JK Rowling donating £1m to charities helping homeless and domestic abuse victims amid coronavirus pandemic

JK Rowling has announced that she is donating £1 million to be split between charities Crisis and Refuge in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

It came as the author noted it was 22nd years since the events of the Battle of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series was written to have taken place, but Rowling said it felt "inappropriate" to discuss fictional deaths.

"Too many people are losing loved ones in the real world," Rowling said in the first tweet of a four-part Twitter thread.

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She went on: "So on this anniversary of a great wizarding victory, I'm thinking of the people who're out there doing their jobs to protect us and our way of life. I have 3 key workers in my immediate family, and like all such relatives, I'm torn between pride and anxiety.

"As ever in a crisis of this sort, the poorest and most vulnerable are hit hardest, so in honour of the Battle of Hogwarts, I'll be making a donation of £1m, half of which will go to https://crisis.org.uk, who're helping the homeless during the pandemic. And half of which will go to https://refuge.org.uk, because we know that domestic abuse has, sadly, increased hugely during the lockdown."

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The Harry Potter writer, who is married to doctor Neil Murray, shared back in April that she had suffered "all the symptoms" of the coronavirus but had not been tested.

Current government advice states those exhibiting symptoms including a high temperature or a new, continuous cough should not leave their homes.

Meanwhile, last month it was revealed that Warner Bros Harry Potter studio tour buses were being used to transport NHS workers battling the pandemic.