this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. ministers in the uk are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown — labour call for details on how and when the restrictions would end. if we just released all the measures now, then this virus would run rampant once again, and we can't let that happen. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that. i actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one. but we also want more detail from the government about what happens next. president donald trump says parts of the us economy could reopen as early as this month. the battle continues, but the data suggests that nationwide, we have passed the peak of new cases. hopefully, that will continue and we will continue to make great progress.

social care officials in the uk deliver a scathing assessment of the government's handling of the pandemic — in a leaked letter they describe the distribution of protective kit for carers as "shambolic". and the 99—year—old war veteran captain tom moore completes 100 laps of his garden before turning 100 himself — raising over £12 million for the nhs. i'm surrounded by the right sort of people, so yes, i feel fine. i hope you're all feeling fine too. 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.

and here, the uk health secretary says everyone can see it is "too early" to make changes to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown. matt hancock says a formal decision will be announced this afternoon. the opposition labour party says it will back the government, but is asking for more clarity on how and when the lockdown will end. well, as the number of people who've died rises, tributes have been paid to a pregnant nurse who died with covid—19. 28—year—old mary agyeiwaa agyapong worked at luton and dunstable hospital in southeast england. her baby was successfully delivered by c—section on sunday, and the hospital say the child is doing "very well". in the united states, president trump has said the country has passed the peak of new covid—19 cases, and will later announce plans to reopen parts of the american economy. back here in the uk, in a leaked letter seen by the bbc, senior social care officials have

criticised the government's handling of the pandemic. it describes the national distribution of personal protective equipment to care homes as "shambolic". and another development — in south korea, president moon jae—in has won a overwhelming landslide in the country's parliamentary elections. voters backed the government's response in the fight against covid—19, which has seen the number of cases fall from a peak of 900 a day in late february to less than 30 new cases a day. let's talk to our assistant political editor norman smith, he joins us from his home in north london. norman, this official confirmation which many had foreseen, an extension of three weeks to the lockdown in the uk?” extension of three weeks to the lockdown in the uk? i think it is a given that this afternoon when we have the daily downing street news conference, the first secretary of state dominic raab were confirmed that yes indeed, the lockdown is

being rolled over for a that yes indeed, the lockdown is being rolled overfor a further three weeks. why? well, it will highlight the lack of absolute confirmatory scientific data to show we are over the peak and on the downward curve. that said, there are plenty of encouraging signs. we hear every day from the scientists indications that the rate of infections is beginning to slow, the rate of hospital admissions is beginning to slow. we know the nhs is in beginning to slow. we know the nhs isina beginning to slow. we know the nhs is in a much better place. it has around 2000 spare critical care beds. and london, which has been at the forefront of the disease, yesterday saw a 5% for a new hospital admissions from coronavirus. so all of that is hugely encouraging. nevertheless, the death rate is still very high. day after day, we are seeing figures of more than 700 and it is clear that the government wants to see that the government wants to see that on a much sharper downward trajectory before they move towards

easing the lockdown. i think they have frankly been surprised about the readiness of people to abide by the readiness of people to abide by the lockdown and persist with it, so they don't feel under immediate pressure from the public ignoring the lockdown. it seems people are prepared to soldier on for another three weeks. so it is clear listening to matt hancock this morning that the lockdown this evening will be extended for another three weeks. i'm not going to prejudge the formal decision that is going to be taken. however, i think everybody can see that we have been clear that we think it is too early to make a change, and whilst we have seen a flattening of the number of cases and thankfully a flattening of the number of deaths, that hasn't started to come down yet. as far as i'm concerned, it is still far too high.

so we know the answer to the lockdown question. what we don't know is the answer to the exit strategy question. and there, ministers are adamant that they are not prepared to talk about it, their reasoning being that it sends out confusing messages to the public if you start talking about how to ease a lockdown at the same time that you are telling people to stick with the lockdown. labour, on the other hand, ta ke lockdown. labour, on the other hand, take the view that we have got to start having this debate. they are having it in other countries. we know the lockdown has been easing in a number of european countries. donald trump is talking about easing off on the economy, and their argument is that it is better to start that now rather than leave it until later in the day, when adequate preparations have not been put in place. this was the shadow health secretaryjon ashworth, speaking this morning. we would expect the

lockdown to continue. we would support that. i actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one. but we also want more details from the government about what happens next. last night, the junior health minister nadine dorries was complaining on twitter, saying people shouldn't be asking about an exit strategy because there is no exit strategy until we get a vaccine. that could be 18 months away, so if the government are saying we're in lockdown for 18 months, they probably need to tell us. i would probably argue that the best way to come out of lockdown or to manage a way out of lockdown in the coming months is to move to a testing and contact tracing strategy. it was interesting, matt hancock was asked on the radio this morning about that tweet by nadine dorries, thejunior health about that tweet by nadine dorries, the junior health minister, about that tweet by nadine dorries, thejunior health minister, saying to journalists effectively to stop asking questions about the lockdown. and he absolutely stood by it in quite emotive language, saying that communication and clarity of communication and clarity of communication was critical to saving lives. in other words, communication was critical to saving lives. in otherwords, careless communication was critical to saving lives. in other words, careless talk

costs lives, all of which said, it seems to be hard to suppress debate about the lockdown, because it is a vigorous one and we have been hearing from some influential voices in the scientific community suggesting that maybe the government needs to get its act together and press on with more attention to putting together an exit strategy plan. particularly when you see that there are other european countries that are beginning to lift their restrictions. how much extra pressure will that add to our government? it is almost unavoidable that once we know the lockdown is going to be extended, that minds will almost inevitably turn to what next and how we get out of here. but hancock has himself opened up the debate a bit. he has talked about using a mobile phone app to trace where people go and if they come into co nta ct where people go and if they come into contact with people with coronavirus, they can then be

alerted and they can therefore self—isolate. but when you listen to the likes of niall ferguson from imperial college, he has been central to much of the modelling —— neil ferguson. he is of the view that that is not enough. it is good, but what you really need is an army of people to go around chasing up contacts because many people, the elderly and those who are less tech savvy, are not going to have mobile phones and are probably not going to be signed up to apps. so how are you going to trace their contacts? when you look at countries like south korea, that is how they have had their success. they have literally employed loads of people to chase around checking who you are in contact with in the local shops, in your workplace and your street. it is massively labour—intensive, but it does enable you to more comprehensively hunt down the virus. norman, thank you. let's talk more about when the lockdown should be ended.

with me is karol sikora, who is professor of medicine at the university of buckingham. ijust want i just want to start with how infectious it is believed covid—19 is if left unchecked, and how effective in bringing down the infection rate you believe the lockdown has been? the lockdown has been incredibly effective. there is a magic number called the r0, which is the infectivity. 0ne a magic number called the r0, which is the infectivity. one person could infect 2.6 people at the beginning of the lockdown, and now it has gone down to under one, which is great. it means the lockdown is working. the problem is how we get out of lockdown, and do we do it slowly or fast? but we are going to learn from the european countries coming out this week. it is a tremendous mentoring exercise for us. to me,

three weeks' time seems quite a long time andi three weeks' time seems quite a long time and i would hope that if the figures get better, and we would like them to get much better. 0nce the death rate start dropping, i hope ministers may reconsider things to get us going a bit earlier, may be in two weeks' time rather than three weeks. that would be my suggestion. and as the labour party are calling for, let's see the metric for deciding the strategy. we don't know what it is. obviously, what other countries do, the infection and hospitalisation rates, the nhs is in great shape. there are empty critical care beds in london, which is good. we now need to move forward and get cancer patients treated and cardiac patients and get the nhs flowing again. the reuters news agency are quoting the world health organization's european director, who says 50% of the global

burden of covid—19 is currently in europe. so he says the next few weeks will be critical for the region. how likely is it that as we see restrictions left, we also see an increase again in infections? this is what the argument is about. some public health people think there is little risk, others think there is little risk, others think there will be a big risk of resurgence. so although we may have 2000 empty beds in london, they could be filled within a week of any sort of lockdown being released. that is the worry. but we have plenty to look for. we can look at the signs in austria. let's see what happens there. let's look at sweden and all the countries who have done things differently, and learn from them. it is a wise decision to tell people, it looks as though it is going to be three weeks more. at least that gives us a date for the

future. but let's modify that if things get more optimistic. the whole campaign of information by government and by media has been very pessimistic throughout, and i think people need a bit more hope than they are getting. to what extent than they are getting. to what exte nt d o than they are getting. to what extent do you believe antibody tests will play a part in the lifting of restrictions? they are not always that effective are they? especially in younger people. you were talking toa in younger people. you were talking to a newspaper about this. on wednesday, we were doing and antibody test and we evaluated them against kits from korea, and we did it ourselves. and the percentage of positives amongst younger people is very low. what was hoped by the politicians is that the antibody test would give you a passport of

immunity, so you would know this person has had the coronavirus and they can safely go back to work and have co nta ct they can safely go back to work and have contact with others. but it looks like that is not going to be so looks like that is not going to be so easy. very few people at any time have a lot of antibodies. and young people have other immune mechanisms that gobble up the virus. they don't necessarily need to make a big antibody response. so there are lots of questions. how mindful are you, in talking about the lifting of restrictions, of those as yet unmeasured impacts that the lockdown has had on people, those social, psychological and emotional effects which we may never truly get over?|j joined twitter at the beginning of all this because i wanted to get

cancer patients moving and my collea g u es cancer patients moving and my colleagues in cardiology and heart disease want to do the same. there are some profound effects, i have had sad letters from people who have depression already and other mental health issues before this. the sooner we can get health issues before this. the sooner we can get out of that and the sooner the nhs can get back to normal, it has been by this. it has done really well but it will take time to get back to normal. the new normal will be different for the next few years within any health ca re next few years within any health care provider. sounds like somebody has seen you on the telly and sent you a text. we will let you answer it! karol sikora from the university in buckingham, thank you very much. in the united states, president trump has claimed the country has passed the peak of new coronavirus infections.

at his daily briefing he said that states across the country were in a strong position to re—open the economy, and that he would announce guidelines for that in a news conference later today. the president has been at loggerheads with state governors about the timing of easing restrictions and reopening businesses. his upbeat assessment comes as the number of deaths is shown to have doubled within the last week. david willis reports. he has been itching to do this for weeks. now the businessman turned politician president is poised to announce the world's biggest economy will soon be back in business. thank you very much. the data suggests that nationwide, we have passed the peak are new cases. the peak of new cases. hopefully, that will continue and we will continue to make great progress. these encouraging developments have put us in a strong position to finalise guidelines for states on reopening the country. we will be talking about that tomorrow. more than 30,000 americans have died from the coronavirus, more than in any country anywhere

else in the world. and although hospital admissions are down and the spread of the virus has slowed, health officials continue to warn of the dangers of a second surge if social distancing guidelines are lifted too quickly. the key issue is testing. so far, just over 3 million americans have been tested for the coronavirus. not enough, according to several leading employers, who believe that more testing is needed before people will feel safe to return to work. ultimately, it will then be state leaders who decide when the economy reopens, and not the president. it is the governors of the states who have the actual authority to shut down or reopen facilities within their borders. the president can provide guidance and suggestions and of course,

being the president, that carries a certain amount of persuasive weight. but it is the governors of the united states who hold the power. some workers are as keen to see a return to normal as the president himself. conservatives in michigan organised this protest against a stay—at—home order imposed by the state's democratic governor, defying social distancing guidelines to make their point. millions of americans have lost theirjobs in recent weeks, and the coronavirus has brought an economy that president trump had taken to calling the "greatest in the history of the world" to its knees. his aim now is to rebuild it before people go to the polls in november. here in the uk, there's been criticism of the british government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic by leading social care officials. in a leaked letter seen by the bbc,

the association of directors of adult social services accuses ministers of presiding over a "shambolic" supply chain for personal protective equipment. officials raised concerns over the consideration given to the care sector by the government during the pandemic, saying "there is a significant imbalance between listening, hearing, and understanding nhs england as opposed to social care". the department of health says it is continuing to work closely with the sector. i'm joined by our health correspondent nick triggle. it's easy to talk about the national health service and social care in one breath, but they are very different entities. yes, and this letter, which was sent before the government announced its new strategy for the social care sector yesterday, illustrates just that. the letter says there have been mixed messages and conflicting guidance given to care homes that has caused confusion and an additional workload for staff. as you say, and personal protective

equipment, it says the situation has been shambolic. in the early days of the outbreak, hardly any equipment was getting through to care staff so they can protect themselves. 0n testing, the criticism is twofold. unlike hospitals, care homes don't have large teams of staff that they can redeploy when members of staff have to go off sick or isolate because they have got the virus. and for residents who are infected, there is no dedicated isolation facilities. and many of these are frail, vulnerable people, often with dementia, who will find it hard to follow the advice to keep themselves safe. finally, even on what has been one of the most successful aspects of the government's approach to coronavirus, the recruitment of 750,000 volunteers, coronavirus, the recruitment of 750 , 000 volunteers, that coronavirus, the recruitment of 750,000 volunteers, that was also criticised. the director said that has diverted local volunteers away from care services. locally, people may be helping out at day centres or

running befriending schemes where they visit the frail and vulnerable in their own homes, but these volu nteers in their own homes, but these volunteers are now recruited into that national scheme and they are not always there for social care services. so the directors are very concerned. you mention a new strategy. how is it going to change? yesterday at the press briefing, the health secretary matt hancock talked about a new approach for social care. he wanted to see all residents tested who show symptoms. at the moment, only the first five residents in a care home showing symptoms are tested and then they assume the outbreak is spreading in that care home. and he says all staff will also get tested and there will be new supply routes to get the protective equipment to them. the association of directors of adult social services have responded to that. they say it sounds great, but the true test of the plan is not what it says, but how it is implemented. and they say that needs to be done very quickly. thank you

very much. let's take a look at the latest in europe. yesterday, the world health organization warned that relaxing lockdown measures too early risked a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks. but now some countries are moving to ease restrictions on movement which have been in place for several weeks. rich preston has this report. there are still checks on who enters and leaves germany but within its borders, a relaxing of the rules as of next week. small shops will be allowed to open. children who were due to sit exams will be allowed back to school and hairdressers will start working again. germany has had over 3,500 deaths from coronavirus, but that's relatively few compared to some of its neighbours, a success widely attributed to early, rigorous testing. translation: we have achieved something which was in no way certain from the beginning. our doctors, nurses and all of those who work in the health care

system in the hospitals are not overburdened. but the rules on socialising with stay in place for another two weeks, along with a government recommendation that everyone wear a face mask. a similar rule is being introduced in poland. anyone out in public must now wear something covering their nose and mouth. italy, europe's worst hit country, is slowly starting to relax some of its restrictions, a sigh of relief that, whilst not out of the woods, the worst may have passed. in venice, book shops will open once more. so, too, will children's clothing stores. caution remains high elsewhere. france is extending lockdown rules until early may. belgium until mid—may. across europe, there is hope that with infection rates slowing and hospital admissions decreasing, that life might soon slowly, cautiously, return to normal.

there are fears that crops in the uk could be left to rot in the fields because of a shortage of workers. record numbers are looking for farming jobs, with totaljobs reporting that it has seen searches for "fruit picker" increase by 338%. but today also sees a chartered flight of roughly 180 agricultural workers from romania arrive at stansted. i'm joined by mark bridgeman who is president of the country land mark, tell us the scale of the challenge that food producers are facing in britain? many seasonal workers typically come from overseas, migrant labour, mostly from eastern europe, particularly bulgaria and romania. some combination of travel restrictions plus sickness means that there is a major shortage potentially this summer. major shortage potentially this

summer. that is why they have been calling out for people to come forward. yes, because it is one thing to make an inquiry about a fruit picking job, it is another to actually go and do it. it is hard work but you can earn some decent money. what if people don't actually turn out? would the foodstuffs go to waste or be in short supply? well, the scale of the talent over the summer, we are talking about 80,000 jobs. there is a big gap to fill. this is seasonal food that needs to be picked. if it is not picked, it will rot in the field and have to be composted. if it is not picked, it doesn't get on the shelves. so this is really important. as you say, a lot of people have come forward through these agencies. there are a number of big private sector agencies that are promoting this feed the nation campaign. so far,

some of those have lined up jobs. but as you say, making enquiries and actually lining up a job for the summer, there is a big difference. so we are trying to push things because many people who are being furloughed and are able to do these jobs, people who have unfortunately been laid off and employed as well as huge numbers of students who are stuck at home. yes, i have one of them, who is also thinking of going and picking mushrooms or salad or something. but the problem is, if you don't live near to the farm, what do you do about accommodation ata time what do you do about accommodation at a time when we are meant to be socially distancing? that is an issue. i am sure your, i have a couple of students myself who would do this work. in some cases, it will bea do this work. in some cases, it will be a drive away. but most of these businesses, particularly the larger scale once, i used to providing accommodation because typically, 90%

of the labour comes from overseas and they have temporary accommodation for them. so they will have to go through their own safety measures on social distancing. accommodation can be provided. let's hope we have helped in picking people's interest. mark bridgeman, thank you very much. let's look briefly at some some other news. the international monetary fund has suggested the uk and the eu "not to add to uncertainty" from coronavirus, by refusing to extend the period to negotiate a post—brexit trade deal. managing director kristalina georgieva said that because of the "unprecedented uncertainty" arising from the pandemic it would be "wise not to add more on top of it". australia will keep in place restrictions implemented to curb the spread of the coronavirus for at least four more weeks. prime minister scott morrison said australia will over the next month expand testing and improve systems to trace covid—19 cases.

the nicaraguan president daniel ortega has reappeared after being absent from public view for more than a month. in a televised message, mr ortega defended his government's record on fighting coronavirus. he claimed only one person had died of covid—19 in the country. he said he had not ordered a lockdown to protect the economy. now, here in the uk, a 99—year—old war veteran has captain tom moore set out to raise £1,000, that's around $1,200, for the national health service by walking 100 laps of his garden. this morning he managed to complete his task — but he also raised more than £12 million, nearly $15 million. messages of support have been flooding in — let's take a look. hi, tom. ben stokes here.

what you've managed to achieve is absolutely fantastic. the funds that you have managed to raise for the real heroes today are simply sensational. i hope that i'm moving just as well as you at 50, never mind 100. keep up all the great work, mate, you should be seriously proud of what you've done. ijust wanted to say a massive congratulations for everything you've achieved, you're a massive inspiration to myself and everyone in these very difficult times. ijust wanted to say a huge thank you for all your hard work, you are an absolute hero. captain moore, we are truly impressed on this side of the pond. i think you are remarkable, i think that what you've done is an inspiration. so congratulations. i just want to say thank you very much indeed for everything you've done, it's amazing. congratulations on a brilliant idea and pulling it off and doing it all before your 100th birthday and donating millions and millions of pounds to the national health service. what an incredible achievement and what a very generous thing to have done. hi, this is a message for captain tom moore, thank you so much for all of your effort and how much

money you've raised for the nhs. lots of love, ward 4b, at the royal liverpool. cheering. what you've done is extraordinary and the millions of pounds you've raised for the nhs will be put to good use as we continue to tackle this virus together. as an adopted yorkshireman, i've come to recognise true yorkshire grit and your story is an inspiration to us all. it just goes to show that british spirit is as strong as it's ever been. on behalf of the whole yorkshire regiment family i'd like to say thank you to you, captain tom moore for your amazing fundraising efforts on behalf of the nhs. when i last looked, you had raised over £8 million and that number continues to rise. captain moore, you are an absolute legend and i know you come from an exceptional generation that are still an inspiration for our yorkshire soldiers today. thank you and good luck in completing your endeavour. thank you, captain tom, from the nhs! cheering.

this is the moment captain tom crossed the finishing line. here he comes, captain tom moore, approaching his 100th birthday. 100 laps of his garden during lockdown, with all the money going to nhs charities. he has a guard of honour from the 1st battalion, the yorkshire regiment. inches to go. there he is. congratulations! well done! absolutely amazing, amazing achievement. captain tom, how do you feel this morning? fine! i mean, i'm surrounded by the right sort of people. so yes, ifeelfine, and i hope you're all feeling fine too! he could probably do another 100, couldn't he? and that sedate, moderated commentary by my

colleague, john maguire. and we can just show you captain tom's fundrasing page now — more than 12 million pounds — 15 million dollars — and still climbing.... i don't know where that glip came from, down the back of the sofa! going up so much injust one hour. and thank you so much to everyone who has donated. bbc news, the headlines. ministers in the uk are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown. we think it is too early to make a change. and whilst we've seen a flattening of the number of cases and thankfully, a flattening of the number of deaths, that hasn't started to come down yet. president donald trump says the us has "passed the peak" of new covid—19 cases and predicts some states will reopen this month. social care officials in the uk deliver a scathing assessment of the government's handling of the pandemic —

in a leaked letter — they describe the distribution of protective kit for carers as "shambolic". and 99—year—old war veteran — captain tom moore — has completed 100 laps of his garden before turning 100 — raising over £12 million for the nhs. the latest coronavirus figures in china show a rise in locally transmitted cases, for the first time in more than three weeks, including three in the capital beijing. the chinese mainland reported 46 new covid—19 cases on wednesday, though the national health commission says 3a of those originated overseas. the total number of the confirmed cases on the chinese mainland is over 82,000, and the cumulative death toll is 3,342. president moonjae—in's governing party in south korea has

won an unprecedented landside in parliamentary elections which were the first to be held amid the coronavirus pandemic. the ruling democratic party had highlighted the country's so far successful fight against covid 19 which has brought the number of daily infections down from a peak of 900 a day in late february, to under 30 new cases a day. millions turned out to cast their ballot in masks, using hand sanitizer and wearing plastic gloves. our correspondent laura bicker says it's been a historic 2a hours. we have seen a number of political records come tumbling down here. it's been the highest turnout since 1992, people thought coronavirus would keep voters at home, it didn't, 66% of voters turned out despite restrictions, having to wear a mask, stand a metre apart, use hand sanitiser, plastic gloves. they all managed it, we may have to wait another two weeks to see if all was

kept safe however when it comes to that political records here, it is the biggest majority for the ruling democratic party since 1987. and for any party since this country held democratic elections in 1987, the records have come tumbling down and as you said, the democratic party boat the government handling of covid 19, this boat the government handling of covid19, this aggressive tracing and testing measures, right at the heart of their campaign and it appears, for now, to have worked. the coronavirus pandemic has prevented travellers from crossing borders, but what about the globalfood supply? the un's food and agriculture organization is concerned that the world's food supply could be disrupted. let's speak now to the senior economist at the un's food and agriculture organization abdolreza abbassian thank you so much forjoining us. what are the barriers to this food getting to where it needs to be because generally speaking, global

harvests have been good? yes, if we can call this lucky, this time around, we don't have a supply issue from a global perspective. major food producers, exporters, have had good harvests in 2019. and are expected to have relatively good yields this year. so supply is not so yields this year. so supply is not so much of an issue but you would hope, supply has to reach the consumer, has to reach the country, distribute it, get to the shelves and of course here, we are talking about a different story, country by country situation differs, depending also on the developments and the value chain process differs greatly between countries. what impact is that going to have on those for whom food security is always a concern? u nfortu nately, food security is always a concern? unfortunately, that is the biggest fear. i know here in the west, especially, there's a lot of focus about our day—to—day difficulties but this is nothing in comparison to

what the poorer countries will have to go through. fortunately, so far, the effect of the pandemic has been modest in africa. but most predictions expect that situation could change for the worse. in such a situation, you could only see food insecurity increase, malnutrition is already quite extensive in many parts of the world, notjust africa, in many poor countries but one could only expect that situation will get far more difficult for workers who really depend on the products to get to the market, workers who lose their jobs, to the market, workers who lose theirjobs, so i think this is a situation that you really need to pay attention. health is very important but livelihood of the people who are already suffering is also extremely important. there's been a lot of discussion about how this virus is thought to have originated in a wet market, wild animal market in china, where many different species are sold in close proximity. what future do those

markets have? well i'm not an expert on those markets, unfortunately. however, one could see that given the extent of this pandemic, i'm sure in countries where such markets are still very active, policymakers are still very active, policymakers are going to think twice and i'm sure there will be measures put in place to make them definitely safer for the future. but this is one thing we could take as a lesson from this pandemic. a lot of things that probably we would need to adjust to and change, it's not a planet of a few billion, we are seven, eight billion people, we have to probably adjust to the new reality. how important is it at this point for wealthier countries to be doing more to support developing nations, i mean, particularly in the light of president trump refusing to fund the world health organisation any more? well, i think this is really the

time for the developed world to double, triple its support to developing countries, especially poorer countries. their market is very much on the market of the richer countries they have to sell to. the spill—over effect of this slowdown is definitely going to affect them dearly and they were already in very, very difficult situations. the g20 recent decision to postpone payment this year is probably the right thing to do at this point but probably one has to go much further than that because the export earning, economic difficulties, inflation that these countries would face, not to mention the food insecurity, isjust enormous. so i think if you want to have a safer world, we would need to look after it the most vulnerable and poor people and i think this really should be the priority. un agencies are there to help. the who, other un agencies, we are there to work with the governments, we are a

platform for the exchange of information, a platform for the exchange of ideas and dialogue amongst countries and i think this is very important today, probably more important than any other time since the second world war. so, you know, i think we have to do everything possible to strengthen this relationship. thank you for taking the time to talk to us. thank you very much for your invitation. some breaking news regarding ventilators. the approval of a new type of design. a consortium of major businesses including ford, gkn, formula one teams, have secured approvalfor a new gkn, formula one teams, have secured approval for a new type of mechanical ventilator that is going to be used to treat covid 19 patients, based on technology from medical devices company pen long and it's the first to get approval from the medicines and health care products regulatory agency since the outbreak began. it will be produced

on various sites, broughton, dagenham, maidenhead, woking, as well as headquarters in oxfordshire, the consortium ramping up production ofan the consortium ramping up production of an existing design, something called the smiths group sparrow pack, if you are familiar with ventilators! aiming to build 1500 machines become a necessity is the mother of invention, isn't it? a number of other businesses involved in designing new ventilators including dyson, we know from hand dryers and vacuum cleaners but according to one of our correspondence he has been looking at this, government support for another major initiative, something called blue sky was stopped at the weekend, that design was not suited to the treatment of covid 19 patients but nonetheless, huge consortium of very big businesses secured approval for consortium of very big businesses secured approvalfor a consortium of very big businesses secured approval for a new mechanical ventilator. indian hospitals are preparing to cope with a surge of patients

needing help to recover from the coronavirus. like many other medical facilities around the world they have a chronic shortage of ventilators, which help people breathe as their lungs recover from the disease. the indian—administered state of kashmir has a population of more than 7 million people and just 100 ventilators. engineers and doctors there have been working together to come up with a solution. aamir peerzada reports from srinagar. indian administered kashmir has a population of 7 million. all are now living in lockdown. there are around 100 ventilators in the whole region. anxious health professionals have been looking to other countries for inspiration. i quickly realised in 2006, doctors experimented with splitting of ventilators and they we re splitting of ventilators and they were successful. so far, we have done the design, we have done the rounds of testing. currently we have more than 40—50 people working on

the splitting project. the splitters make it possible for a ventilator to be used on more than one patient. this team of doctors and engineers have worked in the design. produced using a 3d printer at a university in south kashmir and they were tested in a hospital in srinagar. these are connected to the ventilator. we are using these splitters to divide and deliver to four patients. we can use one ventilator for the patients. but there are risks. normally, the oxygen supply is adjusted to enhance the lung capacity of each patient. that is not possible if there are multiple patients using one ventilator. we have done the test. we have seen that they work fine in the ideal situation, because we use

the ideal situation, because we use the test lungs and they have shown the test lungs and they have shown the results better. but look, coming to the patient part, that is tricky in this situation because all patients will have a different lung compliance. so far, indian administered kashmir as 228 cases of covid 19 but the numbers are set to rise. despite the challenging world, doctors here hope they will be able to use splitters to many lives. sweden has had a very different approach to the coronavirus pandemic, with schools, restaurants and bars remaining open. but the government is seeking new powers — allowing them to shut ports and shopping malls without having to wait for pa rliament‘s approval. the country has recorded nearly 12,000 cases of covid—19 and over 1,200 deaths. so does this indicate a change in the country's approach to the disease? and has it come too late to limit the spread of the virus? let's speak now to the swedish

foreign minister, ann linde. thank you very much forjoining us. explain, if you would come off like your strategy in not having the restrictions that other countries have had, was your choice in the first instance? well, i think we have the same goals as most other countries and that is to save lives and hinder the spread of the virus and hinder the spread of the virus and strengthen the health system but we do it in and strengthen the health system but we do itina and strengthen the health system but we do it in a little different way because that's our tradition and our culture. we have since 400 years back, a very big authority, very small ministries, the recommendation that these authorities is giving is not seen as any tip that you could follow if you want or don't want, it's seen as something you should follow and the legally binding measures that the government is taking is based on advice from the authority, the public health

authority, the public health authority, mainly. and we have a very big trust among the people for following recommendations and we could see that this way, it's working best for us and that's why we use it. is it really working as well as it could have done? according to the figures from sweden ‘s public health agency, the death rate in sweden is about 101 per million inhabitants compared to 51 per million in denmark, 11 in finland, countries where they had earlier, stricter lockdown? it looks like it was not the right thing to do. well, i think it's too early actually to have any evaluation of how this will be in the end, where we are on the curve. the weight you count death, if you have only those who die in hospital, or if you have everybody who died, which could have been covid19, everybody who died, which could have been covid 19, i everybody who died, which could have been covid19, i think it's too

early to say what it led to. mostly, we can see that our way of doing this has been working. we have not been able to stop the virus at elderly care homes. and we don't know, because they are, we have a legally binding measure, forbidding people to go to elderly care homes since a long time back. that is where we have not been successful, i would say. why then is the government seeking wider executive powers such as being able to close shopping malls and ports without parliamentary agreement, if you believe the course of action so far has been sufficient? well, the new law is not the preparatory steps we re law is not the preparatory steps were complete lockdown, if we need to have quicker and more dramatic measures, then we would like to have this power and it's very clear that

immediately, after the government ta kes immediately, after the government takes such a decision, if we need it, it should open parliament immediately and then parliament could take a decision, if it should be taken away or if it should stay. the power is for a three—month you have to know, the swedish constitution does not allow the government to issue a state of emergency. according to the swedish constitution, the freedom of movement is fundamental right and omitting such rights would require such decisions by the parliament. —— limiting such rights. here we are a little different from other countries. fascinating to hear how you can about it compared to other parts of europe. thank you for your time this morning. 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. danny vincent reports. 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. 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 but he remains in quarantine. the bbc has spoken to dozens

who say they were forced into quarantine regardless of whether they tested negative for the virus. thousands of africans live in guangzhou. it has been a hub for traders from across the continent for well over a decade. china now fears imported cases of covid—19 could lead to a second outbreak, but 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. 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 remains under lockdown. danny vincent, bbc news, hong kong. throughout its long history, the house of commons at westminster has witnessed many changes. now with several mps staying at home, work is underway to create the uk's first online parliament, so important debates can continue away from its famous green benches. our political correspondent nick eardley has been finding out how it will work. a world away from westminster, the isle of skye in scotland. home to these newborn lambs, and the snp's westminster leader, ian blackford. this is my home office. it's got everything i need in it. it's got a decent enough connection under the circumstances. from next week, it's likely he'll be asking government ministers questions from this office.

i can keep my eye on our sheep and our lambs at the same time. we have to take our responsibilities seriously. our constituents expect us to be holding the government to account. the reason that we have to do that on a virtual basis is we are telling the public not to travel, we are telling the public to work from home. quite simply, it would not be a good look for parliamentarians to be travelling long distances to london when we don't need to. this morning, the commerce commission is expected to approve changes which will mean mps don't need to be here next week. they'll be able to ask questions from home, and take part in statements and urgent questions. some have already been trying it out. tory mp stephen crabb, who lives in pembrokeshire in wales, has been chairing committee meetings from home. inevitably, there's a few teething challenges. chairing a meeting of the committee where you have ten other people in the room, all wanting to perhaps talk at the same time, it's much easier to chair that when you're physically in the same space. these changes are of course

a response to the current crisis but in truth, nobody really knows when things will get completely back to normal here. and so some are hoping that the changes are long term and could lead to further reforms like electronic voting. i think we need to have the capacity to vote remotely, it's something that we are talking to the other parties about, and we are speaking to the parliamentary authorities about. the wheels of change in parliament turn very slowly but i think what this virus is going to do is force us to look more urgently at potential reform. using remote technology, video conferencing, i can see that being brought on stream as a permanent fixture, not just for this period of lockdown. there is some debate still on exactly how virtual parliament functions, but for now, mps will have a bit more time for views like this. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. 106—year—old connie titchen has survived the spanish flu, two world wars, and now, covid—19. the great—grandmother is believed

to be the oldest patient to recover from the virus in britain, and was discharged from hospital earlier this week. our reporter, phil mackie, has more. applause. when the news is often so bad, then every bit of good news deserves a cheer and a round of applause. connie titchen was just five years old when the spanish flu killed millions. now she's 106 and she is beaten covid—19. and let's not forget she lived through two world wars, too. before she left, she spoke to one of the nurses who looked after her, sister kelly smith. do you feel lucky that you've survived all of this? yes, i'm lucky. yes, i do. yes, ido, really. are you looking forward to seeing your grandchildren? yes. now she's back home with her family, where i spoke to her granddaughter, alex jones. how did you feel when she went inside? you must have been really

concerned because of her age? when i left her on mother's day at the doors of a&e, i didn't think i would see her again. but she kept on hanging in there? yes, she's a fighter. i think it will take a while to settle back down but i think she's doing well. it will take a bit of adjustment because she's not been in her own environment for a long time, so just getting back used to it all. but, yes, i'm sure she'll adapt, she always does. she was taken into hospital last month with suspected pneumonia and after three weeks in the city hospital, connie was given the all clear and a guard of honour. phil mackie, bbc news, birmingham. well done to her! for the fourth week in a row, millions of us will ‘clap for carers' at 8pm tonight. it's to show appreciation to all the nhs staff and key workers

who are keeping the country running and saving lives. this is bbc news. let's ta ke let's take a look at the weather forecast. here's carol kirkwood. hello. pollen levels once again high across england, wales, northern ireland, if you have an allergy to tree pollen keep that in mind. forecast for most of us is dry, sunny spells, feeling much cooler in the north and east, compared to yesterday. high pressure still in charge, we still have this weather front draped across scotland, northern ireland, northern england, still producing some spots of rain here and there but more cloud and a weather front coming from the south will introduce cloud across southern england, turning sunshine hazy and here we are likely to see some showers as we go through the day but they will be fairly hit and miss. in between, lots of sunshine, hazy at times, some high cloud, brightening

up times, some high cloud, brightening up in northern ireland. temperatures today peaking at 21 or 22 in the south—east, much cooler in the north and east, with an onshore breeze and more cloud than yesterday. through this evening and overnight, we still have cloud in the north, where it breaks, it will be cold enough in some sheltered transport frost. there will also be showers coming in across southern england and south wales, those could be heavy with the odd rumble of thunder, by the end of the night, look at this, more substantial rain crossing the channel islands. through tomorrow, that rain is going to be pushing steadily northwards. when you catch it, you could have it for quite a few hours in the club will build ahead of it, behind it, return to some showers, some of which could be heavy and thundery. for northern england, northern ireland, scotland, north wales, sunny and dry day, across the board, temperatures down and it will feel cool along the north sea coastline. as we move through friday, you can see this weather front drifting northwards and into saturday. still an element

of uncertainty as to how far north it travels but this is what we think at the moment for saturday. lots of cloud across england, wales, northern ireland, is a weather front moves north, it produces showers, some could be heavy but for scotland, closer to an area of high pressure, we will have a dry day, some sunshine, temperatures ranging from eight in the north, 17 in sand. as we head into sunday, looks like being the driest day for us over the weekend, you can see a fair bit of sunshine, one or two showers dotted in the west, they will be the exception rather than the rule. cool along the north sea coast, top temperatures of 19.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. ministers in the uk are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown, labour call for details on how and when the restrictions would end. if we just released all the measures now, then this virus would run rampant once again, and we can't let that happen. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that. i actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one. but we also want more detail from the government about what happens next. president donald trump says parts of the us economy could reopen as early as this month. the battle continues, but the data suggests that nationwide, we have passed the peak of new cases.

hopefully, that will continue and we will continue to make great progress. social care officials in the uk deliver a scathing assessment of the government's handling of the pandemic. in a leaked letter, they describe the distribution of protective kit for carers as "shambolic". and the 99—year—old war veteran — captain tom moore — completes 100 laps of his garden before turning 100, raising over £12 million for the nhs. i'm surrounded by the right sort of people, so yes, i feel fine. i hope you're all feeling fine too.

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. and here, the uk health secretary says everyone can see it is "too early" to make changes to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown. matt hancock says a formal decision will be announced this afternoon. the opposition labour party says it will back the government, but is asking for more clarity on how and when the lockdown will end. well as the number of people who've died rises — tributes have been paid to a pregnant nurse who died with covid—19. 28—year—old, mary agyeiwaa agyapong worked at luton and dunstable hospital in southeast england. her baby was successfully delivered by c—section on sunday, and the hospital say the child is doing ‘very well‘. in the united states, president trump has said the country has passed the peak of new covid—19

cases , and will later announce plans to reopen parts of the american economy. back here in the uk, in a leaked letter seen by the bbc, senior social care officials have criticised the government‘s handling of the pandemic. it describes the national distribution of personal protective equipment to care homes as ‘shambolic‘. and another development, in south korea, president moon jae—in has won a overwhelming landslide in the country‘s parliamentary elections. voters backed the government‘s response in the fight against covid—19, which has seen the number of cases fall from a peak of 900 a day in late february to less than 30 new cases a day. let‘s return to the likely extension of the lockdown here in the uk and talk to our assistant political editor norman smith, whojoins us from his home in north london.

some difficulty in delivering a message on how we ever get out of it. or! message on how we ever get out of it. or i think that is true, we have clarity that the lockdown. you or that the lockdown will be extended. we are told that we shouldn‘t even be talking about the exit strategy. the government‘s view is that if we start talking about the exit strategy we lose focus on abiding by the restrictions. this morning, we heard from the health secretary who was almost, in effect, citing that slogan, careless talk costs lives. all of which said, we know other european countries are starting to ease some restrictions, they have actually started down that process, we‘ve heard from some leading scientists are beginning to say, the government needs to begin thinking and accelerating plans for an exit

strategy, and matt hancock, the health secretary himself has mooted one of the possible avenues out of the restrictions which is using this phone app to track and trace where you go and if you come into contact with people with coronavirus, but for the moment, they are sticking by the line that is to talk about it would be a distraction and would be counter—productive, confusing, people would be being told abide by the restrictions but at the same time, let‘s talk about how we can end restrictions and that was very much the message from mr hancock this morning, albeit he was saying that the lockdown, he was not absolutely confirming it was going to go on for three weeks but i think we can take it almost is a given that that will happen. i'm not going to prejudge the formal decision that is going to be taken. however, i think everybody can see that we have been clear that we think it is too early to make a change, and whilst we have seen a flattening of the number of cases and thankfully a flattening of the number of deaths, that hasn't

started to come down yet. as far as i'm concerned, it is still far too high. indeed, one of mr hancock‘sjunior ministers, nadeem doris tweeted overnight telling journalists to stop asking questions and that there was no full escape from the lockdown until we get a vaccine. as we know, that could be months, as many as 18 months. in the meantime, the labour party have joined those demanding at least the beginning of a conversation about an exit strategy. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that. i actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one. but we also want more details from the government about what happens next. last night, the junior health minister nadine dorries was complaining on twitter, saying people shouldn't be asking about an exit strategy

because there is no exit strategy until we get a vaccine. that could be 18 months away, so if the government are saying we're in lockdown for 18 months, they probably need to tell us. i would probably argue that the best way to come out of lockdown or to manage a way out of lockdown in the coming months is to move to a testing and contact tracing strategy. now, people in downing street say there is a lot of work going on to try and devise different strategies to gradually ease the restrictions, asi to gradually ease the restrictions, as i mentioned, matt hancock has already floated this idea of a phone app. plenty of people think that is not going to be the be all and end all because of course, older people, many of them are not particularly tech savvy so they would probably not be using that phone app we have a suggestion from one of the leading scientists in the field saying we have to follow the example of countries like korea who were very successful, mobilising hundreds of

thousands of people to act as an army of researchers to track down who you come into contact with and then to chase them up to make sure they self—isolate. one reason, not mentioned but i suspect why the government is also reluctant to engage in this debate is frankly because boris johnson engage in this debate is frankly because borisjohnson is out of action and it is such a big decision, such a controversial decision, such a controversial decision about how to ease the lockdown that i suspect that they won‘t wait really want to engage in that until he‘s and up and running as premised again. we have just got spain‘s daily figure through and the death toll there from coronavirus rises to 19,130 today, that is from 18,579 on wednesday, that is according to the spanish health ministry and as you can see, those

numbers down or going down from the peak that we saw a couple of weeks ago. so, yet more glimmers of hope for spain on emerging from the worst of its crisis. in the united states, president trump has claimed the country has passed the peak of new coronavirus infections. at his daily briefing he said that states across the country were in a strong position to re—open the economy, and that he would announce guidelines for that in a news conference later today. the president has been at loggerheads with state governors about the timing of easing restrictions and reopening businesses. his upbeat assessment comes as the number of deaths is shown to have doubled within the last week. david willis reports. he has been itching to do this for weeks. now the businessman turned politician president is poised to announce the world‘s biggest economy will soon be back in business. thank you very much.

the data suggests that nationwide, we have passed the peak of new cases. hopefully, that will continue and we will continue to make great progress. these encouraging developments have put us in a strong position to finalise guidelines for states on reopening the country. we will be talking about that tomorrow. more than 30,000 americans have died from the coronavirus, more than in any country anywhere else in the world. and although hospital admissions are down and the spread of the virus has slowed, health officials continue to warn of the dangers of a second surge if social distancing guidelines are lifted too quickly. the key issue is testing. so far, just over 3 million americans have been tested for the coronavirus. not enough, according to several leading employers, who believe that more testing is needed before people will feel

safe to return to work. ultimately, it will then be state leaders who decide when the economy reopens, and not the president. it is the governors of the states who have the actual authority to shut down or reopen facilities within their borders. the president can provide guidance and suggestions and of course, being the president, that carries a certain amount of persuasive weight. but it is the governors of the united states who hold the power. some workers are as keen to see a return to normal as the president himself. conservatives in michigan organised this protest against a stay—at—home order imposed by the state‘s democratic governor, defying social distancing guidelines to make their point. millions of americans have lost theirjobs in recent weeks,

and the coronavirus has brought an economy that president trump had taken to calling the "greatest in the history of the world" to its knees. his aim now is to rebuild it before people go to the polls in november. here in the uk, there‘s been criticism of the british government‘s handling of the coronavirus pandemic by leading social care officials. in a leaked letter seen by the bbc, the association of directors of adult social services accuses ministers of presiding over a "shambolic" supply chain for personal protective equipment. officials raised concerns over the consideration given to the care sector by the government during the pandemic saying ‘there is a significant imbalance between listening, hearing, and understanding nhs england as opposed to social care‘. the department of health says it is continuing to work closely with the sector. let‘s get more reaction to this

from dr pete calveley, chief executive of barchester health care which is of one of the uk‘s largest care providers. where do you stand on this letter, the contents thereof and the government‘s response? the contents thereof and the government's response? in general, i think the letter expresses the frustration that various elements of the system have had through the process and while clearly everyone has been working so hard and generally been supportive, there have been issues about ppe and the distribution and there has at times been a disjoint in the messages that are coming out and delivery on nevertheless, we all share that sense of frustration as to people in the nhs and government i‘m sure, so ido the nhs and government i‘m sure, so i do think it is particularly pertinent that matt hancock

hopefully addressed a lot of these issues yesterday evening. and there was talk of a comprehensive plan for helping the care sector, do you have confidence that that will be executed? ultimately, ithink there has been some great messages last night and has been some great messages last nightand a has been some great messages last night and a lot of things we have asked of delivered by matt hancock but the proof will be in the pudding and whether this actually gets through to the distribution centres, the support and availability of capacity on the ground and previously initiatives that have been announced have, to be fair, bean patchwork in terms of how they have been picked up. we have had some absolutely fantastic responses from the local resilience forums which have delivered in some cases a great amount of ppe to homes that have had significant need for it. in other areas, that has not been the case and the same organisation with the same directives as not having the same directives as not having

the same directives as not having the same amount of supplies that would be ideal. and do you see that postcode lottery as something that can be rectified? i do, like all these are been set up on the hoof, they take time to embed and i‘m sure over the next few days and weeks we will see improved supply and consistency across the country. obviously, in their first days, the local resilience forum have only been set up in the past week or so and they are improving at the moment this new initiative to get direct access to ordering from the care sector delivered by royal mail, again asa sector delivered by royal mail, again as a step forward but we all have to see how well it is mobilised and how quickly it is mobilised and how much resources they have to deliver. obviously ppe was one element of the letter, another element of the letter, another element was on the government response to testing, but i also want to ask about numbers because it was interesting to hear the health secretary say a couple of hours ago

that 15% of care homes had two or more cases of covid—19 when we have also seen figures from inside your sector talking about 50%. what is your assessment in terms of how many homes in the care sector are now infected? i have to say, first of all, i think everybody in social ca re all, i think everybody in social care just as all, i think everybody in social carejust as in all, i think everybody in social care just as in the nhs all, i think everybody in social carejust as in the nhs has been working absolutely tirelessly and relentlessly, the staff on the ground in our homes have been brilliant in terms of their dedication, hard work on their innovative response to the challenges we face. in terms of how many homes affected, i can tell you that ourfigures, we have many homes affected, i can tell you that our figures, we have 663 residents with suspected or positively tested covid—19 and that is in 50% of our homes, so 50% of our homes have suspected or positive cases. i am aware our homes have suspected or positive cases. i am aware of our homes have suspected or positive cases. i am aware of other providers

where that figure is 75%. so there is variability. how do you explain that discrepancy then?” is variability. how do you explain that discrepancy then? i think it is to do with recording, we send out information and notify each of the cases of suspected cases through the system, i am cases of suspected cases through the system, iam not cases of suspected cases through the system, i am not sure if the information flows or if there is a time lag behind it, but! information flows or if there is a time lag behind it, but i do think it isa time lag behind it, but i do think it is a significant issue which is why the vital issues about testing, availability, ppe and support for our staff in the sector and recognition are so important because this is a far more widespread issue than has previously been acknowledged. thank you so much for talking to us. you are very welcome. as if to underline the seriousness of the issue underlined there, eight residents of a care home in staffordshi re residents of a care home in

staffordshire have died after testing positive. it takes the total number of deaths there to 24 in the past three weeks. there are a further 10 elderly residents and one member of staff who are self—isolating, after testing positive for the disease. those residents who had died without being tested had been experiencing "pneumonia—like symptoms". the headlines on bbc news. ministers in the uk are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown. president donald trump says the us has "passed the peak" of new covid—19 cases and predicts some states will reopen this month. social care officials in the uk deliver a scathing assessment of the government‘s handling of the pandemic — in a leaked letter — they describe the distribution of protective kit for carers as "shambolic". the head of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has said europe owes italy

a heartfelt apology for failing to offer enough support at the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic there. italy was the first european country to suffer a serious outbreak and has recorded more deaths than any other nation, apart from the united states. ms von der leyen addressed the eu parliament earlier today. it is true that no one was really ready for this. it is also true that too many were not there on time when italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning. and yes, for that, it is right that europe as a whole offers a heartfelt apology. but saying sorry only counts for something if it changes behaviour. of course, there are still some who wa nt to of course, there are still some who want to point fingers and deflect blame and there are others who would

rather talk like populists then tell unpopular truths. to this i say stop it. stop and have the courage to tell the truth. have the courage to stand up for you. because this union of ours will get us through. and in the past few moments we‘ve had a response from italy foreign minister luigi di maio has described the apology by the eu commission president ursula von der leyen as ‘an important act of truth, which is good for europe‘ let‘s take a look at the latest in europe. yesterday, the world health organization warned that relaxing lockdown measures too early risked a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks. but now some countries are moving to ease restrictions on movement which have been in place for several weeks. rich preston has this report. there are still checks on who enters and leaves germany but within its borders, a relaxing of the rules as of next week. small shops will be allowed to open,

children who were due to sit exams will be allowed back to school and hairdressers will start working again. germany has had over 3,500 deaths from coronavirus but that‘s relatively few compared to some of its neighbours. a success widely attributed to early, rigorous testing. translation: we have achieved something which was in no way certain from the beginning. our doctors, nurses and all of those who work in the health care system, in the hospitals, are not overburdened. but the rules on socialising will stay in place for another two weeks, along with a government recommendation that everyone wear a face mask, a similar rule is being introduced in poland. anyone out in public must now wear something covering their nose and mouth. italy, europe‘s worst hit country, is slowly starting to relax some of its restrictions, a sigh of relief that, whilst not out of the woods, the worst may have passed.

in venice, book shops will open once more, so, too, will children‘s clothing stores. caution remains high elsewhere. france is extending lockdown rules until early may, belgium until mid may. across europe, there is hope, with infection rates slowing and hospital admissions decreasing, that life might soon slowly, cautiously, return to normal. president moonjae—in‘s governing party in south korea has won an unprecedented landside in parliamentary elections which were the first to be held amid the coronavirus pandemic. the ruling democratic party had highlighted the country‘s so far successful fight against covid19 which has brought the number of daily infections down from a peak of 900 a day in late february, to under 30 new cases a day. millions turned out to cast their ballot in masks, using hand sanitizer

and wearing plastic gloves. our correspondent laura bicker says it‘s been a historic 24 hours. we have seen a number of political records come tumbling down here. it‘s been the highest turnout since 1992, people thought coronavirus would keep voters at home, it didn‘t, 66% of voters turned out despite restrictions, having to wear a mask, stand a metre apart, use hand sanitiser, plastic gloves. they all managed it, we may have to wait another two weeks to see if all was kept safe however when it comes to that political records here, it is the biggest majority for the ruling democratic party since 1987. and for any party since this country held democratic elections in 1987, the records have come tumbling down and as you said, the democratic party boat the government handling of covid—19, this aggressive tracing

and testing measures, right at the heart of their campaign and it appears, for now, to have worked. america is fighting two epidemics: a deadly virus and skyrocketing unemployment. the latest weekly jobless numbers are due out in a couple of hours‘ time. the massive stimulus package passed by congress was meant to help american workers, by giving loans to small businesses to keep employees on the payroll. but it‘s been weeks since the plan was passed and business still haven‘t received any funds. our business correspondent samira hussain reports from new york. this is new york city‘s famous fifth ave, best known for its shopping. lined with store after store after store, this area would normally be teeming with eager shoppers. but these are not normal times. like many economies, america‘s has come to an abrupt halt.

street after new york city street tells the same story. doors are shut and no clarity on when they will open again. more than half the city‘s private sector workforce is employed by small businesses. which will likely suffer the most. businesses like this flower shop. it survived a fire and the economic downturn in 2008. the owner has tried to get loans to keep her and her staff afloat, but has been unsuccessful. what was it like to try and get through to your bank? i haven‘t gotten through to my bank. we have no income. i have maintained my staff, i am paying them, i am drawing on credit lines, i have applied for every possible financial aid from the city and from the federal government. the applications are in and it feels like you sent all this information into a black

hole. small firms around the country are reporting the same thing. part of the $2 trillion stimulus package passed by congress was meant to help small businesses keep employees on the payroll. three weeks since it was signed, many companies meant to benefit have yet to see any money. how long can you continue as is keeping your employees on the payroll? well, i am going to do it indefinitely even if i have to go into my own finances. i am not giving up. this is not, we have been in business for 49 years. i‘m not giving up, if i have to pay my employees out of my own pocket, that is what i‘m going to do. employees out of my own pocket, that is what i'm going to do. but so many small businesses around the country cannot keep their star. if the government can‘t get money to the companies that need it, the number of people out of work will continue to rise sharply. yet in the uk,

there are similar problems and with no signs of lockdown being lifted, many businesses are anxious about how they can afford to keep employees on the payroll. thank you so employees on the payroll. thank you so much forjoining us mr wilson. where are we at? i think it is a challenging time for a lot of uk businesses. there are many sectors under considerable pressure, hospitality, tourism, the travel industry. but there are a number of sectors that are growing to meet consumer demand, farming and agriculture is in demand as health ca re agriculture is in demand as health care and logistics, even the it sector is experiencing growth right now. and so for employees and businesses, which are able to be flexible and to adapt to new conditions of working, there are

opportunities? yes, there absolutely are and! opportunities? yes, there absolutely are and i think a lot of businesses are and i think a lot of businesses are taking an opportunity right now to continue to hire essential workers, making use of video interviewing as well as video onboarding, but also for people who find themselves out of work, to understand what their transferable skills are in the industry that they are currently employed in and how they can translate to some of those areas of the economy that are experiencing growth. and for those of them who may be watching us now, how would they go about that? well, there are a number of ways you can do that, the company that i represent, totaljobs, we look after a number of job boards, represent, totaljobs, we look after a number ofjob boards, from the nhs right through to catering and hospitality. you can log in there and find the roles that you need, there will be assistance for helping you with your cv as well as video interviewing for the companies that use it and there are still, believe it or not, there are still thousands ofjobs available it or not, there are still thousands of jobs available for it or not, there are still thousands ofjobs available for people that

have the right skills and are out there looking for them. for some people in somejobs, you mentioned hospitality there, it sounds as if it is going to be some time before the hospitality industry is up and running in the scale that we are all familiar with. do you think people should be thinking about really shifting out and grasping this moment to do something else? well i think a lot of people that work and hospitality sector do so because of a passion that they have for the industry. total jobs a passion that they have for the industry. totaljobs and our sister company cater a dot—com are working with the trade body uk hospitality to try and bring all of those workers that are looking for work today together and connect those people with all of the open vacancies that there are, where our tra nsfera ble vacancies that there are, where our transferable skills, like food retail for instance, where the hospitality staff can easily move across there so hospitality staff can easily move across there so we hospitality staff can easily move across there so we have created a portal together to help connect those people, but as i say, i think

for individuals, right now in the short term, yes they need to make those decisions, but in the long term, a number of people are in that industry because of the love they have for the industry. can i ask you for your perspective on both the business loans and the fail owing money that is coming from the treasury, all the ways in which the chancellor of the exchequer has said he is helping the economy, from where you sit looking at the jobs market, do you think it is getting to where it is needed?” market, do you think it is getting to where it is needed? i think the speed of how this money makes it into people‘s hands is critical and i don‘t think that is happening quickly enough. if we look at what is happening in the sector, it is essentially the government needs to continue to do what they‘re doing and continue to get a grip on the outbreak in order that businesses start back. clearly, cash is king for most companies and taking advantage of these is critical for seeing them through the next weeks and months before parts of the economy start to open up. businesses

need that lifeline in order to be able to navigate that time and the speed is really of the essence for a lot of businesses. thank now, here in the uk, a 99—year—old war veteran has been making headlines and lifting spirits. captain tom moore set out to raise £1,000, that‘s around $1,200, for the national health service, by walking 100 laps of his garden. this morning he managed to complete his task, but he has now raised nearly £13 million , around $15 million. messages of support have been flooding in — let‘s take a look. hi, tom. ben stokes here. what you‘ve managed to achieve is absolutely fantastic. the funds that you have managed to raise for the real heroes today are simply sensational. i hope that i‘m moving just as well as you at 50, never mind 100. keep up all the great work, mate, you should be seriously proud of what you‘ve done.

ijust wanted to say a massive congratulations for everything you've achieved, you're a massive inspiration to myself and everyone in these very difficult times. ijust wanted to say a huge thank you for all your hard work, you are an absolute hero. captain moore, we are truly impressed on this side of the pond. i think you are remarkable, i think that what you've done is an inspiration. so congratulations. i just want to say thank you very much indeed for everything you‘ve done, it‘s amazing. congratulations on a brilliant idea and pulling it off and doing it all before your 100th birthday and donating millions and millions of pounds to the national health service. what an incredible achievement and what a very generous thing to have done. hi, this is a message for captain tom moore, thank you so much for all of your effort and how much money you've raised for the nhs. lots of love, ward 4b, at the royal liverpool. cheering. what you've done is extraordinary and the millions of pounds you've raised for the nhs will be put to good use as we continue to tackle this virus together.

as an adopted yorkshireman, i've come to recognise true yorkshire grit and your story is an inspiration to us all. it just goes to show that british spirit is as strong as it's ever been. on behalf of the whole yorkshire regiment family, i‘d like to say thank you to you, captain tom moore for your amazing fundraising efforts on behalf of the nhs. when i last looked, you had raised over £8 million and that number continues to rise. captain moore, you are an absolute legend and i know you come from an exceptional generation that are still an inspiration for our yorkshire soldiers today. thank you and good luck in completing your endeavour. thank you, captain tom, from the nhs! cheering. and this is the moment captain tom crossed the finishing line. here he comes, captain tom moore, approaching his 100th birthday. 100 laps of his garden

during lockdown, all the money going to nhs charities. a guard of honour from the 1st battalion, the yorkshire regiment. inches to go. and there he is. congratulations! well done! absolutely amazing, amazing achievement. captain tom, how do you feel this morning? fine! i mean, i'm surrounded by the right sort of people. so yes, ifeelfine, and i hope you're all feeling fine, too! we are feeling fine. he is still going, you won‘t believe it, but let‘s have a look. there is the figure, and it is still climbing, nearly £13 million. a man who set off to raise £1000 has raised nearly 13 million. what a legend.

every day we‘re taking a deeper look at the pandemic in ‘coronavirus explained‘. today, it‘s the numbers. what statistics can we trust, and which of them should we be wary of? one of the most confusing is the number of deaths, because of differences in the way they are recorded and reported. take this graph of excess deaths here in the uk. there is clearly a huge rise in the number of people who have died, but only around half of them are recorded as covid—related. which means the rest are unexplained. we also need to be careful about international comparisons. here we can see big differences in the number of deaths between the united states, the uk, italy, germany and india. but a graph of their numbers of cases gives a completely different picture. a big reason for this is testing. here are the testing

rates for each of those countries. a completely different graph again. as we can see, india has done almost no testing at all. india has declared six major cities — including delhi and mumbai — as coronavirus "red zones". areas and districts still marked red by next monday will not be able to ease restrictions under the country‘s lockdown which currently is in place until may 3rd. joining me now from hyderabad, also a designated red zone, is sujatha rao, who is a former health secretary for india. thank you so much for speaking to us. thank you so much for speaking to us. give us further insight into india, which of course, such a vast and sprawling country with many different health conditions and many different health conditions and many different structures in terms of the health preparedness. how is india coping? it is trying its best, because as you yourself commented,

the challenges are amazingly complex and extraordinary, so if you look at the map of india, about half of the districts today have in one or more infected people, so that means nearly half the country is under some sort of close surveillance by the government. and we have a national work lockdown until at least april 20, after which some relaxations are being hoped for. because it is the season, our market activity needs to continue, because we need a balance between the disease and the economics of the disease. as you pointed out, some cities are worst affected, and i would also like to point out that testing is a challenge still. we need to test even more, we are still at about 150 per million. we need to increase that ten fold to get an

accurate picture of the incidents in our country. right now, we have received the test case from china —— test kits from china, and i believe in the next few days, we will see a massive ramp up of testing, which will be a good understanding of how civilians are coping in this country. the challenge is that the lockdown has created problems for migrant workers who work in cities and come from rural areas, and they often a re and come from rural areas, and they often are too many to room, so social distancing, washing hands frequently, it becomes a bit of a challenge to enforce. at the same time, we are not able to send them home to their villages because we

are afraid of any transmission of infection from the urban red zone to those who are not yet affected in rural areas, so i don‘t think we would like to overwhelm them with this infection. this kind of balance at every level is being done, so we have to manage the disease on the one hand and take care of the socio economic impact of it in terms of having food kitchens opened up, areas for housing where people can stay and so on. a lot of dimensions in which the system is trying to cope with the horrible mess of this infection. as you said, a lot of dimensions, a lot of interlocking headaches that you have to face. one on the testing that you mentioned. presumably it makes it harder if there is a stigma and loss of

earnings attached to getting tested and being confirmed as a positive case. you are right, because the minute you get tested and if you are found to be positive or false negative, you are sent off to the quarantine centre, which means you are locked in for 14 days. and that is not a very comfortable place for people, so that is here, and for example a lot of work is being done in the community in one city to make them understand and plan to involve them understand and plan to involve them and ensure that they have no irrational fear increases. we them and ensure that they have no irrationalfear increases. we have had a fabulous response from the community, so i believe... isaw this on hiv programmes as well, we need to be working with the community much more and engaging

with them and get their support, and if we have that kind of working system, i think it won‘t be such a challenge. this is what leads to irrational behaviour and feels it, so irrational behaviour and feels it, so it is important to tell them they have nothing to fear and this is for their own benefit and for the benefit of their family and friends, so benefit of their family and friends, so that is the way we are going in india, and! so that is the way we are going in india, and i think we have had some amount of good response. we wish you and all of your fellow citizens all the best, thank you for being with us the best, thank you for being with us here on bbc news. thank you for having me. africans living in the chinese city of gwang—joe 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. danny vincent reports.

for two days, simon, fortwo days, simon, an for two days, simon, an african national, has been locked in this hospital 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 was spreading the coronavirus. he says he has lived here for three yea rs, he says he has lived here for three years, has no recent travel history and has not come into contact with anyone with covid—19. he says he has tested negative for the virus, yet he remains in quarantine. the bbc has spoken to citizens who say they we re has spoken to citizens who say they were forced into quarantine regardless —— dozens who said they

we re regardless —— dozens who said they were forced into quarantine regardless of having symptoms. thousands of africans live here. 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 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. the chinese government maintains that china has a zero tolerance of racism. translation: china's friendly policy towards africa has not changed, and african countries and people‘s friendly feeling towards china has not been shaken. as china begins to

revert into normality after months of quarantine, one community remains under lockdown. let‘s take a closer look now at what leading politicians have said about coronavirus. do their claims stand up to scrutiny? reality check‘s chris morris has been taking a close look. we know coronavirus has spawned a whole new industry of dodgy claims, and some of them have come from leading politicalfigures. here‘s a few that might raise eyebrows. let‘s start with the world‘s most powerful man. within a few weeks, president trump went from playing down coronavirus to calling it a pandemic. he‘s also implied that surgical masks have been stolen in huge numbers from hospitals in new york as a way of explaining the rise in their demand. where are the masks going? are they going out of the back door? but there is no evidence

of widespread theft and if patients are flooding in and intensive care units are full because of a new infectious disease with no vaccine, then you are going to need a lot more protective equipment to have any chance of being able to cope. various chinese officials have been keen to spread the idea that the virus didn‘t originate in china. the foreign ministry spokesman zhao lijian has done so repeatedly. chinese state media have amplified all sorts of false claims that covid—19 might have been created by the us military, or that it was present in italy long before it appeared in china. there is nothing to suggest that any of this is true. the scientific consensus is clear — the virus firstjumped from animals to humans in wuhan in china, towards the end of 2019.

at the other end of the spectrum, the italian nationalist leader matteo salvini has been telling his supporters that china created the coronavirus in a laboratory. it‘s another false claim, but it has been widely shared on social media. again, scientists are convinced that this is not a man—made virus. the brazilian president jair bolsonaro was censored by facebook, instagram, twitter and youtube for spreading false information. they removed posts of a video in which he claimed that the anti—malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was totally effective in treating covid—19. in fact, there are lots of trials and it is being used experimentally. but the overall impact of the drug is really unproven. a senior indian politician,

subramanian swamy, reported that the covid—19 strain in india is a less virulent mutation which the human body‘s defence mechanisms are able to resist more effectively. that‘s not what the experts are saying. all viruses mutate, but scientists have yet to find any variation in how lethal covid—19 can be. if the virus mutates slowly, that is good news. it means that when a vaccine comes, it should be effective for longer. there‘s a lot we still don‘t know, but the emergence of a coronavirus that threatens all of us hasn‘t stopped the virus of dodgy claims from spreading around the world. the headlines on bbc news... ministers in the uk are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown. president donald trump says the us has "passed the peak" of new covid—19 cases and predicts some states will reopen this month.

social care officials in the uk deliver a scathing assessment of the government‘s handling of the pandemic — in a leaked letter — they describe the distribution of protective kit for carers as "shambolic". brazil has the highest number of confirmed cases in the southern hemisphere, according to official figures. more than 1500 people have now died. but there‘s been minimal testing, and brazil‘s president, jair bolsonaro, continues to disregard health advice. katy watson reports from sao paulo. laid to rest in difficult times. grieving families have to bury their dead quickly and safely. grave—diggers are taking no risks as the pandemic takes hold. for those left behind, there is little comfort at a time when it is needed the most.

this was not the way sandro ever imagined saying goodbye to his mother. maria died of suspected coronavirus, like so many being buried here today. translation: i'm really sad and worried about the situation. i wasn‘t taking it too seriously before. i didn‘t really believe it. i thought it was the media stirring things up. then, when it happened to our family, we understood the severity of it. latin america‘s biggest graveyard is getting busier, but they are bracing themselves for the weeks ahead. the peak isn‘t expected until may orjune. the municipalities brought 5000 body bags, grave—digger manuel tells me. they have hired more people as well. this is as they get ready for the situation to get worse. workers here say they are digging around 50% more graves than they normally would as more burials come through here, and if the people who died have suspected covid—19, they are being buried, many of them, without getting

official test results. families have to wait days if not weeks for them, so that means the official numbers of deaths here is not an accurate representation of how many people have died. brazil‘s laboratories have backlog of tens of thousands of cases to test. the country is also struggling to import sufficient quantities of ingredients for testing as the whole world competes for supplies to tackle the pandemic. all we see is the tip of the iceberg, because at the moment in brazil, we are testing only the patients that go to hospital and then stay there, so we know only the more severe cases, but we don't know exactly how the virus is still how the virus is stipulating in the population. experts fear that, with a president that continues to flout health guidelines, people will stop heeding advice such as social distancing. but this is a time when the country needs it the most. translation: people ask me

when are we going to reach the top, when people can relax? but anyone even guessing has been hasty, because we cannot estimate how the curve is going up. imagine you are climbing a mountain and you can see the peak, —— but you cannot see the peak. and that is why it is important to look at the rise. will it be similar to the us, italy? we don't know, not with the data available. but the burials don‘t stop, and neither does the heartache stop and neither does the heartache. behind the statistics, family numbers are lost, with loved ones wanting answers as to how they died. throughout its long history, the house of commons at westminster has seen some pretty big changes. now with many mps staying at home, work is under way to create the uk‘s first online parliament. nick eardley reports. a world away from westminster, the isle of skye in scotland. home to these newborn lambs, and the snp‘s westminster leader, ian blackford. this is my home office. it‘s got everything i need in it.

it‘s got a decent enough connection under the circumstances. from next week, it‘s likely he‘ll be asking government ministers questions from this office. i can keep my eye on our sheep and our lambs at the same time. we have to take our responsibilities seriously. our constituents expect us to be holding the government to account. the reason that we have to do that on a virtual basis is we are telling the public not to travel, we are telling the public to work from home. quite simply, it would not be a good look for parliamentarians to be travelling long distances to london when we don‘t need to. this morning, the commons commission is expected to approve changes which will mean mps don‘t need to be here next week. they‘ll be able to ask questions from home, and take part in statements and urgent questions. some have already been trying it out. tory mp stephen crabb, who lives in pembrokeshire in wales, has been chairing committee meetings from home. inevitably, there‘s a few teething challenges. chairing a meeting of the committee where you have ten other people

in the room, all wanting to perhaps talk at the same time, it‘s much easier to chair that when you‘re physically in the same space. these changes are of course a response to the current crisis but in truth, nobody really knows when things will get completely back to normal here. and so some are hoping that the changes are long term and could lead to further reforms like electronic voting. i think we need to have the capacity to vote remotely, it‘s something that we are talking to the other parties about, and we are speaking to the parliamentary authorities about. the wheels of change in parliament turn very slowly but i think what this virus is going to do is force us to look more urgently at potential reform. using remote technology, video conferencing, i can see that being brought on stream as a permanent fixture, not just for this period of lockdown. there is some debate still on exactly how virtual parliament functions, but for now, mps will have a bit more time for views like this. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster.

we spent a lot of this morning talking about captain tom. 106—year—old connie titchen has survived the spanish flu, two world wars, and now, covid—19. the great—grandmother is believed to be the oldest patient to recover from the virus in britain, and was discharged from hospital earlier this week. here‘s phil mackie. applause. when the news is often so bad, then every bit of good news deserves a cheer and a round of applause. connie titchen was just five years old when the spanish flu killed millions. now she‘s 106 and she is beaten covid—19. and let‘s not forget she lived through two world wars, too. before she left, she spoke to one of the nurses who looked after her, sister kelly smith. do you feel lucky that you‘ve survived all of this? yes, i'm lucky. yes, i do. yes, ido, really. are you looking forward

to seeing your grandchildren? yes. now she‘s back home with her family, where i spoke to her granddaughter, alex jones. how did you feel when she went inside? you must have been really concerned because of her age? when i left her on mother‘s day at the doors of a&e, i didn‘t think i would see her again. but she kept on hanging in there? yes, she‘s a fighter. i think it will take a while to settle back down but i think she‘s doing well. it will take a bit of adjustment because she‘s not been in her own environment for a long time, so just getting back used to it all. but, yes, i‘m sure she‘ll adapt, she always does. she was taken into hospital last month with suspected pneumonia and after three weeks in the city hospital, connie was given the all clear and a guard of honour. phil mackie, bbc news, birmingham. the elusive artist banksy,

famous for graffiti, has revealed his latest work in lockdown. he posted a series of pictures showing rats causing mayhem in his bathroom, with the caption: "my wife hates it when i work from home". now it‘s time for a look at the weather. hello. it has been very dry for a few weeks. if you remember when the lockdown started, that was when the weather really started to settle down. we haven‘t had any substantial rainfall since then, really, but that is about to change, and we are in for a few hours worth of rainfall, potentially heavy rainfall across some southern parts of the uk. this will happen tomorrow. this is the earlier satellite picture, and you can see the weather to the west of spain and portugal here. these are weather fronts, low—pressure brewing, and these weather fronts are gradually moving in our direction, they will be responsible for the rain which will affect us tomorrow. but not today, today it is still relatively sunny and warm for many of us, and temperatures hitting widely 20 degrees, but much fresher

on the north—east coast of england and newcastle, for example. only around ten or 11 degrees, because of the cloud and the breeze coming out of the north, but we start to see the changes in the air through the course of the night stop of course, southern parts of the uk. —— across southern parts of the uk. the thinking is around five or six or seven in the morning, the rain should reach the channel islands, and then spread northwards through the morning, so there is the band of rain. you can see it is not an enormous area of rain, but certainly more substantial than we have had for quite some time, so there you go. spreading into the west country, central, southern england, part of the midlands and southern wales by the mid—part of the afternoon, but obviously a large chunk of the country has the fine weather, and there is plenty of sunshine are certainly on the way for northern ireland and for scotland, and certainly the northern isles. through the course of friday night, that band of rain, very showery rain. hit and miss, it will continue to drift northwards. through the course of saturday, the weather fronts right across the country here.

not expecting lashings of rain, more like hit and miss rain across parts of england, wales, possibly reaching northern ireland as well. at the same time, it does look as though it is going to stay dry and even sunny across much of scotland, but call here. temperatures only 12 degrees in the south, at times overcast with those showers. around 16 celsius for the major towns and cities. it does change on sunday, more of an easterly wind, and that is drying, so that will push the cloud towards the west. it will dry out by sunday, with more sunshine but feeling cool on the north sea coast.

speed is really of the essence for a

lot of businesses. thank this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. ministers in the uk are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown — the labour opposition call for details on how and when the restrictions would end. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that. i actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one but we also want more detail about what happens next. if we just released all the measures now, then this virus would run rampant once again we can't let that happen. president donald trump says parts of the us economy could reopen as early as this month. 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. social care officials in the uk deliver a scathing assessment of the government‘s handling of the pandemic — in a leaked letter — they describe the distribution of protective kit for carers as "shambolic". and the 99—year—old british war veteran, captain tom moore, completes 100 laps of his garden before turning 100 — raising £13 million for the nhs. i am surrounded by the right sort of people, so yes i feel fine. i hope you are all feeling fine too!

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. and here, the uk health secretary says everyone can see it is "too early" to make changes to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown. matt hancock says a formal decision will be announced this afternoon. the opposition labour party says it will back the government, but is asking for more clarity on how and when the lockdown will end. well as the number of people who‘ve died rises — tributes have been paid to a pregnant nurse who died with covid—19. 28—year—old, mary agyeiwaa agyapong worked at luton and dunstable hospital in southeast england. her baby was successfully delivered by caesarean section on sunday, and the hospital say the child is doing ‘very well‘. in the united states, president trump says the country has passed the peak of new covid—19

cases , and will later announce plans to reopen parts of the american economy. back here in the uk, in a leaked letter seen by the bbc, senior social care officials have criticised the government‘s handling of the pandemic. it describes the national distribution of personal protective equipment to care homes as ‘shambolic‘. and in another development, the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen says the eu owes italy an apology for not providing enough support during the early stages of the pandemic. italy is the worst affected european country with over 21,000 deaths from covid—19. let‘s return to the likely extension of the lockdown here in the uk and talk to our assistant political editor norman smith, whojoins us from his home in north london. norman, everybody is expecting an extension of the restrictions but

the pressure is growing on the government to talk about the way out. it is pretty clear that the lockdown is going to be extended, it will be announced this afternoon at the downing street news conference by dominic raab, it will be a three week extension, all that is pretty much above board, the government are quite happy to discuss it. what they are not happy to discuss is the exit strategy that follows the lockdown, what is the way out of this and indeed we have a situation now in which the situation is almost chiding journalists for even asking the question. we heard from the junior health minister nadine dorries pleading journalists to stop asking about it and we had the health secretary himself, matt hancock, saying that to do that risked confusing the public and therefore may be sending out a contradictory message that could result in people not observing the

lockdown and therefore actually putting lives at risk. so, in a way, the government has sought to clamp down on any discussion whatsoever of the exit strategy because they believe it would be contradictory it would be counter—productive and actually could even lead to people losing their lives. that said, when it comes down to the lockdown, i think it is pretty clear that what is going to be said this afternoon is going to be said this afternoon is that it goes on. have a listen to what mr hancock said this morning. i'm not going to prejudge the formal decision that is going to be taken. however, i think everybody can see that we have been clear that we think it is too early to make a change, and whilst we have seen a flattening of the number of cases and thankfully a flattening of the number of deaths, that hasn't started to come down yet. as far as i'm concerned, it is still far too high.

so, we know what is going to happen with the lockdown. we don‘t know what will happen with the exit strategy but there is a growing clamourfor strategy but there is a growing clamour for clarity, strategy but there is a growing clamourfor clarity, including strategy but there is a growing clamour for clarity, including from opposition politicians saying, hang ona opposition politicians saying, hang on a moment, other european countries are notjust talking about it, they are beginning it. we should at least have that discussion as it may take some time to put in place the necessary procedures in planning and infrastructure, we have also seen some and infrastructure, we have also seen some prominent scientists saying that actually the government needs to accelerate its preparations and planning for an exit strategy. and even mr hancock has in previous interviews given us some sense of some of the idea is that the government is looking at, for example, this idea of a phone app, a mobile app which would trace where you have been and therefore if you had coronavirus, who you have been in contact with and therefore those people could be contacted and they could self—isolate. so, the labour

party position is that they are quite happy to go along with an extension of the lockdown, but they do want that debate about the exit strategy to begin and to begin now. this was the shadow health secretary, john ashworth. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that. i actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one. but we also want more details from the government about what happens next. last night, the junior health minister nadine dorries was complaining on twitter, saying people shouldn't be asking about an exit strategy because there is no exit strategy until we get a vaccine. that could be 18 months away, so if the government are saying we're in lockdown for 18 months, they probably need to tell us. i would probably argue that the best way to come out of lockdown or to manage a way out of lockdown in the coming months is to move to a testing and contact tracing strategy. i suspect that part of the problem is that the government doesn‘t really wa nt is that the government doesn‘t really want to enter into this debate until the prime minister is

back on the road, as it were, and we know that could be a week or even weeks away because, when we do sta rts weeks away because, when we do starts to lift the restrictions, that will be a huge moment, it may very well be a very contentious moment if some groups of society we re moment if some groups of society were released for other parts of society so it will be a controversial decision and i suspect that they will want the prime minister to take it. there is no getting away from it however, people wa nt to getting away from it however, people want to talk about the exit strategy and you can‘t simply suppress that debate. i suppose the challenge for the government is to have a slightly more nuanced debate so as to insist and encourage people to remain at home whilst also beginning to give them a sense of where we might go once the lockdown is over. in the united states, president trump has claimed the country has passed the peak of new coronavirus infections. at his daily briefing he said that

states across the country were in a strong position to re—open the economy, and that he would announce guidelines for that in a news conference later today. the president has been at loggerheads with state governors about the timing of easing restrictions and reopening businesses. his upbeat assessment comes as the number of deaths is shown to have doubled within the last week. david willis reports. he has been itching to do this for weeks. now the businessman turned politician president is poised to announce the world‘s biggest economy will soon be back in business. thank you very much. the data suggests that nationwide, we have passed the peak of new cases. hopefully, that will continue and we will continue to make great progress. these encouraging developments have put us in a strong position to finalise guidelines for states on reopening the country. we will be talking

about that tomorrow. more than 30,000 americans have died from the coronavirus, more than in any country anywhere else in the world. and although hospital admissions are down and the spread of the virus has slowed, health officials continue to warn of the dangers of a second surge if social distancing guidelines are lifted too quickly. the key issue is testing. so far, just over 3 million americans have been tested for the coronavirus. not enough, according to several leading employers, who believe that more testing is needed before people will feel safe to return to work. ultimately, it will then be state leaders who decide when the economy reopens, and not the president. it is the governors of the states who have the actual authority to shut down or reopen facilities within their borders. the president can provide guidance

and suggestions and of course, being the president, that carries a certain amount of persuasive weight. but it is the governors of the united states who hold the power. some workers are as keen to see a return to normal as the president himself. conservatives in michigan organised this protest against a stay—at—home order imposed by the state‘s democratic governor, defying social distancing guidelines to make their point. millions of americans have lost theirjobs in recent weeks, and the coronavirus has brought an economy that president trump had taken to calling the "greatest in the history of the world" to its knees. his aim now is to rebuild it before people go to the polls in november. the head of the european commission, ursula von der leyen,

has said europe owes italy a heartfelt apology for failing to offer enough support at the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic there. italy was the first european country to suffer a serious outbreak and has recorded more deaths than any other nation, apart from the united states. ms von der leyen addressed the eu parliament earlier today. it is true that no one was really ready for this. it is also true that too many were not there on time when italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning. and yes, for that, it is right that europe as a whole offers a heartfelt apology. but saying sorry only counts for something if it changes behaviour. of course, there are still some who want to point fingers and deflect blame and there are others who would rather talk like populists then tell

unpopular truths. to this i say stop it. stop and have the courage to tell the truth. have the courage to stand up for europe. because this union of ours will get us through. and in the past hour we‘ve had a response from italy , foreign minister luigi di maio has described the apology by the eu commission president ursula von der leyen as "‘an important act of truth, which is good for europe and for our community.‘he went on to say ‘now the european union has the courage to defend and protect all peoples. we need a more supportive europe. there is one of the most important negotiations in our history. defending italy we also defend the integrity of the eu‘ let‘s stay with europe, and yesterday, the world health organisation warned that relaxing

lockdown measures too early risked a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks. but now some countries are moving to ease restrictions on movement which have been in place for several weeks. rich preston has this report. there are still checks on who enters and leaves germany but within its borders, a relaxing of the rules as of next week. small shops will be allowed to open. children who were due to sit exams will be allowed back to school and hairdressers will start working again. germany has had over 3,500 deaths from coronavirus, but that‘s relatively few compared to some of its neighbours, a success widely attributed to early, rigorous testing. translation: we have achieved something which was in no way certain from the beginning. our doctors, nurses and all of those who work in the health care system in the hospitals are not overburdened. but the rules on socialising

with stay in place for another two weeks, along with a government recommendation that everyone wear a face mask. a similar rule is being introduced in poland. anyone out in public must now wear something covering their nose and mouth. italy, europe‘s worst hit country, is slowly starting to relax some of its restrictions, a sigh of relief that, whilst not out of the woods, the worst may have passed. in venice, book shops will open once more. so, too, will children‘s clothing stores. caution remains high elsewhere. france is extending lockdown rules until early may. belgium until mid—may. across europe, there is hope that with infection rates slowing and hospital admissions decreasing, that life might soon slowly, cautiously, return to normal.

more than 90% of those who have died from coronavirus in the uk had at least one other pre—existing condition — that‘s according to new figures from the office of national statistics. the new figures also showed the death rate for men with coronavirus was twice as high as that of women in england and wales in march. robert cuffe from the bbc‘s statistics unit is here and we can speak to him now. well, the main number that you have outlined is that 90% of people who die from coronavirus had other health conditions that were significant enough to be recorded on the death certificate, it could be heart disease, diabetes, stroke, things like that and so that tells us that this coronavirus is particularly a problem for people who are already quite sick. and yet, quite sick, there is a difference

between quite sick, with conditions that people are used to living with for yea rs that people are used to living with for years and years and actually passing away as a result of these conditions, so what can you tell about that journey and the impact that virus has made on it. it is a mixture of two things we are seeing, what we have seen in the last month, in the month of march is that the number of deaths due to perhaps heart disease or to stroke or to other respiratory conditions like asthma or copd, that has fallen a little bit, so it suggests that coronavirus is acting in concert with these other conditions, is hastening the death of people that may have died pretty quickly. so thatis may have died pretty quickly. so that is instances of it taking the lives of very sick people already. but that‘s not the whole story, in addition to the total number of deaths that we have seen in march is above average and it is gone up, the number of deaths from coronavirus has been increasing week by week. it

is telling us that coronavirus is adding to the total burden of debt. we won‘t have full information for a long time, whether this takes months, weeks or years of people‘s life expectancy, ... months, weeks or years of people‘s life expectancy, we would start to understand that a bit further. but until we get months down the road and we see that data, we won‘t fully know. and then of course, the gender disparity is clear yet again. that men are more vulnerable. gender disparity is clear yet again. that men are more vulnerablem gender disparity is clear yet again. that men are more vulnerable. it is significant, we have seen it in other sets of figures, those being admitted into intensive care and we are seeing that same pattern repeated here. the question really is whether it is aboutjust male gender or whether it is the other thing that come into play, for example we have seen in data from china, a much higher rate of deaths among men but it could be possibly explained by riskier behaviour, more smoking or different lifestyle factors. we don‘t know whether it is

that awesome biological difference between men and women that is driving this. thank you. 15—thousand more ventilators have been ordered by the uk government after the first newly adapted design backed by a high—tech manufacturing consortium received regulatory approval. hundreds of the penlon ventilator units are expected to be built over the next week. the consortiumm of developers include formula one racing teams mercedes, mclaren and williams. the device is an adaptation of previous models and is designed to provide support to critically ill patients with a range of functions including volume and pressure—controlled ventilation. the latest coronavirus figures in china show a rise in locally transmitted cases, for the first time in more than three weeks, including three in the capital beijing. the chinese mainland reported 46 new covid—19 cases on wednesday, though the national health commission says

34 of those originated overseas. the total number of the confirmed cases on the chinese mainland is over 82,000, and the cumulative death toll is 3,342. our correspondent stephen mcdonell is in the chinese capital. he explained more about the situation there. beijing has no internationalflights coming into the city. if you have a beijing flight you have to go to another city, do quarantine and then come to beijing. also, everybody coming into beijing from anywhere in china has to do 14 days quarantine in theory. so, how can three people get the coronavirus here all of a sudden? now, the officials here are saying this is somehow linked to chinese citizens arriving from

overseas, but i just chinese citizens arriving from overseas, but ijust don‘t see how that makes sense. obviously, there isa that makes sense. obviously, there is a concern that somewhere out there in this city it is still there and that is why there are fears of a second wave, that is why we are still wearing our masks, ijust taken mine off to speak to you. there are some worrying trends in these new figures from china in terms of the potential for it taking off again, you mentioned 46 cases today. 36 from chinese coming in overseas, 12 from domestic infections, yesterday, another 46, 36 from people returning from overseas, ten from people arriving, from these so—called domestic infections. so, it is true, they can say that a lot of this can be attributed to people arriving from overseas but somehow or other, despite people doing quarantine, it is still getting out there. all it ta kes is still getting out there. all it takes is a couple of cases more for

there to be another wave and the worst hit place along those lines in the north east province, where hundreds of chinese citizens have been returning from russia, there are now about 400 active coronavirus infections up in that province. one small city right on the russian border has been locked down, there is only around 100,000 people there. we are seeing more cases in a big city of 10 million people, if it took off there, we would have another wuhan on our hands and that is why the authorities are being very careful about returning everybody to normality and only taking it one step at a time and i think that they are even looking at what measures they need to take in terms of further lockdown is to insulate the problem up there.

it was confirmed yesterday that one of the uk‘s latest victims of the pandemic was a 28—year—old nhs nurse who was pregnant. tributes have been paid to mary agyeiwaa agyapong worked at luton and dunstable hospital in southeast england. her baby was successfully delivered by c—section on sunday, and the hospital say the child is doing ‘very well‘. it is not clear whether she contracted the virus while she was at work. her case will cause great sadness but also concerned. joining me now is rosalind bragg who is the director of maternity action. this is a very sad case, desperately sad, we have a young woman who has died asa sad, we have a young woman who has died as a result of cove 19 and a baby who has lost its mother. so, as

everybody absorbs the sadness of mary‘s own death, there will be many women who are pregnant now, in the late stages of pregnancy and some of them who are working in care homes or on the front line in some way or evenin or on the front line in some way or even in the nhs on the ward who are concerned about the situation. what is the current advice to pregnant women? pregnant women are classed as a vulnerable group in government guidelines, that was announced very early, so i think it is clear that this is a group you do need to be protected, both at work and in the community. we don‘t have clear government guidance on health and safety for this group, i think it is very u nfortu nate safety for this group, i think it is very unfortunate gap in the work that the government has done on covert. —— mike kobe 19. pregnant women working in the workplace should have a risk assessment done,

once that is done, they employer must assess those risks either buy home—working or others safe working arrangements and if they can‘t do that, they need to suspend women on full pay. of course, they also have the option of putting women on furlough which i think many employers have decided to do. where does this leave women who may be pregnant and may be working in care homes or working in other possibly less immediately risky situations but situations which also carry risks like supermarkets. your mac on our advice lines, we are getting a lot of calls from women... we are getting a lot of women are working in supermarkets, insurance office as well as front line health workers andi well as front line health workers and i think all of these women are facing quite significant risks which many employers have really not put their mind to. employers are obliged to do their mind to. employers are obliged todoa their mind to. employers are obliged to do a risk assessment and obliged

to do a risk assessment and obliged to find suitable alternative work if necessary. i am going to have to leave it there, but we really appreciate you talking to us today. you are watching bbc news, we say goodbye to viewers on bbc world. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with tomasz when the lockdown started, the weather started to settle down, we haven‘t had substantial rainfall since then. but that is about to change, we are in for some heavy rainfall across southern parts of the uk tomorrow. this is the earliest satellite picture, you can see the weather just to the west of spain and portugal, these are weather fronts, it is a low pressure brewing here, these weatherfronts are gradually moving this direction and they will be responsible for the which will affect us tomorrow. today

though it is still relatively sunny and warm, temperatures hitting 20 degrees but much fresher on the north—east coast of england and newcastle for exa m ple, north—east coast of england and newcastle for example, only around ten or 11 degrees, that is because there is cloud and the breeze is coming out of the north. but we start to see the say changes in the air through the course of the night across southern parts of the uk, around five, six, seven in the morning and then through the morning the rain will spread northwards. here is that band of rain, it is not an enormous area of rain but is more substantial than what we have had for quite some time. spreading into the west country, central and southern england, parts of the midlands and southern wales by the middle part of the afternoon. obviously, a large chunk of the country has the fine weather and there is plenty of sunshine certainly on the way for northern ireland and for scotland and certainly the northern isles. through the course of friday night, that band of rain, very showery, hit and miss, will continue to drift

northwards. as we go through, we are not expecting lashings of rain it will be more like hit and miss rain across parts of england, wales and possibly reaching northern ireland too but at the same time it does look as though it will stay dry and even sunny across much look as though it will stay dry and even sunny across much of scotland. call here though, temperatures only 12 degrees, in the south overcast with those showers and around 16 celsius for some of the major towns and cities. sunday, it changes a little bit, more of an easterly wind, a drierwind little bit, more of an easterly wind, a drier wind which will push the cloud towards the west so it will dry out come sunday so there will dry out come sunday so there will be more sunshine but it will feel cool on the north sea coast.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... ministers in the uk are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown. we think it is too early to make a

change, and whilst we have seen a flattening of the number of cases and thankfully a flattening of the number of deaths, that hasn‘t started to come down yet. president donald trump says the us has "passed the peak" of new covid—19 cases and predicts some states will reopen this month. social care officials in the uk deliver a scathing assessment of the government‘s handling of the pandemic. in a leaked letter, they describe the distribution of protective kit for carers as "shambolic". and 99—year—old war veteran — captain tom moore — has completed 100 laps of his garden before turning 100, raising over £12 million for the nhs. here in the uk, there‘s been criticism of the british government‘s handling of the coronavirus pandemic by leading social care officials. in a leaked letter seen by the bbc, the association of directors

of adult social services accuses ministers of presiding over a "shambolic" supply chain for personal protective equipment. officials raised concerns over the consideration given to the care sector by the government during the pandemic saying... the department of health says it is continuing to work closely with the sector. let us talk on this briefly, because we are going to have to go over to edinburgh shortly, and we are going to talk to cath roth who is a trustee at the association of directors of adult social services who sent the letter. do you share these concerns and do you feel any confidence that you are now being listened to? yes, i do share those concerns, and i think the government and the partners we work with in the

civil service do listen, but we need to work even more closely together, andi to work even more closely together, and i think the big as guy would haveis and i think the big as guy would have is when you have an idea and you want to implement it, just talk it through with us first, because we are the ones delivering things on the ground, and what is a good idea nationally needs to translate locally, and i think perhaps that has been the missing link to be able to talk some of those practicalities through on the ground. so what about the information that we heard from the information that we heard from the health secretary this morning, suggesting that 15% of care homes had covid—19 infections? we have heard a lot of people in the sector talking about figures like 50%. what is your perception on that?” certainly think you can get regional variation, and we have already seen that london and the west midlands

are experiencing the covid—19 infection earlier than local authorities further north, but certainly from our local experience, the figure of 15% doesn‘t ring true. iam the figure of 15% doesn‘t ring true. i am really sorry, we are going to have to break away because the first minister of scotland has just got up to deliver her daily news briefing, but thank you so much for being with us. let‘s cross to holyrood — where scotland‘s first minister, the decision to take the lockdown further than three weeks. i want to be clear now that the decision of the scottish government is informed by advice from the chief medical officer and the scientific advisory group, chaired by professor andrew wa rra nts group, chaired by professor andrew warrantsjohn group, chaired by professor andrew warrants john mcmorris. i group, chaired by professor andrew warrantsjohn mcmorris. i am as keen as anyone to lift these restrictions, but i will not do so until i am convinced we have done as much as is necessary to suppress the

virus, and until we have a clear plan in place to contain it once these measures are lifted. over the next week or so, we will work to develop this plan, and to share that with the public, but for now the advice is to stay at home except for essential purposes and to follow all of the health rules. this continues to be the way we will slow down the spread of the virus, protect the national health service from being overwhelmed, and crucially it is the best way to continue to save lives, andi best way to continue to save lives, and i thank you to everybody for complying by this so far. thank you very much. we turn now to questions. first question. thank you. that high numberof first question. thank you. that high number of deaths, even as we see a stabilisation in the number of new infections, reminds us all how real and tragic the impact of coronaviruses. again, i send my condolences on behalf of all people

in my party for those who have lost their lives and relatives in the la st their lives and relatives in the last few weeks. it is clear this morning that care homes think they are being treated, and i quote, as second—class citizens. the scottish government made good announcements yesterday. care homes have been an obvious risk since the start of the crisis weeks ago. one care home manager said we have got warm words from government but we need concrete action to stop surely they are right? they are right, which is why concrete action is continuing to be taken. we must be clear there are no second—class citizens in the fight against this virus. every life matters, regardless of age, background or where somebody lives. in their own home, care home or in hospital. that is why the advice is it so clearly focused on saving lives. there has been clear guidance in places since the start of this crisis to care home providers about prevention, protection and control. public health directors in each

health code areas have protection teams, the director is working to make sure that the advice is being lamented and followed. i am working closely with the health secretary to follow that. we will continue to protect care homes through provision of ppe, the equipment that staff need to protect themselves. we made announcements yesterday around how we can continue to use testing effectively and strategically while taking care not to allow testing to give a false assurance, because the most important thing is around infection prevention and control, and this remains and will remain throughout this crisis an area of... for all of us. i think i understand that testing will now be given to every resident displaying symptoms in care homes, and frankly, it may have been a mistake to have limited thisjust to three have been a mistake to have limited this just to three tests per home, and we know there are still issues with the scale of testing. a few

weeks ago, the first minister announced to parliament that by this point, we would be building up to three and a half thousand tests a day by the end of the month. in the first minister tell us how many tests she expects to happen in care homes? can she confirm if every new resident entering a care home, a potential unseen carrier of the virus, will now be tested before they are placed in a care home which may have had no experience of the virus before? i will take those questions in turn, and i will be brief, but i want to address them properly. in terms of testing capacity, we are on track to reach the three and half thousand tests per day by the end of this month, and we will intend to go beyond that as we go into may. it will continue to be imported to build the capacity, not least because of the role testing will play in any exit strategy from the lockdown measures. in terms of what we said yesterday about testing all symptomatic

residence in care homes, let me stress again, that does not change the clinical management of either residence or outbreaks of infections in homes. as my advisers tell me, whether one residence, five residence or all residents have been tested, once it is established to be ina care tested, once it is established to be in a care home, it is measures that need to be taken. the announcement yesterday was about, and i think rightly, building confidence and assurance of relatives who are worried, and more certainty about the conditions of the care homes, and building that public assurance, and building that public assurance, andi and building that public assurance, and i think at this stage where we build up capacity, that is the right thing to do. in terms of new residents going into care homes, this is where i think it is important that testing is used appropriately, and that we don‘t run the risk of it giving false assurance. let me remind you that testing is only reliable when somebody is showing symptoms. if somebody is showing symptoms. if somebody is showing symptoms. if somebody is tested before they are showing symptoms and tests negative,

it does not tell us were sure they are not in the incubation period and will not develop symptoms of coronavirus in the days ahead, so we need to do proper risk assessments, and those in charge of people in care, and it needs to be at risk assessed properly. anybody going into a care home should have the guidance that has been given to care home providers fully followed. u nfortu nately home providers fully followed. unfortunately as for the rest of the population, what we are asking residents in care homes to do in terms of isolation, not gathering together, eating on their own, and thatis together, eating on their own, and that is tough but important, so these measures are the most important that care home providers have to do, and as i say, health protection teams and the care inspectorate will be working hard to ensure those and guidance is followed and fully implemented.” think that final point on new admissions is helpful, because i know many constituents have been concerned about new admissions into ca re concerned about new admissions into care homes where they may have

relatives, and wondering whether or not that was bringing the virus into the home, and that is busy because some distress. the first minister said last week that people need to shield at home could register for a text service to pass their details on to supermarkets. this week, i have been contacted, and i'm sure msps have as well, from a range of people with problems of the new service. one example was an 82—year—old lady with respiratory problems are registered for the text messages, had no response will stop she has not shopped in over four weeks, relying on a local charity. how many people have now had their details passed on and how many people have now received deliveries? i will quote figures in a moment, but can i say two things by way of introduction. firstly, there were some problems last week with some mobile phone providers that were quickly resolved, so some people that were registering and not getting a reply, that was the reason, and that has been fixed. if any of you are hearing or getting content from constituents with problems, please pass them on

immediately so that we can investigate and resolve and fix these. in terms of the figures, we now have 60,000 people who have registered through that sms service. 43,000 food packages have been ordered, and that is the free food packages that are being delivered through the national contract. they, many of them have been delivered already, and others are in the process of being delivered. i have had process of being delivered. i have ha d co nta ct process of being delivered. i have had contact from people saying they have got them and are very grateful for them. 21,000 people have requested that we pass their details on to supermarket so that supermarkets can prioritise them for deliveries from there, and their details have been shared with supermarkets, so that is all happening, it is under way. with any system like this that is put in place quickly for good reason, and is complex and large scale, there will be glitches and there will be individuals who have difficulties, which is why we want to hear from them so we can fix them quickly, but

them so we can fix them quickly, but the system is working and the numbers i have given today are evidence of that. it is about 4096 then of registered, and about 15%... yeah. we have raised care homes before and we have raised the vulnerable people before, and i respect the fact the first minister assures us progress is respect the fact the first minister assures us progress is being made, but more people tell us that it's not working for them, so to take one example, we have been approached by a constituent with terminal lung cancer, copd, hiv, and he has not received a letter confirming he is a vulnerable person. until he does, he feels he cannot leave his home or get a food package or register for priority treatment. so that is what some people are still telling us. are you starting now or are you able to say when you will be certain by that every vulnerable person is now getting the help that they need?m

we are certain that everybody who has been identified by the clinical process. . . has been identified by the clinical process... i do not decide who is in the vulnerable student group, i am not a clinician. that is decided by those who are qualified to do that. we originally said that would be up to 200,000, and then we thought it would be hundred and 20,000 through further treks and making sure everybody is caught, and all of those people have been notified. everybody who thinks they should be in that category but has not have done it had a letter, contact your gp to discuss whether you are not properly in that category or whether you should be and it would be rectified immediately. in a situation like this, as i say, we will get individual cases where further investigation is needed, and there is an absolute guarantee to address that as quickly as possible. ido address that as quickly as possible. i do not think it is true to suggest there are growing numbers of people for whom these systems are not working. we are making the systems work, they are working, and they will continue —— we will continue to

resolve the individual cases, however many there might continue to be, to make sure these are fixed as quickly as possible. question number two from richard leonard. thank you, and can! two from richard leonard. thank you, and can i return to the question of the conditions in scotland's care homes. yesterday's figures showed that as many as one in four of the recorded deaths of people who are resident in our care homes sector, and people who i speak to are afraid, but they are also angry. they cannot understand why up until now, so for you tests have been carried out in the care home sector, and why so many people working in the care home sector still do not get the adequate personal protective equipment that they need. so, first minister, how can you justify this situation? i would notjustify that situation? i would notjustify that situation if i thought that was a fair representation. we are

continuing to work to make sure that firstly ppe supplies are sufficient and we get them quickly and efficiently to the front line where they are needed, so we monitor supplies literally on a daily, several times a day basis. we have and continue to streamline the distribution routes. we have been in discussions this week with having set upa discussions this week with having set up a triage system at the local pubs. we are in discussion now to try and get more supply direct to ca re try and get more supply direct to care homes themselves, so this is an ongoing process that has as little importance attached. in terms of testing, as we have built the capacity of testing, so too are we testing more people, care workers and residents as well. in terms of health and care workers, we are we are seeing absence rates in the

health service have been falling, hopefully due to the testing. around 20%, just under 20% of that total number have been staff in the social ca re number have been staff in the social care sector, and we want to get that percentage up, obviously, and as we increase testing capacity, that will happen. these are areas of ongoing process where we are building new systems in place, doing so quickly, and as we go, we are resolving issues and glitches and problems along the way, and that is a daily process that through a crisis situation like this will continue. thank you. trade unions have described our care homes as a crisis ina described our care homes as a crisis in a crisis, and today's newspapers are reporting soaring levels of staff absenteeism in our care home sector, and the scottish government has repeatedly been asked how many workers have been tested and we have been repeatedly promised that those figures would be published on a regular basis, so my question is

does the scottish government know this figure? of the number of care home workers who have been tested. if so, can you tell us what the figure is today, and if not, why not? i did tell you in my previous answer, with respect. i said over 12,000 health care workers or where appropriate, their families, have been tested, and just under 20% of that where workers and, where appropriate, their families. remember where a family member is symptomatically, it is the family worker that —— it is the family memo that needs to be tested, not the worker. just under 20% are in the social care sector, so i did give my a nswer social care sector, so i did give my answer in the first response. more generally, in terms of the care home situation, and your characterisation of the crisis within a crisis, there... what we have to recognise here is that this is a virus that we know older people are more

susceptible to becoming seriously u nwell susceptible to becoming seriously unwell with or dying from. we also know that any institution, including ca re know that any institution, including care homes who will have greater susceptibility to spread a virus like this, is that makes it more important that we do treat care homes with particular care and attention, and that is what we are doing. when we look at coronavirus, we are looking at community transmission, we have challenges around hospital infection, and then we have the risk of infection within ca re we have the risk of infection within care homes. all of these issues have been treated seriously, but infection prevention and control, appropriate use of testing and of course making sure that staff have their pitot appropriate protection, these are all absolutely essential priorities as we deal with this. thank you for that answer. the expression crisis in a greater crisis is not my expression, that is from the trade unions in that

sector. part of my question was about the regularity of publishing that information. ijust think it is so that information. ijust think it is so important that the government is accountable and publishes on a regular basis the number of people who have been tested, both nhs workers but also those people working in the social care sector, because, again, people are saying to me that they feel that the scottish government is being too slow. they the expression which is often used and put to me is a warning that there is a real fear that there is too little too late, and so i would ask you, first minister, do you disagree with that view?” ask you, first minister, do you disagree with that view? i do disagree with that view? i do disagree with that view? i do disagree with that, but what i would say, we are in an unprecedented crisis. the entire world is dealing with an unprecedented crisis, and by its very nature, it is very rapidly evolving situation. all governments are being challenged literally

everyday to make sure the of our response is everyday to make sure the of our response is commensurate everyday to make sure the of our response is commensurate with the scale of the challenge, and we are working incredibly hard to do that, putting systems and responses in place, adapting and changing them and responding to any flaws in them as we go, and that is not easy but it is our response melody and we will continue to do that to the absolute best of our ability. i absolutely agree with the accountability point that the scottish government —— but the scottish government —— but the scottish government —— but the scottish government at the manor is publishing more up—to—date information on any government across the uk. for example, yesterday, our information is more up—to—date than anywhere else in the uk, and we are considering how we break down the information as far as we can. as far as the figures today, we intend to publish them regularly, but we need to make sure that some of the data we are gathering now is not data have been gathering previously to stop we are gathering it now for this purpose, so we need to make sure the way of gathering data is

reliable and robust, and assure as and as soon as we reliable and robust, and assure as and as soon as we are sure reliable and robust, and assure as and as soon as we are sure of this, we will continue to do so. so for example, we are publishing the amount of testing going on, and we will publish them as soon as we are sure of the robustness of the system. nicola sturgeon there, talking about the importance of publishing numbers, for example. she will be taking part in a cobra meeting later today, and each ministration would make decisions about how long they are in lockdown. of course, northern ireland has already said that its lockdown will continue for another three weeks. at eight o‘clock tonight, houses up and down the country will once again open theirfront doors and down the country will once again open their front doors and windows and clap for carers. many of us are trying to show support for the nhs in as many way ways as we can, it is pa rt in as many way ways as we can, it is part of that, a group of musicians have come together to remotely record a cover of lean of me by bill

withers. # lean on me. # when you‘re not strong. # i‘ll be your friend. # i‘ll help you carry on. # for it won‘t be long. # till i‘m going to need. # somebody to lean on #. one of the uk‘s best known soul singers beverley knight has become an ambassador for the single. congratulations. it is really lovely, choked me up when i was listening to it earlier today. why did you get involved?” listening to it earlier today. why did you get involved? i got involved because my own history with the nhs, starting right from before i was born. my mum used to be an ophthalmic nurse, used to work with eyes, and worked for the nhs for many years. my sister is a proud

member of the nhs111 team based in the west midlands, and also, more pertinent to what is going on today, both my mum and my brother went down with suspected covid—19, and the nhs was there solidly to look after them and to bid them on the right road to recovery, so and to bid them on the right road to recovery, so i had to get involved. and, beverley, what about the technical challenges? we have a lot of singers, different musicians. how did you get it all to work? well, i have to say that i cannot take credit for the technical side of things. i am credit for the technical side of things. iam not credit for the technical side of things. i am not particularly technical. that would have been ben mitchell, who is the producer who is based in fry‘s france. he initially reached out to me to put my vocal on this, and all of us musicians from

around the country and in various parts of europe and around the world, we kind of sang into our phones on headphones, so our voices we re phones on headphones, so our voices were isolated, and then send that back to ben in his studio in france, and he then put every single element together. it was a huge task, but then did thejob. it together. it was a huge task, but then did the job. it was brilliant. it was brilliant. how do you feel about the result when you hear it now and you can see all the beautiful pictures of the nhs staff across it? it makes me feel quite emotional, actually. my own sister‘s division is in the video, and just seeing the amount of people around the country clapping and cheering and just giving so much love and respect to our nhs. it is wonderful, andi respect to our nhs. it is wonderful, and i feel immensely proud that i could be a tiny, tiny part of that,

and do my bit to try and raise money to try and help them in a more holistic fashion, so i just feel so proud. and you have written and you have sung a lot of moving songs in your time. how do you feel about the choice of this one? this song is so pertinent to what we are going through now. the late, great then where is was extraordinary as a songwriter, his catalogue speaks for himself. he had a way of speaking the emotions in clear and simple language, and with a really clear and simple melody, the kind of melody anybody can join in and sing along to, so this song, this message is so right for now, and itjust had to bea is so right for now, and itjust had to be a time where he passed away, but he gave us this great gift. to be a time where he passed away, but he gave us this great giftm has been lovely to talk to you.

thank you so much for being with us, and thank you so much for recording the song, and we hope it does a lot to lift the spirits of the nhs and of everyone around the country. as, of everyone around the country. as, of course, go out and clap tonight, andi of course, go out and clap tonight, and i am sure you will be out there. i will be out there, i will be out there clapping. i'll be out there as well. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with tomasz. hello. it has been very dry for a few weeks. if you remember when the lockdown started, that was when the weather really started to settle down. we haven‘t had any substantial rainfall since then, really, but that is about to change, and we are in for a few hours worth of rainfall, potentially heavy rainfall across some southern parts of the uk. this will happen tomorrow. this is the earlier satellite picture, and you can see the weather to the west of spain and portugal here. these are weather fronts, low—pressure brewing, and these weather fronts are gradually moving in our direction, they will be responsible for the rain which will affect us tomorrow. but not today, today it is still relatively sunny and warm for many of us,

and temperatures hitting widely 20 degrees, but much fresher on the north—east coast of england and newcastle, for example. only around ten or 11 degrees, because of the cloud and the breeze coming out of the north, but we start to see the changes in the air through the course of the night stop of course, southern parts of the uk. —— across southern parts of the uk. the thinking is around five or six or seven in the morning, the rain should reach the channel islands, and then spread northwards through the morning, so there is the band of rain. you can see it is not an enormous area of rain, but certainly more substantial than we have had for quite some time, so there you go. spreading into the west country, central—southern england, part of the midlands and southern wales by the mid—part of the afternoon, but obviously a large chunk of the country has the fine weather, and there is plenty of sunshine are certainly on the way for northern ireland and for scotland, and certainly the northern isles. through the course of friday night, that band of rain, very showery rain. hit and miss, it will continue to drift northwards.

through the course of saturday, the weather fronts right across the country here. not expecting lashings of rain, more like hit and miss rain across parts of england, wales, possibly reaching northern ireland as well. at the same time, it does look as though it is going to stay dry and even sunny across much of scotland, but call here. temperatures only 12 degrees in the south, at times overcast with those showers. around 16 celsius for the major towns and cities. it does change on sunday, more of an easterly wind, and that is drying, so that will push the cloud towards the west. it will dry out by sunday, with more sunshine but feeling cool on the north sea coast.

social distancing may have to be maintained until a coronavirus vaccine is available, says a senior scientist advising the government. the warning comes as ministers are expected to extend the coronavirus lockdown for another three weeks. unbelievably large numbers followed the rules, very few infections, and i don‘t want to put all of that good effort to waste, because if we just relax all the measures now, the virus would run rampant again and we cannot let that happen. we‘ll have the latest from our medical correspondent and from westminster. also this lunchtime: senior social care officials criticise the government‘s handling of the pandemic. they say the provision of protective equipment has been shambolic. europe owes italy an apology, says the president of the eu commission,