Image source, EPA

Thank you for following our coverage. We're now wrapping up the live page for today but before we go, here's a quick recap of Tuesday's main developments:

• In the US, top health adviser Dr Anthony Fauci warns against re-opening the country too soon
• He also suggests the death toll is higher than the official figure of 80,000
• India announces a $266bn (£217bn) support package to help the country's businesses to recover from the crisis
• In the UK, a government scheme paying wages of 7.5 million furloughed workers is extended to October
• France overtakes Spain in number of deaths - putting it only behind Italy, the UK and the US
• South Korea sees a spike in new cases linked to Seoul's nightclubs

Our coverage was brought to you by Jasmine Coleman-Taylor, Alix Kroeger, Rebecca Seales, Alexandra Fouche, Claudia Allen, Andreas Illmer, Yaroslav Lukov, Claire Heald, Alice Evans, Doug Faulkner, Frank Keogh, Jonathan Jurejko, Alex Bysouth, and Max Matka.

Image source, EPA

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a 20tn-rupee (£216bn; $266bn) support package for the country's economy to help mitigate the damage caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

In a televised address to the nation, Modi said the crisis was also an opportunity for India to become self-reliant.

Details of the package - equivalent to about 10% of India's GDP - are expected to be unveiled shortly.

While golfers in England will be able to go for 18 holes (under new guidelines) from Wednesday, one club on the Welsh border has a unique problem.

Fifteen of the holes at Llanymynech Golf Club, near Oswestry, are completely in Wales - where golf clubs are not allowed to reopen yet.

Two of the holes are across the border in Shropshire, while the fourth hole is split across Wales and England.

The club has expressed its disappointment at "conflicting guidelines that hinder practical compliance" for people who live in border areas.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Bill Tompkins/Getty Images

The district attorneys (DAs) of every New York City borough - except Staten Island - have said they won't prosecute arrests for violating social distancing orders, in place to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The DAs of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens announced their policies after the city produced New York police arrest data that showed most social distancing suspects were ethnic minorities.

The head of the city's largest police union called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to "get cops out of the social distancing enforcement business altogether".

"My membership demands to know the rationale behind being ordered to make arrests - and risking injury to themselves and citizens - when those arrests not result in criminal prosecution," the letter states.

Across the US, police have been criticised for seeming to take a heavy hand with racial minorities, while going easy on white people accused of similar social distancing violations.

Image source, Getty Images

Fewer than 100 organ transplants were carried out in the UK last month, the lowest number for 36 years, causing concerns that waiting times for patients could increase.

NHS Blood and Transplant analysis showed there were 99 operations in April, down from 244 in March.

The last time the monthly total dropped below 100 was February 1984.

Some specialists fear the fall in the number of operations will cause a backlog of patients needing organ donations, leading to increased waiting times.

Prof Peter Friend, director of the Oxford Transplant Centre, told the BBC: "Every transplant that does not take place now means that a patient somewhere, and at some point, never receives their transplant."

Read more here.

Helier Cheung
BBC News, Washington DC

Image source, José Zaragoza

One service says tips are up 99%, and there's a powerful factor which affects how people give to others.

When cleaner José Zaragoza finished his job at a home, he was surprised to find he'd received a $100 tip on Venmo.

"I was like 'hey you made a mistake' - you sent an extra zero," but the customer told him he'd given him a large tip "to help you and your family in these tough times".

Zaragoza's business has dropped dramatically since the coronavirus pandemic hit the US. Right now, he has only had one cleaning job a day, and needs to take extra precautions including wearing a full body coverall, a mask and gloves, and washing every piece of his cleaning equipment before starting a job.

Read the full story here

Image source, AFP

In April, the number of illegal border crossing detections on Europe’s main migratory routes dropped by 85% compared with March to about 900, EU border and coast guard agency Frontex said in a statement., external

This is the lowest number since Frontex began collecting data in 2009.

"The record low numbers were mainly due to the effects of coronavirus, which have also delayed the reporting of border crossing data by national authorities," Frontex said.

Thousands of illegal migrants every year make perilous journeys across the Mediterranean, trying to reach Europe.

The other main migratory route is the Western Balkans.

US infectious disease specialist Dr Fauci says the expectation that students will go back to school in the autumn would be a "bit of a bridge too far".

Neither testing nor a vaccine will be available enough to allow students to go back so soon, he says.

"Even at the top speed we’re going we don’t see a vaccine playing in the ability of individuals to get back to school this fall."

Several US states have already cancelled classes for the remainder of this school year.

Testifying before the US Senate, the country's top infectious disease specialist Dr Fauci has said the US needs to "go by the guidelines" - referring to the White House plans for "opening up America again".

The three-phased approach is based on the advice of public health experts.

Among its key recommendations, US states should have a "downward trajectory of positive tests" or a "downward trajectory of documented cases" of coronavirus over two weeks, while conducting contact tracing and "sentinel surveillance" to screen for asymptomatic carriers, especially in vulnerable populations.

In anticipation of his testimony, Dr Fauci warned of "needless suffering and death" if states preempt these guidelines.

Already, more than half of US states have begun to reopen, or have plans to do so soon. Georgia, Texas and South Carolina are among the states who have made significant strides to reopen.

There are now more than 226,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and more than 32,600 people have died, according to the latest government figures.

New figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday suggest the total number of deaths relating to coronavirus had reached more than 36,000 by 1 May.

The difference in numbers is because the government looks at only those who tested positive for the virus, whereas the ONS looks at all death certificates which mentioned Covid-19 - which is also why their figures lag behind.

A third way of counting coronavirus deaths is to look at all those who have died over and above the expected total for this time of year and it comes to more than 50,000 by 1 May. This figure is likely to include undiagnosed coronavirus deaths, as well as others indirectly caused by the pandemic.

Another 627 deaths were announced on Tuesday, bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 32,692.

Almost 1.5 million people have now been tested.

In the most recent 24-hour period, the total number of tests fell below the government's current target of 100,000 per day.

That figure includes test kits sent to individuals or to testing locations but not yet analysed or returned, as well as tests fully processed through the relevant UK labs.

This chart shows that though the number of tests carried out each day is now far higher than it was a month ago, the target of 100,000 tests per day has only been hit three times since the beginning of May.

You can see all the latest data updated here.

Daniel Sandford
Home Affairs Correspondent

The new unit which will set England's official Covid-19 "alert level" will be run by a senior specialist in counter-terrorism.

Tom Hurd, who currently runs the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, will be taking on the role leading the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

Until that team is set up, chief medical officer Chris Whitty will decide the threat level of the virus.

It is currently at level four, with five the highest, but the prime minister said it was heading towards level three in his speech on Sunday.

The unit will draw on public data and bring together epidemiological expertise with "the best analytical capability across government".

A Coronavirus Status Checker has also been created to give health professionals “greater insight” into how the virus is affecting the country.

Mr Hurd has previously been talked about as a possible leader of MI5 or MI6 and is the son of former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, now Lord Hurd of Westwell.

Ministers will consider whether the Joint Biosecurity Centre will remain a permanent unit once the Covid-19 threat has subsided.

Image source, Getty Images

Pictures of rainbows have been springing up in windows across the UK, since lockown began.

Now the V&A museum in London wants to collect them, external - as well as signs in shop windows - for a new exhibition.

It says it wants to "preserve a rich portrait of life under lockdown".

Take a look at some of the great rainbow designs here.

Image source, Getty Images

The UK housing market has been in a deep freeze since lockdown began.

But things are about to change in England, with the government announcing home moves and (socially distanced) viewings are to be allowed once again.

About 450,000 people are estimated to have had their moving plans put on ice during the crisis, with sales worth £82bn having been stalled.

But under new rules, estate agents can open, viewings can be carried out, and removal firms and conveyancers can re-start operations.

Other moves aimed at unlocking the housing market include:

• Allowing builders to agree more flexible working hours with their local council, such as staggering arrival times to ease pressure on public transport
• Enabling local councils and developers to publicise planning applications through social media, instead of having to rely on posters and leaflets
• Providing support for smaller developers by allowing them to defer payments to local councils to ease cash flow

Read the full story here.

Nick Thorpe, BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Preliminary results from an ongoing medical survey of the Hungarian population suggest that around 1% have caught coronavirus.

Of 8,700 people, only two tested positive, while nine had already had it. The tests are voluntary, and do not include patients in institutions like elderly care homes. In the next week, 9,000 more will be tested.

Hungary's official statistics show 3,300 people have had the virus, while 425 have died. The survey suggests that between 0.27% and 1.1% of the population are believed to have had the virus - meaning between 22,000 and 93,000 people among the 8.3m Hungarians aged 14 and over.

Hungary has been one of the European countries least affected by coronavirus, but its government has adopted some of the most draconian powers, including the right to rule by decree until it deems the emergency over. Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it was necessary to "prepare for the worst, and hope for the best".

He ordered 36,000 of the country’s 65,000 hospital beds to be readied for coronavirus patients. No more than 1,000 were filled at any one time.

A ministerial order for all seriously ill coronavirus patients in the country to be transferred to two Budapest hospitals, issued last Friday, was abruptly cancelled over the weekend.

A senior doctor, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that the handling of the pandemic by medical staff had been exemplary. Social-distancing measures introduced early on by the government, and the self-discipline of the population in staying at home, were the main factors in Hungary’s success, he said.

Image source, Getty Images

Rock star Bryan Adams has apologised after posting an expletive-laden coronavirus rant on social media, saying he has "love for all people and my thoughts are with everyone dealing with this pandemic around the world".

On Monday, he wrote: "Thanks to some bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy [expletives], the whole world is now on hold."

Many interpreted the star's comments as anti-Asian or anti-Chinese, but he was praised by some animal rights groups.

"Apologies to any and all that took offence to my posting yesterday," Adams said in a new post on Tuesday., external

"No excuse, I just wanted to have a rant about the horrible animal cruelty in these wet markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism."

The Canadian singer was due to be performing in London this week, before lockdown measures came into force.

Image source, Getty Images

France has overtaken Spain in the number of coronavirus deaths it has officially recorded, making it the world's fourth worst-affected country (after the US, the UK and Italy).

The latest daily toll of 348 deaths takes the country's overall total to 26,991 - 17,003 of those have come in hospital and 9,988 in care homes.

However, the number of people in hospital and intensive care with the virus has fallen.

Experts warn that it is hard to make precise international comparisons between death tolls as countries do not record deaths in exactly the same way.

Even pandas aren't immune to Covid-19 supply chain disruptions.

The Calgary Zoo is returning two giant pandas back to China years ahead of schedule because of problems obtaining bamboo, external.

Pandas need to eat about 40kg (88lb) of bamboo, which grows in Asia, a day.

But cancelled flights and delays have made it difficult to ship to Canada, and the zoo has decided the pandas - Er Shun and Da Mao, external - would be better off back in China, where supplies of the right sort of bamboo are plentiful.

Image source, Getty Images

If people returning to work in England do not feel safe, they should take it up with their bosses and can call on the health and safety body, Business Secretary Alok Sharma told reporters at the UK government's daily briefing.

Image source, Getty Images

A shark is likely to have killed a surfer in the United States because it was not used to seeing humans in the water, according to a wildlife biologist.

Ben Kelly, 26, was killed at Sand Dollar Beach in California which, according to NBC,, external is the first fatal shark attack in the state since 2012.

Wildlife biologist Forrest Galante said animals are relaxing and occupying areas where there are fewer humans because of the coronavirus pandemic.

When sharks attack surfers it is "always a case of mistaken identity" because they are hunting for seals or sealions, Galante added.

“All these times you have human-predator conflict because we are invading their space, not because they are coming into our space,” he told TMZ., external

Many surfers have been staying indoors since the coronavirus restrictions were imposed, leading to an increase of shark sightings on the northern California coastline.

Photographer Eric Mailander told the KRON4 station he has observed "dozens of great white sharks" swimming near the shoreline.

Image source, Getty Images

Tackling will be banned, pitches disinfected and players restricted to groups of five when England's Premier League football clubs start a first phase of team training - which it is hoped will begin on Monday,

Official protocols sent to players and managers and obtained by the BBC reveal that social distancing must be "strictly observed".

Corner-flags, balls, cones, goalposts and even playing surfaces will also be disinfected after each training session, which will be restricted to 75 minutes.

Ongoing surveillance measures included in further guidance include twice-weekly testing, and a daily pre-training questionnaire and temperature check.

Under a section titled "health screening", players are also told a central register of Covid-19 test results (subject to their consent and Professional Footballers' Association agreement) will need to be maintained.

Recommended "control measures" include "meticulous personal hygiene and use of PPE personal protective equipment, no congregation in communal areas, including but not limited to medical rooms and gym areas".

Club officials met this week to continue talks on "Project Restart", with the English top flight aiming to resume fixtures on 12 June.