Image source, Getty Images

Football clubs in the National League - the fifth tier of English football - and the National League North and the National League South - the sixth tier - have voted to end the 2019-20 season at its current point.

The league said there was a "clear majority of clubs in favour", although it is unclear what will happen regarding teams being promoted and relegated.

The Premier League - English football's top level - and the EFL - consisting of the Championship, League One and League Two - are all trying to complete their current seasons fully.

Premier League leaders Liverpool are 25 points clear at the top of the table and need to win two of their final nine matches to become English champions for the first time since 1990.

Image source, Reut

China has responded to a new lawsuit filed against it by the US state of Missouri.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt unveiled the lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing the Chinese government of lying to the world about coronavirus. He said they "did little to stop the spread of the disease" and "must be held accountable for their actions".

A spokesman for China's foreign ministry denounced the move on Wednesday, saying the "frivolous lawsuit has no factual or legal basis".

"Really absurd. Based on the principle of sovereign equality, US courts have NO jurisdiction over the Chinese government," he said.

• Read more: Missouri sues Chinese government over virus handling

Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst

Image source, Getty Images

A Chinese city near the Russian border has now “imposed a lockdown on all residential communities and villages”, according to the national Global Times newspaper, external.

The city of Harbin, which has a population of 10 million people, is implementing strict measures today, similar to those imposed on the central city of Wuhan during the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in January.

Media are widely reporting that Harbin’s government has prohibited non-locals, and any vehicles without local licence plates, from entering the city.

Communities and villages have also been instructed to guard compounds, and to ensure that anybody entering or leaving can prove that they are healthy.

Residents must not go out without a mask, and they are now being told they must comply with temperature checks.

Global Times says that residents are encouraged to report any known returnees who fail to comply with these procedures.

It says they should be electronically monitored.

There are currently 52 confirmed cases in Harbin.

Yesterday, state media reported that 4,106 people had recently been screened for the virus, after two clusters of Covid-19 infections were discovered at hospitals there.

These have been traced back to a Chinese student who returned from New York in mid-March.

Image source, AFP

A planned app will mean the UK government can conduct "large scale" contact tracing, once cases have fallen further, the health secretary has said.

The UK has already confirmed plans to launch the app. It will warn users if they have recently been near someone suspected to have coronavirus.

Matt Hancock told MPs the "NHS app" will be optimised if more people sign up to it when it goes live.

Mr Hancock also told people with non-coronavirus symptoms who need medical advice that they must still contact their GP. "The NHS is there for you," he added.

It comes after reports that people have been avoiding seeking medical treatment due to the risk of being infected with Covid-19.

About one in three of every coronavirus-linked deaths in Scotland so far have happened in care homes, new figures show.

The latest data released weekly by the National Records of Scotland, external show Covid-19 had been mentioned on the death certificates of 1,616 people by 19 April.

Of these deaths, 537 were in care homes, while more than half (910) occurred in hospitals.

The numbers differ from those released daily by the Scottish government, which do not include deaths outside of hospitals.

Equivalent figures were released for England and Wales by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.

Read more about the latest Scottish figures here.

Image source, Paola Despretz/Sophie Passmore

Last summer, Sophie Passmore sat with a pot of glue and sequins, applying the finishing touches to costumes for ITV's reality show The Masked Singer.

She didn't expect that, less than 10 months later, she would be replying to Facebook comments with advice for making a very different kind of mask.

She is one of thousands who have taken it upon themselves to produce cloth masks since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

Requests for masks on social media have been met with offers from keen volunteers.

Read more here.

The BBC's Visual and Data Journalism Team have been tracking the pandemic over time.

This is how different nations' outbreaks compare to each other:

• Read more: Tracking the global outbreak

Katherine Sellgren
BBC News education reporter

UK students should be given the option to retake or be reimbursed for this academic year, the National Union of Students (NUS) says.

The NUS is also calling for a student hardship fund to help those who are struggling.

The union says a survey of nearly 10,000 student union members shows 81% are worried about their future job prospects and 95% are concerned about the impact of Covid-19 on the economy.

The government says it understands this is a difficult time for students.

Image source, Getty Images

Little Mix and Westlife have both announced the cancellations of their summer tours because of the coronavirus.

Girl band Little Mix were due to begin a month-long tour of UK stadiums on 26 June.

They said they had made the decision "following the latest government advice" and added that the health and safety of fans and crew was their "number one priority".

The recently reformed Irish boyband Westlife were also due to tour in June and July.

“Those who have been on the Westlife journey with us know how important performing is to us, but also know that safety must come first and foremost in delivering a successful tour,” a statement said.

Westlife said their show at London’s Wembley Stadium in August may still go ahead.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Premier League side Crystal Palace have cancelled a summer trip to take part in the Queensland Champions Cup in Australia - a competition they had been hoping to play in as preparation for the 2020-21 football season.

World number one golfer Rory McIlroy has said he would rather the Ryder Cup was postponed until 2021 than be held this year without fans. The event - played between Europe and the United States every two years - is scheduled to take place at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin from 22-27 September.

The Professional Darts Corporation has cancelled its May and June events, including the World Cup of Darts, which was meant to be held in Hamburg, Germany from 18-21 June, although it may be rescheduled for later in the year.

In horse racing, this year’s Galway Festival in the Republic of Ireland will be staged behind closed doors, if it goes ahead as planned in July.

Image source, Getty Images

Normally you could see Colombian ballet dancer Fernando Montaño gracing the stage at the Royal Opera House in London. A soloist since 2014, he's performed in the Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty amongst others.

Now that public performances are mostly postponed, he's giving dance classes on Instagram from his house in Los Angeles, which is where he was when the quarantine measures began.

You can learn the cumbia and mapalé dance styles, as well as ballet, in his Instagram live classes. Or just watch his stunning performances of Michael Jackson and Britney Spears routines.

The dancer, who grew up in a violent neighbourhood of Cali, Colombia, is known for his charity work.

See you at the barre!

If you're just joining us, here are some more developments around the world:

• According to tracking by Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 2.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world and more than 177,000 people are known to have died
• Clinical trials of possible vaccinations are set to get under way in Germany and the UK
• About nine million children will be sent home from Koranic schools across Nigeria because of the outbreak
• Police in Morocco have arrested more than 3,000 people in 24 hours for violating coronavirus measures, local media report

• Authorities in the town of Buñol, in Spain's Valencia province, have postponed a festival where thousands gather to throw tomatoes at each other, for the first time since 1957

Image source, Getty Images

The Indian government has passed a law by which those who are found guilty of attacking doctors or health workers can be sentenced to up to seven years in jail.

Doctors, nurses and community health workers from across the country have reported being attacked - some of the assaults happened in neighbourhoods while health workers were in the process of contact-tracing suspected positive patients, and others occurred in hospitals.

In some cases doctors have also been chased away by their neighbours who feared contracting the virus from them.

The new law was introduced in an ordinance on Wednesday. It's now part of The Epidemic Diseases Act, a 123-year-old colonial-era law, and also carries a hefty fine that could run up to $6,500 (£5,200).

"We have zero tolerance and will not allow this," Prakash Javadekar, a central minister told local media.

India has so far recorded 15,474 active cases and 640 deaths.

Reality Check

President Trump says he’s stopping applications by foreigners for permanent residence in the US for 60 days because of the impact of the coronavirus. “It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labour flown in from abroad,” he said.

So what do the figures show about who’s coming to the US to live and work? US government data (up to 2018) shows that in nearly every year over the previous decade, more than a million people were given permanent residence (the so-called green card.)

But there are bigger numbers of foreigners given temporary admission each year for employment. In 2018, there were nearly four million workers and their families allowed in to the US on these temporary visas, with more than one million of these coming from Canada. There were also significant numbers from Mexico and India. However, President Trump’s latest move to curb immigration does not cover these. He apparently decided not to include them after a backlash from some business leaders, who feared it would impact farm workers and hi-tech employees.

It’s also unclear how much difference the move will make since many visa services had already been suspended because of the virus outbreak. And it’s worth putting the immigration numbers in the wider context of US unemployment figures – by mid-April, there had been more than 20 million jobless claims over the previous month.

Image source, Getty Images

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

At PMQs, Sir Keir Starmer asks about the shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) saying front-line workers are "scared" at work because they don't have the right kit.

"The government plan clearly isn't working," adds Sir Keir. "When will they finally get equipment they need to keep them safe?"

Mr Raab says getting kit to where it needs to be is an international challenge.

He says the government has made a "huge effort" to bolster ventilator stocks, and they have delivered one billion items of PPE so far.

But, he adds, the government "recognises we have got to strive even harder".

Image source, Getty Images

Thousands of cancer patients are not getting life-saving treatment because of the coronavirus crisis, Cancer Research UK has warned.

The charity says its "very concerned" that 200,000 people a week are no longer being screened for bowel, breast and cervical cancer across the UK.

It said screening services have been formally paused in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and are "de facto" paused in England as no appointments are being made at screening hubs.

Its research also found the number of urgent referrals by GPs has dropped by 75% due to concerns around the risk of Covid-19 at surgeries and hospitals.

More than 2,200 new cancer cases could be going undetected each week, dramatically impacting patients' chances of survival, the charity said.

Its chief clinician Professor Charles Swanton told the BBC that ministers need to urgently deliver on their promise to create "Covid-free" hubs in private hospitals, which he said could be helped by the "routine screening of all staff".

House of Commons
Parliament

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab begins PMQs with a statement telling MPs that Boris Johnson is in good spirits as he makes his recovery from coronavirus.

He also thanks health workers and other frontline workers. "We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude," he says.

Sir Keir Starmer sends his best wishes to the PM and all those affected by coronavirus.

He opens with questions on coronavirus testing - how will the UK government get to the 100,000 coronavirus tests a day that it has pledged? And he follows up with questions about the existing capacity for tens of thousands of tests that could be used each day.

Mr Raab says the government is confident it will meet the target for testing people for coronavirus and is making good progress.

You can follow live updates from PMQs here as Dominic Raab takes MPs questions on behalf of Boris Johnson.

Anna Holligan
BBC News Hague correspondent

Healthcare workers in the Netherlands are to receive a cash bonus to recognise their efforts in fighting Covid-19, Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra revealed on Tuesday.

While it’s nice to see people recognising the efforts of doctors and nurses fighting to save lives, Wopke Hoekstra said the universal gratitude must be expressed in a more tangible way, not just in the form of applause - a reference to the current trend in countries like the Netherlands and the UK for people to go outside to clap in a public display of appreciation for staff involved in battling the pandemic.

The idea of showing support with a financial reward was first discussed in the Dutch parliament a month ago. Politicians are now working out how much it will be and when the bonus be paid to those on the front line.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Romanians earn an average of £500 (€600) a month, so if you get caught breaking the lockdown rules, a fine of up to six times that amount is going to hurt.

Now it's emerged that authorities have issued 200,000 fines in just under a month and picked up some £69m (€78m) in the process.

The mayor of Bucharest's most densely populated area was himself fined for cycling in a public park. Robert Negoita said he'd been taught a lesson. Read the story here.

People in Romania are allowed out only for work and essential shopping during the daytime.