welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. the headlines: a further 6.5 million us workers filed for unemployment has president trump announces plans to reduce the economic impact of coronavirus. the australian researchers studying a new phase for testing the vaccine. prime minister boris johnson out of intensive care but staying in hospital as the uk government says there are no plans to lift block down. and liftoff. and getting away from it all, the russian space mission leaving it all behind.

hello, and welcome to bbc news. we begin in the united states with a number of people seeking unemployment benefits has surged for third week as the economic toll tied to the coronavirus pandemic intensifies. 6.5 million people in filed for unemployment benefits in the us last week and that brings the number of claims to almost 17 million in just three weeks. new figures also show that up to 60,000 americans could die with coronavirus, down scaling earlier estimates that there is little cause for celebration there is the state of new york reported 799 deaths, the highest number in a single day since the outbreak. 0ur correspondent nick bryant is there and he sent us this report. sirens wail. the sound of these sirens has become the sound of new york. a ceaseless noise, for many a terrifying noise, that has placed this city and are a form of mental siege.

people here have become scared of ambulances and scared of the hospitals they end up at. in the past 2a hours alone, new york has suffered almost 800 deaths. bereavement on a scale that's brought back awful memories. we lose 2,753 lives on 9/11. we've lost over 7,000 lives to this crisis. that is so shocking and painful and breathtaking... i don't even have the words for it. this famous cityscape has some jolting new additions. the military hospital ship, the comfort, docked on the piers that used to welcome the great liners. this is central park in the coronavirus spring. a field hospital in an open space they call the lungs of new york. and those sirens again, where you'd normally hear

the sound of children's laughter. america is not just facing its toughest public health crisis like the rest of the world, economically, it's being hammered. the fear is notjust of a recession but a depression. in the past three weeks alone, more than 16 million people have lost their jobs. that's a higher number than the unemployment recorded during two years of the great recession between 2007—2009. the federal reserve, the fed, is ready to pump in trillions of dollars in emergency relief. it's new york's poorest districts, heavily populated with african—america ns and hispanics, that are being hardest hit by this health and economic crisis. these were food parcels being delivered in the bronx. when you're in one of the poorest communities in the country, it already was a challenge. small businesses, they can't wait weeks for the fed to help them, 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. as it confronts this invisible enemy, there is a marshall feel to life in much of the city. a war footing as america faces what could be its greatest ever peacetime challenge. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. well, that is coronavirus briefing, donald trump celebrated the us is now carried out over 2 million tests. that's more in raw numbers than any other country however mr trump does say he won't guarantee that the us will establish a nationwide testing system. we want to have it and we're going to see if we have it. do you need it, no. is it a nice thing do, yes. we're talking about people and that's going to expect that's not going to expect that's not going to expect that's not going to happen, as you can imagine and it wouldn't happen with anyone else either. 0ther countries do it but they do it

ina limited countries do it but they do it in a limited form. we will probably be the leader of the pack. david willis is our north america correspondent. donald trump was elected on business acumen and jobs creation. without a lot of figures out in the last few weeks and it's not going well for him. it's not, simon and those jobless figures reveal the devastating impact that the coronavirus has had on the world's largest economy. 6.6 million people have lost theirjobs in the last week. on top of the 10 million americans who lost their jobs top of the 10 million americans who lost theirjobs in the previous fortnight. now, that means roughly one in ten of the workforce year, the labour force here, is currently out of work and economists are predicting that in this month, april, 20 million people here will lose theirjobs. now compare that to the figures from 2008, the financial crisis back then, when 9 million people were thrown out of work

in the united states. little wonder then that donald trump is itching to get this country back to normal and get the economy back on its feet. he reiterated that desire today, touting the stabilisation in the number of hospitalisations, despite the very grim death figures. he said that he hoped this country would be back on its feet opening up again, as he put it, very, very soon, simon. and a big ongoing spat between donald trump in the world health organization. he criticised them a few days ago and they had recently. tell us about that. resident trump believes the who is minimised the threat of the coronavirus. he believes that it is biased towards china and he is calling for his administration to conduct an investigation of the who and threatening to withhold millions of dollars in us funding for it. the who of

course criticise donald trump's decision to impose a ban on travellers from china to the united states back at the end of january and that is a move that mr trump is touted as being among his most successful to date as far as controlling the virus is concerned. a lot of people, even his own supporters, are questioning, though, the timing of this threat to withdraw funding from the who at a time from worldwide pandemic, simon. really interesting. thank you very much indeed, david willis slide for us in los angeles. here in the uk, the prime minister, borisjohnson, here in the uk, the prime minister, boris johnson, who's been receiving treatment for coronavirus has been moved out of intensive care at a london hospital but a spokesman said his recovery was at an early stage. dominic raab, has been deputising for the pm, ruled out using the lockdown. the latest figures show another 881 people have died in uk

hospitals in the last day. it was just so dreadful that no—one was able to visit him for three weeks and furthermore, no—one was able to be with him during his final hours and minutes. emily remembers her grandfather tony, who died yesterday. he'd gone into hospital with another health issue, and then contracted covid—19. she told me visitors weren't allowed because of the virus risk, but she's reassured to know two nurses were with him in his final hours. for me and my relatives, it is really comforting, just to picture those two amazing people at his bedside, comforting him and saying all the right things at the right time, and we'll forever be in their debt. we are just so grateful for everything they did. i raised the issue at the downing street media briefing today. we've heard some harrowing stories of people dying alone because family can't be with them, for understandable reasons to do with the virus risk.

what do you say to the british public about how things will develop from here? we don't know conclusively that we're beyond the point at which we could start considering whether the measures will be relaxed, so we must keep it up. the key thing is for people to understand how much of what they've already done has helped contribute to avoiding an even worse situation, in terms of the spread of the virus and the number of deaths, and how important it is that we don't slow up ortake our pressure off at this critical moment before we've come through the peak. there was a clearer prediction than before how long deaths would go on rising. in general, i'd expect the deaths to continue to keep going up for about two weeks after the intensive care picture improves, and so we're not there yet, in terms of knowing exactly when that will be. the latest analysis of data in england and wales suggests that death rates go up with age in both men and women,

but men are ahead of women in all age groups. alex died in hospital with the coronavirus ten days ago. none of his family could be with him. but staff did set up a video call, and his son says that made all the difference. it felt like we were together. it was really rich, it was really real. he was weak. but we also connected as a family, so often there'd be three orfour of us on the telephone, a group video call, and we could speak with each other, comfort each other, make plans. we felt together, which is... i've not really experienced that before. this is what patients will be aware of around them — staff like these in papworth hospital in masks, visors and gowns. it's confusing and communication is difficult. that's tough for doctors and nurses, as well as those who they care for. dr rachel clarke, who specialises in end—of—life care, says it can be an emotional drain. sometimes at the end of the day, you know, you take off your gown and mask,

and you just cry your eyes out in the car on the way home, because you have seen things you don't want to see but, at the same time, you've tried your utmost to be there at a time when perhaps a loved one, a son or daughter or spouse, can't be there, and you're literally all the patient has and with every fibre of your being all you want to do is support that patient. the upward trend in deaths appears to be slowing. but whatever the statistics say, there are life and death issues for thousands of families to confront every day, in every part of the country. hugh pym, bbc news. as infection rates and death tolls continue to soar across the globe, researchers are working around the clock to develop a coronavirus vaccine. on australian team from the university of queensland has reached a new phase of testing, partnering with the dutch company for preclinical

studies. more on the progress of that vaccine, i'm joined by professor pauljung in brisbane. tanks for joining professor pauljung in brisbane. tanks forjoining us. tell us exactly what your current research in involves. thanks, simon, and great to be with you. so our vaccine is one of the ones that the coalition for epidemic parentless innovation were tasked back in january with its progress and somewhere in the middle of our preclinical studies, just getting to our clinical work, we into phase one clinical studies with vaccines in humans in late june so studies with vaccines in humans in latejune so the critical point we have reached is that we have just begun studies with our colleagues in the netherlands in rotterdam to do the critical production studies in an animal model to determine whether our vaccine actually protect those animals from challenge by the live virus. we already gone through our studies to show that we induce a very potent immune response and we are also going through

other animal studies to determine toxicology so that's the sort of data that we need to have in play for going forward into human clinical studies. in the usual processes and procedures are being bypassed to try and get a vaccine out as bypassed to try and get a vaccine out as soon as possible. tell us a little bit more about that. so i guess the procedures are not being bypassed in terms of safety and efficacy of the vaccine, so we absolutely have to be sure when we go into human arms, that all thatis we go into human arms, that all that is in play but the process , that is in play but the process, the vaccine pipeline process, the vaccine pipeline process which is normally a linear thing, where we reach a milestone and success defines whether you move onto the next stage, has defined that 5—2 10— year timeline for most vaccines previously and what we've been trying to do, we thought of as a month ago, so we can uncouple some of the pipeline and bring it forward, some aspects, so we can shorten it to what we're doing at the moment is advancing manufacture, so even

before we got in clinical studies that this is a viable vaccine, we are confident that it is, but before we even get that data, are going to be ramping up manufacture so the whole idea is to move what is usually that end—stage manufacture after approval up to parallel what we're doing with the clinical studies and knock about six men six months we think of the timeline that 18 month timeline everyone has been talking about is radical in and of itself, we are trying to bring down to about 12 months. so just very briefly, paul, you're about timeline there, everyone in lockdown and quarantine is looking for a vaccine to come out, you are saying about six months is the earliest, really. yes, exactly. there is a possibility during those clinical phase trials if they are working well for emergency use of a vaccine, that's happened before and that might happen towards the end of this year but certainly since the beginning of january this year but certainly since the beginning ofjanuary when we started, it's really that 12 month timeline which is really quite radical. professor paul

young, that's all we have time for bed thank you forjoining us, great to hear about the work you are doing and best of luck. to stay with us here in bbc news. still to come, by those on board a russian space rocket believe they may have found the safest place to be. 25 years of hatred and rage, as theyjump up on the statue... this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power. the power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future. a day when we hope a line can be drawn under the bloody past.

i think that picasso's works were beautiful. they were intelligent and it's a sad loss to everybody who loves art. welcome back, this is bbc news. the latest headlines. a further 6.5 million workers filed for unemployment as president trump announces plans to reduce the economic impact of coronavirus. in the australian researchers reaching a new phase of testing for a vaccine. let's return to the us response to the covid—19 outbreak. in defending his strategy president trump is consistently

sought to attribute lim to his predecessor barrett obama, accusing them of leaving the shelves empty, referring to the us national stockpile of medical supplies as well as creating bureaucratic red tape which has slowed the us ability to test. doctor beth camara served as senior director for global health security on the white houses national security council under barack obama, an office disbanded by the trump administration by 2018. thank you for coming. tell us what your role was during the obama administration. i was the senior director for global health security and bio defence on the national security staff and this was an office that the obama administration set up after the bowler epidemic in 2014. the goal was to get ahead of pandemic threats and we focused not only on pandemic response but also on pandemic badness, working with partners around the world. if i am correct that was shut down.

tell us what has changed in the current administration. the office was dissolved and it was dissolved one year into the trump administration and so many of us who are outside of government at the time was surprised when the office was closed. what we learned during the bowler epidemic is you really need a senior team of practised individuals whose onlyjob it is to monitor and prepare for a pandemic threat. they can be existential. these are huge transnational challenges as we see right now with covid—19 full they deserve a high level senior official referring —— reporting directly to homeland security in our country or directly to the in any country around the world. so what has changed is that without that office, in the early days of this crisis it is possible that we lost valuable time. i think we did learn —— lose time by not having that office in place that we are where we are and where we are right now is that we still need

a strong and unified the drill response in the united states. surely you are watching all of the media and screaming at the television saying this is what you need to do. you think you lost a lot of knowledge and experience as a result of your office being closed 7 experience as a result of your office being closed? we definitely lost some. it is fairto definitely lost some. it is fair to say that there are many biologists and senior leaders left in the us government who area left in the us government who are a key function of the office i ran that was set up after ebola by the obama administration was to not only communicate directly with the president, vice president and other senior leaders in cabinet but also to do the critical function of working with the people in the government whose job it is day—to—day to focus on the response. ourjob is to help them get ahead as much as possible by anticipating the types of challenges we may face before we face them. so i feel like that glue, that practice needs to be there in order to get ahead of something that is

moving quickly like a pandemic. if we can fast forward a few minutes ago, donald trump and his most recent press conference that individual states should be in charge when it comes to the response to the coronavirus. do you think that is the right response?” coronavirus. do you think that is the right response? i do not think that is the right response. individual states have a lot of authority and we hear a lot of leadership from governors and local officials who are dealing with this so in no way do i need to take away their authority. at the end of their authority. at the end of the day, a pandemic is not like another national disaster like another national disaster like a hurricane where it comes causes mass devastation and thenit causes mass devastation and then it goes away. pandemics come, they stay, we can do social distancing if we relax those measures the pandemic could come back. we have to manage this with a unified plan or else we will be unable to get ahead of it. we need to look at things like a national testing plan, national contact

tracing, hospital capacity in the supply chain and all of these things are global, not just national, so we need to work with partners around the world to do the things together. obviously other countries are trying to do the same thing so it is a competitive nature therefore is not ina competitive nature therefore is not in a perfect world with hindsight how would you think the administration should have responded when the first warnings came from china? one clear area that would have made a difference is if we had been able to get a testing strategy in place more quickly. clearly the united states has strong capacity to do diagnostic testing and we have shown again with outbreaks over time. and so with outbreaks over time. and so by being a little bit off the mark with our own testing capability, we lost valuable time in understanding whether disease was, how fast it was spreading and being able to isolate those cases and not see spikes that we have now. i think that is one area where we lost time full of now, however, there are many things we could

still be doing to bend the curve, to flatten the curve of this epidemic and i see some progress, certainly, buta unified plan for logistics, testing, supply and hospital capability would be great. you are obviously aware of the risk of pandemic because that was yourjob. do you think the world health now woken up to future pandemics and you think we will be better prepared in the future? i hope so. and that is one of the key messages that organisations like mine are trying to bring out. after every pandemic threat we have a period of panic where the world pays attention and then a long period of neglect were global leaders are not paying attention. in 2014 we launched the world health security agenda with partners worldwide in order to accelerate progress. the who began a series of efforts to assess countries to find out where their gaps were. but we really have not fill those gaps and i really hope that coming out of this pandemic we are able to

focus on filling the gaps, launching a fund to help countries that use finance to fill gaps and plugging the huge glow bull holes in the supply change so that all countries can be prepared. -- the huge gaping holes in the global supply. if you are looking for somewhere coronavirus free you may need to find a russian space rocket. a new crew has blasted off to the international space station in one of the cosmonauts on board say right now it is the safest lease to be. with a pandemic sweeping the world, here is an idea. leave the planet. a russian rocket blasts into space. confirmed separation of stage two. stripped inside our cosmonauts

anatoly and yvan and a nasa astronaut chris cassidy. the new crew for the international space station. coronavirus had affected pre—flight preparation. the three men have been entitled warranting than usual before a launch with contact usual before a launch with co nta ct to usual before a launch with contact to a bare minimum. and that meant no family members present for liftoff. obviously we would love to have our family is here with us but we understand we have to do this to be safe. you do not want to come down with covid—19 up here. but assuming they stay healthy, the crew will be well away from the dramas back on earth. translation: although spaceflight always carries a particular risk we understand that for the next few months the international space station will probably be the safest place on earth. of course, self isolation comes naturally to a

spaceman. no popping off to the shops orjogging in the park up here. 250 miles above the surface of the earth, the crew will be setting an example to us will be setting an example to us all on the international space station they will be staying home for the next six months. that is all from the bbc news room for now. plenty more on our website but we will leave you with some of the images and sounds of people across the uk coming out to clap for carers, as they have done now on three successive thursdays. clapping, cheering, general clamour

bagpipes play horns honk hello there. most parts of the country will be dry and warm today. yesterday was the warmest day of the year so far in wales with temperatures of 23.5 degrees in cardiff, similar temperatures again today and some parts of southern england may reach 25 degrees. yesterday most of the cloudy new castle was only 9 degrees so today will be warmer, a bit warmer across central and southern parts of scotland. over the weekend we will see the high temperatures getting squeezed down towards the south—east of england, we will start to see cooler from the north, significant change for all of us on monday with cool and northerly wind. these are the temperatures that we start off with on friday so mild even in the south where we

have clear skies. much milder across northern scotland this time but there will be rain to clear away from the northern isles and then we see some sharp showers coming in across scotland, perhaps the far north of england before it brightens up of england before it brightens up and we get sunshine, the rain holding off until the evening. sunshine across england and wales and the high—temperature is england and wales and the high—temperatu re is likely england and wales and the high—temperature is likely to be in the midlands, wales towards the south—east of england 24 maybe even 25 degrees. some of that heat could trigger thundery downpours late in the day across north wales moving to northern england and there is also wet weather coming into parts of scotland as well. there will still be showers around on saturday morning across scotland and the north of england. though should tend to fade away and they should all brighten up again and for much of the country should be dry into the afternoon. a few sharp showers developing and wales in the south—western that means the high temperatures are more likely to be in the south—east of england. 26 degrees as possible. more significant changes are coming in on sunday. northern parts of the uk will be cooler and cloudier, further south we will

have some sunshine but there is more likely to be showers developing across more southern parts of england and wales. those could be heavy and thundery. 22 degrees still possible in the south—east with the heat is beginning to ever way. and that is because we have a change in the wind direction. while we will see the back of the showers eventually it is a cold area of high pressure moving down from the north and ringing with it more northerly wind and some stronger wind overnight and into monday. it may blow in more cloud across the eastern side of the uk, sunshine further west but the high—temperature this time is 14 degrees, for many temperatures are below average for the time of year.

welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. the headlines: in the united states, another 6.6 million workers of bardwell employment in the last week. that brings the number of claims to almost 17 million injust three weeks. new figures also show that up to 60,000 americans could die with coronavirus, down scaling the earlier estimates. as infection rates and death tolls begin to soar, researchers are working around the clock to develop a coronavirus vaccine. an australian team from the university of queensland has reached a new base of testing, partnering with the dutch company for preclinical studies. in the prime minister borisjohnson who is receiving treatment for coronavirus has been moved out of intensive care ata has been moved out of intensive care at a london hospital spokesperson said his recovery is at an earlier stage. earlier, a lifting of the lockdown across the uk has been ruled out for the time being.