Health Secretary Matt Hancock says all residents and staff in care homes will have been tested by early June
The death toll in the UK rose in the past day by 384 to 33,998
It comes as Germany - Europe’s largest economy - shrinks by 2.2%, the worst since 2009
US retail figures plunge by 16.4% - the biggest two-month decline on record
Police in England and Wales hand out more than 14,000 fines for breaches of lockdown regulations
Brazil's health minister resigns after disagreements with President Bolsonaro - the second post-holder to go in a month
The three Baltic states - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - create borderless travel zone for their citizens
More than 1.5m people have recovered from the virus worldwide, but 300,000 have died, says Johns Hopkins University
The UK government's daily briefing is due in a few minutes. Stay with us for all the updates from Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
You've just got time to watch this explanation of the crucial R-number, which the government will be monitoring as it starts to relax lockdown restrictions. It appears to have crept up slightly.
Coronavirus: What is the R number and why does it matter?
We will be hearing from the UK government shortly with its daily briefing on coronavirus.
But while we wait you have time to read our explainer looking at the epidemic in care homes.
The UK government has been criticised over the issue - about a quarter of known coronavirus deaths in Great Britain have happened in care homes.
Image source, GettyThe infection rate in the UK has risen close to the point where coronavirus cases could begin to increase, government scientific advice says.
The so-called "R-number" shows the average number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to. It needs to be below one to reduce the spread.
Health officials previously thought that the R was between 0.5 and 0.9.
But the revised figures from the scientific advisers group Sage suggest it now sits between 0.7 and 1.0.
The rate and the number of live cases help the government decide when and how much to ease lockdown restrictions.
Read more from our Health and science correspondent James Gallagher.
We'll be bringing you the daily briefing by the UK government in about half an hour.
In the meantime, here's what's happening in the country today:
Image source, Getty ImagesNelson Teich (left) and Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in on 16 April
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has lost a health minister for the second time in a month.
Nelson Teich resigned after less than a month in the job having replaced Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was dismissed.
Bolsonaro on Monday declared gyms and hair salons as essential services that can stay open through the new coronavirus outbreak, but Teich said his ministry had not been consulted.
Brazilian media say the final straw appears to have been Bolsonaro's backing for chloroquine as a treatment, despite it being of no proven benefit.
Brazil is the hardest hit country in Latin America with a tally of over 200,000 confirmed cases of the virus and nearly 14,000 deaths, since the outbreak began, according to health ministry data.
Philippa Roxby
Health reporter, BBC News
Image source, Getty ImagesDiabetics - who manage their condition with insulin injections - may only face a low risk if they are under 40
A quarter of patients who died in hospitals with Covid-19 in England had diabetes, a condition that causes blood-sugar levels to become too high.
In the UK, about 90% of adults with the condition have type 2 diabetes. Being overweight can increase your risk of developing this type and is also known to increase the risk of being seriously ill with Covid-19.
Why? Because the more fat your body is carrying, the less efficiently the lungs and heart are working. Fatty tissue can also give rise to inflammation and cause the body's immune system to overreact.
Other risk factors for type 2 diabetes - such as having high blood pressure and being from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background - are also associated with risk of serious illness from Covid-19.
Although experts say the threat to people under 40 is very low, there have been calls for better support for people with type 2 diabetes, particularly if they are working outside the home.
Russell Fuller
BBC tennis correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesThe suspension of professional tennis has been extended by a further three weeks until at least 31 July.
The majority of the men's ATP and women's WTA Tour events affected were due to take place on clay courts in Europe.
The WTA has formally cancelled four of its events, but left the door open to staging tournaments in Karlsruhe, Germany and Palermo, Italy at a later date.
The ATP has also not ruled out rearranging some events.There will be an announcement next month on the tournaments scheduled for North America in the run-up to the US Open, which is due to start on 24 August.
We have just had it confirmed that the UK government will give its daily briefing at 17:00 BST (16:00 GMT).
The briefing will be led by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
He will be joined by Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for England, and Nikki Kanani, medical director of primary care for NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes
Image source, Vivine UwizeyeVivine Uwizeye is the only coronavirus patient to have been publicly identified in Rwanda.
The model was voted Miss Rwanda Plus-Size in 2011. Last month a picture of her in a hospital bed went viral on social media.
"After days of symptoms I started struggling to breathe,” she told the BBC.
She was diagnosed with coronavirus on 16 April, and taken to a ward near Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.
"I was the only one in critical condition at the centre, every day doctors did their best treating me," she says.
Image source, Vivine UwizeyeMs Uwizeye has held the crown of Miss Rwanda Plus-Size since 2011
Uwizeye also had to contend with online rumours that she had died. Some people wrongly assumed that, being plus-size, she must have underlying health conditions.
Earlier this month, she sent a text saying "God has done it, I've tested negative" to a BBC journalist.
Out of 287 reported cases in Rwanda, 168 have recovered according to health officials.
A further 384 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, the latest daily government figures show, external.
It brings the total death toll - including those reported in hospitals and the wider community - to 33,998.
The figures also showed that 133,784 tests were carried out or posted on Thursday.
It is the fourth time the government has met its 100,000 a day target, according to its criteria.
Image source, AFPLewis said about 1,500 tracers had been hired
The UK prime minister's spokesman has denied a statement by a cabinet minister that less than 10% of 18,000 contact tracers have so far been hired.
The workers are seen as key, alongside a new app, to helping the government trace the virus. Their work would help inform when curbs in England might be lifted.
Earlier, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said about 1,500 tracers had been hired.
In response, Downing Street said "significantly more" have been hired and that the recruitment drive was "on course" to hire all 18,000 before the end of next week.
Read more about the UK’s contact tracing strategy - and what it means for you - here
BBC Monitoring
The world through its media
Image source, State DumaMembers of the Russian parliament have started wearing badges that purportedly protect the wearer from coronavirus, reports say.
The badges, which feature a white cross design and appear to be of the type falsely marketed as “virus stoppers” in Russia, external, were spotted at a recent meeting of the State Duma lower house
However, the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) says the active ingredient in such products, the bleaching agent chlorine dioxide, is harmful and calls claims that it helps against Covid-19 “fraudulent, external”.
“Chlorine dioxide products have not been shown to be safe and effective for any use, including Covid-19”, the FDA says, external.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has also been seen wearing a similar kind of product, external.
When asked by reporters if he was sure the badge worked, he said:, external "To be honest, I’m not sure if it helps in any way. I’ve read that many experts say it can be harmful.”
On Tuesday, Peskov confirmed he had been diagnosed with the virus and is being treated in hospital.
Marianna Spring
Specialist disinformation and social media reporter
Coronavirus: How to spot fake news
Half of children in the UK are finding it hard to figure out what’s true or false about coronavirus, according to a report by media regulator Ofcom, external.
And just under half of the 12- to 15-year-olds who were surveyed use social media as a source of information about the virus.
So how can kids and teenagers spot misleading stories, especially ones that spread online?
Newsround has three golden rules to help identify fake news on social media:
Have you or your kids seen something misleading online? Email me: marianna.spring@bbc.co.uk
Image source, Getty ImagesCharlton Athletic lifted last year's League One play-off trophy - but this season could be voided
Football clubs in League One have failed to agree whether to end the season early after talks today with the English Football League.
The 23 clubs, which are in the third tier of English football below the Premier League and the EFL Championship, will meet again on Monday.
BBC Sport understands there is a general acceptance among clubs in both League One and League Two that resuming the current campaign is impossible because of a lack of money.
But on Thursday six clubs said they had "no desire for voiding the season, points-per-game scenarios or letting a computer decide our footballing fate".
Image source, GettyRetail sales in the US slumped by 16.4% in April, according to government data - the biggest drop since records began in 1992.
It's nearly double the 8.3% fall reported in March, with demand for goods drying up as millions of Americans remain under lockdown.
As a result, companies like JCrew have filed for bankruptcy protection. Others major retailers, such as JC Penney, are expected to follow.
The sharp drop shows how hard the coronavirus is hitting consumer spending, says BBC New York business correspondent Michelle Fleury. Many economists expect consumer spending to pick up in May as lockdowns ease around the country.
It comes amid unprecedented levels of job loses. About 36.5 million Americans have filed for jobless benefits during the last eight weeks.
Another 186 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died in England, bringing the confirmed number of deaths in hospitals to 24,345, according to NHS England.
A total of 2,053 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by 46 from 2,007 on Thursday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.
Public Health Wales said a further nine people have died after testing positive, taking the total there to 1,173.
Overall figures for the whole of the UK will be announced later by the Department of Health and Social Care.
Image source, Getty ImagesNew York City's lockdown has been extended until 28 May at the earliest.
New York State governor Andrew Cuomo announced the extension, while easing the shutdown in other parts of the state.
It has already been announced that Broadway theatres will be closed until at least early September. It is not known when schools will reopen.
The stay-at-home order had been set to expire on Friday.
Cuomo announced in a tweet that five regions of the state could now begin reopening non-essential businesses.
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Elisa Granato was the first volunteer to be injected in a subsequent human trial
A vaccine against coronavirus, external appears to have provided protection against the disease Covid-19 in six rhesus macaque monkeys.
In a trial in the US, involving researchers from the US government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of Oxford, the animals were given the vaccine before being exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
The trial then found that the monkeys had less of the virus in their lungs and airways compared to a control group of monkeys which was not given the vaccine.
Rhesus macaques have similar immune systems to humans and the vaccine is now undergoing human clinical trials.
Image source, Getty ImagesGermany will start to open border crossings with Austria, France and Switzerland from Friday night
Here's a bit more detail on that report that Germany is relaxing its quarantine rules for arrivals from the Schengen passport-free zone, the rest of the EU and the UK.
Visitors will still be required to quarantine for 14 days if they are coming from a country with "elevated infections", an interior ministry spokesperson said, according to Reuters.
Some areas of Germany, external, including North Rhine-Westphalia, have already eased their rules.
As of 9 April, visitors to Germany have been required to go directly to their accommodation and stay in isolation for 14 days. Exceptions include commuters, seasonal workers and police and health authorities.
The quarantine rules will still apply to visitors from countries outside Europe.
Official figures show that 12,256 residents of care homes in England and Wales died with Covid-19 mentioned on their death certificates.
That's more than a third higher than previously quoted figures - because some of the residents were admitted to hospital before they died, and so were counted in the main hospital statistics.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics cover the period between 2 March and 1 May. They provide the most extensive picture yet of the damage done by coronavirus in the social care system.
Covid-19 became the leading cause of death for men in care homes and the second leading cause for women.
In total, there were 45,889 deaths of care home residents, more than a quarter of which involved coronavirus.