US President Donald Trump is coming under fire for downplaying the severity of coronavirus on his return to the White House
Election rival Joe Biden, former First Lady Michelle Obama and medics criticise his upbeat statements
PM Boris Johnson says the UK cannot return to normal post-pandemic, but needs better housing and healthcare
New coronavirus restrictions for Scotland will be announced on Wednesday - but it will not be another full lockdown
More than 35.4 million cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed globally, with more than one million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University
A further 76 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. It brings the total number of deaths to 42,369.
And there have been 14,542 positive coronavirus cases recorded in the UK in a 24-hour period, according to government data, external.
It brings the total number of cases to 530,113.
Former US First Lady Michelle Obama has rounded on President Donald Trump over his response to the pandemic, accusing him of mismanaging and exacerbating the crisis.
Mrs Obama gave a withering assessment of his handling of the pandemic in a video endorsing Democrat Joe Biden, who faces the president in November’s election.
“If you’re a parent like me, you’re feeling the consequences of this president’s failure to take this pandemic seriously,” said Mrs Obama, wife of former President Barack Obama.
In the video, she said Mr Trump did not have a clear plan for protecting the country from the virus, which has killed more Americans than the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Korea combined.
“In the greatest crisis of our lifetimes, he doubled-down on division and resentment, railed against measures that could have mitigated the damage, and continues to hold massive events, without requiring masks or social distancing knowingly exposing his own supporters to a dangerous virus,” she said.
President Trump has previously defended his record of dealing with the pandemic, arguing he took decisive action to shut the country’s borders and develop treatments for Covid-19 while protecting the economy.
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Marianna Spring
Specialist disinformation reporter
Image source, ReutersIn President Trump’s tweet announcing he was leaving hospital last night, he said: “Don’t be afraid of Covid”.
Those comments have fuelled false claims in a number of Facebook groups that coronavirus is not real.
He also tweeted: “We have learned to live with [flu]… just like we are learning to live with Covid” and this is being shared in a similar way on social media.
Posts in pro-Trump and anti-mask Facebook groups have shared the comments with captions about the pandemic not being real or not very serious. They have also said this proves “there is no need to wear a mask” and “let’s just carry on like normal” rather than following health guidance.
Others in anti-Trump Facebook groups have expressed concern at the comments – and the upset they could cause to those who have lost loved ones to coronavirus.
The US coronavirus death toll has passed 210,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than one million deaths worldwide have been linked to the virus – considerably more than the number of deaths in a typical flu season.
Early on in the pandemic, the BBC investigated the human cost of misinformation, including those who fell seriously ill because social media posts led them to doubt the reality or severity of the pandemic and not follow health guidance:
Have you seen a post about Trump having coronavirus that you want us to investigate? Or other conspiracy theories about the pandemic circulating online? Get in touch: Marianna.spring@bbc.co.uk
Image source, ReutersDr Tedros expressed hope there would be an effective vaccine ready by the year's end
There is hope that an effective vaccine against the coronavirus will be ready by the end of this year, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world needs to use “all the tools at hand” to end the pandemic, including - but not limited to - vaccines.
“There is hope by the end of this year that we may have a vaccine. There is hope,” Dr Tedros said on Tuesday at the end of a two-day meeting of the WHO’s executive board.
Currently, there are about 40 different vaccines in clinical trials - including one being developed by the University of Oxford that is already in an advanced stage of testing.
But Dr Tedros did not elaborate on which vaccine he thought would be available by the end of the year.
A WHO initiative is aiming to give countries worldwide equitable access to nine vaccines, external, once they are licensed and approved.
However, scientists have warned that an effective vaccine will not suddenly return life to normal, as it could take months for it to be produced, distributed and administered on a large scale.
Image source, EPATreasurer Josh Frydenberg said the debt was a heavy burden
The Australian government has vowed to slash taxes and increase spending to shore up the country’s coronavirus-ravaged economy, in a move that would see the deficit swell to a record level.
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced a package of measures to help reduce unemployment and stimulate the economy in his budget on Tuesday.
Those measures included A$17.8bn (£9.8bn; $12.6bn) in personal tax cuts and A$5.2bn in employment programmes.
This spending is forecast to increase Australia’s deficit to a record A$213 billion, or 11% of gross domestic product (GDP), this financial year.
The deficit is the difference between government spending and revenue over the course of a financial year.
"This is a heavy burden, but a necessary one to responsibly deal with the greatest challenge of our time," said Mr Frydenberg.
With lockdowns closing businesses, the pandemic has sent the global economy into a tailspin. Australia’s economy shrank by 7% in the three months to June, the most since records began in 1959.
Read more: A visual guide to the economic impact of the pandemic
Further restrictions are on the way for Northern Ireland, the deputy first minister, Michelle O'Neill, has said.
The timing will be discussed later this week.
"All options" are on the table, she said, adding that ministers face tough decisions.
Along with First Minister Arlene Foster, she has written an open letter urging people in the north west to stick to tougher Covid-19 rules brought in there.
It comes as one further death was recorded by the Department of Health on Tuesday. It means 585 people in Northern Ireland have now died with the virus.
A further 669 cases of Covid-19 were also recorded since Monday.
Kevin Connolly, BBC Europe Correspondent
As the Covid crisis has unfolded, infection rates have fluctuated and restrictions have proliferated. But it has always felt that there was one idea to cling to, that by working out which countries were doing well - and which were not - there was something to be learned.
After all, historians will surely puzzle over how the countries of Western Europe, with broadly similar economies, produced such drastically different outcomes. So far, at least.
We use international comparisons all the time, of course, they're a way of measuring how our own governments are doing. But even comparing the simplest data can be complex.
There can be differences in how and when death is reported, how co-morbidities are reflected on death certificates, and for how long after a positive test a death is considered to be Covid-related. All will influence how a country's performance at any given moment is measured.
For the moment, the gaps in performance appear to be startling.
Read the full story here.
A further 50 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, NHS England says.
In Wales, a further 10 people have died and 425 people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to Public Health Wales.
It comes as Welsh tourism businesses say proposals to quarantine visitors from Covid hotspots in England could "induce more cancellations and more uncertainty".
So far, 15 of Wales' 22 counties have seen local lockdown restrictions put in place affecting more than two million people.
UK-wide coronavirus figures are expected to be published by the government later.
Boris Johnson has been speaking at the virtual Conservative party conference.
He says there has been "too much frustration and hardship just to settle for the status quo”.
He says people would "not simply content ourselves with a repair job". Instead, it is a time to learn and improve, says the prime minister.
Watch an excerpt from his speech below:
Conservative conference: Johnson on post-Covid UK economy
Here are the main UK coronavirus headlines this afternoon:
Council leaders from cities in the north of England have written to UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, urging him to improve local coronavirus measures.
They said they were "extremely concerned about the sharp increase in new Covid-19 cases" in their areas and the national responses.
The four leaders said: "The existing restrictions are not working, confusing for the public and some, like the 10pm rule, are counter-productive.
"Instead, local measures, developed jointly across police, council enforcement and public health services, should be deployed to address rising infection rates based on local knowledge."
Leader of Leeds City Council Judith Blake, Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson, leader of Manchester City Council Sir Richard Leese and leader of Newcastle City Council Nick Forbes told Mr Hancock:
"It is critical to the future of our local - and therefore the nation’s - economic well-being that we look to work together," they told him.
If you're just joining us, here's a reminder of the day's top global stories:
Our latest graphics show the increase of cases - both in Europe and across the world.
BBC Monitoring
The world through its media
Image source, ReutersDonald Trump’s return to the White House from hospital was dubbed a "show for the cameras" by some foreign media, in an apparent reference to the president’s reality TV past.
Russia’s NTV channel observed it was done “in true Hollywood style”.
"Donald Trump returned spectacularly to the White House… at the end of the day, at the time of the television news," wrote France’s centre-left Le Monde newspaper.
"Monday's staging does not resolve all the questions,” the paper added. “First of all, regarding his real condition, as, according to his doctors, he was receiving a cocktail of drugs including steroids, which could fuel a feeling of euphoria."
The timing of the president’s discharge from hospital raised eyebrows elsewhere. Spain’s rightist ABC said it happened despite the president “not being out of danger from Covid-19”.
In Iran, rolling TV news channel IRINN stressed that Mr Trump, "in his latest unhygienic move", delivered a speech without a mask upon his return to the White House.
Iranian media expressed the view that Mr Trump has started to use his infection for political purposes. Hardline Javan newspaper called the move "political manoeuvring" while pro-reform Aftab-eYazd dubbed it "Trump's show".
Mr Trump’s disregard of social distancing measures started drawing widespread criticism in China after he left the hospital in a car over the weekend to greet supporters in what the state-run Global Times called a “joyride”.
“Observers believe that Trump's attempt to project strength and rally support for his election amid his illness could backfire because he ignored standard Covid-19 treatment procedures, and put people around him at risk,” wrote the paper.
Any decisions on further restrictions for Scotland will not be revealed until tomorrow, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says.
A statement to parliament will follow a cabinet meeting, she said.
"In many ways, this is probably the most difficult decision point we have faced so far," the first minister said, with a sharply rising rate of infection in the country.
Some government advisers have backed the idea of a "circuit breaker" lockdown for a relatively brief time, possibly two weeks, as a "short, sharp shock".
It could include travel limits and the closure of bars and restaurants.You can find out more about what a circuit-breaker would mean here.
Industry leaders have warned that some tourism and hospitality businesses may never recover from the effects of further lockdown restrictions.
Ms Sturgeon said today that there would not be a lockdown similar to that which began at the end of March however. She also indicated that schools would not shut beyond normal holiday dates and there would be no travel restrictions affecting the "whole of the country".
It comes as a further two people who tested positive have died, taking the total to 2,532 deaths in Scotland by that measure.
The first minister also confirmed a further 800 people had tested positive for Covid-19 - 13.2% of those newly tested yesterday.
Margaret Ferrier, the MP who has breached Covid guidance, is believed to have attended Mass at a Glasgow church after showing symptoms of the virus.
She has been condemned for travelling to London after experiencing symptoms and having a test - then returning home to Scotland after testing positive.
The Daily Record has now reported that the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West gave a reading at St Mungo's RC church in Townhead on Sunday 27 September.
That was the day after she said she experienced "mild symptoms" and the day before her train trip.
The Catholic Church in Scotland said it could not confirm whether Ms Ferrier, or anyone else, attended the Mass due to data protection laws.
She has been suspended by the SNP and has faced calls to quit as an MP for risking the health of others in Parliament and on public transport.
As we mentioned earlier, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has delivered his virtual Conservative Party conference speech.
Here are some of the key points he mentioned:
Image source, PA MediaHouseholds could be banned from mixing in Nottingham after a surge in cases, a city health official has said.
Director of public health Alison Challenger said rules were likely to be similar to those already in place in parts of northern England.
This would mean people from different households no longer being able to meet each other.
There has been a surge in the city's Covid rate, which is now at 382.4 per 100,000 - the sixth highest rate in England.
Every area in England with a higher rate of positive tests already has restrictions in place.
Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesPoland reported a record number of Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours. The health ministry tweeted that 56 of the 58 people who died had underlying health issues, but Poland, like other countries in the region, is seeing a sharp increase in new infections.
Daily cases have been around 2,000 or more since the start of October compared to a high of 599 during the Spring. Health ministry officials are considering more heightened restrictions in localised areas - 51 of Poland’s 380 powiats - or districts - currently have limits on wedding party guests and an obligation to wear face masks outdoors
At the same time, hospitals are now seeing two worrying trends, a spike in the number of patients requiring intensive care treatment and a shortage of the anti-viral drug, remdesivir, used to disrupt the virus’s ability to copy itself and shorten the duration of symptoms.
“This is definitely a different course than in the spring," deputy health minister Waldemar Kraska told Polsat News. "More people are sent for hospital treatment, but also more and more people go to intensive care units because they require treatment with a ventilator. This is very disturbing.”
The number of patients requiring hospitalisation jumped by 561 in the previous 24 hours and those requiring a ventilator by 44. The health ministry has allocated about 9,000 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients nationwide and 3,719 are currently occupied. However, there are reports of shortages in individual hospitals.
Image source, ReutersThe World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that "pandemic fatigue" is threatening Europe's ability to stop the spread of coronavirus.
The WHO's Europe director, Hans Kluge, said on Tuesday that the "huge sacrifices" made by people across Europe during the pandemic had "come at an extraordinary cost, which has exhausted all of us, regardless of where we live, or what we do".
"In such circumstances it is easy and natural to feel apathetic and demotivated, to experience fatigue."
Citing survey data from across the region, he said the levels of fatigue had reached 60% in some cases and called on countries to remain in touch with local communities to monitor people's responses to the pandemic and their developing needs.
He highlighted virtual celebrations during Ramadan or floating cinemas as successful new approaches that could help people adapt to the new conditions imposed by the pandemic.