BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

The BBC and Twitter moved quickly yesterday to remove a fake account impersonating the corporation's Breaking News Twitter page, but not before it had managed to spread an untrue story about the health of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The fake post was picked up by a prominent TV channel in Pakistan, which it aired for a short while as a news flash. It subsequently aired an apology after realising its error.

It's not the first time that fake BBC accounts have appeared on Twitter during the Covid-19 crisis, and they have been deleted almost immediately.

So-called "imposter content" is a headache for news organisations because they spread misleading news while damaging their reputations.

While most cases appear to be trolling or mischief-making, some fake accounts are attempts to direct readers to their own websites for financial gain.

How to tell if an account is genuine: BBC accounts on social media platforms are verified, and have a "blue tick" graphic next to the account name, such as on the breaking news account @BBCBreaking (https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking, external). Imposter accounts might use a variation of the genuine account name, have been recently set up, and will have very few followers. They might also use poor English, and not link to BBC news stories.

Image source, Getty Images

Spain’s daily death toll has risen for the second day in a row - up by 757 compared with 743 on Tuesday. It’s far lower than the record 950 deaths reported on 2 April, but it shows the crisis is far from over in the country.

Infections also rose by the most in four days by 6,180 to nearly 147,000. Spain has more confirmed cases than any other European country.

The regional director for the World Health Organization, Dr Hans Kluge, said on Wednesday there were signs the outbreak was slowing in Italy and Spain. But he warned that the progress across the continent was “extremely fragile”.

Germany has not been as badly affected as other countries, with experts praising its widespread testing. Infections there now number over 103,000 and the head of the RKI public health institute has said there is definitely a positive trend, although it is too soon to talk about sounding the all-clear.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly said that it will not be possible to lift the lockdown, external on 14 April, local media reports say.

Opposition MPs told reporters that Modi “made it clear” that the lockdown won’t be lifted all at once, external after he held a meeting with political leaders via video conference.

But the government has not made any official announcement yet on extending the lockdown.

We’re less than a week from what was originally meant to be the finish line, but cases in India have soared to beyond 4,500 and at least seven states have hinted that they’d like to extend the lockdown.

It's easy enough to wash your hands and stay away from people - when you have running water and your own living space.

Across the world, thousands of refugees and migrants are living in camps that are unsanitary and crowded, and it's not easy to avoid catching the virus.

In Moria in Lesbos, 18,000 people are staying in a facility built for 3,000 and cases of Covid-19 are already on their doorstep.

BBC population correspondent Stephanie Hegarty was sent footage by a group of young filmmakers living in the settlement showing migrants doing their best to keep safe.

Image source, Getty Images

After a stringent lockdown lasting more than two months, people are finally being allowed to leave the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December.

Read about how people in the city are reacting here.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, @najivisuals

Coronavirus has spread across the continent in recent weeks, and the World Health Organization is warning of a "new front" in the battle against Covid-19:

• Africa has now recorded more than 10 000 cases. The WHO's Matshidiso Moeti said: “Covid-19 has the potential not only to cause thousands of deaths, but to also unleash economic and social devastation"
• Somalis are mourning Ahmed Ismail Hussein Hudeydi, one of the founders of modern Somali music. Known as "the King of Oud" - after the instrument that he played - he died in London at the age of 92 after contracting Covid-19
• South Africa’s Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has been suspended for two months for going to lunch at a friend's house during the lockdown
• Ethiopia has declared a state of emergency over the outbreak. The country, with a population of more than 102 million, has recorded 52 cases, including two deaths
• Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s First Lady Zinash Tayachew has released a gospel song pleading for "God's mercy" as the world battles with the pandemic
• And The Democratic Republic of Congo has freed 1,200 prisoners to ease jail congestion and prevent the spread of coronavirus.

About a third of the world's population is now living under some form of lockdown. But why are such restrictions it so important? We break down the numbers for you, and what the rules are like in the UK.

The upcoming Easter weekend is not the time to relax lockdown restrictions, says Dr Hans Kluge, World Health Organization regional director for Europe.

"Now is not the time to relax measures," he said. "It is the time to once again double and triple our collective measures."

Dr Kluge added: "We must soldier on. To think we are coming close to an end point is a dangerous thing to do. The virus leaves no room for complacency."

Image source, Getty Images

• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered all people diagnosed with coronavirus to be quarantined in hospital. In an address late on Tuesday, he said that the country had enough beds and had contained the pandemic. Venezuela has been experiencing food and medicine shortages for years
• Also in Venezuela, healthcare workers have told Reuters news agency that they spend hours queuing for petrol, affecting their ability to get to work
• A health official in Mexico has been sacked after allegedly spitting on hospital staff and demanding special treatment in a hospital in the state of Oaxaca. Daniel López Regalado - who has tested positive for coronavirus - has now been charged with "risk of infection"

Image source, Getty Images

Zoe Conway
BBC Radio 4 Today reporter

One of the key public-health messages of recent weeks has been: Wash your hands. But at Coldingley prison in Surrey, 279 inmates do not have toilets or sinks in their cells. They're scared.

On Tuesday, after two weeks of lockdown, the prison started handing out buckets, soap and shower gel to the prisoners. We've also been told officers are trying to get the prisoners to the toilets and showers more.

A Prison Service spokesperson told us they are keeping conditions at Coldingley as hygienic as possible. Up to 4,000 risk-assessed inmates are being temporarily released across the country to ease pressure on prisons.

Image source, Getty Images

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC Tokyo correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

So here we are - day one of Tokyo’s long-anticipated state of emergency. The vital question now: Will it modify behaviour enough to start bending the graph of coronavirus infections downwards?

I am not a scientist, and evidence will take two weeks to start to show. But early indications are not encouraging.

I live in Shibuya, a few minutes' walk from the famous "scramble crossing". I went down there at lunchtime, trying to keep 2m from everyone I passed. That was impossible.

Yes, there were fewer people than normal – but normal in Shibuya is shoulder to shoulder. It is not like that now, but nor is it empty. Burger King and McDonalds were deserted, but the ramen shops were still crowded.

Outside the station there’s a smoking area where tobacco lovers crowd in for a post-lunch puff. Today it’s taped off, but the smokers were just standing outside it, bunched together as close as usual.

No-one who’s lived in Japan will be particularly surprised. Friends back in the UK tell me their impression of Japan is of a well-organised society - which is true - that will respond quickly to the coronavirus pandemic - which is not.

The biggest obstacle to reacting fast is hierarchy. Japan is top-down, with a culture that doesn't allow you to question the boss.

For weeks everyone has been waiting for the big boss, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to make a decision. Finally, last night he did.

But his announcement was extremely vague. He didn’t even specify which businesses should close and which can stay open.

Until he does, most businesses are staying open and Japanese people are continuing to go to work.

Image source, Reuters

• A general closure has been imposed across Israel ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday. The government banned travel between cities until Friday. More than 9,400 Israelis have tested positive for the Covid-19 virus and 71 have died.
• In Egypt, where 1,450 cases and 94 deaths have been reported, the government has announced that it will ban any public religious gatherings during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which starts in about two weeks.
• Iran has urged the IMF to accept its request for a $5bn (£4bn) loan to help combat the pandemic. President Hassan Rouhani warned that “there should be no discrimination” in approving loans. The US has said Iran might use it to counteract sanctions. Iran is among the countries worst hit by Covid-19, with 62,589 cases and 3,872 deaths reported.
• Saudi Arabia’s health minister has warned that up to 200,000 people there could be infected with the virus in the coming weeks if people fail to comply with restrictions on movement and social-distancing rules. At least 2,795 people in the kingdom has so far tested positive and 41 have died.

Resty Woro Yuniar
BBC News, Jakarta

Image source, AFP

Indonesia is to ramp up testing with 20 new diagnostic machines with a combined capacity of 10,000 tests a day. The devices have been bought from Swiss healthcare giant Roche.

They will be sent to 12 provinces in Indonesia, including the epicentre Jakarta and the hard-hit provinces of West Java and Banten.

Medical experts say the current lack of tests hide the true scale of Indonesia's outbreak. As of Tuesday, 14,354 tests had been carried out - only 54 per million people - and 2,738 had tested positive.

In recent weeks, regional governments have carried out rapid tests by drawing blood samples, but experts warn that their results are not definitive.

Senior official Arya Sinulingga said Indonesia had purchased the machines three weeks ago - two weeks after the country announced its first cases - and they arrived in the country on Saturday.

There have been strict lockdown conditions for a month now in Italy.

For many who have been left unable to work, there are serious implications.

BBC Europe correspondent Jean Mackenzie has met some of the Italians who can no longer afford to buy food and found out how others are trying to help.

Simon Atkinson
BBC News, Sydney

Alcoholic-drink makers using their expertise and kit to produce hand sanitiser has become a bit of a thing in recent weeks.

But few have shown such commitment as Australian Steve Norris.

His Bluestill Distillery business in Bowral, New South Wales, normally produces whisky, bourbon and rum.

But with hand sanitiser hard to come by there, Norris set aside a few days to have a go at making some.

Sadly, before he got round to it, the former farmer was taken to hospital with chest pains. That turned out to be a heart attack.

Luckily local doctors hospital fixed him up with three stents in his arm. He was released last Friday and on the weekend - with the help of family and friends - made over 1,200 litres of the sought-after hand gel.

Daughter–in-law Sandra Norris told the BBC: “Steve probably would have had another heart attack if we hadn’t let him make it.”

Image source, Getty Images

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says "we're nowhere near lifting lockdown" and that the peak of infections is still "a week-and-a-half away".

London is a coronavirus hotspot with a further 224 people dying with the virus on Tuesday. Eight bus workers have died in the capital after contracting coronavirus since the outbreak began.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Khan said: "I speak to experts regularly. After this interview I will have another call with Public Health England and National Health Service London. We think the peak, which is the worst part of the virus, is still probably a week-and-a-half away.

"I'm afraid we're still seeing too many people losing their lives on a daily basis."

Khan said too many people were still leaving home to work "when they shouldn't be doing so". He added: "I think there's been a lack of clarity as to who is an essential worker."

Image source, Getty Images

As the pandemic continues to rage in Europe, there are growing splits among EU members and institutions about how best to respond. Here are the latest developments:

• After 16 hours of talks, EU finance ministers said on Wednesday they still hadn’t agreed an economic response. Northern EU member states like the Netherlands and Germany fear they’ll end up carrying other countries’ debts, while hard-hit nations in the south like Italy and Spain say not enough is being done
• Mauro Ferrari, the EU’s top scientist, dramatically quit last night because of the bloc’s response to the virus, saying he had “lost faith” in the EU
• Regional officials in Spain – one of the worst-affected countries in the world - told El Mundo newspaper that the national death toll may be as much as double the official number
• German courts have rejected attempts by some Catholics to attend Easter services amid the lockdown
• And French President Emmanuel Macron has come under fire for visiting a badly affected town, prompting residents to come out and greet him. Macron reportedly asked several times for people to move away and respect social distancing rules, without success

There are calls for funerals to be banned in Wales during the coronavirus crisis because of limits on the number of mourners causing distress to families.

Lorraine Barrett, a humanist celebrant of 11 years, is calling for a ban.

The former Welsh assembly member said an outright prohibition on funerals would protect families as well as crematorium and funeral workers.

Welsh Government guidance does not set limits on numbers but insists attendees stay 2m (6ft 6ins) apart.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

With lockdowns and social distancing in full swing around the world, people have found creative ways to adjust to the new normal online.

We spoke to some Americans who are still hanging out with their friends via virtual movie nights, digital happy hours and birthdays on video messaging platforms.

We've seen similar stats from China, and now air pollution levels appear to be dropping in the UK. Levels have gone down significantly in the two weeks since the country went into lockdown to slow down the spread.

Some cities have seen nitrogen dioxide (N02) levels fall by up to 60% on the same period last year, analysis shows. N02, released from car exhausts, is a serious air pollutant and also indirectly contributes to the warming of the planet.

Click here to read our full story on this.