A scouts motto is "Be Prepared" - but the outbreak appears to have claimed one of their major events in the UK.

This year's Essex International Jamboree was expected to bring about 9,000 scouts together from across the world in early August.

Organisers have now suspended the event due to "the developing coronavirus situation and the significant financial risk" over fears they would not be covered by insurers if they were to cancel the event at short notice.

In a YouTube post, external announcing the news, Jamboree chief Karen Packer said they had taken the decision with a "very heavy heart".

Ticket holders have been advised to check the event's website, external for how to claim a refund.

Image source, AFP

Codogno, a town in northern Italy, is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

But the town's mayor, Francesco Passerini, has said the number of new infections is steadily decreasing, and that this gives him "hope" they can defeat the virus.

"We are close to zero growth," he told Corriere newspaper, external (in Italian).

An Instagram post by Milan-based nurse Alessia Bonari describing her pride in her work fighting coronavirus - despite the difficulties involved - has been praised globally.

The post, which includes a photo of her face bruised from wearing protective masks, has been liked more than 740,000 times so far.

She writes: "I am afraid to go to work. I'm afraid the mask may not adhere well to my face, or I may have accidentally touched myself with dirty gloves, or maybe the lenses [of my goggles] didn't completely cover my eyes and something may have passed through.

"I am physically tired because the protective devices are bad, the lab coat makes me sweat, and once I'm dressed [in a protective suit] I can no longer go to the bathroom or drink for six hours.

"I am psychologically tired, as are all my colleagues who have been in the same condition for weeks, but this will not prevent us from doing our job as we have always done.

"I will continue to take care of my patients, because I am proud of and in love with my job."

She then urged people "not to frustrate our efforts" by coming into hospital if they don't need to, and to instead self-isolate at home.

There is now an easy way to receive the latest coronavirus news updates from the BBC via your smart speaker.

European ministers have been waking up to the news of the US travel ban, announced by President Donald Trump overnight.

Travellers from the 26 countries in the Schengen border-free travel area are to be barred from entering the US. Those passing through any Schengen country in the 14 days before their arrival in the US will also be barred.

The UK - a country not in the Schengen area and where the ban does not apply - has said it does not plan to impose such a ban.

Reacting to the US travel ban, Chancellor Rishi Sunak told BBC Breakfast: "We haven't believed that that's the right thing to do, the evidence here doesn't support that.

"What we are trying to do is contain the virus while recognising that it is now likely that it will spread more significantly."

The UK is expected to step up its own response later by moving into the delay stage - with the aim of pushing back the peak of the outbreak until the summer.

The total number of confirmed cases in the UK stands at 460. Eight people have died as a result of the virus in the UK.

Markets are looking increasingly rattled by the global response to the coronavirus outbreak.

London's FTSE 100 index sank about 6% in early trading on Thursday. That followed more falls in the US, with the Dow Jones losing nearly 6% on Wednesday.

It comes after US President Donald Trump restricted travel to the country from most of mainland Europe and the World Health Organization (WHO) labelled the outbreak a pandemic.

Get the latest here.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, AFP

The UN's educational, scientific and cultural body, Unesco, external, says 22 countries now have nationwide school closures in place in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Schools have been closed for different lengths of time in different places. For example:

• Denmark is among the latest countries to shut all schools - and universities - for a fortnight. It took the decision after a sharp rise in cases, with 514 now confirmed
• Kazakhstan - where there are zero confirmed cases - has also announced schools will be closed from Monday
• Last week, Italy shut schools for about a month. It came after 2,500 cases were confirmed in the country
• Late last month, Japan officials asked all schools to close until the end of school year in late March. The move came after 186 cases were confirmed

Elsewhere, 13 countries have closed some schools in areas which have seen the most outbreaks, Unesco said.

These areas include Madrid in Spain and two regions in France - Brittany and the Oise region, north of Paris. Local reports also suggest most schools in UKraine will be shut.

In the UK and Germany, a relatively small number of schools have been closed temporarily to allow for deep cleaning after staff or pupils tested positive or returned from high-risk areas.

Image source, AFP

Officials in China have declared that the peak of the country's outbreak is officially over.

Mi Feng, a spokesman for China's National Health Commission, said "the increase of new cases is falling".

There were just 15 new cases logged across the whole of China on Thursday, and Hubei province - the epicentre of the virus - logged just eight new infections. This is the first time the province has recorded a daily tally of fewer than 10 new cases.

Over the last seven days, the progress of coronavirus in the country has slowed markedly. China has been enforcing strict measures on traffic and the movement of people in an attempt to stem the spread, including effectively putting Wuhan on lockdown.

As the virus has slowed, authorities have cautiously started easing restrictions and businesses have been reopening. Earlier on Thursday, Hubei officials announced that travel restrictions would be further loosened.

Responding to President Donald Trump's decision to suspend travel from Europe to the US, Charles Michel said that Europe was doing everything it could to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The Greek health ministry has confirmed the country's first death of coronavirus.

The patient was a 66-year-old man, who contracted the virus while on a religious bus tour of Israel and Egypt last month.

He died in hospital in Patras, about 204km (127 miles) west of Athens.

Several others who were on the tour with him are now in hospital or quarantined.

That's it for the special question and answer session for today's live page.

We will continue posting your questions here throughout the day so please do keep them coming.

If you have a question you would like the BBC to answer at a later stage, you can contact us in the following ways:

• Email YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk
• Tweet using the hashtag #BBCYourQuestions, external
• Use the form on this story

Simon Gompertz
Personal finance correspondent

Mark Gribby is self-employed and wanted to know what help there was for him if he had to stop working due to the virus.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has encouraged the self-employed who have symptoms or have been told to self-isolate to apply for benefits, namely Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance.

However, charities are worried that there is still a five-week delay before Universal Credit is paid. You can get an advance payment but this will be taken off your future entitlement. Unfortunately, you cannot get statutory sick pay because that is paid by an employer.

Tom Burridge
Transport correspondent

Given that this is happening in many airports abroad, lots of people have been asking this question and we’ve been asking Public Health England. Their line is still that this is not deemed a necessary step.

There is a protocol in place at UK airports for flights arriving from countries like Italy and China. The crew on the flight are supposed to ask passengers if they’re feeling unwell and communicate any possible cases to health officials, based at the airport of arrival, before the plane lands.

A colleague arrived on a flight from Hong Kong on Monday and a passenger was displaying symptoms so officials in protective gear boarded the plane on arrival at Heathrow. We don’t know if it was a confirmed case of coronavirus.

Fergus Walsh
Medical correspondent

The sort of thin, paper masks you see people wearing are not very effective at preventing you getting infected. They get moist very quickly and so need frequent changing. They may encourage people not to touch their face, but of course they don’t protect your eyes.

They are good at preventing people from passing on infection if they are coughing and sneezing, but anyone with symptoms should now be thinking about staying at home and not spreading germs.

There are more effective face masks with finer mesh filtration, but they tend to be uncomfortable to wear. The British Lung Foundation says it does not recommend using a face mask "as there isn't enough evidence to show how effective they are.

The key measure to prevent yourself getting infected is good hand hygiene - it may sound simple but regular hand-washing with soap and water for 20 seconds is key.

Emma Simpson
Business correspondent

Genevieve Lowings asked specifically about the financial assistance for private nurseries from the government if they are ordered to close.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in the budget that thousands of small retailers, hospitality and leisure firms won't have to pay any business rates in the coming year as part of an emergency package of measures.

Nurseries aren't included. Some have already been in touch with us to say how unhappy they are about this.

The most useful financial help may well be statutory sick pay (SSP). Mr Sunak says anyone who needs to self-isolate because of the virus, even if they don't have any symptoms, will be paid SSP from the first day they are off work.

If you are a UK employer with fewer than 250 staff, the government will refund the cost for workers who need to take up to 14 days off. There’s also a new "temporary coronavirus business interruption loan scheme" for banks to offer loans to support small and medium sized businesses.

Check the government website for details.

• UK chancellor pumps billions into economy to combat coronavirus

Tom Burridge
Transport correspondent

This is a personal call.

As things stand you can travel freely between the US and Ireland as Ireland is not a Schengen country.

If you do cancel any flights now you wouldn’t be covered by travel insurance and your airline wouldn’t pay out.

If travel restrictions kick-in between Ireland and the US then your airline should refund you.

It’s a tricky one. The official advice as things stand is that you’re ok to travel but no-one knows where we’ll be in even a few days' time.

Fergus Walsh
Medical correspondent

For four out of five people, Covid-19 will be a mild disease, a bit like flu. Symptoms include a fever and dry cough. You may feel grotty for a few days but you should be back to normal within a week or so of symptoms appearing.

Lots of people may not even know that they are infected - we are unsure about this but it would be very positive news if that is the case because it would build up the level of so-called herd immunity in society.

If the virus gets well established in the lungs it can cause breathing difficulties and pneumonia. About one in seven people may need hospital treatment, and about one in twenty critical care - such things as a ventilator and oxygen.

In China, those who got most sick were in hospital for around three weeks. While many died, the vast majority of those who fall ill will recover, even if they are elderly or have underlying health conditions.

• Coronavirus symptoms: What are they and how do I protect myself?

Tom Burridge
Transport correspondent

You asked when the government might advise people not to travel in confined spaces like the London Underground.

The short answer is, when its health experts advise it to do so. It might never happen.

I spoke to a senior rail industry figure yesterday and they are thinking all scenarios through. However, the sense is that we’re not close to a ban on public transport at the moment.

It’s worth noting that public transport is still running in Italy, although services have been reduced.

For now, transport bosses in the UK say they’re reviewing cleaning procedures. Transport for London says it is using a more powerful disinfectant.

But irrespective of government advice, passenger numbers on trains have fallen as more people work at home.

Fergus Walsh
Medical correspondent

It varies a lot on the type of surface.

On hard surfaces - like door handles, lift buttons or kitchen worktops, it is probably around 48 hours. Although some previous research on coronaviruses has found they can survive for perhaps a week in the right conditions.

On soft surfaces like clothes it survives for much less time, so if you have a coat that has the virus on and you don’t wear it for a day or two, the virus shouldn’t be active anymore.

Remember, simply touching an infected surface will not give you Covid-19. You have to then pass the virus to your mouth, nose or eyes, so that’s why we need to stop touching our faces when out and about.

There have been a lot of dramatic events over the last 12 hours or so. Here are some of the main headlines:

• US President Donald Trump has suspended travel from Europe to the US. The restrictions don't apply to the UK and some other European countries outside the Schengen free movement zone. US citizens are also exempt
• Trump also later clarified that the restrictions apply only to people, and not cargo
• US actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have been diagnosed with the virus in Australia
• The National Basketball Association (NBA) has suspended the season. Earlier, a player for the Utah Jazz team was confirmed to have the virus
• The number of new cases in the Chinese province of Hubei, where the outbreak emerged, fell to the lowest rate since the outbreak began