this is outside source on bbc news for viewers in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the us has now overtaking china in the number of declared deaths from coronavirus. and as the death toll in new york state alone surpasses 1,500 — the governor has this warning. this virus is more powerful, it's

more dangerous than we expected. spain records its biggest daily rise in coronavirus deaths, the number there passes 8,000. the uk also records its highest number of coronavirus deaths in a single day as the infection rate gathers pace — 381 people die. and we'll go to a refugee camp in greece to find out how people are dealing with the threat of coronavirus. welcome to outside source. let's start in the us, where the death toll from the coronavirus has now passed china's. more than 3,400 people have died, and there are now almost 175,000 confirmed cases. three out of four americans are now — or about to be — under some form of lockdown, as more states tighten measures to fight the coronavirus. we're expecting an update from donald trump in the next few hours —

about whether those guidelines will be toughened up. this is what he said yesterday. by very vigorously following these guidelines, we can save more than one million american lives. think of that, one million american lives. 0urfuture is in our own hands, and the choices and sacrifices we make will determine the fate of this virus and, really, the fate of the victory. we will have a great victory. we have no other choice. meanwhile, donald trump has been quarrelling with governors about the availability of testing kits — after he said this yesterday. today, we reached a historic milestone in the war against the coronavirus. over one million americans have now been tested — more than any other country by far.

not even close. he talks about 1 he talks about1 million tests, but we know that is simply not true. when we compare to italy, for example — per capita, it's doing three times more testing than the us. and a number of governors reportedly had a conference call with trump yesterday, in which they told him their states didn't have enough testing kits. we know new york state has become a global centre for the pandemic. it's recorded almost half of the total us deaths. this is the latest from governor andrew cuomo. we underestimated this virus. it is more powerful, it is more dangerous than we expected. and today it was announced that andrew cuomo's brother, chris — a cnn anchor — has been diagnosed with covid—19. now let's focus on another aspect of the situation in new york. manhattan's rikers island is home to one of the world's largest correctional institutions and mental

institutions — described as new york's most famous jail. well, the chief doctor at the facility has spoken out, tweeting that rikers is a "public health disaster unfolding before our eyes." he goes on to say, "it is possible that our efforts will stem this growth, but as a physician i must tell you it is unlikely. i cannot reassure you of something you only wish to be true." some daunting words there. let's get more from gary 0'donoghue in washington. as we await mr trump to give an update, the situation in new york is very, very difficult? yes it is, and they are continuing to appeal for more equipment, for more federal help. there getting increasingly angry, the governor in new york

is getting increasingly angry about the lack of federal help as he sees it, that he's been getting. he is saying the effectively 50 states here in the effectively 50 states here in the us are fighting over these ventilators, trying to buy the same ones from china, bidding against one another as well as bidding against fema, the emergency management organisation for those same machines, bidding one another up, in other words. he's very cross about that. if you just think about the scale here, the last week we had about a thousand deaths a week ago, we are now at 3500. so you can see the escalation has been absolutely enormous. new york really is taking pretty much 50% of the brunt of the effect on the country so far. definitely difficult figures there. gary, you mentioned the different states competing against each other

for kits and perhaps bringing up the prices as well, when it comes to testing in the us, we heard the numbers that they are not doing as well as italy had been doing at this stage. how are they when it comes to testing? mr trump is talked about this a lot, and he talks in absolute numbers, let's be clear. he doesn't do per capita numbers. and ever since the absolute number overtook south korea, he's been saying we've done more than south korea. but south korea has 60 million people, the us has 300 million people. you have to do it by cap —— per capita to make a proper evaluation. some governors are suggesting they are not getting enough — one, steve bullock from montana, was saying yesterday that they didn't know if they were going to do testing the day after tomorrow. so you can see the strains, and that suggests to

you that up until now, everyone was really focused on the coasts, like new york and california where the first cases were, washington state overin first cases were, washington state over in the west, you are starting to see much, much more concerned growing in other more central parts of the country. detroit in the midwest is starting to get very concerned about its numbers. if you draw a line south down to louisiana on the gulf coast, again, huge problems down there. chicago too, starting to build 3000 temporary cash temporary 3000 bed hospitals. this virus is moving across the nation bit by bit and it will touch eve ryo ne nation bit by bit and it will touch everyone some point indeed. gary, thank you so much. i want to look at spain now, 819 people have died of coronavirus on monday. this is a new record for the country. take a look at this graph. the figure is the highest number

of deaths in spain in one day. the situation had seemed a little better over the weekend with a slow down in covid—i9 related deaths. officials hoped the trend would continue — these figures suggest otherwise. the total number of coronavirus deaths in spain currently stands at 8,189. also disapointing is the rate of infection. over the weekend, it had fallen dramatically, down 20% on saturday alone. but on monday the infection rate almost doubled, rising to 44% as 9,222 new confirmed cases were reported across spain. there are now a total of 94,000 confirmed cases across spain. so those are the figures,

let look at where spain is in terms of its lockdown. that was put in place mid—march, and on sunday the prime minister made the lockdown even more stringent, banning all but essential workers from leaving home. emergency units in six out of spain's 17 regions are now at full capacity, with more regions likely to reach that status in the coming days. and in the past few hours, spain has introduced new economic measures including financial and rental aid, as the economy is set to have its worse month for unemployment in modern history. guy hedgecoe is in madrid. clearly these latest figures that have come out today are very disheartening. the highest daily death toll we've seen so far, 819 deaths. we've seen a jump in infections as well, which is disheartening news. but in the days leading up to these figures being released today, there have been suggestions that spain was starting to turn the corner.

the number of deaths each day — it was building up, but it was seeming to stabilise at the same time. the numbers hadn't been increasing at an alarming rate over the last few days. the number of infections appeared to be coming under control. so there is concern with these latest figures, but the government has insisted all through this crisis that you can't read too much into one day's figures, you have to look at the bigger picture. and it is hoping, as many people are in spain, and many other people are hoping, that this is not the beginning of a trend, but simply a glitch in the figures. well, joining me now from madrid is melissa kitson, she'sjournalist at the spanish newspaper el pais. melissa, we can't just melissa, we can'tjust focus on one day's figures, but there will be inevitably disappointment with this particular rise, given what was

happening over the weekend? yes, there is lots of concern over figures from today, particularly what we are seeing in catalonia. the coronavirus here has not developed equally, and what we've seen is that there's been a spike not only in the overall cases, but in regions that hadn't had such a high number of cases. so in catalonia, there were more deaths than in madrid, which is really worrying for what they could mean for when that peak reaches. perhaps the national peak is reached sooner, and in other regions like catalonia, they will continue to feel the effects well into the future. and we are talking a lot about testing today. when it comes to spain, i was spain doing on its testing of its health care workers of citizens? testing has been the ink it -- of citizens? testing has been the ink it —— big issue here. last week when they announced they had to

sent back a shipment of around 9000 tests because they were faulty, they only detected coronavirus in 30% when it should have been much higher. so that was a huge disappointment to the country, more tests have been announced and they should be on their way. in terms of the country had promised and what it had aim to do, it is all behind on its testing promises. we heard also that the country is bringing in even more strict lockdown measures. how are people coping at the moment? generally speaking, people welcomed the extra measures. i think everyone is looking at the situation and seeing that it is not improving. and they support any move that could potentially curb the infection. speaking politically, one catalan politician said either we stop the country or we end

up with no country. but again, the response has been different within the region, so in the vast country, the industrial heartland of spain, there's been a lot more criticism of these measures, saying that perhaps it will be to economically damaging. melissa, thanks so much, melissa speaking to us live from madrid. the united kingdom has recorded its biggest daily death toll so far. 381 people with coronavirus died over the past day, bringing overall deaths in the uk to almost 1,800. the total number of confirmed cases now stands at more than 25,000. here's the medical director of england's national health service. death numbers will vary from day—to—day. and i think what is important is to look over a number of days, rather than from one day to the next. for instance, over the last few days, we've seen a decrease.

so i think it is important to look at a series of days rather than individual days. stressing to look at the wider picture, rather than individual days. let's go to germany now — chief health adviser has warned that the rate of deaths from coronavirus is rising there, and will continue to do so. the nation saw its largest day to day increase — with figures released on monday showed the country had 445 deaths. new figures released today show that the death rate in the last 24 hours increased to 583, that's a 28% increase. according to lotar veeler early testing has helped to keep the rate relatively low until now. germany has the capacity to conduct half a million tests a week as our berlin correspondent, jenny hill reports. they're working day and night in germany's laboratories. this country tested early and it tested a lot.

an approach which, it's believed, has saved lives. there were many positive cases picked up early, so people were asked very early, a month ago, to remain isolated, contact people who were traced and were repeatedly isolated as well. but some say germany had luck on its side, too. many early german cases were skiers. young, fit, returning from their winter breaks. the average age of an infected person in germany is 47, but that is changing. this week, a care home made headlines. 17 people, elderly, vulnerable, died here. this morning, the government's health adviser acknowledged that the death rate is rising. translation: older and very old people did not appear in our tests, but now we see cases in care homes and old people's homes and unfortunately we have to expect

that the death rate will rise. germany's relatively low death rate has intrigued experts and politicians alike around the world. scientists here say the outbreak has yet to peak, and, whilst the suggestion is there, it's still far too soon to say whether the mass testing strategy will pay off. indeed, germany is being held up as an example of how testing for the coronavirus should be carried out. take a look at this graph from the financial times. you can see germany is one of the top countries for testing, with the uk lagging behind. those figures were from last week — and the gap has widened since. and this shows testing in the uk since the end of january. you can see it's increasing, but there are still constraints — here's the minister for the cabinet office michael gove on that. a critical constraint on the ability to rapidly increased testing capacity is the availability of the chemical reagents, which are necessary in the testing.

the prime minister and the health secretary are working with companies worldwide to ensure that we get all we need to increase tests for all kind. germany, in contrast, is already home to a number of test manufacturers who have been able to quickly scale up production. here's chris morris from reality check. the numbers really are quite striking. we now know that the uk hope to carry out 25,000 tests a day before the end of april, hopefully the second half of april but certainly before the end of the month. at the same time, germany is hoping to do 200,000 tests a day by the end of april — eight times as many. and already, germany has done far more testing than the uk has. why is this happening? well, we know that germany has more spare capacity in its health system in general then the uk, and these numbers would appear to confirm that it also has far more spare capacity, including the availability of the relevant

chemicals, to carry out mass testing. and that really matters because if you want to find out where the coronavirus is, you need to test for it, you need to know who's got it. and we need to be a little careful about making sweeping generalisations. but certainly — you look at the company, or country has done the most testing in europe, germany, it appears to have the most success in fighting off the coronavirus so far. similarly in east asia, the comp tree that was really aggressive in testing from the very beginning was south korea. it too seems to have more success than other countries —— country. as well as testing, of course, you then need to do what is called contact tracing. both germany and south korea have done that, which means once you test and find out who's got the virus, then you aggressively find out who they been in contact with and you isolate them as well, and stop giving the virus the ability to keep spreading. so all of

these things are really important, in germany and south korea certainly are examples of countries that have done that early. we hear now of course from donald trump about the united states, saying it isn't great that we've done more tests than any other country in the world? but of course, both south korea, germany, italy as well have done far more tests still than the united states per head of population. and it is those countries, germany and south korea in particular, that have done well on testing and are really showing other countries like the uk and france, the waiting game. chris morris there speaking earlier. stay with us on oustide source. still to come: there's a warning the coronavirus outbreak will exact a heavy price across asia, leaving millions in poverty. with lockdowns being imposed around the world, the un has warned that domestic violence is

a problem just as urgent as medical care. domestic abuse hotlines in the us and france say they have had more calls since the coronavirus outbreak, but the un are warning that poorer women have fewer ways to report abuse. we spoke to geetha. she is 27—years—old and from rural india. the first time her husband hit her was her wedding night, when she was 15. she told us that, since the coronavirus outbreak, her husband's income has reduced to £5 a day. schools have also closed across india, and herfour children are home all day in their one—room house. this angers her husband. india is now on a 21—day lockdown. we spoke to geetha the night before it was announced. we haven't been able to reach

her since. this is outside source, live from the bbc newsroom. in new york state, the death toll from the coronavirus surpasses 1,500 — as the us overtakes china in the number of declared deaths. the financial impact of coronavirus will stop almost 24 million people from escaping poverty in east asia and the pacific, according to the world bank. economies particularly at risk are thailand, due to a loss of tourism, and countries like vietnam and cambodia, with a large anufacturing sector. here's the world bank's chief economist for the east asia and pacific region, to explain more. this is an unprecedented shock which needs an unprecedented response. especially in the down side, if it proves ha rd to especially in the down side, if it proves hard to contain the virus in the next few months, economic activity all over the world will

be disrupted. it is unusual because it isa disrupted. it is unusual because it is a hit to both production and consumption. it is also unusual because it is simultaneously hitting some of the most important countries in the world, and that is likely to translate into mutual amplification of both trade, tourism, but also financial shocks. there is no doubt that these economies are heavily exposed. but on the real front, that these economies are heavily exposed. but on the realfront, to lose contraction in trade, contraction and tourism, contraction in remittances, and precipitous declines in commodity prices. in the same way, there are heavily indebted, making them partial to the financial shocks. many people in these sectors, many people in cambodia and thailand and the pacific islands, who depend on tourism for their livelihood, people in cambodia and vietnam, which are

deeply integrated into global value chains, demand contracts and because their suppliers are disrupted. but most vulnerable are the people in the informant sectors. another asian country with a huge number of informal, day labourers is india. millions of migrant workers there are fleeing major cities and trekking home to rural areas, after the government imposed a strict lockdown with just four hours' notice. yogita lamaye has more people at a religious gathering in delhi being evacuated and sent isolation centres. dozens who have attended have tested positive for coronavirus. some have died. the congregation of worshipers from different countries was held before india's shutdown was ordered. but for days after, a large number of people remained at the mosque. many are now showing symptoms of the

disease. india is grappling with the spread of corona. but there's also anger about its treatment of its poon anger about its treatment of its poor. a group of people were sprayed with chemicals in what appears to have been an attempt to sanitise them as they try to return to their villages from the cities they lived in. an investigation has now been launched into this incident. hundreds of thousands of daily wage earners have been left without money, food, and shelter across indian cities. translation: we are labourers, but we have nothing now. they say it may be one or even two months without work. it is really hard. we can't even go back to our villages. around india now, the government and private organisations have been trying to help them. but many are asking why there is no plan in place before the shutdown was announced.

the attempt is to stop corona from sparing here to india's rural areas. in one village in the southern state, traditional disinfectants, a combination of turmeric, medicinal leaves and water, are being used to sanitise roads and homes. translation: by grinding the leaves and tumour it, the villagers have sanitised the entire village. whoever enters the village from outside has to wash their hands and legs in it. this is a strict edict. in the cities, pavements and streets are all being cleaned. the number of coronavirus infections continues to rise, but not as rapidly as it is in many nations around the world. many ask if that is because india is not testing enough. you'll get a lot of my, bbc news, but by dashed mumbai. in russia, a full lockdown has been

imposed in many regions with lawmakers granting the government powers to declare a national emergency. let me show you these pictures from last week. president putin was given a tour of moscow's main coronavirus hospital by doctor denis protsenko — you can see them together close proximity — without protective equipment. the doctor's now confirmed to have covid—19. hello, good evening. more of the country had a dry day today. most of the showers were affecting the northern half of scotland, but there is more cloud heading southwards overnight and that could bring a few showers further south as well. but we will have clear skies for much of the night hello, good evening. across southern england and for a while across south wales, the south midlands and east anglia. some places still by the end of the night having a touch of frost. where we have the cloud moves in, a chance of a shower with temperatures at four or five degrees. some early sunshine tomorrow across southern england,

but it will not last. the cloud moves in from the north bringing with it a few showers and mainly feeding in across the irish sea. some rain moving south across scotland, eventually arriving in northern ireland, and most of the rain in western scotland. brighter for eastern scotland and then we get some sunshine for the northern half of the country. temperatures of 9—10 degrees, similar to what we had today. for many places, again the winds will be light. they start to pick up in scotland after that rain moves through. then we get into some colder air behind that weather front. that front is important because while it certainly brings patches of rain southwards across the uk, behind it, the winds start to pick up and we draw down colder air and those showers that follow will be turning increasingly wintry as well. so, we start with some patchy rain and drizzle across southern scotland and northern ireland on that weather front. that will sink its way down towards northern england and wales and perhaps the midlands later on and then following that, some sunshine and showers and those turning increasingly wintry in scotland and some snow over the hills. and the winds will be stronger everywhere i think by thursday and may be touching gale force

in northern scotland. adding to the chill, with temperatures of only 6 degrees or so, but decent across southern and eastern parts of england, 13—14, where it should stay generally dry. the winds lighter on friday and it will be a chilly start with plenty of sunshine, tending to cloud over more with some wintry showers over the northern half of scotland in particular, where it is still quite cold. even further south, the temperatures are down a bit. typically 10—11 degrees. we have high pressure building in for friday, so hence lighter winds, and that pressure will move its way into continental europe, which is quite significant because it allows us to change the wind direction to more of a southerly. that will strengthen during the weekend but at least it will mean those temperatures are going to be rising and it will be turning warmer by sunday.

this is bbc world news. the headlines: the uk records its highest number of coronavirus deaths in a single day — 381 people have died. spain also records its biggest daily rise in coronavirus deaths — the number there has passed 8,000. in new york state, the death toll from the coronavirus surpasses 1,500, as the us overtakes china in the number of declared deaths. the world bank says the coronavirus pandemic will cause significant pain across asia, as economies contract. it also warned the crisis will stop almost 24 million people from escaping poverty.

those are the headlines on bbc news. let's return now to today's coronavirus press conference at downing street. coronavirus press conference the cabinet office minister, michael gove, made two new announcements. he said that thousands of new ventilators will roll off production lines this weekend and will be distributed across the nhs next week. he also said rapid clinical trials are being conducted to identify existing drugs that may help ease symptoms of covid—19. and the medical director of nhs england, professor stephen powis, says there are "green shoots" that show the number of infections may be plateauing, but he urged people to continue to observe social distancing rules, emphasising that we are by no means "out of the woods" and suggesting the next two weeks are critical. let's listen again to what mr gove had to say.

i would like first to update you all on the facts about the spread of covid—19 and the steps that we are then taking in the battle against this virus. 143,186 people have now been tested for the virus. of those, 25,150 have tested positive. and sadly, yesterday we recorded the highest single increase in the number of deaths as a result of covid—19. 381 people died, meaning that of those hospitalised in the uk, the number who have passed away now totals 1,789. every death is the loss of a loved one, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who are grieving. overall, 10,767 people in england have been admitted to hospital with covid—19 symptoms. the largest number of those is in london, with 3,915 people in hospital

care. while in the midlands, the number of those hospitalised is now 1,918, and accelerating upwards. these numbers reinforce the vital importance of following the government's social distancing guidelines. the more we restrict contact, the more we slow the spread of the infection, the more that we can help the nhs build the capacity needed to care for those most in need. and that capacity is increasing. more nhs staff are returning to the frontline, and more testing is taking place, to help those self—isolating come back and to protect those working so hard in our hospitals and in social care. but while the rate of testing is increasing, we must go further faster. a critical constraint on the ability to rapidly increase testing capacity is the availability of the chemical reagents which are necessary in the

testing. the prime minister and the health secretary are working with companies worldwide to ensure that we get the material we need to increase tests of all kinds. and as well as increasing the number of staff on the frontline and the tests which protect them, we must also increase the capacity to provide oxygen to those worst—affected by the disease. we have just over 8,000 ventilators deployed in nhs hospitals now. this number has increased since the epidemic began thanks to the hard work of nhs professionals. but we need more. that's why we are buying more ventilators from abroad, including from eu nations. it is also why we are developing new sources of supply at home. before the epidemic struck, we had very little domestic manufacture of ventilators. but now, thanks to the dedication of existing medical supply companies and the ingenuity of our manufacturing base, we have existing models

being produced in significantly greater numbers, and new models coming on stream. orders have been placed with consortiums led by ford, airbus, the formula 1 racing teams, gkn aerospace and rolls—royce, and dyson's. i can announce that this weekend, the first thousands of new ventilator devices will roll off the production line and will be delivered to the nhs next week. from there, they will be rapidly distributed to the frontline. as well as increasing the capacity for ventilation, which helps support those patients worst—affected, we're also increasing the capacity to provide oxygen to affected patients at an earlier stage in the process of the disease, helping to avert, we hope, the deterioration of their condition. a team led by ucl working with mercedes—benz will produce 10,000 new cpap devices to support affected patients and a team

from oxford university are also developing related technology. and in our determination to prevent as many patients as possible seeing their condition worsen, we are conducting rapid cynical trials on those drugs, including antimalarials, which may be able to reduce the impact of covid—19 on those affected. but even as we seek to explore every avenue to slow the spread of the disease, to reduce its impact and to save lives, i'm conscious of the sacrifices that so many are making. that's why the chancellor's economic package is in place, to support people through a difficult time. it is also why we are working so closely with our colleagues in the devolved administrations to coordinate our response across the united kingdom, and i am grateful to them, as i am to the thousands of dedicated public sector workers — cleaners and social workers, prison and police officers, those in the royal mail and in our schools. i want to thank them and also the leaders of the trade unions

who represent them. in this united national effort, we're also delivering food and prescription drugs to up to 1.5 million of most vulnerable, who are self—isolating for three months, and we will do more to help, working with the three quarters of a million people who volunteer to help at this time. many are already heavily involved in local community support schemes. and we want to work with them to ensure that we support notjust the 1.5 million most vulnerable to the disease, but all those who need our help through this crisis. those without social support, those in tough economic circumstances, those who need the visible hand of friendship at a challenging time. that's why my cabinet colleague george eustice and the food and farming minister victoria prentice will be leading work with food suppliers, retailers, local groups and voluntary groups, to support our neighbours in need.

i also want to thank the men and women of the military, who have stepped up their work as part of the ongoing response to coronavirus. three raf puma helicopters are now stationed at kinloss in murray. these pumas are working closely with a chinook and a wildcat helicopter from north yorkshire to meet requests for assistance from nhs boards and trusts across scotland and northern england. a second helicopter facility covers the midlands and southern england, working out of the aviation task force headquarters at raf benson in oxfordshire. chinook and wildcat helicopters normally based in yeovilton support the southern areas. these helicopter facilities have been set up to support medical transport across scotland and the rest of the united kingdom. the task force is also available for general support such as moving equipment and personnel to where they are needed across the united kingdom. the kinloss—based support

follows the use of an raf transport aircraft working with the scottish ambulance service to evacuate a critically ill patient from the shetland islands to aberdeen, to receive intensive care treatment. i'm deeply grateful to everyone who are doing so much to help us in the fight against coronavirus, and all of us can continue to play our part in supporting them and the health service by staying at home, supporting the nhs and saving lives. now, i want to ask stephen to run through the latest data from our cabinet office coronavirus fact file. thank you. our incredible staff in the nhs are working around the clock, pulling out all the stops to prepare for the expected surge in patients with covid—19. i saw that myself at the nhs

nightingale hospital in east london this morning and was completely bowled over by the work being done there. from a standing start a week ago to a new hospital that will be ready to take patients later this week. but as we've repeatedly said and as you've just heard, nhs staff cannot do this on their own. yes, we can increase but we also need everybody in the country, every one of you, to help by reducing the transmission of the virus because it is by doing that that we will reduce number of deaths and we will take the pressure off our hospitals and health system. and the chart i'm about to show you will show you why that is so important. so, all the interventions and instructions the government have given based on the best possible scientific advice, and

similar to the approach being taken around the world, are designed to reduce social contact. in other words to reduce the chance of the virus passing from one person to another. the spread of the virus reduces and the number of infections reduces. i'm pleased to say the great british public are paying attention to that message and we are seeing in many ways that amount of social contact is reducing. this first chart shows you an example of that. transport. as you can see, the number of people using our transport services has reduced dramatically over the last few weeks. for example, you can see in the light blue line that transport in london on the tube has decreased dramatically, which demonstrates that people are paying attention and understand the message we are giving. there are many other examples that show that contact is being reduced. as the next chart shows, that plays into an impact

on the number of infections. so, the less social contact, the less the chance the virus can move from one person to another. and that will over time reduce the number of infections we are seeing, the number of people testing positive. and you can see here that we have had a rise in the number of new uk cases but recently there is a bit of a plateau. it is really important not to read too much into this because it is early days, we are not out of the woods, we are very much in the woods and it is important we keep complying with instructions. but as you can see, the number of infections is not rising as rapidly as it was. so, green shoots but only green shoots and we mustn't be complacent and we must not take our foot off the pedal. if infections fall, as the next chart shows,

that'll translate into fewer hospitals admissions. these admissions usually occur about two weeks after infection and it is usually a mild flu—like illness but for a small percentage of people, hospitalisation is required. you can see here the rate of hospitalisation has been increasing and we would expect that at this stage in the epidemic but if those infections start to drop, then in the next few weeks, our hope is that the number of hospitalisations will also start to reduce. the good news is that line isn't going up very steeply but it is still rising. we are not out of the woods, we need to keep our foot on the pedal, and as you can see there, around a third of the hospital admissions are in london because as we have said and as we know, the infection

is spreading more rapidly in london and london is ahead of the rest of the country in terms of this epidemic. as the next chart shows, hospitalisation, unfortunately, some people who are hospitalised die and every death is tragic, and we need to avoid as many deaths as possible by playing our part. so, what we want to see over time is a reduction in the number of deaths and you can see here a comparison of deaths in different countries and you can see maybe the very light line in the middle, that china overtime has flattened that particular line. in otherwords, the number of deaths have reduced. if we reduce the number of infections, we will reduce the number of hospitalisations and the number of deaths. maybe some green shoots, but the last thing i'd want is a message to anybody that this is a time to take our foot off the pedal, do not comply with the instructions because this is not a short—haul. as we've said, this will take time and it's important that we all stick with it, everybody. thank

you. thank you, stephen, and we now go to our colleagues in the media to ask a series of questions. and first, we turn to hugh pym of the bbc. thank you. many nhs staff are saying that testing for them is not obviously available in their places of work now or somewhere accessible, even after pledges made by officials and ministers in recent weeks that it was a priority. what do you say to them? well, we want to increase the number of tests, we are increasing the number of tests, and i mentioned earlier one of the constraints on capacity to increase testing overall is supply of these specific reagents, chemicals, that are needed to make sure the tests are reliable. it's also the case, as i'm sure you're aware, we've been working

with the private sector and with academics, and boots, for example, have increased the number of driving centres for nhs and front line workers to be tested but i will hand over to stephen first of all. you're right, it is crucial that nhs staff are tested for two reasons. one because those who are self—isolating because they have symptoms or are in household quarantine because one of their household has symptoms, they may not have this virus. it is still possible they have another cold like illness and if we know they test negative or their relative tests negative, we can bring them back to work, which is important at the time when the nhs is under pressure. secondly, if they've had the virus, then it's likely that once they get over the infection, they will be immune, which is really important to know as they come back to work. i'm pleased to say that as testing ramps up, it is producing the capacity to increase our testing of staff. we wrote to all nhs trusts on sunday to ask them to start to produce lists of the staff that are most key

and that they would want to test first or the households they would want to test. they are already doing that and we are beginning to ramp up the testing of staff exactly, as sir simon stevens promised on friday when he was here. thank you. jenny. just add to those comments, i think you'll know that, as stephen said, we have been ramping up the capacity in the nhs and we are heading towards 25,000 on that. i think we're up to about 12,700, a steady increase over the last few days, so that represents additional capacity as we've mentioned. but there is of course another element to this, which is if you are a member of staff who deal, you don't want to go into your hospital to be tested, we want you to stay away. and the positive development would be to ensure our postal testing system is operational because that would be much easier both for the staff would like to offer that to

and in due course to other front line workers and then potentially onto the public. that testing is ongoing. a bit like the reagent thing, you have to make sure that the time period of the postal sample doesn't allow for the virus to degrade or we will end up with an inaccurate test, but there is a lot of testing going on for that, and that will be a very helpful practical mechanism for nhs staff to use. thank you very much, jenny. i will turn out to robert peston from itv. good afternoon. a week ago when the prime minister introduced those restrictions on our freedom of movement, he said it would take three weeks for us to know whether those restrictions would allow the nhs to cope. stephen has talked today about green shoots. does that mean that you are more confident than you were that the nhs will cope? could you give us a sense of the data that gives

you that confidence if you are a bit more confident? and a couple of other things. every day, we are deluged with statistics about how much protective equipment is in the system. but, equally, every day, doctors come to me and say they don't feel protected, they are not getting the equipment. why is there that mismatch between the volume of equipment and it getting to people? finally, even if the nhs is better able to cope than perhaps we feared a few days ago, there are still record numbers of deaths in hospitals in a short space of time. are you expecting to give any new guidance to doctors about when it is appropriate to send somebody home to die because they are so frail that the prospect of surviving in hospital is slim and it's probably better for them and their families they die with their loved ones? thank you,

robert. let me try to answer in part the first two questions, and then i will ask stephen and jenny to come in. stephen is right. there are some signs, as a result of people observing social distancing, that we may be able to flatten the spread of infection but now is absolutely not the time for people to imagine there can be any relaxation or slackening. this is a hopeful sign but we must be, as stephen pointed out, wary of overinterpreting any individual day's data. we must ensure we maintain this united national effort in order to keep people safe. that is the first thing. so ijust wanted to emphasise, as stephen did, that peoples' efforts, peoples' sacrifices are worth it, they are making a difference but we must not let up. on your point about personal protective equipment, just yesterday, hundreds of thousands of aprons, eye protectors, respiratory masks, surgical masks reached the front line and there is a 24—hour helpline

if any front line nhs worker is concerned about not having the ppe equipment they need, they can call in order to make sure that ppe equipment can be delivered. but i will hand over to stephen to say a little bit more and then tojenny. i honestly think it is too early to tell at the moment and i very specifically use the term green shoots because they are just green shoots and winter could come and those green shoots could turn out to be not the hopeful green shoots that we thought they might be. but i think the next week or two will be critical as we move through,

as i said in those charts, there are signs, sir patrick fallon said yesterday that transmission in the community is reducing. that's exactly what we would expect if the public comply with the measures to reduce social contact but there is a lag, as i described, before we see that in the number of hospital admissions, and in the number of deaths. the next week or two are going to be critical. but this is the start of a battle. we can stop this virus, but we are at the start and we mustn't let go of the measures and let go of everything we are doing. keep the foot on the pedal, no complacency. i want to encourage the public that they are playing their part, but i don't want to give the message we need to do anything other than maintain our compliance with the instructions. everybody needs to do that because that is the only way, that is the only way we will get through this. thank you, stephen. jenny, i don't know if you want to address robert's third question, the sensitive question about...? i'm happy to start on that, and also i will contribute on the ppe question, which i might start with, if that's ok. so, i think your question

was interesting, actually, because the way you posed it around ppe was very much around were people getting it and how do they feel about it. i think that is actually really critical. i think the first thing to say is the uk has always had sufficient stocks to date that it needs against its guidelines, and those guidelines are amongst the best in the world. the who produced a statement at the weekend very much supporting guidance on that. it is equivalent to australia, canada, supported by european society for intensive care and critical care medicine. so there is strong evidence around what we recommend. there has been a lot of concern in the system about whether our guidance differed in any way and we are continuously reviewing that, to the extent we have asked the health and safety executive to have a look,

and they have produced some very positive guidance on that, and equally there was a report around face masks which was also very supportive of the position we have. so we are continuously checking. i think one of the issues, and i have to admit i stood here about ten days ago and said — very probably optimistically now in the past — we've sold the ppe position, so my apologies because 48 hours later, i think our distribution issue had popped back in again. so, the distribution element has been a little bit tricky at times and we have now taken a whole strands of the logistics, including with the army actually, out, so that we are developing a uk position on that stock and distribution flow, and the underlying critical point about this is that the ppe should go to match where the critical clinical risk is. so that doesn't matter whether you are a consultant in an accident and emergency

department or a domiciliary care care worker looking after a resident at home. you might not have the same ppe, in fact, i would expect you not to have, but the ppe that you have is proportionate to the risk exposure that you have. that is really important. so it doesn't matter where you are in the system. i think there have been some distribution. we are developing a e—system. i wanted to address the second point. which is how people feel. stephen and i almost most certainly have colleagues, friends, family working on the front line and are very attuned to how it feels. just as it does to the rest of the public, this can feel quite frightening at the moment, and if you're continuously seeing patients coming through the door, that is particular the case. so we are very attuned to this and what we have been doing over the last few days is reviewing our guidance to see if, although we are quite satisfied with

the technical basis of it, we can make some small tweaks to ensure that people feel safer in what they are doing and we are addressing that over the current period. thank you, jenny. end-of-life care is obviously incurred important. and i think one of the aims that we have tried to maintain throughout this, by increasing the capacity of the nhs and also suppressing the virus and reducing the demand on the nhs, to ensure that clinicians, doctors, nurses can manage patients as they always do and manage end—of—life as they always do, so i would expect and of life care to be just as good as it is in normal times, and i know that's something that our clinicians in hospitals and other health care facilities are thinking about very carefully. clearly, with the additional impact of

this particular virus, we do think carefully about when people discharge from hospital, if they have had covid—19, and so we haveissued if they have had covid—19, and so we have issued specific guidance to assist in that discharge. we have taken assist in that discharge. we have ta ken account of assist in that discharge. we have taken account of the fact that over and above our normal procedures, we need to take account that we have a new infectious disease. hello, good evening. more of the country had a dry day today. most of the showers were affecting the northern half of scotland, but there is more cloud heading southwards overnight and that could bring a few showers further south as well. but we will have clear skies for much of the night across southern england and for a while across south wales, the south midlands and east anglia. some places still by the end of the night having a touch of frost. where we have the cloud moves in, a chance of a shower with temperatures at four or five degrees. some early sunshine tomorrow across southern england, but it will not last. the cloud moves in from the north, bringing with it a few showers and mainly feeding in across the irish sea. some rain moving south across scotland, eventually arriving

in northern ireland, and most of the rain in western scotland. brighter for eastern scotland, and then we get some sunshine for the northern half of the country. temperatures nine or 10 degrees, similar to what we had today. for many places, again, the winds will be light. they start to pick up in scotland after that rain moves through. and we get into some colder air behind that weather front. that front is important because while it certainly brings patches of rain southwards across the uk, behind it, the winds start to pick up and we draw down colder air and those showers that follow will be turning increasingly wintry as well. so, we start with some patchy rain and drizzle across southern scotland and northern ireland on that weather front. that will sink its way down towards northern england and wales and perhaps the midlands later on, and then following that, some sunshine and showers — those turning increasingly wintry in scotland, some snow over the hills. and the winds will be stronger everywhere i think by thursday, maybe touching gale force in northern scotland. adding to the chill, with temperatures of only 6 degrees

or so. decent across southern and eastern parts of england, 13 or 14, where it should stay generally dry. the winds lighter on friday and it will be a chilly start with plenty of sunshine, tending to cloud over more. and there's still some wintry showers over the northern half of scotland in particular, where it is still quite cold. even further south, the temperatures are down a bit. typically ten or 11 degrees. we have high pressure building in for friday, hence lighter winds. that high pressure will move its way into continental europe, which is quite significant because it allows us to change the wind direction to more of a southerly. that will strengthen during the weekend but at least it will mean those temperatures are going to be rising and it will be turning warmer by sunday.

this is outside source on bbc news for viewers in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the us has now overtaking china in the number of declared deaths from coronavirus. and as the death toll in new york state alone surpasses 1,500, the governor has this warning.

this virus — it's more powerful, it's more dangerous than we expected. spain records its biggest daily rise in coronavirus deaths, the number there passes 8,000. the uk also records its highest number of coronavirus deaths in a single day as the infection rate gathers pace — 381 people die. and we'll go to a refugee camp in greece to find out how people are dealing with the threat of coronavirus. good evening, welcome to the programme. let's start in the us where the death toll from the coronavirus has now passed china's. more than 3,400 people have died, and there are now almost 175,000 confirmed cases. three out of four americans are now, or about to be, under some form of lockdown, as more states tighten measures to fight the coronavirus. we're expecting an update from donald trump