Moscow is enjoying its first day of an eased lockdown, meaning that everyone – including the over-65s – can move about the city freely again for the first time since the end of March.

Restrictions on movement in the Russian capital have been lifted, and hairdressers, beauty salons and vets have reopened.

The easing of lockdown comes despite a high number of new cases in the city – around 2,000 per day in the past fortnight.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Reality Check

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds are "disproportionately" dying with coronavirus.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates that the death rate of people from black African backgrounds is 3.7 times higher than might be expected by geography and age. The rate is 2.9 times higher for Pakistanis and 1.8 times higher for those of black Caribbean background (who are older on average than other minority groups).

But why?

Health issues, living conditions and occupation could all play a role.

While there is no conclusive evidence that minority groups are more at risk from the disease itself, some are more likely to have certain underlying health conditions.

Black people are more likely to be overweight than white people, for example, while both Asian and black populations have been found to have a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease, according to the IFS.

Both of these conditions have been linked to higher coronavirus death rates.

Various factors can play into these health inequalities, according to Public Health England, external, including socio-economic situations, access to health care and deprivation in an area.

See here for more on why people from BAME backgrounds are dying at a higher rate.

As European countries gradually open their borders, air traffic is also slowly picking up. And that means that airports will be welcoming more and more passengers after weeks of being eerily quiet.

BBC Europe correspondent Jean Mackenzie has taken a number of flights while reporting on the virus. She documented her journey back to the UK last week.

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The UK's Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA), which oversees consumer protection laws, has chalked up a significant win for travellers whose holiday bookings have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The CMA stepped in following complaints about the company Vacation Rentals - which operates Hoseasons holiday parks and the short lets website Cottages.com. Customers said that the firm had failed to offer full refunds after bookings were cancelled.

The company has now voluntarily changed its policy, but the CMA says it is continuing to investigate the actions of other holiday companies through its Covid-19 Taskforce.

If you'd like to know more about your consumer rights during the pandemic, click here.

New Zealanders enjoyed their first full day of life being - almost - back to normal on Tuesday, after all remaining coronavirus restrictions (except those linked to overseas travel) were lifted.

At midnight local time all of the country moved to level one, the lowest of a four-tier alert system.

New Zealand has reported no new Covid-19 cases for more than two weeks.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Places of worship in England will be able to reopen their doors on 15 June. Churches, temples, synagogues and mosques will be allowed to open to the public for private prayer only.

Full services and group worship will start later after a consultation. The prime minister is expected to update the cabinet on the plans at a meeting on Tuesday.

One of the largest Sikh temples, or Gurdwaras, in the UK has responded to the lockdown by reinventing itself as an emergency food operation, delivering thousands of meals a day to NHS staff and those most in need.

The BBC went to meet those taking part - and you might like the video above.

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A £2.5m ($3.17m) fund set up to help musicians in the UK during the coronavirus crisis is set to run out of cash after just five days.

More than 3,500 people have applied for financial assistance since Friday, says the charity Help Musicians UK.

But with the fund reaching capacity, and live music a distant prospect, other applicants may be left stranded.

"It's a bigger, longer crisis than any of us could have thought possible," said the charity's chief executive, Jack Ainscough.

Touring and gigging musicians have been particularly affected by the lockdown, as months of work simply vanished in mid-March.

Many of them (up to 25%) are not covered by the government's scheme to support freelancers, and have no other source of income.

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Travel bosses in the UK furious about new quarantine rules for most international arrivals say they have received assurances from the government that air corridors, which will allow unrestricted movement between Britain and some other countries, will open from 29 June.

Quash Quarantine, which represents 500 travel and hospitality firms, said it was continuing to look at legal options to challenge the 14-day quarantine rule that is currently in place.

"We are still considering our options regarding legal action, including whether to join [British Airways'] claim or launch our own action, but would prefer that 29 June is confirmed as soon as possible for the start of travel corridors," spokesman Paul Charles said.

A dental surgery has shown what visitors in England can expect at their next appointments, as many dentists reopen following the coronavirus lockdown.

Courtyard Dental Practice in Saffron Walden, Essex, has introduced a number of safety measures, including escorting visitors from their cars into the surgery, handing out face masks, and checking people's temperatures.

Treatment rooms will be alternated to allow cleaning and improve social distancing, and staff will be wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE).

Carla Jones, who runs the practice, said people shouldn't be afraid to see the dentist and warned against any DIY treatment at home - just in case you were tempted...

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Ian Robinson, chief executive of the school academy group Oak Partnership Trust, said he welcomed news that ministers were set to abandon plans for all primary school children in England to return to classrooms before the academic year ends.

His trust runs three primary schools and a special school in Taunton, Somerset.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "From my own trust's point of view, it is all about simple practicalities, it is not about whether you want children in schools or not. We simply don't have enough physical space for any more year groups, and we don't have any more human resources for any more year groups."

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France's central bank has said the country's economy will only return to pre-coronavirus levels by mid-2022.

The French economy will shrink about 10% this year and unemployment is likely to hit highs of above 11.5% halfway through next year, the Bank of France said.

Phase two of France's lockdown easing began on 2 June, including an end to a 100km (62-mile) travel limit. Many bars and restaurants have reopened outside.

The head of the government's scientific advisory council said on Friday that the pandemic was "under control" in France.

BBC Breakfast

The Children's Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, was also asked on BBC Breakfast this morning about secondary schools not being able to reopen until beyond September.

"I think that is an immense change. It’s disruption we’ve not seen since the Second World War," she said.

She also warned that the education divide between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils was "broadening".

"Almost a decade of catching up on that education gap may well be lost."

She continued: "We have to avoid that a generation of children leave school in five years’ time, where the disadvantaged children have much poorer prospects because they weren’t given the support they need to learn during this period."

Katy Watson
BBC South America correspondent, Sao Paulo

Before the debacle over Covid-19 data, many experts doubted Brazil's virus numbers anyway because the country tests so little.

Brazil has struggled on many fronts – and importing testing kits at a time when they’re in demand across the world has been one of the biggest challenges. But there has also been bad planning by the government.

“In February or March there was a huge flood of Chinese tests arriving in Brazil,” says Dr Celso Granato, the clinical director of Fleury laboratories in São Paulo.

“We tested 11 different brands of rapid tests and nine of the 11 were complete garbage.”

But, says Dr Granato, the government bought them anyway.

“They thought it was better to test with these kits than nothing but that’s not true – worse than not testing is testing with a bad test, you have bad results.”

Beyond political decision-making, the sheer size of Brazil is also a challenge.

Most of the laboratories capable of processing the RT-PCR molecular tests are in the south of the country. Safely transporting the tests from isolated areas such as the Amazon, which is one of the worst-affected areas, isn’t always successful – many tests have been ruined.

“Amazonia to São Paulo is about 3,000 miles (4,828km) and you have to keep the temperature constant from the moment you collect samples until the moment you receive the samples in the laboratory,” says Dr Granato.

That’s pushed the company into developing a test that detects the virus through its protein – it’s more resistant than the molecular test.

It’s early days, but a step in the right direction.

BBC Breakfast

Image source, Office of the Children's Commission

One of the big stories we're reporting this morning in the UK is that the plan for all primary school years in England to go back to school before the end of term is to be dropped by the government.

The Children's Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, told BBC Breakfast the news would be a "huge disappointment" to children who had expected to be going back to school "and now may not".

"It does mean that the vast majority - probably about eight million children - very likely won't return to the classroom until September, which means that again there will be a huge variation in their learning over that period," she said.

"Children will remain isolated, but also many will be living with those fragile family environments we've heard of."

She also said children would still need to learn during this period and called for "mitigation" to compensate for them not being in school, including online learning and summer camps.

Children in England began returning to primary schools in a phased process last week, with Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils heading back first.

Delhi added around 1,000 new infections on Monday, taking the total in the Indian capital to nearly 30,000.

Its highest daily spike - more than 1,500 - was recorded earlier this month, but its upward trajectory has experts worried as the city eases out of lockdown this week. Delhi has also reported more than 800 deaths.

A five-member expert committee of top doctors told reporters that Delhi could be looking at 100,000 Covid-19 cases by the end of June, external if current trends continue. Reports suggesting that patients are already being turned away from hospitals in the city have only added to concerns about how hospitals will cope.

The western city of Mumbai, India's financial capital, is still the worst-hit in the country with more than 50,000 cases. After a strict lockdown was imposed in the early stages of the pandemic, the virus is now on the rise in India as restrictions ease. There are more than 250,000 total cases and 7,466 deaths.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just waking up and joining us, good morning. Here's a round-up of the latest coronavirus news:

• The plan for all primary school years in England to go back to school before the end of term is set to be dropped by the government
• After more than two months in lockdown, Moscow is easing restrictions from today - citing a slowdown in the virus outbreak - though critics say the infection rate remains worryingly high
• The US recorded 450 deaths linked to the virus over the past 24 hours, the lowest daily increase in two months
• New Zealand's research institute in Antarctica is scaling back the number of projects for the upcoming season, in an effort to keep the continent free of Covid-19

Image source, Getty Images

More than half of pregnant women recently admitted to UK hospitals with coronavirus were from a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background, a new study has found.

The peer-reviewed research, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at data for pregnant women admitted to 194 obstetric units in the UK with a positive Covid-19 infection between March 1 and April 14.

It found that of the 427 pregnant women in hospital during that period, 233 (56%) were from BAME backgrounds, of which 103 were Asian and 90 were black.

Researchers, led by Prof Marian Knight from the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, said the findings now require "urgent investigation and explanation".

Image source, Getty Images

New Zealand's research institute in Antarctica is scaling back the number of projects for the upcoming season, in an effort to keep the continent free of coronavirus.

The government agency, Antarctica New Zealand, told the BBC it was dropping 23 of the 36 research projects.

Only long-term science monitoring, essential operational activity and planned maintenance will go ahead.

"As Covid-19 sweeps the planet, only one continent remains untouched and [we] are focused on keeping it that way," said Antarctica New Zealand in a statement., external

• Read our full story here

After being turned away from five hospitals in India's capital, Delhi, a Covid-19 positive man travelled 800km (497 miles) via train to Bhopal city for treatment over the weekend.

But he died hours after being admitted to a hospital in Bhopal on Sunday, external, reports the Times of India newspaper.

Authorities are trying to trace passengers who were on the train with the man. Officials are also concerned about how the man, who reportedly had a high fever, was able to board the train in Delhi - as authorities are meant to screen all passengers for temperature.

His 18-year-old son said his mother had a "severe asthmatic attack" on Sunday when she found out that her husband had died.

“I sent tweets and e-mails to the Delhi chief minister and health minister and even to the prime minister's office but in the end, we lost," his son said.

Other residents in the city have complained about being turned away from hospitals. And the Delhi government's smartphone app to track available hospital beds has added to the confusion.

The app showed vacancies at several city hospitals - which then told news channel NDTV, external they actually did not have any space for new patients.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's a round-up of some of the latest news in sport as it starts to return:

• A key vote will take place today where English Football League clubs will decide how the remainder of the season is concluded. The Championship, like the Premier League, is set to resume later this month while League Two is set to end the season now. The situation is League One, however, is a little less certain
• In Spain La Liga will use, external virtual images of fans in stands with added "fan audio" made by the makers of the Fifa computer game when it returns to action on Thursday.
• Six-time Olympic cycling champion Jason Kenny is among the first dozen GB cyclists who have returned to training at the Manchester velodrome after a two-month hiatus
• Royal Ascot may be taking place without spectators next week - but organisers hope people will still dress up at home to raise money for charity