Coronavirus in Scotland LIVE: Potential Covid-19 treatments could be fast-tracked

Wallace & Gromit's creative director has urged teenagers to try crafts usually associated with younger children during lockdown.

Taking up anything from Lego to painting can be a relief from the "inward-looking" pressures of social media, Morph director Merlin Crossingham said.

"Being creative" can help "get out of your spiral" or "just the mundane process of being at home all day", he said.

"Lots of children are revisiting creative things they did in the past, whether it's painting or working with Lego, things they would have done at home," he told the PA news agency.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about and if you are, who cares? Because you're at home and you can do what you want.

"Now is the perfect time just to break free and remember the things that brought a smile to your face a few years ago."

Environment Secretary George Eustice said the aim is still to meet the 100,000-a-day testing target by the end of Thursday.

He told BBC Breakfast: "Yes that is his aim to get 100,000 tests being done but I think the critical thing here is anybody there who needs a test that can't get one which is why capacity also matters.

"That's why the first thing is to build the capacity and the second thing is to make sure that everybody knows they can get access to that test and we're now doing both of those things."

He said the search for an effective antibody test was still under way.

Retail giant Next has said the impact of the coronavirus lockdown on trading has been "faster and steeper" than expected and warned that sales will remain under pressure throughout 2020.

The chain - which reopened for online trading on April 14 - reported a 41% plunge in full-price sales over its first quarter to April 25, with high street sales down 52% and online sales off 32%.

It said it now believes full-year sales could fall by as much as 40%, with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic expected to leave sales lower in every quarter, even after lockdown restrictions are lifted.

Sales are expected to tumble by as much as 62% over its second quarter and could still be 28% lower over the fourth quarter to next January in the worst-case scenario.

Police are keen to speak to a person who has been dressing as a 17th century plague doctor for walks during the coronavirus lockdown.

The unidentified individual has been spotted in the Norwich suburb of Hellesdon wearing a long black cloak, hat and pointed beak-like mask in recent weeks.

People posting on a community Facebook page said the outfit could frighten children, with Norfolk Police saying they wanted to give "words of advice" to the person.

Jade Gosbell, 21, took a photograph of the person walking across a recreation ground in Hellesdon.

"It was like 20 degrees, he was wearing a full black suit, it just looked ridiculous," she said.

"It's clearly for attention or something like that, because normal people just wouldn't do that."

A new group has been set up to support "a positive future" for Scotland beyond the coronavirus crisis.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) has announced the Post-Covid-19 Futures Commission, bringing together different areas of society to identify and address issues raised by the outbreak.

RSE president Professor Dame Anne Glover will chair the group, which includes representatives from the third sector, business, faith, media, culture, Government, public service, economy and enterprise, environment, health and education organisations.

The participants have been invited in a personal capacity.

Passengers travelling with P&O Cruises will be forced to pass "rigorous" medical checks before being allowed to board ships once sailings resume, the company said.

The UK's biggest cruise line told the PA news agency it is developing plans to introduce a series of "stringent measures" to ensure it obeys international health guidelines when it restarts operations once the coronavirus pandemic recedes.

Other changes being considered include reducing the capacity of ships, scrapping self-service buffets and implementing one-way systems on board.

Earlier this month, easyJet announced it expects to keep middle seats empty on its planes when it restarts flights to enable social distancing.

P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow said the cruise line is working with authorities such as Public Health England to ensure sailings adhere to guidance "without compromising enjoyment and experience".

Gordon Brown will help guide Wales's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as part of a new advisory group.

The former Labour prime minister is one of three external advisers expected to lend their expertise to help areas such as the economy and public services recover from the effects of Covid-19.

The Welsh Government's counsel general and Brexit minister Jeremy Miles will lead the work on Wales's recovery, with the full membership of his external advisory group still to be finalised.

The Home Secretary will be grilled by MPs about how her department has responded to the coronavirus outbreak.

Members of the Commons Home Affairs Committee will question Priti Patel during a virtual hearing on Wednesday morning.

She will be joined by permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft and second permanent secretary Shona Dunn to be questioned about crime, policing and immigration.

In particular Ms Patel is expected to be asked about NHS visa extensions, difficulties with the EU Settlement Scheme, the measures taken to help victims of domestic and child abuse as well as migrants and asylum seekers during the outbreak and the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) for police.

It will be only the second time Ms Patel has appeared before the committee since she was appointed Home Secretary in July, and her first since the general election.

Teachers and pupils are "rising to the challenge" as they adapt to new routines in a hub school for the children of key workers in Edinburgh.

Drummond Community High School is acting as a hub for 12 schools in the city, taking children from P1 through to S2.

There are currently 29 children on the register and the headteachers of the 12 schools take it in turn to lead each day, bringing teachers from their own schools with them.

The children have been split into six groups with no more than six pupils per class to adhere to social distancing measures, though siblings are kept in the same class as they can interact freely together.

Social distancing measures are also in place in the lunch hall, while classes take it in turns to rotate around different areas of the playground.

Clinical trials on potential Covid-19 treatments could start within weeks as part of a bid to fast-track new therapies to help tackle the disease.

Six drugs will initially enter the programme being set up under the Accelerating Covid-19 Research & Development (Accord) platform.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said its aim is to accelerate the development of drugs for patients admitted to hospital with coronavirus and reduce the time it takes to set up clinical studies from months to just weeks.

The DHSC said the first of the potential drugs is beginning phase 2 studies across the UK "imminently", the point at which a clinical trial focuses on testing a drug on patients to assess its effectiveness and any side effects.