this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. queen elizabeth is to make a rare television address to britain and the commonwealth — stressing the value of self—discipline and resolve. president trump warns americans to prepare for a big increase in the number of coronavirus deaths. new york state records its biggest one—day jump in coronavirus deaths so far. but is the peak approaching in spain and italy as both countries report progress in tackling the pandemic? in the uk, the newly—elected labour leader, sir keir starmer, has accused the british government of making "serious mistakes" in its response to the pandemic. the professional footballers' association warns proposals for a 30% pay cut for top flight

players would harm the nhs. 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 queen is expected to give "a deeply personal message", stressing the value of self—discipline and resolve during the coronavirus pandemic. the monarch will make a special address to the nation this evening and will thank front line nhs staff and care workers, while recognising the "grief", "financial difficulties" and "enormous changes" the country is facing. the newly—elected labour leader, sir keir starmer, has accused the british government of making "serious mistakes" in its response to the pandemic. new york has recorded 630 more virus deaths,

another daily record that takes its overall toll to 3,565. president trump has warned americans to prepare for a big increase in the number of coronavirus deaths. in spain, the prime minister says the country is "close to passing the peak of infections" as the number of coronavirus deaths falls again and there's hope in italy as the country has seen its first drop in the number of patients in intensive care during the outbreak. a three—minute silence was observed in china to remember more than 3,000 people who died of the virus. in england, the professional footballers' association says proposals for a 30% pay cut for premier league players would be "detrimental to the nhs". in the last few minutes, the uk health secretary matt hancock has said the next steps in the government's response will be

decided when the rising curve of deaths and infections has flattened out. 0urfirst report — on the queen's address, is from our royal correspondent nick witchell. recorded at windsor castle on thursday, the queen's broadcast will according to officials be a deeply personal message, which will reflect her experience in other difficult times. broadcasts such as this by the queen are rare. they are reserved for moments of particular national significance. speaking about the situation facing the nation, the queen will say: she will pay tribute to all those on the nhs frontline, to care workers and those carrying out essential roles, and recognise the pain already felt by many families, as well as thanking those following the government guidelines

by staying at home. she will say. it is a message intended both to reassure and to rally the nation's resolve. it will be transmitted at 8:00pm tonight. nicholas witchell, bbc news. the two countries which have suffered the highest numbers of deaths have both reported progress in tackling the coronavirus outbreak. spain reported its lowest number of new infections in more than ten days. in italy, deaths linked to the virus have continued their recent downward trend. germany — which has had an extensive testing programme has reported far

fewer deaths than italy or spain. i'm joined now by our europe correspondentjean mackenzie in rome and damien mcguinness in berlin. what is the picture, and we will be hearing from the pope later? yes, we had encouraging signs yesterday that not only has italy reached the peak of the epidemic but things are turning round. we had fewer deaths than the day before, 681, the first time the number of deaths has been in the 600s for a week and the number of patients in intensive key has fallen. we are going to see the pope because today is palm sunday, the sunday before easter which is a big moment in the religious calendar here in rome. usually you thousands of people make their way to the city to watch the pope who holds a mass

in st peter's square. there would be a procession of cardinals dressed in red. this year will look very different indeed. the people see the mass from inside the basilica before giving an adjacent the balcony, seeing a pairfor giving an adjacent the balcony, seeing a pair for people so at the moment st peter's square is deserted, a very unusual site for palm sunday. is there some optimism with the improved numbers, they're lockdown might be eased at some stage soon? the lockdown at the moment takes place until the 13th of april which is after easter. there was some suggestion from the emergency response teams this could be extended into me. it is too early to tell how long it will go on for, it is due to the infection rate over

the coming weeks and the death rates. the authorities are desperate to prevent the likelihood of a second outbreak so it is too early to raise restrictions. roadblocks are being setup on the pan sunday, they are telling people to stay at home and not do what they usually do which is visit friends and family and take their traditional olive branch to each other. what is the picture in germany? we have heard a lot about how they have done a lot —— done very well in the number of tasting which is kept the death toll law. that is right. when you look at their number of testing, the capacity is half a million a week. we wa nt capacity is half a million a week. we want to double that to hundreds of thousand every day. impressive numbers, what that means is you have one of the highest infection rates in the world but thatjust means

other countries who test less higher inflation rate than officials know about. the death toll is still relatively low, just about 1000 for hunted, according to john relatively low, just about 1000 for hunted, according tojohn hopkins university figure, that death toll and infection rate are exhilarating quite rapidly. german officials say that although the death toll is lower, we arejust that although the death toll is lower, we are just at the beginning of the crisis so it is important to stay indoors despite good weather. it is being described as the calm before the storm. the curve is not flattening out across europe. if you look across europe, we are all looking at spain which has been ha rd est looking at spain which has been hardest hit after italy, 12,000 deaths according to some estimates. horrific figures but that is the first glimmer of hope that that

corner might be turned, similar to gene's description of italy. the curve is starting to flatten out. daily death tolls might be between 617 id but that is not growing exponentially any more. between 600-700 and exponentially any more. between 600—700 and the. but it is not getting higher so we might be turning a corner. after the curve started to peak, before things can go back to normal, we are still at the beginning of things but we are seeing a glimmer of hope from those figures. you mentioned testing figures. you mentioned testing figures which are substantially higher than other european countries, certainly here in britain, testing is a subject for debate with claims that the

government is not pushing tasting fast and far enough, how have the german authorities managed to get such a huge capacity for testing? firstly, political will, angela merkel‘s government realised this was crucial. straightaway the government threw itself into testing widely. also the federal structure really helped because of the way the health system and government administrative structures are organised, it means lots of things are done locally. because local authorities have a lot of power, a have budgets they control and they are decent budgets, this means you know where to locate the testing and where to set up the constructions. down the street from here there is a testing centre which has opened. they are springing up all over the place. it's not perfect, there are

big queues and you have to wait a long time and there is pressure to increase the testing even more but it is leading the way for european countries looking how to do the testing more widely. this is the one way to get out of this lockdown that europe is going through at the moment. thank you very much. president trump has warned people in the united states to be prepared for a big increase in coronavirs related deaths. new york state has suffered its biggest one—day rise in the number of deaths so far — 630 people. freya cole reports. sirens wail.

the white house has predicted the peak in the next six or seven days. queens is one of the cities worst hit neighbourhoods. paramedics are in a constant rush to transfer sick patients from home to hospitals, which are struggling to cope. new york governor andrew cuomo has warned the worst is yet to come. we're not yet at the apex. part of me would like to be at the apex, and just — let's do it. but there's part of me that says it's good that we're not at the apex, because we're not yet ready for the apex, either. we're not yet ready for the high point. we're still working on the capacity of the system. the more time we have to improve the capacity of the system, the better. and the capacity of the healthcare system — beds, staff, equipment. 1,000 ventilators from china are due to arrive in new york this weekend. it will help significantly

with statewide shortages. president trump has also ordered 1,000 troops to the city. among them will be military doctors and nurses. we will move heaven and earth to safeguard our great american citizens. we will continue to use every power, every authority, every single resource we've got to keep our people healthy, safe, secure, and to get this thing over with. covid—19 has infected more than 113,000 people across new york state. another 630 deaths were recorded in the last 2a hours — another daily record. the total toll is now more than 3,500 people. a mass text message has been sent calling for the attention of all healthcare workers to support facilities in need, if they can. and controversy surrounds

the 1,000—bed hospital ship comfort, parked in the hudson river. it's on stand—by to care for non—virus patients, but hospital leaders have pleaded with authorities to open the ship to ease the strain on intensive care units, which are overcrowded and overrun. freya cole, bbc news. here in the uk, the newly—elected labour leader the health secretary has been talking. it is the issue of the small number of people who are not following public advice about social distancing. at hancock used some quite strong language this morning saying he find it unbelievable that a small menorah team are not following the rules. we see this issue with public parks as well,

some people have been seen sunbathing, whether that is in the spirit of the guidance. he was asked of sunbathing is illegal. sunbathing is against the rules that compensate out for important public health reasons. i wish i did not have to say this but i do because the whole country wants to come through this crisis. the whole country wants to come through this of course as quickly as possible and the fastest way to come through the crisis and to save lives and to protect the nhs and reduce the pressure on the nhs, the fastest way is to follow the guidance and stay at home unless you have one of the full reasons we have set out. matt hancock and self recently set out. matt hancock and self rece ntly ha d set out. matt hancock and self recently had coronavirus, the prime minister remains in self isolation,

he tested positive and we heard his fiancee also had symptoms and was in bed for a few days. matt hancock was asked how the prime minister was, he said he still had a temperature but still had his hand on the trailer. —— taylor. we heard from sir keir starmer as well yesterday. he has taken over from jeremy corbyn, he said he would be constructive and work with the government but would call the may 2013 government was making mistakes and an article the sunday times he said serious mistakes had been made. he mentioned ppe, whetherfront line staff were getting enough, the government has been slow to act on tasting, they must focus on getting

to the 100,000 taste id target and he is calling for the national vaccine he is calling for the national vaccine programme. he is calling for the national vaccine programme. which will mean vaccination centres across the country. he thinks ministers need to be clear about an exit strategy about when restrictions can be lifted. john —— downing street have not commented on this. they did see thousands of items of ppe have been delivered across the country. in terms of when the restrictions may be lifted, as matt hancock referred to, it depends on the figures and also on people's behaviour. thank you very much. with so much of the world put on severly restricted measures, the effect on people and businesses is huge. but are people taking the warnings by their governments to stay

at home seriously. joining me live now is dr alan watkins who is a physician and immunologist. do you think people do understand the risks and are taking it seriously enough? we heard a warning about sunbathing. i think people generally are sensible but one thing not talked about is the additional anxiety or worry or panic laws your immunity and makes it more likely you will become infected. and if you are infected it could be more severe and it makes it more contagious so managing your anxiety and worry around the crisis is critically important. how do you suggest people do that, what is your advice? in the darkest hours you have to maintain a sense of resilience, optimism and hope about the future because that

is important for your immune system. difficult as that is, cultivating a sense that all those people who are working really hard to keep us safe, replacing the worry and concern with appreciation of others is a good start point. what about nutrition for your start point. what about nutrition foryour immune start point. what about nutrition for your immune system, any advice for your immune system, any advice for that? nutrition of course, most people know how to eat sensibly but they overlook the emotional dimensional. so eating sensibly is a very important thing but the main thing overlooked is the day—to—day, moment to moment emotion running through her system which has a much bigger effect which pushes up the stress hormone. you will impair your immune system so focus on that rather than the vagaries of your diet. from what you are seeing, the

longer the lockdown continues in countries like britain, the more anxious people will be because they are worried about not getting out and about but also theirjobs, the economy, future prospects of recession and so on? people will tend to be more anxious but that is what i am saying, it is critically important you take the anxiety on—board but developed the ability to change how you feel. fortunately we had in the sunshine, so waking up and appreciating things like a sunny d rather than worrying. if you have not been infected, appreciate how marvellous you're own immune system is. all these things work to push down your stress hormone and protection and niculescu dangerous

to others. stay calm, good advice. —— and make you less dangerous. thank you very much. let's get more now on the queen's message to the uk and the commonwealth, as it tries to get to grip with the covid crisis. lets get more now on the queen's address this morning. i'm joined now by russell myers. the royal editor of the daily mirror. this is pretty unusual, only three full exa m ples of this is pretty unusual, only three full examples of this in her entire rain, isa full examples of this in her entire rain, is a great thing to do? good morning. yes, it is the right thing to do. there had been speculation in the last few weeks about when she would speak. there had been daily announcements by the government, prince william has been speaking,

prince william has been speaking, prince charles opened nhs nightingale. potentially it would be easter time but they have liaised with the palace and decided to bring it forward because of the virus. is there an argument that the queen should have done on address earlier? i don't think so. the issue is that our statements from government and that message needs to be clear to the people, and the queen always stood ready to speak to the nation in the commonwealth but you need to get the messaging right and i think it is probably the right time now. what she is going to say, talk through what you think she will be saying and whether it will resonate with the people of the uk and the commonwealth? certainly. speaking to not only the nation but also the commonwealth, 2.5 billion people

around the world, this will strike a personal tone, reflecting on her experiences throughout the year at this unprecedented time, only herself speech into her six each year rain. there will be thanks to the nhs workers, the legions of care workers selflessly working throughout the country and trying to prepare the country for what is about to count. she will speak about responsibility so that hopefully we can all look back with pride at our actions. the government will be especially happy about that part of the speech because of the amount of people who have been going out this weekend so hopefully it will strike the right note for the country. weekend so hopefully it will strike the right note for the countrym has obviously been a difficult time for the queen recently with prince harry and meghan and all that stuff

but this is a moment when the british people look to her and the commonwealth will look to hire? certainly the world is going to stop. you look at the periods when she did speak, the death of her mother, following princess diana's funeral, the world stopped for that moment and this will be another of those moments in the history of the royal family. they have had a rough ride in the last year and that is what they are here for, the country will and take stock of what she has to say. presumably the presumably the audience will be massive further suggests. undoubtedly. this is a period of national crisis and emergency, the government has said what they need to do is stay inside and the queen's message will be

wishing to take stock of what is happening. respect the key workers putting their lives on the line and have something we can back on with pride regarding our actions. good to talk to you. thank you very much for joining us. with the premier league on ice, a row has erupted over a proposed pay cut for football players. the professional footballers' association says plans for players to take a 30% pay cut would hurt the nhs because of lost tax revenue. but premier league officials are in favour of the pay cut arguing it would protect jobs for non—playing staff. meanwhile it's been reported that england manager gareth southgate is to take a pay cut of around 30 percent. let's hear the thoughts of former england striker and match of the day presenter, gary linekar. the players i have spoken to are all desperately keen to do it, the problem is how you do it, as an individual. do you take a peek at

and not to something or take a peek at and and not to something or take a peek atand do and not to something or take a peek at and do something. people are a lwa ys at and do something. people are always quick to jump on the judgmental high horse. gary lineker there, you were watching bbc news. gary lineker there, you were watching bbc news. let's speak to the former scotland international kevin gallagher. he won the premier league with blackburn rovers and also played for coventry. thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. i think people are viewing premier league through policy with some sterility at the moment and indeed some of the clubs, what is your view? -- with some hostility. it is inevitable because of the way the market is for them and the money they are earning, they do not see what is happening in the background and that is what the players are

fading difficult. there are some players individually out there who have been helping the cause but the majority of others possibly aren't and the question is who will do it? will players do it individually or will they collectively do it within the team ? will they collectively do it within the team? what do you think is the right course of action, should there bea right course of action, should there be a peek at across—the—board? the players argue that we take tax revenue away from the national health service. i think the people need the money now, they need to help now, it is not waiting until the end of the year when taxes taken off. you look at some of the salaries the nurses are on and how they are caring for people. in the premier league, one player's 30% reduction for one week is a year's salary for these people. if these quys salary for these people. if these guys get together and get the

numbers crunching, i am sure it will work out and they are generous enough to do it. in terms of what happens to the premier league season, but do you see as a date when it will resent? i will be abandoned as some have suggested?” am working day—to—day now about the season—ending. it could be back at the end of april, if they played saturday— wednesday. there is an uproar about that but they can do it, they would not be chaining as much. —— training. eitheryou continue into next season, next season gets cancelled, ijust cannot see how else we can finish this season part from making it and void.

what do you think it would be like to bea what do you think it would be like to be a player now who cannot play and going stir crazy like everyone else. you can keep yourself busy. in my day, we would be twiddling our thumbs not knowing what to do but today a lot of football players had static bikes, they have conference calls from the clubs with the fitness instructors. everyday they will be doing things. it is so easy for them to do video linking. for me, there is a lot of trust that goes into it as well, players get itchy feet, they will be doing everything, practising in their garden or their lounge, try to keep asset as possible. i know the clubs in the premier league have fitted out players with bikes and rowing

machines and the conference calls is a big thing for them. great to talk to you, kevin gallacher, former scotla nd to you, kevin gallacher, former scotland international who won the premier league with blackburn rovers. this is bbc world news, the headlines: the queen will praise people's self—discipline, and quiet good—humoured resolve in response to the crisis, when she makes a rare television address later today. she will personally thank frontline health care staff and other key workers for their efforts during the crisis. president trump has warned americans to prepare for a big increase in the number of coronavirus deaths. new york state recorded its biggest one—dayjump in deaths so far, with 630 dying from the virus. the two countries which have suffered the highest numbers of deaths have both reported progress in tackling the outbreak. spain reported its lowest number of new infections in more than ten days and italy has continued