UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the government will launch a public inquiry next spring, in a statement to the Commons
He said "we should learn lessons", adding the UK's devolved administrations would be consulted on the inquiry
Labour welcomed the inquiry but said it should begin as soon as possible
Meanwhile, an independent report into how the world handled the pandemic finds the current system failed to protect us
The report, from a panel appointed by the World Health Organization, finds serious failures from the WHO and individual governments
People aged 38 and 39 in England will be called to have their Covid vaccine from Thursday
The UK economy shrank by 1.5% in the first quarter of 2021, amid a lengthy winter lockdown
Up to six people from different households will be able to meet indoors at pubs, cafes and restaurants in Wales from Monday
Monday was already due to be the reopening date for indoor hospitality in England and Scotland
Dua Lipa demands a pay rise for NHS workers as she wins at the Brits - the UK's first major in-person ceremony of the pandemic
Confirmed Covid-19 deaths in India pass a quarter of a million
Thanks for joining us, that's all from the live team today - but we will be back again tomorrow.
Bye for now from Becky Morton, Claire Heald, James Clarke, Jennifer Meierhans, Katie Wright and Robert Greenall, who've brought you today's updates.
And here's a recap of the main stories around the world today:
Image source, ReutersWe are going to be bringing our live coronavirus coverage to a close soon so here's a recap of the day's events in the UK:
Image source, PA MediaPrime Minister Boris Johnson has arrived at Westminster Abbey for a service to honour the contribution of nurses during the pandemic.
The service, which takes place annually to mark Florence Nightingale's birthday on 12 May - now known as International Nurses' Day - is this year recognising the sacrifice of nurses and midwives since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock and actress Helena Bonham Carter, who is a relative of Nightingale, are also at the service.
Earlier, the Duchess of Cornwall met nurses, patients and staff on a visit to the Whittington Hospital, in London.
Image source, PA Media
Image source, PA MediaExams in Scotland have been cancelled as the Covid-19 pandemic forced pupils into extended periods of learning from home, but the alternative arrangements are "exams in all but name", Labour's education spokesman has said.
Michael Marra has written to Education Secretary John Swinney calling for greater clarity in the system, claiming there is inconsistency in this year's process, a lack of planning and a lack of information about appeals.
He wrote: "Lessons must be learned from last year's unfair appeals process, where young people had no ability to have their teacher estimate scrutinised, even where they felt evidence existed."
He went on: "Young people in Scotland are right now sitting exams in all but name, they need clarity and certainty about the process they are undertaking."
Some pupils told the BBC they were at "breaking point" over school assessments.
Image source, AFPMore than 4,000 people have died so far in Nepal with cases rising
While much of the world's attention in recent weeks has been focused on India's Covid plight, its small northern neighbour Nepal has been facing its own crisis.
The Himalayan nation of about 30 million people is one of the least developed countries in the world, and it relies on India for supplies of medical equipment and oxygen.
And as India stops exports, Nepal is struggling to find alternatives. Meanwhile nearly one in two of its citizens are testing positive for the virus.
More than 4,000 people have died and many more deaths are expected.
Read more here from the BBC's Ambarasan Ethirajan on the tragedy of Nepal's second wave.
Image source, Getty ImagesEngland play Scotland at Wembley Stadium on 18 June
Key workers have been offered exclusive access to watch the Uefa Euro 2020 matches in London's Trafalgar Square.
The capital will be one of 12 cities hosting the European Championship, which has been delayed by a year because of the pandemic.
Police, transport workers, NHS and ambulance staff will be given the chance to watch the first two England games in the square's fan park.
Wembley Stadium will stage eight games during the tournament, which runs from 11 June to 11 July, all of them to be shown on giant TV screens in London.
Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was hoped up to 9,500 people could be hosted in the Fan Zone
Under the Prime Minister's roadmap out of lockdown, social distancing measures and limits of people gathering outdoors will still be in place for England's first two games.
Image source, ReutersItaly's prime minister remembers Covid victims in Bergamo, one of the first European cities to be ravaged by the virus
Some more now on the independent report published today which highlights serious flaws in the world's initial response to the pandemic.
We've already mentioned criticisms aimed at the World Health Organization. But the report says that when combined with the actions of individual governments, these failures created a "toxic cocktail". So what did governments do wrong?
The panel says US and European countries wasted the entire month of February when the virus was advancing across the world, and only acted when their hospitals began to fill up.
And when countries should have been preparing their healthcare systems for an influx of Covid patients, much of the world descended into a "winner takes all" scramble for protective equipment and medicines, the report says.
Image source, Getty ImagesBoris Johnson has announced an independent public inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.But what does this mean?
A public inquiry is a major investigation, launched by the government.
Its job is to respond to "public concern" about a particular event or set of events - such as the pandemic.
According to a leading specialist lawyer, it must ask three questions:
An inquiry has the power to make people appear as witnesses, and to provide documentation and material evidence.
At the end, the public inquiry usually draws up a report and makes recommendations to the government.
Previous high-profile public inquiries have included the Chilcot investigation into the UK's role in the Iraq war - which took seven years - and the events of "Bloody Sunday" in Northern Ireland - which took 12 years.
Concern is growing about a rising number of Covid cases in Glasgow as the area prepares to ease restrictions.
The latest published case rate is 58.3 per 100,000 population - well above a key threshold for moving from level three to level two in the roadmap out of lockdown.
A senior health official said there were clusters of high infection rates in parts of the city.
The variant first identified in India is suspected to be involved, although this has yet to be confirmed.
All mainland council areas with the likely exception of Moray are due to move to level two on Monday, allowing people to meet indoors in groups of up to six people from up to three different households.
Meanwhile, Rangers fans are being warned to think of their families before gathering in crowds to celebrate their league win.
Image source, ReutersA woman mourns her son's death in Delhi as fatalities continue to rise
India has seen its deadliest 24 hours of the pandemic yet, as the country's total number of Covid fatalities passed 250,000.
Deaths increased by a record 4,205 while infections rose 348,421 to more than 23 million. Experts believe the death toll could actually be much higher.
A second wave of the virus is ravaging parts of the country, with deaths rising significantly in recent weeks. There are shortages of medicines, hospital beds and oxygen, and most of the country's crematoriums have run out of spaces.
Watch the BBC's Vikas Pandey's journey through the capital Delhi in the throes of the pandemic:
India coronavirus: 'My city is under siege from Covid'
A total of 54,160,993 coronavirus vaccinations have been given in the UK, according to the government's daily figures., external
That's 35,722,461 first jabs and 18,438,532 second dose total.
About a million 38 and 39-year-olds in England will be able to book an appointment for a vaccine from 07:00 on Thursday on the NHS website.
And you can find out when you should be due a vaccination here.
A further 11 people have died with coronavirus in the UK, the government's daily figures show., external
The total number of people to die within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test is now 127,640.
There were also 2,284 new infections recorded today.
Medics in PPE have become one of the defining images of the pandemic - and are now a subject for a monument planned in central London.
The National Emergency Services Memorial was devised before Covid but later adapted to recognise the efforts of NHS staff.
The BBC has been given an exclusive view of the first of six statues to be completed.
The female medic stands 8ft (2.5m) tall and has been been meticulously carved in clay by sculptor Philip Jackson at his West Sussex studio ahead of a final finish. Dressed in full PPE, only her eyes are visible behind a visor and mask.
"She's had a 12-hour stint on the ward. She's fatigued, she's tired," Jackson says. "She's taking off her gloves for the last time during the day and all that she has seen during the day is seen in her eyes."
Image source, PA MediaMembers of the Unison trade union have voted to accept the Scottish Government's 4% pay offer for most NHS workers.
Unison, Scotland's largest public sector union, had campaigned for the previous three-year deal to be renegotiated in light of the pandemic.
In March, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman set out the pay rise of at least 4% for staff with contracts under the Agenda for Change system.
Almost 50,000 Unison members were balloted on the proposal and 35% voted, with 84% accepting the pay deal.
Union officials say they will now push for the deal to be implemented as soon as possible.
In England, the government recommended in March that NHS staff should receive a 1% pay increase this year.
Image source, EPAThe Canary Islands have seen few tourists so far this year
Spain is expecting as many as 45 million foreign visitors this year, more than half pre-pandemic levels, its tourism minister says.
"International tourists can start planning their Spanish vacations now," Reyes Maroto said at the launch of Spain's summer promotional campaign, describing the forecast as "cautious but realistic".
The European Union is expected to update its restrictions on non-essential visits from outside the bloc on 20 May, just three days after the UK - Spain's biggest source of tourists - allows international travel to resume.
But Spain will remain on England and Scotland's amber list of countries, meaning people should not be travelling there for leisure and should quarantine on their return home.
Spain is making a major push to boost tourism after last year's numbers collapsed by nearly 80% compared with 2019. French and German visitors are also being targeted.
Earlier we reported that Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya was urging the UK to consider a regional approach to easing restrictions, as many Spanish regions had similar case numbers to Britain.
Downing Street has defended the timescale for starting the public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, after a group for bereaved families said it was beginning too late.
The prime minister's official spokesman said: "We're about to take one of the biggest steps forward in step three, which will involve a lot of unlocking, and that needs to be monitored carefully as we know variants are still an issue of concern and, of course, we will then be going into winter and the usual pressures that places on our NHS.
"Therefore it is right to wait until we are out of certainly winter time and hopefully due to the vaccine rollout globally... we will be in a better position to take this forward.
"Because these sorts of inquiries do require a great deal of government time with officials who are currently working on our Covid response."
Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst
Image source, ReutersMasks could become mandatory in Taiwan if restrictions are further tightened
Taiwan could be heading for a near lockdown, as a result of numerous outbreaks on the island over the last couple of weeks.
There have been a spate of cases in Yilan County and the city of Taipei, linked to an arcade and an airport hotel respectively.
Yesterday, Taiwan increased its alert level from Level 1 to 2, meaning that large-scale indoor and outdoor activities are now banned.
President Tsai Ing-wen called on citizens to follow the rules in a tweet., external
However, according to Focus Taiwan, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre “appears ready to further raise the alert level to Level 3”, external, in light of Taiwan confirming 16 cases in a single day, “the highest number reported… since the outbreak began”.
Taiwan has four Covid-19 response levels, and a Level 3 alert would “stop short of a lockdown”. Masks would become mandatory, and all but essential businesses would close. Gatherings would also be restricted.
This would be unprecedented, as Taiwan has not had to resort to a Level 3 lockdown throughout the pandemic. It has been something of a success story, having only recorded 1,210 Covid-19 cases throughout. It has a population of 23.8 million.
The majority of these cases were reported very early on in the pandemic, peaking in April 2020. However, swift travel bans and strict quarantine measures led to Taiwan subsequently being able to go 253 days without reporting a single case of Covid-19 in 2020.
Naomi Grimley
BBC News
The most eye-catching lines of the report by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response are that the pandemic was the 21st Century's "Chernobyl moment" and its assertion that the world wasted time in February 2020 while the virus took hold.
The panel calls for better processes and structures to spot the next highly infectious pathogen. As well as better funding for the World Health Organization to make it stronger and give it more teeth.
After the worst shock to the global economy since World War Two, all countries will agree that it's a case of "never again". But will meaningful reform be possible when so much of the current response is still about putting national interests first? The panel has called for rich countries to share one billion doses of vaccine by September, for example. Yet still many nations with large stockpiles remain reluctant to declare their hand.
There are some issues the panel didn't have time to consider in depth. The most fundamental one remains our relationship with the animal world to stop viruses jumping to humans in the first place.
Image source, ReutersAs jabs in England are extended to those in their late 30s, Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged those eligible for the coronavirus jab to come forward, describing vaccines as "our way out of the pandemic".
"Our incredible vaccination programme has already saved thousands of lives and has helped to significantly reduce hospital and infection rates, allowing us to begin safely easing restrictions," he added.
NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said the success of the programme was "not by accident but down to the careful planning and precision of NHS staff".
