really concerned g are really concerned about first of all, the government guidance around women after 28 weeks of pregnancy seems to be that women should carry on as normal. and there are concerns about risks they are. and in particular for women about risks they are. and in particularfor women in about risks they are. and in particular for women in the later stages of pregnancy, we are hearing for some we've been working in front linejobs like the nhs for some we've been working in front line jobs like the nhs and for some we've been working in front linejobs like the nhs and in care, there may be pressure put on women to go to work when they don't feel particularly safe, or they end up having to use unpaid leave. so it is a completely tragic case. i think it will touch so many hearts, but keep in mind there is also this very important issue about women and guidance around pregnant women, and many pregnant women who are being told that they still need to go into work will feel particularly at risk in this time. another very sad statistic, now the mirror, going

back to the focus on care homes by the secretary matt hancock today — i must say when i was listening and watching him, but he offered in terms of highlighting how important the role of care workers was — it sounded good, but the mirror are pretty mocking about what little actual material consequences, this. yes, matt hancock who spoke earlier today was trying to tackle a couple things head on. and one of them has been about care homes, that there is i'iow been about care homes, that there is now a significant number of certainties around the uk that have coronavirus outbreak stash cities. there are suggestions that the government has not been on top of this, hasn't tested and is not offering reassurance that they are doing the utmost to protect the staff. so mr hancock was trying to assure them how valuable they are by offering them badges that say care,

and he was wearing one of them. on one hand, i understand what matt hancock was trying to do, he was trying to express that the government is on side of these people and trying to give them everything they can, it should be a badge of pride so they can travel freely and do what they need to do. on the other hand when you see the stories like this nurse who died today and the shocking number of instances of deaths within care homes, it looks slightly a bit glib, as if mr hancock didn't hit the correct note here because the situation is so serious here. it speaks to something wider about the johnson government here, which is that without mrjohnson here, because he is recovering from her covid—19, they're not being terribly transparent. if you take testing, the uk has promised to deliver 100,000 tests a day by the end of march. it is barely a 20,000 by the end of april, almost halfway through

april, and we are barely at 20,000. there's no exultation as to how we will get there. i think they said 25,000 by mid april. the number of tests is 15,991; yesterday. so way behind. let's crack on, the financial times financial edition, looking at the condemnation for donald trump for his decision to freeze funds to the who. just looking at the budget, $6 billion to the who biannually, so for over two yea rs. the who biannually, so for over two years. america is at the top. international condemnation from this, and an admission by some countries that actually the who had been caught out believing what time it said initially. i'm not so sure that's right. i think it is really important to say that trump has been

looking to cut us funding to the who since early february. he's sort of using it as a pawn in his fight with china, it would appear. and his claims about the who don't quite stack up. so from earlyjanuary, that who was warning about the risk of human—to—human transmission. actually, the us along with the uk we re actually, the us along with the uk were two countries that broadly ignored entreaties from the who about how countries should be taking on pandemics seriously, how they should be testing more and trusting more. . . should be testing more and trusting more... actually donald trump is just now walking into the rose garden. i'm really sorry to both of you, but we will have to cut this short now. thank you both, donald trump speaking. big day at the white house. all of american society is engaged and mobilised in the war against the invisible enemy. while

we must remain vigilant, it is clear that our aggressive strategy is working, very strongly working, i might add. new cases are declining throughout the new york metropolitan area. cases in the detroit and denver metro areas are flat. washington, dc, baltimore, st. louis are showing great signs of progress in new cases in houston and new o rlea ns a re in new cases in houston and new orleans are declining. the battle continues but the data suggests that nationwide, we have passed the peak on new cases. hopefully that will continue and we will continue to make great progress. these encouraging developments have put us ina very encouraging developments have put us in a very strong position to finalise guidelines for states on reopening the country, which will be announced — we will be talking about that tomorrow, we'll be having a news c0 nfe re nce that tomorrow, we'll be having a news conference tomorrow sometime

during the afternoon, we'll be announcing guidelines, and we will be talking about various states. it's very exciting. it's been a horrible time to see such a death and destruction, especially when you come out of what was the greatest economy in the history of the world, there's never been an economy like what we have produced, but we will produce it again. and i think we will produce it again very fast. the medical and health care advances we've made are critical to our continued progress. we have rapidly developed the most expensive and accurate testing system anywhere in the world, and have completed more than 3.3 million tests. to date we have authorised 48 separate coronavirus have authorised 48 separate coro navi rus tests have authorised 48 separate coronavirus tests and the fda is working with 300 companies to widen our capacity still further. today avid labs our capacity still further. today avid la bs announced our capacity still further. today avid labs announced it has developed

an antibody test that will determine if someone has been previously infected with the coronavirus and potentially developed immunity. it isa potentially developed immunity. it is a great test. the company says these tests could be available to screen up these tests could be available to screen up to 20 million people in a matter of weeks. my administration has also distributed vast amounts of medical supplies to states across the country through project air bridge, which has been an amazing success. we have completed 44 flights, and these are flights of very large aeroplanes. massive cargo planes. 44 flights of critical supplies as of today, an additional 56 flights scheduled in the near future. we have some million people working on this, it is logistically incredible what they've done. and we've also been working on this with the military, and these people have been — the genius of all of them

together has been incredible to watch. in total through all channels, the federal government has developed and delivered 39.4 million in 95 masks, and 10.2 million gallons. we ordered 500 million masks and they will be coming shortly. and we have distributed 100 million masks. following our use of the defence production act at gm has announced its first ventilators have come off the first... they did in ii days from start to finish, a remarkable testament to the ingenuity the american worker. gm will ship over 600 ventilators this month alone with thousands more to come, and we have other countries doing something similar. and i think they said that there is a brief clip of general motors, i think they

might be wanting to play that for your benefit, please. music. we are watching donald trump in the rose garden at the white house for the regular nightly briefing. once again, donald trump giving a list of all the achievements so far by his administration, but now playing and other video clip, something he did on monday evening — in a very lengthy press conference that went over two and half hours. at the clip that we understand being played at the moment is from general motors. donald trump talking about the first of the ventilators coming off the factory line by general motors, something that donald trump had insisted general motors do a few weeks ago. donald trump talking

about facts that industry had switched from what their normal responsibilities were for the pandemic efforts. let's go back, we didn't have the video itself but donald trump just picking didn't have the video itself but donald trumpjust picking up again now after that. we have others also doing it, and these are very high grade ventilators, so we are helping a lot of people at this moment. nobody needs them. we have your member that during the search, nobody has needed them for weeks now. but we will have them for stockpiles and importantly we were half them for other countries because nobody is able to do things like we can do, and we will be able to help other countries that are having tremendous problems, to put it mildly. my administration is using every available authority to accelerate the development, study and delivery of therapies — so important, therapies. treatments and ultimately what we want to come up

with is a safe vaccine, but frankly the therapies to me are the most important because it takes care of people right now. the vaccines have to be tested so it takes a longer period of time, but we have some great potential therapies and we will see how they're working. we will see how they're working. we will be able to report on that over the next week or two. tremendous progress has been made. at least 35 clinical trials of promising therapies are now under way, so 35 different genius companies. if you look at aids, if you look at ebola, if you look at so many things they've come up with the answers to so many things, you wouldn't have believed it. we are very honoured to believed it. we are very honoured to be working with them. they include antivirals and also something which is incredible, keeps the virus from multiplying, a mechanism that keeps the virus from multiplying, immune therapies that prevent the immune

systems from overreaching to the virus, and convalescent plasma treatments that topic we have a lot of patients who recover and they are so happy to have recovered, the first thing they say they want to do is to give their blood. and they do that, it's incredible. we have thousands of people doing that, they recover and feel they have an obligation because they've got such great care. a lot of them didn't think they were going to make it. as the entire us government works to combat the global pandemic, it is absolutely essential that the key positions in relevant federal agencies are fully staffed, and we are not allowing that to take place through our congress. they‘ re just not giving it to us. we have many positions that are understaffed because we can't get the approvals that the democrats are holding up, we can't get approval. we've gotten judges because we go through the

process , judges because we go through the process, i guess judges because we go through the process, i guess we are up judges because we go through the process, i guess we are up to 448 federaljudges. and that we've gotten because we focused on it, we ta ke gotten because we focused on it, we take the maximum time because no matter who thejudges, take the maximum time because no matter who the judges, they take vast numbers of days and hours to — it leaves no time left for others. very unfair system. if a judge is going to approved in one hour in one session, it doesn't matter, they'll ta ke session, it doesn't matter, they'll take the maximum number of hours and days, you're talking about days to get onejudge days, you're talking about days to get one judge approved. and we are close to 250 judges. but because of the way they're doing it, there's no time for anybody else, and many of these people have been waiting for two and a half years. we have a couple that have been waiting for longer than that. they're currently 129 nominees stuck in the senate because of partisan many are nominated for vacancies that must be filled to assist with the

coronavirus crisis, and the resulting economic challenges. and i've read over the couple years i didn't fill positions. i don't feel positions, in some cases we don't need the position, and we don't need that. in many cases you can't get them approved by the democrats, they won't release them. the positions include the director of national intelligence, two members of the federal reserve board of governors, the assistant secretary of treasury for financial markets of the united states, and the under secretary of agriculture responsible for administering food security programmes. sunny perdue, who will be speaking today, asking — cannot have this please don't make a particular person approved as soon as possible. he's been telling me that for a long time, and the democrats will allow it to happen. again, every singlejudge, every nominee we have goes through a maximum, or at least they go through a long process, so it takes days and

days and there's no time left. and it is just days and there's no time left. and it isjust a days and there's no time left. and it is just a concerted effort to make life difficult. an example is michael pack, my nominee for the ceo of the broadcasting board of governors and he's been stuck in committee for two years preventing us committee for two years preventing us from managing the voice of america. very important. and if you heard what's coming out of the voice of america, it is disgusting. the things they say are disgusting toward our country. and michael pack would get it into a greatjob, but he's been now for two years. can't get him approved. is that it has left washington until at least may four, they provide an option for the president to fill them in such a recess appointment it's called. the practice of gambling into so—called proforma sessions where no one