Updates from across Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and Lancashire on Tuesday 5 May
That's all from our live coverage for Tuesday. Many thanks for joining us.
We'll be back from 09:00 on Wednesday with more of the latest on the coronavirus pandemic and all of the rest of the day's news.
Five penguin chicks hatched at Chester Zoo have been named after "NHS heroes and hospitals... to say thank you for caring for us every day", a spokesman has said.
The first of the tiny new arrivals have been named:
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Found on the rocky coastal shores of Peru and Chile, the zoo spokesman said the Humboldt penguins were among the most "at risk" penguins in the world.
Ahead of the new series of The A Word, which starts tonight on BBC One, Salford's Christopher Eccleston has been chatting about how working close to home is "special".
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Simon Stone
BBC Sport
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has told his players to return to England over the next seven days.
Image source, Getty ImagesUnited’s players were given permission to return to their home countries once it became obvious there would be no early return to training.
No date has been set for them to report back to United’s Carrington training ground as the club want to ensure they remain within government guidelines.
However, with players all over the world, United are trying to ensure they will be in a position to begin work on the training ground once they get the green light.
It is understood midfielder Bruno Fernandes has already returned to the north-west from Portugal.
Liverpool and Manchester city councils will be resuming a fortnightly garden waste collection service from Monday, after it was paused due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said it had to prioritise household, recycling and clinical waste initially due to reduced staffing numbers.
Liverpool Councillor Sharon Connor said:
Quote MessageThank you to residents for co-operating as we know that this has been a tough time and a pause in providing this service has been inconvenient for some people.
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Manchester City Council said it will be "regularly reviewing" bin collections as the lockdown continues.
BBC Entertainment and Arts
The BBC is to close a number of its small regional satellite offices as part of cost-cutting measures.
Image source, PA MediaUp to 20 locations will be shut in places like Blackpool.
The BBC said they were "very small, often unstaffed sites", and that the closures would not affect its 39 local radio stations.
"Closing them will save money at a time when the BBC faces significant financial pressures," a spokesman said.
He added that "our services in those areas will not change".
BBC News Technology
The traditional commute may never be the same again once people return to work after lockdown in what is likely to be an era of social distancing.
It's a particularly big problem for workers in the UK's largest cities.
Image source, Getty ImagesOne recent report warned that maintaining a 2m (6ft 6in) distance between Tube passengers in London, for example, would reduce its capacity to 15% of normal levels, and buses to 12%.
But if more people take to the streets, will the road network cope?
"If in big cities we are to have a radical shift to bicycles, scooters, other ways of getting about, that would require a sudden and radical change in road use," said Prof Tony Travers from the London School of Economics.
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has expressed concerns over proposed plans to restart the football season.
Mr Burnham said he had concerns about the message restarting football would send out and whether it could be done in a way that protected the public.
The Premier League season has been left in limbo since earlier this year when matches were halted and league officials are discussing a numberof ways to restart, including the use of neutral venues.
The mayor said he wanted to see a "safety first approach", adding:
Quote MessageThere’s more issues than just a game at a neutral venue, there’s people potentially gathering at home to watch it.
Quote MessageWe all want to see it back but I just don’t think you can rush into a decision about this until things are much clearer.
BBC Business News
Shops and restaurants are selling less, but goods are still arriving at warehouses around the country. And as they pile up on the shelves, the warehouse owners worry how they will stay in business.
Business correspondent Katy Austin reports.
Oldham Council is planning to celebrate the 75th VE Day anniversary through social media due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe anniversary of VE day, which commemorates the surrender of the German armed forces in World War Two, is on Friday, which will also be a bank holiday.
The council is planning a poetry stream and a singalong organised by its library staff.
Council leader Sean Fielding said:
Quote MessageVE Day was a victory over the far-right in Europe that was only achieved with huge sacrifice. Even in these unusual circumstances it is therefore important to mark the 75th anniversary to both remember this sacrifice and reflect on what it was that our ancestors were fighting against.
Quote MessageI’m sure Oldham residents will join me in commemorating the anniversary with the same commitment as we do for Remembrance Sunday. However, whilst we are still in lockdown, our celebrations will have to take place at home.
BBC Sport
Football League chairman Rick Parry has said the current season needs to be concluded before 31 July and that clubs face a "£200m hole" by September.
Image source, PA MediaThe former Liverpool chief executive admitted the EFL needed a "proper reset post-Covid", with clubs currently "stacking up creditors".
Parry said it was "difficult to answer" how many might go out of business.
He was giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the impact of coronavirus.
A hospital worker described as a "true gentleman" has died from Covid-19, leaving colleagues "devastated".
Image source, BTHNHSFTEleuterio Gibela, 68, died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital where he had worked for nearly 20 years.
The hospital's critical care team said it had been an honour to treat him and they mourned "one of their own".
The married father-of-two, known as 'Boy' was originally from the Philippines. He worked for the domestic services team.
Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust's chief executive Kevin McGee said he will be "greatly missed".
Bolton Council is encouraging taxi drivers to apply for financial aid over concerns that some may seek help from loan sharks.
A spokesman for the council said they had had a rise in calls from worried drivers, but added that there was help available from the government for self-employed workers, including private hire drivers.
Councillor Adele Warren said:
Quote MessageLoan sharks are a blight on our communities, causing misery to lots of families.
Quote MessagePrivate hire and taxi drivers are a particular group being targeted during this pandemic.
For the first time since World War Two, the Southport Flower show will not take place due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Southport Flower Show chairman Max Steinberg said the decision was taken "with a heavy heart".
Mr Steinberg said:
Quote MessageWe have closely monitored the situation over the past few weeks and it has now become clear that we now have no other option but to cancel the show this year.
Quote MessageThe safety of all of those who support the show is of paramount importance to us and we believe this to be the only course of action as we work through this pandemic.
The four-day event, which takes place annually at Victoria Park, was due to run between 20 and 23 August.
For details on ticket refunds, visit the Southport Flower Show website, external.
Three people have been arrested over allegations fraudsters posed as women to steal thousands of pounds in a dating app scam in Greater Manchester.
Image source, Getty ImagesTwo men and a woman, aged 35 to 41, were detained in Gorton on suspicion of fraud following reports of 21 offences between October 2018 and March 2020.
The victims were coaxed into paying up to £17,000, police said.
After the first payment was made, the suspect would demand more money and threaten them with violence.
The average loss was £3,000 and most victims reported the offence to the police, at which point there was no further contact from the suspects.
A doctor at Wythenshawe Hospital has called on smokers in Greater Manchester to stop, saying non-smokers are less at risk of suffering serious complications from Covid-19.
Image source, AlamyDr Matt Evison, who is a respiratory consultant, said that smoking can lead to poor lung health, or complicate existing lung conditions, which increases the chance of developing pneumonia.
He said:
Quote MessageIt has always been the case that if you’re a smoker quitting is the best thing you can do for your health. And it’s even more important in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Quote MessageStopping smoking not only benefits the health of the person who quits but has an impact on everyone they live with, especially now we’re all spending so much time in our homes.
Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership has also launched a new campaign encouraging smokers to quit while in lockdown.
BBC Business News
According to a survey of more than 3,000 nurseries, pre-schools and childminders by the Early Years Alliance, one in four say they will have to close permanently within the next 12 months due to financial problems.
Some 74% also think the government has not given them enough support to get through the crisis, the lobby group found.
Image source, Zarah HussainZarah Hussain, 40, like many childminders is self employed. She is thinking of closing her business in Manchester after the number of families she caters to fell from eight to one.
The issue is that she cannot get any wage support from the government because her accounts don't go back far enough, and so she has no personal income.
"I still have to pay for my public liability insurance, Ofsted registration fees and subscriptions to learning resources websites," she says.
"I'm using my savings to keep going but I have my own family to support."
She also thinks the government should do more to help, saying businesses like hers are "crucial to key workers" and stay open 12 hours a day.
"If people like us fall away people are going to have to rely on unregistered childminders and that raises safeguarding issues."
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This Friday will be a bank holiday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE day.
Councils across the North West said residents were not sure whether bins were still collected, but many councils have posted on social media that bins will still be collected as normal on Friday.
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Do you remember how nervous you felt before you started your first proper job? Now imagine having that sense of trepidation while also knowing that you will soon have people's lives in your hands.
That is exactly the situation faced by the new generation of medics who are joining the long fight against coronavirus.
Junior doctors usually start work in August but this year's graduations have been pushed forward to boost numbers in the NHS battling the invisible enemy that is Covid-19.
A total of 7,588 medical students are graduating across the UK. Initially, they will be attached to more experienced doctors, learning the ropes while helping with routine tasks, including taking blood and writing discharge letters.
We caught up with three young medics graduating from Manchester Medical School.
