Trials in UK find widely available steroid cuts Covid-19 deaths among seriously ill
UK government says it has adequate supplies of the drug - dexamethasone
Further 233 deaths registered in the UK - total to have died now 41,969
Now more than 8m confirmed virus cases worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University
NZ reports two new cases after a month without any, both recent arrivals from the UK
Hospitals in Indian capital Delhi overwhelmed, but officials rule out new lockdown
UK government does U-turn on school food vouchers in England over summer
We're pausing our live page coverage for now. Thanks for joining us.
Here are the people who contributed to the page today.
Claudia Allen, Patrick Jackson, Dulcie Lee, Marie Jackson, Gary Kitchener, Matthew Cannon, Georgina Rannard, Max Matza, Jasmine Taylor-Coleman, Hugo Bachega, Alexandra Fouche, Gareth Evans, Kate Whannel, Lucy Webster, Rob Corp and Alex Therrien.
Join us again tomorrow.
And here's the round-up of coronavirus news stories in the UK.
As our live page draws to a close, here are the major world events linked to coronavirus for Tuesday:
The top story was really a UK story - the breakthrough in the medical world with the drug dexamethasone, which can save the lives of seriously ill coronavirus patients. But the other top stories globally have been:
There are fewer very happy Americans than at any point in nearly 50 years, according to a new survey.
The new poll was released by the National Opinion Research Center , externalat the University of Chicago and used data from the General Social Survey (GSS) data.
It found that only 14% of Americans described themselves as very happy. In 2018, the last time the poll was conducted, it was 31%.
The GSS has collected data every other year since 1972. The previous low point came in 2010 when 29% of Americans said they were very happy.
Currently, 50% of people say they sometimes feel isolated, compared to 23% in 2018.
The numbers are somewhat unsurprising, given the lockdowns that have separated communities and led to social isolation.
The survey was conducted in May, before the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, which touched off protests across the nation and world.
Image source, Getty ImagesLondon club Chelsea are 0-3 down to Bayern Munich in the Champions League last-16
European football chiefs look set to finalise plans to finish this season's Champions League and Europa League over the next 24 hours.
Uefa's executive committee is expected to announce that Portugal and Germany will host a "final eight" knockout tournament for each competition.
However, there has been disagreement about how the outstanding last-16 ties in the competitions are to be resolved.
BBC Sport have been previewing the plans ahead of the committee's crunch meeting on Wednesday. Read more here.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Duke of Cambridge has joked that he is looking forward to having a pint in the pub, as he praised ambulance staff for their hard work during the pandemic.
In his first face-to-face meeting with the public in months, the prince told ambulance crews at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Norfolk he thought the weekly Clap for Carers - when people across the UK stood on their doorsteps to applaud the country's NHS staff and key workers - was "powerful".
"Everyone appreciates the NHS, we have an amazing system and many countries around the world envy what we have," he told them.
In a lighter moment, he joked he was looking forward to being told he could go to the pub again and shared his worry for the country's waistline.
"I've done a lot of baking at home - chocolate goes down very well," he said.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a new video explaining the risks of passing the coronavirus to your household pet.
The video, which is spliced with cute cats and dogs around their mask-wearing owners, advises that the chance of catching Covid-19 from a pet is "considered low".
"But it does appear that people can give the virus to animals," it continues, adding that cats and ferrets are most likely to get infected.
Cats should be kept indoors and dogs should be walked on a leash, according to the FDA guidance. Pets should only be allowed to interact with members of their own households.
If you do become infected, the FDA advises that you find someone else to watch your pet until you are better. If that isn't possible, then you should wear a mask around your pet, and wash your hands both before and after playing with them.
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Image source, AFPHealth workers protested in French cities including Paris, Strasbourg and Nice
Thousands of doctors, nurses and hospital staff in France have been protesting to demand more investment in the health system.
Like in many countries, the French public expressed their significant gratitude and support to medics during the pandemic - now health workers want this to be followed with more resources.
Around 18,000 people attended the protests in Paris, which ended with violent action by a small group who threw stones and overturned a car. Police made 20 arrests.
Unions are asking for pay rises, a recruitment drive and more beds in hospitals, and say Covid-19 exposed the weaknesses of the French health service.
President Emmanuel Macron says his government is three weeks into a consultation and has announced bonuses for staff who worked through the crisis.
Coronavirus: Patient credits dexamethasone with saving her life
We've been hearing a lot about the drug dexamethasone, which has been found in a medical trial to cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators.
Briton Katherine Millbank took part in the trials and credits the drug with saving her life.
An emotional Mrs Millbank has been telling the BBC about her experience.
Image source, Getty ImagesA Beijing official warned the new outbreak - linked to an open air market - is "extremely severe"
Earlier we reported that a cluster of new cases connected to a Beijing market in China is causing serious concern.
Now all schools have been ordered to close in an effort to contain the outbreak.
The first case, linked to a market, was recorded on Thursday and cases have been rising since then. Beijing had not seen any new cases for more than 50 days before this.
Schools and universities reopened just a few weeks ago, but now classes will once again go online. Entertainment venues will also close, and people must be tested before they will be permitted to leave the capital.
Boris Johnson thanks Marcus Rashford for school meal campaign
More than a million schoolchildren in England will be able to claim free meal vouchers during the summer, the UK government has said.
It followed a campaign championed by footballer Marcus Rashford for an existing scheme to be extended during the school holidays due to the coronavirus crisis.
The government had previously insisted it would not award free school meals vouchers in England outside of term time, prompting the footballer to pen an open letter to MPs asking for the decision to be reversed.
At the Downing Street briefing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked the Manchester United and England forward, 22, for his efforts.
Image source, PA MediaEarlier today, the head of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine told MPs that requiring patients to have an appointment before attending hospital casualty departments may be necessary in the UK following the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr Katherine Henderson told the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee that older people were those usually most in need of emergency treatment but they were also the age group most at risk from Covid-19.
She said that emergency wards were used to having "elastic walls" and an "infinite number of patients" but that they now needed to know who was coming into A&E.
Henderson told MPs that NHS 111 could be the first port of call for those in urgent need who could then be given an appointment to attend hospital.
She told the committee that is was "just impossible" to have an 80-year-old with a hip fracture left waiting in a corridor alongside a patient with suspected Covid-19.
Image source, ReutersMany restaurants and bars have remained open throughout the pandemic, with some social distancing introduced
Sweden took a different approach to managing coronavirus than most countries - it avoided lockdown and kept many workplaces and social spaces open.
Now there is an uptick in cases again in the Scandinavian country - a further 15,000 confirmed infections since the beginning of June, bringing the country's total to 53,000.
The leading health official, Anders Tegnell, denied that it was a sign the virus was taking hold again. He put the rise down to an increase in testing.
Nonetheless, he urged Swedes to minimise socialising during the upcoming midsummer celebrations.
His critics accused him of arrogance for resisting a lockdown, but the country's death rate is better than some countries that introduced serious restrictions, including the UK, Spain and Italy.
Nearly 5,000 people have died from Covid-19 in Sweden.
Having been closed to the public for three months, London Zoo welcomed back its first visitors yesterday.
The Zoological Society of London had warned it would face permanent closure if the government did not relax restrictions so it could allow the public back in.
But the experience of visiting the zoo is now a little different to how it was before the pandemic.
The attraction is only allowing 2,000 visitors to come each day, and they must have a pre-booked, timed-entry ticket. Restaurants and cafes are closed and additional hand sanitising stations and distance markers have been installed.
Coronavirus: ZSL London Zoo reopens after lockdown
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York
Governor Andrew Cuomo has confirmed that the US Open will take place in New York City's Queens borough but without any spectators.
The US Tennis Association's (USTA) signature Grand Slam event is due to run from 31 August to 13 September.
In a tweet, Cuomo said that organisers would "take extraordinary precautions to protect players and staff, including robust testing, additional cleaning, extra locker room space, and dedicated housing & transportation".
Some players have already expressed concerns about playing in the tournament.
The US Open is normally the fourth and final Grand Slam, but will be only the second this year.
The French Open could now start just one week after the end of the US.
Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since 1945.
Reality Check
Boris Johnson was asked if the UK had banned the export of dexamethasone at today's Downing Street briefing. It’s a cheap and widely available drug which a trial at Oxford University has shown can save the lives of patients who are severely ill with Covid-19 and need oxygen treatment.
The prime minister said he wasn’t aware of the ban.
On 24 April, dexamethasone, in the form of tablets and capsules, was added to a list of medicines that cannot be exported from the UK or hoarded, external.
And today dexamethasone, in the form of oral solutions and injections, was also added to the list.
According to the government’s website, “exporting a medicine on the list is considered a breach of regulation 43(2) of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 and a contravention… may lead to regulatory action by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which could include immediate suspension of the wholesale dealer licence".
Reality Check
Boris Johnson was asked whether the rules on attendance at funerals in England would be relaxed.
At the moment the only mourners allowed to attend are members of the deceased person’s household and close family members or close friends if family members are unable to attend.
Numbers must be kept low enough to allow everybody to stay two metres apart.
Someone to conduct the service, a funeral director and other staff may also attend.
The guidance for England says that mourners who are self-isolating for 14 days but do not have symptoms should be helped to attend, as should those in vulnerable groups who are shielding. Anyone showing symptoms of coronavirus should not attend.
In Scotland the advice is slightly different, with those self-isolating or shielding encouraged to seriously consider not attending.
In Wales, those allowed to attend the funeral are the person organising it, people who have been invited and any carers, with numbers again limited by the requirements of social distancing.
The guidance for Northern Ireland includes a limit of 10 mourners and stresses that those who are self-isolating should not mix with other people attending.
Reality Check
The prime minister said at the Downing Street briefing that he only became aware “today” of footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign to make the government change its mind on not extending free school meal vouchers in England over the summer.
The government has now relented and says it will continue to run the scheme during the summer holiday and Boris Johnson has congratulated the player.
Marcus Rashford first raised his concerns on Twitter on 10 June when he asked “Anybody know who I can talk to about the government food voucher scheme?”
Labour has also been campaigning on the issue and sent a letter about it to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on 8 June. It was also raised in the House of Commons on 9 June.
In England, about 1.3 million children claimed free school meals in 2019, or about 15% of state-educated pupils. Extending the scheme over the summer will cost around £120m.
There’s more detail on how it will work and on what’s happening across the UK in this piece.
Helen Catt
Political correspondent
A bit of good news was what the government really needed, as it faces pressure from its own backbenchers (and today, a public questioner) on social distancing requirements and after its high profile U-turn on school meal vouchers.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson used his weekly appearance at the Downing Street briefing to deliver news about an unquestionably positive development.
He was very keen to point up the UK expertise behind what he called the "biggest breakthrough yet" in treating coronavirus.
The scientists at today's press conference also seemed upbeat - excited even - highlighting that the drug dexamethasone which could save the life of one in eight patients who experience serious breathing problems is widely available and cheap.
There was one note of caution in the optimistic tone though - having a treatment doesn't necessarily mean less stringent conditions for all of us if there is a second wave of the virus.
And when it comes to that two-metre social distancing rule, there does seem to be a hint of more wiggle room opening up, but Boris Johnson's message is still "watch this space".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson led today’s government press conference.
He was accompanied by the government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, and Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at the University of Oxford.