Boris Johnson says the UK is "past the peak" of the coronavirus outbreak
In his first briefing since returning to work he promises to set out a lockdown exit strategy next week
People across the UK stop to clap for carers, in a nationwide, weekly outpouring of support
The total number of deaths in the UK has now reached 26,771
In the United States, the coronavirus outbreak has now led to 30 million Americans losing their jobs since mid-March
More than 3.8 million people submitted new claims for US unemployment benefits last week
Lockdowns in response to the pandemic will see global emissions fall by a record 8%, the International Energy Agency says
The Maldives has announced the country's first coronavirus-related death.
Health officials in the island state in the Indian Ocean said the victim was an 83-year-old woman.
She died in hospital in the capital Male late on Wednesday. The Maldives has 280 confirmed infections.
Laura Bicker
BBC News, Seoul
This feels like a milestone - and as a journalist who has followed the country’s aggressive and successful fight against this virus, it felt great just to type the words “zero cases”.
In February, South Korea had one of the worst outbreaks in Asia outside mainland China.
I remember seeing exhausted doctors and nurses in the worst-hit city of Daegu telling me they would do everything they could to bring the infection rates under control, as ambulances queued around the hospital. The main buildings in the capital Seoul have been lit a brilliant blue in the evening just for them, and deservedly so.
Today, as local infections have fallen to zero (I like repeating it) thousands of South Koreans are enjoying the spring sunshine on what is a national holiday to celebrate Buddha’s birthday.
The parks are full of people laughing with friends and having picnics. The local airport is crowded with excited passengers flying to the southern island of Jeju to make the most of the long weekend - the busiest the airport has been in months.
Everyone we spoke to felt thankful that the country has stayed out of lockdown. They’ve been shocked by the impact Covid-19 has had on Europe and the US and told us they felt lucky to be able to enjoy time with friends and family.
But there is also real caution here - and fear of a second wave.
The Korean Centre for Disease Control has announced that it is inevitable that this pandemic will return to the country. They are urging people to keep to a daily routine of staying home if they feel ill, washing their hands, keeping some distance and not gathering in large groups.
South Koreans are taking a moment to enjoy this small victory - but they know that until a vaccine is found, this battle is not over.
Image source, Getty ImagesCanberra in the ACT is the seat of government in Australia
Australia's smallest jurisdiction, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), has become the first to eliminate the virus, officials say.
The ACT includes Canberra, the nation's capital city, and has a population of 426,000 people. For comparison - over 5 million people live in Sydney.
The administrative region had recorded 106 cases and three deaths. However, amid national lockdown measures, it was able to contain the virus in just seven weeks.
Government officials said the last known patients recovered from the virus on Thursday, meaning there were no more known cases.
Other Australian jurisdictions are also on their way to reaching zero, with South Australia reporting no new infections for a seventh consecutive day.
Image source, AFPNo one is certain whether the Tokyo Olympics will really go ahead next year, but athletes have to continue training regardless. And that's not easy under lockdown rules.
India's top breaststroke swimmer SP Likith has been stuck at his coach's farm since February and now swims in a tank that normally holds the water for crops and vegetables.
It's a 20m pool and a total of 15 athletes are using it to train.
"It is not boring, it is fun. The only difference is... the water is not clear at all, there are fish and turtles and we don't have lanes," Likith told news agency AFP.
Image source, ReutersYemen has recorded its first two coronavirus deaths.
The victims are reported to be brothers who died in hospital in the southern city of Aden. The government said five infections had been discovered there.
More than five years of war have badly degraded Yemen’s health service, leaving it desperately ill-prepared to deal with the virus.
Other diseases including cholera, dengue and malaria are rife, and only half of hospitals are fully functional. Millions of people are reliant on food aid.
The UN has said the virus could be spreading unchecked, with aid agencies warning of a "nightmare scenario" after the first infection was confirmed earlier this month.
Good morning to our readers tuning in from India this morning, where the end of the second lockdown is inching closer by the day. Here are the latest developments:
Half of the world's workers could lose their jobs because of Covid-19, the International Labour Organisation has said.
The BBC's population reporter Stephanie Hegarty heard from people in four countries who used to get by on a daily wage, but whose lives have been torn apart by the lockdown.
'We'll starve to death if this continues'
Image source, Getty ImagesThe US economy suffered its most severe contraction in more than a decade in the first quarter of 2020.
As states introduced various levels of lockdowns, the world's largest economy sank at an annual rate of 4.8%, according to official figures released on Wednesday.
That's the first contraction since 2014, ending a record expansion.
And yet, the figures only hint at the full crisis, since many of the restrictions were not even put in place until March.
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC Japan correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesWhy is Japan not in lockdown? It's a question I've been asked numerous times by friends all over the world.
But it is perhaps the wrong question. Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and most of mainland China, have also never had full lockdowns.
For those trying to understand what's going on in Japan, the much more puzzling question is why there is so little testing for Covid-19.
The country is only testing people who are already quite sick. In fact, the guidelines for doctors say they should only recommend a test if the patient has pneumonia.
This is leading to some rather extraordinary stories from those trying to get tested.
Image source, Getty ImagesA “sudden stop” in tourism is projected to cause a 6.2% economic contraction in 2020 in the Caribbean region - the deepest recession there in more than 50 years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.
With more than 1,000 confirmed Covid-19 infections, many countries have taken strong containment measures, such as border closures and lockdowns, the IMF wrote in a blog., external
It spoke of the "collapse of the tourism sector", which accounted for up to 90% of GDP and employment in some Caribbean nations.
As the coronavirus sweeps across the US, it has been infecting and killing black Americans at a disproportionate rate.
In Albany, Georgia, decades of poverty and economic inequality are threatening an entire generation of African Americans in the pandemic.
Watch our video about this unlikely hotspot:
An unlikely coronavirus hotspot in forgotten US corner
Image source, AFPSilicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk has blasted California's lockdown, saying it was "fascist" to tell people they cannot leave their homes.
"This is not democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom," Musk said in an earnings call of his company Tesla.
Musk is known for his often outspoken comments and his remarks are markedly different from fellow tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook - who expressed concerns about easing lockdown measures too early.
Facebook and Tesla are very differently affected by California's shelter-in-place orders.
While we can still use Facebook (and probably do so more than before the lockdown), Tesla was forced to suspend its production lines in mid-March.
Frances Mao
Sydney
Image source, EPAThe Ruby Princess has been linked to one-tenth of Australia's 6,700 cases
For weeks now, the two main outbreaks in Australia were known to centre around a hospital in Tasmania and the Ruby Princess cruise ship.
But this morning, officials confirmed long-held suspicions that the clusters were in fact related. Australia's smallest state has recorded 12 deaths and 220 cases.
"Most likely, that ground zero for the outbreak at the North West Regional Hospital was the Ruby Princess,” said Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein.
“No passenger is to blame, and no healthcare worker is to blame.”
But critics are asking whether government fumbling can be blamed.
The small island closed its borders to the rest of Australia in March. But it allowed its own residents to return, and among them were cruise passengers who later became the state's first deaths.
They were treated at North West Regional Hospital - in a poorer, rural region - and within two weeks there were more than 100 other infected healthcare workers and patients.
On 12 April, officials were forced to shut down two hospitals, quarantine 5,000 locals and bring in military medics as cover.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) told the BBC it wants an investigation into how the virus got into the state and how it spread in the hospital.
Officials initially blamed the spread on a staff dinner party, which turned out to be a false rumour. Reports have since emerged of inadequate PPE and poor practices in the under-resourced hospitals.
AMA Tasmania branch president Prof John Burgess told the BBC: "How much did the underlying vulnerability of the the health system in that area - because it's a rural region - play into its preparedness to deal with the virus?"
Sick passengers from the cruise ship got off the vessel in Sydney before flying home to Tasmania
Image source, EPAOne of the two hospitals which had to be shut due to the outbreak
China has cancelled the 2020 Boao Forum for Asia - touted as the region's answer to Davos's World Economic Forum - due to the virus outbreak.
In a statement on its website,, external the forum said it had make the "difficult decision" to not go ahead.
It said it appreciated the "unwavering support from the Chinese government, members and partners of the forum since the outbreak".
The annual conference was initially scheduled for 24-27 March this year. It was then postponed, but now has been cancelled.
Image source, Getty ImagesChina's President Xi at the Boao Forum
Tom Hanks was one of the first international celebrities to catch the virus and was in quarantine for weeks in March.
So why is he donating his plasma? It's not so doctors can clone a new Forrest Gump - but because it's possible is to infuse the severely ill with plasma (the liquid part of the blood) from people who have recovered from the virus.
As they have developed antibodies, those antibodies will be in the plasma they donate. Once it's given to a severely ill patient, doctors hope it could help them defeat the virus as well.
Read more about plasma trials here.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Image source, Getty ImagesShares in the US and Asia have risen on hopes that a drug could help battle the coronavirus pandemic.
Investors are betting that remdesivir, an anti-viral treatment from Gilead Sciences, could be critical in helping countries emerge from lockdowns.
In morning trade Japan's Nikkei 225 was up by 2.3% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was 1.2% higher.
That came on the back of strong gains for US stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2.2% higher, the S&P 500 ended up by 2.7% and the Nasdaq gained 3.6%.
Fancy a night at the movies? What, all cinemas are shut because of the lockdown you say?
Well, in Spain, people have been able to watch films from their balconies – on huge screens brought in by the local government.
The new balcony cinema moves to a different neighbourhood every evening. Watch here:
Coronavirus: Madrid's balcony cinema screens films for people in lockdown
Image source, Getty ImagesOne of the most famous places in China, the Forbidden City, is set to reopen more than three months after it closed because of the virus.
The Palace Museum, which manages the Forbidden City, announced that it would partially open from 1 May with a daily limit of 5,000 visitors, according to a state media report.
At its peak, the palace - located in the capital Beijing - had up to 80,000 people coming each day, says AFP.
Visitors will have to wear masks, stand a metre away from each other and get their temperature taken, amongst other health measures.
They'll also have to make reservations online before coming - and not every part of the palace will be open. The indoor exhibition rooms and indoor service venues will remain closed until further notice.
The Forbidden City was China's former imperial palace between 1420 and 1912. This year marks the 600th anniversary of the palace.
Image source, Getty ImagesThis was how busy the palace got at its peak
Image source, ReutersUS President Donald Trump thinks China's handling of the pandemic was proof that Beijing "will do anything they can to have me lose" the election in November, he told Reuters.
He had already accused China of mishandling the outbreak and failing to warn the world early enough.
The president said there were different options in terms of consequences for Beijing. "I can do a lot," Trump said.
He said he thought Beijing wanted his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, to become president because of the trade war Trump waged against China.
Trump also told reporters he hopes to restart his trademark campaigning - and that "in the not too distant future we'll have some massive rallies and people will be sitting next to each other".
It was once one of the biggest virus hotspots in the world, but South Korea has over the past 24 hours recorded zero locally transmitted cases.
Four imported cases were recorded on Thursday, all of which were found at airports, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 10,765.
This is the lowest daily increase in over two months, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At its peak, there were hundreds of new cases reported in South Korea each day as the country carried out aggressive testing measures.
Image source, Getty Images