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UK markets have continued their gains as a new NHS test and trace system is rolled out in the UK from today (28 May), with 25,000 contact tracers set to begin calling people.
It comes as deaths from COVID-19 surpassed 100,000 in the US, according to figures from John Hopkins University, making it the country with the highest death toll.
The FTSE 100 is up 0.6%, or 33.91 points, to 6,178.16 at 08.35am, while the FTSE 250 is trading 0.8% higher at 17,282.06.
EasyJet has soared 6.7% to 755.95p as the budget airline announced it will cut its workforce by up to 30% as it seeks to reduce the size of its fleet.
It also warned that demand would likely only return to pre-pandemic levels in about three years.
Cineworld has risen 30.9% to 101.15p on the news that the cinema group is expected to reopen all cinemas by July and that it had struck a deal with its lenders to ease the terms of its debt arrangements.
Online fashion group Boohoo has been buoyed 11.8% to 374.37p as it acquired the remaining 34% stake in subsidiary prettylittlething.com for up to £323.8m.
Stagecoach has accelerated 8.7% to 72.8p as it reported a significant increase in available liquidity to £814m, higher than the £308m reported in its statement of 3 April, due to new borrowing capacity.
But chief executive Martin Griffiths warned of the 'lasting effect' of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel patterns.
PayPoint has been boosted 4.8% to 756.26p as it reported pre-tax profit excluding exceptional items increased 5.6% to £56.8m in the year ended 31 March 2020 following its decision to cancel management bonuses in light of Covid-19.
The company announced it is recommending a final dividend of 15.6 pence per share.
Daily Mail and General Trust has lost 4.9% to 713p after it reported a sharp fall in profit as lost revenue following the sale of its property information business and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic weighed on growth at the media company.
For the six months ended 31 March 2020, pre-tax profit fell 44% to £56m on-year and revenue was down 5% to £690m.
Workspace operator IWG has risen 9.5% to 284.8p on the news it has raised gross proceeds of approximately £320m through a discounted equity placing.
Bodycote is 7.6% higher at 639.86p despite announcing that revenue fell 30% in April as its businesses outside of China had experienced the biggest impact from the Covid-19 crisis since the third week of March.
PureTech Health has nudged up 0.3% to 250.79p as the clinical stage biotherapeutics company announced plans to advance its product candidate LYT-100 as a potential treatment for COVID-19 post-recovery complications and is set to begin a global trial later this year.
Primary Health Properties is ahead 0.5% to 155.9p following the announcement it has contracted to provide development funding for the construction and acquisition of a purpose-built primary care centre in County Wicklow, Ireland for a total cost of €18m.