The Chinese government has rejected “unfair and unjust” allegations that it tried to “cover up” the coronavirus outbreak in the city where it began.

Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesman, said China had been “open, transparent and responsible” in informing the world about the epidemic.

He said it “took us some time before we knew more about” the virus, which was officially first detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei province, late last year.

China is widely considered to have concealed the extent, severity and even existence of Covid-19 during the early stages of the outbreak

Read more: Why China's claims of success raise eyebrows

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of not being transparent about the scale of the outbreak in Wuhan.

On Thursday Lijian hit back, suggesting the virus might not have originated in Wuhan and could have emerged “in any city, country or region in the world”.

He also defended the World Health Organization, after US President Donald Trump accused it of being "very China-centric".

Read the full story: WHO chief urges end to 'politicisation' of virus

Image source, Getty Images

The daily UK government briefing is due to start in just over 10 minutes.

It's being led by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is standing in for the prime minister while Mr Johnson is in hospital.

He'll be joined by now-familiar faces Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser.

While we wait, why not be cheered up by this video of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge chatting to the children of key workers?

Image source, Graham family

Kind and compassionate, with an engaging personality and razor-sharp wit - those were among the tributes paid by colleagues to Janice Graham, the first NHS worker to die of coronavirus in Scotland.

Ms Graham, who was 58 and a health care support worker as well as a district nurse, died at Inverclyde Royal Hospital on Monday.

Her son Craig told STV News: "I am so proud of her and there will not be a day that goes by that I will not think about her."

As some NHS staff are hit by the virus, nursing students in their final year are stepping up to work in the front line.

One, Claire, told BBC Radio 5 Live about how she is both "scared" and "eager" to help her colleagues.

The UK government's press conference is due to start in half an hour, at 17:00 BST.

In the meantime, here's the latest news from the UK:

• NHS England announced a further 765 people with the virus had died. In Scotland, another 81 people died, while Wales announced a further 41 deaths.
• Boris Johnson's condition is said to be improving, and he is "in good spirits" according to Downing St
• The Welsh government has annoyed Westminster by pre-empting its decision on extending the lockdown
• Greater Manchester Police issued a warning after shutting down over 600 parties

Patience Atuhaire
BBC News, Kampala

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has released a video of himself working out in his office, to encourage citizens to exercise at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

In the video, the president, barefoot, starts off by jogging around the room to warm up. He then gets down to do 21 press-ups in one go, as his press team counts along. He does 30 press-ups in total.

On Wednesday, the president banned exercise in public as a control measure against coronavirus, after videos and photos of people working out in groups around the capital, Kampala, were posted on social media, despite the country being in a lockdown.

This is not the first time the president has brought his own health into focus.

The 75-year-old told the nation last year that he had lost 30kg (five stone) because he had started to focus on his health and fitness.

In January Mr Museveni walked 200km (125 miles) through the Luweero triangle, where he had his bases as he fought the war that brought him to power in 1986.

Uganda has so far registered 53 cases of coronavirus.

Read more:

• How potatoes and cassava helped Uganda's Museveni shed 30kg

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in the US may be as low as 60,000, less than half what was initially predicted, the country’s top infectious disease expert has said.

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the effect of social-distancing measures had prompted him to revise his projections.

“The real data are telling us it is highly likely we are having a definite positive effect by the mitigation things that we’re doing, this physical separation,” Dr Fauci said in an interview with NBC on Thursday, external.

Dr Fauci said the death toll “looks more like the 60,000, than the 100,000 to 200,000” fatalities he initially predicted.

However, he warned against complacency, saying “we better be careful that we don't say, okay, we're doing so well we could pull back”.

Dr Fauci has sometimes been at odds with US President Donald Trump, who has often appeared more relaxed about easing social-distancing guidelines to reboot the economy.

Mr Trump has previously said he wants to open up the economy as soon as possible, but has refrained from doing so up to now as coronavirus cases have risen.

Dr Fauci appeared more optimistic on Thursday, telling NBC the US was “beginning” to flatten of the curve of Covid-19 transmission, especially in New York.

Read our story about the effect coronavirus has had on employment in the US.

Image source, Getty Images

• A court in Myanmar has ordered the release of more than 125 Rohingya Muslims - including women and children - who were in prison awaiting trial, as fears grow of a potential coronavirus outbreak in the country's overcrowded jails. Hundreds of Rohingya have been jailed inside Myanmar for allegedly breaching immigration laws as the government considers the minority group to be immigrants from Bangladesh
• Seven British tourists who were taken ill while on holiday in Kerala, southern India, have been cured. The tourists - who were aged between 57 and 83 - will be flown home on the next available flight, the state's health minister said. “I’m extremely happy that I could treat and cure [the worst affected tourist],” Dr Fathahudheen, the head of pulmonary and critical care department at the Government Medical College, Kochi, told the BBC
• A separatist group in Indonesia's Papua has called for a truce during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an official statement. The West Papua National Liberation Army said people "must only be alert for coronavirus", and not be scared of military action. However, the truce comes with the demand that Indonesia removes all its troops and police from the region. Government and police officials have yet to comment

We're expecting the government's daily press conference to start in an hour.

With the PM still in intensive care, his de facto deputy and foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, is leading it again.

He's likely to be joined by chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser.

Expect questions about the PM's health, testing, and how the government is making decisions about the lockdown.

We'll have all the live updates and reaction.

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

Image source, Frank Gardner

Saudi Arabia, despite its modern healthcare system, was always going to be vulnerable to a disease like Covid-19. And an unconfirmed report by the New York Times, external suggests that the ruling Al-Saud family is no exception.

With its large, transient population of migrant workers and the annual Hajj pilgrimage, the country has pockets of intense concentrations of people in confined spaces. Since 2012, at least 780 people have died in Saudi Arabia after testing positive for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers), external, which is caused by another coronavirus. Before that, hundreds died in an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever.

So now, as the Covid-19 pandemic spreads through the Middle East, the ruling princes are retreating out of sight.

Even in normal years, many of the senior royals escape the summer heat of the capital Riyadh by moving to the Red Sea city of Jeddah, where King Salman is now reported to be isolating himself. His favoured son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is reported to have withdrawn to a remote stretch of the north-west coast.

Meanwhile, the hi-tech King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, where I was treated for gunshot wounds in 2004, is being readied to receive royal patients. The hospital has some of the best surgeons, the best equipment and the best treatment in the entire Arab world.

The kingdom is also preparing to fly home thousands of Saudi citizens “stranded” in the UK, according to the spokesman for the Saudi embassy in London.

What is the reality for families with loved ones critically ill with Covid-19?

This is one family's story.

Sue Martin's husband Mal, 58, from South Wales, has been in intensive care for the past 11 days with Covid-19.

When doctors told her and their two teenage children that there was almost zero chance he was going to survive, she begged to be allowed to see him.

"Essentially we were going in to say our goodbyes," she told the BBC's Today programme earlier.

Listen to Sue's story in the clip above. And you can read more here.

Kerry Allen
BBC China analyst

It's been more than 24 hours since Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus emerged, came out of lockdown. And it seems like people have been taking advantage of their regained freedom.

Chinese media say some 65,000 people left the city on Wednesday by train and plane alone. Within the city, 620,000 people took a bus, boat, taxi or used the subway for the first time in 77 days.

But the state-run China Daily newspaper says “Wuhan will continue to enforce strict controls on residential communities to prevent a rebound” - so strict temperature checks and enforced mask-wearing are still commonplace.

The Chinese government is also now stepping up national procedures to assess people who are asymptomatic. Any such cases need to be reported within two hours of discovery.

But as China emerges from months of very strict restrictions, people who hoped to be able to flock back to cinemas and other entertainment venues have been left disappointed

They were open for a few days but have again been shuttered on the orders of the government.

Image source, AFP

No official decision has yet been taken by ministers - but it seems now to be a matter of when rather than whether the lockdown is extended.

Earlier, Downing Street did not seek to guide journalists away from such an interpretation, and instead called on people to "stick with it at this critical juncture".

Before then, the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden also urged the public to "keep at it." He cautioned too against throwing away the sacrifices of the past three weeks.

At the same time there is clear irritation at the decision of the Welsh government to pre-emptively announce they were going to extend the lockdown.

A UK government source expressed surprise that the Welsh government should have chosen to “jump the gun”.

Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething has suggested the lockdown could continue "for a number of weeks".

Image source, PA Media

UK ministers are expected to discuss a review of the country's lockdown measures in the next few hours.

When the restrictions were first announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he told the public they would be reviewed after three weeks (that's Monday).

The commitment was later written into the emergency laws to give police new powers to enforce the measures.

The review is expected to be on the agenda when Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab - who is deputising for the PM - chairs a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee shortly.

So, what can we expect? Here's our political editor Laura Kuenssberg's take.

Meanwhile, some of the nations which make up the UK already appear to have made their decision:

• In Wales, the restrictions have already been extended.
• And in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said a short while ago that it was "likely" the nation would be on lockdown "for some weeks to come yet".

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has reached 1.5 million globally, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

That indicates a rise of half a million in six days, after the total hit a million on Friday.

The actual number is thought to be much higher as most people experiencing mild symptoms have not been tested.

Almost 90,000 people have died globally and more than 337,000 have recovered, according to the US university's figures., external

The US has the highest number of confirmed cases with more than 432,000 followed by Spain, Italy and Germany.

Italy has the highest death toll with more than 17,000 losing their lives. More than 15,000 have died in Spain and France has hit 10,000 deaths.

The UK has seen more than 7,000 deaths and has more than 60,000 confirmed cases.

With the 2020 sporting calendar halted by the coronavirus outbreak, many governing bodies are still working out potential ways to complete their competitions when they are advised it is safe to do so.

Although that still seems a long way off, fans might be encouraged by some of today's developments:

• English Football League clubs have been told the season can be completed in just 56 days when it is safe to resume
• Formula 1 could still hold a world championship this year even if the season cannot start until October
• The Premier League Darts season hopes to resume on 30 July

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Easter may be the most important festival in the Christian calendar, but this year it's set to look very different for believers across Europe.

With most of the Continent under lockdown and many churches closed, worshippers are turning to online or drive-in services. Even the Pope's Good Friday services will be livestreamed.

Tens of thousands of people have died of coronavirus across the Continent, and in countries where mourners haven't even been able to attend funerals, the restrictions will be even more sharply felt.

Milan, the city at the heart of Italy's hardest-hit region, is planning to mark Easter Sunday with a special performance by tenor Andrea Bocelli in its empty cathedral, the Duomo.

Bocelli told Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera that the solo concert - which will be broadcast online, external - would be a "hymn to life".

NHS England has recorded 765 new deaths in hospital from coronavirus.

It said that 140 of them occurred yesterday, while 568 took place between 1 April and 7 April.

The remaining 57 deaths took place in March, including two on 19 March and one on 16 March.

The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically changed people’s lives everywhere. Lockdown has become the new reality, and that means people are spending most of their time indoors and being less active.

Yoga has been widely recommended as a way to build fitness and flexibility without having to go out. So we pulled together this simple little guide below (with a friendly bear as your instructor).

A series of basic moves, called the "sun salutations", are an easy way to begin. The routine can be done between three and 10 times, slowly with deep breaths to stretch muscles and to strengthen them.

The sequence can be speeded up for a proper indoor cardiovascular training session. But yoga is all about tuning into the body. So whenever tiredness builds, the "Child’s Pose" offers a chance to rest and catch breath.

Image source, Getty Images

Providing more global financial assistance now to the world's poorest nations will be less costly than letting the virus run "rampant" in these countries, says International Rescue Committee president and CEO David Miliband.

Some poorer nations are without enough basic equipment, such as hand-washing facilities and ventilators, to tackle to the pandemic.

Former UK foreign secretary Mr Miliband warned that the threat of "real carnage" in these countries - potentially high death rates and ruined economies - was likely to have far-reaching consequences.

He said the Central African Republic only had three ventilators across its near-5m population, while a World Bank report has predicted Sub-Saharan Africa will suffer its first recession for 25 years.

"There will be no return to normal until this disease is beaten everywhere. We're not going to be opening up the UK, United States or France if there are swathes of the world where the disease is present," Mr Miliband told the BBC News Channel.

"We’re only as strong as the weakest link on the chain, and until the weakest links in the global chain are addressed we're not going to be able to have a return to anything like normality for the rest of us who are in a privileged position."

Health officials in Wales have reported a further 41 patients have died after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths there to 286.