Image source, EPA

Three people were killed and at least eight others hurt when they were trampled during a handout of cash in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo.

A businessman had started distributing money to those suffering difficulties in the outbreak, and hundreds had gathered at his warehouse in the suburb of Maligawatte.

Police said they were not informed in advance about his plan and it was unauthorised. Six people involved with the distribution have been arrested.

Some reports suggest the man was a Muslim and making a charitable gesture in the run-up to Eid, marking the end of Ramadan. Individuals tend to do so at mosques but large gatherings have been restricted.

Sri Lanka has so far reported 1,045 coronavirus cases, with nine deaths.

Millions of people across the UK have been showing their appreciation for the country's front-line workers who have risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe.

In Northern Ireland's Bangor, residents gathered on the streets to show their gratitude.

Don't forget you can watch people around the UK clapping for carers from 20:00 BST here on the live page, on BBC One, or over on the BBC News channel.

While you're waiting, remind yourself of last week's big moment.

Image source, Getty Images

In a few minutes, people across the UK will be on their driveways, on doorsteps and hanging out of windows to show their appreciation for front line workers for the ninth Thursday in a row.

What began with clapping has grown louder over the weeks as people moved on to banging pots and pans, tooting car horns and setting off fireworks.

Image source, PA Media

There was a surprise appearance at Thursday's UK government briefing - ex-Wales midfielder and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Robbie Savage.

In his role as a Daily Mirror columnist, he asked Health Secretary Matt Hancock if we will have to wait for a vaccine before grassroots football can return.

BBC OS

Families globally are facing the difficult question of whether to send their children back to school when the pandemic is still with us. Mums in three countries have given us their thoughts:

In Kenya, it's likely that schools will reopen on 4 June, but Mukami, who has a three-year-old daughter, is not convinced it is safe.

"You cannot control what children do," she says. "You don’t know if other children are carrying the virus, or she could be carrying it." Her words echo parents' fears worldwide.

She also says she doesn't know if she can afford school fees or even the bus fare because of the economic fallout from coronavirus.

But in Denmark, where schools reopened on Tuesday, Dolores is happy for her children, aged 13 and 15, to return.

Schools have put in place measures like providing sinks in playgrounds for washing hands.

“Children have been having classes outside. An ice cream van that comes just to give them a little prize. My daughter’s year group went to the beach yesterday,” she explains.

Emma is a British teacher living in Paris which has more restrictions than the rest of France. She doesn’t want to send her daughter back to school.

“The rules that we have received are really strict. The children can’t move from their desk or work together. There’s a lot of play-based learning usually and it’s not going to be the same as before at all.”

She's been able to homeschool her daughter and says it's going well.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced a new swab test for coronavirus will be piloted in Hampshire.

The current test requires samples to be sent off to a laboratory and they then take several hours to process.

This whole process has caused problems with some people waiting for days for test results.

This test can be processed where it has been taken with results returned in 20 minutes

That has huge implications for the future of test, track and trace. If cases can be identified quickly, it will be easier to contain future outbreaks.

The number of US coronavirus infections currently stands at 1,551,095, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.

The latest tally increases the count by 22,860 cases.

The US death toll rose by 1,397 bringing the total to 93,061 Covid-related deaths.

Earlier today, CDC Director Dr Robert Redfield warned the US must be as "over-prepared as possible" for a coming second wave of infections.

People across the UK have enjoyed gloriously sunny weather this week, with the country recording its hottest day of the year so far on Wednesday.

It comes ahead of the bank holiday weekend when people may be planning to spend more time outdoors.

England's lockdown's measures were changed earlier last week to allow unlimited outdoor exercise and "open-air recreation", such as sunbathing, provided people keep two metres (6ft) from anyone they do not live with.

But people living in seaside resorts have said they are "horrified" by the influx of visitors, as thousands of people have been seen on England's beaches.

In Southend, where photographs appeared to show people crowded on to the beach on Wednesday, councillor Martin Terry said the local authority had been nervous in anticipation of the hot weather.

"We've had days where we've had over 300,000 people come down here," he said.

Simon Stenning, a Southend local, told the BBC: "Hundreds die every day yet people think it's OK to have a jolly on the beach."

Reality Check

Health Secretary Matt Hancock did not rule out compulsory vaccination, saying, "The question of whether it's mandatory is not one we've addressed yet."

Testing co-ordinator John Newton said, "Clearly mandation can be used in some instances."

The current legislation, external "makes explicitly clear that the power to make such regulations does not include mandatory treatment or vaccination", says Louise Hooper, a barrister at Garden Court Chambers in London.

The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984,, external which applies in England and Wales, explicitly states that regulations cannot require a person to undertake medical treatment, including vaccination.

The Coronavirus Act , externalintroduced in March 2020 extended this prohibition to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

You can read more about the question of compulsory vaccines here.

Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent

This afternoon's government news conference was upstaged by a statement from Downing Street half an hour before it started.

As a result the health secretary did not face awkward questions about why the government was sticking to its policy of charging NHS workers from overseas to access the service themselves.

But, after the U-turn, he was asked why the prime minister had changed his mind.

Not unsurprisingly, there was no straight answer. But Mr Hancock said he was "pleased" to be asked by Boris Johnson to exempt NHS workers.

While the announcement the secretary of state wanted to dwell on - the purchase of 10 million antibody tests - is undoubtedly significant, he was careful not to overstate it.

Without proving that someone is immune to the virus, it cannot be the "game changer" the government is hoping for.

Reality Check

Image source, PA Media

The government has decided to make health and care workers from overseas exempt from paying an annual fee to use the National Health Service.

This comes after pressure from Labour, other opposition parties and some MPs from the ruling Conservative Party itself.

Workers from outside the EU currently have to pay a fee of £400 a year, called the Immigration Health Surcharge.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that exempting health and care workers in England would cost £90m a year as things stand.

But from October, the fee will go up to £624 a year and, from January, exemptions for workers from the EU and some other countries will end.

More than 3,600 cases of disinfectant exposure were reported in April to the US poison control centres, compared to 1,676 in February.

Experts warn against using cleaning products beyond their intended use, such as wiping down groceries.

Dr Kelly Johnson-Arbor from the National Capital Poison Center said there was no medical reason to be "drinking or bathing in disinfectants".

In April, President Trump seemed to suggest injecting bleach as way of "cleaning" Covid-19 from the inside. But the next day, he told journalists: "I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen."

Image source, Chandan/BBC

A 15-year-old girl who cycled 1,200km with her injured father on the back of her bike has been invited to a cycling trial by the Cycling Federation of India.

Impressed by her astonishing effort, the federation invited Jyoti Kumari to take the test. If she passes, she will become a trainee at the state-of-the-art National Cycling Academy.

"We have told her that she will be called to Delhi next month as soon as the lockdown is lifted. All the expenses of her travel, lodging and other will be borne by us," Chairman Onkar Singh told Press Trust of India.

Jyoti began her journey after India went into lockdown, and many workers were left stranded and unable to work. She and her family were threatened with eviction and they had no food, she told BBC Hindi.

With trains cancelled, Jyoti decided to buy a bike with the emergency grants given by the government.

Her father, who was injured in January, sat on the back of the bike and they travelled for seven days from Gurugram to Bihar, in eastern India.

Good luck in the trials, Jyoti!

Read more in Hindi about Jyoti's epic journey.

Image source, Sara Danesin

Hands for healing, building and holding.

In a special project for the National Health Service, doctors, paramedics, nurses, psychologists, virologists and support staff have been photographing their hands and videoing their work amid the coronavirus pandemic, with some compelling results.

You can see more from the Hands Across the NHS project here.

Image source, Dr Alison Saunders

Image source, Dawn Trigg

Rob Cameron
BBC Prague Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

From Thursday, Slovaks can visit eight countries - including four of the country's five neighbours - without having to present a negative Covid-19 certificate or go into quarantine on their return. There's one condition: they have to be back within 24 hours.

Citizens and legal foreign residents of Slovakia can visit the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany and Switzerland as long as they're back by the same time the following day.

Prime Minister Igor Matovic said the move was primarily to facilitate business meetings and family reunions. Those who take advantage of the scheme have to fill out a form on the border including the time of departure, which will be checked by police on their return.

Image source, Reuters

US ventilators arrive in Russia and French children strike gold in lockdown.

Here are some of today’s stories from Europe:

• A US plane carrying dozens of ventilators arrived in Moscow on Thursday to help fight the outbreak in Russia. On Thursday the country's recorded death toll passed 3,000 while its confirmed cases rose by 8,849 to 317,554, still the second highest tally in the world after the US. Critics fear the death toll is in fact far higher – with the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford speaking to doctors in the hard-hit region of Dagestan
• Former EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has backed the bloc’s economic rescue package, and says that after the crisis “we’ll all be better people and better Europeans”. In an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Juncker says people have learnt “one country alone will not beat this crisis”
• Two young brothers in France have discovered gold bars worth €40,000 (£35,800; $43,800) a piece while making a garden hut at their family home outside Paris
• And German football team Dynamo Dresden has reported two more cases of coronavirus. The club put its entire squad and coaching staff into quarantine for two weeks on 9 May after its recorded infections, and missed the restart of the Bundesliga 2 on 16 May

Image source, EPA

Spain's health ministry has confirmed that the country's latest daily death toll from coronavirus is 48.

The daily figure rose from 83 on Tuesday to 95 on Wednesday but this marks the first time it has dipped below 50 since 16 March, having peaked at 950 on 2 April.

The ministry said that the number of confirmed cases had risen by 482 to 233,037, with Spain's cumulative death toll now 27,940.

Despite the falling numbers, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez won parliamentary backing on Wednesday to extend the lockdown by another two weeks to 6 June. It is the fifth time Spain's state of emergency has been renewed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced earlier that the government was waiving NHS charges for migrant health and care workers. Previously, the government had been planning to raise them from £400 to £624 a year.

After the U-turn was announced, Mr Johnson's spokesperson said: "[The PM] has been thinking about this a great deal. He has been a personal beneficiary of carers from abroad and understands the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff.

"The purpose of the NHS surcharge is to benefit the NHS, help to care for the sick and save lives.

"NHS and care workers from abroad who are granted visas are doing this already by the fantastic contribution which they make."