Anna Holligan
BBC News Hague correspondent

Image source, EPA

Arrests at protests, intensive care doctors turned patients - these certainly weren't the intended effects of the Netherlands self-proclaimed "intelligent" lockdown.

As the number of new coronavirus cases sky-rocketed to almost 6,000 overnight, the figures are surpassing the Dutch government's own predictions.

On Thursday evening, about 80 demonstrators were arrested near the parliament building in The Hague, gathered in protest against an emergency law designed to give the government's Covid-19 measures a legal foundation.

Tensions are intensifying among those concerned about losing their civil liberties and others worried the liberal government's reluctance to curtail freedoms has resulted in the country now having one of the world's most rapidly rising infection rates.

Twenty operating theatre staff tested positive after an outbreak at a hospital in Limburg province, including three surgeons. One of them is now being treated in the intensive care unit of their own hospital.

No modifications to the existing rules - which include bars closing at 22:00 local time and wearing a face covering "strongly advised" in enclosed public spaces - are expected until next week when the impact of current measures can be assessed.

One headline on the Dutch public service broadcaster's website this morning reads "Where are you still welcome as a Dutch person this autumn holiday?"

You may be surprised to discover six countries in Europe are still prepared to accept residents from what's now the European coronavirus hotspot.

Faisal Islam
BBC economics editor

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The economy's bounce back from the pandemic shutdowns slowed in August, despite the boost from Eat Out to Help Out at a time when there were few social restrictions.

The official technical recession - two consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP - has certainly ended and that will be confirmed next month.

But a lower than expected figure for growth in the economy in August raises fears about the recovery petering out and even going into reverse in the current final quarter of the year.

The figures bolster the argument of those business groups campaigning for further support, particularly as social restrictions are strengthening rather than weakening. The first stage of that could come from Chancellor Rishi Sunak later on Friday.

The Bank of England will also react at its policy-setting meeting next month.

But the latest figures show that while the first bounce in the economy occurred relatively rapidly, a full recovery is going to take much longer and not yet assured.

It's going to be a tough winter.

Guy Hedgecoe
Journalist, Madrid

Image source, Reuters

Madrid and its surrounding region have been in confusion since Thursday, when a court refused to ratify restrictions on movement introduced on 2 October.

Those measures, which sought to prevent all non-essential travel in and out of the capital and nine nearby cities, have been lifted.

Other measures are still in place, such as reduced limits for numbers of customers in businesses and public spaces and early closing for bars and restaurants.

But, with a public holiday on Monday, the authorities want to introduce new restrictions that would prevent Madrileños travelling out of their home city or region in droves this weekend.

The Madrid regional government has been at loggerheads with the central administration over which measures are appropriate.

The former is expected to announce new rules which it hopes will prevent the central government from declaring a localised state of emergency in Madrid later in the day.

One of the top stories in the UK today is on the new figures that show the UK economy grew by 2.1% in August - which was below expectations.

Growth in August was slower than the expansion seen in both June and July - and the economy is still 9.2% smaller than it was before the pandemic.

So what are experts saying about what this means for the economic recovery?

"No V-shaped recovery here," was the verdict of Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

He was referring to the suggestion from the Bank of England that the UK was on for a V-shaped recovery, which is considered to be the best case scenario. The V means that after a sharp fall, economic recovery will quickly follow.

Mr Tombs predicted growth of only about 2% in September and suggested GDP will "struggle to improve on September's level" as more restrictions and consumer caution hits.

Meanwhile Sarah Hewin, economist and head of research at Standard Chartered Bank, said: "We had very strong growth in June and July as lockdown restrictions eased, so August data continued to show the economy growing, but not at such a fast pace.

"The slowdown in that momentum, though, does give us some concern for what might be happening over the next few months."

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President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil managed to alleviate the economic impact of the pandemic by introducing monthly emergency payments to more than 67 million people.

A study by the FGV higher education think tank said the monthly handouts - which started at £83 ($107) but have now been cut by half - pushed the number of poor Brazilians to a new low of around 50 million people.

But the handouts are due to expire in December and, unless the government manages to approve the extension of subsidies, 15 million people will be thrown back into poverty, according to FGV.

Bolsonaro - who saw his popularity rise thanks to the payments - is trying to keep income support. But efforts are stalled in Congress amid disagreements over how to fund them without breaking a constitutional spending cap and worries about the country's budget deficit.

"We're between a rock and a hard place," FGV economist Marcelo Neri told Reuters news agency.

There are also fears that the pandemic will lead to a sharp rise in unemployment amid a deep recession.

Brazil has been hard hit by Covid-19, with Bolsonaro being widely criticised for his handling of the pandemic. He downplayed the virus at the beginning, saying it was just a "little flu", and opposed measures suggested by health experts, such as social distancing.

The country has confirmed nearly 5.03 million cases - the world's third-highest number - with 148,957 deaths, according to the health ministry.

Image source, Reuters

We're waiting for an announcement from Rishi Sunak, the UK chancellor, later - and it's expected to be about further financial help for jobs and businesses.

Until now, there has been the furlough scheme, which sees the government help employers pay workers' wages.

From 1 November, that is being replaced by the Job Support Scheme, which will run for six months. Under that scheme, employees who work at least a third of their hours will get their salaries partly topped up by the government. (Read about more that here.)

Later today, Mr Sunak is expected to detail "the next stage" of this scheme - ahead of new restrictions expected for the hospitality sector next week.

The BBC has been told that pubs and restaurants could be closed in the worst-affected areas of England.

Regional leaders and unions have been calling for fresh financial support to prevent further layoffs when new restrictions are imposed.

A Treasury spokeswoman said: "The chancellor will be setting out the next stage of the Job Support Scheme later today that will protect jobs and provide a safety net for those businesses that may have to close in the coming weeks and months."

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More than 450 heritage organisations in England are set to share the first wave of a £1.57bn government handout to help them through the pandemic.

The money is part of a Culture Recovery Fund aimed at helping museums, galleries and heritage sites.

Sites to receive funding from the first tranche of £103m include Blackpool's Winter Gardens, the Severn Valley Railway and Gloucester Cathedral.

And organisations including English Heritage and Historic Royal Palaces will receive money to restart conservation and maintenance.

Lucy Worsley, TV historian and chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said the pandemic meant conservation work on its six properties - including Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London - was stopped.

"The grant we have received will enable this work to resume - so we can give some of Britain's most historic buildings the care and attention they deserve, while supporting the specialist craftspeople who are vital for the future of our national heritage."

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The Australian government's tax cuts programme affecting millions of people has been backed by parliament.

The cuts, initially due to kick in in 2022, have been backdated to July this year as part of the government's coronavirus budget unveiled three days ago.

The tax office will now update the Pay As You Go tables, meaning employees will get more money in their paypackets "before the end of the year", Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was quoted as saying.

Image source, Reuters

With about 7.5 million coronavirus cases, the US has the highest number of confirmed infections in the world - about one fifth of the global total despite having only 4% of the population.

After the initial spike in late March, social distancing restrictions gradually brought infections to heel. By May, case numbers had stabilised. But as states peeled back lockdown measures, cases began to rise, reaching a countrywide high in July.

As summer hotspots - like Arizona, Florida and California - brought their outbreaks under control, surges have developed elsewhere, with fast-moving outbreaks in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

In recent weeks, infections have risen steadily, with national cases increasing for three weeks in a row.

Read our full story here

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In the UK, the government has a Covid-19 watchlist which categorises different local councils as "areas of concern", "areas of enhanced support" or "areas of intervention".

The number of areas on the watchlist has swelled over the past three months to 96.

Some, like Leicester and Greater Manchester, have been under tighter restrictions than the rest of England since the summer, while other areas have come off the watchlist altogether.

Four areas - Hertsmere, Northampton, Peterborough and Swindon - all came off the watchlist recently. Officials identified three key reasons why this may have happened for them but not for others.

So what are those reasons? And how can an area get itself off the list? Our reporter has looked into it.

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Spain's government imposed a partial lockdown on 4.78 million people in Madrid last Friday night but a court has overturned it, intensifying a political row with the capital's political leaders. For now Madrid regional president I, externalsabel Díaz Ayuso says residents should stick within the city limits. But she rejects the state of alert PM Pedro Sánchez insists on. He's given her an ultimatum ahead of a long holiday weekend.

Brussels Premier Rudi Vervoort has tested positive as Belgium today begins new measures to control the spread. The whole Brussels regional government went into self isolation on Wednesday night and a Flemish minister’s office colleague has died of the virus. Belgians can now keep only three close contacts, let four people into their homes at the same time, and cafes have to close at 23:00.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold video talks with the mayors of 11 of Germany's biggest cities today – 4,516 new cases have been reported today and 487 more people are in intensive care.

Czech health officials have recorded 5,394 new infections – the third time this week the republic has seen a record number since the pandemic began. More than 100 deaths have been recorded this week and there has been a big jump in hospital admissions. Restaurants and pubs will start closing at 20:00 from tonight, and gyms, swimming pools and zoos are shutting.

As infections rise sharply in the Netherlands, dozens of people have been arrested during a protest against Covid measures in The Hague. Twenty staff have tested positive at a hospital in the south-eastern province of Limburg.

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The French government has imposed tighter coronavirus restrictions in four more cities with high infection rates.

Lyon, Lille, Grenoble and Saint-Etienne will become zones of maximum alert from Saturday.

Bars and restaurants will have to close, as they did in the capital Paris earlier this week and Marseille last month.

The measures were announced as France reported a near-record 18,129 new cases on Thursday.

Read our full story

The UK government's business minister Nadhim Zahawi has said the trend of rising cases across the country "is worrying".

A week ago, the number of new confirmed cases was 7,000 - but seven days later on Thursday they were at 17,000, he points out.

(Read more here on the number of cases in the UK.)

"That puts into perspective for your viewers the urgency of the interventions we're having to make," Mr Zahawi told BBC Breakfast, as he defended restrictions on the hospitality industry such as the 22:00 BST closing time.

He added: "Chris Whitty the chief medical officer, shared some slides with colleagues from the North yesterday which demonstrate that clearly social interactions in restaurants and cafes is about 30% of the infections."

He said he "deeply" dislikes having to bring in restrictions but unfortunately they have to be done "to control the virus".

A government minister has defended plans to bring in more restrictions, saying rising case numbers needed to be brought "back under control".

The government is planning to bring in a new three-tier system of coronavirus restrictions in England in the coming days.

Under the plan, the worst-affected areas will be in the top tier and could face tighter restrictions - for example possibly closing pubs and restaurants.

But there has been growing anger among MPs and local leaders about the way the government has communicated the proposed changes to them.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham accused the government of treating the north of England with "contempt" - and that financial support is needed if more restrictions are brought in.

In response, government minister Gillian Keegan said: "This is serious - it is getting out of control, and we have to do something to bring it back under control," she said.

But she acknowledged that communication with the worst-hit areas needed to improve.

"We definitely need to work locally and we definitely need to make sure that the communications are much clearer."

Read the full story here.

Image source, Reuters

We've got more details about that update on the UK economy that's making headlines this morning.

Figures show that the economy continued to recover in August and grew by 2.1% - partly thanks to a boost to restaurants from the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

But that figure was below expectations - and the economy is still 9.2% smaller than it was pre-pandemic.

Growth was slower than in June and July - and analysts say the coming months could see growth slackening further amid new Covid restrictions and concern over a no-deal Brexit.

Government business minister Nadhim Zahawi has just been responding to the news on BBC Breakfast. He said "undoubtedly 2020 is going to be a difficult year" but added: "The direction of travel is still positive."

Read more on the economy story here.

Image source, Reuters

Here are the latest global developments:

• US President Donald Trump is ready to return to public events, his doctor says
• In France, four more cities are to shut bars and restaurants
• Germany and the Czech Republic both see further infection spikes
• India reports more than 70,000 confirmed daily cases and nearly 1,000 deaths
• China joins the global Covax initiative to help pay for and distribute vaccines
• World infections cross the 36.5-million mark, with over 1.06 million deaths

Stay with us - we’ll be bringing you experts’ analysis, first-hand eyewitness accounts, and reports from BBC correspondents around the world

Image source, PA Media

Good morning to our UK audience who are just waking up. Here are the top stories on the pandemic in the UK:

• There’s an update on the UK economy this morning, with figures showing that it grew by 2.1% in August – slower than in June and July, and still below expectations. That’s despite the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which paid half of people’s meals at participating restaurants up to a value of £10
• A junior government minister has said the virus is “getting out of control” in the north of England, saying it’s an “unbelievably serious situation”. Gillian Keegan, who is the minister for skills and apprenticeships, was defending the restrictions
• Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has written a piece, external in the Daily Telegraph calling for local leaders to be included in local lockdown decisions. He said the government had been operating under the “arrogant” view that “Whitehall knows best”
• There’s some good news from scientists, who have published a study that shows a new, rapid “bedside” test for coronavirus could help to cut the spread of infection in hospitals. The test takes under two hours to show results. Scientists are calling for more rapid tests on the NHS
• And this evening will see the start of tough new restrictions in parts of Scotland. From 18:00 BST, pubs and restaurants in the central belt – which includes cities Edinburgh and Glasgow – will have to close until at least 25 October