this is bbc news — the

headlines: almost 2000 americans die in a single day, president trump is upbeat as a return to business as normal but lashes out at the who. they have to do better than that, they have to do better. when you talk about politics i cannot believe he is talking about politics when you look at the relationship they have to china. australian police raided a virus stricken cruise ship and seizes the black box or criminal investigation. borisjohnson spends a third night in intensive care while his government colleagues debate extending the national lockdown. in yemen, a ceasefire is due to come into effect in a few hours, preventing the spread of the coronavirus one of the reasons cited for a truce.

hello and a very warm welcome to you, whether you are in the uk oraround the to you, whether you are in the uk or around the world. we are covering the latest coronavirus developments both in britain and globally. i want to start today in the united states, which isjust today in the united states, which is just experienced today in the united states, which isjust experienced its worth death toll in a 24—hour period as a result of coronavirus. almost 2000 lost their lives on wednesday. despite that news, president trump has been speaking of his desire to reopen the us economy with a bang, as he put it and said it was ahead of schedule and could be opening for business again sooner rather than later. he did issue one or two caveats around that at the same time and also said that the who must guess priorities right after accusing it to be biased towards china. we will speak to david willis, our north america correspondent in a few moments but before we do

that, let's have a listen to what he had to say. but it would be nice to be able to open with a big bang and open up our country, or certainly most of our country and i think we're going to do that soon. you look at what's happening. i would say we are ahead of schedule. you hate to say it too loudly because all of a sudden, things don't happen but i think we will be sooner rather than later, but we will be sitting down with the professionals, we will be sitting down with many different people, making a determination and those meetings will start taking place fairly soon. so that was donald trump's speaking on his latest views on the situation on coronavirus. many different issues to pick through here and i think we can join our correspondent david willis now, who is following all the latest details. david, imean, all the latest details. david, i mean, look, it is a mixed bag here, isn't it? some extremely negative news and an upbeat

assessment coming from donald trump and we have the criticism of the world health 0rganization. i guess we must start with the death figures, which continue to spiral. yes, indeed, david and some concern over, of course, on the part of officials in new york, particularly. they do say however that the curve appears to be flattening and that is what is giving donald trump's some cause for hope and he crowed about it on twitter and then at the white house briefing today he said there was the light at the end of the tunnel that could be seen now and said he would like to reopen with a big bang, as he put it. the american economy, get people out from the quarantine, self quarantine that has been going on here. he was asked about a date that has been floated here in some circles, may first, and the president would not be drawn on

that, david. he is the man who predicted we would all be back out in public by easter and thatis out in public by easter and that is this weekend. yeah, he did have a slightly cautionary note in his language and voice, didn't he, saying that they would listen to the experts, nonetheless, putting out a pretty clear message that he wa nts to pretty clear message that he wants to get back on? absolutely. both experts you mentioned have warned that if this is all rushed through and that people are basically told that people are basically told that they can no longer adhere to social isolation and so on, then there could be a second wave of a coronavirus which could be as bad, perhaps worse, then the first round, so there is caution undoubtedly on the pa rt is caution undoubtedly on the part of health officials here. the president though, continues to be very enthusiastic about the possibility of reopening the possibility of reopening the united states and its economy and not least, david,

because he has a vested interest. in november, this country goes to the polls and they will decide whether he will get another four years in office and of course it was pinning his hopes on that on the buoyant state of the economy. well, now it is very much in the doldrums. anything but buoyant at the moment, and we will reflect on the presidential situation later in the bulletin. 0ne presidential situation later in the bulletin. one other point i wa nt to the bulletin. one other point i want to bring up is the way that his gloves are very clearly off in regard to the world health organization and no lover of the united nations, we know that in any case. he does refer essentially to the world health organization's timeline of instituting emergency measures and its treatment, response to china? yes, that is right. the president over the last few days now has gone on the offensive against the world health organization. he is parroting to an extent

lines from conservative commentators and some republican members of the senate. making the point today that the united states devotes about $450 million a year to the funding of the world health organization, compare that to china, he said, and they contribute about $40 million. the point is being made that he does not believe they are getting bang for their back, if you like, and now threatening to withhold funding —— buck. questionable whether he can do that, congress has already approved a substantial amount of money to fund the two over the next fiscal year but anyway, the president is saying he wants an investigation and what went wrong —— the who. meanwhile, the director—general of the who is urging the president not to politicise the

situation as far as the coronavirus is concerned. feels a little bit late for that, doesn't it. thank you for that. borisjohnson is still recovering from coronavirus and his ministers are grappling to stop the spread of the disease here. a special meeting of senior ministers will gather with politicians from scotland, wales and northern ireland to formulate their steps and what to ta ke formulate their steps and what to take next. a picture of britain in the midst of coronavirus. dominic raab will discuss rules of the current rules, due to take

place next week. it has the decision already been made? in wealth, they say the lockdown will continue. - - i must be playing with all members, these restrictions not end then. we will not throw away the gains we have made and the lives we can save “— we have made and the lives we can save —— wales. while scotla nd can save —— wales. while scotland and more — northern ireland moving in the same direction. but speaking at the briefing yesterday, the chancellor would not be drawn on whether the uk government would follow their lead. we committed to a review in three weeks, based on the evidence and data provided by sage, which will only be available next week but i think that rather than speculate about the future, we should focus on very seriously on the here and now and the present. but it seems any relaxation is increasingly unlikely as a number of deaths in the uk in the past 24 hours

reached 938, the highest daily figure yet. there were nearly 5500 new cases reported yesterday, a rise in the previous two days. ministers to stress that the jump is due to many more people being tested them before. facing his own personal test, the prime minister, he spent his third night in intensive care at st thomas' hospital in london. the pm is said to be improving, sitting up in bed and engaging positively with the medical team. his own personal battle against the illness but the country has a long way to go against the virus. this is the ruby princess cruise ship, struck by the coronavirus and crew and guests were affected. well, the police have effectively raided the ship and they have seized the black boxes part of a criminal investigation after thousands of the passengers were allowed

to disembark in sydney. 15 later died from the virus and of the 15 who died, they accounted for the best part of one third of the death toll, standing at 51. more on the from our in sydney. just explain why is there a criminal investigation? well, the ruby princess as he mentioned there, david, is at the centre of a criminal investigation but really it has been the centre of controversy, a big controversy, linked to coronavirus long before that. this ship was allowed to dock at circular quay, in sydney, not far from where i am really and 2700 passengers were allowed to disembark and travel across the country to their respective countries. at a time when the country itself was telling people to quarantine. what we understand now is that there were passengers who were showing flu symptoms. there was

an emergency call that was made one day before the ship has docked by one of the workers, that was concerned about some of the passengers needing medical help but the operator, carnival cruises australia, assured police that coronavirus was not an issue. it later transpired that at least three people initially tested positive and by the time that results came back, people disembarked and right now we have 600 positive cases of people in australia linked to that she and 15 deaths, one third of deaths. a big controversy but what the police are trying to investigate by finding the black box ‘s communications and actions that lead to that and they want discrepancies. to know if the operator downplayed the potential number of coronavirus cases before the ship docked. so the situation at the moment is obviously in part, who gave their permission for them

to dock at the time they docked? let alone letting people off? that's right in a big part of the questioning of the u na nswered the questioning of the unanswered questions, according to the police, is who is to blame? it gave the order? about a week or so ago, we heard from the border commissioner, the border patrol commissioner and he said it was up to the local authorities, the nsw health and new south wales authorities would give the green light for that ship to dock. so many questions whether the blame is essentially to be placed on the local authorities here on federal authorities. they are coming under increased pressure as to why they allow that to happen at a time of increased restriction. the new south wales government has continued to say that they made that decision based on expert advice. it would not dwell on what advice that was but, really, it is at the centre of so many unanswered questions in so many unanswered questions in so many unanswered questions in so many cases of coronavirus linked to the

ship. thank you very indeed. the latest from sydney. countries across europe have been reacting to warnings by the world trade organisation about the financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak. the wto said international trade could decline by a third this year and governments must take steps. while europe's death toll continue to rise, most of its stock markets were in decline. the world trade organisation warns the pandemic could cause the deepest economic recession in living memories. the bank of france said the nation's economy contracted 6% in the first quarter, putting it in recession, despite the news, the finance minister promised to keep the current support measures in place. translation: we will maintain them for the duration of this health and economic crisis. we have made a choice and i see it as a choice of responsibility to protect these skills and employees rather than in the united states, having millions more unemployment claims every

week. one of spain's biggest football teams, real madrid, has said its players will reduce wages by up to a fifth this year to support the rest of the staff. spain has the most confirmed cases of coronavirus in europe, exceeding 14,500 deaths, but while the country remains a lockdown, others are taking a different approach. translation: we can see that all around us they keep spouting quarantine, curfew. it would be a piece of cake. we could do it within 24 hours, but what will we eat? belarus has seen its cases rise above 1,000, with 13 deaths. their president questioned the benefits of introducing a lockdown, saying that countries should focus on solving economic issues instead. translation: it is no longer only a few officials from international organisations who are talking about famine in the near future but everybody else is talking about it too, including yesterday the most developed advanced countries

and their leaders. italy has seen a slowing in coronavirus deaths, prompting fears people may ignore the lockdown restrictions on the easter weekend. while austria's chancellor has announced plans to start easing some of the restrictions, despite this being against world health 0rganization guidance. but while the fight to preserve human life continues, europe's economic health is deteriorating, the european central bank saying £1.3 trillion will be required to tackle the crisis. matt graveling, bbc news. italy's prime minister has told the bbc that the european union project could collapse unless it acts decisively to help countries worst hit by the coronavirus outbreak. italy is pushing for a co—ordinated response from the block by allowing countries to effectively share debt. this is a proposal opposed by germany and the netherlands. mr

contacted the stakes were very high and what was his first interview with british broadcast media since the outbreak began. translation: we are confident that if we continue this way,... we that if we continue this way, . .. we cannot lower our guard. we need to do it gradually. when will the easing of restrictions begin? translation: it is likely that if scientist confirm it, we might be able to relax some measures by the end of this month. do you regret being too slow to have implemented a full lockdown, despite the fact that politicians in lombardy, chinese officials were advising at. your critics would say you didn't listen to them. look, perfection doesn't exist

in this world. i am not so arrogant to think that the italian government was perfect. but going back, i would do the same again and i will tell you why. we have a completely different from china. for us to severely limit the constitutional freedoms was a critical decision that we had to consider very carefully. if i head suggested a lockdown or restriction of constitutional rights at the beginning when there were the first clusters, people would have taken before a madman. —— people would have taken me for a madman. but on the 25th of february you said that italy was a safe country and your foreign minister three days later said that misleading information was doing more harm than the virus itself. do you regret using language that some would say underestimated the severity of this crisis? translation: you won't find any statement from me that shows that i underestimated this emergency. we cannot be blamed for the fact that there was

an outbreak within the country and we discovered at. italy has a lwa ys we discovered at. italy has always adopted measures highly effective and always timely. does italy feel let down by the eu? translation: it is a big challenge to the existence of europe and the history of europe. we are notjust writing pages and the books of economics, we are writing pages and history books. this is a big appointment with history and we cannot miss it. myself and we cannot miss it. myself and other european leaders need to rise to the challenge, and there is no doubt that our response isn't strong and unified, if europe fails to come up with a monetary and financial policy adequate for the biggest challenge since the second world war, not only italians but european citizens will be deeply disappointed. italians but european citizens will be deeply disappointedm europe does not rise to this challenge, with the european union risk failing itself? translation: there is this risk. if we don't seize

the opportunity to put new life into the european project, the risk is real. that is why i won't allow it to materialise. i want to banish it. giuseppe co nte i want to banish it. giuseppe conte there talking to our correspondent. the saudi—led coalition fighting houthi rebels in yemen has announced a two—week halt in its military operations. ina in a statement, it was stated that the move was also in part to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. the ceasefire will apply across the country from midday on thursday. sources have told the bbc the coalition wanted to create space for the start of un—brokered peacetalks. the houthis have yet to respond directly to the saudi—led initiative. the un special envoy for yemen has welcomed the initiative and has called for comprehensive and sustainable peace. this initiative marks the most important move by saudi arabia to end the war it unleashed against neighbouring yemen five

years ago. it's blistering campaign against houthi forces aligned to iran has cost many civilian lives and left yemen on the brink of collapse. there have been un—brokered peace talks before, as well a secret talks in recent months between senior saudi and houthi officials, but this will be the first time the saudi—led coalition has announced a unilateral, nation—wide ceasefire. one source described it as an effort to create space for the un's latest initiative to end a devastating war, which includes joint efforts to fight against the coronavirus in a country where the health system has been decimated. in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, bangladesh like many countries in the world is an lockdown, but concerns have been raised over whether that is the most appropriate response. he around

24 million people still live below the poverty line and many of those out of work are facing the threat of starvation. iamjoined i am joined now, iam joined now, every i am joined now, every country around the world having to face to lockdown, why do you think it is not appropriate in bangladesh? thank you, david. i think ina bangladesh? thank you, david. i think in a sense these lockdown policies are more applicable for the western middle—class where you can stay at home and work, whether you have strong social protection systems, but not in bangladesh where 90% of thejobs come from not in bangladesh where 90% of the jobs come from the informal sector. there is no luxury of working from home, and most of the country, particularly in the country, particularly in the urban economy, it is based on daily labourers, daily wage workers, whose lives have

com pletely workers, whose lives have completely stopped, so we are not looking at a public health crisis anymore, we are looking ata crisis anymore, we are looking at a humanitarian disaster with the local economy being shut down, and also we have seen on the headlines, 83% of our exports come from the government sector and $1.5 billion worth of orders have just been cancelled and that has resulted in a number of layoffs in the sector. it is almost like a perfect storm. we have a big debate going on about livelihoods versus lives, what is most important. essentially what you're saying either way it is lives. either way it is lives. we have to protect people's livelihoods because there is not a lot of social protection in this country, and people don't have a lot of savings, so when you are shutting down the economy, you are shutting down their livelihoods completely copy but if you look at it from

the other perspective, you are talking about a country which frankly has very little in terms of intensive care unit and an ability to cope with people who will need that, if they carry on mangling and working on the way that perhaps you think is the best route. no, ithink you think is the best route. no, i think the public healthcare no, i think the public healthca re system no, i think the public healthcare system is already in a bita healthcare system is already in a bit a shamble, it is not talking about flattening the curve overhead because in research showed that one of the top medical colleges actually turns away 400 out of the 500 critical patients because of lack of capacity, so i think and a sense we are not going to be able to fight that anyway if there is an outbreak, so our focus should go into more on prevention and essentially more targeted intervention rather than a complete shutdown like this, so if we have to do shutdowns like this there has to bea

shutdowns like this there has to be a very strong social economic transfer. we need to give people money orfood economic transfer. we need to give people money or food so that they can save themselves while they are in the lockdown, but with an absence of that, we are looking at a humanitarian disaster. let me ask you one other possible route, we are in a digital world, everyone has got a mobile phone. can some people at least not work from home? yeah, there is a very small segment of people who can work from home, this is more the corporate formal sector, which is probably 10% of the economy, but the solution that we need to think about needs to be more culturally appropriate. in bangladesh, when the lockdown was announced, hundreds of thousands of people went to their home, there was absolutely zero social distancing. it has been very difficult to enforce that, it is not just happening difficult to enforce that, it is notjust happening in bangladesh, kenya as well,

india as well, so our general thinking is that, the policymakers are struggling, life versus livelihood. but there is simply enough evidence. we are running out of time, so in ten seconds, give me calls for optimism. time, so in ten seconds, give me calls for optimismlj time, so in ten seconds, give me calls for optimism. i think the solution needs to be local, there has been many challenges in the past, bugs, famines, so we are going to come out of this with finding local solutions that work for us. thank you very much indeed for joining us, and speaking with us joining us, and speaking with us about the plight facing english as well as many other developing countries as well. you are watching bbc news and we will carry on with our coverage of the coronavirus issues. hello there. wednesday was the warmest day of the year so far — temperatures reached 24 celsius in sussex. on wednesday and again

on thursday, though, we've still got this weak whether front moving very slowly northwards across scotland. to the south of that, many parts of the uk in that warmer air once again and those temperatures will get a boost in the sunshine. but we've got more cloud on that weather front, moving northwards across scotland, lingering in the north—east of england, making it cooler. maybe a bit of rain from that too. to the south, some variable clouds, some good sunny spells. probably the sunniest weather towards the south—west. this is where we are more likely to see the highest temperatures. and it will be wuite a bit cooler underneath the cloud in scotland and noticeably so in the north—east of england. there will also be an onshore breeze too. now, that cloud will continue to drift its way northwards, up toward the northern isles, taking a bit of rain there overnight. but elsewhere, i think, we will see some good clear spells, particularly further south, across england and wales. but, after the warmth in the sunshine during the day, temperatures here probably no lower than around eight or nine degrees. into friday — good friday — and a few changes for the northern half of the uk. whilst there may be some sunshine, there's a chance of catching a few showers which could be heavy.

they are very hit and miss, mind you. for much of england and wales it's probably going to be dry. the sunniest skies for the midlands southwards and here temperatures again 23, maybe even 24 degrees. a little bit milder, i think, across the north—east of england and for many parts of scotland. as we move into the weekend, we will start to see some erosion of the area of high pressure. pressure starting to drop a bit. lots of weather fronts coming in from the atlantic. they will certainly bring more cloud and maybe some showery bursts of rain, some wetter weather, particularly across scotland and perhaps into northern ireland, even the chance of a shower or two not farfrom the south—west of england. but again, many parts of england and wales should be dry, still enjoying some sunshine and some warmth with the highest temperatures across the south—east of england. and that is where we will see any remaining warmth on easter day, because there's more showers likelty to develop across england and wales, with some heavier ones towards wales and the south—west. a little bit drier across scotland and northern ireland but those temperatures are beginning to ebb away and it will turn cooler still as we move into monday. the showers that we're seeing in the south and south—west, those will fade away

and instead, around an area of high pressure, we will see a northerly wind. it will turn drier but it will turn cooler.

this is bbc news.

we have the latest business headlines. is there a deal in the pipeline? crude prices surge on the agreement that coal producing nations can put a halt on the collapse. the second epidemic, unemployment, the us braces for a number huge jump the us braces for a number huge jump in jobless claims. hello and welcome to you all and to audiences in the uk and around the world as we cover all the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis both in britain and globally of course. we will start this business bulletin with the price of oil because in just the next few hours, oil producing nations will try to strike a deal to hold what has been a collapse, frankly in the group

of oil producing countries called 0pec and their allies are under pressure to cut the amount of oil they produce to prop up prices, supply and demand stuff. we will show you why, at the start of the year, oil was trading at $60 a barrel and an agreement between saudi arabia and russia to limit supply broke down and both of them began pumping more oil to try to grab market share. as this was happening, of course, we know what happened, the world economy or background to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic and demand for energy simply collapsed though crude prices hit their lowest in almost two decades. write down on the floor at $20. it also hit us oil companies hard, president trump has been leaning on both saudi arabia and russia to do something about it. you have two countries getting her badly,

russia as their primary source and saudi arabia definitely their primary source and it does not make sense that they flooded the market for whatever reason they did that, for themselves, it is an argument that they had, and i think they will straighten it out. a lot of progress has been made over the last week and it will be interesting to see what comes out of 0pec tomorrow but 0pec obviously for many years i still think opec obviously for many years i still think 0pec was very unfair. i hated 0pec. you wa nted unfair. i hated 0pec. you wanted to know the truth? i hated it because it was a fixed but somewhere along the line, that broke down and it went the opposite way. we a tremendously powerful energy industry in this country now, number one in the world, and i don't want those jobs being lost. there is a lot at stake. i have the director in my ear saying hello petrol prices. she is delighted! many others are not. let's have a word with the middle east correspondent, who joins us. starting with, we have had donald trump already saying there is a deal there

and it will come soon and then we had another spat between the saudis and russians over how close the deal will be what you think we get to today? difficult to say at this stage because the last four or five days with all them both involved in intense negotiation to come up with a deal and so far there have been mixed reports coming out and the meeting with me to take place early in the week. it had to be postponed because stocks between the saudis and russians could not progress — just because talks could not progress. if few things can happen, i been speaking to many experts in our analysis in the markets. the first scenario is that the russians and saudis arrive at a deal and say they will make the cuts but the united states also needs to join in because, if you look globally at oil production, the united states is the largest producer of oil in the world. what could happen is

that the russians and saudis could go to the 620 russians and saudis could go to the g20 summit on friday and tell the united states that they are willing to make the cuts but they need to come along because without the united states coming on board, the deal will not be effective. if the united states agrees, great, they go ahead with the deal. if not, the deal could fall through. the second option is that the russians and saudis agree to make cuts for the time being, for the next two or three months, see how the situation pans out because by thenit situation pans out because by then it will be clear byjune and july what has been the impact of covid—19 on the global economy and on oil demand because china is now in the process of opening up and amanda anisimova go up and then it is -- amanda anisimova go up and then it is —— and demand will go up. there are a few scenarios. the second scenario is intriguing,

but whatever side of the argument you are on, the price is unsustainable? that is true, david, the prices are not sustainable most oil producers in the world are having a difficult time. barring some countries in the isps handa australian open like saudi arabia and qatar, —— that at some barring some cases in the gulf, whether it is the african nations like nigeria or even south american nations, they are allfinding it south american nations, they are all finding it difficult. this is eating into their budgets because this is money they need to spend, the government spends it from the money that comes in from fuel so it is unsustainable. the russians, the reason why they did not agree to talks in march because the russians very strongly feel that the shale gas industry in the united states needs to make cuts. president trump has been saying that production has been

going down dramatically because there is less demand but the russians have been insisting that the united states also needs to officiallyjoin in. united states also needs to officially join in. share that burden is the message. we will have to leave it there. thank you very indeed. we will see where it goes. c what happens in the us because official figures out later are bound to confirm in a hugejump for people signing up on unemployment benefits. two weeks ago, the figure was 3.3 million signing on, a record at the time and then last week, the time and then last week, the figure doubled to 6.6 million. we have more from new york. america's second epidemic, unemployment. many new yorkers are having difficulty signing up are having difficulty signing up to unemployment.”

are having difficulty signing up to unemployment. i was unsure when it happened and the tool got the plug pulled out on it and tool got the plug pulled out on itandi tool got the plug pulled out on it and i went home and filed for unemployment —— tour. it and i went home and filed for unemployment -- tour. this man is among millions having problems making a claim.|j filed online which was pretty easy and then in order to com plete easy and then in order to complete the claim, they advised me to call this number. he was laid off from his music industryjob in early march and went to the website to apply for benefits and to complete the process he was instructed to call the state's department of labour and that is when he hit a roadblock. in one day i made 300 calls. out of 300 calls and he did not get through once? right, no, no and i still have not spoken to a human being. he is not the only one having issues. this woman's husband is a chef on file for unemployment three weeks ago and is still waiting. he has not been able to get through at

all, i not been able to get through at all, lam not been able to get through at all, i am the only one working right now and i don't know if myjob is going to be guaranteed, so we definitely need some type of money coming in. especially since we have to pay rent and bills. yeah, it is frustrating, it is scary. the new york department of labour is asking people to be patient with them. they usually get 50,000 calls a week and recently they got almost 8 million but those in need say patients will not pay the bills. —— patients. more americans have lost theirjob during the entire —— then during the entire —— then during the entire gfc. everyone knows everyone out of work as most are unemployed and filing for benefits. today's data is likely to show the ranks of the unemployed continue to swell with much of the country still under orders to stay—at—home. makes you wonder what that will do when the figures come out

to wall street in the course of the hours ahead. it closed strongly higher on wednesday on hopes that the pandemic may be nearing its peak. there was a message that donald trump wa nted message that donald trump wanted to put out as well. is that market optimism continuing in asia? let's get to singapore and speak to our correspondence. the answer? well, it is a mixed picture out here inajar, well, it is a mixed picture out here in a jar, david. sorry it cannot be more definitive but what we have seen is the enthusiasm from wall street overnight, certainly not entirely reflected across the board in asia and the japanese market even lower, based on the fa ct market even lower, based on the fact that investors there are concerned about the rising number of local infections and to be honest, the volatility we are seeing in share markets across the region as well as the united states really gives you a reflection ofjust how quickly investors change their

minds, depending on the kind of information that they get about case numbers and the number of deaths as well because everybody is looking for that point, that turning point that when countries can come out of their lockdowns, when businesses can get back to work and that is really where the focus is for many asian investors a cross focus is for many asian investors across the region. they just are investors across the region. theyjust are not investors across the region. they just are not seeing investors across the region. theyjust are not seeing it yet. and we had a lot of one step forward and maybe one or two steps backwards. thank you very indeed. back in the uk, record numbers of people are looking for agriculturaljobs, according to analysis by the website totaljobs, it is seen 50,000 searches injust website totaljobs, it is seen 50,000 searches in just the last week. before the pandemic, farmers had been struggling to recruit the 80,000 seasonal workers they needed this year for the harvest and last year because of travel restrictions

on overseas workers. mark bridgeman is the president of the country, land business association in the uk. thank you for us. a coronavirus dividend of thoughts? not a fair way to look on it that has this got you out of a pretty deep hole? the shortfall was really caused predominantly by coronavirus and travel restrictions, all the potential shortfall, as well as obviously people and sickness so there has been a big shortfall that we have identified a few weeks ago. so we have been trying to raise the publicity around it as much as 80,000 people required for seasonal land work around fruit and vegetables picking, which we need for this year 's harvest. must be encouraging that these are jobs, letters be honest, british people did not want to do that anymore and plenty of europeans who did. —— let us be honest. brexit threw up a

massive hurdle for you and so i guess there is encouragement that people will come back to these jobs i suppose particularly becometh times are hard. that's right. in the last four years, 90% has been done by migrant labour, mostly from eastern europe, particularly hungary and bulgaria, and with travel restrictions in place now, that is not available. that fruit and vegetables we get on our shelves through now through to christmas, that was at risk. but this callout around opportunities, clearly there is a mismatch in the labour market we have massive surplus of labour as a result of millions of people being furloughed and people being laid off, students not able to do anything else and then you have the demand. it is as you say a good new story as long as, as long as we can maintain momentum of getting people signing up for this.

absolutely, you mention people being furloughed, they are getting 80% of their pay in any case. i just getting 80% of their pay in any case. ijust wonder, are we talking about jobs case. ijust wonder, are we talking aboutjobs which is basically at the end of the day, cash in hand thanks very much or are they pay—as—you—go jobs and they would be official? no, no, no, two importantjobs, official? no, no, no, two important jobs, these are officialjobs, in some cases they may be small people employing 40 or 50 people and in other cases, i am thinking of one large salad producer, many thousands of people each summer many thousands of people each summerto many thousands of people each summer to pick the salad that goes on your plate. so, very much official but the key thing the government has done last weekend, which is clarifying some rules around furloughing scheme so if you are furloughed as you rightly say, you can get 80% up to maximum of 2500 a month and what the government has clarified is that if you are furloughed as long as a

contract allows it, you can ta ke contract allows it, you can take one of the seasonaljobs for as long as you are furloughed. obviously, if your employer needs you back, for training or back to work, then you have to stop but you can ta ke you have to stop but you can take one of these jobs because one of the problems...” take one of these jobs because one of the problems... i have to stop you there but that is a good point and also valuable in the way that is seasonal and let's hope that this whole issueis let's hope that this whole issue is but a seasonal effect on us all. mark bridgeman, thank you very indeed for that. just one other piece of business news and what is needed is its new streaming service already has 50 million paid scriber‘s five—month after it was launched in the us. disney plus rolled out in india and eight european countries in the last few weeks. streaming services enjoying a boost as cinemas are closed and we are forced to stay at home. now, the coronavirus pandemic has

also raised concerns about the welfare of elderly people in residential care. elder is a supplier of live in carers, and the ceo has been talking to the bbc, he says the biggest challenge is to recruit hundreds of extra carers at a time when 121 interviews are not possible. demand for live in care has exploded in the last few weeks. in many cases, families are looking to actually move their loved ones out of a care home, given the risk of transmission, and the other side is also within hospitals. you have a number of beds with people who are ready to leave need social care so we are making sure that those beds can be freed up as soon as possible so that people with covert ca n possible so that people with covert can

be cared for. the main strategy we have used to recruit this carers is actually to start to use remote hiring, it has been a fantastic replacement. i think live in ca re replacement. i think live in care could be a great career opportunity for a lot of people who have unfortunately found themselves having lost their current job, themselves having lost their currentjob, particularly those in the service industry in particular. also those who have provided care for family members, if they have found that they have a real passion for it, they could definitely support others and make a great career while doing so. there is a challenge around every corner, isn't it? this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the united states has just experienced its with death toll asa experienced its with death toll as a result of the coronavirus. australian police have seized

the black box of a cruise ship which disembarked hundreds of passengers infected with the coronavirus as part of a homicide investigation. it is time now for today's session of coronavirus explained. we are all faced with the same request to maintain very high levels of cleanliness at this time, and for some that is far more challenging as a proposition that others. the world health organization has told people all over the world, regardless of age, race, or wealth, that they need to do three basic things to stop the spread. wash your hands regularly, keep two metres away from others in public and self isolate if thick. but what if you live in a part of the world where these things are possible? worldwide around 1 billion people live in slums or

informal settlements, making up to 30% of the world's urban population. nearly 2.2 billion people are living without safely managed water outlets. asia's biggest slum is home to half a million people, and of people do forsake, recovery will be much harder. in the central african republic there arejust central african republic there are just three ventilators. you can see from this map, the coronavirus hotspots. most of the low income countries have recorded very low case numbers of deaths which are shaded and light pink. the who expect death tolls and infections to rise in the coming months. i started off by asking why the rates of the virus were so low in parts of africa at the moment. i think there are some

questions there about whether they are being detected it or not, but i think it is also just that there is a general global spread that was started in wuhan china and is now starting to spread around the world and it will have different countries at different countries at different points but there are concerns about some of the detection rates in africa as well which is linked to do with things like laboratory capacity. what would be your biggest concern when it does reach africa? i think an important point to say is that africa is diverse, the countries are diverse and have different capacities so we have to be careful about not over generalising and family so for slums and informal settlements, we are seeing a lot of concern around those places to do with population density infrastructure but there are different and we need to remember that. but having said that, clearly the lack of water and sanitation, the population density crowded household, all of that means that the advice that we are being given about washing hands on social distancing is much more impractical, and also some of

the control measures there, if they are affecting people's livelihoods so they are economically impossible for people to adhere to, so we need to think of control measures that make sense in each particular context. and if you live in a slum in mumbai, with all of yourfamily, live in a slum in mumbai, with all of your family, very crowded, little or no sanitation, what possible advice can we give those people ? obviously it is very hard and there will be cases in mumbai and probably many other slums on the as well. the challenge is, of course as he started out by saying, transmission would be rapid in places like this, they lack access to healthcare generally as well, and these are not the original places where the virus came and. they came in when people in the middle class were on a plane and they came back or from tourists, so it is grossly inequitable but the only way in

which containment can happen at this stage is through a series of lockdowns, india is in a big lockdown right now where people are not really allowed to go out except for essential services, and we will have to put a break on the virus almost like ona put a break on the virus almost like on a constant basis to make sure that it doesn't get out of hand. there really isn't a way to fix public health services in slums at short order, just because of the current emergency stop you really can't build a public health system in the middle of that emergency, so we will have to come up with a uniquely indian way to deal with this problem. can you give us an idea aboutjust problem. can you give us an idea about just how under—resourced the healthca re system is at the moment normally let alone dealing with coronavirus. the forced shortage is in terms of doctors. but, most of the doctors in india are just in the urban areas, and rural parts of india have one doctor

for maybe every 10,000 people. that makes life really difficult. india has very few hospital beds, extremely low, so hospital beds, extremely low, so it isa hospital beds, extremely low, so it is a challenge of dealing with a country where the average is also masked vast inequity. they probably are more likely to be in the south of india, and the health system in carola is probably like new york city, so you have got that entire vastness of geography concealing differences in capacity to deal with covid—19. you are making a similar point about africa and different countries have different abilities, but if we look at a country like congo, have lessons around ebola, are they going to be

useful? yes, there have been a number of outbreaks of diseases and many countries, the one they know best is west africa and sierra leone, and there are clearly lessons to be learned there, and there has been a lot of investment in public health infrastructure after those outbreaks, but i think it is also really important to note that it is a different disease so every context is different but every disease is different. in sierra leone, for example with ebola, there was a big lesson there that even though the models we re that even though the models were predicting huge numbers of deaths, millions and thousands some of them, actually didn't turn out that way because there was huge amount of community driven action and behaviour change, which turned the curve of the epidemic around and in the end it wasn't as bad, so the end it wasn't as bad, so the lesson there was really that local organisation is really key to controlling an epidemic and control measures are best when they are designed

with and by the communities that are being affected did, and often things and forced externally are less effective. another key issue of the coronavirus explain for you there. thanks for being with us on bbc news, we have obviously got a whole host of extra back down articles on our website about this global pandemic, just to say also that the british government is considering in the course of the day whether further lockdown measures might be needed as we head towards the easter weekend. thanks for being with us. hello there. wednesday was the warmest day of the year so far —

temperatures reached 24 celsius in sussex. on wednesday and again on thursday, though, we've still got this weak whether front moving very slowly northwards across scotland. to the south of that, many parts of the uk in that warmer air once again and those temperatures will get a boost in the sunshine. but we've got more cloud on that weather front, moving northwards across scotland, lingering in the north—east of england, making it cooler. maybe a bit of rain from that too. to the south, some variable clouds, some good sunny spells. probably the sunniest weather towards the south—west. this is where we are more likely to see the highest temperatures. and it will be wuite a bit cooler underneath the cloud in scotland and noticeably so in the north—east of england. there will also be an onshore breeze too. now, that cloud will continue to drift its way northwards, up toward the northern isles, taking a bit of rain there overnight. but elsewhere, i think, we will see some good clear spells, particularly further south, across england and wales. but, after the warmth in the sunshine during the day,

temperatures here probably no lower than around eight or nine degrees. into friday — good friday — and a few changes for the northern half of the uk. whilst there may be some sunshine, there's a chance of catching a few showers which could be heavy. they are very hit and miss, mind you. for much of england and wales it's probably going to be dry. the sunniest skies for the midlands southwards and here temperatures again 23, maybe even 24 degrees. a little bit milder, i think, across the north—east of england and for many parts of scotland. as we move into the weekend, we will start to see some erosion of the area of high pressure. pressure starting to drop a bit. lots of weather fronts coming in from the atlantic. they will certainly bring more cloud and maybe some showery bursts of rain, some wetter weather, particularly across scotland and perhaps into northern ireland, even the chance of a shower or two not farfrom the south—west of england. but again, many parts of england and wales should be dry, still enjoying some sunshine and some warmth with the highest temperatures across the south—east of england. and that is where we will see any remaining warmth on easter day, because there's more showers likelty to develop across england and wales, with some heavier ones towards wales and the south—west. a little bit drier across scotland and northern ireland but those temperatures are beginning to ebb away

and it will turn cooler still as we move into monday. the showers that we're seeing in the south and south—west, those will fade away and instead, around an area of high pressure, we will see a northerly wind. it will turn drier but it will turn cooler.

good morning — welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt

and naga munchetty. our headlines today: restrictions on people's movements will be discussed by ministers today, with the prospect of an extension to the uk's 3—week coronavirus measures. but the cobra meeting will take place without the prime minister, who's spent a third night in intensive care — colleagues say his condition is improving. outbreaks of coronavirus in care homes — we'll hear calls for more testing and greater protection for staff. prescriptions, paracetemol shortages and social distancing. pharmacies are under pressure like never before. i'll ask one of the industry's biggest bosses how they're protecting staff, and serving the public. premier league footballers have clubbed together generate funds for the nhs. they've launched what they're calling a "collective initiative" to riase money and say they hope to make a real difference. royal video—visit by the duke and duchess of cambridge