Just joining us? Here's a round-up of what's been going on around the UK on this Wednesday - which, by the way, is the hottest day of the year so far in the country.

• People in Scotland will be allowed to meet up with two other households indoors from 10 July and pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and holiday accommodation can all reopen from 15 July
• Health leaders are calling for an urgent review to determine whether the UK is properly prepared for the "real risk" of a second wave of coronavirus
• The government has issued updated guidance for businesses in England reopening from 4 July, including keeping a temporary record of customers and visitors for 21 days
• Airport handler Swissport is set to cut more than half of its UK workforce as slump in aviation industry continues
• Sir Keir Starmer has pressed Boris Johnson on the effectiveness of the NHS test and trace system in England, during Prime Minister's Questions

And with many going to beaches or beauty spots to enjoy this sunny day, there are warnings for people not to leave hand sanitiser in hot cars, as it can catch fire in hot temperatures. More on that here., external

Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst

Image source, Getty Images

The Chinese capital, Beijing, has only recorded seven new positive cases in the last 24 hours.

But despite this welcome news for residents, the Global Times newspaper notes that "fear of community transmission has been rising in the city" and people are being urged not to go out.

Thursday marks Dragon Boat Festival, a three-day-long public holiday in China. The official China Daily says that all events to celebrate it "will be held online" this year in the capital.

Public places including libraries, museums and art galleries are also only allowing visitors at 30% of normal capacity during the public holiday.

Beijing residents are being urged not to leave the city for anything but essential travel. This has created problems for commuters at the outskirts of the city.

On the popular Sina Weibo social media platform, many have posted pictures of crowds forming at the border with Hebei province.

There have been 256 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Beijing since one individual tested positive on 11 June, leading to fears of a second wave since the initial outbreak in Wuhan late last year.

Read more by Kerry: Chinese city to let people getting married see their partner's abuse history

Earlier we told you about how new Covid-19 cases in the US had risen to their highest level in two months, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the outbreak.

This map shows us which states have been worst hit. New York was one of the initial hotspots, but now cases are surging in southern and southwestern states.

A further 154 coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in the UK over the past 24 hours, the Department for Health and Social Care has said.

The latest figures mean the total UK death toll has risen to 43,081.

Earlier in the day, separate death totals were released for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, though they cover a slightly different time period.

Image source, Getty Images

The US has recorded more than 2.3 million infections and 121,000 deaths to date, the highest number in the world on both counts. States started to ease Covid-19 restrictions in mid-May, but the first wave of the epidemic seems far from over. Infections are on the rise nationwide once again. Here are the latest developments:

• Dr Anthony Fauci, the most senior infectious-disease expert in the US, has told lawmakers the country was seeing a "disturbing surge" in some states. He said there was "increased community spread" in many southern and western states
• California, Florida and Texas were among the states to report a surge in new infections on Tuesday. Seven states have reported record daily increases in hospital admissions, according to analysis by the Washington Post, external
• California has broken a new daily record for infections for the second day in a row, with more than 6,000 new cases
• Florida’s cases have increased by 3,289, a day after total infections surpassed 100,000
• Texas Governor Greg Abbott has urged people to stay at home, after the state recorded more than 5,000 cases in a single day, breaking its previous record
• Health experts have attributed the rise in cases to the relaxation of social-distancing rules and an increase in testing. In some states, more infections among younger people are being detected
• Dr Robert Redfield, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has told Congress Covid-19 has "brought this nation to its knees"

Image source, Getty Images

Organisers have announced that this year's New York marathon has been cancelled due to the city's coronavirus outbreak.

The largest running event of its kind in the world, the marathon was due to be held on 1 November, and would have celebrated its 50th anniversary. Instead, it will take place on 7 November 2021.

Every year, the event draws more than 50,000 runners, 10,000 volunteers and thousands of spectators along the 26.2-mile course.

The event is organised by city officials and non-profit group New York Road Runners (NYRR).

In a statement, the chief executive of NYRR, Michael Capiraso, said the cancellation was "disappointing for everyone involved, but it was clearly the course we needed to follow from a health and safety perspective".

Anna Holligan
BBC News Hague correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is expected to announce a further relaxation of the coronavirus rules in the Netherlands later today.

A number of - unconfirmed - changes have already been leaked.

Among them are:

• Football supporters will be allowed back into stadiums from 1 September. The 1.5 metre rule must be observed. Chanting and singing will be banned because of the potential to spread the virus
• Secondary schools are likely to be allowed to ditch social distancing after the summer holidays and to resume a normal lesson timetable. They have been partially operating since 2 June, but the combination of physical and online lessons has generated complaints from parents, teachers and pupils
• The limit on the number of people who can attend formal events will be lifted, on the condition that people can keep social distancing rules and are quizzed about their health. Reservations will remain a requirement. This means that festivals and outdoor events may be possible from 1 July, local authority permits will be required and there's no expectation that the big music festivals will be back on yet
• Cinemas, theatres and places of worship will be able to welcome more than 100 people (the original planned limit from 1 July), as long as social distancing can be maintained
• Saunas, gyms and sports schools are also to reopen on 1 July, if coronavirus remains under control

We're also expecting an update on visits to nursing homes.

Places of worship in England will be able to reopen to congregations from 4 July but what will they look like - and how will they be different?

Our colleagues have visited a mosque, church and synagogue in Cambridge to find out.

The congregations might be set for a return - but hand-shaking, hugs and hymns will all be absent.

Many have turned to the church online during the pandemic, at a time of isolation and distress. Now their doors are reopening, what will happen next?

Image source, EPA

The pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight that crashed last month, killing 97 people, were distracted by a conversation about Covid-19, a minister has said.

The Airbus A320 was flying from Lahore to Karachi on 22 May when it came down in a residential area while trying to land at Jinnah International Airport.

An initial report into the disaster, released on Wednesday, said the pilots and air traffic control were at fault for the crash, because they did not follow protocol.

Presenting the findings to parliament, Pakistan's aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, said the aircraft was "100% fit to fly" and there was no technical fault.

"The pilot and co-pilot were not focused and throughout the conversation was about coronavirus," Khan said, adding their families had been affected by Covid-19.

The crash came just days after Pakistan began allowing commercial flights after coronavirus restrictions were eased.

Pakistan has recorded almost 190,000 coronavirus infections to date, one of the highest caseloads in the world. The death toll in the country reached 3,755 on Wednesday.

New cases are reported to be declining in the country, after authorities imposed localised lockdowns in dozens of hotspots across 20 cites in mid-June.

Image source, PA Media

Last hour we told you that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had lowered its global growth forecast for this year and next in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The IMF now expects a larger hit to consumer spending. The report points out something that is unusual about this downturn, our economics correspondent Andrew Walker says.

Usually people dip into savings, or get help from family and welfare systems to reduce the fluctuations in their spending. Consumer spending usually takes a much smaller hit in a downturn than business investment.

But this time, lockdowns and voluntary social distancing by people who are wary of exposing themselves to infection risks have hit demand, our correspondent adds.

Here are some of the predictions:

• UK: -10.2% this year; +6.3% in 2021
• US: -8% this year; +4.8% in 2021
• Italy and Spain: -12.8% each this year; +6.3% in 2021
• Russia: -6.6% this year; +4.1% in 2021
• China: +1% this year; +8.2% in 2021
• India: -4.5% this year; +6% in 2021
• Brazil: -9.1% this year; +3.6% in 2021

You can find the full IMF report here., external

And you can read more from Andrew here.

Image source, Reuters

Russia is celebrating its biggest public holiday, Victory Day, with a military parade in Moscow that was meant to be held on 9 May.

It is 75 years since the then USSR defeated Nazi Germany. World War Two cost more than 20 million Soviet lives.

President Vladimir Putin reluctantly postponed the big annual celebration because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But it was rescheduled ahead of a key constitutional vote, which could allow him a further two terms in power.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

There has been one more death linked to Covid-19 in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours, according to the daily figures from the Stormont Department of Health - and two new confirmed cases of the virus.

Public Health Wales said a further eight people had died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths to 1,491.

The total number of cases in Wales increased by 47 to 15,341.

We'll bring you the latest figures for the entire UK once they are released later this afternoon.

Sean Coughlan
BBC News, education correspondent

Eurostar staff furloughed during the lockdown are helping London schools with online French lessons.

Rail staff not currently working, including train drivers, have volunteered to help pupils with online learning at home.

Only a limited number of Eurostar's services to France and Belgium are running - and about 30 staff have been helping with French lessons.

They are helping classes run online by teachers in three secondary schools.

The schools, based near the Eurostar terminus in St Pancras and its depot in east London, have organised about 100 students into small online groups, with rail staff providing conversation classes for pupils and their accompanying teachers.

Read more here.

A further 51 people have died in hospital in England after testing positive for coronavirus, or where Covid-19 was the direct or underlying cause, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 28,435, NHS England said.

Patients were aged between 48 and 96 years old and all had known underlying health conditions.

The south-west reported no deaths for the second consecutive day and was the only region not to record any coronavirus-related fatalities in the latest figures.

The latest figures covering the whole of the UK are due to be released by the Department of Health and Social Care shortly.

Reality Check

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claimed at Prime Minister's Questions that two-thirds of people who have coronavirus are not being contacted by the government's test and trace scheme.

He said 33,000 people are estimated to have Covid-19 in England, but only 10,000 people have been reached through the system.

The 33,000 figure comes from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It was reached by testing a sample of people and working out what percentage of them were infected and then applying that to the population as a whole.

It is an estimate and not a figure for actual people who have been tested.

Between 28 May and 10 June, contact trace teams attempted to reach 14,045 people in England who had tested positive for coronavirus. They got through to 10,192 of them.

Youth charities in the UK say they have lost touch with thousands of vulnerable teenagers since lockdown measures were introduced.

In many cases, outreach workers say they’ve only been able to reach 20% of the young people they were seeing before youth clubs were closed in March.

But many teenagers who were in touch with youth services have said that the lockdown actually had a positive effect on them.

The BBC's Anna Adams spoke to people in Coventry about the impact of lockdown on vulnerable teenagers.

Andrew Walker
BBC Economics Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has further downgraded its forecasts for the global economy for this year and next.

The IMF now says economic activity in 2020 is likely to decline by almost 5% – nearly two percentage points more than what it predicted in April. It says this is likely to increase so-called "economic scars" as companies close and people lose their jobs.

The international organisation expects the efficiency of businesses that do survive to be undermined by steps to enhance workplace safety and hygiene.

There are forecast downgrades for 2020 in all the individual countries where the report gives details. The largest change is for India, where the IMF now expects a decline of 4.5% - just a month after it envisaged continued - but much slower - growth for the country.

Pubs, cafes and restaurants in England will be allowed to reopen on 4 July. But what awaits those venturing back out into these bastions of normal life?

Welcome to the Willow and Brook, a village bar and restaurant in the Northamptonshire village of Apethorpe. Imagine, just for a moment, today is 4 July.

If you've booked a table, great, you can go to your seats. If not, you can only enter if a table is free.

At the entrance, there's a hand-sanitising station you need to use.

Your table will be bare. Cutlery, napkins and menus will only be laid once you've taken your seats.

And the staff member serving you will be a strange sight. Decked out in a plastic face shield, you might spot the personal hand sanitiser dangling from their waist clip.

Read more here.

Reality Check

The Indian government has blocked plans to promote and sell a herbal-based product that claims to "cure" coronavirus.

Patanjali Ayurved, a big consumer goods company in India set up by a popular yoga guru, said that it had found the "cure" after conducting research on plants used in traditional medicine.

"We conducted a controlled clinical study on 95 patients," company founder, Baba Ramdev, said.

The trial was reportedly carried out at the National Institute of Medical Science and Research, based in Rajasthan state.

But official records suggest that this institute has limited experience in conducting drug research, according to reports. Also, the research had reportedly not been peer-reviewed before it was publicised as a cure.

The product has also yet to go through the proper regulatory processes, leading the Indian authorities to demand more information about the product and the research involved., external

Experts say claims of cures for coronavirus need to be treated with caution until the evidence has been properly evaluated.

"There have already been numerous grand claims in relation to Covid-19 around cures and vaccines, and none as yet has been justified," Dr Michael Head, a global health expert at the University of Southampton, said.

Rachel Schraer
BBC Health Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The number of people in England waiting longer than six weeks for non-Covid related tests and scans increased five-fold between March and April.

NHS England's constitution says patients should wait no longer than six weeks for diagnostic tests.

Figures published by NHS England this month showed almost 470,000 people had been waiting longer than six weeks for tests, including for cancer, at the end of April.

That's five times as many as were waiting at the end of March.

The Labour Party is calling for a plan to deal with the backlog.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman acknowledged the impact of the pandemic on NHS services "and the challenges faced as we start to restore them".

Read more.