this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm james reynolds. expect it to be like italy, the trump administration issues a stark warning about the spread of coronavirus. together, we have the power to save countless lives. we are attacking the virus at every front, with social distancing, economic support. a grim story in the uk as well, the daily death toll passes 500 for the first time. italy prolongs its stringent lockdown measures — but families are now allowed to take their children for a walk. and the painter david hockney, in lockdown in france, shares with us some of the drawings that have kept him busy.

hello, and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the us vice president has warned americans to expect a coronavirus scenario comparable to italy. the united states now has 200,000 confirmed infections, and over 4,500 people with the virus have died. in new york alone, nearly 400 people died in the past 2a hours. people in florida and texas are now being told to stay at home. all this after president trump warned of a rough few weeks ahead, as north america editorjon sopel reports. at this time of year, central park in new york would normally be getting ready for concerts and festivals. instead, a massive field hospital is being built there to help alleviate an overburdened health system.

in this state alone, there have been 2000 deaths. america is shifting onto a war footing, and it brought a dramatic change in tone from the president — now urgent and sombre. i want every american to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. we are going to go through a very tough two weeks. and hopefully, as the experts are predicting, as i think a lot of us are predicting after having studied it so hard, we're going to start seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel. but that is going to be a very painful, very, very painful two weeks. and if that didn't frighten the american people, this message today from the vice president, visiting essential workers, surely would have done. he said that the us was on a path to follow the worst—hit country in europe. we think italy may be the most comparable area to the united states at this point. for the first time in this crisis, donald trump and his senior medical advisers seem to be

marching in lockstep. but one area where washington seems at odds with the rest of the country is on testing, on vital equipment. here, the president says that everything is under control. that's not what you're hearing on the front line. cheering what do we need? ppe! today, exhausted health workers across the us have been protesting outside hospitals at the lack of protective equipment, and those working inside say supplies are running low. we're running out of medications, we're running out of equipment, and we're even running out of oxygen, which is something that patients that have covid—i9 need. and we're running out of equipment in the hospital, nearly everybody coming to the emergency department has this, and we are getting completely overwhelmed. if new york is the foretaste of what's coming to america, this is what's ahead. in the money capital of the richest country in the world, a forklift truck outside a hospital lifting corpses into the back

of a refrigerated lorry. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. president trump says the country has a decent amount of ventilators with more on their way into the country. we are shipping things right and. we have as you know almost 10,000 ventilators which we need for flick abilities. sounds like a lot but it's not because as you see on board from yesterday, as this plague, as this virus moves, it moves very fast and we don't know yet whether we are going to need it in louisiana, new york, wherever it may be, so we are ready for it. we are totally ready for it. we are totally ready for it copy we have already agreed to ship out over 1000 today to different locations, but we have two have the flexibility of moving the ventilators to where the virus is going, and we will be able to see that from charts a

couple of days in advance, so right now we have a nice payload ventilators, we have a lot more coming in, i think we have 11 companies making ventilators right now. peter bowes is our north america correspondent and we can talk to him now. president trump, it seems, is engaging in these marathon briefings. what is today's message from the white house? today's message, the president again is using very worrying language to so many people around the country, describing the next two weeks as potentially horrific. really echoing what he was saying 2a hours ago when he said there will be very painful times ahead, and the very near future, two or three weeks when the number of deaths in the united states is expected to peak and we are just hearing about how mike pence was saying earlier, the vice president, that the united states according to the data modelling that has going on, is likely to follow the same trajectory as italy which is the country of course that has had the most

deaths. so a very sombre outlook from the president. at the same time as we are hearing a lot of people in the different that is around the country, especially those that are particularly badly at lake new york city, still saying that they need more and more supplies, there aren't enough protective masks and gowns for doctors and nurses. the more positive news does seem to be about ventilators, saying that very soon this country will have enough ventilators, perhaps even enough to send to other countries. our colleague's report just other countries. our colleague's reportjust ended 110w colleague's reportjust ended now with a picture of what is being loaded onto a truck, those are very sobering pictures to see, there have been similar pictures elsewhere and pictures of makeshift hospitals and central park. when americans start to see these images, are they having an effect on ordinary people? if you listen to some of the, i was listening earlier to what

the officials in los angeles are saying in terms of the public reaction, and there still is this yearning for more people to take note of what is happening. there is a lot of concern about the spread of the virus by people who believe that they are healthy because they are not showing any symptoms, but in fact have been infected and are capable of spreading the virus, so it seems as if more people could be affected in terms of their own behaviour by seeing what is going on around the country. on the other hand, yes, absolutely. so many people are desperately worried about what is going to happen over the next few weeks, not only just dealing with the virus but dealing with the virus but dealing with the repercussions of the virus. we are hearing about schools in los angeles again extending the time with which they will be closed which means that children will be under the feet of their parents at home, those household issues that many people are grappling with as well as just coming to terms with the huge scale of what is happening around the country. thank you so much.

the director—general of the world health organization has said he's deeply concerned about the rapid rise in the number of cases of coronavirus. he told an international news briefing that the pandemic is currently growing exponentially. over the past five weeks, we have witnessed a near exponential growth in the number of new cases, reaching almost every country, territory and area. the number of deaths has more than doubled in the past week. in the next few days, we will reach one million confirmed cases and 50,000 deaths. let's get some of the day's other news. the uk government has confirmed that the un climate change conference, due to be held in glasgow in november, has been postponed due to coronavirus. it will take place at some point in 2021, but the excact date has yet to be fixed. spain has once more

seen its worst day yet in the coronavirus pandemic, with 86k patients dying. more than 9,000 people have now died since its outbreak began — nearly three times the number registered in china. but spain's case rate does show signs of slowing. france has also reported its highest daily number of deaths since the coronavirus epidemic began. 509 more people have died in hospital to bringing the toll to just over 4000. officials have issued more than 350,000 fines to people who have been breaking the lockdown without good reason. there has been another significant rise in the number of people in the uk dying with coronavirus. the government has described it as an invisible killer that is the biggest threat the country has faced in decades. 563 patients have died in the uk in the past 2a hour. most of the cases are in london but the health authorities says the threat is everywhere. here's our political editor, laura kuenssberg. hilda churchill, who lived

through a pandemic a century ago — the oldest victim at 108. dr adil el taya, the first medic to pass away. doreen hunt, a grandmother, who died on mothering sunday. as coronavirus has taken hold, just some of the faces of its hourly victims, but as the numbers grow, more families lose mothers, daughters, fathers and sons. and one of the latest, the fourth medic to lose his life, dr alfa saadu, who had returned to work to help. this is his son. we said our goodbyes and we just told him to fight for us. and then, the next 2a hours, 48 hours, his bodyjust deteriorated, from what they told us his body shut down, he had organ failure. he just couldn't fight any more. i massively admire the people in the nhs and the job that they're doing because it's no joke. this is a serious virus and people are risking their lives to save

people out there. a message repeated by the government today... all our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives. this is more tragic evidence that this virus does not discriminate. look at how the numbers have grown... from the first counted on the sixth of march, eight days later the daily toll reaching double figures. 20 days from the start it reached over 100, and now less than a week later more than 500 people recorded to have passed away in 2a hours. the overall count 2352. the peak of the disease seems to be coming earlier than the government expected, but you're missing testing targets, there is a lot of evidence of staff not having the equipment they need and not enough ventilators. do you now accept that the approach and response from government has been too slow? increasing testing capacity is absolutely the top priority for the government and we are

now at 10,000 tests per day, we're rolling out additional networks at labs and testing sites and in terms of phe, 390 million products have been distributed in the last two weeks and, of course, we will continue to do more. there is evidence, too, that people are taking to the roads again, flouting the stay—at—home advice. there are frantic efforts under way to make space for those falling ill. the army moving in to help in cumbria tonight. in belfast, in glasgow, in cardiff and around the country, hospitals are being created out of conference centres in just a matter of weeks. but the broad political consensus that's backed the government's approach is starting to fray. what we're calling for now is a national testing strategy, to ramp up community testing and contact tracing, like we're seeing in other countries. that's how other countries have been able to beat this virus or get it under control. we're not doing it yet

so we need that national plan. a former minister and practising gp says the governmentjust hasn't moved fast enough. we'd anticipated this is a risk, a tier one national security risk, that's in the public domain. it beggars belief that we didn't act quicker because we knew, we'd done an exercise and we knew we had these challenges. no ordinary recovering patient — prince charles urges us all to stick together. as a nation we are faced by a profoundly challenging situation which we are only too aware threatens the livelihoods, businesses and welfare of millions of our fellow citizens. none of us can say when this will end, but end it will. but a time of anxiety for our health and the country's wealth is a growing time of political pressure, too. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. british airways is expected to announce that it will suspend around

36,000 staff. the airline, which grounded much of its fleet when travel restrictions took effect because of the coronavirus pandemic, has been negotiating with trade unions for more than a week. the two sides have reached a broad deal but have not yet signed on some of the details. the agreement means that up to 80% of ba cabin crew, ground staff, engineers and those working at head office will have theirjobs suspended, however it's thought that no staff will be made redundant. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the coronavirus ghost towns of new hampshire. how the outbreak has ravaged the economy there. 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 trump administration issues a stark warning about the spread of coronavirus, saying it could get as bad as italy. the daily death toll

in the uk passes 500 for the first time. italy's stringent lockdown measures have been extended, although families are now allowed to take their children for a walk outside if needed. it comes as the death toll in the country climbs by 727 in the past 2a hours. that's slightly down on yesterday's increase. it takes the country's total number of deaths to more than 13,000. of those, at least 66 are front line medical staff. from rome, mark lowen reports. a glimpse of freedom in italy's new normal. parents are now allowed to take their children out for a brief walk if urgent. after three weeks of lockdown, it's a breath of liberty but no more. welcomed, albeit with apprehension. translation: we're scared to be outside and a bit spaced out, because this lockdown has been our salvation. the measures are working, i'm happy they are in place, and we want them to go on.

translation: this eases the tension. we're not used to staying inside the whole day. we need some natural light, and children need some space. the infection rate is slowing, and there is perhaps a little bit more movement on the streets. but the fear is that if the restrictions are lifted too soon, people could get a false sense of security, and then the numbers could start jumping again, because italy is still far from defeating this virus. deaths are still soaring, and among them doctors. gynaecologist roberto milletti died this week, one of 66 doctors lost to the outbreak here. his friend said the deaths were preventable if medics had proper masks and supplies. translation: we're very shocked, he was much loved. and we're very angry, because we're lacking protection equipment for doctors. we feel vulnerable. wars must be organised during peacetime, not battle. we're being sent in empty— handed, in italy and around europe. so young, inventive italians have stepped in to help,

using 3d printing to develop a valve that turns a sports—shop snorkelling mask into a ventilator. the blueprint has been downloaded for free a million times by hospitals in need across the world. two days ago, it was my birthday, and i received a message from brazil in which a doctor said to me that 130 people were breathing thanks to my idea, and i was very, very happy. i cannot receive a better present for my birthday. shouting italians are generally following the rules, but some frustration is starting to show. in the south, anger over a loss of money and closed shops. it's isolated, but patience has its limits. today, the lockdown was extended to mid—april, so the emptiness goes on. perhaps never again in our lifetime will we see rome like this. the virus is sucking the life out of italy.

mark lowen, bbc news, rome. in the united states, big cities have been worst hit by the virus. but rural areas are affected as well, particularly by the economic fallout. people in new hampshire have been told to stay at home until may, and that has crippled the state's tourism industry, as jane o'brien reports. off—season in the mount washington valley is generally quiet, but not this quiet. only a few infections have been confirmed in this region but rather than wait for the pandemic to hit hard, eateries, hotels and other small businesses have closed their doors. restaurant owner danny rassi tried offering takeout meals but gave up after two days. it's coming, so if you don't stop, if you don't stop to flatten the curve as they say, you know, it's just going to be that much

worse so as a business owner as for multiple people, how do i feel? conscience wise, ijust can't do it. it makes it hard but i think at the end of the day, if we all do it, all going to be in the same boat economically, so... the white mountain hotel has been a local landmark for decades. even the slow season, its 80 rooms are fully booked at the weekends but now it's empty and most of the staff, laid off. john ginter is a cook and takes home around $500 a week. emergency unemployment gives him less than half that. it's a lot to take in first, i'm talking about when you live paycheck to the paycheck like myself. i don't have a lot of savings. i have a little bit, enough to get by for a couple of months if need be, but i still need to have a decent supply of money coming in to support myself and my family. that's the worst part of it, is having to lay off staff that have been with me

for years and years. some from the beginning, from 30 years ago. and to lay them off, it hurts, it really hurts. more than anything. and i... i just... i almost can't bear it, you know? at settlers green shopping centre alone, 600 people were laid off as stores closed in the ongoing effort to keep people away and stop virus spreading. but while commercial tourism has ground to a halt, crippling the local economy, people are still arriving from other states and cities to take advantage of holiday homes in new hampshire's great outdoors. a few weeks ago, they would have been welcome, but not anymore. don't come to new hampshire. i understand that you want to get out of new york, but you're bringing your danger to us a couple of ways.

you know, obviously you could be infected and bringing it to this small community of people that need to work. people need to stay home. new hampshire's governor has now ordered residents to stay at home until may and all non—essential businesses are closed. some may never reopen. but across the valley, they're keeping on their lights at night as a beacon of hope in dark times. jane o'brien, bbc news, new hampshire. wimbledon has become the latest sporting event to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. it'll be the first time since the second world war that the tennis championships have failed to to take place. it means there will be no professional tennis anywhere in the world until the middle ofjuly at the earliest. it's been confirmed to the edinburgh for, the world's biggest arts festival, will not ta ke biggest arts festival, will not take base for the first time in nearly 70 years. —— take place. "remember, they can't cancel spring", those are the words

of david hockney, one of the most influential british artists still alive today. he's been creating art on his ipad for over ten years, and his latest digital paintings show the spring awakening, as seen from the garden of his house in normandy in france. he's in lockdown there, and has been sending the work to friends. he's also shared ten images exclusively with the bbc. here's our arts editor, will gompertz. "dear will. in 2018, jp, my assistant, and i came to normandy after the window was put up in westminster abbey. we loved it here, and i suggested tojp this would be a great place to draw and paint the arrival of spring. there are apple, pear, cherry and plum blossom, with hawthorn and blackthorn. east yorkshire only had blackthorn and hawthorn. we found this house with a large garden that was cheaper than anything in sussex. we bought it. i began straightaway, drawing on a japanese foldout book. i drew all around the house, and then i drew the house itself. these were exhibited in new york in september 2019. being a smoker, i do not care

for new york, so i never went. we came back here to normandy on march second. i began drawing the winter trees on my new ipad. i'm here with jonathan and jp, my assistants. then the virus started. we are locked in here but i don't mind. jonathan is cut off from his family in harrogate andjp, who from his family in harrogate and jp, who feel it more. i went on drawing the winter trees that eventually burst into blossom. this is the stage we're at right now. meanwhile, the virus is going mad, and many people said my drawings were a great respite from what was going on. why are my ipad drawings seen as a respite from the news? well, they're obviously made by their hand, depicting the renewal that is the spring. i intend to carry on with my work,

which i now see is very important. we've lost touch with nature rather foolishly, as we are part of it, not outside it. this will, in time, be over, and then what? what have we learned? i'm 83 years old — i will die. the cause of death is birth. the only real things in life are food and love, in that order, just like our little dog, ruby. i really believe this, and the source of art is love. i love life. all my love, david h." that was david hockney‘s letter to will gompertz. it makes me wonder if you are painting your way through isolation like hockney or if you are writing computer code, if you're taking up a new language, or if you are occasionally having to slump through each day and considering it a success if you made it through. i would love to know. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @jamesbbcnews. we will leave you tonight as we go to new york city. you can see the empire state building, it will be lit up to recognise

the work of health workers there who are on the frontline of the crisis. hello. our weather is about to doa hello. our weather is about to do a 180 degrees turn in the next few days. for the end of this week, it's going to feel chilly and there will be frosty starts. come the weekend, it sta rts starts. come the weekend, it starts to warm up quite dramatically but it will get quite windy on sunday and here's why. at the moment we are on the tail end of one area of low pressure thing into northerly or north—westerly winds on friday, and come the weekend, we switch to southerly 01’ weekend, we switch to southerly or south westerlies as low pressure squeezes in from the west. in the midst of all this, high pressure essentially keeping things relatively calm and largely dry, some weak weather fronts sliding down across the uk on thursday but coming in behind this week cold front, you guessed it, colder

air. quite gusty winds across—the—board, but particularly for shetland, up to 70 mph at times today, and the ten profile behind me gives you some indicator of how far south of the colder air will have worked its way through thursday afternoon. for the remainder of thursday into friday, that cold air floods right away into the uk, the isobars open up a bit, lighter winds especially across the northern half of the uk will meana northern half of the uk will mean a frosty start to friday, particularly across scotland but also for parts of northern england and northern ireland. good sunshine from the get go. look out for wintry showers, even at lower levels at times, that's how cold the air will be and the odd thundery shower as well. more cloud in the south. the biggest difference is the way things will feel, attempt six or seven in northern scotland. there's the high hanging around. on into saturday, the clear skies over friday and saturday could make for a chilly start in southern

parts, but good sunshine on saturday and with the low starting to approach, albeit a way away in the west, we flip the direction around to a southerly. relatively light on saturday but just starting southerly. relatively light on saturday butjust starting to lift the temperatures into double figures in scotland stop here's the big change as the low closes in on sunday, the isobars are squeezed together, the wind will get pretty strong but look how the mild air works all the way north across the uk, temperatures are set to lea p uk, temperatures are set to leap widely in the mid—teens across scotland, and we could even see up to 20 degrees possibly in the south—east of england.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the us vice president has warned americans to expect a coronavirus scenario comparable to italy. the warning comes as america now has 200,000 confirmed infections, and over 11,500 deaths. in new york alone, nearly 400 people died in the past 2a hours. the uk has also recorded its worst one—day figure for coronavirus—related deaths: 563, a rise of nearly a third. the government is facing increasing pressure over its handling of the outbreak, amid criticism over shortages of protective equipment for frontline health workers and delays in ramping up testing. italy has extended its stringent lockdown measures, but families are now allowed to take their children for a walk. for the third day in a row, italy has registered a relatively low figure of new coronavirus cases.