this is bbc news — i'm james reynolds. these are the latest coronavirus headlines from around the world: president trump says new york is by far america's biggest problem as half of all known us coronavirus cases are now in the state. an ice rink in madrid becomes a temporary mortuary as spain's death toll overtakes china's. prince charles is self—isolating at home in scotland after testing positive for the coronavirus — his symptoms are said to be mild. and in other news, an australian man accused of killing 51 people in attacks on two mosques in new zealand last year enters a surprise plea of guilty.

hello and welcome to bbc world news. in the united states more than 900 people have now died from coronavirus, and there are 60,000 confirmed cases. half of those cases are in new york state, where the governor has again appealed for more help from the federal government. despite the mounting numbers, the governor said there are early signs that stringent restrictions on social gatherings and other measures could be slowing the virus‘s spread. president trump mentioned new york when he spoke about the coronavirus a short while ago, saying he's focused on helping the state. they have a couple of tough weeks ahead of them. the governor is doing ahead of them. the governor is doing a good job. i spoke to governor

cuomo late last night and this morning. 0ur correspondent nick bryant has this report from new york. new york is paying a price for being the world's most global city. the very thing that makes it great also makes it vulnerable during this planetary pandemic. it saw the tourists and visitors who normally throng places like times square partly explains why this has become the epicentre of america's coronavirus outbreak. bets social distancing is having an effect by slowing the amount of patients needing urgent care. this is everything. slowing the hospitalisation rates, coming into the hospitals are everything, so the hospitals can deal with the rate of people coming in. and they're not just building makeshift hospitals here, they're erecting makeshift morgue. new york is still thought to be three weeks away from the peak of its coronavirus outbreak and it is facing a chronic shortage

of medical equipment. it estimates it will need 33,000 ventilators and right now it only has about a third of that number. washington may be deserted but its lawmakers are working overtime to pass a $2 trillion stimulus package to throw a lifeline to american businesses. but there are political tensions here over how to deal with simultaneously with an economic crisis and a public health crisis. donald trump's aim of opening up america by easter has been slammed by the democrat hoping to succeed him. i'd like to be able to say we're going to be back to normal next friday. that would be wonderful. but it can't be arbitrary. we've got to look at the history of what's happened, the recent history of what's happened in other countries. donald trump is a wartime president

who wants this to end soon. who suggested easter? ijust think it's a beautiful time. it's suggested easter? ijust think it's a beautifultime. it's a suggested easter? ijust think it's a beautiful time. it's a beautiful timeline. coronavirus testing near hollywood in california. scenes from what looked like a movie set a viral not virtual reality. will be coronavirus spring become the coronavirus summer and autumn? nobody knows the timeline. nobody can be sure how this ends. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. spain has now recorded more coronavirus deaths than china. 738 people with the virus died in the past day alone, taking the total over 3,000. italy still has the highest death rate, though. more than 7,500 people have died and over 75,000 have been infected, but the infection rate has slowed for a fourth successive day. in france, more than 1,300 people have died. almost 3,000 people are in such a serious condition that they need life support, meaning more than one third of france's ventilation beds are occupied.

there's a similar situation in spain, where more than 2,500 are in a serious or critical state. almost 3,500 have died. 0ur correspondent, damian grammaticas, reports from madrid. on a dark day for spain, a sobering sight. van after van carrying bodies of virus victims. this is madrid's biggest ice rink. it has been requisitioned to hold the dead. they need it, there are so many now. arriving at spanish hospitals are more and more cases, infection is here leaping every day. more than 5000 medical staff have fallen sick also. so part of spain's urgent efforts are these new rapid testing centres, specifically for those on the front line. this nurse feared she has the virus. a colleague has it. the swaps are invasive and unpleasant. handled with extreme care in case they have picked up the pathogen. she is worried because

translation: i am very worried, especially for my family and my patients. translation: i am very worried, especially for my family and my patients. at home i stay in one room, isolated, treating myself so the whole of spain has now mobilised to fight the virus. a tanker load of chemicals arrives at an army base on the edge of madrid. inside, they are now making hand sanitiser. gallons and gallons of it to supply hospitals, so great is the demand. translation: what we are doing is very important. we do what we can to try to solve the crisis. so in this battle, it's not bullets this military production line is making, but medicines. to replenish stocks that are being used up fast. and this is it, coming off the production line, packs of paracetamol.

spain's military have put down their guns and their weapon of choice in this fight now, packs of these. across spain, people everywhere are getting involved. designing and producing the goggles doctors are so short. stuck at home sewing face masks for the elderly. here, and nurse posts a thank you for the vital protective visor hand made by people living near to her hospital. and that thanks is returned. every night, in every city, town and village across spain, acknowledgement of the bravery and sacrifice the medics are making. the sound of a grateful nation. damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid. meanwhile, here in the uk, frontline medics have told the bbc about their concerns over a lack of personal protection as they fight coronavirus. the british medical association says there's growing evidence that

thousands of doctors are still not getting the equipment they need to treat patients with coronavirus, but the government says 15 million masks have been delivered to nhs trusts across the country since monday. speaking at his daily news conference, the prime minister, borisjohnson, had this message. i want to thank everyone who has been doing the clear rules we set out on monday and i want to thank everyone in the nhs, the frontline of the fight against coronavirus and of the fight against coronavirus and of course all our public services. 0ur teachers and school staff, the transport workers, police officers, eve ryo ne transport workers, police officers, everyone is keeping this country going. but i also want to offer a special thank you to everyone who has now volunteered to help the nhs. let's speak to our political correspondent, helen catt, who joins us now from westminster. helen, let's pick up on the idea of volunteers. the initial call that was for 250,000 people. a few more have replied. at that press

conference, borisjohnson said in the first 2a hours, 405,000 people the first 24 hours, 405,000 people had signed up to be a volunteer. about 90 minutes ago, that was still rising. it rose to 504,303 and what these people are signing up to do with things like driving people to hospital a point that is, to pick up and collect medicines and drop them at people's doors and they are there primarily to help the 1.5 million people in england to completely self isolate, to stay in their homes and not go out. these are just everyday citizens who are volunteering. the idea was to relieve pressure on the nhs. but there is another group of volunteers, former medical staff have agreed to come back to the nhs. the former doctors and nurses, former clinical staff. to come back to work to help out during the coronavirus outbreak. did you get a

sense from the high ministers statement it's been picked up by politicians and mps at the last by ministers questions before parliament. the speed of getting the personal protective equipment to hospitals. some healthcare supply groups that were having to ask on social media for diy stores so there has certainly been concerns about that as you said earlier, the government has said millions of pieces of kit have now been sent out hospitals. i pieces of kit have now been sent out hospitals. 1. it pieces of kit have now been sent out hospitals. i - it will be a to hospitals, [thinkit willbea. case of sing over the next few days whether that has been enough that is allaying concerns. the australian man accused

of killing 51 worshippers at two mosques in christchurch new zealand last year has pleaded guilty. brenton harrison tarrant admitted 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and a terrorism charge. the 29—year—old from new south wales had originally pleaded not guilty, and a trial had been due to start in june. let's go to the bbc‘s shaimaa khalil in sydney. this comes as a surprise. we were expecting a trial later this year. the month of ramadan which is expected in may. and now, only a few minutes ago. all charges, including

the terrorism charge which was the first to be brought to new zealand. new zealand is currently locked down to try and contain the spread of covid—19. it was in a scaled—down appearance. his lawyers appeared as well. the two mosques that were attacked. al—noor and lynwood, were allowed to attend a small appearance. the judge said allowed to attend a small appearance. thejudge said it allowed to attend a small appearance. the judge said it was reg retta ble appearance. the judge said it was regrettable because of the concerns that family members of the victims we re that family members of the victims were not allowed to attend. we works acting them to attend injune. we also heard from one of the family members who lost his wife and said that many will be relieved at this because many were dreading. what memories this would bring back. a

relief from some of the families. i was in new zealand for a couple of weeks ago for the anniversary of the shooting. the prime minister appeared then. this attack fundamentally change the country. it was impossible that it wouldn't. 0ne thing you saw immediately after the attack were the gun reforms banning semiautomatic rifles. when i spoke to families on that occasion, they also spoke about the memories that brought, the very difficult memories of losing loved ones, the terror and the fear they felt that day. a very sombre memory of the darkest days in new zealand's history and now we are

expecting the sentencing of all of the 92 charges to be set later this year. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: with global deaths passing 20,000, how far has the coronavirus got to go before it reaches its peak? we speak to an expert from harvard university. the two main symptoms of coronavirus to look out for are a continuous dry cough and/or a fever. if you're sneezing a lot, got a runny nose or a headache, you may be ill but you've probably not got coronavirus. so, how high a fever is a coronavirus one, and what exactly is a continuous dry cough? well, it's when you cough and there's no mucus or phlegm — basically no gooey substance in your tissue. and this is not the odd cough here and there,

it has to be coughing regularly for no other reason, such as clearing your throat or smoking. so how high a fever is a coronavirus fever? well, if you have one, you will know about it. technically, it's a body temperature of more than 37.8 degrees celsius, or 100 degrees fahrenheit, but if you've not got a thermometer, basically you will feel hot and your chest and back would be hot. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: president trump says new york is by far america's biggest problem, as half of all known us coronavirus cases are linked to the state. spain has now recorded more coronavirus deaths than china, the cradle of the pandemic. with the global death toll surpassing 20,000 and the number of confirmed cases standing at 450,000, the exponential growth of covid—19 is causing huge concern. with the figures changing rapidly,

there's also lots of speculation around when the virus will reach its peak. joining me now is associate professor of epidemiology at harvard university, professor william hange. ijust i just put that to you then, ijust put that to you then, bill hange, when mike this virus reach its peak? i think the peak will be reached in different parts of the world at different times and it will depend on differentjurisdictions. world at different times and it will depend on different jurisdictions.” can think of france, italy in stages, spain, with all different lockdown is, but we seem some countries, indonesia, mexico, belarus, either not imposing lot pounds or very few restrictions —— lockdown is. how might that affect the course of the virus? we know from what we've seen in wuhan and

italy that the peak of the demand in critical care is about four weeks after lockd owns critical care is about four weeks after lockdowns are imposed, so those places imposing lockdowns can expect cases to be climbing for at least a good few weeks before they start to level off. with seem hopeful signs from italy in the last few days that they might be getting better —— we've seen. but there's a long way to go and if there is no lockdowns, you can expect a considerably longer period of growth. when cases go down under a lockdown, what happens if a lockdown is released? lockdown, what happens if a lockdown is released ? cases lockdown, what happens if a lockdown is released? cases go back up again 01’ is released? cases go back up again or do countries go into testing regimes to make sure they're not at square zero again? testing and contacting regimes are crucial. it is important to if people have recovered and developed immunity. the most important thing is what happens over the next few months,

because that's when the first wave will be hitting and when we can save some lives and buy some time to improve healthcare some lives and buy some time to improve healthca re capacity some lives and buy some time to improve healthcare capacity in all the different places where this is going to happen. to make this understandable for people like me and all our viewers, let's say i had the virus, i didn't know, but i a test and i've recovered and i have immunity. can i visit whoever i want without any fear of passing it on? —— buti without any fear of passing it on? —— but i had a test. without any fear of passing it on? -- but i had a test. we don't know at the moment weather a test result can definitively confirm immunity, but social distancing won't remain as tight as it is right now, for insta nce as tight as it is right now, for instance —— whether a test. the goal will be slowing the infection. we don't want the explosive outbreaks. people who have immunity should be able to do something... they should be able to have more leeway in the things they can do. in general terms, how does a virus like this end? the virus... this outbreak or

pandemic, as it is, will only end and come under control when there is and come under control when there is a sufficient amount of immunity in the population and that can be built up the population and that can be built up into ways. we'd like to be able to do it with a vaccine but if we can't we would hope to generate population in unity or sometimes heard immunity. there's different ways of doing that —— immunity. heard immunity. there's different ways of doing that -- immunity. you can put restrictions in place and attem pts can put restrictions in place and atte m pts to can put restrictions in place and attempts to increase slowly so as to not overwhelm healthcare, or if you don't do that, healthcare is likely to be overwhelmed, and if that happens, as with italy, you have a much higher mortality rate and obviously also you start to avoidable deaths from other conditions which would ordinarily not be having such a negative outcome. professor bill hange, thank you forjoining us. thank you for having me. prince charles has tested positive for the coronavirus. clarence house says he is displaying mild symptoms but is otherwise in good health. the duchess of cornwall has also been tested but does not have the virus. here's our royal correspondent,

nicholas witchell. birkhall today, the prince of wales's home in the scottish highlands. it's here that the heir to the british throne is self isolating, as is his wife. they had arrived here on sunday night, he was already showing mild symptoms. he was tested on monday, the results came through late last night. in a statement, clarence house said: scotland's chief medical officer stressed that the prince had been tested in line with normal procedures. he was tested for clinical reasons and i'm very pleased to say that he is very well, and, as with many people who have had this virus, has had a mild illness.