Stephen McGrath, Romania

A hospital manager in Timisoara in western Romania has warned of a pending "tsunami" of infections as the country sees three record highs in a row.

Over the past three days Romania has confirmed 777, 799, and 889 new Covid-19 cases respectively - almost double that of pre-lockdown highs.

The situation may have been exacerbated by a controversial ruling by Romania’s Constitutional Court last month that authorities do not have the power to impose quarantine, hospitalisation, or isolation measures on individuals. That prompted some 900 people infected with Covid-19 to discharge themselves from hospital.

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President Klaus Iohannis today signed an amended quarantine law that says infected people can be medically monitored for 48 hours maximum, after which a doctor will determine whether a patient can be discharged.

A strict lockdown in March helped prevent a dramatic spread of the virus. But as restrictions have been eased infections are rising rapidly.

Head of Emergency Situations,Raed Arafat has said some hospitals in the capital Bucharest have run out of intensive care beds. Almost 2,000 people have now died from coronavirus in Romania.

Authorities in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang province, have launched an emergency response plan after the city confirmed 16 new cases on Friday.

As of July, 17 coronavirus cases have been reported plus 11 asymptomatic cases. A further 269 people are under observation, according to Reuters news agency.

According to state-run Global Times, several residential areas were put under “sealed off management” at midnight on Thursday. It spoke with a resident who said people were free to move around the area but had to wear a mask.

The city’s subway system was also shut on Thursday.

More than 600 flights at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport were cancelled on Friday.

Rui Baoling, head of the disease control and prevention centre in Urumqi, told state media: “The epidemic situation is generally controllable.”

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Learner drivers in Northern Ireland have spoken of their frustration at there still being no date for the resumption of practical driving tests for cars.

Tests were suspended on 20 March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But testing in England is to start again on 22 July and 3 August in Wales. Scotland, like Northern Ireland, is also yet to set a date.

Ann Hunt, 29, from Crumlin, has worked in a care home for 13 years and is desperate for a career change, but said most job vacancies she applies for require a driving licence.

"It's very frustrating," she said. "You never hear anything about what's going to happen.

"I really need to be able to drive. I love my job but I need to broaden my horizons."

Read more.

Geeta Pandey
BBC News, Delhi

Image source, Reuters

The Bachchans are the Bollywood royalty, with millions of fans in india and globally.

The news of Aishwarya and daughter Aradhya being the latest members of the family to be admitted to hospital with Covid-19 infection has seen lots of get well soon messages on social media.

Since winning the Miss World crown in 1994, Aishwarya has become a hugely successful model and multiple award-winning Bollywood actress. Indians also regard her as a true blue celebrity who’s done India proud in the global arena.

She had a lead role in Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice based on Jane Austen’s classic and a meaty role in Pink Panther 2; she’s a goodwill ambassador for Unaids and is a regular at Cannes.

She’s the Indian face of French make-up brand L’Oréal and Swiss watchmaker Longines; her appearances on the Oscars red carpet are analysed for days by celebrity watchers and her wax statue stands tall at Madame Tussaud’s in London.

On Saturday, her fans posted images of Aishwarya - often described as the “most beautiful woman in the world” - on social media; others said they were sending her “positive energy” and praying for her speedy recovery.

Image source, Reuters

Holidaymakers who were given refund credit notes, rather than cash, for their cancelled package holiday are being reassured their money is safe.

The authorities have clarified that these refund promises are guaranteed - even if the travel company which provided them goes bust.

They are distinct from holiday vouchers, which do not have the same protection.

The Civil Aviation Authority said the Department for Transport had provided "much-needed clarity" by confirming that such cases will be covered by the industry insurance fund Atol, which covers payments in the event of a firm failing.

The guarantee applies to Atol holders operating within the UK.

Anyone whose package holiday is cancelled has the right to a full cash refund.

Read more.

Danny Shaw
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent

More than 140 prisoners have been housed in hotels and B&Bs after being released during the Covid-19 lockdown.

They include six offenders who have been freed from their sentences early to relieve overcrowding and reduce the risk of infection in jails.

A letter to hotel owners, seen by BBC News, said they would not be told the crime the prisoner had committed, though the government insisted the offenders had been subject to "strict vetting".

The government said hotels were used only as a "last resort".

All offenders due for release are "thoroughly risk assessed", the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) added.

It said 304 former inmates let out on their scheduled release date have been provided with housing, 136 of whom have been put up in hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation.

Read more.

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Belgium has recorded 261 cases in the past 24 hours, as the country sees a new spike in cases.

The daily average, calculated over seven days has jumped to 127.4, an increase of 46% on the previous seven days, and the downward trend in hospital admissions appears to have stopped, public health officials say.

The reproduction rate between 11 July to 17, is between 0.84 and 1.3. Its value must remain below one for the pandemic to decrease. Elsewhere:

• Russia has recorded 6,234 cases and 124 deaths over the past 24 hours, with Moscow reporting some of the highest numbers.The death toll in Russia now stands at 12,247 and the number of overall infections has reached more than 765,437 cases

• Germany has recorded another 529 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 201,372 with 9,083 Covid-19-related deaths.

Leeds supporters gathered outside the club's stadium to celebrate their return to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years.

Leeds' owner Andrea Radrizzani and the police had urged fans to stay at home.

Under social distancing guidelines, people in England should keep a distance of at least 1m while observing precautions to reduce the risk of coronavirus.

Below are some images from the celebrations.

And you can read more here.

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Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

And they're off. EU leaders are meeting in Brussels for a second day in an attempt to agree to a multi-billion euro recovery package.

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The initial plan, on top of a 7-year EU budget of over €1 trillion, was to have a recovery fund of €750bn (£670bn) made up of grants and loans. And €500bn of it would be made up of financial grants. But a small group of so-called "frugal" states led by the Netherlands are unhappy with the scale of the grants and want them linked to major reforms.

So, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel - apparently backed by France and Germany - has come up with a compromise to lower the amount handed out in grants and subsidies from €500bn to €450bn, reports say. There are other sweeteners for the frugal states, such as increased rebates from the money they pay into the main budget, Reuters reports.

Image source, Kirsty O'Connor/PA Media

On Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrapped the advice for people to avoid public transport in England, as part of an easing of lockdown measures.

This morning, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said social distancing rules remained in force on public transport, but there was still capacity for more travellers.

"There's a lot of space on our public transport right now," he said.

"It's probably being used less than 20%, and there's capacity even with social distancing which is now, of course, one metre plus with mitigating factors like face coverings.

"We don't have, right now, an issue with capacity on our railway and we can take a lot more people than we are at the moment."

But is it safe to use public transport? Read our piece on the issue here.

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The opening of parliament in Australia has been delayed by several weeks due to the spread of the virus in the country’s two most populous states.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison asked the speaker of the parliament to cancel a two-week session which was due to begin on 4 August.

The next meeting is planned for 24 August.

In a written statement, Morrison said: “The government cannot ignore the risk to parliamentarians, their staff, the staff within the parliament and the broader community.”

Victoria and New South Wales are currently experiencing a surge in cases.

On Saturday New South Wales recorded 15 more cases while Victoria saw 217 new infections.

Image source, EPA

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has said 25 million Iranians have already been infected by coronavirus and another 35 million are at risk.

Basing his statistics on a health ministry report, he warned the country would need twice as many beds. Until now, the official number of infections was 269,440.

Rouhani said: “If today we base ourselves on this report, which says that 25 million of the population in our country have been infected and that presumably the rest of our population, about 30 to 35 million more will contract it in the coming months, the same report predicts that the number of those hospitalised in the coming months is expected to be double the number we have seen in the past 150 days.”

Rouhani said about 14,000 people had died from the virus and 200,000 had been admitted to hospital in the past 150 days, according to the report.

Image source, PA Media

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said employers need to make sure workplaces are Covid-safe for employees to return to work.

He was responding to concerns people may have about returning to workplaces, particularly those who may have been shielding.

Shapps told BBC Breakfast: "We absolutely expect and ask employers and employees to work sensibly together - there's full employee protection in place.

"The Heath and Safety Executive would certainly have something to say if they are not using all of the guidelines.

"How do we get people to feel comfortable? And of course, the ultimate answer to that is to continue fighting this virus, and make sure that the reproduction rate continues to stay low and continues to decline so the issue is effectively resolved through fighting the virus."

Image source, Reuters

The US has now recorded more than 3.6 million cases of the virus and more than 139,000 people have died.

Daily cases continue to remain high in the country, with confirmed infections on Friday surpassing 70,000.

Some of the worst-hit states include Texas, Florida and Arizona.

Texas recorded 174 deaths on Friday, the most in one day since the pandemic began there.

Officials on the Texas-Mexico state border say hotels in the area could be converted into medical units by next week.

Public schools in the state have been given permission to keep their campuses closed well into autumn.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced strict criteria for school reopenings which means it is very unlikely that many students will return to classrooms in autumn.

A member of the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), has told the BBC a return to pre-lockdown life is "a long way off".

On Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out a "roadmap" for a return to "normality" by Christmas as part of an easing of the lockdown in England.

Mr Johnson said it was his "sincere hope" the remaining restrictions could be reviewed in November, at the earliest, and possibly dropped by Christmas.

But Prof John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "If what you mean by normality is what we used to do until February and the middle of March this year - go to work normally, travel on the buses and trains, go on holiday without restrictions, meet friends, shake hands, hug each other and so on - that's a long way off, unfortunately."

"We won't be able to do that until we are immune to the virus, which means until we have a vaccine that is proven safe and effective," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"If we return to those sort of normal behaviours the virus will come back very fast."

Image source, Getty Images

Some 4 million people are being asked to stay home for the next 15 days across the capital of Catalonia in north-east Spain.

It's not a lockdown as such, as it's not mandatory, but it affects 13 cities in the Barcelona metropolitan area, as well as residents in La Noguera and Segrià.

The Catalan government reported 1,111 cases on Friday in the space of just 24 hours. The neighbouring city of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat was already under restrictions, including reduced access to bars and restaurants as the outbreak spread.

"We must take a step back to avoid returning in coming weeks to a total lockdown of the population," said regional government spokeswoman Meritxell Budo.

Image source, AFP

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, has strongly criticised the world’s biggest powers for failing to work together to tackle the coronavirus crisis.

Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, he said the relationship between the US, China and Russia had never been so dysfunctional. "We are now in a world that is no longer bi-polar but it is not yet multi-polar. It is chaotic in many aspects. Unfortunately this lack of mutual understanding, this competition among the largest powers, is a major fragility for the UN, but I would say for the world in general."

Guterres called for the Security Council to find solutions to ease conflicts taking place around the globe - in Libya, Syrian, Yemen and Afghanistan.

And he criticised rich countries for not doing enough to help out poorer nations during the pandemic.

He said the world’s nations should back a “people’s vaccine” made available and affordable to all. "We will not be safe in the pandemic if everybody is not safe."

Guterres was speaking ahead of a lecture for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

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There's been a mixed business response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement that restrictions in England will ease further under plans for a “significant return to normality” by Christmas.

Under the new guidelines, people may now use public transport for journeys.

From 1 August companies will have more discretion to bring staff back to workplaces if it is safe to do so.

According to the Financial Times, business groups have welcomed the intervention after days of mixed messages about home-working. But the Guardian says business leaders are unhappy the onus is being placed on employers to decide if their staff can safely return to the office.

Read more here

EU leaders have started arriving this morning for Day 2 of the Brussels summit, where they have the thorny task of reaching a compromise on a Covid-19 recovery package worth €750bn (£670bn) and their next budget for 2021-27.

When they met on Friday they found a new way of greeting each other, and judging from this video they look as if they enjoyed it.

Our Brussels colleague Kostas Kallergis has gone viral on social media with this EU elbows mash-up:

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Indian actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been taken to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19 earlier this week.

Her daughter Aaradhya has also been taken to hospital, PTI agency reports.

Aishwarya's husband Abhishek and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan, both also famous actors, have been in hospital since Saturday with the virus.

News that the family, often described as Bollywood royalty, had been affected by the coronavirus has sent shockwaves across India. This week, thousands of fans have held prayers for the family's recovery.

Read more here