Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has emerged and today’s Downing Street briefing is under way.

Stay with us and we’ll bring you all the updates.

You can watch the briefing live using the video stream at the top of this page.

Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics

In the UK there have been 18,100 deaths from coronavirus in hospital, and a daily death toll of 759, according to figures from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The pattern in these data is one of gradual, bumpy decline from a peak of 980 deaths reported in one day, on April 10th.

The peaks and troughs are exacerbated by reporting lags, especially at weekends.

The picture of decline is further supported by NHS England’s analysis of deaths on the day they actually occur – this shows a rise to a peak in the week before Easter and a gradual decline since then. Both the rise and fall are smoother than for the daily DHSC figures.

These figures are mainly for hospitals, and it is possible that the picture in the community or in care homes may follow a slightly different pattern. So we can’t yet say we’ve passed the peak without caveats.

Even when we can, the international pattern has not been one of rapid declines - as you can see in the chart below - but a gradual deceleration.

A reminder that the UK government’s daily coronavirus briefing is due to get under way in Downing Street in about 15 minutes.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is deputising for Boris Johnson while the PM continues to convalesce, will be leading the press conference.

We will also hear from Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer and General Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff. This will be the first time the UK’s most senior military officer has appeared.

Mr Raab and Prof Whitty will give an update on the current situation and the panel will take questions from selected journalists.

We are also expecting to hear from Sir Nick about the role of the armed forces in the UK's response.

Image source, Getty Images

All 16 German states have announced plans to make face masks compulsory, as the country slowly reduces its lockdown restrictions.

The rules will differ slightly from state to state. Mask use will however be mandatory on public transport throughout the country, and nearly all states will also make people wear face coverings when shopping.

You can read more about the plans here.

Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has confirmed 145,694 cases and recorded 4,879 deaths in total.

We're expecting to hear from the UK government in the next 30 minutes or so, but let’s take a look at the latest from the country first:

• A total of 18,100 people hospitalised with coronavirus have now died in the UK, up 759 from yesterday’s total
• Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab insisted a target for 100,000 daily tests by the end of this month would be met
• New figures suggest coronavirus deaths in care homes in England could have doubled in five days
• A delayed delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE) from Turkey has arrived in the UK and is being inspected

Felicity Evans
BBC Wales political editor

Image source, Joel Felton

A group of senior doctors from across Wales has written an open letter to Wales' first minister and health minister calling on them to make second home use unlawful during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Tourism and holiday home use facilitate non-essential movement into rural areas, increasing the population and thus placing additional pressures on local health and emergency services," the letter said.

First Minister Mark Drakeford has said that his government was looking at strengthening regulations on people travelling to second homes and that he would give more details by the end of the week.

Read more from Felicity here.

Image source, Getty Images

A post-mortem in California has revealed the first US death related to the coronavirus came weeks earlier than previously thought.

A death in Seattle, Washington state, on 26 February was originally believed to be the first in the country.

But two people who died on 6 and 17 February in Santa Clara Country, California, have now been shown to have had Covid-19.

At the time, national criteria restricted testing only to people with a known travel history and who were showing specific symptoms.

The county coroner's statement said "we anticipate additional deaths from Covid-19 will be identified" as investigations continue.

Read the full story here.

Dr Tamal Ray was runner up in the sixth series of the ultimate comfort-viewing programme, the Great British Bake Off.

Here, he tells us how his creations are going down in the hospital where he works, on the front-line in the fight against coronavirus.

And he explains he therapeutic benefits of baking - if you're lucky enough to have flour - at this time.

Image source, Reuters

Today’s UK government press conference will take place in about an hour’s time from Downing Street.

Fresh from standing in for PM Boris Johnson in the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will be leading the briefing.

Today, he’ll be joined by the UK government’s chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty, also a familiar face at these events.

But for the first time, we'll also be hearing from Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter, the UK’s most senior military officer.

Image source, Getty Images

Sportswear brand Lululemon has fired one of its art directors after a post he shared caused the firm to become embroiled in a race row.

Art director Trevor Fleming shared an image of a t-shirt depicting a takeaway box of "bat fried rice" over the weekend.

His post was then shared onto Chinese social platform Weibo, where it was viewed hundreds of millions of times. It also sparked online calls for a boycott of the brand.

The Canadian clothing firm, known best for its yoga pants, has 38 stores in China.

"We acted immediately and the person involved is no longer an employee of Lululemon," the firm said on Instagram.

The coronavirus is thought to have originated in bats, with other wild animals, possibly pangolins, playing a role in transmission to humans.

Dozens of doctors have raised questions about how long the UK advises those with Covid-19 symptoms to self-isolate.

Government guidance, external says people should stay at home and avoid contact with others for seven days if they develop symptoms.

That's a much shorter timeframe than that suggested by the World Health Organization.

A group of 25 doctors have written to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock about their concerns.

Read more here.

"The dream I've been having since lockdown started is that I'm in my car just going round and round a roundabout," Holly Hyde tells the BBC.

"I'm talking to my mum on the phone, and she's in a car behind me - we're both in separate cars going round the roundabout. Nothing really happens, we just keep going round. I wake up feeling quite anxious afterwards."

Holly, 31 from London, looked up the dream online and found a site saying it signified being stuck in a looping situation in real life - which she said "made sense", given the lockdown.

And she isn't the only person having vivid anxiety dreams at the moment. In our report below, which seems to have struck a chord with many of you, we looked at the strange phenomenon of the coronavirus dream.

Image source, AFP

Good morning to our readers in the US and Canada, and a particularly warm welcome if you're joining us in lockdown.

Here are some of the headlines in North America to get you up to speed:

• The head of the CDC has warned that the US could experience a second wave of the virus that's even worse than the first, which would put "unimaginable strain" on the country's healthcare system
• The US state of Missouri is suing China over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, arguing that it's led to severe economic losses. China's foreign ministry denounced the move, saying the "frivolous lawsuit has no factual or legal basis"
• US President Donald Trump justified halting immigration by saying he wanted to put Americans "first in line for jobs" when the country reopened (Critics say he is trying to distract attention away from his response to the virus.)
• Canada's chief public health officer said the country was still a "way off" from recovering from the virus, but praised Canadians' "sacrifices and every day inconveniences" that have "prevented an explosive outbreak" like those seen in other countries
• As of this morning, 45,075 people have died of the virus in the US and there have been 825,306 confirmed cases. In Canada, 1,915 people have died and there have been 39,405 confirmed cases, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University

It's something many of you will be wondering. What's the best way to get through this strange time when many of us are confined to our homes?

We've asked a few grandmas for their tips - which include keeping yourself occupied, staying in touch, supporting front-line workers and doing as you are told.

Have a watch - it might put a smile on your face.

A possible vaccine for Covid-19, developed by German firm BioNTech and US drug giant Pfizer, has been given the green light for human testing.

The trial will begin with 200 healthy people, aged between 18 and 55, being given the vaccine.

"This is a good sign that the development of a vaccine in Germany is so progressed that we can start with the first studies," the country's health minister, Jens Spahn, said Wednesday. "At the same time the advice remains important that it will take months. This is an injection in the body. Safety first is the guideline for such a vaccine."

Only a handful of vaccine candidates have been approved for clinical testing on humans globally, and experts caution that it will take at least a year for a viable vaccine to be developed.

Scientists at the UK's Oxford University are starting human trials of a possible vaccine this week. Other clinical trials are taking place in the US and China.

• Read more: When will we have a vaccine?

A further 759 people have died with coronavirus across UK hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus as of 17:00 BST on Tuesday, government figures show.

It takes the total number to 18,100.

These figures do not include deaths in the community, in places such as care homes.

In England, daily figures show a further 665 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died in hospitals. The NHS England update takes the total to 16,272.

In Scotland, latest figures released earlier showed the daily death toll increased by 77, taking the total number of hospital deaths to 1,062.

In Wales, another 15 hospital deaths have been reported, taking the total number to 624.

Wednesday's update has not yet been released for Northern Ireland.

To find out more on deaths in the community, tap here for England and Wales and here for Scotland.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

It sort of worked.

The new, virtual, House of Commons opened an unprecedented day with the first-ever remote Welsh Questions - with Secretary of State Simon Hart answering from home.

Sound quality was occasionally ropey, questions had occasionally to be guessed at, with Mr Hart revealing previously unsuspected lip-reading skills.

The pace was deliberately leisurely, with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle spinning out the way he called MPs to speak, to allow the technical crews behind the scenes to get the right face up on the screens.

And the close-ups from the home cameras gave a new dimension.

By the time PMQs (Prime Minister's Questions) began, the routine was established…but it was an unfamiliar cast of characters, with First Secretary Dominic Raab deputising for his convalescing boss, and Sir Keir Starmer making his debut as the Leader of the Opposition.

Read more from Mark, here.

There's been a lot of debate on whether healthy people should be wearing masks at the moment, and many places around the world have now either made it compulsory or issued advisories. Germany, for instance, has become the latest country to urge people to wear masks in public. But what is the official advice from the World Health Organization? After a recent meeting to discuss the issue, it still maintains that medical masks should be reserved only for healthcare workers and not for the general public.

In the UK, hospital bosses have warned that supplies of face masks for the NHS could be put at risk if the government started advising the public to wear them.

The BBC's health correspondent Laura Foster explains the WHO's position and the scientific argument behind it.

All over the world, couples' wedding plans have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic - but some, like Laura McKinlay and Ruaridh Macmillan from Scotland, have pressed on.

They were due to get married on Saturday, but their big day was cancelled because of the ongoing lockdown.

So the couple held what they called a "not our wedding day" and linked up with family and friends via video calls, They held their own ceremony at home with improvised wedding props, including a fitted bedsheet that stood in for a veil, and pyjamas instead of a kilt. Have a watch:

Football may have been suspended in the UK but players are still competing against each other while at home.

A number of top players, plus musicians Tom Grennan and Josh Franceschi, are competing in the ePremier League Invitational - a tournament played on video game Fifa 20.

The tournament is being streamed on the BBC Sport website and the prize fund is being donated to the #PlayersTogether initiative, which was created by Premier League players to raise funds for the NHS.

Earlier on Wednesday, Manchester City and England forward Raheem Sterling beat Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha 5-4.

Click here to watch and check out the highlights of yesterday's matches in the video below.