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India is preparing one of the largest evacuation exercises in recent years.

It plans to operate 64 flights from 7 to 13 May to bring home thousands of its citizens stranded abroad due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

In the first week of this mammoth exercise, dubbed the Vande Bharat Mission, the flights will be sent to 12 countries and bring back nearly 15,000 Indians, civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri said in a press conference on Tuesday.

The countries include the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar and Malaysia, reported local media.

But Indians wanting to return will be expected to pay for their tickets (the prices will vary based on the port of departure) and will only be able to board if they're not showing any symptoms for the virus. They will also be subject to extensive screening when they return as well as be quarantined.

The country's naval fleet of warships is also taking part. Earlier this week, three ships went to the Maldives and the UAE to rescue stranded Indians.

Eventually, about 200,000 Indians will be brought back, reported local media. If successful, this would become one of the world's largest evacuation exercises since 1990, when India rescued 170,000 civilians from Kuwait during the Gulf War.

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The Chinese province of Hubei, home to the capital Wuhan where the virus first emerged last December, has seen no new virus cases for 32 days, says China state media outlet Xinhua, external.

It's encouraging news for China's fight against the outbreak as the country slowly eases restrictions in a bid to return to normal life.

And today, China reported just two new cases nationally, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 82,883, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,633.

However, critics have questioned if China's numbers can be trusted - especially at the very beginning when the outbreak was first reported. But whether or not the data it's providing is accurate, the trends do show that China is starting to emerge from the worst of the crisis.

Activists are warning that the world is now facing a "double crisis" because of the coronavirus pandemic and climate change.

Many campaigners have had to cancel or postpone their work because of lockdowns worldwide.

However, some say now is a big opportunity to spread their message in a different way. The BBC's Olivia Le Poidevin finds out more:

Laos has confirmed no new virus cases for 23 consecutive days, its deputy health minister Phouthone Meaungpak said, according to a report by The Star. , external

There have only been 19 confirmed cases and zero deaths in Laos so far, of the 2,223 people who have been tested.

But though the number of cases are low, it might not be an accurate reflection of what's happening on the ground. The country has over seven million people - which means only a tiny fraction of the population has been tested.

Despite this, the country is cautiously reopening. Restaurants, hotels and coffee shops were among the places that were allowed to open from Monday, with safe-distancing measures in place.

However, places like bars, cinemas, night markets and casinos will remain closed.

If you have been finding it hard to focus on school or college work while at home, spare a thought for the millions of students in China whose turn it is to take the annual gaokao exams.

The gaokao is a nationwide exam which determines which college a student will get into, and therefore sets them up for their entire career. There are huge pressures on students to do well and studying is intense.

The exam usually takes place in early June but at the end of March, with all schools closed, China announced it would be postponing it until July. It was felt it wasn't fair to expect students to sit it after so much disruption. There was particular concern for students from homes with limited access to technology or the internet, or those who didn't have a quiet place to study.

The return to school in China is being staggered, to manage the risk of new virus cases. But in Hubei province - the origin of the virus - students sitting the gaokao this year are now able to go back and start studying.

Read more on the gaokao here

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Air fares should fall when flights restart but then rise by at least 50%, warns a global airline industry body.

Airlines are keen to get planes back in the skies quickly which could lead to over-capacity, says the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

With passenger demand likely to remain low this should put pressure on carriers to reduce the cost of flights.

But if airlines are forced to keep middle seats free they will need to raise air fares significantly.

Under current social distancing proposals, airlines may be required to keep middle seats free which would have a major impact on their profitability.

Read more about this here.

The UK's Professor Neil Ferguson has quit as a government adviser on coronavirus after admitting an "error of judgement".

It follows a story by the Daily Telegraph that a woman, said to be his "married lover", visited his home in lockdown.

"I accept I made an error of judgement and took the wrong course of action," he said in a statement.

It was Prof Ferguson's advice to the prime minister that led to the UK lockdown, after his modelling of the virus suggested 250,000 people could die if no drastic action was taken.

Read more about what he had to say here.

The first batches of students are returning to school in China's Hubei province, which was the epicentre of the country's outbreak.

Grades 12 and 9 students who have big exams coming up in the summer will be the first to head back to school. For the older batch it will the infamous gaokao exam they're prepping for which will determine what university they can get into.

Most grade 12 students in other parts of China already returned to school in March.

All of the Hubei students had to do a coronavirus test before returning to school and there will be measures to ensure social distancing like partitions in the school canteen, state media report.

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US President Donald Trump says the White House coronavirus task force will be winding down, saying the administration was now looking at "safety and opening".

"We are bringing our country back," Trump said during a visit to a mask-manufacturing factory in Arizona.

The US currently has more than 20,000 new daily infections, and daily deaths remain above 1,000. Health officials warn the virus may spread as businesses begin to reopen.

There have been just over 1.2 million confirmed infections in the country so far and more than 70,000 Covid-19 related deaths.

More than 1.1 million people have recovered from coronavirus globally, but the time it takes to recover can vary.

Most people will only develop mild symptoms, which usually take a week, maybe longer. In more serious cases, it could be more than a year.

Medics at the UK's Centre for Perioperative Care say stopping smoking, drinking less alcohol, exercising more, and maintaining a healthy weight can make a difference.

BBC health correspondent Laura Foster explains recovery times and what you can do to help others.

As we've mentioned, the UK has hit a grim milestone, surpassing Italy to have the highest number of deaths related to Covid-19 in Europe and the second highest in the world.

According to Johns Hopkins data, the UK has 29,501 deaths, ahead of Italy at 29,315.

However, the numbers aren't quite as straightforward as they seem. For one, the UK's population is about 10% larger than Italy's.The geographical spread of the virus looks quite different too. In Italy, half the deaths have happened in Lombardy. In the UK however, they've been much more spread out.

Taking these factors into account will take time, and experts say it could be months before full global comparisons can be made.

Read more here.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison shared on Instagram that he had received a "check in" call from the Queen last night.

The Queen was "very interested" to hear about Australia's progress in its virus fight and "was so pleased [that] we have managed to prevent the terrible impacts," he said.

He also noted she was pleased "to hear our horse races were still running" in Australia - one of the few sports still operating.

Of course, Australia and neighbouring Commonwealth state New Zealand, are both being viewed as world leaders for containing the disease so far. Both have reported significantly lower per-capita and death rates than in the UK, US and Europe, and new case numbers have flatlined in the past three weeks.

The island nations' geographic isolation has played a big part in this (and travel could resume between the two at some point)- but experts have also praised the widespread testing and lockdown measures enacted.

Australia, which has counted less than 100 deaths and around 6,800 cases, is now gearing up to reopen business and get people back to work - more on this later.

Hello and welcome back to our rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. We’re writing to you out of Singapore this morning, and will be joined by our colleagues across Asia and London later on today.

Starting off with some better news today. Queen Elizabeth has called Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, congratulating him on Australia’s success in fighting the virus. It comes as Australia prepares to ease virus restrictions, aiming to re-start the economy and get millions back to work.

The UK’s death toll has passed Italy’s to become the highest in Europe and the second highest in the world. According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the UK has 29,501 deaths, while the death toll in Italy stands at 29,315.

Over in the US, President Donald Trump has confirmed that the coronavirus task force will be winding down, with his VP Mike Pence saying it could be disbanded within weeks.

The number of cases worldwide has now exceeded 3.65 million, with the global death toll at 256,928, according to JHU data.