Image source, AXEL SCHEFFLER AND JULIA DONALDSON

If you thought fictional characters were immune from social distancing, think again: even the popular children's character the Gruffalo has had to adapt to current ways.

In new sketches, author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler have drawn their characters keeping a safe distance from one another to help children understand the regulations.

The characters are also seen helping the vulnerable with their shopping.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

The three topics dominating many of the UK government’s press conferences during the outbreak have been protective equipment, ventilators and that all-important testing.

While we wait for the latest briefing to start, why not read the analysis from our health correspondent Nick Triggle on how the government is performing in these areas.

Image source, Reuters

Peru has followed Panama in imposing new quarantine measures based on gender that mean men and women are allowed out of their homes on alternate days. Men can leave home on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; women can do so on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. No-one is allowed out on Sundays.

Peru has seen more than 1,400 cases of Covid-19 and 55 related deaths.

Elsewhere:

• Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said a lockdown of two or three months would cause "massive unemployment". He's been widely criticised for urging Brazilians to ignore quarantine measures imposed by most state governors. Meanwhile, the health ministry believes the country's first coronavirus case was in January - nearly a month earlier than previously thought. Brazil has had just over 8,000 cases and 327 deaths
• Argentina's beef exports to the EU have plunged to almost zero during the Covid-19 outbreak, officials told Reuters.
• Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno says he believes the coronavirus is far more widespread in his country than stated in a recent government report. Officially, Ecuador has had more than 3,000 infections and 120 deaths. It comes as residents of Guayaquil, Ecuador's second city, shared images of abandoned bodies in the streets

Image source, PA Media

While we wait for the daily update from the UK government, here is the latest from the country.

• A total of 3,605 people have now died from coronavirus - up by 684 in the last 24 hours
• The NHS Nightingale Hospital was officially opened in London’s Excel Centre today by Prince Charles, providing an extra 4,000 beds
• The Queen will address the nation on Sunday at 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT) amid the ongoing crisis
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson is continuing to stay isolated as he is still showing symptoms of the virus after seven days
• Teachers will be asked to assess students' grades after GCSE and A-Level exams were cancelled

Outdoor life in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began has partially resumed after more than two months of isolation.

Here are some photos of the city on Thursday and Friday.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

See some more photos here.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo is speaking now. His state remains the epicentre of the outbreak in the US.

Cuomo says the state has now seen the "highest single [day] increase in the number of deaths since we started: 2,900 from 2,300."

He says the curve of cases is still rising, and the number of tests conducted has reached a new high - over 21,000 to date.

Other updates:

• New York has 10,000 new cases from Thursday
• 102,000 people have tested positive
• 14,000 are currently in hospital, with 3,700 in critical care
• 8,800 people have been discharged

English football will not return until "it is safe and appropriate to do so", the Premier League has said as it accepts it will not restart on 30 April.

That was the date the suspension of the Premier League and English Football League was due to end.

Top-flight clubs have been heavily criticised as some furlough off-field staff - meaning public funds pay 80% of their wages - while footballers remain on their full huge salaries.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak says Premier League clubs, like other businesses, should "act responsibly".

The top-flight clubs have agreed to consult their players about a 30% pay cut.

They have donated £20m to "support the NHS, communities, families and vulnerable groups" and given "advance funds" of £125m to the lower leagues.

Their 20 captains have been in talks for several days and it is expected they will set up a collective charitable fund - with the NHS a likely beneficiary.

Image source, Getty Images

It had been thought Boris Johnson might return to the lectern today after finishing his seven days of quarantine - having tested positive for coronavirus last week.

But with the prime minister still showing symptoms, today’s daily press briefing will be led again by Health Secretary Matt Hancock - who only came out of quarantine himself on Wednesday.

He will be joined at 17:00 BST (16:00 GMT) by deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam and the director of health improvement at Public Health England, Professor John Newton.

We will bring you all the updates here or you can watch live on BBC One and the BBC News Channel.

Image source, Getty Images

A US Navy hospital ship which docked in New York City harbour on Monday was supposed to reduce the burden on strained hospitals by receiving non-Covid-19 patients.

But as of Thursday, the USNS Comfort, which has a 1,000-bed capacity, had only 20 patients on board, officials told the New York Times. Across the country in Los Angeles, California, its sister ship, the USNS Mercy, had only treated 15.

Many have criticised the slow response as New York City hospitals are flooded with sick patients and health care workers are still struggling to find the necessary equipment. The city has confirmed more than 1,500 deaths with Covid-19.

On Friday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told MSBNC: "I don't have a question in my mind that number's going to change very rapidly.

"The arrival, meant so much to New Yorkers. It was like the greatest sign of hope we've received in weeks. I'm sure that ship will be very full soon. They have to be smart about the cases they take. It's going to get very busy, very quickly next week."

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Moscow Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

This may seem an unorthodox way to battle a pandemic, but the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is currently being driven around the Moscow ring road with an icon he says has miraculous powers.

Patriarch Kirill is saying prayers as he goes along and calling on help from above to protect the city from coronavirus.

In recent days, outside the capital, Russian priests have been taking to the skies around their cities to pray for deliverance from the deadly virus.

Still, the Church has been criticised here for its slow response to the public health threat.

Until recently parishioners were being encouraged to attend services and to congregate in church. Last Sunday, finally, the patriarch called on Russians to stay at home to pray.

Nicholas Witchell
BBC royal correspondent

We understand it will be a recorded message but it is clearly a measure of the seriousness of the situation in which this country and indeed the wider world finds itself.

This has been decided in close consultation with Downing Street. They have had it in their minds for some days now.

We are reminded of what Her Majesty said on 19 March, as she arrived at Windsor. She said then she was "reminded of our nation’s history that it has been forged by people and communities coming together".

One must imagine there will be similar sorts of messages and themes in the broadcast on Sunday night.

The Queen said a couple of weeks ago that now more than any time in our recent past we all have a vitally important part to play as individuals.

I think we can expect more of that, together of course with thanks to the NHS, for its heroic efforts, and to all those key workers for the part that they are playing.

And the purpose, of course, is to reassure and rally people - to act as the head of the nation, as she is head of state, to offer her stabilising message to the country.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Hundreds of sailors have applauded and chanted the name of a US naval captain who was fired after his concerns about the spread of the virus on his ship were made public.

Captain Brett Crozier warned that crew on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt were at risk after reports suggested at least 100 people aboard were infected.

One video of his emotional send-off on social media shows the captain saluting and then walking off the ship ashore, as sailors cheer for him.

Capt Crozier raised his concerns in a letter the navy alleges he leaked to the media - he was removed from his position after the navy said he had "exercised extremely poor judgement".

The docked ship was on a deployment to the Pacific region but was then diverted to Guam when cases were reported last week.

You can read more about Captain Crozier's story here.

Some 56% of parents are worried about their children’s mental health during the coronavirus outbreak, a Save the Children study shows.

It also reveals that 85% of 16-18-year-olds are worried about not seeing their friends and family.

Debra Barry from the organisation has offered some advice for parents, urging them to be proactive and address their children's specific concerns:

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us in the US, good morning and welcome. Here are the latest headlines:

• The White House is expected to advise Americans living in coronavirus hotspots to wear cloth masks or scarves in public to help stop its spread
• "I don't think it will be mandatory - if people want to wear them, they can," President Donald Trump said of the advice
• New York City remains the worst-hit area in the country. It has recorded 1,562 deaths in the pandemic, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University
• Most states have issued "stay-at-home" orders, putting more than 75% of Americans under lockdown
• The US now has the most Covid-19 cases - more than 245,000 - in the world. The authorities said more than 1,000 people had died in the past 24 hours - the highest daily death toll ever recorded
• A decade of jobs growth in the US came to an abrupt halt last month, official figures show. Employers shed hundreds of thousands of jobs with the leisure and hospitality industries accounting for more than half of them
• It comes after figures showed around 10 million Americans had registered for unemployment benefits over the past two weeks - eclipsing all previous records

Alongside the rapid acceleration of coronavirus cases and deaths in the US, the astronomical rise in unemployment there has been a huge story this week.

About 10 million people registered for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks - a record high. The graph at the top of this post shows just how big the increase is - a sign of the economic impact the pandemic is having.

Today, new data shows the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% in March - but that will probably get worse because the figures from the end of the month haven't yet been collected.

Economists expect the rate to rise into the double digits in coming months.

As we might expect, more than half of the job losses are in the leisure and hospitality industries.

Staff on the maternity ward at Worcestershire Acute NHS Hospitals Trust have taken a quick dance break to celebrate their colleagues' hard work during the coronavirus pandemic.

We're bringing you live updates of the coronavirus pandemic throughout the day, with stories from around the world.

But we're also covering the crisis in other languages. These include:

• Turkish
• Russian
• Urdu
• Hindi
• Persian

Click the above links to follow the latest in your chosen language.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, a 4,000-bed field hospital which will help provide care to Covid-19 patients was officially opened in London a few hours ago.

Plans for two more emergency sites in Bristol and Harrogate were also announced earlier.

They will join others across the UK which - once work is completed - will together increase NHS capacity by more than 10,000 beds.

This map shows some of the largest new facilities, which have been named Nightingale hospitals - after the influential Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale.

In recent weeks, we've been overwhelmed by stories of individuals doing good things in this time of global crisis - however, there are always cases where people try to take advantage of an emergency.

A shocking case of fake Covid-19 test centres, external charging visitors $240 (£195) in the US state of Kentucky is being reported in US media.

Two medical marketing companies are offering the tests, condemned by a local official as "scams", including in a church and a Marathon gas station in Louisville. Officials warn the companies are instead collecting personal data from visitors. City officials condemned the centres, advising residents to be extra vigilant.

Elsewhere in the US, one website was shut down after it claimed it was offering a vaccine. And in Virigina, telephone scammers posing as health workers tried to lure people to scam test centres.

In March we reported about UK councils warning about scams involving callers pretending to be health officials.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

The Queen will address the nation in a televised broadcast on Sunday, Buckingham Palace has announced.

The broadcast will be aired at 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT).

The Queen has suspended her royal duties and is currently at Windsor Castle in Berkshire with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Last month she issued a message on the outbreak, saying the UK is “entering a period of great concern and uncertainty”.

Sunday's address will be only the fourth of her 68-year reign beyond her traditional message on Christmas Day.

The other three previous speeches to be aired came after the Queen Mother's death in 2002, ahead of Diana, Princess of Wales's funeral in 1997 and about the First Gulf War in 1991.