police have been carrying out spot checks as people are urged to stick to social distancing rules over the easter weekend: a few people, it is a minority, who are quite blatantly flouting the law. it is to those people that i am saying enough is enough. we'll have the latest from westminster and from our health editor. also this lunchtime: the prime minister has spent a third night in intensive care in hospital. his condition is said to be stable and improving. in the drive to increase testing for coronavirus, we hear from the smaller laboratories preparing

to play their part. as deaths continue to rise in the us, we report on the disproportionate impact being felt among black, asian and hispanic communities. iam i am catherine and this is william, next to me. and the duke and duchess of cambridge surprise the children of key workers in their first virtual royal engagement. this is a picture of my mum and she works for the nhs as an admin for the health visitors and i'm really proud of her. and in sport, premier league footballers launch a fund to raise money for the nhs charities to aid the fight against coronavirus.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. ministers are meeting later to discuss whether to extend the lockdown. scotland and wales have said they have no plans to lift the restrictions which are now in their third week. it comes amid continuing high rates of infection. and concerns that good weather over the easter weekend might tempt people to go out. the foreign secretary dominic raab will chair the governments cobra emergency committee this afternoon. police have told people to stay at home over easter and warned they will crack down on anyone found to be breaking the rules. yesterday, the uk recorded its highest daily rise in the number of patients dying from coronavirus with 938 deaths. and the prime minister has spent a third night in intensive care in london where he is said to be in good

spirits and continuing to improve. i first report is from our health correspondent catherine burns. not your usual commute but these are not usual times. police in london asking people for id and checking if they are people for id and checking if they a re key people for id and checking if they are key workers or not as they get on the tube. irish police have set up on the tube. irish police have set up around 50 checkpoints close to the border making sure that people from either side are not breaking lockdown rules. last weekend, greater manchester police had more than 1100 reports of people breaking coronavirus rules. some of the ones who meant to at the weekend had djs, bouncy castles, fireworks, we've had something like 160 street parties going on. some of those clearly can't comply with a social distancing but because we are getting suggest they are not. stay at home. this bank holiday they are putting out videos of local celebrities and front—line workers

all with the same message. just stay safe, do some exercise, and don't be going outside unnecessarily. this is a message to say please, please, please stay at home. hello, everyone. just a quick message to remind us all it's very important to stay indoors, to stop spreading the virus. other forces say they've given people time to adjust to the rules and now they will start enforcing them. we have a hard core, a few people, a minority, who are quite blatantly flouting the law and it is to those people i am saying enough is enough and we are now going to start to come looking for you and we are going to find new and if necessary arrest you. lockdown is a delicate balancing act, though, and it will save lives and cut the number of deaths from coronavirus, but there is a warning too it could also damage peoples health. we talked about delaying the operations

so talked about delaying the operations so hospitals cancelling treatment of patients. we've also seen huge downturns in the number of people going to a&e departments, for example, with symptoms of heart attacks, so people themselves are delaying treatment, and in some senses that storing up problems for the future. austria is one european country is starting to slowly, very slowly, eased restrictions. from next week, some small shops will be allowed to reopen. and questions are being asked about what our exit strategy will look like. the only experience we have at the moment is from china, where the authorities waited until they had very few cases, new cases in the community, before relaxing quarantine. and of course, that could be several weeks away. now, though, it is time to hold steady, says the government. it'sjust beginning to hold steady, says the government. it's just beginning to work. hold steady, says the government. it'sjust beginning to work. people really need to stick the course,

this easter weekend, however tempting it is, however lovely and sunny it is, stay at home, please. and a reminder about why we are being asked to do this. to slow the spread of the virus and so to stop the nhs from being overwhelmed with sick patients. catherine burns, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent, leila nathoo, is in westminster. the issue of lockdown is a key talking point this afternoon. yes, we've got a meeting of cobra, the emergency committee, being held this afternoon involving all the devolved administrations, but what they are meeting to discuss is the process of reviewing the lockdown measures. there is no decision going to be taken today. downing street very clear they are talking process only. the review has to be carried out by next thursday, by law, not a formal process , next thursday, by law, not a formal process, it is very clear from all the signals we are getting from both scotland, wales and cabinet

ministers hear that this is not the moment the lockdown measures are going to be eased. very much downing street emphasising today the focus is clearly still on stopping transmission and sticking closely to the current measures, so i think all the current measures, so i think all the mood music is we are going to have lockdown measures very much in place for a long time yet. now, we will hear more from the cobra meeting later this afternoon at the government press conference, but we are not expecting any decision today on whether those lockdown measures are continuing. just quickly, incidentally, from downing street, the prime minister is condition, downing street telling us he had a good night in hospital, continues to improve in intensive care at saint thomas is across the river, and he is in good spirits. thank you. our health editor, hugh pym, is here. lockdown, all tied up with the progression of this pandemic. what are the numbers looking like at the moment? we heard yesterday the latest daily reported death figure

of 938 taking the total to 7000, just over, in the uk. scientists will say the predicted line on the chart would suggest it could have been a little bit higher. it is a bit less than what might have been expected at this stage, but that doesn't take away from the fact it's a shocking number and obviously we'll be looking for the figure later today see whether it goes up beyond that. officials at the downing street briefing yesterday we re downing street briefing yesterday were looking at the slightly more positive signals that they saw. if you look at hospital admissions, newly reported infections in cases, that suggests a bit of a flattening of the curve's possibly suggesting we are getting near the peak of the academic and that's an absolute crucialjudgment going back to the lockdown issue, at what point can you say we've reached a plateau and we are going along and that could well begin next week with a very, very serious amount of pressure on the nhs, so all these bits of data are crucial to try to make that

judgment, but it is a shocking figure, but number of deaths, and we will know more later today. yes, all right, for now, thank you very much. 0ur health editor hugh pym. testing for coronavirus is a crucial part of any strategy to lift the lockdown. the health secretary matt hancock set a target of carrying out 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month, but progress has been slow. small, independent laboratories may play an important role in hitting that number. 0ur science correspondent, richard westcott, has been to see how one team of scientists is aiming to help. this is exactly the kind of independent lab but that could play a key role in controlling the coronavirus. at the moment they are testing hiv and cancer samples but with a bit of financial support, they could easily use the same equipment to test for the virus. now the boss is coordinating a network of similar labs who also want to help. at the moment, we've probably got about 30 labs that we are talking to.

some of these are quite large. that's across the country? that's across the country. mass testing means you can clear doctors and nurses currently at home to return to work and root out people who have got the virus without realising. we've got this government target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month. everyone kind of said i'll believe it when i see it. can it be done? yes, absolutely we can. we have the capability of virtually matching what germany have done. we can bring in literally tens and tens of labs up to possibly 100 extra labs into this process to help with the testing. there are challenges, though. you may have heard them talking about a global shortage of chemicals for coronavirus testing. this is actually the box that the world is short of. it's full of these chemicals known as reagents and what it actually does is take out the genetic material from the virus and purify it and then you can take that sample

away and just double check that the viruses there. even if they got help getting the chemicals, mass testing would cost this lab £30,000 a day. money they simply don't have. and you've struggled to get a bank loan to get the testing equipment to make this happen, is that right? yes, we are still in the process. i think it's now three weeks we've been doing this. they really need to understand that this is not a normal situation. you know, we're not looking at businesses that are trying to make huge profits out of this. if anything we'll make a loss out of this work because we are trying to do it in a benevolent way and the banks need to get on board with that. in a matter of weeks they're hoping to get 50 of these independent lab conducting 50,000 tests a day. more were e—mailing tony as we were filming. it's the kind of initiative that will help shorten this crisis. new york recorded its highest number of deaths from the pandemic

yesterday, with 779 people dying in the state. the governor, andrew cuomo, warned fatalities were likely to rise further, although there are signs the rate of infection could be slowing. the virus is hitting the city's poorest communities hardest — with black, asian and hispanic people suffering disproportionately. nada tawfik sent this report from the bronx. the coronavirus has changed everything about life and now it pending the rituals of death. darlene lost 83—year—old father william to covid—19 on the eve of her birthday. and now she must say her birthday. and now she must say herfinal her birthday. and now she must say her final goodbyes without the traditional service. your loved ones go in, and that's it. you don't get to see them no more. even if you make an arrangement. you are being told it can't be an open casket. it

has to be armorial. a memorial. her father was supposed to be buried in north carolina alongside his mother and sister, instead, he will be cremated. as if the circumstances weren't cruel enough, darlene still in the hospital after also being infected by the by the virus. the family hasn't broken the news of his death her yet. i don't want them to tell my mother that. because i am afraid that if they tell my mother, she might regress. they have been married 62 years. norms and funeral homes are so overwhelmed that families in some cases are having to wait one week or more to bury their loved ones. coronavirus deaths hit record highs this weekend in new york, and where they happen to tell isa york, and where they happen to tell is a larger story. the death toll starkly illustrates inequalities in american society. low—income

communities in the bronx are separated by just a communities in the bronx are separated byjust a riverfrom manhattan but they might as well be a world away. death rates here dwarfed that of its wealthy neighbour. more than ever, these communities need support. 0rganisations such as world central kitchen are delivering meals to public housing projects to make sure no one goes hungry. when you are in one of the poorest communities in the country, it already was a challenge, small businesses, they can't wait weeks for help, they need it in days. and so, what people are watching right now is what happens when you don't invest in addressing poverty for generations. there is hope that cases of infections may have peaked after the deadliest week yet. but, until the have peaked after the deadliest week yet. but, untilthe threat have peaked after the deadliest week yet. but, until the threat is gone, the city remains on a war footing. 0ur washington correspondent, gary 0'donoghuejoins me now. some grim figures there, gary. is

there any sign of optimism at all where you are? well, in terms of where you are? well, in terms of where i am in washington, they are expecting things to get a little bit worse in the coming days, as they are for philadelphia, which is 90 miles up the road, and also for baltimore, about halfway between here and there. but some of the predictions from the task force suggest perhaps, and this is the modelling rather than any reality, but the modelling suggests that the overall number that could dye has been modelled downwards a little to around 60,000, bearing in mind we are about 15,000 deaths at the moment, so there's still a lot of pain and suffering to come if that is true. about that is a revision downwards of the 100,000 they were talking about a couple of weeks ago. also some talk about revisions to guidelines for essential workers here. i think this is part of the

white house push to try and start to look forward to some kind of reopening of the country, so for example people who have had contact with someone infected should be allowed to return to work if they show no symptoms, if their temperature is tested before they leave, and when they arrive in the office, and if they wear a mask and don't share things like headsets, so you can see the beginnings of things there in an odd side yesterday, one of the scientific advisers was asked whether or not we should ever go back to shaking hands and he was only semi—joking when he said we should ditch shaking hands altogether. goodness, all right, gary, thank you very much. italy's prime minister has warned that the future of the european union is at risk unless it acts decisively to help countries worst hit by the pandemic. he's pushing for a coordinated economic response from brussels, by allowing countries to share debt — an idea opposed by germany and the netherlands. giuseppe conte has been speaking

to the bbc‘s mark lowen. translation: the number of infections is decreasing. we are confident if we continue this we will overcome the worst phase. but we cannot lower our guard. we cannot go from lockdown to liberalising economic activity. we have to do it right away. when will they even easing of restrictions began? translation: we might begin to relax some measures already by the end of this month. does italy feel let down by the eu? translation: it's a big challenge to the existence of europe and to the history of europe. we're notjust writing pages in the books of economics, we're writing pages in the history books.

this is a big appointment with history and we cannot miss it. myself and other european leaders need to rise to the challenge. and there's no doubt that if 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, for sure, not only italians but european citizens will be deeply disappointed. if europe does not rise to this challenge, would 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's why i won't allow it to materialise, i want to banish it. italy's prime minister. our top story this lunchtime: ministers will meet this afternoon to consider whether to extend the lockdown. police have warned they will crack down on anyone breaking the rules over the easter weekend.

and the 97—year—old great grandmother who has beaten coronavirus. premier league footballers are praised for the launch of the new initiative to generate funds for the front line of the nhs. the uk's organ transplant network could be forced to close, because of the coronavirus pandemic. officials who run the programme say the number of people needing intensive care at the moment means there are fewer beds available for both potential organ donors and recipients. and there's a risk to the tranpla nt patients, who have to have their immune systems suppressed so the body doesn't reject the new organ. here's our health correspondent dominic hughes. we just want to know what's happening. i think it's the unknown that's the scary thing. getting weaker every day, in desperate need of a liver transplant, anna rose is shielding herself, but the coronavirus

epidemic poses a terrible dilemma. if she was offered a transplant, should anna rose risk infection in hospital or miss out on a life—saving operation? having to go into hospital while there are coronavirus patients — and they are on the same ward even — it's very worrying, and the longer that i'm not being monitored — the longer i leave it — i could just get sicker and sicker. it is a matter of life and death. data from nhs blood and transplant — the body that oversees the uk's organ donation network — shows the number of transplants carried out each day has plummeted through march. this time last year more than 80 transplants a week were being carried out. now, only the most urgent operations are still happening — such as liver and heart transplants, and of 23 kidney units in the uk only four are still operating. none of them in scotland,

wales or northern ireland. the decline in transplants is linked to the pressure covid—19 is placing on intensive care beds. organ donors and recipients both need that high—level care, so fewer families of potential donors are being approached, and doctors don't want vulnerable transplant recipients with suppressed immune systems alongside infectious covid—19 patients. when i hear from other countries who have been at the centre of this covid pandemic they have got to the point where no transplants are possible in certain regions at all, and we may get to that point in the next days or weeks. but we are working very hard to keep organ donation and transplant open for as long as possible. in this training exercise, staff go through the delicate process of broaching organ donation with a family. the parents are played by actors but this is a very familiar scenario for amy preston,

a nurse specialising in organ donation. her other organs are working well enough working well enough that she could potentially help save lives of maybe seven or eight other people. we recorded this eight months ago with amy but since coronavirus she spends half her time as an intensive care nurse. it's unprecedented times. its not how i ever expected my role to look but we just doing the best we can to try to ensure that when there is opportunity for donation that it can go ahead despite all the odds. when it does happen in these times it's even more miraculous, so we're just concentrating our efforts to make the most of every opportunity that arises. even in a normal year, around a50 people will die while waiting for a transplant. the sad reality is that number will probably rise this year as transplants come to a halt. anna rose and thousands like her fear they are at risk of becoming the unseen casualties

of the coronavirus. the first of seven repatriation flights from india has landed in london. the flight, which landed at stansted airport this morning, was carrying 316 passengers from goa. more than 35,000 british citizens are stranded in india airbnb is to restrict uk bookings because of the coronavirus. the us—based home—rental company says that key workers can still book the measure will last until at least april 18th. premier league footballers in england have launched an initiative to raise money for the nhs. it comes after criticism, including from the government, that top flight players should do more during the pandemic, by taking a pay cut. here's our sports correspondent, natalie pirks. cheering. it is a football league with deep rivalries

and players with deep pockets. last night, competition ceased for one common goal. in a statement, the players together initiative said... it is the brainchild of liverpool captain jordan henderson. the amount donated will be anonymous and decided by each individual squad, a move welcomed by other premier league captains. it is the power of everybody coming together. you know, it is one thing, one football club donating somewhere, whether that is local or to the nhs, which is great, but i think it shows that we are united as one, really. this is a great chance and opportunity for players to show how much the nhs means to us. footballers are a convenient punchbag and have been feeling the

heat recently, not least from the health secretary. the first thing that premier league footballers can do is make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part. today, matt hancock tweeted he warmly welcomed this bighearted decision, but many feel now his focus should move elsewhere. as long as we focus on football, society absolves itself of its responsibility. when we see young working—class boys who all of a sudden become millionaires, we think they owe us more than those that went to oxford or harrow. all of sport has been feeling the heat. rugby union players in england and wales have taken pay cuts across the board, and many

cricket clubs have furloughed, and today southampton became the first premier league club to agree a wage deferralfor the next three months. this is to ensure nonplaying staff receive their salaries. everything is changing, sport's landscape perhaps forever. a 97—year—old woman from staffordshire, who caught coronavirus, has made a full recovery. joyce goldstraw, who served in the women's raf during the second world war, is now clear of her cough, and receiving visits from her great grandchildren. kevin reide went to meet her. at 97 years of age, everyone feared the worst when joyce goldstraw contracted coronavirus. but now she is back at home, safe and well. ijust coughed a bit, that's all. i used to cough, but i've stopped coughing. she has been a widow for 21 years and her two children spend a lot of time caring for her, but, apart from that, she is still going strong. she has gone through some good times and bad times,

we phoned every day. they kept us up to date with what is happening, and we were just totally amazed and blown away that she came through this and has come home, so that's really good. joyce has six grandchildren and seven great—grandchildren, and they are already planning her 100th birthday. if it warms up like it says it is, then i shall be able to go out. but i'm not going out while it's very cold to catch another cold or something. that enough? that is the best answer we've had all afternoon. just fantastic, and her children

talking about the nhs. and just a reminder that clap for carers continues tonight. for the third week, millions of us are preparing to clap at 8pm to say thank you to health workers in the fight against coronavirus. there'll be live coverage from around the country on bbc one and the bbc news channel. the duke and duchess of cambridge have surprised children of key workers with a virtual visit to their school. william and catherine dialled into casterton primary in burnley, from their home in norfolk. it was their first royal engagement through video conferencing. richard askam reports. i'm catherine and this is william next to me. are you holding up pictures of your mummies and daddies? yeah. a royal call to children and staff at a school which is helping dozens of families in east lancashire. this is a picture of my mum and she works for the nhs as an admin for the health visitors and i am really proud of her.

yeah, well done, you. can you hold it up a bit to your left so we can see it? that's it. brilliant. look at that. that's a great picture. that's a great photo. well done. it's brilliant. i agree you should be very proud of her. they are doing an amazing job, all the nhs workers. lloyd, have you got a picture too? this is a picture of my mum and she works at a special school and she helps and treats children. fantastic, and is she still working at the moment? this week. the school also delivers food to some families as well as helping with mental health provision. we are massively grateful to have their support today. and the duchess of cambridge has been our royal patron since 2013 and to really have that spotlight on children's mental health and the support that can be given within schools it's hugely impactful.

and the duke and duchess were clearly impressed with the work the school is doing. thank you so much. it's great to meet the kids and obviously they are having a really fun time. thank you so much for taking the time. it's been an amazing experience for them. yeah, fantastic. not at all. we just want to say a huge thank you to you guys and well done in keeping it all going and please pass on many messages of support for all the staff and all the volunteers who are doing a greatjob. a royal seal of approval that clearly went down very well. richard askam, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. contrast this afternoon and how the weather looks and feels across the uk. for many holding the one found the sunshine but for all. we have this frontal system across scotland providing cloud here and into north—east england. you can see the extent of the cloud across these areas. still some sunshine initially

across the far north