this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines. ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown. 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 government about what happens next. social distancing may have to be maintained until a coronavirus vaccine is available — that's according to a senior scientist advising the government. 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 — for not helping enough at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. president trump prepares for an easing of the us lockdown to get the economy moving — in the face of opposition from state governors. and the 99—year—old 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! good afternoon.

a three—week extension to the current measures of lockdown is expected to be confirmed later this afternoon — as a senior scientist has said the uk will need to keep a significant level of social distancing in place until a vaccine is available. professor neil ferguson also wants the government to do more work on what happens after the lockdown ends. this comes as the first minister nicola sturgeon says the scottish government will look at its own exit strategy in the coming days. 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". the house of commons authorities have approved the sitting of a virtual parliament. from next week 120 mps will take part in proceedings virtually, with another 50 allowed in the chamber. screens will be

placed inside the house of commons. we inside the house of commons. will talk more abou‘ little we will talk more about this in a little while. downing street says there's now the capacity to carry out 35,000 daily tests for covid—19 as it tries to meet its pledge of 100,000 test a day by the end of april. and in the united states, another 5.2 million americans have claimed for unemployment benefit, bringing the overall unemployment rate to over 22 million. let's get the latest from westminster, and our political correspondent, chris mason. for more than three weeks, we have had to get used to this. beautiful beaches like this one in exmouth in devon as good as empty. 0urfreedoms curtailed, our movement is restricted, and there is more to come. the people of this country have made these efforts over the

last few weeks in unbelievably large numbers — following the rules, very, very few infractions. and i don't want to put all of that good effort to waste, because if we just release all the measures now then this virus would run rampant once again and we can't let that happen. the cabinet met this morning — remotely — to discuss the plan, chaired by this man, dominic raab, the foreign secretary, who is deputising for borisjohnson. 0pposition parties back an extension to current restrictions but are asking questions. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that, and we called for a lockdown before the government introduced one but we want more details from the government about what happens next. the best way to come out of lockdown 01’ the best way to come out of lockdown or to move to coming out of lockdown would be to move to a testing, contact tracing strategy, so i will be looking

for the government to give us more details today on where they are on their promised 100,000 tests a day. we are only around 16,000 tests at the moment. the government is desperate to keep the message we have got used to about the lockdown simple, and not start talking publicly about the long—term. lots of things are being talked about privately. could there be, at some point in the future, removal of some of the restrictions on younger people, or an expansion in the list for key workers? a lot will depend how things are looking and how many people are being sent to hospital with the virus, and how does that compare with the number of beds? if we relax measures too much, we will see a resurgence of transmission. what we really need is the ability to put something in their place. we want to reopen the schools, let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner. we will have to maintain some level of social distancing, significant levels of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available. so while we have had to get used to pictures like this,

there is another blunt truth. of how long it will be before anything like normality returns, for some of us, at least. the lockdown has been incredibly effective. there is a magic number which is the infectivity of a virus and one person will affect 2.6 people at the beginning of lockdown, and now it has gone to under one, about 0.67. great news, lockdown is working to stop the problem we have is how we get out of lockdown, and do we do it slowly, do we do it fast? but we will learn from the european countries coming out this week. this is going to be a long haul and a spring and summer like no other. a huge challenge for all of us, and very difficult decisions for those in charge. chris mason, bbc news. let's talk to our chief political correspondent, vicki young. an announcement of an

extension. we can bet a lot of money on that stuff like that is what is going to happen, isn't it? yeah, and we think the three week extension of these pretty drastic measures which people have been sticking to, and i think ministers are quite surprised about how disciplined people have been and what they don't want to do is in any way water down the message at the moment. they say the clarity of the message is very important. to stay at home so the nhs doesn't get overwhelmed and that in itself saves lives. they don't want start talking about what measures might be lifted and when. the question is, do they have a plan? what exactly are they going to be looking at? they are not willing to divulge any of that with the public at the moment. but of course there will come a time when they have to start preparing people for some kind of return to normality. i think persuading people to go back to a more normal way of life in itself is going to take a bit of work because they have to convince people that it is safe. 0f

course the fact that other countries are already acting, they are slightly ahead of us in terms of the spread of this virus, they can look to that, i think, as in some clue as to that, i think, as in some clue as to what might happen in terms of schools, for example. can they start to open some schools in some parts of the country where they haven't had the same number of cases is in places like london or birmingham? could you do it by demographic? could you do it by demographic? could you do it by demographic? could you say, young people aren't as affected by this, could they maybe be allowed to go back to work? all these things will be up discussion but at the moment the message from government is very clearly that it is too soon to talk about it. all right, we will find out later today. a quick thought because parliament should be sitting againfairly because parliament should be sitting again fairly soon, butjust like eve ryo ne again fairly soon, butjust like everyone else, they need to try to work from home. talk us through a bit more about what the proposals are and how that will work. intriguingly for the first time in its 700 year history parliament will try and sit in a virtual way. they will use zouma, something lots of people have become

familiar with, video conferencing —— zoom. they will allow up to 120 mps to take pa rt will allow up to 120 mps to take part virtually. around 50 could sit in the chamber with social distancing measures taking place. they are going to do this, it should be approved on tuesday and could mean on wednesday at dominic raab, presumably, who is standing in for the prime minister, could do pmqs, so mps will be able to zoom in. they will be monitors around the house of commons chamber so people can see their colleagues, ask questions. they will do as much of that in terms of agent questions and state m e nts terms of agent questions and statements and then eventually moved to doing legislation in that way. —— agent questions. they have been told they are not allowed to use props, they are not allowed to use props, the people who are zooming in because that is banned in the chamber. the big question is who will be in charge of the mute button! laughter can we all have a go? i haven't thought of that. always good to think of every

eventuality. lets talk more about the lockdown generally. we will find out a little bit later today but it is almost a dead cert. professor ilan kelman is professor of disasters and health at university college london's institute for risk & disaster reduction. thanks very much forjoining us. we ta ke thanks very much forjoining us. we take it that there will certainly be another three weeks of lockdown. beyond the obvious, what are the key considerations that politicians are making here about this? fundamentally it is about saving lives. we know that the lockdown is very much doing that, which is the importance of it and the importance for being in it. we also have to consider the impact on people when they are being locked down. a lot of people may have families and they are in small flats. a lot of small businesses spend their lifetime building it up and now are losing everything. we not only have to consider the fact that lockdown is saving lives but also the impact of lockdown and what we can do to mitigate those.

there is attention there, —— tension there between the politics, science, tension between mental and physical well—being verses, of course we don't want people to die unnecessarily. i suppose that's why we elect our politicians but it shows you what a tricky decision it is. which is exactly why we need to come together and try to avoid any sort of attention. if the political decision—making was based on excellent investment in science, and if we had in the long term invested in our health care services, these decisions would be much easier. even so, we decisions would be much easier. even so, we are decisions would be much easier. even so, we are in a decisions would be much easier. even so, we are in a very decisions would be much easier. even so, we are in a very difficult situation. let's come together and deal with it. so if you have a neighbour who needs help and you are ina neighbour who needs help and you are in a position to assist, please do so. in a position to assist, please do so. if you can have an indoor exercise regime so you don't need to go outside, that leaves so much more opportunity for people with young kids and people who cannot exercise

indoors. let's think what we can do to support each other to get through this together and try to ensure we invest in the long term in information, science and health care so information, science and health care so that we don't go through these difficult situations again. that is really about each and every one of us thinking about other people and the impact that our behaviour has on other people, not only thinking about ourselves but we know, as a society, some people are better at doing that than others. that is one element of tricking us. we all have the option to do something. some people can do more than others so where we can do that, please do it. again, stay indoors as much as possible. if you can manage that, if you don't have to go outside, that is the best that can be done. but if there is someone who needs help, absolutely go and shop for them, help them, pick up what they need. and then when you are outside, just across the street to avoid people. keep more than two metres distance. try to ensure we are not putting anyone else in danger

or ourselves because together we can manage this very difficult situation, especially to ensure those who are most vulnerable, those who are having most trouble, can get through this with the least harm feasible. you mentioned the most vulnerable. could we further down the line look at a situation where it's almost a partial lockdown? are so people who are very vulnerable, perhaps through serious health conditions, through age, whatever that may be, that... it feels unfair to even suggest this, but that people in this category could have to stay indoors longerfor someone who is category could have to stay indoors longer for someone who is far less at risk. would politicians be thinking about those sort of options? in terms of the staged stands down to the lockdown, that is one option that would be considered. for me the important proviso is that we cannot harm people more. those who are most vulnerable to the current situation by those who need to be most socially connected, they need to be outside as much as

possible. there is that contradiction. but if we do do a stage to stand down, where those who are most vulnerable are asked to remain in lockdown longer, please let us support them. get what they needin let us support them. get what they need in terms of food, medicine, social contact, to ensure that they are not harmed, we do not exacerbate mental health issues, that we do not see an increase in domestic violence and self—harm. it is about us coming together as a society to help eve ryo ne together as a society to help everyone according to their own needs. fascinating to talk to you, professor. thank you so much. much more we could discuss but we will speak again, i am sure. thank you very much. and of course the daily government briefing is due later on this afternoon and we will get more details, we believe at that point. let's look at some of the latest statistics. 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. let's discuss all of this. robert cuffe from the bbc‘s statistics unit is here. even there we have mentioned a couple of... i mean, fascinating statistics around all this. it gives usa statistics around all this. it gives us a sense of context around this. took us through about what the 0ns are saying. it speaks to those who are saying. it speaks to those who are being most heavily hit by the virus. 91% of the people who died in march where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate had an underlying health condition. the average was three. that could be heart disease, or lung problems like copd or asthma or diabetes. things like that. we know that

people with multiple health conditions do have lower life expectancy. we have seen some lower life expectancy. we have seen some of those deaths also fall during the month so the number of deaths we normally see in march from heart disease has gone down by about a quarter. dementia is the leading cause of death but heart disease is down a bit, strokes are down a bit. there is an effect where coronavirus is coming in with people who have multiple conditions, you are very, very sick, and that is the thing thatis very sick, and that is the thing that is finally killing them. another element we touched on in the introduction that fascinates people, rightly or wrongly, is the gender breakdown. there is still so much we don't know about this virus, we have to stress that, but it is interesting. what i was learning about that so far? from very early data we have seen coming out, there been data that more men are dying from coronavirus than women. they are not catching it more often, but the effects are more significant. we haven't totally taken apart whether it's because of all of the other

reasons. we know there is a strong effect of how well someone is. if someone effect of how well someone is. if someone has serious underlying health conditions they are more likely to die from coronavirus. 0ne possibility is men smoke more in situations, have more underlying health conditions. 0r situations, have more underlying health conditions. or perhaps there is something unique biologically to men that is driving the distance. that hasn't been totally tied up yet. still so much to learn. but interest what this tells us so far. we will talk to you again later on. thank you very much for now. while i was talking to robert, nhs england has just sent through to us that latest figures as quite often emerge around this time every afternoon. nhs england announcing the death of 740 further people who have all tested positive for covid—19. an extra 740 people. again, these are the england figures. it brings the total number

of confirmed reported deaths to getting on for 12,400. not quite 12,400 baht, context with everything. these are hospital deaths and it takes us to the debate we have been having over the course of this week about the reporting of these figures because it does not include, for example, care homes or deaths in the community. as it does in some other parts of the uk. it does or get very confusing. 740 announced today by nhs england and, as ever, our health correspondence will be looking at those figures and trying to look at them all as they filter through from every part of the uk so that we can bring you a national picture a little bit later in the afternoon. just a reminder right now of today's headlines. ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown. europe owes italy an apology, according to the president of the eu commission — for not helping enough at the start of the

coronavirus pandemic. 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". lets talk more about that story. the bbc has seen a leaked letter from social care officials which is highly critical of the government's handling of the pandemic. the association of directors of adult social services says the provision of personal protective equipment has been shambolic. the government has admitted it needs to do more to help the care sector. richard galpin reports. across england there are 430,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes like this and more than 2,000 of these homes have already had a coronavirus outbreak. now it's been revealed that those in charge of social services

are accusing the government of failing this vital sector in the midst of the crisis. in a letter sent at the weekend by the association of directors of social services to the department of health and social care, it said deliveries of personal protective equipment for staff had initially been paltry and then later haphazard. it went on to say messages from the government had been contradictory and the roll—out of testing for care staff and residents to find out if they were carrying the virus had not been thought through. and all this causing real frustration. we haven't been getting the ppe as easily as we wanted to and it has felt at times like the message has changed from day to day, there are lots of people in national government trying to talk to lots of people outside national government.

working in these care homes or visiting those in need in their own homes involves being in close contact, for example washing and dressing people, so protective equipment is vital to cut the risk of being infected by coronavirus. we were told we could have one mask per session and when i asked what was a session in their mind, they said a shift. 0ur shifts on the whole are six or 12 hours, there is no way one flimsy mask is going to last 12 hours because even three hours into that, breathing into that same mask, it gets moist, so it then becomes completely useless. in response to all this, the government says it will ramp up testing for the virus as part of an action plan to tackle the spread of coronavirus in care homes. we have now been able to roll out testing to everybody who needs it in social care, patients where we have been testing in care homes, we have been testing

the residents wherever there is a suspected outbreak and there have been over 10,000 tests of residents that have been undertaken so far and then of staff as well. the need for action is urgent. hundreds of people in care homes have already died and there is anger that until now, this vital sector helping some of the most frail and vulnerable people in the country has been neglected. richard galpin, bbc news. nadra ahmed is the executive chair of the national care association, which represents care home operators. shejoins me now. good afternoon. good afternoon. what would you say are the most pressing issues facing the people you talk to day in, day out? what do people who run ca re day in, day out? what do people who run care homes really need right now? i think the two things

that stand out are keeping their staff save, keeping their staff at work, and so testing was one of the major things that they talked about and they are still very uncertain about how that will pan out. the other is the ppe. the access to it, which sometimes eases and sometimes gets worse. but the ability to source it and then once you source it, the amounts we are having to pay. 0ne and then once you source it, the amounts we are having to pay. one of the things that is really challenging is, because we are paying vat on it, when the nhs can claim that back. that is a stealth tax on what is an essential item for our providers. so there are some real challenges emerging, which will have an impact on the stability of businesses. so a care home pays vat on protective equipment and a hospital is that correct well, the guidance is that the hospital might pay yet but they can claim

it back, so pay yet but they can claim it back, so there is a methodology by which the nhs can claim it back. in social care, we can't claim it back, so thatis care, we can't claim it back, so that is the additional cost, if you like. but these are essential items which i for the protection of our staff and the people that we care for. so they are not luxury items, they are essential items, and we just want a bit of clarity around this. we are all on the same page. providers are sourcing them and we have providers telling us that they have providers telling us that they have paid £40,000 already because they've got a couple of homes and they've got a couple of homes and they have got to make sure they have that stock in place. there is also the replenishing of the stock, which i know the secretary of state himself has mentioned. the whole picture it needs to be much more sta ble picture it needs to be much more stable and all of that is going to have an impact on the cash flows for a lot of these services,

and that's not what they are thinking about right now. they are trying to do whatever they can to make sure that they keep their staff are safe, but also that they protect the people that are in their services and i think that is the priority that has been throughout these six weeks while we, as an association, are fighting the fight outside of those services. but within those services, people are doing everything physically possible and it is exhausting. it is a very challenging task when you see people that you ca re task when you see people that you care for every day, and some of them may have been at the end of life, but they have been prematurely impacted by this virus. and that has an impact on the individuals, as it does on the families. and if the manager of a care home has a situation where they know, why they suspect, that one of the people they look after clearly has the

symptoms of coronavirus. .. look after clearly has the symptoms of coronavirus... i mean, the advice is to isolate that person. i am assuming in plenty of settings that is barely possible. well, the thing is, we are managing that because we are isolating people in their own rooms are isolating people in their own rooms and then you also have to isolate any staff that may have been in contact. we have to think about them as well and so they are isolated so we have this turnover of staff that are in isolation. but what you have to remember is a care home is a home. it doesn't matter if it is 100 beds or 20 beds, it is a home from home, and within that service we will have people who will perhaps have dementia, who will not understand what social distancing and isolation means. and so the staff have got that task of trying to make sure they are keeping people occupied so they are not wandering around because we can't say to them, you know, sit here in your chair

in your room, you know, sit here in your chair in your room , because you know, sit here in your chair in your room, because if they don't understand, why they can't walk around, they are just going to get up around, they are just going to get up and walk around. of course. there are so many issues up and walk around. of course. there are so many issues facing the sector, but it seems to me, would you say, testing is of urgent importance, and of course ppe? if matt hancock was sitting at this desk right now, i though is the key things you would say to him? yes, i would say to him, he needs to take social care seriously. he made a start yesterday and that is just the beginning. he needs to actually now walk the walk. so testing needs to be accessible, available to everyone who is working in those settings and all our residents, and it all needs to be easily accessible. please don't overpromise. you have told us that, and we have been asking for quite some time, this is not a new thing. and with ppe you have already heard, this being a fiasco out

there, and if that's what the data is telling you then think about the provider is trying to access it. nadra ahmed, the chair of the national care association, thank you very much. you are welcome. lots coming up in the next half hour. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz. hello. well, farmers, gardeners and growers are only too aware that we haven't had an awful lot of rain for quite some time, a number of weeks, in fact. that is about to change, there is some rain in the forecast for tomorrow, initially, for the southern half of the uk. it will be a couple of hours of potentially heavy rain. now, this is what it looks like today. plenty of fine weather around. high teens, temperatures even approaching 20 or more. but much cooler in the north—east of the country. that is because the wind is coming out of the north here, so fresher conditions that north sea coast. the changes are starting to happen in the south. so already by early on friday morning, we start to see that rain moving into the channel islands and then eventually it will spread further north into southern parts

of england, wales and the midlands as well. there is rain in the forecast, in fact, both for friday and saturday, across more southern parts of the uk, but in the north it looks as though it's going to be drier, brighter. bye— bye.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown. unbelievably large numbers follow the rules, very few infractions, and i don't want to put all of that effort to waste. because if we just released all the measures now, this virus would run rampant once again and we cannot let that happen. social distancing may have to be maintained until a coronavirus vaccine is available, according to a senior scientist advising the government. 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". europe owes italy an apology, according to the president of the eu commission, for not helping enough at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. president trump prepares for an easing of the us lockdown to get the economy moving in the face of opposition from state governors. and the 99—year—old british war veteran captain tom moore completes 100 laps of his garden, raising over £13 million for the nhs. some breaking news from birmingham and we were talking in the last few minutes about ppe and in

relation to the case section specifically. but we are hearing that birmingham's front line care workers are going to run out of protective masks in two weeks' time. this is coming from the leader of birmingham city council and two of the city's mps who have written to the health secretary andy local government secretary and they say that supplies of ppe are running desperately low. essentially demanding urgent action from ligament —wise there will be no protective masks into weeks' time. that has just come through in the last few moments. perhaps we will talk to some of the people involved in writing that letter. but an urgent request for protective equipment. we will look more into that in a moment and more on that to come, i that in a moment and more on that to come, lam that in a moment and more on that to come, i am quite sure. we will pose for a few moments. —— we will pause

for a few moments. —— we will pause for a few moments. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. good afternoon. the rangers manager, steven gerrard, says the scottish football league is in "an absolute mess" and there should be an investigation into the decision, to bring an early end to the leagues below the top tier. the abrupt finish to the season now means dundee united have won the championship, the crucial vote coming from their neighbours dundee, who did a u—turn and backed the proposal. the league have been battered from pillar to post and the chairman needs to show real leadership by calling for an independent investigator to come in and make sure everything is ok. he said that we cannot let it miss on with what is happening. another said that the process has been badly handled and will write the wrong of any the season for lower league clubs and relegating the clubs affected. amnesty international have reacted strongly to the prospect of newcastle united being taken over by a consortium including a large saudi arabia interest. they say the reputation

of the club — and the city — could be brought into question, given saudi arabia's appalling human rights record. they're concerned that the deal may not be given the appropriate level of scrutiny, with attention diverted by the coronavirus crisis. we know that the saudi arabian government has been attempting to use the glamour and prestige of sport for over a year now to distract and detract from their terrible humans write ——human rights record, and that is what we call a sport washing, so reflecting a glow of high profile events shining the light away from the kind of things they get uppity in their country. we would call on everybody involved in this deal, the premier league, newcastle fans and the current owners to be completely aware of who they're going into business with, and what saudi arabia represent at what this takeover represents, which is a sports washing, plain and simple. anthonyjoshua has reiterated his desire to unify the world heavyweight division and urged tyson fury to fight him. joshua holds three belts,

fury the other, and whilst there have been no agreements for the two to meet, joshua says they both need each other to prove themselves as number one. the international olympic committee and the organisers of the delayed 2020 games in tokyo have been setting out their plans and talking about the difficulties they expect to encounter. they admit it will be complicated to make sure all 43 venues are able to host the events one year later than scheduled, and they're looking at opportunities to cut the additional costs involved by the postponement. chair of the coordination commission, john coates, said they'd be looking at the "must—haves" and the "nice—to—haves", and he suggested the "live zones" around japan could be cut, as well as hospitality forsponsors, broadcasters, etc. he was keen to stress that there would be no negative impact on the sports or the athletes. 0rganisers of the london marathon, along with the uk's other mass—participation events, have launched a campaign to raise money for charities expected to suffer during the coronovirus lockdown. it will begin on the 26th of april, the original date for the marathon, which has been

postponed until october. it's likely that charities will see a shortfall of around £4 billion due to the cancellation of events. the idea is for the public to come up with fundraising challenges, using the numbers 2.6 or 26 — the number of miles run in the marathon. for example, to walk 2.6 miles. they're hoping to beat the £66 million the london marathon raised for charity last year. it would be incredible to beat the figure that the london marathon raised last year. it is a huge target. we will only do it by britain being united — united kingdom behind the 2.6 challenge — and doing it for all these charities that need our help. that's all the sport for now. the national association

of funeral directors has accused some local councils of being too heavy—handed, as they restrict the number of mourners allowed to attend services during the lockdown. it comes after city of york council was criticised for banning all mourners at its crematorium. 0ther councils across the uk have placed varying restrictions on services — gloucester city council has said only five immediate family members can attend funerals, whereas authorities in leeds have allowed up to 20 people. government guidelines suggest ceremonies should be limited to close family. gisella casciello—rogers lost her 95—year—old father to coronavirus; his funeral was held last week.

gisella, thank you so much for agreeing to talk to us at a very difficult time for your family. we genuinely appreciated. we are so sorry. tell us a little bit about your dad, festival. as you said, he was 95, he had reached his 95th birthday two days before he died. he had been in care for the last seven yea rs. had been in care for the last seven years. the last two years in a nursing home. he had become quite a bit more poorly. but he was far from ready to die, that is for sure. he was... he would come down and join in with the singing and activities and me and my brother would visit him daily, as would be grandchildren, when they could. that kept him going and it was part of his daily life. until the doors shut, that is, and we won't allow to go and see him any more. yes,

i am assuming no family members were able to see him for the last few weeks of his life. no, no. last two weeks, they shut the doors, quite rightly, and a few days later, we had the dreaded phone call to say that it seemed that my father had become symptomatic and obviously, lack of testing, they were asking and asking for testing, and no testing was forthcoming. it was quite apparent that the home had succumbed to covid—19. dad was about one of the first residents to come down with it out of 20 residents. he was the first in the care home to die. but it had literally spread through to 15 of the residents and over half of the actual staff working there. and asi the actual staff working there. and as i say, very good of you to speak to us because the funeral was only a week ago. now, you are, i think, to us because the funeral was only a week ago. now, you are, ithink, in east sussex, what are the rules or

the guidelines on how many family mums were the guidelines on how many family mums were able to attend the funeral? ten. could you go? i didn't 90, funeral? ten. could you go? i didn't go, no, ididn't funeral? ten. could you go? i didn't go, no, i didn't go. funeral? ten. could you go? i didn't go, no, ididn't go. for funeral? ten. could you go? i didn't go, no, i didn't go. for reasons of...| go, no, i didn't go. for reasons of... lam on go, no, i didn't go. for reasons of... i am on medication so i am at high risk. so i wasn't actually able to attend myself. i put myself in your shoes, i lost my dad a good few yea rs your shoes, i lost my dad a good few years ago, but the fort of not being able to go, well, i know what that would have meant to me. explain what that has done to you and the other hand remembers who, like yourself, are not able to be there. absolutely soul destroying. i cannot tell you. absolutely soul destroying. for me it is completely surreal that my dad has passed away anyway, because i didn't spend those last few weeks, hours, days with him. it is really surreal. but then to have the

funeral car turn up at my home, my husband and my children put the flowers on his coffin, and that is where i said my goodbyes. pretty difficult. there is a reason we hold funerals, and it is a process, an important process, a point of closure, almost, i know that word can be overused. but i wonder whether you feel that you and those that weren't able to go you haven't reached that point, you cannot reach that point, how can you? yes, i feel very much like that. like i said to you, it feels completely surreal. the cotton that passed by could have been anybody‘s coffin. it is a different story when you're having a ceremony and talk about your loved one and you all morning together and you cry and and you remember. that is all being taken away. we will come in the fullness of time, have

a proper fitting come in the fullness of time, have a properfitting memorialfor him, where all of us can be together and share those moments. but until then, we are in this kind of limbo. it is sad. and therefore, what do you make of the suggestion that actually, some of the suggestion that actually, some councils are in heavy—handed, as we have reflected, it varies hugely dependent on what part of the country living, but they should be just a little bit more sensitivity shown to families and somehow more people should be able to attend the funeral? is such an important moment. i don't know. funeral? is such an important moment. idon't know. iam funeral? is such an important moment. i don't know. i am a bit... i can't... moment. i don't know. i am a bit... ican't... i moment. i don't know. i am a bit... i can't... i am moment. i don't know. i am a bit... i can't... lam a moment. i don't know. i am a bit... i can't... i am a bit both ways here. social distancing is really important now. we we have all got to ta ke important now. we we have all got to take great care. it is difficult to say, yes, allow 20 or 30 people to go. i don't know if that is quite right. i do think

obviously, ten people, as we were allowed, is probably 0k. people, as we were allowed, is probably ok. so that you can at least have the closest members there. but i am a bit divided on that, to be honest. of course. it is really good of you to talk to us, and we send all of your best wishes —— our best wishes to you and your family. thank you very much indeed. she was speaking to us about her experience whose and her dad whose funeral was held last week. president trump has claimed the united states has passed the peak of coronavirus infections, and he's expected to announce proposals later today for reopening the country's economy. but with more than 2,000 deaths reported yesterday in the us, the president is at odds with some state governors about when to ease restrictions. david willis

reports. he's 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. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. the latest figures from the united states show another 5.2 million americans filed for unemployment benefits, down from 6.6 million the week earlier. just over 22 million people have filed for unemployment insurance in the last four weeks. that means that in just one month, the us has erased all of the jobs created

since the 2008—2009 recession. the record surge in claims is the result of the abrupt shutdown of the country's economy to stop the spread of the coronavirus. this is to do with the death toll, the number of people dying in the uk with coronavirus. uk hospital death toll, we're just been told, rising toll, we're just been told, rising to 13,729. that is the latest figure, up 861 on the previous 24—hour is. a rise of 861. that figurejust through 24—hour is. a rise of 861. that figure just through and again, to

remind you, this is people dying, sadly, in hospital, not necessarily in other settings out of the community or in care homes. it is structured differently depending where you are in the uk, which is why the context is very important. we will unpick that with our health correspondence later in the afternoon. that is the actual headline figure as it has just been put to us. the time is 12 minutes to three. let's get a reminder of the latest headlines. ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown. europe owes italy an apology, according to the president of the eu commission, for not helping enough at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. 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".

with many airlines grounded worldwide as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, what is the future of flying? britain's biggest budget airline, easyjet, provides some clues today with a trading update that says the carrier could shrink by one sixth in the next few years. there are also proposals for "social distancing" on—boa rd planes, which could push up fares by 50%. simon calder, travel editor of the independent, has been assessing the evidence, and we can speak to him now via webcam from central london. good afternoon, simon. is it easyjet specifically, what are they suggesting, does literally mean nothing selling certain seats? yes, word of the week is the

densification. this is something in the past couple of days, the airline trade association have been talking about. basically, the idea is you get the closest you possibly can to social distancing while being on an aircraft. the best way, they think, to do that is simply, if you have a typical airbus a320 flown by easyjet ora typical airbus a320 flown by easyjet or a boeing 737 flown by ryanair, you just leave the middle seat in each row of three unoccupied, that will give a bit of space between people. 0bviously, will give a bit of space between people. obviously, if you have somebody behind you with a cough or cold, that will be a concern to you. but if you take out one third of the seats, then unfortunately, the way that the maths work is that everybody, all things being equal, which they never are in aviation, they would need to pay an extra 50% on theirfare. so if they would need to pay an extra 50% on their fare. so if you they would need to pay an extra 50% on theirfare. so if you look they would need to pay an extra 50% on their fare. so if you look at a typical £50 one—way fare, that would increase to £75 and if you

also then thought, well, the best thing to do about reducing the distance from people in front of each other is to leave every other row occupied, that would mean that your price would go up would mean that your price would go up threefold, to £150. so certainly, in the short—term, we can expect fewer seats available and we could be paying a lot more for them. and people already looking for later in the year, for next year, i mean, how much do we know about easyjet and all the airlines? we were discussing it early and people were saying, does anybody know anyone booking a holiday appearance? there are a couple of interesting developers today. easyjet say their winter 2021 bookings, from late october onwards, are up on this time a year ago, there is a good reason for that. that that anybody who has had their

easyj et that that anybody who has had their easyjet flight cancelled, generally, getan easyjet flight cancelled, generally, get an e—mail, that says, hey, your flight get an e—mail, that says, hey, your flight has been cancelled, why not postpone it or you can have a voucher? and only up until now, by going through, if you wanted your money back, which is your entitlement for a cancelled flight, you have to phone up the call centre, which is way too busy, so a lot of people, either because they weren't aware they could get a cash refund, or because they thought it was too much, have actually booked for later in the year. but also, jet to came out with its plans for the summer to came out with its plans for the summer of 2021. we are looking at 15 months ahead. but they say we are going to have basically the same rough plans we had for this coming summer, and not even going to add some summer, and not even going to add some fights. people in glasgow, for instance, 100 fights a week to sunnier places, will be on offer from 2021. which is an awful lot better than we were anticipating,

because frankly, with aviation closing down, with the well‘s airlines collective losing a quarter of £1 trillion in the coming year, you would be surprised if there was anybody left standing. but easyjet, jet two, they will be standing, as will british airways and ryanair, or robust airlines financially. we will discuss this again. cute very much for now. —— thank you very much for now. the word ‘inspirational‘ is overused — but today we're saying it entirely appropriately. because captain tom moore, a 99—year—old veteran of the second world war, has completed his challenge of walking 100 laps of his garden to raise money for nhs charities. his originalaim was to raise £1000, but

as of a few minutes ago, more than £13 million. in the past few minutes, downing street has confirmed the prime minister will look at ways to recognise the veteran's fundraising efforts which a spokesman said had ‘captured the heart of the nation'. david sillito reports. you start at the beginning. captain tom moore was keen to do things properly on the final leg of a journey that had begun as a family challenge and has turned into something extraordinary. i think it's a fantastic sum of money, we never imagined that sum of money, it's unbelievable that people have been so kind. the target, 100 laps to mark his 100th birthday at the end of the month. a world war ii veteran born in keighley, he had served in burma. the family hoped they might be able to raise some money

for nhs charities and set what they thought was a bold target, £1000. within a day we had reached a couple of thousands and we thought, are we dreaming of the dizzying heights of £5,000 by the end of the month? we were floored at the thought of 5000. a week later, it hadleapt past a million. steady, determined, optimistic, captain tom was proving inspirational and as he began today's final lap, the total stood at £12 million. he stepped towards the finish line to a chorus of congratulations. ben stokes here. what you have achieved is fantastic. the funds you have raised for the real heroes today are sensational. i want to say thank you for everything you have done, congratulations on a brilliant idea and pulling it off and doing it all before your 100th

birthday. on behalf of the yorkshire regiment family, i would like to say thank you to captain tom moore for your amazing fundraising efforts. thank you, captain tom, from the nhs! and among those offering congratulations, the nurses who cared for captain tom during his recent hip surgery and made all this possible. we are very proud of him, we adore him and we are honoured to be able to look after him, because he always has a smile on his face and asks how you are, he is a true gentleman. and then the moment — 100 laps completed, the millions raised honouring both the nhs and captain tom's determination and eternal optimism. we will get through it in the end, it will all be right but it might take time, but at the end of the day, we shall all be ok again and all those people finding it difficult at the moment,

the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away. however, it's not over yet. if people keep giving, captain tom will keep walking. and we can just show you captain tom's fundrasing page now — almost £14 million and still climbing. very nearly at £40 million. somebody is going to press a button and refresh it as well. we have been slightly obsessed with it. it is there! £40 million. captain tom moore, and more than £40 million raised for nhs charities. planned on raising about £1000, that is just fantastic. as he edges up to his 100th birthday, this is the story thatis 100th birthday, this is the story that is keeping us all going here

this afternoon. congratulations to him. more than £40 million. that is remarkable, isn't it? it is nice to be able to smile about something. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz. hello. well, farmers, gardeners and growers are only too aware that we haven't had an awful lot of rain for quite some time, a number of weeks, in fact. that is about to change, there is some rain in the forecast for tomorrow, initially, for the southern half of the uk. it will be a couple of hours of potentially heavy rain. now, this is what it looks like today. plenty of fine weather around. high teens, temperatures even approaching 20 or more. but much cooler in the north—east of the country. that is because the wind is coming out of the north here, so fresher conditions down that north sea coast. the changes are starting to happen in the south. so already by early on friday morning, we start to see that rain moving into the channel islands and then eventually it will spread further north into southern parts of england, wales and the midlands as well. there is rain in the forecast, in fact, both for friday and saturday,

across more southern parts of the uk, but in the north it looks as though it's going to be drier, brighter. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines. ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown — as the latest figures reveal a further 861 deaths from the disease in the uk unbelievably large numbers follow the rules, very few infractions, and i don't want to put all of that effort to waste. because if we just released all the measures now, this virus would run rampant once again and we cannot let that happen. social distancing may have to be maintained until a coronavirus vaccine is available — that's according to a senior scientist advising the

government. 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 — for not helping enough at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. president trump prepares for an easing of the us lockdown to get the economy moving — in the face of opposition from state governors. and the 99—year—old war veteran captain tom moore completes 100 laps of his garden before turning 100 — raising £14 million for the nhs. i am surrounded by the right sort of people, so, yes, ifeel fine. i hope you are all feeling

fine too! good afternoon. a three—week extension to the current measures of lockdown is expected to be confirmed later this afternoon — as a senior scientist has said the uk will need to keep a significant level of social distancing in place until a vaccine is available. professor neil ferguson also wants the government to do more work on what happens after the lockdown ends. this comes as the first minister, nicola sturgeon says the scottish government will look at its own exit strategy in the coming days. the latest daily uk figures for coronavirus show there have now been 35,000 deaths in hospitals —

that does not include deaths in care homes or in the community in england and northern ireland. that's an increase of 861 from yesterday. 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". senior politicians in birmingham have written to the government warning the city's front line care workers will run out of protective masks in the next two weeks. in the united states, another 5.2 million people have claimed for unemployment benefit, bringing the overall unemployment rate to over 22 million. let's get the latest from westminster, and our political correspondent, chris mason. for more than three weeks, we have had to get used to this. beautiful beaches like this one in exmouth in devon as good as empty.

0urfreedoms curtailed, our movements restricted, and there is more to come. the people of this country have made these efforts over the last few weeks in unbelievably large numbers — following the rules, very, very few infractions. and i don't want to put all of that good effort to waste, because if we just release all the measures now then this virus would run rampant once again and we can't let that happen. the cabinet met this morning — remotely — to discuss the plan, chaired by this man, dominic raab, the foreign secretary, who is deputising for borisjohnson. 0pposition parties back an extension to current restrictions but are asking questions. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that, and i called for a lockdown before the government introduced one, but we want more details from the government

about what happens next. the best way to come out of lockdown or to manage coming out of lockdown would be to move to a testing, contact tracing strategy, so i will be looking for the government to give us more details today on where they are on their promised 100,000 tests a day. we are only around 16,000 tests at the moment. in tests at the moment. scotland during a virtual first ministers in scotland during a virtual first ministers question time, nicola sturgeon said... sima, clearadvice is we must continue lockdown measures for at least another three weeks because whilst we are increasingly confident that these measures are working, we are not yet confident enough that the virus has been suppressed sufficiently to lift any of these measures because the risk of doing that would be a resurgence that would be extremely damaging. the government is desperate to keep the message we have got used to about the lockdown simple, and not start talking publicly about the long—term. lots of things are being talked about privately. could there be, at some point in the future,

removal of some of the restrictions on younger people, or an expansion in the list for key workers? a lot will depend how things are looking and how many people are being sent to hospital with the virus, and how does that compare with the number of beds? if we relax measures too much, we will see a resurgence of transmission. what we really need is the ability to put something in their place. we want to reopen the schools, let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner. we will have to maintain some level of social distancing, significant levels of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available. so while we have had to get used to pictures like this, there is another blunt truth. of how long it will be before anything like normality returns, for some of us, at least. the lockdown has been incredibly effective. there is a magic number — r0 — which is the infectivity of a virus and one person will affect 2.6 people at the beginning

of lockdown, and now it has gone to under one, to about 0.6, 0.7. great news, lockdown is working. the problem we have is how we get out of lockdown, and do we do it slowly, do we do it fast? but we will learn from the european countries coming out this week. this is going to be a long haul and a spring and summer like no other. a huge challenge for all of us, and very difficult decisions for those in charge. chris mason, bbc news. ido i do apologise, as you could see we had a considerable technical problem andi had a considerable technical problem and i were graphic at the start of the hour and there were some very misleading figures on there. i do apologise. every afternoon we get new figures in terms of the death toll that are sadly coronavirus has taken across the uk, so we will try

to unpick the very latest figures that have come out in the last hour or so that have come out in the last hour orso and our that have come out in the last hour or so and our health correspondent is with me. nick triggle. you have been looking at them. they come through sporadically, broken down by individual countries. some report hospital deaths, some don't. explain the figures as we understand them so far. this afternoon we have got the figures for the whole of the uk. largely hospital deaths, but some uk. largely hospital deaths, but some in the community. there has been another 861 new deaths announced today. that brings the total to 13,729. the 861 is up from 761 new deaths yesterday, but we we re 761 new deaths yesterday, but we were told to expect a bit of a bounce because of the easter weekend, meaning there was a delay reporting and recording some of the deaths a, so we expect the figures to go up slightly. just over 4600

new cases, bringing the total in the uk since the start of the outbreak to over 100,000. but the number of new cases is hovering around the 4600 mark each day. giving more evidence that we are beginning to see that plateau, reaching that peak of cases. we can see a similar thing when we look at hospital admissions. the number of people in hospital with coronavirus is just under 20,000. it's been like that for a few days. there is another 10,000 beds available for coronavirus patients in hospital, plus the nightingale hospital is opening, so there is good headroom in the health service and there is a strong suggestion we are beginning to plateau. that's where we are at the moment. there is so much we still don't know about this virus, but it is interesting scientifically to look at the breakdowns we are getting, and we know for example there appears to be a gender disparity. much more we have to learn about that but we have had some learn about that but we have had some figures through from the 0ns

which talk a little bit more about other health issues that people have, because this can be such a huge factor. explain what the 0ns is saying today. yes, they have taken an in—depth look at nearly 4000 cases of coronavirus deaths that happened in march. they were looking at the death certificates and found that in nine out of ten the individuals had pre—existing health problems. heart disease and respiratory illness were most common. many had more than one, the average was between two and three. but they found in most cases it was the illness from coronavirus that caused their death, not their other conditions. then twice likely as women to die with coronavirus, but the ons women to die with coronavirus, but the 0ns said it was too early to draw firm conclusions. there is some evidence that the total number of people dying is increasing, but there is also some evidence to suggest those that are dying of coronavirus are dying instead

of conditions such as stroke and heart disease. we are seeing the number of those deaths are falling, so it is very much an emerging picture. we are learning a lot about the true impact of the deaths we are seeing day after day. it's like a jigsaw. we are very slowly building up a picture and we forget about some of those other conditions. we forget that other illnesses carry on or accidents happen and all of that feeds in to the context of this. it's several years until the history books can be written as to the real causes of this and how some people appear to whether this virus better than others. yes, absolutely. one of the interesting things earlier this week was we had seen the number of deaths at the start of april were 6000 higher than you would normally expect at this time of year. they we re expect at this time of year. they were 16,000 instead of 6000. half of those deaths were coronavirus, but the other half were not, and we are not sure what was causing

those deaths. it could be, one suggestion was that people are suffering with other conditions and are less likely to go to hospital to seek treatment because of concern about the number of coronavirus cases in hospital. today we have also had figures for a&e attendances released. daily attendances are half what they were before the coronavirus outbreak, so there is concern, and doctors are stressing that anyone with health problems should still come to hospital if they feel they need treatment. yes, all right. nick, thank you very much for now. the other main issue we are talking about so much today is the lockdown because we will hear probably in the next couple of hours in the daily government briefing just what exactly will happen. but of course we are all very much expecting an extension to the lockdown to be announced. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young,

has been explaining more, and says ministers don't want to do anything that compromises their simple message that the lockdown will remain for now. the three—week extension of these pretty drastic measures which people have been sticking to, and i think ministers are quite surprised about how disciplined people have been, and what they don't want to do is in any way water down the message at the moment. they say the clarity of the message is very important — to stay at home so the nhs doesn't get overwhelmed and that in itself saves lives. they don't want start talking about what measures might be lifted and when. the question is, do they have a plan? what exactly are they going to be looking at? they are not willing to divulge any of that with the public at the moment. but of course there will come a time when they have to start preparing people for some kind of return to normality. i think persuading people to go back to a more normal way of life in itself is going to take a bit of work because they have to convince people that it is safe. of course the fact that other

countries are already acting — they are slightly ahead of us in terms of the spread of this virus — we can look to that, i think, as some clue as to what might happen in terms of schools, for example. can they start to open some schools in some parts of the country where they haven't had the same number of cases as in places like london or birmingham? could you do it by demographic? could you say, young people aren't as affected by this, could they maybe be allowed to go back to work? all these things will be up discussion but at the moment the message from government is very clearly that it is too soon to talk about it. we will have a full coverage of the daily government briefing a little later in the afternoon, of course. police have been told to stop people working in parks and sitting on a bench for a long time. guidance to officers in england says neither activity is likely to be a " reasonable excuse" for someone to leave their home during lockdown. but what is deemed a " reasonable excuse" ? the advice from the national police

chiefs council says you can go outside for a 01:15:04,1000 --> 01:15:06,693 valid reason. householders can buy luxury items in their weekly food shops. and you can buy power tools to repair a fence which is damaged by bad weather. there are some very specific exa m ples there are some very specific examples in this guide, aren't there? but you should not purchase paint and brushes to decorate your kitchen... i think we should speak to danny shaw. let's speak to our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw. he can explain exactly what is or isn't acceptable. it is remarkable how confused some people still are. took us through it. well, the advice the police say isn't changing. the guidance isn't changing but what they are coming up with his new exa m ples of they are coming up with his new examples of how the guidance should be applied. so what we have here from the college of policing, the

national police chiefs council is what constitutes a reasonable excuse for leaving your home. that is the key phrase. people are allowed to leave home if they have a good reason. so in terms of exercise, for example, there has been this big controversy of are you allowed to drive to the countryside for exercise? the guidance says you can drive, it is lawful to drive to exercise, but if you're going to drive, what you shouldn't do is drive, what you shouldn't do is drive for a long period and do a short period of exercise. it's ok if you do a drive and then you are exercising for much longer than the period you spend driving, that's ok. so, for example, perhaps if someone is driving for an hour and going to a country park and then walking for two to three hours and then driving back, that might be ok. that would seem back, that might be ok. that would seem to go against how these reels have been enforced by some police forces. in terms of exercise, as well, it's ok to have a break, to rest or to have something to eat in the middle of a prolonged period

of exercise, but what you shouldn't be doing is going for a short walk to the park and then sitting for ages ona park the park and then sitting for ages on a park bench. that is definitely not reasonable. at the same time, in terms of shopping, here are some interesting things. people who go shopping. yes, you can go shopping and buy alcohol, you can buy luxury items, you can buy snacks as well as essential goods. that's absolutely clear. so the chief constable of northamptonshire last week said his officers might be looking in shopping trolleys and baskets to check people were not flouting the rules, well, that would not be allowed. the police would not be allowed. the police would not be allowed to do that, they will not be encouraged to do this. the guidance says it's ok to shop for luxury items. and finally, coming on to something that hasn't really been touched upon. these new guidelines by saying that if someone has a row in the home that they are staying m, in the home that they are staying in, it's ok for them to

go and spend several days, a cooling off period, with friends at another address. that is all right. that is reasonable to do that under these guidelines to police. very interesting, that. how you would enforce that, that's another matter. if someone is walking along the street, they are stopped by police to ask where they are going and they say they are going to a friends house because they've had a row at home, could the police enforce that? how will they find that out? it's an interesting conundrum. yes! that is quite something, isn't it? anyway, we will discuss that another time, sadly. i wish we could discuss it now. thank you very much, danny shaw, our home affairs correspondent who has been looking at that guidance. let's talk about trying to keep an eye and track the progress of the virus, as well. a contact—tracing app could help stop the coronavirus pandemic, but 80% of current smartphone owners would need to use it, say experts advising the nhs. let's get more on this from our technology desk

editor, leo kelion. explain clearly first of all what we are actually talking about here. is this an app that even exists yet? explain how it would work. we have had examples from other countries. what is being discussed here? so the idea of this is an app that you would have to download. this is something the nhs is testing with people at the moment. the app on your phone it detects other people your phone it detects other people you have been into close proximity with four may be up to ten minutes, raising the risk that, where they to have coronavirus, that you might be infected. the idea is you end up with a database of all the people you have been close to. as soon as one of those people uses the app to identify themselves, they have the

symptoms, suddenly that database can be used to let everybody else who is using the app who came into contact with that person, that they may be we need to go into quarantine for a period. the idea is you launch this app as you start to ease the lockdown and it means the more you are trying to do is stop new infections being able to spread because as soon infections being able to spread because as soon as infections being able to spread because as soon as somebody has identified themselves as being ill, and want everybody else who might have caught it, all those people go away and into their homes and can't infect the wider population. the issue here is how many people are going to be willing to download and use the app on their phone. it's not just downloading it, it's making sure that the app is active and being used, and then pay attention to the alerts if they are telling them they have got to go

back and put themselves into quarantine for a period. there is quite a lot of ifs andi period. there is quite a lot of ifs and i appreciate this is something being trialled but 80% of everyone who has a smartphone has to have the app and use it as you described, and if you are doing that, well... there are privacy issues, and there? people will be concerned about privacy issues. on the 80% figure, they are saying that is the figure that they would need, representing 56% of the population because not everybody has a smartphone at the moment. that would be the level you would need to suppress the virus. in other words, to basically stop it in its tracks and, along with other measures, its tracks and, along with other measures, prevent its tracks and, along with other measures, prevent their being other outbreaks. but they do say that even if you manage to get a lower level of penetration, fewer people using it, that will still slow down the spread of the disease and make it easier to deal with. but,

yes, there are privacy concerns that people have. now, things that the nhs is doing to make people less concerned is say they are not going to be telling the authorities who you are. when you use this you have the choice whether to identify yourself to the app, and the whole thing isn't compulsory in the first place. of course the counter to that is if enough people don't download it and use it as required, could it end up being compulsory in the future if it's really going to be such an important tool that making regular lockdown is not have to care? leo, thank you. talking about the trailing of that app which could potentially be used. let's talk about social care. the bbc has seen a leaked letter from social care officials which is highly critical of the government's

handling of the pandemic. the association of directors of adult social services says the provision of personal protective equipment has been "shambolic". the government has admitted it needs to do more to help the care sector. richard galpin reports. across england there are 430,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes like this and more than 2,000 of these homes have already had a coronavirus outbreak. now it's been revealed that those in charge of social services are accusing the government of failing this vital sector in the midst of the crisis. in a letter sent at the weekend by the association of directors of social services to the department of health and social care, it said deliveries of personal protective equipment for staff had initially been paltry and then later haphazard. it went on to say messages from the government had been contradictory and the roll—out of testing for care staff and residents to find out if they were carrying the virus had

not been thought through. and all this causing real frustration. we haven't been getting the ppe as easily as we wanted to and it has felt at times like the message has changed during the day, there are lots of people in national government trying to talk to lots of people outside national government. working in these care homes or visiting those in need in their own homes involves being in close contact, for example washing and dressing people, so protective equipment is vital to cut the risk of being infected by coronavirus. we were told we could have one mask per session and when i asked what was a session in their mind, they said a shift. our shifts on the whole are six or 12 hours, there is no way one flimsy mask is going to last 12 hours because even three hours into that, breathing into that same mask, it gets moist, so it then

becomes completely useless. in response to all this, the government says it will ramp up testing for the virus as part of an action plan to tackle the spread of coronavirus in care homes. we have now been able to roll out testing to everybody who needs it in social care, patients where we have been testing in care homes, we have been testing the residents wherever there is a suspected outbreak and there have been over 10,000 tests of residents that have been undertaken so far and then of staff as well. the need for action is urgent. hundreds of people in care homes have already died and there is anger that until now, this vital sector helping some of the most frail and vulnerable people in the country has been neglected. richard galpin, bbc news. the government has ordered

15,000 new ventilators from a high—tech manufacturing consortium. the device will be produced by a group of firms which includes formula one racing teams. downing street says the first 40 of the newly approved penlon ventilators will arrive at a military base today to be delivered to the nhs, with "hundreds more units" expected to be built over the next week. our medical correspondent fergus walsh gave us this update. this is a positive story because these ventilators have been approved by the regulatory authorities. and up to now, we have heard a lot about ventilators being ordered and commissioned, but none have been approved. so these have gone through safety testing, they are going to be produced at ford in dagenham, at airbus in flintshire in north wales and mclaren in surrey, so companies that don't normally do medical products. now, hundreds are to be produced next week, i am told,

with the ambition to do up to 1500 a week in early may. these will be for the very sickest patients, because covid—19 in the sickest patients causes breathing difficulties and they need to have a machine, a ventilator, that takes their breathing over for them. facebook users who have read, watched or shared false coronavirus content will receive pop—up warnings on the platform for the first time as the company attempts to combat the spread of misinformation about the pandemic. the bbc‘s cyber security reporter joe tidy has been looking into this, and we can talk to him now. what is going to be happening? what will it look like the people? it's being seen as a major unprecedented move being seen as a major unprecedented move by facebook and what will happen is anyone who has come across a piece of content that has been deemed to be false or misleading or misinformation previously, they now

will get a pop up on their screen which basically says, here are the fa cts o n which basically says, here are the facts on coronavirus, and it will direct people to the world health organization's myth debunking website and it will go out to millions of people, won't it? anyone who comes millions of people, won't it? anyone who comes across millions of people, won't it? anyone who comes across anything on the platform which has been looked at by the fact checkers in all the various different languages, more than 50 languages that facebook runs on, and that will appear over the next few weeks. this follows really big moves by facebook since the pandemic began. earlier on mark zuckerberg said ina began. earlier on mark zuckerberg said in a post that since the pandemic began in january, said in a post that since the pandemic began injanuary, they have deleted hundreds of thousands of facebook posts they deemed to be incorrect and life—threatening, and anything that isn't necessarily life—threatening but still dangerous, they have downgraded and make sure it doesn't go any more viral than it already has, and they have put up warning messages are sane, this information is false interesting. thanks very much. more coming up in the next half an hour.

now it's time for a look at the weather with tomas. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz. hello. well, farmers, gardeners and growers are only too aware that we haven't had an awful lot of rain for quite some time, a number of weeks, in fact. that is about to change, there is some rain in the forecast for tomorrow, initially, for the southern half of the uk. it will be a couple of hours of potentially heavy rain. now, this is what it looks like today. plenty of fine weather around. high teens, temperatures even approaching 20 or more. but much cooler in the north—east of the country. that is because the wind is coming out of the north here, so fresher conditions down that north sea coast. the changes are starting to happen in the south. so already by early on friday morning, we start to see that rain moving into the channel islands and then eventually it will spread further north into southern parts of england, wales and the midlands as well. there is rain in the forecast, in fact, both for friday and saturday, across more southern parts of the uk, but in the north it looks as though it's going to be drier, brighter. bye— bye.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown, as the latest figures reveal a rise in the number of deaths in the uk of 861 in the last 24 hours. unbelievably large numbers follow the rules, very few infractions, and i don't want to put all of that effort to waste. because if we just released all the measures now, this virus would run rampant once again and we cannot let that happen. social distancing may have to be maintained until a coronavirus vaccine is available, according to a senior scientist advising the government. 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". europe owes italy an apology, according to the president of the eu commission, for not helping enough at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. president trump prepares for an easing of the us lockdown to get the economy moving — in the face of opposition from state governors. the work of parliament will take place virtually, under proposals backed by the house of commons authorities in the past hour. it means mps will contribute to some sessions from home, including prime minister's questions. our political correspondent nick eardley has been speaking to a number of mps who are already working remotely. a world away from

westminster, the isle of skye in scotland, home to these new—born lambs and the snp‘s westminster leader, ian blackford. this is my home office. it has everything i need in it. it has got a decent enough connection under the circumstances. from next week, it is likely he will be asking government ministers‘ questions from this office. i can keep my eye on the sheep and lambs at the same time. we need to take our responsibility seriously. our constituents expect us to be holding the government to account. the reason we have to do that on a virtual basis is we are telling the public not to travel, 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. tory mp stephen crabb, who lives in pembrokeshire in wales, has been chairing committee meetings from home. inevitably there are a few teething challenges. chairing a meeting of a committee where you have ten other people

in the room who are wanting to talk at the same time is much easier to chair when you're physically in the same room. these changes are a response to the current crisis, but in truth, nobody really knows when things will get completely back to normal here. there is still some debate on exactly how a virtual parliament functions, but for now, mps will have a bit more time with views like this. now on bbc news, it's time for your questions answered. with me is dr rebecca cooper, who's a public health consultant and former hospital doctor. also i'm joined by nhs gp dr amir khan. a warm welcome to both of you. thank you for your time. let's get through as many as

i can. noriko nagaoka — why don't we start testing ourselves and get a better scale of exact figures? why don't we have enough testing kits in the uk by now? ladies first. thank you, thank you so much for the question. this is one that has been going on. the thing we need to remember is that globally now everybody wants to do testing and we we re everybody wants to do testing and we were quite late starting testing, so there is a global demand and there is limited supply. we are having to compete with people to get those tests. we a re compete with people to get those tests. we are getting increasing numbers, 100,000 a day by the end of the month is ambitious, but we are getting increasing numbers of tests. it is important that those on the front line, those in social care and the vulnerable, should get them first, and then we need to look at

those in the community, making sure that we are community tracing to make sure we can contain the virus as quickly as possible, along with the lockdown members.|j as quickly as possible, along with the lockdown members. i agree with everything that has been said. i would say that testing is important. i know there is a plan for the nhs to move to self testing. i do think testing in the community itself is really vital to controlling this epidemic or pandemic, really. i speak to patients every single day who have symptoms consistent with the coronavirus and i tell them, yes, i probably queue do have coronavirus. i give them the measures to say at home and all the self isolation stuff, but i cannot test them. it would be great if i could send them a testing kit and they get back to us and we could get those numbers right. a frustration you cannot do what you would like to do.

are there people with underlying health problems, like copd and heart problems recovering from the illness too? it isa it is a very good question. it stems from the fact that if you have these underlying health problems, you are at higher risk of getting sick at with coronavirus. but people are recovering. there are good news stories. people are recovering. if you are sick and you are being ventilated, chances of recovery decrease. the message about self isolating and be particularly careful in that group is important. but there are good news stories coming out and people are recovering, but that is no reason at all to take anything for granted and be complacent about anything. we don't hear enough about good news stories, do we? no, but my expense asa gp, i stories, do we? no, but my expense as a gp, i have patients who have

tested positive and on our home and well and have had underlying health conditions. it is important that you adhere to the social distancing and self isolating rules, but if you do get it, don't panic, it doesn't mean it is the end. there is a good chance you will recover. it is nice to hear some good news. a question about lockdown. why are we talking about multiple lockdowns? wouldn't the best answer be to do as china did and remain in lockdown until we have eradicated the virus? china did something differently to us. they had a clear lockdown process. anybody remotely unwell with the virus was taken off to a hospital and managed their were better and returned to the community. we are not doing that. i don't think we are talking about multiple lockdown. if you look at other countries, there

is graded openings at different levels. we are not there yet. and we are going to continue to be in lockdown for a further few weeks, really. we are not there. i don't think multiple lockdown is the right word, really. i think that when we do easily pressures off it, it will be very slowly and carefully monitored to see what the effect of that is. rebecca, if quick thought and you on that. i agree. in rebecca, if quick thought and you on that. iagree. in terms rebecca, if quick thought and you on that. i agree. in terms of looking at when it is appropriate to lift some at when it is appropriate to lift some of the restrictions, we will be looking at something colby reproductive number. so how contagious the diseases were in the population. when it gets to less than one, that means a infected person, when they are infecting less than one person, at one point, if there is widespread testing, if there is widespread testing, if there is widespread testing, if there is tracing in the community, that means we can lift some of those

more robust measures. that means we can lift some of those more robust measures. in sweden very carefully a nd more robust measures. in sweden very carefully and in a graded way. why is the government again slow on the uptake of antibody tests? there are two different types of test. there is the antigenic test, which is usually a swab at the back of the throat and that is to test people were sentenced if they have currently got the virus. the antibody test, which can be done to to four weeks usually after any infection, tests to see whether you have had the infection and you may be well now and better, but whether you have got positive antibodies to that virus, which will, if you come into contact with that virus again, we re into contact with that virus again, were quickly to stop you getting ill the second time around. it is to check whether you have had the virus in the past. but we have to wait

at least four weeks before we can test people for that kind of thing. the question as to whether the government is slow on the uptake, i am not sure whether that is a medical or political question. do you have an observation on that?” do. there are lots of trials. there are do. there are lots of trials. there a re lots of do. there are lots of trials. there are lots of kits out there that are antibody test. nhs england have said they currently isn't a test that is reliable enough. that means that it gives positives that are true and negatives that are true, essentially. they don't want to send out mass antibody, numbers of antibody kit when they know —— until they know it is reliable. in germany they know it is reliable. in germany they are testing a antibody kit and hopefully before too long we will be able to mass use antibody gets. right now nhs endorsing that they are not reliable enough to send out en masse. it would not be good to have false negatives and false positives. ring reliable

is key. -- being reliable is key. the lockdown cannot go on forever and i am concerned that a lot of us are going to get covid—19 as soon as we start commuting back to work. that is such an interesting thought. rebecca camille fought on that. that is such an interesting thought. rebecca camille fought on thatm isa rebecca camille fought on thatm is a good point. as somebody who goes into london on a lot of occasions, i can sympathise. going back to the reproductive number. when you are looking at how contagious the virus is, how the infection is circulating, they can only lift in lockdown when they think the circulation has reduced significantly. at that point you can let more people out, because there are let more people out, because there a re less let more people out, because there are less infectious people. but i ta ke are less infectious people. but i take your point that when other people start getting together, we will have to start looking at those again and it might be, i know we we re again and it might be, i know we were talking about multiple lockdown and that isn't the right phrase, but it might be that we lifted slightly and then we put it back in if those

numbers rise again. even though it isa numbers rise again. even though it is a science, it is not an exact science. there is a bit of what and wait, take the best as we have got, easy to gradually in and then we havejuicy easy to gradually in and then we have juicy what happens. but i have to sympathise as a part—time commuter myself. people will be nervous, won't they? once we out of lockdown, because using public transport in a lot of different cities in the uk, it is overcrowded, it is cramped, that is an issue, isn't it? it is a real issue, and i suspect that when the lockdown itself is lifted and eased, social distancing measures will remain in place. it won't be business as usual. i know it is hard in london, iam in usual. i know it is hard in london, i am in yorkshire where there is lots of space, it is different. but in... there will be social distancing in place. the world won't be the same as what we remember it to be. they will be measures in place to help reduce that spread again. we will see. we will

talk again. we will see. we will talk again. thank you both very much indeed. thank you both. the word "inspirational" is overused, but today we're saying it entirely appropriately. because captain tom moore, a 99—year—old veteran of the second world war, has completed his challenge of walking 100 laps of his garden to raise money for nhs charities. his original aim was to raise £1,000, but so far, more than £14 million has been donated. this afternoon, downing street has confirmed that the prime minister will look at ways to recognise the veteran's fundraising efforts which a spokesman said had "captured the heart of the nation". david sillito reports. you start at the beginning. captain tom moore was keen to

do things properly on the final leg of a journey that had begun as a little family challenge and has turned into something extraordinary. i think it's a fantastic sum of money, we never imagined that sum of money, it's just unbelievable that people have been so kind. it began just over a week ago. the target, 100 laps to mark his 100th birthday at the end of the month. a world war ii veteran born in keighley, he had served in burma. the family hoped they might be able to raise some money for nhs charities and set what they thought was a bold target — £1000. within a day we had reached a couple of thousand and we thought, are we dreaming of the dizzying heights of £5,000 by the end of the month? we were floored at the thought of 5000. a week later, it had leapt past a million. steady, determined, optimistic,

captain tom was proving inspirational and as he began today's final lap, the total stood at more than £12 million. he stepped towards the finish line to a chorus of congratulations. ben stokes here. what you have achieved is fantastic. the funds you have raised for the real heroes today is sensational. i want to say thank you for everything you have done, congratulations on a brilliant idea and pulling it off and doing it all before your 100th birthday. on behalf of the yorkshire regiment family i would like to say thank you to captain tom moore for your amazing fundraising efforts. thank you, captain tom, from the nhs! and among those offering congratulations, the nurses who cared for captain tom during his recent hip surgery and made all this possible. we are very proud of him, we adore him and we

are honoured to be able to look after him, because he always has a smile on his face and asks how you are, he is a true gentleman. and then the moment — 100 laps completed, the millions raised honouring both the nhs and captain tom's determination and eternal optimism. we will get through it in the end. it will all be right, it might take time, but at the end of the day, we shall all be ok again and all those people finding it difficult at the moment, the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away. however, it's not over yet. if people keep giving, captain tom will keep walking. and we can just show you captain tom's fundrasing page now, climbing above £14 million now.

well over £14 million now, isn't it? well over £14 million now, isn't it? we look at that about 45 minutes ago, i think, we look at that about 45 minutes ago, ithink, and it had just we look at that about 45 minutes ago, i think, and it had just come at that point, just tipped over the £40 million, so that means, look, a quarter of £1 million pledged in the last three quarters of an hour or so. last three quarters of an hour or so. that is all going to nhs charities and that is thanks to the idea of captain tom moore walking 100 times around his garden. the headlines on bbc news... ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown, as the latest figures reveal a rise in the number of deaths in the uk of 861 in the last 24 hours. europe owes italy an apology, according to the president of the eu commission, for not helping enough at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. 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". as muslims prepare for the holy month of ramadan, the ahmadiyya community has called for a nationwide prayer this evening for the staff on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic. it follows similar weekly events such as the clap for our carers. let's hear from some of those backing the pray for heroes campaign. pray for our heroes! let's pray for our heroes! thank you very much for our heroes, we have been all praying for you. thank you to all of the key workers for keeping us safe, pray for heroes. pray for heroes!

please pray for our heroes! let's speak to adam walker, who is the vice president of the ahmadiyya muslim youth association. hello, good afternoon to you. a good afternoon. what is the thinking behind this? how many people are you hoping to get involved? we have 6000 members ourselves in the uk, but we are inviting everyone in the country beat off a four no faith at all to come together and offer different m essa g es of come together and offer different messages of thanks, like the ones you saw. we are hoping thousands and thousands of people joining, because we all share in the same spirit of gratitude and thanks to the amazing work that is being done within hospitals and outside of hospitals by all the key workers. and i know you said people of all faiths and non—, but i wonder whether you feel safe is particularly important at this time. it is a

strange situation we are in in this country at the moment, and whether that is something can keep people going in sometimes very difficult circumstances. absolutely. it is a difficult situation, as you mentioned. anxiety is running high. tension is running high as well, in terms of what the future will be. for muslims and people of, prayer is naturally a thing return to. do everything the government has asked of us and ensure that we are fulfilling all the different guidelines. and then in addition to that, it is just a turn to pray and it isa that, it is just a turn to pray and it is a huge spiritual support for people of faith. and it is the best thing that we can offer, to be honest with you. we are doing a lot of work on the ground to help the members of the nhs and public in general through a number of initiatives and we also felt it was important to

initiatives and we also felt it was im porta nt to reflect initiatives and we also felt it was important to reflect our spiritual side in our belief system. and is it something you feel sits alongside clapp for care is? tonight is the fourth consecutive week of that. —— clapp for carers. do you believe this is complimentary? absolutely, 100%. me and my kids, for the last week, we have been on the doorstep cheering on the nhs and we will be doing the same over the coming weeks and months. we have all benefited from the nhs outside of the current difficult circumstances, so we do really see this as something that supplements it and is in addition to it. we hope that it will be as inclusive as the clapp —— clapping hands initiative. thank you

very much indeed and thank you for your time. the time is coming up to 4:51pm. now, it's fair to say we're all watching a little bit more news than normal, which has led to the bbc news theme going viral on social media sites like tiktok and twitter. people around the world are putting their own spin on it. let's take a listen to this...

i love that version! that's the musician and folk award winner ciaran algar adding some of his signature style to the tune. and i am delighted to say that ciaranjoins me now via webcam from manchester. welcome to bbc news.” welcome to bbc news. i was never expecting this unless i was in trouble, so i'm delighted to be here. so only people in

trouble get on the news? don't do yourself down. have you won a bbc folk awards in the past? i have won a couple of those. it is a delight to hear that version. what prompts this? is it boredom, is it a sign you are watching far more news than is good for you, what is driving this? watching far more news than is good for you, what is driving this7m started off firstly like a lot of musician colleagues, we have had our work cancelled and it is getting into six months ahead, we have lost all of our work. and for the first couple of days i thought it would be best to stay away from music, have a break. get your foot together again. but then i realised that my whole life is around music and performing music and wanted to share that with people. so i started this project where i elaborated with a different person each day, we have had some fantastic musicians, and then i saw the video of the drums to the bbc

theme yesterday, and i have been watching a lot of news and i thought it was me asking a question on the coronavirus update, and i saw the video and so the —— the theme tune is one of the best ever and this is the result. i did in about five minutes. that isjust the result. i did in about five minutes. that is just fantastic. the result. i did in about five minutes. that isjust fantastic. i am worried you are watching a too much. but i shouldn't be criticising people for doing that, obviously. turkeys voting for christmas and all that. how are you managing more generally? because this is a very tough time for the arts community generally, for musicians, anyone in the world of the art which contributes so much to the british economy. it is tough, isn't it? how are you managing? it is difficult. it changes everyday. sometimes i am optimistic because of the things i can do creatively that i didn't have time for before. that could lead you project in future. there are days

when you think, i have no work for six months, you are looking at a rent and bills and think, how is this going to happen? we are lucky, as musicians, we have a platform where we can say to people, we are struggling, we have lost our work and it is more visible, but it obviously affects sound engineers and venues closing their doors. it isa and venues closing their doors. it is a worrying time. we are doing the right thing, we have to cancel these events and things like that, but worrying about the world is going to look like women come out of this, i suppose. absolutely. ciaran, iwish we could speak for longer, we could speak about more. it is lovely to talk to you and listen to your music. we will enjoy. ciaran, thank you very much indeed. much more coming up from 4pm, including the daily government briefing, of course, now it is time for the weather aspects

with thomas. —— weather aspects with thomas. —— weather prospects. 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 across southern parts of the uk. the thinking is by around five

or six or seven in the morning, the rain should reach the channel islands, and then spread northwards through the morning, so here 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 are 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. ——cool 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 this is drying, so that will push the cloud towards the west. it will dry out come sunday, with more sunshine, but feeling cool on the north sea coast.

this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie. our top stories... ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown as the latest figures reveal another 861 deaths from the disease across the uk. unbelievably large numbers followed the rules, very, very few infractions, and i don't want to put all of that good effort to waste. because if we just released all the measures now, this virus would run rampant once again and we cannot let that happen. a senior scientific adviser to the government suggests social distancing may have to continue until a coronavirus vaccine is

available. senior social care officials criticise the government's handling of the pandemic, saying the provision of protective equipment has been shambolic. president trump prepares for an easing of the us lockdown to get the economy moving, in the face of opposition from state governors. and the 99—year—old war veteran captain tom moore has completed 100 laps of his garden before turning 100. and he's raised more than £14 million for the nhs. i am surrounded by the right sort of people, so, yes, ifeel fine. i hope you are all feeling fine too! good afternoon. a three—week extension to the current lockdown

is expected to be confirmed at today's downing street coronavirus briefing. this comes as scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, says her government will look at its own exit strategy, at its own exit strategy in the coming days. 861 more people have died with coronavirus in the uk, in the most recent 24 hour—period, ringing the total number of deaths to 13,839. that figure does not include deaths in care homes or in the community in england and northern ireland. over 103,000 have tested positive for covid—19. 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". senior politicians in birmingham have written to the government warning the city's front line care workers will run out of protective masks in the next two weeks. and, in the united states,

another 5.2 million americans have claimed for unemployment benefit, bringing the overall unemployment rate to over 22 million. let's get the latest from westminster, and our political correspondent, chris mason. for more than three weeks, we have had to get used to this. beautiful beaches, like this one in exmouth in devon, as good as empty. 0urfreedoms curtailed, our movements restricted, and there is more to come. the people of this country have made these efforts over the last few weeks in unbelievably large numbers — following the rules, very, very few infractions. and i don't want to put all of that good effort to waste, because if we just released all the measures now, then this virus would run rampant once again and we can't let that happen. the cabinet met this morning — remotely — to discuss the plan, chaired by this man, dominic raab, the foreign secretary, who is deputising for

borisjohnson. opposition parties back an extension to current restrictions but are asking questions. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that, and i actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one, but we want more details from the government about what happens next. 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, so i will be looking for the government to give us more details today on where they are on their promised 100,000 tests a day. we are only at around 16,000 tests at the moment. in scotland, during a virtual first minister's question time, nicola sturgeon said... my clear advice is that we must continue lockdown measures for at least another three weeks because while we are increasingly confident that these measures are working, we are not yet confident enough that the virus has been suppressed sufficiently to lift any of these measures because the risk of doing

that would be a resurgence that would be extremely damaging. the government is desperate to keep the message we have got used to about the lockdown simple, and not start talking publicly about the long—term. lots of things are being talked about privately. could there be, at some point in the future, a removal of some of the restrictions on younger people, or an expansion in the list for key workers? a lot will depend how things are looking, how many people are being sent to hospital with the virus, and how does that compare with the number of beds? if we relax measures too much, then we will see a resurgence of transmission. what we really need is the ability to put something in their place. if we want to reopen the schools, let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner. we will have to maintain some level of social distancing, significant levels of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available. so while we have had to get used to pictures like this, there is another blunt truth,

of how long it will be before anything like normality returns, for some of us, at least. the lockdown has been incredibly effective. there is a magic number called the r0, which is the infectivity of a virus. one person will infect 2.6 people at the beginning of lockdown, and now it has gone to under one, to about 0.6, 0.7, which is great news — lockdown is working. the problem we have is how we get out of lockdown, and do we do it slowly, do we do it fast? but we will learn from the european countries coming out this week. this is going to be a long haul and a spring and summer like no other. a huge challenge for all of us, and very difficult decisions for those in charge. chris mason, bbc news. let's talk to our chief political correspondent vicki young. we know the numbers

of hospital admissions is flattening, with a few we re admissions is flattening, with a few were 111 and 999 but we are not out of the woods at all so there is only one conclusion when it comes to the lockdown, that this briefing will reach today? i think it is very likely they will extend of course the lockdown measures for three weeks until the next review comes. but i think what is going on is that they are very keen to keep that a clear message because it is working and they certainly don't want to dilute that at the moment when there are still almost 800 people per day dying of this illness ponder the clarity of message is important at the moment but behind the scenes of course they are talking about how they might start to lift certain measures. that work is going on but they don't want to put that out publicly because it then mixes the message. i think they will be looking at a sequencing of how they do this and the kind of thing to look at is whether you reopen the schools, but they are very mindful,

ministers, about the impact on the economy and we have heard about that this week. could you look at maybe construction workers, many of whom are still working and are allowed to be, to encourage people to go back to doing that? things like house and road building, that could help the economy. but there is no doubt that there are going to be some measures in place for quite some time. the other option is when the you have geographical differences which is much harder to do. of course it's not the same, london and birmingham are suffering worse than other areas with this so it could be there are different restrictions in different places but none of that has been decided yet and certainly ministers are not being encouraged to talk about it publicly. we have heard throughout the pandemic that we are two or three weeks behind the likes of spain and italy. they are countries that are slowly beginning, very slowly beginning to open up their economies. and certain places. it would be obvious for us to keep an eye on what is happening that to

get a sense of how well they are doing? that is the slight advantage, if there can be one from in this dreadful situation, that the uk has. they have been criticised of course, the government, for not doing enough maybe in terms of early testing but what they managed to use that time for was to up the capacity of the nhs and that doesn't seem to have worked with, even in london, have not reached capacity when it comes to critical care beds and places like the nightingale hospital in the east of london is not being used that much, which has to be a good thing of course. they will be looking at other countries of course, like france which has already given a date for when they hope schools will reopen for example. we are not at that stage yet put the weather that is partly down to the back that the prime minister is not working at the moment, it's such an important decision, they may want to wait until he is back at work. if that can happen before these announcements are made but there's another interesting aspect.

ministers have been pleasantly surprised really about how people have stuck to the rules in a way they thought they might not do. the challenge could well be having to persuade people that it is safe to return to some normality, things like using public transport for example, because people have been following this very diligently and they will have to get the message out at some point, before people can maybe be reassured that it is safe to start going back to work. and easing the lockdown will depend according to the scientists on contact tracing and on testing. we know the government is put out a plan to try to reach a level of 100,000 tests per day by the end of april. they are only around 16,000 so are april. they are only around 16,000 so are they still confident it will be able to reach that target? they have talked about it being a challenge. what is pretty interesting is that today the latest figures when it comes to capacity for testing we are told is around

35,000 tests per day. that is the capacity but it is not being used. the question is, why not? one argument is that of course they were testing everyone going into hospital showing symptoms. if those numbers are starting to come down a bit, you don't need that as much. it is available for all nhs staff who want it and their family members. available for all nhs staff who want it and theirfamily members. again, is it the case that the lockdown is working effectively and you don't need it or is there another issue? the testing site for example for nhs staff, a lot of them are drive—through sites. may be people don't know enough about it or cannot get them. that has not been answered but they said the capacity is there for 35,000 tests which includes nhs and public health england labs as well as commercial testing which is these drive—through places. but there was an interesting question about why the capacity is not being used and again, still to get from 35,000 up to 100,000 in a couple of weeks is a pretty huge challenge. thank you for that. vicki young at

westminster. the bbc has seen a leaked letter from social care officials, which is highly critical of the government's handling of the pandemic. the association of directors of adult social services says the provision of personal protective equipment has been "shambolic". the government has admitted it needs to do more. here's richard galpin. across england there are 430,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes like this and more than 2,000 of these homes have already had a coronavirus outbreak. now it's been revealed that those in charge of social services are accusing the government of failing this vital sector in the midst of the crisis. in a letter sent at the weekend by the association of directors of social services to the department of health and social care, it said deliveries of personal protective equipment for staff had initially been paltry and then later haphazard. it went on to say messages from the government had been

contradictory and the roll—out of testing for care staff and residents to find out if they were carrying the virus had not been thought through. and all this causing real frustration. we haven't been getting the ppe as easily as we wanted to and it has felt at times like the message has changed during the day, there are lots of people in national government trying to talk to lots of people outside national government. working in these care homes or visiting those in need in their own homes involves being in close contact, for example washing and dressing people, so protective equipment is vital to cut the risk of being infected by coronavirus. we were told we could have one mask per session and when i asked what was a session in their mind, they said a shift. our shifts on the whole are six or 12 hours, there is no way one flimsy mask

is going to last 12 hours because even three hours into that, breathing into that same mask, it gets moist, so it then becomes completely useless. already several care home workers have died from coronavirus and that it another worker has died, they have not been named but described as wonderfully compassionate, extremely hard—working wonderfully compassionate, extremely ha rd—working and wonderfully compassionate, extremely hard—working and much loved. in response to all this, the government says it will ramp up testing for the virus as part of an action plan to tackle the spread of coronavirus in care homes. we have now been able to roll out testing to everybody who needs it in social care, patients where we have been testing in care homes, we have been testing the residents wherever there is a suspected outbreak and there have been over

10,000 tests of residents that have been undertaken so far and then of staff as well. the need for action is urgent. alongside the deaths of care workers, hundreds of residents in ca re workers, hundreds of residents in care homes have also died. there is anger but until now this vital sector helping some of the most frail and vulnerable people in the country has been neglected. richard galpin, bbc news. birmingham city council says it will run out of protective masks in two weeks. officials say front line care workers face a shortage of face markers in those weeks and less of the government takes urgent action. the leader of birmingham city council, ian ward, and two mps in the city, labour's liam byrne and the conservative andrew mitchell, have sent a letter to the health secretary, matt hancock and the local government secretary robertjenrick.

i'm joined now by liam byrne, the labour candidate for the mayor of the west midlands. thank you for being with us. how critical is this crisis as far as ppe is concerned for front line workers? it is critical and we think the peak is obviously still to come and we are expanding the number of workers who are actually equipped with ppe and the challenge we have got is that we just have no reassurance from the government but what supplies are coming and when. the loads that have arrived are often light and what we're saying to the government is a simple. help us get a clear picture about what demand for ppe will be over the next couple of weeks because the horror stories are beginning to multiply now. level with us about what supplies are coming in from national warehouses because we are hearing at times that it is a problem with the suppliers and a problem with the logistics. just tell us what the real story is and then work with

us. we are in britain's second city. if you can draw it, we can make it, we can put your a lot of the supplies we need him but we need the government to get a grip a bit so we know what's going on. because we can't continue to put workers on the front line in the risk they are in today. has the council put forward a list of the kinds of equipment and the amount of equipment that it actually needs? we have put forward actually needs? we have put forward a list of the workers that are going to need protecting but what we need to need protecting but what we need to do, what we need from the government, is to actually get a handle on what our shared views are about how this will unfold, what that means in terms of the demand we will need in a city like birmingham of over a million people, and the government needs to tell us genuinely what they will supply. we have had lots of problems here. the portal that was promised for care homes were supposed to be up and running about a week and a half ago but there is no sign of it. the government has said they are

introducing this in your procurement programme but it will not be available for three weeks point that we are saying today, look, don't make us promises that you will not fulfilfor make us promises that you will not fulfil for what will happen in three weeks. we need action today. we need to get our heads together and work out what the story is, what the demand for two, level with us about what is going to come in from national warehouses and we will help fill the gap by working with our business community and voluntary sector in the city. i'm interested in the procurement process. the council says it has x number of workers, they need ppe. you give this list to the government and you're saying the government has not read the list or is not interested in it? or has tried to accommodate that list but basically the logistics or there are some can a problem in the supply chain? logistics or there are some can a problem in the supply chain7m logistics or there are some can a problem in the supply chain? it is a great question. the number of categories of workers that need ppe has been expanded and that is really

welcome. if you are a work in any one of 32 different sectors now you should be getting ppe. but right now it is just not clear what we can rely on to come from government under the loads that are coming into the city are light. you know, various chunks of the supply get redistributed without us actually knowing about it and we cannot get to the bottom of why that is. we don't know if it is a logistics problem. if it is, we will organise the tracks. i will drive one myself. but we don't know if that is the problem or whether it is genuinely a supplier problem put if it is a supplier problem put if it is a supplier problem, that's a different set of solutions to a logistics problem but at the moment we just cannot get clear answer. we have been asking for this from government for a couple of weeks now. we will leave it there, liam byrne, candidate for west midlands mayor, thank you very much forjoining us. president trump has claimed the united states has passed the peak of coronavirus infections

and he's expected to announce proposals later today for reopening the country's economy. but with more than 2,000 deaths reported yesterday in the us, the president is at odds with some state governors about when to ease restrictions. david willis reports. he's 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. i thought i heard some american... 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. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. captain tom moore, a 99—year—old veteran of the second world war, has completed his challenge of walking 100 laps of his garden to raise money for nhs charities. his original aim was to raise

£1000, but so far more than £14 million has been donated. david sillito reports. you start at the beginning. captain tom moore was keen to do things properly on the final leg of a journey that had begun as a family challenge and turned into something extraordinary. i think it's a fantastic sum of money, we never imagined that sort of money, it's unbelievable that people have been so kind. it began just over a week ago. the target — 100 laps to mark his 100th birthday at the end of the month. a world war ii veteran born in keighley, he had served in burma. the family hoped they might be able to raise some money for nhs charities and set what they thought was a bold

target, £1000. within a day we had reached a couple of thousand and we thought, are we dreaming of the dizzying heights of £5,000 by the end of the month? we were floored at the thought of 5000. a week later, it had leapt past a million. steady, determined, optimistic, captain tom was proving inspirational and as he began today's final lap, the total stood at more than £12 million. he stepped towards the finish line to a chorus of congratulations. hi, tom. ben stokes here. what you have achieved is fantastic. the funds you have raised for the real heroes today are sensational. i want to say thank you for everything you have done, congratulations on a brilliant idea and pulling it off and doing it all before your 100th birthday. in behalf of the yorkshire regiment family, i would like to say thank you to captain tom moore for your amazing

fundraising efforts. thank you, captain tom, from the nhs! and among those offering congratulations, the nurses who cared for captain tom during his recent hip surgery and made all this possible. we are very proud of him, we adore him and we are honoured to be able to look after him because he always has a smile on his face and asks how you are, he is a true gentleman. and then the moment, 100 laps completed, the millions raised honouring both the nhs and captain tom's determination and eternal optimism. we will get through it in the end, it will all be right but it might take time, but at the end of the day we shall all be ok again and all those people finding it difficult at the moment, the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away. however, it's not over yet.

if people keep giving, captain tom will keep walking. not a dry eye in the house. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. there is a little bit to talk about. the rangers manager, steven gerrard, says the scottish football league is in "an absolute mess" and there should be an investigation into the decision to bring an early end to the leagues below the top tier. the abrupt finish to the season now means dundee united have won the championship, the crucial vote coming from their neighbours dundee, who did a u—turn and backed the proposal. the spl have been battered from pillar to post and the chairman needs to show real leadership by calling for an independent investigator to come in and sure everything is ok. he said we can't let the instructors carry on with what has happened he isjoined by hearts chairman ann budge who said the process was badly handled and she would right the wrong ending the season for a lower league

clubs and relegating partick thistle and stranraer. amnesty international have reacted strongly to the prospect of newcastle united being taken over by a consortium including a large saudi arabia interest. they say the reputation of the club, and the city, could be brought into question, given saudi arabia's appalling human rights record. they're concerned that the deal may not be given the appropriate level of scrutiny, with attention diverted by the coronavirus crisis. we know that the saudi arabian government has been attempting to use the glamour and prestige of sport for over a year now to distract and detract from their terrible human rights record, and that is what we call sports washing, so reflecting a glow of high profile events, shining the light away from the kind of things they get up to in their country. we would call on everybody involved in this deal, the premier league, newcastle fans, and the current owners, to be completely aware of who they're going into business with, and what saudi arabia represent at what this takeover represents,

which is sports washing, plain and simple. anthonyjoshua has reiterated his desire to unify the world heavyweight division and urged tyson fury to fight him. joshua holds three belts, fury the other, and whilst there have been no agreements for the two to meet, joshua says they both need each other to prove themselves as number one. organisers of the london marathon, along with the uk's other mass—participation events, have launched a campaign to raise money for charities expected to suffer during the coronovirus lockdown. it will begin on the 26th of april, the original date for the marathon, which has been postponed until october. it's likely that charities will see a shortfall of around £4 billion due to the cancellation of events. the idea is for the public to come up with fundraising challenges, using the numbers 2.6 or 26 — the number of miles run in the marathon. for example, to walk 2.6 miles. they're hoping to beat the £66 million the london marathon raised for charity last year. it would be incredible to beat

the figure that the london marathon raised last year. it's a huge target and we'll only do it by britain being united — the united kingdom behind the 2.6 challenge, and doing it for all these charities that need our help. that's all the sport for now. we'll be back later.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 4:30pm... ministers are expected to announce a three—week extension to the coronavirus lockdown, as the latest figures reveal another 861 deaths from the disease, across the uk. unbelievably large numbers followed the rules, very, very few infractions, and i don't want to put all of that good effort to waste because, if we just released all the measures now, this virus would run rampant once again, and we can't let that happen. a senior scientific adviser to the government suggests social distancing may have to continue, until a coronavirus

vaccine is available. senior social care officials criticise the government's handling of the pandemic, saying the provision of protective equipment has been shambolic. the president of the eu commission says italy is owed an apology, because brussels offered little help, at the start of the pandemic. president trump prepares for an easing of the us lockdown to get the economy moving, in the face of opposition from state governors. and the 99—year—old war veteran, captain tom moore, has completed 100 laps of his garden before turning 100, raising £14 million, for the nhs. lam i am surrounded by the right sort of people, so i feel fine. i hope you are all feeling fine, too.

good afternoon and welcome to viewers on bbc one for this bbc news special, as we build up to today's coronavirus briefing from the government, where the foreign secretary, dominic raab, is expected to extend the current lockdown measures. a further 861 people have died with coronavirus in the uk, bringing the total number of deaths to 13,729 — that figure does not include deaths in care homes or in the community in england and northern ireland. over 103,000 have tested positive for covid—19. 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". senior politicians in birmingham have written to the government warning the city's frontline care workers will run out of protective masks in the

next two weeks. meanwhile, in the united states, another 5.2 million americans have claimed for unemployment benefit, bringing the overall unemployment rate to over 22 million. let's get the latest from westminster, and our political correspondent, chris mason. for more than three weeks, we have had to get used to this. beautiful beaches, like this one in exmouth in devon, as good as empty. 0urfreedoms curtailed, our movements restricted, and there is more to come. the people of this country have made these efforts over the last few weeks in unbelievably large numbers — following the rules, very, very few infractions. and i don't want to put all of that good effort to waste, because if we just released all the measures now, then this virus would run rampant once again and we can't let that happen. the cabinet met this morning — remotely — to discuss the plan, chaired by this man, dominic raab, the foreign secretary, who is deputising

for borisjohnson. opposition parties back an extension to current restrictions but are asking questions. we would expect the lockdown to continue. we would support that, and i actually called for a lockdown before the government introduced one, but we want more details from the government about what happens next. 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, so i will be looking for the government to give us more details today on where they are on their promised 100,000 tests a day. we are only at around 16,000 tests at the moment. in scotland, during a virtual first minister's question time, nicola sturgeon said... my clear advice is that we must continue lockdown measures for at least another three weeks because while we are increasingly confident that these measures are working, we are not yet confident enough that the virus has been suppressed sufficiently to lift any of these measures because the risk of doing

that would be a resurgence that would be extremely damaging. the government is desperate to keep the message we have got used to about the lockdown simple, and not start talking publicly about the long—term. lots of things are being talked about privately. could there be, at some point in the future, a removal of some of the restrictions on younger people, or an expansion in the list for key workers? a lot will depend on how things are looking, how many people are being sent to hospital with the virus, and how does that compare with the number of beds? if we relax measures too much, then we will see a resurgence of transmission. what we really need is the ability to put something in their place. if we want to reopen the schools, let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner. we will have to maintain some level of social distancing, significant levels of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available. so while we have had to get used to pictures like this,

there is another blunt truth, of how long it will be before anything like normality returns, for some of us, at least. the lockdown has been incredibly effective. there is a magic number called the r0, which is the infectivity of a virus. one person will infect 2.6 people at the beginning of lockdown, and now it has gone to under one, to about 0.6, 0.7, which is great news — lockdown is working. the problem we have is how we get out of lockdown, and do we do it slowly, do we do it fast? but we will learn from the european countries coming out this week. this is going to be a long haul and a spring and summer like no other. a huge challenge for all of us, and very difficult decisions for those in charge. chris mason, bbc news. i'm joined now by professorjohn ashton, who's former regional

director of public health for north—west england. thank you for being with us. it looks as if, or the suggestion is that there will be an extension of the lockdown, probably for another three weeks. does that make sense to you? it's certainly prudent. i think any suggestion of slackening off at this point has to be taken with a great deal of caution. at what point does the government feel it is sensible to start easing things down? is it when perhaps, as has been suggested by other countries, you have the rate of infections being half the number of deaths? well, it's in that territory, but the problem we have at the moment is we don't really understand the level of the virus in the community. i just heard somebody talking with you saying it's down 0.7. that might be true in the community at large but

we don't know what it is in care homes, and we don't know what it is in the prison estate, for example, and these are places where, in a sense, there are different outbreaks going on. it all comes back to the problem over testing. until we have got sufficient volume of testing across the country, so we know exactly where the virus is active, we have really got to be really careful. i have been arguing for the last three or four weeks that what we should be doing is making sure that all key workers, whether clinical or truck drivers, shop assistant and so on, should be living separately from people who are vulnerable, and that's one of the things we could do here. if we had the testing capacity, and we we re had the testing capacity, and we were promised 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month, we had that capacity, we could allow all those people to live a normal

life as long as they are living in hotels, boarding houses, schools turned into dormitories or whatever, or halls of residence, perhaps, and tested regularly, probably weekly, then we could allow them to get back to normal. but it all hinges on the availability of an adequate volume of testing, so we hope these promises of 100,000 a day by the end of the month are realised. so the potential three week extension we expect to hear in the next half an hour or expect to hear in the next half an hourorso, is expect to hear in the next half an hour or so, is that really to ramp up hour or so, is that really to ramp up testing as well as to see whether or not, for example, the infection rate does start levelling off to half the death rate? yes, it will have that effect, but equally we need to use the testing capacity thatis need to use the testing capacity that is being developed to find out exactly what is going on in care homes across the country, which

house in excess of 400,000 people and where we are told that a significant proportion of those care homes are now infected with the virus. if we are going to prevent a tragedy of large proportions, we need to understand what's going on across the care home estate, and it's the same for the prisons. there is approaching 100,000 people in prisons. we heard a couple of weeks ago that there are ten or more prisons that have cases in prison officers or prisoners. we need to know what is going on there. so they need to be testing in prisons routinely as well. is there a sense that the government has been blindsided by the situation developing in care homes, that perhaps not enough thought went into dealing with that particular environment a very special environment, at the beginning of this pandemic? i am afraid, when the history of this is written, that will inevitably be a chapter of it,

and its tragic that these folk who we re and its tragic that these folk who were the guys and women who grew up in the aftermath of the second world war, paid their taxes to fund the nhs and the welfare state, and now they are off the radar when they really needed us, and i think we should all feel embarrassed and guilty and ashamed... today's daily coronavirus briefing. thank you for joining us. we will leave it there. let's talk a bit more about the continuing rise in the number of deaths. to take a closer look now at the latest figures of those who've died — i'm joined by our health correspondent nick triggle there has been another 861 new deaths announced, bringing the total number in the uk tojust deaths announced, bringing the total number in the uk to just below 14,000. that rise is bigger than we saw yesterday, but we were told to expect a bit of a bounce, a bit of an increase because the

delays in recording and registering deaths over the long easter weekend meant there was going to be some catching up. in terms of positive cases diagnosed, that is 4600 new cases announced today bringing the total to over 100,000 in the uk, but that rise is similar to previous days, and we have seen a similar picture in hospitals, where the number of patients with coronavirus on the wards is hovering just below 20,000, as they have done for a few days. it also puts the idea that the number of new infections is beginning to flatten, is beginning to plateau, which the advisers have been saying in the press briefings. there was nearly 14,000 tests carried out, but the government is saying there is capacity to test many more people. we don't know why more people are not being tested, but they say the capacity is there. hospital admission is beginning to flatten

out, a trend we have seen a few days, but an interesting analysis of the complications that the majority of people who are dying have had to begin with. yes, the ons has taken an in—depth look at the people who died during march. they looked at nearly 4000 death certificates from that month which mentioned coronavirus. nine in ten individuals had pre—existing health problems, heart disease and respiratory illness were the most common. many had more than one, and the average was between two and three, but they found in most cases it was the illness caused by the virus that led to that individual‘s death, not the other conditions. interestingly, men we re other conditions. interestingly, men were twice as likely as women to die with coronavirus, but the ons said it was too early to draw firm conclusions about some of these figures. there is evidence there is a growing number of people who are dying, the death rate is increasing,

but also that some people are dying with coronavirus instead of other conditions like heart disease and strokes. you mentioned the ons and its analysis, and we talked about the number of deaths and the death rate being simply in hospitals, which is what the government is counting on at the moment. the ons figures take into account deaths in the community, and to the suggestion is that that will increase the overall total numbers of deaths. yes, the ons are tracking this weekly. earlier this week, when they produce theirfigures, it weekly. earlier this week, when they produce their figures, it showed that the number of deaths was 10% higher than the daily figures we get suggest end of that 10% half the deaths were in care homes, but there is quite a lag with that figure is, they are few out of date. we have been hearing about some worrying and significant outbreaks in care homes, so significant outbreaks in care homes, soi significant outbreaks in care homes, so i think the expectation is those deaths in the community will be

rising. thank you, nick. in wales, 495 people have now died of covid—19 was the chief executive of nhs wales says there is still plenty of spare capacity in intensive care units, and he said 49% of critical beds we re and he said 49% of critical beds were vacant. there are currently 940 patients with coronavirus in welsh hospitals and 335 more are suspected of having it. the bbc has seen a leaked letter from social care officials which is highly critical of the government's handling of the pandemic. the association of directors of adult social services says the provision of personal protective equipment has been "shambolic". the government has admitted it needs to do more to help the care sector. richard galpin reports. across england there are 430,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes like this and more than 2000 of these homes have already had

a coronavirus outbreak. now it's been revealed that those in charge of social services are accusing the government of failing this vital sector in the midst of the crisis. in a letter sent at the weekend by the association of directors of social services to the department of health and social care, it said deliveries of personal protective equipment for staff had initially been paltry and then later haphazard. it went on to say messages from the government had been contradictory and the rollout of testing for care staff and residents to find out if they were carrying the virus had not been thought through. and all this causing real frustration. we haven't been getting the ppe as easily as we wanted to and it has felt at times like the message has changed from day to day, there are lots of people in national government trying to talk to lots of

people outside national government. working in these care homes or visiting those in need in their own homes involves being in close contact, for example washing and dressing people, so protective equipment is vital to cut the risk of being infected by coronavirus. we were told we could have one mask per session and when i asked what was a session in their mind, they said a shift. our shifts on the whole are six or 12 hours, there is no way one flimsy mask is going to last 12 hours because even three hours into that, breathing into that same mask, it gets moist, so it then becomes completely useless. several care home workers have already died from coronavirus and today another death has been announced. a staff member at this ca re centre announced. a staff member at this care centre in dundee who has not been named has

been described as a wonderfully compassionate and extremely hard—working wonderfully compassionate and extremely ha rd—working person wonderfully compassionate and extremely hard—working person and much loved. in response to all this, the government says it will ramp up testing for the virus as part of an action plan to tackle the spread of coronavirus in care homes. we have now been able to roll out testing to everybody who needs it in social care, patients where we have been testing in care homes, we have been testing the residents wherever there is a suspected outbreak and there have been over 10,000 tests of residents that have been undertaken so far and then of staff as well. the need for action is urgent. hundreds of people in care homes have already died and there is anger that until now, this vital sector helping some of the most frail and vulnerable people in the country has been neglected. richard galpin, bbc news.

the government has ordered 15,000 new ventilators from a high—tech manufacturing consortium. the device will be produced by a group of firms which includes formula one racing teams. downing street says the first 40 of the newly approved penlon ventilators will arrive at a military base today to be delivered to the nhs, with "hundreds more units" expected to be built over the next week. our medical correspondent, fergus walsh, gave us this update. this is a positive story, because these ventilators have been approved by the regulatory authorities. and up to now, we've heard a lot about ventilators being ordered and commissioned, but none had been approved. so these have gone through safety testing. they will be produced at ford in dagenham, at airbus in flintshire, north wales, and mclaren in surrey — so companies that don't normally do medical products. hundreds will be produced next week, i'm told, with the ambition to do up

to 1,500 a week in early may. and these will be for the very sickest patients because covid—19 in the sickest patients causes breathing difficulties, and they need to have a machine — a ventilator — that takes their breathing over for them. a plane carrying fruit pickers from romania has landed in the uk, organised after an appeal failed to recruit enough british workers. it landed at sta nsted recruit enough british workers. it landed at stansted airport this afternoon with around 150 people on board. a review into why people from black, asian and minority ethnic backgrounds appear to be disproportionately affected by coronavirus is to be launched. downing street confirmed the nhs and public health england will lead the review of evidence, following pressure on ministers to launch an investigation. we can get more from

our correspondent rianna croxford. why is this investigation taking place? on saturday the government of the bbc there is emerging evidence to suggest coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on people who are black, asian or minority ethnic. the vast majority of workers in the nhs who have died have been from these backgrounds, as well as more than a third of patients critically ill in hospital. today downing street confirmed a review will take place. health secretary matt hancock said he was deeply worried by the trend and he played tribute to stock numbers who had died. labour has called on the government to ensure that this enquiry investigates the underlying inequalities affecting these communities and it hopes the government will officially start recording coronavirus cases by ethnicity. come across is part of the problem too much reasons, potentially? one is that a lot of those people who are still working in this pandemic, front line workers and care staff,

people who are working in trades that potentially have more bame workers, they are therefore opening themselves up more to this virus? secondly, are there any underlying bame issues in terms of health? so, issues that might be more prevalent within the bame community compared to a white community? there are definitely many factors at play and no single cause. we know geography is a factor. the majority of coronavirus cases have beenin majority of coronavirus cases have been in london, which is 40% bame, so been in london, which is 40% bame, so there is a high proportion of ethnic minority people living in this city. as well as that, we know there are more underlying health conditions affecting these communities, like diabetes and high blood factor —— pressure, and cultural factors like people living in multi—generational household, and there might also be language barriers with people entering

hospital and not being able to effectively communicate how much pain they might be in or their symptoms. but there will also be socio— factors, and researchers have said, where there have been issues of overcrowding, but also they are more likely to be working on front line jobs, putting them at more risk to the virus is key workers doing vitaljobs in transport and the nhs. there are several factors at play. an important study and we have no idea when this will be reported on, when we will get the result. it's not clear at this stage what the scope of the enquiry will be. i am told we will get more information about this in the coming weeks. at this point, the consensus seems to be that we need more data and the only way to get that is if public health england start recording coronavirus cases by ethnicity so we can analyse why these trends are happening. so they don't do that at the moment. they don't, unlike in the moment. they don't, unlike in

the united states. i understand it is something they might be looking to do. thank you. in europe, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, as some lockdown restrictions are eased. in germany, shops of a certain size are set to open next week, with schools reopening next month. but social distancing rules will remain, and angela merkel has recommended the use of face masks on public transport. in spain, some workers have returned to factory and construction jobs, as the rate of infections begins to slow. but, unlike other nations, children are still not allowed out of the house. and in italy, bookshops, launderettes and child ren's clothes stores have reopened, on a trial basis, in some regions. staying with italy, the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has said europe owes italy a heartfelt apology for failing to offer enough support at the start of the coronavirus epidemic. italy was the first european country to suffer a serious outbreak, and has recorded more deaths than any other nation apart from the us.

mrs von der leyen was speaking to the european parliament. yes, 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. our europe correspondent, gavin lee, says ursula von der leyen's president trump has claimed the united states has passed the peak of coronavirus infections — and he's expected to announce proposals later today for reopening the country's economy. but with more than 2,000 deaths reported yesterday in the us, the president is at odds with some state governors about when to ease restrictions. david willis reports. he's 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. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. we have got the latest downing street coronavirus briefing coming up street coronavirus briefing coming up in the next few minutes also. before that, talk to our chief political correspondent, vicki young. everybody wants to know how long the lockdown is going to continue for. today is the day that we get some kind of decision, and it's likely to go on for another few weeks. yes, in law, there needs to bea weeks. yes, in law, there needs to be a review every three weeks, so i think it's likely that will be

announcement today, that it will continue in its current form for another three weeks. i think the question is, for lots of people, how long could it be beyond that, and the suggestion has been that they don't really have enough data. they wa nt don't really have enough data. they want more time to look at the data and they obviously feel the lockdown measures are working. when you look at hospital admissions, and even though the death are still too high, the fact that they seem to be stabilising would suggest that these strict measures are working and people are, of course, adhering to them. i think that surprised lots of ministers. i think maybe they thought they would be more people going against these orders, if you like, and that hasn't happened. the question is what work is going on think about how you start to unlock some think about how you start to unlock some of this, given that there isn't a vaccine ready to go at the moment, and the suggestion that there will still have to be measures in place for quite some time. we can look at countries which are ahead of us,

starting to send children back to school, for example, but the other equation is the economy, and what you can do to try and lessen the impact of all of that, which people, of course, are deeply concerned about, whether you could look at certain sectors, construction, for example, and say, even though lots of them are still working, may be more could go back to work if it's safe to do so. i think that is part of the challenge for ministers, even that people have very much embraced what has been going on and listened to the advice, they will have to persuade people it is safe to return to some kind of normality when that time comes, but we are certainly not there yet. in chemical and we have to be careful, with other nations, in lifting the lockdown, because we have seen singapore, south korea, a second wave of infections, and getting right is crucial. that is what ministers are mindful

of. we are seeing the members of the government and dominic raab take the podium for today's briefing. welcome to the daily press conference from downing street, and i am joined by chris whitty, the government chief medical officer, and also sir patrick vallance, the chief scientific adviser. sir patrick will provide an update on the latest coronavirus data, but first it may update you on the steps we are taking to defeat coronavirus and the decisions we have taken today. step—by—step, our action plan aims to slow the spread of coronavirus so that fewer people need special treatment at any one time, and that's the way we can protect the nhs from becoming overwhelmed. every step along this way, we have followed carefully and deliberately the scientific and medical advice we have received so that we take the right steps at the right moment in time. at the same time,

we are dramatically expanding nhs