donald trump is due to host new york governor andrew cuomo at the white house for what could be a tense meeting. the two have clashed frequently during the outbreak — most recently over funding for coronavirus testing. the number of deaths in the uk has spiked again and in england and wales they are nearly doubled above what would be expected. the uk health secretary said they are "throwing everything" at developing a coronavirus vaccine. the united nations has warned that the coronavirus pandemic could almost double the global number of people suffering from acute hunger. the world food programme said that unless swift action was taken, there could be multiple famines within months. oil prices have tumbled, with brent crude falling by 25%. president trump promised to support american oil and gas producers after the price of us oil plunged to its lowest ever level. you are watching bbc news.

now, another chance to see the uk government's daily coronavirus update — today led by the health secretary, matt hancock. at the heart of our plan is ensuring that nhs capacity is always ahead of need. this means that if you or someone you love need. this means that if you or someone you love needs hospital care with covid—19, then you will always get that care. if god forbid, you need care in intensive care unit, then you will have that bed, and the life—saving equipment and team that you need. the latest figures show another record high of 2963 spare critical care beds available across the nhs. we said at the start of this that our primary goal in our battle plan was to slow the spread and protect the nhs. by flattening the curve and increasing capacity. that plan is working. at no point in

this crisis has anyone who could benefit from critical care been denied that care because there weren't enough staff or beds or ventilators to treat them. but there is much further to go. on the most recent figures 535,000 3a2 tests have now been carried out in the uk, excluding northern ireland. of these, 129,044 have tested positive. the number of patients in hospital with covid—19 symptoms is now down to 17,681. 17,366 people have sadly died in hospital, which is an increase of 852. this number is

another salutary lesson, and it tells us of the deadly nature of this virus. we owe it to them and to ourselves not to throw away the progress that we have made so far. we have been clear that we will not risk lives by relaxing the social distancing rules before ourfive tests have been met. first that the nhs can continue to cope, the second of the operational challenges can be met, third that the daily death rate falls sustainably and consistently. the fourth, that the rate of infection is decreasing. and most importantly, that there is no risk ofa importantly, that there is no risk of a second peak. i now want to update you on two specific areas of huge importance. first, ppe. protective equipment delivery is an operation of an unprecedented scale

and complexity. since the start of the crisis, we have now delivered over a billion items of ppe. we are co nsta ntly over a billion items of ppe. we are constantly working to improve that delivery system, buying ppe from around the world and working to make more here at home. we have a diverse range of suppliers, and we are working day and night to expand that supply base. we are in direct talks with the factories that actually produce the ppe and the fabric that it's made of. this has proved one of the most fruitful avenues, and i wa nt to the most fruitful avenues, and i want to especially thank my foreign office and dat colleagues, especially in china for the incredible work making these connections. i also want to thank the enormous response we have had from our appealfor the enormous response we have had from our appeal for companies to help replenish stocks. as of yesterday, we have had 8331 offers of ppe equipment command we are investigating each and every one of those many leads. now, of course, some of these leads have led to very

large scale purchases of items, but the reality is that not each of them, not everyone who approaches us can deliver on their offers in scale. i'm very grateful to all of those who have come forward, and we are now actively engaged with thousands of these companies, and i can announce that we are working with 159 potential uk manufacturers, which are starting to come on stream. i have said many times that iam stream. i have said many times that i am determined, determined, to give people the ppe that they need. this isa20 people the ppe that they need. this is a 20 47 operation. it's one of the biggest cross government operations i've ever seen. and i'm grateful to colleagues from the nhs, from public health england, the crime commercial service cabinet office, communities department of the ministry of defence, the armed forces, the devolved administrations and the territorial offices, the business department of the treasury, the foreign office, and the

department for international trade for their enormous hard work on this. i'm also very grateful to lord dighton who delivered the olympics for stepping forward to lead this national effort and deliver once again for his country. the secondary i want to talk about his vaccines. in the long run, the best way to defeat coronavirus is through a vaccine. after all, this is a new disease. this is uncertain science, but i'm certain that we will throw everything we've got at developing a vaccine. the uk is at the forefront of the global effort. we have put more money than any other country into the global search for a vaccine, and for all of the efforts around the world, two of the leading vaccine developments taking place here at home at oxford and imperial, both of these promising projects are making rapid progress, and i've told

the scientists leading them that we will do everything in our power to support. first i'm making a £22.5 million available to the imperial project to support their phase two clinical trials, which are going to assess a sample of several thousand and for them to begin the work on

subsequently a very large phase three trial. secondly, the oxford tea m three trial. secondly, the oxford team that the of success. as soon as possible. after a ll of success. as soon as possible. after all the upside of being the first country in the world to develop a successful vaccine is so huge that i am throwing everything at it. coronavirus is a powerful

enemy. but i believe that the power of human ingenuity is stronger. every day the science gets better. but in the meantime there's one thing that you can do. and that is is to stay at home, to protect the nhs and save lives. thank you very much. i'm now going to ask professor to ta ke much. i'm now going to ask professor to take us through the daily statistics. thank you secretary of state. i'll begin with a slide that you've seen it many times before i don't apologise for showing it again. it is important that we continue to the extent that the british people are following the social advice and in this case referring to the slide not traveling. and you can see a range of indicators there from all private motor vehicles. through busses and

tubes in london threw two buses and national rail in the whole of the uk. and you can say a very clear prolongation of these low trends of usage compared to where we it's a good sign. it shows that we are continuing to follow the advice given to us by the government, and that in doing so, we will get on top of the current wave of the coronavirus threats. we will begin to train the curve. next slide, please. this next slide, again, you have seen it before. it shows the new cases diagnosed in the uk. the dates along the bottom of the slide refer to when the lab tests for that individual work completed. and it you can see, of course, that there is some day variation, but the

numbers remain high, and it isn't clear that there is an enormous downturn at this point. the numbers very day to day, but they remain high and we remain in a situation of danger that we must take very seriously indeed. you will see, as the slide progresses from left to right, the proportion of orange beginning to show greater and greater. this is a distinction between the nhs and public health england capacity and testing in blue. then the coming on stream of commercial testing to supplement that as time goes by across the slide. next slide, please. now, this isa very slide. next slide, please. now, this is a very important slide, and, of course, refers to people, the total numberof course, refers to people, the total number of people in hospital in great britain with covid—19. and you can see a variety of curves here

from the top when referring to london and through the other curves referring to the different regions of england, scotland, wales. and what you can see is that in terms of the numberof what you can see is that in terms of the number of people in hospital, there has been a peak in london. it was probably around the 10th of april, that kind of dates, and since then, there has been a decline. but in the other parts of the graph, thatis in the other parts of the graph, that is to say it scotland, wales and the other regions in england, i suggest to you that there is rather more of a plateau than anything else at this point in time. it is not absolutely clear that there have been peaks, nor is it absolutely clear that the rate that the number of cases is dropping in the same way that we can illustrate it on the slide for london. so, again, this is important. it shows the regional

variations in how the virus has been affecting the uk, it shows that we are not out of danger at this point, and that the curve is flat, but not very clearly going down in it many parts of the country. i'm sure it will go down in the days and weeks that follow, but we must keep pushing on this, and we must spend that's curve through our actions. next slide, please. now, here you see a slide that arrays data by week from the 20th of march through to the 10th of april, and it shows you, first of all, deaths in hospital from covid—19. those are the blue columns on the graph, and those are by date of report in the hospital, and the orange bars show the all

wee kly and the orange bars show the all weekly registered deaths, registered to the office of national statistics, and those are bright date of registration. and please be very careful in comparing these statistics, as you know, unfortunately, if you have lost someone, unfortunately, if you have lost someone, it takes a while for a death certificate to be issued, and for that to be registered with the office of national statistics. so, there is inevitably some difference between those two bars, and we are not comparing apples with apples. we are comparing apples with pears. but it does, i hope, help you understand the trends in the mortality data, and we need to see that turn. we will have to wait a little longer, but we need to see that turn. thank you. finally, iwill show but we need to see that turn. thank you. finally, i will show you a slide i've shown you before. this is about global debt comparisons. again, asi about global debt comparisons. again, as i have said before, the

slide is indexed on time .0 when our country declares its first 50 cumulative debts. now, for almost all of the countries on this slide, they are reporting, as in the uk, has been for hospital debts. and you can see there that there are broadly three patterns. the united states on its own, the european countries, other than germany, in the middle of the pack, and some outliers who had very low rates of death. on the slide come if you look carefully, you will see a curve for uk hospitals only, and the uk all settings, which has lagged further behind, which includes all of the deaths reported to the ons. but you will see that they are on the same trajectory within the same framing of those middle countries. these are

important comparisons, but will be really important in the future, and we do not yet have those data, our international comparisons of excess deaths. particularly across europe, where a pretty standardised methodology is used for accounting excess deaths. but those data take time to assemble, and i don't have them for you today. thank you, secretary. 0k, thank you very much indeed, jonathan. first question is going to be from laura kuenssberg at the bbc. thank you, secretary of state. just on ppe. this was declared a pandemic well over a month ago. why are the government still having to scramble now to get our health workers the equipment that they need him and allowing uk pharmacies, that we have been hearing from today, who could supply british hospitals and care homes to sell their products abroad? as you know, laura, we have been pushing at

making sure that we get ppe to the front line to the people who need it since right at the start of this crisis. and especially since the big increase in demand about a month ago, we have now shipped over a billion items, and we are also come at the same time, replenishing the stocks on a 20 47 basis, and i've described something in the operation to do that, and we bought a huge proportion of that from overseas, and that will continue to make sure that alongside making more ppe here, we also buy it from the big producers, especially in china. that's where the big numbers are, making sure that we get that ppe into the country come out to the front line where it's needed.

cani front line where it's needed. can i come back and? 0k. front line where it's needed. can i come back and? ok. you will make you know, day after day, we are hanging from people on the front line that they do not have enough. imean, how line that they do not have enough. i mean, how do you explain the gap between what you were saying about getting everything into place, and what people who are working on words or in care homes are actually experiencing? and where did ministers suggest there was some kind of makes up about not taking pa rt kind of makes up about not taking part of the eu scheme to get medical kits, when the most senior civil servant of the foreign office at this afternoon "it was a political decision." to use his phrase. this afternoon "it was a political decision." to use his phraselj haven't seen that exchange. i have spoken to the foreign secretary, and as far as spoken to the foreign secretary, and as faras i'm spoken to the foreign secretary, and as far as i'm aware, there was no political decision not to participate in that scheme. when we did receive an invitation, the department of health, it came to department of health, it came to department of health, it came to department of health, it was put up to me to be asked, and wejoined. so we are now members of that scheme. however, as far as i know, that scheme has not yet delivered a

single item of ppe. so i think the most important thing that we concentrate on is what are the offers that can get us the most ppe to get it into the country, to get it manufactured here and to then be able to get it out to the front line. we are doing everything we possibly can to make that happen. roberts from itv. good afternoon. is it correct that you are not ready to change your advice on the usefulness of the general public and wearing masks, because you don't want to deprive health care workers of masks? you are muted. what is going on? ok, can you hear me now? yes. secondly, you have dramatically increased the capacity to test, the capacity of 40,000 a day, but only 20,000 are actually happening. there seems to be a problem of actually

carrying out the tests and then delivering the swabs to the labs. we've spoken it itv to care homes who say they are too far from the test centres, and they are not getting enough help when it gets enough testing for their residents. s, look, on both points, on the use of facemasks, we are advised by the science, and we have been asked this question in some way shape or form, and we listen to what the scientists say, there was a meeting of sage that i think address this question earlier today. i look forward to hearing from that and then to ministers making decisions based on the science as always. on the question of tests, i think it's terrific, i might bring john newton in in a minute, it's terrific that we have managed to increase capacity

to over 39,000 tests a day. that's higher than our plan trajectory. of course, having excess capacity means that we can then expand who that capacity can be used by, and also exactly as you say, increase the availability to more people and make it easier to access it. so one example is that we have introduced home testing, where a test can be sent out and taken and then returned, so that the individual doesn't need to move. obviously, home testing will be particularly helpful to those living in care homes, for whom, exactly as you say, a trip to a drive—through testing centre might be a difficult thing to do. john? thank you. yes, capacity has gone up dramatically, and, in fa ct, has gone up dramatically, and, in fact, it will continue to go up a lot quite soon, so we can now say that we are meeting the requirement in hospitals, we also meeting the requirement to test and a just and

ca re requirement to test and a just and care staff with the drive in centres, we have tested over 100,000 staff, and many of those have gone back to work. absence rates are not falling as a result, so that's very good news. we are now progressively expanding the access, so you are quite right, the driving centres are not necessarily ideal for people working in a distributed system like the care sector, so although access is available in nhs labs and nhs settings, which is very widely distributed, we are —— piloting a number of different ways of getting test such people both directly sending swabs to care homes, also the secretary of state mention testing at home, and also mobile delivery. so there are a number of ways that we can get the swabs to the people rather than expecting the people to come to the swabs. does that satisfy you? i suppose, jonathan would be best on this. as the priority when it comes to facemasks frankly you know, health ca re facemasks frankly you know, health care workers, and although there may

bea care workers, and although there may be a case for the general public using them at some point, this would just not be the right moment? thank you, for the question, robert. i will apply on four points. the first thing to say is i have always said to you that we will keep the evidence under review, and we are absolutely doing that. i have also said to you that we will change if we feel that the evidence is driving us we feel that the evidence is driving us that way, and we will advise ministers accordingly. they have indeed met today and discussed personal protective equipment, and advice will go to ministers in due course, and i'm not going to comment about that any further today. nor would you expect me to. what i can say is that there is an absolutely endearing principle now that sage places great value and prime importance on it and never jeopardising the supplies of ppe to

our health and social care workers. that is aligned we are not going to cross under any circumstances. thanks, robert. victoria mcdonald's, channel 4. thank you, secretary of state. just back on ppe. we have talked to a numberof back on ppe. we have talked to a number of suppliers and distributors who have talked about a lot about the obstacles they have faced of getting through the procurement system, so they will send... they will be asked questions they have already answered. are you satisfied that you are somehow going to clear away those obstacles, so that you can increase the supply, and secondly, we have heard a lot about numbers over the past few weeks, and, today, you have just talked about 1 and, today, you have just talked about1 billion and, today, you have just talked about 1 billion items and, today, you have just talked about1 billion items of ppe. now, that sounds a lot, but quite clearly come it's not enough. do you have any idea about what enough would be?

well, yes. the answer on how much is enough ppe is enough to get what is needed, according to the guidelines that have been clearly set up by public health england, to everyone who needs it. and it's in the billions of items over... per... per... per month. the numbers of items that are needed are absolutely vast. hence the need both to manufacture it at home and also to buy it from abroad. we are always trying to improve the processes that we have in place to make purchases. i think it's been very encouraging the number of uk companies that have come forward, but we have had to make sure that we sort out the credible offers from those that are not. we have had some offers, for instance, that of come from companies where the investigation

the company is onlyjust been formed in the previous day or two before coming and asking for a cash deal with the government. so, you will understand that there has to be some process in there. nevertheless, we wa nt to process in there. nevertheless, we want to engage with those companies that can help us in this national effort and we are accelerating at the progress of getting back to all of those companies with a substantial response to their offer. this is a fast—moving market, because essentially, the problem on ppe is that there is a global shortage. there is more demand across the world than there is supply, across the world than there is supply, and that means that we need to be as nimble as we possibly can and crucially, as much as possible, get right to the source of the ppe, which is often in factories in asia, including in china, rather than

going through a middleman, which can seem going through a middleman, which can seem attractive on the surface, but, actually come if you get it directly to the factory owner can make it a more secure supply. so it is a complicated picture. none of this ta kes complicated picture. none of this takes away the importance of this agenda, or the resources, and the support the resources that we been throwing out of. hello again. for most of us, it has been another day of clear blue sunny skies, but we did start off with a little bit more cloud in the sky and that's the stunning start of the day. the cloud also brought a few nasty

morning showers the isles here, moved out of the way quickly for the morning and for the rest of the day dry and sunny. the highest temperature in northwest wales where highs got up to 21 celsius, which is 70 in fahrenheit. underneath those skies, iy‘s pretty stunning up and down the country. one of our weather watcher pictures showing the white sandy beach in the western isles of scotland. overnight tonight we are going to keep that clear weather initially. the second half of the night may see patchy cloud form over the pennines and southern highlands. four to seven celsius for many of us. frost again for the shelter valleys of scotland. could get down to about —3 or 4 degrees. the isobars are opening out, and so that means the winds are still blowing from the easterly direction, they won't to be blowing as strongly. cloud initially of the southern highlands will clear off weakly and another day of almost unbroken sunshine, just a bit of high cloud moving across the skies of northern ireland. temperatures higher across the border, a warmer day with more across england and wales and temperatures for the low 20s. it was about 18 for northern ireland, 18 or 19 for scotland. thursday looks like the warmest day of the week. mist and fog patches to start off with, those temperatures could beat 23 or 24 celsius with the warmest

areas across southern england. that's thursday's weather and what about the end of the week? just a few mist and fog patches around friday, little overall change for most of us. still spells of sunshine and very warm forjust about all of us. however start to get northerly winds blowing in across the north of highland, orkney and shetland. didn't turn cooler. ——it will be turning cooler. temperatures around nine celsius. that weekend set fair for the most part. but more cloud and temperatures coming down just a few degrees but still on the warm side. isolated showers and more especially on sunday. next this is the prime minister himself pledging a new economic stimulus package to help the country recover from the outbreak.

hello, this is outside source for a view is in the uk and all around the world where covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. all eyes are on washington, as the governor of new york prepares to meet donald trump after clashing overfunding for coronavirus testing. so thank let's just co—ordinate who does what. what do the states do, what does the federal government do? president trump is criticised over shutting on immigration he says is to protect jobs. will

shutting on immigration he says is to protectjobs. will go straight to