Human trials of a potential vaccine for Covid-19 are beginning in the UK this week - with the hope that one could be available for frontline workers and the most vulnerable before the end of the year. (See our earlier post for more detail from the scientists.)

One of the 500 people taking part in the University of Oxford project has been telling the BBC about why she signed-up.

Mother-of-two Lydia Guthrie explained some of the risks involved and why she still wanted to take part. Have a listen.

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It's long been a worry for pet owners, but now it's been confirmed: domestic cats can contract the coronavirus and show symptoms.

Two pet cats in New York state in the US tested positive for the virus after developing "mild respiratory illnesses", the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a joint statement. The two cats weren't part of the same family.

None of the people who lived with the first cat were confirmed to be ill with the coronavirus, so it's thought the cat either caught it from an asymptomatic household member or from someone outside their home.

The owner of the second cat had tested positive for the coronavirus before their cat was tested.

In the statement, the CDC and USDA urged people not to abandon their pets, because "there is no evidence that pets play a role in spreading the virus in the US". Instead, they recommend keeping cats indoors where possible.

These aren't the first animals in the US to contract the virus. Earlier this month Nadia, a tiger at Bronx Zoo, tested positive.

A pet cat in Hong Kong tested positive for the virus in late March but showed no symptoms.

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Face masks are to be compulsory throughout Germany as Spain seeks to extend its lockdown. Here’s the latest from Europe:

• Italy’s death toll climbed to 25,085 on Wednesday, rising by 437 compared with 534 the day before. The number of people currently confirmed ill with the virus fell for the third consecutive day, and the number of people in intensive care also continued to decline
• In France a further 544 people have died with coronavirus. The tally - 336 in hospital and 208 in care homes - brought France's total Covid-19 death toll to 21,340
• All 16 states in Germany have now announced plans to make face masks compulsory. While some states will not make them mandatory for people while shopping, everyone throughout the country will have to wear face coverings on public transport
• Spain is seeking to extend its state of emergency for a further two weeks, until 9 May. Speaking in parliament today Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the country could start to loosen restrictions in the second half of May, provided authorities managed to stay “on top of the virus”
• And the charity Human Rights Watch has criticised Greece for not doing enough to "avert a public health crisis”, external in overcrowded camps for asylum seekers and migrants

You might have heard about a new contract-tracing app being tested for use in the UK.

It's one way the government, like many others around the world, hopes to be able to begin lifting some social-distancing measures in the future.

If you haven't been following this story closely, you may have a few questions: What exactly is it? When is it available? And will it work?

In a nutshell, the app alerts smartphone users if they have recently been near someone who was later found to be infected - allowing them to enter self-isolation and help prevent the spread of the virus.

This nifty illustration shows how it works.

It's being developed by NHSX - the UK health service's digital innovation unit. So far it's been tested by some families and by engineers at a Royal Air Force base. No release date has been announced.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said the UK is working with experts in digital and tech ethics to ensure they get the app right. But that hasn't stopped some experts raising concerns.

Mr Hancock also warned that - once available - it will only be effective if lots of people download it. Will they? Frankly, we don't know.

Harvard University has reversed its decision to accept coronavirus economic relief funds from the US government.

The university, which is the wealthiest in the world, had previously said it would keep the funding after President Donald Trump demanded Harvard pay back nearly $9m (£7.3m) in coronavirus stimulus money.

In a statement on Wednesday, Harvard said that though it would see serious financial challenges from the pandemic, it did not want the "intense focus" on Harvard to "undermine participation" in a relief bill meant to help "students and institutions whose financial challenges in the coming months may be most severe".

“As a result of this, and the evolving guidance being issued around use of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, Harvard has decided not to seek or accept the funds allocated to it by statute."

The university said it had received funding based on its total number of students as well as the number of lower-income students enrolled.

Other elite universities, including Princeton and Yale, have also received this money.

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A prominent Welsh politician has apologised after he was caught swearing about a Labour colleague in a virtual session of the Welsh Assembly about coronavirus.

Health secretary Vaughan Gething was heard complaining about Assembly member Jenny Rathbone during the videoconferencing session.

Having left his microphone on by mistake, he told an unknown person: "What the [expletive] is the matter with her?"

He has since apologised on Twitter but opposition leaders have called for Mr Gething to be sacked.

Welsh Conservative assembly leader Paul Davies said: "For a health minister to show such unprofessionalism and disdain at this time is completely unacceptable and he should be sacked."

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reissued its guidance on observing Ramadan - a month-long Islamic fast that begins tomorrow - during the pandemic.

The guidance says that while it's fine for healthy people to fast as usual, Covid-19 patients should "consider religious licences regarding breaking the fast in consultation with their doctors, as they would do with any other disease".

"Despite the different execution in practices this year, it is important to reassure the faithful that they can still reflect, improve, pray, share, and care – all from a healthy distance," it adds.

So although Ramadan may be different this year, it's still possible to observe it faithfully. Earlier this month, BBC religion journalist Sophia Smith-Galer looked at different ways of celebrating religious festivals while staying at home.

You can also read the WHO's guidance in full here, external.

We reported earlier that Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), had warned that the virus would "be with us for a long time".

During the media briefing earlier today, he explained that much of the world was still seeing worrying upward trends.

"Most countries are still in the early stages of their epidemics," he added. "And some that were affected early in the pandemic are now starting to see a resurgence in cases."

The number of people to have contracted coronavirus is continuing to climb globally. There have now been more than 2.6 million cases worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Image source, Getty Images

Pochayiv in Ukraine has been closed off after a coronavirus outbreak at the Pochayiv Lavra, one of the largest Orthodox monasteries in Eastern Europe.

Dozens of people have contracted the virus in the western Ukrainian town, including some priests at the 500-year-old monastery. The population of Pochayiv is about 8,000.

Hundreds of people defied a police ban on visiting the monastery for Orthodox Easter, the BBC's Vitalii Chervonenko reports.

Officials had already sealed off the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the Ukrainian capital, one of the world's most well-known Orthodox shrines.

You can read more about the outbreak here.

With much of the world in lockdown, millions of people who usually work in offices are now working from home.

So, how do you work remotely while avoiding aches and pains?

Alishah Merchant, a physiotherapist at Rebalance Sports Medicine, gives some expert tips in the video above on how to optimise your home workstation.

Two scientists who are leading the charge for a vaccine in the UK have been speaking to the BBC about their projects.

Professor Sarah Gilbert is head of a team at the University of Oxford. Trials, which have had 5,000 volunteers, are set to begin on Thursday.

"We just start with two people on the first day, to make sure that everything is well with them, and also that all the procedures are working for the trial and that we are ready to move on to larger numbers."

Professor Robin Shattock, who leads Imperial College London's effort, said if either project provides the "right signal in terms of safety and efficacy", a vaccine could be available for the UK's front-line workers and the most vulnerable before the end of the year.

But he said it would be next year before it could be rolled out around the world.

So, when will we have a vaccine? Read more about the search here.

Image source, EPA/VICKIE FLORES

During the UK government's daily briefing a little earlier, the head of the military offered special praise for Captain Tom Moore.

Captain Tom, as the 99-year-old is now affectionately known, helped to raise more than £28m for the NHS by completing 100 laps of his garden.

General Sir Nick Carter paid tribute, saying the veteran "embodies the sense of service and duty ingrained in our armed forces".

Earlier this week, Yorkshireman Captain Tom helped to open a new field hospital in Harrogate, where he expressed his love for his home county (watch below).

He turns 100 next week, on 30 April.

So far, he's received more than 65,000 cards to help him celebrate.

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Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), has said he believes the group warned the world of Covid-19 early enough.

"Looking back I think we declared the emergency at the right time and when the world had enough time to respond," he said.

He added the WHO issued its warning when there were no deaths and just 82 cases.

"That was enough to cut it from the bud, enough. That was January 30 and this is more than two months and 21 days ago - close to three months now."

Dr Tedros has faced some calls to resign over handling of the Covid-19 crisis, particularly from a number of US lawmakers. But many governments have praised the organisation, saying its work at this time is vital.

When asked about calls for his resignation, Dr Tedros said he would keep working "day and night" to save lives.

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Years of underinvestment in healthcare has hampered the UK's ability to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, the boss of Roche, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies, has told the BBC.

"The real issue here is that the UK has probably not invested enough into healthcare," Severin Schwan, Roche chief executive, told the Newsnight programme, external in an interview to be aired on Wednesday evening.

"It really shows up in such a crisis when the system is more stressed."

Roche is a key partner of the government and Public Health England in ramping up testing for Covid19.

Mr Schwan added: “You can't fix the infrastructure in a couple of weeks. I mean, if there is too little investment over many years into the healthcare system, then it's simply not possible to ramp up as fast as you would wish in such a challenging situation.”

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Moscow Correspondent

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For everyone else in Moscow, big birthday parties are banned during the coronavirus epidemic. But not for Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union.

To mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, several dozen communists processed across Red Square, beneath red banners, to where Lenin’s embalmed body lies in a mausoleum.

The FSO security agency responsible for the area said the group had been allowed to meet providing they observed the social distancing rules. But an initial attempt to stay two metres apart lasted only moments.

And while some of Lenin’s loyal followers wore medical masks, the party leader – who’s in his mid 70s – went barefaced.

The rest of Moscow has been staying at home for several weeks to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus - all mass gatherings are outlawed. So it’s not clear why the Communists were granted such a high-profile exception.

A group in the neighbouring region of Tula weren’t so lucky. Three were detained there when they laid flowers at one of some 6,000 Lenin statues that still stand on squares and streets across Russia.

The number of people who have died with coronavirus in Italy, one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, has passed 25,000.

Italy's civil protection services on Wednesday reported a further 437 fatalities over the past 24 hours, increasing the overall tally to 25,085.

However, the number of people registered as currently carrying the illness fell to 107,699 from 107,709 on Tuesday, a third consecutive daily decline.

There were 2,384 people in intensive care on Wednesday compared with 2,471 on Tuesday.

Italy's death toll is the second highest in the world after the US.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy will announce a plan to gradually exit its lockdown by the end of this week.

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Google’s Threat Analysis Group (Tag) said on Wednesday that US government employees had been targeted by hackers during the Covid-19 crisis.

Tag said, external it had identified "over a dozen government-backed attacker groups using Covid-19 themes as lure for phishing and malware attempts". It did not specify the governments backing such attacks.

One notable campaign targeted personal accounts of US government employees with messages offering free meals, coupons, online ordering and delivery from fast food franchises.

Google said most of these attack messages were filtered into spam folders.

The company said its security systems have found numerous such examples of hackers trying to exploit the pandemic, including emails linking to sites "spoofing the World Health Organization login page".

There are more than 240 million Covid-related spam messages sent daily, according to Google.

"These findings show that health organisations, public health agencies and the individuals who work there are becoming new targets as a result of Covid-19."

Jessica Parker
BBC political correspondent

Too slow. That was the accusation levelled at the UK government earlier by the new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

He said ministers had been too slow on testing, and too slow on getting personal protective equipment (PPE) to the front line.

The government has pushed back, pointing out, for example, that more than a billion items of PPE have been delivered.

But Downing Street has conceded there are challenges - and a target to hit 100,000 daily tests is just eight days away.

As if to emphasise that, the head of the armed forces earlier described the response to the virus as the “single greatest logistical challenge that I have come across”.

But amid discussion of the immediate tasks, the long-term nature of this battle was again made clear today.

Chief Medical Adviser Chris Whitty said in the end there were only two ways out of this - highly effective vaccines or drug treatments.

And the chances of getting those in the next calendar year? “Incredibly small,” he predicted.

So while there will be a debate about whether the government was too slow to act in recent months, it’s increasingly clear that there is no fast exit out of this epidemic.

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Wales footballer Gareth Bale and his wife Emma have donated £500,000 to the charitable arm of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CVUHB).

The money will provide "those extras for staff and patients that normal NHS funding doesn't provide" and the Cardiff & Vale Health Charity said it was the couple's wish that the money was used on "the response to Covid".

Bale, 30, added: "The University Hospital of Wales holds a special place in my heart - it's where I was born and has provided great support to my friends, my family and the wider community so me and my family would like to show our support.

"Keep up the good work; you're doing an amazing job and thank you very much."

A further 544 people have died with coronavirus in hospital and care homes in France.

The tally - 336 in hospital and 208 in care homes - brought France's total Covid-19 death toll to 21,340.

Wednesday's daily figure of 544 deaths is 13 more than was reported in the previous 24 hours.

On Monday, France became the fourth country after Italy, Spain and the USA to pass the 20,000-fatality mark.

France has been under lockdown for five weeks. Last week French President Emmanuel Macron said this would be extended until 11 May, and that public events could not be held until mid-July at the earliest.