who'll come after. higher purpose this one is ours. right wing protesters egged on by president trump put pressure on state governments to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions. but i'm mcleod this is al jazeera life from doha also coming up spain will extend its nationwide lockdown by 2 more weeks the number of deaths has crossed 20000. turkey now has a large number of recorded coronavirus cases in the middle east overtaking its neighbor iran. and warlord who leave after is under pressure in libya as forces

loyal to the tripoli governments make advances. so the pressure is mounting on u.s. governors to ease looked on rules with protests encouraged by president trump held in multiple states for the 3rd day in a row hundreds of conservative americans ignored advice on social distancing to join rallies demanding an end to the lockdown donald trump says some states will begin easing restrictions in the coming days. texas and vermont will allow certain businesses to open on monday while still requiring appropriate social distancing precautions and i can tell you the governor of texas greg abbott a knows what he's doing he's a great governor knows exactly what he's doing. montana will begin lifting

restrictions on friday ohio north dakota a night of have advised nonessential businesses to prepare for a phased opening starting may 1st throughout this crisis my administration has taken unprecedented actions to reduce economic relief to our citizens some states have already start of easing shutdown rules including florida take a look at this many flocking to beaches in jacksonville as they reopen on friday the state has the 8th largest number of cases in the united states there is some good news out of the epicenter of the country's outbreak new york recalled its lowest number of daily death in 2 weeks 540 people died in the past day while 7000 more are infected new york's governor of a warns cases may not have reached their peak yet for more let's cross live to our white house correspondent kimberly how kitson kimberly the president donald trump well he's been speaking in his daily briefing today have to say. yeah there's no

question that the president was eager to talk to reporters in fact there wasn't a briefing planned for today but then he abruptly called when it seemed the message he was trying to get out was to push back against democrat concern and criticism in the united states that the u.s. president had been too slow to react and then the reactions had not been appropriate when it comes to combating coronavirus that the u.s. president said that this is becoming a partisan issue in the united states excuse democrats of treating his response much like the russia witchhunt that he called it also saying at 1st they focused on a lack of ventilators and when his government stepped up that's when they focused to testing and the u.s. president says that his response will speak for itself in terms of the numbers he says at one time there was a projection of as high as 2000000 deaths he says when this is sort of settles down in terms of that mortality rate he expects the figure to be more in the

neighborhood of 60000 which is still an enormous number i did have the opportunity to ask the president though about one of his unusual reach tweets that occurred today that many people here in the united states say suggest the president may be stoking islamophobia this is what the tweet said it was a retreat let's say of authorities and force the social distancing orders from mosques during ramadan like they did for churches during easter last the president about this tweet here's what he had to say. it's just that the monster didn't follow so i think i just had a call with a mom so i just had a call with ministers rabbis who had a tremendous go with the faith leaders no i don't think that at all i am somebody that believes in faith and it matters not what your faith is but our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently and they seem to think and i don't know what happened with their country but. the christian faith is treated much

differently than it was and i think it's treated very unfairly. now one of the other big headlines to come out of this briefing was a statement made by one of the top public health officials dr deborah burke's she showed mortality rates for across the world in terms of coronavirus the united states having a rate per 100000 people out of $11.00 for the united kingdom $21.00 china just 0.33 per 1000 people the president asked if anyone actually believed that number and that's when dr burke's chimed in to say that she did not believe that number in fact she found it highly unlikely that china had such a low mortality rate suggesting that it was not reporting the numbers truthfully this is an accusation the u.s. president has made for some time now for the 1st time backed up by

a credible public health official in the united states she went on to say that she believes that there is a moral responsibility to share information on coronavirus she then went on to thank you europe that she said did show full transparency suggesting it may have saved thousands of american lives our camera but the picture the white house committee how could i think. that spin on to miami in florida is that economic and on the beaches in florida of the no we would have. well this is in jacksonville in the north of the state and the city's mayor basically declaring that going to the beach and swimming in the ocean were part of essential services so those beaches did reopen in the last 24 hours and were immediately crowded by people who've been locked away for the past few weeks i'm not sure whether it was policed in any way whether people were staying in groups of 10 or less but this is really going to the heart of what's happening in each of

these states is becoming a politicized thing rhonda scientists the governor of florida is a very very close ally of president trump someone who is also keen to get this state's economy rolling again remember lots of service industry jobs here we've got about half a 1000000 people employed but there are people who are questioning the wisdom of opening things like the beaches when florida hasn't even peaked and it's coronavirus cases yet it's not expected until towards the end of this month perhaps even into next month one of the other big developments here is ron dissenters has been deeply criticized for not releasing the names of the care homes where so many people here are being dying one in 5 of the deaths in florida have been people in elderly care facilities he's now done a u.-turn on that and will release the names of those institutions where people have been dying so some progress there but clearly the reopening of the beaches in jacksonville is something welcomed by some but highly criticized by others because as i said the coronavirus here in the sunshine state is yet to peak i mean thanks

very much indeed that's a picture in miami and in jacksonville thanks very much. well 1st it was italy then the united states and now spain's death toll has passed 20000 it reported another 565 deaths on saturday but the toll there continues to rise at a slower pace and tests have also shown a lower infection rate earlier health workers in madrid celebrated when part of a makeshift hospital was closed after treating more than a 1000 patients the prime minister pedro sanchez says hill asked parliament to extend the state of emergency until may the 9th and will relax a confinement for children before that. something we do know we are contemplating a slow march towards the new normality it will be slow we want to be progressive with maximum precautions with markers and with criteria that can be evaluated in all territories to know exactly what the degree of the pandemic is and to know the evolution of the pandemic if it's controlled or not and consequently what steps we

can take where the u.k. government has admitted there's a shortage of crucial masks and gowns for health care staff more than 15000 people have now died in hospital from covert 900 medical workers are criticizing a government suggestion to reuse personal protective equipment new guidance suggests alternatives to fluid repellent full length gowns such as reusable ones may be needed the british medical association says the shortage is down to government failings paul brennan has more from ashford control to see about the amounts of stock of this personal protective equipment this p.p.a. has been growing in recent weeks and essentially building to a crescendo in the past couple of days we had the health secretary matt hank talkies the government minister responsible for health. reporting her parliamentary committee on friday saying he wished he had a magic wand that he could wave to to generate more people even he just couldn't because the global marketplace was so scarce at the moment but the pressure that's

coming is because of anecdotal evidence from the front line that staff who are treating 1000 patients are having to do so compromising their own safety their old college of nursing the union for the nurses said that 51 percent of the staff that they had surveyed had been asked to reuse supposedly single use protective equipment now the response of public health england which is the body which represents the government's government's stance in this has been to say well we're going to reassess our guidelines and perhaps water down the guidelines maybe they don't need to be so stringent so you can reuse stuff they said that some compromise was needed to optimize the supply of p.p.a. in times of extreme shortages but the saturday daily news conference from downing street the communities minister robert general admitted that the simply wasn't enough at the moment to go around we are trying to do everything we can to get the equipment that we need we're trying to source more internationally that is

difficult to. there is a great deal of demand for it in the security that supply can prove very challenging but we are making progress there what we're talking about here is the long sleeved disposable fluids repellents gowns that are used in the intensive care units and you can imagine just how much demand there is for those not just here in the u.k. but around and around the world there is a general said a new delivery arriving on sunday but these $84.00 tons that are arriving from turkey which involve some 400000 gallons he said it was pointed out to him by a reporter that the rate the n.h.s. is using those downs at the moment that amounts to about 3 days of supply so it's really not that much at all so this is not just a health care issue anymore it's a real political hot potato for the government and they're getting a lot of criticism as a result of what is perceived to be a lack of forward planning. to afghanistan now where the president is limiting his

contact with staff after at least 20 fish will soon closely work with him tested positive for the virus there is no indication yet that ashraf ghani himself has been affected welcome bowl is currently on a coronavirus lockdown which authorities recently extended for 3 weeks and all government offices a shut the country has reported nearly 1000 cases including 33 deaths turkey has replaced iran as the country with the highest recorded number of covert 1000 cases in the middle east more than 82000 infections have been confirmed close to 3800 of those cases were diagnosed in the past 24 hours ankara has extended a curfew by another 2 days to slow the spread of the virus. what authorities in iran have allowed some businesses to reopen with the government saying it's time to shift the focus back to the economy but some health experts are warning it may be too soon from terror on his bus rafi. after nearly 2 months of being closed because

of the coronavirus businesses in the iranian capital are waking up from their hibernation for main street shops like this in open areas the city's prime real estate it is business as usual but for covered markets where there are bottlenecks where dense crowds can gather the government says it's still too dangerous to open up any of the shops in those spaces but the traders we've spoken to in teheran is back alley bazaars they've told us that not only have they not made any money for months but it will take many more months to get back on their feet they say they too need to pay their rent and meet their expenses let alone try to turn a profit and that they hope that the government lifts the remaining control measures entirely in the coming weeks now president hassan rouhani has championed the idea of what he calls smart distancing things start going back to normal but people simultaneously maintain strict rules of hygiene but iran's deputy health minister who contracted cope with 1000 himself in recent days he said that iran is

the country's achilles heel a weak point when it comes to fighting this fire its and government figures do suggest that the infection and death rates are going down and everyone here also hopes that it stays that way but the government has now effectively shifted the onus put the onus on its people and after weeks of being indoors there is this isolation fatigue there is word and so people here are ready to go back to work it's more crowded in downtown to run than it has been in weeks but there are also skeptical voices in the government that say the rush to reopen could backfire and that people in the country should be prepared for the possibility of a 2nd wave of the virus. still ahead here on al-jazeera the hong kong police arrest some prominent pro-democracy figures months off to mass protests. at.

i know that still the snow is coming down across the northern and the east and areas of the united states and this carrying away from the great lakes on into new england that is where the winter weather warnings have been however plenty of snow across the central plains this is denver this is actually some crab apple blossom and then across into nebraska more snow line in the branches of this plum blossom but it will be clearing because the temperatures are on the rise what we're watching on sunday is once again across the southern states because we will be saying more potentially severe thunderstorms developing on the developed fairly rapidly and push across much of the southeast that's in the northeast away we could still see wanted to areas of rain sleet some lake effect snow coming off of the lakes towards the east. across the west too on sunday but by monday that clay is but this is what happens our system in the south works this way up into the mid atlantic and works its way steadily up the eastern side of the u.s. so as a say washing up all the time for the next couple of days to save any severe storms

to develop and then quite a different picture across the caribbean and central america we've got a really quite calm picture on sunday just areas of scattered showers a cool to the north you can see that rain working its way pushing down into northern areas of florida further south all monday but again a fairly quiet picture a warming can cooed. take the worst possible material. to make up. and put in place that. has gotten so many people here this is a silent. but doesn't make you feel like we have created. an investigation south africa toxic city on al-jazeera. you're born.

again you're watching out there a reminder of our top stories this hour and pressure is mounting on the u.s. government to ease coronavirus long time protests encouraged by donald trump held in multiple states for the 3rd day in a row the president says some states will begin easing restrictions as early as monday. more than 20000 people have now died in spain from the virus that reported another 565 deaths on saturday but the death toll is rising at a slower pace. turkey has replaced iran as a country with the highest recorded number of cuts of 19 cases in the middle east more than 82000 infections have been confirmed. are let's have more now on the

right wing protests in the united states calling for reopening economic activity we can speak now to john nichols who's a political writer at the nation and author of horsemen of the trump pocalypse it's faith and a a field guide to the most dangerous people in america he joins us on skype from madison in wisconsin is the nichols welcome to the program so these protests donald trump really not backing down about encouraging the missi. no he's not the president has made it pretty clear that he wants to reopen the u.s. economy and he's had a lot of pushback on that rama public health experts from epidemiologists who are also from governors around the country including many democratic governors and some republican governors so it's pretty clear that the president has decided in at least in some senses to go around the public health folks and even around a lot of the governors and try and encourage citizens encourage people to demand

that the government there that the economy be reopened it may or may not prove to be a dangerous maneuver taking part in these protests from the point of view contracting the virus but what about from a stability point of view could this spiral. well it looks right now like most of the protests that have occurred have been pretty small . you know they get some folks out in the dumps are a bit noisy but there does not appear to be that much popular support for the president's position or for some of these protests now is time goes on that's where the issue becomes more interesting and there are 2 things that are relevant in this regard 1st are what 2 republican politicians around the country do you they side with the president against democratic governors in some states that could be quite relevant and it could lead to more of

a popular. new system and sort of drug test. but the challenge with that and the interesting dynamic is that some of the governors who have been most strict as regards the shutdowns of states as regards the lockdowns have been republican governors like larry hogan in maryland in mike de wine in ohio and so it's not clear yet whether this will become a real political divide in the united states if it does then it could become a very tense circumstance because you really could have situations at least in some states where people were openly resisting the lock out on an open e. openly resisting the public health warnings and procedures yes interesting his briefing i don't know if you saw an hour ago but it was a spectacular effort from donald trump even by his his star that they managed not to talk about 938000 deaths but did talk about talked up his foreign policy and just how well he's doing in just about everything. the briefings are

remarkable by any measure and they have been much criticized there are some media outlets that do not carry them there are other media outlets that do. the amazing thing is that that after the president does his briefings quite frequently his own administration is very very busy clarifying and correcting and trying to you know for lack of a better term clean up some of the masses but he continues to do them it's quite clear that the president likes doing these briefings he enjoys the time in the spotlight he often brags about how many people are you would know and we should not underestimate that he does have some influence in many senses though he's often criticized for things that he says it is quite clear he's trying very hard to speak

directly to his political base in a presidential election year so i think that it's unlikely that he'll stop doing these 3 things all right john nichols a good to get your perspective appreciate that that's john nichols a political writer with the nation thank you. thank you so much. to brazil where hospitals are under increasing strain refrigeration unit was sent to a hospital in ourself to this video emerged said to show bodies being kept in bags next to patients and alice is one of several major cities running out of intensive care beds including south paolo and rio de janeiro brazil has reported more than $2300.00 deaths and over $36000.00 cases were in rio supporters of the president jaya both an hour and held a protest against lockdown measures they say restrictions imposed by state governments should only apply to high risk groups both in our fight his health minister on thursday they clashed over the handling of the crisis he wants the economy and borders reopened. pakistan's government has lifted restrictions on

prayers at mosques during the mostly muslim holy month of ramadan the agreement was made during a meeting of religious scholars and government officials chaired by the president. worshippers will have to wear face masks and keep a safe distance from each other to prevent further spread of coronavirus the government had been under pressure from clerics to relax restrictions imposed last month it's limited congregations to 5 people. the lowdown in sudan's capital of khartoum has taken effect set to be in place for the next 3 weeks decision was made as the health ministry announced a sharp increase in people who've contracted kovac 90 cases doubled in the last 24 hours 10 people have nothing to hide. to other news now in place of arrested 15 of the best known pro-democracy politicians and activists in hong kong they're accused of illegally organizing the largest anti-government protest ever seen a former colonial power great britain says it's concerned about china's continuing

erosion of hong kong's freedoms it's difficult policy it's. the list of arrested reads like the who's who upon const democratic movement among them are present and former legislative councillors prominent activist a man known as the father of democracy in hong kong we are here to 81 year old martin lee is one of the architects of the basic law the city's many constitution which essentially safeguard the territories autonomy he had stepped away from the political spotlight in recent years but was vocal about his support for the protests last year. i have no regrets for what i have done i feel proud to walk the path of democracy these outstanding young protesters. it's the 2nd time this year businessman and media tycoon jimmy lie has been arrested. they have been arrested on suspicion of organizing and taking part in illegal

assembly the government has released a statement saying the arrests were made based on evidence and were in accordance to the law since that government is coming out remind them that you have since you have to see the end of. a mass and continue and you've been in a crisis during all of these i have to make. on the list of the movement the arrests come up to a week of turmoil in the legislative council members tussled with the opposition democrats for control of the weekly meeting agenda in an unusual move china's representative office in hong kong waded in to denounce the pro-democracy group the baiting liaison office monitors developments in hong kong and reports back to the chinese government but for the 1st time it's stated it has the right to supervise local affairs and is exempt from across in the constitution which restricts

interference from any department directly under beijing's control. that's provoking we need fierce amongst democracy supporters already alarmed at china's tightening grip on hong kong since last june more than $7000.00 people have been arrested for their involvement in the protests many are charged with biting which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. this year there has been a law in the protests mostly due to the current virus pandemic the government has banned all gatherings of more than 4 people to enforce social distancing but protesters and democracy activists say government leaders are making the most of the distracted public along with trying to wipe out the virus wiping out any dissent is the aim too they say if you go palin our own car. forces loyal to libya's u.n. recognize governments are battling to recapture a stronghold warlord and for half the the western city of talk is where many of his

men come from government forces say they killed tens and tens of have to fight isn't captured dozens in retaliation have to forces intensified shelling or residential areas in tripoli moment up to 100 reports from. rockets launched by forces loyal to have to hit injured civilians in several districts of libya's capital. the barrage of rockets was in the retaliation for the offensive by those backing a deal and the recognize the government in tripoli to recapture hall now. the city around 90 kilometers southeast of tripoli is have to the major stronghold in the west of the country and the operations headquarters of the year long campaign to capture the capital. and. we've launched this attack to cut the supply line coming to their positions in southern tripoli we advance to 27 kilometers

inside the administers of borders of htat who are and are now in control of the area. where the. government forces say they killed some pro half the fighters and captured dozens of prisoners in saturday's advance on top of whom. we had fallen from several axes we captured a number of the forces weapons and military vehicles the move was ordered by our operation room we will win the battle. damage unity of have to his forces fighting in the suburban of southern tripoli come from tata who now many of them abandoned the battle to seize tripoli to return home to defend their city the pullout has helped the government forces make gains in other front lines past us forces it lost many areas along the coast of western libya last week the battle for

the horn or is seen as crucial because if it falls into the hands of the internationally recognized the government it signals the dell one fall of have to as forces in the entire area. tripoli. listen to soldiers return to the barracks after the prime minister ordered them onto the streets to in his words deal with rogue individuals thomas the bunny is under increasing pressure to step down over accusations that he murdered his estranged wife in 2017 the bunny appeared in court last month but was not charged on friday the constitutional court ruled against the 80 year olds decision to suspend parliament calling the move irrational. some of the biggest names in music and entertainment are joining forces for a charity concert to honor health care workers around the world.

well such as the kill itself and join in the rolling stones a live streaming from their homes the one world together at home concert has been organized by lady gaga and the charity global citizen. i'm extending my gratitude to all the health care workers are risking their lives every day for us and those people who are turning out to work to make deliveries and to do groceries and. gas in our cars so thank you so much everyone and god bless you. so this is our desert these are the top stories and pressure is mounting on u.s. governors to ease coronavirus lockdown rules with protest encouraged by donald trump held in multiple states for the 3rd day in a row the president says some states will begin easing restrictions as early as

monday. spain's death toll has passed $20000.00 reported another $565.00 deaths on saturday but the toll there continues to rise at a slower pace and tests have also shown a infection rate early on health workers in madrid celebrated when part of the makeshift hospital was closed after treating more than a 1000 patients the prime minister pedro sanchez says he will last parliament to extend the state of emergency until may the 9th and more relaxed confinement for children before that the united kingdom government has admitted there is a shortage of crucial masks and gowns for health care staff more than 15000 people have now died in hospital from covert 19 medical workers are criticizing a government suggestion to reuse personal protective equipment afghanistan's president ashraf ghani is limiting his contact with stuff after at least 20 officials who placed the work with him tested positive for the virus there's no

indication he's been infected the country has so far reported nearly 1000 cases of covert 900 including 33 deaths turkey has replaced iran as a country with the highest recorded number of covert 1000 cases in the middle east more than 82000 infections have been confirmed and. in brazil post but also under increasing strain a refrigeration unit was sent to a hospital in the now solve to this video emerge as said to show bodies being kept in bags next to patients when else is one of several major cities running out of intensive care beds that includes the cities of sao paolo and rio de janeiro brazil has reported more than $2300.00 deaths and over $36000.00 cases are you have state with headlines got more news here right off the top to al-jazeera as corona virus continues to devastate the united states the race to the white house goes on

joe biden has all but secured his place is the democratic nominee but can he still trump joined us for continuing coverage of the u.s. election 2020 on al-jazeera. the little. blue sea. it's been over a month since covert 19 was declared a pandemic. more than 120000 people have died and more than 2000000 are infected worldwide. the health emergency has also affected the global economy and diplomacy one of the countries that has been hardest hit by the pandemic is spain. it's had more than 80000 deaths despite the weeks long government imposed lockdown it's already weak economy has declined further. and despite concerns by the world health organization of workers' unions and opposition leaders the spanish government has announced a partial lifting up.