Image source, Getty Images

That's it from us for today, thank you for joining.

We leave you with a sobering warning from the World Health Organization (WHO).

More than seven million cases of coronavirus are now confirmed worldwide, along with 404,000 virus-related deaths. And despite progress in tackling the virus in Europe, the WHO says the pandemic is "worsening" globally. "More than six months into this pandemic, this is not the time for any country to take its foot off the pedal," WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.

Today's updates were brought to you by our team of reporters in the UK, Singapore, Australia and the US: Anna Jones, Owen Amos, Jay Savage, Aparna Alluri, Andreas Illmer, Yvette Tan, Saira Asher, Henri Astier, Stephen Sutcliffe, George Wright, Kevin Ponniah, Vicky Baker, Michael Emons, Becky Morton, Claire Heald, Matt Cannon, Josh Cheetham, David Walker, Holly Honderich and Paulin Kola.

We'll be back soon. Until then, you can follow the latest developments on our website.

A museum in the UK has reimagined how some of the subjects in its paintings would be protecting themselves during lockdown.

The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has released a Masterpieces 2020 Edition, featuring five well-known portraits with added protective masks.

The editions are being sold as cards to support the museum during its closure.

Image source, Fitzwilliam Museum

Image source, Fitzwilliam Museum

Image source, Fitzwilliam Museum

Used sanitary items, human faeces and underwear were among items dumped at a beach in Dorset since lockdown restrictions were eased across England.

Thousands of people have flocked to the area's beaches in recent weeks, with local groups complaining about "horrendous" amounts of litter left behind

Volunteers from clean-up group GoPladdle said they also found discarded PPE items and food wrappers at Lake Pier in Hamwothy, Poole.

"While we can commend the great effort some people went to, to disguise their faeces inside takeaway containers, yoghurt pots, towels, blankets, socks and crisp packets, we did not enjoy clearing it up," a spokesman for the group said, describing the job as "stomach churning".

Image source, GoPladdle

Image source, Getty Images

Pandemic-required lockdowns have prompted drive-in meals, drive-in cinemas, even drive-in church services. And now: a drive-in art gallery.

At the weekend a car park at Germany’s Cologne/Bonn airport became a space for artists to display their creations, as big indoor exhibitions have been cancelled.

It is one way to support artists hit hard by the freeze on artistic events, said organiser and artist Dieter Nusbaum.

"We saw the trolleys and they have the perfect height should you look at a painting from the car, so we were given 300 trolleys by the airport,” he said.

“The big pictures we have placed quite unorthodoxly, on the ground. We are quite practical in that way… we are just happy that we were able to set it up at all."

The charge was €4.50 (£4) per car, per hour.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Jonathan Marcus
BBC Diplomatic and defence correspondent

Will the world that emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic be more peaceful, or, will it be more divided, more unstable and more open to conflict?

This debate has been raging in the pages of the world’s leading foreign policy journal, Foreign Affairs. And the latest contribution is decidedly pessimistic.

The authors argue that there is unlikely to be a “coronavirus peace dividend”. In many countries - even in some of the most developed - the crisis has highlighted inequalities and contributed to domestic unrest. In authoritarian states (and beyond) the technological opportunities for monitoring have raised additional concerns about civil liberties. Social media spreads conspiracy theories and racism as contagious as the virus itself. Economic instability promises tensions for some years to come as nations turn inward.

There is, of course, a contrary view - that good will indeed come from this crisis. But look around. For now the pessimists seem more realistic.

So read the article, external and join the debate.

Restaurants and pubs across the UK have been hard-hit by lockdown measures but are now busy making plans to reopen.

The government says it is working towards 4 July as the possible date they will be allowed to reopen in England. There's no firm date yet for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

"Starting up, it's going to be hell," says Mark Selby, the boss of Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca.

"A lot of people are going be nervous about coming out. We've all got to do our jobs in making people feel confident, making them feel safe, but also giving them that experience that hospitality is."

Image source, Family handout

A five-year-old schoolboy, who had both legs amputated as a baby, has raised more than £222,000 for the hospital that saved his life.

Tony Hudgell, from Kent, has new prosthetic legs and crutches and aims to walk every day this month to reach his 10km (six mile) challenge.

He had hoped to raise £500, inspired by fellow NHS fundraiser Captain Tom Moore.

His adoptive mother, Paula Hudgell, said: "He saw Captain Tom walking with his frame in the garden, and he said 'I could do that'."

Tony had to have both his legs amputated when he was just five weeks old after suffering horrific injuries from his biological parents.

He was treated at the Evelina Children's Hospital in London and had prosthetic legs fitted last year.

Read more here

A surge in road traffic outside Wuhan hospitals at the end of August suggests that Covid-19 may have hit China earlier than reported by the authorities, according to a Harvard Medical School study. , external

Using commercial satellite imagery, researchers found a "dramatic increase" in traffic outside five major hospitals in the Chinese city. The traffic spike also coincided with a rise in online searches for information on symptoms like "cough" and “diarrhea”.

Dr John Brownstein, who led the research, said the evidence was circumstantial, but told ABC News that it would provide important context in the search for the virus' origins.

“Something was happening in October,” said Dr Brownstein. “Clearly, there was some level of social disruption taking place well before what was previously identified as the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.”

On 31 December 2019, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases with an unknown cause to the World Health Organization. Nine days later, Chinese authorities revealed they had detected a novel coronavirus (later named Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19) in several of the pneumonia cases.

Image source, Reuters

New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo has urged New Yorkers taking part in protests against the killing of George Floyd last month to get tested for the coronavirus.

"Please go get a test. It's free, it's available," Cuomo said.

As New York city began reopening 100 days after the lockdown, Cuomo warned residents to "stay smart" to avoid the resurgence of coronavirus cases being seen in other US states.

"New Yorkers did what many experts told me wasn't possible in 100 days," Cuomo said. "I don't think I've had a good night's sleep in 100 days knowing some of things they told me. New Yorkers bent the curve by being smart. We're celebrating, we're reopening, we're excited. Our mojo's back, our energy's back, stay smart."

Image source, Microsoft

The biggest challenge facing Microsoft and Sony's next generation consoles - the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 - might not be proving the most powerful or having the best games at launch but the fallout from Covid-19.

Many gamers will have less spare cash to spend. And there has been speculation that supply-chain problems caused by the pandemic will lead to manufacturing delays and higher costs.

This was supposed to be the week of the giant E3 games expo, in Los Angeles, a chance to build hype for the launches.

Instead, Xbox will give a first look at some games in development via a streamed event in July.

Here Xbox chief Phil Spencer speaks to BBC Click about how the pandemic has affected launch plans.

Image source, Getty Images

A cut in public funding has left the arts sector in England more exposed to the threat of Covid-19, new figures suggest.

The latest Arts Index, which is published annually by the National Campaign for the Arts (NCA), showed public investment in the arts per head of the population fell by 35% in the last decade.

The NCA said the sector had been "brought to its knees" amid the coronavirus pandemic, adding that many companies now face "ruinous losses".

While galleries and cinemas are putting plans in place to reopen, theatres and concert venues will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

The government said it had announced "unprecedented financial aid" for the sector and was working with it on how to reopen safely and plan for the future.

The economic downturn in the US triggered by the pandemic has been officially declared a recession.

The National Bureau of Economic Research made the designation on Tuesday, citing the scale and severity of the current contraction.

It said activity and employment hit a "clear" and "well-defined" peak in February, before falling.

The ruling puts a formal end to what had been more than a decade of expansion - the longest in US history.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Investigating the outbreak of a virus is not unlike the work of any detective. It’s a race to the scene of the crime before any evidence disappears; witnesses are interviewed - and then the chase begins, to track down and contain the killer before they strike again.

But despite rallying an unrivalled international effort, the coronavirus continues to advance, killing thousands of people every day.

Six months on, what have scientists discovered while trying to contain coronavirus?

Here Claire Press traces Covid-19 from the source of its outbreak to the search for a vaccine.

Image source, Getty Images

In case you're just joining us, here are some of the biggest stories from today so far.

• More than seven million cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University in the US. The total death toll has surpassed 404,000

• The UK has recorded its lowest daily rise in the number of coronavirus deaths since before lockdown on 23 March, latest government figures , externalshow

• The World Health Organization has warned that, despite progress in Europe, the pandemic is "worsening" globally

• New York City - the area of the US worst-hit by the coronavirus - has begun to ease its lockdown restrictions

• A study by Imperial College London has estimated that lockdown measures have saved more than three million lives in Europe. But researchers warned that the pandemic was still in its early stages

James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Lockdowns have saved more than three million lives from coronavirus in Europe, a study has estimated.

The team at Imperial College London, which assessed the impact of restrictions in 11 countries in western Europe up to the beginning of May, said the "death toll would have been huge" without lockdown.

But the team warned that only a small proportion of people had been infected and we were still only "at the beginning of the pandemic".

Meanwhile, a separate study has argued that global lockdowns have "saved more lives, in a shorter period of time, than ever before".

Read more here

Image source, Black Swan Care

A World War Two veteran who celebrated his 100th birthday in lockdown has said he is "so thankful" after being sent more than 100 cards following an appeal.

Eddie Hunn, who lives in Norwich, was unable to share his milestone on Sunday with family and friends amid government guidelines on social distancing.

But the centenarian received 107 cards after staff at his Chiswick House care home organised a campaign.

As well as the cards, Mr Hunn also received a telegram from the Queen and an email from the High Commission of the Republic of Singapore.

Mr Hunn joined the Territorial Army in 1938 as a driver mechanic before he saw action in Singapore, and spent three-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway.

Image source, Black Swan Care

Library services are partially reopening in Cardiff to offer residents a reserve and collect book service.

Four library hubs around the Welsh capital will offer readers collection appointments for items they have pre-booked online or over the telephone. Delivery services will also be available for people who are shielding or self-isolating due to coronavirus.

Books will be quarantined and cleaned before they are reused, and will not be shared between hubs.

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) said Cardiff was the first council to restart physical lending since the lockdown began.

Image source, Getty Images

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Poland has recorded 599 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest daily rise in the country since the start of the pandemic.

The cause of the spike has been an outbreak among coal miners in Upper Silesia. Just one coal mine, Zofiowka, run by state coking coal producer JSW, accounted for 60% of the new cases on Saturday and 34% on Sunday.

On Monday, 54% of all new cases were recorded in Upper Silesia, southern Poland, home to the majority of Poland’s coal mines. In response, the government has announced that it will temporarily close 12 mines for three weeks to allow it to conduct mass testing.

Poland is the biggest hard coal producer in the EU and the country generates about 50% of its electricity from hard coal. Power generation is not under threat, though, because coal stockpiles are at a very high level.

Polish authorities have recorded far fewer cases and deaths than many western European countries. But in light of the latest developments, this could change.

BBC OS

Many countries have been easing lockdown restrictions. In England, dental practices are allowed to open again from today – but with new guidelines in place. Here are the experiences of two dentists in different parts of the world.

Dr Sarveen Mann owns a small practice in London, which is preparing to reopen on 15 June, and told BBC Outside Source: "It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. We donated our PPE and our oxygen cylinder to the frontline so now we have to have it all back in place. There’s panic within the profession to get PPE."

Dr Jeff Cooper is a dentist in Wisconsin, US, whose practice reopened some weeks ago.

“We don’t have people in waiting rooms, they wait in cars and we call them in when necessary. We’ve got a real problem getting protective equipment, and masks are the worst. Our suppliers are rationing things out.”

What’s the reaction from patients been? “People have been very good, but those on reception have caught some flak from patients irate about having to wear a mask. “My choice is to tell them, ‘You’d be better served elsewhere’.”

Tom Edwards
Transport Correspondent, BBC London

Image source, Reuters

If any more evidence was needed that transport workers are on the front line with Covid-19, it emerged today.

There have been 43 deaths of transport workers from Covid-19, it was revealed at the Transport for London (TfL) board meeting.

Six worked directly for TfL. Thirty-three worked for bus companies, of which 29 were bus drivers.

What was also shocking was the 60 reports of people spitting at bus drivers since the lockdown began.

Read more here