this is bbc news, i'm james reynolds. our top stories: the worldwide death toll from coronavirus passes 150,000. with the uk death toll atjust over 1a,500 — a quarter of those who've died are from europe. could the pandemic cause more damage to the global economy than expected 7 we've been looking at the numbers. and a word of support from the duke and duchess of cambridge on coping with the pressures of lockdown. hello and welcome to bbc news.

we are covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. coronavirus developments here the number of people known to have died from the coronavirus pandemic around the world is now more than 150,000, according to latest figures collated byjohns hopkins university in the united states. almost one quarter of those deaths have occurred in the us itself — the number is now almost 37,000. four european countries — italy, spain, france and the uk make up half of the worldwide toll. as efforts continue to develop effective antibody tests, experts at the world health organization have cast doubt on the idea. they said there was no evidence that having had the virus would guarantee immunity to future infection. a lot of the preliminary information that's coming to us right now would suggest that quite a low proportion of the population have actually serial converted. so it may not solve the problem. there's been an expectation that maybe herd immunity may have been achieved,

and that the majority of people in society may have already developed antibodies. i think the general evidence is pointing against that and pointing towards a much lower zero prevalence. ——serial prevalence. so it may not solve the problem that governments are trying to solve. donald trump has told a white house briefing that the us death toll is likely to land between 60—65,000 people. earlier president trump appeared to increase pressure on state governors to reopen their economies — following the publication of federal guidelines to phase out lockdown measures. in a series of tweets he called for minnesota, michigan and virginia to be, in his words, "liberated". all three have democrat governors, and are considered swing states at federal elections. some governors, including michigan and minnesota, have announced plans to partially re—open their economies at the start of may. but others, including andrew cuomo, the governor of new york state, are accuding president trump of failing

to provide the necessary support. speaking at the daily white house briefing, president trump defended his online remarks, but declined to outline specific lockdown measures he thought should be withdrawn. i think some things are too tough. and if you look at some of the state you just mentioned, it is too tough. not only relative to this but what they have done in virginia with respect to the second amendment is just respect to the second amendment isjust a respect to the second amendment is just a horrible thing. they did a horrible thing, the governor. and he is a governor under a cloud to start off with. so when you see what he said about the second amendment, when you see what other states have done, you know, i think, other states have done, you know, ithink, ifeel very co mforta ble. let's speak to our north america correspondent david willis. "liberate the states" he said, did he elaborate? we had some long presbury things since this coronavirus crisis began, and this one is still going on. two hours or so after it began. to directly a nswer hours or so after it began. to directly answer your question, president trump was asked about those tweets, direct thing the

governors of three states to "liberate" the people who have been subject to these stay—at—home orders. he was asked about a comment by the governor of washington state, jay inslee, that by tweeting in this fashion the president was effectively fomenting rebellion. resident trump said the lockdown measures in some states in question had been too severe in his view, as to the suggestion that these protesters were by ignoring social distancing guidelines, effectively adding to the risk of spreading the coronavirus, the president said simply that these are people expressing their views. it should be pointed out that these protests have been organised largely by conservative groups that are friendly towards president trump. there are 50 states, other needs doing their own thing? they are each doing their own thing. the president made the point yesterday that

that was really how he saw it unfolding. that was the point of his 3—phase recommendations if you like, and he said he wouldn't be intervening. he said it would be up to those individual states. that is a sharp 180 on his stuntsjust individual states. that is a sharp 180 on his stunts just a few days ago to, james, when he said he said he had absolute power, as he put it, to order states to reopen as and when he chose. he has since backed down from that quite dramatically. what about tests? it remains the key issue here as you can imagine. individualstates arguing they don't have enough capacity, and they don't have the funding or the personnel. at this press briefing the president was pushed on this issue, and both he and the vice president reiterated several times that it would be up to individual states to carry out this testing programme. many governors argue that opening up

their states is inconceivable without the sort of data that they need and that only widespread testing can of course provide. thank you david willis. let's get some of the day's other news. france has distanced itself from us allegations about the coronavirus originating in a chinese research laboratory. president emmanuel macron's office said there was no evidence to back the reports which have been circulating in american media. beijing says the claims have no scientific basis. the virus is thought have been passed to humans at a market selling wild animal meat. malawi's high court has temporarily prevented the government from introducing a three—week coronavirus lockdown. market traders have staged violent demonstrations in cities across the country, saying they will go hungry if the restrictions are imposed. germany's health minister says the country's covid—19 outbreak is now under control, after a month—long lockdown. that's because the number of recovered patients has been consistently higher than the number of new infections. experts say the country's mass testing rates have played

a crucial role in containing the outbreak. latest figures show that 847 people who'd tested positive for the virus have died in british hospitals in the past 2a hours. it brings the total number of dead in the uk tojust over 111,500. the british government is setting up a new task force to back the development of a vaccine, but it'll be many months before one is available. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. more than 70 scientific teams across the world are trying to do in months 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's ready to roll out in september, if by then it's shown to be effective. it's pretty clear the world is going to need hundreds of millions of doses, ideally by the end of this

year, to end this pandemic, to let us out of lockdown and ensure we can do that safely. 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 10 briefing, the scale of the challenge and its importance was all too clear. producing a vaccine is a colossal undertaking, a complex process which will take many months. there are no guarantees, but the government is backing our scientists, betting big to maximise the chance of success. when we do have a vaccine, how will you prioritise who gets it first? well, first of all, i think we have got to get a vaccine. that isn't two days away, it's not 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 is going to 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 vaccination. but that's some way off. until then, community testing of all those with symptoms will be vital to help rein in the epidemic, but the capacity simply isn't there yet. today, the government announced testing will be extended to frontline police, fire and prison staff. but many nhs workers are still not getting checked. welcome to this session of the house of commons... a committee of mps led by the former health secretary was told britain should expect further waves of infection and must learn from its mistakes. where were the system errors that led us to have probably the highest death rates in europe?

and 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. we could see 40,000 deaths by the time it's over. it is a sobering thought, and a reminder that social distancing is the crucial measure that will ensure the epidemic here is brought under control. fergus walsh, bbc news. the british government says it's reviewing the evidence around the wearing of face masks to help stop the spread of the virus. the practice was made compulsory in new york on wednesday, with similar schemes also being operated in austria, the czech republic and slovakia. 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, 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's 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, say, a double layer of cotton mask, and you cough, and someone is 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. it 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. the coronavirus death toll

passes 150,000 people across the globe. president trump announces a $19 billion aid package forfarmers hit by the pandemic. a new gallup poll shows president trump's approval rating has seen the sharpest drop of his presidency so far. for more, i'm joined by gallup poll editor in chief mohamed younis in washington. tell us more about this poll? we have president trump's approval rating coming at 43%, approval rating coming at 43%, a 6—point drop from relative high of 49%, when he experienced a slight bump post the beginning of the covid—19 crisis. i should the beginning of the covid—19 crisis. ishould mention the beginning of the covid—19 crisis. i should mention we have tracked every crisis since the great depression and usually presidents receive on average about 18% bump after a national crisis takes place. the most dramatic of course was george w bush after 9/11. currently 54% of americans disapprove of the job the president is doing. 0n disapprove of the job the president is doing. on average since 1945 the average of all

presidents has been 53% approval, and he is yet to meet that in his presidency. i think the most interesting data really are congressional approval which is at a ten year high, but more importantly economic confidence and how americans are assessing their economic situation. that is where we have seen the most dramatic declines. in terms of how americans assess the current economy, and how they feel it will be getting better or worse, we saw a 54 point drop this last month which is the largest one—month drop we have seen in our records since 1992. two months ago the same metric was at a 20 year high. so not only have we seen a very precipitous decline, but a precipitous decline, but a precipitous decline, but a precipitous decline from a relative high, where americans we re relative high, where americans were overwhelmingly positive in their assessment of the economy. when you ask americans today, is the economy getting better or worse, they are split, the 52 —— 52 point gap is something we have not seen

the 2008 recession. look at president handling crises, it can go either way. president carter lost support after many months, in the iran hostage crisis but president george w bushin crisis but president george w bush in the bad months of the iraq war managed to get himself re—elected. so having a drop in support now doesn't necessarily tell us much about which way it will go. not only that i think presidential approval as a metric now is less relevant to how people are assessing their leadership. what is much more releva nt leadership. what is much more relevant actually is how they are assessing their own lives. the rate of americans who are thriving has also limited this month, and those other metrics that we gather all around the world and seen declined right before things like the arab uprising, the ukraine war, the vote for brexit, even the election of president trump himself. those number and that metric is what we are watching most closely, and most specifically with regards to

social unrest and some of the content social unrest and some of the co nte nt you social unrest and some of the content you have earlier in your programme. briefly and historically does a 43% in april approval rating tell us anything about what will happen in an election in november that year? usually that is way too early, i went out on top of that we are not only facing unprecedented times with corvid, we are also facing unprecedented times in terms of bipartisanship in america and in terms of the or relative an favourability of the candidates and the incumbent, or at this point the candidate and the incumbent. when you compare it to other candidates historically. so there are all kinds of reasons to wait and see how this plays out. we will, it is fascinating to talk to you, thank you. the head of the international monetary fund is warning that the impact of the pandemic on people's earnings around the globe could be even worse than feared. here in the uk, the government is extending its rescue scheme for workers. here's our economics editor, faisal islam. this extraordinary crisis has not just hit the world's biggest cities,

but almost every single country in the world, because even if the virus hasn't infected everywhere, the economic contagion certainly has, with huge long—term consequences. before the crisis, most of the world was expected to have a prosperous year, with only ten, such as libya and venezuela, forecast to be worse off. now the imf predicts that most of the world, 155 nations, will have reduced income this year, many of them sharply so, but even that might not be a worst—case scenario. this may be actually a more optimistic picture than reality produces. epidemiologists are now helping us make macroeconomic projections. never in the history of the imf have we had that. the sheer numbers, the hits to the economy, are staggering.

but it isn'tjust that. it's happening in nearly every single country around the world as a result of the fact that this virus respects no borders. and it means that an organisation like the international monetary fund is saying to the world's finance ministers, now is not the time to worry about public borrowing. it's the imf that traditionally worries about too much government borrowing. are you saying that this is a time when finance ministers should not be worried about those things? governments should spend as much as they can afford and more. but keep the receipts! without stopping the pandemic, we simply cannot restart the economy to the fullest. that is what the government here is doing, extending the lockdown, but now also today extending the job

retention scheme until the end ofjune, which could mean over £10 billion to help firms essentially pay to park their staff during the crisis. extraordinary times meaning extraordinary measures here and across the globe. faisal islam, bbc news. the duke and duchess of cambridge are urging people to look after their mental health as the lockdown continues. prince william said the stress and isolation was building and people needed 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! i can't see you! hello! we can see you! oh, i've got you on a different screen! hi! 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, and is providing a lot of relief, connectivity for a lot of families, a lot of people. you've spoken before 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 also 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 who's 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 theirfamilies. 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. 0bviously, 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, ithink 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 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! duke and duchess cambridge speaking to tina daheley.

and in the uk you can red more about the campaign on the nhs every mind matters website. well, prince william also talked about captain tom moore who is the 99—year—old who has walked 100 laps of his garden to raise money for the britain's national health service. he called him a one man fundraising machine and he's not wrong there because captain tom has now raised more than £20 million, that's nearly $25 million. he's now said to be speechless. the money is for nhs charities together and it is still pouring in. the coronavirus outbreak has had far reaching consequences for many parts of the world, with a terrible human and economic cost, but the natural world has had a much needed boost from the lockdown, as reged ahmad reports. a silver lining for the animal world in the covid—19 crisis. lebanon is one of the most important migratory routes for birds. and with the country under strict lockdown, the natural world has been thriving.

avid bird watchers say they are documenting more species than usual in less remote areas. translation: in our garden, we are seeing species of small birds that i'm seeing for the first time. i don't know why. maybe they're more relaxed because there's no shooting. no noise from the people or cars, no flights. even a tree frog makes an unexpected appearance. you will not see the frogs that we saw on the walkway that we walked today. there's too much human traffic. so now, we're the only ones here. so we saw the frogs over there. across the ocean in the united states, yosemite national park — famed for its epic scenes — is experiencing somewhat of a revival too. more bears are being spotted in the park as they strike out with greater confidence, taking the opportunity to hang around a little bit more. i think nature is obviously

welcoming the change. the wildlife in yosemite certainly are. there's more bears around right now too, the bears are coming out from their normal hibernation at this time. there's usually three million visitors a year at yosemite. but, for the moment, animals are enjoying the peace and quiet, and getting a little bolder as they go. as difficult as the coronavirus lockdown has been for humans, nature at least has been getting a much—needed break. reged ahmad, bbc news. a reminder of our main news: at a white house news conference, president trump has defended his calls on social media aimed at pushing state governors to ease coronavirus containment measures. and the world health organisation has cast doubt on the usefulness of antibody tests for covid—19. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @jamesbbcnews more on our website as well. if

you want to tell me what you're getting up to, send me a message. hello once again. friday was an absolute sparkler of a day. this was the scene late in the day across mallaig in the western side of scotland. and there was 13 hours of sunshine or so to be had in stornowayjust a wee bit further to the north and west. come a good dealfurther to the south, though, and it really was wet at times thanks to an area of low pressure in biscay throwing these with weather fronts up and across the southern half of the british isles. and it will continue to do that during the course of saturday. there's no great rush to really change things, so a lot of cloud across the greater part of england and wales and some really quite heavy bursts of rain as well. a little bit of organisation about it. there's a band of weather trying to move a little bit

further north into the north of england. and then come the afternoon, the remnants of something just pushing those showers over towards wales. all the while, the very far north of england, scotland, northern ireland, variable amounts of cloud, but a deal of sunshine. but an onshore breeze just pegging those temperatures back along the north sea—facing coasts. eight, nine or ten degrees yet again. this is sunday. starts off pretty cloudy again for the greater part of england and wales. but just hopeful through the day that some of that cloud willjust drift a little bit further away towards the west, allowing better chances of sunshine to break out across many of those eastern counties. and again, scotland doing very well. temperatures in a range of 11 to about 19, so feeling just that tad warmer right out across the piece. and we stay with the theme of a lot of dry weather with some decent spells of sunshine, although it will be really rather windy, as we get on through the forthcoming week. as i take you from sunday on into monday, we've got a big area of high pressure just to the north—east of the british isles. very disturbed weather across the southern parts of france and into eastern parts of spain. and it's the squeeze between those features that give us the easterly wind,

and the wind will be quite a noticeable feature of the day. could be quite a chilly start for the northern glens of scotland. and the wind will be a feature wherever you happen to be stepping out of the door for that brief spell of exercise. i'm showing you the mean speeds. on top of that, we've got the gusts. could be around 30 mph or so. temperatures, though, not too bad. 13 to about 18 or 19, particularly where you can tuck yourself away from that wind over towards the west. and it's that same combination of high and low pressure that will keep us going with the dry weather into the middle of the week.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the number of people known to have died from the coronavirus global pandemic is now more than 150,000, according to the latest figures collated byjohns hopkins university in the united states. 37,000 have died in the us itself. italy, spain, france and the uk make up half of the worldwide toll. the world health organization has cast doubt on the usefulness of antibody tests for covid—19 — which many countries had hoped to use to determine if people have developed immunity to the virus. who officials in geneva said there was no evidence that having had the virus would guarantee immunity. 847 people have died in british hospitals in the past 24 hours. it brings the total number of deaths tojust over 14,500. the uk government is setting up a new task force to back the development of a vaccine, but it'll be many months before one is available.