this is bbc news. i'm simon pusey — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. china comes to a standstill to commemorate the thousands of coranavirus victims. one of the world's largest hospitals opens in london to treat 4,000 coronavirus patients and there's a stern warning for people in britain to stay indoors this weekend. this advice is not a request. it is an instruction. stay—at—home, protect lives, and then you will be doing your part. as the us suffers its worst daily death toll from coronavirus america's health watchdog says people should wear face masks when they go out — but the president doesn't seem to agree

so, with the masks, it's going to be really a voluntary thing. you can do it, you don't have to do it. i'm choosing not to do it but some people may want to do it and that's ok. the head of the imf says the pandemic has caused an economic crisis like no other with the world's economy at a standstill. and police in paris step up spot checks to prevent people heading out of town for the traditional easter break and taking the virus with them. 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. millions of people in china havejoined president xi to commemorate the people killed after contracting the coronavirus.

air raid sirens and ship horns sounded to start the moment when people in beijing and wuhan remembered the victims. here — the uk's health secretary has urged people to stay at home over fears that sunny weather could tempt people to go outside. london's largest hospital facility — built in nine days — is to take patients needing intensive care in the next week. in the us — president trump announced new recommendations for americans to wear masks to slow the spread of the virus — but he said he wouldn't be following the advice. the head of the international monetary fund says the crisis is humanity's darkest hour — adding — we've witnessed the world economy coming to a standstill. we'll have more on that and developments around the world in a moment but first stephen mcdonell has more from beijing. flags are at half—mast across the country. today is a special festival to remember those who have gone before us but 2020's tomb—sweeping day has taken

on a particular significance, declared a day of national mourning. at 10am local time people stopped what they were doing. cars pulled up, drivers sounded their horns in their cars and sirens and other alarms were turned on across the country as people paused to remember those who died from the coronavirus. whether it be the country's top leaders or ordinary people in the street, the whole country just seemed to stop and we saw that. people bowing their heads to remember the dead. there has been more than 3,300 people who have died in china from this highly infectious disease but we think the number could even be higher than that because many people may have actually died from coronavirus but been recorded as having other illnesses such as pneumonia. either way it has been a day to remember those

who died here and abroad and, bearing in mind, this is the country where it began so people have been going through this for months, and there has been quite a toll in terms of illness, in terms of people being sick, in terms of people dying. the whole economy being shut down. it has been a traumatic period for china, as it has been now for so many other countries. but another thing to consider, i guess, apart from the fact that we had thousands of people who died here, when you see what is happening in other countries, i guess it has also been a day for people here to be thankful that the emergency has not been even worse in the country where it began, and it has been already. stephen mcdonald they're reporting from beijing. stay at home this weekend or more lives will be lost —

that's the warning from the british government to help stop the spread of coronavirus. with forecasters predicting warm temperatures, the health secretary says staying indoors is an instruction, not a request. simonjones has the latest. these were the scenes in snowdonia to make weeks ago where many people ignored government advice stop crowds flocked to the coast and parks we re flocked to the coast and parks were busy too. now, was even more stringent curbs on our movements in place, the health secretary says staying at home and protecting lives is not a request but an instruction. were set for a warm weekend in some parts of the country. but the disease is still spreading. and we absolutely cannot afford to relax the social distancing measures that we have in place. we cannot relax our discipline now. if we do, people will die. government regulations state that everyone must stay at home but you can leave under the following circumstances. for one form of exercise a date, the advice is to say as local

as possible. you can go out to shop for basic necessities such as food and medicine but as infrequently as possible. you also allowed outside of the house for any medical needs or to ca re house for any medical needs or to care and assistance to someone vulnerable. and you can travel to work but only if you cannot work from home. an increasing number of councils are instructing dog owners to keep their pets on a lead in a parks to avoid any risk of dog walkers coming into contact with each other. in the lake district, heavily using social media to tell tourists stay away. in areas, officers have set up roadblocks to question whether drivers are going. the police are being told to engage with people and encourage them to return home. enforcement will be a last resort with initial fines of up to £60. undoubtedly, this weekend is going to be probably one of the biggest challenges for policing nationally so far. we know we are working in an environment thatis are working in an environment that is quite fast moving, legislation has only been in for a or so. is a challenging

time forfamilies for a or so. is a challenging time for families too were being cooped up for almost a fortnight. usually, we go to the park and the kids run around. we can't do that now so we're going to stay at home and keep them busy at home. the deaf of the nurse, and a second, at the hospitals where they worked, sends a clear message according to the nhs. please, ask you to remember amy and areema, stay at home for them. the government and police are hoping this will be the norm this weekend in this list normal of times. simon jones, bbc news. the us has recorded the highest daily death toll of anywhere in the world — more than 1,300 people. americans have been advised to wear face coverings — but president trump has admitted he won't follow the guidance. from recent studies, we know that the transmission from individuals without symptoms does play a more significant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood.

so you don't seem to have symptoms but it still gets transferred. in light of these studies, the cdc is advising the use of non—medical cloth face coverings as an additional voluntary public health measure. so, it is voluntary, you don't have to do it. now they're suggesting it for a period of time. but, this is voluntary. donald trump, speaking there. here's our north america correspondent, david willis. president trump, of course, has long downplayed the severity of the coronavirus. he revealed once again that he doesn't always take the recommendations of his medical advisors all that seriously. 0r certainly as seriously as they and some others would like to see. announcing these recommendations by the centres for disease control — that is the us medical watchdog here. the president said that while it was recommended to wear a mask if you are out

in public, at a grocery store, or the pharmacy for example. it was voluntarily and he it wouldn't be doing it. now, the cdc has urged this caution on people here because it has become more and more aware of the fact that many people carrying the coronavirus don't actually display symptoms of it. and therefore its possible to catch the virus from anybody you come across, even if they are at a distance of six feet away from you. but president trump, perhaps adopting a policy of ‘do what i say, not do as i do'. yes, the virus seems to be spreading all across america but where has been the hardest place hit? it's interesting because they were saying at the briefing today, simon, that cases appear to have flattened out. here in california, for example, and up there in washington state, where there had been quite an alarming outbreak of coronavirus cases. not so, though, in new york where there are reports that some morgues are full, and some hospitals are overwhelmed already. and already, the mayor there has called for additional

medical supplies, additional doctors and medical personnel ahead of the anticipated surge in cases which they are anticipated in the next 2—3 weeks. david willis speaking to me there. the head of the imf has warned that the impact of the pandemic is way worse than the financial crisis. kristalina georgieva said the world was in recession — and the only way of resolving the situation was for countries to work together. freya cole reports. demand for dairy in supermarkets may be high but farmers in the united states have been left with no option but to throw out fresh milk due to mass interruptions in the supply chain. it is just one example of the huge economic fallout caused by this pandemic. this is a crisis like no other.

never in the history of the imf have we witnessed the world economy coming to a standstill. we are now in a recession that it is way worse than the global financial crisis. sorry, we're closed. this business in the heart of london is one of many which has been forced to lock the doors until further notice. covent garden is almost unrecognisable. no shops are open and no—one is there spending money. that's because roughly 4 billion people around the world are now under some kind of stay—at—home order. according to the international monetary fund, more than 90 countries have applied for financial assistance. the organisation has the capacity to lend $1 trillion, which it hopes will be funnelled back into healthcare systems to put an end to this crisis as soon as possible.

saving lives and protecting livelihoods ought to go hand in hand. we cannot do one without the other. with no real end in sight to lockdown measures in many parts of the world, there are fears the economic downturn will be so deep that it will take a long time to recover. but first, the world's population must recover physically and mentally from this virus, which is upturning almost every aspect of life. freya cole, bbc news. in france, the number of dead continues to rise, with nearly 600 deaths recorded in just 2a hours. police are strictly enforcing the government's tough quarantine measures over the easter holidays. railway stations, airports and major roads will be monitored, to prevent people leaving the city. lucy williamson reports from the french capital.

it is not only nations that thrive on liberty, epidemics too. at stations across paris today, every journey began with a police check, freedom of movement a new national threat. do you have your piece of paper? of course. laughs he made it through. he is on his way home to brittany after two years abroad. but even the smallest mistake means being turned away. translation: i wrote the wrong date, not today's date, and they told me i need to go back home to prepare another form. i have to go to work, but i can't. france carried out almost 6 million checks during the first fortnight of confinement, far more than neighbouring italy, and it has issued more than 400,000 fines. but questions over when the confinement can end are growing. france's tough approach to the confinement runs the risk of losing public support if it becomes too harsh or too long.

the interior minister has advised sensitivity in applying the rules, and says the police operate differently in the countryside compared to the big cities, in the poorer suburbs compared to the towns. but the paris police chief was forced to apologise today after taking a very different tone. translation: the ones who were hospitalised today, the ones on life support now, are the ones that didn't respect the quarantine when it began. this is not a videogame. it's real. there are dead people. with few life—support beds left in the paris region, patients are being sent across the country for care. this is now the worst hit region of france. but is there light at the end of the tunnel? if you'd asked me this question two days ago, i should say no. but there is a reduction in patients who come to the emergency wards, and also a reduction of severe patients who have covid—i9.

he says there were no new admissions to intensive care in his hospital today, a first since the epidemic began. the first glimpse of hope here, after weeks of fear and frustration, the first sign that confinement might have worked. lucy williamson, bbc news paris. you are watching bbc news. the main headlines this hour: millions of people in china come to a standstill to commemorate those killed by the coronavirus. as one of the world's biggest hospitals opens in london to treat 4,000 coronavirus patients, there's a stern warning for the british public to stay indoors this weekend. key workers in all sectors are facing enormous difficulties in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, none more so, of course, than frontline health staff. catherine burns is keeping in touch with some of the men and women battling

the pandemic, and asked one intensive care consultant to keep a video diary. this comes from the front line in the fight against coronavirus. joy halliday is an intensive care consultant, looking after some of the very sickest patients. she started her video before a night shift. i've got three children and they're all bathed, fed and watered. i'm just waiting for my husband to arrive home, who's a gp and obviously busy, very busy at work as well at the moment, so we're a bit like ships in the night. good evening again. it's now nine o'clock and we finished our intensive care handover. my trainee is with me, so we've gotjohnny, who's our sho for the night, and steven, registrar. hello. and then another steven, who's restocking our intubation trolley as we speak. so we are now going to go and don our ppe so we can start a ward round, and we'll take you with us for that. so here we are, ready to start our ward round. we're outside of itu at the moment.

johnny and myself are ready to go, in our ppe. steven is about to don his. joy and her team have to wear ppe, personal protective equipment, that offers the fullest possible cover. all the patients they see on this night have coronavirus and are unconscious on breathing machines. they have to get very close to them. and that it is us done, so we're going to start our ward round for this evening. i will leave you outside, so that we do not bring it in with us, and we will touch base with you again later. so it's now 5:20am and we've had a really busy night here in intensive care. the nursing staff and doctors have worked non—stop and it's really important that we look after ourselves, as well as our patients. sadly, there's some battles that we're not going to win. the team try not to phone families overnight but they have to call if they think a patient is about to die. but even then, relatives can't come here for their own safety. at these times, normally families would be present

in intensive care all the time by their loved ones‘ sides and with visiting rules being changed and the risk to relatives coming in and catching coronavirus themselves, we don't have visitors any more. and we're therefore providing relatives with daily updates about their loved one. we all know in the nhs, as healthcare workers, that these are unprecedented times. we also know that there may come a time when we start looking after people we know, colleagues we work with, and we need to be prepared to manage this. let's round up some of the other main developments. buckingham palace has announced that the queen will make a televised address to the commonwealth on sunday evening. the message, which was recorded at windsor castle, will be shown at 8pm in the uk. authorities in the united states are searching for maeve kennedy mckean — the granddaughter of

robert f kennedy — and her young son. mrs mckean and 8—year—old gideon were last seen on thursday evening after setting out on a canoe trip near annapolis in maryland. the captain of an american aircraft carrier relieved of his command after calling for tougher action to tackle an outbreak on board has received a hero's ovation from his crew. brett crozier had accused the navy of failing to safeguard the health of its sailors. footballers at premier league clubs will be asked to give up some of their salary to help pay the wages of non—playing staff. the league has also announced that the top—flight season will not resume until it is safe and appropriate to do so. as russian cities go into lockdown to try to contain the coronavirus, moscow is using surveillance technology to keep track of residents. city officials are using a giant network of tens of thousands of cameras installed with facial recognition technology. they plan to couple that with digital passes on people's mobile phones. there are serious new sanctions for anyone caught breaking the quarantine — up to seven years in prison. sarah rainsford explains how the system works

in her own moscow neighbourhood. bell tolls. this is my neighbourhood of moscow and in all the years i have lived here i have never seen it is quiet. this is a city that is now in coronavirus lockdown and although there are some cars here and some people are allowed to go to work, basically there is very few people on the streets and the way that the government here is enforcing this lockdown is to use high—tech surveillance systems. this is my usual walk to work but i have never noticed before just how many security cameras there are on this way and in fact this one but here next to this poster with details of how to keep yourself safe during this pandemic. there is a camera there up on the top of the bus stop. now tens of thousands of

these cameras across moscow have been fitted with facial recognition software, and it works in real—time, scanning people's faces and sending insta nt alerts people's faces and sending instant alerts to the police who can then detect anyone who may be the quarantine. one big advantage of our system is that it will be instant alerts and and we're about virus protection and pandemic protection and pandemic protection it is very important to react in real—time. protection it is very important to react in real-time. the softwa re to react in real-time. the software can measure social distancing too and detects crowds and the facial recognition is even effect with face masks. officials here say hundreds of lawbrea kers have already been caught and that includes people who were ordered to self isolate, just in case, after foreign trips. this for covid—i9 was... in case, after foreign trips. this for covid-19 was... i spoke to one man like that who got busted when he took his rubbish out. the police were at his door within half—an—hour.

so you left the flat for one minute and they knew? yeah. and they knew. yeah. i questioned how. they say it was a facial recognition system. for a pandemic it is ok but after, i hope the world would be the same as it was. i really hope. after that, we don't need this control. this total control. apart from essential work, moscow whites are now only allowed outside of the house to go to the supermarket or chemist and soon we will have to register online and get a code on our mobile phones even to do that. the mayor has announced that on hold for now. but the big question is how much of this surveillance date will remain once the pandemic is over. sarah rainsford reporting in moscow. it's probably fair to say that

an awful lot of us have been watching a fair bit of tv at the moment. and thanks to the internet, people can make it a much more sociable activity than it used to be. emily cook from the uk is a big fan of doctor who and she's been bringing together people from as many as 75 countries to watch their favourite episodes together. jon hunt has more. it's a show that has always united fans, but now the doctor is helping people around the world cope with the coronavirus lockdown. this is my humble doctor who collection. people like david ang, in manila, in the philippines. definitely not being able to go out is a bit intoxicating, i'd say, and that's why i really like these watch—alongs. .. g'day, my name is rachel wyld, and i am from sydney, australia, and this is part of my doctor who collection. wherever they are, regardless of time zone, the fans have been watching past episodes of doctor who at precisely the same time, and while watching, they communicate with each other online.

these viewing sessions go for about an hour, and then afterwards we're just basically in a friend zone for about — oh, about two hours and stuff. and it's so nice to be part of a bubble that... you can escape the world from nothing, it's quite amazing. i'm the doctor. tonight, the fans will be watching matt smith's first episode as the doctor, exactly ten years since it was first aired. the watch—alongs are the brainchild of emily cook from kent. when we started self—isolating, and the threat of lockdown was imminent, ijust put out a tweet suggesting that if anyone was on their own and fancy joining in with something, we could all watch doctor who together. and it went viral, and it was just a really cool experience for people to have together, at a time when a lot of people are feeling apart. from southern spain... oh, i do have a couple

of screwdrivers here. maybe they can help. laughs ..to paris... we tend to lose track of time in isolation, so it's good to be like, oh, i know tomorrow i am watching doctor who with the world. ..in fact, in many corners of the earth, as real doctors battle the coronavirus, they are turning to a fictional one to help them cope. nice to enter the programme on a positive note. you can follow all the latest on the covid—i9 pandemic on our website, of course, including this coronavirus doctor's diary. it's an insight into how healthcare workers are saving lives on the frontline. there are also plenty of useful tips about staying safe and healthy, as well as how to cope with isolation. that's all at bbc.com/news, or you can download the bbc news app. a quick reminder of our top story, one of the world's biggest hospitals is opening in london to treat 4000 patients. you can reach me on twitter.

i'm @sipusey. but for now, thanks a lot for watching and to stay tuned right here on bbc news. —— and do stay tuned right here on bbc news. hello. yes, our weather is turning warmer this weekend but, of course, we follow the rules, stay at home, and we improvise. and whatever your view on the weather outside, it'll be sunnier by sunday and out there, it'll be warmer. it'll also be windier as well with pollen levels heading up. the big picture shows high pressure to the east of us, low pressure approaching from the atlantic, and that ahead of it will strengthen the southerly flow. of course, that's a warm direction. so it will be a warm wind on sunday, lifting temperatures in the sunnier parts of eastern england to around 20, maybe 21 celsius. that said, though, there will still be a touch of frost in places as saturday begins. cooler than this in the countryside, so some spots close to freezing. there'll be a few mist

and fog patches out there, perhaps more especially towards the midlands and southern england. some rain in northern scotland will push on across the northern isles. still the odd shower in scotland, northern ireland and northern england from what will be a good deal of cloud. a few bright and sunny spells. elsewhere in england and wales, there will be increasing sunshine as we go through the day. whilst all parts are going to be milder, it is particularly across england and wales where we will notice those temperatures into the mid—teens. but also, a freshening southerly wind — a sign of things to come as we get deeper into the weekend. overnight and into sunday morning, although there is plenty of cloud around, enough of the wind to stop the temperature going down too fast, so we are frost—free as sunday begins and sunday will deliver plenty of sunshine. and whilst most places will hold onto that sunshine, the further west you are, you'll see it clouding over. and we may well start to get a bit of rain later in the day, northern ireland, parts of western scotland, the far west of england and wales. some uncertainty about the timing of the arrival of any rain from that area of low pressure i showed you earlier. what is certain, though,

is the winds will pick up more on sunday — some gusts across western areas later in the day, near 50 mph — but it will be warmer across all parts, and particularly in that sunshine across some eastern parts of england, we could see around 21 degrees celsius. but pollen levels will be higher, and particularly in england and wales. now, into next week, well, sunday night into monday, we will see from that area of low pressure a band of rain spread east across the uk. behind that, as it clears on monday, sunshine returns. it'll be cooler before temperatures head up again as the week goes on.

it's just gone past 5:30am in the morning. this is bbc news, the headlines: china has come to a standstill for three minutes to remember the victims on a national day of mourning. the outbreak began in hubei province in december. the country has recorded more than 3,000 covid—i9 related deaths. as one of the largest hospitals in the world opens in london to treat 4,000 coronavirus patients, people in the uk are being urged to stay at home this weekend to try to stop the spread of covid—i9.