For a fourth week, people across the UK clapped in public to show their appreciation for health professionals and others working to keep the country running during the coronavirus pandemic.

In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the big African population says they’re being forced into quarantine or taken out of their homes.

One university student, Ade, told the BBC his landlord had kicked him out and he had to sleep on the streets for several days.

At the start of April, officials started testing every African national in the city after rumours spread of two Nigerian patients escaping isolation.

That’s forced 98% of the African community into lockdown, one leader said. Read more on our investigation here.

Image source, Reuters

Denmark will allow some small businesses like hairdressers, beauty salons and driving schools to open on 20 April, the government said on Friday.

"No one wants to keep Denmark closed a day longer than is absolutely necessary," Prime Minister Mette Frederikse said.

The move comes after several other European countries, including Austria and Germany, announced a similar easing of their lockdown measures.

On Wednesday, Denmark already allowed some nurseries and primary schools to reopen after infection rates steadied.

The country will keep its borders shut though and other curbs on restaurants, bars and gyms remain in place, as does a ban on large public gatherings.

Denmark has around 7,000 confirmed infections and 321 deaths.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The Sudanese prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, has sacked the governor of the capital Khartoum after he opposed a ban on religious gatherings imposed to try to curb the spread of Covid-19.

General Ahmed Abdun Hammad Mohammed refused to implement a decision to ban prayers in mosques and churches due to come into force on Saturday.

Image source, PA Media

A 99-year-old war veteran has walked 100 laps of his garden to raise £17m and counting for the NHS.

Captain Tom Moore originally aimed to raise just £1,000 for NHS Charities Together by completing laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.

But he has smashed his target after nearly 800,000 people made donations to his fundraising page.

Read the full story here.

Lockdown restrictions in the UK will continue for "at least" another three weeks, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday.

It came as the UK recorded another 861 coronavirus deaths in hospital, taking the total to 13,729.

Mr Raab said relaxing the measures now would risk harming public health and the economy, and that five conditions needed to be met before the lockdown was eased:

• Making sure the NHS could cope
• A "sustained and consistent" fall in the daily death rate
• Reliable data showing the rate of infection was decreasing to "manageable levels"
• Ensuring the supply of tests and personal protective equipment (PPE) could meet future demand
• Being confident any adjustments would not risk a second peak

Meanwhile, the Treasury says loans to all medium-to-large firms will now be included in the government's £330bn coronavirus support package for the economy.

Image source, Getty Images

In Australia, the government has praised a research pilot where scientists have been able to find traces of the virus in raw sewage.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the development meant authorities could soon track cases by monitoring wastewater levels.

Already in cities like Sydney, police regularly test the wastewater around suburbs to monitor drug use.

That same system could be used here and the CSIRO – Australia’s science agency – said it could be a shortcut to figuring out how many cases are in an area.

Their research comes off the back of similar analysis in the Netherlands and the US. Note that the scientists say drinking water - which is processed in plants - is “very well protected” against Sars-CoV-2 and other viruses.

Germany's infection rate continues to go down, health officials said on Friday. Ten people who carry the virus now pass it on to only seven new people.

In early March, those 10 people would have infected 30 new people, in early April, they would pass the virus to 13 people.

According to the official numbers, there have been 3,380 new positive tests in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 133,830.

More than half of those have already recovered though. The number of deaths linked to Covid-19 rose by just under 300 to 3,868.

The country's relative success in dealing with the virus is mainly attributed to its widespread testing from early on.

Image source, AFP

Shrikant Bangale
BBC Marathi

Image source, Getty Images

Some 900,000 female community health workers are on the frontline as part of India’s battle against Covid-19. But they are poorly paid, ill-prepared and vulnerable to attacks and social stigma.

“The value of our life is just 30 rupees [less than $1], according to the government,” says Alka Nalawade, a community health worker in the western state of Maharashtra.

“The government is paying us 1,000 rupees ($13; £10) a month for corona-related work,” she adds. “That is 30 rupees daily for putting our life in danger.”

Ms Nalawade is among the state’s 70,000 Ashas, short for Accredited Social Health Activists.

Ashas are drawn from local and largely rural communities, and are a crucial element in India’s primary and community health programmes.

You can read more on how they're leading the fight against Covid-19 here.

Over the past month various athletes and celebs have been taking part in Roger Federer's "wall challenge", where they have to bounce a tennis ball rapidly against a wall (ideally while wearing a jaunty hat).

The challenge is aimed at encouraging people to practise their tennis skills while staying at home.

The latest tennis star to take it up is none other than Serena Williams, who happened to be playing with a racket Federer gave her (will she lose points for not wearing a hat though?)

Image source, AFP

China's death toll had been steady at around 3,300 for weeks - until today, when it jumped to more 4,600.

That's because the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began, raised its death toll by 50% - that's 1,290 cases - attributing it to updated reporting, and more deaths from outside hospitals being counted.

There has been doubt over China's figures for some time, with US President Donald Trump suggesting they "seem to be a little bit on the light side".

Releasing the corrected toll, Wuhan city officials insisted there had been no cover-up of the real figures.

Wuhan's 11 million residents spent 11 weeks in strict lockdown conditions, which have only recently been eased.

• With 500,000 new rapid antibody testing kits from China, India is set to ramp up its screening efforts. The number of samples tested on Thursday crossed 30,000 for the first time
• Controlled trials of plasma therapy are to begin in Delhi - this involves using the antibody-rich blood of patients who have recovered from coronavirus. Some 1,600 Indians have recovered from the virus so far - doctors would need to test their antibodies and use their blood to treat critical patients , external

• India has 170 hotspots, and these areas account for about 37% of the entire population. The southern state of Tamil Nadu has the highest number of "red zones" - areas with high infection rates - with 22 out of 37 districts
• PM Narendra Modi held talks with the finance minister on Thursday, sparking speculation that the government may soon announce a stimulus package for the corporate sector
• India has confirmed just under 13,000 cases so far with a death toll of 437

Shaimaa Khalil
BBC News, Sydney

When the Australian government announced it was developing a contact-tracing app that would essentially monitor people’s movements, a heated debate about privacy was inevitable.

The app is modelled on a similar one in Singapore called TraceTogether. It uses Bluetooth to record contact you’ve had with other people, even if you do not know them.

If you’ve tested positive for Covid-19, health authorities could monitor your movements through the app and trace who you were near - if that person has the app they’d be informed they were near an infected person.

Signing up is voluntary. But to be effective, the app needs 40% of the population to consent to using it.

There’s still a great deal of scepticism. Even in Singapore, only 20% of the population are using it. It’s unclear what kind of information the government will have, for how long and what exactly people will be consenting to.

The attorney general is looking into privacy implications. Many are asking if federal privacy laws will be changed to accommodate the app.

The health minister Greg Hunt said he’ll be downloading it. But for people to buy into it, it’s crucial the government guarantees they’re not trading their privacy for better health information.

With a lockdown in place, many activities in Australia have been temporarily suspended or cancelled... including giant pumpkin weigh-in competitions (yes, they're a thing).

We spoke to two rival farmers in Kyogle in New South Wales about their game plan for next year's battle after this year's weigh-in was cancelled. Warning: this video contains really massive pumpkins.

In just over one hour's time, three astronauts from the International Space Station will return to Earth - having been in space since before the coronavirus outbreak began.

Russian Oleg Skrypochka and Jessica Meir from the US left Earth in September 2019.

Another American, Andrew Morgan, has been on the ISS since July 2019.

"It's quite surreal to see it unfolding on Earth below," Ms Meir told reporters during a recent video call.

"From here, Earth looks just as stunning as usual, so it's hard to believe all of the changes that have taken place since we left."

Read the full story from the BBC's Olga Ivshina here.

There is growing concern about the potential for a major outbreak inside the overcrowded prisons of the Philippines.

Prisons are operating at an average capacity of 350% - the BBC visited one in Manila in 2018 and saw prisoners without beds having to sleep on the floor or on tables.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has told the BBC that if the coronavirus gets into a prison - despite prevention measures from officials - it would be disastrous.

The Supreme Court is meeting on Friday to discuss a petition from human rights groups calling for sick and elderly prisoners to be released, to free up space.

Watch our report by the BBC's Howard Johnson in Manila here.

The Pacific neighbours have both been hailed for their success in flattening the curve so far.

That’s led to New Zealand’s deputy leader suggesting they could open up their borders to each other to create a “trans-Tasman [Sea] bubble” – if their virus declines continue.

In response, Australia has been less enthused – saying it was aware of the Kiwis' interest but hadn’t pursued it further yet.

Last month, the two nations announced border closures at the same time -which initially maintained exemptions for each other’s citizens.

• Australia and NZ shut borders to non-residents

And while their success rate has been similar, their lockdowns have varied - with New Zealand enacting a full shutdown, while Australia has kept takeaway shops and public transport open.

NZ has indicated it may relax some of its restrictions next week.

Image source, Getty Images

As the US struggles with soaring numbers of infections and deaths, the debate on whether the country should lift its lockdown continues.

On Thursday night, President Donald Trump, who has been pushing for states to re-open, said "large sections" of the country could start lifting restrictions as early as Friday. Watch his remarks here:

Andreas Illmer
BBC News, Singapore

Image source, AFP

The spike in new infections in Singapore has again put the spotlight on the plight of the city's foreign workers.

The backbone to Singapore's construction sector, they are housed in huge dormitories where the spread of the virus proves almost impossible to contain.

"Keeping them in such living conditions creates systemic vulnerabilities waiting to erupt," Catherine James, the head of workers charity Home, told the BBC.

"This endangers the workers and the broader community: not only during pandemics, but even with smaller-scale disease outbreaks such as TB."

Many of the dorms are now under quarantine with the workers essentially locked inside. They are not only at great risk of catching the virus - but also live in uncertainty over their future employment.

Some workers are being moved to other housing but James says that's only a small percentage who work in the essential sector.

"Singapore has benefited so much from enjoying the fruit of their labour while keeping their cost low. We owe it to them and their families to spare no effort to protect them," she says.

"The right thing to do at this time is to look at ways to support our low wage foreign workers with urgent cash assistance similar to the ones offered to Singaporeans in recent weeks."

India's home ministry has banned spitting in public, saying it poses a "serious threat" of spreading of Covid-19.

To be clear, various municipal laws in cities had already banned it, but it was hardly enforced or taken seriously.

But now the home ministry has banned it under a federal act, which is likely to have a bigger impact.

States and cities have already hiked their fines. In Mumbai, officials will charge 1,000 rupees (£10.40; $13) to those caught and in the national capital, Delhi, violators will have to pay up 2,000 rupees.

An official from South Delhi Municipal Corporation said they would form teams, external dedicated to catching culprits.

"They will carry out raids in markets and public areas when the lockdown is lifted," he told the Times of India newspaper.

India is under lockdown until 3 May.