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 uk pledges to do far more testing as anger grows over coronavirus deaths in care homes the world health organisation calls for unity after president 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.

and children return to school in denmark as more countries in europe relax their lockdowns welcome. today, another grim statistic — there are now more than two million confirmed cases of coronavirus globally, according to figures from johns hopkins university. and the us remains the centre of the global outbreak — with more than 600,000 cases and 26,000 deaths. more on that later. beacuse we're starting here in the uk, where the government has been responding to criticism about the situation in care homes. charities have warned the virus is "running wild" inside them — let's start by looking inside of one. here's our health correspondent lauren moss. "we will be there with you." a heartbreaking goodbye from a family unable to visit their grandmother. theirfinal words to her read by a care worker. "for now, grandma, this is goodbye, but i know you will always be with us in our hearts."

we have all got on with it and done what we can. and i can sleep well at night knowing that i did give them all the love and care that i could in their last moments. behind the doors of care homes like this one in liverpool, the consequences of the virus are devastating. i can't tell you how hard it is to lose 16 residents, 16 residents in the space of three weeks. it's horrendous. it is absolutely heart—rending and horrendous. staff are doing all they can to protect residents. in sheffield, care workers moved into their home to minimise outside contact. we're on our fourth week now and we have so far set out what we achieved to do and keep the virus out. it is hard being away from the family, but we are doing it because we care and for the right reasons.

the government has announced stricter guidelines to increase the isolation of people within care homes where required. at the same time the health secretary has loosened restrictions on people being able to visit their dying relatives. i've been really moved and upset by some of the heartbreaking stories of people dying without a loved one nearby. as a father of a 13—year—old myself, the reports of ishmael dying at age 13 without a parent at his bedside made me weep. and the sight of his coffin being lowered into a grave without member of his family present was too awful. so i'm pleased to say that, working with public health england, the care sector, and many others, we are introducing new procedures so we can limit the risk of infection while wherever possible giving people's closest loved ones a chance to say goodbye. relatives have welcomed the move.

but there is still a concern that deaths in care homes are being overlooked. these are the latest official uk figures. the daily death toll rose by another 761. that brings the official count to almost 13—thousand. but those figures only record deaths in hospital, not care homes. the actual number could be much higher. this graph shows the number of excess deaths in england and wales up to april third. there's clearly a huge rise in the number of people who've died, but only around half of those deaths are recorded as covid—related. england's chief medical officer addressed the issue earlier this week. the most important number in my view — actually over the epidemic as a whole — is going to be all cause of mortality. so that's death of any sort. and obviously of that, some of them have been diagnosed by their doctor as having had covid—19. now, over the ones that are diagnosed with covid—19 are in hospital now,

and it will be true of other settings, that will be based on testing. so over time, the accuracy of that will increase. earlier today, scotland released figures which included deaths where covid—19 was registered on the death certificate. that saw the toll rise from 596 to 962. the scottish first minister says a quarter of all covid—19 deaths in scotland have taken place in care homes. now, i am acutely aware this information is really hard to hear. it is also very hard to report on. these numbers are higher than anybody would have ever wanted to think about. but we do need this fluid information to understand the toll this virus is having and how and where the virus is progressing and also to inform what we do next. one of the problems across the uk is a lack of testing. it's made it difficult to respond adequately to outbreaks in care homes. now the health secretary is promising testing for all care

residents and staff in england with covid—19 symptoms. here's our assistant political editor norman smith. it is a promise, however it does come with a very big but. in the but is that there is no timeframe for delivering this testing for all care workers and residents in care homes who wanted, so to the extent it remains an aspiration and you have to say it is getting pretty late in the day admitted to some of the reports we've had from care homes of the virus really spreading through some homes. up until now, priority for testing has been given to staff in the national health service. at today's briefing our health editor hugh pym asked the health secretary for more detail on how testing in care homes will work. given you are making quite slow progress to your 100,000 a day target by the end of this month, how you actually going to cover this large number of social care staff and nhs staff and hospital patients? how will it be achieved?

as i said, hugh, we are building capacity of testing all the time and the reason the figures on the number of tests done have been flat over the last couple of days has been because of not enough demand rather than not enough capacity. and that gives us the space to be able to increase the number of people eligible for testing. so now we have testing available right across the nhs and social care for all those who need it. let's speak to our politicial correspondentjessica parker. stay with us on 0ustide source, still to come: we're going to assess donald trump's criticisms of the world health organisation. i think the government is faced ongoing questions on testing, it was not long ago that it emerged that they were prioritising testing, for understandable reasons, for patients

we re understandable reasons, for patients were in hospital wanting to identify those with serious symptoms whether oi’ those with serious symptoms whether or not they have coronavirus. question as to why more nhs staff are not being tested because nhs staff showing symptoms may have to use up isolation at home or family member and he cannot be on front line. deal with the coronavirus caring for people with it, so the government responded on that cingulate of the number of patients and their creepy strength through sites, but now what about, care workers and i think that what matt hancock was trying to do today more broadly was create some parity between the workers because for understandable reasons, a lot of her nhs resourcing trying to make sure that the nhs can cope with the number of coronavirus patients coming in that it's been the big game to make sure that its capacity would never be reached in terms of the cases it's dealing with but also what about these care home settings

that are very vulnerable with elderly people and they may have got coronavirus and care home workers and settings are given with the provisions in testings they need to deal with that. and care workers are held with three high esteem, talk about ramping up a national recruitment campaign and some additional training to get more care workers on the front line, delivering millions of items of personal protective equipment and this is being mentioned earlier ago, trying to ensure that people and ca re trying to ensure that people and care home workers showing signs of coronavirus and as well as patients and care home residents that they will also get tests. the big question is when this will be delivered and of course the government set a target of 100,000 tests per day by the end of this month and as things stand, this took quite a way of the target. very

briefly, where the opposition labour party been saying? of the neighbour to make major things —— major things is to clarify on the exit strategy, how will get the country out of lockdown. an exit strategy is extensive work to go across the hall in the labour party saying that their new leader was saying that their new leader was saying that their new leader was saying that it will be a bit of a light at the end of the time for people if they knew how they were going to emerge from the current lockdown as far as the government is concerned they did not want to send mixed messages. they want to make sure they stick to the social distancing and not confuse the message by talking about next strategy to soon. taking a look at donald trump's criticisms of the world health organisation. a 99—year—old second world war veteran who was hoping to raise

a thousand pounds for the nhs — by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday — has now raised over £8 million. his name is captain tom moore, here he is talking about his success i think that's an absolutely enormous. when we started with this exercise, we didn't anticipate we'll get anything near that sort of money. and just shows that people have such high regard for our members of our national health service. and it's really amazing that people have paid so much money to the service, care and attention we've got has been out of this world. from top to bottom, they have worked so hard and they're so humble and, i think we've got to say, they're all so brilliant.

this is 0utside source, live from the bbc newsroom. the uk health secretary has pledged to do far more testing, as anger gi’ows over coronavirus deaths in care homes. the world health organization has called for international unity after donald trump stopped funding the body. in the united states almost 27,000 people have died from covid—19, making it the country worst affected by the covid—19 outbreak. but it's the words and actions of president trump still dominating the headlines. he's been heavily criticised for halting funding for the world health organization. here's how it began. today, i'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the world health organisation while a review is conducted to assess the world health organisation's role in severely mismanaging and covering up

the spread of the coronavirus. everybody knows what's going on there. world leaders, diplomats and doctors have criticised the announcement. this is what the world health organization itself had to say earlier. 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. we are committed to serving the world's people and to accountability for the resources with which we are entrusted. and this is the reaction from the editor of the lancet medicaljournal. well, the world health organisation's primary role is to defend the health of the world's population. and a crime against humanity is a systematic attempt to hurt the health and well—being

of a population. donald trump has clearly committed that crime. as well as accusing the who of a cover—up, donald trump said it failed to adequately assess the outbreak when it first emerged in the city of wuhan — and accused it of trusting china too much. the who willingly took china's assurances to face value, and they took itjust at face value, and defended the actions of the chinese government, even praising china for its so—called "transparency". i don't think so. here's china's reaction. translation: the current global pandemic situation is grave. this is a critical moment. the us decision will weaken the who's ability to handle the pandemic and will undermine the international cooperation against covid—19. all nations, including the united states, will suffer

from the impact of the decision. and kerry alan has been monitoring chinese social media for us. china and the us have had a very difficult relationship going back to early january when we were first hearing about the virus. and it is very much the case that we have been hearing donald trump calling it the chinese virus and chinese media are wanting to give the impression that the us was not cooperating, was pointing the finger, so now that the us has suspended funding for the who, this really increases this line in china and people are very angry about this. they are saying the us is not being cooperative, very much donald trump distancing himself from everything and wanting to point blame rather than helping other countries. so now i'm seeing a lot of alliance on social media platforms with people saying that he clearly does not care about other people's feelings and there's a lot of anger towards him and a lot of concern for the us people. a bit of context here.

the us has the highest number of cases and deaths worldwide and there's been criticism of the federal government's handling of the crisis. so this is also political. a blame—game ahead of this year's us presidential election. let's bring in anthony zurcher in washington. the events of many deaths there in the us, but this is an election issue. it is and that is simply the reality here. it is politicians were handling this crisis and by nature, it is going to be a political debate really co m es it is going to be a political debate really comes down to it. donald trump is been getting a lot of criticism for his handling of the us response to this virus, downplaying its severity early on, whether he did to prepare various hospitals and health care systems to deal with the patient‘s and so now you have seen him attempt to shift some of this

blame, most recently to the who it is also talking about china, governors and state not doing enough or democrats in congress are coming up or democrats in congress are coming up with a goodenough legislation of solution but if you look back, donald trump was praising china possibles response for saying they're being possibles response for saying they‘ re being transparent. possibles response for saying they're being transparent. so the same thing he is accusing the who of, he actually engaged in similar type of language earlier on this year. and viewers may remember anthony, that donald trump wanted to reopen the us by easter. that deadline clearly has been passed. is there a timeline now? we're talking about right now is may one is the deadline. that is what donald trump appears to want and that is what he is telling his administration officials to come up with, but the reality as it is going to be very difficult to open a whole nation on

may one and the condition in various states is very different in the bottom line is that state governors are the ones close things down and they're the ones were going to decide when to open things up again. so that is why you are seeing various associations in states like california, washington on the west coast, new york, pennsylvania, connecticut massachusetts and others on the east coast try to figure out the best way to do it in there looking at a step—by—step process of where they can control this virus, so they don't get a renewed peak in the spread of more deaths, more hospitalizations when they start to ease up hospitalizations when they start to ease up on hospitalizations when they start to ease up on this restrictions. but all the politicians are looking at november looking the election and they realise that they want the economy to try to rebound at some point soon. fascinating, the power balance there. thank you very much for that. now let's assess donald trump's criticism of the who. how valid is it?

i'm going to get some help here from a familiar face. ros atkins has been off outside source for the last few weeks — but he'sjoining us from his home to look at this side of the story. hi ros, good to see you. you too, lewis. yes my family and i are going to be staying at home for a while, so it's good to be back on the programme if not in the newsroom. now let's look at the who and donald trump's criticism of it — starting with the world health organization itself. it's a un agency based in geneva, with an annual budget of over 2.5 billion dollars — that comes in part from member countries, and in part from philanthropic donations. america is the largest donor. it pledges 400 million dollars annually. though it is in arrears on its contributions. the second largest contributor is the bill and melita gates foundation.

and there is now a sharp divide between these top two donors. donald trump says us money is suspended because the who has worsened the outbreak with mismanagement — and has covered for chinese mistakes. bill gates tweeted this. arguing that mr trump's move is dangerous — adding that if the who's work is stopped, no other organisation can replace them. clearly the two men don't agree — but their analyses don't necessarily cancel each other out. here's why. it is certainly true that some of the who's statements have raised a few eyebrows. in january, it said there was no evidence that covid—19 could be transmitted from human—to—human. but it was already happening. in late january, it declared a public health emergency but said severe travel restrictions were not necessary. countries introduced them all the same. it also said there was no need for all of us to wear face masks — and then weeks later said it was reviewing that advice. it's also true that the who has been effusive in its praise

for china's response — and there's been no equivalent severity in its criticism of china's failure to speak publicly when it first knew of the virus. or of china's intimidation of doctors who did speak out. critics say the who has been too soft on china for political reasons, the who says it has to be diplomatic to get china to co—operate. it's also worth pointing out — the who advises member states, it can't instruct them — the most crucial decisions taken in this crisis have been taken by countries — like china and the us. there are two additional issues here. the first is america's place on the international stage. this is at this tweet from former us ambassador to the un: samantha power — who served under president obama. she imagines president putin thinking of russia's efforts to help donald trump win the 2016 election — and seeing this who decision.

she suggests this latest decision is a destruction of us credibility beyond mr putin's wildest dreams. but actually this decision sits comfortably within donald trump's foreign policy — he's taken the us out of the paris climate agreement, the iran nuclear deal, a major free trade deal with pacific nations, and its military commitments in northern syria. the list goes on. and we know he's suspicious of supranational bodies like the who — and of how much money america pays to, in his eyes, sort out other people's problems. this who decision is entirely in line with that thinking. combine that with the political calculations ahead of the us election, and lewis, we start to better to understand this announcement. in paris, the great bell

of notre dame has rung out in honour of care workers on the front line of the coronavirus epidemic. it marks one year since fire ripped through the cathedral, destroying its ancient roof and iconic spire and threatening to bring down the building itself. with restoration work stalled our paris correspondent, lucy williamson, has been looking how notre dame is faring one year on. a year ago paris watched in horror as fire ripped through notre dame's medieval roof. firefighters warned emmanuel macron that night to expect the worse. reconstruction has been delayed, notjust by coronavirus but lead contamination and bad weather, too. there were two sets of scaffolding up around notre dame at the moment. one new set to stabilise the building and one old, burnt,

mangled set that was in place at the time of the fire. it got heated at the time of the flames and was badly damaged and needs to be taken down. every stone after rafter was taken pictures of. technology from the 12 centuries technology from the 12th and 21st centuries coming together. it is amazing. with this project we are able to use the most advanced technology but at the same time, we are involved in a human adventure. the data we will produce within this project will be analysed by the next generation. and scientists say some of the building's best pictures might have been saved by dirt. glass specialists like claudine say the windows has not been

cleaned for 100 years. the thick layer of dust she says acts as a protection of contamination from the lead spread by the fire. ideas are emerging about how the new spire and roof might look. solar palms, an advanced expanse of stained glass? a changing face of identity. for many, the first lady of france. a reminder of our top stories here in the uk the government is promising more help for care homes in the fight against coronavirus. and the world health organization has called for unity after donald trump announved a cut in its funding

good evening. mid april now and we have not seen any characteristic spells of sunshine and scattered showers, have we? today there was hardly a cloud in the sky across parts of northeast england in particular will recite a high of 20 degrees, wall—to—wall sunshine for many, the only exception just like last couple of days in western wind feeding and cloud over the extreme north west of scotland. and so the clouds been thinking of for drizzle and a disappointing field on the heights of 9 degrees. that is the weather front that is going to continue to sink south across the whole of scotland, northern england and northern ireland overnight. and considering some drizzle it up bit of patching mist and fog. for the site that is a quiet story that is not as cold as the site that is a

quiet story that is not escorted from ages past, those lows will be sitting between three and 8 degrees. we start off tomorrow store that court front influencing the story in scotla nd court front influencing the story in scotland behind it, still some colder air but we've got this area of low pressure and seems to between the two of those frontal systems or south easterly breeze that would drive them to 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 arriving later on in the day, down to the southwest. but in the sunshine, 22 or 22 degrees —— 21 or 22 degrees. bill is off to the north sea, allowing high pressure to build and dominate the story into the north as into the weekend. we are still under the influence of low pressure and around that low, we see the outbreaks of rain from time from time to time. on friday, we moved to

the south coast and across central and southern wells that the day. for the north of that, it stays dry, but on the cool side to the north easterly breeze in scotland with 9 degrees, ice values down friday and we're looking at a maximum of 17. showers still fighting england and was on saturday as you can see it quite clearly, the best of the dry weather certainly open to the north but things will quiet down to the second half of the weekend. so for the next couple of days, it will be showers and well expressed 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 uk pledges to do far more testing, as anger grows over coronavirus deaths in care homes. 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. and children return to school

in denmark as more countries in europe relax their lockdowns welcome. over the the next half hour or so, we're going to look at ways the world could start emerging from coronavirus lockdowns. a doubtful claim from iran about a device it claims can test for the virus, and how people looking for love are coping with social distancing. but first... for everyone who dies from coronavirus, anywhere in the world, families and friends are left behind. in many countries, including the uk, the grieving process is made worse because of restrictions on hospital visits and only limited numbers being allowed to attend funerals. reporters from the bbc inside out north east programme have been talking to families of coronavirus victims who've shared their experiences. kevin was small in stature, but certainly larger than life. you couldn't really walk up the street in cockermouth,

with kevin, without having to stop every five, ten yards to speak to somebody. lorraine and i were able to go through to the hospital, but only lorraine was allowed to go in to see kevin, which she did, over the weekend. on monday, they phoned up to say he'd deteriorated a bit further and that he was running a high temperature, and they recommended we didn't go to see him. then sadly he passed later that night, about 10pm. this may be, for you, the most heartbreaking and difficult time to have your loved one suffering from an illness that is affecting the whole world, here alone, and i want to assure you that we are going to do our absolute utmost best to be the love to your loved one, that you would be to them if you were here. we're going to turn them when they need turning, we're going to clean them when they need cleaning. we will talk to them, we will hold their hand. please know we have your loved ones in our hands and we will

treat them like our own, and we will be your love to them. on wednesday, 8 april, my grandad was sadly found dead in his room in this care home. we, as his family, haven't seen him to hug him or anything in weeks. we only spoke to him through one of the windows, which i know is the case for a lot of families. i'm not going to allow one of my residents, one of my amazingly beautiful residents, to die alone, and die in pain. we will sit by them, we will comfort them, we will do everything we possibly can. and if family want to sit there and be with them in their last moments of their life, then that's fine, family will be with them in the last moments of their life, in a responsible and sensible way. what's really difficult now is a funeral. it's not going to be the send off everyone wants, it's going to be low numbers, and, you know, only 20 minutes, and there's no wake to raise a glass for him in his memory,

and, you know, he was quite a lively character, he led a full life. he was a chef in the army and then he was a crane driver. we would love to get together and share the happy stories, as you normally would when someone passes, but we're not going to get that opportunity, and its heart breaking. i don't believe that people should be stopped from attending a funeral service all together. i know that so many families have been gutted they haven't been able to hold a wake or a reception, or really celebrate that person's life in the way they would have wished, but there will come a time when we can meet together again, and i know that so many undertakers and funeral directors will work hard with families to provide a really meaningful and wonderful celebration of life. we do plan, when all this is over, to have some sort of fitting memorial to kevin in cockermouth, judging by the support we've had.

just some of the lives affected by the coronavirus outbreak there. the question of how all of this ends is of course the one we're all been asking from the beginning. ros is back with us, and ros, today we got a look at how some european countries may seek return to something like normal life. we've heard a lot about demands for exit strategies, and that's not unreasonable. the severe lockdowns are in place across much of europe. and they were never intended as a long—term plan. their justification was to stop escalating infection rates and to buy time for governments as they aligned their response. but there is pressure now building for the severe lockdowns to end, and that has been most keenly felt in europe. more than 83,000 people who died there with italy, spain and france recording the highest death tolls. now the

european union is setting up a plan to ease restrictions across its members. here's the european commission president. and now comes a crucial moment that, if member states start slowly step—by—step to lift measures, it is of utmost important that they notify this to the commission and to the neighbouring countries, so that we do not have unwanted effects. good neighbours and speak with each other. here's our europe editor katya adler on the eu strategy. its response to the beginning of the covid—19 pandemic was really messy. what they're saying now is before you start lifting her locked key please co—ordinate —and don't even think about it unless the number

of infections as been going down for sustained of time, your public health system is able to deal with the spike of new infections and to much of the testing capacity to trace new infections and protect the general public will be out and about. what the hope here is to prevent a new wave of infections across europe. this is not about that, it's by the easing of restrictions and reducing them again if necessary if there's a new wave of infections. reintroducing them again. germany has announced that some small shops will be able to open next week — and that schools can reopen from four may. it's also extended social distancing rules until 3 may. and is strongly recommending the wearing of face masks in public. bear in mind that germany has a much lower death rate than many other european countries. it has more than 132,000 confirmed cases and just over 3,500 deaths. it's believed the high rate of testing in germany has allowed officials to better manage the spread of the virus. here's the german chancellor angela

merkel on schools re—opening. translation: we can only start slowly with schools, step— by—step after 4 may. it must be in smaller groups, there must be a plan for school buses, a plan for break time. so it will be a huge logistical effort and needs intensive preparation. i know how much more sacrifice this means for parents, but i believe it is necessary if we are saying we have to live with the virus during this pandemic. other countries have started introducing changes. denmark for example has reopened nursery and primary schools. this is the prime minister visiting one of them. she says she understands if some parents might decide to keep their children at home. denmark has nearly 6,900 confirmed cases and over 300 deaths — but the government's decision is informed by the fact the number of new cases is now falling. here's adrienne murray in copenhagen.

at the moment, all other regulations and restrictions are remaining in place until around 10 may. denmark was early mover, announcing a rash of them around 11 march, including shutting the borders, limiting gatherings to a maximum of ten. people have been working from home, but also a number of businesses had to close, including hairdressers, gyms, bars, and restaurants. now those will remain closed for the next couple of weeks. however yesterday, the prime minister was sounding more optimistic. she suggested she might be able to move forward sooner than originally planned with lifting some of those restrictions that remain in place. with much of europe on lockdown, sweden has been an outlier — it's chosen not to introduce nationwide restrictions. for example — here's stockholm this week. no social distancing — a nd cafes a nd restau ra nts have remained open. but the number of deaths

and infections in sweden is higher than we're seeing in its neighbours finland and norway — which do have restrictions measures in place. there are now nearly 12,000 cases in sweden and over 1,200 deaths. two weeks ago, that figure was 282 fatalities. here's sweden's chief epidemiologist. the one thing that has not worked so well, and that's why the death toll has increased so quickly, is the introduction of the disease into the elderly homes, and that's our big worry right now. i've always said that it is very important to protect the vulnerable population, and sweden's mainly over—70—75s. and i think what has been shown to us is the weakness of the structure we have for elderly homes in sweden. it's not the basic strategy that we've seen that has failed, it's the elderly homes' possibilities to stop the introduction of the disease into the elderly homes.

each country has taken its own path, and, though the eu is seeking to fashion a unified response, each country will select its own exit strategy. and they're already under pressure to do so. take the uk for example, here's the leader of the opposition keir starmer speaking to the bbc earlier. we do need to take the public with us, and we need the public to comply, and therefore they need to know that the government has a strategy for what comes next. and they need to know the government is planning for that. and i think it but the truth and openness, you get the trust of the public and if you get the trust of the public, it is like the compliance levels will go up and that is a very good thing because what the government is doing now to keep the infection rate down is the right thing and we should support that. the government has said talking about an exit before the virus had reached its peak risks confusing the public. but when keir starmer was pushed on when he'd reopen schools he declined to give a date.

and therein lies the rub — every exit strategy is going to be graded. the lockdowns won't stop suddenly — their severity will be reduced bit by bit. and then the level at which restrictions are pitched will be guided by how the rates of infection and fatalities react to the easing of the restrictions. this is going to shift around — which may be why governments are reluctant to give too much detail which will then be quoted back at them. if you do though want to understand the options available — i'd recommend this. "our pandemic summer" — by ed yong in the atlantic. ed details what all experts are telling us — options are limited. in his words, the only viable endgame is to play whack—a—mole with the coronavirus, suppressing it until a vaccine can be produced. with luck, that will take 18 to 2a months, he says. the point being that when people

talk about exit strategies — that just means exiting the strictest of lockdowns — what many of us are experiencing now. as for a strategy for getting us back to life as normal — governments and scientists will have plans and ideas but even they will admit these can be no more than educated guesses at this stage. and lewis, there's also lots of useful information on the political debates around exit strategies, on the bbc news website too. that's right, playing whack a mole with the epidemic is an image, isn't it? will be back with you soon. stay with us on 0ustide source. still to come: courtship from the couch. dating apps say they've seen an increase in the use of their platforms during lockdown. south korea's ruling democratic party appears to be on course to secure a historic majority in the country's parliamentary elections.

extraordinary measures were taken at polling stations across the country to minimise the risk of coronavirus infection. laura bicker is in seoul. this is an election like no other. voters 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 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 and put it in the box. translation: i thought maybe the election should be

postponed because people would not 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 thankful for the opportunity. south korea controlled 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. —— a boost. the opposition credit the thousands of health professionals on the front lines. there are fairies that holding an election could trigger a second wave of infection. —— there are fears. but for now, south korea is determined to prove what is possible during this pandemic. laura bicker, bbc news, seoul.

this is outside source, live from the bbc newsroom. the uk health secretary has pledged to do far more testing, as anger grows over coronavirus deaths in care homes. the world health organization has called for international unity after donald trump stopped funding the body. state media in iran have shown footage of a gadget they claim is capable of detecting coronavirus in seconds. however, it looks very similiar to fraudulent devices, sold as detectors in the past. this is the device being tried out in a hospital in iran. state media there say the device uses magnetic fields to identify people who are infected with coronavirus, with the aerial above the handle. the science, to say the least, is questionable. we have no reason to think this device might work.

let's speak to shayan sardarizada from bbc monitoring. on the face of it, this looks extraordinary. what are the claims being made here? well what they're claiming here is if you put the virus at the end of the jar in that case at the device, then within a diameter of 100 metres, if case at the device, then within a diameter of100 metres, ifan individual is infected with the virus or if a service is contaminated with the virus, that antenna will direct you and tell you whether someone is infected. they say it can be done within five seconds and the person is contaminated with the virus, they don't even need to take a swab test or lab test, the procedures that are normal in most countries including iran, for determining whether someone has the coronavirus. their

similarities here, aren't there? people can see that antenna thing waving about, their similarities here to other devices that are supposedly able to test other things and they've incompletely fake. they are eerily similar to three types of devices that were fake detectors that were used in the early to thousands all the way to 2010 in several countries, upgraded by four british fraudsters who are actually serving sentences in jail at the moment. this is a massive investigation done by our colleagues caroline holly and martinjones and the bbc. they were initially used in iraq. they were supposed to work in the exact same way. they had the same look, you just —— they were used as bomb detectors. if a bomb

was in some destination in iraq, this detected the point, but they didn't work. we know that hundreds of people died because of these devices, and they were actually repurposed later in the other devices like the office six — they travelled across the middle east to southeast asia, plenty of governments bought these devices and used them but they did not work. the danger here with this one in iran is that if, as we suspected, it is not genuine and it is one of those fake devices that has been repurposed — if it actually does not recognise that someone has the coronavirus and tells them that they are negative, while they do have the virus, it can actually cause harm. thanks for flagging that up. africans living in the chinese city of guangzhou have reported being evicted from their apartments and forcefully held under quarantine.

beijing is more and more concerned about imported cases of covid—19 and is stepping up scrutiny of foreigners coming into the country. the bbc‘s danny vincent reports from hong kong. today is the second day i have been locked — locked in this room and quarantine. for two days, simon, a nigerian national, has been locked in this hospital room against his will. to protect his identity, he asked for his name to be changed. he was evicted from his apartment and forced into quarantine over fears that the african community in guangzhou was spreading the coronavirus. there are some europeans that are here, but they are not in quarantine. he says he's lived in guangzhou for three years, has no recent travel history, and has not come into contact with anyone with covid—19. he says he's tested negative for the virus — yet he remains in quarantine.

the bbc has spoken to dozens who say they were forced into quarantine regardless of whether they had tested negative for the virus. look at the door — they locked it from outside, i cannot go out. i'm stuck, i cannot go out. they locked it from outside. right now, i'm shaking the door. thousands of africans live in guangzhou. it has been a hub for traders across the continent for well over a decade. china now fears imported cases of covid—19 could lead to a second outbreak. the guangzhou government says it has tested every african in the city. community leaders say africans have been evicted from their homes and forced into hotels. those without funds have been sleeping on the streets. mcdonald's apologised over this notice, handed out to customers the chinese government maintains that china has zero tolerance of racism. translation: china's friendly policy towards africa has not changed.

and african countries and people's friendly feelings towards china will not be shaken. as much of china begins to return to normality after months of social isolation, one community in guangzhou it remains under lockdown. danny vincent, bbc news, hong kong. lockdowns have forced many couples to make difficult decisions about whether to see each other, and led others to speed—up plans to move in together. and as our correspondent emma vardy has been finding out, dating apps say they've seen an increase in the use of their platforms i said, "ok, do you want to do a virtual date?" forjames, 30, in manchester, and millions of app users, the global pandemic is definitely changing the dating game. so when he met a girl online during lockdown, james asked her out on a video date. they each ordered a deliveroo, some drinks and... proper like had a proper shower, aftershave on as well to make it a bit more real. there was actually one stage during the date where i kind of was chatting to her,

and i was like, "this actually feels a bit like i'm actually with you." and she was like, "oh my god, i feel the same." so with video dating from our living room is becoming a thing, apparently the trick is to have something to do. what we've noticed is that people are using bumble, and particularly our video call feature, to recreate social norms, so do try things like virtual happy hour, and do try things like cooking a recipe together. welcome to week three, and we're having a lovely walk. social distancing! psychologists say the stress of a crisis actually brings people together. it's not unusual for us to develop tighter bonds in strange situations. could it be some of us are becoming even closer while we're forced apart? hello from holland! hi from banbury in oxfordshire! hello, i'm emma, i'm a funeral director in south east london! and this is my husband, ian. some couples have little choice but to spend this pandemic separately. we're doing online exercise classes together. i've taught ian how to cook a curry. as a key worker, emma's staying in london, unable

to see her husband, who is at home an hour's drive away. it was a tough decision to make, but one we knew we had to do. it would be putting each other at risk to be commuting in and out, we're kind of not allowed to. we're all going to have good days, we're all going to have bad days. it is the right thing to do. a lot of us are going to discover whether absence does make the heart fonder. i think...i love him even more. elle's even had her cat's passport ready to join her partner in holland, but all plans are on hold. it's difficult sometimes, i think one of the most difficult things is that we don't know when it's going to end. and there's no end of advice on hand on how to all this. i'm sam owen, and i'm a relationships coach and author. you may find itjust actually act as a catalyst to help you work out, you know, do we really work well together as a team, do we really get on, have a lot of fun together on our own, without any outside influences and help?

this is been outside source. hello there. april has not lived up to its reputation of scattered showers. there's been a fair bit of cloud to the north of the great glen, and you can see this was wednesday, but most of us, blue sky and sunshine if you're lucky enough to have an allotment, you're probably starting to ask yourself the question, when will we see some rain? some parts of england and wales have not seen any usable rain for over four weeks now. but wales have not seen any usable rain for overfour weeks now. but it wales have not seen any usable rain for over four weeks now. but it does look as though this area of low pressure may well bring some sharper showers over the next few days. but ahead of it, a south easterly wind will drive in some warmth. as we go through the day on thursday, temperatures can get into the low 30s. the only exception is the far northeast, where a weather front...

stays cool and cloudy across northern ireland. best of the sunshine for england and wales, some potentially sharp showers arriving later in the day to the southwest. temperatures peaking at 21 celsius, 70 fahrenheit, thursday the warmest day of the week, cooler where that weather system persists into scotland. through thursday and friday, that front eases away and high pressure will build keeping things quiet to the north. but yet again, there's the potentialfor more salary epics of rain to arrive late in the day. so some of those showers could be heavy and thunder across the channel coast, through the midlands into wales. the north easterly breeze will keep things on the cool side across eastern scotland, temperatures a bit more subdued generally through the friday afternoon. so some usable rain out there and it looks as though spiralling like a catherine wheel around that low will see further fronts through friday into the start of the weekend across england and

wales. further north, that high—pressure certainly the dominant future. so as we move into a saturday, outbreaks of rain perhaps into northern ireland, perhaps across northern england, the midlands and into the london area. to the east of the pennines into scotland, and should stay largely fine and dry with some shells of sunshine, but that easterly feed a lwa ys sunshine, but that easterly feed always keeping it cool on the east coast. the best of the warmth in scotla nd coast. the best of the warmth in scotland and further west. highest values on saturday of 60 celsius, not as warm —— 16 celsius. moving into sunday, drifting a bit further north, but there is a level of uncertainty just how far north, but there is a level of uncertaintyjust how far north those showers go. but as we move into sunday, a slightly quieter day. on sunday, a slightly quieter day. on sunday, some showers shout easily by monday, seeing a dry and settled, sunny story continue. further ahead it looks as though we come back under the influence of high—pressure, which is always likely to set to the north. it will

drift its way steadily westwards across the country, meaning it will a lwa ys across the country, meaning it will always potentially keep a feed of wind coming in off the north sea, never a warm summers. so a lot of dry weather looking into next week. temperatures around average orjust above for most, but always along the east coast could see that sea breeze keeping it on the cool side. so all in all, the quiet april feed is set to continue for those of you who wa nt to to continue for those of you who want to know the details. as we go into the weekend, some showers re—rain for england and wales, but the dry weather is set to return, but there's always keeping in mind that there will be a cool breeze across the east coast. that's it, ta ke across the east coast. that's it, take care.

tonight at 10: the latest government promises to residents and staff of care homes in their fight against coronavirus. there's a pledge to do far more testing. anyone going from hospital into social care in england should be tested for the virus. but the government's target for nhs testing is still way off, so ministers are asked how realistic their new promises are. as we build capacity further over this month and then beyond to that 100,000 a day target by the end of this month, we'll expand further those who are eligible for tests. we'll have more on the latest pledges and we'll be reporting on the picture in scotland, where a quarter of all coronavirus deaths are happening in care homes. also tonight...