Image source, WANA via Reuters

France, Germany and the UK have sent medical supplies to Iran in the first transaction conducted under the Instex financial mechanism set up to get around US economic sanctions.

A German foreign ministry statement, external did not say whether the supplies were related to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 44,600 people in the Islamic Republic and claimed 2,898 lives.

Earlier this month, the European powers said they would be sending Iran laboratory testing equipment, protective body suits and gloves, external to help fight Covid-19, and also be offering it a €5m ($5.5m; £4.5m) aid package.

They hope Instex will provide “a sustainable, long-term solution for legitimate trade” to help preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which is close to collapse because of the sanctions the US reinstated when it abandoned the accord two years ago.

Iran has called for the sanctions to be lifted or ignored by the international community to help it to combat the pandemic.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the Trump administration of engaging in “medical terror”, external amid the crisis.

“Stop lying,” responded state department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus on Monday. “It’s not the sanctions. It’s the regime.”

During the current coronavirus situation, some of the BBC’s best known voices are reading one poem a day on BBC Radio 4's Today programme with the theme of “#comfortandhope” - reading poems personal to them which brought them comfort and hope during a dark time.

In the latest poem, Allan Little chose to read Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare. Explaining his choice, Little said: "Some years ago my wife was badly injured in a road traffic incident. She spent nine weeks in hospital, two of them in intensive care.

"It was a time when I wanted to stand on my doorstep every night and applaud the NHS. I knew we would emerge from the experience altered and that we’d learn to accept the alteration - just as we will all be altered by the current crisis.

"When she was still very damaged I used to read poetry to her in hospital. This poem contains the word alteration and contrasts it with things that are resilient - like love and faith in one another and hope.

"When I read this poem to her I thought 'crikey, a man who died 400 years ago has understood and put into words something I know but have not yet found a way to articulate'.

"It was like an epiphany - the poet calling out to me personally across the centuries. Which of course is what great poetry does. So it’s the Shakespeare for me."

Image source, Getty Images

European Union countries have been warned by Brussels not to use emergency measures put in place to fight the coronavirus pandemic to restrict democracy.

"It is of utmost importance that emergency measures are not at the expense of our fundamental principles and values," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"Democracy cannot work without free and independent media."

She said emergency measures "must be limited to what is necessary and strictly proportionate - they must not last indefinitely".

"This word of warning from president Von der Leyen appears to be a thinly veiled criticism of the emergency measures taken by the Hungarian government to fight coronavirus," said BBC News Europe reporter Gavin Lee.

On Monday, the Hungarian Parliament agreed to give prime minister Viktor Orban the right to rule by decree, with no time limit placed on the new law.

In reply to Von der Leyen, Zoltan Kovacs, Hungary’s Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations, posted on Twitter: "We completely agree.

"That’s why the Hungarian state of emergency and extraordinary measures are congruent with the Treaties and Hungarian constitution and targeted exclusively at fighting the #coronavirus.

"It upholds EU values, rule of law, press freedom."

Image source, Getty Images

Pressure is building on Amazon and other delivery firms to improve protection for workers worried about getting infected with coronavirus.

Some workers at US food delivery firm Instacart, and US and Italian workers at Amazon, have walked out complaining of inadequate protection.

US senators have also written to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to express concerns.

Read the full story here.

The Prince of Wales has praised the British Red Cross in a series of tweets from the official Clarence House account.

Prince Charles, 71, spent seven days self-isolating in Scotland after testing positive and displaying mild symptoms of coronavirus. On Monday, it was announced he was now out of self-isolation.

The tweets said: , external"Last week, The Prince of Wales spoke on the phone to the chairman and chief executive of the British Red Cross to hear of the remarkable work the charity is doing in response to the Covid-19 crisis, both in the UK and overseas.

"The prince is proud to see how kindness is keeping people together and asked for his thanks and best wishes to be shared with everyone at the British Red Cross, who is responding so brilliantly. HRH has met many volunteers over the years, in his role as president.

"In the last few weeks, British Red Cross volunteers have been involved with supporting hospitals by helping people get discharged home safely, helping at food banks and sharing trusted, reliable information and checking in with vulnerable people and arranging deliveries."

The tweets included a number of file pictures of Prince Charles meeting British Red Cross members.

Image source, Press Association

Image source, Press Association

Image source, Press Association

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told his cabinet "the situation is going to get worse before it gets better – but it will get better", a Downing Street spokesman said.

Senior ministers took part in the meeting by video link.

The spokesman said: "The PM said the rising death toll in recent days showed the vital importance of the public continuing to stick to the social distancing guidance which has been put in place by the government, based on scientific and medical advice."

Image source, Reuters

A paramedic in the London Ambulance Service (LAS) has said the kit workers have been given to protect them from coronavirus would be more suitable for people making sandwiches.

The south London medic, who did not want to be identified, said the basic apron, gloves and masks were not sufficient protection from infection.

"It feels like every day I'm exposing myself and potentially my family to this virus," he told the BBC.

LAS has been contacted for comment.

Read the full story here.

The number of people who have died after being diagnosed with coronavirus in Scotland has reached 60, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says - a rise of 13 on Monday's total.

As of Tuesday morning, 1,993 people had tested positive for the virus - an increase of 430 on the previous day, she added, speaking at a briefing in Edinburgh.

Ms Sturgeon said 108 of these positive tests had come from a lab which was unable to submit data over the weekend, which is “part of the reason why this increase is so high”.

Image source, AFP

About three out of four Americans are now, or about to be, under some form of lockdown, as more states tighten measures to fight the coronavirus.

Maryland, Virginia, Arizona and Tennessee became the latest states to order citizens to stay at home, meaning 32 of 50 states have taken such steps.

Meanwhile governors are quarrelling with President Donald Trump about the availability of testing kits.

The US has more than 163,000 confirmed virus cases and more than 3,000 deaths. It surpassed Italy last week as the country with the highest number of people suffering from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

New York City is the worst-hit place in America, with 914 confirmed fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Image source, Reuters

The UN’s humanitarian chief has warned that the 10 confirmed cases of Covid-19, including one death, in war-torn Syria are just “the tip of the iceberg”.

Mark Lowcock told the UN Security Council the disease had “the potential to have a devastating impact on vulnerable communities”, external.

Syria’s health services were already extremely fragile after nine years of war, with only about half of its hospitals and primary healthcare centres fully functioning.

UN special envoy Geir Pedersen called for a “complete, immediate nationwide ceasefire” to enable an all-out-effort to counter the coronavirus.

In other developments:

• In Iraq, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said it expects a spike in the number of confirmed cases in the coming days due to an increase in lab testing capacity. The local authorities have reported more than 630 cases and 46 deaths - the second highest number of fatalities in the region after Iran
• Israel’s government has approved stricter social-distancing measures that will take effect on Wednesday. Public gatherings will be banned, although there will be exceptions for funerals in the open air and Jewish circumcision ceremonies. And only two people living in the same home will be allowed outside at one time. Israel has reported 4,831 infections and 17 deaths

Image source, Reuters

On Monday we saw spectacular images of the US naval hospital ship USS Comfort sailing in under New York City’s famous skyline.

Arriving from Virginia, the ship brings much-needed relief to the city’s population suffering a large-scale outbreak of coronavirus.

But for some New Yorkers, watching footage wasn’t enough and crowds of people formed on the shore to witness the ship’s arrival. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani was among them.

This, of course, breaks the social distancing measures mandated by state governor Andrew Cuomo. Pictures of the crowds have been circulating on social media, with many criticising the onlookers' actions.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

A doctor who separated twins conjoined at the head has died from coronavirus in the New York City hospital where he worked.

Colleagues and former patients paid tribute to Dr. James T. Goodrich, who was in his 70s, describing his "sudden loss" as a great shock.

“Jim was in many ways the heart and soul of our department - a master surgeon, a world-class educator, and a beloved colleague for all," Dr. Emad Eskandar, chair of the department of neurosurgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center told CNN.

In 2014 Dr Goodrich led the team who successfully operated for 16 hours on toddlers Jadon and Anias McDonald joined at the head - we wrote about it at the time.

Earlier that year Dr Goodrich separated Syrian twins. He became famous in 2004 after operating on conjoined twins from the Philippines Carl and Clarence Aguirre.

Image source, Getty Images

Officials across India are searching for hundreds of people who attended a religious event in capital Delhi that has set off several Covid-19 clusters.

At least six different regions have reported some 140 cases that can be directly or indirectly traced to the days-long congregation at a mosque in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area.

Officials have called for action against the event’s organisers, but they have denied any wrongdoing.

The building in Delhi is still being cleared - more than 1,000 people have been stranded inside since the government imposed a lockdown last week.

At least 24 of them have tested positive so far, Delhi's health minister said. More than 200 others are being tested at various hospitals and another 700 have been shifted into quarantine centres, he added.

The congregation began at the end of February but continued for days, making it hard for officials to find out how many people attended overall or where they have travelled since.

India has confirmed a total of 1,117 cases, external so far.

Read more here

Former British submarine captain Ryan Ramsey knows what it's like to be shielded from the outside world.

He once spent 286 days at sea without seeing the sky.

He has shared five tips for coping with isolation during the coronavirus outbreak.

Image source, Getty Images

Coffee growers in countries like Brazil and Colombia say their product is fetching higher prices as importers rush to stock up before movement restrictions are tightened.

Reuters reports that the price for a 60kg sack of coffee is nearing a record high in Brazil as roasters and traders increase their orders in anticipation of tougher travel rules and possible disruptions to harvests.

In Colombia, the head of the federation of coffee growers, Roberto Vélez, said that the higher prices meant that the business had become profitable again after a long slump.

But there are widespread concerns about the next harvest if restrictions on people's movement remain in place.

In much of Colombia, itinerant workers move from plantation to plantation to pick coffee. Current bans on travel would make that impossible.

Growers and pickers hope the restrictions will be relaxed by harvest time, which starts later next month.

Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online

The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released new figures on coronavirus deaths in England and Wales, which include how many were registered up to 20 March – the day that pubs and clubs were ordered to shut down to help tackle the outbreak.

What’s different about the data is it looks at community deaths – people who died at home or in residential care whom doctors recorded on the death certificate as probably having Covid-19. There were 103 of these – 1% of all deaths.

The ONS also trawled a few days ahead of 20 March to capture any deaths stuck in a recording backlog. That brings the total to 210 deaths involving coronavirus.

That’s 40 more than the 170 deaths announced by the government at the time – those were all hospital deaths of patients who had tested positive for coronavirus and so definitely had the infection.

In comparison, there are not enough tests to check how many people in the community are infected or how many deaths are linked to Covid-19.

So these community death figures are interesting but they don’t give us a clearer idea of the true toll.

Image source, Reuters

England's health secretary has said he is "on the mend" after contracting coronavirus.

Matt Hancock described his symptoms as mild and said he was continuing to work from home while self-isolating.

"It's hard to extrapolate from one person but the good news for me is I was lucky and it wasn't too bad," he told BBC Radio Suffolk.

He added: "The figures show that for the vast majority of people - around four in five - they have mild symptoms and it's like a bad flu.

"But unfortunately, as we know, for some people it's much more serious."

Read the full story here.

Image source, AFP

• The flag is flying at half-mast nationwide in Italy in honour of the victims and a minute's silence has been held. Officials are cautiously optimistic that the tight lockdown is having the hoped-for impact, after the rate of infection dropped significantly. The data for Monday showed the number of new coronavirus infections was 1,648, whereas the day before it was 3,815. However, 812 deaths were reported, compared with 756 the day before. The lockdown will now run until 12 April.
• A German city - Jena in the east - has decided that citizens must wear masks in shops and on public transport. Austria has also told people to wear masks in supermarkets. As elsewhere in Europe, Germany is short of masks, and medics get priority. So in Jena citizens have been urged to start sewing their own masks. Health professionals say however that ordinary masks offer little protection against coronavirus
• Germany’s death toll is now 600, and the average age of victims was 80, the respected Robert Koch Institute has just announced (other estimates put the toll at 650). Just 31 out of the 600 were aged under 60, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia are the worst-hit regions
• Spain's health ministry says the death toll in the past 24 hours was 849 - a new record. The previous highest daily figure was 838 on Sunday. The total of people infected has surpassed China, where the outbreak started - it is now 94,417. There are plans to move some intensive care patients from Madrid and Catalonia - the worst-hit areas - to other parts of Spain
• In the Netherlands thieves took advantage of the lockdown to steal a Van Gogh painting from a gallery in the town of Laren. The painting, Spring Garden, is reckoned to be worth as much as 6m euros (£5.3m)

Image source, dpa

The coronavirus outbreak has shuttered European borders for the first time in decades. But two octogenarians won’t let a global pandemic get in their way.

Inga Rasmussen from Denmark and Karsten Tüchsen Hansen from Germany – aged 85 and 89, respectively – meet daily on the border near the town of Aventoft to chat and eat.

Rasmussen drives to the border from her town of Gallehus, while Hansen rides his bike from Süderlügum. The pair have tried to meet daily since the shutdown, and speak on the phone often.

"It's sad but we can't change it," Rasmussen told German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Both have become local celebrities during the crisis after the mayor of a local town found the pair while he was on a bike ride. You can read more about them here.

Jenny Hill
BBC Berlin correspondent

Germany’s coronavirus death rate is rising and will continue to do so, the government’s health adviser has warned.

Lothar Wieler, who runs the Robert Koch institute, says the rate is still relatively low (0.8%) because of widespread early testing and the fact that the majority of the early cases involved younger, healthy people with mild symptoms.

But he adds that older people are now testing positive and the virus is spreading to hospitals and care homes, which makes him think the death rate will rise further.

When asked about how Germany records Covid-19 deaths, Professor Wieler says there’s no evidence to suggest any are being missed.