people per we've also tested more people per capita than south korea, singapore and every other country. the united states has the most robust, advanced and accurate testing system anywhere in the world. as of yesterday, we have distributed nearly 660,000 ids. that is an incredible test, and it is fantastic. it's the hot one. from within this business, it's a hot one till about two days from now, because we have a saliva test that just came out and that can be self administered, and it is said to be fantastic. i want to think and it laboratories who have been incredible and roche have also been incredible. we have in the dramatic increase in the number of tests conducted by hospitals and academic institutions which is now performed nearly

600,000 tests. there is a tremendous amount of unused capacity in the state of metal for governors to tap. we have tremendous unused capability within those laboratories and i hope the governors are going to be able to use them. the governors are responsible for testing and i hope they will be able to use this tremendous amount of available capacity that we have. it is up to i million additional tests per week. when you think of that, in the next few weeks, we will be sending out 5.5 million testing swabs to the states. swabs can be done easily by the governors themselves. mostly it is cotton. not a big deal, he can get cotto n is cotton. not a big deal, he can get cotton easily but if they cannot get cotton easily but if they cannot get it, we will take care of it. yesterday the fda announced a new collaboration with united health group, the gates foundation, quantity and aunt us cotton to greatly expand the supply of

essential swabs including a new polyester q-tip essential swabs including a new polyester q—tip type swab for the coronavirus testing. all of these actions will help our testing capability continue to grow dramatically. so we are helping people even with swabs and we get ventilators and are now the king of insulators. we have hundreds of thousands under construction. we don't need them ourselves was of the governors are in great shape. if we do, we have a great stockpile that will immediately send to the state in need. but we have handled that situation incredibly well. i hope people understand that. i wish to be able get the word out. but we have done with ventilators is amazing because they are big, expensive and highly complex. we are speaking to other countries. i spoke to the president of mexico today, a great settlement. and i told him that we are going to be helping him out with ventilators and helping mexico out and helping some other countries as

well. we have a lot of very high level, high quality ventilators. and they are here and they are also being manufactured as we speak. following the announcement of our reopening guidelines, there have been some very partisan voices in the media and politics you have spread false and misleading information about our testing capacity. it is totally false and misleading. demonstrating a complete failure to understand the enormous scope of the testing capabilities that we have brought online and we started really from ground zero. we started really from ground zero. we started from really being very, very outdated and obsolete as a country. from the past. and i will say this, if they did not understand it, it is just really unfortunately i did say because we have been getting on very well with false reporting because they understand capability. and it is going to be up to the states to use a capability. the states have local points or they can go, a

governor can call the mayors and the mayor for covered presented his governor can call the mayors and the mayorfor covered presented his in everybody and everything is perfect and that is the way it should work at all it should work. we will help new york and all of the other states get even better on their testicles that we have to get even better and some people —— even better on their testing. we have vast amounts of area where you have very few people. and almost no people are infected. and almost no people are infected. and those places will be looked upon differently by different governors andi differently by different governors and i think you're going to have a lot of news coming out about that over the next few days also i think certain states are going to come online and they are going to start the early stages of the puzzle that we are putting together. and it is going to be together sooner rather than later. a lot of really incredible things are happening. and at some point in the not—too—distant future we are going to have our country back. and it is going to be i think really with what doing on

stimulus and having people keep their businesses together in their life together in theirjobs, it is going to be better than ever before. i hope so, really do. the current conversation is reminiscent of what happens on ventilators. the river that. when requests were made, far beyond what was objectively needed. we were hearing from certain states and certain and hearing a lot and needed far more ventilators. in one case they wanted 40,000 ventilators. 40,000 post a bit turned out they had plenty and had a number of about seven or 8000 and that was plentiful so that we supply them with a lot. but that was the right number and we got itjust but that was the right number and we got it just about but that was the right number and we got itjust about right. and if they did need more, we are ready to get more but i think the surge seems to be over. and there are a lot of governors just be over. and there are a lot of governorsjust doing a be over. and there are a lot of governors just doing a greatjob and they're working with us but we are all working together. the research and development that we have done at

the federal level has been absolutely incredible. the media will be exiting of the figures when they get to see the end result. i think they are going to see it and i think they are going to see it and i think they are already seeing it. that includes not only ventilators but beds. we peel in most cases far more than they even needed. but we wa nted more than they even needed. but we wanted to airon more than they even needed. but we wanted to air on the side of caution for this with the governors wanted. they wanted a certain amount in louisiana. i spoke with the governor have a long talk with him and i said you think he wanted that final hospital and they actually did not need it. we built a lot of bed so i appreciate it from the governor. and we saved building a hospital. in new york, i think a spectacularjob with the javits centre. and even sending the javits centre. and even sending the ship up became and brought it into covid—i9 but they did not really need it and it did not get much use but it was there and ready.

he was not supposed to be used that purpose. we changed into that purpose. we changed into that purpose. and it was they ready willing and able, same with javits. they did not quite need the rooms that we produced. so we produced almost 2900 beds. and i think out of the tell you that we were over prepared and we were underprepared. and that was a good faith effort by new york. i have to say that. a very good faith effort but it is nice that we did not need it instead of needing it, it was not very occupied but it was ready to go. still there should something happen but i think they have under very good control. as you will hear from our experts to document we have already built sufficient testing capacity nationwide for states to begin their reopening. and i think you'll be hearing a lot about re—openings in the coming and months. most excitingly in the coming weeks i think you were going to see some

very, very dramatic steps taken and very, very dramatic steps taken and very safely. we are putting safety first. we may be opening but we are putting safety first. and when you look at the numbers, look at the possible number of deaths of 2.2 million people and it could have very well been that, he could have been more specifically i was in numbers where he could have been higher than that. 2.2 million people dying if you figure we lost 500,000, maybe 600,000 in the civil war. 2.2 million people. a minimum if we did nothing would have been i.6 chemic at that and happy talk about 800,000, 900,000.i at that and happy talk about 800,000, 900,000. 1 million at that and happy talk about 800,000, 900,000. i million people dying. but we did a lot of work and people in the country were incredible. i have to say. and i think we are heading to the other category in that would be if we did work and it was successful and they have between 100000 and 220,000 up

to 240,000 on the upside. and i think we will be substantially hopefully below the 100 number. and i think right now we are heading to probably around 60. may be 65,000. and one is too many. i always say to it. one is too many comments as a horrible thing to happen to our country and to 184 countries all over the world. it was a horrible thing and there was no reason for it. it should never app —— ever happen again. in a few minutes you will be hearing from doctor redfield, doctor fauci, doctor birx and the admiralto redfield, doctor fauci, doctor birx and the admiral to explain these fa cts and the admiral to explain these facts in a great detail. earlier today, the fda authorise to new antibody tests which are very exciting to determine if someone has a previously infected with a virus to be bringing the total to four authorise antibody tests already ready of this will help us assess a number of cases that have been a

systematic or mildly symptomatic. and support our efforts to get americans back to work by showing who might have been developing the wonderful and beautiful immunity. ultimate victory in this war will be made possible by america's scientific brilliance. there is nothing like us when there is nobody like us, not even close. i wish i could tell you stories of what other countries, even powerful countries say to me, the leaders. they say it quietly and they say it off the record but they have great respect for what we can do. and our country is ata for what we can do. and our country is at a point where a few weeks ago, think of it, for five weeks ago, we we re think of it, for five weeks ago, we were at a level that nobody had ever attained him of the best of numbers we have ever had, the best country we've ever had. every company virtually was doing better business than ever before. the stock market was at all—time highs. and then one day they said you have got to close

it up. and we did the right thing. we saved it may be millions of lives by giving it the way we did it. but we are paying a price for that price is very unimportant compared to the number of lives you're talking about. the nih and others are conducting clinical trials of 35 different therapies and treatments, therapies being so exciting to me. because that is really like if something happens you will get better. these —— reasonably quickly. and without such a horrible deal as a people have to go through. to that end, today nih announced that it is launching a public—private partnership with more than one dozen bio pharmaceutical companies. hhs, fda, cdc and the european medicines agency are all working together and working together with a lot of other countries. the partnership will at and co—ordinate the vast resources,

knowledge, assets and authorities of more than one dozen organisations and agencies to accelerate development of the most promising therapies and vaccines was of the vaccines are coming along really well. johnson &johnson vaccines are coming along really well. johnson & johnson is vaccines are coming along really well. johnson &johnson is very well advanced. 0ne well. johnson &johnson is very well advanced. one thing is, they have to having great success what we have to test them and it takes a long period of time. it takes probably over a year u nfortu nately of time. it takes probably over a year unfortunately but therapies like those are coming along very well. therapies are immediately get the apple so that will be a big day. we are also equipping our medical warriors on the front lines and in total we have the project air bridge and the air bridge has been incredible. the national strategic stockpile and every other channel, the federal government has deployed think about it, 44.5 million 95 mask

him 524 million gloves, city 3.5 million surgical masks and more than 10 million gallons and we have 500 million masks coming in very soon. between manufacturing and orders. 500 million masks. the last few months have been among the most challenging times in the history of our nation. this invisible enemy is tough and it is smart and it is vicious. but every day we are getting closer to the future that we all have been waiting for. i talk about the light at the end of the tunnel. we are getting very close to seeing that light shine very brightly at the end of that tunnel. and that is happening and i want to think everybody in the room and i wa nt to think everybody in the room and i want to thank, i want to thank some of the media. we have had some fair coverage can a severely fair coverage can a severely fair coverage and i appreciate it. what i am going to do is i am going to introduce our great vice president mike pence and he was a over for a

little while and i will leave and i'm coming right back and will take some questions and will go over our tremendous testing capabilities. and again i'll be right back, thank you very much. thank you. good afternoon all. today the presidentjust reflected and it remains a challenging time in the life of our nation. but because of the extraordinary efforts of the american people, because of the strong partnership, the federal government has forced which states across the country, we are making progress, america. despite the tragic loss of more than 36,000 americans. according to our best day that reporting this morning, we continue to see new cases slow and

steady on the west coast. and we continue to see cases and hospitalizations declining. in the greater new york city area, in the will is, in detroit and elsewhere. this is a tribute first and foremost to our health care, doctors, nurses, all of those working on the front lines. but it is also a great tribute to the american people who have put into practice the social distancing come of the guidelines, the guidance of state and local officials. and we hope that every american is encouraged by the steady progress that we are making. we are continuing to bring at the president's direction the full results of the federal government to bear. today the president approved a major disaster declaration for american samoa. and now all 50 states and all territories are under major disaster declarations for the first time in american history. at this present

moment and national guardsmen are on duty. five 500 active duty military personnel have been deployed to the united states. including 716 medical professionals, doctors and nurses who deployed out of 14 different hospitals today. among those were ten hospitals in new york city and military personnel were also serving today in hospitals in connecticut, texas, louisiana and newjersey. yesterday as the president reflected, we unveiled the president's guidelines for opening up president's guidelines for opening up america again. there were two parts at the beginning of those guidelines. first the criteria that we hope will guide the governors in their decisions about reopening their decisions about reopening their states on either a state—wide level or a county level. and then also we outline what we believe would be the most important state

responsibilities to have in place before moving into a reopening plan. for phase one, the president's guidelines you will recall advised that states that have a downward trajectory in cases over a 14 day period of time and ensure that they have proper capacity in their health ca re have proper capacity in their health care facilities could move to phase one. with the easing of some of the social distancing and the criteria that have been in place. buffer states to meet the criteria, we outline responsibilities, protecting workers in critical industries especially the most vulnerable, those who live and work in senior ca re those who live and work in senior care facilities. and we also encourage states to have a plan for testing somatic individuals and ensuring testing to our most vulnerable populations. as a president has made clear, governors will decide the time and manner that

their state reopens. and we will look to support them in that effort. but as we assure the american people yesterday, the president possibly direction, ouradministration yesterday, the president possibly direction, our administration will continue to work with governors across the country to ensure they have the equipment and this applies and attesting resources to reopen safely and responsibly. 0n the subject of supplies, today we issued a letter to our nation's governors summarising all the medical equipment and supplies i have been distributive to the state from fema between the first of this month and april 14 through the project air bridge and through the commercial supply network. we will speak with our nation possibly governors on monday and detailing that information at that time. as of april the 16th, as the president reflected briefly, fema has coordinated the delivery of millions of pieces of medical equipment including 44 million in 95 respirators, 63 million surgical masks, more than 10,000 ventilators

and of course deployed more than 8600 federal medical station beds. 0n the subject of testing resources, we are going to take some time to speak about our administration positive approach and partnership with states to continue to expand testing across the country at this briefing. but from the very outset of this epidemic, the president made effo rts of this epidemic, the president made efforts to essentially reinvent testing in america. the traditional testing in america. the traditional testing in america. the traditional testing in this country that takes place at cdc or at state labs was designed for basically the kind of diagnostic testing that is routinely required for some of the president early on in this effort brought together the leading commercial la bs in america and we forged a public and private partnership six weeks ago had performed some 25,000 tests. and at this day, we have performed 3.7 million tests. he believed that la bs 3.7 million tests. he believed that labs and

3.7 million tests. he believed that la bs and hospitals 3.7 million tests. he believed that labs and hospitals are now performing more than 120,000 tests a day. and we have actually stood up a tea m day. and we have actually stood up a team from walter reed of the direction of doctor deborah birx thatis direction of doctor deborah birx that is working around the clock to identify additional testing capacity across the country. we believe that states could actually more than double the amount of daily testing thatis double the amount of daily testing that is happening today by simply activating all of the labs. and doctor birx will detail some of those resources today and we will be going over those very specifically with governors on monday. we have also been promoting the development of new and innovative tests and we all know about the 15 minute abbot test. but the fda is currently working on an antibiotic test that literally could add 20 million new tests into our supply even before the end of april. i want to assure the end of april. i want to assure the american people that we are going to continue to work with your governors and with your state health officials to scale testing in the days ahead. but as you will hear

from all of our experts tonight, our best scientists and health experts assess that states today have enough testing implement and the criteria of phase one if they'd choose to do so. and he said that again. given the guidance in the president's new guidelines for opening up america again, states that meet the criteria for going into phase one and then are preparing the testing that is contemplated by going to phase one our best scientists and health experts assess that today we have a sufficient amount of testing to meet the requirements of phase one reopening. if state governors should choose to do that. and you will hear more detail on that in just a minute. at the presidents direction, will be presenting an outline of our approach to testing a partnership with states during this briefing. 0ur with states during this briefing. our approach will continue to be

locally executed, state—mandated and federally supported. doctor fauci gives brief introduction to the overall approach to testing it is contemplated to deal with the coronavirus. doctor redfield with the cdc will describe our plan to mobilise cdc officials in all 50 states to specifically monitor coronavirus incidents that occur in every state in the union. of course doctor deborah birx will describe not only our test would also the current capability and capability that we could expand to very readily and admiral gerard of the public health service will summarise our approach. but i want to assure the american people that at the president's direction we were going to continue to work every single day to continue to work every single day to make sure that our states and communities have the testing they need to reopen in the time and manner of their choosing. and we will work every day to make sure our

states have the resources and the supplies to reopen their states and reopen america. in a safe and responsible way. with that, doctor faucl responsible way. with that, doctor fauci. thank you very much. so as the vice president said i will give you a brief introduction to kind of answer the question that we have been asked a lot and in fact we had a very productive teleconference with the senate democratic caucus just a few hours ago and they asked a numberof just a few hours ago and they asked a number of questions which were really reasonable questions. questions that are on the mind of a lot of different people and one of them was the question that was just post a moment ago, is are there enough tests to allow us to be able to go through this first phase in a way that is protective of the health and safety of the american people? i just when it's been a couple of

minutes clarifying a few things may be providing some information about the broad 40,000 foot which you will hear some more granular details for my colleagues who will be following me. ithink my colleagues who will be following me. i think they asked me to give the 40,000 foot win because i am not a testing person, i did not run a testing lab but i am part of a team thatis testing lab but i am part of a team that is looking at this of how we can best make sure this happens in the right way. so first of all let me say something that we said before andl me say something that we said before and i apologise if i repeat things that you already know but i think in some respects it is important to do that so that people have clarity in what we are talking about. there are two general types of tests even though within each general type there are different subgroups. 0ne of them is to actually test for the infection, is a person infected? the other and infection, is a person infected? the otherandl infection, is a person infected? the other and i will get back to that at a second, the other is to test as we just mentioned if someone has been

infected, usually someone has been infected, usually someone has been infected who has recovered and as i will get to in a moment that you could assume, all that we need to do some more work on that, that the person is actually protected against subsequent exposure and infection with identical organism? so what are some of the pluses and minuses of each because the pluses and minuses are really going to impact how we best use the tests and how the tests actually should be used. so let's ta ke actually should be used. so let's take the test whether or not you are infected. the test of whether or not you are infected is a test that right now is i call a nucleic acid test, not an easy test to do. there are some that are more rapid and there are some that have a high throughput and there are different groups within that. the good news about that is that it is a sensitive and specific test so that if you are infected and know you are infected

so infected and know you are infected so that as i will get to it a moment if you need to do something with that, get that person and put them in care, take care of them and get them out of circulation, that is important. the part about that that i think is often misunderstood is that if you get a test today, like i did today, is negative. if you get a test today, that does not mean that tomorrow the next day or the next day or the next day, if you could expose from someone may not even though they are infected that means i'm negative. if you take that to its extreme, in order to be really sure, its extreme, in order to be really sure , you its extreme, in order to be really sure, you almost have to test somebody either every day or every other day or every other week or what it is to be certain. that is an issue. now, the problem that i talk about when i try and compare this to

others situations with what testing means to you, i almost think the people know have been involved in hiv and aids for 38 years, from the very first week of hiv. that is what i do. if you get a test for hiv and you are negative, and you do not practice any risk behaviours, you can be guaranteed that next month, six months, one year from now, you will be negative. if you don't have a wrist behaviour. there is a big difference there about what testing actually means? the point i think you're forgetting is although there is clearly a place for needing to test somebody for a given reason, a test somebody for a given reason, a test means you negative now. now, the other test is an antibody test, a test that tells you in fact that you have been infected for that that is really good and you will hear about that for my colleagues in a

moment. because that will give you a broader view of two things. one, the penetrance of the infection had been and to you can make an assumption that we know —— need to prove that. we are assuming that if you are infected and have antibody, you are protected. it is a reasonable assumption based on our other experience of other viruses. but we wa nt experience of other viruses. but we want to make sure that we know it is a some of the challenges. what if the tighter if the protective, how long, is it one month, three months, six month, a year? we need to be humble and modest that we don't know everything about it but it really is an important test. you've been watching a white house briefing on the fight against coronavirus is not the fight against coronavirus is not the president began by saying there we re the president began by saying there were plans for a gradual reopening of america. he said that governors would need to make decisions which are right for their own particular states. he also said that the department of agriculture had a $19 billion relief programme and said

the 3.78 million tested been conducted and hundreds of thousands of insulators were under construction. and please do stay if you can with bbc news.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm james reynolds. another grim milestone: the worldwide death toll from coronavirus has now passed 150,000. a top uk health specialist warns the country could end up with the highest death rate 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. could the pandemic cause more damage to the global economy than expected ? we've been looking at the numbers.. hi! and the duke and duchess of cambridge on helping families cope with the pressures of lockdown. don't tell the children we've actually kept it going through the holidays, ifeel very mean!