this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk goverment admits ppe is in short supply in england and that more needs to be done to secure stock. we've got to do more to get the ppe that people need to the front line. this is an extremely challenging situation. president trump insists that the united states is performing better than other rich countries in its response to the virus — and can relax the lockdown soon. doctors injapan warn that the country's medical system could collapse amid a rising number of coronavirus cases. police in hong kong arrest leading figures in the pro—democracy movement on charges related to last yea r‘s mass protests.

welcome to bbc news. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the virus has been spreading rapidly around the world, with more than 2.2 million cases now confirmed in 185 countries. at least 153,000 people have died — but the true figure is likely to be significantly higher. the us has the highest death toll in the world with more than 37,000 — one third of those are in the state of new york alone. spain is the second european country after italy where more than 20,000 people have now died. the uk recorded 888 deaths in hospital in the last 2a hours, bringing the total to more than 15,000. but first — with the latest in the uk — here's our health correspondent, dominic hughes.

john coker, a detective constable for british transport police, who leaves a wife and three children. retired paediatrician judith darmady, founder of a children's charity, awarded an 0be, who dedicated her life to the care of others. two of more than 15,000 deaths caused by covid—19. it's hitting families across the country, but the really sad thing for people is when someone dies, they are dying alone. they are probably scared, and theirfamily are not able to console them, not able to know how it happens, and after all this is over, there are going to be many stories required to be told by nhs staff who were the last people with loved ones as they died. more lives are being saved than lost, but medical staff are worried they're being put at risk because of the continuing shortage of personal protective equipment,

ppe, especially gowns worn when treating the sickest patients. as hospitals face the possibility of running out of some kit, public health england changed its guidance — some gowns could be reserved for the most high—risk procedures while staff could re—use washable clothing. and today, a promise that fresh supplies are on the way. 84 tonnes of equipment, including 400,000 gowns. we are trying to do everything we can to get the equipment we need. we're trying to source more internationally. that is difficult at times, and there is a great deal of demand for it and the security of that supply can prove very challenging, but we are making progress there. but medical workers are anxious about where this leaves them. a&e doctor nick works directly with covid—19 patients. back on shift tomorrow, he doesn't know how much ppe will be available. there are apprehensions about what there might be and what might there not be and how much has deteriorated

and changed, especially when we see news reports saying stocks might be close to zero, nationally, it is really worrying, especially being on the front line. and we have to do what we do and it comes with the job, it would just be good if we were adequately protected. the new guidance is in line with world health organization advice and hospital managers are facing a global shortage of ppe. we have to really focus on what we can do because there is a shortage of gowns, and in that situation, following world health 0rganisation guidelines has to be the way that we go. they are saying that if other stocks are not available, then this is the way to go and this is safe to use. the new guidance only applies when ppe stocks are running low, and the picture across the uk is mixed, but the patience of health care workers is also in short supply. dominic hughes reporting.

in the united states, right—wing demonstrations against the restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus are under way in a number of state capitals. there have been protests in ohio, texas, new hampshire and maryland. protesters say the current lockdown regulations are too harsh in states with relatively few covid—19 cases. but there's concern that lifting the restrictions too early could lead to more people becoming infected. on friday, president trump tweeted his support for protestors in three states and speaking at his daily news conference from the white house, a short while ago, he outlined the steps that some states were making towards reopening their economies. we release the guidelines to open up america again, and this was two days ago, a number of states led by both democrat and republican governors have announced concrete steps to begin a safe, gradual and phased opening. texas and vermont will allow certain businesses to open on monday, while still

requiring appropriate social distancing precautions. and i can tell you the governor of texas, greg abbott, he knows what he's doing. he's a great governor, he knows exactly what he's doing. montana will begin lifting restrictions on friday, 0hio, north dakota and idaho have advised nonessential businesses to prepare for a phased opening, starting may one. i'm joined now by our north america correspondent peter bowes. peter, let's start with some of those protests, i thank you would call them, and various parts of america. it is interesting after this time, suddenly seeing pictures of crowds, something we haven't really seen in the last few weeks anywhere in the world. you could feel the unease around the country, some of the states into biggest protests

have been in texas, and also if we has just heard, texas have been in texas, and also if we hasjust heard, texas is going to be one of the states that will slowly begin to ease on those social guidelines and restrictions, telling people to stay at home. but there is a body of people these are organised protests by organised groups around the country who believe still that some governors, mostly democratic governors, mostly democratic governors are hanging onto those restrictions are proposing to hold onto those restrictions for too much time. they believe that they should be allowed to move freely to get back to work. perhaps the worrying thing that you are seeing in some of these protests is that people are gathering in large groups. there doesn't seem to be any adherence to social distancing, and people are going without wearing face masks or face coverings, and this has been widely criticised. the governor of new york earlier in the day was talking about these protests saying, "look, eve ryo ne protests saying, "look, everyone wants to get back to

work, but you don't need to hold it up on a placard." is this becoming a political conflict where republicans on the one hand might say we need to end lockdowns, democrats say no, we need to keep them, or is it more complicated than that in real life? well, it could infect fa ct in real life? well, it could infect fact be quite simple because it is becoming a bit of a debate between the republicans and the democrats. the protests a re republicans and the democrats. the protests are directed at democrats around the country that want to continue with these restrictions a little bit longer. the briefing that we just heard at the white house over the last couple of hours orso, over the last couple of hours or so, president trump mentioned on a number of occasions the fact that the election is coming up, which is a sign of perhaps what's going through his mind, in the way he is thinking about the weeks and months ahead of the talking and very positive terms as he sees it, how the country is doing in the fight against covid—19, and

how quickly he wants to see things bounce back. it was striking in that news conference to see a lot of politics being discussed by the president, notjust science, and really, given the fact that we are in an election year, is the path not being set to ward the path not being set to ward the divisions that we might see in what historians might call a pandemic election? i think increasingly, we are seeing that from the president's perspective, that he seems to be more enthusiastic about it or perhaps feels a freer to vent his anger at these news conferences, he's been widely criticised for it, he is using a platform in the white house press briefing room to see the kind of things that you would normally hear him say at one of these trump rallies, which, of course, he hasn't been able to hold over the last few weeks. he is clearly itching to get back to that kind of campaigning, buta back to that kind of campaigning, but a lot of people don't like it. a seat it leaves a bad taste when these briefings are set up

essentially to talk about the coronavirus and give the doctors and scientists a platform as well command increasingly, certainly today, for the first a0 minutes or so, much of it was politics. trump has of the white house lectern by contrast his presumptive democratic rival, joe biden, has a basement in delaware from which he broadcasts vocationally. how are the democrats underjoe biden going to think about trying to put their message out there, given their message out there, given the fact that the president speaks for an hour or two every day? this is a huge challenge for the democrats to me you are absolutely right. joe biden, like so many other people, is confined to his home, and he is limited in terms of what he can do. he's been doing some quite long television interviews, cable news network here in the states, that's one avenue for him, but it's not the same as getting out with the people with meetings that can potentially be told at this time. there will be a sense amongst democrats as well that

to just amongst democrats as well that tojust get this amongst democrats as well that to just get this over from a purely political stance, because they will be able to get out there and be heard, but also, you've got to remember thatjoe biden is in his late 70s. clearly, his motive at the moment is to take care of himself and to be seen to be doing the right things. peter, thank you so much. doctors injapan are warning that the country's medical system could collapse because of a new wave of coronavirus cases. japan initially appeared to have the virus under control but there has been a recent surge and there are now more than 10,000 confirmed cases. reged ahmad reports. a much quieter tokyo in the wake of the state of emergency declared by the government. japan had its first recorded covid—19 infection injanuary and, since then, the government has been criticised for not doing enough to prepare for an increase. now, two medical association

say the outbreak is reducing japan's ability to treat other serious medical emergencies, even strokes. it is understood one patient with a fever was turned away by 80 medicalfacilities before he was accepted by a tokyo hospital. like many countries, doctors are complaining of a lack of protective equipment too. critics have taken aim at the prime minister, saying he has delayed restrictions in favour of the economy. shinzo abe says he is trying to effectively reduce people—to—people contact. translation: people out on weekdays in city areas like shibuya in tokyo have been reduced by about 60%. in umeda in osaka, it's been reduced by about 70%. but we have not yet reached our target level. japan is facing a new wave of infections, and with it, a push to increase relatively low testing levels. it now remains to be seen

if the country has done enough quickly enough to protect its medical system and head off a major outbreak. reged ahmad, bbc news. now away from coronavirus, 15 prominent members of hong kong's democracy movement have been arrested for organising illegal protests last year, in what's being seen as a fresh attack on anti—government activists. britain has expressed its concern over the arrests, calling the right to peaceful protest fundamental to hong kong's way of life. earlier this week beijing's most senior official in the city called for a new security law to deal with dissent. david campanale has more. it's the biggest crackdown on the democracy movement since the outbreak of mass protests last year. those detained in a coordinated swoop by the police include several who have, for decades, been important figures

in hong kong's campaign for greater freedom. among them, the 81—year—old barrister martin lee, known in the territory as the father of democracy. translation: i am proud to have had the chance to walk along our road to democracy with hong kong's excellent young people. the publishing tycoon jimmy lai was also arrested. he runs the apple daily newspaper which is frequently critical of the hong kong and chinese communist leadership. the detentions relates to a series of anti—government protests last year. the first of these was attended by 1.7 million hong kong citizens. the authorities have not said why it is the high—profile figures, among them former members of the legislative council, who have been targeted for detention. peaceful protest is protected in both the joint declaration between britain and china

and the basic law. but hong kong police maintain that the rounding up of the suspects is simply the impartial application of the law. translation: they were arrested on charges of organising and participating in unlawful assembly at hong kong island and kowloon on the 18th of august, the 1st of october and the 20th of october 2019. before the coronavirus outbreak, hong kong had witnessed almost weekly demonstrations for greater democracy and less control from beijing. over recent days, chinese officials seeing the city have been making increasingly belligerent noises. some think beijing is worried about losing ground in local elections later this year. in this climate, it is hard not to see this coordinated series

of arrests as anything less than a warning of beijing's's intention to tighten its grip on hong kong. david campanale, bbc news. you are watching bbc news — these are the headlines this hour. the uk goverment admits ppe is in short supply in england and that more needs to be done to secure stock. president trump insists that the united states is performing better than other rich countries in its response to the virus — and can relax the lockdown soon. vladimir putin has warned russians that, as the number of coronavirus cases rises, covid—19 continues to pose a high risk to his country. russia has seen its biggest daily increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, up nearly five thousand from yesterday. our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has this report. rarely has moscow felt so calm. bells chime. so quiet. so empty.

in lockdown, a city of 12 million people so peaceful. but not everywhere. on the edge of moscow, ambulances queue outside a hospital that's treating covid—19. the crews had to wait more than nine hours to bring in their patients. this is a health system under pressure. at another facility, doctors are preparing for their shift in the coronavirus ward. with moscow the epicenter of the outbreak, the hospital is already overcapacity. but its head doctor is used to emergencies — he was a paramedic in chernobyl. translation: the pressure on us has increased. we're getting around 150 new patients every day. we're not at breaking point yet, but we're getting close. when georgiy got sick with suspected coronavirus and was struggling to breathe,

twice he called for an ambulance, but none came. the system was overloaded. translation: when i did get to hospital, it was like watching a conveyor belt — a m bula nces co nsta ntly coming and going, bringing in new patients. the strain on the system is close to catastrophic. i decided to go back home. most of the patients were sicker than me. but coronavirus isn'tjust a medical challenge. it's a political one too. in the 20 years he's been in power, vladimir putin has never faced the challenge of this magnitude. a virus, an invisible enemy that's not threatening lives but the entire russian economy — and with it, the image that vladimir putin has been keen to cultivate, mr stability. the epidemic has already forced the president to postpone the annual may 9 victory day parade on red square.

huge celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii now on hold. and in moscow, the lockdown is tightening. to use a car or public transport, you now need a digital permit. the aim, to slow the spread of the virus by keeping more muscovites off the streets. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. concern for the residents of care homes for the elderly has been expressed in many countries as coronavirus has spread around the world. here in the uk, the not—for—profit organisation, the national care forum says the number of deaths linked to the virus in one week was twice that seen in the whole of the previous month. it calculates that in the week ending the 13th of april, more than a,000 people died in british care homes. here's our social affairs correspondent, alison holt. this is green heys care home in liverpool.

in recent weeks, they lost eight out of their 25 elderly and disabled residents. all the deaths are links to covid—19. it's a sign of the huge pressures ca re homes are under from the virus. staff year found it spread rapidly. it was very unpredictable. people would present with the virus in different ways, so we had some people that might be fine in the morning. i can think of one example where there were a couple of people actually that were ok in the morning and then by the evening time, they deteriorated so rapidly, it was end—of—life care. green heys is one of the homes that provided the data that lies behind today's report. information collected by the national care forum found that by april 13, there had been 299 deaths to covid—19 in not—for—profit care homes looking after the residents. they calculate if that happens across all residential and care

homes, there could have been more than a,000 coronavirus linked deaths, most of which are not reflected in the officialfigures. once residents who died in hospital are included, they say the number will be considerably higher. clearly, the concern is if we don't make important changes now, if we don't focus on social care, those figures could increase and we could be talking again about this next week with even higher levels of deaths within homes. the government has set out an action plan for social care and says it's working on the support and equipment care staff need. but some homes have taken matters into their own hands. pull that down. at this derbyshire care home, residents are helping staff make their own protective equipment.

they are virus—free and want to keep it that way. we are in our war of this time. we do what we have to do to battle on. one small sign of the determination in such homes to protect the people they care for. alison holt, bbc news. the bbc understands that public health england is to start recording coronavirus cases and deaths by ethnicity. it comes after research suggested people from black, asian and minority ethnic backgrounds appear to be at greater risk of becoming seriously ill with covid—19. here's our community affairs correspondent rianna croxford. because, without him, you can do nothing... sylvia douglas was an 82—year—old pastor and grandmother from slough. she tested positive for coronavirus, and died in hospital at the beginning of this month. they called me, video called me from the hospital on the thursday, so i saw her. i prayed with her and prayed

for her, and i said, "you're looking really strong, aunt. because, without him, you can do nothing... i prayed with her and prayed for her, and i said, "you're looking really strong, aunt. you're going to come through this. i can see you struggling to breathe, but you look really, really well otherwise, and very strong. you will come through this." i was really surprised, shocked, to say the least, when a few hours later i was informed that she had actually passed. i did not expect that at all. research shows that people of black, asian and minority ethnic heritage are being disproportionately affected by coronavirus. only 1a% of people in england and wales are from these backgrounds, yet they currently make up 3a% of patients in critical care units. bbc news analysis of reports in the public domain show almost three—quarters of 51 health care workers who have died are from ethnic minority backgrounds. you have a higher proportion of bame population working in key roles such as transport, taxi drivers, bus drivers, shopkeepers, supermarkets, all of which are necessary in the lockdown to provide

essential services, and in addition, of course, care and health care workers. while there are many factors, it's clear more data is needed. the bbc understands that the government has asked public health england to start tracking coronavirus cases and deaths by ethnicity. can you confirm this, and will this data be made publicly available so that further deaths can be prevented? there does appear, as you say, to be a disproportionate impact of the virus upon bame communities in the uk, and we've also seen that in some other countries around the world as well. and it's for that reason that the chief medical officer commissioned work from public health england to better understand this issue. sylvia's family hope more answers will come soon. rianna croxford, bbc news.

there's to be no gun salutes on queen elizabeth's 9ath birthday next week, because of the coronavirus outbreak. a buckingham palace official has said her majesty decided it wouldn't be appropriate at this time. it's thought to be the first time in her 68—year reign that there will be no salute, which usually takes place at hyde park and the tower of london. one where veteran carries on with his quest. captain tom moore will be the guest of honour at the opening of a new nightingale hospital in yorkshire next week. the 99—year—old war veteran will appear by video—link. it's been announced that the 25 million pounds raised by captain tom will be used to buy food parcels and counselling sessions for national health service staff, as well as electronic tablets to allow patients

to talk to their families. more on our website. you can reach me on twitter — i'm@jamesbbcnews see you later. hello once again. if you saw a bit of rain on saturday, sunday is looking like a brighter day, and plenty of dry and at times sunny weather to come in the week ahead. sunday is looking drive for most, a little bit of cloud across southern and western parts of the uk, but even through this, there will be some sunny spells coming through. this produced a bit of rain, this weather front on saturday, it's dying away. high pressure is building back across pressure is building back a cross a cross pressure is building back across across the bulk of the uk, and that's going to give us several days of settled weather. temperature wise, to start sunday, few spots in scotla nd start sunday, few spots in scotland down to —a, may be —5 in the highlands, there may be a touch of frost across the cold est a touch of frost across the coldest parts a touch of frost across the cold est parts of a touch of frost across the coldest parts of northern inland as well, but there is plenty of sunshine to come

during sunday come increasingly so across the eastern side of england. the cloud toward southern and western england, wales and northern ireland, breaking a bit. keeping a fair amount of cloud in northern ireland even into the afternoon. there is a freshening easterly breeze, that pegs the temperature is back a bit along the north sea coasts, further and then to the west, few spots commit will be high as 18 celsius. as we going to sunday night, and into monday morning again, a touch of frost, parts of scotland and northern england, and a chance of seeing some heavy showers pushing them towards the channel islands and the far southwest of england. a lot of uncertainty about that, but the potential is there, some weather disturbance coming in as we go into monday, whereas for most of the uk, its high pressure, so it is dry, but there is a brisk easterly breeze. with these showers come a lot of uncertainty about where exactly will be, but the chance of seeing some for the channel islands, cornwall, isles of scilly, whereas elsewhere, there should be plenty of sunshine around. indicating that brisk easterly

breeze, the gusts will be high around 30 have been a0 mph in places, especially across parts of england and wales. it does peg those temperatures back along these nazis coasts, just around 10 degrees in some spots, whereas, further west, getting around to 19. temperature set up a little bit more as we go through the week, as the easterly breeze stretched to ease. just a selection of locations here, but you get the idea. with that area of high pressure around, there is a lot of dry weather in the week ahead, and there is lots of blue sky and sunshine on the way as well for a bright weather view, operate look through your window at the weather outside.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the uk government has admitted that more needs to be done to get personal protective equipment to health workers. a00,000 new gowns are due to arrive from turkey later on sunday. it comes as the uk recorded another 888 coronavirus deaths, taking the total number of hospital deaths to over 15,000. president trump has insisted that the united states is performing better than other rich countries in its response to the virus. at his daily news briefing, he said there were signs that the virus has passed its peak and that the lockdown could be relaxed soon. doctors injapan have warned that the country's medical system could collapse amid a rising number of coronavirus cases. two medical associations said the extra burden caused by virus