this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines. deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high — with more than 1,000 covid—related deaths recorded at care homes in the week before easter. last week we were looking at 213 deaths registered in care homes, now we are looking at more than 1000. borisjohnson will speak to us president donald trump later today and hold a telephone conversation with the queen later this week — but downing street says he is not yet formally back to work. mps return to westminster this afternoon — with questions by video link and strict new social distancing rules. as the number of victims grows relentlessly — health workers, too, find themselves mourning the loss of colleagues and friends.

the tragic story of barbara — one of many disabled covid patients to be transferred to hospital, where she had to face death without family or friends. the collapse in oil prices — at one point producers were paying others to take barrels off them. but will it mean cheaper petrol at the pumps? and... portraits of nhs heroes. the artists who decided to celebrate the work of health care workers — by painting them. marking the queen's 94th birthday. the royal family share footage of her majesty as a young child. good afternoon. the figures are already out of date — but they're no less shocking for that. in the week up to easter,

deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high, with 8,000 more people dying than would be regarded as normal at this time of year. and care homes are at the sharp end of these figures from the office for national statistics — with more than 1,000 covid—related deaths. so lots of tough questions for the government as parliament gets back to business today — with many still about the availability of personal protective equipment — and the need for more testing. this report from our health correspondent richard galpin. for those living in care homes, the figures are very bleak, and won the figures are very bleak, and won the figures are very bleak, and won the figures are shooting up and mostly due to coronavirus. the vast majority of those deaths was in care homes. also, 466 people

died at home and 87 in hospices.“ died at home and 87 in hospicesm we look at that care home number, because i know that as a source of real focus at the moment, last week that was about 5% of deaths involving covid—19 in a care home setting, nowhere looking at 13%. last week it was 217 deaths registered up to the 3rd of april in ca re registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. there are more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes in england alone. they are amongst the most vulnerable and the virus has already spread into many of these homes. we a lwa ys spread into many of these homes. we always had hoped that the figures would be less, but i think there is more and more evidence that they may be more. and it is disappointing for the families, disappointing for the

carers who have done their utmost to contain this within very difficult circumstances, but certainly if we had had the testing in place, if we had had the testing in place, if we had been part of the contingency planning at the very beginning, we may have tried to be able to mitigate some of the figures we are looking at today. another big issue being discussed today is whether all of us should wear masks when we are outside, so we cannot spread coronavirus. scientists advising the government have been debating this morning whether there is sufficient evidence it would be beneficial. there are concerns that could jeopardise supplies for health workers. at this point we do not have a clear scientific steer that it would be right to broaden this to the general population. bearing in mind representations from nhs providers about the need prioritise supply to where it can do the most good. there have also been developments today on rolling out testing for all front line workers.

27 of these drive in testing centres are now up 27 of these drive in testing centres are now up and running across the countries. the sides health workers, teachers, police, prison officers and others can now get tested for the virus. there is huge progress being made in building lab capacity, so being made in building lab capacity, so there is a plan to develop that level of lab capacity. there —— when i have a number of ways to reaching that capacity to demand, but the aim i'iow that capacity to demand, but the aim now is to have the testing availability the country needs, and lam availability the country needs, and i am confident we have that and it will allow the country to respond with the testing required. the government has pledged to scale up the programme to 100,000 tests per day by the end of the month. whether thatis day by the end of the month. whether that is possible is not something the new testing coordinator would answer.

0ur head of statistics robert cuffe says these figures may understate the number of deaths, because of the bank holiday holiday on good friday. we are —— they were from the week before easter, and normally that would be expected for the numbers to go down. but we can see from this historic they are. the grey line is what we would expect at this time of year, and the red line, the number of deaths reported were lower than the years up to now, but in the last two weeks, it jumps the years up to now, but in the last two weeks, itjumps very high. we would expect around 10,000 deaths at this time of year, last week 16,000. this week, 18,500. similarjumps in scotla nd this week, 18,500. similarjumps in scotland and northern ireland, but not quite so high there, but this lea p not quite so high there, but this leap is pretty significant. most of us, covid—19 is mentioned on the death certificate, about 80% of the cases, and that speaks to us about some kind of undiagnosed coronavirus 01’ some kind of undiagnosed coronavirus or strains or other issues it is

putting on... the 0ns figures are grim reading, but if you look at a different analysis done by nhs england and look at the number of deaths they see, and on the day that they occur, that tells a slightly different picture. the last four bars to the right, they will not tell us the full story because not all of the deaths that happened in those days have been reported yet. they could come up a little bit. but we are still starting —— we are now starting to see analyses by statisticians who are saying that how high these could come up is probably not as high as the week before easter to which this analysis refers to, so it is possible we are past the peak of deaths in hospitals in england at least. the 0ns say the peak was bad, and the figures suggest maybe we are past it. let's speak to our political

correspondent iain watson. plenty of questions as a result of these figures, and parliament reopening technically this afternoon. that's right, parliament will be open but not quite as we know it. mps will be discussing turning it into a virtual parliament, or what the speaker of the house of commons has called a hybrid parliament, hybrid and the sense that you will have some people in the house of commons chamber and others will be asking questions via video link on video screens, they have installed four of them, on one side and four on the other. so it will look very different tomorrow if mps agree this afternoon, as we expect they will, to move to this because they can then say that they are taking social distance and seriously. before the extended break, although they were supposed

to be practising social distancing on the green benches, we saw, for example, the prime minister and health secretary pretty close together at a session of prime minister's questions, and they both came down with the virus. i am not sure we can prove cause and effect, but at that stage they really had to show the public if they are asking them to keep a distance that they would do the same. it means very different arrangements, there are questions over deaths, ppe, overthe provision and production of facemasks, a range of things ministers have to be asked. i wonder if parliament will really have the same kind of atmosphere or tension tomorrow when questions all have to be submitted in advance, people will be submitted in advance, people will be selected in advance, asking via video screen. i think in the current circumstances, we all have to get used to different ways of working. and we have a clear idea of what borisjohnson is and we have a clear idea of what boris johnson is up and we have a clear idea of what borisjohnson is up to? and we have a clear idea of what boris johnson is up to? yes, this is fascinating because when he first

went into saint thomas hospital across the thames, the officials we re across the thames, the officials were keen to see just how much he was initially working, he was getting his ministerial red boxes, at the moment they are saying that after his brush with the virus he is 110w after his brush with the virus he is now recuperating, and yet it does seem as now recuperating, and yet it does seem as though they are stretching the definition of that a little bit because even as we speak, much more significant conversation taking place, we are told he is talking to president trump this afternoon. i think that will be an interesting conversation because obviously donald trump has been sending out tweets saying things like liberate virginia and all these other states where governments have been imposing a lockdown. he is keen to get the american economy moving, boris johnson is far more cautious, we are told, on lifting the lockdown, and are suggesting minor modifications inafew are suggesting minor modifications in a few weeks' time. so they are having that conversation now. he is also going to have a telephone audience with the clean and wishing her happy birthday later this week, her happy birthday later this week, he spoke to the canadian prime minister and spoke to his de facto

secretary at the end of last week, he spoke to the canadian prime minister and spoke to his de facto secretary at the end of last week in albany red dominic rab, —— he spoke to him at the end of last week, dominic raab. it will be dominic raab in his place at the first session tomorrow of pm cues. —— pmqs. as the number of victims of covid—19 continues to grow, health workers, too, find themselves mourning the loss of colleagues and friends. daniela relph reports. their stories are of compassion and care across a range ofjobs. they are the growing list of health care workers who have lost their lives to the virus they were helping to treat. the anguish of their families is acute, the tributes of the work colleagues fulsome. manjeet singh riyat was an accident and emergency consultant at the royal derby hospital. he died on monday. he was 52.

he was the uk's first sikh a&e consultant and a much loved doctor. a fellow consultant at the hospital described him as the father of the emergency department in derby and an inspiration to others. absolutely fabulous man, inspirational. inspirational on the shop floor, loved a clinical challenge, had a massive intellect, encyclopedic knowledge. he was an inspiration to many junior doctors. paramedic gerallt davies had worked for the welsh ambulance service for 26 years. at the weekend he became the first paramedic in wales to die after contracting coronavirus. he was 51. last week, sonya kaygan died in hospital in london after spending two weeks in intensive care. she was a care home worker and just 26 years old. for herfamily, there is now grief and questions. whether they have ppe now, i can say that my cousin didn't at the time, and she was wearing just a general mask and gloves that she would wear

before the pandemic. so nothing really changed in terms of the way that she was protected at work during this time. and it's incredibly frustrating for all of us because carers need this attention. you know, my cousin is 26 years old. this could have been prevented. she was too young to lose her life. they are just a few of the front line workers who have died. they represent a group of people who stepped up to help others suffering and who have themselves lost their lives. theirfamilies, friends and colleagues want their sacrifice remembered. daniela relph, bbc news. while social distancing and self—isolation can be difficult, there are unique challenges facing people with learning difficulties living in care. and if they have to be admitted to hospital with symptoms of coronavirus, the experience can be terrifying — particularly because they're not allowed visits from family or friends.

graham satchell has the story of one patient, barbara, who died in hospital with the virus — with no—one she knew at her side. so, here i am arriving at work. we have no visitors at all, not even family members. a home for people with learning disabilities run by the care company dimensions uk. these pictures taken for us by a front line carer. do you have any concerns about the coronavirus? i don't want to get this virus. trying to explain what's happening to the residents, a real challenge. the main concerns are that they're going to get the virus. they obviously see every day the amount of people that have sadly died going up and up. new figures seen by this programme show only 0.5% of staff working with people with learning disabilities have been tested for covid—19. 13% of staff are off work isolating, putting

significant strain on services. and according to the voluntary organisations disability group, the supply chain for ppe is slow and undeveloped, despite government's assurances. this is barbara doing what she loved best playing the drums. best, playing the drums. barbara was taken to hospital with covid—19 at the end of march. she was just a cute, cute thing. she was lovely. she didn't have a mean bone in her body. barbara's sister frances wasn't allowed to see her. they wouldn't let any visitors in after she tested positive so she was in hospital for several weeks on her own, and she is not a communicator. and she would get very scared in hospital. she would just get petrified. she didn't understand what was going on. i don't know. you don't know? barbara lived in a home run by the care provider certitude. their main concern, what happens if one of their residents has to go to hospital. good health care for people

with learning disabilities in ordinary times requires amazing advocacy by our staff and families. so, one of our biggest worries is people going into hospital unaccompanied at the moment without that advocacy. that's what makes sure that their needs are understood, their distress is understood. barbara was in hospitalfor three weeks on her own before she died. frances rang every day but was told she couldn't come in. i know there's a risk but i know i would have been prepared to have geared up with all of the protective equipmentjust to go and see her occasionally because she really didn't have a clue what was going on any of the time. so that would have added to the angst day after day. on her own.

and, anyway, yeah... nhs england told us patients with learning disabilities can have one visitor if they're in distress. but the charity mencap says families are struggling to get access. there's a strong feeling in the sector that they're being overlooked, that people like barbara are dying alone, confused and in distress. graham satchell, bbc news. edel harris, the chief executive of the learning disability charity mencap, and joins me now. what barbara's story is one you will be familiar with. yes, it is heartbreaking to see the coverage of barbara and her family, heartbreaking to see the coverage of barbara and herfamily, and it is sadly, through the mencap helpline and many other disability organisations providing care and support to some of the most vulnerable people at this time, it

is unfortunately a story we are hearing over and over, not so much fortu nately hearing over and over, not so much fortunately of people dying alone in hospital, but certainly a huge amount of fear hospital, but certainly a huge amount offearand hospital, but certainly a huge amount of fear and anxiety among support providers like us and the families and carers of people with a learning disability, because at the moment it is a challenging time for everyone, affecting all of us, dying alone in hospital, i know many doctors and nurses will say that they are doing a job to make sure they are doing a job to make sure they are doing a job to make sure they are not, but what we are talking about his friends or family, and with a learning disability, it is important for people to have someone is important for people to have someone they know with them, isn't it? absolutely, everyone with a learning disability is a unique individual, but if you have a

learning disability, the chances are that you already struggle a little bit to make sense of the world around you, that you need things to be communicated to you very simply, so be communicated to you very simply, so you be communicated to you very simply, so you can be communicated to you very simply, so you can understand what is happening, and going into hospital at any happening, and going into hospital atany time happening, and going into hospital at any time is obviously for anyone very anxiety raising time, so it is really important that our colleagues in the health care system who i know more than most are doing their absolute best at the moment, but it is really important that they do make reasonable adjustments if they are admitting someone with a learning disability, it is vitally important they have the opportunity to be accompanied into hospital and to be accompanied into hospital and to have someone there with them who can advocate or provide that calmness and support and reassurance, someone calmness and support and reassurance, someone familiar who will know and respect their wishes. why do you think that is not happening? as graham satchell said in the report, there is a claim that you are allowed one visitor if you

have learning disabilities. certainly in our experience, we have had a relatively small number fortu nately had a relatively small number fortunately of people with learning disabilities supported by mencap who have been admitted to hospital and have been admitted to hospital and have since been confirmed as having the coronavirus. and in our experience, people have been treated very well, and we have certainly advocated on their behalf that if they do not have a family member who can attend hospital with them, that one of the mencap support team can go with him and make sure they are as calm as they can be under the circumstances, and is supported as they can be to understand what is happening to them. thank you very much forjoining us this afternoon.

we arejust much forjoining us this afternoon. we are just getting the figures of the death toll, it is the biggest daily rise injust the death toll, it is the biggest daily rise in just under two weeks, a further 778 people who tested positive for coronavirus dying, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in england to 15,607. the confirmed deaths in england to 15, 607. the breakdown confirmed deaths in england to 15,607. the breakdown from the nhs of those who have died, patients who we re of those who have died, patients who were aged between 22 and 103, and 24 of those 778 patients had no known underlying health condition. they also give you a breakdown of the regions, this was interesting yesterday because the north west had a particularly high figure, and again that is being reflected with 172 of those deaths coming in the

north west of england. southwest, 28, south east 137, and the north—east and yorkshire, 100. the midlands 126, london 132, and the east of england 83. so, that accou nts east of england 83. so, that accounts for the 778 patients who have lost their lives in england. as i say, that is the biggest daily rise in just under two weeks. oil prices are bouncing back after they turned negative yesterday for the first time in history. negative prices meant oil producers were paying buyers to take oil off their hands — over fears that storage capacity could run out. will it mean dramatic falls in pump prices? perhaps you won't be surprised to hear, probably not — as andy verity reports. if the world is producing more oil than it is using, the price will tend to drop and in the worldwide economic shutdown to fight

off coronavirus, that's exactly what has happened. as ships stay in ports, aeroplanes on the ground and cars in driveways, demand for oil has dropped roughly 30%, to about 70 million barrels a day, while all producers barrels a day, while oil producers like saudi arabia and russia have got production, it's only by about 10 million a day. with far more oil being produced and used, storage is running out. i've been doing this for 25 years and i've never seen it, there we are. it's unprecedented. absolutely unprecedented times and the speed of the drop is the other thing. what suppliers will slowly now have to do, you know, in north america, north sea producers in the uk, they will have to either stop production or totally slow it up. traders of us oil were caught out yesterday, they had agreed contracts to buy oil for delivery next month but couldn't physically take delivery because there was nowhere to store it. they had to sell, no matter what the price.

that pushed the main us measure of the cost of a barrel of oil for delivery next month below zero for the first time and stay there overnight. the contract expired yesterday and that means whoever holds those contracts at that time physically has to take delivery of the oil. now, in a lot of cases those are traders that never intend to take delivery of the oil, they've been caught out by the current economic situation and found themselves in a situation they had contracts for oil that they could not store so they needed to off—load them very quickly. while other measures of the cost of oil, such as a barrel from the north sea were still above 20 dollars, the record in the us prompted an investment recommendation from the white house. if we could buy up at nothing we are going to take everything we can get. the only thing i like better than that is when they pay you to take the oil, this is a great time to buy oil. the president might struggle to find

somewhere to put it. oil producers are now hiring tankers not to transport it but keep oil that no one wants. even in these unprecedented times you can't expect petrol retailers unfortunately to start paying you to take the stuff of them, partly because most of the price of a litre of unleaded is duty and vat and then they've got the refining costs in spite of that, some retailers do anticipate that the price of a litre of petrol will drop below £1 a litre in the coming weeks. the last time the oil price rapidly dropped was in 2016 as new shale oil producers in texas oversupplied the market. now though the price is so low that many of them cannot cover their costs and are likely to go out of business. andy verity, bbc news. a great idea but you pull up into the forecourt and they pay you to fillup! highly the forecourt and they pay you to fill up! highly unlikely! her majesty the queen is 94 today, but the usual gun salutes in london's hyde park have been cancelled for the first time in her 68—year reign. trooping the colour, which marks the queen's official birthday injune, has already been cancelled, with no alternative plan expected. 0ur royal correspondent

nicholas witchell has more. there he is! to mark the event, some touching private family footage of the queen has been released. yes, private footage, as you say, from the royal collection. i think we have seen some of it in various television documentaries over the yea rs, television documentaries over the years, but it is charming footage of a very young princess elizabeth, mostly playing with her younger sister margaret. in the footage released to mark her 94th birthday, we see her playing with a small baby pram, sitting on a seesaw, and some footage from later in her life as she was learning some dance steps with her mother, the then queen consort. so it is not what one normally gets on her birthday, but this is a birthday unlike any other. she is in semi—isolation at windsor,

she is there with her husband who, of course, will be 99 in rather less than two months now, they have some very close members of staff with them protecting themselves. the clea n them protecting themselves. the clean is 94 today, the duke of edinburgha clean is 94 today, the duke of edinburgh a couple of months short of that 99th birthday, so they are taking every precaution, and these pictures released to mark the occasion, an occasion which will not be being marked in the characteristic fashion, so there are no gun salutes taking place in hyde park as would normally be the case on her birthday, the bells of westminster abbey are not being run, as would normally happen, so a very suppressed, quiet breath before her in keeping with the circumstances that the country is experiencing at the moment. there is a quiet birthday for her. presumably many

phone calls into windsor castle, possibly from los angeles? the family are keeping in touch through video calls, phone calls, all that sort of thing, there have been some m essa 9 es sort of thing, there have been some messages on the various twitter accou nts messages on the various twitter accounts from the cambridges, also the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall, who are on the bowel moral estate. each family within their own environment, but sharing they birthday wishes even if they cannot do so face—to—face, as are so many millions of families at the moment, doing their best to keep in touch and exchange news and greetings in these rather strange methods we are all having to adopt. indeed. but enough staff to bake a cake, one hopes? i am sure that the windsor castle kitchens will be up to that, it would have to be quite a

big cake with 94 candles on it, and it would be left outside the door of her private apartment, presumably. but i'm sure they will be marking it ina but i'm sure they will be marking it in a suitable way. we do enjoy our chats, don't we, nick?! laughter brilliant! he is trying to talk to me! let's just show him smiling! you're back on. i wasjust just show him smiling! you're back on. i was just saying what fun we have! we do, don't we? i'm sorry, i lost you momentarily. i hope it wasn't another of those penetrating questions, simon, and if it was it was probably just as questions, simon, and if it was it was probablyjust as well i was in blissful ignorance of it! nick, i will miss you! thank you. bye-bye!

great! happy birthday, her majesty the queen. now, hello, there. we had a beautiful start to the day in the channel islands, with a rather fiery sunrise. the cloud associated with the sunrise also brought a few showers into western cornwall and the isles of scilly initially, but otherwise it's been a dry and sunny day. 0vernight, it stays dry as well. we'll keep a fairly breezy conditions. temperatures very similar to last night, loads of around four to seven celsius, and like last night, it will be cold enough for a nip of frost in some of the steeper valleys in scotland. —3 the lowest temperature we are likely to see. high pressure, then, still in charge of our weather for wednesday. but the isobars are beginning to open out a little bit more, and that means the winds still coming from an easterly direction won't be quite as strong. any early—morning patches of cloud coming away very quickly, and for most of us will be left with, again, sunshine from dawn till dusk. now, if anything, given those lighter winds, it's going to be a warmer day. temperatures more widely pushing into the 20s, highs of around 18 degrees for northern ireland and 18 or 19

for the west of scotland. that's your weather. hello, this is bbc news with simon mccoy. the headlines: figures released in the last few minutes show one of the steepest daily rises in covid—19 deaths in nearly two weeks in hospitals in england, up 778 to 15,607. deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high — with more than 1,000 covid—related deaths recorded at care homes in the week before easter last week we were looking at 217 deaths registered to the 3rd of april in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. borisjohnson will speak to us president donald trump later today and hold a telephone conversation with the queen later this week — but downing street says he is not yet formally back to work. mps return to westminster this afternoon, with questions by video link and strict

new social distancing rules. as the number of victims grows relentlessly — health workers, too, find themselves mourning the loss of colleagues and friends. the collapse in oil prices — at one point producers were paying others to take barrels off them. but will it mean cheaper petrol at the pumps? and portraits of nhs heroes — the artists who decided to celebrate the work of health care workers by painting them. dentists in england say a shortage of protective equipment is hampering their efforts to treat patients at new "urgent care hubs" — set up to deal with emergencies while practices are closed. the british dental association says patients with urgent problems are being forced to take matters into their own hands. dan johnson's report contains some graphic images. this dentist is at work but not working. we've got all the equipment to treat people. he hasn't seen a patient for ages. all i'm allowed to do is give prescriptions out. i saw a patient last...about

three weeks ago. the problem is protective equipment. the usual kit isn't good enough to protect against the virus and working close up, face to face, dentists are especially vulnerable. face—to—face without the appropriate ppe is not advisable, using the dental drill spreads an aerosol spray of particles. i didn't know how hard it would be to take out a molar. some patients are resorting to diy after failing to get treatment. they basically said unless it is stopping you from breathing that they couldn't do anything, there is no point coming in unless i literally couldn't breathe properly. this wasn't the case, but the pain nevertheless was absolutely excruciating. so i thought i'd take it into my own hands, really. it was quite tricky. i thought maybe ten or 15 minutes, but an hour and half it took me. england's chief dental officer says a network of more than 200 urgent care centres is up and running

to treat emergency cases, but appointments are still difficult to get. we've got a real backlog of patients who have been suffering. we have dealt with many of them with advice, antibiotics and analgesics. but many of these patients need face—to—face treatment. without the necessary ppe, many of these centres, even though they are waiting to provide care for patients aren't able to do that. some dentists have moved to work in different roles. others just want to help their own patients. frustrated, i think is the only word. frustrated that i can't do what i know i should be able to do. nhs england says the right protective equipment is in place, and more is on the way. dan johnson, bbc news. let's cross live to the house of commons, speaker sir lindsay hoyle is opening

the new session and plans to approve virtual settings are under way. the new session and plans to approve virtual settings are under waylj the new session and plans to approve virtual settings are under way. i am allowing the motions to be moved because in formal notice was given la st because in formal notice was given last night, albeit later than i would have wished. i know the motion arises from decisions of the house of commons commission and has broad support across the house. it allows for wider participation in the business of the house and scrutiny of the executive, which is crucial at this time. i also know that the procedure committee, in its report, which has been prepared at remarkable speed to assist the debate today, supports the principle of this motion being taken without notice. we know can to proceedings during the pandemic and hybrid scrutiny proceedings, they will be debated together. i called the leader of the house to move the first motion. thank you, mr speaker, i beg to move the proceedings and

pandemic standing in my name. i also speak to the motion and hybrid scrutiny proceedings. mr speaker, may i start by thanking you and the house star for the incredible work that has taken place during the easter recess to allow me to move these motions today. it is worth noting that our clerks and staff often work very long hours when the house is sitting and expect to be compensated for that in recess periods. 0n compensated for that in recess periods. on this occasion we have asked them to work during the recess period too, placing a double burden upon them. i am grateful to you, mr speaker, for allowing these motions to be moved without formal notice and you have stuff arranging the publication yesterday of the motions and decamping explanatory note. from tomorrow, if the house agrees these motions, we will resume oral statements, questions etc virtually. while the new digital parliaments may not be perfect, members may launch forth only to be muted or

snatched away altogether by an itinerant intranet connection. we must not let the perfectly the enemy of the good. the parliamentary authorities have done a superb job to get this up and running at such short notice. should the house agree these motions today, i would expect to bring forward further motions shortly to extend our virtual ways of working for a longer period and to more substantive business including legislation. before turning to these motions i want to set out my gratitude to the procedure committee for its rapid work. these are difficult and challenging times and these necessary changes are happening at a pace that would not be ideal in more normal times. the procedure committee has an essential role in advising this house on reform and i'm grateful to the committee and its chairman for its report published today and commit to continue to working closely with it. we will all want to keep under review how these procedures work. i know the committee has particular

concerns about moving to electronic voting and i would want to add closely with the committee on the options for that and hope it will reassure the committee if i say i am looking to make certain that we initially scheduled business unlikely to be divided upon once we have moved to considering substantive business as well. of course i will give way. i am extremely grateful to my right honourable friend for giving way at this early stage. could he confirm it is his intention tomorrow to bring forward a motion on remote voting? mr speaker, ithink bring forward a motion on remote voting? mr speaker, i think we must wait for tomorrow for tomorrow because my business, but i expect further motions to be brought forward on how this house will operate and move forward to substantive business, there was motions will be laid in the normal way before the house so that we do not have to have this extraordinary situation of bringing forth motions without notice, but there will be further motions. of course i will give way. i thank the leader for

giving way and understand the extreme circumstances under which we are working and commend the government and the offices of the house for what they had done. in each of the house indicated in his comments that nothing controversial would lead to a vote will try to be brought before the house. in those circumstances, it's a guaranteed but nothing to do with extending of abortion in northern ireland will be brought to the house during this crisis period? i was referring to the period of next week when we expect the business to business that will be without a division. looking to having remote voting, as my honourable friend referred to, they will had to come forward to cover that, but at the point of which that is in place, that will be the point at which controversial business would be taken that it is unlikely to go through without a division. we are not looking to divisions next week. i give way. are not looking to divisions next week. igive way. ithank are not looking to divisions next

week. i give way. i thank the leader of the house for giving way. you know that in every occasion we have had any controversial issues to do with abortion, the right honourable members, ministers, individuals from different parties across the chamber said on no occasion with anything come to do with abortion, whenever the northern ireland assembly was working. the northern ireland assembly is working and working well, is it important that any legislative change should not be brought to the house at any stage whenever the northern ireland assembly can make its decision. from the leader of the house, we need an assurance on the record that under no circumstances will any member of this house be disenfranchised or prevented from voting against abortion? not just in prevented from voting against abortion? notjust in my party but in other parties, there are many people opposed to abortion change and certainly to any change affecting northern ireland when we have a working assembly to take

those decisions? vote on abortion have always been free votes and it would be astonishing if that were to change, it would be a matter i would personally not be in favour of. these motions come from an act of parliament that was passed by this house last year and government must follow the law of the land. at the assurance that i am giving, and i will be announcing next week because my business in the business statement, is next week we will not bringing forward business that it is expected there will be divisions upon, because it is business which has been broadly agreed. i think i ought to turn out to the motions themselves, and i'm grateful to the house of commons commission and other parties for agreement to these measures. may it help the house if ipp set out the approach taken a draw attention to the detailed explanatory notes published for the of members. the first motion committee as to taking all steps

necessary to balance its responsibility for continuing scrutiny of the executive, legislating and representing the interests of constituent with adherence to the guidance issued by public health england and the restrictions placed upon all citizens of the united kingdom. i feel i should say not citizens of the united kingdom, today of all days, the 94th anniversary of the birth of her majesty, i think i should say subjective our gracious sovereign and take the opportunity in the absence of considered tewatia majesty many happy returns of the day. we must be an exemplar in the process with which we adopt by virtual working, underpinned by this motion. as the explanatory notes outside, the main motion provides for the first two hours of each sitting on monday, tuesday and wednesday to be devoted to scrutiny proceedings, questions to ministers, urgent questions are ministerial statements, during which it will be possible for members to participate electronically in a form approved by you, mr speaker. the motion enables

the speaker to restrict the number of members physically present in the chamber and ensure that social distancing requirements are met. as i look around the chamber today, i see we had succeeded in doing that very successfully. and i will give way to the honourable lady. can i join the leader of the house and thanking everyone who has worked so ha rd thanking everyone who has worked so hard and putting forward these arrangements, and raise the subject, because i declare an interest, because i declare an interest, because mr speaker has been kind enough to give me an adjournment debate on the order paper this week, about adjournment debate which, of course, tend to be rather sparsely attended at the best of times, and urge the leader of the house of commons and the house of commons commission to find a way to have adjournment debates as quickly as possible so backbenchers can represent our constituents? mr speaker, if i may i will answer the question two ways. one is that we are looking to expand the digital

offering so we can carry out more business, it depends how long this goes on full. the other part of the a nswer goes on full. the other part of the answer is that so no member is disadvantaged, members who cannot come here, what we are writing virtually, we will not do at all beyond today and some motions that may had to be like tomorrow, the point i was coming on to make, but it is only right that everything we do should be available to all members in a virtual format as well as the small numbers who will want to attend personally. in that process , to attend personally. in that process, adjournment debates will, i am sorry to say, the process rather than the beginning, because we need to scrutiny and legislation further up to scrutiny and legislation further up the list. of course i will give way. i thank you. up the list. of course i will give way. ithank you. for up the list. of course i will give way. i thank you. for the last few weeks, hundreds if not thousands of workers around my constituencies, in factories, paint factories and manufacturing, have had to continue to go to work in line with the guidance and have not been able to

maintain six feet, two metre, distances to enable them to continue to do theirjob, they have been told repeatedly that it is in line with the guidance and the guidance is clear that the rule should be followed where possible. if it is the case that we clarity ourjob properly because people are limited in their contributions, are unable to ask supplementary is in the usual way, will be applied the same rules to those applied to those working in paint and kitchen factories in my constituency who had to go to work regardless of the social distancing advice? mr speaker, the same rules apply to us as to everybody else, that it's the whole point of what we are trying to do, therefore facilitating working remotely but trying to ensure social distancing in this house. when somebody walked about a foot in front of me, somebody said it is not social distancing. there will be occasions,

but as long as we are making our best effort to ensure social distancing, hence the tape that has been put and the novel style of prior card that we see in the seats, to ensure we are in the right places. i think that is completely in line with guidance given to the rest of the country. if i may add, we have 18 full duty of the leadership of members of this house. 0ne leadership of members of this house. one is to show we are following the rules that apply to everybody else, the other is to lead by example ensuring we are getting on with our essential work. i think with the proposals put forward, we are doing both of those. i will give way. but leading by example on the rules we have imposed on everyone else, i would point out to the leader of the house that we have never debated those rules, those rules were implemented under legislation passed presciently, as far as 0rwell was on no concerns, in 1984. we have never

debated and explored them, and is not shocking? —— as far as was concerned. we had an opportunity to debate the emergency legislation, what we are doing today is the opportunity for debate and discussion of the government to be held to account. i am providing for my right honourable friend what he is asking before he asked for it. i do not play the capability of second xi to have known what he was going to ask for, but i'm delighted, mr speaker, we are delivering for my right honourable friend. as i was saying, the motion enables the speaker to restrict the number of members physically present in the chamber to ensure social distancing is met, and the motion will remain until the 12th of may, and it is likely arrangements may be modified following a motion tomorrow to a wider set of proceedings, that will follow, and it is temporary, that is

pa rt follow, and it is temporary, that is part of the point of this. this as well as this crisis lasts. there are specific points where i want to provide reassurance. demolish —— the motion at .83 reads, following proceedings the house will proceed with business, the main business. as i alluded to earlier, i want to make it clear that this is provided to allow this to bring forward further notion that are procedural and necessary this week, including the motion to allow for substantive business. it is not the government's current intention to meet physically to debate legislation or other substantive matters or rather wait until the house has agreed a way that business can be debated remotely. turning to six and seven, the motion gives the speaker the power, having agreed with the leader of the house, that is me, to vary this order. that might seem a very sweeping power, but this is entirely to ensure that mr speaker can react

to ensure that mr speaker can react to any teething problems the new procedures may have, so i hope members will consider it a sensible inclusion. it is not, mr speaker, so that you and i can set up railroading of parliamentary procedures and it has to be within the requirements of the motion that has been agreed. to conclude, mr speaker, parliament has always evolved to make sure it can work efficiently. parliamentary procedure is not an end in itself but a means to allow the institution to function successfully. any changes now will be temporary for the period of the lockdown because, like many things, the chamber works best when members can meet in person. i hope the whole house can support these motion so the house can undertake its essential scrutiny and we can move to considering other vital business including legislation. of course i will give way. i am grateful.

noting, as he says rightly, these measures are only temporary, and i welcome that, would he assist by agreeing with me that the real spirit of this has got to be that as the restrictions on the country are lifted over the coming weeks, we should respond in kind, leaving at least in step with the increasing freedom of citizens in the country to go about their business, and we should show regent —— show leadership in that respect too? as a general rule it is wise to agree with the chairman of the 1922 committee, and i'm happy to say that on this occasion i do agree with my right honourable friend. as the rest of the country sees its ability to do more become apparent, so we must go along with that. he kindly leads me perfectly to the point at which i wa nt to me perfectly to the point at which i want to end. what we do in this house is not something that it is nice to do, a pre—, a bauble on the british constitution. it is the

british constitution. it is the british constitution. it is the essence of how our governmental and constitutional system works, the ability to hold the government to attempt, to seek redress of grievance, to take up those matters brought to us by our constituents so they may be put right is best done when this house sits. in 1349 when the black death affected this country, parliament could not sit and did not. the session was cancelled. thanks to modern technology, even i have moved on from 1349... laughter and am glad to say that we consider to carry out these fundamental constitutional functions. to carry out these fundamental constitutionalfunctions. and to carry out these fundamental constitutional functions. and i to carry out these fundamental constitutionalfunctions. and i am enormously grateful, just traditionalist as traditionalist as iam, traditionalist as traditionalist as i am, people have accepted these, and you, mr speaker, have been at the forefront in getting them to happen because parliament, the house of commons, is essential to how we are governed. the question is that

motion in proceedings during the pandemic. i now call the schedule leader of the house. thank you, mr speaker. and i thank the leader of the house for opening the debate? mr speaker, these are extraordinary times, and today we are debating a process that has shown how the house can move with these changing times. i too want to pay tribute to all those involved. it has been an incredible feat on behalf of the clerk of the house and the staff, the digital —— digital services, the parliamentary broadcasting team, they have all been involved both in they have all been involved both in the technical side and the paperback came to the commission, literally drafting, refining, redrafting, which has led us to this motion. i too want to thank the procedure committee, i think they met virtually and made a very important contribution to the discussion we had at the commission. mr speaker,

the opposition want to engage with the opposition want to engage with the government at this extraordinary time, and we consider the ultimate chain is to move to virtual parliament, in keeping with government advice and public health england advice, subject to any technical limitations. mr speaker, you chat the commission where we discussed, agreed this way forward, this is the motion before us. —— you we re this is the motion before us. —— you were charity commission. we are effectively agreeing hybrid proceedings, a combination of the physical, at 250 people here, and virtual, to 120. members will be treated equally whether in the chamber or virtually —— physical, 250 people here. there will be a shovel and parity will be given to all the parties. there will be no supplementary point and no points of order. they are all laid out in what looks like... i would say they are the eight commandments. you shall do

this, you shall not do this. but i would like to speak to a2, scrutiny proceeding shall conclude not later than two hours. i know the leader of the house and you, mr speaker, we thought that was mainly for technical reasons rather than a prospective limit, but that looks to me to be very prescriptive. —— for technical reasons rather than a prescriptive limit. parliamentary brokers, there may be technical difficulties where they cannot sit beyond two hours. —— parliamentary broadcast. it anita could give us indication that it is not as prescriptive as laid out, that would be helpful. there will be people managing the time and we have to understand that certain clerks at the table and anyone else will have to limit their time here. we note the consequent standing order changes applying to the prayer cards and the social distancing, and to

the notice of questions, and i agree with the leader, the explanatory memorandum was very helpful in setting out what members should do in terms of applying for their questions. it is monday to monday, apart from the next week. i know that the staff of the house that eve ryo ne that the staff of the house that everyone else are working on how we deal with the debates and legislation, i look forward to the motion coming ahead, and also sakhir voting, that is extremely important, because we had to make sure that any voting process that should cut —— is secure. we have seen rogue voting process that should cut —— is secure. we have seen rogue e—mails going about, apparently from the department of health, suggesting that the department of health want her immunity. we had to be very careful in terms of how we vote. mr speaker, it will be an incredible

time, there will be additional oversight both from your office, the table office and the whips office, both sides, they will all be working incredibly hard to make sure that we can come into parliament to call the government to account and to uphold the democratic process, and as the leader says, this will only be effective until the 12th of may. studio: if you want to keep watching proceedings in the house of commons, you can watch bbc parliament. our political correspondentjessica parker joins political correspondentjessica parkerjoins me now political correspondentjessica parker joins me now from westminster. we are looking at a virtual commons and lords? for now, for today, they are looking at this motion proposing this new hybrid parliament where you will see up to but no more than 50 mps in the chamber to but no more than 50 mps in the chamberto maintain but no more than 50 mps in the chamber to maintain social distancing rules, up to 120 mps tuning in via zoom, something many people will be familiar with, and

app where you can take part with a smartphone teleconference. but each of the commons, jacob rees—mogg, has brought forward this motion, valerie vaz, the shadow leader of the house, giving her response in some interventions from mps as well. i think the motion bringing forward this new hybrid parliament is probably expected to get the knowledge in the coming hour also, thenjacob rees—mogg knowledge in the coming hour also, then jacob rees—mogg is knowledge in the coming hour also, thenjacob rees—mogg is set to lay out the business of the house, but it will not be until tomorrow that we get the virtual sitting in parliament, where the screens will be up and mps taking part from their homes across the uk, to discourage people from coming into the house of commons, just encouraging people to stay at home, as everyone is being encouraged to do, and we will see virtual prime minister's questions, which will be very interesting. something which has been emphasised by everybody involved in setting this up is that it is a work in progress, we have had to put this together pretty quickly. —— they

have had to. some people suggest the house of commons is rather old—fashioned, they house of commons is rather old —fashioned, they have house of commons is rather old—fashioned, they have had to introduce this technology very quickly. speaker lindsay hoyle has made clear that he wants to see visible, he hopes to see more than 120 mp5 visible, he hopes to see more than 120 mps taking part as things go on and as we will move to a situation where they can perhaps look at having voting on legislation. at the moment we are talking about ministers coming forward with statements, mps asking questions, scrutinising the work of government during this very unusual time. thank you very much. chris fawkes has your mother. —— your weather. we had a beautiful start to the day in the channel islands, with a rather fiery sunrise. the cloud associated with the sunrise also brought a fuchsia into western cornwall and the isles

of scilly initially, but otherwise it's been a dry and sunny day. overnight, it stays dry as well. we'll keep a fairly breezy conditions. temperatures very similar to last night, loads of around four to seven celsius, and like last night, it will be cold enough for a nip of frost in some of the steeper valleys in scotland. —3 the lowest temperature we are likely to see. high pressure, then, still in charge of our weather for wednesday. but the isobars are beginning to open out a little bit more, and that means the winds still coming from an easterly direction won't be quite as strong. any early—morning patches of cloud coming away very quickly, and for most of us will be left with, again, sunshine from dawn till dusk. now, if anything, given those lighter winds, it's going to be a warmer day. temperatures more widely pushing into the 20s, highs of around 18 degrees for northern ireland and 18 or 19 for the west of scotland. that's your weather.

this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines. figures show that deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high — with more than 1,000 covid—related deaths recorded at care homes in the week before easter. last week we were looking at 217 deaths registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings, now we are seeing more than 1000. borisjohnson will speak to us president donald trump later today and hold a telephone conversation with the queen later this week — but downing street says he is not yet formally back to work. mps return to westminster — to debate the new arrangement for questions by video link and strict new social distancing rules. the collapse in oil prices — at one point producers were paying others to take barrels off them. but will it mean cheaper petrol at the pumps? and the brand new nightingale

hospital in harrogate will be opened this afternoon by war veteran captain tom moore. good afternoon. the figures are already out of date — but they're no less shocking for that. in the week up to easter, deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high with 8,000 more people dying than would be regarded as normal at this time of year. and care homes are at the sharp end of these figures from the office for national statistics — with more than 1,000 covid—related deaths. so lots of tough questions for the government as parliament gets back to business today — with many questions still about the availability of personal protective equipment — and the need for more testing. this report from our

health correspondent richard galpin. for those living in care homes across england and wales, the figures are particularly bleak. the number of deaths, shooting up. and all this, mostly due to coronavirus. in total, the office for national statistics says in england and wales, coronavirus was involved in 1662 deaths outside hospitals, in the week ending on good friday. the vast majority of those deaths was in care homes. also, 466 people died at home and 87 in hospices. if we look at the care home number, i know that's a source of real focus at the moment, last week, that was about 5% of deaths involving covid were in care home settings, now 13%, based on death registrations. in terms of numbers, last week, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april

in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. there are more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes in england alone. they are amongst the most vulnerable, and the virus has already spread into many of these homes. we always had hoped that the figures would be less but i think there is more and more evidence that they may be more. i mean, it is disappointing, disappointing for the families, it's disappointing for the carers who have done their utmost to contain this within very difficult circumstances. but certainly, if we'd had the testing in place, if we'd been part of the contingency planning at the very beginning, we may have been able if we'd had been part of the contingency planning at the very beginning, we may have been able to mitigate some of the figures we are looking at today. another big issue being discussed today is whether all of us should

wear masks when we are outside so we cannot spread coronavirus. scientists advising the government have been debating this morning whether there is sufficient evidence it would be beneficial. there are concerns it could jeopardise supplies health workers. there are concerns it could jeopardise supplies for health workers. at this point we do not have accurate scientific steer that it would be right to broaden this to the general population and we would obviously bear in mind representations from nhs providers about the need to prioritise supply to where it can do the most good. there have also been developments today on rolling out testing for all front line workers. 27 of these drive—in testing centres are now up and running across the country. besides health workers, teachers, police, prison officers and others, can now get tested for the virus. there's huge progress being made building lab capacity so there is a plan to deliver that level of lab capacity.

we now have a number of ways of meeting demand and matching that capacity to demand but the real aim is to secure the testing capability that the country needs. and i'm confident we have that and we will be able to allow the country to respond with the testing that is required. the government has pledged to scale up the programme to 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. whether that's possible is not something the new testing coordinator would answer. richard galpin, bbc news. our head of statistics robert cuffe is here. lets put some perspective on this. what do the figures tell us? they show that up until a couple of weeks ago, the death figures for england and well is were looking pretty good, and we can see that here. we have a bar in the middle, that shows what we would expect to see normally based on the last five years, and the red line shows what is happening

this year. up until two weeks ago it was looking a bit better than average, but over the last two weeks, it has risen sharply. we expect 10,000 deaths at this time of year, but last week was 16000 and the most recent figures 18,000. we have not seen a jump so big since the year 2000, it is a significant increase. there are lots of sources of figures coming out, there is hope in at least one of them? no yes, if you look at some of the data of the deaths happening in hospitals in england, so this is a smaller set of data, there is some suggestion that things are looking better. this shows the number of deaths on the day that they occurred. they have been going down and down since just before easter. one word of caution here, the last four bars, it is possible they could go up because not all of the deaths that happened in these days have been reported

yet. analysis from statisticians suggest they will go up, but not to the levels we sawjust before easter. but in the ons figures say just before easter it was looking very bad, with a significant amount of extra deaths we would not normally expect to see, but that may have been the peak. it isjust normally expect to see, but that may have been the peak. it is just not clear how long that would take us to get back to normal. every afternoon we get a raft of new figures and information coming in. yes, to -- you over the head with even more numbers, we are getting the figures from other nations. it was probably around 17,000 deaths as a whole for the uk. in england and scotland, they are both reporting increases day on day but are sharply up, so in scotla nd day on day but are sharply up, so in scotland it was 12 new deaths yesterday, and 70 today. in england, 429, and 778 today. a big increase,

but we should be wary because we have often seen a sudden surge of deaths on a tuesday because some reporting gaps, some deaths over the weekend come through to be reported during the week. so there is a dip on monday, a spike on tuesday, but that does not mean we are going back to the peak lease of before. it is a big rise, but the road down as a bumpy one, it is not going to be straightforward. so we should not... there is an emotional roller—coaster if you follow all of these figures every day, and we cannot help doing it, but we should focus on the long—term trends, not day by day, and they suggest the peak is flattened in deaths, it is not coming down regarding hospitals in england, and the ons shows that the peak was a high one.

we can speak now to councillor ian hudspeth, chairman of the local government association's community wellbeing board. cani can i say first of all, thank you to all the workers doing a brilliant job. we have to remember each death is an absolute tragedy for those involved, and these numbers are, as you say, quite horrifying in a sense compared to the normal situation. what we have got to make sure as we treat the data carefully and always make sure we are looking at the same data all the time to see a trend, but there is the situation arising in care homes, where the reported figures are coming in in a lag because they do not have the

technology and normal equipment that hospitals do. do you have any sense of the trend robert was talking about? do you think we are past any peak? i'm not an expert on the viruses and would not like to speculate because i think until we get more data and over a longer period of time, we have to be very careful because we hear from experts saying that one day's data, we have to make sure it is reliable and robust and the business of the weekend spiking on a tuesday means weekend spiking on a tuesday means we have to treat all data with caution, we have to look at the long term. the trend appears to be going in the right direction, but i believe it to the experts on data to predict when we have reached the peak and the curve is flattening. predict when we have reached the peak and the curve is flatteningm has taken a while to concentrate on what is happening in care homes and

community settings. what sense are you getting of that? it is a shame it has taken the time to concentrate on community settings and care homes because they play an absolutely vital part of the whole situation because they are looking after the elderly, looking after our most vulnerable residents, and we need to make sure we give them parity with the nhs, so the staff do have the appropriate personal protective equipment because they are dealing with people who are having symptoms, so we with people who are having symptoms, so we have to make sure of that, and also the testing, it is absolutely vital we get testing into care homes because one of the key things when we have been working with local hospitals is to make sure that if someone hospitals is to make sure that if someone is fit and does not need to be in hospital, they can be taken out to a care home. understandably, the care homes need to understand that the patients coming to them are testing negative, otherwise we have to make sure the quarantine is

inside the care home. it has taken a while, but it is a really important as it is really important that we recognise good social care in care homes, it is playing a major part in the nhs. we have been talking about ppe and testing for a long time, the time for a blame will come some way down the road if there is any blame to be apportioned, but where do you think there seems to be this restriction on that release of the equipment? what has gone wrong, do you think? again, speculation about what has gone wrong where the ppe is, and what hasn't been distributed in the way we hoped. i think that is for afterwards because certainly what we are doing locally is to make sure we sort is much ppe as possible so we can sure we sort is much ppe as possible so we can provide that for the social care workers in our community, and that is what these effo rts community, and that is what these efforts are concentrating on and i think we will be looking back, undoubtedly there will be reviews as

to what went wrong and could have been dealt with better, but there seems to be a problem with distribution. thank you so much for joining us. thank you. let's speak to our political correspondentjessica parker. all the issues about ppe, testing, parliament is sitting, and these are going to be raised very quickly. yes, i think that will happen, perhaps not today as parliament has returned, as you mention, what they are doing is reallyjust talking through how it is going to work, this new parliament, virtual parliament, where you are going to see up to 120 mps dial in on zoom, and no more than 20 mps in the chamber. jacob rees—mogg is going to set out the coming business, but tomorrow we are going to have prime minister's questions, not with the prime minister because of course the prime minister because of course the prime minister because of course the prime minister boris johnson prime minister because of course the prime minister borisjohnson is continuing to recover from

coronavirus at chequers, his buckinghamshire retreat. we understand it will be dominic raab, the first secretary of state who has been deputising, who will take his place possibly in the chamber, because a limited number of people are allowed in, particularly front bench spokespeople. we expect to see kier starmer the new labour leader attending. we are not sure whether he will do that in person or video conferencing, but as we return to a form of parliament, hybrid parliament, mps from across the chamber and across their living rooms and homes across the country, as they dial in, will be wanting to scrutinise the government on these issues and why, for example, when it comes to testing, yes the government sees capacity for tests creeping up and up, although farfrom the 100,000 target, but there is a big gap between the capacity and the number of tests being carried out. for instance, the number of figures we have is that the number of tests

being carried out over 24 hours is 20,000, the number of tests available, 39,250, so a big gap there. on the issue of ppe, personal protective equipment. masks, gloves, gowns in particular has been an issue recently, and the shipment from turkey still yet to arrive, and we understand an raf plane is on the tarmac ready to take the equipment from turkey to the uk. the concerns about the availability of what is available on the front line, mps will want to know what is going on. borisjohnson is will want to know what is going on. boris johnson is speaking will want to know what is going on. borisjohnson is speaking to the president of the united states later today. is he back at work or not? we are told by downing street that the prime minister is not back doing government work as it were. he is at chequers, continuing with his recuperation, dominic raab continuing to deputise for him, for

example taking prime minister's questions tomorrow. but you're right, there are signs that the prime minister is beginning to take ona prime minister is beginning to take on a few more tasks, so he has been speaking to donald trump, the president of the united states, but president of the united states, but president of the g7 at the moment, of the global response i would think, i would of the global response i would think, iwould imagine of the global response i would think, i would imagine we will get some kind of readout of the conversation later today. so he is having that high—level phone call, and later this week borisjohnson will have an audience with the clea n, will have an audience with the clean, sort of, so it won't be going to the palace to see her majesty the queen in person, they will have some sort of phone call. that has not gone on for a few weeks since boris johnson was taken ill, there has not been that audience with the queen. it has been carried out instead by officials between the palace and downing street, dominic raab deputising did not have those conversations with the clean, so it seems the prime minister is dipping

his toe into work, but he is not backed by any stretch of the imagination. thank you very much. as the number of victims of covid—19 continues to grow, health workers, too, find themselves mourning the loss of colleagues and friends. daniela relph reports. their stories are of compassion and care across a range ofjobs. they are the growing list of health care workers who have lost their lives to the virus they were helping to treat. the anguish of their families is acute, the tributes of their work colleagues fulsome. manjeet singh riyat was an accident and emergency consultant at the royal derby hospital. he died on monday. he was 52. he was the uk's first sikh a&e consultant and a much loved doctor. a fellow consultant at the hospital described him as the father of the emergency department in derby and an inspiration to others. absolutely fabulous man, inspirational. inspirational on the shop floor, loved a clinical challenge, had a massive intellect,

encyclopedic knowledge. he was an inspiration to many junior doctors. paramedic gerallt davies had worked for the welsh ambulance service for 26 years. at the weekend he became the first paramedic in wales to die after contracting coronavirus. he was 51. last week, sonya kaygan died in hospital in london after spending two weeks in intensive care. she was a care home worker and just 26 years old. for herfamily, there is now grief and questions. whether they have ppe now, i can say that my cousin didn't at the time, and she was wearing just a general mask and gloves that she would wear before the pandemic. so nothing really changed in terms of the way that she was protected at work during this time. and it's incredibly frustrating for all of us because carers need this attention. you know, my cousin is 26 years old.

this could have been prevented. she was too young to lose her life. they are just a few of the front line workers who have died. they represent a group of people who stepped up to help others suffering and who have themselves lost their lives. theirfamilies, friends and colleagues want their sacrifice remembered. daniela relph, bbc news. president trump has pledged to take action to support the long term future of the us oil industry, after the price of crude oil fell dramatically. he has tweeted "we will never let the great us oil and gas industry down. i have instructed the secretary of energy and secretary of the treasury to formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future!" oil prices turned negative yesterday for the first time in history. negative prices meant oil producers

were paying buyers to take oil off their hands — over fears that storage capacity could run out. joining me now is lord browne — who ran bp for more did you think you would see that happening? i never did. it is very surprising, particularly in the united states. and it is about storage, isn't it? it is, too much oil, too little demand, and it has to go in storage. president trump, i think, is trying to store some of it into a future petroleum reserve, owned by the federal government, to ta ke owned by the federal government, to take off the pressure. but even that isa drop take off the pressure. but even that is a drop in the ocean compared with the overwhelming amount of production, compared with demand, which is down very heavily, about 30%. how long do you see oil hitting these sorts of figures, given that

backin these sorts of figures, given that back in the mid—80s prices of oil stayed low for 17 years? it will not stayed low for 17 years? it will not stay as low, but it will be lower for longer, that is for sure. whatever happens about restraining production, and indeed some of these producers in the united states will either go bankrupt or be sold by other people, production may stop for a period, but other people, production may stop fora period, but in other people, production may stop for a period, but in the end it comes back, so production doesn't go away, supply doesn't go away, but the demand may not come back, and demand is weak because the world economy is already shut in many places, it will be slow for a very long time, and also i think oil is not as popular as it is to be, quite simply it is a contributor to global warming, people know that, they do not want to burn as much as they used to, and i think a couple of

lessons we have learned from the virus, pandemic... therefore we have to be careful about what we do about polluting the world. number two, we have to worry about nature, it is a very big force, bigger than countries and governments and presidents and prime ministers, and if we mess with that it will come back and do bad things, and messing with it means a climate change, and that we would not like. so, is president trump wrong to say that whatever it costs we need to support this industry? the fossilfuel industry in the united states already received subsidies totalling $649 billion, and it almost matches its military funding. so, should

those days come to an end?|j its military funding. so, should those days come to an end? i think whatever you do to support industry, if they demand is not there, i think if they demand is not there, i think if they demand is not there, i think if the support i think the support for the oil and gas industry will come and go, it is an important thing for president trump for electoral purposes, but actually in the end the truth will be in economics, and the economics looked terrible. the price of oil is low, people don't want to invest, nobody wa nts to people don't want to invest, nobody wants to invest, and so i think we'll see this not being a permanent feature of the landscape. what, oil? now, the subsidy. most of the oil in the world is produced by the state oil company, and they will continue

to produce, obviously because that is, something that is the only think they have in terms of the principal axis of the economy, so i think oil will be around for a long time, but not necessarily as big a contributor to the energy mix as we see today. again, because of the carbon content. so, you will perhaps suggest that history will judge content. so, you will perhaps suggest that history willjudge this coronavirus pandemic is perhaps the moment we all changed our view on oil and its future and the power provided for the globe.|j oil and its future and the power provided for the globe. i actually hope it will be a moment where people can reflect on energy being provided first of all locally because it has to be resilient, secondly cleanly because we don't wa nt to secondly cleanly because we don't want to upset the delicate balance of the planet, and thirdly without

pollution, so we don't want to upset the health of individuals, so i think those i hope will be lessons we are going to learn as we come out of this tragic pandemic we are experiencing at the moment. at the moment, our oil companies too powerful, too rich? they certainly aren't as rich as they used to be, that's for sure, with the price of oil being as low as it is. more oil companies, certainly the big ones, are beginning to think that the future is not in oil but in natural gas and alternative energies, and oil is to be regarded as something which is rundown over the period they have got in stock, but not necessarily investing in further growth in the future, so i think there are different strategies for

oil companies around the world, they have not been powerful for a very long time. as a matter of interest they used to be about 15% of the stock market, now probably less than 396 stock market, now probably less than 3% of the stock market at present, so 3% of the stock market at present, so they are much smaller, they do produce dividends which are very important for pension funds, and let's see how long they can keep doing that. what do you miss most about running bp? i think, when i was running bp, i used to remember that the thing we did was provide £1 out of every £6 out of every pension fund in the uk, we also tried to make the oil and gas industry better, in 1997! stood up and said oil and gas are responsible for

climate change, we need to do something about it, we need to change, and we moved bp beyond petroleum, possibly not at the right time, but there was a role, if you could seize the moment for oil and gas companies to be an important pa rt gas companies to be an important part of the future, not just gas companies to be an important part of the future, notjust part of the past. and so i enjoyed that, seeing if we could create a future from something that was not... thank you for your time. it is a pleasure. the queen is 94 today, but the usual gun salutes in london's hyde park have been cancelled for the first time in her 68—year reign. trooping the colour, which marks the queen's official

birthday injune has already been cancelled, with no alternative plan expected. as our royal correspondent nicholas witchell explains, historicalfootage has been released to mark the occasion. i think we have seen some of it in various television documentaries over the years, but it is charming footage of a very young princess elizabeth, mostly playing with her younger sister margaret. in the footage released to mark her 94th birthday, we see her playing with a small baby pram, sitting on a seesaw, and some footage from later in her life as she was learning some dance steps with her mother, the then queen consort. so it is not what one normally gets on her birthday,

but this is a birthday unlike any other. she is in semi—isolation at windsor, she is there with her husband who, of course, will be 99 in rather less than two months now, they have some very close members of staff with them protecting themselves. the queen is 94 today, the duke of edinburgh a couple of months short of that 99th birthday, so they are taking every precaution, and these pictures released to mark the occasion, an occasion which will not be being marked in the characteristic fashion, so there are no gun salutes taking place in hyde park as would normally be the case on her birthday, the bells of westminster abbey are not being rung, as would normally happen, so a very suppressed, quiet birthday for her in keeping with the circumstances that the country is experiencing at the moment. she is at windsor castle with the duke of edinburgh, and a few staff member, but presumably there will be some video calls, maybe even from los angeles, you don't know, do you? the family are keeping in touch

through video calls, phone calls, zoom, all that sort of thing, there have been some messages on the various twitter accounts from the cambridges, also the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall, who are on the balmoral estate. each family within their own environment, but sharing their birthday wishes even if they cannot do so face—to—face, as are so many millions of families at the moment, doing their best to keep in touch and exchange news and greetings in these rather strange methods we are all having to adopt. indeed. but enough staff to bake a cake, one hopes? i am sure that the windsor castle kitchens will be up to that, it would have to be quite a big cake with 94 candles on it, and it would be left outside the door of her private apartment, presumably. but i'm sure they will be marking it in a suitable way.

nicholas witchell talking to me earlier. people on twitter are enjoying the idea of 24 41 salute! the cloud associated with the sunrise also brought a few showers into cornwall and the isles of scilly but otherwise, dry and sunny day. overnight, stays dry, fairly breezy conditions, temperature is very similar to last night with lows around 47 celsius unlike last night it may be cold enough for some frost. —3 is the lowest temperature. high pressure is still in charge of the weather for wednesday but the isobars are beginning to open out a little and that means the wind is still coming from an easterly direction and won't be quite as strong. any early—morning patches of cloud clearing away very quickly and for most of us, we will be left with sunshine from dawn till dusk. now,

if anything, it is going to be a warmer day, temperatures more widely pushing into the 20s, highs of around 18 degrees for northern ireland in 1890 west in scotland. figures show that deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high — with more than a thousand covid—related deaths recorded at care homes in the week before easter. last week we were looking at 217 deaths registered up until the 3rd of april in care home settings. now, we are seeing of april in care home settings. now, we are seeing over of april in care home settings. now, we are seeing over 1000. borisjohnson will speak to us president donald trump later today and hold a telephone conversation with the queen later this week, but downing street says he is not yet formally back to work. mps return to westminster to debate the new arrangement for questions by video link and strict new social distancing rules. the collapse in oil prices — at one point producers were paying

others to take barrels off them.. but will it mean cheaper petrol at the pumps? and the brand new nightingale hospital in harrogate will be opened this afternoon by war veteran captain tom moore by videolink. regional data from the office for national statistics shows that london has borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. as we've heard, deaths across england and wales have risen sharply above what would normally be expected at this time of year. but london has suffered its highest number of registered deaths in a single week for more than forty years. chris morris, our reality check correspondent, is here. what correspondent, is here. are the regions figures showing? what are the regions figures showing? well, we know that the pandemic hit london first and so london is ahead of other regions in the curve and we have looked back

through statistics for deaths in london right back to the 1960s and the figures for the weekend in april, the 10th of april at the worst since 1976. this chart gives you a view of weekly deaths in london this year. normally at this time of year, deaths go down, the peakis time of year, deaths go down, the peak is normally what looks like quite small in january peak is normally what looks like quite small injanuary there, during the flu season, but the last two weeks that we have records for from the ons are the two highest for more than 40 years. you can see the box we have marked their which is the range we would expect the deaths to be in. it is way above that, so for example, the numbers ending 10th of aprilfor london, 2832 registered deaths which is nearly three times as much as the average for the same week over the previous five years. so, an indication that london really has borne the brunt and on that weekend ending the 10th of april, the friday, as you talked about, was

a bank holiday. so, it slightly under reports the figures most likely. what about other regions? other regions also are reporting by far their worst figures for this time of year. you can see the shape of the graph looks rather familiar from london, that is the west midlands and in the west midlands, in the week ending the 10th of april, there were 2182 deaths registered, compared to an average over the previous five years ofjust over the previous five years ofjust over 1000, so it is more than double what you would expect at this time of year. similarly, i think we have a graph of the east of england we can show and those figures are roughly the same. 1984 deaths registered in the east of england, compared to an average ofjust over 1100. now, obviously see the good news in the daily figures of daily deaths appearing to be stabilising and these are obviously, there is a time lag on this, for the week ending the 10th of april, this is

death registrations which means the deaths themselves probably happened a few days earlier, so certainly for london, at the height of the pandemic, but for some of these numbers, particularly london, the worst numbers in nearly half a century and a fairly sobering assessment of just century and a fairly sobering assessment ofjust how hard the coronaviruses hit the capital. and these figures are already out of date, what can we expect over the coming weeks? i think there will be a lap from that good friday bank holiday and of course the bank holiday and of course the bank holiday on easter monday as well, which will have to be factored into next week's figures. some registry offices are open on bank holidays but not all of them, so the ons is talking in the figures for the week of the 10th of april, a conservative estimate of perhaps another 2000 deaths above those that have been reported. they are going to remain high for some time to come. one of the crucial thing is though for the government is most of these access

deaths, the deaths above those which we would expect at this time of year, are we would expect at this time of yea r, a re clearly we would expect at this time of year, are clearly attributed to covid—19. but other some that are happening not despite the lockdown but because of the lockdown, in other words is the lockdown creating circumstances in which some people, a smaller number than dying of covid—19, dying of other conditions that are going either or untreated. crates thanks very much. to talk about the nature of the virus i am joined by dr naomi forrester—soto. she's an expert in the study of viruses at keele university. this virus is a coronaviruses eve ryo ne this virus is a coronaviruses everyone knows and there are other coronaviruses that circulate, to cause very serious coronaviruses that circulate, to cause very serious disease, like sars in 2002 and the middle east respiratory syndrome virus, those

cause disease much more like what we have now. but there are ones that we call common cold viruses that circulate throughout the year. most of us are exposed to those at a very young age, there is some indication that some people get more severe disease from those and can be hospitalised because of them, but we have never really understood that very well and now that this viruses happened i think there will be an increase in trying to understand just how severe these coronaviruses can be as respiratory infections. for sure, but i'm guessing that nobody has learnt so much so quickly about a particular virus as this one? no, i feel like about a particular virus as this one? no, ifeel like this is about a particular virus as this one? no, i feel like this is the steepest discovery curve that virology has ever seen. probably even more so virology has ever seen. probably even more so than when the car happened and emerged —— when zika happened. does that suggest that we

are on the road to a vaccine sooner rather than later? in terms of the vaccine, we still have to do the safety studies for vaccines which ta ke safety studies for vaccines which take time. what i'm hoping is that because of the nature of the emergency, the cooperation between governments and pharmaceutical companies will expedite those tests, not reduce the safety tests in any way shape or form, butjust make sure that they are streamlined through the process as quickly as possible, which i am hoping will then make the vaccine arrive a lot sooner then make the vaccine arrive a lot sooner than most do. what is the most striking thing that you have learned about how this particular virus works? i think the thing that iam most virus works? i think the thing that i am most intrigued about as a biologist is that i have had a crash course in respiratory immune responses and that has been fascinating to me because this virus, we are not sure how much immunity it causes, whether it can last a long time the immunity, how

many people will be immune and therefore get milder infections if they get reinfected or if people are going to get reinfected at all and so going to get reinfected at all and so this has been fascinating for me, because i generally work on viral evolution, so the genetics of viruses, so i have been really digging into the immunology and i think it has become clear how little we understand about respiratory infections and immunity of respiratory infections but i'm hoping this will move the field forward significantly. and what does it do for scientists like yourself who, i suspect, it do for scientists like yourself who, isuspect, are it do for scientists like yourself who, i suspect, are now more aware of what everyone else is doing in your field than ever before.|j of what everyone else is doing in your field than ever before. i would say at the moment the sheer amount of data coming out is impossible to keep up with. i am keeping really well on top of the stuff i study, viral genetics and evolution, those papers i read as soon as they come out. for some of the others, i am listening to podcasts designed by virology tests for virologists or i am reading slightly dumbed down

versions of other types of infections and then if i'm interested , infections and then if i'm interested, i head back to the original paper, but if i tried to read every original paper i would just drown information. doctor, are we approaching what could be a eureka moment where somebody suddenly says, oh my gosh, i think i've got this? i am hopeful that every day. science is 99% hard work and 1% absolute amazement when something brilliant happens and comes together and i'm hoping that all the mines together, doing all this work related that happening faster than it normally would with groups working in isolation.” faster than it normally would with groups working in isolation. i wish you well with all your work and thank you very much for your time. tributes have been paid to the accident and emergency consultant, manjeet singh riyat, who died yesterday at the royal derby hospital where he worked. mr riyat was the uk's first sikh a&e consultant. colleagues described him as "the father of the current emergency department",

who was widely respected across the nhs.jagdeesh singh dhaliwal is a gp in melbourne in australia, who trained with mr riyat at medical school in leicester. he said he was shocked. yeah, it is absolutely heart wrenching, i woke up with the news this morning, when other friends and colleagues from the uk had messaged me and it has just been a day of deep, deep sorrow and complete shock. particularly for manjeet, he was always such a lively, life and soul character and to think that he is no longer with us is galling. and the huge loss to the nhs to have an experienced ed consultant of this calibre not working in the system any more. many people talking about the calibre of this man, that phrase, the father of the current emergency department, that is quite an accolade. well, we have all been talking today about how we were all 18—year—old medical students, and he was the adult in the room at the time, he was always the person

you could go to for sensible advice, when we would still be quite naive and immature 18—year—olds so he always possessed that real character of gravitas, very principled, ethically driven, you could see that complete dedication to good quality patient care, real compassion all the time. that was the measure of the man and it is just gutting to know that we have lost him. it is one thing to be a remarkable leader and another to be popular at the same time. yeah, yeah. very dry sense of humour, manjeet was famous for his one—liners, he could actually floor a room with just that well positioned remark and we are going to miss that incredibly. an inspirational leader, what will his legacy be, because it spans continents obviously, talking to you now. absolutely, you know, the loss is incredible,

if there is any consolation i think it is just that the outpouring of emotion on social media, obviously the news hit me in australia, within a few hours of manjeet passing. i think a real loss in the sense of those who knew him as colleagues, but i think also he was heavily involved in training and teaching so for emergency department doctors coming through the ranks, he was really inspirational. notjust in what he taught, but the way in which he talked about patients and he always had that passion whenever you talked to him about the way he really wanted to pass on the knowledge that he had accumulated after all this time as an ed consultant. it is a huge loss. in this global pandemic, you don't need me to tell you that obviously, you are on the front line, as was he. is this, this is just one of those risks that front line

workers are having to take? so, i was a gp and very happy to be a doctor in the uk for over 25 years. we moved to australia for other reasons, not because i was fed up with the nhs, it was an opportunity for my wife. i am in a position to be able to compare and contrast, though, what is happening in my home country of the uk and my new country of australia and the contrast is fairly stark. colleagues back in the uk tell me how ppe isn't available, we do have ppe here in australia. mass testing isn't really happening in the uk, here i am being told that i can test for covid—19 for any patient i'm worried about. some of these things do make me angry, to be honest, because i do think that some steps could have been put into place earlier back home in the uk, it may well have cut the risk for manjeet and some of my other colleagues in terms of covid—19. you don't send your troops onto the battlefield unarmed,

you just don't do that. it doesn't matter how brave they are, you don't send people out if they don't have the equipment that they need. we don't do that with our soldiers, why would we do it for our health professionals? the labour leader, keir starmer has been talking to our political editor laura kuenssberg about the government's response to coronavirus. he said that there is a gap between the government's words and reality in relation to the delivery of ppe to health and care workers treating patients with covid—19. what we're seeing here is an increasing gap between what the government says or thinks is happening and what the front line are telling us. this gap has to be closed as soon as possible people are putting their lives literally on the line when they are going to work, they need proper equipment in the right place. and for what you have seen, what do you think is the reason for the gap, governments

around the world are scrabbling to get hold of this and then we hear about companies in the uk coming forward to offer help and the government hasn't got back to them but what do you think, from what you know, about what the problem really is? one of the things we have picked up is? one of the things we have picked up in the last few days is this issue of manufacturers saying, look, we stepped up, we didn't really heard back from the government and at the same time we have planes trying to bring as equipment so something is going wrong, there are something is going wrong, there are some manufacturers who haven't heard from the government and are now shipping their stuff to abroad. and do you give the government any kind of, do you think they have valid reasons or do you think there is actually mismanagement at the heart of this? i have been concerned that they have been a bit slow to take decisions when they needed to move a lot more quickly. i would have thought an assessment of what is in stock, what is needed, needed to happen quicker than it did. i'm not saying this is easy and not pretending any government could have got this completely right but i

think that we are a number of weeks in now and still have this problem is really troubling for those on the front line. with shortages and delays to the arrival of personal protective equipment, many people are looking for ways to help nhs workers through the coronavirus pandemic. it's led to an army of more than 40,000 volunteers, from every corner of the uk, producing scrubs for workers on the front line. hywel griffith reports. hi, i'm terri. hello, i'm vicky. i'm christina. from stitchers in somerset. i'm in edinburgh. from scarborough. cornwall. cutters in cumbria. i'm in south london. i'm in bristol. in belfast and brighton too, that whirring is the sound of tens of thousands of people doing what they can to protect the nhs. so this is my temporary workroom i've set up at home. the pandemic has meant many more health workers need scrubs. cotton uniforms which are simple to clean and quick to change. within half an hour i'd already received a request for 150 scrubs.

marcel set up one of the teams in the midlands. it's just been a complete whirlwind, even people who are not able to make the scrubs are making ear guards for us, they're making scrub bags. somebody has even created labels saying superhero cape. you know, to put on the front of the scrub bags. the clothes you wear determine the way people see you. it's notjust enthusiastic amateurs. blue is quite your colour. the costume makers from the bbc‘s his dark materials and other tv drama teams have made over 6,000 sets of scrubs between them. the world of opera is helping too. adding a little flair as they sew. we are putting fun pockets, we've got some prints so it's notjust plain, boring cotton scrubs. they are saying how much they love the little personal touch, of having a dragonfly or a bumblebee on their pocket. the basic pattern is simple to share and print. the material, bought using donations. even sewers in

self—isolation are helping. when they are ready the scrubs are packed up and delivered directly to the hospitals, hospices and care homes who need them. hi. are you ok? yes, grand, thanks. i've got your scrubs here. taking them straight to staff as a way of trying to cut through bureaucracy. and meet the demand. thank you. absolutely amazing they are thinking of us. in their time, making the effort, it's just fantastic. people are just overwhelmed, they want to give us money and i keep saying no, this is free. the desire to make a difference in such difficult times is the thread that runs through every set of these. thanks very much. thank you. as people pull together to protect the front line. hywel griffth, bbc news, cardiff. well one person hoping to join the list of nhs ppe providers is gill long, owner of ‘cock of the walk‘ tailors in hull. yesterday, her prototype gowns received the first stage of approval from hull royal infirmary

and shejoins me from her workshop now. how difficult has this been? how difficult has this beamm how difficult has this been? it has been hardest to actually get given some work by the hospital. that has been hardest part getting through all of the bureaucracy. now we are getting the gowns tested, they are past all the test this morning, we have all that great news now so now we are on the easier part which is doing what we do really which is cutting, making and making it to good quality. letsjust talk cutting, making and making it to good quality. lets just talk about the bureaucracy for a second, a lot of people say, hang on, there is clearly a huge demand for these things, if you make them and make them well, why should there be a delay? i'm not sure myself, you would think it would be simple really, we, all of the official places we had to go with our

response, they weren't answering any of us and we ended up having to get a little bit frustrated and get a couple of our local mps on board to get us listen to because we knew we could do it, we knew we could make this product but we just needed a chance really. so you're gowns are reusable, what sort of test they go through to make sure they are up to scratch? i'm sure they are but they need to be tested. it is currently being, they are laundered by the hospital laundry to see if they can stay together and then when they are laundered, they have been testing the sterility of it and i believe they have been washed and then sterilised three different times and each time, the gowns remain sterile so each time, the gowns remain sterile soi each time, the gowns remain sterile so i know they have only been washed up so i know they have only been washed up to three times for now, but it is something to do with the sterile services at the hospital. and how many do you think you will be able to make it peak production? well, we

in the late but we are being asked to do 250 per day. we have currently got 150 cut so that we can see our tailors tonight and start them sowing tonight, so we are off to a good start. and it is notjust you, there are other companies doing the same, is there a sense of community spirit amongst tailors to try and help out here? oh yes. definitely. tailors who, as much as we are meant to be in competition with each other, we are not really because we all understand the job that each of the doors and most tailors help each other out, it is just who we are. are you one of those who goes out on a thursday night to clap and make noise for nhs workers, they are really at the forefront of all our thoughts aren't they? absolutely, we are out every week doing that. well, very good to talk to you, all the

luck in the world with this project and congratulations. thank you, goodbye. for the last week we've been telling you about captain tom who has raised more than £27 million pounds for national health service charities in the uk by walking 100 lengths of his garden. his story has touched the hearts of so many people and now he's inspired another 99 year—old to take on a challenge. here is winnie page — she's walking 10 lengths of her driveway every day until her 100th birthday in a week's time. she's hoping to raise £5,000 pounds for the ambulance service in north west england. for all those parents out there who could use a hand with story—time these days, help is here. mouse took a stroll through the deep dark woods, the fox or the mouse and the mouse looked good.

michelle obama will narrate a classic kids book online each monday for the next four weeks. the first offering was that much loved tale ‘the gruffalo', by julia donaldson.the project is a collaboration with penguin random house and pbs kids. the idea is to give children a chance to practise their reading, and give their parents a much needed break. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello there, for most of us has been a straight day of sunny skies and fairly brisk winds again but for the channel islands, what a glorious start of the day it was, this was the fiery sunrise that we saw earlier on injersey. the fiery sunrise that we saw earlier on in jersey. that the fiery sunrise that we saw earlier on injersey. that cloud, is this clarity on the satellite picture, it also brought a few showers in across western cornwall and the isle of scilly but they've been moving out of the way since. clear skies for most of us, rain bearing clouds and wet and windy conditions found across portugal, spain, france and italy as well. as well as the sunshine, we have had

gusts of wind into 30 mph on the east coast of england, bringing some waves into the coastline and bridlington. overnight tonight, it will stay clear for most of us a nyway will stay clear for most of us anyway with just a bit of patchy cloud forming over the tops of the pennines in the southern uplands. temperature is very similar to last night, lows of around 47 celsius but perhaps down to around —3 in some of the deep valleys in scotland. high pressure remains in charge of our weather for wednesday so another fine day coming up but the isobars are beginning to spread out a little bit more and that means that although the wind is still glowing from an easterly direction, it won't be quite as strong. now any patchy cloud to the start of a melt away quickly and for most of us, it will bea quickly and for most of us, it will be a day of unbroken sunshine, just a bit of high cloud making that sunshine hazy in northern ireland. temperature is higher, given the lighter winds, temperatures in the low 20s more widely across england and wales. about 18 degrees in western scotland and northern ireland. thursday, if few mist and

fog patches to start the day, any fog patches to start the day, any fog clears away very quickly and again, plenty of sunshine will be around. it is probably going to be the warmest day of the week with temperatures reaching 24 or 25 celsius. another fine day coming temperatures reaching 24 or 25 celsius. anotherfine day coming up for most of us on friday, again with lengthy spells of sunshine, but it may well start to see the weather turned cooler across the far north of scotla nd turned cooler across the far north of scotland so temperatures in shetland just around 9 degrees, for most of us though it will be another one day with temperatures into the high teens to low 20s. for the weekend weather, for most of us it will stay dry but it does turn a bit cloudier, temperatures coming down bya cloudier, temperatures coming down by a few degrees and there's the chance of seeing a few showers, more particularly on sunday.

this is bbc news. the headlines. figures show that deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high, with more than 1,000 covid—related deaths recorded at care homes in the week before easter. last week we were looking at 217 deaths registered to third april in care homes, now we are looking at more than 1000. the health secretary, matt hancock, will lead the daily press coronavirus press briefing at 10 downing street in the next hour. boris johnson is speaking to donald trump this afternoon, and he'll hold a phone conversation with the queen later this week. but downing street says the prime minister, still hasn't formally returned to work. mps approve a motion to enable new arrangements for questions by videolink and strict new social

distancing rules, with up to 50 members allowed in the chamber at any one time. president trump promises support for the us oil industry, after prices collapsed to the point where producers were paying to offload supplies. and the brand new nightingale hospital in harrogate is being opened today by captain tom moore by videolink. latest figures suggest, in the week up to easter, deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high, with 8,000 more people dying than would be regarded as normal at this time of year.

and care homes are at the sharp end of these figures from the office for national statistics — with more than 1,000 covid—related deaths. so lots of tough questions for the government as parliament gets back to business today — with many questions still about the availability of personal protective equipment — and the need for more testing. this report from our health correspondent richard galpin. for those living in care homes across england and wales, the figures are particularly bleak. the number of deaths, shooting up. and all this, mostly due to coronavirus. in total, the office for national statistics says in england and wales, coronavirus was involved in 1662 deaths outside hospitals, in the week ending on good friday. the vast majority of those deaths was in care homes. also, 466 people died at home, and 87 in hospices. if we look at that care home number,

i know that's a source of real focus at the moment, last week, that was about 5% of deaths involving covid were in care home settings, now 13%, based on death registrations. in terms of numbers, last week, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. there are more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes in england alone. they are amongst the most vulnerable, and the virus has already spread into many of these homes. we always had hoped that the figures would be less but i think there is more and more evidence that they may be more. i mean, it is disappointing, disappointing for the families, it's disappointing for the carers who have done their utmost to contain this within very difficult circumstances.

but certainly, if we'd had the testing in place, if we'd been part of the contingency planning at the very beginning, we may have been able to mitigate some of the figures we are looking at today. another big issue being discussed today is whether all of us should wear masks when we are outside so we cannot spread coronavirus. scientists advising the government have been debating this morning whether there is sufficient evidence it would be beneficial. there are concerns it could jeopardise supplies for health workers. at this point we do not have accurate scientific steer that it would be right to broaden this to the general population and we would obviously bear in mind representations from nhs providers about the need to prioritise supply to where it can do the most good. there have also been developments today on rolling out testing for all front line workers. 27 of these drive—in testing centres are now up and running across the country.

besides health workers, teachers, police, prison officers and others can now get tested for the virus. there's huge progress been made in building lab capacity so there is a plan to deliver that level of lab capacity. we now have a number of ways of meeting demand and matching that capacity to demand but the real aim is to secure the testing capability that the country needs. and i'm confident we have that and we will be able to allow the country to respond with the testing that is required. the government has pledged to scale up the programme to 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. whether that's possible is not something the new testing coordinator would answer. richard galpin, bbc news. robert cuffe is the bbc‘s head of statistics, and hejoins me now. take us through the statistics from the office of national statistics.

they are quite striking, because what we can see based on what we expect over the last five years is a sudden spike over the last two weeks. the grey area you can see is what we have seen over the last five yea rs, what we have seen over the last five years, and as we come out of the winter flu season, it normally comes down through the year, and that is what the redline did so far, but once you come into the last two or three weeks, it starts to turn and jump up three weeks, it starts to turn and jump up in the last few weeks, where we would expect 10,000 deaths a week at this time of year, last week it was 16,000 this week 18,000, and we are seeing a similar pattern in scotla nd are seeing a similar pattern in scotland and northern ireland, a sudden spike in the same level of increase. most of it has coronavirus written on the death certificate, but not all of it. if you look at the death figures in the england hospitals, a very high figure but we are starting to see a trend. yes, an

emerging pattern suggests we could be past the peak. if we bring up the figures, it is important to remember the figures are showing when deaths occurred, but that is not what we're hearing the daily briefings. if you look at the figures in that way, it looks as if we may be past peak in—hospital deaths in england since the beginning of april. the last four bars could change because these are the deaths we have heard so far, and they could come up a bit, but we are seeing statistics which show that they are not likely to come all the way back up to that we saw on the way back up to that we saw on the 8th of april. these are hospital deaths, so could we have a situation where hospital deaths are heading down, but care home deaths going up? absolutely, it is not comprehensive, which is why we have to be careful

to say that this is hospital deaths in england, not scotland, not northern ireland, but it is suggestive that if you think about how it is getting transmitted, these are one of the key signals we have to tell us what happened to the virus a couple of years ago and how thatis virus a couple of years ago and how that is translated through. while it does not tell us that while it tells us we are does not tell us that while it tells us we are past the peak and on the way down, the suggestion is that we are coming down from it, probably slowly, and we are coming from a pretty high place. thank you, we will leave it there. let's speak now to professor martin green, chief executive of care england, the largest representative body for independent social care services in the uk. good afternoon to you. thanks for being with us. are the figures what you would expect or rather surprising to you too? certainly, i would think are what we expect. and

we have some figures we produced on friday, and colleagues in the national care forum produced statistics on saturday, which really showed that there had been a significant upward trend. i think it is really unfortunate that we have ons figures that really lagged behind what is going on, and it is important that we get to a point where we have those ons figures that tell us the total number of deaths, not just figures about tell us the total number of deaths, notjust figures about hospital deaths because we need to know the scale of this pan and we need to know where people are dying, so —— this pandemic and we need to know other people are dying so we can direct support to those areas. what is your understanding as to why the figures are not married up everyday with the hospital death figures in the care home figures?” with the hospital death figures in the care home figures? i don't know the care home figures? i don't know the answer to that, clive, and i think we have to ask some tough questions about why it is in a digital age that we cannot have those comprehensive stats and

real—time stats, but i note we can get the stats in terms of hospitals but the issue is also linked to testing, so at the moment, some of the stats are about symptoms, but we have not got it confirmed by tests to see whether it was covid—19 or a symptom which can also appear in things like the flu. so what we have to do is clear the testing route so we know what we are dealing with, and also get real—time stats from across the whole system. a representative from the national ca re representative from the national care association says that care homes were basically not part of the convention —— contingency planning, that they were sidelined are not enough priority was given to care homes. is that what you believe may have happened ? homes. is that what you believe may have happened? well, i think certainly we were all taken by surprise by both the scope and speed

of the virus, and i think one of the problems was that the focus initially was on the nhs, and i agree with the comments about a bit ofa agree with the comments about a bit of a late coming to the notion of ca re of a late coming to the notion of care homes. i think if you look at the virus, we knew that it was going to attack those who were older, we knew it —— so we should have said it would affect those who are frail. i would affect those who are frail. i would rather focus on what we can do to right the situation, there are issues still around about ppe, and issues still around about ppe, and issues about how we get testing so that we can test the breadth of staff and social care, but also so we can test residents so we know who has covid—19 and who can be supported in other ways if they do

has covid—19. supported in other ways if they do has covid-19. you're right, testing has covid-19. you're right, testing has to be the key now, and we know that there is a certain amount of capacity even within the reduced numbers of testing that the government is capable of doing everyday, they are hoping for 100,000 by the end of april, it is probably around 35 to 40,000. but the take—up of that 35 40,000 is not to capacity. so there is scope of getting into care homes and getting the testing people need? there is scope, but one of the problems we haveis scope, but one of the problems we have is that there are limited numbers of testing centres and often ca re numbers of testing centres and often care homes are a long way from those. there are some also matching problems, for example i heard of a case in norfolk was told —— where a ca re case in norfolk was told —— where a care home in norfolk was told the testing centre was sheffield, which is impossible for people to get to. we also cannot transport people who are elderly and frail in care homes, so we

are elderly and frail in care homes, so we have to get testing to them rather than expecting them to go to testing centres. ok, we believe leave it there, thanks very much for joining us. a bit of breaking news, these are the latest death figures concerning coronavirus in the uk, and we are being told that the overall number is 17,337 deaths. remember, this is in hospitals, not care homes are the community, just hospitals. 17,337. as of 4pm today. this is up from 16,509 the previous day. so, rise of over 800, 823, in 16,509 the previous day. so, rise of over800, 823, in the 16,509 the previous day. so, rise of over 800, 823, in the last 24 hours. we know that the death total are

beginning to plateau and have been at around 800 or so over the past few days, fewer yesterday admittedly, which is usually the case after the weekend because it ta kes case after the weekend because it takes time, there is a time lag for the figures to register through. but we are beginning to see a beginning ofa we are beginning to see a beginning of a plateau in the numbers of deaths, and that seems to be borne out by the latest figures, 17,337 in hospitals as of 4pm yesterday, and thatis hospitals as of 4pm yesterday, and that is up around 823. we will get more analysis in the next few minutes or so. mps have begun debating new working arrangements, as the house of commons returns after the easter break. only around 30 members were in the chamber. let's speak to our political correspondentjessica parker. jessica, they are back at work, but

in very strange circumstances. yes, the house of commons like we have never seen the house of commons like we have never seen before, very few mps in the chamber this afternoon. very few mps will be allowed in the chamber going forwards. 50 at the maximum, thatis going forwards. 50 at the maximum, that is of course to allow for social distancing so that they do not sit too close to one another on the green benches. the speaker is making it clear he is not encouraging mps to come from their constituencies into westminster, and up constituencies into westminster, and up to 120 mps initially, although they hope to expand the number, will be able to dial in via video conference using the zoom app, which many people might be familiar with my working from home. we will see that starting tomorrow, what has gone on this afternoon is jacob rees—mogg, the leader of the commons, outlining the motion to make this happen, getting some responses from mps who are in the chamber, also the shadow leader of the valerie vaz, outlining the

business to come over the coming week. as far as tomorrow is concerned, we might get some more indication about how voting might proceed, so all that has been outlined at the moment is kind of what we would refer to as scrutiny, so what we would refer to as scrutiny, so ministers standing up in the chamber, taking questions whether from mps in the chamber or remotely, but there are questions as to how could legislation be brought forward , could legislation be brought forward, how votes could happen, we believe legislation will happen over the coming weeks but there are still some details to work out. it has just been revealed that matt hancock the health secretary is about to make some kind of statement, and there will be prime minister's questions, dominic raab deputising for the prime minister will be in the chamber, so will kier starmer, the chamber, so will kier starmer, the new labour leader, that will be his first prime minister's questions is leader of the opposition. i think he is likely to bring up some of the concerns around personal protective equipment, around testing, and he

has been talking about his concerns today to the bbc as well. i don't think we can bring in that clip at the moment, but one of the things he's talking about how he is concerned that there is something of a mismatch between what the government has been talking about the distribution of ppe and what they are hearing from front—line workers whether it is in the nhs or social care, i think you're likely to see a lot of mps bring those concerns to the house of commons tomorrow as business gets back under way, but of course business in the chamber like we have never seen it before. i think we can now hear from sir kier starmer. it would be a struggle for any government to get exactly the right kit at the right place at the right time, but we are seeing an increasing gap between what the government thinks is happening and what the front line are telling us, and the gap has to be closed as soon as possible. people are putting their lives on the line as they go to work without

the line as they go to work without the right equipment in place. the government have said there have been challenges in terms of supplying ppe, there is a global demand for things like masks and gowns and gloves, and there is an issue with this shipment from turkey, as we understand it an raf plane on the tarmac with supplies to bring back to the uk, but the government emphasising they have delivered millions of items of ppe across the uk, but is is an ongoing challenge because many of those items are not reusable so it has to be kept up taking items to all corners of the uk. but the issue of testing as well, capacity numbers are creeping up, just over 29,000 was the latest figures for the 24—hour period, but the number of tests being carried out still only around 20,000, far short of the 100,000 target matt hancock the health secretary has set for the end of the month. the

government still says they can do it and they are on target, but undoubtedly when matt hancock meets a statement to his comes tomorrow that will be another issue that is raised. let's get more on those latest numbers with our health correspondent, jane dreaper, she's with me now. the numbers have just the numbers havejust come in, clive, and this is the overall total for deaths linked to the virus in hospitals across the uk, now stands at 17,337, that is a rise in the daily total of 823 deaths across the uk. it sounds like another big increase, especially relative to the last couple of days, but looking at the bigger picture and the trend over the last couple of weeks or so, scientists who have been tracking this are now reasonably convinced that actually they think we have reached the peak of deaths in uk

hospitals on the 8th of april, but thatis hospitals on the 8th of april, but that is hospitals. we have heard some very sad figures today taking on broader deaths including care homes and the community. yes, we have to separate out the numbers from within the community and care homes, as you say. more than 800 people dying. it is appalling, but as you say, the suggestion is that thatis as you say, the suggestion is that that is a relatively constant number now over the last couple of weeks, and asa now over the last couple of weeks, and as a result we are seeing a flattening of this vaunted curve. yes, what is difficult is the numbers behind this is individual grief for an individual family. when you look at the daily totals, they are actually lumping together of deaths, some of these might have happened yesterday but some will have happened over the weekend, some will have happened at the back end of last week, so there is a

collection in there, and the scientists tracking this, when they are looking at it they are trying to look at how this has spaced out on the days that the deaths actually happened, and i think we are in a steadier state than we wear. that is some good news at least, it does not mean this is over by any means or with any set of data you could have a nasty moment where someone u ncove rs a nasty moment where someone uncovers extra data, further cases that haven't tracked where they should have been, but for the moment they think things are starting to steady out, which is some good news. alight at the end of the tunnel, and things beginning to steady out precisely because of social distancing and the lockdown. yes, it seems the measures that have tested eve ryo ne seems the measures that have tested everyone and changed everybody‘s lives in some way have had an impact on how the infection is transmitting, but at the same time we have seen transmitting, but at the same time we have seen some transmitting, but at the same time we have seen some figures today that really put it very starkly as to how

this is translating itself, how the virus is affecting people in care homes. more than 1000 people have died in care homes in england and where is since the start of the pandemic, similar trends in scotland and northern ireland where we have seen a and northern ireland where we have seen a real sort of spike in the figures. this is from a couple of weeks ago, there is a time lag on them, which makes looking at this in them, which makes looking at this in the round really difficult, but there is clearly a big problem there and we hope to get more regular and reliable data on a more timely way on what is happening in care homes as well. indeed, when he very much indeed. those figures of deaths in hospitals, another increase in the number of people losing their lives to the pandemic. the coronavirus pandemic could almost double the number of people suffering acute hunger globally — pushing the figure up more than a quarter of a billion by the end of 2020. that's according to a new report released today by the united nations

world food programme. it says the prediction is based on the worldwide economic impact of covid—19. we can talk more about this now with the world food programme's chief economist, arif husain whojoins me now from rome. it is good to see you. thanks very much indeed for being with us. just explain if you could how the coronavirus is impacting the level of hunger that we are seeing around the world? yes, so unfortunately hunger has been going up even before coronavirus for the last four years, and we released a report today which looks at hunger levels compared to what it was in 2019, and that is today 135 million, so these are 135 million people who are already in acute hunger because of conflicts,

because of economics, —— economic stability. it is a 70% increase in just four years in terms of acute hunger. on top of that, now what you are seeing is that we have the impact of covid—19. and our initial analysis shows that they are about 130 million more people who will become acutely hungry, who will become acutely hungry, who will become hungry over the course of this year. and these are the people, if you look at those working in tourism, those working informal sectors, those working in the service sectors, those working in manufacturing, who have suddenly lost theirjobs. manufacturing, who have suddenly lost their jobs. many manufacturing, who have suddenly lost theirjobs. many of manufacturing, who have suddenly lost their jobs. many of these people, they were hand to mouth to begin with. so if they don't work, they don't eat. if i could just come

m, they don't eat. if i could just come in, sorry to interrupt you, but what can be done, then, given that you have got governments all over the world desperately trying to shore up their own economies, let alone trying to sort of contribute to the other problems that exist in parts of the developing world, for instance? it is a global problem and it needs a global solution. unless we sort this out, this problem, wherever it is, nobody is going to be immune from this, it is going to have the first wave, second wave, third wave, and this is why the world food programme, as we speak, we are assisting 100 million people every single day. we may have to raise that, in order to do that we may need 10— $12 billion, but of that money, but we are really, truly need right away is $1.9 billion, so we can pre—position food and cash

for the people who are completely dependent on us, and if we don't reach them, think about people in war zones, syria, reach them, think about people in warzones, syria, north—east nigeria, who are dependent on assistance, and if we don't reach them they will pay the ultimate price, so it is extremely important at this point in time to make sure that humanitarians are well funded so that humanitarians are well funded so assistance that humanitarians are well funded so assistance can that humanitarians are well funded so assistance can go to these people who are in desperate need right now, and also in terms of making the supply chains continue to work. ok, sorry, i will have to cut in there. you have made your point, and it is very important, so thank you very much indeed. arif husain, from the world food programme. more are coming up, stay with us, including the daily briefing from downing street. now, all the weather news.

hello there, for most of us has been a straight day of sunny skies and fairly brisk winds again but for the channel islands, what a glorious start of the day it was, this was the fiery sunrise that we saw earlier on injersey. that cloud, is this clarity on the satellite picture, it also brought a few showers in across western cornwall and the isle of scilly but they've been moving out of the way since. clear skies for most of us, rain bearing clouds and wet and windy conditions found across portugal, spain, france and italy as well. as well as the sunshine, we have had gusts of wind into 30 mph on the east coast of england, bringing some waves into the coastline and bridlington. overnight tonight, it will stay clear for most of us anyway with just a bit of patchy cloud forming over the tops of the pennines in the southern uplands. temperatures very similar to last night, lows of around 47 celsius but perhaps down to around —3

in some of the deeper valleys in scotland. high pressure remains in charge of our weather for wednesday, so another fine day coming up but the isobars are beginning to spread out a little bit more, and that means that although the wind is still coming from an easterly direction, it won't be quite as strong. now, any patchy cloud to the start of a melt away quickly and for most of us, it will be a day of unbroken sunshine, just a bit of high cloud making that sunshine hazy in northern ireland. temperatures higher, given the lighter winds, temperatures in the low 20s more widely across england and wales. about 18 degrees in northern ireland. thursday, a few mist and fog patches to start the day, any fog clears away very quickly and again, plenty of sunshine will be around. it is probably going to be the warmest day of the week, with temperatures reaching 24 or 25 celsius. another fine day coming up for most of us on friday, again with lengthy spells of sunshine, but we may well start to see the weather turned cooler across the far north of scotland, so temperatures in shetland

just around 9 degrees, for most of us though it will be another warm day with temperatures into the high teens to low 20s. for the weekend weather, for most of us it will stay dry but it does turn a bit cloudier, temperatures coming down by a few degrees, and there's the chance of seeing a few showers, more particularly on sunday.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the department of health says a total of 17,337 patien have now a total of 17,337 people have now died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the uk as of 5pm on monday — up by 828 from the previous day. the figures come as we also hear that in the week before easter — deaths in england and wales hit a 20—year high, with more than a thousand covid—related deaths recorded at care homes. last week, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings. now, we are seeing over 1000. the health secretary, matt hancock, will lead the daily press coronavirus press briefing at 10 downing street in half an hour's time.