this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a leading health specialist says the uk could end up with the highest death toll in europe due to early errors made in the pandemic. we have to face the reality of that. we were too slow with a number of things. but we can make sure that, in the second wave, we're not too slow. the mayor of london calls for the wearing of face masks to be compulsory while travelling in the city. germany's health minister says the country's covid—19 outbreak is under control after a decline in the infection rate. officials in china have revised upwards — by fifty per cent — the number of people who've died of covid—19 in wuhan — the city where the pandemic started. and the duke and duchess of cambridge urge people to think

about the importance of mental health in a world of isolation and lockdown. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first. we start here in the uk, where a leading health expert was warned that there could be a0 thousand deaths in the uk by the time the pandemic is over. speaking to british mps, professor anthony costello said britain could well end up with the highest death toll in europe — and criticised the uk government for being too slow to take action. latest figures show that in the last 2a hours, close to 850 people died in uk hospitals having tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number to more

than 1a and a half thousand. at the daily downing street press conference the business secretary announced the government had set up a new task force to back the development of a coronavirus vaccine. it will bring together experts in government, industry and academia. but alok sharma warned it could still be many months before a vaccine is available. elsewhere in the world — germany's health minister has declared the outbreak under control, after the country saw a decline in the infection rate. in china, officials have revised upwards — by 50% — the number of people who have died of covid—19 in wuhan, the city where the pandemic started. and in america, president trump has come under criticism for calling on some states to reopen their economies.this first and in america, president trump has come under criticism for calling on some states to reopen their economies. this first report from richard galpin. despite the tireless work of doctors and nurses across the country, coronavirus has already left more than 1a,500 people dead and the numbers continue to rise.

there are concerns about the government's approach to this outbreak. welcome to this session of the house of commons... today's hearing chaired byjeremy hunt was a chance for these to be expressed by politicians, health staff and experts. there has been strong criticisms. the harsh reality, and i hope i am being constructively critical, this should be a no blame audit, where were the system errors that led us to having the highest death rates in europe. we have to face the reality that we were too slow on a number of things, but we can make sure that in the second way we are not too slow. he said this later. we can see 40,000 deaths by the time it is over. another key issue faced

by the government is a supply of ppe, which health and care staff need to prevent being infected by the virus. there are warnings that some hospitals are now on the verge of running out of this equipment. i would love to be able to wave a magic wand and have ppe fall from the sky in large quantities. and to answer your question on when shortages will be resolved, but given it is a global situation where there is less ppe than needed, it will be a huge pressure point. there is nothing... there is nothing i can say that will take away the fact that we have a global challenge. the government is also under significant pressure on the roll—out of testing people for the virus, a vital part of the battle to get the outbreak under control. at the moment it is focused on health and care staff and patients. the health secretary wanted to be ramped up to 100,000 tests per day

by the end of this month, it is currentlyjust 18,000. why the three—week gap between stopping community testing and the announcement of the hundred thousand target? the overall project to ramp up testing has been going since day one. the challenge is, as the epidemic increased exponentially, it meant that the incidence of the outbreak was broad and it meant that we were not able to test everybody with symptoms but i want to get back to the position, now we have the curves under control, i want to get back to the position that we can test everybody with symptoms. the health secretary has now announced that testing will be expanded to include the police, fire service, judiciary and others.

we can speak now to martin mckee, who's professor of european public health at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. he's also a former president of the european public health association. professor mckee joins us live from north london. good to have you with us. do you agree with professor anthony castella. it is risky to predict the future, especially with a virus that we are still learning. but his figures are probably in the right ballpark i would've thought. but we have to see what happens, of course. let us talk about testing. today's figures show the testings going up, 21,000 were done the last 2a hours, but the capacity was 32,000, what do you think there is the disparity? there's a report in the guardian today from someone who is working in the centre of milton keynes saying they're not working at anything like capacity because the samples are not getting through and clearly, there are another range of logistic issues

from getting people to be tested, getting the test of the centres and so on. getting the test of the centres and so on. it is not clear what the problem is but there is a problem that these swabs that should be tested or not getting to the people who can do them. will be made by the testing is that vinita testing and we seem to be aimless and it needs to be intelligent testing because today we heard in the committee briefing that we should really be going to mass testing but is to solve the problem or should we really be to intelligent testing of certain sectors of society? we need a combination. the secretary of state announced a few weeks ago that an exercise where they will be testing using the antibody tests that are done in a laboratory and other hand—held ones, people will getan other hand—held ones, people will get an idea of the prevalence of it is very important information. we do need to do a great deal more testing for the virus to the antigen. people

talk about to make sure what is going on. one of the difficulties is that the death figures the people we re that the death figures the people were being tested that died in hospital. we still have a large gap in our knowledge about the people who are dying and care homes and also for dying at home. some of the latest a nalysis also for dying at home. some of the latest analysis and looking at that suggest that perhaps our total death count which is at 1a and a half thousand, probably should be increased by about 6000 and part of thatis increased by about 6000 and part of that is because we are not doing enough testing. and that will be to the need for care homes and also more in the community and also doing much more in the population.” more in the community and also doing much more in the population. i do not dispute that amber will try to get to because we are going to hear from a german virologist shortly and if you taught that up to 22%, what

are we trying to achieve with our testing? the key figure that we need in all of this and ministers have made this clear is the reproduction number must affect fewer than one other person, the only we can know thatis other person, the only we can know that is by having enough information which will come from testing primarily. link to a whole ridge of methods that go with that and of course testing is not sufficient on its own, that is only one part. you need an army of people looking for people. that is a major problem because we do not have those people. might we not have them now‘s there area might we not have them now‘s there are a lot of people unemployed because he looked, we need to train your biz contact tracers. there is a long history here and without going back and revisiting it all, we do know that the public health function was significantly weakened over the

last eight years with a combination of austerity, the 2012 health and social act but we know we are so we need to look forward and that is where we need to look at recruiting people and training them. but it is not going to be easy. that is what we re not going to be easy. that is what were looking at other methods of looking at apps and mobile phones. of the problem is you need to have the people to follow things up. we have a challenge. because we have limited capacity and if we are not using it as well as we should be at the minute, we have limited people to do the contact tracing and we really need to get the help very quickly stop i thank you for your time, thank you. let's look a little more at the situation in germany. despite confirming more cases than either the uk or france — germany has recorded significantly fewer coronavirus deaths than either. that's partly explained by the greater number of tests that germany is conducting overall —

so far more than 1.7 million of them. but many experts believe that germany's high testing rate is itself playing a crucial role in the country's efforts to contain the virus's spread. earlier hans—georg krausslich, the head of virology at heidelberg university hospital, explained what lessons we can learn from germany's strategy. from my side, i think it's true that the relatively large number of testing, which is probably higher than in most countries in the world, is making a difference in the sense of both getting the numbers right but also getting an overall view of the epidemic. we clearly have a large number of relatively mild cases who were diagnosed. we feel that this might also help in the course of the disease because we might capture people earlier, before they go on to artificial ventilation and so on, they might be able to treat them at an earlier stage, which could also be helping in this overall crisis. you're testing around half a million a week at the moment. where do you think you need to get to? it's hard to say. i think we are currently,

as everybody facing the problem, that we simply do not get more reagents to do more testing. so even if you had more personal, machines, and everything, the reagent market, on the international scale, is pretty empty. so different groups are working on different programmes to devise alternative testing, but also full testing. so our view is that with the gradual opening, we might be in a situation that we might need to look into schools, into health care units and other places, and simply test a larger number of people there. but there, we would expect the number of positives is very low, so maybe taking pools of tens or so will give us a much higher testing capacity while not actually lowering the position of the results. the reason i ask is because angela merkel is saying this could go on for another 18 months. i mean make you look at your high testing rate, it's still only two or 3%

of the german population. and if you're going to reopen, then surely you need to test and retest the same people to make sure they don't have the virus. so 2 million a month doesn't really cut it, does it? no, i don't think we will get that, and i don't think we will have to go to this. as long as we have a relatively low rate of infected people and a relatively low number of transmissions, contact tracing might be working in many instances and then we need to look at special situations, we need to detect clusters early, so we sort of get around them before they spread. obviously you will not contain transmission totally but if you detect clusters and prevent them from spreading around, this might already be enough. it's interesting, you talk about contact tracing because authorities in america or saying they would need 300,000 contact traces to get on the phone and contact people who might have been infected by someone that has the virus. do you think that's what countries are going to have to look at, that besides the technology and the apps that we've discussed, we also need people just to do the hard work of ringing people up

and saying, look how you need to isolate? absolutely. absolutely, and i guess that's true for the united states, as well, what they say. if you have a large number of people, you need a huge number of contact traces. but if you make it, contain it to a relatively low number, as we currently are heading towards, if the situation remains the same in germany, you might be in a better situation because then you can actually look at those that you detect and identify clusters early, you look at groups of people and you look at risk places like nursing homes, like homes for the elderly and other places. the government says it is reviewing the evidence about whether the public should wear face masks in crowded places to help stop the spread of the virus. the mayor of london has called for masks to be worn in public for additional protection. and a growing number of european countries is recommending using them. here's our science editor, david shukman. popular in asia before the pandemic, masks are now appearing in more and more

countries around the world. the government here is weighing up the options and the mayor of london believes we should cover our faces anywhere crowded. think about when you're using public transport, if you really have to, or you're in a shop and you can't keep two metres apart. wearing a non—medical facial covering makes it less likely you may inadvertently give somebody else covid—19. one reason is that coughs and sneezes can travel much further than previously thought. another is that people can spread the virus before they have any symptoms. but the government has a serious worry, that the best masks, which are vital on the medical front line, will get snapped up by the public. here is how you can make your own face covering in a few easy steps. that is why in the united states, the authorities are urging people to make their own masks. america's top medic showing how. then you fold either side to the middle, and you have yourself a cloth face covering.

an old t—shirt is not going to do a greatjob of protecting you from the virus, but think of it the other way round. covering your face with something like this might actually protect others from you. that's because you might be infected with the virus and be passing it on without even realising. if you're wearing a double layer of cotton masks and you cough and someone eight to ten inches away, there is a very dramatic reduction in the percentage of virus that is getting to the other person. they still get some, but it is a small fraction of what they would have got if you hadn't been wearing a face covering. i protect you, you protect me. the czech republic was one of the first european countries to insist on masks, and now many others are following. they could help with the process of reopening factories and offices whenever the lockdown is relaxed. but that'll be a big step and so far, the government has held

back from taking it. david shukman, bbc news. to china now, where a set of new statistics are showing the coronavirus pandemic in a different light. the first — a fifty percentjump in the official total of people who died after testing postive for covid—19 in wuhan — the city where the virus originated. the total number of confirmed deaths in china is now over 4,500, a rise of more than 12 hundred. news of that amended death toll came shortly after state media reported another headline number — china's economy had contracted by a substantial 6.8% — the first time it had shrunk for three decades. taken together, the numbers have led some to accuse china's government of concealing just how bad the outbreak was — and how seriously it affected the country.

but officials say there has been no cover—up. translation: in the early stages of the epidemic, due to inefficient capacity of treatment, some hospitals failed to connect with the disease prevention and control information system in a timely manner. hospitals were overloaded and medical staffs were busy treating patients. there were some delayed reports, misreports and false reports, but there's never been any cover up. we noted that other countries and regions had also made revisions to data in regards to the the infectious disease. the chinese government has always maintained an open, transparent and responsible attitude. meanwhile, china's economic output has contracted by nearly 7 percent in the first three months of this year, the first time it's shrunk in decades. michael zakkour is the author of "china's super consumers. this is actually history in the making. since the opening and reform

movement started in 1978 in china, the economy has never contracted. if you go back to the 2000s in the 20105, you go back to the 2000s in the 2010s, the economy was growing an average of eight to 14% every year. so not only does the growth eliminated but a 70% contraction u nfortu nately, eliminated but a 70% contraction unfortunately, i think it is a harbinger of things to come of the world and, we could be looking at 1596, world and, we could be looking at 15%, 01 world and, we could be looking at 15%, q1 contractions. and press more than that in the second and third quarters around the world and i think possibly a contraction of the smudge to six to 10% if the numbers follower china has been already. to ta ke follower china has been already. to take seriously some of the things we have heard outside of china. the british secretary saying that things cannot go back to normal in terms of trade with china. do you think there may be a different attitude from

countries? well, i think the politicians, business people from around the world are questioning their relationship with china and their relationship with china and the chinese economy going forward. but i think that some of the talk is a bit simplistic and discounts the central role that china currently plays in the process of making products, moving products, selling products, moving products, selling products, we keep in mind that it is mostly manufacturing, but china is the largest consumer market in the world and tens of thousands of companies and certainly a0 to 1000 companies and certainly a0 to 1000 companies sell billions upon billions of dollars worth of products to chinese consumers every year and if people are going to follow through on this, it is going to ta ke follow through on this, it is going to take a completely different dismantling not just because

to take a completely different dismantling notjust because of the supply chain come up with the dismantling of the global supply chain for how we make, move and sell everything. i think, i think there will be some sectors that would do well into the future because we are all turning to attack and tech companies like microchips and etc, they all do well. but we heard from they all do well. but we heard from the french president saying that we have to start making their medicines. we have to start bringing in strategically thinks that if our medicines. we have to start bringing in strategically things that if i supply chains of cut, you know, we really need to have in house. absolutely and i agree that this is a time to ask those questions to say, what is vital to our national interests. it is vital to in terms of the products but the idea that we are going to go back somehow to the pre—industrial revolution era where every country is going to make what needs. that is just a silly

impossibility. i think it is more a question of how do we figure out what really needs to be done in their home countries as opposed to what can be done elsewhere. what are the things we saw in china though and talking about where we're going from here from additional perspective, it was the robust new retail and digital ecosystems for consumers, for logistics that really saved china from going further down the economic disaster whole than they already did. a senior health expert says he feels ‘ashamed' when nhs staff aren't able to access enough personal protective equipment. paul durrands asked the bbc to put him in contact with the fashion company burberry — which has switched production to make ppe for healthcare workers. the health secretary has admitted that the uk is running low on gowns for medical staff, but says another 55,000 are due to arrive later today. simon browning reports.

it is situation critical. nhs hospitals are running out of vital gowns to protect staff and patients and yesterday one nhs doctor contacted me to say that the situation was so bad at his hospitals, could i direct him directly to factories who could make gowns? i had seen on the bbc website that barbour were manufacturing gowns, my local health care system was low on gowns, so i contacted you to see if you had a name of someone who i could talk to to get some gowns. this man is a specialist in ppe. supply change issues have caused problems. if our staff turn up on shift and our ppe is not in the cupboard, it is not good enough. this morning, the situation experienced by this doctor and his colleagues was acknowledged

by the health secretary. we are tight on gowns and that is the pressure point right now. we have another 55,000 gowns arriving today and we are working internationally to get more gowns. we are on it and we are getting uk manufacturers to make these products, but we are putting a supply chain together, which will take time. the demand to produce ppe in the uk has revealed how small and fractured the uk supply chain is and, after decades of moving production overseas to get cheaper costs, uk factories that are left are doing all they can to help. barbour and burberry have been asked by the uk government to help with shortages, but getting this brand—new supply chain set up has been complicated.

this factory in salford has been working to make gowns as well. people have been putting their hands up, desperate to help with the national effort, but they have been disappointed by how long it has taken to get some traction. this afternoon, burberry says it will work to produce what it can. but, as the government admits, there are gaps in the system. urgent action and reaction is needed. animals are making the most of the extra space at yosemite national park in california. coyote are now coming out in the daytime, and deer have been seen roaming down the roads. even the park's famous black bears have been seen more frequently than usual at this time of year.

i read the countable bear population has tripled. i love. another day were there has been a good deal of sunshine across parts of scotland, northern ireland, northern england and east anglia, particularly this morning. earlier this afternoon, for others, finally some rain has arrived and parts of southern england and wales and that is slowly been trekking its way towards this afternoon. all tied in with the system, maintaining the high pressure to the north and the east and i will become more dominant asago east and i will become more dominant asa go to east and i will become more dominant as a go to the second half of the weekend. back to tonight, slowly working its way north where it's intending to weaken as it does but as it does comes in every thundershowers pushing up from france across the south of england and the parts of wells may be as far north as the mittens bite into the

night. for the north tri, the close of the sky the further west you are, and across northern parts of scotla nd and across northern parts of scotland will be milder underneath the cloud and with the showers we have still got the shelves run tomorrow morning with that heavy and thundering well the main land a bit into the far south of northern england, the service will be further and fewer between. thus dissension for the north you are and still some easterly breeze and it will be cooler in the way of sunshine, plus north east england and the eastern side of scotland compared to friday, for those of temperatures in the low teens celsius with a lot of cloud around and all the showers. we will keep the show was going until saturday evening but they will start to fizzle out in this area of high pressure becomes a bit more established is too go to sunday, just extending as a further south and west routes. certain amounts of cloud around on sunday, particularly through the morning but they will start to fizzle out in this area of high pressure becomes a bit more

established is to go to sunday, just extending as a further south and west routes. certain amounts of cloud around on sunday, particularly through the morning press it's the day wears on, that northern ireland and the slightly warmer day with the richest of the mid—18th still somewhat cooler than the eastern coast of that breach the court north sea. that will strengthen and high—pressure still to these to the uk and still dominating feature. but we could see some stronger ones developing through monday, tuesday and wednesday, particularly for eastern coast but once we see southern areas, things once again are looking me in the drive. bye. —— looking mainly dry.

this is bbc news with the latest

headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a leading health specialist says the uk could end up with the highest death toll in europe due to early errors made in the pandemic. we have to face the reality of that. we were too slow with a number of things. but we can make sure that, in the second wave, we're not too slow. the mayor of london calls for the wearing of face masks to be compulsory while travelling in the city. germany's health minister says the country's covid—19 outbreak is under control, after a decline in the infection rate. officials in china have revised upwards — by 50% — the number of people who've died of covid—19 in wuhan — the city where the pandemic started. and the duke and duchess of cambridge urge people to think about the importance of mental health in a world of isolation and lockdown.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. more now on our main story. a leading scientist has warned ministers in the uk that there could be as many as a0—thousand coronavirus deaths in the country by the time the pandemic is over. professor anthony costello, from university college london, said there could be further waves of the virus. the number of deaths in hospitals across the uk has risen to almost 1a,600, a rise of 8a7 since yesterday. let's speak now to sir ed davey who is the acting leader of the liberal democrats. good to have you with the programme. professor gus tell us that we shouldn't be indulging in a blame game. there were system errors which we need to get right. that's professor costello. systemic or

political errors? we will need to have to look into that. whether it was the system not giving the right advice to ministers or the minister is not listening to the advice properly. we heard scientists and experts say there were warrants the government needed to act more quickly. —— there were someone. professor anthony castella seem to suggest that today. we have to look at that but he is right that at the moment we need to put together. we have a huge crisis on our hands. health crisis, economic crisis. and we have to try it to find a solution together for these problems. we have to try it to find a solution togetherfor these problems. i do think the government has got to really get a grip on the supply and protective equipment. ppe. for health care and social care staff. and we really have to get to grips with testing. the testing numbers are way lower than the government told us they would be. we were just asking professor martin mckie about

that on the programme. he blamed two things. austerity and the 2012 health and social care act. which of course the coalition government passed i wish you were a member. —— and which you were a member. passed i wish you were a member. —— and which you were a memberlj passed i wish you were a member. —— and which you were a member. i do not agree with him. the reality is, the government can i do not think reached out to universities and to the private sector or the amazing life science sector that we have in this country early enough. they adopted a centralised model to public health england. i think now they are having to adapt to that. that is nothing to do with things like that happen eight years ago. you don't think when you look at the example of germany, and the number of biotech labs they have been the way they have structured their testing industry there in germany, that we could've done it better looking back over consecutive governments? those biotech labs are in the private sector. and i do think that the government failure if it turns out to be as bad as the

professor was saying, is that it failed to engage with businesses at an earlier stage, and we had a number of businesses contacted bbc saying that that may be offering the services of the government having been responding. and that is increasingly worrying, where businesses who are providing test to other countries that are now basically based in the country don't appear to be being listened to by central government. so i think that looks where the biggest problem is that we have seen in germany, they handle things rather more competently. i'm interested in where we go in the future because obviously we spend a lot of money on ventilators. but we do not need so many ventilators in normal time. if we put a lot of money and throw millions at testing, wouldn't that testing capacity be beneficial to the country outside of a pandemic, for things like cancer testing and disease testing within the nhs? so it is not a waste of money or wasted

investments? you make a very good point. often and health discussions, we argue that we should have more testing and more screening to make sure that diseases are cut at an earlier stage. if we can upgrade the level of testing in our country, it could have a huge benefit now as we tackle coated to make it helpless as we come out of coated because we have to learn to live with his virus potentially for several months if not longer. and that will mean a lot more testing is happening at the moment. and as you say, we can repurpose some of that lab to testing that really an ideal world the nhs would be anyway. absolutely. harvey also know i a bit of a bmi binder tonight. it is about contact tracing. largely spurred by an announcement from the cdc they would like 300,000 contact testers. —— viewers will know i have bmi bonnet

tonight because. to make sure they know who they have been contact with. shouldn't we have those people now? shouldn't we be employing them? if they were identifying people, while under lockdown, that process is much easier. i think we do need to make those early preparations. i do agree with you that contact testing is one of the mistakes of a policy today. i don't know if you read a piece by a scientist who was advising the government when they decided to reduce contact testing in early march and the scientist was making the argument that that was a real failure, that we ended community testing and that is not what happened in germany or korea. where they kept up that testing and we re where they kept up that testing and were able to trace people and trace people who had came into contact with people who been testing positive for the virus. and therefore able to contain a more

effectively. and it does look like that was a mistake. and going forward , that was a mistake. and going forward, just as you say, i think contact and tracing is going to be a key pa rt contact and tracing is going to be a key part of how we got get out of this and a our economy and our society in a safeway so we don't see aof society in a safeway so we don't see a of the virus. good to get your thoughts and i. thank you for spring is the time. —— your thoughts tonight. thank you for sparing a short time. let's return to the situation in continental europe — where, as we've heard, the german government says the country's coronavirus outbreak is under control. that comes after a steady decline in infections — and as some other european nations look to ease their restrictions on movement and working. but the statistics are varying greatly from country to country — with france extending its lockdown. our europe correspondent gavin lee sent this summary of the situation from brussels...

well, this is a moment where an increasing number of european governments say they are confident that they are getting some control over the coronavirus crisis. in germany, the biggest population of europe, 83 million people, where there have been 130,000 cases and less than a,000 deaths, so comparatively low there. the health minister, jens spahn, today saying that at no point have the icu units been under pressure and they can start to slowly ease the measures. on monday, small shops, businesses will start to open. in austria, the government says they have flattened the curve and it's been the last couple of days that things like hardware stores, libaries, bookshops, diy centres have been opened there. spain today, there's been a slight increase again in the spread. they are up 5,000 more cases, the death toll around 585. the authorities there saying that it is in line with a slow spread that is starting to waiver slightly, but enough that it's dropped that pressure on some of the icu units that were really struggling to cope just over

a couple of weeks ago, particularly in madrid. and the swedes today, in many ways an outlier in this whole lockdown times of europe, with cafes and bars open. ann linde, the foreign minister, today saying it was a myth that sweden carried on as normal, they have had social distancing in place and they say it is working there. gavin lee there with an update from around europe. president trump has appeared to endorse protests against lockdown measures in several us states, just a day after acknowledging that the decision to impose restrictions lay not with him in a series of tweets, he said: "liberate minnesota", "liberate michigan" and then "liberate virginia". all three states are led by democrats. mr trump also launched a twitter attack on the democratic governor of new york, andrew cuomo. mr trump accused him of inaction and ingratitude after the governor said the federal government was not giving adequate help to re—open states' economies.

i was afraid this thing was uncontrollable and that despite everything we did, the numbers were going to continue to go through the roof. by the way, nobody can tell you otherwise. but we proved we can control the beast. we can reduce the rate of infection. we did that by our response to the crisis. credit to all new yorkers, all americans, they flattened the curve. nobody else — no government agency, no public health expert. people's actions flattened the curve. it is getting political there. the world health organisation has warned that africa could become the next epicentre of coronavirus. the continent has seen a sharp rise in cases over the last week. but zimbabwe has one of the lowest numbers of reported cases, only 17 — but there are now questions about how accurate the figure is. from harare, shingai nyoka reports. even in the time of a highly

infectious disease, there are pressing needs for food. there is a maize meal shortage here and people are taking risks to get it. covid—19 has arrived at the worst possible time, during a drought and economic collapse. so, you know what is happening. when people hear that there is some maize meal in the shopping centre, they all rush and forget about all these protocols, all the corona issues, simply because there is tension, they are torn between survival and a threat that is invisible. the government is also trying to strike a balance to keep a fragile economy ticking. and it has gradually eased lockdown restrictions. the food markets have opened again, but most people are potentially still vulnerable to the coronavirus here, where a social distancing remains a luxury. and so too are gloves and masks,

which have grown in price almost fivefold since the outbreak began. more than most people here can afford. but the vendors are happy that they can make a living despite the risks. it is much better to come here and stay at home. being in the house is not good. covid has brought death here but also a silver lining. it's forced government to rehabilitate long neglected public hospitals. and the private sector is chipping in too. through donations, several hospitals like this church owned facility will reopen, to treat critical covid cases. trying to put our efforts together so we are a little ready. we are doing the little that we can do.

dr clemence chidziva will be leading their response. it is very difficult for us to be able to know where exactly we are, are we at the beginning of the curve? where we are in the curve, we really can't tell. as of last week end, zimbabwe had tested just over 600 people, one of africa's lowest testing rates. there are plans to ramp up to a thousand tests a day, but with still many unknowns, there is no clear indication whether the country is winning the battle. shingai nyoka, bbc news, harare. scientists in oxford in the uk are hoping to have a million doses of a coronavirus vaccine by september, and hundreds of millions by the end of the year. they are one of a group of research teams who'll receive funding from a new government taskforce set up to find a vaccine. meanwhile the pressure to carry out more tests on frontline staff continues — the health secretary says it will be extended to the police, fire and prison service. our medical correspondent

fergus walsh reports. more than 70 scientific teams across the world are trying to do in month what would normally take many years. develop a coronavirus vaccine. one of the leading groups at oxford university says manufacturers in europe, china and india are set to produce their vaccine so it is ready to roll—out in september, if by then it is shown to be effective. it is pretty clear that the world will need hundreds of millions of doses. ideally by the end of issue two in this pandemic, to let us out of lockdown and ensure we can do that. _by lockdown and ensure we can do that. —— by the end of this year. a vaccine is the exit strategy for this pandemic. the government has announced a coronavirus vaccine task force to help scale up manufacturing and support teams like this one at imperial college london. at the number ten briefing, the scale of

the challenge and its importance was all too clear. producing a vaccine isa all too clear. producing a vaccine is a colossal undertaking. a complex process which would take many months. there are no guarantees. but the government is making our sciences, betting big to maximise a chance of success. when we do have a vaccine, how will you prioritise who gets it first? well, first of all, we have to get a vaccine first. that is not two days away, two months away. making a vaccine is a difficult complicated process. it doesn't only have to work. it has to be safe. i think it will be important that we vaccinate in the way that you normally do for these diseases which is to make sure the most vulnerable are protected and then to roll—out to wider vaccinations but that is some way. “ some way vaccinations but that is some way. —— some way off. a london choir has released a video to raise money and awareness

for the domestic abuse charity, women's aid. 276 members of the london city voices choir individually recorded a video of their rendition of the carole king song ‘you've got a friend' before it was meticulously put together. let's have a listen. music. # you just call out my name. # and you know wherever i am. # i will come running. # to see you again. # winter, spring, summer, fall. # all you have to do is call. # and i will be there. # you've got a friend.

what about that? we can speak now to richard swan who is the founder and director of the london city voices choir. well done! fantastic. tell us why you did it. thank you very much. first of all i would like to say a massive thank you to everybody who has donated so far. since 1pm we have raised over seven and have thousand pounds already. what was your target? ten. seven tenths of the way there. thank you. it came about because we are very much a community choir and very all about being together and doing stuff together. we are very much a family. our spring concert was cancelled for obvious reasons. so i thought we should get together and have a project that was allowed everybody to participate. i think this would bea to participate. i think this would be a great thing to do in isolation and it was only afterwards that i thought i heard the statistic that

a196 thought i heard the statistic that a1% there's been an increase of the need for the live chat facility with woman's age so it is a really crucial thing. i thought that would be great to get behind. here are. they really put a charity. i will come back to the any second. i want to understand how you produce it. —— a really great charity. then each member of the choir, did they zoom into you, did they facetime you or did they record it at home on their own and how have you stitched it altogether? ok, so this was produce with my friend jason, jason reed, who did all the video side of things andi who did all the video side of things and i did the audio. everybody sent injusta and i did the audio. everybody sent injust a recorded phone or computer video by dropbox. and then we both downloaded the files separately on our systems and process the video and audio. and thenjason since the whole thing together when i sent in the audio. i'm reading here that

jason spent 1000 hours editing.” thousand hours of rendering. rendering is this, you normally have an edit suite with loads of really powerful computers for that. it ta kes powerful computers for that. it takes hours to do it. rendering is getting it from the programme that puts it altogether and to somebody else's machine. so anybody who doesn't have the programme can still see it. and that takes hours and hours and we use three computers to do in the end. he had to bring his computer out of retirementjust to be able to look on the internet. it was about 60 hours of video recording and about a0 hours audio editing. —— video editing. recording and about a0 hours audio editing. -- video editing. my wife is in editing. -- video editing. my wife isina editing. -- video editing. my wife is in a choir so i know how important it is. it is part of her release in the week and really important for her mental health and pa rt important for her mental health and part of her family and friends are in it. i imagine it is like that for everybody in the choir.” in it. i imagine it is like that for everybody in the choir. i think so. absolutely. we are very much about

being together and we have tried to keep that going while we can actually be physically together. let's go back to the charity. as you said, the number of calls into the woman's aid national phone line has risen by a1%. of course, a lot of us are finding the lockdown template it is even tougher if you are living with an abuser. absolutely. i don't know what that is like thankfully, but it must be horrendous. i don't really wa nt but it must be horrendous. i don't really want to think about what it is like. so we figured it was a good course to support. if people want to donate to it, where did they go?m you look at the video, and the you to link, we have on facebook, twitter —— youtube link. our facebook as london city voices. in

the description of the youtube video, there is the link for the just giving page where you can get. a brilliant thoughts. well done. great project. best of luck with that. that's a brilliant project. with at least three more weeks of the lockdown ahead in the uk, the duke and duchess of cambridge are urging people to look after their mental health. prince william said ‘the stress and isolation is building' and said there's an ‘ever—increasing need' for people to know where to access help and support. he also spoke about his concern for his father, the prince of wales, when he was diagnosed with the virus last month. the couple were speaking to the bbc‘s tina daheley. tina, hi. hi! hello! hello. there may be many who are experiencing mental health challenges for the first time during the lockdown. what can we do to help them and help each other? like you said, a lot of people won't necessarily have thought

about their mental health, maybe ever before. and, suddenly, this environment we're in catches up on them quite quickly. i think the most important thing is talking. i mean, social media, again, it can be... it is providing a lot of relief, connectivity for a lot of families, a lot of people. you've spoken about traumatic call—outs you've had to deal with as an air ambulance pilot tipping you over the edge. nhs front line workers are being exposed to things that will be very difficult to deal with. what would you say to them, based on your own experience? the scale and the speed of what's going on in hospitals, bearing in mind the isolation, a lot of these patients are sadly dying with no family members around them. i think for the nhs front line workers, that is very difficult because they are there right next to the bedsides, looking after and caring for each and every patient in a critical condition and i think they take away that pain and sometimes that fear and that loneliness that these patients have

to go through. they are the ones who absorb that and take it home to their families. we're not superhuman, any of us, so to be able to manage those emotions and that feeling is going to take some time after all this is over as well. do you think this will fundamentally change who we are and what we value? because at the moment, we have some of the lowest—paid people doing the highest—value jobs in society. i think it's going to dramatically change how we all value and see our front line workers. and i think that is one of the main positives from this, that you can take from this. they do an extraordinaryjob. it goes unrecognised daily and now i think all of us, as a nation, can really see how hard they work and how vital their work is. how did you feel when you found out your dad had the virus? i have to admit, at first, i was quite concerned. he fits the profile of somebody, at the age he's at, which is fairly risky, and, so, i was a little bit worried.

obviously, speaking to him made me feel more reassured that he was ok. the hardest thing he found was having to stop and not being able to get a bit of fresh air and go for a walk. he's a mad walker, loves his walking, so i think he found it quite difficult, especially also with his mental health, being sort of stuck inside and not being able to go for walks. and, obviously, i think very carefully about my grandparents, who are at the age they're at and we're doing everything we can to make sure that they are isolated away and protected from this. but it does worry me, what's going to happen to a lot of the vulnerable people and the high—risk people who are going to have to potentially have to isolate away for quite some time. how have you both been coping? it's been, yeah, ups and downs, probably, like lots of families, but also spending lots of time at home. lots of home—schooling, which was challenging. yeah, home—schooling's fun! don't tell the children we've actually kept it going through the holidays. i feel very mean.

home—schooling is fun. the duke and duchess of cambridge speaking to tina daheley. and you can read more about the campaign on the nhs every mind matters website. the former england and leeds united footballer, norman hunter, has died at the age of 76 after testing positive for coronavirus. a member of the 1966 world cup winning squad, he was renowned for his ferocious tackling — earning him the nickname norman ‘bite yer legs' hunter. sad. him and pete. three astronauts have returned from the international space station to a world transformed by the pandemic while they've been away. the two americans and a russian — jessica meir and andrew morgan and oleg skripochka — landed in kazakhstan, where a state of emergency is in force because of the coronavirus. they say it will be hard not to be able to hug their loved ones on their return. that is it for me. let's get some

weather. helena jenkins is there. another day when there has been a good deal of sunshine across parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern england, and east anglia, particularly this morning. this was fife earlier this afternoon. for others, finally some rain has arrived in two parts of southern england and wales that has been slowly tracking north through the afternoon. all tied into this frontal system, this area of low pressure to the south—west of the uk maintaining high pressure to the north and east and that will become more dominant as we go through the second half of the weekend. back to tonight, we still have a band of rain working slowly northwards, tending to weaken as it does, but behind it some heavy and thundery showers putting up from france to the south of england, parts of wales and may be as far north as the midlands by the end of the night. further north, dry and the clearest skies will stop the further west you are, could be a touch of frost across rural scotland, milder further south under cloud and some showers. still showers around tomorrow morning, heavy and thundery across central and southern england and wales.

may creep further north through the day, into the far south of northern england, but showers further between as the day wears on. the best of sunshine in the further north you are. a noticeable easterly breeze are so eastern coasts are cooler but sunshine across north—east england and eastern scotland compared to friday. further south, temperatures in the low teens with a lot of cloud around and all those showers. the showers will go for a time through saturday evening but they will slowly start to fizzle out as this area of high pressure becomes more established as we go through sunday. this extends further south and west. a fair amount of cloud around on sunday. particularly in the morning. gradually as the day wears on that cloud will recede westwards with increasing amounts of sunshine from the east so by the afternoon holding on to more cloud across parts of wales, south—west england and northern ireland. a dry and slightly warmer day with temperatures in the mid to high teens, still cooler to the east coast with a breeze from the north sea.

the breeze and strengthening through the early part of next week, high pressure to the north—east of the uk and still the dominating feature but we will see stronger when developed through monday, tuesday and wednesday, particularly for the eastern coasts. when we lose the rain across central and southern areas on saturday, things once again looking mainly dry.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. china denies trying to cover up its coronavirus figures — as the city of wuhan revises its official death toll up by 50%. a top uk health specialist warns that britain could end up with the highest death toll in europe due to early errors made in the pandemic. we have to face the reality of that. we were too slow with a number of things. but we can make sure that, in the second wave, we're not too slow. germany's health minister says the country's covid—19 outbreak is under control — after a decline in the infection rate. just in time to help with breakfast. so we must get on. finding inspiration in the past. we'll introduce you to a victorian cook whose recipes have gone viral — 100 years after her death.