Image source, Getty Images

Thousands of Instagram accounts have begun selling face masks with dubious safety benefits, according to independent research group Ghost Data.

Researchers found that at least 10,450 "dubious" accounts had begun selling masks on Instagram in just the last four months. The scammers "make good use of Instagram viral hashtags" to prey upon virus fears.

As the virus has spread worldwide, a growing number of health officials have recommended that all people - not just medical professionals - use facial coverings as a precautionary safety measure.

This report comes a month after Facebook - Instagram's parent company - banned ads that sell medical face masks.

"Scammers have found ways to abuse the broader reach of Instagram," the report says. "There is no guarantees that advertised products are genuine and safe."

Image source, Getty Images

While the roads may be quieter during the UK’s lockdown, an unwelcome by-product has been the number of motorists caught speeding, according to Greater Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham.

Burnham says that despite the large decrease of traffic, the number of speeding motorists in the region has doubled, with about four in 10 cars exceeding the speed limit.

“Greater Manchester Police will be targeting hotspots where speeding is happening,” he said.

The issue of motorists driving too fast has not been confined to Greater Manchester:

• A man told police he had travelled to London from Nottingham to buy bread after being caught speeding at 110mph (177km/h) on the motorway
• Police in North Yorkshire clocked a driver at 132mph and had also recorded speeds of up to 117mph, with several vehicles driving at close to 100mph
• Surrey police stopped a driver travelling at 130mph on the M25 motorway around London., external

A nurse who died with suspected coronavirus has been remembered as a "spirited friend" who "loved his NHS job".

Donald Suelto, who worked at Hammersmith Hospital in west London, died after going into self-isolation with coronavirus symptoms, his friend and fellow nurse Alejandro Fernandez said.

In a tribute to his friend, who was originally from the Philippines, Mr Fernandez said: "I still can't believe it.

"You were never alone. As I said, you are a hero, everyone knows that. So proud of you.

"He was an enthusiastic nurse, full of life, loved his NHS job and a spirited friend with a loving heart. Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family. Rest in peace, Donds."

Mr Fernandez said Mr Suelto had not been tested for Covid-19 before his death.

A spokeswoman for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said: "We can confirm that, very sadly, a nurse based at Hammersmith Hospital has died.

"Cause of death is not yet clear. We are in touch with next of kin and are focusing on support for them as well as for colleagues at this very difficult time."

Helen Briggs
BBC science and health journalist

The target of ramping up tests in England to 100,000 a day by the end of the month “will be a big challenge”, say government advisers and senior civil servants.

But they are confident it can be achieved.

Speaking before the House of Commons science and technology committee, the director of Covid-19 testing strategy at the Department of Health, Kathy Hall, said there were three main challenges:

• The right sort of supplies in terms of kit, swabs and reagents
• Logistical challenges in getting supplies to the right place
• Quality and accuracy of testing

The government is working with universities and companies to ramp up testing.

But Sir Paul Nurse - a leading scientist at London’s Francis Crick Institute, which is helping with testing efforts - said 100,000 tests would be “a stretch”.

Testing adviser Prof John Newton admitted the government was "somewhat behind a few other countries" on testing, but said: “We are catching up fast.”

The target of 100,000 tests does not include antibody testing, which might tell if someone has been infected by the virus and developed immunity.

The government had bought millions of such tests from different countries and suppliers, but Ms Hall conceded they weren’t accurate enough and refunds were being sought.

Prof Newton agreed current antibody tests were not good enough to rely on and said it was worth taking time to get a better antibody test before rolling it out.

Image source, Getty Images

For some of New York's healthcare workers - serving on the frontlines of the US coronavirus outbreak - home is now a $1,000-a-night room at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City.

The Manhattan hotel was converted from an extravagant retreat for the wealthy to a place of refuge for New York's nurses, doctors and other medical professionals in a matter of days.

There is no bar or restaurant anymore, but packed lunches are available upon request.

"Many of those working in New York City have to travel long distances to and from their homes after putting in 18-hour days," said Ty Warner, owner of the Four Seasons, in a statement. "They need a place close to work where they can rest and regenerate."

While other hotels have given up rooms to help backstop overcrowded hospitals, the Four Seasons has emptied entirely of guests - except for medical workers.

The quick conversion followed a call to action from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as the state faced a shortage of housing for healthcare workers who could not safely return to their families.

With at least 140,386 infections statewide, New York is the centre of the US crisis. New York City remains the hardest hit, with more than 76,000 infections and 4,000 deaths so far.

Image source, AFP

US President Donald Trump took a swipe at the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, accusing its leadership of being “very China-centric" when it was "largely" funded by the US.

The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is an Ethiopian and the first African to head the organisation - and Mr Trump's comments have riled leaders in Africa.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramphosa has called Dr Tedros’s leadership "exceptional". Earlier, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and African Union Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat defended the WHO chief, while Namibia's President Hage Geingob called him a "true flag bearer of multilateralism when global solidarity has become critical".

In other developments:

Seychelles is starting a 21-day lockdown from midnight. The Indian Ocean archipelago, popular with tourists, made the decision two days after a man working at the international airport tested positive for coronavirus

A private hospital in South Africa’s port city of Durban has been closed to the public after 66 people, 48 of them staff, tested positive for Covid-19

Ten police officers in northern Uganda have been charged with allegedly torturing 38 women while enforcing a coronavirus lockdown. They are accused of caning them and forcing them to swim in mud

And from Saturday, Liberia, which battled an Ebola outbreak several years ago, will start a three-week lockdown. President George Weah, a former football star, said the fight against the virus had entered a new stage “from protection to containment”.

Naomi Grimley, Global Affairs Correspondent

The latest number of deaths in UK hospitals – 938 – is a new daily high for the coronavirus epidemic. Then there’s the fact that new infections have jumped up again after an earlier decline. All of this - plus the prime minister’s hospitalisation - makes it hard for the government’s chief scientists to seem too upbeat about the future.

But NHS England’s Stephen Powis insisted there is hope. He said it took time for the effects of social distancing to manifest themselves in the figures.

Another of the government’s scientific advisers, Angela McLean, reiterated that it was “good news” that the number of new infections wasn’t “accelerating out of control.”

So the scientists are still hopeful that the numbers are “flattening” and their message remains clear: keep on social distancing, don’t get complacent, and we’ll all see better results in time. In the words of Prof McLean, this is a “really important week”.

Image source, Getty Images

The lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for nurses is "fundamentally compromising" their safety and the care they can give patients, the UK's Royal College of Nursing is warning.

The union says nurses are being forced to share equipment, buy their own or reuse single-use kit.

It says the shortage means nurses face "impossible decisions between their own or their family's health and their sense of duty".

Writing to Parliament's health committee chairman Jeremy Hunt, the union's chief executive says: "Although there are announcements that millions of pieces of PPE are being distributed, they aren't reaching the frontline across all health and care settings."

Marianna Spring, Disinformation and Social Media Reporter

A misleading voice note about the response to coronavirus circulating on WhatsApp has been called “fake news” by Public Health England.

The panicked voice note is by a woman who claims she works for “Secas” – the South East Coast Ambulance Service and is sharing inside information that “comes from Public Health England”. She goes on to suggest that further restrictions on movement are imminent and that a huge proportion of the people dying of coronavirus are healthy and young.

Secas said that “the alarmist information being shared in the message is not correct”.

Prof Viv Bennett, chief nurse at Public Health England (PHE), told BBC News: “This is fake news, and we would urge people to ignore the message and not share it further.”

It’s difficult to tell how far the note has spread, but on Wednesday dozens of people have sent the note to BBC reporters, and Secas and PHE have both fielded numerous calls, indicating that the message is going viral on WhatsApp’s network.

Here are our tips for how you can stop bad information like this going viral.

Katie Razzall
Newsnight special correspondent

“A worryingly low number” of vulnerable children allocated a school place in England to keep them safe during the coronavirus crisis are actually turning up, officials have told BBC Newsnight.

In some areas just a quarter of the “at risk” children who are meant to be in school are attending, the programme has been told. In some areas the figure is below 10%.

These low attendance rates are concerning professionals working to protect these children.

Norfolk’s Chief Constable Simon Bailey, who is the lead on child protection for the National Police Chiefs' Council, told Newsnight: “Is it possible that we will see a coronavirus impact upon child sexual abuse? Yes I think it’s possible, in exactly the same way as I’ve got to work on the premise that we will also see more children groomed and abused online.”

For more on this, watch Newsnight this evening at 22.45 on BBC Two, or on iPlayer at https://bbc.in/3e5IjKQ

Ritu Prasad
BBC News, Fort Myers, Florida

At the start of April, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis directed residents of the Sunshine State to practice social distancing by limiting travel and interactions outside of their homes.

The move came after weeks of criticism over his decision to keep Florida open for business amid the growing Covid-19 outbreak.

While many of the state's famous beaches and tourist attractions like Disney World are now closed, other places remain open, including churches, liquor stores and ice cream shops.

Here's a look at how social distancing is affecting the city of Fort Myers in southern Florida.

Image source, Getty Images

New York is "undoubtedly flattening the curve", Governor Andrew Cuomo says, despite reporting the largest single-day death toll - for the second day in a row - with 779 New Yorkers succumbing to the virus on 7 April.

"We are flattening the curve because we are being rigorous about social distancing," Cuomo says. "It's not a time to get complacent."

What else did the governor say?

• Statewide hospitalisation rates have continued to decline, suggesting that the infection rate is beginning to plateau
• Cuomo notes that black and Hispanic people in New York are disproportionately likely to die of the virus. "The poorest people play the highest price," he says. "Why? Let's figure it out, let's do the work."
• All of New York's flags will be flown at half-mast, in honour of those who have died of Covid-19. Cuomo notes that New York lost 2,753 lives on the 11 September attacks, while 6,268 New Yorkers have already died of the virus
• As the disease continues to pummel the eastern state, Cuomo has promised an additional $600 to those who have filed for unemployment.

"I don't think we return to normal," Cuomo says. "If we're smart, we achieve a new normal."

Danny Shaw
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent

Crimestoppers, a UK crime-fighting charity, has passed on over 500 tip-offs to police about people breaking lockdown rules.

The anonymous service says it has received thousands of calls and emails relating to breaches of the restrictions but is only informing police about the most serious cases.

They include threats to infect or cough at people and parties being planned on social media.

Crimestoppers has also informed police about reports that pubs and restaurants have been operating.

Last week, it tipped off police 298 times - double the number the previous week.

David Shukman
Science editor, BBC News

Image source, Aalto/FMI/VTT/UH

New computer models have simulated how people coughing can spread coronavirus in confined spaces like supermarket aisles.

A consortium of Finnish research institutions has developed detailed animations showing how tiny droplets can drift and linger in the air.

The research shows that a cough can produce particles which remain airborne for several minutes.

The scientists involved say their work has not yet been scrutinised by other experts but does highlight the risks of spending time in busy places.

Assistant Professor Ville Vuorinen of Aalto University in Helsinki had this advice for people thinking of visiting supermarkets: “First of all, don’t go there if you don’t need to go there. If you need to go there, only go as seldom as possible. And number three: stay there as short a time as possible.”

The research may reinforce the view among many governments - from the US to Indonesia - that the public should wear face masks to minimise the risks of transmission.

Image source, Getty Images

Labour's new shadow chancellor welcomes the new charity funding from the UK government, but says it "falls far short of filling the financial black hole many organisations are facing".

Anneliese Dodds calls on ministers to "continue to look at what additional measures can be made available".

She adds: "We must also see concerted action to guarantee this support can get to charities swiftly to prevent further damage being done."

Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent

The main news from the chancellor was the encouraging update on the prime minister’s health.

It goes without saying that to hear Boris Johnson is sitting up in bed and engaging with his medical team will come as a big relief.

The money announced for charities is significant too, but already Labour and others are warning it won’t go far enough.

Mr Sunak offered a stark reminder that coronavirus would have “a very significant impact” on the economy and that it was “simply not possible” to save every job, business and charity.

On the lockdown measures being reviewed, he said there would be a meeting tomorrow involving devolved governments to discuss the approach.

A hint perhaps that the Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford may have jumped the gun in confirming restrictions would stay in place beyond next week.

There was no sense from the chancellor that restrictions will be eased, however, with him saying the unequivocal advice remained for people to stay at home.

There was a reminder too of how important the coming days are from the Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser Angela McLean.

She said it was “a really important week… we're all watching what happens”.

If you're just joining us, here are some of the biggest developments from the US:

• The number of confirmed infections around the country has hit nearly 400,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 12,900 people have also died after catching the virus
• President Donald Trump has said the US will soon have more ventilators than it needs to help those suffering with coronavirus across the country. He added that any surplus could be distributed among "desperate" countries fighting the virus, including the UK
• The president also threatened to end funding for the World Health Organization over its handling of the pandemic
• The state of Wisconsin pressed ahead with an election on Tuesday, despite a state-wide stay-at-home order amid the escalating coronavirus outbreak. Voters braved long queues at a limited number of polling stations to choose the Democrats' presidential candidate for this year's White House race

Image source, Reuters

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will chair cabinet today, his first appearance at work since he began working from home on 12 March.

He was instructed to self-isolate for 14 days because his wife Sophie came down with coronavirus, but he continued to work from his residence.

He will continue working mostly from home, but says he will attend government meetings in person if he thinks it's important.

His meeting today will tackle the "next steps" in his government's plan to fight the spread coronavirus and ease its economic effects.

He says he hopes Parliament will begin meeting virtually, so that MPs whose families do not live in the region can attend.

Parliament has been suspended, except for brief sessions to pass emergency legislation, since the coronavirus crisis began.

The UK government press conference has come to an end. Here’s what we learned:

• Chancellor Rishi Sunak said Boris Johnson remained in intensive care, but his condition was improving and he was "sitting up in bed"
• He announced a £750m package to keep struggling charities afloat during the pandemic

• He declined to "speculate" on when UK-wide lockdown measures would end, saying any decision would be based on scientific data
• Angela McLean, chief scientific adviser at the Ministry of Defence, said new UK cases of the virus were "not accelerating out of control"
• NHS England’s medical director, Stephen Powis, said hospital admittance data was showing the "first signs of plateauing"
• But he said this was not a time for complacency, and the virus would start to spread again if social distancing rules were not followed

Image source, South Bedfordshire News Agency

Fifteen people at a care home in Luton in southern England have died, five of whom had tested positive for the virus.

Castletroy Residential Home has 69 beds for elderly people with nursing or personal care needs.

The other 10 residents who died had not been tested for coronavirus, a Public Health England spokesperson said.

Dr Sultan Salimee said PHE was "continuing to work closely with the care home, providing public health advice to stop the virus spreading".

The news comes after seven residents died at a care home in east London.

In Scotland, eight residents have died at a care home in Dumbarton, and 12 at another in Glasgow.

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