We're pausing our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Our colleagues in Asia will shortly take over from us here in London. It's been a busy day with the World Health Organization agreeing to an independent inquiry into the pandemic, advising that it should examine the response of governments to the crisis. The other top stories today:

• Economic forecasts continue to be dire. The UK is facing "a severe recession the likes of which we have not seen" its government warns, while the US risks "permanent damage" if the lockdown goes on for much longer
• The latest tally shows there have been 4.8 million confirmed cases globally, with more than 320,000 deaths
• The pandemic is growing in Latin America. It is threatening vulnerable indigenous communities in the Amazon region shared by Brazil, Colombia and Peru, the Pan American Health Organisation warns
• There's more evidence of the huge change in our environmental impact during the pandemic. Daily emissions of carbon dioxide fell by 17% at the peak of the shutdown, scientists say
• In the latest easing of lockdown measures, Portugal has reopened cafes, restaurants and many more shops
• Anger grows for cruise ship crews trapped at sea, with reports of protests and suicides last week
• And coronavirus is making harder the evacuation of millions in India and Bangladesh ahead of a super cyclone approaching from the Bay of Bengal

The contributors to today's coverage were: Saira Asher, Frances Mao, Yvette Tan, Andreas Illmer, Ayeshea Perera, Patrick Jackson, Jasmine Taylor-Coleman, Matthew Davis, George Wright, Mal Siret, Claudia Allen, Georgina Rannard, Sarah Collerton, Alex Bysouth, Emlyn Begley, Steve Sutcliffe, Katie Wright, Joseph Lee, Lucy Webster and Tom Gerken.

Thanks for reading.

US President Donald Trump says he thought it would be "appropriate" to take hydroxychloroquine after two people working in the White House tested positive for Covid-19.

On Monday, Trump said he was using the malaria and lupus medication despite public health officials warning it may be unsafe to do so.

Elaborating further at an on-camera cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said: "Somebody fairly close to me, a very nice young gentleman, tested positive.

"Plus I deal with Mike [Pence, the vice-president] a lot, and somebody very close to him, who I also see, tested positive. So I thought, you know, from my standpoint, not a bad time to take it because we had that combination."

Trump also confirmed that he is considering imposing a ban on travel to the US from Brazil, which has the world's third highest number, external of reported cases.

"I don't want people coming over here and infecting our people," he said.

"I don't want people over there sick either. We're helping Brazil with ventilators. Brazil is having some trouble, no question about it."

Image source, Getty Images

Governments globally are experimenting with ways to detect and trace coronavirus symptoms. The technology used to do that varies from country to country, and often depends on how willing citizens are to be monitored and to give up personal data.

On Tuesday, the prominent civil rights group the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a report warning about the use of temperature screening technology, external. It suggests that new products are flooding markets globally.

Forcing citizens to have their temperature recorded risks violating their right to privacy, the ACLU suggests. It could also lead to wider health data being collected and potentially used by private healthcare companies, it adds.

Casting doubt on the efficacy of temperature checks in tracing the virus, the group advises that "temperature screening should not be deployed unless public health experts say that it is a worthwhile measure notwithstanding the technology’s problems".

Read more about coronavirus technology and privacy here.

Image source, Getty Images

In the UK, the University of Cambridge has announced that there will be no "face-to-face lectures" in the 2020-21 academic year.

Lectures will continue virtually while smaller teaching groups in person may be possible if they "conform to social distancing requirements".

A university spokesperson said: "Given that it is likely that social distancing will continue to be required, the university has decided there will be no face-to-face lectures during the next academic year."

The University said it will review the decision should official advice change.

A university watchdog has asked institutions to provide clarity over how courses will be taught before students applying for places make their choices for the autumn.

Image source, Lauren Bryan

You may have read that country musician Travis McCready played to an audience wearing face masks in what's been described as the first US concert since the Covid-19 lockdown.

BBC OS spoke to Max Bryan of Southwest Times Record, who went to the Arkansas show.

Concert-goers were required to buy seats in clusters, branded "fan pods", and large areas were roped off.

"We've been deprived of things we took for granted for so long," he said. "People didn't care they were socially distanced, or in face masks, or the venue wasn't full - they were just extremely excited to enjoy live music with one another."

You can listen to the interview on BBC OS.

Image source, Getty Images

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province with 41% of the country’s population, will not reopen schools until September.

"I’m just not going to risk it," Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.

Schools have been closed across the province since 13 March.

Private schools and licensed childcare centres will also remain closed.

As of Tuesday, there were 23,384 coronavirus cases in Ontario, and 1,919 deaths, according to provincial health officials.

When it comes to face masks in US Congress, there have been a wide variety of choices.

From the practical medical-style to Republican Don Bacon's "bacon mask", here are some of the styles snapped on Capitol Hill.

Image source, Getty Images

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Image source, Reuters

US Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf says the Trump administration is "likely" to extend non-essential travel restrictions at US land borders with Canada and Mexico.

Border restrictions imposed on 21 March to help combat the pandemic were due to expire on Wednesday.

Speaking at a US Chamber of Commerce event Wolf said: "We really have to see what is the health care situation like in Mexico and Canada, how are their cases, have they hit their curve?"

"What we don't want to do is try to open up parts of our economy and have a lot of folks coming across the border that we haven't seen in the past 50 or 60 days."

Earlier on Tuesday, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described an agreement to extend the closure of the US border by a further 30 days as "an important decision that will keep people in both countries safe".

Image source, PA Media

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has held a video call with US billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates this afternoon where they discussed the international response to coronavirus.

A Downing Street statement said they talked about the UK's contribution to helping countries around the world tackle the virus and the work of the Gates Foundation in this area.

“Both parties expressed their hope that a viable vaccine will be found as soon as possible," it added.

The conversation comes ahead of of the Global Vaccine Summit, which is being hosted by the UK on 4 June.

Wide-ranging security flaws have been flagged in the NHS's contact-tracing app being piloted in the Isle of Wight.

Security researchers involved argue that the problems pose risks to users' privacy and could be abused to prevent contagion alerts being sent.

GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre told the BBC it was already aware of most of the issues raised and is in the process of addressing them.

But the researchers suggest a more fundamental rethink is required.

They suggest the NHS considers shifting from its current "centralised" model - where contact-matching happens on a computer server - to a "decentralised" version - where the matching instead happens on people's phones.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

The UK government faced more questions about its testing strategy in response to coronavirus at the Downing Street daily briefing. But what exactly is the government's current testing strategy? Find out here.

Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes

Image source, Rwanda health ministry

Five humanoid robots have been delivered to Rwanda where they will assist in coronavirus screening and deliver food and drugs to patients - as well as act as video-conferencing links between patients and doctors.

Each robot has been given a Rwandan name - Akazuba, Ikizere, Mwiza, Ngabo and Urumuri.

Their main purpose is to reduce health workers' exposure to Covid-19 patients, Rwanda's Health Minister Daniel Ngamije told the BBC.

"We need additional robots for other duties like disinfection in public space and we are working to get them," he added.

The robots are manufactured by a Belgium-based company. Rwanda's health ministry says the units have a number of abilities, including:

• Screening 50 to 150 people per minute
• Recording and storing patient data
• Alerting health workers to abnormalities
• Warning people who aren't wearing marks, or are wearing them improperly

Rwanda has two Covid-19 treatment facilities - one is on the outskirts of the capital, Kigali, and the other in the south-eastern town of Nyamata.

The health ministry says there are 297 confirmed cases in the country, 203 recoveries and no deaths.

Image source, Getty Images

The coronavirus is threatening vulnerable indigenous communities in the Amazon region shared by Brazil, Colombia and Peru, the Pan American Health Organisation has warned.

"Protecting vulnerable groups is critical," Dr Carissa Etienne, director of the organisation, said, adding: "We can't stop the spread of the virus if we don't focus on all those affected by it, including vulnerable populations."

The group has called for special measures to protect remote communities that have historically been decimated by infections introduced by outsiders.

The Amazonian cities of Manaus in Brazil, Iquitos in Peru, and Leticia in Colombia have already been badly affected by Covid-19, which health experts say is now threatening to reach more remote regions.

Find out more about cases in your area of the UK here.

Image source, Killing Eve

If you've been wishing you could enjoy a TV or radio show with friends during lockdown, the BBC is trialling a tool to allow just that.

BBC Together lets you watch or listen to content from BBC iPlayer, Sounds, Bitesize, News and Sport in sync with other people using different devices.

The "host" of the group can send a link from the BBC Together site, then control when to play and pause so everyone sees the same thing at the same time. A maximum number of 50 people can join.

Read more about the test here.

With ongoing disputes between the US and China about the origins of the coronavirus, and a further attack on the World Heath Organization (WHO), it's another busy day globally.

Here are the latest top stories from around the world:

• There's more evidence of the huge change in our environmental impact during the pandemic. Daily emissions of carbon dioxide fell by 17% at the peak of the shutdown, scientists say
• The US economy risks sustaining "permanent damage" if the lockdown continues, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warns
• WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said an evaluation of the global response to the pandemic should include "but not [be] limited to, the WHO's performance"
• Portugal has reopened cafes, restaurants and many more shops, in a new phase of easing restrictions
• And Qatar has confirmed 12 cases of coronavirus in a prison, but has denied suggestions of a more serious outbreak

A mask has been designed that allows you to keep it on while eating. Would you wear it?

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov has described the coronavirus situation in his native Dagestan, a republic in Russia’s south, as "distressing", and urged locals to follow doctors’ advice.

Speaking in an Instagram video, , externalhe said more than 20 of his relatives had spent time in intensive care during the pandemic, and that some of them had died.

He said his father - who is also his coach - remained in hospital in "a very serious" condition, having suffered complications after contracting the virus.

Nurmagomedov is one of Russia's most popular personalities on Instagram with 20.1 million followers, and his video has been viewed more than 3.5 million times.

"The hospitals are running over capacity, a lot of people have got sick, and a lot of people have died," Nurmagomedov said. “We must listen to our doctors and their demands. They know better.”

Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent

"Blame game" is an ugly phrase, but it sums up the narrative that has played out at Westminster throughout the day.

Who was responsible for limiting testing for coronavirus to hospitals early on in the crisis?

This morning, MPs on the Science and Technology Committee accused Public Health England.

But PHE said the Department of Health made the call, and one cabinet minister suggested the scientific advice could have been "wrong".

At this evening's testy news conference, one frank answer from Angela McLean, the deputy chief scientific adviser, was telling.

"The advice that we gave certainly took account of what testing was available," she told reporters.

Perhaps that’s not surprising. Scientists have to advise, just as ministers have to decide, in the real world, not an ideal one.

But for all ministers' talk of a rapid and significant increase in testing capacity, it does lend weight to the claim made by MPs that capacity "drove strategy, rather than strategy driving capacity".