No new coronavirus-related deaths recorded by NI's health service for the fourth day in a row - its death toll remains 537
A further 245 people died with coronavirus in the UK, taking the official total to 41,128
Five more coronavirus-related deaths were reported in the Republic of Ireland
The economic damage of the coronavirus crisis will hit young workers hardest, study has suggested
The first part of a £60m consignment of personal protective equipment (PPE) arrived in NI from China
That's it from the live page team for today folks. We'll be back from 7.30am tomorrow. Until then, you can keep up to date with coronavirus developments on our BBCNewsNI site.
Image source, Katrina DohertyWe'll leave you with this picture sent to us by Katrina Doherty. The Dark Hedges, it seems, are experiencing pre-Game of Thrones levels of peacefulness these days.
Hope you are too - goodnight!
It is time to review some of the key developments today in Northern Ireland and beyond with regard to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
There have been no new coronavirus-related deaths recorded by NI's health service for the fourth day in a row - its death toll remains 537.
A further 245 people have died with Covid-19 in the UK across all settings, according to the government's daily figures, bringing its death toll to 41,128.
There have been five more coronavirus-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland, according to the Irish Department of Health.
It brings its overall death toll to 1,695.
In other developments:
The National Police Chiefs' Council lead on Child Protection, Chief Constable Simon Bailey, says he fears a huge rise in cases of online grooming during lockdown, when children have been alone and vulnerable online.
The BBC spoke to an internet safety campaigner and investigator who poses as a 14-year-old girl online, about the attempted grooming she has encountered.
Coronavirus: Fears over online grooming of children in lockdown
Nicola McCarthy
BBC Sport NI
As coaches across Northern Ireland prepare to get sport back up and running in the coming weeks, what will youth football's 'new normal' look like?
The coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown brought football to a halt at all levels back in March, but as restrictions gradually ease, coaches are beginning to put measures in place for a safe return to play.
So what will be different?
Image source, Press EyeTim Wareing, academy director at TW Braga, feels that clubs and teams at all levels will have to be flexible.
"We train for two hours each session, three times a week, but we imagine that is probably going to be halved," he said.
Read more here
The mother of a P7 pupil has welcomed a plan to send some schoolchildren back to class earlier than normal after this year's summer break.
Pupils in P7, year 12 and year 14 could start the new academic year on 17 August if schools can meet the target date set out by Stormont's education minister.
Martina Byrne told the BBC's Evening Extra programme that children have already missed months of school this year due to the pandemic.
"I think from the isolation point of view, for my child anyway, I would welcome going back to school two weeks early," she said.
Some school principals have criticised the plan, saying they have not been given enough time or guidance to open on 17 August.
But Ms Byrne pointed out that parents and schools had to adapt quickly to a new home schooling routine during lockdown.
"The whole three and a half months that have passed have been difficult," she said.
"To say something's difficult - I really don't think that's a barrier because everything has been difficult for so long now," she said.
Image source, Google MapsThe principal of a Londonderry secondary school has suggested it is already "too late" to ask schools to be ready to reopen on 17 August.
That is the target date set out by Stormont's Education Minister Peter Weir for pupils in P7, year 12 and year 14 to return to class.
But Michael Allen, principal of Lisneal College, told the BBC's Evening Extra programme at this point he has "no idea whatsoever how the school day will work" in relation to social distancing, transport or PPE.
"We have no idea about deep clean," he added.
"We have no idea as to what the stance will be if a teacher is either shielding or is coming from a household where there is someone vulnerable - we have no guidance whatsoever."
Asked if schools could be ready if guidance was available on those issues by the end of this academic year, Mr Allen replied: "I believe it's already too late."
There have been five more coronavirus-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland, according to the Irish Department of Health.
It brings its overall death toll to 1,695.
Bereaved families have renewed their calls for a full public inquiry into the oversight of care homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes after the Department of Health wrote to them accepting the "need for a full review" of the response in NI.
It comes as NI's top civil servant defended Stormont's Covid-19 response.
"Six months into a new administration, where you have five parties working together... the performance has been pretty good," said David Sterling.
Image source, AlamyEarlier, the Dept of Health's letter to bereaved families said the health minister expects inquiries into what has happened in care homes to be held in many countries.
It told the families a full Northern Ireland review will be needed "at a later date".
A further 245 people have died with Covid-19 in the UK across all settings, the latest daily government figures show., external
It takes the total number to have died after testing positive for coronavirus to 41,128.
Mark Devenport
BBC News NI Political Editor
The Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, David Sterling, has defended the performance of the Stormont administration in combatting the Covid-19 crisis.
Mr Sterling told the Assembly committee which scrutinises the Executive Office that “six months into a new administration, where you have five parties working together and you’ve got several ministers who have not held ministerial portfolios before, I think the performance has been pretty good, particularly when you look at the scale of the challenge that has been faced".
Explaining the need to employ 14 special advisers at Stormont, Mr Sterling said the role of the SPADs is to some extent more complex than the task of their counterparts in Scotland or Wales.
He told MLAs that in a five-party coalition “it’s almost inherently more difficult to get things agreed and advisers can play a very important role in helping to broker agreements between parties behind the scenes”.
Sinn Féin’s Pat Sheehan put it to Mr Sterling that, despite the smaller size of Northern Ireland’s population, the Stormont Health Minister, Robin Swann, had no less work to do than his UK counterpart Matt Hancock and Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill were no less busy than Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Mr Sterling said this was a neat way of summing up the challenge and “dealing with the development of a policy for 1.9 million people can be just as challenging as developing a policy for 55 to 60 million people”.
Mr Sterling pointed out that the Belfast Health Trust is “the largest on these islands” and the difference in scale facing the Stormont Health Minister sometimes does not lessen the challenge.
A Belfast primary school principal has called for greater "clarity" on the education minister's plans to send some pupils back to class from Monday 17 August.
Pupils starting Primary Seven as well as GCSE and A-Level students in year 12 and year 1, are expected to be the first year groups to return to school from that date.
Paul Bell, principal of Botanic Primary School in Belfast, argues that teachers' employment contracts must be taken into account if pupils return to school earlier than usual after the summer break.
Image source, PA Media"If we're starting the year early, are we going to finish the year early?" Mr Bell asked.
The principal told the BBC's Evening Extra programme his staff have regularly been "working very late into the evening" during the pandemic in order to prepare work for their pupils remotely.
"They've work coming to them at all times of the day and night because, let's face it, a lot of the children don't get access to the laptops etc until their parents have finished the day's work," he said.
Mr Bell added that since schools closed in March, his staff have been "working at a far greater rate that they've ever worked before, because they've had to assume a whole new technological experience".
"They can't go any further, they're at the end of their rope. They're actually clinging for the end of June to get some sort of respite."
Louise Cullen
BBC News NI
Contact tracing in Northern Ireland has identified more than 700 people who’ve been in contact with a positive case of coronavirus. The programme began on 19 May.
In the weeks up to last Saturday, 6 June, 480 people who had tested positive had been called and 721 contacts successfully traced.
There are 82 contact tracers and another 20 currently training. The Public Health Agency says they come from a number of backgrounds, including PHA nursing, health improvement staff, RQIA bank inspectors, nurses from the trusts and environmental health officers.
Staff are expected to be in place for a year, with an option to extend. It’s estimated the programme will need 20 staff on shift at any time, as access to testing increases and the number of positive results recorded rises.
The contact call centre is based at the PHA in Belfast, with a second location to follow.
Retail NI chief executive Glyn Roberts has said it is "vital that the private sector childcare sector is able to safely reopen to support staff and their families in the return to work”.
Mr Roberts made his comments after a presentation to the Assembly Economy Committee and a meeting with the NI Economy Minister Diane Dodds.
He said he had received feedback from members "that the lack of childcare provision is a huge issue and causing immense challenges for working families”.
Mr Roberts said Retail NI had repeated its "call for the small business grants to include multi-site independent retailers".
Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent
All figures at the moment are moving in the right direction, including not only the number of (coronavirus-related) deaths, but also the falling rates of infection.
For the last couple of days these have been in single figures.
At the end of 12 weeks, Northern Ireland is in a much better place and if we keep moving like this over the next week or so, it is a good indication that we are coming out of the first wave of the pandemic - but not just yet.
Another note of caution, these daily figures (from the Department of Health) that we report, they are just a snapshot of a very small period of time.
In order to get a more fuller account of what is happening out there, we need to keep a closer eye on the NISRA (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) figures that are published once a week.
They are much more reflective of what's going on and it's when they are consistently falling, which they have been for the past five weeks, that I think we'll know that the pandemic door that was once very wide open is starting to slowly close behind us.
Mark Devenport
BBC News NI Political Editor
Wednesday 10 June should have been a great day for Conor Murphy.
With the arrival of £60m worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) from China, the finance minister could banish the negative publicity associated with a previous unsuccessful attempt to order the much-needed gear for our front-line workers.
Instead, Mr Murphy tripped up halfway through his victory lap by claiming, on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster, that if it hadn't been for Westminster imposed austerity we wouldn't have had to go into lockdown at all.
This appeared illogical since, in the absence of a vaccine or cure, almost every nation has had to batten down the hatches.
There was also a certain incoherence, given Sinn Féin's previous enthusiasm for a swifter and harsher lockdown than the one Boris Johnson eventually imposed.
Cue a rebuke for Mr Murphy from Health Minister Robin Swann and a series of demands for the finance minister's resignation.
Read the blog in full here.
The world's largest aircraft has landed in Shannon Airport in County Clare with a consignment of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Irish medical staff.
The Antonov AN-225 cargo transporter is an 84m-long aircraft, which weighs over 175 tonnes.
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The plane, which is almost as long as a football pitch, was carrying its cargo from China for the Health Service Executive.
It was due to arrive in Ireland on Tuesday, but its journey was delayed due to technical problems.
Earlier today, the first part of a £60m consignment of PPE has been delivered to Northern Ireland from China.
Earlier, Finance Minister Conor Murphy told BBC's Good Morning Ulster that a better-resourced health service in Northern Ireland would have prevented a lockdown
Mr Murphy told the programme that the reason Northern Ireland had to go into lockdown was because the health service had "suffered from decades of under investment".
That claim was later rejected by Health Minister Robin Swann.
However, Mr Murphy has since clarified comments that he made earlier, via Twitter.
In a tweet, Mr Murphy said that "austerity policies have severely impacted on the capacity of health and social care services, here and elsewhere, to respond to the Covid 19 pandemic".
"For clarity, lockdown has been absolutely necessary to save lives," he added.
Andrew Walker
World Service economics correspondent
The UK is likely to be the hardest-hit by Covid-19 among major economies, a leading agency has warned.
Britain's economy is likely to slump by 11.5% in 2020, outstripping falls in other developed economies of Germany, France, Spain and Italy, it said.
If there were a second peak in the pandemic, the UK economy could contract by 14%.
Image source, PA MediaThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) described the impact as "dire" everywhere.
In its latest assessment, the OECD found that the trade, tourism, and hospitality sectors, which make up large parts of the UK's service-based economy, have suffered under lockdown restrictions introduced by the government.
Read more here
The Western Trust is asking people who are shielding during the pandemic to share their experiences.
In a tweet, the trust said they hope to better "understand the impact that shielding has had" and to "inform the steps and processes that must be considered in future".
In a statement, the Department of Health said they recognised that shielders will have a "unique insight into its impact".
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The chart below shows the trend of reported deaths since mid-March in Northern Ireland.
The seven-day rolling average is taken from today's Department of Health statistics, external.
The graph below shows the total number of cases and deaths reported by the Department of Health here.
This graph shows the number of confirmed Covid-19 hospital admissions in Northern Ireland.
This data is also taken from the Department of Health's latest figures released today.
