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Three major UK chains have said they will reopen a limited number of their restaurants for deliveries.

Although the government said restaurants and pubs could remain open for deliveries or takeaways, many chains decided to close when the lockdown began in March.

• Burger King is to reopen four restaurants: two in Bristol, one in Coventry, and one in Swindon, with a pared-down menu. It says it will also donate 1,000 meals per week to NHS staff in nearby hospitals
• KFC said it had reopened 11 UK restaurants in the past week for delivery only in Aldershot, Birmingham, Glasgow, Ipswich, London, Manchester, Portsmouth, Stockport, and Tamworth. It has donated "thousands" of meals to frontline workers
• Ten Pret a Manger stores near hospitals in London are due to open from today. The chain says it will donate an additional 7,000 meals per week to homeless charities, and offer NHS workers a 50% discount until the end of the month

Read the full story here.

Sport continues to be disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, with the Tour de France the latest major event to be postponed.

Cycling's biggest race, due to begin in June, has been rescheduled to start on 29 August.

It forms part of a revised schedule for sports fans later in 2020, assuming events are given the go-ahead.

• What sporting events are still on in 2020?, external

Faisal Islam
BBC Economics Editor

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The UK and EU should "not add to uncertainty" from coronavirus by refusing to extend the period to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested.

Managing director Kristalina Georgieva told the BBC that because of the "unprecedented uncertainty" it would be "wise not to add more on top of it".

Asked specifically if she would advise an extension to trade talks, Ms Georgieva said: "My advice would be to seek ways in which this element of uncertainty is reduced in the interests of everybody, the UK, the EU, and the whole world".

As a reminder, the UK formally left the EU on 31 January, but it remains in a transition period up to 31 December - by which time an EU-UK trade deal is supposed to be in place.

• You can read Faisal's full piece here.

As we reported earlier, the schools issue is still a fiery point of contention between federal and state authorities.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants schools to be up and running - and has repeatedly stressed this is condoned by medical advice.

However, states run the schools - and almost all of them, particularly Victoria - have taken the view that full classrooms are too risky. So while schools remain open technically, parents have been advised to keep their children at home if they can.

This has frustrated Mr Morrison, who has regularly referred to his own children attending school in Sydney until term break last week.

"I want my kids to go back to school and be taught in a classroom by a teacher," he said.

But parents are fearful and remain confused by the different messages. The debate is likely to carry on as different states resume school terms in coming weeks.

Victoria went back yesterday - and 97% of students stayed at home.

Image source, EPA

Several of Thursday's newspapers carry hope the UK is reaching the peak of the coronavirus epidemic.

Quoting the government's chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty on the number of cases "flattening out", the Times says, external the news means the UK will soon be able to finalise plans for lifting lockdown measures.

The Daily Mail, meanwhile, has a stark account of the impact coronavirus is having on care homes.

It describes how, external six of the 18 residents at Philia Lodge care home in Peterborough have died in just 10 days. Some 85% of carers there have either been sick or had to self-isolate after coming into contact with infected residents.

• Full round-up of the main UK newspaper headlines

Jonathan Head
BBC South East Asia Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

On Tuesday a crowd of angry, sometimes tearful people gathered in front of Thailand’s finance ministry, to protest their exclusion from a government monthly handout of 5000 baht ($160, £122) for lower-paid workers in the informal sector who have lost their jobs because of the crisis.

More than 20 million people applied for the scheme, but only nine million were approved, although the government is allowing people to appeal against their rejection.

Now Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has acknowledged that the scheme, which was supposed to last for at least three months, and was, perhaps optimistically, titled ‘No-one Left Behind’, in fact has enough funding for only one month of payments.

Any further payments, he said, would depend on him signing new decrees to approve additional economic stimulus.

The Thai government has promised to spend at least $58 billion, around ten percent of GDP, on various measures to help the ailing economy.

One leg of the Thai economy, tourism, has been shattered by the crisis. Another, export manufacturing, has been hit hard.

Household debt has risen over the past decade to around 80 percent of GDP, and most Thai households cannot survive without income for long, unless the government steps in.

Sammy Awami
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

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Tanzania's health ministry has announced the country's biggest rise in coronavirus cases, with 29 new patients.

Of those, 26 were detected in the commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, two in the north-western town of Mwanza and one in the Kilimanjaro area.

Earlier, the health ministry in the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar announced six new cases - also the biggest rise in the archipelago since the outbreak began.

The total confirmed cases in Tanzania is now 88.

Unlike many of its East African neighbours, the country has not restricted movement - but has imposed measures limiting some public gatherings.

Good morning to those just joining us in the UK.

If you are wondering what you may have missed overnight, here are some of the latest developments:

• Ministers are later expected to announce a three-week extension to the coronavirus lockdown
• An extensive list of concerns about how the social care sector is coping has been revealed in a leaked letter seen by the BBC
• More than 3,200 fines have been issued for alleged breaches of the coronavirus lockdown by police forces in England

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT

Australia is succeeding in flattening the curve but to forge "the road out" of lockdown, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says a "more extensive surveillance regime" needs to be brought in.

He praised the extensive testing and contact-tracing system in place, and the actions from states to open testing to anyone with symptoms.

"But we need to do even better than that... so when we move to lesser restricted environment we can identify outbreaks very quickly and respond to them."

His government this week proposed a mobile app which would trace the movements of patients - technology also used in Singapore and South Korea - but this has raised privacy concerns.

At least 40% of Australians would need to download the app for it to be effective.

"We need the support of Australians," said the PM.

"If we can get that in place, get the tracing capability up from where it is, that will give us more options and Australians more freedom."

Australia has closed its borders and forced a lockdown of non-essential businesses.

People are discouraged to leave their homes, but schools, public transport, shops and outdoor areas remain open.

The nation has confirmed over 6,300 cases but fewer than 100 were detected this week.

Image source, Getty Images

It's been an election like no other. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, South Koreans yesterday went to the polls. But with strict distancing in place, the vote went smoothly and President Moon Jae-in's ruling party won a decisive victory.

South Korea was one of the first countries hit by the virus outside of China but has since managed to contain the spread like few other nations.

Daily infections are low as is the overall death toll. And the successful response has contributed to the support for the Democratic Party.

Click here to read our full story on the vote. The election was also noteworthy as for the first time, a North Korean defector won a seat in parliament.

While most people in the UK have been told to stay at home, some low-paid key workers in hospitals, supermarkets and other workplaces must risk their health to keep the country running.

They tell us what it's like being on the frontline:

Image source, Reuters

Dozens of Kenyans who have been in mandatory quarantine attempted to storm out of an isolation centre in the capital, Nairobi - because of what they say are unbearable conditions.

People who entered the country before the closure of borders have been held in isolation.

But many have told the BBC they are suffering because of a government directive to extend their stay in isolation.

"As of now we have no intention to go back to the quarantine facility. First, on our inability to pay, and secondly because it does not make any scientific sense for our continued stay at the centre," Simon Mugambi told journalists at the Kenyatta University quarantine centre on Wednesday.

"The problem is they have continued to detain us even after posting negative results two consecutive times. The government continues to insist that this is being done at our own cost and we do not have the means to pay."

• Coronavirus: Why lockdowns may not be the answer in Africa
• How the spread of coronavirus is testing Africa

Image source, Hannah Ingram-Moore

A 99-year-old war veteran in the UK who is walking 100 laps of his garden before he turns 100 has raised nearly £12m ($15m) for health charities.

Captain Tom Moore originally wanted to raise £1,000 for NHS Charities Together by completing laps of his garden.

But he has now topped 10,000 times his initial target thanks to donations from over 500,000 people online.

• Read the full story here.

In an effort to cushion the economic fallout, Pakistan has loosened restrictions, external for more than a dozen sectors.

Industries allowed to operate include construction, cement, fertiliser, e-commerce, packaging manufacturers and a handful of other smaller businesses, the government announced on Wednesday.

The country has at least 5,988 confirmed cases and 107 virus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Here's more news from the rest of South Asia:

• Cases are rapidly surging in Bangladesh - infections are doubling every 2.5 days and there have been more than 1,000 cases so far. Officials announced a rise of 219 new cases, external on Wednesday - the biggest daily spike yet. Garment workers have also been protesting over layoffs - and wages that have been withheld for days
• In Nepal, the government extended its lockdown earlier this week after cases jumped to 16. International borders will be closed until 1 May and new kits from China have enabled the country to increase testing
• Nearly two weeks have gone by without a single new case, external in Bhutan, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Three citizens who tested positive are in quarantine and all businesses have been ordered to shut by 7pm.

One of the latest places to extend its lockdown is the US state of Michigan, which has seen 27,000 Covid-19 cases and more than 1,700 deaths.

But Governor Gretchen Whitmer's extension provoked an angry response from some workers, who blocked roads and demanded the state re-open. This is what they had to say:

A Singaporean man who breached his stay-at-home notice to go for a meal has pleaded guilty to exposing others to the risk of infection.

Alan Tham flew to Singapore from Myanmar last month and was told to stay at home for two weeks.

But instead, the 34-year-old went out to meet his girlfriend for dinner - even posting his meal on social media, where he was criticised by his friends.

"Dude. Not a responsible move," said one commenter, according to a report from Channel News Asia., external Photos of his meal later went viral and were reported to police.

Sentencing has been adjourned but he could face up to six months in jail, a fine of up to S$10,000 ($6,990) or both.

Image source, Getty Images

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontières has launched its first ever project in Canada, to help homeless people infected with coronavirus.

It's a rare move by MSF, which usually works in developing countries or war zones.

A facility with 400 beds is to open in the country's largest city Toronto, MSF told the news agency AFP.

The city is thought to have as many as 10,000 homeless, many of them in poor health.

Canada has almost 30,000 confirmed coronavirus infections and just over 1,000 deaths so far.

Couples are rushing back to register offices and wedding photography studios - a sign that life is slowly going back to normal in the Chinese virus epicentre of Wuhan.

The city, which was under lockdown for 11 weeks, finally reopened its doors on 8 April. And since its re-opening, couples have rushed to go through with wedding plans which had been delayed for months.

"The demand for wedding photos is high after the lockdown. But we decided to serve only two or three couples a day instead of more than 16 before the outbreak over safety concerns," the manager of one wedding photography studio told state media outlet ECNS.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

From Donald Trump's claims that medical supplies may have been stolen from New York hospitals, to Chinese officials' assertions that the virus didn't start in China, our latest Reality Check video takes a closer look at some claims made by politicians and governments.

Image source, Other

The baby of a "highly valued and loved" UK nurse who died after contracting Covid-19 has been delivered successfully.

Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, 28, had worked for five years at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, where she died on Sunday.

A hospital trust spokeswoman said the nurse's "child was doing very well" but could give no further information.

Ms Agyapong was admitted to hospital on 7 April, having tested positive for Covid-19 two days previously.

• Read the full story here.