this is bbc world news. our top stories: the uk records its highest number of deaths from coronavirus bringing the total to more than 1,000, as officials warn that social distancing restrictions must be kept in place. if we can keep down to below 20,000, we will have done very well in this epidemic. as the death toll doubles in the us, president trump decides against imposing a quarantine on new york. in italy, more than 10,000 people have now died from covid—19, more than any other country. russia imposes a partial shutdown in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus. and millions of people tune in as spain's biggest stars from the world of music and football hold a virtual festival to raise

money and spirits. hello, and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments in britain and globally. the uk has recorded its highest number of deaths linked to the coronavirus in a single day. 260 people have died in the past 2a hours, bringing the total to more than 1,000. in the us, president trump has been considering putting some of the worst—hit areas under quarantine to slow the spread of coronavirus. new york state has recorded more than 53,000 confirmed cases and nearly 900 deaths. but donald trump has now tweeted that "a quarantine will not be necessary."

in italy, nearly 900 people with the virus have died in the past 2a hours, bringing the total there to more than 10,000. hospitals in the north of the country are in desperate need of protective equipment for health workers, as well as more staff. we'll have more on all of that in a moment, but first here's dominic hughes on the uk's response. the logistics of setting up a new medicalfacility from scratch. a race against time to prepare the newly named nightingale hospital in east london ahead of the coming surge of those who fall seriously ill with covid—19. the sharp rise in today's death toll shows why these facilities are needed. the pressure over the coming weeks is going to be extreme. when the nhs is under increased demand, as we expect, and is already happening in london, is that we are not going to be able to maintain the normal levels of staffing that we currently do, and so we're going to have to dramatically change the way that we work, so rather than one intensive care nurse looking after one patient, we're going to have

to work more as a team. new figures published today give an insight into who's being admitted to critical care units. the data covers 775 patients in england, wales and northern ireland. more than half of them are being looked after by hospitals in london. most are aged over the age of 50, and the number of men falling seriously ill was well over twice the number of women. and in virus hot spots like london, the pressure is already building. how full are intensive care units in london and around the uk at the moment? work is going on all over the country, because as you are also aware, the infection has spread a bit quicker in london. so we are not at capacity yet within london, but beds are being opened all the time to produce that extra surge capacity. and a reminder that in order to keep the death toll down, this is no time for complacency. if we do reduce the deaths to a level which is below

what we initially thought, i want to be absolutely clear — that won't be because we are somehow lucky, it won't be because somehow the virus is acting in this country differently from any other country, it will be because every citizen in this country, the british public, have complied with the instructions that the government has given, based on the best scientific evidence, to reduce the transmission of the disease. if the nhs is going to avoid a crisis, it will require all hands on deck. that's why the introduction of testing staff across the uk, who are currently having to self—isolate, as they've already been doing in wales, is a big step forward. doctor arash salah is keen to work, but a rough cough means he has to stay away, at least until he's tested. has it been a bit frustrating then, waiting to find out whether you've got it or not? yes, it's very frustrating, because i know — i know the hospital is busy,

even at this relatively early point, things are really hotting up. i know that my colleagues need me and it is quite frustrating, being sat here at home when i know i could be at work and i need to be at work. and from the prime minister in isolation, while he recovers from his own covid—19 infection, a letter to every uk household this week, urging people to observe the guidelines to stay at home and protect the nhs. new hospitals, more testing, an immense effort is now under way to try and shore up the health service for what lies ahead. dominic hughes, bbc news. president trump has decided against enforcing a quarantine in america's worst affected state, new york, after opposition was raised by the state's governor. a quarter of america's covid—19 deaths have been in new york. the state is facing restrictions on its residents from the state of rhode island. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has more.

it was an outcry after president trump first suggested new york, newjersey and the state of connecticut should be quick to quarantine to slow the spread of the coronavirus. he was worried about the number of people leaving new york, going to other parts of the country, he specifically mentioned florida where there has been an increase in cases. those people possibly carrying with them the infection. the governor of new york came out and said he strongly objected to this suggestion, he said it was legally questionable and also that he believed it was because chaos. —— it would cause chaos. the president has now backed down and said that the quarantine idea wasn't necessary, having consulted with the governors of all three states involved, having also spoken to members of the white house coronavirus task force. another issue that has emerged that has angered certainly new york and public officials there is the fact that the state of rhode island is now using the police to stop and question people in cars

with license plates from new york, that they have travelled into the state from new york and are potentially carrying the virus. those people are being advised that they have to go into self isolation for two weeks. the governor of new york saying that if that continues, he is considering sueing rhode island. the number of people killed by the coronavirus in spain has risen sharply, to nearly 5,700. the country's prime minister has ordered all non—essential workers to stay at home for two weeks from monday. spain currently has the second highest number of fatalities in the world, after italy. more than 10,000 people have now died in italy, with 898 people dying in the past 2a hours alone. hospitals in the north of the country are in desperate need of protective equipment, as well as more staff. jean mackenzie reports from rome. a lifeline lands in lombardy. converted into a mobile hospital, this morning, the german military flew critically ill patients from italy's worst—hit region to hospitals around germany.

italy's outbreak has been so concentrated in the north that hospitals are struggling to cope. doctor constantinez was one of the first to be overwhelmed. in my town, the situation is a bit improving. i think we are a couple of weeks ahead of the rest of lombardy, so we now are on the plateau of the curve of the new covid infections. at first, it was beds and ventilators in short supply, but now, it's people. nurses and doctors. because we have some free beds inside our hospitals, we could use for patients because we don't have any more nurses 01’ doctors. today, italy has reached a sobering milestone. more than 10,000 people dead after nearly 900 more deaths were recorded since yesterday. there is some hope here.

the rate of new infections has slowed over the past week — an indication that this lockdown, which began nearly three weeks ago, is starting to work. but italians are wary of being too hopefuljust yet, with the number of deaths still coming so fast. but the government's medical researchers say these recent deaths don't mean italy isn't making progress. these people got the infection two or three weeks ago, so this is an image of italy some weeks ago. how many days away from the peak do you think that we are? we are expecting that the peak will be in the next days. these days will now be critical in determining whether italy has managed to change the course of this cruel epidemic. jean mckenzie, bbc news, rome. let's get some of the day's other coronavirus news.

the german chancellor, angela merkel, has thanked the people in her country for their generally exemplary conduct in lockdown. but she warned that the daily infection rate gave no grounds for loosening restrictions. she said the number of infections was doubling every five and a half days, which already represented progress. the government in northern ireland has agreed tough new measures to limit people's movements during the pandemic. the regulations give the authorities the power to close business premises and ban people from leaving their homes without a reasonable excuse. people living in ghana's two biggest cities are being ordered to stay at home for two weeks. residents in the capital, accra, as well as kumasi will only be allowed out to buy food or medicine. portugal has announced that it will approve all applications for legal residence by migrants, because of a backlog of cases made worse by the virus. all asylum seekers who've begun their applications will now be eligible

for resident status. millions of homeless people and migrant labourers have been left in the lurch after india announced a 21—day lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country. with factories and construction sites closing down, many have expressed fears that they might starve to death. many are walking hundreds of miles to their villages, as arunoday mukharji reports from delhi. ajarring image in times of a nationwide lockdown. thousands of migrant workers pour out onto the streets of india's capital city, new delhi. the government arranging buses to help them get home four days after the lockdown started. but the sheer number of stranded has overwhelmed authorities. social distancing here doesn't exist. many had already set off on foot soon after the lockdown was announced, travelling unthinkable distances.

translation: there are no buses. i have to walk another 260 kilometres to get to my village. there's no work here. that is why we are running away. all of india was ordered into a 21—day lockdown to limit the spread of coronavirus. the pandemic has crippled the economy, shutting down factories and businesses, leaving hundreds of thousands without jobs. 90% of india's workforce is employed in the unorganised sector, which is the worst hit. there are many labourers who will not find work. other than having an economic impact, it will also have — there is a huge social impact that will happen here. earlier this week, the indian finance minister announced a $23 billion package just for the poor.

we do not want anyone to remain hungry. we are looking at both cash transfer as one set of measures and another set of measures will be food security related. 0n the same day, barely a few miles away, this was the reality on the streets of old delhi. the poor and homeless cueing up for the two meals a day promised to them. we have been hungry since morning and now we are getting this food. can we survive on this? facing criticism, the government has promised to help those unable to get home, assuring food, shelter and medical help. for the poor, it may solve the immediate problem, but it's the uncertainty of the near future without any jobs that they're most worried about. as india battles a rising number of coronavirus cases, a health emergency is just one of the many concerns. arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, russians

are told to stay at home as the government announces a partial shutdown, but not everyone is prepared to listen. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can at worst produce a meltdown. in this case the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union

conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the number of deaths in the uk from the coronavirus rises to more than 1,000. and in the us, president trump has ruled out imposing a quarantine on new york and two other states to slow the spread of the virus. let's get more on that. jesse mckinley, the new york times albany bureau chief outlined why the president has carried out a u—turn on quarantining new york. well, i think that the action by the president came after a number of angry remarks from the governor of the state

of new york, as well as from other governors concerned about exactly what this quarantine would look like. the president made this remark kind of casually earlier this afternoon but it set off a great deal of alarm against not only residents of new york city, but also the environs around the city, which, of course, is suffering a pretty high toll right now from coronavirus. the newest numbers out of the city this evening were that 222 people have died in just the last 2a hours. so that's leading to concern not only about the virus itself, but about possible restrictions. and after the president made these remarks, people were even more upset. so i think the president heard that and then backtracked fairly quickly. well, you know the area well. do you think would have been enforceable, such a quarantine? i think it would have been very difficult. anyone who's been to new york city knows it is a sprawling metropolis. it has 9 million people in the city proper, upwards

of 20 million people in the metropolitan area. numerous bridges, numerous tunnels, a massive subway system. to try to kind of rein in people's travel inside that region would have been very, very challenging. and also i think politically, it would have been almost untenable, considering that new york city is the financial capital of the united states. the stock market, obviously, is based there. i think governor cuomo, the governor of new york state, was very straightforward saying, look, if you try to quarantine new york, the markets are going to plummet. people are going to panic. and i think for donald trump, who cares quite a bit about which way the market is headed, that was a solid argument. absolutely. and what do new yorkers think of the response so far? i mean, is there really a fractured response between the federal and the state? ‘fractured' is one way of putting it. i think sometimes ‘discordant‘

is a better word. you know, often times they're trying to do the same thing, but the messaging on this is not necessarily consistent. the feds have tried to ramp up testing, new york itself has ramped up testing. states like california are a little bit behind. but at this point, we are kind of moving from the testing stage of this to really the mitigation stage of that. and in new york state, and new york city particularly, the federal government has been building temporary hospitals, they've been trying to take up some of the financial burden, things like that that local officials are obviously grateful for. but then again, on the kind of public relations end of this, on the public announcements coming out of washington, often times those have been at odds with the states. and this — today's issue about the quarantine is a classic example. you know, that ate up a lot of oxygen, a lot of time and a lot of energy at a time in which public health officials and government officials are trying to grapple with the huge crisis. and briefly, jesse,

if you wouldn't mind, how seriously do you think new yorkers are taking the advice that has been given to them? i think it is a mixed bag. i think some people are taking it quite seriously but then again, there are reports of people kind of in the parks, people in the playgrounds. the governor warned again this morning that he would shut down city playgrounds if people didn't stop congregating in places like that. at the same time, the images coming out of our hospitals here, as i'm sure they are in britain as well, are scary. you know, there are people dying in droves, by the dozens and by the scores here. and i think as those numbers begin to mount, the message that we need to stop, you know, hanging out and potentially spreading this disease will start to settle into people. a partial shutdown has come into effect in russia — with bars, restaurants, parks and entertainment venues shut across the country in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. according to government statistics, russia has a relatively low number of infections so far, although many believe the official figures don't tell the full story. from moscow, steve

rosenberg reports. at times, it felt like just another saturday in moscow. but today was anything but normal. the park by the kremlin, usually packed, was empty. the iconic red square department store gum, shut. all cafes a nd restau ra nts in russia, too. to slow the spread of coronavirus, russians are being asked to stay off the streets, but not everybody is listening. "they've exaggerated the danger," nikolai says. "i'm not scared of anything." moscow says everyone over 65 must stay at home. hard to enforce, but the restrictions have reduced the crowds. until very recently, the kremlin were saying that everything here is under control. that, in fact, there is no

coronavirus epidemic in russia. now, shops are closing, flights in and out of the country are suspended, and people are being urged to stay at home. it's a mixed message which is causing confusion. so is some of the coverage on russian tv. a deadly virus risks becoming a source of entertainment. but the illness is spreading here. we were allowed to film this moscow medical facility, re—purposed for coronavirus cases. hospitals across the city are preparing for a flood of patients. this week, moscow's mayor told president putin the situation in the capital was serious, and he admitted there were far more cases of coronavirus here than official figures had been suggesting. choral singing. and yet, despite the danger

of infection, the churches remain open. no social distancing here. they want to be close to god. "it's impossible to get infected in a church because it is a holy place," says irena. she's a doctor. more restrictions are expected, possibly a full lockdown, to protect russia. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the husband of british—iranian charity worker, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, says her temporary leave from prison in tehran has been extended by two weeks. the 41—year—old was released from prison on the 17th march because of the coronavirus outbreak. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was jailed in 2016 on spying charges that she has always denied. a man who'd been due to take part in the london marathon next month

has run the 26.2 miles in his back garden. the event has been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but that hasn't put off 36—year—old james page. he completed 873 laps of his lawn in sidcup in kent, before crossing a finish line made by his son from toilet roll. football and live music are two essential parts of life in spain and the coronavirus has put them both on hold. to lift spirits — the country's football league la liga — has held a live virtual music festival which has so far raised more than 700—thousand us—dollars for hospitals. freya cole takes a look at some of the highlights. speaks spanish. streamed into homes in spain and around the world, some of the country's biggest stars in music... sings.

..and on the football field. it included barcelona star gerard pique and espagnol player wu lei, who tested positive for coronavirus last week. but the goal of the show was to escape the pandemic, just for a short while. translation: i'm here at home, like everyone else, fighting against the virus. those days, we can enjoy a real bit more about the family. sings. from an acoustic set by a puerto rican singer luis fonsi to something more traditional... sings opera. ..the 11—hour live concert has so far raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy medical supplies, which are running low across spain. it also gave everybody stuck

in quarantine a reason to smile, including tennis superstar rafael nadal. translation: it is a pleasure to be here. i am in majorca. and me and my family, we are all very happy to see the concert. i have the television on and i cannot wait. sings. coronavirus may have pressed pause on live football games and live music. . .. sings. ..but thanks to modern technology, it can still be enjoyed from the safety of home. freya cole, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ si pusey.

hello there. as far as the clocks are concerned, sunday is the first day of british summer time. not so for the weather. in fact, it's going to feel more like winter. it'll be cold, particularly when we factor in the strength of the wind, and there will be a few wintry showers around as well. now, having said that, high pressure is not too far away, sitting just to the north—west of the british isles. quite a strong area of high pressure, actually, so there will be a lot of dry weather around. but the flow of air around high pressure, in a clockwise direction, means we are bringing the winds down from the north or the north—east — a brisk wind at that, bringing some very cold air our way.

now, as we go through the day, there will be some showers around. wintry showers over high ground in the north and the east, mainly rain at low levels. some of those showers will continue through the day but there is gonna be a lot of dry weather around. some spells of sunshine. large amounts of cloud as well. but the winds will be noticeable — across england and wales, gusts of a0 miles an hour for some spots, could see 50 miles an hour gusts or more for some eastern so temperatures on the thermometer between five and 10 degrees. factor in the strength of the wind, this is what it is going to feel like. for some of us, it will feel not much better than freezing. now, as we go through sunday night, we continue to see a lot of cloud working its way down from the north. i think the increasing chance of seeing some showers into northern and eastern areas, some of these wintry over high ground, but at low levels, i think mostly rain showers because by this stage, it might not be quite as chilly. yes, there will still be a frost for some of us on monday morning but, generally speaking, monday should feel a little bit less cold, partly because the winds will be a little bit lighter. yes, it will still be breezy, but not as windy.

some showers, particularly in northern and eastern scotland, the eastern side of england, some of those getting across into the midlands, maybe east wales through the day. but temperatures up just a touch, between nine and 11 degrees. and as our area of high pressure slides away slightly westwards into tuesday, we start to bring the air in from a slightly different place, the air coming more from the atlantic, so not quite as cold on tuesday. large amounts of cloud bubbling up through the day. there will be one or two showers. those temperatures, again, between nine and 11 degrees. now, as we look deeper into the coming week, our area of high pressure still not too far away, but it looks like later in the week, low pressure will develop to the north. that will dive its way into the north—east of the uk and that will bring another plunge of cold air into northernmost areas. and perhaps some rain, maybe some sleet and snow over the hills, but further south, chances are it will turn milder and it will stay mostly dry.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the uk has recorded its highest number of deaths linked to the coronavirus in a single day. 260 people have died in the past 2a hours, bringing the total to more than 1000. this is officials wanted social distancing restrictions must be kept in place. the number of coronavirus related deaths in the united states has surged past 2000, doubling within just two days. a quarter of the deaths are in new york state. president he is no longer considering a quarantine on new york state, newjersey and parts of connecticut. —— president trump has said. and italy has become the first country in which more than 10,000 people have died of the virus. the country's economy minister says europe will need a great marshall plan to relaunch its economy after the pandemic, similar to the scheme that funded rebuilding after world war ii.