Now we have moved onto questions, and the first is from a member of the public - Michelle from Cornwall.

She is worried about how tourism will be managed in the coming weeks, especially if people try to escape cities and bring the virus to more rural areas.

Boris Johnson says he sympathises very much with everybody in the tourism industry who have "taken such a hit", but promises Michelle "you will come back".

He urges the public to be "sensible", saying they have been so far by staying away, and adding: "It is vital that does not fray and we don't see people starting to disregard what we are saying."

But he promises to say "a lot more next week" - offering "a menu of options" of how to exit lockdown.

"The dates and times of each individual measure will be very much driven by what the data is saying, and we are getting a lot more data every day," he says.

Image source, Downing Street

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, says scientists think the R rate - a measure of how quickly the virus is spreading - is currently between 0.6 and 0.9 in the UK.

He notes however that it may be higher and lower than that range in different parts of the country.

Showing the slide above, he confirms that the number of hospital admissions and total number of cases is coming down.

He says the UK will need to "stick with what we're doing" to make sure the R number continues to fall.

Reality Check

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says there were 81,611 tests for coronavirus yesterday, an increase of almost 30,000 on the day before.

This takes the government 80% of the way to meeting its goal of doing 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by today, the last day of April.

Up until recently, the government was carrying out about 20,000 tests a day, so this means it has quadrupled testing numbers.

We explain more here about the process of going to get a test.

Italy confirms 285 more coronavirus-related deaths.

The country's overall death toll is now 27,967.

James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News

Passing the peak is just the end of the beginning. The fundamentals have not changed. More than 95% of the UK population has not been exposed to this virus, we’re still vulnerable to it.

And the coronavirus is still highly contagious. If we completely relax lockdown then another outbreak is inevitable. The challenge now is to find a path that keeps infections down, but allows some of the measures to be lifted.

Boris Johnson says he can confirm "for the first time we are past the peak of this disease and on the downward slope".

The PM says the UK will beat the disease by "growing resolve and ingenuity", including by working on a vaccine.

He promises that next week the government will release a "comprehensive plan... on how we can get the economy moving, how we can get children back to school and how we can travel to work and make life in the workplace safer".

He says the plan will be based on "how we can continue to suppress disease and at same time restart the economy".

Johnson says it will be "guided by science" and he will attempt to "build maximum political consensus".

He adds: "We have come through the peak. We have come under what could have been vast huge Alpine tunnel and now we see the sunlight in the pasture ahead of us.

"It is vital we do not now lose control and run into second and bigger mountain."

Today's UK briefing includes a short video explaining the rate of infection or the so-called R number.

As we explained in our previous post, the basic reproduction number or simply the R is a way of rating a disease's ability to spread.

You can read our guide here.

The video says during March, the R number was at three, but it has now been reduced to below zero, thanks to the public sticking to social distancing measures.

It concludes that the government will be monitoring the R number “very carefully” over the coming weeks and months, and it will be a “key factor” in changes to lockdown measures.

Boris Johnson says he is "not going to delegitimatise the challenges we have faced in getting PPE" for healthcare workers, or the "frustrations we have experienced in expanding numbers of tests".

But he says his message to the public is "your efforts and your sacrifice is working and has been proved to work".

He says the number of hospital admissions is falling, as well as the number of those in ICUs, and the UK has achieved its most "important task" of "avoiding the tragedy that engulfed other parts of the world, as at no stage has the NHS been overwhelmed".

Boris Johnson says the UK is "past the peak" of coronavirus.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologises for "not being part of the trio for so long".

He thanks everyone for "doing such a good job in my absence" and thanks the NHS, both for his care when he was suffering with coronavirus and for his "much happier visit" for the birth of his son yesterday.

The PM says the total number of deaths in the UK has now reached 26,711.

"We grieve for them and with them, but as we grieve we are strengthened in our resolve to defeat the virus," he says.

Boris Johnson has emerged, and for the first time since he returned to work this week, has begun this afternoon’s Downing Street press conference.

Stay with as and we’ll bring you all the updates as we have them.

He may be about to lead his first press conference since recovering from coronavirus, but it's already been a busy week for the UK's prime minister.

Boris Johnson returned to work on Monday, and yesterday saw the birth of his son.

And today he's chaired cabinet for the first time since becoming ill.

Image source, No 10

Image source, No 10

Image source, Getty Images

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

Meanwhile, there has been a lot of talk at recent briefings about the “R number” and what it means for the spread of the virus.

The basic reproduction number or simply the R0 (pronounced R-nought) is a way of rating a disease's ability to spread.

It's the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to, on average, assuming that nobody is immune and people don't change their behaviour to avoid getting ill.

Why not use this time to read our explainer from BBC health and science correspondent James Gallagher?

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is forecasting a huge drop in energy consumption - and hence carbon emissions - this year.

However, it says this shouldn't be celebrated in any way because of the huge human and economic cost of the pandemic.

And also, when it eventually subsides, the IEA warns that carbon emissions could “bounce back” to previous levels. Or could the changes we see today have a more persistent effect?

Cities around the world are seeing dwindling numbers of fossil-fuel powered cars on their streets, and many are planning to keep it that way after lockdowns ease.

Milan has announced a plan to encourage the use of bicycles, Paris has a post-lockdown plan that includes creating temporary cycle lanes following metro line routes, and in Budapest new temporary cycle lanes are due to last until September – and maybe longer.

In the Colombian capital city of Bogotá, mayor Claudia López has closed 117km (72.7 miles) of streets to cars in order to make cycling and walking easier.

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

This afternoon's news conference is due in about 15 minutes.

And it marks the return of the trio leading the UK government's response - Prime Minister Boris Johnson, chief medical adviser Professor Chris Whitty and the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.

Don't expect detail on the lifting of the restrictions we've had to grow used to. Instead, there is likely to be management of our expectations.

The lockdown may have been imposed in close to one go but it will be unravelled much, much more slowly.

It is due to expire in a week's time but earlier Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said next week might be too early for easing restrictions in “any meaningful way.”

We will find out what Johnson and his team have to say soon.

David Molloy and Jen Copestake, Technology reporters

A new drone trial in Ireland is delivering prescriptions to the door of those in isolation.

The difference between this and other drone trials we've heard about during the pandemic is that this one involves Ireland's national health authority.

Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor

Image source, AFP

The ruler of Dubai has purchased 60 tonnes of personal protective equipment (PPE) to donate to the UK's National Health Service.

The first of several planeloads arrived at Heathrow from suppliers in China this afternoon.

A spokesman for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the UAE, said that because of his "deep and longstanding connections with the UK...he is determined to do his bit to keep Britain's health workers safe".

The first flight carried more than 660 boxes of face masks and other items.

Sheikh Mohammed made headlines earlier this year after being found by the High Court in London to have abducted and forcibly returned two of his daughters to Dubai, and to have conducted a campaign of intimidation against his former wife, Princess Haya.

Image source, Getty Images

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:

• Boris Johnson has held his first cabinet meeting since returning to work after recovering from coronavirus
• A senior minister has admitted it is “probable” the government will miss today’s target of carrying out 100,000 tests a day
• The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies - which advises the government on its approach to tackling the virus - has been meeting to discuss ongoing lockdown measures
• Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has agreed to manufacture and distribute a coronavirus vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford if it proves effective
• Coronavirus could prompt the biggest changes to jury trials since World War Two, the head of judiciary in England and Wales says
• Captain Tom Moore has celebrated his 100th birthday with an RAF flyover after raising more than £30m for National Health Service charities

Swiss citizens living in the United Kingdom have received a wellbeing pack which includes a list of activities to carry out during the lockdown.

They include the suggestion to “try yodelling through an open window" or "pickle vegetables of your choice". Or how about creating a paper model of St Paul’s or the Matterhorn?

Image source, .

If you have to go outside during lockdown, the government says you need to practise social distancing and keep at least two metres away from other people to protect yourself from catching coronavirus.

But it can be hard to know exactly what that looks like.

Watch this video for a handy guide of how to judge that all-important distance.