this is bbc news. i'm david eades. the headlines: another global milestone — more than a million confirmed cases of coronavirus. 50,000 people have died. mixed messages on the value of a mask — two major us cities encourage their residents to cover up theirfaces in public, but the white house has reservations. days after saying staff on board his aircraft carrier needed quarantining, the us navy sacks its captaiin. music as medicine? we talk to the man helping to soothe the covid—19 patients at one of seoul's

biggest hospitals. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. i'm david eades. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world now stands at over one million people. experts say more than 50,000 people have died, with the number of reported cases doubling in the last week. italy's death toll has reached almost 14,000. and spain's reported over 1,000 deaths

in a single day, taking its total to 10,000. the united states is the world's third—worst hit country with nearly 6,000 fatalities. there are nearly 250,000 confirmed infections in the us. a significant proportion of the country's deaths have been in new york. here in the uk, the health secretary has announced plans to carry out 100,000 tests every day in england, by the end of the month. currently it's around 10,000 a day. it was also announced that 569 more people have died in the uk in the past 2a hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 2,921. our global health correspondent, tulip mazumdar, reports on the events that lead to more than one million infections. a milestone that nobody wanted to reach. it is believed the outbreak started here, at a wholesale seafood market in wuhan, in china, at the end of last year. by early january, the country confirmed it had identified

a new coronavirus and cases there started to soar. it didn't take long for covid—19, as it was later named, to then spread all around the world. it took more than two months from the first reported case in china for the number of infections to reach 100,000. then, just two weeks later, cases double to 200,000. now, in the last week alone, the number of infections have jumped from 500,000 last friday to more than1 million now. and here is how it all unfolded. cases in china were rising rapidly in the first couple of months of this year. south korea was next to see a sharp rise. but by the middle of march the global picture changed. italy was hit hard, along with iran and then spain. and then a huge rise in cases in the us. all these countries were ramping up their testing at these times too. so a million is obviously a huge number,

and presents an important milestone. but i think what we need to remember is that these are the numbers of diagnosed cases. and in fact the unknown, the amount of people who haven't had a test to know that they're infected, is obviously likely to be much greater than that. so my worry, really, is what this means globally. and we're keeping an eye on many other countries around the world, especially for example africa, where some of the case numbers are really beginning to creep up. we have seen what happens when this virus hits countries with relatively strong health systems. in europe and the us, medics have been overwhelmed. there are grave concerns about what will happen in countries with far weaker healthcare facilities. south africa currently has the largest outbreak on the continent, with more than 1,400 known cases. smaller outbreaks are also under way in countries

including burkina faso, cameroon and senegal. elsewhere, there is some very early, very cautious optimism. china says it has largely stopped the spread of the disease there, with parts of wuhan now reopening. south korea has also seen cases fall in the last couple of weeks. but it is still extremely unclear how this pandemic will play out, as cases globally continue to rise. tulip mazumdar, bbc news. it is also unclear how different countries interpret the data. the authorities in new york city and los angeles have advised people to wear a face covering when they're outdoors, to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. but one of president trump's chief scientific advisers has said she didn't want that to give people a false sense of protection. meanwhile, a cruise ship

on which four people with the virus have died has docked in florida, after weeks at sea. several countries had refused to allow the zaandam's passengers and crew to disembark. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, reports. heading home at last, docking, zaandam with its sister ship, the rotterdam. it follows days of negotiations with authorities in orator about whether passengers would be allowed to disembark. ——in florida. the number of coronavirus cases is continuing to surge in many us cities. new york has taken delivery of more than 200 ambulances to help the city fight against the pandemic but ventilators are still in short supply and health workers say there is a chronic lack of protective clothing. this is outrageous. we have people coming sewing things for us,

making things out of plastic. this is what we are doing now! that is like a soldier going to bore and making a plastic gun to go with him. at a briefing, president trump said he is wartime powers to make extra masks and promise more ventilators would soon be production. we have thousands built right now and they are starting to arrive in a week and a half but there will be a time when we are going to build stockpiles by the way the states should have been building the stockpiles. we have almost 10000 and we have been building and supplying them but the states should be building them. we are a backup we are not an ordering clerk. in los angeles, and new york city, people have been advised to wear a face covering when they leave home. it could be a

scarf, something you create at home, it does not need to be a professional surgical mask. in fa ct, professional surgical mask. in fact, we do not want you to use the kind of masks that our first responders, healthcare workers need. president trump said he would not make it mandatory for people to cover their faces but he mandatory for people to cover theirfaces but he is mandatory for people to cover their faces but he is chief medical advisor said it was sent mixed messages. do not wa nt sent mixed messages. do not want people to have a sense of protection because they are behind a mask because they are touching things. your eyes are not in the mask so touching things and then touching you your eyes you are exposing yourself in the same way. peter bowes, bbc news. the captain of the american aircraft carrier stricken with coronavirus has been sacked, apparently for going public with his concerns about the health of his crew.

captain brett crozier wrote a scathing letter to his bosses asking for stronger measures to help control the virus onboard the uss theodore roosevelt. but the letter was leaked to the press, as bill hayton reports. the uss theodore roosevelt, one of the world's most powerful war machines. a nuclear—powered community of 5,000 people, jammed in a very confined space. in the driving seat, with the power of life and death, was captain brett crozier, until thursday. i'm here today to inform you that today at my direction the commanding officer of the uss theodore roosevelt, captain brett crozier, was relieved of command by a carrier strike group commander, rear admiral stuart baker. the problems may have started during the ship's most recent port visit to da nang in central vietnam at the beginning of march. two weeks later, the first crewmembers fell ill. within days, the numbers were in dozens, and the situation looked potentially catastrophic. captain crozier headed

for the us naval base on the pacific island of guam to offload the sick, and sent an email to his superiors calling for, in his words, "decisive action" to protect the rest of the crew. but he copied the e—mail to at least 20 other people. that is just not acceptable. he did not take care and what that did is it create a panic on — a little bit of a panic — on the ship because the ship was not prepared, the chief petty officers were not prepared to answer questions from the crew, in terms of how bad the situation was. it misrepresented the facts of what was going on on the ship as well and, at the same time, the families here in the united states were panicked about the reality. the revelations about conditions on board prompted plenty of criticism of the pentagon and of the trump administration. supporters of captain crozier have taken to social media to applaud his concern for his crew, but it looks as though his naval career is over. meanwhile, his former ship remains docked at guam,

with many of the crew in isolation. so far, says the pentagon, none has required hospital treatment. bill hayton, bbc news. as the death toll reaches almost 3000 in the uk, and after mounting criticism, the government has announced plans to significantly increase coronavirus testing. there are two types of tests — one is the swab test, which tells you if you currently have the virus or not. the other is an antibody, blood test, which will tell you whether or not you've had the virus. that can take weeks to get the results. 0ur medical correspondent, fergus walsh, explains. this is what a home antibody test looks like. this one is for hiv, and can be bought online. it is this kind of highly accurate fingerprick blood test which is needed for coronavirus. an antibody test would tell you if you've previously been infected with coronavirus and have built up some immunity which might protect

you in future. the british company behind the hiv test says it hopes to have a similar one for coronavirus ready within weeks. i think it would make an incredible difference. the question everyone's asking themselves is, have i had it? you know, i had a cold in january, i didn't feel well. so for us, antibody detection is the key, really, to accelerating how we handle this. the government agrees. it has already bought 3.5 million antibody tests, but these are still being evaluated to check they're accurate. we're currently working with nine companies who've offered these tests, and evaluating their effectiveness. these antibody tests, blood tests, offer the hope that people who think they've had the disease will know they're immune, and can get back to life as much as possible as normal. but they've got to work. this is one of several covid—19 antibody tests already on the market.

now, this one is designed for health professionals to use, rather than in the home. you draw two drops of blood, put them in a sample tray, add a chemical, and wait ten minutes. well, this is really rather surprising. i've not had any symptoms of coronavirus, yet these two lines here suggest that i have previously had covid—19. and it suggests that i may now have some immunity from the disease, if this test is accurate. the company that makes the test is based in northern ireland. it says it is highly accurate, but it has not been endorsed by medical regulators. we've not been approached directly by the government, or public health england, or any of the other public health agencies of the four nations. you know, if we were approached, we'd be happy to submit our tests for validation. we think that's a good thing.

an accurate antibody test would help us get back to this — britain at work. medical staff and other key workers could be checked to see if they have had coronavirus, and may now have some immunity. it can't come soon enough. fergus walsh, bbc news. this is bbc news, a reminder of the headlines: the number of people around the world who have been diagnosed with coronavirus has passed one million — over 50,000 of them have died. new york city and los angeles have advised people to wear a face covering when they're outdoors. but one of president trump's chief scientific advisers has said she didn't want people to get a false sense of protection through it's use. of protection through its use. mexico seems to be faring better than its northern neighbour, the united states, when it comes to coronavirus cases. so far, only about 1,400

infections have been reported there, compared to more than 230,000 in the us. but those numbers are on the rise, and there's been growing anger over the mexican government's handling of the crisis. the bbc‘s will grant has this report. a uniquely mexican way to tell people to wash their hands. amid accusations the message wasn't getting through, state police in quintana roo performed a mariachi song to remind the public to practise social distancing and self isolation. however, some say the response at the federal level has been less harmonious. the country's president andres manuel lopez 0brador has come in for widespread criticism. for days, he said people could go outside, attend large events, even kiss and embrace. those at mexico's first drive through coronavirus test, being run by a private clinic in the capital, were angry at the president's attitude. "if the president really cares about his people,

then he must protect them," says this woman, fearing mexico will struggle to do with the crisis. the mexican health authorities insist they have taken the problem seriously from the start. with the number of coronavirus patients rising above 1,000, the government has now declared a health emergency which grants it new powers to enforce distancing and isolation. translation: we don't want to go to the scenario that other countries a re u nfortu nately going through so this is the moment. the world health organization has also broadly defended mexico's response. translation: mexico is benefiting from the experiences of those countries that have already taken these measures. the steps they have taken are very laudable. they are on the right path. the thing is, mexico faces a number underlying health challenges.

its population, for example, has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world — an astonishing 10% of its adult population suffer from the condition. and it's the second most obese nation on earth. "i'm especially worried for my son," said this customer at a mexico city taco stand. "i try to get him to exercise but now he can't go outside." with far fewer infected in mexico than in the us, it has prompted some mexicans to demand that americans not be allowed to cross the border. meanwhile, thousands of central american migrants remain in temporary camps under the so—called ‘remain in mexico' policy, waiting for their asylum applications in the us to be processed. stuck in limbo, illness and flu spread among them quickly and a further humanitarian crisis beckons. will grant, bbc news. the democratic republic of congo is battling many outbreaks at the same time: the country's deadliest ebola

outbreak, the world's worst measles outbreak and now, the coronavirus. what lessons from these outbreaks can the country use to combat covid—19? the bbc‘s gaius kowene reports from kinshasa. the images of an outbreak — the temperature checks, the quarantines, the masks. new and unsettling experiences for most countries, but not the drc. for over four decades, it has fought ebola, the deadly disease. one man has been at the heart of battling almost every outbreak. he is now taking on covid—19. translation: this fight will be based on scientific evidence and experience we developed throughout the years. this victory will be the fruit of the cooperation of the whole congolese population. it is impossible to win the fight against covid without community engagement.

that is a lesson drawn from fighting the current ebola outbreak, the worst the drc has ever faced. myths and false information created mistrust between health workers and locals. overcoming them was key to beating the disease. so too contact tracing — finding those infected and who they might have infected is how the current outbreak has been brought under control, as is hand washing and social distancing. travel to goma and you are greeted with this. handshakes are out, replaced with what they call elbow love. but, while there are similarities, the diseases are not the same. covid—19 is less deadly, but far easier to spread. translation: this outbreak comes from abroad. it is not from here.

other outbreaks originated from here, and we know how to deal with them, in regards to our culture. but this one was imported, and has multicultural dimensions to consider. covid—19 has already spread to four provinces in the democratic republic of congo. the country enters this crisis with a weak and overwhelmed health system, but it does have an advantage, one borne of years of suffering. so far, the virus hotspots have included countries like china, the united states, italy and spain. but south america is beginning to feel the impact, with lives being lost and economies taking a major hit. the bbc‘s tim allman reports on the situation there. jose ramirez used to be a bus driver, but then the virus came.

the country went into lockdown, and he lost hisjob. as a result, he couldn't pay his rent, and now he has been forced to sleep in a local park. translation: they told me i couldn't stay, because financially i don't have a way to pay. they told me they couldn't accommodate me. they said they aren't a charity, and they kicked me out. jose's situation is similar to hundreds of others in the capital, bogota. colombia's president has told landlords not to evict tenants, but many of them don't seem to be listening. it is a similar story in chile, where mass layoffs have caused hardship in a country which already had rising unemployment, and there doesn't seem to be much social distancing going on here. translation: it's shameful to the people, shameful. there is supposed to be pandemic, and we shouldn't be like this, so close to each other, but there is no other way.

in peru, the military are trying to provide some assistance. they are putting together food parcels for families who have been told to stay at home. translation: we are here to gather all the support that can be given to those that need it most, those who due to this mandatory home quarantine have been really badly affected. but some people are finally getting out. these tourist, mostly from denmark, have been stranded for weeks in lima and are now heading home. what will happen to those they have left behind remains unclear. this is another pretty miserable bulletin, isn't it? we all need a bit of an uplift, so we all need a bit of an uplift, so let's have a look at this.

that is the soothing sound of won hyung—joon and his violin. mr won began by recording himself playing and posting it to social media, to comfort those affacted by the outbreak. after hearing one of these broadcasts, seoul's myongji hospital invited him to perform for their covid—19 patients. and i'm delighted to say won hyung—joonjoins me now. that is a lovely sound and very soothing, won hyung—joon. did you go to the hospital? yes, i was there at the hospital. because that immediately raises anxieties about where you went, how close you got, social distancing, self isolation. how did this work? 0k, distancing, self isolation. how did this work? ok, you know music inspires people. not only with emotional feeling but also it has a healing power. since

coronavirus pandemic, we are encouraging social distancing and especially patients who isolate in the hospital with a medical staff are sacrificing their lives, so i thought there must be music connected, and i was looking for the hospital where i can give my musical skills, so that happened last week. did you have any anxieties about going into the hospital? yes, of course. for me, i worried hospital? yes, of course. for me, iworried but hospital? yes, of course. for me, i worried but also, hospital? yes, of course. for me, iworried but also, we hospital? yes, of course. for me, i worried but also, we are doing social distancing so what ifi doing social distancing so what if i can infect other people, they are afraid of me. but as i've said, i was focusing on the value of music which has the value of music which has the power of healing and that what i did. i think everyone would recognise it is a very

generous gesture and a lovely thing to do, and i'm going to ask you to give a little bit of that musical medicine, if you would. i think you are going to play a part of the programme, and as you get ready, they will introduce you. won hyung—joon, solo violinist who is going to play a melody from cinema paradiso. (violin music plays).

hello. temperatures topped out at 15 degrees celsius in hampshire on thursday. they'll take a step backwards, those temperatures, on friday, but then into the weekend they're on the up. a frost for some of us, as friday starts, especially across the north and east of the uk. plenty of cloud to follow, but sunnier skies arrive at the weekend. and yes, those temperatures are heading up, but with a strengthening wind. high pressure pretty much in control of things, so still a lot of dry weather around for the next couple of days. low pressure gathering in the atlantic, though, as the weekend goes on will strengthen a southerly flow coming into the uk, and that's why those temperatures are going to be heading up. and we could well see, across parts of south—east england by sunday, as high as 20 celsius — first time we've reached that high since last october. but we're not there yet,

and there will be a frost across scotland, parts of eastern england to start friday, maybe —5 in rural aberdeenshire. and a few wintry showers in scotland, to relatively low levels in the north, continuing on and off during the day. a lot of cloud in the west to begin the day. there'll be a few showers around here, and cloud increasing. but where we had that cold start to the east, that cold, bright start to the east, still maybe the odd shower, but most places here will be dry. sunny spells returning later in the afternoon to south wales, south—west england, those temperatures around 8—12 degrees. that's why it's a little bit of a backward step compared with thursday. now, overnight and into saturday morning, an area of rain and hill snow pushes north into scotland, edging further north. the clearer skies will be the further south you are in england and wales, though there could be a few fog patches around. and still a touch of frost in places, though it's rather patchy in nature, that frost, as the weekend begins. another look at saturday, the flows starting to come in from the south, then temperatures gradually edging up on saturday. it's a slow process, though, and still a lot of cloud

around in scotland. the rain and hill snow clearing from the north. for northern ireland, rather cloudy, and northern england too. elsewhere in england and wales, there will be sunny spells, and those temperatures are creeping up. more places in double figures on saturday. the breeze, though, starting to pick up. and then for part two of the weekend, on sunday, a lot of sunshine around. but it will be windy, and particularly in the west, and here it'll be clouding over. we could well see some outbreaks of rain moving in. in the best of the sunshine across the eastern side of england, this is where we're going to see those higher temperatures, but higher pollen levels too.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. pumping the market — president trump sends oil prices surging, suggesting that he has brokered a deal to stop the collapse. but scepticism is already creeping in. plus, remittance recession — as the us and europe shed millions ofjobs, what's the impact on migrantworkers and the vital cash they send home? 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. we start with the price of oil. it surged as much as 45% after president trump said he had spoken to the leaders of both saudi arabia and russia to stop the collapse in prices. a price war broke out between the two a month ago and since then energy demand has continued to collapse in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, sending oil towards $20 a barrel — its lowest in almost two decades. the slump has also hit us producers hard and on wednesday the president promised to take action. so promised to take action. i think that saudi arabia, russia so i think that saudi arabia, russia are talking and i will meet with the oil companies on friday and meet with independent oil producers on

friday or sunday, maybe saturday, but we have a lot of meetings on and i think i know how to solve it but, if they are unable to solve it, i think i know what to do to solve it. i will not mention it now but it is tough. i think i know what to do to solve it. we do not want to lose our oil companies. we are the world number one producer of oil. well, on thursday president trump took to twitter to say this... 10 million barrels is equivalent to 10% of the world's global oil supply. that sent the price of crude surging and boosted us markets in the process. however some scepticism is creeping back in,

with the president evasive to say the least when asked about the tweet by reporters in the last few hours. it would be grateful russia and saudi arabia and i hope they make that and that is what they told me... ithink make that and that is what they told me... i think it will be hopefully soon. i think hopefully soon. i think hopefully that will announce something soon. now, can a deal be brokered? can something happen? i guess but there is another alternative but i rather not see it. i hope they can makea rather not see it. i hope they can make a deal. i think they both want to make a deal and they are both smart, they love their countries, they want to make a deal but it is also good for the well if they do. let's talk to sharanjit leyl now in singapore. sharan, oil prices are giving back some of those gains now? really a day after the biggest one—day gain you told us again

then down by 3%—4% off the highs in asian trade, really reflecting market scepticism on whether a deal over a price war would go ahead. you heard president trump making a big deal out of brokering a deal out of saudi arabia and russia but no offered to reduce us production. many investors casting doubt whether any such cut would be enough to balance the market in face of the deep economic recession caused by this coronavirus pandemic. president trump has said the two countries could cut output by as much as 50 million barrels per day, 10%— 15% of global supply stop an unprecedented amount but donald trump said he had made no offer of cutting output in the us and saudi arabia calling for an emergency meeting of opec oil

producers trying to reach a fair agreement to stabilise the market. all of that has had a mixed reaction on asian markets. at the moment they are taking their cues from wall street which rose on thursday due to the massive gains in oil but because they have started to peter out, the focus is yet again on the devastating economic impact of the coronavirus and it impact on the global economy. let's focus on this issue about the oil price and the impact. the research director of the fund managers wisdom tree joins me. i want to throw something at you from president putin's spokesman. he said no—one had started talking about any specific or abstract deals so where are we left? it is all quite confusing. obviously, as you have mentioned, saudi

arabia and president putin and are not in discussions yet but we know that saudi arabia has called for an emergency meeting between opec and other countries so if that goes ahead, at least there is some movement in terms of actually making discussions. but 15 million barrels cuts between two members, it sounds too large to be plausible. to put into context, in february, saudi arabia produce 9.5 million and russia was producing 11.5 million barrels per day so those kinds of numbers look extremely large and it will be hard to understand how those two countries would agree to such cuts when the us seemingly has not offered anything. they would have to be a lot of arm—twisting among opec countries and others. nonetheless, one think mr trump

says which is absolutely true is that russia and saudi arabia, among other oil producing countries need to resolve this. that is true. the world is flooding with too much oil in recent weeks. saudi arabia increasing production to something around 12 million barrels per day, slowing the market at a time when demand has collapsed. 100 million barrels per day market prior to this coronavirus crisis has fallen around 20 million barrels per day. that is huge. every day that extra amount of oil is accumulating and there is not enough storage in the world to take that on, it gets continuing. big challenge. you mentioned mr trump has not offered very much and he is meeting oil in the course of

the day, there needs to be an element from the us, you feel, to make a deal happen? yes, and it does not necessarily mean that oil companies in the us have to sign up to any sort of cuts. initially, why russia departed from the opec class group mainly was because it wa nt group mainly was because it want sanctions on the country relieved and maybe that is what the us could do to get russia back to the table. it is going to be very difficult to co—ordinate because so many producers are producing oil, and it is not like saudi arabia with a single monopoly or in russia with a handful of large companies producing the oil. in the us it is really fragmented. a big challenge ahead for president trump.

thejump in oil prices and global stock markets comes despite more grim news about the econonomic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 6.6 million americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, way more than the worst predictions and double the figure of the previous week. that means the us has already lost more jobs than it did during the global financial crisis. and it's the same story around the world, as michelle fleury in new york explains. this was an astonishing number. you have to remember that one week ago we were talking about 3.3 million americans filing for unemployment benefits. at the time we were talking about that as a record—breaking yet just seven days later, the figure has doubled to 6.6 million. we're talking 10 million. we're talking 10 million americans over a two week period that have lost theirjob. it is unprecedented. the magnitude and speed with which firms here are shedding workers and i think that helps underscore the catastrophic

effect this pandemic is having here on the american economy but we see repeated in other countries around the world and put it in context you, when you look back to the 2008 recession, in america, there we re recession, in america, there were roughly 9 millionjobs lost some now we were roughly 9 millionjobs lost some now we are were roughly 9 millionjobs lost some now we are talking 10 million injust two lost some now we are talking 10 million in just two weeks. italy and spain are obviously the two countries economists are talking about the most as having been at the epicentre of europe's coronavirus pandemic. in italy, the numbers, people are talking about is a bench onto the 2008 recession, they think this could be two times worse than what that was like for italy. it gives you a sense of scale and the depth of the problem and how economies are trying to address this in different ways. in the us they are signing relief aid, in europe they're trying to come together in the uk we are

seeing efforts with money being given to companies to try and keep them on the payroll. yesterday we were hearing of 20 millionjobless in the us by the end of this. the scale of those job losses in the us and europe will have a knock—on effect in the developing world, as remittances from millions of migrant workers dry up. the us is the world's biggest source of cash sent home by expat workers, and india is the world's biggest receiver of it, according to the world bank. but countries such as the philippines are also heavily reliant on remittances. alma angotti is from the consultancy guidehouse. thank you forjoining us. it is a sort of sidebar to the coronavirus crisis that does not come straight to the forefront of our thoughts but the knock—on could be massive? absolutely because you will see

an exponential destruction of the economy in visa countries that rely on remittances from the us and europe. if those workers that typically extend money home do not have money to send home. the philippines, it is something like $33.5 billion. what does that mean in terms of what that contributes to the philippines? i think it isa to the philippines? i think it is a major portion of the philippine economy and, if people do not have money to send home or do not have a less expensive way to send money home it is going to be even more devastating. the next step presumably is many of those workers whose work has dried up, will be looking for ways to get home. not necessarily on a flight get home. not necessarily on a flight straightaway but they

will have no cushion to offer and no cushion being offered once they get there? it is a very difficult problem and a lot of the companies are looking for ways to at least make it easier to get money around the world, assuming some has some to send, less expensively. you have got some countries setting up e—commerce sites for smaller businesses so they can receive payments through social media platforms and things like that, to try to help where there is a money to move it around and keep the economy going a little bit. move it around and keep the economy going a little bitm isa economy going a little bitm is a real challenge. thank you very much indeed forjoining us on the bbc news.

britain's emergency loans scheme for businesses has been revamped following strong criticism, to allow more companies to access financial support during the lockdown. the treasury said it had received more than 130,000 loan enquires from firms but fewer than 1,000 had been approved. previously, government—backed loans for small businesses were only available to firms that had been turned down by their bank, which could be charging interest of as much as 30%. companies in every sector are trying to survive the coronavirus pandemic, by re—thinking how they operate or moving more business online. ellie webb is the founder of caleno, a firm which makes non—alcoholic spirits. she explains how she is trying to maintain sales, with bars and pubs closed by the coronavirus lockdown. my my biggest challenge right now is, we make non—alcoholic spirits to be drunk in pubs and bars due to coronavirus every single one of those businesses across the uk has had to shut down. here is what i am

planning to do to cope with this. straightaway, we need to work out what would happen with effectively no sales in pub and bar channels. we have had to cut our business quite significantly especially around events and marketing, we have seen events and marketing, we have seen almost all events cancelled or delayed. we have had to refocus our attention to e—commerce and online retail opportunities to basically plug the gap we are now seeing with the gap we are now seeing with the loss of sales revenue in pubs, bars and restaurants. we have been looking at how caleno can help people stuck at home over the next few months, trying to stay off alcohol midweek. we are definitely not the only drinks business going through this right now, i am speaking to other food and drink with mrs who had to make

really ha rd drink with mrs who had to make really hard decisions about the future of the business. there is definitely a sense of we are all in this together and we can help each other through. everyone needs a bit of help at the moment. let me give you a few exa m ples. british airways has reached a deal to suspend more than 30,000 of its cabin crew and ground staff for the next two months. the airline has been in talks with unions for more than a week, having grounded most of its fleet due to the coronavirus. the government's job retention scheme will fund 80% of their wages. the uk government will cover the losses of bus companies in england over the next three months to ensure that services can still run, and get key staff to work. the uk's bus industry says passenger numbers have "fallen off a cliff" since the government advised people against all non—essential travel. that caused bus firms

to cut services. every day bbc world news is taking an in—depth look at one particular aspect of the coronavirus pandemic, as part of the coronavirus explained series. we are focussing on the use of face masks, and my colleague lucy hockings took a look at whether people around should be wearing them in public even if they are not sick. people are doing all they can to stay away from and stop the spread of covid—19. we know that we need to be staying at home unless it is to carry out essential activities and we also know we have to avoid touching our eyes, nose or mouth and that washing our hands for at least 20 seconds is the way to go. but can we do more, and a key question we are asking today, should we all be wearing face masks? the director—general of the chinese center for disease control and prevention had this piece of advice, saying the big mistake in the us and europe is that people aren't wearing masks. both the world health organization and the centres for disease control and prevention who have repeatedly

said that ordinary citizens don't need to wear masks unless they are thick are considering whether to change their stance. austria, the czech republic and slovakia have made wearing them mandatory. if healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected covid—19 infection. you should wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing. masks are coughing or sneezing. masks are effective only if used in conjunction with frequent hand cleaning. and if you wear a mask, then you must know how to use it and dispose of polly. —— properly. good to see you both. your view, should we all be wearing masks? i think there is a lot of good scientific reasons to do so. there are no

clinical trails evident but there is lots of mechanistic evidence that we should wear masks nationally for coronavirus where there is asymptomatic people who are already sharing the viruses. if masks are not effective, why are we asking people to cover their mouth with a tissue or their mouth with a tissue or their elbows. it is highly unlikely that a mask would be inferior to an elbow. i think we should shift the paradigms from one of protecting oneself to one of protecting others, and ina to one of protecting others, and in a pandemic like this, if i wear and in a pandemic like this, if iweara and in a pandemic like this, if i wear a mask, and in a pandemic like this, if iweara mask, i and in a pandemic like this, if iwear a mask, i protect and in a pandemic like this, if i wear a mask, i protect you. you wear a mask, you protect me, and if everyone does that, eve ryo ne me, and if everyone does that, everyone is protected. for this purpose, you only need cloth mask, highest specification

masks must be reserved for our doctors and nurses. are you saying that a scarf around your face could be effective, for instance? for this intervention to work it has to be done by enough people, so if you are surrounded by people who don't do this, then actually a scarf would not be very good, for example if you work on the i see you, only the very high specification must would work. this is actually a good public health principle behind this. one, actually, it is always better to control source infection than mitigation measures. wearing a mask as primary prevention. want to bring in roxanne, do you agree that we should all be wearing some of ourface, that we should all be wearing some of our face, whether that bea some of our face, whether that be a mask or a scarf? what we have heard is true but there is some evidence that home—made

masks might work, but the evidence is scant so we are talking about not a lot of studies that can demonstrate this, not clinically stopping mechanistically it does make sense. but for example, we are looking at small studies to support this, like in 2009, a study in australia looked at 143 households and found that based on their calculations, 60- 80% of based on their calculations, 60— 80% of reduction of infection was seen. but the statistics weren't really robust because only about 20% of the households complied with the mask wearing, so we are talking about not a ton of evidence and that is why public health officials are saying that the jury is still out we have already talked about some different types of mask, just wanted to show you a few of them. this is the n95s respirator, named as such

because it filters out 95% of airborne particles and is recommended for frontline health professionals. this is a typical surgical mask but it only blocks out larger water droplets, and you may have heard president trump earlier this week, and this is where things get confusing, this is the advice that he gave on face coverings. you can use a scarf, a lot of people have scarf, and you can use a scarf. a scarf would be very good. my feeling is that if people want to do it, there is certainly no harm to it. i would say do it, but use a scarf rather than going out and getting a mask. we are making millions and millions of mask. roxanne, how much of an issue that people not using the mark they have properly, and the fact that it perhaps gives them a false sense of confidence about moving about in the world and feeling like they are protect it? i will talk about your first question

first, and that is our people using them properly. there are video tutorials the who has put out on how to take it off properly to make sure you are not touching the front of it with your hand, but a lot of the evidence so to speak about not removing protective equipment properly comes from hospital and hospital studies where people are exposed to high levels of pathogens, so i haven't seen any study out there that actually looks at a population level measure to see whether people are infecting themselves by doing this, i think we will see those studies but i think what people want to reinforce is that even if you are wearing a mask, social distancing still applies, so they don't want people to lose sight of the things that matter like that. and can i ask you about the effectiveness of most masks that ordinary people got access to. what that actually prevents or stops? if everyone wears one, i think you only

need quite simple almost home—made fabric mask. as roxanne said, if you work in the eye see you, you need n95s, but in the community, the exposure is not that high. speak about evidence that you mention, of course this is a new pandemic, they're not have been clinical trails on mass masking stopping previous studies were done during flu seasons or during the last endemic where the case fatality ratio was a lot lower and that is why compliance was a problem, but in this pandemic, i think the perceived threat is high enough for people to focus their interest, and just for a sense of security, can you find me someone sense of security, can you find me someone who has gone out and panicked by masks who didn't try to grab every bottle of hand gel in their reach? there you are. it is never quite as

straightforward as it seems, is it? take care of yourselves and all those around you, and thanks for being with us. bye for now. hello. temperatures topped out at 15 degrees celsius in hampshire on thursday. they'll take a step backwards, those temperatures, on friday, but then into the weekend they're on the up. a frost for some of us, as friday starts, especially across the north and east of the uk. plenty of cloud to follow, but sunnier skies arrive at the weekend. and yes, those temperatures are heading up, but with a strengthening wind. high pressure pretty much in control of things, so still a lot of dry weather around for the next couple of days. low pressure gathering in the atlantic, though, as the weekend goes on will strengthen a southerly flow coming into the uk, and that's why those temperatures are going to be heading up. and we could well see, across parts of south—east england by sunday, as high as 20 celsius — first time we've reached that high since last october. but we're not there yet, and there will be a frost

across scotland, parts of eastern england to start friday, maybe —5 in rural aberdeenshire. and a few wintry showers in scotland, to relatively low levels in the north, continuing on and off during the day. a lot of cloud in the west to begin the day. there'll be a few showers around here, and cloud increasing. but where we had that cold start to the east, that cold, bright start to the east, still maybe the odd shower, but most places here will be dry. sunny spells returning later in the afternoon to south wales, south—west england, those temperatures around 8—12 degrees. that's why it's a little bit of a backward step compared with thursday. now, overnight and into saturday morning, an area of rain and hill snow pushes north into scotland, edging further north. the clearer skies will be the further south you are in england and wales, though there could be a few fog patches around. and still a touch of frost in places, though it's rather patchy in nature, that frost, as the weekend begins. another look at saturday, the flows starting to come

in from the south, then temperatures gradually edging up on saturday. it's a slow process, though, and still a lot of cloud around in scotland. the rain and hill snow clearing from the north. for northern ireland, rather cloudy, and northern england too. elsewhere in england and wales, there will be sunny spells, and those temperatures are creeping up. more places in double figures on saturday. the breeze, though, starting to pick up. and then for part two of the weekend, on sunday, a lot of sunshine around. but it will be windy, and particularly in the west, and here it'll be clouding over. we could well see some outbreaks of rain moving in. in the best of the sunshine across the eastern side of england, this is where we're going to see those higher temperatures, but higher pollen levels too.

good morning. welcome to breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. our headlines today: 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month — the government promises to step up the fight against coronavirus. clapping for our carers — millions show their support once again for frontline and key workers. a new hospital which can treat 4,000 covid—19 patients opens today at the excel centre in london. more help for business — banks will be banned from charging high interest rates and asking for personal guarantees in return for loans, as the chancellor revamps his emergency rescue scheme. it's time to do your bit.