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K-pop superstars BTS have officially postponed their upcoming Map of the Soul world tour because of coronavirus.

The tour was originally due to start on 11 April in Seoul, but those dates were previously called off as the virus spread in Asia.

They join a long list of other artists and major music festivals cancelling or postponing upcoming tours and events.

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We have just had it confirmed that the UK government will give its daily briefing at 17:00 BST (16:00 GMT).

The press conference will be led by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

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

There will also be two questions from the public during the Q&A session with journalists.

We will bring you all the updates here.

Image source, LYNN STEWART-TAYLOR

Deaf campaigners have started legal proceedings against the UK government over the lack of sign language interpreters at its daily coronavirus briefings.

British Sign Language (BSL) users say they have been discriminated against because critical information is not being conveyed to them.

Beth Rose, from BBC Ouch, has written about how a twitter campaign, using the hashtag #WhereIsTheInterpreter, morphed into the class action legal case.

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JetBlue Airways will become the first US airline to require passengers to wear face coverings while on flights.

Starting on 4 May, passengers will be required to wear masks covering their mouth and nose from the time of check-in until they depart the plane. Only small children who are unable to keep a mask on are exempt.

“Wearing a face covering isn’t about protecting yourself it’s about protecting those around you,” said Joanna Geraghty, president of JetBlue. “This is the new flying etiquette."

Customers will be reminded by email and expected to provide their own face coverings.

The news comes as other US airlines scramble to meet new safety standards. American Airlines - the world's largest airline - announced on Monday that passengers will be provided with masks and hand sanitiser when boarding some flights, beginning early next month.

David Shukman
Science editor, BBC News

The key factor in the Scottish decision is what’s called “asymptomatic transmission” – people who are infected but not showing symptoms passing on the virus to others.

Almost a month ago, US government assessed the latest research into this risk and concluded that the public should cover their faces when in confined spaces. A study in Singapore had found evidence that coronavirus had been spread by people who had not realised they were infected.

In particular scientists identified the possibility of the virus being passed in a two-day period before symptoms started to show.

Dozens of governments are now urging – or ordering – their citizens to cover their faces in an effort to reduce this route of infection. As Nicola Sturgeon said, this is not about urging people to rush out to buy professional-grade masks – these are designed to protect medical and care staff and should be reserved for them.

Instead, as in the US, the idea is to devise your own covering, not so much to protect you and as to protect others where distancing isn’t possible.The UK’s government’s scientific advisers weighed up the evidence last week and we’re now waiting to see whether ministers decide to follow the Scottish example.

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The Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 seasons will not resume after France banned all sporting events, including behind closed doors, until September.

"The 2019-2020 season of professional sports, especially that of football, will not be able to resume," French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told parliament on Tuesday.

French football's governing body had hoped to resume the football season in June, following its indefinite suspension in March.

BBC OS

Image source, BBC/Amy Pedrotti

It can be a fairly lonely existence as a truck driver, but social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic has further affected what little face-to-face communication there was.

Amy Pedrotti drives her truck across the United States.

"Just earlier today when I stopped at one place to fuel up, as soon as I walked in the employees all put masks on," she said.

"In other places, I’ll walk in with my mask on and they’ll be like, ‘you believe in that huh?’”

Listen to the interview here.

The cabinet office minister Michael Gove has told MPs that 3,203 fines were issued to people for "flouting restrictions" in the first three weeks of the lockdown.

The penalties were issued between 27 March and 13 April.

Michael Gove said the number will have "of course increased significantly since then".

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe is giving a speech to parliament about the government's plans to ease lockdown restrictions.

The plan will be rolled out in different areas of France, but strict rules will remain in place in regions worst affected by the outbreak.

• From 11 May, it's proposed that kindergartens and elementary schools will gradually reopen, followed by middle schools a week later. A decision will be made about high schools at the end of the month.
• Shops and markets will also be allowed to reopen, but not bars and restaurants. Retailers will also be able to require customers to wear masks on their premises.
• Masks will also be compulsory on public transport, and in all schools except for kindergartens.
• In addition, Mr Philippe has proposed to extend the state of emergency - currently in place until 23 July - which has allowed the government to restrict freedom of movement and businesses.
• He stressed that the lockdown will not be eased unless the number of new infections in France drops to 3,000 a day by 11 May.

The plan will now be debated and voted on by France's National Assembly.

Image source, Hayley Grix

On 17 April, weeks into the UK's coronavirus lockdown, three-year-old Marley Grix was admitted to hospital.

He had been ill for a few days but his condition had got worse. Marley's mum, Hayley, feared his life was in danger and knew she had to act quickly.

"He'd started off complaining about his neck saying it hurt, but it didn't seem bad and I thought perhaps he had slept funny, but he just kept getting worse. He had diarrhoea, stomach pain and a temperature. I was on the phone to the GP every day. I decided to take him to hospital - I followed my gut instinct."

Marley's coronavirus test came back negative and doctors are treating him for atypical Kawasaki disease. He has been discharged from hospital but Hayley hopes sharing her story will help other parents who face a similar dilemma.

Read more about Hayley's story here.

The UK's Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has said he is telling councils to plan the "organised reopening" of household waste collection sites.

Speaking in the House of Commons, he said he expected this to happen “in the coming weeks” and he will publish amended guidance for English councils “shortly.”

It follows calls for rubbish tips to reopen in order to curb an increase in fly-tipping, after many waste facilities closed in March.

NHS England has announced 546 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 19,295.

A further 17 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of deaths there to 813, Public Health Wales has said.

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe says the country's lockdown measures in place have saved 62,000 lives over the space of a month.

Mr Philippe is currently outlining the government's plan to gradually ease the restrictions from 11 May. The plan will later be voted on by lawmakers.

Nearly 23,300 coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in France, along with 165,842 confirmed cases.

Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics

You’re probably seeing a range of different figures for the number of people who have died since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

Every day, the government announces the number of people whose death has been reported in the last 24 hours in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus. This largely covers deaths in hospitals, so doesn’t give the full picture of what is going on elsewhere.

If you look at all death registrations, you can capture this picture.

These figures are released weekly and include people who have died who are suspected to have had the virus, not just those who have tested positive. They also compare the overall number of people who have died with the average number of deaths at that time of year.

Statisticians are confident that the difference will tell us about all the deaths caused by the epidemic – not just those caused directly by the virus, but those due to people with other conditions not seeking or getting the care they need.

While the daily figures are for the whole of the UK, the weekly ones are released separately by the nations – Scotland comes out first, followed by Northern Ireland and then England and Wales – their figures come out 10 days after the period they cover.

Even those weekly figures do not tell us how many years of life have been lost – some people who die during the epidemic would have lived for many years, and some might have died within the next few months.

To understand that picture, we’ll have to wait to see what happens to all deaths in 2020, but that analysis is some time away.

Image source, 2 Chainz

When the call came to reopen restaurants in Georgia, not everyone answered it the same way.

Instead of opening his Escobar Restaurant in Atlanta, American rapper 2 Chainz took the opportunity to provide meals for homeless people.

He was seen outside a closed business, handing out meals while wearing a mask and gloves.

Georgia governor Brian Kemp allowed restaurants to reopen across the state on Monday, following a similar decision to reopen other businesses such as nail salons, hairdressers and gyms on Friday..

This has drawn criticism from many across the political spectrum, including US President Donald Trump who said he “strongly disagrees” with the governor.

There have been more than 24,000 coronavirus cases in Georgia according to data from Johns Hopkins University and almost 1,000 deaths.

Reality Check

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Morris and Oliver Barnes, Reality Check

The number of people killed by Covid-19 in London in the four weeks to 17 April has now narrowly surpassed the number of civilians killed during the worst four-week period of aerial bombing of the city during the Blitz in the Second World War.

Figures held in the National Archives, and collated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, show that 4,677 people were killed during the Blitz and buried in London cemeteries in the 28 days to 4 October, 1940.

Deaths in London attributed to Covid-19, in the four weeks to 17 April this year, have now reached 4,697 according to a BBC count based on data from the Office for National Statistics.

The first of those four weeks - the week ending 27 March - came before the sharp rise in Covid-19 deaths took place. So figures released next week are expected to show a four-week tally higher than that recorded during the Blitz.

Image source, AFP

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has announced that Portugal's state of emergency will end on Sunday 2 May.

However, speaking Tuesday, he cautioned this was not the end of the national outbreak and stressed that reopening of the economy would be a slow and gradual process.

"What matters in this new phase is that the Portuguese know that containment remains important so we must take small steps and constantly evaluate (the situation)," he said at a news conference.

Portugal has recorded 24,322 coronavirus cases and 948 deaths.

A state of emergency has been in place since 18 March, with people told to stay home and travel restricted.

Image source, Getty Images

Captain Tom Moore, who raised a remarkable £29m for the NHS by walking laps of his garden, will be honoured with an RAF fly-past on Thursday to mark his 100th birthday.

After it was reported , externalthat the government had rejected a Spitfire fly-past for the 99-year-old, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps responded on Twitter, external to declare another had been planned although it was "meant to be a surprise for Tom".

Captain Tom was originally planning to mark his landmark birthday with a family party but the celebrations have been put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The son of an NHS doctor who died with coronavirus has called on Health Secretary Matt Hancock to say sorry for mistakes in the UK government's response.

Intisar Chowdhury, 18, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a public apology would help improve public trust.

Intisar's father Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, 53, warned about a lack of protection before he died.

Mr Hancock later told LBC that listening to front-line staff would help the government improve. He added that he did not want to "play down" the efforts of those working to get personal protective equipment (PPE) to the front line.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by only 171 to 38,416 Tuesday, with 48 new deaths recorded.

The official national death toll now stands at 4,566 in total, the Netherlands' Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in its daily update - cautioning it only reports confirmed cases.