bell tolls. this is bbc news. we take you to paris and a year on from the fire that gutted notre dame de paris the cathedral‘s great hell is ringing out — tonight — as a mark of both the building's resiliance and in support of the medical staff battling france's coronavirus epidemic. let's listen in. applause

quite a moment. the bourdon bell has sounded just once before and that was in the month when former presidentjacques and that was in the month when former president jacques chirac died. now here are the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk government promises to try to help

care homes in the fight against coronavirus with a pledge to do far more testing ministers claim that there is capacity to increase testing in the care sector despite the pressures elsewhere, but there's no detail on the timescale. we are introducing new procedures so we can limit the risk of infection while wherever possible giving people place closest loved ones a chance to say goodbye. the head of the world health organization calls for the international community to unite and not get caught up in recriminations. this is a time for all of us to be united in our common struggle against a common threat. a new device, an alternative to a ventilator — designed within weeks by clinicians, engineers and formula one — is now being delivered for use within the uk's health service. more european countries ease restrictions, but there are questions over whether it is too early.

and meet connie, the 160 —— 106—year—old who survived to mark world wars now coronavirus. 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. one of the main focuses of concern around the world as the coronavirus pandemic claims more victims remains the situation in care homes and in the community at large. ministers in the uk have announced plans for a new testing regime for both residents and staff and for anyone being discharged from hospital to a care home. but there's no detail on the timescale and there's still pressure in the health service for more testing of staff and patients. here in the uk the number of deaths has today risen by 761, taking the total

close to 13,000. the number of confirmed cases of covid—19 around the world has today passed two million. the head of the world health organization called for solidarity among nations in the fight against what he called the "common enemy" of coronavirus. it comes after president trump critisised the who's handling of the situation and said the us would stop funding the global organisation. while the lockdown remains in many countries around the world, some european countries have started to relax restrictions. some pupils have returned to school in denmark, while germany plans to reopen schools in may. hugh pym now reports on the situation in the uk and today's government promises towards fighting the virus there. it was his lifetime ambition, and graham achieved it last november, co—piloting a plane, a gift from his family. at 77 he was still very active. he recently went to

hospital with cancer. the family assumed graham would come back home, but he never returned, having contracted covid—19. his grandson's wife emma, who herself has coronavirus, spoke of their sadness and frustration. no—one was there to hold his hand and it is not the way you want to go. only ten people can go to the funeral and we have a big family, so we can't go. he can't get the sendoff he deserves. finding a way out of the coronavirus crisis depends largely on the big increase in testing. ministers have called on academic and business laboratories to join a national effort to boost capacity. some big companies have said they will help out, but one business manager with laboratories told us how he felt his offer had not been taken up. i am frustrated, a little unhappy. it would be very easy to sit

and enjoy the sunshine and wait until things open up again. i feel i have a duty to the country, and my team, to keep them busy and do something worthwhile. the number of tests carried out each day has not gone up a lot, although there has been a bank holiday weekend. it stands just under 16,000, a long way short of the 100,000 target set by the government by the end of this month, two weeks away. nhs workers have been told they have access to testing if they work it, including at drive—through centres like this, allowing them to return to work quickly if they test negative. that has been extended to social day care staff, pa rt part of a new package for england. including testing for all residents of care homes and patients leaving hospitals for a care facility. i asked at the downing street briefing how it was possible to extend testing in this way. how are you actually going to cover this large number of social care staff and nhs staff and hospital patients?

how will it be achieved? now we have testing available right across the nhs and social care for all those who need it. i am pleased we have been able to expand capacity so that can happen, and as we build capacity further over this month and then beyond to that 100,000 a day target by the end of the month, we will expand further those who are eligible for tests. he also said relatives would now be allowed to visit loved ones seriously ill in care homes with covid—19. the peak of pressure on the nhs was expected about now, with a surge in covid—19 patients. health leaders say there are still critical care beds to spare and most hospitals appear to be coping, but the peak last sometime. we think we can say with increasing confidence that the nhs should be able to cope with this initial peak and we will avoid seeing the scenes we saw in italy of individual hospitals being overwhelmed.

but there are a whole load of new challenges the nhs faces, if we have this demand spread over a long period of time, how will we support our staff for whom the pressure is really extremely intense? there was uplifting news when connie, aged 106, left hospital in birmingham. she said she felt very lucky to have shaken off the virus. the uk government's promise that all residents and workers with symptoms in english care homes will now be tested have been welcomed by care home providers. but many say their calls for greater support in terms of staffing, training and specialist kit continue to be ignored. our social affairs correspondent, alison holt, has been to hearfirsthand how one care home in essex is coping. today at the st ives care home in chingford in essex they said goodbye to six of their elderly residents.

five of the deaths were linked to covid—19, the signs of its presence in the home marked out by the masked and gowned staff. a brilliant knowledge of music. each life lost a member of this family. a simple service to provide a few moments of reflection at a deeply distressing time for staff, residents and families listening online. the home cares for 35 people, many with dementia. the virus arrived after a resident returned from hospital with it. had the testing announced today been available, it might have helped. the manager says despite all their precautions, it spread quickly. for the last three weeks we have been dealing with end—of—life patients, relatives, people seeing their relatives at end of life, having to dress them up in ppe before they can say goodbye. it has been so awful.

it is awful, it is just surreal, it really is. it is an experience that residential nursing homes up and down the uk are now facing. in video diaries, staff here told us of the toll it is taking on them. recently over the past few weeks it has been very hard watching your residents get illand die. not being able to give your residents a hug or a kiss when they really needed. we have lost a number of dear people to us, the have become ourfamily. it is probably the hardest thing i have ever had to do, to come to work and look after people in this ppe, but unfortunately this is the situation at the moment and this is what we have to do. care homes welcomed the government's strategy as some recognition for what they are dealing with, but for many it has been too slow in coming and they want rapid action. like many care homes, they say so far they have felt left on their own to deal with this crisis, struggling

to get enough protective equipment, and even though not all their staff can be tested at drive—through centres. there are still 18 staff who have not had testing and cannot have testing because they cannot drive. our residents have not been tested and we need that as soon as possible because it would help massively in how we manage and quarantine different parts of the home. the staff here say they need to know that the promises made will lead to actual support. this protective suit i am wearing cannot shield humanity. today i held their hand so they won't be alone. alison holt, bbc news. desperate situation and some of the ca re desperate situation and some of the care homes. we can speak to the chair of the national care association. what changes did you pick out from the health secretary's

announcement today that will make a difference in care homes?” announcement today that will make a difference in care homes? i think the testing is the big thing that if we can be absolutely assured that the testing will happen, then that is going to make a considerable amount of difference. i think there was something in there also about a recruitment drive of sorts which would really support the sector. we have 122,000 vacancies at the end of last year and this pandemic is obviously exposing some of the challenges we face about staffing, especially when we have between 20-25% of especially when we have between 20—25% of our staff not able to work for various reasons, including self isolation. and the government would be paying for their induction training so getting people through quickly. those sorts of things are going to be helpful. what we face

right now, you heard on the package it is devastating for every care provider, for all their staff to be trying to shield, to support people in their own homes, because that's what they are. in a way, it is alien to them. these are three environments, happy environments, environments, happy environments, environments with activities and staff supporting them and that the moment it isjust staff supporting them and that the moment it is just making sure people are not infected so i think the testing will make a difference. can you explain this for me, we are told today by the national health service that there is capacity within hospitals for people who have coronavirus. just 620 people who might not understand why people who are in care homes are not being moved into that capacity. why not?” think if they need to go into

hospital then they certainly should be going into hospital, but what people need to really focus on is that when people come into care services, they have a plan of care and within that plan they will be asked, if you are unwell and end—of—life care is sort of plant to the best of our abilities, and very often, and this happened in my case with my mum, very often the decisions that are made are, please don't send to hospital. nobody really wa nts don't send to hospital. nobody really wants to go to hospital, u nless really wants to go to hospital, unless it is something that will give them a cute care that will bring them back, and i think there isa bring them back, and i think there is a fear of hospitals and when you are hearing all these things, that you can contract the virus, you can go in and be treated and come back and maybe have symptoms of the virus, if it can be avoided, most people will avoid going into hospitals, but if it is needed they

should be going on. the health secretary made a big play today about changing the rules so that relatives could go and be with someone relatives could go and be with someone who is dying from coronavirus. he is talking generally about people who have been in hospital and died alone, but what is the situation in care homes? does this change the picture for families who have elderly relatives in care homes? as far as we are aware, and the reports we get back as wherever possible, they are enabling next of kin, they are limiting people, of course, to come in if that is going to be the inevitable outcome, but they have to be gowned and they have to be escorted. they can'tjust be walking around the care home in any shape orform walking around the care home in any shape or form because we still have to protect the other residents within the service and we have got

to protect our staff who are under tremendous stress and strain just trying to keep people safe, so i think it is happening. there are only a couple of providers who are very concerned and they have contacted me and talked about it. it is about how to be do this, how do we actually manage that, because thatis we actually manage that, because that is what you would want. you would want to be able to enable that, but there are risks attached and people will have to look at that risk. we will leave you there, thank you very much indeed for that, really lovely to give us some of that detail. we are talking specifically about the uk but it has been a problem in care homes in europe and the united states. let's talk more about how death figures in care homes around the globe are reported and what can be done to improve the systems in place. to discuss this i'm joined by adelina comas—hererra from the london school of economics, she's been collecting resources

to support long—term care responses to covid—19. good to have you with us. am i right in saying that one of the reasons we have not got the full picture, that figure is not being reported, is because a lot of these homes are under resourced and dealing with the virus and therefore can't get their figures into the system?” virus and therefore can't get their figures into the system? i think we also haven't got half the structures in place to collect these data on a consistent way and it is something i think forfuture consistent way and it is something i think for future pandemics, we consistent way and it is something i think forfuture pandemics, we may be able to address. it is very difficult as well to be able to record mortality properly, especially because there may be deaths that are related to covid but we only know it is in some cases are because people are not accessing health care for other reasons so it isa health care for other reasons so it is a complex set of data to collect. around the world, as the gp who goes

on and records the death on the fa cts on and records the death on the facts behind that death. i know in the uk that is not happening because everybody is so stretched, but is that another part of the problem? everybody is so stretched, but is that another part of the problem7m is definitely part of the problem and all countries are facing the struggle and the ones where we are hoping to get to this data is looking at excess mortality, and the office for national statistics has published some data. we know we have a huge increase in deaths this year compared to last year at the same time in the previous five years. and what we think is if we had that data aggregated by people in care homes we would have a much better chance of getting a good figure for the uk. if you were to point at best practice in the countries you have studied where they have got it right, which would you point to and how did they do it? i am more familiar with the system in ireland and we have a report on our website explaining it. maybe they have had

an advantage that they started early on to have a systematic way of collecting this information and i think it is an interesting example to look at. thank you very much for being with us. thank you. earlier today, the world passed yet another grim milestone, there are now more than two million confirmed cases of coronavirus across the planet, according to figures from johns hopkins university. more than 600,000 of those are in the united states, where president donald trump has faced heavy criticism for halting funding for the world health organization. he said on tuesday that the body had "failed in its basic duty" in its response to coronavirus. today i am instructing my administration to halt funding of the world health organization while a review is conducted to assess the world health organization's role in the severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the

corona. . . covering up the spread of the corona... virus. one of the most dangerous and costly decisions from the who was its disastrous decision to impose travel restrictions on china and other nations. they were very much opposed to what we did. fortunately i was not convinced and suspended travel from china saving untold numbers of lives. thousands and thousands of people would have died. had other nations likewise suspended travel from china, countless more lives would have been saved. instead, look at the rest of the world, look at parts of europe. other nations and regions who follow who guidelines and kept their open to china accelerated the pandemic all around the world. president trump speaking at yesterday's's briefing. the head of the world health organization said the president's decision was "disappointing" and called for solidarity

during this pandemic. covid—19 does not discriminate between rich nations and poor, large nations and small. it does not discriminate between nationalities, ethnicities or ideologies. neither do we. this is a time for all of us to be united in our common struggle against a common threat. a dangerous enemy. when we are divided, the virus exploits the cracks between us. virus exploits the cracks between us. meanwhile in the worst hit state in the united states, new york, governor andrew cuomo has won the crisis will not be over for another 12-18 crisis will not be over for another 12—18 months until a vaccine is available but he has welcome to slowing down in the number of people being admitted to hospital. the health care situation has

stabilised, the fears of overwhelming the health care system has not happened thanks to the phenomenal work of our front line workers, thanks to all the additional capacity that the hospital system created. over 5096 additional capacity. andrew cuomo, the governor of new york. i'm joined now by dr ashish jha, who is the director of the harvard global health institute. good to have you with us. what did you make of the president's decision? the president's decision on who funding. i think most of us feel like this is an extraordinarily bad decision at this moment. who is not perfect, they have i think made some mistakes in this outbreak but the notion they are somehow responsible for the abysmal response of ourfederal responsible for the abysmal response of our federal government i think is not tethered to reality. we have known for a long time this pandemic was coming and i think right now we are looking for a scapegoat. of

course, harming the who will make everybody worse off, it will make low and middle income countries worse sort that rely on who expertise, it will make europe and america worse off because we love on one planet and that there are outbreaks happening elsewhere we will see those in our own cities, so i think this was not a well thought through decision at all. it occurs to me that until we have a vaccine we don't get out of this pandemic until we are all out of this pandemic? correct. we all happen to live on one planet and until we somehow managed to seal off our borders completely, which will not happen because we are only very interconnected world now, we will have to deal with the fact that an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere, and i think that there area everywhere, and i think that there are a lot of political leaders who don't realise that. one of the problems politically that donald trump has in criticising the who for going soft on china is that he himself went soft back in february.

he talked about the transparency they have had from china and now he has changed his tune, presumably because we are an election year and it suits him to do that.” because we are an election year and it suits him to do that. i think the american public realise that the federal response has been terrible. there are states where governors are doing a very good job. the federal response has been abysmal and as a way to try to deflect some of the blame, we have looked for scapegoats and who is often an easy scapegoat in these contexts. it doesn't make it the right thing to do but it is an easy scapegoat. i was struck listening to doctor ted ross today about the breadth of the things that we who actually does. obviously focus right now is on funding for covid—19 but a lot of the funding the united states kicks in goes towards a bowler or to malaria or polio or tbr malnutrition and so on, it does so much work around the

world ? it does so much work around the world? absolutely, and it is one of those things where whenever american policymakers get frustrated with the who and sometimes they wish to abandon it or shut it down, i say you can do that but tomorrow you will want to create a new who because there are essential things the who does that we can't live without and could they do it better? there are plenty of times where they could, we could all perform better, andi could, we could all perform better, and i have been quite critical of who when they failed. this is not one of those moments where their performance has been particularly problematic. just quickly, but do you think they will find the funding to replace what they are not getting from the united states? ultimately it isa from the united states? ultimately it is a small amount in the big picture and given how important it is the who working with low and middle income countries, i think there will be other sources of funding. ithink there will be other sources of funding. i think america bought reverse course and i funding. i think america bought reverse course and i will be very surprised if they didn't. thank you for joining surprised if they didn't. thank you forjoining us. plenty more on that story and much more on the care home

situation here in the uk and around the world so do stay with us, you are watching bbc world news good evening. mid april now and we haven't seen any characteristic spells of sunshine and scattered showers, have we came back today hardly a cloud in the sky across parts of north—east england in particular, where we saw a high of 20 celsius. wall—to—wall sunshine for many, the only exception just like the last couple of days, this westerly wind feeding and cloud across the extreme north—west of scotland. that cloud thick enough drizzle but a disappointing feel with only highs of 19 —— nine celsius. that sinks south across the whole of scotland, northern england and northern ireland overnight. bringing drizzle and patching and

fog. further south, a quiet story, not as cold as the nightjust passed with the low setting between 3—8. we start off tomorrow still with the cold front influencing the story in scotla nd cold front influencing the story in scotland and behind that still some colder air but we have this area of low pressure and sandwiched between the two of the frontal systems, a south easterly breeze will drive and some pretty warm air, we could see the temperature recovering into the low 20s. staying pretty cloudy across much of the north and damp at times. better sunshine for england and wales, if you scattered showers later in the day down towards the south—west but in the sunshine, 21-22, south—west but in the sunshine, 21—22, cooler behind the cold front in scotland, but the cold front struts to ease off into the north sea allowing high pressure to build and dominate the story to the north as we head into the weekend, still under the influence of this area of low pressure and like catherine wheels are in the low we see showery

outbreaks of rain from time to time so on friday moved up to the south coast, across central and southern wales through the day. further north of that it stays dry but on the cool side with a north—easterly breeze in scotland, nine celsius, highest value stone on friday, a maximum of i7. value stone on friday, a maximum of 17. showers still affecting england and wales on saturday as you can see clearly. the best of the drier weather into the north but things quiet down for the second half of the weekend. for the next couple of days showers for england and wales, perhaps great news for gardeners and growers , perhaps great news for gardeners and growers, try elsewhere.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk government promises to try to help care homes in the fight against coronavirus with a pledge to do far more testing ministers claim that there is capacity to increase testing in the care sector despite the pressures elsewhere — but there's no detail on the timescale. the head of the world health organisation calls for the international community to unite, and not get caught up in recriminations. a new device, an alternative to a ventilator, designed within weeks by clinicians, engineers and formula one, is now being delivered for use within the uk's health service. more european countries ease restrictions, but there are questions over whether it is too early.

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. first: the uk health secretary, matt hancock, has set out a new series of measures he says will help combat the spread of coronavirus in care homes — following growing concern that the uk government's official figures do not reflect the number of cases or deaths in residential homes. at the daily downing street briefing, mr hancock said he was launching a new supply network to help get personal protective equipment to care home staff. he reiterated the government's commitment to expand testing of staff in care homes and residents showing symptoms. and he announced that a single brand for social care will be introduced, to replicate the blue and white logo for the nhs. he also issued new guidance

to allow families, where possible, to say goodbye to loved ones dying from coronavirus. i have been really moved and upset by some of the heartbreaking stories of people dying without anyone nearby. as a father of a 13—year—old myself, the reports of the 13—year—old dying without a parent at his bedside made me weep. and the sight of his coffin being lowered into a grave without a member of his family present is too awful. so i am pleased to say that working with public health england, the care sector and many others there introducing new procedures so we can limit the risk of infection while giving peoples' closest loved ones the chance to say goodbye. let's speak now to dr amy proffitt, who's a consultant in palliative care and vice president to the association for palliative medicine in the uk.

good to have you with us. here —— you are visiting a lot of bees care homes, what are you seeing? we are seeing care homes that are really struggling. the issues here is that they are under resourced, understaffed, and have no access to the ppe. which is so vital, the personal protective equipment which is so vital to them providing the ca re is so vital to them providing the care that they need to for their residents. i noticed that the ppe that care homes are buying in privately, though that is still applied and still being for the nhs isn't it? i think they feel they have been left out of this. they have been left out of this. they have not been catered for in this situation and yet there —— they care for some of the most vulnerable people in our population in our society. and that should not be allowed. the spare capacity that we

are seeing in hospitals, could some of that be used do you think? we have lost your picture. let me see if we can, we can still see you. i was going to say some of the spare capacity we have in hospitals at the moment i was asking one of our earlier gas weight that she thought that could be better used for more elderly patients that are in these ca re elderly patients that are in these care homes to sort of eased some of the pressure. i wonder what you think about that? i think it is very much what is in the best interest of those in residential care. they are the most vulnerable in society. they had some very serious medical conditions and frailty and actually taking them into hospital would probably not be in their interest or their wishes. they care homes are their wishes. they care homes are their home, it is where they live. many care home managers is really struggling at this time. it's when they lose someone within their care home when someone dies, it's like losing a member of theirfamily because they are devoted and hard—working. moving

because they are devoted and ha rd—working. moving them because they are devoted and hard—working. moving them into the nicu that there would not be in their interest at all and would not start this problem out. as you said that health secretary made some commitments today on testing and ca re commitments today on testing and care homes, presumably welcoming the changes being made. who does that apply to you? that is just a pipe to staff or should it apply to elderly patients? i really welcomed the changes and be in our sector welcomed the changes to get testing in in the hospice sector out where i work. i have no ability to test either staff nor patients. so i think this would be useful in terms of the staffing of our units to understand who could be dead to provide the relevant care that is required at this time. i don't know that testing does residents themselves would actually change our management of them because we know if we have the right access to ppe on the right access to those vital

medications people need, we know we can treat them and keep them in their place of residence which as i said for a care home at this is their home. one last issue on those essential medications. as a pic case that when people die those medication tell into being and could they be better utilised ? medication tell into being and could they be better utilised? absolutely. this is a historic travesty, —— legislation does not at all medication prescribed for one person to be used by someone else even in day care home when you're in the next room and need pain relief and medication to ease their suffering at the end of life as wasted. thousands and thousands of pounds of medication is destroyed every single day. we just need someone with their weight and motivation to find that he changed the law and make some sense of such difficult time for all of us. thank you for your thoughts. maybe something for the government to look at. a partnership between clinicians, university

researchers and industry which we reported on a few weeks ago has now resulted in the production of 10,000 breathing aids for seriously ill coronavirus patients. this afternoon, mercedes formula one completed manufacture of the continuous positive airway pressure or cpap devices which were designed in partnership with engineers at university college london. initial trials suggest they may be able to prevent more patients from needing ventilators, as our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. this is the stark reality of intensive care in this time of coronavirus. royal surrey county hospital in guilford has many critically ill patients on ventilators. ijust remember being really difficult to breathe and it was hard to breathe, it was horrible, literally scared me thought that was it and they were taking me away.

tim is over the worst. the 37—year—old spent four days on an alternative breathing device known as cpap which pushes oxygen under pressure into the lungs. it meant he did not need to go on a ventilator which requires sedation. just being able to know what's going on and who is around you again i think makes a big difference so being awake was massive. this cpap device have been manufactured by mercedes formula 1 in northamptonshire, quite a contrast to their usualjob of designing engines for motor racing. they just finished an order of 10,000 of them for the nhs. it was done in partnership with engineers at university college london who modified and improved an existing design.

the manufacturing process has been made freely available. as a consortium we are dedicated to supporting the global efforts around covid and in response to that we release the designs and manufacturing processes for their design at zero cost and we have approved of 1300 downloads of the designs and that's across 25 countries. the more of the device is made available the less pressure they will be on ventilators, a limited resource which are needed for the most severely ill patients. all the medical staff on intensive care at royal surrey must wear protective clothing because of the danger of infection. they know all too well the threat posed by coronavirus. so you can see clearly the difference between the normal ct scan and the ct scan with pneumonia. in the sickest patients coronavirus causes severe pneumonia. all it tells us is the lung

tissue is damaged. and the damage is associated with the leakage of fluid into the lung so it stops it working properly and you can see this is really quite significant all this is abnormal tissue here. national data shows that of more than 1600 coronavirus patients intensive care, who have finished treatment, around half have died but an even higher number will remained in critical care. their outcomes still uncertain. doctors trailing the cpap device hope it will mean more patients will survive like tim who has this message on social distancing. anything you think is worth going outside for, it is not, not when you could potentially see your kids for that last time or even a week or so without them is hard enough so whatever it is it's not

worth it. the cpap machine was approved by medical regulators in just days. that is in stark contrast to several new models of ventilator including one by dyson. none of which have received the go—ahead for use in the nhs. breaking news from france. the ministry of defence in france said 668 people have tested positive on their navy aircraft carrier, that is out of 1767, almost a third of the crew on board that ship, or as part of the group have contracted coronavirus. you will remember the stories of the uss teddy roosevelt and the crew on board the us ships that have coronavirus. it seems the french navy had similar problems. in europe, governments are slowly preparing plans for returning life back to normal.

denmark has now allowed children up to 11 years old to return to nurseries and schools — and today the country's prime minister welcomed students back at one school in copenhagen. denmark is now the first european country to relax coronavirus restrictions in education. germany's leader — angela merkel — has held a meeting with the country's state governors to discuss how and when to begin loosening some of the restrictions there. the country's social distancing measures are expected to remain in place until may 3rd — but the government is considering relaxing restrictions on smaller shops before then. and in spain restrictions on the construction and manufacturing sectors were loosened by the government earlier this week — in a bid to stave off economic collapse. but police are continuing their strict checks on motorists — demanding to see documents specifying the reason for their journey which employers must provide to their workers. while european countries have ta ken different measures in response to the virus — the eu has been pushing for a more unified strategy. our europe editor katya adler explains that member

countries are being asked to co—ordinate their relaxation of restrictions. it is a big challenge for any government at this time to balance their risks, the social and economic risks and public health risks and it's a big challenge for the eu. you will remember its response at the beginning of the covid—19 crisis was messy. what is now saying to member countries as before you start lifting your lockdown, can you please co—ordinate and don't even think about it unless the number of infections has been going down for a sustained amount of time and the public health system is able to deal with the spike of new infections, and unless you have the testing capacity in place to trace new infections and protect the general public who would then be out and about. the eu knows that with 27 different health systems and 27 different economic priorities, each country will decide for itself when to start lifting the measures

like you say gemini will be opening like you say germany will be opening schools at the beginning of may and shops as of monday, denmark opening primary school today. but, what the hope here is to prevent a new wave of infections across europe. it is not about getting back to normal. it is about the targeted easing of restrictions and reintroducing them again if necessary if there's a new wave of infections. the federal reserve have been warning and will fall further and be do get new figures we will probably get in tomorrow. 60 million people so far has claimed for on employment benefits in the us. today retail sales in the us have suffered their biggest drop on record. sales figures dropped by nearly 9% in march, as people are told to stay at home to stop the spread of covid—19. it's yet another blow to the us economy, which has already seen millions of people lose theirjobs due i've been speaking to our business correspondent samira hussain and asked her how a combination of economic uncertainty and high unemployment has effected purchasing.

i think there's a lot of those factors at play this specifically for the month of march if you look at the way retail sales work. they dropped by nearly 9%. we are seeing that people aren't going to restaurants, they are not shopping. they are not going to petrol stations. so it's not totally surprising but i thinkjust the level of that drop. it was another record—breaking piece of data from the us economy showing that people are not spending and the reason why this is important, why this is such an important piece of data is that consumer spending is actually responsible for 70% of america's economy. so the whole economy really functions on people going out and spending money. when people can't do that it has a direct impact on the wider american economy. more important numbers there. we have been talking about funding from the who and these multilateral organisations that do so much work around the world. we had an announcement

this afternoon from the 620. they are going to help emerging countries. by suspending debt repayments. what they decided is all countries around the world are facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis. and poor countries are going to end up feeling the brunt of this the most. and so we already heard from other international organisations calling undeveloped countries to suspend their debt payment. that means that that that is owed by poor countries. so we heard from the g20 group that they are going to do that. but the thing is this is actually just a delay in what they have to pay and so they're going to be looking for repayment of the debt in 2022 or 2024 and they will still be interest accrued on that. if you remember we heard from the international monetary fund and other organisations we are seeing maybe we should try and just

eliminate some of the debts that these countries are on the hook for. that said, this is still a positive move in the right direction to try and help countries weather the storm. here in the uk relaying high street fashion chains oasis and warehouse have collapsed in the administration affecting 2000 workers across 92 branches. the administrator says a few hundred employees will be furloughed with 202 redundancies. let us speak to our retail analyst. we have been hearing the picture in the united states where people obviously don't have money to spend, it's very much the same picture in the uk. although over recent years fashion has definitely been a marketplace it's been particularly in the fashion arena of fast fashion and certainly we have seen a lot more contributing evidence coming in

when consumers are thinking about how they want to buy that fashion. we have seen things like rental markets explode into the marketplace and he had seen the discounters come into the marketplace and the environmental elements sell brands like oasis and warehouse that way the darlings of the high street in the darlings of the high street in the late 90s who had troubled times of late this is just going to compound the effect that they are experiencing and that's why we heard the news today. there was nothing in the news today. there was nothing in the business interruption loans that would save those two stories?” think if anyone looks at their realism as what they would meet strategically with the turnaround, the investment in stories. and also the investment in stories. and also the connectivity with the consumer. it's not the only measure but if you look at a brand like primark that's got millions of followers on nine and instagram and sarah again millions, these are brands that had a few hundred thousand, they lost their way abates, the selective clarity affecting fashion brands like marks & spencer is where they are losing with that very demanding

consumer. i think it would be hard to think actually if we carry on rebooting and reinvesting in them are they going to make it? are they going to connect and have a vibrant future? i think this is the case where it's so much competition. all we are seeing with the pandemic effect is this fast forwarding of what is actually already happening in that sector. it is a big week for the high streets because payroll on april 25 next week. do you see when you generally look at retail, do you see this sort of v—shaped recovery or is it too soon to say? it is a little too soon to say but we buy emotionally, anything that is not essential has an emotional element to it and we have to think about how the consumer will feel after this. he will be very wary and be able to be clear that financial challenges ahead. he will be aware they will have to tighten their belts. that means nonessential purchases really do start to go into the microscope

and then it will be the operators that can offer the best value that gets a, luxury plans to go untouched but it will be that major markets where the belt is firmly tightened and we will see more erosion there. thank you for your analysis. despite the coronavirus pandemic, elections have been held today in south korea. hand sanitisers and plastic gloves were given to voters, who had to wear masks and maintain social distancing. from seoul, laura bicker reports: this is an election like no other. though must wear masks, stand at least a metre apart, their temperature is taken. they disinfect their hands and wear plastic gloves. these two days of early voting have seen a these two days of early voting have seen a record turnout despite the

ongoing pandemic. people are still coming here in their thousands to cast their vote. they are going into these little booths here with their plastic gloves, they mark their ballots a nd plastic gloves, they mark their ballots and put it in the box.” thought maybe the election should be postponed because people would not turn up but now that i'm here and see so many turn up but now that i'm here and see so many others i am not worried. i don't think we should be worried. it is about our right to vote. patients with coronavirus are also able to vote. special polling booths have been set up outside treatment centres. this woman told us she was thankfulfor centres. this woman told us she was thankful for the opportunity. south korea controlled despite —— the spiralling number of cases quickly and effectively, aggressively tracing and testing affected patients. the widely praised

response is giving his wants embattled democratic party ablest. the opposition credit that thousands of health professionals on the front lines. there are fairies that holding an election could trigger a second wave of infection. but for now, south korea is determined to prove what is possible during this pandemic. connie titchen — who is 106 — is believed to be britain's oldest patient to overcome the coronavirus. the great grandmother — who has lived through two world wars — battled the virus forjust under three weeks before being given a clean bill of health as phil mackie reports. when the news is often so bad that every bit of good news is deserves a cheer and a round of applause. she was just five years

old when the spanish flu killed millions. now she is 106 and she has survived covid—19. and let us not forget she lived through two world wars as well. before she left she spoke to one of the nurses who looked after her. do you feel lucky you survived all of this? yes i do. yes i do really. are you looking forward to seeing your grandchildren? yes. now she is back home with her family. earlier i spoke to her granddaughter alex jones. how did you feel when she went inside? you must‘ve been really concerned with because of her age. when i left her at the doors of a&e i did not think i would see her again. but? she kept hanging in there? yes. she's a fighter. i think it will take a while for it to settle down but yes i think she's doing well. it will be a bit of adjustment because she's not being her own environment

for a long time so she's getting used to it. but yes i am sure she will adapt as she always does. she was taken into hospital last month with suspected pneumonia and after 3 weeks in the hospital she was given the all clear and a guard of honour, she's the oldest woman in the uk who survived the virus. that is the story of 106—year—old connie. that is the story of 106—year—old connie. let's get an update now on the 99 year—old man who's raising money for the nhs by walking a hundred laps of his garden. captain tom moore from bedfordshire has now raised over 8 million pounds. here's david sillito. captain tom moore, 99 years old and counting down the days to his 100th birthday with 100 laps of his garden. the original plan was to try to raise £1000 for nhs charities. today he was told the total had

already gone past 5 million. completely out of this world! thank you so much for all you people subscribing to the national health service because they deserve every one of it. a couple of hours later another million have been added that another and on it went. tomorrow he will complete his 100th lap and no one is predicting how much he would have raised by them but he's not planning on stopping. if the money keeps coming he will keep on walking. extraordinary. well done captain, and if you are feeling generous there are charities available. you can go to the just giving dot com website and give to his campaign. he has raised £8 million for the nhs and he will probably raise much more than that. plenty module, on the bbc

this evening. of course if you are keeping track of the pandemic lots more on the bbc website as well. see you tomorrow. good evening. we are made april now and we have not seen any characteristics pounds of sunshine and scattered showers have we? today there was hardly a cloud in the sky across parts of nike inc. and in particular where we saw a high of 20 degrees. it was wall—to—wall sunshine for many, the only exception just like the last couple of days, this west wing feeding a crowd across the extreme north west of scotland. and that crowd has been picking up for drizzle and a disappointing field with only a high of9 disappointing field with only a high of 9 degrees. that is a weather front and it will continue south across scotland in northern england and northern ireland overnight. it will continue to bring chisel and maybe mist and fog. further south

it's quiet story, not as cold as their past nights. those lows will be between three and 8 degrees. we start tomorrow still with that cold front influencing the story in scotland, behind it some colder air. we have got this area of low pressure and between the two of those frontal systems a southeasterly breeze will drive and some pretty warm air. he could see temperatures again recovering back into the low 20s. it will stay pretty cloudy across much of the north and damp at times. a few scattered showers writing later in the debate down to the southwest. that sunshine we could see 21 or 22 degrees. 72 fahrenheit flu ——. cooler behind that cold front in scotland. the cold front will fight to ease into the north sea allowing high pressure to build and dominate the story to the north as we head into the region. we are still under the influence of this area of low pressure and we will see shower

re—outbreaks of pressure and we will see shower re—outbrea ks of rain pressure and we will see shower re—outbreaks of rain from time to time. on friday moving up to the south coast across central and southern wales through the day. further north of that it stays dry but on the cool side of the northeast breeze in scotland with 9 degrees we are looking at a maximum of 17. for that shower is still affecting england and wales on saturday. as you can see quite clearly the best of the dry weather and wales on saturday. as you can see quite clearly the best of the dry weather setting me up into the north but things will quiet down the second half of the weekend. sartini for the next couple of days it will be showers for england and wales. perhaps great news for gardeners and growers , perhaps great news for gardeners and growers, dry elsewhere.

this is outside source on bbc news, for viewers in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the world health organisation calls for unity after donald trump cuts its funding. we regret the decision of the president of the united states to order a halt in funding to the world health organisation. the uk pledges to do far more testing as anger grows over coronavirus deaths in care homes