Reality Check and BBC Monitoring

A fake quote attributed to a prominent French scientist has gone viral. The Facebook post claims Prof Didier Raoult said Covid-19 was created by the US and China to kill millions of Africans.

We spoke to the hospital in Marseille where Prof Raoult works and they confirmed it is not genuine. Prof Raoult has become well-known for promoting chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, to treat coronavirus.

An account in the Democratic Republic of Congo first posted the message, which has been shared more than 150,000 times in a number of African countries including Madagascar and Cameroon.

We investigated another fabricated statement that was falsely attributed to Jeff Bezos - that linked to the same Instagram account as the Prof Raoult post did.

Reality Check has been fact-checking coronavirus misinformation across the continent.

Image source, Getty Images

With some countries easing their lockdowns and allowing people to return to the workplace, it is natural to ask how safe public transport is.

Well, a lot depends on how crowded it is and how far apart you can stay from others.

Ventilation also plays an important role as fresh air can help droplets containing the virus dissipate faster.

What can you do if do not feel safe but must travel to work?

Globally, many cities are introducing temporary cycle lanes (as well as subsidies for bike repairs in France) to encourage commuters to use their bikes instead of trains or buses. You could also walk if you live close enough.

If that is not an option, travel at less busy times and wait for passengers to get off before you board public transport.

We have more tips for you here.

A further 83 deaths because of coronavirus have been reported in France, taking the country's total number of fatalities to 27,074.

The Directorate General of Health says 2,428 patients are in intensive care, with 69 new serious cases in the last 24 hours.

The relatively low number of deaths reported today comes after an increase of 348 on Tuesday and 263 on Monday.

The US, the UK, Italy and Spain are the only other countries to have reported more than 27,000 coronavirus fatalities.

France had overtaken Spain but slipped back to fifth highest in the world as Spain announced 184 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total there to 27,104.

Meanwhile, Italy reported 195 deaths on Wednesday, against 172 the day before, bringing the total to 31,106.

Katy Watson
BBC South America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Brazil's coronavirus figures are issued at the end of each day - and every evening people are hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

The country is at the centre of the Latin American outbreak and is now the sixth worst-affected country in terms of recorded deaths. The total death toll currently stands at 12,400 after the highest daily rise in deaths so far.

Brazil does not have a lot going for it at the moment, when it comes to flattening the curve.

It has a president in Jair Bolsonaro who sows confusion by flouting global health guidelines - at the weekend he jumped on a jetski, mask-free and attended a floating BBQ - and government statistics that reveal residents in the worst-hit city São Paulo are increasingly failing to isolate.

São Paulo city has banned cars from circulating on particular days and tried to block roads in recent weeks, trying to dissuade people from commuting. Some badly-affected states in the north-east have introduced much tougher lockdown measures.

But they all feel like desperate attempts to reverse an inevitable course of spiralling deaths. With no federal leadership for people to look to, Brazil has resorted to a fragmented approach to an ever more worrying crisis.

Image source, Getty Images

Carmakers Ford and Vauxhall have announced plans to restart production at UK factories.

Ford is to resume work from 18 May at its engine plants in Dagenham, Essex, and Bridgend, South Wales.

The company's engine plant in Valencia, Spain, will also start operations again - meaning that all of Ford's European manufacturing facilities will be open.

Meanwhile, BBC Newsnight has been told that Vauxhall will restart production at its Luton plant on the same date.

Managing Director Stephen Norman says the plant, which produces vans, will start up with only a third of its 1,600-strong workforce.

Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant, which makes cars, remains closed.

Image source, Getty Images

The top three US airlines have told flight attendants not to enforce a policy requiring passengers to wear face masks.

United, Delta and American Airlines all have policies which state that customers should cover their faces, and employees have been told they may deny boarding at the gate to customers who do not follow them.

However, once on board the plane flight crew have been been advised by the airlines that they should simply encourage passengers to follow the policies, rather than enforce them.

Airline passengers dropped by 51% in the US in March, resulting in the lowest air travel level in almost 20 years, according to the US Transportation Department.

Philippa Roxby
Health reporter, BBC News

Around 150 children in the UK have been affected by a rare inflammatory disease linked to coronavirus, medics say. Some needed intensive care while others recovered quickly - but cases are extremely rare.

In April, NHS doctors were told to look out for a rare but dangerous reaction in children. This was prompted by eight children becoming ill in London, including a 14-year-old who died.

Doctors said all eight children had similar symptoms when they were admitted to Evelina Children's Hospital, including a high fever, rash, red eyes, swelling and general pain.

Most of the children had no major lung or breathing problems, although seven were put on a ventilator to help improve heart and circulation issues.

The doctors described it as a "new phenomenon" similar to Kawasaki disease shock syndrome.

Dr Liz Whittaker, clinical lecturer in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology at Imperial College London, said the fact that the syndrome was occurring in the middle of a pandemic, suggests the two are linked.

Reality Check

Image source, UK government

It is been noticed that the government has stopped displaying this regular slide in its daily briefing that made a comparison between numbers of coronavirus deaths between various countries.

Some have suggested that is because it shows the UK having more deaths than any other country in Europe.

Earlier in the day, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson why the slide was no longer being used. And one of the journalists at today's conference asked Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick about it.

Jenrick said the way the UK reports coronavirus deaths is among the "most clear and transparent of any advanced country". He added that while making international comparisons was very difficult, that does not mean it is not worthwhile, with lessons to be learned about the UK's performance.

Many statisticians say making precise comparisons between countries will not be possible until we have figures for excess deaths for all the relevant countries.

But Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter says it is still possible to identify "the bad countries in Europe: UK, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy", adding: "Clearly it's important to note that group is way above, in terms of their mortality, a group like Germany, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, who have low fatality rates."

We have more about the challenges of international comparisons.

Image source, Getty Images

US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has warned the nation could see a prolonged recession "without modern precedent" if Congress does not offer more support.

Wall Street stocks fell on Wednesday as Powell said additional aid from the government would be "worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage". He said there was a risk many small businesses could declare bankruptcy.

Speaking in a webcast interview with the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Powell noted there was a "growing sense...that the recovery may come more slowly than we would like," according to Reuters, external.

"But it will come, and that may mean that it’s necessary for us to do more."

Lawmakers in Washington have been working on more Covid-19 legislation.

Democrats in the House of Representatives released a $3 trillion (£2.4tn) relief bill on Tuesday that has been criticised by Republicans, who say it is not yet needed in light of the other recently passed stimulus packages.

The measure will need some Republican support if it hopes to pass the Republican-controlled Senate.

Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News

The governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have kept the stay-at-home message and eased lockdown measures much less than the Westminster government has for England.

Social-distancing measures in England are being eased because of the impact lockdown is having on people’s health, wellbeing and the economy rather than because the epidemic is over.

The latest assessment from the Office for National Statistics indicate that outside of London just 4% of the UK population have had the virus - leaving the vast majority definitively at risk of infection.

Although the number of people an infected individual infects, the R number, has gone down from just under three at the start of the epidemic to between 0.5 to 1, it is still relatively high and could quickly go above one and result in an increase in the number of cases.

The Scottish and Northern Irish governments have decided to wait until the R number is lower before easing their measures, so that they have more headroom if the number of cases increase.

The Westminster government has set up a new monitoring system - the joint biosecurity centre (JCB) - to monitor spikes in infections and to provide advice on reversing any easing of measures should it be necessary.

But with community testing, tracing and tracking still to be put in place, the JCB will be largely reliant on hospital admissions to monitor the spread of the virus.

This raises questions as to whether it will be able to spot increases in the number of new cases early enough and at a sufficiently local level to stamp out any increase in infections before it gets out of control.

Boris Johnson has encouraged people who cannot work from home to return to work in England, revealing a list of guidelines, external for companies to follow, to ensure a "Covid-secure" workplace.

But what would that look like?

Find out more about how many confirmed cases there are in different parts of the UK here.

Canada has asked the US to extend the ban on non-essential travel cross the border until June, two government sources told Reuters news agency.

A 30-day ban was put in place on 21 March, and renewed until the end of May. A second 30-day extension would keep the border shut to tourists, visitors and other non-essential travellers until 21 June.

Sources told the news agency the US was likely to agree.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said talks with the US were “going well".

Canada's chief public health officer said the number of cases in the US presents "a risk to Canada”.

Image source, Reuters

Simon and Garfunkel's classic Bridge Over Troubled Water may be one of the most covered songs of all-time - including varied versions from Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Johnny Cash - but how many have drawn praise from its star writer?

A new version by Welsh NHS staff, with the help of a choir and Welsh language singers, has.

Paul Simon, one half of the iconic American folk-rock act, said the rendition recorded by workers at a field hospital built in Llandudno was "extraordinary".

Have a listen - and perhaps a sing-a-long - to their version here.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC OS

Image source, Reuters

Shelley Luther, a hairdresser in Texas, was arrested for keeping her salon open despite coronavirus restrictions. When a judge told her last week she could avoid jail if she apologised, closed and paid thousands of dollars in fines, she refused.

She would only have needed to keep the salon closed until last Friday, when restrictions were eased. Luther was jailed for 48 hours, until the governor ruled people could not be incarcerated for violating Covid-19 restrictions.

BBC OS asked her why she decided to keep operating. Here's what she had to say.

"They told us maybe it would be a couple of weeks that we’d be shut down. That we’d get a stimulus check, unemployment benefits, that there will be all these small business loans.

"And the money just never came. When we filled out all the loan applications, no-one even answered. The website was crashed. There was one time I called 573 times and never got through.

"My stylists were contacting me saying: ‘I don’t know what to do because I don’t have any money, I think that I’m going to start going to people’s houses and doing their hair,’ and that really concerned me because we cannot control the environment there.

"I don’t take [the pandemic] lightly, but if we don’t open the economy, there are going to be implications far beyond the deaths that we’re having right now.

"If I can make it extremely safe, almost hospital safe, in my salon, I don’t feel like I’m putting people in danger any more than when they go to the other stores."

Read more about this story.

Andrew Walker
World Service economics correspondent

The United Nations has warned the economic downturn because of the pandemic could wipe out the gains of the last four years, at a cost of $8.5 trillion (£7tn) in economic activity. The UN’s assessment of global prospects says more than 30 million people are likely to fall into extreme poverty this year, mainly in Africa.

The UN expects the rich economies to shrink more at 5%, but for the developing world even the more moderate decline predicted means a marked increase in poverty.

For many of those countries, the report says,, external the costs of fighting the pandemic and economic stimulus measures will be prohibitive. It also says developing country governments are spending an ever-increasing share of their revenue on debt interest.

Elliott Harris, UN chief economist and assistant secretary-general for economic development, said: "The pace and strength of the recovery from the crisis not only hinges on the efficacy of public health measures in slowing the spread of the virus, but also on the ability of countries to protect jobs and incomes, particularly of the most vulnerable members of our societies.”

Separately, a group of leading politicians, including the former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, have called for the cancellation of some of the debts owed by the poorest countries.

Jessica Parker
BBC political correspondent

Today Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the government’s "whole focus" now needed to be on care homes for the weeks and months ahead.

It is a further sign of the huge concern that coronavirus in care settings is causing.

It was the central issue in today’s exchange between the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, and the prime minister.

A subsequent war of words about previous government advice boils down to a central claim: that the focus on ensuring the NHS could cope meant that care homes were forgotten.

It’s a charge ministers have pushed back on; keen to point to the lengths they’re going to in ensuring that, for example, personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing is supplied.

But the question of whether they acted too late will likely return.

Gary O'Donoghue
Washington Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Donald Trump's former election campaign manager Paul Manafort has been released from prison and placed in home confinement after his lawyers argued he was particularly vulnerable to the risks of coronavirus.

Manafort, 71, is serving a seven-and-a-half year sentence after he was convicted last year on a range of banking fraud and tax evasion charges.

His case arose from the investigation into alleged links between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russia, which was conducted by the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.

Manafort also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and witness tampering.

The two separate cases related to his work on behalf of the former Russian-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, with his trial detailing a lavish lifestyle of expensive properties and clothes.

But now his lawyers have argued that he should be allowed to serve his sentence at home as he has several underlying conditions, including high blood pressure, liver disease and respiratory ailments.

Speculation also continues that President Trump may yet decide to pardon Manafort - particularly now that the justice department has sought to drop its charges against another target of the Mueller investigation, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Interesting to hear Jenny Harries, England's deputy chief medical officer, talk about the "balance of risk and opportunities" when it comes to why children are returning to school.

The risk of a young child dying from coronavirus if they are infected is very slim, whereas the benefit of going to school is huge.

Out of more than 32,000 deaths during the peak of the pandemic over the last five weeks, just two have involved under 14s in England and Wales. That’s out of a population of more than 10 million.

Over the same period, more than 300 children have died from other causes.

Image source, Reuters

• Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick detailed the changes to social distancing measures that came into effect in England

• He outlined the government's plan to restart the housing market and construction industry in England, stressing the strict safeguards in place

• But he acknowledged allowing house viewings "may seem confusing at first glance, especially when people have been separated from their loved ones for so long"
• Jenrick defended the government handling of the spread of coronavirus in care homes, stressing today’s £600m package to help with infection control and staff levels

• He said ministers were working with schools and unions in England to "provide as much comfort" as possible to teachers that it would be safe to return to work next month

• Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries highlighted the downwards trend in hospital admissions across the UK, saying numbers were down 15% in a week

• Asked about social "bubbles" allowing people to meet up with friends and family outside their household, she said it would provide a "positive mental health boost" but it was "really important to think through the implications" of such a move
• Jenrick said the government was in talks with theatres and museums about how they could reopen "when the science and medical opinion allows"