days than us. we took 5a days, 53 days for the uk from its first case for us for the uk from its first case for us to go into lockdown and we are now predicted to be one of the worst hit countries in europe. italy took 35 days, spain took a0 days and those are the countries that have had the biggest number of cases because of the exponential rise so if japan because of the exponential rise so ifjapan can get on top of its testing, then in theory the length of lockdown may not to beat so drastic, something we missed out on. the key thing is, certain countries have done this differently, not least in europe, denmark one of the first to go into lockdown. back to japan, and the criticism that the authorities there are facing, coronavirus cases doubling since the emergency was declared but the m ista kes emergency was declared but the mistakes that were made, i'm not sure if our viewers can remember this but the diamond princess, we

remember that cruise ship which was allowed to dock and the people who we re allowed to dock and the people who were tested after one passenger contracted the virus were allowed to go out by public transport. they still had relatively few doubts in japan but you can see in the prefectures where they had these emergency restrictions, that is where they have seen this rise in cases and the cruise ship that got so cases and the cruise ship that got so much focused on, you would have thought they would have been very careful but they were allowed to go into the public transport system and that has bred it, especially in tokyo, like london it's the capital that seems to bear the brunt of it but it seems to be on the increase elsewhere in the government, like many across the world, is coming under pressure. susie, the straits times of singapore, masks must now be worn in public. i thought a lot

of people in singapore were already wearing masks but maybe it wasn't compulsory. i don't know what struck you about the story because it was saying the situation in the parks and the wet markets were now under control but the fact that wet markets are still operating in singapore did surprise me. yeah, wet markets are something endemic across the developing world, notjust in asia or china or singapore will stop singapore have most of their outbreaks that appear to have been in dormitories of foreign workers, people who were shipped in and living in constrained circumstances in prefabricated boxes and they are being used in the construction industry and that's where most of their cases are so they seem happy to blame it on foreigners and are those who are disadvantaged and purler and at the bottom of the

economy. when it gets out and get into the rest of the country they will not be able to keep that down for long. in many parts of asia they have a social habit of wearing masks a nyway have a social habit of wearing masks anyway but it is now being made compulsory. i went to the supermarket for the first time today for a month and i took a mask with me thinking ifelt for a month and i took a mask with me thinking i felt a bit of an idiot and when i was in the queue everyone else was wearing a mask work gloves or had a scarf over their faces, even though the science says it's not especially effective at protecting you, it can protect other people from catching it if you have it but more than any it makes you feel like you were in control of something and in a pan endemic when the whole thing is beyond our control, to have that ability to put something over your nose and mouth makes you feel like you are taking a positive act even though you are not. even if it doesn't

scientifically help that much, that is the problem and it's interesting what susie says about the official guidance because we haven't worked out here whether masks are a good thing or not and that seems to be under review even though initially the authorities made clear that they didn't think it was worth it and even official guidance about how far the guidance can be spread, a metre or two metres, is not clear. they we re very or two metres, is not clear. they were very clear or two metres, is not clear. they were very clear a or two metres, is not clear. they were very clear a few weeks ago as to the use of masks and we were told they were virtually useless, the experts do seem to be changing their opinion on that and as susie says it's more about how you give it to someone it's more about how you give it to someone else rather than stopping yourself getting at, but it seems to be something that singapore have leapt upon, i think the only people who cannot have them are people under two years old so they believe it andl

under two years old so they believe it and i think especially across america it's catching on and it's something that as people have said, people will be scared to go back out once social distancing, the measures are taken down and i think we will see a lot more people on public transport in this country wearing masks for a few months. a $300 fine in singapore if you are not wearing a mask in public. 0n in singapore if you are not wearing a mask in public. on to the business standard in mumbai, the lock they're extended until may the 3rd. massive number of people, 1.3 billion and a lot of them living in cramped conditions. this lockdown will really cause problems, susie. who are you talking to? so difficult when you're not in the room. the imf says india and china will be those two countries that perhaps will not have as big a problem as the rest of

the developing world or the developed world, the wealthier nations but what's interesting is that there are other stories that show despite the many differences between the uk and india, they have many of the same problems. there is an issue getting ppe to their medics, elective surgery has been cancelled and there is less room in hospitals for people who are ill with other things. a stimulus package was agreed by the prime minister and finance minister to get funds to small businesses and poor people in urban and rural areas, the kind of thing which makes everyone around the world, every government to do the same sort of thing, crisis socialism which so many of these generally populist, narendra modi is a populist leader, we have trump handing out $1000 cheques, engaging in crisis socialism that would never have done and it's the kind of thing

that further down the road, it will be interesting to see how people generally change our opinion about the standard of living and the standard of dying we expect in our society, whether we want a national ca re society, whether we want a national care service or the kind of nhs system that spreads around the world, the thing i hear most when i am talking to people who aren't involved in the news is theyjust wa nt involved in the news is theyjust want something good to come out of all this and perhaps that's something we can all look forward to. michael, on the philippine store. a lot of people who come from the philippines are working in the nhs and that front page which i must say is a pretty muddled front page, it looks like it been badly photoshopped and copied ten times but the important point is that rodrigo did her take is appealing to health workers to stay at home. i

can't imagine in the philippines from also leader of the philippines. they are allowed to take up contracts and go abroad and you imagine why that is something attractive to people to go abroad and make more money, make more money than they would at home, but he is appealing to people who have been trained in the philippines to stay, appealing to their sense of nationhood, it says, and you can see a lot of people will go along with that, as we have seen with our own nhs, the patriotism and sense of national pride around it, i can see that happening across the world and you can understand why he is appealing to people to stay and look after their own. susie, let's go back to one of the uk papers now, the times. this is not merger but to

huge pharmaceutical companies working together in a deal to make a vaccine on a huge scale. it sounds good, it's quite a long way off, evenif good, it's quite a long way off, even if this all goes according to plan. yes, i've lost count of the number of stories i've seen about a vaccine that is literallyjust around the corner any day now, it's on some of these foreign papers, the same stories are being played out in other nations, president deter tight was saying we have a vaccine, we will get orders can buy it in and glaxosmithkline and is a no fee, a big pharmaceutical giant, it's possible that they have the power to do mass production and get it spread across a big distance. they are talking about human trials in the autumn but it wouldn't be ready until a year later. yet, and we

already had some human trials starting in oxford today, i saw on the news earlier so there are a little trials around the world and hopefully one of those will come ready but we need to take the stories with a pinch of salt because we don't have a vaccine yet, we don't even have a consistently proven treatment for this. we haven't got much time left, michael, but what do you make of the fact the profits for this, we heard from simonjack, these would be put into future virus development? we would wa nt future virus development? we would want that, we wouldn't want to see these giant companies who do well as it is making a lot more money off the back of this huge pandemic which has caused chaos to families and grief to families across the world. to see them get rich off the back of this would upset many people. i'm

sorry, we are out of time for this look at the papers. michael brooker and susie boniface, thank you both very much. that's it for now. it's been a dry day across the country with just a little bit of nuisance cloud around, that being throughout the kent coast and up into the far north of scotland but elsewhere lots of sunshine and just a light breeze. it was cool but still pleasant enough to drive the washing outside but the high pressure continues to slip south and east but stays with us and with clear skies throughout the night, temperatures will fall away again so it will be another chilly start across it will be another chilly start a cross m ost it will be another chilly start across most of the country, maybe even a few pockets of light frost but it will be a dry one, lots of sunshine around, the only exception the far north—west.

as we move out of wednesday into thursday, we have got a frontal system into scotland which will introduce yet more cloud here. this area of low pressure into the south—west could bring a few showers, so wake slight change to the story. ahead of a south easterly breeze so temperatures are set to climb across england and wales back into the low 20s. a few scattered showers into the south—west by the end of the afternoon but we could see highs of 21 degrees in london.

10 celsius in aberdeen. the low pressure in the south—west will stay with us for the end of the week. that could bring more significant rainfall to parts of england and wales. on friday, we will see a spell of wet weather for a time, potentially, and we will move up from the south—west, taking its time arriving, pushing across wales, perhaps towards the isle of wight as well. more cloud into scotland again, but largely predominantly dry, a good deal of dry weather through eastern england as well. disappointing in aberdeen, where it celsius. 17 or 18 further south. that area of low pressure stays with us by the start of the weekend. it will bring some wet weather across england and wales.

this is bbc news. with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the international monetary fund warns the world is facing a recession far worse than the crisis of 2008. more than one in five deaths in england and wales is linked to coronavirus — as figures show 6,000 more people died than expected at the beginning of april polling is underway in south korea's parliamentary election — the result is expected to be influenced by the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. and, coming up. why does covid—19 make some people much sicker than others? a new study in the uk is trying to find out.