Tara McKelvey
BBC News, Washington

Image source, Mattel

The hours are long, risks significant (thousands of health-care workers have had positive coronavirus tests) and the role they play in the fight against Covid-19 is crucial.

Given all their job entails, it is not surprising many people see healthcare workers as real-life heroes. Now they will be immortalised by a toy company in the US.

Doctors and nurses, wearing scrubs and stethoscopes, as well as medical technicians, will soon be moulded into action figures by Mattel - the company that has been making Barbie for more than 60 years.

The toy series includes others who play a key role but usually operate behind the scenes: grocery store workers and delivery drivers.The drivers are portrayed as sturdy, cheerful-looking figures, outfitted with caps and disposable gloves.

Proceeds from sales will go to a fund that will provide protective equipment and other resources.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has defended his decision to send hundreds of bouquets of flowers to National Health Service workers in the United Kingdom.

President Kenyatta said there was life after coronavirus. The UK is a huge market for Kenyan flowers, he said, and his gesture would serve as good advertising.

He said he had laughed when he saw what he described as petty criticism from some sections of the Kenyan population.

There has been a storm of complaints on social media. One person said Kenyans were boiling stones for food, while their president sent bouquets to Britain.

Some $12bn (£9.6bn) is to be given to nearly 400 US hospitals hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has announced.

Speaking at her first press briefing, Ms McEnany said that most of the funds would go to hospitals that have 100 or more Covid-19 patients.

"Our healthcare providers, as President Trump has repeatedly acknowledged, are our heroes as we work to defeat the invisible enemy," she said.

Image source, Getty Images

A number of zoos around the world are reporting that their animals are becoming "lonely" without visitors during the lockdown.

At Phoenix Zoo, keepers have lunch dates with elephants and orangutans, and one sociable bird needs frequent visits. Primates have gone looking for the missing visitors.

The zoo's communications director, Linda Hardwick, told the BBC: "We have noticed that some of our more 'social' animals are not a fan of the stay at home and social distancing orders."

Paul Rose, lecturer in animal behaviour at the University of Exeter, said animals like primates and parrots "get a lot of enrichment from viewing and engaging with visitors" and show signs of missing it if the stimulation is not there.

Read the full story here

Marianna Spring
Specialist disinformation and social media reporter

Image source, Reuters

Facebook has taken down the official page of conspiracy theorist David Icke for publishing "health misinformation that could cause physical harm".

Icke has made several false claims about coronavirus, such as suggesting 5G mobile phone networks are linked to the spread of the virus.

While medical myths and speculation that can cause harm are easier to act on, conspiracy theories occupy a grey area and companies risk accusations of censorship if they take action.

But the setting alight of mobile phone towers and abuse of telecommunications workers linked to this 5G coronavirus conspiracy has pushed sites like Twitter and TikTok to tighten rules.

Facebook has recognised that the conspiracy theories repeatedly promoted by David Icke fall into its bracket of harmful misinformation. This isn't the first time it has removed content from him - but the platform has gone one step further in taking down his page.

Read more here.

Have you seen anything misleading online? What should we be investigating? Email me: marianna.spring@bbc.co.uk

Ten US states have today begun lifting restrictions imposed to limit Covid-19.

Texas is among them, and will allow restaurants, cinemas and other businesses to reopen - if they limit capacity to 25%.Alabama, Maine and Tennessee are also allowing stay-at-home orders to expire.

Others face a longer timetable. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has said some parts of the state might be able to gradually reopen businesses on 15 May, while Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont hopes to reopen some businesses and outdoor recreation facilities by 20 May.

Michigan's stay-at-home mandate has been extended to 15 May and on Thursday hundreds of protesters, a few of them armed, gathered at the state capitol building in Lansing.

The protest, dubbed the "American Patriot Rally", was organised by Michigan United for Liberty and called for state businesses to reopen on 1 May. President Trump tweeted that Governor Gretchen Whitmer should strike a deal with the protesters.

Dogs are being trained to find out whether they can detect people with coronavirus.

Such tests are being done across the world - including the UK and US.

And firefighters in Corsica are also testing dogs' potential...

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Parents and carers are being asked to keep a close eye on what material young or vulnerable people in their care may be looking at online, in case they get drawn into violent extremism during lockdown.

The appeal was made by the Metropolitan Police Service in support of the government’s controversial Prevent programme, which aims to stop people being drawn towards terrorism but which is viewed by some as unfairly profiling certain communities.

Counter-terrorism officers in the Met are worried that one side-effect of the lockdown could be that some people now spend so much time online they risk getting drawn into extremist circles.

The move has been partly prompted by concerns that social workers and others who would normally have close contact with vulnerable people are now unable to visit them in person.

Police are now working with education specialists to publish guidance on how best to steer people away from extremism.

The Republic of Ireland has extended its current restrictions on people leaving their home for non-essential reasons until 18 May.

A couple of restrictions will be eased from Tuesday. People will be allowed to exercise up to 5km (3.1 miles) from their home - up from the previous 2km - and cocooning residents will be allowed to leave their house up to the 5km limit.

Cocooning protects people who are over 70 and those who are medically vulnerable to Covid-19, by minimising interaction between them and other people.

The Irish government is planning five stages to ease restrictions, with a possible end on 10 August.

Image source, EPA

The death toll in France's hospitals and nursing homes has risen by 218 to reach 24,594, the government announced on Friday.

The number is a slight increase from the previous day, but the number of daily deaths has been gradually decreasing over the past two weeks.

The country has the fourth-highest death toll in Europe after Italy, the UK and Spain.

France is due to begin easing its lockdown restrictions from 11 May, although face masks will be obligatory on public transport and in secondary schools.

Image source, Getty Images

Nascar racing will be the first US sport to resume after a break in competition, when it kicks off a seven-race series on 17 May in South Carolina, the league announced on Thursday.

The races will be held with no fans in attendance. All racers and their crews will be required to wear masks and undergo temperature screenings.

It remains unclear when or how other US sports will resume.

The NBA has yet to announce whether it will restart basketball games this season, while Major League Baseball officials are reportedly optimistic the season may open in July.

Image source, Getty Images

An estimated 40,000 coronavirus tests will be needed for players and staff to finish the Premier League football season, clubs have been told.

Club bosses were given an update on the plan named "Project Restart" in a Premier League shareholders’ meeting this afternoon.

Up to 10 stadiums would be used to finish the season - instead of all 20 teams having home and away games as usual. That is to reduce the chances of fans congregating at grounds.

There was no discussion about ending the season prematurely as has happened in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Clubs will meet again next week after the Government's review of the lockdown restrictions.

The US federal government has placed an order for 100,000 additional body bags, according to contracts reviewed by US media.

The order with California-based manufacturer EM Oil Transport, which cost $5.1m (£4m), was placed on 21 April by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

"I hope to God that they don't need my order and that they cancel it," a company spokesman told NBC News.

A Fema spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal the agency had been focused since the beginning of the pandemic on the “worst possible case national scenario".

President Trump on Monday predicted the final US coronavirus death toll to be 60,000 to 70,000. It had surpassed 63,000 as of Friday.

Labour says the government's claim of more than 100,000 coronavirus tests a day is misleading.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Government had met its target of reaching that daily figure by the end of April, as he announced there were 122,000 tests in the 24 hours up to 09:00 BST on Friday.

But those figures include home test kits which may not have been processed.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "Many would have expected the 100,000 promise to have been met by actually carrying out testing, not simply because 39,000 kits had been mailed out.

"Tonight’s headline figure shouldn’t count tests that hadn’t been used, or indeed, might never be used as a completed test."

Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent

At times the target of achieving 100,000 coronavirus tests per day seemed far fetched at best - the health secretary himself described it as “audacious”.

But the government has met and exceeded its goal, a “national achievement”, according to Mr Hancock.

There will be little, if any, time to celebrate though. Nor will anyone in government want to appear complacent, because a much bigger mission now lies ahead.

We are now told that a widespread testing programme is the way to “unlock the lockdown” and, as the health secretary put it grandly, “re-assert the liberty of us all”.

Testing is only one part of that though. Tracking and tracing people who have the virus, and those they’ve come into contact with, will be equally important.

Attention now shifts to how much further the UK can increase its capacity to test and, crucially, how efficient and effective the programme is to build an accurate picture of the level of infection across the country.

Image source, PA Media

Today's government press conference was led by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who was joined by the government's testing co-ordinator, Prof John Newton, and the medical director of NHS England, Prof Stephen Powis.

Here's what they told us:

• Fertility treatments will restart, as part of the move to open up NHS services that had been suspended
• The government has met its target of doing 100,000 tests a day by the end of April, with over 120,000 tests carried out yesterday, the last day of the month. (The government has counted home-testing kits that have been sent out among this figure - although they may not yet have been carried out.)
• The government's next goal is to scale up a "track and trace" system to a point where social distancing can be relaxed. The first survey results, to assess how many people have had the disease, should be available soon
• The number of confirmed new cases has increased, but this is mostly due to increased testing, and the overall number is probably stable. Hospital admissions and critical care admissions are falling. The number of deaths each day is also starting too fall
• The NHS Nightingale wards were specifically designed for ventilated patients and so will not be used after the pandemic for other medical purposes. They will be kept open for at least another few months as an insurance policy

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

The government says it has carried out more than 122,000 tests in a day. That is a remarkable feat. Just two days ago, the number of tests was just over 50,000.

It is testament to the hard work that has been done behind the scenes by a partnership of government, scientists and the private sector - with a helping hand from the military.

A testing network, including three mega labs, more than 40 drive-through centres, a home-testing service and mobile units have been set up in super quick time.

One caveat needs to be given, though.

The government has counted home-testing kits sent out to individuals as well as the satellite kits - these are batches of tests sent out to care homes and other settings where there are lots of people who need testing.

Some, no doubt, will never be returned.

Together, they account for around a third of the tests “carried out”.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says all schools in the state are to remain closed for the rest of the academic year.

In his daily briefing, he said officials did not have enough time to figure out how to implement social distancing policies at schools, where 4.2 million pupils study each day.

"How do you tell a 10-year-old to socially distance?" he asked reporters. "Kids will be kids."

Mr Cuomo added that a decision about summer school programmes would be made before the end of the month.

New York saw 289 deaths on Thursday, down from 306 on Wednesday.

Mr Cuomo also reported that domestic violence was up 15% in March - when lockdown orders took effect - and 30% in April.

Image source, Getty Images

Steve Ford from the Nursing Times asks what the government will do in the long-term to protect the mental health of nurses and what he can say to BAME staff in light of studies showing that the virus disproportionately affects certain ethnic groups.

"The way the nurses have risen to this challenge has been admirable," replies Matt Hancock.

He notes that the government has already put in measures to help nurses with their mental health and points to a commitment to increase the number of nurses working in the NHS.

"I want to support and cherish every single nurse - I'm sure that will be a big conversation as we restore the NHS."

And there ends today's press conference.

There's a question about Northern Ireland, where the impact has been lower than the rest of the UK - partly because of a lower population.

Asked if lockdown measures should be eased at a different pace there, Matt Hancock says: "The level of the virus has been different across different parts of the country.

"But the shape of the curve, the rise and then the fall in the virus that has just started, has been basically the same."

And while Hancock can see the argument for easing in Northern Ireland first, he says the shape of the curve suggests they should continue on this path.