Matt Hancock says there is now testing capacity for all NHS workers, and 15 drive-in testing centres are now open across the country.

He then moves onto the issue of protective equipment for healthcare workers.

England's health secretary says there is "huge international demand for PPE and a global squeeze on supply".

In the UK, in normal times, suppliers deliver to 233 hospital trusts, but Mr Hancock says right now 58,000 separate health care providers need PPE.

He asks people to use the equipment they clinically need - "no more, no less".

Matt Hancock says the number of deaths across the UK of people in hospital who tested positive for coronavirus has now reached 8,958 - a 980 increase on yesterday.

"We never forget behind this number, behind each one is a name, a loss and a family which will never be the same again."

He also repeats the news Boris Johnson's condition is improving, and praises the care he has got from the NHS.

He says 19,116 tests have been carried out across Great Britain, with 5,706 testing positive.

Matt Hancock says the government's plan is to "protect life and protect the NHS".

He says it is a "national effort", but this Easter will be a "test of the nation's resolve".

England’s health secretary adds: "However warm the weather, however tempting the beach or park, we need everyone to stay at home.

"NHS staff are battling day and night to keep desperately sick people breathing and they need you to stay at home."

Health Secretary Matthew Hancock is leading the government briefing in the continued absence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Some of us are locked indoors without our partners while those of us who are single can no longer date as before - are love lives taking a hit?

As we wait for the UK government briefing, why not watch our video about three couples navigating dating in these unprecedented times.

Governor Cuomo is calling for a "heroes' compensation fund" which would provide financial assistance to frontline workers.

"We are going to continue to help our medical workers who are our frontline workers in this battle," he said.

"Last night as a signal of our thanks to the workers who are out there every day we lit up our landmarks in the NYC area blue in their honour.

"That's a nice symbolic tribute but what's even better is to take action.

"After 9/11 congress created a Victims' Compensation Fund. We think they should set up a Heroes' Compensation Fund."

He did not go into great detail on what this would entail, other than saying it would provide financial support to workers.

Andrew Cuomo opens the briefing by announcing that hospitalisations in New York State are down and change in ICU admissions is a negative number for first time.

"We are cautiously optimistic we are slowing the infection rate," he said.

"The bad news is we continue to lose a tremendous number of lives and endure great pain as a state.

"I understand why it is happening, it doesn't make it any easier to accept.

"As someone who searches for solace in all this grief, the levelling off of the number of lives lost is a somewhat hopeful sign."

He said that the number of total lives lost is now 7,844, and compared this to the 2,753 New Yorkers who died during the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"I lived through 9/11 as many New Yorkers did. I believed 9/11 was the worst situation I was going to deal with in my lifetime.

"In terms of lives lost, that this situation should exceed 9/11 is beyond my capacity to fully appreciate."

Image source, Reuters

The police have warned people in the UK not to head out over the Easter Weekend, but what powers do they have?

Read our guide from BBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has taken the stage in Albany to begin his daily press conference.

New York state now has more coronavirus cases than any single country.

We've just had an update from Downing Street on the health of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

A spokesman said: “The prime minister has been able to do short walks, between periods of rest, as part of the care he is receiving to aid his recovery.

“He has spoken to his doctors and thanks the whole clinical team for the incredible care he has received.

“His thoughts are with those affected by this terrible disease.”

Boris Johnson left intensive care on Thursday but remains in hospital, having been admitted on Sunday.

The Republic of Ireland is extending its coronavirus restrictions until Tuesday 5 May, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has announced.

"We need to persevere and we need to maintain our discipline and resolve," the taoiseach told a news conference.

"The restrictions we introduced two weeks ago were set to expire on Sunday. Today the expert recommendation is to extend them for a further three weeks until Tuesday 5 May.

"The government has accepted this recommendation."

Image source, Getty Images

We should be hearing from the UK government in the next 30 minutes, but let’s take a look at the latest from the country first:

• A further 866 people have died in hospitals in England after testing positive for coronavirus, along with a further 48 people in Scotland, 29 people in Wales, and 10 in Northern Ireland
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved out of intensive care but remains in hospital with coronavirus
• The government has launched a campaign urging people to stay at home over the Easter Bank Holiday
• Police forces have said there will be extra patrols over the weekend
• Scientific adviser Prof Neil Ferguson said work on the exit strategy for lockdown in the UK was the "number one topic and priority", but warned measures would remain in place for "several more weeks"
• Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has defended his travel moves amid reports he flouted lockdown rules
• A 460-bed Nightingale hospital facility for the North East is to be opened at an industrial estate in Washington, Tyne and Wear
• The German army is donating 60 mobile ventilators to the NHS amid the coronavirus crisis

"The lockdown has been an absolutely fantastic silver lining for us. It's given us an opportunity to make up for lost time."

Sue Bremner and her husband David, from Shropshire, are stranded in New Zealand because of the coronoavirus pandemic. But it's given Sue the chance to get to know her long-lost sister Margaret Hannay - who she didn't know existed for more than 40 years.

Margaret, 71, was given up for adoption at two weeks old by her mum, who had a short relationship with Sue's dad in 1948. It was only last year that the sisters met for the first time after Margaret - who lives in Auckland - got in touch with Sue in the UK.

Sue, 65, and her husband went out to see her sister again as part of a two-month trip across New Zealand and Australia on 5 March. But two weeks later, the country went into lockdown and they couldn't get back to the UK. So Sue has been able to spend some extra time with Margaret and her husband, John.

"We've been having a wonderful time here," says Sue, who lives in Ludlow. "We've been spending lots of time together drinking wine and cooking and having fun."

• Read more about the long-lost sisters here

Image source, Reuters

We have just had it confirmed that the UK government will give its daily briefing at 17:00 BST (16:00 GMT).

Boris Johnson is still in hospital - although he has been moved out of intensive care - so the press conference will be led by England’s Health Secretary, Matt Hancock.

He will be joined by the chief nursing officer for England, Ruth May, and deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam.

Image source, Tom Holmes

The son of an Anglican vicar has recorded a moving Easter message after his father was admitted to intensive care with coronavirus.

In the video, Tom Holmes says that at this time of year, his father, Peter, would usually be leading Easter services and celebrating with a roast meal and an egg hunt.

"This year he is on a ventilator in intensive care, our family physically separated," he tells the camera.

Tom tells the BBC he recorded the video, which has been tweeted by the Bishop of Southwark, to urge people to “pray for a miracle” for his father.

He says the NHS staff are “pulling out all the stops to fight the virus”.

Peter Holmes, who has been the vicar at St Peter’s Church in Norbiton, for 27 years, was taken to Kingston Hospital on the 31 March after developing Covid-19 symptoms.

The last message he sent his family before being taken into intensive care the following day read: “Whichever way it goes, I love you all.”

Image source, Getty Images

A 15-year-old member of the Yanomami indigenous group has died in the northern Brazilian state of Roraima, local authorities say.

Rights groups have raised concerns about the possible impact of the virus on indigenous people, and say two other people from different tribes have already died though this has not been officially confirmed. Across the country, there have been 17,857 confirmed cases and 941 deaths.

In other developments in Latin America:

• Also in Brazil, the iconic Copacabana Palace hotel in Rio de Janeiro will close its doors for the first time in its 97-year history. Occupancy fell to around 30% amid measures in the state that include the closure of most shops and all beaches. A strong critic of those restrictions, President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to issue a national decree ordering all businesses to re-open
• In Ecuador, prisoners will start making coffins to help cover a shortage in the city of Guayaquil, where some families were forced to bury their relatives in cardboard boxes donated by private companies. The city is one of the worst-hit in the region and, last month, bodies were left in the streets as authorities were unable to handle the high number of deaths. The country has confirmed 4,965 cases with 272 deaths
• The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) has warned that Nicaragua's refusal to take actions such as travel restrictions or social distancing could spark a regional outbreak. “We have concerns for the lack of social distancing, the convening of mass gatherings. We have concerns about the testing, contact tracing, about the reporting of cases," said the body's director, Dr Carissa Etienne.

Poetry can have a profound effect on people’s lives.

As these BBC correspondents can attest, it can help you through difficult periods, from coping with loss to sparking hope when it seems there is none.

Watch the video below to hear the words that resonated with our correspondents most.

These readings are part of a series every week day on the Today programme - you can hear the readings from week one here.

Paul Kirby
BBC News online Europe editor

Image source, Getty Images

Virologist Didier Raoult has made a name for himself worldwide for promoting anti-malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as a treatment against Covid-19.

In France, some 450,000 people have signed a petition calling for the drugs to be used more widely. President Donald Trump has regularly mentioned them too. However, the European Medicines Agency has warned of potentially serious side-effects, external and said they should only be used in cases of "national emergency".

So it came as a surprise when President Emmanuel Macron travelled south to Prof Raoult's Marseille specialist infectious diseases hospital for three-and-a-half hours of talks with no media allowed.

President Macron is to give a big TV address on Monday and his officials say he wanted to talk to a variety of voices beforehand - so the meeting did not mean any kind of "recognition" of the doctor's methods, just an interest in therapeutic trials. Better to have the controversial virologist in the tent than out, as commentators said.

Meanwhile, Didier Raoult has presented his own study of 1,061 people treated with hydroxychloroquine, claiming a 91.7% success rate, with a "poor outcome" for 46 patients. However, several French scientists have already described the study as flawed.

You can read more here on what evidence there is about the drugs.

The newly elected Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has called for the government to be transparent about its strategy on the UK's lockdown.

He said the public needed to know the "principles" that would have to be met before the nationwide measures are lifted.

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Moscow Correspondent

Hospitals and ambulance services in Moscow are at risk of being overwhelmed after a steep rise in coronavirus cases, a senior city official has said.

Anastasia Rakova, Moscow’s deputy mayor, issued the warning as Russia recorded its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases, jumping by 1,786 to almost 12,000. The national death toll stands at 94.

The numbers are expected to rise significantly now as officials have begun including all patients showing obvious symptoms of the infection in their statistics, arguing that coronavirus tests are too often mistaken.

The majority of coronavirus patients are in the capital, the epicentre of the outbreak in Russia. The number of hospital admissions in Moscow has doubled in the past few days, Rakova said.

The deputy mayor said almost all new patients had pneumonia, brought on by coronavirus. She warned that both hospitals and the ambulance service were stretched to their limit.

That is clear from the first-hand accounts of medics, who are beginning to talk of a non-stop flow of ambulances and of overflowing wards.

The Russian capital has been in lockdown since the end of March, with residents only allowed out for essential work, or to the nearest shop.

Read more: Russia includes jail terms to enforce crackdown

Image source, Getty Images