Image source, Getty Images

Almost 11 million Chinese students have begun the country's notoriously tough two-day university entry exam, after it was delayed by a month by the virus.

And the "gaokao" could be extra tough this year - as schools across the country were closed when the virus took hold at the start of the year.

"The pandemic has intensified the pressure students suffer as millions of them have been confined to home for a very long time before coming back to normal studying," Ye Minjie, from the Chinese Psychiatrist Association, told AFP.

According to state media, external, virus measures include extra exam rooms to "guarantee physical distancing", testing for "all monitors and staff", and checks on the students' health.

Vikas Pandey
BBC News, Delhi

Abhinav Sharma's uncle had very high fever and difficulty breathing when he was admitted to a hospital in Delhi.

He tested positive for coronavirus and doctors told the family to get remdesivir - an antiviral drug that's been approved in India for clinical trial and also under "emergency use authorisation", meaning doctors can prescribe it on compassionate grounds.

But procuring it proved an impossible task - remdesivir did not seem to be available anywhere.

Mr Sharma desperately called people to arrange for the drug as his uncle's condition deteriorated by the hour.

"I had tears in my eyes. My uncle was fighting for his life and I was struggling to arrange the medicine that could possibly save him," he said.

Mr Sharma's plight is familiar to many families in Delhi, desperate to do whatever it takes to save their loved ones.

Many say they have been forced to pay exorbitant prices for the drug - with many of them ending up at a medicine market in old Delhi.

• Click here to read the full story

Image source, Reuters

UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma has defended Boris Johnson over his comments that some care homes "didn't follow procedures" during the early days of the pandemic.

Mr Sharma told BBC Breakfast that the prime minister had meant no-one knew the correct plan of action at the start of the crisis.

He said that was because "the extent of the asymptomatic cases was not known at the time".

"No-one is suggesting that care homes haven’t done a great job in really difficult circumstances," he added.

Asked whether the PM should apologise, Mr Sharma said: "I’ve explained what the prime minister was saying, I think the substantive point here is what is the support we are providing, both at the time and going forward."

Image source, Getty Images

Universities across the world have moved their courses online due to the pandemic, and this is set to impact students who were hoping to study abroad later this year.

That's because those foreign students planning to study in the US will not be allowed to stay in the country if their universities have moved classes fully online, unless they switch to a course with in-person tuition.

The students may also transfer to a different college that offers in-person teaching.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency said students could face deportation if they do not comply with the rules.

Large numbers of foreign students travel to the US every year and they are a significant source of revenue for universities as many pay full tuition.

You can read more here.

Image source, Reuters

A German court overrules a local lockdown and Belgium asks returning travellers to quarantine. Here’s the latest from Europe:

• Authorities imposed a local lockdown around the German city of Gütersloh after an outbreak at a meatpacking plant. But a court has now overruled it, arguing that it was disproportionate to lock down the whole district
• Belgium is asking tourists returning from areas with strict lockdown measures still in place to quarantine for 14 days. It comes after the government decided on Monday it would not further open its borders to an EU “safe list” of 15 non-EU countries
• Sweden has imposed a social-distancing rule of at least one metre in bars, pubs and restaurants. Critics say the Swedish government’s advice on social distancing has been vague and inconsistent throughout the pandemic
• The Rodin museum is reopening in Paris, the latest tourist attraction to open its doors after the government eased restrictions. Tourists were allowed into the Louvre on Monday for the first time since March, albeit under strict new rules

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticised for saying "too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures" during the coronavirus outbreak.

Mark Adams, boss of social care charity Community Integrated Care, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was "unbelievably disappointed" with the PM's comments.

He said the remarks were "clumsy and cowardly" at best but he accused the PM of resorting to a "Kafkaesque" rewriting of history.

"The government set the rules, we follow them, they don't like the results, they then deny setting the rules and blame the people that were trying to do their best. It is hugely frustrating."

Care homes have been at the centre of the coronavirus crisis in the UK, with almost 30,000 more care home residents in England and Wales having died during the outbreak than during the same period in 2019.

Image source, Dave Jones

Extreme fatigue, nausea, chest tightness, severe headaches, "brain fog" and limb pains are among the recurring symptoms described by some sufferers of Covid-19 for weeks - and even months - after their diagnosis.

They call themselves "long-haulers" and their symptoms persist long after the 14-day period that's officially said to be the average length of the illness.

There are calls for both health professionals and employers to recognise that some people will take a lot longer than two weeks to recover.

"It's the weirdest thing I've ever experienced," Helen Calder, from Liverpool, told the BBC.

Read more here.

Back now to the Australian state of Victoria, and the measures just announced there.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he expected Melbourne's lockdown to cause "enormous amounts of damage", but insisted there was no alternative.

"Those venues that had been cautiously opening up will have to go back to takeaway service only," he said.

"Other businesses that had opened will have to close. I know and understand how significant that will be and there will be a big job for us to continue providing support."

He also said:

• Victoria's infection rate was expected to "get worse before it gets better"
• Residents who attempted to escape the lockdown zone would face "significant penalties"
• School holidays would be extended for a week, except for senior students and specialist classes

Robin Brant
BBC News, Jiangsu

Huang waits by a workbench for the welder to pass the next metal tray. There's only a handful of staff in the factory. Half the building is in darkness.

The boss is stranded in Europe. They haven't had any new orders from their American customers for months.

This is a business that's desperately trying to keep the lights on.

"Up until now we haven't received any substantial mass production orders to keep the factory running," Yuliya Yakubova told me. She was blunt about the business she runs.

Speaking from Italy she said: "The last [thing] I want to do really is fire or let go employees." But she doesn't have long left.

• Read more from Robin here

Reality Check

Image source, Getty

Africa is seeing coronavirus cases rapidly increasing and deaths rising, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The BBC's Reality Check team has been looking at the situation across the continent.

The two countries with the highest numbers of cases are South Africa and Egypt. They accounted for over 60% of all the new cases reported in late June.

• Read Reality Check's full analysis

Overall, the death rate has been low compared to the global average, despite the fact that many countries have poor health infrastructure.

The WHO says this could be partly because of the relatively young population in Africa - more than 60% are under the age of 25. Current analysis suggests a lower mortality rate in younger people.

But there are also wide variations in testing rates - just ten countries account for about 80% of the total tests conducted in the whole continent.

Good morning to those of you just joining us from the UK. Here's a round-up of the main developments this morning:

• Hundreds of thousands of homeowners in England will receive vouchers of up to £5,000 for energy-saving home improvements. The investment will be announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday as he looks to "kick-start" the UK economy in response to the coronavirus crisis
• PM Boris Johnson has been criticised for saying "too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures" during the outbreak. The National Care Forum described his words as hugely insulting for those working in the sector
• At least three pubs in England have closed after customers tested positive for coronavirus. The pubs - in West Yorkshire, Hampshire and Somerset - announced they had shut their doors again after reopening at the weekend
• The president of the UK's national academy of science, the Royal Society, has said that not wearing face coverings in public should be considered as anti-social as driving without seatbelts. Prof Sir Venki Ramakrishnan also said the UK was "way behind" many countries in their usage
• And the Duchess of Cornwall has been telling the BBC about missing her grandchildren during lockdown

The new lockdown order will apply to metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire to its north - about five million residents in total.

Mr Andrews says those people can only leave home for care, essential items, exercise and work "if you have to".

"There is simply no alternative other than thousands and thousands of cases and potentially more," he has just told reporters.

"I think a sense of complacency has crept into us as we let our frustrations get the better of us. I think that each of us knows someone who has not been following the rules as well as they should have."

The state had been steadily easing restrictions before the surge in the past fortnight. Currently, it has more than 700 active cases.

Other Australian states and territories continue to report only small numbers of new infections, and have banned Victorians from entry.

Australia has had about 8,500 cases in total and 106 deaths.

Image source, Reuters

The deaths of 130,284 people in the US have now been linked to Covid-19, according to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University, external.

This means the official death toll is about twice that of Brazil, which has the second-highest toll.

The US has an estimated population of 328m though, against Brazil's 210m.

After Brazil, there's the UK with more than 44,000 deaths and Italy with just under 35,000.

The US is also leading the tally of the highest number of confirmed infection, currently at 2,935,712.

Overall, New York has the highest death toll among US states, with more than 32,000 fatalities linked to the virus - but confirmed infections are now surging in southern states as well.

New Zealand residents returning from overseas are quarantined for 14 days - but the government is now worried it is running of space.

In response, Air New Zealand has stopped taking new bookings, while people with existing bookings will be allowed in "subject to availability of quarantine space".

“We currently have nearly 6,000 people in our 28 managed isolation facilities, and are scaling up more spaces all the time, but we need to do so safely,” Air Commodore Darryn Webb said. , external

The airline's chief commercial and customer officer Cam Wallace said they had agreed to close new bookings for three weeks.

New Zealand has been hailed as a success story when it comes to tackling the coronavirus.

The country has recorded just over 1,500 confirmed or probable coronavirus cases and 22 people have died. Last month, all Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and the nation was declared virus free.

Melbourne and a shire in regional Victoria are to re-enter lockdown from Thursday, state Premier Daniel Andrews says.

Mr Andrews says the order will last for six weeks.

Australia's second-biggest city has seen a surge in cases in the past few weeks. It recorded 191 new infections today - a daily tally record.

Image source, Getty Images

While most scientists believe the new coronavirus jumped from animals to humans, President Trump thinks it may have come from a Chinese laboratory, while his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said there's "significant evidence" to back up the "lab leak" theory.

The outbreak emerged in Wuhan - a large city that's home to a virology institute that studies bat viruses, among other things.

But getting answers in Wuhan is not easy - as the BBC's John Sudworth discovered.

"One woman we arrange to interview arrives with plain-clothes policemen in pursuit. When she scrambles into our car, they block our way," he reports.

"We meet another man in the darkness on the banks of Wuhan’s East Lake. He tells us he’s been visited twice by the police for speaking out about the death of his father.

"For victims and journalists alike, asking questions about how and why the outbreak began in Wuhan, and whether it might have been better contained, is not easy.

"But at the epicentre of this global disaster, the need to ask questions is a necessity, not a choice."

• Read John's in-depth report here

We're expecting Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews to hold a press briefing in about 10 minutes.

Australian media is reporting that he may impose additional restrictions in Melbourne.

Currently, 36 suburbs are in lockdown. That's about 300,000 of the city's five million residents.

Earlier on Tuesday, Victoria announced 191 new cases - a record daily tally.

Beijing has reported no new locally-transmitted cases for the first time since an outbreak began last month.

The outbreak - which was linked to a huge food market in the capital - has led to at least 335 infections.

It caused mass testing, the closure of some venues, and travel restrictions for people in at least 27 of Beijing's neighbourhoods.

But the cluster has seemingly been petering out for some time - the city hasn't reported more than three new daily cases in the past week.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Japan's household spending has slumped at a record pace as measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus kept people at home.

Government figures show household spending dropped by 16.2% in May from a year earlier. The worse than expected fall was the fastest rate of decline since comparable data began in 2001.

There were big drops in spending on hotels, transport and eating out. Goods that saw an increase in spending however included meat, alcohol and face masks.

The data underlines the major challenges facing Japan's government and central bank as the country braces for its deepest recession since the end of World War Two.

• Click here to read more

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has taken another Covid-19 test, after reportedly having a high temperature.

Bolsonaro said his lungs had also been checked, and they were "fine". The result of the Covid-19 test is expected on Tuesday, and he has cancelled engagements.

This is the fourth test the president has taken - all the others have been negative.

Bolsonaro has previously downplayed the virus, comparing it to "a little flu". Brazil has the second highest number of cases and deaths in the world.

On Sunday, the country's foreign affairs minister posted a picture of himself, Bolsonaro and others celebrating US Independence Day at the US embassy, without masks.