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It's never a dull moment in New York governor Andrew Cuomo's daily press briefings.

After announcing that the number of new hospitalisations in New York state continues to be on a downward trend, the governor stopped to make a point about wearing face masks.

"It seems like a simple thing, wearing a mask," he said. "It's apparently so simple that people think it's of no consequence.

"It is amazing how effective that mask actually is. Look at the facts. What shocks me to this day... how do nurses and doctors have a lower infection rate than the general population?

"How do police officers have a lower infection rate? How does the NYPD have almost half the infection rate than New York City? They're wearing the masks.

"The mask works. Those surgical masks work."

Cuomo has previously said that healthcare workers in New York are not more likely than the general public to test positive for Covid-19.

In England and Wales, the ONS has also found that healthcare workers are not more likely to die of Covid-19 than general workers - but that those working in social care are twice as likely to die.

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A South Korean football club has been fined 100m won (£66,500, $81,500) for filling empty seats with "sex dolls" at a recent home match.

FC Seoul put 30 "premium mannequins" in the stands, with fans unable to attend because of coronavirus restrictions.

The club said they did not know the dolls were adult products and apologised on Monday.

"The incident has greatly insulted and hurt female and family fans," a K League statement said.

Read more here.

Vicki Young
Chief Political Correspondent

Oliver Dowden’s first outing at a UK coronavirus press conference passed without a hitch, as he demonstrated what being “a safe pair of hands” really means.

The stand-out fact from the regular graphs was a huge rise in testing and, in terms of the other statistics, everything is going in the right direction.

With cases in London now looking very low, there were several questions about the possibility of lockdown measures being eased in the capital, but for now the emphasis is still on a national approach.

Dowden is in charge of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport once nicknamed the “ministry of fun” - but there hasn’t been much of that recently.

He sounded hopeful that Premier League football might resume behind closed doors, and that some matches could be available on terrestrial TV.

When one journalist plaintively asked about the chance of a summer holiday, he said he couldn’t give a guarantee, but said he was a fan of the “Great British Break”.

Reality Check

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Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden was asked at the government’s daily briefing about the extent of testing in care homes.

Dowden said “testing has been available to care homes right from the very beginning”.

Testing in care homes has been happening throughout the pandemic if an outbreak was suspected, but it wasn’t until 15 April - just as care home deaths were peaking - that mass testing was introduced.

As part of the government’s social care strategy, it was announced that residents who had symptoms of Covid-19 and care home staff who needed a test could have one.

At that point, 1,000 care staff had been tested out of around a million people who offer direct care in the community or care homes.

This policy was expanded on 28 April so all care staff and care home residents could receive a test, whether they had symptoms or not.

The prime minister said today that 125,000 care home workers have now been tested - and the government says that all care homes will have been “offered” a test by 6 June.

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Oxfam has said it will shut down its offices in 18 countries, putting hundreds of jobs at risk, as the financial strain of the coronavirus crisis takes its toll.

The UK-based charity said the pandemic had forced it to bring forward a planned reorganisation of its global operations.

The changes, announced on Wednesday, will affect around 1,450 out of 5,000 programme staff, and 700 out of 1,900 partner organisations, the charity said.

The charity said it will retain its physical presence in 48 countries, while honouring its existing commitments to partners and donors.

“We’ve been planning this for some time but we are now accelerating key decisions in light of the effects of the global pandemic,” Chema Vera, Oxfam’s international interim executive director, said in a statement, external.

She gave a bleak account of Oxfam’s finances, explaining how shop closures and cancelled fund-raising events had led to a loss of income.

“The coronavirus has made Oxfam’s work helping the world’s most vulnerable people more vital than ever while, at the same time, it is impacting on our capacity to deliver,” Vera said.

“We are enormously grateful to our donors and supporters whose continuing generosity is helping us rise to this unprecedented challenge.”

Read more: Virus-hit charities 'need substantial support'

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While the pandemic is slowing in parts of Europe and Asia, it is still very much growing globally. 106,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported to the World Health Organization in the past 24 hours - that's the most since the outbreak began.

Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed the numbers at the WHO regular briefing. Two-thirds of those cases came from just four countries, he said.

The global tally of cases is nearing five million, with more than 324,000 deaths, according to figures collected by Johns Hopkins university.

The US currently has the most cases, with 1.5m, followed by Russia, Brazil and the UK.

Here's a recap of the main points from the Downing Street briefing, led for the first time by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden:

• The Queen's Birthday Honours List has been delayed until the autumn, so that people who have made a contribution to the coronavirus crisis can be recognised with a mark of "national gratitude"
• Mr Dowden pledged £150m from dormant bank accounts to support social enterprises
• A task force has been set up to examine how to resume sports and arts activities without crowds, featuring figures from football, TV, the arts and technology
• The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has fallen below 10,000 for the first time since March

• Mr Dowden denied that issues with infections in care homes have been "glossed over", saying that testing was available "right from the very beginning” and the number of infections was coming down
• Mr Dowden said talks about the Premier League playing behind closed doors could create a "win-win" by allowing additional matches to be broadcast free-to-air. He said existing TV rights could be respected, but concerns about competing with matchday attendances would be removed

Family members and dependants of non-British NHS and social care workers who die with coronavirus can be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK after their deaths, it has been announced.

The government had been under pressure from opposition MPs to extend the scheme to them.

The offer of indefinite leave to remain will be effective immediately and retrospectively, ministers say.

There's another question about the possibility of "micro-lockdowns" and localised reopening of schools - this time in relation to Middlesbrough in north-east England.

Dowden says he hopes the whole country can move "together" when it comes to reopening classrooms.

Powis says he thinks nationwide lockdown measures are the "best way overall to approach this" - but health officials have increased co-operation with local councils.

Dowden is asked about football, when the Premier League might return and whether more matches may be made available on terrestrial free-to-air platforms.

The culture secretary says he is very keen to see the top two leagues in England back up and running, behind closed doors, by the middle of June and says talks are continuing.

He says existing broadcast rights, with the likes of Sky and BT, must be respected but there is an opportunity to widen access given that millions of people will not be able to watch matches live.

He refers to the current restriction on matches being shown at 3 PM on a Saturday, designed to protect matchday attendances, and says that if this was relaxed, it could be a "win-win" for teams and supporters.

There's a question on whether the government should take action to extend free TV licences for over-75s beyond August.

Free TV licences for up to 3.7 million people had been due to be scrapped on 1 June but the date was put back.

Dowden says the BBC made the "right decision" to delay the date for them to be scrapped.

He says he hopes the corporation "shows similar flexibility again" when the new deadline comes around in August.

The LBC's Ben Kentish has two questions - one on the publication of scientific advice about whether it is safe for schools to re-open and the other on why the families of more NHS staff, including porters, cleaners and carers, who have lost their lives are not being given bereavement support and indefinite leave to remain in the UK should it be required.

In response, Dowden says he is a father of two and schools will not reopen from 1 June unless it is safe to do so.

He says the Sage committee is releasing its papers regularly.

He points to measures being taken to ensure school settings are safe, including staggered entry times, extra sanitisers and dividing children into smaller groups.

The culture secretary says rules on indefinite leave to remain are under constant review.

Powis adds that it is not just doctors and nurses that are the nation's heroes.

Asked whether schools will return in London given a low rate of infection, Dowden says the intention is to "move as a whole country" when it comes to reopening schools in England.

But he says there may be more local easing of the lockdown if the local data supports it.

Powis is asked whether the prime minister was "passing the blame" to doctors when he said earlier that hospital patients had not been discharged to care homes without the approval of a clinician.

He replies he is confident doctors would not have done so unless they were "confident" they no longer required hospital treatment and it was "safe to discharge them".

He also points out that it "can be harmful" to keep older patients in hospital once their care is complete.

We now move on to questions from journalists, with the BBC's Nick Watt leading the way.

He suggests different ministers have been sending different messages about their handling of the outbreak in care homes, with Justice Secretrary Robert Buckland saying things could have been done differently at an early stage to minimise infections while, in contrast, Prime Minister Boris Johnson "brushed" off concerns at PMQs earlier.

In response, Dowden says ministers have categorically not "glossed over" the impact on care homes,

While "any death is one too many" and the number of deaths in care homes is still too high, he says the totals are coming down, adding that testing has been conducted throughout.

Pressed on whether ministers should be more open and admit mistakes pending a future inquiry, he says there will be a moment to learn the lessons of the outbreak but the focus at the moment should be on saving lives.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

More than 177,000 tests were provided on Tuesday – a record amount.

It is not surprising to see such a high number. On Monday the government announced eligibility for testing was going to be increased.

All over-fives are now able to get tests if they have symptoms – previously it was limited to key workers, over-65s, people who needed to leave home for work, hospital patients and care home residents in England and Scotland.

In Wales and Northern Ireland it was even more limited.

What is not yet clear is how many of these tests were posted out. The figure includes those carried out at testing centres and in hospitals, as well as those sent out by post - but not yet returned.

There's a question about when NHS staff who have been redeployed to fight Covid-19 will return to their regular jobs.

Dowden says there will be more "capacity" for regular services as the UK exits the peak of the virus.

Powis says regular healthcare services will resume over the "next weeks and months".

He adds that it was the "right thing to do" to prioritise Covid-19 care during the month of April.

The first question is from a member of the public.

Thomas, from the north-west of England, asks what the UK is doing to help poorer nations through the pandemic.

Dowden says the UK will continue to honour its commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid, despite the challenges to the UK economy from the outbreak.

The UK has always looked to help the less fortunate at times of need, Dowden adds, saying this is a matter of "moral responsibility".

Image source, Downing Street

Stephen Powis, medical director at NHS England, says levels of public transport use during the lockdown are "still very low".

But there has been a "slow increase" in car use, he adds, possibly because of people heading back to work.

He says despite an increase in the rate of daily testing, the number of new cases is "stable, or perhaps even falling".

This shows the prevalence of the virus in the population is continuing to fall, he adds.

Unveiling the slide above, he says the number of people in hospital after a positive test is below 10,000 for the first time since March.

Among other measures, Dowden says £150m will be made available from dormant bank accounts to support social enterprises.

Turning to sport and the arts, he says their absence has created a "rather odd" feeling in the country.

He announces a new taskforce to look at helping sport and the creative industries prepare to get back on their feet.

Among those who will be involved include former footballer Alex Scott, ex-ITV boss Michael Grade and the English National Ballet's Tamara Rojo.

Dowden now turns to the efforts of the British people and pays tribute to Tom Moore, whose knighthood was announced earlier.

He says his fundraising efforts have been a "marker of generosity", adding that the Queen's Birthday's Honours list will be put back to the autumn to help recognise the efforts of ordinary people.

He says the public have raised £800m in fundraising campaigns since the outbreak.

The government is doing its bit, he adds, saying it has matched all funding raised during the BBC's Big Night In, ensuring that £70m has been raised to be spent by Comic Relief and Children in Need.