Image source, PA Media

There is a higher percentage of secondary school pupils testing positive for Covid-19 than any other age group, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics., external

Based on a national survey, the ONS said an estimated 1.65% of Year 7 to Year 11 students tested positive on 6 November, compared to 1.05% for primary pupils.

It comes as the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) examined more than a thousand outbreaks of coronavirus that have occurred since schools reopened in September.

Reopening schools means children aged between 12 and 16 played a "significantly higher role" in spreading infections in households, the scientific advisors said.

But they said there was no clear evidence for or against the claim that infection rates among children were driven by them catching the virus in school.

Shruti Menon
BBC Reality Check, Delhi

Image source, Reuters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again promoted the use of traditional medicine in fighting coronavirus.

Observing Ayurveda Day – a celebration of traditional medicine - he said: “despite our nation being very populous, the Covid-19 situation is under control because every household is consuming immunity boosters like turmeric milk, the ashwagandha herb, kaadha etc”.

Turmeric milk and kaadha are hot drinks made with herbs and spices, while ashwagandha is a shrub also known as “Indian ginseng”.

While such natural remedies may boost your general sense of well-being, there’s no evidence that they can kill the virus or boost the immune system response to Covid-19.

And aside from that - it’s far from clear that India has coronavirus “under control”.

Although the number of new cases has come down significantly since September, the country is still reporting the second highest number of daily cases in the world, after the US.

We’ve looked into these and other health claims on the virus here.

Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst

Image source, Getty Images

China has reported no new domestic symptomatic cases in the last 24 hours, but its National Health Commission has warned that “the country is facing greater risk of local transmissions caused by import cases”, external.

Earlier this week, China expressed concerns that two domestic cases had been confirmed linked to Shanghai’s international airport.

Shanghai is one of the largest and most populous cities in the world, so an outbreak there could spread quickly. Earlier this week, two cargo handlers tested positive,, external one after travelling to the eastern Anhui province.

This led to thousands of potential close contacts in both Shanghai and Anhui being tested.

Fears are also growing in the country that the virus could enter via import seafood or frozen meats. Today, official media have confirmed that the packaging of frozen goods in eastern Shandong province, central Hubei province and southeastern Fujian province, have tested positive for the coronavirus.

China halts imports from foreign companies when this happens, but in the last month has noted that there has been a surge of frozen goods entering the country from multiple origins, showing positive results for Covid-19.

According to China’s national Global Times newspaper, external, since 13 October, cold chain products from Brazil, Ecuador, Russia, The Netherlands, Germany, India and Indonesia have tested positive for Covid-19.

We brought you the latest ONS estimates for the number of cases in England earlier.

We now have the figures for other parts of the UK. In Wales, an estimated 35,300 people in private households had Covid-19 between 31 October and 6 November.

In Scotland, an estimated 39,700 people in private households had Covid-19 in the week to 6 November.

And in Northern Ireland, an estimated 17,800 people in private households had Covid-19 that week.

The ONS said while its modelling suggested the number of Covid-19 cases for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had increased, results should be interpreted with caution due to the relatively small number of tests and a low number of positives in the sample.

The ONS infection figures are based on tests on people whether they have symptoms or not. Patients in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings are not included in this data.

This is different to the daily government figures, which are based on lab-confirmed cases from mass testing.

Image source, Reuters

Ukraine has recorded 11,787 cases over the past 24 hours, a new record.

The country's Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said the virus was spreading at a “hurricane rate”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is currently in hospital with the virus.

Weekend lockdowns will be in force across the country until the end of the month. Most businesses with the exception of grocery shops, pharmacies and transport, Reuters news agency reports.

Ukraine has recorded more than 515,000 cases and 9,422 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Clive Coleman
BBC legal correspondent

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, which represents low-paid workers, has won a High Court ruling that the government failed to apply EU health and safety protections - including those on the provision of PPE - to tens of thousands of key workers.

They include private-hire drivers and couriers, who are not classed as employees.

While the EU law requires employers to protect the health and safety of, and provide protective equipment to, "workers" - that is anyone paid to work under the direction of someone else, including some who are self-employed - the UK laws tend to only cover "employees", a much narrower group.

Mr Justice Chamberlain has now ruled PPE protections should apply to all workers, not just employees.

The ruling also stated that workers cannot be dismissed for refusing to attend work where they believe they are in imminent danger. Previously that protection only applied to employees.

So, for example an Uber driver who reasonably refuses to carry a passenger exhibiting Covid symptoms cannot be dismissed.

At least 2,500 mink are set to be culled in Greece after coronavirus was found in two farms there.

An agriculture ministry official said the strain of the virus discovered in the mink had not mutated from humans.

A breeder at one of the farms in Kozani region has tested positive for the virus and staff at the farms are being tested.

It comes after Denmark announced it was culling 17 million mink after the virus was found in the animals there.

Mink are known to be susceptible to Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, which can spread rapidly from animal to animal in the conditions on mink farms, where thousands of animals are kept in close proximity.

Other countries that have recorded outbreaks among mink include the US, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Italy.

You can read more about the science behind mink and coronavirus here.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

South Korea’s capital Seoul has held a drone show to give “comfort and hope” to its residents during the pandemic.

More than 300 drones lit up the sky, forming images of people wearing masks and the coronavirus.

Kim Sang-do, deputy minister for aviation policy said: "I hope this drone show serves as an opportunity to convey joy and hope for a moment to our people experiencing pandemic fatigue."

On Friday, South Korea introduced fines for people not wearing masks in public.

The country has been praised for its handling of the pandemic. South Korea has confirmed 28,133 cases and 488 deaths since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA Media

A fifth of adults in Britain had direct contact indoors with someone who was not in their household or support bubble at the beginning of November, according to a new survey.

The Office for National Statistics, external found that 22% of those polled had had physical contact with at least one other person when socialising indoors in the previous 24 hours.

The ONS said examples of such contact were hugging, shaking or holding hands or making contact when passing objects.

This is despite coronavirus restrictions saying you should keep a distance from those not in your household or support bubble.

They questioned 4,378 adults about their behaviour from 5 to 8 November in settings like private homes, cafes, pubs or restaurants.

The previous week, 24% of people said they'd had such contact.

England's four-week lockdown started on 5 November. Over the survey period, Wales was on its firebreak lockdown, with Scotland having five tiers of local protection levels.

There were an average of 47,700 new cases of Covid-19 a day in homes in England in the week up to 6 November, the Office for National Statistics has estimated.

That's up from an estimated 45,700 new cases a day the previous week.

The ONS said, external the rate of new infections appeared "to have stabilised at around 50,000.”

Image source, Andrea Williams

"I find it easier if I am talking to someone who also lost their husband," says Andrea Williams.

Her husband, Mark, was 58 when he died from Covid-19 in April as Andrea played him their wedding song.

She's part of a group of bereaved relatives, the Covid-19 Families Wales' Group, external, calling for greater access to counselling during the pandemic.

Andrea said the group was one place where she knew she would not be judged when she discussed things like taking her husband's ashes to bed with her when she could not sleep.

"They know exactly what I am going through."

Image source, Samantha Andrews-Pierce

Many of them say grieving has been made even harder because they were unable to say goodbye due to lockdown restrictions and they had to hold funerals under social distancing rules.

Samantha Andrews-Pierce, whose father Terry Andrews died without family at his bedside in April, said: "It just goes through my head that we weren't there for him."

Mandy Howells said the death of her father, 79-year-old Dennis Kierle, "didn't seem real".

"I try to put a brave face on when I'm with my mum," she said, but added that speaking to others in the group who had been through something similar had helped her emotionally.

Read more

The R number - which measures how quickly the epidemic is growing - is reported to have fallen to between 1 and 1.2 across the UK.

If the R value is 1.2, it means every 10 infected people go on to infect a further twelve people on average, meaning the outbreak continues to grow.

In its previous assessment, on 6 November, the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies said the R number was between 1.1 and 1.3 across the UK.

Image source, Getty Images

Tesco has apologised to customers for delays on its website as it tries to cope with high demand for Christmas bookings.

Some customers complained they had been waiting for hours after the online supermarket installed a queuing system to manage demand.

"We're sorry if things take a bit longer than usual," Tesco said on its Twitter account, external. "A lot of customers are using our website and app at the moment."

Supermarkets have been overwhelmed with demand as people start to plan for Christmas, and rival Ocado has already sold out of slots after "huge" demand.

It comes after several supermarkets introduced limits on sales key items such as toilet roll and pasta earlier in the autumn to try and prevent a repeat of the empty shelves seen in the first wave of the pandemic.

Image source, Reuters

Christmas markets in Germany are a well-known tradition. People from around the world usually head to the country to check them out. But this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, very few are operating.

Nuremburg, home to one of Germany’s oldest Christmas markets, has already cancelled its usual event.

However one inn keeper in Bavaria has come up with another way of hosting a Christmas market event while remaining Covid compliant.

Patrick Schmidt has created a drive-through market in the town of Landshut, north of Munich.

Image source, Reuters

“We don’t just sell a crepe or a pack of roasted almonds, we sell an experience,” Mr Schmidt told Reuters news agency.

Images from the market show customers purchasing food, drinks and cars driving through artificial snow.

Germany is currently under a partial lockdown - bars and restaurants are closed except for takeaway and large events have been cancelled.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, @FU99IE / TWITTER

Scenes shown on social media of football fans celebrating Scotland's win over Serbia last night have been criticised.

Fans were filmed in a covered beer garden at Aberdeen's Draft Project, jumping up and down and hugging each other as Scotland won on penalties, qualifying for next year's Euro finals.

A large number of people appear to be close together in the scenes, which SNP Aberdeen Central MSP Kevin Stewart said showed "clear breaches" of Covid regulations.

He said he was contacting the council and police and that they "must investigate".

Aberdeen is under the level two system, external of Covid restrictions for Scotland. Up to six people from two households can meet in hospitality settings, with two-metre distancing remaining in place for those in different households.

Bar owners PB Devco have been asked for comment.

Image source, Getty Images

A number of European countries have warned it is too early to plan for Christmas travel.

Cases of the virus continue to rise across the continent.

In Sweden, people have been told to prepare for possible travel restrictions during the holiday period.

The country's top epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told citizens to prepare for the possibility of restricted travel between different areas during the Christmas period so that regional healthcare services could avoid becoming overwhelmed.

He said the "large bulk" of new Covid-19 cases were currently coming from private parties. A ban on serving alcohol in pubs and bars after 22:00 is due to start next weekend.

Meanwhile Irish and French authorities say it is too soon to say if people can make travel arrangements.

Read more here

Hoteliers in Northern Ireland say brides were still asking if they could get married this weekend after the last-minute extension of the nation's circuit-breaker lockdown announced yesterday.

Fitness coach and TV presenter Joe Wicks had the UK following along devotedly with his YouTube PE classes during lockdown.

But few people could have kept up with him throughout his latest exercise session: a marathon 24-hour live workout for the BBC Children in Need appeal.

Wicks mixed high intensity interval training, rowing, cycling, running, boxing and weight training during his exhausting fundraising challenge, streamed live on BBC iPlayer.

"I’m absolutely broken but we raised an unbelievable amount of money," he said on Twitter, posting a graphic showing that £1.5m had been raised for charity.

Before the challenge, he said he stocked up on socks, five pairs of trainers and "loads of food" because his doctor has said he would burn between 800 and 1,000 calories an hour.

Image source, EPA

Here’s your latest pandemic headlines from around the world:

• Austria is set to announce further restrictions as cases continue to rise. The government will reveal the new restrictions on Saturday. It’s thought that schools will close but retail will remain open
• Portugal is expanding the number of places subject to a night time curfew and other restrictions. From Monday, two thirds of the country will be under the toughest restrictions
• Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn has warned it is unlikely that life will go back to normal in December. He said Christmas parties and other events are unlikely to go ahead. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to meet with the leaders of Germany’s states to discuss whether lockdown measures imposed earlier this month are enough
• Serbia’s health minister Zlatibor Loncar has warned there are no more hospital beds for Covid-19 patients in the capital Belgrade, AFP news agency reports. Earlier today, the country introduced hefty fines for people not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing
• In the American city of Chicago, a new stay at home advisory was issued on Thursday. The mayor has urged people to cancel their Thanksgiving plans and avoid travelling
• All Australian states are set to open before Christmas aside from Western Australia, the cabinet has declared. Travellers from Victoria and New South Wales remain banned in Western Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australians should accept that adhering to Covid-19 safe measures is now part of normal life

Image source, Reuters

Austria is set to close schools and tighten restrictions to slow the spread of the virus, according to news website OE24.

It said the government would hold a news conference on the measures on Saturday.

It’s thought shopping centres where large crowds can gather will close but other retail shops will remain open.

Austria has already introduced a partial lockdowd, but cases are still rising.

The partial lockdown, set to last until the end of the month, has closed restaurants, cafes and bars, to all but takeaway services. Theatres and museums have also shut.

There have been more than 180,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths in the country since the pandemic began.