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Germany is to further ease coronavirus restrictions by re-opening museums, galleries, zoos and playgrounds and allowing religious services to resume.

This has been agreed by Chancellor Angel,a Merkel and the leaders of Germany's 16 states.

The states will ensure this will take place under strict conditions. Certain states have already allowed some of these activities to restart.

But restrictions will stay in force on people keeping physical distance from each other.

Large-scale public gatherings will remain banned until the end of August.

Germany began easing restrictions at the beginning of last week. It has seen 6,288 deaths, according to its RKI public health agency.

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• The eurozone economy is estimated to have shrunk by 3.8% in the first quarter – worse than in the 2008 financial crisis. European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde says the eurozone economy could contract by as much as 12% this year.
• In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel says children’s play areas and museums can reopen and church services can resume, under strict social distancing and hygiene rules. But her talks with regional heads did not result in any easing for locked-down schools or suspended Bundesliga football matches. And she said it was still too early for Germans to book foreign holidays.
• In France, the League One title has been awarded to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), 12 points clear at the top with 11 matches suspended. Sports events have been banned in France until at least September because of the pandemic.
• Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has caught coronavirus. Russian TV showed him telling that to President Vladimir Putin.

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Police have issued a warning to Londoners ahead of the UK's weekly Clap For Carers event later.

Anyone gathering at the city's landmarks to join the applause for key workers at 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT) will be told to go home, the Metropolitan Police said.

"Members of the public who are not away from their homes for one of the reasons outlined in the government's emergency legislation should expect to be asked to return home," said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist.

One particular site, Westminster Bridge - near the force's headquarters and St Thomas's hospital - has been a popular spot for police officers, NHS workers and members of the public during the clap.

Two weeks ago London's mayor expressed concern after videos appeared to show police failing to observe social distancing rules on the crossing.

Twist said officers had been reminded "they must maintain an appropriate social distance at all times where operationally possible".

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says deaths are still on the decline statewide. Yesterday, 4,681 residents tested positive for Covid-19.

"We have the beast on the retreat," Cuomo said. "We just have to keep it up."

He announced that the New York City public transit system would be disinfected every 24 hours, during the night. Before, trains and buses were being cleaned every 72 hours.

He said any essential employees who needed transport during cleaning times would be taken care of, even put in rideshares covered by the state.

The governor also offered more details on the state's plan to trace virus cases.

"The estimate so far is you need 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 people," Cuomo said. "That is an overwhelming scale to an operation that has never existed before."

Former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg is working with Johns Hopkins University to create a "tracing army".

Philippa Roxby
Health reporter, BBC News

The usefulness of face masks for the general population has attracted plenty of debate.

The UK’s scientific advisers have always said the evidence for the public wearing them to stop the spread of the virus is weak – and they should be prioritised for NHS staff and care workers.

But elsewhere, in many countries including the US, Germany and France, face coverings (homemade ones) are encouraged when people are in shops and on public transport.

The Scottish government has recently recommended the same.

Could the rest of the UK now follow suit after Boris Johnson said they could be “useful” as the lockdown is eased?

Find out more here: Should the public wear face masks?

Today's daily press conference was held by Prime Minister Boris Johnson - the first one he's done since he became ill with coronavirus five weeks ago.

He was joined by chief medical officer Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser.

Mr Johnson praised the NHS, and acknowledged the difficulty the government had had in getting protective equipment to front line workers.

He announced that the UK was past the peak of coronavirus, and the government will next week be setting out plans to restart the economy and schools.

Sir Patrick explained the latest data, with the number hospital admissions and intensive care cases falling. He said the number of deaths was also stabilising.

He said the virus's reproduction rate was now below one (although it may be different in different settings), meaning cases were no longer growing exponentially.

In response to a question from the public, Mr Johnson said there was support available for anyone who was facing a mental health crisis. He said the impact on mental health was one of the reasons the government wanted to end the lockdown as soon as possible.

Mr Johnson responded to a question about the death toll being potentially higher than any other in Europe by saying international comparisons were not reliable. He said the UK had implemented its lockdown at the right time but added the government was learning lessons every day.

In a change to government advice so far, the prime minister said face masks would be useful after lockdown, especially in giving people confidence.

Reality Check

The UK prime minister was asked about the chart shown at the briefing that showed the UK having the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe.

He stressed that comparing these figures between countries at this stage is difficult.

Reality Check looked at why it was so hard.

There was an example of why it is so difficult in the charts at yesterday’s briefing, in which the notes on a chart comparing deaths from coronavirus had notes saying that it was unclear whether the figures for the US and Spain included care homes.

Prof Chris Whitty added that when the time comes to make comparisons, the measure to use should be an age-adjusted one for the total number of deaths from all causes as opposed to just coronavirus deaths.

The final question comes from a regional newspaper - this time the Stoke Sentinel.

The reporter says key workers are having to take an 80-mile round-trip to Manchester to get tested, but most of them don't drive, and calls for the PM to take action.

Boris Johnson thanks him for bringing the issue to his attention, saying he will "check it out immediately".

He also says we will be hearing more on testing in the coming days - perhaps referencing the fact the deadline for the government target to carry out 100,000 tests a day is today.

He adds: "We have got numbers up to 86,000 [tests] plus but there is clearly a massive way to go.

"In principle every key worker in this country should be able to get a test. We want that to happen.

"We are now doing about as much testing as any other country in Europe. We are supposed to deprecate these international comparisons, but we have massively ramped it up and are going to ramp up further."

Finally the PM and both experts thank those who have been taking part in vaccine and treatment trials, and bring the press briefing to an end.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has tested positive for coronavirus.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the UK is now up to 26,711 - this number includes deaths in hospitals, care homes and the community.

And a total of 171,253 people in the UK have tested positive for the virus.

Image source, .

There's a question on why the UK's death rate is not lower, given the number of spare hospital beds in intensive care units.

Boris Johnson says it is important to "wait till the end" of the pandemic before making international comparisons.

Asked about trials of the drug remdesivir, Sir Patrick Vallance says two trials in China and the US have been a "promising first step".

He cautions the drug will not be a "magic bullet" but may prove useful when treating the disease.

Likewise Prof Chris Whitty cautions the trials have been an "encouraging first step" towards "significantly better treatment".

However, he says it is important to wait for the studies to be peer-reviewed before drawing final conclusions.

Nick Triggle
BBC health correspondent

The prime minister’s claim that the UK has passed the peak of the virus may surprise some, given the big jump in deaths this week. At the weekend it was announced that 20,000 people had died - and by Wednesday that had gone over 26,000.

But those figures had been inflated by the retrospective inclusion of deaths in the community dating back to March. And there is strong evidence from tracking hospital deaths - a sign of transmission in the general population - that the peak was actually seen on 8 April.

Since then deaths - when recorded by date of death - have been coming down in England at least.

The next reporter asks if having coronavirus has changed the PM's approach to tackling the outbreak.

Boris Johnson says: "I was very, very lucky. I had wonderful care, wonderful treatment, and let's be frank, it is a tragedy thousands of people have been less fortunate that I was."

But he says the objective of the government is "to save lives across this country and minimise the suffering this epidemic is causing and going to cause".

Johnson says it has been the objective "from the beginning and it is not going to change".

Asked what a manageable R infection would be, Boris Johnson says the "crucial thing" is to stop the national rate going above 1 again.

He adds the UK is getting more reliable data - for instance on how it is varying region by region - and the government will thus be more "sophisticated" in its response in future.

Asked about government advice on the wearing of face masks, he says mask-wearing "will be useful" as the UK comes out of lockdown.

He says this will not just be to do with managing the spread of the disease, but giving people "confidence they can go back to work".

James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News

The R number (the number of people each infected person passes the disease on to) is one of three critical numbers. Keep R below 1 and the number of cases will not suddenly soar.

The death rate is another, both directly from the disease and the indirect effect from shutting down society and some parts of the health service.

The final one is the number of cases, which is important for deciding when to act. If you have a high number, but ease restrictions so the reproduction number is about one then you will continue to have a high number of cases.

Bringing all of these figures together will be vital.

The next reporter warns of a "ticking cancer time bomb" because of a lack of diagnosis and treatment during the outbreak.

Prof Chris Whitty responds that they have "looked across the board" at the ways people could suffer from coronavirus, both directly and indirectly.

He says they have worries people think the NHS can not handle things like cancer concerns, heart attacks and strokes, but says "it definitely can".

Prof Whitty adds: "We are determined to make sure as much non-emergency treatments are switched on in a responsible way, a phased way, and ensure the period where there has been delay is minimised."

Boris Johnson echoes the chief medical officer, saying they are increasingly concerned about "an unnatural displacement" as people are "reluctant and scared to go to hospital when they should".

He adds: "It is very important if people have urgent conditions that need treatment they should go to hospital

"And when it comes to urgent cancer care, people will get the treatment they need."

Image source, PA Media

There's a question about the death toll in the UK and the lessons the government has learned from it.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says international comparisons are "difficult" - and says the UK locked down earlier in its stage of the epidemic than countries like France and Italy.

He says he thinks "broadly speaking" that the UK did "the right things at the right time", although ministers are "learning lessons every day".

Asked whether public services will need to be cut as a result of increasing national debt, Mr Johnson says he thinks the economy will "bounce back strongly".

He says "austerity" is "certainly not part of our approach".

Philippa Roxby
Health reporter, BBC News

Boris Johnson says the NHS has not been overwhelmed by the coronavirus epidemic. Everyone who has needed an intensive care bed or a ventilator has got one, and an “uncontrollable epidemic” has been avoided.

But the grim reality is that more than 26,000 people have still died after testing positive for the virus.

The PM says it could have been 500,000 if social distancing had not been introduced.

However, the real toll of this crisis will only be known when indirect deaths from other illnesses, such as heart attacks and cancer, have been counted – and it may be some time before these deaths come to light.

The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg is next up with a question, and says there has been huge suffering to health and wealth since Boris Johnson was last at the lectern.

She asks if by continuing the lockdown, he believes the economy will just have to wait.

Johnson says she is "totally right". He adds: "We mourn for every life lost and we mourn for the economic damage as well... and for the dreams people are seeing shattered in their businesses."

The PM says the government has made "a huge effort" to look after workers, with furlough schemes and loans, and is doing "everything we can".

But he adds: "It is absolutely vital if we are to bounce back as strongly as I think we can that we don't have a second bout of this, a second bad spike, because that would do lasting economic damage.

"That is why we have to calibrate our measures so carefully, making sure not only to unlock the economy gradually, but to find ways of continuing to suppress the disease."

There's a second question from a member of the public, this time about the support available to people suffering mental health problems as a result of the lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says this has been a "major issue".

He says work to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases has freed up time for the NHS to help with other heath issues.

He adds there is an impact on health that means the government does not want to prolong the lockdown "any longer than it needs to be".

Prof Chris Whitty, the UK’s chief medical adviser, says people should "call someone" if they need help, and there are "a lot of people out there keen to help you".