this is bbc news. welcome if you are watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: the us becomes the country with more confirmed cases of coronavirus than anywhere in the world. as europe continues to be the worst affected region, leaders of the 620 countries promise to inject $5 trillion into the global economy. 115 people die from coronavirus injust21i hours in the uk, as the government announces a multibillion—pound rescue package for the self—employed. applause britons take to the streets to applaud the healthcare staff

who are trying to save lives. there are now more confirmed cases of covid—19 in the united states than in any other country in the world. according to the latest figures from johns hopkins university, the us now hasjust over 83,000 cases, overtaking both china and italy. it comes as the total number of confirmed cases around the world has now passed 500,000. in terms of lives lost, countries in europe continue to be worst affected. the death total in italy is more than 8,200. there was a jump in deaths in spain, too. meanwhile, another 115 people have died in the uk after testing positive for the virus, taking the total to 578.

there are now approaching 12,000 confirmed cases. let's stay with the total number of us cases, though. a short while ago, president trump was asked about the numbers. it's a tribute to the amount of testing that we're doing. we're doing tremendous testing, and i'm sure you're not able to tell what china is testing or not testing. i think that's a little hard. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has more on the dramatic surge in cases. yes, and not unexpected. sadly, a lot of people around the country had expected this, as the cases continued to rise in quite dramatic fashion in certain areas — those hot spot cities like new york city and new orleans, in louisiana, which hasn't had as much attention as some of the other big cities. but there's been a really

very worrying surge in the last few hours and days — the number of people, the number of cases and the number of deaths in that part of america. and it's another densely populated area. it's also popular with visitors, and that is one of the reasons why local health experts believe that there has been a surge there. and, at the moment, there doesn't seem to be any end in sight to this increase in numbers. here in los angeles, where i am, officials have been saying that they think this city is maybe a week or so behind new york, and expect to see a surge here soon. what measures are being taken in those hot spots, and how effective are they being seen? well, measures that are very similar around the country. of course, everyone is being asked to stay at home. the social distancing guidelines have been enforced, and by and large, people seem to be taking note of that. the big problem, again, seems to be a lack of equipment, especially in some of the hospitals in new york city.

we've heard a number of reports from health workers bemoaning the fact that they simply do not have, it seems, the resources and the available equipment to believe — to deal with the huge number of people that are coming in and needing urgent help. we've just heard from president trump there saying that the rise in the number of confirmed cases is because the us is now testing more people, and compare that to china. what is the public perception of how the government, both federal and state, is handling this crisis? well, the public perception has been that the trump administration responded slowly to this, that there haven't been enough testing kits available around the country. and there has been a continued confusion, i think it's fair to say, as to who should be tested, and very different opinions. some people believe there should be much more testing, to if you like rule out certain people within the community. others say that testing isn't going to necessarily cure

the situation, and that more emphasis should be put on social isolation. so, depending on where you are, and depending on your viewpoint, people have very mixed feelings about the administration's response to this. as restrictions on people's lives continue to be ramped up in europe, a high—speed passenger train in france has been transformed into a makeshift hospital to help evacuate patients from the badly affected east of the country to the west, where there are spare hospital beds. france has the fourth—highest number of cases in europe, and has been forced to rely on neighbours to treat some patients. freya cole reports. it is time to depart. all seats are reserved for the critically ill and their carers, who worked frantically to adopt the passenger “— worked frantically to adopt the passenger —— adapt the passenger —— adapt the passenger train into an emergency mode of transport. medics take the weight on their shoulders, carrying 30 patients from hospitals in strasbourg,

where intensive care units are full. their destination will be hospitals in the west of the country, which is yet to be inundated by a virus victims. translation: the eastern region is at the peak of its wave. the idea is to work with the shift by taking patients, which are in full epidemic peak to calmer regions, so we can eventually rotate across the whole nation. almost 30,000 people in france have tested positive for covid—19. like many countries around the world, the current healthcare around the world, the current healthca re system around the world, the current healthcare system isn't coping. the european commission has urged for more cooperation between member states that orders and in hospitals. currently, france is relying on its bordering countries to lend a helping hand. translation: i would like to thank our german, swiss and luxembourg neighbours, that have taken in about 30 serious cases, just as

we did for our italian neighbours a few weeks ago. that is european solidarity. almost every evening, in paris, residents erupt into applause for healthcare workers on the front line. it is becoming a lockdown tradition, one which bans the community together and lifts spirits. although museums, concerts and theatres are closed across france, all is not lost. this parisien opera singer takes to his balcony every night. his personal duty to keep culture alive. spain has extended its lockdown for at least another two weeks, as the number of deaths linked to coronavirus passed 4,000. 655 patients died in the past 2a hours, the first fall in the daily number for a week. guy hedgecoe reports

from madrid. while the healthcare personnel of the country have been sort of lauded as heroes, a lot of people believe that the healthcare system is rather underfunded in certain areas. and that has been exposed by this crisis. now, a whole batch of test kits were imported from china for use this week, and it turns out that many of those, one batch of those, is faulty or it's not as good as the government had hoped. so there's been a diplomatic issue today between china and spain over these kits, which the government had hoped would improve testing. so they're having to turn to other imports of test equipment in order to improve that aspect of their management of the crisis. let's get some of the day's other news: japan has warned coronavirus will become rampant after a surge in tokyo. the country has banned people entering from europe, and the government has set up a task force exploring a possible state of emergency, although tokyo says there

are no plans for one yet. india has announced a $22.6 billion economic stimulus plan that provides direct cash transfers and food assistance to millions of people hit by the country's lockdown due to coronavirus. india has recorded 649 infections and 13 deaths so far. scientists have suggested that the pandemic would have caused a0 million deaths across the world if it had been left unchecked. the researchers from imperial college london say rapid, decisive and collective action is needed by all countries to save millions of lives over the next year. hospitals in london are having to deal with a tsunami of very sick patients, and critical care beds at some sites in the capital could be full by the end of the week. that is the warning from the chief of national health service providers. he said the nhs is also having

to deal with unprecedented levels of staff sickness. preparations for a vast new temporary hospital which opens next week in london are under way. here is our health editor hugh pym. the army comes to the aid of the nhs, helping shift urgently needed supplies of protective equipment like gloves and masks to hospitals, gps‘ surgeries and other health staff to help them deal with coronavirus cases, with some areas already seeing large numbers. london, for example. the representative of major hospitals says, in parts of the capital, they're struggling. the scale of the demand, and the pace with which it's coming, and the fact that they haven't got enough staff to meet it means it feels like a tsunami. so, in some places, they are really struggling. they're just about keeping their head above water, but in three or four places, it's clear that they will run out of critical care capacity probably by the weekend.

patients will be found beds elsewhere, including here, at a vast temporary hospital at a conference centre in london's docklands, with oxygen tanks being installed to help care for the sickest. once again, the army is helping the health service with the preparations. in the east midlands, priya is getting ready. she is a doctor who has been shifted from her normal work to care for covid—19 patients. it's like we're preparing for another war. so it is scary, because we've never had these... i've worked in multiple healthcare systems before, and we've never, everfaced anything of this sort. at least, i've neverfaced it, and most of the doctors haven't. so we're basically very anxious on the inside, but we don't let that come in our way. that's my little room there, where my bed is. jo is a vicar who is now looking after her sick parents. she felt ill and stayed at home, was tested, but didn't get the results for two weeks. she had the virus. she is frustrated she couldn't

warn people she had met, some of whom are in hospital. it's heartbreaking, it really is. so please stay away. assume everybody has got it. call it a plague, not a virus. david is a hospital consultant in south wales. he has himself contracted the virus. i've had a week ofjust feeling absolutely terrible, aching muscles, aching bones, and unable to get out of bed, sleeping 16, 18 hours a day. i'm on the mend now, thankfully, i hope. but i can't emphasise to you how sick this can make you. please, please listen to the advice that's going round at the minute. some doctors and nurses say they're still struggling to get the right protective equipment, including masks and visors. some hospitals say supplies have arrived this week. most are preparing specialist wards, and hoping they can safely care for the coronavirus patients. hugh pym, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: applause britain applauds its healthcare staff, to give thanks for their tireless work as they try to save lives. 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: the us has overtaken china and italy to become the country that has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases. more than 82,000 people have been confirmed positive. as europe continues to be the worst affected region, leaders of the g20 countries promise to inject $5 trillion into the global economy. the number of americans filing for unemployment has surged to a record high as the economy goes into lockdown due to the global health crisis.

nearly 3.3 million people registered to claim jobless benefits for the week ending the 21st of march, according to the department of labor. that's nearly five times more than the previous record of 695,000, set in 1982. well, i spoke with matha gimbel, manager of economic research at schmidt futures, a philianthropic organisation that invests in initiatives to advance social prosperity. and andrew stettner is a senior fellow at the century foundation, a nonpartisan think tank aimed at reducing inequality and promoting security at home and abroad. i started by asking mr stettner whether things could get even worse. we think it will get much worse. as many as 11 million americans, which would be an all—time record, will file for

unemployment benefits. because of the social isolation measures and the requirements, and also the ripple effect as there is just a shocking decrease in demand, and people just need a lifetime because their employers can't keep them on their payrolls. 11 million is an absolutely staggering number, how much elasticity is there in the economy? could it bounce back in a few months? i don't think it will bounce back in that period of time. you know, the bookings that are lost, the conferences that are cancelled, this is money that never comes back, so it's going to need a longer time to bounce back. we did pass a major stimulus bill, that's going to help. martha, one do you think of that timeframe and that number, 11 million? i actually think andrew is being optimistic with that numberand it being optimistic with that number and it could get a lot higher. the situation has the potential to really spiral out of control.

11 million, you're calling that optimistic, i can't quite believe we're having this conversation! imean, for conversation! i mean, for context, the number of people who filed for unemployment insurance this week was almost twice the entire total number of people who were on the programme the week before. so we're really entering unprecedented territory here. but if we look to donald trump, martha, saying he wants to restart the economy by easter, your thoughts on that? i think people who say we need to restart the economy are overlooking the fact that the best thing for the economy right now is to get the public health situation under control. if we try to start things back up if we try to start things back up but people are still afraid of contracting the virus or afraid they won't be able to get healthcare services if they do get sick, they're not going to start going back to restaurants that you have to do provide people with the security that they will be taken security that they will be ta ken care of security that they will be taken care of if they get sick. andrew, is that the right order

of eve nts ? andrew, is that the right order of events? the only cure for the economic problem is the public health cure. that's what makes it so hard for policymakers. they can do stimulus, they can help the unemployed, they can help industry, but until they contain this virus with the kind of testing and treatment, they can't turn things around because they can't in good faith... and the governors, in their own good faith, they won't reopen schools and they won't reopen schools and they won't reopen schools and they won't reopen businesses, and still they see this epidemic pique and start to slow down. some of the move music coming out of the administration seems to be that if you balance up human life and economic cost, that actually may be we are veering too far in one side. how uncomfortable does that make you feel? first of all, martha? i think they're falling, drawing a false distinction here. leaving aside

the moral questions here, which are strong, people dying by the million isn't going to make people make people feel more economically secure, so if your desire is to secure the economy for everyone, the first thing you have to do is to get the public health crisis under control, and that's again leaving out the moral implications of. absolutely. andrew, final question, put this in context for us, as a seasoned academic and economist, have you ever seen anything like this? what are the comparisons, if there are any? i... obviously the great recession but today was the singles worst piece of labour market using america's history. we never had this many people lose theirjob and need to go on unemployment rolls. i hope many of them will be temporary but today was a pretty black day. with millions around the world stuck at home, it's no wonder that those who can are streaming movies for a bit of escapism. and that's raised questions

about the future of the cinema business as we know it. from his home in new york, tom brook has been speaking to moviegoers around the globe about how they're getting by. i spoke to movie lovers in the us, india, china, germany, japan and denmark and it was no surprise to find out all of them in the midst of this pandemic have been streaming movies sometimes for hours at a stretch. there are no movie theatres, there's nowhere else to experience moving images other than on your computer screen, soi than on your computer screen, so i think streaming platforms have become the full on opportunity for people to watch film and tv now, so it's an historic time. so what films have people been watching in their homes? sergei lives in tokyo. i've definitely been watching several pandemic films. the one that is most watched lately is outbreak with dustin hoffman. isolate him,

isolate him! don't worry, it's not airborne. i hear from most of my friends that they do watch those films lately, especially now, in the last week, because everyone is depressed in general. your town is being quarantined. this movie—goer that lives in arizona has rather different tastes. i have a few friends watching more of those dystopic, pandemic movies but i find myself drawn to more movies that draw a sense of comfort, the feelgood kind, just to comfort myself in these uncertain times. with audiences becoming so accustomed to streaming movies at home during the pandemic, there's concerns once the coronavirus outbreak has subsided, cinemas will remain empty, they may just subsided, cinemas will remain empty, they mayjust disappear, but some movie—goers take a more mis—hit view. andrew is a cinematographer and director who lives in shanghai. one thing we've learned in this whole outbreak is how to

treasure the things that you used to have and then take it to for granted, such as going to for granted, such as going to the cinema. i believe when the cinema reopens, there's going to be tons of audience waiting to go in and see new movies. but with all the streaming that's taking place, it's become clear that in the midst of this pandemic, the magic of cinema still prevails. it is definitely helping to take people away from disconcerting realities. as esteemed filmmaker david lynch once stated, cinema is like opening a door and going into a new world. tom brook, bbc news, new york. thousands of people across britain opened their windows and doors, or went out into the street to applaud national health service staff who are working on the frontline of this coronavirus crisis. they clapped from all corners of the united kingdom and buildings were lit up in blue — the colour of the nhs.

members of the royal family took part, including prince charles, who has the virus and is in self—isolation. david sillito reports. applause it had begun with a single post on social media. a young yoga teacher suggested a doorstep show of support for the nation's carers, health workers and all those who support them. and the result,, this... cheering and applause ..in what is a time of isolation and fear. street after street, after street. a national moment of thanks and togetherness. glasgow. . .. applause belfast. . .. applause glasgow. . .. applause belfast. . .. applause leeds... applause london. . .. applause as you can see, it's an extraordinary sight. on this street alone, everyone has turned out — a reminder ofjust what this has done... well, not just to help the carers,

but also bring communities together. people are working as cleaners, people are working as nurses, people are working as doctors and we've got some people out in the street as well who work in the local pharmacies. and this is an absolute nightmare, so it's time we alljust have to stand together, shoulder—to—shoulder and show our appreciation. they're doing such a sterling job and i take my hat clean off to them. i could never do it. my heart goes out to them. and all of this from that single online suggestion just a week ago. so this was just an idea of yours and it took off really quickly, didn't it? yeah, it went really fast. the next day even before lunch, my friends were showing me that victoria beckham had posted it on her page and the sussex royals did it on their instagram stories. yeah, that was unbelievable. and this is a thankyou

to everyone who's helping. here at the whittington hospital in london, donations are coming in. bicycles, water, toilet rolls, 11,500 hand creams, money. there's also a gift list. these are presents? yes, essentially. like an iphone charger. we made out an amazon wish list, things which staff need and have asked for, people can go on and there's a link to our website. and the applause? some of it had to be done before bedtime. there was also a royal contribution to this day's show of support, including prince charles, who has tested positive for the coronavirus and is now in isolation. it was a national thankyou. there will be many difficult times in the weeks to come, but this was a positive moment, one we will remember. david sillito, bbc news.

that's all for now. i'm duncan golestani. you can find me on twitter. see you soon, thanks for watching. hello there. temperatures on thursday reached highs around 18 degrees across the far north—west of england, thanks to plenty of sunshine. southern scotland didn't do too badly as well with the sunshine, but generally speaking friday is going to be a similar picture to thursday. this weather front bringing more cloud across northern parts of the country, so could be quite grey and drizzly through the day across central and eastern scotland. to the north of the weather front, northern scotland should see some sunshine and sunshine appearing at times across northern ireland, but by far most of the sunshine will be across england and wales once again after that cold and frosty start. now, we'll have more of a breeze blowing in from the north—east for many of us, particularly across southern and eastern areas, so it will feel a bit cooler generally, certainly more than it has done over the last few days. as we head through friday night, looks like that cloud

across northern areas begins to drift southwards into parts of wales, northern england and the midlands. because there will be more of a breeze generally, then it's not going to be quite as cold as what it has been the last few nights. so, for the weekend, things are set to turn colder in fact. high pressure will be dominating the scene, sitting to the north—west of the uk, but it will be bringing down these very cold winds from the north. you can see the blue colours enveloping the whole of the uk, and the wind arrows indicating these winds will be quite a feature as well, just accentuating the cold, particularly on sunday. saturday starts off chilly. there will be quite a bit of sunshine around but the cloud temperatures to build across northern and eastern areas and that strong north, north—east wind will push in a future into north—eastern scotland, eastern england. these will be of a wintry flavour. single—figure values in the north, just about double figures in the south. sunday could be a bit of a cloudier day i think generally. they'll be glimmers of brightness here and there. again, if you wintry showers in the north and east. and a keen wind, especially

in the east and the south—east. these temperatures sticking in single figures for most. factor in the wind, it will feel almost like freezing in one or two places, so a noticeable chill factor, particularly on sunday. as we head on into next week, it does look like high pressure sits again towards the north—west of the uk, bringing in further chilly air. but i think it will be a little less cold for the start of the week than what we have over the weekend. so, this is monday's picture. again, quite a bit of cloud around. a few glimmers of brightness here and there. one or two showers affecting the far north, but most places dry once again. those temperatures maybe up a degree or so — highs of ten or 11 degrees. it stays pretty chilly throughout the week. there are signs of some colder air returning to northern parts of the uk, again with the risk of wintry showers across some exposed coasts.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the us has overtaken china and italy to become the country that has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases. more than 82,000 people have been confirmed positive. the grim milestone came as president donald trump predicted the nation would get back to work pretty quickly. as countries in europe continue to be worst affected, leaders of the g20 countries have promised to do whatever it takes to minimise the damage to livelihoods. they're injecting $5 trillion into the global economy. there have been more than 700 deaths in italy in the last 2a hours. in the uk, 115 people have died from coronavirus in just 2a hours. the british government has announced a multibillion—pound rescue package for the self—employed.