UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma has been speaking to the Commons Business Select Committee this morning. Here are some of the lines to emerge so far:

• Pressed on why other countries had given out more loans to businesses, Mr Sharma said it was important to look at the “totality” of the support the UK was offering, but acknowledged the need to “get more loans out there”
• He also said he would look into introducing temporary measures to ease commercial rent demand within the next week, aware that some landlords were “putting undue financial pressure with aggressive debt recovery tactics"
• Following reports some pregnant women had been dismissed or asked to take unpaid leave because of the pandemic, Mr Sharma said guidance was clear that they could be furloughed and, if they met the criteria, “there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be”

Image source, Getty Images

Four Arsenal players are the latest Premier League footballers to be caught breaching government guidelines on social distancing.

David Luiz and Granit Xhaka met up in a London park, Nicolas Pepe was filmed playing football with friends and Alexandre Lacazette was shown standing close to a man valeting his car.

Arsenal have spoken to the quartet about their actions.

Tottenham have already had three different incidents involving their players - including one with manager Jose Mourinho.

Manchester City's Kyle Walker, Aston Villa's Jack Grealish and England legend Wayne Rooney are among the English footballers to breach the guidelines.

Almost half of all people who have died with coronavirus in Europe were residents in care facilities, the World Health Organisation's regional director for Europe has said.

Dr Hans Kluge told a press conference on Thursday there was a "deeply concerning picture" emerging regarding those in long-term care.

He said: "According to estimates from countries in the European region, up to half of those who have died from Covid-19 were resident in long-term care facilities. This is an unimaginable human tragedy."

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.

The UK government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) is expected to meet later to discuss whether the public should wear face masks.

Prof Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier that while there was no evidence to support wearing masks if you were fit and well, "it makes complete sense" if you were "coughing and spluttering" in order to protect other people.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says masks are useful in some settings, including when worn by those who are ill. However, it says "the wide use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not supported by current evidence" and medical-grade face masks should be reserved for health care workers.

This is the position currently adopted by the UK and this morning Northern Ireland Secretary told BBC Breakfast no decision had been made on masks yet.

You can read more about the evidence on wearing masks here.

Image source, Getty Images

Some people in the UK are turning to books to help them get through the lockdown, according to a new survey by The Reading Agency.

New figures, released on Thursday, suggest almost a third of people are reading more since lockdown restrictions were imposed last month. This number rises to almost half (45%) in young people aged between 18-24.

Many of those surveyed cited reading as a form of release, escapism or distraction during these uncertain times.

The survey was released for World Book Night and you can read more about it here.

The Czech Health Minister, Adam Vojtech, says the latest statistics show there was no significant bump in coronavirus cases over Easter.

The country has confirmed 7,132 cases and 208 deaths so far. It was feared they could reach 15,000 cases by the end of the month, but those estimates have now been revised down.

The director of the Institute for Health Information and Statistics, Ladislav Dusek, said that life in the country could gradually begin returning to normal.

Nine locations around the country have started mass antibody testing today, the BBC's Prague Correspondent Rob Cameron reports. Further information about the next steps will emerge later, he adds.

The government is meeting today to discuss whether to extend a state of emergency into next month and how and when to re-open the country's borders.

With some of the world's most advanced healthcare systems becoming overwhelmed by the coronavirus outbreak, there is growing concern about how developing countries will cope.

The BBC's Secunder Kermani and Anne Soy compare how prepared some countries in Asia and Africa are.

Image source, Getty Images

B&Q has reopened dozens of UK stores - despite lockdown measures remaining in place.

The DIY group says it has brought in "social distancing controls", such as capping the number of customers inside every store.

Other UK firms, such as luxury carmaker Aston Martin and housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, have also said they will return to work in May.

B&Q had been closed since the government introduced its lockdown measures at the end of March - although hardware stores were included on the government's list of essential retailers that were allowed to trade under the restrictions.

Read more here.

Germany's Angela Merkel has said the government is prepared to make "significantly higher" contributions to the EU budget. The extra money will help the 27-member bloc respond to the coronavirus pandemic, among others. What else is happening around the continent?

• EU leaders meet via video from 13:00 GMT on Thursday and are set to sign off a €540bn (£470bn; $575bn) emergency fund to protect European workers, businesses and those countries worst hit by the outbreak.
• Bosnia-Herzegovina is one of the few countries that has stopped children going outside, Now its top court says measures restricting freedom of movement for children and pensioners are unconstitutional. Authorities have five days to lift them
• Spain has seen a slight rise in fatalities - 440 in the past 24 hours - bringing the national toll to 22,157. Another 4,635 infection cases have been reported
• Belgium has reported another 230 deaths in the past 24 hours, mostly in care homes. The number of people in intensive care has fallen below 1,000
• Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has begun working from home because an employee at her official residence came into contact with someone who had coronavirus . Ms Marin, 34, has a two-year-old daughter and has no symptoms herself

• Turkey has begun a four-day lockdown across 31 provinces. Some stores and workers are exempt from the curfew

Spain's virus death toll has passed the 22,000 mark in the third slight daily rise, the country's health ministry says.

Some 440 people had died from the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, which brought total fatalities to 22,157, it added.

As millions of people are told to work from home and adjust to doing their jobs remotely, injuries are more likely.

Physiotherapist Alishah Merchant has some simple tips on how to optimise your home workstation to reduce the pain.

As of 16:00 BST on Wednesday, 2.8 million workers have been placed on the government's furlough scheme, Business Secretary Alok Sharma says.

Speaking to MPs on the Commons Business Committee, he said there had been 387,000 applications to the scheme, through which the government pays 80% of employees’ wages who have been placed on a leave of absence because of the pandemic.

He also gave an update on the government’s loan scheme, saying around 38,000 businesses had applied for finance, with 16,600 securing loans worth a total of £2.8bn.

Tom Bateman
BBC News, in Helsinki

Image source, EPA

Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin is self-isolating after a person working at her official residence came into close contact with a confirmed coronavirus case.

An official statement from her office said the prime minister had been tested for the virus and was showing no symptoms.

The 34-year old gained worldwide attention after she became the world's youngest sitting head of government, taking office in December last year.

5G does not spread Covid-19, steam inhalation is not a cure and skin colour can't protect from catching the virus. Reality Check's Chris Morris tackles the latest false claims about coronavirus circulating online.

Image source, Li Zehua/YouTube

A citizen journalist who disappeared after reporting from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus outbreak started, has resurfaced after an absence of almost two months.

Li Zehua last broadcast on 26 February, in a video that appeared to show him being chased and detained by police.

In a new video on YouTube, he said he'd been away in "quarantine" during this time.

• Read more about Li Zehua

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner does not think this week's outbreak of violent clashes in French housing estates will result in scenes similar to the 2005 riots that broke out throughout the country.

"We are not in this sort of scenario," he told BFM TV.

Current coronavirus-related restrictions have exacerbated tensions in low-income neighbourhoods around the capital.

The 2005 unrest - sparked by the death of two youths who were fleeing police in a northern Paris suburb - lasted three weeks.

Here's a reminder of those riots.

New Zealand nurse Jenny McGee, who was crediting with helping to save the life of Boris Johnson, has been speaking about her experience of treating the UK prime minister for coronavirus.

In an interview with TVNZ, she said she wasn't expecting to be singled out for praise by Mr Johnson.

"He was just another patient we were trying to do our best for," she said.

Read more from her interview here.

If you're in self-isolation or avoiding gyms, you may be wondering how you can continue to stay active.

We got a fitness trainer (who’s also a farmer) to show us some simple exercises to do while cooped up at home.

Germany's Bundesliga could take a step closer to becoming the first major football league to resume.

The German Football League is meeting at 10:00 BST (09:00 GMT) to discuss Germany's top two divisions returning on either 9 or 16 May.

Final approval would be needed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders on 30 April.

The Belarus Premier League is the only one in Europe which has not been stopped because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, European football's governing body Uefa is expected to announce today how teams can qualify for next season's European competitions if domestic leagues are cancelled.