this is bbc news. the headlines... the number of people who have died in the uk with coronavirus rises by more than 700, pushing the total number of deaths above 11,000. as spain and italy begin to relax restrictions, the uk faces its fourth week in lockdown — with the government set to assess social distancing measures. the mother of one of the nurses praised by borisjohnson for helping save his life says she's "exceptionally proud" of her daughter. it doesn't matter what patient she's looking after. this is what she does. and ijust find it incredible. any nurses can do this. russia records its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases, over 2,500, with more than half of them

in the capital, moscow. with millions of people continuing to work in essential services, we'll see how britain's electricity companies are keeping the lights on. and revving up to help, the bikers from cornwall who've been helping vulnerable people by delivering essential shopping and medication. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. as the uk enters its fourth week in lockdown, the government is reviewing the measures imposed to try to curb the spread of coronavirus. 717 more people have died of the virus in the uk, taking the total number of deaths in the country to 11,329. and there are now nearly 90,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. 0n the lockdown, scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has said while there are optimistic signs it's working, until there's solid

evidence, it's unlikely that restrictions will be lifted. it comes as one of the european countries worst hit by the pandemic — spain — relaxes some of the restrictions it announced last month, allowing manufacturing and construction workers to return. russia has reported its biggest daily increase with 2,500 new cases mainly in moscow. and an nhs boss has warned the number of protective gowns available to front—line nhs staff in parts of the uk has become "critically low" in recent days. it's three weeks today since the uk brought in unprecedented restrictions affecting all areas of our daily lives. with empty roads and motorways over easter, it seems the majority of people are following the guidelines and now preparing for a fourth week of lockdown. it comes as the prime minister continues his recovery from the virus at his country residence at chequers in buckinghamshire.

he was full of praise for the nhs staff at st thomas‘s in london. in particular, two nurses, jenny mcgee from new zealand and luis pitarma from portugal. they stayed by his bedside for 48 hours. and the reason, in the end, my body did start to get enough oxygen was because for every second of the night, they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions i needed. miss mcgee's parents speaking to television new zealand said they were exceptionally proud. she has told us these things over the years and it doesn't matter what patient she's looking after, this is what she does. and ijust find it incredible. for otherfamilies, it is a different story. the virus has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people in the uk. wendy's dad, 77—year—old barry parker, has been on a ventilator with covid—19 for a fortnight.

she and her family have been told to expect the worst. i can't express how good they are, how compassionate they are and the doctors, they are alljust so kind. as i have said, we can't be there to hold his hand so they are doing that for us. the government priority has been to protect capacity within the nhs. the armed forces have already been deployed to help deliver ppe to the front line, set up nhs nightingale field hospitals and now they will be used to support ambulance crews driving ambulances and moving patients. we are being warned to get used to this new normal. the world health organization says all of us should consider wearing face masks when leaving home. for the wider population, we probably won't be able to ensure that everybody quickly can access the good masks, the n95 masks. but some form of facial protection, i am sure, is

going to become the norm, not least to give people reassurance. but i would say, do not imagine that you can do what you like when you wear a mask. there are early signs that social distancing measures are working. new infections and hospital admissions are starting to stabilise in some areas. but the welsh government has already said the lockdown there will remain for several more weeks. scotland is going to do the same. there are early optimistic signs that the steps we are taking are working. but until we know more and until we have solid evidence, we must stick with it. elsewhere in europe, there is some hope. spain, one of the worst affected countries, is lifting some of its restrictions from today. manufacturing and construction workers can start to return to work under strict guidelines, breathing new life back into parts of the economy.

let's speak to our health correspondent, katherine decosta. this is an increase of 113112. we have also seen the total that's now reached 11,029. that is an increase of 717. that is the lowest rise since last weekend, but it is important to remember that these are recorded deaths in hospital. they do not include care homes and in the community. the figure is expected to be higher. what we do see, sometimes there are delays, particularly at weekends reporting delays. particularly since this has been a four—day easter weekend, chances are we may see death figures increased by next week. it could have been worse. up until last weekend, deaths we re worse. up until last weekend, deaths were doubling every three days. if that had continued on that trend, we

could have seen a next 3000 deaths today. that hasn't happened. the hope is that the social distancing restrictions are starting to work. that we are seeing a stabilisation of new cases and hospital admissions. the hope, then, is that full feed into the number of deaths that we are seeing. if we just show a graph showing the trend. if we make it clear, it is certainly difficult to compare with other countries because people are working on different criteria, especially when it comes to testing. what can we read into the trends that we are seeing at the moment? it does vary. if we look at the uk, we will see that london has been further ahead than other parts of the country. it is the same in america, with new york having more cases than other parts of the country. it is sometimes difficult to compare our country with other countries and how they are progressing with the epidemic. but what we are seeing and

what the scientists are saying is that they are hopeful that there is this a stabilisation of new cases of hospital admissions and hopefully that will start to feed through. in terms of where does that leave us? what happens next? what is the exit strategy? the government has said that it needs to follow the science and pass the peak. it does not want to start publicly discussing when to lift some of these restrictions too $0011. lift some of these restrictions too soon. there have been warnings that you could then have a second wave and things like that. we have heard today from the welsh government that they have said they are going to keep their lockdown restrictions in place for several weeks. scotland as well. the uk governments have said they will work together on this. we are not expecting to see a lift on restrictions anytime soon. there is a risk of sounding very casual women

talk about this. but this is a 717 families that are dealing with this in the last few days. any deaths, it is going to make it very unlikely of easing any restrictions at this stage, isn't it? we are still seeing the large numbers. 0n stage, isn't it? we are still seeing the large numbers. on friday, we saw nearly a thousand deaths reported in 24—hour is. we are still seeing large numbers and that is the point that the government is making. you need to go past the peak. they are waiting to see what happens with those death figures and they are expecting that they would have to full quite significantly to see lower levels before you can start lifting restrictions like going back to school. they would have to think about which restrictions to lift. in spain, today they have lifted some of their restrictions. they are one of their restrictions. they are one of their restrictions. they are one of the worst affected countries. they are starting to lift some. we

have seen in the construction area, manufacturing. some people are starting to get back to work with very strict guidelines. it would have to be weighed up, what would work here and when. an nhs boss has warned the number of protective gowns available to front—line staff in parts of the country has become "critically low" in recent days. chris hopson, chief executive of nhs providers in england, has called for a "more sustainable supply" of gowns, which are imported from china. there's a range of personal protection equipment that needs to be delivered at the front line. aprons, gloves, masks, gowns, visors. nearly all of that material is flowing in the way that trusts would like. trusts are now telling us that they now have the vast majority of equipment. the bit where there is a particular problem which is what i was specifically talking about was gowns, where we know that over the last 72 hours, some trusts have run critically low on stocks. so what has happened,

as always is the case in these cases, the nhs has mobilised. no trust, as far as i am aware, has actually run out. but some of the stocks are very, very low. what we have been doing is mobilising as fast as we can to get those stocks distributed as effectively as possible. but what i was specifically saying was one of the constraints that the nhs is working under on gowns, and it is only on gowns, is that effectively this supply that is coming from china is pretty erratic at the moment. that is causing problems. as we have been hearing, restrictions are likely to remain in place for some time yet. earlier i spoke to our political correspondent helen catt who explained why the governent was likely to keep restrictions in place sot right at this moment the first review is due this week, in the next few days. it is very unlikely that that review will see any change. that is because the government has consistently said that these

measures are about getting us through the peak of the virus, about making sure that the nhs isn't overwhelmed. all the signs were from the end of last week was that we were not quite there yet. what they will do as they will sit down with the scientists, the scientific advisory group as they are known. they will look at the data this week. by thursday, that is the deadline when the government has to have done this review. that is the deadline set in a law for them to be looked at. very unlikely that they are going to change. ultimately, each nation could set its own social distancing rules. they each have the power to do that. scotland could be different to england, which could be different to wales. that is if they so want. a downing street spokesman said that, so far, all of the nations have moved in lock step. there was a cobra meeting last week with all the devolved administrations. they agreed that they would pursue a single way forward in terms of that review process. we heard from nicola sturgeon there that, certainly in scotland, they are not looking to lift those restrictions. we can extrapolate from that that is likely to be the case in england as well. we need to be wary about comparisons

with other countries because different populations, different ways of measuring, different testing facilities as well. what do we know about the trends? that is, presumably, what the government is looking at? yes, they are looking at the trends and they are looking to try and see what impact those social distancing measures have. and what they have consistently said is that it takes some weeks for those to sort of start showing up in the figures. again, you heard nicola sturgeon saying there were early signs of progress. in his video message, borisjohnson said yesterday that it was starting to make progress. it is certainly that kind language that we are hearing. not that we are there with it. so we expect the restrictions to stay in place. let's talk about boris johnson. out of hospital, recuperating at chequers. anybody who has had this horrible virus knows that it is weeks before you feel yourself, even after you have got rid of the virus. when do we think he will take back control, if you like? it is literally a few days since he was in intensive care. it is no surprise that the medical

advice at the moment is that he should not be going back to work. therefore, he is on medical advice, recuperating at chequers, which is the prime minister's country residence. that's what he's doing there. he is not working. we are told that means he's not getting his red box, he is not getting the papers. he did speak to dominic rab, the secretary of state over the weekend. but he has not had any phone calls with the queen. dominic is still in charge of the day—to—day running of the country as his deputy. that is whilst the prime minster is focused on his recovery. we do know one thing, though, that he was tested for coronavirus again before he was discharged from hospital. and he did test negative. so it is now about getting him back up to speed, i suppose. regardless of when the lockdown is reduced and whatever measure, there is some pressure on ministers to announce what the strategy would be when it happens. yes, there is. and understandably so. this is sort of unprecedented. i think downing street referred to it as unprecedented restrictions on people's way of life. so there certainly is going to be some pressure.

when you talk about exit strategies last week, all the language around it was it was too early to start thinking about exit strategies. at the moment, they are just trying to get through the pandemic. in europe, spain and italy are taking the first tentative steps in easing restrictions — but the italian government has told the bbc some businesses will not be allowed to fully reopen until a vaccine is found. restaurants and bars face the most uncertainty and many have already gone out of business since the lockdown began five weeks ago. the tables still set for meals that we re the tables still set for meals that were never served. the tables still set for meals that were never served. chiara built this place for the people of rome to eat, meet and play music. but it has been five weeks since every restaurant in italy was shut down and as the lockdown drags on, she is preparing to close for good.

and this is the reality, and when shops and businesses are reopened, it will be gradual. the places where you cannot keep your distance will be last. we cannot have concerts, we cannot have cinema. what about bars and restaurants? now, it is impossible to imagine that the restau ra nts ca n impossible to imagine that the restaurants can reopen. until the discovery of a vaccine, it is impossible to imagine that you can return to a normal life. in the meantime, the government is offering loa ns to meantime, the government is offering loans to keep them going. but these businesses are struggling to see their place in a socially distant future and fear that by the time they are allowed to reopen, the damage done will be so great that it will be irreversible. this bar now

resembles a ghost ship, another business on the edge. how busy does it get? now, nothing. and while this country waits to be reopened, the streets are silently being redrawn. the places which give it so much of its soul, so much at risk. let's speak to diana seed a journalist in madrid. let's deal with the figures. they do seem to be dealing with the trend where figures are dropping in terms of numbers of deaths. good

afternoon. yes. diana, can you hear me? yes, i can hear you. the figures seem me? yes, i can hear you. the figures seem to be a little more optimistic and the trend seems to be showing a bit of a slowdown. the ministry of health has already declared that the curve is stopping as of today. however, we have seen a little bit of inconsistency in the numbers. this saturday, for example, we had 500 new cases declared. but yesterday, that number went up by 100. that means that the curve is not quite steady. and yet there has been a decision to ease what has been a decision to ease what has been very strict lockdown measures? yes, today is the first day that some workers are coming back to their jobs, especially some workers are coming back to theirjobs, especially construction workers and manufacturing workers.

white back to we know what has been eased and how are they working this? as of today, what the government has stated is that industry workers are allowed to go back to work in construction. however, there is some uncertainty and some gaps in the way that they are coming back to jobs. especially because yesterday, at nine o'clock at night, the government clarified that these workers would not be allowed to be in buildings where other people are living or staying. this seems quite complicated to get done, especially in big constructions, many people have to work together in very small places. there is not a very clear way of how this will turn out or how this will work in the next few days. this underlines the difficulty that

they have in the balance. 0n this underlines the difficulty that they have in the balance. on one hand, you have the health crisis. 0n the other hand, you have the economy and there is serious pressure to try and there is serious pressure to try and get people back to work if it is possible. yes, definitely. however, i think citizens are very worried about how this will effect the curve in the next few weeks. the minister of health declared that only two weeks in advance we will see the impact that these measurements will have. it is very complicated to say right now the impact that this will have in the health care system. however, it probably will help the economy. but we still see that spain will struggle, especially seeing as most of our economy is based in tourists, which is the industry that has been most affected and com pletely has been most affected and completely stopped. very few governments in the world have been

escaping criticism of how they have handled the crisis. what about the way the spanish government have dealt with those who have been out of work? how have they managed to help those who do not have any money coming in? right now, the measures that they have made in order to help people at work is that they deliver surgical masks to be distributed on public transportation in order to help those we are going to work. however, i think most of the citizens are not satisfied with the way the government has managed the measurements for autonomous workers, who are owners of small businesses 01’ who are owners of small businesses or freelancers, for example. spain has some of the best health care systems in europe. i am wondering how spain is looking outside at how other countries are dealing with this? are they learning lessons?

pointing out countries where it does seem pointing out countries where it does seem to be better handled?” pointing out countries where it does seem to be better handled? i think the general consensus here in spain is that a lot of people have been looking at thejob is that a lot of people have been looking at the job that portugal has done controlling coronavirus there. however, we see that some other european countries have not been handling the situation in the best way possible. they are not putting as strong measurements or restrictions on their population, which would probably lead to in increase in cases in the few weeks. in terms of easing of restrictions, some people told that they can go back to work. 0ther some people told that they can go back to work. other people, they would rather stay at home and stay safe. the government issued some weeks ago state that said that any

business that is still operating and is not an essential business, if their workers go back to work, they will have two assume that if they get ill, they will have to assume that illness is a work incident and not as a part of the pandemic. that means that the business owners will have two assume it was their decision to put the workers endanger to keep operating the business when it is not and essential business. very good to speak to you. thank you very much. last month, ministers announced support packages worth tens of billions of pounds to try to ease the economic damage of the pandemic. the treasury says those who don't qualify will be able to access a range of other measures, but many businesses and workers who've lost their jobs say they've not received enough support. katy austin has been

speaking to some of them. asking for help to ride out pandemic, the government emergency support schemes enabling furlough, kept on while the state pays a proportion of wages, loan and financing schemes for small and larger companies, grants for self—employed people and a range of other measures. but many firms and workers tell us they fulfil the previously self—employed, he started a newjob in march, but he started to late to be furloughed. my wife is on maternity leave. i now have no salary. this is not the best time to be looking for a job. this chimney sweep is the sole director of his own company. not eligible for the self—employed package, he hopes the government

grant scheme would apply.|j package, he hopes the government grant scheme would apply. i might be able to limp on a little bit, but if ido able to limp on a little bit, but if i do not furlough myself, the business is still likely to fail. this caterer is in the same position. i have to face the reality that i might not be able to keep my business going. i would like to see the net being widened to include businesses in mixed use buildings. this has been revamped following criticism,... to banks and credit down because it is not yet profitable. we are facing a significant crisis. entrepreneurs cannot innovate their way out of this on their own. they need support from the government. otherwise, we

have to look at changing all of our plans are making significant cuts. make no mistake, the support packages are huge, significant and complex to help as many businesses as possible survive and protect millions of incomes. but the list of people who say they still cannot access enough support is a lot longer than what we have been able to mention here. those that can, they say the crucial thing now is that money gets to them. one of the many unknowns is how many of that can be prevented. here, police have praised people for largely staying inside over what has been a warm and sunny weekend. we're now entering our fourth week of lockdown measures in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus with the strong likelihood of restrictions being extended. today parks and beaches would usually be full of people enjoying the bank holiday...

but not so this year. let's speak to our correspondent sarah ra nsome who's on a beach in exmouth. we've got blue skies, but we do not have the crowds that we would normally expect. just behind me are just a short section of the two miles of sandy beaches that this town boasts. as you can see, there arejust a town boasts. as you can see, there are just a handful of people out there this afternoon. earlier, just there this afternoon. earlier, just the odd dog walker two. the temperatures have risen since this morning. it has coaxed a few more people out this afternoon, butjust a handful. normally, they would be crowded. because of the lockdown that we have had over the last few weeks and in particular last week, the message has been to stay at home and only make essentialjourneys. in particular, last week, the local authorities, police, tourist leaders have been asking people who might

traditionally come this way to have an easter break and make the most of easter holidays. a few extra days that you have over the easter weekend, police are asking them to stay away. tourist destinations were closed for business. they said they will be open as and when current restrictions allow. at the moment, they are closed. having a look here and having been here this morning, it does seem as though the restriction seem to have been applied. we have seen pictures over the weekend of the birds coming into the weekend of the birds coming into the south—west. —— those roads are deserted. police have been out pulling people over to check why they were on the roads at all. generally speaking, i think people have been abiding by that. we have heard from the odd tweet from the police saying that they pulled over 01’ police saying that they pulled over or two people who were saying that their essential journeys, or two people who were saying that their essentialjourneys, in their eyes, had been a fishing trip to the

south—west. that was not and essential journey according to south—west. that was not and essentialjourney according to the police. one gentleman drove a 170 mile round trip to get away from the wife and kids. the police said that was not an essentialjourney. as we go to was not an essentialjourney. as we gotoa was not an essentialjourney. as we go to a close this bank holiday weekend, it is really not a bank holiday as you and i would know it. but people here, certainly, are abiding by rules. the local authorities and tourist leaders have asked people to abide by it. this is asked people to abide by it. this is a double whammy for areas like the one where you are because they rely one where you are because they rely on seasonal trade anyway and this would traditionally be a very, very busy time. absolutely. this would traditionally have been the kick start to the summer season. everybody geared up to the easter opening. that, really, if they saw a

good weekend and had some and lovely warm weather, and people flocked to the south—west if they had booked in advance orjust the south—west if they had booked in advance or just wanted the south—west if they had booked in advance orjust wanted to see what would happen, that would have kick started the season and would have hopefully taken them through. of course, at the moment, that has not happened, because it hasn't been able to happen. for the last two or three weeks, tourist leaders have been asking people not to come. com pletely been asking people not to come. completely the opposite of what they would really like to be saying and what, traditionally, they would be saying. this year is different. this year, they do not want people to come, as they say,. the health services in this region probably could not cope. the health authorities have said do not come here. if they have a huge influx of emergency and into a&e and i see you, this part of the