She urged Britons to show their traditional "quiet, good-humoured resolve"

"We will succeed - and that success will belong to every one of us.

"We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again."

You can read the full transcript here.

While millions watched the 93-year-old, a few hours earlier Indians lit candles in a symbolic gesture to "challenge the darkness spread by the coronavirus crisis".

The US Surgeon General Jerome Adams tried to prepare Americans for that darkness to descend.

"This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans' lives, quite frankly. This is going to be our Pearl Harbour moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localised."

Meanwhile, the US Navy captain who was removed from command of the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, has tested positive for Covid-19.

The Navy continue to investigate Captain Brett Crozier's action but did not comment on his condition.

Italy and Spain reported encouraging statistics overnight - if hundreds of deaths can indeed fall into that category. The pace of infection seemed to be slowing in both countries.

Worldwide, more than 1.2 million people have been confirmed infected and more than 65,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

And the weekend's "do as I say, not as I do" award goes to Scotland's chief Medical Officer. She was busted ignoring her own stay-at-home mantra when she was snapped at her holiday home an hour's drive from Edinburgh - not once but twice.

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