The local lockdown in Leicester, UK, is to be partially relaxed, including for schools and early years childcare
Leicester pubs and restaurants must stay closed
Hackers working for Russia are trying to steal vaccine research, UK, US and Canadian security services say
Russia rejects the claims, calling them "groundless"
Spain's king leads a state memorial event for the country's coronavirus victims
The UK shed more than half a million jobs during the lockdown, with employees working fewer hours
An open letter calls for volunteers willing to be exposed to the virus to test vaccines
Globally, there have been 13.5m cases since the outbreak began, with 583,000 deaths
We are expecting to hear shortly from Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who will update British MPs on the UK's Covid-19 response.
He has previously said he would provide an update on the situation in Leicester, which has been in a local lockdown for two weeks.
We reported earlier on a ceremony in Spain to remember those who died from coronavirus.
Tributes were paid to the victims of the pandemic outside the Royal Palace in Madrid.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe two nations last met at Euro 2016, when England won 2-1
Football fans waited a long time for live sport to return in the UK, and now a date has been set for England to play Wales in a friendly at Wembley Stadium.
The match will be played on 8 October - it'll be behind closed doors in keeping with coronavirus guidelines.
England will pay tribute to former players who have died in the last 12 months, including 1966 World Cup winners Jack Charlton, Martin Peters, Norman Hunter and Peter Bonetti.
Domestic competitive live sport in the UK returned on 1 June for the first time since lockdown measures were introduced in mid-March.
Fergus Walsh
Medical correspondent
Image source, PA MediaEncouraging early results from clinical trials have raised hopes for an effective coronavirus vaccine.
Studies in the US and UK suggest several experimental vaccines produce a good immune response in volunteers without serious side-effects.
Nearly two dozen coronavirus vaccines are in clinical trials while another 140 are in early development.
But some scientists are calling for volunteers to be exposed to the virus to accelerate research.
Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst
Image source, ReutersThe Chinese authorities are investigating why a number of people with links to the city of Urumqi in China’s northwestern Xinjiang province have suddenly tested positive for Covid-19.
According to the official broadcaster CCTV, a 24-year-old woman was admitted to hospital in the city on 10 July with a sore throat. By 14 July, she was feverish and had a headache, and tested positive for Covid-19 the following day.
Three of her close contacts in the region have also tested positive and placed in isolation, however they don’t have symptoms. Separately, a 50-year-old man from Urumqi, who flew to Shaoxing in the eastern province of Zhejiang on 10 July, has tested positive for Covid-19. He also has no symptoms.
Official media says the authorities are currently trying to determine how these people might have contracted the virus. No details have been given to indicate any made any notable travel movements that might have placed them in close contact with the virus.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe UK's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has said he thinks there is no reason to change the government's advice on working from home.
Speaking this afternoon to the Commons Science and Technology Committee, Sir Patrick said current social distancing measures were "important" and that working from home remained "a perfectly good option".
He added he did not think working from home was detrimental to productivity and finished by saying he saw "no reason to change it."
It comes amid reports Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to scrap home working guidance during a press conference on Friday, in a bid to encourage people back into offices and further open up the economy.
A further 66 people in the UK have died after testing positive for coronavirus, the Department of Health and Social Care has said.
It takes the UK's official death toll to 45,119 across all settings.
Image source, EPAThe outcome of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK "has not been good", the government's chief scientific adviser has said.
Sir Patrick Vallance told the Science and Technology Committee there will be "many factors" that determine how well countries respond to the outbreak.
He said: "As (England's chief medical officer) Chris Whitty has said before, it's very difficult to know where we stand at the moment.
"It's clear that the outcome has not been good in the UK - I think you can be absolutely clear about that.
"It is clear you can see a band of countries that have done less well in the temperate zone.
"Countries that are very well connected internationally, countries that have got population structures of a certain type.
"There are many factors that are going to play in this as we look and say, 'what is it that makes some countries having done worse than others?', and there will be decisions made that will turn out not to have been the right decisions at the time."
He also said it would have been "absolutely preferable" to have much greater testing capacity earlier in the pandemic.
Image source, Getty ImagesKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations as "groundless"
Russia has “nothing at all to do” with attempts to hack information relating to Covid-19 vaccine development, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin has said.
Earlier on Thursday, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said Russian hackers were targeting organisations trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
When questioned about the allegations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed them as baseless.
"We do not have information about who may have hacked into pharmaceutical companies and research centres in Great Britain,” Mr Peskov said.
“We can say one thing - Russia has nothing at all to do with these attempts. We do not accept such accusations, just as new groundless accusations about interference in the 2019 election."
Mr Peskov was referring to further allegations that Russia attempted to meddle in the 2019 UK general election through the leak of illicitly acquired documents.
Dr Frank Atherton announced a "pause" on shielding from 16 August.
Vulnerable people in Wales can stop shielding after 16 August, the country's chief medical officer has said.
Around 130,000 people in Wales were advised to take shielding measures at the start of the pandemic.
At a coronavirus briefing on Thursday, Dr Frank Atherton said people in the shielding group would be able to go to work, school or shops.
"Those who have been shielding can gradually resume day-to-day life," he said.
Dr Atherton added the measures would be kept under review in case of a rise in transmission levels.
What's the best way to get through a second lockdown?
As localised outbreaks of coronavirus infections lead to a number of places around the world going back into second lockdown, we speak to people on what it's like going back.
For Nuria in Lleida, Spain the pyschological impact was profound, whereas others like Rohit in Chennai, India felt more prepared to cope with uncertainty.
Along with people in China and Australia, they've been sharing their advice for surviving a second lockdown.
"Remember, Zoom drinks aren't fun!" Sally in Melbourne reminds us.
A further 19 people who tested positive for the coronavirus have died in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,144.
Patients were aged between 52 and 91 years old and all had known underlying health conditions.
Northern Ireland and Wales both reported no new deaths, while Scotland reported one.
Separate UK-wide figures will be released by the UK government later.
Image source, Getty ImagesMany Americans have been relying on food donations during the pandemic
A further 1.3 million people filed for unemployment in the US last week as the economic damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll.
Jobless claims have declined significantly since mid-April, levelling off at around the one million mark in recent weeks after the country reopened for business.
In the week ending 11 July, jobless claims dropped by just 10,000 compared to the previous week, Labor Department figures showed, external.
That was a lower-than-expected reduction, signalling the fragility of the country’s economic recovery as coronavirus infections surge once more nationwide.
This week’s new claims were almost double the pre-pandemic record set in 1982.
The Labor Department's report on Thursday showed the total number of unemployed people as of 4 July was 17.3 million, a decrease of 422,000 on the previous week.
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Image source, ReutersThe government is to publish postcode-level data of how many people have tested positive for coronavirus.
The public will be able to use the data and an interactive map to look at figures for their area, although homes of individuals with Covid-19 will not be identifiable from the data.
The figures, for England, will be published weekly at first with the aim of updating them daily.
Public health professionals across each region will also be given positive test data and contact tracing figures every day.
Image source, Getty ImagesTop Glove is the world's largest manufacturer of medical gloves
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has issued an order to detain products made by subsidiaries of the world’s largest medical glove maker over suspected labour concerns.
The agency listed disposable gloves made by two companies, Top Glove Sdn Bhd and TG Medical Sdn Bhd, as subject to detention orders on its website, external.
Both the companies are owned by Malaysia's Top Glove, which confirmed the detention order and said it may be related to foreign labour issues.
Top Glove said it was in contact with US authorities and hoped to resolve the issue within two weeks.
The decision comes at a time when demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) has skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Top Glove, which can produce more than 70 billion gloves a year, has been accused of exploiting its employees, with reports of poor conditions and low pay.
A recent investigation by Channel 4 News, external reported on claims by staff at the company’s factories, including migrant workers being paid as little as £1.08 ($1.36) an hour.
BBC OS
Image source, ClaudiaIn Claudia's neighbourhood, residents have put up red flags to ask the government for help
In Colombia, there have been over 165,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and about 5,800 deaths. The increase in the number of infections has led to a two-week extension of the country’s lockdown, to 1 August.
For many working class neighbourhoods, this means more time without much-needed income.
And in many of these neighbourhoods, people have been hanging red flags outside their homes to ask the government for help.
Claudia works as a rubbish recycler in La Perseverancia, a neighbourhood in the capital, Bogota.
“In the first part of the pandemic none of us recyclers could work, and because there was no help, we put up the red flag,” she told BBC OS on World Service radio.
“And still, no help from the government has arrived here. Only to the neighbourhoods next door.”
Image source, NanciNanci has also placed a red flag outside her home in Soacha, just outside of Bogota
Nanci lives in Soacha, just outside of Bogota, and has five children. She’s also displayed a flag outside her home.
“We are not getting any help from the government, not even with food supplies.
“If we have enough for breakfast, we can’t afford lunch. The kids are getting skinnier.”
We reported earlier on events in Spain to remember those who lost their lives to coronavirus.
At Manchester Cathedral in the UK there has also been a service to remember those lost to the virus in the city.
Here are some photos from the event.
Image source, PAPeople attending the interfaith service had to stick to social distancing guidelines
Image source, PA MediaMayor Andy Burnham helped launch an online book of remembrance to form a permanent tribute to victims
Image source, PA MediaThe online memorial will allow people who have been bereaved to upload the name and personal details of their loved ones
Image source, PA MediaThere was no choir or singing at the service, in line with current restrictions
Image source, PA MediaAs well as socially distancing, people were asked to use hand sanitiser
Image source, Getty ImagesRussian hackers are targeting organisations trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine, a group of national security services has warned.
The UK's National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) said the hackers "almost certainly" operated as "part of Russian intelligence services".
It said the group used malware to try and steal information relating to Covid-19 vaccine development.
NCSC director of operations Paul Chichester said it was "despicable".
Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics
Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised that by the end of June, and barring “insuperable” barriers, all coronavirus test results would be available within 24 hours.
In last week’s figures, more than 90% of tests conducted at drive-through or walk-in centres were being turned around that quickly.
But the week after the target’s deadline the numbers of test results returned in 24 hours from regional test centres has fallen for the first time, from 91% to 87%.
Those working in the service point out that almost all people who go to a testing centre get their results back that day or the next – even if it’s not strictly within 24 hours. And that’s much faster than sending away for a test, so they still recommend walking in or driving through.
M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Islamabad
Image source, AFPThe latest official statistics on Pakistan’s coronavirus outbreak show deaths are at their lowest since 28 May, while the country has its lowest number of patients on ventilators since 8 June.
Until three weeks ago, Pakistan was one of the worst performing countries in the world, on a par with India. Each of them overtook China in terms of numbers in the first week of June.
But the situation in Pakistan seems to have eased up rather quickly over the last three weeks. It may be partly due to a drop in the number of daily tests.
Despite having achieved the capacity to conduct 40,000 tests a day, the maximum number so far has not exceeded 24,000.
A report on 7 July said Punjab, the most populous province of the country, had cut down on daily tests by 30% since mid-June, thereby artificially lowering official data on infections.
Two subsequent investigations by BBC Urdu also found holes in official data.
The first BBC report earlier this month used data from government-run graveyards to find an exponential rise in the number of deaths during June 2020 as compared to June 2019. Only a fraction of the additional deaths were officially credited to Covid-19.
A second report found that in many cases patients testing positive for Covid in Punjab province were not reflected in the official data for the day.