Washing your hands is still one of the most effective ways to prevent yourself catching the virus. In case you need a refresher on how to do it right, here’s our 20-second explainer on the right technique.

The UK has "no plans" to follow the US and stop funding the World Health Organization.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said the WHO had "an important role to play in leading the global health response" adding that the UK had contributed £75m ($93m) towards efforts to stop the coronavirus.

The spokesman did not comment on US President Donald Trump's decision to halt funding to the WHO.

On the issue of UK care workers, Downing Street said 3,300 had been invited to be tested for Covid-19, although it was not known how many had been.

Rules would also be changed “straight away” so that patients being discharged from hospital into care homes would be tested for coronavirus before they left.

The spokesman said "extensive work" was being done on an exit strategy from lockdown restrictions.

But, he said that, for now, the focus needed to be on getting the public to stay at home while capacity is built in the NHS.

Image source, Reuters

We're close to reaching another sombre figure in the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of confirmed cases gets near to two million, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the disease globally.

Nearly 130,000 people have died and more than 500,000 have recovered, according to the US university's figures., external

The US has the most cases, and more than 26,000 people have now died there.

The disease first emerged in central China just over three months ago and while it took a month and a half for the first 100,000 cases to be registered, that figure has accelerated since.

A million cases were reached on 2 April and that number has now more than doubled.

UK supermarket workers should be trained to recognise domestic abuse code words from victims whose only opportunity to speak out may be during the weekly shop, the victims' commissioner said.

Dame Vera Baird told the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee "you may be a very controlled person but the likelihood is you are sent out to buy the food, and also of course pharmacies".

She added the country should adopt the French model of having emergency provision in supermarkets and suggested setting up a code word or phrase.

After the first week of lockdown, domestic abuse charity Refuge said there had been a 25% increase in calls to the National Abuse Helpline and online requests.

The government has clarified that abuse victims will be allowed to leave their homes to seek help despite the restrictions and said it would provide £2m in extra funding to support abuse charities.

Image source, AFP

• About 74 million people in the water-scarce Arab region are at a greater risk of getting Covid-19 because they lack access to a basic hand-washing facility, external, the UN has warned. About 87 million people also lack access to a drinking water source in their homes, which forces them to collect water from a public source and exposes them to contagion
• The authorities in Qatar rounded up and expelled dozens of migrant workers after telling them they were being taken to be tested for Covid-19, according to Amnesty International. The human rights group interviewed 20 men from Nepal, external who said they were apprehended alongside hundreds of others in March. The men alleged they were held in detention centres in appalling conditions for several days, before being put on planes. Qatar said officials had “uncovered individuals engaged in illegal and illicit activity”
• In Iran, for the second day in a row, the daily number of deaths has fallen below 100. The health ministry said that 94 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 4,777

A quarter of Scottish deaths linked to coronavirus have occurred in care homes, new figures suggest.

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) said 962 deaths had now been registered in Scotland where the virus was mentioned on the death certificate.

The majority of these deaths occurred in hospital, but 25% were in care homes and 13% in other settings.

The NRS figures provide a wider picture of the impact of the virus than the figures announced each day, which only cover cases in hospitals.

Those figures from Health Protection Scotland, which reflect cases where a positive test has been recorded, put the death toll at 566 on 12 April.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the NRS report provided "a more accurate" figure.

Tulip Mazumdar
Global Health Correspondent

President Trump's decision is a major blow to the World Health Organization (WHO). The US is the biggest contributor to the UN agency, where the budget is around $2bn (£1.6bn) a year.

The president, while himself facing withering criticism for his handling of the outbreak in the US, is focussing his anger on how the WHO handled the early days and weeks of the outbreak.

He is not the first to criticise the UN agency for its effusive praise of China's response to the outbreak, while others - including medics in China - described how their early concerns about the virus were silenced by authorities.

The director general of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has responded to this criticism many times, saying he would continue to give praise where praise was due, and stressing that China had helped slow the spread of the virus internationally - buying other countries time to prepare for what was coming.

Last week, when President Trump floated the idea of withholding funding to the UN body, Dr Tedros called for countries not to "politicise this virus.". He also said he welcomed a review of the WHO's response to the outbreak because "we want to learn from our mistakes, from our strengths and move forward".

But he said, the focus now should be on "fighting this virus."

Earlier we brought you the story of 99-year-old British Army veteran Tom Moore who had set out to raise £1,000 ($1,250) for the National Health Service by doing laps of his Bedfordshire garden.

This is the moment he was told he had raised more than £5m, live on BBC television.

Mr Moore said the response from the public had been "completely out of this world".

Image source, EPA

• In Brazil, infection among oil and gas workers may be higher than at first thought, according to statistics released by the country's National Petroleum Agency and seen by Reuters, external. The figures indicate 126 confirmed cases and another 897 suspected ones. The risk is particularly great on off-shore oil platforms and ships where workers often live at close quarters
• Also in Brazil, a 99-year-old World War Two veteran recovered from coronavirus. Ermando Piveta, who fought in Africa with the Brazilian artillery, was discharged from hospital to the sound of trumpets and rapturous applause
• Colombia is expected to release up to 7,000 inmates to ease overcrowding in its jails and lower the risk of spreading coronavirus. Three weeks ago more than 20 inmates were killed in riots amid demands that more be done to protect prisoners

How can you tell whether you might have caught the virus? The BBC’s Laura Foster explains what symptoms to look out for.

If you’re just joining us, here is a round-up of the day's main news:

• President Donald Trump is to suspend US funding for the World Health Organization (WHO)
• Trump’s announcement has been widely condemned, with Bill Gates calling it "as dangerous as it sounds" and UN chief António Guterres saying it was "not the time" to cut resources
• The number of confirmed cases in Spain has risen by almost 5,100 to reach 177,633 - the country's highest daily rise in infections in five days
• Germany's virus death toll has risen to 3,254 in 24 hours - talks on lifting some measures are being held
• Denmark has started reopening nursery and primary schools
• The EU has warned member states to be cautious when lifting lockdown measures
• UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says he is “worried” the government is behind schedule on plans to conduct 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.

It was due to begin on 27 June but the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the start of cycling's premier global event to 29 August.

The Tour de France will go ahead, says cycling's governing body the UCI. The timing is interesting as French school holidays end on 1 September and the event is set to continue until 20 September.

"Holding this event in the best conditions possible is judged essential given its central place in cycling's economy and its exposure, in particular for the teams that benefit on this occasion from unparalleled visibility," the international cycling union said.

You can follow the story here.

Image source, Reuters

As Denmark starts reopening schools for under 11s, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to hold talks with the leaders of the country's 16 states on when to relax coronavirus restrictions.

According to German media, the federal government in Berlin wants restrictions on movement to last until at least 3 May although some shops will be able to reopen under strict rules from 20 April.

Germany has not been as badly hit as other countries in Western Europe, with 3,254 deaths recorded by the RKI public health institute, including 285 in the past 24 hours.

Austria allowed some shops to open on Tuesday, and Germany may do the same.

The talks start at 14:00 (12:00 GMT) so the details may yet change.

The crisis plunged Germany's economy into recession last month.

The manager of a UK care home where six residents have died in eight days has moved in and sleeps in her office.

Heidi Seldon said they had lost a third of the people they look after at Philia Lodge care home in Peterborough.

She said: "What I wasn't prepared for was how hard it was going to be, emotionally, watching so many of my residents suffering from coronavirus. We're just trying to hold ourselves together."

China and Germany have added to international condemnation of the decision by President Trump to US halt funding for the World Health Organization (WHO).

A foreign ministry spokesman said China was "seriously concerned" about the decision, which he said came during a "critical moment" in the pandemic.

Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said "blaming doesn't help".

He added that one of the best ways to work to stop the spread of the virus was to strengthen the UN and the WHO in the development and distribution of tests and vaccines.

The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said he "deeply regretted" the move, adding: "There is no reason justifying this move at a moment when their efforts are needed more than ever to help contain [and] mitigate the coronavirus pandemic."

A UK Border Force officer who worked at Heathrow Airport has died after contracting coronavirus.

The unnamed man is thought to have died last week after feeling unwell at work.

The Public and Commercial Services Union has called for all officers to be equipped with protective equipment and described the situation as a "disgrace".

Elsewhere in the UK:

• Wales' Health Minister Vaughan Gething has said he is sorry that 13,000 letters for people most vulnerable to coronavirus were mistakenly sent to the wrong addresses. More than 80,000 people are meant to get a "shielding letter".
• More than £1.1bn has been handed to UK businesses through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
• Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has accepted assurances from the UK Government that suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE) are not being ordered to prioritise the NHS in England over Scotland and Wales .

Image source, Tasnim

The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps has unveiled a handheld device that he said could identify people infected with the coronavirus within 100m (330ft), Tasnim news agency reports.

It bears an uncanny resemblance to fake bomb detector tools reported on by the BBC in 2014 and for which a group of fraudsters in the UK were convicted of criminal offences.

These fake bomb detectors - sold with spurious but scientific-sounding claims - were in fact empty cases, but were sold and used in conflict zones in many countries around the world.

The device tested in an Iranian hospital today seems to be a repurposed version of those fake detectors, with an almost identical case and antenna. Even the packaging of the device, which can be seen in a video being unvelied on Iranain state TV, looks very similar.

Experts say the only reliable way to test for Covid-19 currently is by taking a swab of the nose or throat, which is sent off to a lab to look for signs of the virus’s genetic material.

(Post updated at 1905)

Simon Atkinson
BBC News, Sydney

Just a week after his client Cardinal George Pell was acquitted of child sexual abuse in Australia’s High Court – Sydney barrister Bret Walker QC has got another big case.

Mr Walker has been appointed to head a special commission of inquiry into the Ruby Princess saga.

You may remember this was the cruise ship which docked in Sydney last month– with 2,700 passengers disembarking despite some showing signs of coronavirus. Tests had been carried out, but passengers were let off the boat before the results came in.

Nineteen passengers have since died – making up almost a third of Australian deaths from the virus. Over 600 confirmed cases have been linked to the ship.

Mr Walker will be given "extraordinary powers" to investigate. And having seen him up close in the Pell case, expect some fierce questioning.

Find out more about how the Ruby Princess debacle unfolded

Image source, NSW Police Force

The Japanese city of Osaka is urging its residents to donate plastic raincoats to help hospitals that are running short of personal protective equipment.

Mayor Ichiro Matsui said some health workers had resorted to wearing rubbish bags when treating patients, external.

"If doctors get infected, we can never beat coronavirus," Mr Matsui said, adding that there was a severe shortage of protective gear.

A notice on the Osaka city website said any colour and style of raincoat was acceptable - as long as they were meant for adults, Reuters news agency reported.

Osaka has nearly 900 cases, making it the second hardest-hit after Tokyo, according to media reports.

A state of emergency was imposed in Tokyo and six other areas, including Osaka, last week. Japan has confirmed more than 8,000 cases and 166 deaths.

The coronavirus emerged in only December last year, but by now the whole world is dealing with the disease it causes, Covid-19.

For most, the illness is mild, but some patients die.

So how is the virus attacking the body and how is it treated?

Click here to read more.