• Hospitals in the North-East and North Yorkshire have recorded a further 16 coronavirus patient deaths over a 24-hour period.

• Figures published on Wednesday afternoon confirmed that a total of 1,535 people had now died in hospitals in the region since the outbreak began.

• It comes as NHS England said a further 166 people who tested positive for Covid-19 died in hospitals across the country.

• The Department of Health said 60,744 people were tested in the 24 hours to 9am on Wednesday.

• Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has said schools in England may not take a "uniform" approach to returning on June 1. Asked about opposition in some local authorities to classroom reopening next month, Mr Buckland added: "We've got to accept the fact that some of the councils, of course, are employers, decisions have to be made collectively, there will be other institutions that feel it is safe to open up. I respect that as well."

• Spanish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya has said her country plans to welcome tourists back as soon as it is safe to do so. She told the Today programme quarantine measures currently in place are temporary and would be replaced with other measures "the moment we feel the virus is under control".

• Bus operator First Bus has announced that from Monday the capacity of its vehicles will be reduced by more than 75 per cent. Drivers will count passengers on and off, and will not allow anyone to board once the new capacity has been reached.

• Captain Sir Tom Moore said he was "overawed" to hear that he will be knighted. "I must say it's rather different," he said. "I mean, to get this honour is so outstanding that I really can't say how different I feel, but I certainly feel I've been given a very outstanding honour by the Queen and the Prime Minister. I thank them all very much.”

• Asked about quarantine plans for travellers and the idea of "air bridges" mooted by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Priti Patel told LBC: "On quarantine, we are still developing measures. We are not in the position to say this is how it is going to work. We are working with Sage on how this will work."

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the deaths of 181 NHS staff and 131 social care workers have been reported as involving Covid-19. Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Johnson told the Commons: "I know the thoughts of the whole House are with their families and friends."

• A total of 3,546 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, according to the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

• There were 332 deaths relating to Covid-19 registered between May 11 and May 17, a fall of 83 on those registered the previous week, the third consecutive weekly reduction in deaths involving the virus.

• More than half of all registered deaths involving Covid-19 in week 20 occurred in care homes, 55% compared to 57% in week 19.

• The figures are announced weekly and account for all deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

• They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because they include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.

• Boris Johnson told MPs that by June 1 the Government will have recruited 25,000 staff capable of tracing the contacts of up to 10,000 new Covid-19 cases a day.

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the Commons the UK is now testing more "than virtually any country in Europe". He said: "Already 125,000 care home staff have been tested, perhaps he didn't know that."

• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "The number of Covid-19 deaths in Germany stands at around 8,000, in South Korea it is under 300, in contrast, the United Kingdom, despite two million tests having been carried out - there has been no effective tracing in place since March 12 when tracing was abandoned. That is nearly ten weeks in a critical period without effective tracing. That is a huge hole in our defences, isn't it Prime Minister?"

• Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said 35,704 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Tuesday, up by 363 from 35,341 the day before. In the 24-hour period up to 9am on Wednesday, 177,216 tests were carried out or dispatched, with 2,472 positive results. Overall a total of 2,962,227 tests have been carried out, and 248,293 cases have been confirmed positive.

• Mr Dowden set out details of the taskforce being set up to help the arts, sports and digital sectors respond to the crisis. He told the Downing Street press conference: "Finding creative, crowd-free ways to navigate coronavirus is the biggest challenge for our recreation and leisure sectors right now."

• NHS England national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said the number of coronavirus patients in hospital had fallen below 10,000 for the first time since March.

• Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden denied the Government had "glossed over" past mistakes with the spread of coronavirus in care homes.

• NHS England's national medical director Stephen Powis said patients would not have been discharged from care homes if doctors did not believe it was safe. He said the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) would keep the two-metre rule under review.

• Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said holidays within the UK could return as early as the beginning of July. He told the Downing Street briefing: "I would love to get the tourism sector up as quickly as we possibly can. We've set this very ambitious plan to try and get it up and running by the beginning of July. Clearly, we can only do it if it's safe to do so because I think the worse thing for our tourism sector would be to start, then see the R rate rise out of control, see a second peak that overwhelms the NHS that we then have to slam on the brakes again.”

• Mr Dowden said he hoped some Premier League games would be shown on free-to-air television if the football season resumes. Guidance will be issued later this week about a return to contact training for elite sports and Mr Dowden has earmarked mid-June as a possible date for the return of the Premier League behind closed doors.

• The Home Office has announced it is extending the offer of indefinite leave to remain, free of charge, to the families and dependants of NHS support staff and social care workers who die as result of contracting coronavirus. The offer of indefinite leave to remain is effective "immediately and retrospectively" and the extension comes after criticism from Labour and trade unions. It applies to all hospital support workers including cleaners and porters, social care staff and care home workers, the Home Office said.