Coronavirus live updates: May 4 2020

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees has written about the need “for a 20- to 25-year programme of work to redesign our cities and transform the systems (energy, waste, transport, water, food, education) within which we live”.

In a blog, he wrote that “billions of pounds of investment… will be required” if cities like Bristol are to introduce important changes after lockdown restrictions end.

Scroll down for the latest news:

5.30pm
Thanks for reading today’s live blog. See you at 9am tomorrow.

5.17pm
Here is the latest update from Bristol mayor Marvin Rees:

4.01pm
Today’s government briefing at 5pm will be led by health secretary Matt Hancock and England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam.

2.37pm
A further 204 people with confirmed coronavirus have died in hospitals. It brings the total number of patient deaths linked to Covid-19 in England to 21,384, the NHS said.

1.31pm
The Nightingale Hospital in London is expected to be placed on standby in the coming days, and will no longer be admitting patients. In a briefing to staff, Charles Knight, CEO of the Nightingale London, said most of the hospital’s capacity had not been used.

Bristol’s own Nightingale Hospital is situated on UWE’s Frenchay campus.

12.16pm
First is trialling new social distancing measures on one bus route from today. Read more here.

Signs are in place to advise passengers on where to sit and some areas of the bus have been taped off – photo: First West of England

11.33am
Full Circle youth and community centre is fundraising to get creative play packs out to families in St Paul’s.

You can donate at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/BantheBoredom.

11.02am
Some of Bristol’s top jazz and session musicians have collaborated virtually to record a new arrangement of a well-known song, raising money for NHS Charities Together. Read more here.

10.19am
Sky News is reporting that Bristol City Council has appointed advisers to begin a process of finding a buyer for Bristol Energy.

Sources told the broadcaster that any sale would recoup only “a proportion” of the estimated £35m that has been ploughed into the business by the council since Bristol Energy launched in 2011.

9.47am
One thousand litres of disinfectant has been delivered to the Nightingale Hospital at UWE Bristol’s Frenchay campus.

9.23am
Bristol based Virti have helped train more than 100,000 NHS staff with AR and VR technologies.

https://twitter.com/tradegovuk/status/1257222221673758721

8.45am
Good morning and welcome to today’s live blog.

In the latest news:

• Businesses including sole traders and limited companies are able to apply for “bounce-back” loans of up to £50,000.
• University students in England must pay full tuition fees even if courses are taught online in the autumn.
• France, Italy and Spain have registered the lowest daily death tolls for weeks as they prepare to ease more restrictions.

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read more: Rees: ‘Cities need to redesign themselves’