Image source, Reuters

Latin America continues to be at the centre of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Figures collated by Brazil's main newspapers suggest that last week an average of 1,074 people died every day from coronavirus-related diseases. The South American country is the worst affected in the region with more than 2.4 million cases and 87,000 deaths.
• Some good news for children in Buenos Aires. The lockdown in the capital of Argentina is being relaxed from Monday to allow children under the age of 16 to leave their homes for an hour every day, rather than just at weekends. Argentina imposed a strict quarantine in March. It was eased in May but when cases rose, many restrictions were reimposed.
• There is also an easing of restrictions in Guatemala, where restaurants, churches and shopping centres will be allowed to reopen in areas with low infection rates. A weekday curfew remains in place from 21:00-04:00 and schools are staying closed.

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More now on those rising infection numbers in Hong Kong. The authorities have announced some of their toughest measures yet to contain a community outbreak.

Under the new rules, residents will no longer be allowed to gather in groups larger than two, while dining in restaurants will be banned.

Compulsory mask wearing has also been expanded to cover outdoor areas, with fines of up to 5,000 Hong Kong dollars ($645; £502) for those who flout the rules. Only infants under the age of two are exempt, along with those with a "reasonable excuse" such as a medical condition.

The measures will be in place from 29 July for seven days.

Controls have already been stepped up over the weekend, with popular beaches sealed off and new limits on the movement of ship and flight crews.

Since January, more than 2,600 cases have been reported in Hong Kong, along with 20 deaths.

Anna Jones
BBC News, Singapore

Unlike many countries, Vietnam acted very early on the pandemic, before it even had confirmed cases. It recognised that it did not have the resources to tackle widespread infection so instead, did everything it could to keep the virus out altogether.

By late January it had closed its borders to almost all incoming travellers. Anyone entering the country since then has had to be quarantined in a government facility for two weeks.

Vietnam had essentially been virus-free for nearly 100 days and life had got back to normal, with people mixing and travelling without restrictions.

Image source, EPA

Vietnam has been incredibly proud of its success and has been praised by the likes of the World Health Organization (WHO), so the news that not one but four cases have been confirmed in Da Nang over the weekend is a huge blow. One patient is said to be terribly ill and there are more suspected cases and thousands of tests to now carry out.

The concern is that it's not yet clear how the four were infected, nor how they are connected.

That has raised fears that a full outbreak could already be under way in Da Nang, a city packed with tens of thousands of tourists from around the country who are now trying to go home.

Hong Kong has today reported 145 new cases of coronavirus, setting a new daily record just hours after the city announced its toughest measures yet to curb the outbreak.

Of the new cases, 142 were locally transmitted, officials said.

Image source, Jules Lee

Each of the four nations in the UK are in charge of their own lockdown restrictions, and so have been easing them at different times.

Today in Wales, tattoo parlours, beauty and nail salons, tanning shops and spas are allowed to reopen for the first time since lockdown. They’ve already reopened in England, Scotland and NI.

Tattooist Jules Lee in Gwynedd opened at midnight to finish off a woman's tattoo she had started before lockdown.

Louise Pritchard, the first customer, said: "I have waited for this since Jules had to close, [it] feels like forever. It feels like a lifetime ago.

"I love my ink. I don't like things being half finished and Jules has been great fitting me in, and it is really therapeutic."

Read the full story here.

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We've brought you the latest on the news that Spain is back on the UK's quarantine list, meaning travellers coming back from the country will have to self-isolate for two weeks. (More on that here.)

But it raises many questions over holidaymakers' travel rights - including refunds or the issue of whether your insurance is valid.

Another question is this: What are my rights with my employer if I have to self-isolate?

Employees or workers are not automatically entitled to statutory sick pay if they are self-isolating after returning from holiday or business travel and they cannot work from home.

Sick pay only applies if they have the virus or symptoms of it, or if there are other medical reasons.

But to a certain extent, it is at your employer's discretion.

The industrial relations body, Acas, advises employees to check their workplace's policy to see whether their employer pays statutory sick pay or a higher rate of sick pay if anyone needs to self-isolate after returning to the UK.

Read our full piece on your travel rights here.

Image source, Reuters

Here are more details on the UK's quarantine rule for travellers from Spain.

People already in Spain can stay for the remainder of their holiday, but they will have to self-isolate for two weeks upon their return.

The rules apply to travellers arriving from anywhere in Spain - including the Canary and Balearic Islands.

And the government is now advising "against all but essential travel to mainland Spain".

The new guidance affects all travellers arriving in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

What does quarantining involve?

Travellers are asked to provide an address , externalwhere they will self-isolate for 14 days. They can be fined £100 for failing to fill in a form with these details.

One in five eligible passengers will be called or texted to check they are following the rules.

People who do not self-isolate can be fined up to £1,000 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and those returning to Scotland could be fined £480, with fines up to £5,000 for persistent offenders.

Read more details here.

Image source, EPA

Budget airline Ryanair says it will continue running UK flights in and out of Spain as normal - despite a 14-day quarantine on travellers arriving in the UK from the country.

"The schedules remain in place," Neil Sorahan, Ryanair's chief financial officer, told the BBC.

You can read more about the quarantine rule for Spain here - but for many Britons it makes holidays to the popular destination more difficult.

Over the weekend, the UK's biggest tour operator, Tui, cancelled all mainland Spanish holidays until 9 August. But it said all those going to the Balearic and Canary Islands could still travel as planned from Monday.

British Airways is still operating flights, but said the move was "throwing thousands of Britons' travel plans into chaos".

EasyJet is also maintaining a full schedule, as is Jet2

Speaking on the BBC's Today programme this morning, Ryanair's Mr Sorahan said: "As things stand, the market remains open, the schedules remain in place and we continue to operate in and out of Spain as normal."

He added, however, that Ryanair was keeping its entire operation "under consideration" as it builds back its route network post-lockdown.

Image source, Getty Images

The government has been advising against all but essential travel since March, but this advice has been lifted for destinations that ''no longer pose an unacceptably high risk'' for British travellers.

Passengers from more than 50 countries and 14 British Overseas Territories, external no longer have to quarantine on arrival in the UK.

Five new countries will be added from 28 July. They are Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

But national governments have differing assessments of countries deemed safer for travel. Finland, in contrast to Britain, has placed Slovenia on its restricted list from today, and anyone travelling from there to Finland will have self-isolate for a fortnight.

Read more here.

Image source, EPA

A UK junior health minister has been speaking to the morning news programmes today about the latest changes to the quarantine rule.

Helen Whately told us that the government had to act "rapidly and decisively" to change the rules on Spain - and it was the "right thing to do" as the UK's virus rate must be kept "right down" to avoid a second spike.

On the Today programme, she was asked about whether the UK could expand the quarantine rules to Germany and France. Germany and France have both seen a rise in infections in recent days.

"What we are saying to people who are planning trips abroad is that you need to keep an eye on the Foreign Office guidance," Ms Whately said.

"Be mindful we are in a global pandemic, it is the right thing for us to do as a country to keep an eye on the rates in these countries. If we see something going on like we’ve seen in Spain, we would have to take action."

She was also asked why the quarantine applies to Spain's islands too where the infection rate is lower. Ms Whately said rates were "also rising quickly on the islands, albeit from a lower base".

She said the advice was that the “best thing to protect the United Kingdom was to do a blanket quarantine” for Spain.

Infections in India, which has the third highest number of cases in the world, have passed 1.4 million after it logged a record of nearly 50,000 new cases in 24 hours.

More than 30,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the country since January, when the first case was reported.

India went into a stringent lockdown in March, when cases were still in the hundreds. But it came out of it in June, just as the virus started to gain momentum, prompting a slew of states to go back under lockdown to curb rising numbers.

It's worth noting that, while numbers remain high, India's recovery rate remains encouraging at over 63%, external. Around 33% of the total tally - 1.4 million - are active cases at the moment.

Image source, Getty Images

A doctor who diagnosed early coronavirus cases in China has told the BBC he believes local officials covered up the scale of the initial outbreak.

Professor Kwok-Yung Yuen, who helped to investigate in Wuhan, says physical evidence was destroyed and the response to clinical findings was slow.

"When we went to the Huanan supermarket, of course, there was nothing to see because the market was clean already. So, you may say that the crime scene is already disturbed because the supermarket was cleared we cannot identify any host which is giving the virus to humans," said Professor Yuen.

"I do suspect that they have been doing some cover-up locally at Wuhan. The local officials who are supposed to immediately relay the information has not allowed this to be done as readily as it should," he added.

China has been criticised for its initial response to the outbreak, and for penalising a doctor who tried to warn colleagues about the virus in late December. In response, China has repeatedly denied accusations that it withheld information about the severity of its outbreak.

Image source, Getty Images

The man suspected of being North Korea's first confirmed Covid-19 patient did not have the virus, South Korea says.

The man apparently defected from North to South three years ago, before seemingly deciding to return last week.

South Korea said the man reached the North by crawling through a drainpipe on a southern island, and then swimming around a mile.

At the weekend, North Korea reported its first suspected case of Covid-19.

It said the patient was a North Korean who had "re-defected" from the South.

Read more here.

Several videos went viral in Australia over the weekend featuring women arguing with shop staff and police officers against having to wear a mask in Melbourne.

The virus-hit city is currently in lockdown and reporting hundreds of new cases a day. Last week, as part of efforts to halt the spread, officials ordered face coverings to be mandatory in public.

That has sparked altercations, with two women in separate incidents both filming their journeys to a Bunnings hardware store, where they harangued staff who requested they wear a face covering.

The videos have attracted widespread condemnation.

Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews said: "Their views have no basis in science or fact or law. Don’t focus on them".

Image source, Getty Images

The virus-hit state of Victoria has reported six deaths and 532 new cases – surpassing the national daily high of 502 registered last week.

Melbourne, Victoria's state capital, is halfway through its six-week lockdown. But with 350-450 new cases being reported per day, officials warned lockdown may need to be extended.

Last week they noted that sick people going to work, or not isolating properly, were contributing to the virus' continued spread.

However, critics of the government say that the sheer spread shows authorities were too slow to realise the extent of the problem in the community back in June.

Authorities in neighbouring New South Wales (NSW) are also grappling to contain clusters around restaurants and a pub in Sydney. NSW reported 17 new cases today.

Image source, Getty Images

Vietnam has closed the city of Da Nang to tourists after four new locally transmitted coronavirus cases were recorded, the country's first since April.

No tourists can enter the city for 14 days and extra flights are being laid on to fly out up to 80,000 visitors.

Vietnam has been lauded as a success story after acting early to close borders and enforce quarantine and contact tracing. It has recorded just over 400 cases and no deaths.

But nearly 100 days after its last locally transmitted case, four new cases emerged in Da Nang, a central coastal city popular with domestic tourists.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday ordered Da Nang residents to re-implement social distancing and close all non-essential services.

He said the response had to be "decisive" but that he was not yet ordering a total lockdown of the city.

Read more here.

A Scottish pilot, who has returned to the UK after more than two months on a ventilator in Vietnam, has warned Britons "not to be blasé about coronavirus" as lockdown eases.

Stephen Cameron, 42, from Motherwell, was Vietnam's sickest patient and became known across the country as Patient 91.

"I'm a living example of what this virus can do and how serious it is," he told the BBC in an exclusive interview from his hospital bed at University Hospital Wishaw.

"I don't think the NHS could cope if there was a wave of people who needed the amount of care and life support that I needed."

Image source, PA Media

One of the biggest stories in the UK this morning is on Spain. On Saturday evening, the UK government removed Spain from the list of travel destinations where you can come back from without self-isolating for 14 days.

It came after a spike in the number of new cases in Spain. The country says the outbreaks of new cases are isolated and under control, with its foreign minister saying Spain "is safe for Spaniards and tourists".

The change to the quarantine rule came into effect on Sunday, and travellers already in Spain – who went thinking they wouldn't have to return and self-isolate - have reacted in shock to the news. The airline industry also reacted with dismay, calling it a big blow.

Now Labour has said the short notice of the announcement has “created a sense of panic”. The party called for support for people who are arriving back, where there is no guarantee from their employers that they can work from home for two weeks.

The UK government has stood by its decision to put Spain back on the list.

(Also, it’s worth noting that the UK government’s list applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland had its own, slightly different list which didn’t include Spain for many weeks. Spain is now off both lists.)

Image source, AFP

We'll be bringing you the latest from the UK and around the world throughout the day.

For our audience in the UK who are just waking up, have a look at what today's newspapers are reporting.

There's a lot of reaction to the announcement over the weekend that people coming to the UK from Spain will have to quarantine for 14 days.

Here are some of the latest developments from around the world:

• In the UK, there have been calls for support for people returning from Spain to quarantine - where there is no guarantee their employers will allow them to work from home for two weeks
• The total number of confirmed cases has now reached more than 16 million - up by a million in just four days
• In the last 24 hours, there have been more than 55,000 new infections in Brazil, 53,000 in the US and 48,000 in India, Johns Hopkins University data shows
• Australia has recorded its biggest daily spike, with more than 530 new cases in Victoria State

• Vietnam has closed the city of Da Nang to tourists after four new locally transmitted coronavirus cases were recorded - the country's first since April
• North Korea has reported what it describes as its first suspected case of coronavirus. State media said a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned across the demarcation line last week with symptoms
• Israel, which had previously had a good record on limiting the spread, is also experiencing a spike with more than 1,700 new infections reported