Boris Johnson is still recovering from coronavirus so Dominic Raab will deputise for him at Prime Minister's Question's shortly.

The foreign secretary will face new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, and MPs questions for the first time since the Easter break at about 12:00 BST.

Mr Raab and Sir Keir will be in the House of Commons.

Other MPs are expected to ask their questions via video link, with the number of MPs in the chamber limited to 50 to aid social-distancing.

UK personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages and virus testing are expected to be among the key topics on the agenda.

It's hay fever season in some parts of the world, and its symptoms can be very similar to that of coronavirus - so similar, in fact, that the UK's Royal College of General Practitioners is warning people not to mix them up.

It says it's concerned people may leave their houses thinking they've just got the seasonal illness, when actually they have contracted a deadly virus and should stay at home.

Our health correspondent Laura Foster explains how you can tell the difference.

• In Brazil, tributes are being paid to 32-year-old doctor Frederic Jota Lima who died on Monday. Mass graves are being excavated for coronavirus victims in Manaus, which has reported 193 deaths and a collapsing health system. The number of infections in the country reached more than 43,000 on Tuesday, but some governors are easing social distancing measures

• Mexico reports an 8.3% increase in infections, rising to a total of 9,501 cases. 857 people have now died there. In Mexico City, 20% of public transport stops will close from Thursday, and most private cars will be banned from the roads
• Stranded Ecuadoran citizens abroad will be flown home and quarantined for 14 days, the government announces. Officials reported a further 902 deaths likely caused by Covid-19, in addition to the 520 officially confirmed in the country where bodies were seen piling up in Guayaquil. The government hopes to renegotiate its foreign debt and wants to re-open some commercial businesses as the economy continues to be hit hard by quarantine measures
• In Peru, the government has helped to transport 4,000 people made unemployed by the pandemic from the capital Lima home to their regions. Officials have warned stranded people not to return to the country’s highlands on foot
• And in Colombia, robots are going door-to-door to deliver parcels to quarantined residents of the city of Medellin, where a lockdown will continue until 11 May . The company who deployed the 120 robots say they are some of the first to be used in Latin America

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Spain has recorded 435 deaths in the past 24 hours.

This number, a slight increase on yesterday, brings their overall death toll to 21,717.

It comes as the country's parliament debates a request from the prime minister to extend the current state of emergency until 9 May.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says his government plans to start winding down the country's lockdown measures after this date.

"We will be going back-and-forth depending on how the pandemic evolves," he said.

The country has almost 205,000 confirmed coronavirus cases - the second highest in the world.

A 99-year-old woman is recovering at home after being admitted to hospital with coronavirus.

Carrie Pollock tested positive at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, in early March after she was admitted with hallucinations and suspected pneumonia.

The former Special Branch officer is now back at home in Hayling Island with her family and says she's feeling "much better".

Watch more personal stories during the coronavirus outbreak: Your Coronavirus Stories

Image source, Getty Images

There has been a wave of complaints from air passengers and holidaymakers who have faced difficulty getting refunds on their cancelled travel plans.

Consumer organisation Which? has accused many of the UK's biggest airlines and travel companies of breaking laws in place to protect customers.

It said the travel industry's own estimates suggested £7bn of travelers' money was affected.

You can read more about the difficulties people are facing and learn about your rights here.

The number of cases in Singapore has crossed the 10,000 mark, tipped over by 1,016 new cases reported on Wednesday.

Singapore now has the highest number of cases in South East Asia, with a large majority of these cases linked to dormitories that house foreign workers.

Previously lauded as a model for how to get it right, it’s now had to extend and tighten a lockdown, as well as seal off multiple dormitories where these men live - raising questions about why more wasn’t done earlier.The government is carrying out extensive testing and trying to move healthy workers out, but people living in the dorms said they were scared about getting ill, and about what the future holds for them. We spoke to some of them:

Image source, Reuters

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is awaiting the results of his Covid-19 test after news emerged that he had come in contact with a charity group leader who has tested positive.

Health authorities collected his sample on Tuesday, external, and results are expected later on Wednesday, local media reported.

The philanthropist met the prime minister last week when he gave him a cheque to support Pakistan's fight against the virus.

Mr Khan has also held various meetings over the last few days, including a Cabinet meet on Tuesday.

Pakistan has confirmed more than 9,000 infections and nearly 200 deaths.

In the UK, Boris Johnson is recovering from coronavirus after testing positive for it last month.

And in Canada, Justin Trudeau had to self-isolate after his wife tested positive in March.

Gavin Lee
BBC Europe reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The EU’s Joint Procurement Agreement has four schemes - two for personal protective equipment (PPE), one for ventilators, one for laboratory equipment, mainly testing kits.

The EU Commission has confirmed that the UK is not involved in any of them, and has not officially requested to be involved in any of them, despite being “repeatedly invited” by the EU to do so.

Other non-EU countries have joined up.

The first meeting to establish this joint procurement plan took place at the end of January, two days before the UK left the EU and entered the transition phase.

Several other EU meetings on procurement took place, to which a UK representative was “not always there” according to EU officials.

On the 17 March the procurement procedure was launched, and member states started a public tendering process for suppliers.

The EU Commission says they are now waiting for member states to put in their orders for the PPE and medical equipment they need and first allocations will be in the “coming days and weeks”.

The EU hasn’t put a figure on the total bulk of purchases they’ve made, as “some countries are still finding more suppliers”, but it’s understood to be worth hundreds of millions of euros.

The EU says the UK can be part of a “procurement programme in future”, as there are ongoing discussions about what else might be needed.

The deadline has been missed on the current programme.

Coronavirus has presented NHS workers in the UK at all levels with an extraordinary challenge.

The BBC's Fergal Keane recently spent time with teams fighting the virus at Imperial College Healthcare hospitals in London.

Dr Ali Sanders spoke of the challenges she and her team of more than 500 hospital staff face during the pandemic.

Image source, Getty Images

More now on the UK government's attempts to acquire more personal protective equipment (PPE) for health and social care workers.

Labour's shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth has called on the government to "mobilise British firms" to make PPE.

The government remains under pressure for failing to supply enough PPE and a number of British companies have told the BBC their offers to help have been ignored.

Care minister Helen Whately told Radio 4's Today programme the government had responded to 3,000 of 8,000 offers from companies, but was concentrating on those with established supply chains.

Ashworth said the delay in responding to offers was "understandable" but called for more focus to be given to making PPE in the UK, pointing to the delays in equipment arriving from Turkey as an example of issues with sourcing it internationally.

"It may be companies can only make small quantities of it but that doesn't matter," Ashworth told BBC Breakfast.

"We need everybody doing what they can as part of this national effort.

"It is absolutely vital we are supporting small businesses because they are backbone of economy."

Image source, EPA

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has warned that a second wave of coronavirus could be even more dangerous than the current outbreak.

“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” Robert Redfield told the Washington Post, external newspaper.

“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” he added.

• Read more about his warning

From drinking cow urine to avoiding ice cream, there's been a lot of talk online about the different ways you can beat or avoid the coronavirus - and not a lot of it is true.

We’re debunking several myths in an ongoing Reality Check series (here’s part 1 and part 2) – here’s our latest video on why lemon juice can’t protect you from getting infected, and mosquitoes are not passing on the coronavirus.

It started out with what felt like muscle aches, a cough and then a fever that set in.

It's a set of symptoms that have now become familiar. For Elizabeth, it was the start of many long days and nights that would be spent in hospital.

During her stay, she was in a room with three other people who had all tested positive for the virus. By the end of her stay, two of these people had died.

It was a struggle staying alive even for Elizabeth herself.

"I had told myself: 'No, I've got to carry on, I'm not going yet. I'm 49, I'm not ready to die, not just for me but for my kids and my family and friends.'"

This is Elizabeth's story.

Welcome to Wednesday's coverage, if you're just joining us.

In the UK there are still questions surrounding the government's supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) from abroad.

There are also growing concerns that only a fraction of "at risk" children are going to school despite being eligible.

You can read about these stories, and others, in our morning coronavirus update.

Image source, Cook County Sheriff’s Office

R&B singer R. Kelly, awaiting sex abuse trials in New York and Chicago, has had a second emergency plea for his release denied.

He is currently housed in Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, where coronavirus has been reported in staff and inmates.

But on Tuesday a US District Judge said he must stay behind bars over fears he could flee bail or intimidate witnesses if released.

Several high-profile US inmates, including disgraced comedian Bill Cosby, have cited coronavirus in appeals for early release in recent weeks.

Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen and rapper Tekashi 69 are among those who have been allowed to finish their sentences at home.

Image source, Reuters

Spain loosens restrictions on children after an outcry and Romania raises millions of euros in lockdown fines. Here’s the latest from Europe:

• Children are currently not allowed outside for any reason in Spain. On Tuesday the government initially said young children would be allowed out, but only to run errands with their parents. After a huge backlash they loosened the rules further – from Sunday children up to the age of 14 will be allowed out for a walk, accompanied by an adult
• In one month, Romania has raised €78 million (£69m) after handing out about 200,000 fines to people who flouted national virus restrictions. It’s roughly the equivalent of the national corporate tax income for the whole of February
• Traffic cameras in Moscow will now check cars for digital travel permits, as the Russian capital tightens its lockdown measures. Anyone with cold-like symptoms will also have to stay home, as will their family members
• There has been a fourth consecutive night of unrest in the Paris suburb of Villeneuve-la-Garenne. Social tensions have risen further under strict lockdown rules
• And this September’s Berlin Marathon has been called off after Germany extended its ban on large public gatherings until 24 October

Care minister Helen Whately says it is "very frustrating" that "an email went astray" meaning the UK did not participate in an EU scheme to source medical equipment.

On Tuesday, a senior civil servant retracted claims the UK had taken a "political decision" not to join the scheme.

Whately told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was a "communication error".

The MP also said it is "really troubling" not as many people in the UK are being tested for coronavirus as could be.

She said the UK has the capacity to carry out 40,000 tests per day but on Tuesday only 18,000 were tested.

Whately said the government will try to improve the access to tests by increasing mobile testing units and sending out home testing kits to NHS and care workers.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

There's been a virus cluster in a Japanese care home for infants, with eight children testing positive. They had been tested after one staff member was confirmed positive.

None of the children were showing major symptoms but they have been taken to hospital, a spokeswoman at Saiseikai Central Hospital, which runs the institution, said.

Japan has more than 11,500 confirmed infections and nearly 300 deaths have been linked to the virus.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says his government plans to start winding down the country's lockdown measures in the second half of May, reports Reuters.

These restrictions will be eased slowly and gradually to ensure safety, he said at a parliamentary session. Mr Sanchez is also expected to extend Spain's state of emergency until 9 May.

Spain first enforced its lockdown on 14 March. It has the second highest number of virus cases in the world at 204,178, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

Image source, Get