A growing list of councils in England have now advised the primary schools they govern not to reopen at the beginning of next month. Eleven, mostly Labour-controlled authorities, have so far either expressed outright opposition amid safety concerns or warned they won't be ready in time. School governors will need to sign off on headteachers' plans for reopening and the body which advises them says it would be hard to ignore the position of their local authorities. 

BBC education correspondent Branwen Jeffries says it's increasingly clear any school return will be patchy and partial. The government says the date is not fixed in stone. 

Do you have to send your children back? Read more. And what might a socially distanced school look like? The much-discussed R number is crucial in decisions about reopening - we explain why it matters. 

In other news, Capt Tom Moore is to be knighted for his fundraising efforts after a special nomination from the prime minister; the Institute of Cancer Research is warning the NHS must ensure cancer surgery delays do not cost more lives than the number of Covid-19 patients saved; and according to a study, washing your hands at least six times a day makes catching infections such as coronavirus much less likely.

Finally, after the grim economic forecast from Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Tuesday, our business reporter looks at whether the UK's banks are strong enough to weather this storm.

The pandemic appears to be rapidly gaining pace in Brazil after the country recorded its highest daily death toll yet. The total number of fatalities is now almost 18,000. Brazil is deeply divided over how to respond to coronavirus, with controversial President, Jair Bolsonaro, repeatedly downplaying its severity and arguing against lockdowns imposed by regional governors.

Elsewhere, President Donald Trump has argued it's "a badge of honour" that the US has the world's highest number of confirmed Covid-19 infections because "it means our testing is much better". Our story fact-checks that claim. Hundreds of thousands of high school seniors are returning to class in South Korea with strict hygiene controls, and Singapore has announced a limited easing of lockdown rules from 2 June.

Africa has had fewer than 100,000 confirmed cases so far, but is the virus really contained or simply going unrecorded? And what impact will the switch in focus away from other health issues have? Five BBC Africa reporters give a snapshot of what's happening in their countries.

Get the latest from around the world in our live page. Plus, as the World Bank warns up to 60m people will be pushed into extreme poverty by the pandemic, hear stories from India and Australia about the particular struggles faced by some.

Technology is playing a greater role in our lives due to the demands of social distancing. In the NHS, mixed reality headsets are allowing doctors to communicate better, while parents of premature babies, unable to visit their newborns regularly, are using an app to see them instead. Elsewhere, as Cambridge University says there'll be no face-to-face lectures at all during the 2020-21 academic year, we speak to students doing their year abroad online. And finally, in complete contrast, if you're frustrated by endless video calls, join the growing trend for a more traditional medium: letters .

The schools question again occupies several front pages. The Times suggests a 1 June reopening has been "thrown into doubt" by a senior government scientific adviser, who has indicated that the track and trace system should be in place first. The paper speculates that ministers could be "softening in the face of a revolt". With a similar theme, the Guardian says No 10 is "retreating" as the "backlash" over school reopening gathers pace. The Daily Telegraph, though, thinks the British Medical Association has "dropped its opposition" by saying schools can reopen as long as it is "safe to do so". The i, meanwhile, reports on what it calls the "blame game" beginning after a minister criticised "wrong science" for the decision to stop coronavirus testing in the community in March. And finally, while much attention has been focused on reviving the economy, a letter in the Financial Times - signed by the likes of Greenpeace and the RSPB - urges readers to consider how nature conservation should be at the heart of any recovery.

From elsewhere

This week's instalment of BBC Local Radio's Make a Difference podcast brings you positive stories of people going the extra mile at this tough time. And in Coronavirus Newscast, the team meets people whose careers have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Earlier in the week we brought you the story of a woman volunteering to nurse babies whose mothers were killed in a militant attack on an Afghan hospital. Today, meet one of the babies, Amina, a newborn who was shot twice but survived. And, as a law comes into force in England making organ donation an opt-out rather than opt-in decision, hear the stories of four people whose lives were transformed by transplants.