Plus, the 98-year-old doctor still working
   
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By Victoria King

 
 

Testing, testing

 
 
Coronavirus latest

From now on coronavirus testing will be open to all care home residents and staff, anyone over 65 and everyone who must leave home to work. The expansion means millions more people in England are now eligible. Elsewhere in the UK testing is being widened in slightly different ways - here's lots more detail.

  

BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle says ultimately anyone will be able to get tested if they have symptoms - crucial when lockdown restrictions are eased as part of the "test, track and trace" strategy to keep the virus at bay. A contact-tracing app that could also help is said to be two or three weeks away.

 

From today, the daily reported death toll will include fatalities in care homes as well as hospitals. A jump in the numbers is inevitable, given that a third of all coronavirus deaths in England and Wales are now happening in care homes. See the up-to-date picture across the country and in your area.

 

In other news, northern MPs and peers are calling for a "catch-up premium" to be given to poorer secondary-age pupils to fund extra tuition and prevent them falling behind. Also today, learn what it's like being locked down in a tower block with four children, and find out more about a rare syndrome appearing in some youngsters which scientists think could be linked to coronavirus.

 

Finally, revised plans to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day on 8 May have been announced. A veterans' procession and street parties have been cancelled, but other lockdown-friendly events are in the pipeline.

 
 
 

Around the world

 
 

In the US, there have now been more than a million confirmed virus cases - making up almost a third of the total globally. Some states are continuing to reopen though - see what that looks like. The pandemic is also squeezing US food supplies - prompting a presidential intervention - and efforts continue by the Federal Reserve to try to mitigate the economic impact.

 

In Europe, France's authorities have set out how they plan to exit lockdown from 11 May, including making face masks compulsory on public transport and in secondary schools.  Spain, too, has announced a four-phase plan to lift its stringent restrictions and return to a "new normality" by the end of June. In Russia, meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has admitted that a shortage of protective kit for medics is hampering the country's virus response.

 

In other stories from around the world, meet the man giving dignified burials to coronavirus victims in India, and the couple in Australia who've found themselves locked down alone in paradise.  

 

As ever, our live page has all the latest from around the world.

 
 
 

Health costs

 
 

Hidden behind the headlines is what experts refer to as the "parallel epidemic". That's the wider impact on public health, including late or missed diagnosis of everything from cancer to appendicitis. Find out more. The virus itself has particular implications for those nearing the end of their lives and the BBC's Ed Thomas has been inside a hospice to see close up. And for trans people, too, the crisis  presents specific and worrying challenges.

 

Beyond health, businesses big and small are struggling. British Airways has announced 12,000 job losses, while at the other end of the scale, meet one café owner whose business is going bust before it's even opened.

 
 
 
 

How quiet high streets put Bangladesh jobs at risk

 

High Street fashion emporiums around the world have closed their doors for lockdowns, but the largely forgotten victims are thousands of miles from the glass and steel-fronted shopping arcades. Sabina Akhter is one of them. She works in a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka in Bangladesh making shirts for the European market. A few days ago, her boss announced he would not be able to keep the factory running as all his buyers in Europe have cancelled their orders due to the coronavirus outbreak. "I don't know how I'll be able to survive," she said . 

 
 
 
 
 
  Read full analysis >   
 
 
 
 

Akbar Hossain

BBC Bengali

 
 
 
 
 

What the papers say

 
 
Paper review

The situation in care homes is covered widely. The Daily Mirror accuses the government of  "creating death traps" by "parachuting" hospital patients into homes without tests and failing to provide staff with protective equipment, while the Guardian says protecting care homes must now be its top priority. The NHS Confederation tells the Times the care system must be reformed to ensure residents aren't treated as "second-class citizens". Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph suggests ministers have relaxed one of the five key criteria that must be met before the lockdown can be lifted, "increasing signs that Boris Johnson is preparing to water down restrictions within days". The Financial Times, however, says experts who've assessed those five tests have found "faltering" progress, suggesting ministers will have to take a "cautious" approach. Lastly, discussing revised plans to commemorate VE Day, the Daily Express foresees a day when we will similarly "celebrate victory over Covid-19".

 
 
 

One thing not to miss

The 98-year-old doctor still caring for his patients
 
 
 
 

From elsewhere

 
 
 

Life has moved to Zoom. Can prison visitation too? (Slate)

 
 
 
 

For young people, two defining events: Covid-19 and climate change (National Geographic)

 
 
 
 
 
 

What the pandemic is doing to the children of doctors and nurses (Washington Post)

 
 
 

Cyber-intel firms pitch governments on spy tools to trace coronavirus (Reuters)

 
 
 
 

Listen up

 
 

Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband joins the team for the latest episode of Coronavirus Newscast. And BBC Radio 5 Live's Must Watch podcast tells you what to check out on TV and streaming services this week .

 
 
 

Need something different?

 
 

Two beautiful collections of images for you this morning. The first is a selection from the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year contest - and rather surprisingly, the winner depicts hungry children. The second gallery shows one upside of coronavirus - the rare opportunity provided by lockdowns for wildlife to roam free in urban areas. And finally, something totally different - the bizarre mystery of 29 snakes left in a Sunderland dustbin the day before and the day after Valentine's Day.

 
 
 

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