Covid-19: Budget promises and US experts back jabs for five-year-olds

Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday morning. We'll have another update for you this evening.

The chancellor will announce his Budget later saying it will start "the work of preparing for a new economy" post-Covid. It comes amid anger after an unprecedented number of spending policies were revealed to the media before MPs in the Commons. Despite announcements that included transport, health and education there are gaps, including how these policies will be paid for. Rishi Sunak is expected to fill them but Labour say the spending pledges don't go far enough.

Covid vaccines have been recommended to be rolled out to five to 11 year olds in the US by the government's Food and Drug Administration panel. It says the benefits of some 28 million children having the Pfizer jab outweigh any other health risks, and come after a trial showed the vaccine was safe. There have been close to 740,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the US, with 160 of those being children aged five to 11, official data shows. The recommendation needs further approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Senate committee in Brazil has voted to recommend the president face charges over his handling of the Covid pandemic, which has so far led to the deaths of more than 600,000 people. It backed a report for nine charges, including crimes against humanity, be brought against Jair Bolsonaro, who maintains he is "guilty of absolutely nothing". The findings will now be sent to the country's chief prosecutor.

After 19 months of strict border rules due to coronavirus, Australia plans to lift a ban which has stopped its citizens travelling abroad without permission. From 1 November people won't need an exemption to leave the country.

The World Health Organization's aim to vaccinate 70% of the adult population "isn't going to happen" unless countries start sharing vaccines, says Hollywood actress Charlize Theron, who's joined the social justice organisation Ford Foundation. Here's what else she had to say.

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