie A beams from the pages of French websites today. The 16-year-old schoolgirl is the country's youngest victim of the coronavirus.

Her sister, Manon, has warned that her death shows that everyone is a risk from Covid-19.

"Julie just had a light cough last week and it got worse with mucus at the weekend. On Monday they went to see the doctor and that's when she was diagnosed with respiratory distress. She's had no particular illnesses before," Manon told Le Parisien newspaper.

Julie was taken to hospital and transferred to the Necker hospital in Paris where she was put on a respirator on Tuesday night. But it was too late to help as her lungs had failed.

"We've got to stop thinking this only affects the elderly. No-one is invincible against this mutant virus," says her sister.

M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Islamabad

The Pakistani government is still reluctant to annoy the religious lobby by ordering a blanket ban on congregational prayers in mosques - even though such congregations have been banned in several Islamic countries amid the coronavirus outbreak.

On Thursday, it indicated it may "restrict" mosque congregations, but stopped short of spelling out details.

However, the provincial government in Sindh, which has recorded the most cases in the country, has taken the lead by ordering that only up to five people - the prayer leader and mosque staff - could offer joint prayers in a mosque.

The restrictions came ahead of Friday congregational prayers which are usually attended by large crowds. They'll be in force until 5 April.

Hours later, the government of another province, Balochistan, ordered similar limits on joint prayers until 4 April.

Image source, Getty Images

The indecision of the federal government, led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, appears to stem from its reluctance to annoy influential professional clerics at a time of the year when they raise donations to run their activities.

The present Islamic month, Shaban, and the one to follow, Ramadan, are the time for the faithful to pay Zakat, or an annual Islamic tax. Much of this money finds its way into more than 35,000 religious seminaries run by these clerics across the country.

The mainstream Hanafi sect runs the bulk of these seminaries, and has been the most vocal in opposing restrictions on religious gatherings.