Coronavirus news you might have missed overnight: Boris Johnson says ‘arrangements’ were made for his death amid job warnings around easing of lockdown

More than 3.4 million people infected with Covid-19 and nearly 244,000 deaths reported

More than 3.4 million people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide and nearly 244,000 deaths have been reported.

In the UK, 28,131 people have died from Covid-19, while 182,260 have tested positive for the disease.

Here is your morning briefing of the coronavirus news you might have missed overnight.

Contingency plans were put in place to announce the death of Boris Johnson as he lay in intensive care, the prime minister has said after admitting he had to be “forced” to go to hospital.

Downing Street was keen to downplay the level of threat faced by the PM during his time as St Thomas’ in London, repeatedly saying he was in “good spirits” after he was taken into intensive care three weeks after his initial diagnosis.

However the PM has since confirmed a strategy was ready in the event of his death, and that he was being given “litres and litres of oxygen” despite assurances from first minister Dominic Raab at the time that he was “breathing unassisted”.

Describing it as a “tough old moment”, Mr Johnson told the Sun on Sunday: “They had a strategy to deal with a ‘death of Stalin’-type scenario.

“I was not in particularly brilliant shape and I was aware there were contingency plans in place.”

Half a million jobs in the construction industry could be at risk if Boris Johnson gets his exit strategy from lockdown wrong, a trade body has warned.

With the prime minister promising to set out a “roadmap” for restarting the economy on Thursday, builders are one of many sectors urging government to keep support going for long enough to allow businesses to get back off their knees – and then to open the spending taps to spark the economy back to growth.

Representatives of the brewing industry told The Independent that an abrupt end to state support could be fatal to pubs across the country. And retailers said that financial assistance will be needed for months after the exit from lockdown begins, as shopping gradually returns to normal levels.

It comes after Rolls Royce became the latest firm said to be considering redundancies – with the BBC reporting the aircraft engine producer could cut 8,000 UK jobs due to strain in the aviation sector.

The government has announced measures “to support the most vulnerable in society” during the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, including rough sleepers and domestic abuse survivors.

Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, said a £76m package would support more safe spaces and accommodation for those who had gone through domestic abuse, as well as their children.

The package would also help recruit counsellors to help victims of sexual violence and to keep charity helplines funded, while he pledged that victims would get “priority need status” for local housing.

“You are not alone, you do not have to stay at home, you can and should leave the home if you’re in danger,” Mr Jenrick said in a message to abuse victims. “Our outstanding police will be there for you, they will help you.”

Gay and bisexual men who have recovered from coronavirus may be excluded from donating plasma to a new trial hoping to treat those suffering with the virus, the NHS has confirmed.

Doctors at Guys and St Thomas’s hospital in London will start using plasma from recovered patients as a therapy to help others fight off the virus, which has claimed more than 242,000 lives worldwide and lead to more than 28,000 deaths in the UK.

However, male patients who have slept with other men within the last three months will be barred from donating the white blood cell-rich blood component due to restrictions on transfusions first introduced to stem the spread of HIV in the 1970s and 1980s.