During the UK government briefing earlier Dr Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for England, said that while the rate of infection is an important measure, it's not the only one.

The World Health Organization says it is studying a possible link between Covid-19 and a Kawasaki-like inflammatory syndrome that has affected children in Europe and the US.

"Initial reports hypothesise that this syndrome may be related to Covid-19," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. He called on clinicians worldwide to help "better understand this syndrome in children".

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, external, including a 14-year-old who died.

Doctors are describing it as a "new phenomenon" similar to Kawasaki disease shock syndrome , external- a rare condition that mainly affects children under the age of five. Symptoms include a rash, , externalswollen glands in the neck and dry and cracked lips.

Read more about the medical condition here

Image source, PA Media

Jessica Parker
BBC political correspondent

The UK prime minister is reported to have told a virtual meeting of the 1922 committee of Conservative backbench MPs that the government will be taking “grandmother steps” out of lockdown.

Asked about speculation around public sector pay freezes, Boris Johnson again suggested that there’s no intention of going back to “austerity”.

It is understood there was some criticism of the recent government messaging - and the fact that the prime minister chose to deliver his roadmap via a TV address on Sunday night rather than to Parliament.

There were also questions, from backbench Tory MPs, about the re-opening of churches and schools.

One senior Tory told the BBC that the overall mood of the meeting was “relief” that MPs were able to engage with the prime minister.

Here are the latest key global coronavirus developments:

• Nelson Teich has resigned from his position as Brazil's health minister after less than a month in the job following disagreements over the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis
• Germany's economy shrank by 2.2% in the first three months of this year as the coronavirus pandemic pushed it into recession, official figures indicate
• New York City extended a two-month lockdown, even as parts of the state began to open up on Friday. Governor Andrew Cuomo extended various emergency measures, some to 28 May and others to 13 June
• Slovenia became the first EU country to declare the Covid-19 epidemic over, but is leaving some protective measures still in place
• Air pollution is increasing again as traffic returns to the roads in Asian countries
• Babies born to surrogate mothers have been left stuck in Ukraine because of coronavirus lockdown measures
• The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have opened their borders to one another, creating a coronavirus "travel bubble"

Image source, Getty Images

Trump is currently speaking about vaccine development, and has announced “Operation Warp Speed”.

“That means big and it means fast,” he said, calling it “unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project”.

“Its objective is to finish developing and then to manufacture and distribute a proven coronavirus vaccine as fast as possible," he said.

“We’d love to see if we can do it prior to the end of the year. We think we’re going to have some very good results coming out very quickly."

There are currently no vaccines to protect the body against the disease caused by coronavirus.

Trump said "Operation Warp Speed" will target more than just vaccine development.

“In addition it will continue accelerating the development of diagnostics and breakthrough therapies," he said. "The great national project will bring together the best of American industry and innovation, the full resources of the United States government, and the excellence and precision of the United States military.”

His comments come a day after a former top US health official leading the government agency trying to develop a vaccine told Congress the country could face its "darkest winter in modern history".

Helen Catt
Political correspondent

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer's accusation earlier this week that the government had moved too slowly to protect care homes ramped up the already significant pressure on its handling of this area of the pandemic.

Today's briefing was a reasonably robust response from the health secretary, insisting that the government had tried to throw a "protective ring" around care homes “from the start”.

But his defence was tempered by an awareness that many people have died and those with relatives living in such homes will be deeply worried.

So, we got another big pledge on testing.

A re-stating of a big cash injection for infection control.

And a hint too towards wider reforms.

These are all potentially steps forward and a deeper look at the care sector - considered by many to have been long neglected - is likely to be welcomed.

But the government will need to show a significantly improving picture - and quickly - to stem the concerns.

Today's government press conference was led by Health Secretary Matt Hancock. He was joined by the deputy chief medical officer for England, Dr Jenny Harries, and Dr Nikki Kanani, a medical director with NHS England.

Here's what they told us:

• A further £600m ($730m) has been made available to care homes in England this week, on top of other injections of money over the past few months
• All care home residents and staff will be tested for coronavirus by June
• Each care home will have a named clinical lead from the NHS. They will also get help with accessing technology to help residents speak safely to GPs and other health workers
• Care homes should be transparent with families about the situation within the home
• Younger disabled people in care homes should have access to testing but the priority is older people because they are most vulnerable

• The R-number - or the average number of people infected by each infected person - is somewhere between 0.7 and 1

Reality Check

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock says 133,784 tests for Covid-19 were carried out on Thursday.

That's a further record high after the 126,064 tests on Wednesday, with both tallies exceeding the target set last month for 100,000 tests per day.

However, the number of people actually tested was just over half of the headline figure – with 69,590 people tested yesterday.

People are often tested twice, sometimes more, to confirm test results as they are not always reliable, while the headline testing figure includes home tests that are counted when they are sent out but have not yet been returned or processed.

Finally, Irish News asks about the "double pressure" for businesses in Northern Ireland with coronavirus and border checks after Brexit.

Hancock says the PM has had a "positive discussion" with the Taoiseach this afternoon and they "intend to meet all the commitments made with the referendum".

A question from Reuters, raising the dispute over advice given to care homes about patients leaving hospital with coronavirus symptoms.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says many care homes stopped visitors after the government issued advice on 13 March.

"We have taken an approach of maximum transparency," he says.

Michael Smith from the Daily Mirror asks about the plan for schools reopening in England in June and also what consequences schools could face if they don’t open.

Hancock says it is “really important this is a team effort” and calls it “an incredible challenge”.

“We have got to do it in a way that keeps control of the virus,” he says.

“The good news is it seems to spare children in almost every case so the risk to children is much, much lower than anyone else in society.”

He says this means they are able to go down this route.

Harries says the likelihood of anyone having the disease in a single school is small and “diminishing in time”.

The children are at “key points in their educations” and going back will provide prevention from long-term issues, she says.

Here’s more on what the plans are for schools.

A question from Channel 4's Ayshah Tull who asks why some care homes cannot seem to apply for tests online, and whether vulnerable people under the age of 65 and people with learning difficulties may be excluded.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock agrees that age is the biggest factor in risk of contracting coronavirus, but there needs to be access for everyone in care homes.

Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for primary care in England, says any concerns should be raised locally so people can access tests.

Sam Coates from Sky asks whether the so-called R number is best measure to use.

Dr Jenny Harries says the R number – the rate of infection – is a “very standard way of looking and comparing what’s happening”.

She says it is an “important measure but not the only one”.

It is about looking for a reduction in the number of cases, she says. “That is our focus, not R.”

It comes as the revised figures from the Sage group of scientific advisers say the R number has increased and is now between 0.7 and 1.0. Anything above 1.0 means the number of cases is increasing.

There is more on the “R” number here.

The BBC’s Alison Holt asks about the high number of deaths in care homes and of care home residents in hospitals. Are the measures too little too late?

Hancock says the measures set out today are the things that they have been doing “throughout the crisis” and further support such as the extra funding has been added.

The good news is the number of new cases is coming right down, he says, but there is “clearly a long way to go”.

Nikki Kanani, medical director of primary care for NHS England, says they are making sure that care home managers have a regular check-in with a GP or nurse.

She says there is a range of other measures in place for care homes, including medication provision, good internet access and tablets.

Susanna from Oxford asks whether the Covid-19 alert level one target of eradication of the virus is a realistic target.

Jenny Harries says it is an "ambitious" target.

There isn't an immediate easy outcome to this, she says, and smallpox is the only infectious disease that has been eradicated.

To eradicate it we need a vaccine, she says, and that is what is being worked on.

Image source, PA Media

Here are the slides from today's briefing...

Image source, Cabinet Office

Image source, Cabinet Office

Image source, Cabinet Office

Image source, Cabinet Office

Image source, Cabinet Office

Hancock says they are now requiring councils to review the situation on the ground in local care homes regularly.

As a result of the effort on helping care homes, he says, two thirds of England’s care homes have no outbreak at all.

The number reporting an outbreak has fallen and the number of care home deaths has halved.

But, he says, there is “so much more to do”.

"We’ll do everything humanly possible to protect them as long as they are threatened by this virus," he says of the elderly and the vulnerable.

We have passed the peak of the virus, he says, but there is still a “long road ahead”.

Hancock says there has been a “huge need to protect people in care homes” and he says the government has worked to do this “right from the start”.

This is something that the UK government has been criticised for, as the epidemic in care homes continues.

Hancock said all residents and staff, with and without symptoms, will have been tested in England by early June.

He says £600m ($730m) has been made available to care homes this week to help control the infection. This is in addition to the £172m made available to devolved governments, he says.

Here’s more on the situation in care homes in the UK.

The UK's Health Secretary Matt Hancock begins by saying the number of deaths is "falling each day in all settings" and "we are past the peak of this virus".

He also recaps the UK government's new Covid-19 alert system, which measures the threat in England and was unveiled by the PM on Sunday.

You can find out more about that here.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has started making his opening remarks at the UK government's daily coronavirus briefing.

We'll bring you the latest here.