scotland, temperatures range from seven to about 17. this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the number of people who died with coronavirus by april 3rd is 15% higher than previously reported, according to official data which includes deaths outside of hospitals. the uk government confirms coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2000 care homes in england, as charities warn daily death figures based on hospital deaths are misleading. we have very large numbers of people in care homes who are passing away who are exhibiting covid—19 symptoms but who aren't being classified as having the coronavirus because they haven't been tested. in the us, president trump claims "total" power to lift a nationwide lockdown, and clashes with the media over his handling of the pandemic.

we did a lot. look, look. you know you're a fake, you know that, your whole network, the way you cover it, is fake. france's president macron extends his country's lockdown for another month — but spain and italy allow some people back to work amid economic fears. scientific advisers for the uk government are to meet later to review the impact of the lockdown measures — but officials say there'll be no early relaxation of the restrictions. welcome to viewers in the uk and to viewers on bbc world. in the last half hour, the office for national statistics has released figures for the total number of deaths in england and wales — including

deaths in the community. and also tax in care homes. -- tests in care homes. according to the ons, more than 6,000 people have died in england and wales due to coronavirus. that's up 15% on the number of deaths previously reported by the government, whose figures only include hospital deaths. it covers the period up until 3rd april. there have been outbreaks of covid—i9 at more than 2000 care homes in england, the department of health has confirmed. the news comes as scientific advisers for the government are due to meet later to review the impact of the uk's lockdown measures. in the us, president trump has said he has "total" power to lift the nationwide coronavirus lockdown as he defended his handling of the pandemic in the united states during a bad—tempered white house briefing. the us is the global epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, with over 23,000 deaths.

president emmanuel macron has extended the lockdown in france for another four weeks. measures will now remain in place until at least may the 11th. earlier i spoke to nick stripe, head of health analysis and life events at the office for national statistics, about what these latest figures mean. the figures that have been released today are for deaths that were registered to the local registration service in the week ending friday 3rd of april, what they show us is that we have seen the highest number of deaths recorded in a week since we started compiling weekly death figures in 2005. 21% of the deaths recorded included covid mentioned on the death certificate, that goes up to 47% of all deaths in london mentioned covid on the death

certificate. 16,387 deaths in total we re certificate. 16,387 deaths in total were registered that week, more than 5000 higher than the week before, when you would expect the numbers to be going down at this time of year normally, and over 6000 higher than the recent five year average, so 60% higher than the five year average for this comparable week in previous yea rs. for this comparable week in previous years. let me repeat some of those numbers, there were quite a few. figures from the office for national statistics say there were 16,387 deaths in the week ending 3 april — the highest figure since they started publishing weekly data in 2005. here to take us through the figures is our head of statistics, robert cuffe. and also the significance of those figures. hi, robert, this is a big rise? normally at this time of year we would expect to see around 10,000 deaths in a week and that figure will be falling, there is a peak early in january with the flu and will be falling, there is a peak early injanuary with the flu and it gradually goes down. instead we are

seeing not ten, that 16,000, and rising. that is a big change. as we said, the highest since they have been publishing, since 2005, a 60% jump over been publishing, since 2005, a 60% jump over what we would expect at this time of year. a large part of thatis this time of year. a large part of that is in london where half of the deaths were recorded against code —— against by miss, but overall it is pretty significant. how many of these are people dying in care homes? remember the figures the dhs see publish everyday do not include people in care homes and the office for national to looking at death certificates with covid—19 mentioned, that can include deaths in the community, but they say that most of the deaths they ask in, with covid mentioned, most of those are happening in hospitals, 90%, maybe 596, happening in hospitals, 90%, maybe 5%, a little higher, in care homes

and hospices, and event 3% in the home, so the majority in hospitals. —— around 3% in the home. are other factors causing the rising debts? this is the tricky thing. of the 6000 extra deaths we are seeing this week, around 3500 directly mentioned covid, which leads to thousand 500 where it is much more than we would expect at this time of year, far higher than normal, but covid is not being mentioned directly. that could being mentioned directly. that could be deaths that could be caused directly by covid but it is not mentioned on the death certificate, it could be the other strains that covid is pacing on society, people having heart attacks or strokes and not seeking or getting access to ca re not seeking or getting access to care 01’ not seeking or getting access to care or the not seeking or getting access to care 01’ the measures we are not seeking or getting access to care or the measures we are taking to prevent further deaths directly to prevent further deaths directly to covid. it does not tell as what balance of those three things it might be but it tells us that the

impact of covid is even larger than we are seeing in the daily figures and the direct cell death certificates which directly mention it. that is why the right is so high —— the daily figures and the death certificates which directly mention it. let's speak to our assitant political editor norman smith. what will the political significance of this be? the truly staggering fa ct of this be? the truly staggering fact which emerge from the 0ns figures is the huge and rapid increase in deaths in care homes. if i heard the man from the 0ns correctly, he said there was a tenfold increase in care home deaths. the overall numbers may still be relatively low compared to overall coronavirus deaths, just 5% of the total, but he said the rate of the total, but he said the rate of increase was tenfold, the previous figures compiled by the 0ns up previous figures compiled by the 0ns up to the weekend of march 27, i

think he said there were 20 coronavirus —related deaths in care homes, the subsequent week, to april three, there had been more than 300. that would suggest to me that whereas care home staff were initially successful in shielding their residents from coronavirus, once coronavirus gets into a home, it spreads very, very rapidly and that would fit with what we would surmise. care homes are packed full of the elderly and frail, so as one gets it, there is a very high risk others will. added to which many had dementia and are perhaps not really up dementia and are perhaps not really up to observing all the restrictions are on hand washing, self isolation, shielding, and so it seems quite plausible that we could be heading for a very, very swift upturn in the level of deaths from coronavirus in ca re level of deaths from coronavirus in care homes, which would mirror what the heads of care homes are saying.

we heard from britain because my biggest care home provider today saying i think two thirds of his homes were affected and one third of all deaths in his homes were coronavirus related. and he has had more than 2000 suspected cases of coronavirus. this is becoming extraordinarily serious, because so much attention, rightly, has been focused on the nhs, we have somewhat taken our eye off the ball on care homes, at least that would be the view of many people working in care homes and resulted a few of baroness ros altmann, the former conservative pensions minister who cited that social year had through the years been ignored and undervalued compared to the nhs. successive governments for the last umpteen years have failed to grasp this nettle. social care has been left to councils who do not have enough budget to cope with the rising

numberof budget to cope with the rising number of elderly people in our population as a whole, that is a demographic issue. governments have continually promised to sort things out, continually promised a solution to pairfunding, but out, continually promised a solution to pair funding, but it has not been delivered. the government has said they are rolling out testing to care homes on a clinical need basis, matt hancock said it would be available to all care home staff who needed it, but this is beginning now, it is being rolled out now. there has also been a question about the provision of protective equipment, desperately neededin of protective equipment, desperately needed in care homes, because the ca re needed in care homes, because the care home staff are having to handle, literally, residents all day long, that is part of the nature of their work. i think therese coffey said 8 million beds of detective clothing had been distributed so

far, a tiny proportion compared to the amount distributed to the nhs. i guess the bottom line is you have to move to a situation where much more intensive resources are put into testing and equipment for staff and residents in care homes and there is also a question about the numbers, can much more to date numbers and what is going on in care homes? the latest figures at the moment relate to april three, a fortnight ago. there is quite a lot of ground to make up. thank you norman, you heard right, it went up tenfold from march 27 to april three, 20 in that first week and then up to 217, you were right. thank you very much, norman. elizabeth says my daughter—in—law works nights in a dementia care home, last week she had to attend to an elderly lady who was having breathing problems. the ambulance was called and she was taken to hospital, where she sadly died. my

daughter—in—law phoned her manager, she did not know if she could have picked up the virus because shatner ppe. she did not want to go in for her next shift because there was a risk of passing it on if she had it, she was told by e—mail she had to come into work and if she had a temperature she would be tested. she refused and is still waiting to be tested. thank you for filling us refused and is still waiting to be tested. thank you forfilling us in 0h tested. thank you forfilling us in on what is going on in care homes, both private and local authority, a and down the country. president trump has lashed out at the media, seeking to defend his record in slowing the early spread of coronavirus. nationwide, the us has recorded more than half a million cases and more than 23,000 deaths so far, but mr trump says the rise in cases has begun to flatten out. mr trump told reporters he would not be firing one of his top medical advisers, dr anthony fauci, despite sharing a tweet at the weekend with the hashtag "fire fauci." 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. it started with some welcome news — president trump said they were

making progress against coronavirus. over the weekend the number of daily new infections remained flat — nationwide, flat. hospitalisations are slowing in hotspots like new york, newjersey, michigan and louisiana. this is clear evidence the strategy to combat the virus is working. but mr trump has been strongly criticised by us media for not having a strategy to combat the virus during the first few weeks of the outbreak in the us. in a tv interview over the weekend, one of his senior medical advisers said earlier mitigation efforts to slow the spread of the virus could have saved more lives. anthony fauci took to the podium to explain that he'd been answering a hypothetical question and that he did not mean to imply that mistakes had been made. he said the president always took his advice. are you doing this voluntarily? everything i do is voluntarily —

please, don't even imply that. mr trump said he had no intention of firing dr fauci because they'd been on the same page since the beginning. instead the president turned on the media, lashing out at what he said was unfair coverage. he spelled out a timeline leading up to his announcement on 31 january that travel into the us from china was to be banned. 0njanuary 17 there wasn't a case — the fake news saying he didn't act fast enough. you will remember what happened, because when i did act i was criticised by nancy pelosi, sleepyjoe biden, by everybody. in fact i was called xenophobic. it is not even close... the president also took the unusual step of putting on this campaign—style video during the coronavirus briefing, highlighting praise he'd been given by state governors for his response to covid—19. it prompted this testy exchange

with a reporterfrom cbs. i saved tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives. the argument is that you bought yourself some time, you did not ramp up testing. you are so disgraceful. it is so disgraceful the way you say that. what did you do with the time that you bought? look, you know you're a fake. you know that. your whole network, the way you cut that it your whole network, the way you cut thatitis your whole network, the way you cut that it is fake. after venting his anger, the president said his government was close to completing a plan to reopen the country and that he had "total power" to lift the coronavirus restrictions... thank you all very much. ..imposed by state governors. at that press conference was our north america editor, jon sopel, who asked mr trump how his plan to re—start the economy would work. can i ask you, mr president, if you could sketch for us what reopening the economy looks like? do you think it's going to be everything open?

we have some of the biggest from every business on this council. we are actually setting up a number of different councils, committees, i guess you could call them, and we have a lot of smart people. i think that they will give us some good advice. but we want to be very, very safe. at the same time, we've got to get our country up. as i understand, mr president, do you think there is a possibility then that what you do is, you open it incrementally? do you think people will go back to restaurants, to concerts? eventually they will do that. and i think we're going to boom. i think we're going to, i think it's going to go quickly. people want to get back to work and i think there is a pent—up demand like there hasn't been in a long time. that's why, and that's where you see the stock market, i mean, to think that the stock market is at the level it is right now with all that this world and this country has gone, and look at the european union, how badly decimated and they've been. as part of reopening america, do you want to reopen the borders so that people from europe, from the uk... at the right time.

very good question, actually, well, i'm going to have to take a look. i wouldn't say italy is doing great right now and i wouldn't say spain is doing great right now. and we just heard that france is extending its stay inside order, right, they've extended it, i've just seen that. and i think for a short period of time. no, when they're back, we want to do it very quickly, but we want to make sure everything is good. right now, right now we have a very strong band. —— ban. we going to keep it that way until they heal. weeks, months, what would you... well, i can't tell you that, i'd have to see how you're doing. france just went for another two weeks. we have to see. you talked about this being the most difficult decision that you're going to have to take about whether to reopen the economy. i wonder how much it weighs on your mind, the thought that if there is a second wave, you have reopen the economy, and you might have to shut things down again. it does, and i hope that won't happen, i certainly hope that won't happen but it does weigh on my mind.

the headlines on bbc news... the number of people who died with coronavirus by april 3rd is 15% higher than previously reported, according to official data which includes deaths outside of hospitals. those figures are for england and wales. the government confirms coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2000 care homes in england. in the us, president trump claims "total" power to lift a nationwide lockdown, and clashes with the media over his handling of the pandemic. the french president emmanuel macron has extended the coronavirus lockdown for another four weeks until may the 11th. he said the current restrictions had slowed the virus but not beaten it, and accepted that the lockdown had been especially tough for poorer families without the benefit of spacious homes and good internet connections. translation: were we ready for this crisis? well, clearly not enough. but we stood up to it. in the next four weeks,

the rules put in place by government have to be respected. they're shown to be successful, they will not be reinforced or lightened but they should be completely put into place. several countries across europe, including italy and austria, are beginning to ease restrictions today. the italian government is introducing a gradual relaxation of lockdown rules, allowing a limited number of shops and businesses to open. 20,000 people have died of coronavirus in italy — second only to the united states. earlier i asked our europe correspondentjean mackenzie in rome about what shops will be able to open. it isa it is a very small number, a very select few. book shops, shop selling baby select few. book shops, shop selling ba by clothes select few. book shops, shop selling baby clothes and stationery shops. pretty much everything else is staying closed. really this lockdown which has been in place forfive weeks is carrying on as was for

another three weeks. italians will not really notice much difference to their daily lives. factories, industries, the ones putting a lot of pressure on the government to allow that to restart, they are still closed, the government ultimately decided that was too $0011. ultimately decided that was too soon. what is the thinking behind some smaller shops opening today?” think it is to get a slight boost to allow the shops that people want to go to, particularly when you look at baby clothes, stationery, everyday essentials, to open back up. they are small shops that people will not go to and big crowds, strict social distancing rules in place, keeping everything else closed so it is a gradual reopening, the government wa nts to gradual reopening, the government wants to gradually reopen things, sector by sector, it is currently working on a plan, they don't know what the next phase will look like, they are working out the details but very cautiously moving forward. with populations around the globe experiencing unprecedented constraints on day—to—day life —

at untold cost to the global economy — one question is at the forefront of everybody‘s mind: when and how can we hope to eventually return to normal? well, in the last few days some european countries have announced plans to start gradually relaxing their constraints, and meanwhile — in wuhan, the original epicentre of the disease, life is gradually getting back to normal. we can speak to sian griffiths who chaired the inquiry into the hong kong government's response to the sars outbreak, and dr carlo la vecchia, professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at the university of milan. i will ask you to respond first to the breaking news from spain, the latest death toll, coronavirus deaths in spain have now reached 18,000. professor sian griffiths, what do you make of that? like many countries, spain is struggling to contain the disease and bring in

measures that will mean that eventually the disease peaks and the rate starts to full. it is the same struggle we have here in the uk. but other countries like china have seemingly overcome that struggle and managed to reduce the rates of disease down to very low figures in china. so there is hope for countries in europe as we move forward in this terrible pandemic. and how do you respond to those figures from spain, carlo?” and how do you respond to those figures from spain, carlo? i am a bit less optimistic in spain, italy and other european countries. italy isa and other european countries. italy is a country which first started the european academic, it reached the peak on march 27 and on the basis of inference from china we expected about a 13 day plateau and then a rapid decline. we had an almost 20

day plateau and the decline is very limited. so the shape of the epidemic in italy and i suspect in other european countries will be longer than in china. this is possibly due to the fact that wuhan, it was a single epidemic in a major city. at least in italy we started with a very major epidemic in a city, bergamot, and then other epidemics were following in other areas. my fear is that the length of the epidemic would be longer in europe and possibly in western countries, compared to china. sian griffiths, do you agree?” countries, compared to china. sian griffiths, do you agree? i think thatis griffiths, do you agree? i think that is right. the lockdown in wuhan

prevented the spread within china and there was not another major epidemic in any other major city in china, the numbers remained quite small, although lockdown procedures we re small, although lockdown procedures were put in place. it is perfectly possible that as my colleague just said, we make this a different picture in europe but we hope the plateau is being reached and numbers will start to decline. there is some decline but it is very limited. the epidemic in italy, instead of early may, is eventually planned, it may be injune. may, is eventually planned, it may be in june. carlo la vecchia, would that be all right for you, or do you fear that some of the easing of restrictions is too soon? easing of

restrictions is too soon? easing of restrictions will have consequences. if you ease the restrictions in may, as we should do, early may, we won't see any consequence until late june, because the consequence at the level of disease which be several weeks later. my view is we have data from some major italian banks were over 30,000 employees still have contact with the public and the contagion has been zero over the last week. so if you respect social distance, if you respect the standard norms of hygiene, it seems that you can work ina hygiene, it seems that you can work in a safe way. let me go back to

sian griffiths, until we have a vaccine, will we see, gu thing, rolling lockdown, rolling restrictions and all others having to maintain social distancing in workplaces and hygiene? was your hands? iam workplaces and hygiene? was your hands? i am absolutely sure the hygiene messages had to stay in place, probably forevermore. we should be washing our hands much more than we perhaps have been doing, avoiding touching our eyes and mouths and keeping surfaces around is hygienically clean, we should probably be doing that anyway. intensive social distancing, even though we say wuhan is getting back to normal, it is a new normal, a different normal, for two reasons. 0ne a different normal, for two reasons. one is the expected behaviours, you are expected to socially distance, you carry an app that says whether you carry an app that says whether you have been exposed or not, and

the other is (inaudible) responding, if a cinema was to reopen tomorrow, would you go pasture market hypothetical question, but how has your behaviour changed, has your behaviour changed, will you be feeling at risk of five hits for a while? although restrictions can change, peoples behaviour may well change, as well as keeping social measures in place and carefully watching. i am particularly interested in seeing what happens when school is open again, denmark is opening its schools, china... sorry to interrupt but denmark is opening primary schools. primary schools, that you could look and see, shanghai is opening secondary schools on the 27th of april, what will happen? what will that due to impact on behaviours and rates of disease? i think we will need to watch carefully for different age groups to see what difference it makes and

to see what difference it makes and to learn. sadly we are facing big challenges in this country. carlo la vecchia, we have been told that if the restrictions are lifted at once, then we risk the virus coming back, we risk another outbreak. does that mean we will see these kind of restrictions for a long time, at least until we have a vaccine? the restrictions will not be lifted at once, and certainly people's behaviour will change. the big congregation of people will not be allowed, will not be taken for at least a year. that is obvious. a key message is that when we will reduce the restrictions to allow people at least to go to work, we will not see

any consequence for at least a month and possibly two months. and so the evaluation of the changes, if we limit restrictions early may, it will not be seen before july. i hope it will be minor, but we will not be able to evaluate. finally, you mentioned the hypothetical question, sian griffiths, if the cinema was open. i mean, other cinemas opening china or not? i don't think so, no. some of the restaurants are opening again. and different cities are giving different things, so again it is difficult to tell, but i would say the mates —— the major risk china has faced is people travelling

back into the country, particularly recently along the north—eastern border with russia, that is where the increase in cases has come. there are no flights into china for people who are just visiting and there are strict quarantines for visitors into the country puts mandatory testing. so when i say going back to normal, i think going back to normal is the new normal. things are changing and will continue to change as we need to maintain vigilance against this virus, because it is not a matter of just having it once, it is the resurgence, it is the future number of cases that come in until we have a vaccine. understood. but vaccine cannot come soon a vaccine. understood. but vaccine cannot come soon enough. thank you both, sian griffiths, who chaired the inquiry into the hong kong government's response to the south outbreak, and carlo la vecchia, professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at the university of malan.

in america, foodbank charities have expressed grave concern that they could run out of food, as tens of thousands of people flock to their service in search of a meal for their families. freya cole reports. this is a queue for help in pittsburgh, western pennsylvania. scores of people in need of assistance from a foodbank to make sure their family won't go hungry. well, the way things are going out with everybody out of work... it's a necessity for me because i have five people in my house, plus two dogs. this is san antonio, texas. 10,000 vehicles in just one day. the organisers say there was enough food for everyone, but fear it's only a matter of time before stocks are depleted. families started to line up at 3am, hoping that we wouldn't run out of food. and so the panic and fear and anxiety for a lot of these families who lost theirjob two to three weeks ago and now their final dollars have run out and they're just desperate

and panicked that they won't be able to feed their family. more than 16 million americans have lost work during the coronavirus lockdown. the unemployment crisis has put a huge strain on individuals, families and charities to make ends meet. we typically feed about 60,000 people each week, and in this covid—19 crisis, that's now gone to 120,000 people. 0ur charity relies on donations to be able to feed those in need, but it's this unprecedented need that has got us all worried we might run out of food. the panic is being felt across all of the united states. government financial aid is available, but charities say it's only a supplement and many people will rely on the good of others to get them by. freya cole, bbc news.

the indian prime minister, narendra modi, has extended his country's lockdown until may the third. the entire population of more than a billion people has been living under severe restrictions for the past three weeks. the world bank has slashed its predictions of indian economic growth this year, from 5% down to 1.5%. 0ur correspondent, yogita limaye, is in mumbai, and says the scale of the outbreak is still unclear in india. india overall has more than 10,000 cases and nearly 360 people have died of the infection so far. but i've been speaking to front line doctors over the past one week from different parts of the country. the worrying thing they have been telling me is that they believe these numbers are being underreported. the true scale of the outbreak in india is not yet known, partly because people who are brought dead two hospitals, who the suspicion is they might have died of

something, you know, which looks a like —like coronavirus, those people are not tested, theirfamilies like —like coronavirus, those people are not tested, their families are not tested. the other thing is the shortage of testing kits. so one doctor, for example, told me that 150 to 250 people with symptoms showed up at the hospital each day but they are only able to test 30. questions are being asked about whether the scale of the outbreak is known in india or not. the announcement this morning did not come as a surprise. lots of states had already extended the love that until the end of the month. of course, this means very tough times for lots of people who are poor in india. the government did announce an aid package earlier this month, but given how vast this country is, it is reaching some of them but not reaching all of them. outbreaks of coronavirus have been reported at more than 2,000 care homes for the elderly and vulnerable in england. in response a group of charities have written to the uk

health secretary demanding more must be done to stop the devastation. earlier baroness altmann, the conservative peer and former pensions minister, said assistance was not getting through to areas where it was "desperately needed." somehow care homes have been left behind in this scramble for more ppe, protective equipment, for the emergency admissions, ventilation, and for the testing as well. so there are a lot more people a p pa re ntly there are a lot more people apparently dying in care homes without having seen a doctor and without having seen a doctor and without the normal care and treatment that you would have hoped they would be able to receive, because care homes are somehow being left out of —— visitors are not coming in to see them as usually they would. who is abandoning them?

well, it's almost as if the system has been stacked against them. you know, the national health service is a national service, so ministers are focusing on that all the time and getting detailed feedback, you know, as we saw we get daily figures. whereas when it comes to care homes, or people getting care in their own homes, that is left to local authorities and they're spread all across the country. they were already underfunded. there isn't a national network in the same way as there is for the nhs perhaps. yes, there is for the nhs perhaps. yes, there are local commissioning groups, but ministers may be getting less information. and many of the private care homes, the vast majority, are run by either private companies or charities. so again,

they're one step removed from government itself. and we've got to realise what's happening and step up the measures that we are taking to protect vulnerable elderly people in these care home settings. who is responsible for the underfunding of local authorities? well, successive governments for the last umpteen yea rs have governments for the last umpteen years have failed to grasp this nettle. and social care has been left to councils who don't have enough budget to cope with the rising number of elderly people in our population as a whole. that is a demographic issue. and governments have continually promised to sort things out, they have continually promised a solution to care funding. but it hasn't been delivered. you are absolutely right, baroness altmann, that successive governments have not grasped the nettle when it comes to sorting out the social care system, but you have to acknowledge,

asa system, but you have to acknowledge, as a conservative peer, it is your government that has been in power for the last ten years and is responsible for cuts to local authorities and cuts to social care, hundreds of millions of pounds? that's absolutely right and it must not be allowed to continue. and i've been campaigning for years for a better recognition of the real injustices that there are in the ca re system. injustices that there are in the care system. and it is a difficult issue. i'm not trying to suggest that any government will find it easy to deal with this. whoever was in charge would be struggling, certainly at this point. but there is no excuse in my view for this artificial distinction between what is called social care and what's called health. we need to have parity of esteem between care for the elderly in a care home, and care thatis the elderly in a care home, and care that is delivered in hospitals by the national health service, because all these people are valuable

members of our society. they have made contributions through their lives, they've deserved to be treated with the dignity and respect that we would all hope we would be treated with. that means, you know, proper protective equipment and proper protective equipment and properfunding. proper protective equipment and proper funding. yeah. and you've written today you think people in ca re written today you think people in care homes are being abandoned like lambs to the slaughter. do you stand by that? it's certainly an expression that has been used to me by people who are in charge of care homes, desperately struggling to find enough staff, to know whether either the staff or the residents are infected with covid—19 and they can't get adequate testing. and to know how best to protect their staff. they are struggling to get enough protective equipment, the cost of the equipment is going up, councils have not been able to distribute all the emergency funding

that they already have been given. you know, the government has put huge amounts of money into social care, but it's not enough and it's not getting through where it's desperately needed, unfortunately. ros altmann, conservative peer. the uk has seen an increase in the illegal dumping of rubbish. that's according to a new app that tracks fly—tipping. it comes after recycling centres were closed to avoid the spread of covid—19. duncan kennedy reports. just look at the state of this. 0ne infuriated reaction to fly—tipping. this is what people have done. it's the voice of donna pottle outside the london midland railway club she helps run in wolverhampton, bearing witness to this deluge of detritus. the club's own cctv shows some of the actual dumping taking place. 0ut comes a sofa, then other chunks of furniture.

what would your message to these people be? if you don't want that mess in your garden, don't make somebody else's a mess. it's unfair. stop fly—tipping — you're a disgrace. this pile is in hampshire. ever since councils closed waste sites for covid—19, illegal dumping has escalated. a new app logs fly—tipping around britain. its creator says cases have soared. we've seen a massive increase in fly—tipping — over 50% nationwide. some areas, including london, are well over 70%. we've seen thousands of extra reports coming through each and every week right now. just three miles away, yet another site. here, the hills are awash with the horrors of more rubbish. lots of people are walking, the last thing they want is to find a whole pile

of rubbish that's been dumped. what many ordinary householders don't realise is even if they pay somebody else to take away rubbish like this, it's they themselves that will face a fine if the rubbish can be traced. those fines can rise to thousands of pounds, with a maximum of £50,000 being payable. another concerned citizen filmed this from his flat. disgusting! but whether it's birmingham or burnley, no wonder residents are angry when they see this. i think it's just laziness, because you could store it at home, couldn't you, until all this is over. i think it's disgusting — i don't know how people sleep at night. councils and say they had to close official waste sites to protect workers and the public, and they say the rise in fly—tipping is unacceptable. we understand people want to potentially spend the time they're self—isolating clearing out their homes, but the message really from councils is very clear —

please do not fly—tip. back in wolverhampton, donna surveys her eyesore with a message. if you dare, carry on. and a warning. we'll get you, without a shadow of a doubt. duncan kennedy, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: the number of people who died with coronavirus in england by april third is 15% higher than previously reported, according to official data which includes deaths outside of hospitals. the government confirms coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2,000 care homes in england in the us, president trump claims total power to lift a nationwide lockdown, and clashes with the media over his handling of the pandemic. the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has now surpassed 1.9 million, with more than 118,000 reported deaths. but how accurate are those figures? ecuador has officially recorded 333 deaths, but images that emerged

of uncollected bodies on the streets and in homes suggest the true figure may be much, much higher. matias zibell is a journalist with the bbc, and rebecca vincent from reporters without borders, which says that in some countries journalists face repercussions for questioning the official statistics. hello both of you. do you believe your official statistics in ecuador? i think not even the government believes there to statistics because at the moment you have just a small amount of tests in a population of 16 million. you have 35,000 tests

made. so now you have the official figures of dead people. more than 330. but then you have suspected cases, people who died with coronavirus symptoms but they were never made, they never made any kind of test on them. so you have at least 1000 people considered dead by coronavirus. rebecca, tell us about the experiences ofjournalists who have the audacity to question their government's official statistics? well, we are seeing a crackdown on independent reporting on press freedom around the world. this is not because of coronavirus. this started before. but countries that have a tendency to tightly control information are now going to even greater lengths to do so. this was really started in china and iran, some of the countries where we saw high rates of infection early on. we

know that the figures reported were not accurate. we saw many instances of backlash against journalists, ranging from imprisonment to other forms of harassment, physical attack in some countries, and we have seen the expulsion in some cases of reporters, for example in china, that were reporting the truth on the figures there. are there some countries would still haven't reported a single case? north korea, for one. that is very hard to believe what north korea has long been at the bottom of our press freedom index. turkmenistan has gone to great lengths to suppress this. it's frankly unbelievable that any country would have no cases. we understand why they try to suppress accurate reporting byjournalists, because it makes particular governments look bad, but it will not help them in terms of overcoming the virus, will it? no, absolutely not. one lesson that is clearly already being drunk this out vital

reporting is no more than ever. this is really a question of public health. this is demonstrating real—life consequences of these policies to suppress information. democratic governments are not exempt either. we are seeing issues of lack of transparency sometimes even within europe. and we're having to engage to hold governments to account everywhere. sure, absolutely. in terms of the statistics in ecuador, where journalists questioning the official death figures, which as you say were 333 ? death figures, which as you say were 333? or did people start to question the figures once those images emerged of bodies being buried?” think both. journalist started to question the official figures. journalists started to question the way the authorities inform about the figures, sometimes without accepting questions from journalists. and then when the information started to flow through social media, the people

started asking their own questions. we're just looking at some of the images now and they are very shocking and very distressing. presumably there are now people desperately trying to bury their loved ones? the situation that you see in the images happened in the last two weeks of march and the first two weeks of april. then a special task force was set up to collect the bodies. now that you have the problem to buried them, especially in the province most affected by the virus, now they are using cemeteries inside the city and the cemeteries outside the city in the cemeteries outside the city in the local towns. right, the cemeteries outside the city in the localtowns. right, 0k. are they going to have to build, they are building new cemeteries, are they? they are trying to make the cemeteries they have a little bit bigger, a little bit wider, and

maybe they are wanting to have a new cemetery built. but it's a plan at the moment. right. do you think, rebecca, in terms ofjournalism when it comes to reporting these figures, reporting issues with coronavirus and how they are affecting people, that it's that pressure which has forced governments to act, to bring in new measures, to tackle the virus ina in new measures, to tackle the virus in a different way? absolutely. without the courageous reporting that has been taking place around the world, people would have very little information. what we do not is absolutely the result of public interest investigative reporting and makes it very clear we need to protect journalists now more than ever. 0k, thank you very much both of you, really appreciate your time. thank you for coming on.

thank you for your e—mails around the uk. richard says, my mum is 87 and she is in a fair —— care home in felixstowe. they stopped all visits when the lockdown started. they've had no signs of symptoms. their effo rts had no signs of symptoms. their efforts are keeping residents and staff great. they're efforts are keeping residents and staff great. they‘ re safe. efforts are keeping residents and staff great. they're safe. they are doing a greatjob. that is good to hear. this viewer says, the situation in care homes is dire. my mum works in one of them and i have had to force her to stay off the past week after what she told me. staff have no protection but have been told to give end—of—life care to those with coronavirus in the home because they are not allowed to ta ke home because they are not allowed to take the residence to the hospital. this viewer says, i was pleased to hear somebody had contacted you questioning why we only criticise the government had never praise them for the tremendous efforts they have made during this crisis. and one more for now. my niece works in a ca re more for now. my niece works in a care home and it has been dictated that under no circumstances are they to wear face masks. that under no circumstances are they

to wearface masks. apparently that under no circumstances are they to wear face masks. apparently it scares the residents. thank you paula. many schools in the uk remain open to children of key workers despite it being the middle of the easter holidays in most areas.0ur correspondent tomos morgan has spent the day with some pupils in the welsh city of cardiff to see how they're getting on. my name is penelope and my mum works for the nhs and helps people. my name is william. my dad is a dentist and my mum works for the nhs. my name is harriet and my mum works in the nhs as a medical secretary and my dad works for the council. easter holidays here in cardiff. it's one of the welsh capital's largest areas, where several students share one school during social distancing measures. socially distancing children can be tough but staff are taking all precautions necessary to keep everybody safe, dividing children between opposite ends of the school.

it's been very different, that's for sure. we are very much now not a school, it is childcare provision and we are focusing on the wellbeing of the children and caring and supporting them in this really difficult time. we're just happy we can do our bit to support the parents and they can continue to carry outjobs and essential services. usually there are over 500 pupils here in this primary school, but this week, six different schools are using it as a hub, there have been no more than 30 pupils coming here per day, meaning empty classrooms are a common site. teachers are here sent us this footage. it's a hub for three schools in the local authority. it is open seven days a week, seven hours a day, aiming to be as flexible as possible for those parents that need childcare during this time. in wales, 400 hubs will remain open over the easter break and less than 1% of all school children here can use them if required.

so, how have the children in cardiff been enjoying the holidays? it's fun, but it's also quite weird because it's stuff we wouldn't normally do. we've been doing a lot of things outdoors, like we have made kites. last week, one child tested positive at llanishen fach and has been self—isolating, but no other child or adult at the school has shown any symptoms. with things so up in the air at the moment, hubs will remain open for as long as they are needed, and those heading in every day are having more fun now than regular term time. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardiff. for high school seniors across america this is a difficult time, as once in a lifetime events like graduation and the prom are cancelled, all because of the coronavirus. but here's an idea. a student in indiana used his video skills to find a way for the class of 2020 to get together.

we will be graduate during a global pandemic. it is our duty to try to at least look on the bright side and recognise that we all have this special bond and love for each other that nobody else will ever have. dear class of 2020. .. dear class of 2020. .. i can't put on a mask and go help save lives, but i can't do this. i never imagined it going as big. i look at this as like one of those experiences i will tell my kids and i will live through it, i will be fine. but these seniors, they got their last moments of high school taken away from them. we can look towards the memories that we will

lagan college. i made sure that i hit every box i had set up in my mind the seniors would get something out of it, the underclassmen will get something out of it, parents, grandparents. everyone in the spectrum can get something out of it. and i hope i did that. i hope i did. after a hard year, ending with coronavirus is not a good match.” wa nt coronavirus is not a good match.” want my fellow seniors do know they are all well. i wish each and every thing of the best of luck wherever your future takes you. a british second world war veteran who is walking laps of his garden to raise money for the nhs has now raised well over three—quarters of a million pounds, and counting. captain tom moore, who is 99 years old and recovering from a hip operation, had said he was aiming to raise a thousand pounds for the health service. but after his efforts attracted global support, that total now stands at three

quarters of a million pounds. absolutely amazing. and you can still donate to captain tom. now it's time for the weather with carol. hello again. for most of us today we are going to carry on with a lot of dry weather, some sunshine, a little bit hazy at times. the exception is in the far north of scotland where we do have a weak weather front. that is producing a fair bit of clout. that is thick enough for the odd spot of rain. you can see it quite nicely in the satellite picture. it is also quite windy, especially in the far north. cloud across the south—eastern corner of the uk will continue to break through the day, allowing more sunshine to develop. eye cloud across scotland, northern ireland and northern england will turn your sunshine hazy. we can see some of that across the midlands and wales, turning your sunshine hazy through

the afternoon. temperatures ranging from eight in lyric to 1a in cardiff. 16 somewhere in north—east scotland. this evening and overnight under clear skies it would be another cold one. patchy mist and fog across northern ireland and southern scotland. still with a weak cold front across the north of scotla nd cold front across the north of scotland we have got all this cloud. but at least by night it is helping to maintain the temperature level. for the rest of us away from the cloud, it will be cold. there will bea cloud, it will be cold. there will be a touch of frost in rural areas. tomorrow we start off with that combination. but for most of england and wales, northern ireland, southern and eastern scotland, we will see a fair bit of sunshine. we have a weak weather front across the north of scotland still producing all of this cloud. still rain and quite windy in the north—west. as we move from wednesday to thursday, high pressure is still with us, so is the weak weather front moving south across scotland. then we have a new one coming in from the

south—west. this one is likely to produce some heavy and potentially thundery showers, ranging from the channel islands into south—west england, and pushing into wales, potentially the midlands as well. in between these two areas a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine, temperatures eight to ten in the north—east of scotland, 20, 22 possibly in the south of england. by friday we still do have this weather front, bringing this rain. this is where we think it is going to be. still a weak weather front crossing scotla nd still a weak weather front crossing scotland and temperatures ranging from seven to about 17.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the office for national statistics says the number of people who died in england and wales has hit a record high — the highest weekly total since comparable reporting started 15 years ago. the uk government confirms coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2000 care homes in england and charities warn many older people are being airbrushed out of daily death figures we have very large numbers of people in care homes who are passing away who are exhibiting covid—19 symptoms but who aren't being classified as having the coronavirus because they haven't been tested. in the us, president trump claims "total" power to lift a nationwide lockdown,

and clashes with the media over his handling of the pandemic. we did a lot. look, look. you know you're a fake, you know that, your whole network, the way you cover it, is fake. france's president macron extends his country's lockdown for another month but spain and italy allow some people back to work amid economic fears. scientific advisers for the uk government are to meet later to review the impact of the lockdown measures — but officials say there'll be no early relaxation of the restrictions. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest

coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the office for national statistics, the uk's national statsitical institute, has released the latest figures for the number of deaths in england and wales which involve covid—19. these figures include deaths in the community at care homes, hospices and in private homes, as well as hospital deaths. covering the period up until april the 3rd, the number of people who died in england and wales with mention of covid—19 on their death certificate was 15 % higher than the previous total reported by hospitals. it comes as charites warn that older people are being "airbrushed" out of coronavirus figures in the uk there have been outbreaks of covid—19 at more than 2000 care homes in england, the department of health has confirmed. the news comes as scientific advisers for the government are due to meet later to review the impact of the uk's lockdown measures. in the us — president trump has said he has "total" power to lift the nationwide coronavirus lockdown

as he defended his handling of the pandemic in the united states during a bad tempered white house briefing. the us is the global epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak with over 23,000 deaths president emmanuel macron has extended the lockdown in france for another 4 weeks. measures will now remain in place until at least may the 11th. nick stripe is head of health analysis and life events at the office for national statistics. the figures that we released today are for deaths that were registered through the local registration service, in the week ending friday the 3rd of april. what they show us is that we have seen the highest number of deaths recorded in a week since we started compiling weekly death figures in 2005. 21% of the deaths that were recorded included covid mentioned

on the death certificate. that goes up to 47% of all deaths in london mentioned covid on the death certificate. 16,387 deaths were registered in total in that week, that is more than 5000 higher than the week before where we would expect the numbers to be going down at this time of year normally. it is over 6000 higher than the recent five year average, so it is 60% higher than the five year average for this comparable week in previous years. last week when we announced these figures, the were 7% of the deaths that were registered were outside of hospital settings. this week, for all deaths registered by friday the 3rd of april, that has gone up to 10% now outside hospital settings. 5% of all deaths we have been able to link to a care home setting, that gives us a number which is 217 deaths. now remember the period i'm talking about, this is deaths registered up to friday the 3rd of april.

a week earlier we had 20 deaths in care home settings, so the order of magnitude increase is quite clear and puts us on track for some of the numbers that we're seeing in the press in the last couple of days. let's speak to our assitant political editor norman smith. it is hard to get our heads around the statistics but these latest figures from the office for national statistics to beg the question, what is the full picture on covid—19 deaths and that internally done to questions about the government's handling a bit. two things we get from these figures and one is that there is a huge increase in coronavirus deaths but what we are also beginning to get is a sense of what is going on in care homes because although the 0ns figures say that only 5% of coronavirus deaths are in care homes, what they also tell us is that a huge and

frightening increase in the level of deaths in care homes, so in a week, they say that the death rate in care homes has increased tenfold, so they wa ke homes has increased tenfold, so they wake up to march 27, there were 20 coronavirus deaths in care homes and the subsequent week up to the 3rd of april, there were 217. so what seems to be going on is that initially, it appears the staff in care homes had managed to shield and protect residents but once coronavirus gets into a care home, then it spreads very very rapidly indeed and that would fit with expectations because ca re would fit with expectations because care homes obviously are full of the elderly and frail, acutely vulnerable to the virus and at the moment, it seems there is really pretty limited testing for care homes, certainly they have been required to wait in line after nhs staff who have received priority,

similarto bbe, staff who have received priority, similar to bbe, the nhs has received priority. the end results is that many ca re priority. the end results is that many care home bosses are now deeply alarmed about what is beginning to u nfold alarmed about what is beginning to unfold in many of our care homes. we heard from the boss of britain's biggest care home this morning, h c one, who said that two thirds of his ca re one, who said that two thirds of his care homes were now infected with the virus, one third of all deaths we re the virus, one third of all deaths were coronavirus related and they have more than 2000 suspected cases of coronavirus. so this is really developing very very rapidly to extremely serious situation. this morning, we heard from baroness altman, former conservative pensions minister and she was squirting some of those in the care sector who believed that their elderly relatives were being left like lambs to the slaughter and she suggested that basically care homes, now in

previously, had never really been given the attention they should have by successive governments. successive governments for the last umpteen years have failed to grasp this nettle. and social care has been left to councils who don't have enough budget to cope with the rising number of elderly people in our population as a whole, that is a demographic issue. governments have continually promised to sort things out, they have continually promised a solution to care funding, but it hasn't been delivered. so, the government say that testing will be available where clinically necessary in care homes, so it is being rolled out now, in effect. they also say that they have distributed 8 million items of ppe clothing. but the difficulty is we don't have a hard

fa cts . difficulty is we don't have a hard facts. we are beginning to get it, but the data is still, by and large, out of date and it is not definitive because the 0ns figures, they are more than two weeks in arrears and also they relate to community deaths, they don't specifically relate to care homes and so there is now real pressure to try and get ca re now real pressure to try and get care home deaths released on a daily basis, in the same way as hospital deaths are currently released. thank you very much. in a short while, i will be speaking to the shadow minister for social care, will be speaking to the shadow ministerfor social care, i will be speaking to the shadow minister for social care, i will also speak to one woman who runs a ca re also speak to one woman who runs a care home who says she is broken trying to deal with everything that is happening and also at half past, i will be talking to our statistics guru to try and work out a little bit more about those latest statistics from the 0ns. president trump has lashed out at the media, seeking to defend his record in slowing the early spread of coronavirus. nationwide, the us has recorded more

than half a million cases and more than 23,000 deaths so far, but mr trump says the rise in cases has begun to flatten out. mr trump told reporters he would not be firing one of his top medical advisers, dr anthony fauci, despite sharing a tweet at the weekend with the hashtag ‘fire fauci'. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. it started with some welcome news — president trump said they were making progress against coronavirus. over the weekend the number of daily new infections remained flat — nationwide, flat. hospitalisations are slowing in hotspots like new york, newjersey, michigan and louisiana. this is clear evidence the strategy to combat the virus is working. but mr trump has been strongly criticised by us media for not having a strategy to combat the virus during the first few weeks of the outbreak in the us.

in a tv interview over the weekend, one of his senior medical advisers said earlier mitigation efforts to slow the spread of the virus could have saved more lives. anthony fauci took to the podium to explain that he'd been answering a hypothetical question and that he did not mean to imply that mistakes had been made. he said the president always took his advice. were you doing this voluntarily? everything i do is voluntarily — please, don't even imply that. mr trump said he had no intention of firing dr fauci because they'd been on the same page since the beginning. instead the president turned on the media, lashing out at what he said was unfair coverage. he spelled out a timeline leading up to his announcement on 31 january that travel into the us from china was to be banned. 0njanuary 17 there wasn't a case — the fake news saying he didn't act fast enough. you will remember what happened,

because when i did act i was criticised by nancy pelosi, sleepyjoe biden, by everybody. in fact i was called xenophobic. it is not even close... the president also took the unusual step of putting on this campaign—style video during the coronavirus briefing, highlighting praise he'd been given by state governors for his response to covid—19. it prompted this testy exchange with a reporterfrom cbs. i saved tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives. the argument is that you bought yourself some time, you did not ramp up testing. you are so disgraceful. it is so disgraceful the way you say that. what did you do with the time that you bought? look, you know you're a fake. you know that. after venting his anger, the president said his government was close to completing a plan

to reopen the country and that he had "total power" to lift the coronavirus restrictions... thank you all very much. ..imposed by state governors. staying in the us, foodbank charities have expressed grave concern that they could run out of food — as tens of thousands of people flock to their service in search of a meal for theirfamilies. the coronavirus pandemic has led to the loss of more than 16 million jobs in the united states injust three weeks. freya cole reports. this is a queue for help in pittsburgh, western pennsylvania. scores of people in need of assistance from a foodbank to make sure their family won't go hungry. well, the way things are going out with everybody out of work... it's a necessity for me because i have five people in my house, plus two dogs. this is san antonio, texas. 10,000 vehicles in just one day.

the organisers say there was enough food for everyone, but fear it's only a matter of time before stocks are depleted. families started to line up at 3am, hoping that we wouldn't run out of food. and so the panic and fear and anxiety for a lot of these families who lost theirjob two to three weeks ago and now their final dollars have run out and they're just desperate and panicked that they won't be able to feed their family. more than 16 million americans have lost work during the coronavirus lockdown. the unemployment crisis has put a huge strain on individuals, families and charities to make ends meet. we typically feed about 60,000 people each week, and in this covid—19 crisis, that's now gone to 120,000 people. 0ur charity relies on donations

to be able to feed those in need, but it's this unprecedented need that has got us all worried we might run out of food. the panic is being felt across all of the united states. government financial aid is available, but charities say it's only a supplement and many people will rely on the good of others to get them by. freya cole, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news. the office for national statistics says the number of people who died in england and wales has hit a record high — the highest weekly total since comparable reporting started in 15 years ago. the uk government confirms coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2000 care homes in england in the us, president trump claims "total" power to lift a nationwide lockdown, contradicting governors and legal experts.

care charities in the uk have written to the health secretary, matt hancock, urging him to ensure that charities and care homes, who give help to vulnerable and elderly people, are not forgotten. in the letter, they outline the essential things they need to tackle the virus. the list includes, making personal protective equipment more readily available to care homes. virus testing for care home staff — and people being discharged from hospital into homes. more support to ensure care home residents can continue to be contacted by their families. good palliative and end—of—life care for people dying. and a daily update on coronavirus deaths in the care system. let's talk now to matthew reed — ceo of the charity marie curie which supports people with terminal illnesses. he signed the joint letter

to the uk health secretary. we welcome a much greater commitment to looking at the number of people dying outside of hospitals. we understood that to be so for some time so for the nation to recognise thatis time so for the nation to recognise that is really important. of course, this isn't just about the that is really important. of course, this isn'tjust about the numbers, behind each of those numbers there isa human behind each of those numbers there is a human life, there is a human being, a life cut short and there is a grieving family, there are relatives and there are care home staff so by acknowledging the number of people who are dying from covid—19 in the community, in hospices and care homes, as a nation we can be much better at supporting ca re we can be much better at supporting care homes and supporting families and supporting those who are dying so that they can die as well as they can do. i hear absolutely what you are saying, talking about statistics

and the importance of remembering that behind every number are many individuals who are grieving. it is the way we need to talk right now, though to understand the extent of this. this morning, the office for national statistics has put out figures that indicate in one week there was a tenfold increase in the number of people dying in care homes from covid—19. the figures at that stage were relatively small from 20 up stage were relatively small from 20 up to 200 but it does show the direction of travel and there are estimates that it is probably around 2000. help us to get our heads round the picture in these environments. your mac clearly this is a terribly difficult situation for everyone involved and that is why it is. people who are now dying more rapidly from kobe 19, it is really important that they can have conversations with their families about end—of—life care. it is really important that families have the

chance to properly say goodbye. we think that is critically important pa rt think that is critically important part of grieving, and how people's bereavement works after that person has died and we think that it should be possible for people to have access to their loved ones before they die. it can easily be done using ppe and other techniques. it is really important also that we properly support care workers, there isa properly support care workers, there is a large number of people in the ca re system is a large number of people in the care system dying at meant after being exposed to covid—19. so much better access to care homes where someone better access to care homes where someone is dying. but access to ppe for those relatives and care staff, proper testing in care homes but overall the acknowledgement of the sheer human cost of what is happening at the moment. at marie curie, we have a helpline where people can call if they would like to get better bereavement support around this, some great resources on the website to help people have the

right conversations. we know in our own community services, our doctors and nurses every day and in hospices throughout the uk, the supply of ppe continues to be an enormous problem and so focusing on the numbers means that we cant, as importantly, focus on getting the support right for people who are ill from covid—19 in the community and in hospices. the government says that there is a lot of ppe around their being distributed and testing is available and being made available to those in the care homes. when you talk, it seems there is a big disconnect. what is actually happening, why does the government say one thing and it sounds like it is just not getting through? that is a story, it is not getting through, no one doubts that... but in reality, it is not

turning up at the front line and that puts marie curie doctors at risk, it puts other care home workers at risk and it puts the families of people dying at risk, so it is important that we make sure the right kit has got the right people at the right time. the job of ca re people at the right time. the job of care workers and doctors and nurses at marie curie and other organisations is to look after dying people. thejob of organisations is to look after dying people. the job of the government is to make sure they have the kit so they are kept safe while doing that so that collectively, we can do all we can to make sure that people have the best possible support for the end of life. in terms of the numbers, the work and pensions secretary said this morning that the daily figure is based on hospital deaths because it is accurate and quick. we have had statistics from the office for national statistics this morning as i mentioned, and another of those statistics is that in one week, up to the 3rd of april, there were an extra 6000 deaths

compared with the average figure of from 10,000 deaths. they were saying that three and a half thousand of those have covid—19 attributed directly to them but it is clearly a lot of extra people dying on top of the normal number, how important is it for the daily death figures from the government to accurately reflect the government to accurately reflect the picture and, as you say, the numbers in the care homes being affected ? numbers in the care homes being affected? well we all understand the reason, but it is also to understand the totality of the 19 deaths, partly so that families who have a loved one dying of covid—19 can get the proper support in a way that they need and, as i said, to make sure we get the right ppe to the right people at the right time to support them. we don't have any great insight into this more than

the ons great insight into this more than the 0ns but we do know that they are much larger than the official government numbers. every day and night, marie curie doctors and nurses are caring for and looking after... so we know the numbers are greater then the government statistics and that will be the case hospices throughout the uk and 2000 ca re hospices throughout the uk and 2000 care homes as well. so understanding the whole picture means we get a much better sense as a nation about the whole picture looks like and make sure the right support and the right kit is offered to the care workers, the right nurses, the right doctors and families who have a loved one dying of covid—19 they can have some acknowledgement also is pa rt have some acknowledgement also is part of their grieving process, that their loved one has been a victim of covid—19, that is an important part of being able to cope with the death and be able to move on,. very tough for a lot of people, thank you very

much. well official figures for the week ending on april the 3rd suggest that 10 per cent of deaths involving covid19 in england and wales took place outside hospital. of the 406 such deaths, more than half were in care homes, the rest in private homes and hospices. well we're joined now by the labour party's shadow social care minister liz kendall. real concern about what is happening in care homes. the level of support, the number of deaths, whether this is being properly reported. what are your thoughts? i think families right across the country will be desperately worried. we have more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in nursing and residential ca re people in nursing and residential care and families want to know that everything possible is being done to protect their loved ones. we have

seen protect their loved ones. we have seen from the 0ns today a huge increase in the number of people who have died from covid—19 in care homes but we know that if you looked at the up—to—date figures, that would likely be much, much bigger so i think it is really important that the government collects and publishes the daily death figures outside of hospital, including in ca re outside of hospital, including in care homes because if you want to deal with the problem, you have to know how big it is, where it is and how fast it is spreading and if we only have these 0ns stats then there isa only have these 0ns stats then there is a huge timeline and that is not good enough. it is hard to categorically say though, isn't it, that someone has died of covid—19 if they haven't been tested, and there isn't the testing in the community currently. well, we need to get that testing in a community, we need to get it for elderly and disabled

people crucially, the care staff because families aren't allowed to visit care homes any longer, so the only way the infection is getting in is through the care staff and care staff, they desperately don't want to infect the people that they are going in to help and care for. so, an absolute priority has got to be to get the protective equipment and clothing and the testing for care staff and i would say that that has to be not just staff and i would say that that has to be notjust in care homes, but for care staff, go into peoples own homes to help elderly and disabled people get up, dress, washed and fed. we do need to see social care having a much greater priority and focus during this pandemic, because we know from the care providers and ca re we know from the care providers and care workers who have spoken to you and others today, that this issue is spreading very quickly and we really do need to get to grips with it.

spreading very quickly and we really do need to get to grips with itm has been said that older people are being airbrushed out of the figures and one former tory minister told radio four‘s today programme this morning that some people in care homes have told her that they feel that older people are being treated like lambs to the slaughter. do you share that sort of language? well, i have spoken to care homes and my own constituents who are very worried about the situation. what is measured to ends up being what cou nts measured to ends up being what counts and every single death should count, not just because counts and every single death should count, notjust because we have to get to grips with the problem, but because the families, that is a person they love who they have lost and who they are grieving for and i think families do want to see those figures being properly counted. and just pick up as well, the importance

of people being able to see their loved ones adds to the agony right now. do you think that is possible, do you think that could be changed? i think it should be changed. i know that if it was one of my parents and i thought i couldn't go and say goodbye, it would haunt me forever, so goodbye, it would haunt me forever, soi goodbye, it would haunt me forever, so i think it is about getting the ppe to the staff but if we can also get it to family members, so they could say goodbye to the person they love, that would make at least some difference in this appallingly difficult time. thank you. the french president emmanuel macron has extended the coronavirus lockdown for another four weeks until may the 11th. he said the current restrictions had slowed the virus but not beaten it. he accepted that the lockdown had been especially tough for poorer families without the benefit

of spacious homes and good internet connections. translation: were we ready for this crisis? well, clearly not enough. but we stood up to it. in the next four weeks, the rules put in place by goverment have to be respected. they're shown to be successful, they will not be reinforced or lightened but they should be completely put into place. several countries across europe, including italy and austria, are beginning to ease restrictions today. the italian government is introducing a gradual relaxation of lockdown rules, allowing a limited number of shops and businesses to open. twenty thousand people have died of coronavirus in italy — second only to the united states. earlier i asked our europe correspondentjean mackenzie in rome about what shops will be able to open. it is only a very small number of shops that will be allowed to open. book shops, shops selling children's clothes and stationery shops. so a

very select range there and even some regions have decided to opt out of this, they won't be opening the shops so really the lockdown here is continuing pretty much as it was for another three weeks. factories and industries have been putting a lot of pressure on the government to allow them to restart but the government decided it was too soon, it says it will look at the situation over the next three weeks to decide if there's any way they can open some factories, but it will be led by the health situation. it is looking like a very gradual reopening of the country, working out what the next details will look like, what phase two will look like and ultimately, it hasn't decided. the indian prime minister narendra modi has today announced that the country will stay in lockdown until the 3rd of may to try to prevent the spread of coronavirus. india's entire population of more than a billion people has already spent the past three weeks indoors as the number of cases continues to rise.

india's coronavirus hotspot. in the alleys of mumbai's slums, health workers are trying to go to each 1—room house screening people for symptoms. the city has the highest number of covert cases and deaths in india. —— covid. experts say the reality is more grim than what the statistics show. i spoke to a doctor ata mumbai statistics show. i spoke to a doctor at a mumbai state run hospital, who did not want to be identified.

it is not just it is notjust here in mumbai. doctors in different parts of the country have told me that people with underlying conditions are often not enumerating it as covid deaths. the other problem is in the's testing rate, among the lowest in the world, which means there is no clear picture yet of how bad it is here. a doctorfrom clear picture yet of how bad it is here. a doctor from southern india described what she has been seeing. she also did not want to be identified.

india's health ministry did not respond to the bbc‘s questions about official covid numbers. the worst might still be some way off, but already nerves are frayed, resources are falling short. we have to wait hours for patients to be admitted, these paramedics in daily told us. for weeks, india has been in lockdown, which is set to go on at least until the end of the month. in many parts of the country, it is being strictly enforced. and is believed to have reduced the burden on hospitals to some extent. but experts say without ramping up testing, no nation can hope to beat the virus. more sick people will keep coming and coming and coming until you have extensive testing and isolation strategy, or you canjust stay on lockdown for a long period

of time. but staying in lockdown for india again has massive costs, especially for the poor. each day is ha rd especially for the poor. each day is hard especially for those left without jobs, money, hard especially for those left withoutjobs, money, food or shelter. aid is reaching some of them, but there are questions about how long it can be sustained. and speaking to us this morning, yogita said the scale of the outbreak is still unclear in india. india overall has more than 10,000 cases in more than 360 people have died so far. i have been speaking to front line doctors over the past week from different parts of the country, and the worrying thing they have been telling me is they believe the numbers are being underreported, that the true scale of the outbreak in india is not yet known. partly because people who are brought dead to hospitals, and the suspicion is that they might have died of something which looks a lot like

coronavirus, those people are not tested, the families are not tested. the other thing is the shortage of testing kits, so one doctor told me that 150 to 250 people with symptoms show up at the hospital each day, and they are only able to test about 30. serious questions are being raised about whether the scale of the outbreak is really known in india or not. the lockdown announcement that came this morning local time did not come as a surprise, lots of states in the country had already extended the lockdown until the end of the month, and of course this means very tough times for lots of people who are poorin times for lots of people who are poor in india. the government did announce an aid package earlier this month, but given how vast the country is, it is reaching some of them, but not all of them. the number of people dying hit a record weekly high in england and wales at the start of april.

there were 16,387 deaths in the week ending 3rd april — the highest since the office for national statistics started publishing weekly data in 2005. coronavirus cases contributed to the jump in deaths with 3,475 linked to the virus. one in ten coronavirus deaths this year are in the community — the government's daily figures just cover hospitals. here to take us through the figures is our head of statistics, robert cuffe. these statistics, robert, when we heard the figure of an extra 6000 deaths in one week, that is shocking, speak to is about what we have learned this morning. shocking, speak to is about what we have learned this morningm shocking, speak to is about what we have learned this morning. it is pretty significant. let's take a look at the figures. what we would normally expect this time of year is about 10,000 deaths and a falling figure. there are three lines in the chart, the grey line is showing you the average, plus or minus a bit of

a margin. it generally peaks in january, then comes down slowly, and by the start of april we are at about 10,000 deaths. the red line is what we have seen so far this year, and what jumps out what we have seen so far this year, and whatjumps out is the big jump at the far right—hand side of the chart, a sudden increase from an expected ten, two over 16,000, it is bigger, and to give us the contrast, ina bigger, and to give us the contrast, in a particularly bad flu season, the peak we are seeing in these figures is higher than that, so it is higher than we have seen in previous bad flu seasons. and these figures are a little bit behind where we are now. what we are grappling with name as the government's daily figures and the accruing total since the start of covid—19 and this figure. accruing total since the start of covid-19 and this figure. how do they marry up? the numbers we were speaking about from the office of national statistics, they go to the 3rd of april. it takes awhile for

dates to be registered and the 0ffice dates to be registered and the office of national statistics to collate the information. so we are talking about 6000 deaths they have seen talking about 6000 deaths they have seen by that time with coronavirus mentioned on the death certificate, but if you look at the figures from the department of social care, there are about 4000 deaths, so they are capturing more deaths by looking at registrations and by going outside of hospitals. i know the figures of scotla nd of hospitals. i know the figures of scotland and wales and —— include some figures in care homes, but most of these figures are in hospitals. the ons of these figures are in hospitals. the 0ns figures, 6000 extra in a week, they have said 3500 had covid—19 mentioned on the death certificate. what about the others, what is happening there? that is the question, there could be a couple of reasons, biologically it could be deaths because of coronavirus that had not been registered, it is not

on the death certificate, it could be deaths that are sometimes due to coronavirus but not directly, so people not getting access to care or treatment being cancelled, things like that. or in some cases it could be the effects of the lockdown itself, mental health, or people losing jobs and the consequences of that, or people being stuck in their homes. but it doesn't tell us which of those is the cause. we can probably say it is because of coronavirus in some sense, we just don't know what elements are coming into play because the kind of rise we are seeing of 6000 is massive, the 3500 attributed directly to coronavirus is massive, and even the 2500 extra deaths that do not have them on the death certificate, that in itself is a significant rise. there are calls for the government to include in the daily figures the number of people being affected in ca re

number of people being affected in care homes. is there a way that the 0ffice care homes. is there a way that the office for national statistics and the government could work together to produce more accurate daily figure? i think there is a question about what do you do with the numbers? because we always to be aware that the figures coming out from the department of health and social care are not telling us exactly the size of the epidemic, they can do that, they are telling us about the deaths that have been reported to them that we know about. but we can use them, not to tell us what the level but what the trends are, so what the level but what the trends are, so are what the level but what the trends are, so are the number of deaths being reported every day, are they still increasing and doubling every week, or is the growth slowing down, as it has in the last week? so it gives us some good insight on that, but if they expect us to give a clear picture in every

we cannot expect to give them a precise picture. our other countries grappling with the same situation? every country has its own issues with how they collate and collect and record debts, so it is hard to compare them in the uk versus the numbers in france, for example they include a lot more deaths in care homes and you will see different recording practices in the world, so there is a little pinch of salt but a statistician would say we need to take. —— that a statistician would say we need to take. inevitably countries are being compared. yes, if you look at belgium, a smaller population, but they are a number of recorded deaths per capita is higher than the uk. smaller population, smaller number of deaths. no one is having a good time, the simple thing to ta ke having a good time, the simple thing to take away, and we can look at

countries who have done particularly well, you look at south korea, where they have held a number of deaths very low over a sustained period time, you can look at lessons from there, but simple league tables are difficult. and we are aware that every one of these numbers is the loss of a loved one, and grieving families. many schools in the uk remain open to children of key workers despite it being the middle of the easter holidays in most areas. 0ur correspondent tomos morgan has spent the day with some pupils in the welsh city of cardiff to see how they're getting on. my name is penelope and my mum works for the nhs and helps people. my name is william. my dad is a dentist and my mum works for the nhs. my name is harriet and my mum works in the nhs as a medical secretary

and my dad works for the council. easter holidays here in cardiff. it's one of the welsh capital's largest areas, where several students share one school during social distancing measures. staff are taking all precautions necessary to keep everyone safe, dividing the children between opposite ends of the school. it's been very different, that's for sure. we are very much now not a school, it is childcare provision and we are focusing on the wellbeing of the children and caring and supporting them in this really difficult time. we're just happy we can do our bit to support the parents and they can continue to carry outjobs and essential services. usually there are over 500 pupils here in this primary school, but this week, six different schools are using it as a hub, there have been no more than 30 pupils coming here per day,

meaning empty classrooms are a common site. —— meaning empty classrooms are a common sight. teachers here sent us this footage. it's a hub for three schools in the local authority. it is open seven days a week, seven hours a day, aiming to be as flexible as possible for those parents that need childcare during this time. in wales, 400 hubs will remain open over the easter break and less than 1% of all school children here can use them if required. so, how have the children in cardiff been enjoying the holidays? it's fun, but it's also quite weird because it's stuff we wouldn't normally do. we've been doing a lot of things outdoors, like we have made kites. last week, one child tested positive at llanishen fach and has been self—isolating, but no other child or adult at the school has shown any symptoms. with things so up in the air at the moment, hubs will remain open for as long as they are needed, and those heading in every day are having more fun now

than regular term time. tomos morgan, bbc news, cardiff. the headlines on bbc news... the office for national statistics says the number of people who died in england and wales has hit a record high — the highest weekly total since comparable reporting started fifteen years ago — with 6000 more deaths than average in one week. the uk government confirms coronavirus outbreaks at more than two thousand care homes in england. in the us, president trump claims "total" power to lift a nationwide lockdown, contradicting governors and legal experts. with populations around the globe experiencing unprecedented constraints on day—to—day life, one question is at the forefront

of everybody‘s mind — when and how can we hope to eventually return to normal? across the globe once bustling cities are eerily quiet.” across the globe once bustling cities are eerily quiet. i give the british people one simple instruction, you must stay at home. every decision that we are making is to save lives. governments have imposed historic restrictions on freedoms and brought economic activity to a sudden halt. we are talking about a multitrillion dollar effect on the global economy, probably. i do not see lockdown being a sustainable solution and we need to find a better way. but how and when will be returned to some semblance of normality? but we can't do is walk blindly into a large group gatherings again. —— injune and july is if this never happened. people have to realise the virus will be with us for a long time, it will be with us for a long time, it will not be solved in a matter of

weeks or months. with much of the globe's scientific community focused on solving the problem, what are the medical solutions that might help bring the crisis to a close? the ideal thing and a perfect world would be a vaccine, which is basically a way of giving you a jab into yourarm, your basically a way of giving you a jab into your arm, your body triggers an immune response so into your arm, your body triggers an immune response so you develop antibodies, and when you are exposed to the virus, you do not contract a serious version of it. unfortunately most scientists think an effective vaccine could be 12 to 18 months away. you cannot physically do the weeks and weeks of consecutive experiments and testing, particularly the safety aspects of the vaccine, you just have to give it time to test the safety then it has to be efficacious, it has to work. what is more realistic in the short term is an antiviral. while they will not stop people contracting the illness, they could help significantly reduce the number of people who die or become seriously ill is as a result which

would reduce pressure on the health service. we do not need to check for safety because they are based on medicines we already have. they will be key to ensure there is no more isolation lockdown and economic loss. even if breakthroughs are made quickly, the challenge of getting drugs produced and distributed is formidable. so, in the meantime, many experts think the solution or pa rt many experts think the solution or part of it relies —— lies in testing. testing to check who has the virus, and antibody testing to check who had it. if you know who has a check who had it. if you know who hasa and check who had it. if you know who has a and who is carrying it, you can make sure they are put in quarantine for a few weeks. the antibody test we speak about a lot for economic reasons because it could be a lot of people have been exposed to the virus and we could put them back in the workforce. many people think deploying technological

solutions... this is what we have seen solutions... this is what we have seen from singapore, south korea, even china, because they are using different apps that tell you you are in an area where people have the virus, andl in an area where people have the virus, and i think this is much more feasible. there are going to be more challenges in low income countries. that is going to be where this model struggles. while many societies remain under strict constraints, it is possible we might already be seeing some return to normal life. the original epicentre, wuhan in china, is returning gradually to normal. and some countries in europe has announced some relaxation of restrictions, but there are questions over what will follow. the questions over what will follow. the question is that as society begins to open up and more people come in contact with each other, we will again have transmission, so there is going to be this starting and

stopping of opening things up and then closing them down with varying degrees in different countries. so while there is room for optimism, the extent of testing, technological innovation and medicines will help to gradually reduce restrictions until a vaccine finally arrives, we may need to prepare for a full return to normality being some months or even years away. a new online service has been launched for children in scotland with incurable illnesses who are having to self—isolate because of coronavirus. it offers support that's normally provided by children's hospices in kinross and balloch. david cowan has been speaking to one mother who's described it as a "lifeline". 0nly10% of children like islay johnson make it past theirfirst birthday. 0nly johnson make it past theirfirst birthday. only a handful in the uk reach it and i have, the age she is now. there is a lot of tears in our household, or there has been. there

probably will be as well. i would say it is absolutely overshadowed by the amount of joy say it is absolutely overshadowed by the amount ofjoy and laughter. isla has edward syndrome, a rare genetic condition, breathing problems and a weakened immune system. the fragile hold on life is at greater risk than ever before. it is a very stressful situation i think for everyone, but particularly knowing that children with life limiting condition are particularly vulnerable, and i think it hit home when i got the letter from the scottish government saying actually, you're in that group that needs to self—isolate for 12 weeks. earlier this year, isla was filmed at rachel house, one of two hospices for children in scotland. the virus mean she can no longer travel there for respite care. together the hospices work with 500 children and theirfamilies, where hospices work with 500 children and their families, where they have had to restrict their activities because of the lockdown. we have to be very careful about social distancing in

hospices, and we are focusing on emergency and unplanned and end—of—life care in hospices, and thatis end—of—life care in hospices, and that is the right thing to do, but we know there are families right across scotland who are at home self isolating and sometimes cells isolated to, and they need support. —— self isolated to, and they need support. — — self isolated isolated to, and they need support. —— self isolated as well. isolated to, and they need support. -- self isolated as well. this is their solution, isla is being visited online by clown doctors, one of the facility is being offered. they still have light relief, laughter, songs, games, and allthat will still be there, but it will now be virtually as opposed to face—to—face in the same room. be virtually as opposed to face-to-face in the same room. for pa rents face-to-face in the same room. for parents and carers, the virtual hospice provides 24—hour access to nursing, medical and financial advice, by phone, video and online. from a practical level it is amazing, from an emotional level it is absolutely outstanding. despite

all the challenges they face, caroline is determined to stay positive. she says they are receiving constant offers of help and believes a renewed sense of community will outlive the virus. captain tom moore is a british second world war veteran on a mission to raise money for the nhs, by walking 100 laps of his garden before he turns 100 at the end of this month. it's been a very productive weekend of fundraising, as right now his tally stands at well over three—quarters of a million pounds. lovely story coming up, 99—year—old war vetera n lovely story coming up, 99—year—old war veteran has decided to work 100 lengths of his back garden to raise money for the nhs. it has been four days since captain tom millerfirst it has been four days since captain tom miller first appeared it has been four days since captain tom millerfirst appeared on bbc brea kfast tom millerfirst appeared on bbc breakfast with his message for country. tomorrow is a good day. and it was. in 24 hours he raised a

staggering £70,000. he is aiming —— his aim to support those in the front lines or cash pouring in from around the world. we have had such great service, the nurses are always so great service, the nurses are always so kind and patient. a feeling that has been echoed by many. thanks, captain tom! thanks, captain tom! and from one veteran to another, a message of support.” and from one veteran to another, a message of support. ijust and from one veteran to another, a message of support. i just wanted to say a huge congratulations, half £1 million, a huge amount of money, and what a way to celebrate your 100th birthday, what an example to other vetera ns. birthday, what an example to other veterans. it will do so much to help those on the front line of the nhs. as well as encouragement from a familiarface in as well as encouragement from a familiar face in the fundraiser of his generation. you have done a

very, very good job, and his generation. you have done a very, very goodjob, and i'm very pleased for you. carry on, you're doing a good job, carry on, old boy. as the total continues to grow with every step tom knows he has the country cheering him on. though, captain tom. some news away from coronavirus now — a forest fire threatening the abandoned chernobyl nuclear plant has been contained, according to authorties in ukraine. for more than a week, firefighters have been trying to put out blazes in the exclusion zone around the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. greenpeace has said the fires were just one kilometre from the plant itself. police have arrested a 27—year—old—man in connection with the blaze. south korea says north korea has launched multiple short—range missiles. the south's military reported that the projectiles travelled about 150 kilometres before landing in the sea between the korean peninsula and japan. it's the latest in a series of military actions by north korea.

the united states has urged pyongyang to return to denuclearisation talks which have stalled since last year. if you're watching outside of the uk, we are saying goodbye to you right now. thanks for watching. now it's time for a look at the weather with carole. hello again. for most of us today we are going to carry on with a lot of dry weather, some sunshine, a little bit hazy at times. the exception is in the far north of scotland where we do have a weak weather front. that is producing a fair bit of cloud. that is thick enough for the odd spot of rain. you can see it quite nicely in the satellite picture. it is also quite windy, especially in the far north. cloud across the south—eastern corner of the uk will continue to break through the day, allowing more sunshine to develop. high cloud across scotland, northern ireland and northern england will turn your sunshine hazy. we can see some of that across the midlands and wales, turning your sunshine hazy

through the afternoon. temperatures ranging from eight in lerwick to 14 in cardiff. potentially, 16 somewhere in north—east scotland. this evening and overnight under clear skies it will be another cold one. patchy mist and fog across northern ireland and southern scotland. still with a weak cold front across the north of scotland, we have got all this cloud. but at least by night it is helping maintain the temperature level. for the rest of us away from the cloud, it will be cold. there will be a touch of frost in rural areas. tomorrow we start off with that combination. but for most of england and wales, northern ireland, southern and eastern scotland, we will see a fair bit of sunshine. but we do have a weak weather front across the north of scotland still producing all of this cloud. still spots of rain and quite windy in the north—west. as we move from wednesday to thursday, high pressure is still with us, so is the weak weather front moving south across scotland. then we have a new one coming

in from the south—west. this one is likely to produce some heavy and potentially thundery showers, ranging from the channel islands into south—west england, and pushing through wales, and pushing through wales, potentially into the midlands as well. in between these two areas a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine, temperatures eight to ten in the north—east of scotland, 20, 22 possibly in the south of england. by friday, we still do have this weatherfront, bringing this rain. this is where we think it is going to be. still a weak weather front crossing scotland and temperatures ranging from seven to about 17.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the office for national statistics says the number of people who died in england and wales has hit a record high with 6,000 more deaths than average in one week. the uk government confirms coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2000 care homes in england — and charities warn many older people are being airbrushed out of daily death figures we have very large numbers of people in care homes who are passing away who are exhibiting covid—19 symptoms but who aren't being classified as having the coronavirus because they haven't been tested. in the us, president trump claims "total" power to lift a nationwide lockdown, and clashes with the media over his handling of the pandemic. we did a lot.

look, look. you know you're a fake, you know that, your whole network, the way you cover it, is fake. france's president macron extends his country's lockdown for another month — but spain and italy allow some people back to work amid economic fears scientific advisers for the uk government are to meet to review the impact of the lockdown measures — but officials say there'll be no early relaxation of the restrictions. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the number of people dying hit a record weekly high in england and wales at the start of april,

according to figures released by the office for national statistics, the uk's national statsitical institute. latest figures for england and wales reveal that there were over 16,000 recorded deaths in the week ending the 3rd april — the highest since the office for national statistics started publishing weekly data in 2005. more than 3,000 of those deaths were linked to coronavirus. the department of health confirmed that more than 2,000 care homes in england have outbreaks of covid—19. the news comes as scientific advisers for the government are due to meet later to review the impact of the uk's measures. in the us — president trump has said he has "total" power to lift the nationwide coronavirus lockdown as he defended his handling of the pandemic in the united states during a bad tempered white house briefing. the us is the global epicentre

of the coronavirus outbreak with over 23 thousand deaths. in france — president emmanuel macron has extended the lockdown there for another 4 weeks. measures will now remain in place until at least may the 11th. nick stripe is head of health analysis and life events at the uk's office for national statistics. the figures that we released today are for deaths that were registered through the local registration service, in the week ending friday the 3rd of april. what they show us is that we have seen the highest number of deaths recorded in a week since we started compiling weekly death figures in 2005. 21% of the deaths that were recorded included covid mentioned on the death certificate. that goes up to 47% of all deaths in london mentioned covid on the death certificate. 16,387 deaths were registered

in total in that week, that is more than 5000 higher than the week before where we would expect the numbers to be going down at this time of year normally. it is over 6000 higher than the recent five year average, so it is 60% higher than the five year average for this comparable week in previous years. last week when we announced these figures, the were 7% of the deaths that were registered were outside of hospital settings. this week, for all deaths registered by friday the 3rd of april, that has gone up to 10% now outside hospital settings. 5% of all deaths we have been able to link to a care home setting, that gives us a number which is 217 deaths. now remember the period i'm talking about, this is deaths registered up to friday the 3rd of april. a week earlier we had 20 deaths in care home settings, so the order of magnitude increase is quite clear and puts us on track for some of the numbers that we're seeing in the press in the last

couple of days. let's speak to our assitant political editor norman smith. these new figures are shocking. a huge increase in the number of people dying in the country obviously but it lays bare exactly how many. in terms of what the government is doing and calls for more focus on social care, what is the latest and what is the reaction to mark well it all comes down to testing. matt hancock promised on friday to roll out testing to care workers who needed it. this morning, the work and pensions secretary said it would be available where there was clinical need but we are at the beginning of the process and obviously there needs to be a dramatic ramping up of testing levels because the government is now beginning to expand testing for nhs

staff, the latest figures are around 20,000, but you have to bear in mind that there are more people who work in the care sector so there is a fantastic demand out there for testing and the figures that are now beginning to emerge are giving us a much clearer picture of what actually is going on in the care sector because for some weeks now, we have had warnings from care home bosses about their fear, how swiftly the virus is spreading, now we are actually getting some hard data and as you heard there from the 0ns, the suggestion is that in one week, there has been a tenfold increase in there has been a tenfold increase in the number of coronavirus deaths in ca re the number of coronavirus deaths in care homes and we also had figures from the biggest care home provider, hc one, who this morning said they had 2000 suspected cases of coronavirus, two thirds of their homes were infected and one third of their deaths were down to coronavirus, so there really is a

huge challenge emerging here and i think the great concern is that once coronavirus gets into a care home, because of course, it is full of elderly, frail and vulnerable people, it spreads very very quickly and we have already seen that in some care homes in britain but particularly in the continent, in countries like italy, where care homes have been very badly affected. this morning, we heard from baroness altman, who suggested that part of the problem was that care homes hadn't been given a priority in the same way as the nhs had been and this was a long—standing problem for successive governments. successive governments for the last umpteen years have failed to grasp this nettle. and social care has been left to councils who don't have enough budget to cope with the rising number of elderly people in our population as a whole, that is a demographic issue.

governments have continually promised to sort things out, they have continually promised a solution to care funding, but it hasn't been delivered. the other thing that... this morning, the department for work and pensions said that 8 million items of pp have been made available. on friday, matt hancock said 700 million items had been distributed, so million items had been distributed, so of that 700 million, only 8 million went to the care sector. that explains why care home bosses are so that explains why care home bosses are so alarmed at what is going on and in terms of the numbers, i don't know whether the government would try to push for more immediate, accessible numbers because at the moment, we are having to rely on

figures which are two weeks out of date and actually don't relate specifically care homes, they relate more broadly to deaths in the community, so it is very hard to get a handle on precisely what is going on and on a day by day basis. thank you. ina on and on a day by day basis. thank you. in a little while, i will be speaking to the manager of one care home who says she is broken by what she is having to deal with and what her staff are having to deal with. governors of us states on the east and west coasts are resuming their virtual discussions today about when and how to reopen their economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. their discussions come after an angry news conference by president trump in which he lashed out at the media suggesting only he could decide when to ease the us lockdown. he insisted his actions had already saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and he condemned journalists who suggested he'd failed to prepare for the pandemic. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports.

it started with some welcome news — president trump said america was making critical progress in its war against coronavirus. over the weekend the number of daily new infections remained flat — nationwide, flat. hospitalisations are slowing in hotspots like new york, newjersey, michigan and louisiana. this is clear evidence our aggressive strategy to combat the virus is working. but mr trump has been strongly criticised by us media for not having a strategy to combat the virus during the first few weeks of the outbreak in the us. in a tv interview over the weekend one of his senior medical advisers said earlier mitigation efforts to slow the spread of the virus could have saved more lives. anthony fauci took to the podium to explain that he'd been answering a hypothetical question and that he did not mean to imply that mistakes had been made. he said the president always took his advice. are you doing this voluntarily?

everything i do is voluntarily — please, don't even imply that. mr trump said he had no intention of firing dr fauci because they'd been on the same page since the beginning. instead, the president turned on the media, lashing out at what he said was unfair coverage. he spelled out a timeline leading up to his announcement on 31 january that travel into the us from china was to be banned. 0njanuary 17th there wasn't a case — the fake news saying he didn't act fast enough. well, you remember what happened, because when i did act i was criticised by nancy pelosi, sleepyjoe biden, by everybody. in fact i was called xenophobic. it is not even close... the president also took the unusual step of putting on this campaign—style video during the coronavirus briefing, highlighting praise he'd been given by state governors

for his response to covid—19. it prompted this testy exchange with a reporterfrom cbs. i saved tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives. the argument is that you bought yourself some time, you didn't use it to prepare hospitals, you did not ramp up testing. you are so disgraceful. nearly 20 millions people are unemployed. it is so disgraceful the way you say that. what did you do with the time that you bought? look, you know you're a fake. you know that. after venting his anger, the president said his government was close to completing a plan to reopen the country and that he had "total power" to lift the coronavirus restrictions... thank you all very much. ..imposed by state governors. staying in the us, charities have expressed grave concern that their foodbanks could run out of food — as tens of thousands of people flock to them in search of a meal for their families. the coronavirus pandemic has led

to the loss of more than 16 million jobs in america in just three weeks. freya cole reports. this is a queue for help in pittsburgh, western pennsylvania. scores of people in need of assistance from a foodbank to make sure their family won't go hungry. well, the way things are going out with everybody out of work... it's a necessity for me because i have five people in my house, plus two dogs. this is san antonio, texas. 10,000 vehicles in just one day. the organisers say there was enough food for everyone, but fear it's only a matter of time before stocks are depleted. families started to line up at 3am, hoping that we wouldn't run out of food. and so the panic and fear and anxiety for a lot of these families who lost theirjob two to three weeks ago and now

their final dollars have run out and they're just desperate and panicked that they won't be able to feed their family. more than 16 million americans have lost work during the coronavirus lockdown. the unemployment crisis has put a huge strain on individuals, families and charities to make ends meet. we typically feed about 60,000 people each week, and in this covid—19 crisis, that's now gone to 120,000 people. 0ur charity relies on donations to be able to feed those in need, but it's this unprecedented need that has got us all worried we might run out of food. the panic is being felt across all of the united states. government financial aid is available, but charities say it's only a supplement and many people will rely on the good of others to get them by. freya cole, bbc news.

we arejust we are just hearing that mary lou mcdonald has tested positive for covid—19. the northern irish politician. she is saying she is responding very well to medication for postviral pleurisy in her right lung and expects to be back at work next monday. she has said in a statement that the public health doctor informs me i am no longer infected or infectious and this is a great relief weeks of being very unwell. so, she had post viral pleurisy in a right long but she is now in responding very well to medication for that and she is saying she is expecting to be back at work next monday.

the headlines on bbc news. the office for national statistics says the number of people who died in england and wales has hit a record high — the highest weekly total since comparable reporting started 15 years ago, with 6,000 more deaths than average in one week. the uk government confirms coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2,000 care homes in england in the us, president trump claims "total" power to lift a nationwide lockdown, contradicting governors and legal experts. elderly people who have died with coronavirus in nursing homes have been "airbushed" out of the official death toll — that's according to senior figures in the care industry. as we've been reporting, outbreaks of the virus have now been detected at more than two thousand care homes in england. thirteen residents at one home

in county durham have died, along with nine others at a specialist dementia home in nottinghamshire. let's speak now to anita astle — director of wren hall nursing home in nottinghamshire where nine residents have died it must be devastating for you and everybody in the home to be dealing with what you are dealing with now. how are you feeling? we are feeling broken, we are feeling raw, feeling so sorry broken, we are feeling raw, feeling so sorry for the ones we have lost, for theirfamilies who so sorry for the ones we have lost, for their families who weren't able to spend the time with them that would normally be spent when a loved one is dying. these people, yes they are living in a care home, yes they have complex needs, but they have

died prematurely. if it wasn't for covid—19, they would still be with us today and it is really sad and it is soul destroying. much has been said about a lack of personal protective equipment for people working in care homes. the lack of testing. what has been your experience? so, untiltoday none testing. what has been your experience? so, until today none of our staff have been able to be tested. today, we have been offered testing so there are five staff that are being tested because they are in self isolation at home. with regards to ppe, we have had horrific time trying to source ppe, there is a national disruption service that is supposed to get us ppe when we needed it. we have tried to use that

on three occasions, the first occasion, we were using 312 masks per day. it took four days for that service to get us 160 masks. half of the amount that we needed took four days for it to come and that lasted us half a day. it hasjust days for it to come and that lasted us half a day. it has just been absolute libidinous hell trying to find ppe. -- absolute libidinous hell trying to find ppe. —— absolute hell trying to find ppe. —— absolute hell trying to find ppe. —— absolute hell trying to find ppe. we featured in the media and people have been generous u nfortu nately, we and people have been generous unfortunately, we have got ppe. i am running a national whatsapp group andi running a national whatsapp group and i am passing on to other care homes the details of the organisations that will be able to get them ppe. and that is on top of what you are doing on a daily basis

caring for those people in your home who desperately need the love and support of those caring for them. the conservative peer and former work and pensions minister baroness altman was on the radio this morning and she said that some people in ca re and she said that some people in care homes told her that older people were being treated like lambs to the slaughter, that is how they felt. how would you respond to that? i would agree with that, one of our staff, her husband is a paramedic and told us of a situation where he took a gentleman to hospital with, who was severely unwell, and at the hospital they asked how old is he and does he have a dna cpr in place, the paramedic and said that in the person had to be returned home. i think that is the state of our, the

situation, we have a limited number of hospital beds and we are needing to use those beds to ration care and it is awful, it is an awful situation. i am a nurse and never in my 35 years of being a nurse have i ever had to ration care. but that is the reality and people need to know what the reality is. but people also need to know that staff, whether it is in the nhs or in social care, are doing an amazing job, they are leaving their own families to come to work, to look after those with covid—19 symptoms, putting themselves at risk but more importantly, to honour and care for those that are very vulnerable and

are ata those that are very vulnerable and are at a point of need. staff need to be recognised and praised for the excellent work that they are doing, despite inadequate ppe. i think one of the things that our government could do is they could remove the vat, we are paying 20% on top of the cost of the ppe, the government have removed that vat for the nhs early on, why hasn't it removed it for nursing homes that are paying that vat? it is a horrendous situation, i don't want to put money and equipment in front of peoples lives but we have to recognise our staff are making sacrifices and they need to be protected at all costs.” are making sacrifices and they need to be protected at all costs. i am sure that is something that will be put to the government later in the daily news briefing, thank you very

much forjoining us. and all the best to you and all of your staff and those who are caring for. the french president emmanuel macron has extended the coronavirus lockdown for another four weeks until may the 11th. he said the current restrictions had slowed the spread of the virus but not beaten it. he accepted that the lockdown had been especially tough for poorer families without the benefit of spacious homes and good internet connections. translation: were we ready for this crisis? well, clearly not enough. but we stood up to it. in the next four weeks, the rules put in place by goverment have to be respected. they're shown to be successful, they will not be reinforced or lightened but they should be completely put into place. austria was one of the first countries in europe to follow italy in imposing strict lockdown measures to fight coronavirus. but now, with the daily infection rate down, it has re—opened small shops and hardware shops, one of several european countries taking steps to ease restrictions.

bethany bell reports from vienna. garden centres are open again in austria and people are flocking to buy plants. diy stores have also reopened after around a month of lockdown. the government says it has managed to flatten the curve of new coronavirus infections and is taking small steps back towards a more normal way of life. shoppers have cautiously welcomed the move.” normal way of life. shoppers have cautiously welcomed the move. i hope that it will go well and that the number of cases won't jump that it will go well and that the number of cases won'tjump up again. but it is good to do something to help the economy. i think it is good. we have to stay at home and there is plenty in the garden. hopefully people will stick to the rules so that we can stimulate the economy. things may be easing appear

slightly but there are strict safety rules when it comes to shopping. you can't go inside a shop unless you are wearing a basic face mask covering your nose and mouth. 0nce you are inside a shop, you have to keep your distance. small independent shops have been hit hard by the lockdown. this man owns a toy shopin by the lockdown. this man owns a toy shop in vienna. we could have survived another few weeks but then we wouldn't have any reserves, any money to buy new goods and anything. i don't think it was good to close everything down so strictly. while more shopping is now possible in austria, strict social distancing rules remain in place. people are still being urged to stay at home. if all goes well, big shops and hairdressers could resume business in two weeks' time. but restaurants and cafe is will be closed until

mid—may the earliest. if you are watching is on bbc world news, goodbye and see you soon. some breaking news to bring you here about predictions about the impact on the economy, hearing from the budget for... the uk economy is likely to cut to contract by 35% in the second quarter of this year before bouncing back quickly if a lockdown remains in place for three months, with a three month period of a partial lifting. in the scenario, experts in the independent group have told the government that unemployment would rise to 10% of the working population, but will ease off later in the year. public sector net borrowing is forecast to reach 15% of gdp, making it the

single largest single year deficit since the second world war. of course, there's been a huge amount of spending from the government to try and ease the pressure on businesses and others affected by what is happening with the economy asa what is happening with the economy as a result of covid—19, is that this is the office for budget responsibility, projecting into the second quarter of this year and what might happen. we are expecting to hear from the chancellor rishi sunak shortly, he is speaking to journalists, i think he is doing an interview right now we will bring you that interview as soon as we can. a group of volunteers in northern ireland arejoining the community effort to support front line health service staff by making scrubs — or medical clothing — for health care workers. the group northern ireland scrubs has made thousands of medical uniforms in the three weeks since they started, and operate using social media. sewing teams meet twice a week across northern ireland, and the scrubs they make go to care homes, covid testing centres and doctors surgeries.

some examples there, some more colourful than others but using whatever they can get, we can't go to the shops and buy fabric so everybody is being smart about the way they are getting hold of fabric and what they are doing with it. let's speak now to clara maybin who set up the northern ireland scrubs group. what a brilliant thing you are doing, tell is the extent of it. what a brilliant thing you are doing, tell is the extent of itm is been massive. i can't explain how big it has become. i used social media, that is my dayjob, and i set this upa media, that is my dayjob, and i set this up a couple of weeks ago to help a family member and it is just spiralled and we have now nearly 7000 people on the facebook group who are all contributing by sewing or cutting or delivering items and it is just massive, there is a

massive need here in northern ireland for scrubs. i absolutely love the varying fabrics look at the pictures because it is symbolic of how people are pulling together in these really tough times. what fabrics are people using? yes, we said that it needs to be poly cotton material so that it can be boiled washed and lots of people had various items in their home or had stuff that it, bed linen that they are never opened before. but we have set upa are never opened before. but we have set up a go fund me page and we raised nearly... and we have been told by a new polycotton fabric from berwick various suppliers in northern ireland we have been able to distribute that across the 11 groups in northern ireland so that they are getting the new material and they are able to so what the

proper material now —— so with the proper material now —— so with the proper material now —— so with the proper material now. tell us about the people who are joining in, proper material now. tell us about the people who arejoining in, it is people who are really good at sewing or is it novices you are thinking, i will give it a go? i can't say because personally, i can't so, it isa because personally, i can't so, it is a real variety of people, you have people like your granny, who is 80 years old who might not use facebook but their daughter is coming on to try and find out more information, you have young people, you have sewing businesses. there is a real variety of people who we have on board and it isjust a real variety of people who we have on board and it is just fantastic to see and not even that, we are getting a lot of messages from people saying thank you so much for doing this, this has given me a reason to get up in the morning, i feel like helping. so there's a lot of aspects of mental health there which is great to see, which we never thought would be possible. that is such a good point, giving people something constructive to do

is very valuable right now and presumably morale boosting for those who are receiving them knowing how much love has gone into supporting them from people in the community. lot of seamstresses now are adding personal stitching is, messages to the garments so that when the staff receive them, they are posting pictures into the group and saying thank you so much but the people that have come to my house to collect their items at my door, they have spoken to me from a distance and said thank you so much, you don't understand what this means, and just to be able to help, even though i can't so, to be able to orchestrate it in the logistics of things, it really is massive. we can't believe the scale of it in the organisation that goes into it but it is lovely, it really is lovely to see. it is such a brilliant example of one of the really positive things coming out of these difficult times. well done, thank you forjoining us.

lets go to edinburgh, where nicola sturgeon is speaking. given the nature of this crisis, much of our focus is on protecting physical health, and rightly so. but we also know the anxiety that is caused by the virus and also the stress and isolation of the lockdown measures themselves can have a really big impact on mental well—being. so, for that reason, today's briefing will have a focus on how we support our mental health through the crisis, and john will be able to offer important information that will hopefully help you do that. before that i want to provide you as usual with an update on some of the key statistics in relation to covid—19 in scotland. as at nine o'clock this morning, i can advise you that there

have been 6358 positive cases confirmed, that is an increase of 291 from the figures reported yesterday. across scotland, a total of 1798 patients in hospital with confirmed or suspected covid—19, and thatis confirmed or suspected covid—19, and that is an increase of one since yesterday. a total of 196 people as of last night were in intensive care with either confirmed or suspected covid—19, that is a decrease of 15 on the figures reported yesterday. and while that is of course a positive indication, i would again at this stage caution against reading too much into that. not least because it is with sadness that i have to report today a further 40 deaths that have been registered, of patients who had

tested positive for the virus, that ta kes tested positive for the virus, that takes the total number of registered deaths in scotland now to 615. as i mentioned yesterday it is likely that registration numbers will have been relatively low in recent days asa been relatively low in recent days as a result of the easter holiday weekend, and that should be taken into account, of course, when considering today's figures. i should also remind you that these daily figures are of people who died after testing positive for the virus. and tomorrow, for the second week ina virus. and tomorrow, for the second week in a row, national records of scotla nd week in a row, national records of scotland will publish figures that show the number of people who have died with presumed or suspected covid, as well as those who died after having confirmed in a test. tomorrow's figures will also give the location of death for those who have died, so numbers who have died in care homes. care homes are a cause of concern for us in this virus and i know they are a cause of

concern to people across scotland particularly to those who have a loved one in a care home. we have a lwa ys loved one in a care home. we have always known that older people are more at risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from this virus, and we also know from our own experience and from the emergent evidence from other countries that care homes can be places that are more susceptible to outbreaks of covid—19. so, i want to outbreaks of covid—19. so, i want to stress again today how hard we are working and will continue to work, not least through the care inspectorate to ensure care home providers are following the appropriate guidance, that they have good infection control measures in place and also that they have the support and equipment they need, and that work will be ongoing and will continue right throughout the pandemic to be an issue of intense focus for us. of course, the fact is that every death, no matter where

someone that every death, no matter where someone dies, in a care home, hospital or their own home, no matter the age, underlying health conditions are background of the person, every single death is a tragedy that we mourn and deeply regret, and yet again i want to extend my deepest condolences to all those who have lost loved ones to the virus. and yet again today, as i do everyday, i want to take the opportunity to thank everyone working in our health and care sector. your efforts are hugely appreciated not just by sector. your efforts are hugely appreciated notjust by me and government, but by everyone across the country. —— the scottish government. as i mentioned, the main focus today is mental health, but before i come onto it i want to address one issue which i know is causing some concern, and an issue thatis causing some concern, and an issue that is causing concern to the scottish government. we are aware of reports yesterday and this morning that supplies of personal protective equipment to care homes in scotland

are being diverted to england. now, i should stress, we are not aware so far that this is an issue affecting supplies to our national stockpile in scotland, but we continue to monitor it very closely indeed. but i also want to be clear, if care homes' usual supplies are affected in this way, then as well as that being completely unacceptable in itself, it will of course increase pressure on our national stockpile, which would be a source of real worry for us. so it is not an exaggeration to say we are extremely concerned about these reports and are taking steps to investigate them further and to seek to resolve them if they are real issues, as a matter of urgency. 0ur if they are real issues, as a matter of urgency. our health secretary is raising the matter with matt hancock, the uk secretary of state for health today, and is seeking to speak with him directly about it. i wa nt to speak with him directly about it. i want to be clear about my view, and i hope that no one thinks this is in any way a point of a political

nature, it is a point about fairness and cooperation is all of us deal with the challenge of the virus. all parts of the uk right now and facing supply challenges on ppe, and indeed this is a global issue, so any situation where supplies were being diverted from one part of the uk to another without consultation or any sense of cooperation would clearly be unconscionable and unacceptable, so be unconscionable and unacceptable, so that's why we are seeking to investigate the issues further and seeking to address them if they are arising as quickly as possible. my main focus today however is on mental health. covid—19 restrictions have, as i have spoken about i stayed here, and as everyone is experiencing, the are affecting all of our lives. people who may never before have been affected by mental health issues may now be experiencing emotional distress, that could be due to financial hardship, bereavement and the isolation that comes with social

distancing. we know that nhs 24 has experienced an increase in calls in recent weeks including our mental health phone line, breathing space. and we would expect that to continue to rise. we want to make sure anyone who needs support regarding mental health gets the support. today i am announcing an additional £1 million of investment in mental health services, which will allow us over the coming weeks to expand the use on what is called a distressed brief intervention, or tbi, which gives people over the age of 16 in emotional distress the opportunity to speak directly to train staff. they will be referred by front line staff, such as those working in nhs 24. crucially it allows the person

to speak to the same person over a time of days or weeks, and for some people we know the ability to be able to establish rapport with the person helping them can make a huge difference. the dbi have been operating since 2017 and four pilot areas, where it has helped already more than 6000 people, so we are now expanding at to grow scotland and we hope it will be a valuable additional source of help at a time when we know people are more likely to need it. in addition we will launch a new mental health marketing campaign which will provide practical advice on things we can all do to feel better and to cope until the restrictions are lifted, and it will direct people to sources of extra support to nhs as a key information resource, and help line operated by nhs 24, breathing space, the samaritans and the scottish association for mental health. we all know how hard these restrictions

are for people and we know the pandemic will have an impact on people's mental health as well as what it imposes on physical health, so we are what it imposes on physical health, so we are making sure support is available if needed. we are also determined to work to support scotland's children and young people. asking schools to close a few weeks ago was without any doubt one of the most difficult decisions i have had to take as first minister because i knew then and i know now just how destructive this is to the lives of children and young people. but that has been made much easier, thanks to the cooperation by the young people, and i want to thank all of you who might be watching this today. every single day i hear or see evidence of how your supporting families and each other, but i know the situation is still extremely tough for you, and it really is ok sometimes not to feel 0k. the scottish government has been working with others for some time to

tackle mental —— mental health issues for some time such as online bullying or body image, but as you are spending more time online right now it is more important than ever to ensure the online world does not impact on your mental health, so later this week we will launch a new digital resource to help children and young people learn about the healthy use of screens on social media. the scottish youth parliament and children's parliament along with 650 children in the country have been working on this new resource called mind your time, which will support mental and physical health online. these resources are due to launch on friday, and i hope this will be valuable in what we know is a really tough and challenging time. for all of us, i said before that one of the cruel things about covid—19 is that we need each other more than ever right now, but we are being told for good reason to stay and that is one reason why i'm so

keen to stress the importance of kindness, solidarity and love throughout this crisis, and there is a role for all of us to play in trying to support each other, so i'm —— i also know that people will need extra help to support their mental health and well—being, so in many ways the most important message i wa nt to ways the most important message i want to get across today as this one, help is there if you need it. please reach out for help because it is they are. i'm going to hand over tojohn in a moment, but before i do that i want to end by emphasising thing once again following the rules. without very good reason, such as buying essential goods, you should stay at home. you should stay two metres apart when you do have to go out for essential purchases. you should not meet up with anyone who lives out with your household, and

for anyone who show symptoms, you should not go out at all. i know how difficult the rules are, and they are likely to be in place for a bit longer yet, but they are essential, they are essential to help us slow down the virus, help us protect the nhs and ultimately save lives, so thank you once again for sticking to these rules particularly over the most these rules particularly over the m ost rece nt these rules particularly over the most recent weekend, where normally you would have been out enjoying yourselves. but you're doing the right thing, and i am grateful to each and everyone of you for that, and you are helping us in the fight against the virus. i will hand you tojohn who will say more about the importance of mental health and the support that is available. thank you, first minister. it might feel like life is on hold, you might be anxious and frustrated, worried about yourself and others in your life. it is normal to feel like this. these are unprecedented times. your family, friends and everyone else you know is feeling exactly the

same way. we are else you know is feeling exactly the same way. we are so “— else you know is feeling exactly the same way. we are so —— surrounded by lots of things we may have taken for granted like going to restaurants or on holiday, some might have the loss of livelihood, some the loss of their health and for some, bereavement. it is tough and it will bereavement. it is tough and it will be tough for some time. but we are all together and sharing this experience and we share it with people notjust experience and we share it with people not just across scotland but across the world. it connects us with others likely have never known before. so, it has never been more important than now that we take the time to think about our own mental health and of those around us. we all know that we cannot really enjoy life without feeling well in ourselves. when we have good mental health we are better able to cope and meet the challenges and all other parts of our lives. so, what does good mental health mean? how do we ensure we do the right things to

look after ourselves over the coming weeks and months? we all have got used to automatically thinking about staying at home, keeping her distance from others and washing our hands, and as well as those physical habits i would like to invite you to think about how we should automatically think about new mental health habits we need in relation to ourselves and others. it is really about simple things. we are all social creatures, we have an in—built desire to reach out to each other and help those around us. there have been so many incredible examples of this already across scotland. so, please, phone your family and friends, call them on face time, take the time to reach out and let them know you're thinking of them. ask if they doing 0k. thinking of them. ask if they doing ok. we can also take steps to structure our day, create a routine to ensure you get a good night's sleep, try to wake up at a similar time each morning, set yourself goals and stay physically active

within the current guidance. if you're feeling stressed or anxious, be careful of how exposed you are to media coverage and news stories. consider taking a break from the news if you feel things are getting on top of you. but it is also important to take time to reflect and focus on the positive in our lives and think about what we can control rather than what we cant. i like this quote from an austrian psychotherapist and psychiatrist. he said, when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. i know that we will all come through this stronger, more connected to each other and better equipped to ta ke each other and better equipped to take care of our mental health, and good mental health which is a fundamental part of our whole health can start with a very simple conversation. there has never been a

better time to think or talk about how you're feeling. advice and support is available to helping to —— each and every one of you with keeping all of us mental health. nhs inform is a good treasure trove for advice on many things. nhs 20 vote as to help us with telephonic help, and they have a the spoke line, breathing space. young scot have got super videos for adolescents, and for the elderly, age scotland has a marvellous website and phone line. it is also important that the most vulnerable people are also

people are amazingly resilient. the current fear and isolation distress will not inevitably create mental illness and everyone, but we still have to look after ourselves and each other. for those to vans with mental ill health —— for those of us with mental ill— health mental ill health —— for those of us with mental ill—health can get help through existing routes on nhs 24 and mainstream services. our nhs is here for you. thank you very much indeed, john, i hope you find that helpful. i will hand over briefly to the health secretary before we move on to take questions from journalists. thank you. let me first of all underline the seriousness with which i am taking the reports of personal protective equipment destined for scottish care homes being diverted to england. as the first minister has said, we are urgently seeking clarity around the

situation. i had intended to raise that personally with the uk health secretary today, but he has cancelled the planned call, so i have instead written to him to remind him that sees —— that he specifically does not have my agreement to the centralisation of ordering or distribution of ppe or to the diversion of orders placed in scotland for destination to scottish social care or the health service. however, the main theme we are discussing today as mental health, and beyond the help and support that you have just heard about from the first minister and doctor mitchell, i want to take the opportunity to address directly our health and social workforce. as the health secretary i am acutely aware of the enormous demands being placed on you over the past few weeks. we are asking many of you to work in unfamiliar settings, to learn new skills, and work in euros. many of

you will be personally affected by the covid—19 virus. and on top of that, as well as having to cope with stresses of yourjob, some of you will be caring for your own families, helping to manage them through the unfamiliar situation we all find ourselves in. you deserve all find ourselves in. you deserve all of the help and care that we can offer, and that includes support for mental well—being offer, and that includes support for mental well— being as well as physical safety. so we are working closely with our partners to provide specialist workforce support and guidance such as the psychological first aid service, which is available through nhs education for scotland. and in the coming weeks we will announce more of that national and local provision that we are putting in place covering counselling, trauma services and support in situations of difficulty and anxiety. but of course, the public health mental support

services that have been described this morning are open to you as well as to the wider public. sol this morning are open to you as well as to the wider public. so i want to say to our health and social are workforce this. you devote your lives to caring for others, you deserve to be looked after if and when you need it. these excellent services are there for people like you and me, so if you need help, it is there for you. and i want to finish by thanking you once again for all that you are doing to help us meet the particular challenges of this pandemic and for the care and compassion you're showing every single day in the work you deliver for our national health service and social care sector. thank you very much indeed, jean. i will move to questions, we have more than 20 journalists wanting to ask questions and we will get through them mall no matter how long it takes, but if i could appealfor matter how long it takes, but if i could appeal for brevity. we will also try to be brief and their

a nswe rs. also try to be brief and their answers. firstly, if walkerfrom bbc reporting scotland. we have been told by suppliers that they have been specifically told that they can provide care homes in england with ppe, but not those in scotland. does this feel like there is a fight between the nations and that scotland is coming off a second class? and have scottish care workers actually suffered as a result of this? thank you, fiona. as isaid in result of this? thank you, fiona. as i said in my introductory remarks... we believe the news conference with scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon, focusing on mental health, and there was lots of advice there as part of that news conference, for people who may be struggling during these difficult times. also another issue that arose was the issue of personal protective equipment, again

theissue personal protective equipment, again the issue that she says she is looking into, and reports that ppe supplies have been diverted from scotla nd supplies have been diverted from scotland to england. we have had some extraordinary new statistics from the office for at responsibility, looking at the potential impact of covid—19 for the months ahead on the economy, saying it is due to shrink by 35% in the second quarter of this year before bouncing back quickly. that's according to a scenario by the office for budget responsibility — who say if the lockdown is in place for three months — unemployment would also rise to 10% of the working population. well, the chancellor rishi sunak has just been speaking — here's what he had to say. could you give us your response to the rather gloomy report to the 0br? the obr the rather gloomy report to the 0br? the 0br is independent of government, and they say this is just one potential scenario, but it is clear this will have a

significant impact on our economy. in common with economies around the world. it is important we are honest about that, people need to know that we will not be able to protect every job, every business. the second point that the report makes clear is that the actions we have taken, unprecedented actions, will help to mitigate the impact of the virus on our economy, and if we haven't done these things it would mean things we re these things it would mean things were a these things it would mean things we re a lot these things it would mean things were a lot worse, for example the impact on unemployment. the last point as it is clear that we must defeat the virus as quickly as possible, that is not a choice between health and economics, that defies common sense. what we need is to follow the rules, and i'm grateful to everyone for doing that over the easter weekend. what about the mitigating measures, the business loans scheme, there has been woefully small number of companies who have been able to take advantage of those business loans. who's to blame for that and what are you doing to put it right?”

who's to blame for that and what are you doing to put it right? i am speaking to the every single day, and what i'm improving over the weekend is that all banks and staff we re weekend is that all banks and staff were in overthe weekend is that all banks and staff were in over the weekend to help with the backlog. the backlog is being worked through. i think you will see the numbers take up into the thousands this week. that is something we are looking at very closely. what i would also say is that the acceptance rates on applications are actually reasonably high, and banks are extending overdrafts. but you're right, getting credit to businesses is something we are watchful of everyday, and working to the banks to make it happens. now, the weather with louise. hello there, after tuesday, the temperatures are recovering nicely. easter‘s weekend which brought the bitingly cold wind has moved east, so bitingly cold wind has moved east, so the wind direction has changed so

you will notice a difference outside. in fact, we are enjoying some spring sunshine and you can see blossom on the tree is benefiting from that. further north there is a lot of cloud across the northern islands and anywhere north—west of the great glen. cloudy skies and to the great glen. cloudy skies and to the north, blue sky and sunshine into the midlands, with some patchy cloud through east anglia and the south—east, but that should break up through the remainder of the day. so, a quiet story for many, a bit more of a breeze as well, temperatures not quite so high, and we should see them peeking through the afternoon between eight and 11. elsewhere, a maximum of 13 or 14. through this evening we keep the clear skies so the warmer yellow tones disappear again and we will see a touch of blue on the chart, which means light frost is not out of the question in some spots again. not as cold as the nightjust passed, but if you're a gardener, thatis

passed, but if you're a gardener, that is worth bearing in mind for the spring plants now blossoming in the spring plants now blossoming in the recent warmth. as we move through to wednesday it will be a quiet story, quite a lot of cloud again through scotland, a bit of a breeze here. but temperatures will recover two highs of 17 or 18 as we go through the afternoon on wednesday. there is a potential by the end of the day on thursday to see some sharp showers from this area of low pressure which will influence the story. ahead of it however we see more warmth returning, is a temperatures potentially across england and wales returning to low 20s. more cloud through scotland, northern ireland possibly the north of england on thursday, a few showers by the end of the day maybe arriving across the far south—west. but in terms of the feel of things we could get highs of 21 or 22 by thursday afternoon. then as we move out of thursday into friday, the area of low pressure continues to drift up from the south—west and could influence the

story for england and wales but also northern ireland as well. it could bring some heavier outbreaks of rain.

there's criticism that daily figures are not giving a clear picture of what's happening in care homes or people's houses. somehow care homes have been left behind in this scramble for more ppe protective equipment, for the emergency admissions, ventilation... two million unemployed and a contraction in the economy of 13% this year — the prediction from the uk spending watchdog if a three—month lockdown is imposed. we'll be analysing the latest figures — and the latest predictions.