The first question comes from Amanda from Hull, who wants to know what support is available to parents with schools closed and grandparents not able to provide childcare because they are in the shielded category.

Mr Hancock says he understands why many parents have a "yearning to know" when schools will return but he says it was too early to make such a big call given that the daily death toll is still too high.

The second question from the public comes from Sadie, via video, in Northamptonshire.

She has a 10-year-old son with cystic fibrosis and autism, and asks if there is any way for children like him to be able to go back to school.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the government is "working very hard to ensure those who have extra needs get that extra support" when returning to school.

But he adds: "That is very, very hard when that clashes with the medical needs, which have to come first."

He says for those in the shielded category - being asked to stay at home for 12 weeks to protect themselves - "the safest thing to do is be shielded, not just to stay at home but to be protected from all contact".

Mr Hancock adds that everyone is "working incredibly hard" on a vaccine, but adds: "The science behind that is uncertain so timings are uncertain."

Image source, UK government

This new chart shows everyone who has died in the UK

The dark blue is for hospitals and the light blue is for everyone else.

Image source, UK government

Finally, Prof McLean shows the comparison of the UK to other countries when it comes to deaths from Covid-19.

There are two lines for the UK - one is hospitals only, and the other is for deaths in all settings.

Reality Check

We have had two different sets of figures for deaths from coronavirus today. The ones Health Secretary Matt Hancock just announced are deaths in the last 24 hours of people who had tested positive for coronavirus, mainly in hospitals.

Earlier, we also reported figures for all deaths in the UK in the week of the Easter bank holiday.

Those figures included people who were suspected to have had the virus when they died - not just those who tested positive. They are much better for counting deaths at home, or in care homes.

The weekly figures also help us understand whether the overall number of deaths is higher than average for the time of year. This may give an idea of the direct and indirect deaths linked to Covid-19, for example, people who did not go to hospital because of fear of infection.

Matt Hancock just announced that the daily figures will include care homes from tomorrow.

Image source, UK government

And in another new graph, Prof McLean shows the locations of where people have been dying from Covid-19 in England and Wales.

Prof McLean says it has been "dominated by deaths in hospital" - but also shows other locations, including care homes.

Image source, UK government

When it comes to critical care beds, Prof Angela McLean says her next chart shows the number being used for Covid-19 patients is falling.

Mr Hancock also talked about testing, which he said was increasing across the board.

He suggests the government is on course to meet its target of 100,000 tests by Thursday.

On the future of the lockdown, he insists the social distancing rules in force will not be relaxed any time soon, saying the risk of a second peak of infections is "very real but we as a nation have kept it at bay".

Image source, UK government

The number of deaths has started to fall, says Prof McLean, with the orange line on the graph showing so.

But this is just one of the ways the government is counting how many people have died from Covid-19.

Image source, UK government

Prof Angela McLean says overall the number of people in hospital has falled by 14% over the last week.

She says the fall was "particularly dramatic" in London where the virus peaked earlier.

But she warned a few regions were still stable.

Image source, UK government

Prof Angela McLean begins her section of the briefing reminding people of the government's "five tests" they want to pass before reducing lockdown measures.

They include ensuring the NHS has capacity, a consistent fall in deaths, and the confidence of no second peak.

The chief scientific adviser for the Ministry of Defence then moves on to the first of her charts on the use of transport in Great Britain.

She says volumes of all kinds of traffic have fallen relative to how much travel there was in February.

"We remain pleased to see public transport is below 20%... and we hope people in motor vehicles are practicing really excellent social distancing wherever they are going."

Addressing deaths outside hospitals, Mr Hancock says 4,343 deaths in care homes have been recorded since Easter.

Deaths in care homes account for a sixth of the total death toll, he says, suggesting that they are in line with or slightly below yearly averages.

He goes on to say that, from Wednesday, the government will publish daily figures of deaths in care homes and other non-hospital setting, something which he says was not possible before now.

He says the government wants to be as transparent as possible and save as many lives as possible.

He goes on to announce that all residents and care home staff will soon be tested, whether they have symptoms or not, as well as all over-65s with symptoms and their wider households.

Image source, PA

The health secretary starts by talking about the minute’s silence held earlier across the UK for NHS and social care workers who have lost their lives during the outbreak.

He says it was a "solemn moment of reflection for our nation and of unbearable sadness for some" - saying those honoured were our "fallen heroes".

He goes to confirm the latest figures for the number of people who have tested positive for the virus and those that are currently in hospital.

He says 21,678 people had died in UK hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus as of 5pm on Monday - 586 more than the day before.

Matt Hancock has taken to the lectern to begin the UK government’s press conference.

He is joined by the chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence, Angela McLean, and the UK’s testing coordinator, Professor John Newton.

We will bring you all the updates as it happens.

We should be hearing from the UK government in the next couple of minutes.

But while we wait, why not enjoy some company of the fluffier kind by watching this video about the families fostering pets during the outbreak?

We will be hearing from the UK government shortly with its daily briefing on coronavirus.

But earlier, the country held a minute’s silence in tribute to those front-line workers who lost their lives.

Read more about those people here.

Image source, Getty Images

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work this week after recovering from coronavirus.

And one of his spokesmen says he used his first cabinet meeting with colleagues since his comeback to focus on personal protective equipment - known more commonly as PPE.

The government has been defending its record on supplying PPE to health workers after an investigation by the BBC's Panorama found it had failed to buy crucial items to cope with a pandemic.

The TV programme, which aired last night, found there were no gowns, visors, swabs or body bags in the government's pandemic stockpile when Covid-19 reached the UK, and that the government had ignored a warning from its own advisers to buy missing equipment.

But ministers said a stockpile had been designed to face a flu pandemic, as scientists had advised.

You can read more about the story here.

In a last minute change of course, top members in the US House of Representatives have dropped plans to bring the chamber back into session next week.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Democratic leaders made the decision after consulting with the House doctor.

"We made a judgement that we will not come back next week but that we hope to come back very soon," Hoyer said.

The Republican-controlled Senate still plans to return on 4 May.

Washington, DC remains under a stay at home order until 15 May. Confirmed cases are approaching 4,000 and 185 people have died.

We should be hearing from the UK government in the next 30 minutes but let’s take a look at the latest from the country first:

• The Office for National Statistics says a third of all coronavirus deaths in England and Wales are now happening in care homes
• A minute’s silence took place to honour NHS and care worker staff who had died from the virus
• Boris Johnson focused on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at his first cabinet coronavirus meeting since returning to work, Downing Street said
• The son of a doctor who died as a result of the outbreak has called for an apology from Health Secretary Matt Hancock
• The government has pledged £3.1m to help children abused in lockdown

Tom Bateman
BBC Middle East correspondent

The new head of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is in self-isolation after making an unusual road trip from Beirut to Jerusalem via several countries.

The two cities lie only 240km (150 miles) apart but direct travel has been impossible for decades due to hostile relations between Israel and neighbouring Lebanon, and flights are grounded because of the coronavirus crisis.

Philippe Lazzarini had to pass from Lebanon to Syria, to Jordan and then the Israeli-occupied West Bank - changing vehicles sprayed with disinfectant along the way - before arriving in Jerusalem at the end of the day-long journey involving four different teams of drivers.

Unrwa aids more than five million registered refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Mr Lazzarini told the BBC that despite few reported coronavirus cases, containment measures had created a “desperate” situation for the 1.5 million Palestinians living in refugee camps.

A Newsbeat special will air on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network looking at why black, Asian, minority ethnic communities in the UK might be more affected by coronavirus.

They’re talking to victims’ families and trying to get listener questions answered by experts.

You can listen live here from 17:45 (16:45 GMT) or listen back to it here after the programme.