this is bbc news — i'm ben brown — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. president trump confirms an executive order to suspend immigration into the us — he says to protect workers, following the coronavirus outbreak. by by pausing immigration that we will help with unemployed americans first in line for jobs as america reopens. an economy in crisis — people in parts of new york form long queues forfood — as the big apple reels from the pandemic. the number of deaths in england and wales — in the week ending the 10th of april — was double the level normally expected — and the highest level for 20 years. the world heath organisation issues a stark warning about the millions in regions of conflict who could

starve, because of the coronavirus outbreak. and — leading artists respond to the dedication of health workers — with striking portraits of some front line staff. president trump has announced a temporary ban on immigration into the united states — he says to protect jobless americans. the ban will apply for 60 days and only affects those seeking permanent residency and not entering the united states on a temporary basis. the president promised to sign an executive order implementing the announcement into law tomorrow. our correspondent katty kay joins us from washington. the headline will be trump

immigration band, but how extensive is it? yes. as we have seen before what president trump when he announces immigration policy on twitter, the initial offering seems to bea the initial offering seems to be a lot more dramatic and yukonian and actually the details of the policy itself. it became clear during the course of the white house press briefing which has just ended months ago this evening that this is actually a much more limited restriction. it applies for 60 days only to people who are applying for green cards. if you wanting to come to america on a temporary work visa to work for a company here. that is not included in this restriction. if you're coming to america to work for the agriculture industry and a lot of farmers here depend on part—time workers. they also are exempt from this restriction. if you're coming to work in the health care industry also exempt. it is really only about people applying for green cards and only at the moment anyway this 60 days. we know president trump has wanted to tackle the

issue of legal immigration and not just the legal issue of legal immigration and notjust the legal immigration. so some of his critics have said that he is using the coronavirus as a pretext in order to restrict illegal immigration of the country and during the press conference he pushed back on that idea and denied that was the plan and he was doing thisjust denied that was the plan and he was doing this just a temporary basis in order to protect american workersjobs basis in order to protect american workers jobs number 22 million million americans have lost theirjob so he wanted to make sure he gave those jobs to americans first and foremost. let's ta ke americans first and foremost. let's take a quick listen to what he said. this pause will be in effect for 60 days. after which the need for any extension or modification will be evaluated by myself and a group of people. based on economic conditions at the time this order will only apply to individuals seeking a permanent residence — other words, those receiving green cards. a big factor. will not apply to those

entering on a temporary basis. as we move forward, we will examine what additional immigration related measures should be put in place to protect us workers. we want to protect the us workers and i think as we move forward, we will become more and more protective of them. that was president trump at that white house briefing. we also heard there from the us treasury secretary about what the authorities are doing to help americans to this crisis. yes. the senate hasjust help americans to this crisis. yes. the senate has just agreed with the white house, a bill to help small businesses in the country that would pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the american economy. that's hundreds of billions of dollars. to help small businesses. they have already passed one very big stimulus plan for small businesses and that was gobbled up by businesses very quickly and there was criticism of that band that a lot of went to big

businesses, not the mom—and—pop businesses. that really needed. both the treasury secretary in the president announcing this new plan saying it is very important and we want to make sure this goes to the people who would be bankrupt if they didn't get it. i shouldn't go to big chain restaurants companies. it needs to go to the little companies that would cannot get credit anywhere else and would be firing people or would go into bankruptcy if they didn't get this money. it is something that is very important to americans at the moment and the economy is on his knees and people literally do not have money to pay their rent or their staff or bills and they need to get this money as soon as possible and hoping that this time around the stimulus plan that has been signed by the senate will not go to the house of representatives before being passed into law and this will actually protect small american companies more directly than the previous one. here at the treasury secretary.

it gives us another $310 billion for the ppp. we look forward to the house passing this tomorrow and being up and running quickly after that. this also gives us $50 billion for disaster loan and idle loans that will allow the sba to make $300 billion of disaster loans, all for small businesses. also allows us at the president said more money to hospitals and unprecedented amount of money for testing. also the president was talking about his meeting with the governor of new york state, andrew cuomo, who's been something of a sparring partner in the last few weeks. but more recently they seem to have come to terms with each other. yes. andrew cuomo described it as a functional conversation, i'm not entirely sure what that means co. if you described it asa means co. if you described it as a marriage dysfunctional people wouldn't think it was going well but anyway, i functional conversation according to the governor and the president said it was good. they talked about testing and money. going to the states as

well. i don't know if that was a meeting that put the president in a more conciliatory mode will certainly these press briefings come you never quite know what you will get day—to—day with president trump, some of them are very fiery and some of them are very fiery and some of them are very fiery and some of them are very critical and he seems to be very angry and takes on members of the press corps or democrats. this evening we had a president who was far more conciliatory bipartisan in reaching out the people and not being so aggressive with each on room. that meeting seems to have gone well and andrew cuomo has gone back to new york, he hopes that it will mean that for his state, he gets more in the way of testing and more in the way of testing and more in the way of finances. many thanks. let's focus on the united kingdom now. after falling for the last few days, the number of people in the uk who've died with coronavirus has risen sharply. the latest figures show that in hospitals across the uk a further 823 people have died from the virus.

that takes the total number of deaths to over 17,000. seperate figures suggest 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 for the time of year. the figures from the office for national statistics also found — in that same week the number of deaths in care homes quadrupled, rising to more than 1,000. for weeks now health experts have been emphasising the importance of testing people for coronavirus. the government set a target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. current testing levels are nowehere near that figure — home testing kits are now being given to some key workers, as our health editor hugh pym explains. des is a prison officer on his way into a drive—through coronavirus testing centre. as a key worker, he can, in agreement with his employer,

get a test to confirm if he is fit to stay at work or return from self—isolation. i'm going to get you to say, "ah". that is really good. a simple throat and nasal swab, and thejob is done. he must wait a couple of days for the results to come back. i was coughing at work, and my colleague didn't want to work with me, which is fair enough. the prisoners as well thinking, oh, hang on. so i was sent home and sent down here, which is fair enough. there is a network of testing centres for key workers like this around england. and a similar drive—through site near aberdeen airport. and home testing has started this week in england, allowing key workers to take their own swab samples and sent them off for analysis. the number of tests carried out each day on patients and essential staff in the uk has risen to around the 20,000 level since data was first available earlier in the month. still well short of the government target of 100,000 tests per day by the end of april, less than two weeks away.

that target set by the health secretary, matt hancock, is for the number of tests carried out. testing capacity is another matter. facilities like these can be set up which are not fully used. the real aim is to secure the testing capability the country needs. and i'm confident we have that and will be able to allow the country to respond with the testing that is required. are you confident of getting to the 100,000 tests per day by the end of april? you would need to talk to the secretary of state about his target, but we do have the lab capacity to deliver the testing service that the country needs. the swabs are brought here to one of three so—called megalabs. this one in milton keynes has been created at an existing research centre. management here got a call in late march saying they would be part of a national virus testing effort. equipment was lent by laboratories all round the country and brought here by the army, the navy and even in cabs.

testing started a few days later. soon they'll move up to a 24/7 operation. at the moment, the manual process will support many thousands of samples per day, and as the automation develops, that will rapidly escalate into tens of thousands of samples per day. those tens of thousands will be part of the move towards the government target, with volunteers like beth, a research student, helping out. it's really nice. it's really rewarding to be able to contribute, i've got a lot of friends in the front line and health care professionals and to be able to help them out in a way is good. it is another part of the drive to escalate testing capacity which will be crucial if there is a second spike in cases late in the year. whether it is enough to hit the government targets this month is another matter. the un's world food programme has warned of famines ‘of biblical proporations' because of the

coronavirus outbreak. the agency estimates the number of people going hungry could double to more than 250 million. most of those are in countries already affected by conflict and climate change, like south sudan, yemen and syria. the bbc‘s lyse doucet has more. queues in a lockdown. not for medicine to fight the deadly virus. for sacks of wheat to fight hunger. the poorest now deprived of daily wages to survive. nobody would help you if you stay home, this woman says. "i cried for the last two—three days. whoever talks to me, it makes me cry. i don't know what to say." millions more people around the world now need food aid fast. the wfp is now warning of a global hunger pandemic. this airdrop is for the starving in south sudan.

they're social distancing here, be few other defences in poor countries torn by war. the un security council met virtually to hear how bad it could get. when it ended, the head of the wfp told us of his worst fear. if we lose our funding, or lose supply chain access, we are talking about 30 million people, literally over a few months, could die. that is without putting the new numbers of covid on top of that. so we are literally looking at biblical proportions of famine and the possibility in anywhere from ten to 36 countries. what do you say to donors who say we would want to help the world's poor but there's hungry people in our own countries so we can't help you now? you know, i haven't had a donor yet say we are turning our back on these vulnerable people. they all say that we will do everything we can and of course they have to stimulate their economies and do what they can and let's

see what happens. understand that in many places, if we have chaos and destabilisation, you can have migration by a necessity, destabilisation by extremist groups, you'll end up paying for it one way or another. in yemen, no lockdown yet. millions here already a step away from starvation. to reach them, the un also says it needs a cease—fire for all sides to fight the common enemy. in syria too, war takes its toll. in this poor neighbourhood, they queue for wfp aid. like millions around the world, if they don't receive this daily bread, there is nothing to eat. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: an artistic appreciation — how one british painter is paying tribute to the nation's health care workers.

the stars & stripes at half mast outside columbine high. the school, sealed off. the bodies of the dead, still inside. i'd never thought that they'd actually go through with it. one of the most successful singer songwriters of all time, the american pop star prince, has died at the age of 57. it's hard to believe it, i didn't believe it. we just — he wasjust here saturday. for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. and liftoff of the space shuttle discovery, with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe.

this is bbc news, our main headline: president trump confirms an executive order to suspend immigration into the us — he says its to protect workers, following the coronavirus outbreak. let's stay with that story — president trump said the temporary ban on immigration was needed to protect american jobs during the pandemic. new york in particular has been hit hard by the effects of coronavirus, thousands have died, and the city's immigrant communities have suffered more than most. nick bryant reports. in a city of ambition, in a city of abundance, a scene that looks like a throwback to the days of the great depression. these people were queueing

forfood hand—outs, the length of the line a measure of the desperation. every person has a story of need. almost all are economic victims of covid—19. only a few weeks ago, restaurant workers, cleaners, labourers, now thrown out of work. alfredo moreno was laid off last month. we have a little bit of money saved, so we're trying to survive with that. while... when do you think that money will run out? we don't know yet. i mean, we have talked with our landlord to see what we're going to do this month, but i don't know how we're going to survive. even in this time of crisis, mary bautista spoke of her civic and national pride. we are a nation where we support each other, and you have seen the tremendous... the abundance of support from all the americans, and i'm glad to be a new yorker, and god bless america. and these are the meagre

food packages they spent hours queueing for. a sandwich, some applesauce. in this, the land of plenty. from queens, you can see the residential skyscrapers of billionaires row in manhattan. but these neighbourhoods are part of another america, one that's been ground zero in new york's outbreak, one that's home to the ha rdest—hit public hospital. here, a mother and daughter had to wave up at the windows to their husband and father, his birthday spent in covid isolation. on its doorstep is a neighbourhood called corona, heavily populated by immigrants who don't have the luxury of teleworking from home. people pursuing american dreams that are being crushed by this global contagion. the coronavirus crisis has really held up a mirror to income inequality in america, and especially new york.

many of the richest people simply fled the city early on and headed to their coastal and country retreats. that was not an option for the poor. many people here live in multi—generational households in overcrowded housing, and the lower your income, the harder it is to be socially distant. with latino and black residents dying at twice the rate of white new yorkers, the local councillor, francisco moya, says the coronavirus has revealed a tale of two cities. a lot of the latino community and the poor community are living ten to a one—bedroom apartment. when you think of new york city, you're accustomed of thinking of these luxury condos and high—rises throughout the city, but you have to come out to the outer boroughs and see how the working class and the poor have to live. in this crisis of need, new york's iconic yellow cabs have been drafted in to deliver aid. taxi drivers have become caregivers, handing out meals to people who can't leave their homes.

new york believes it's past the peak of its coronavirus outbreak. but it's still in the depths of this economic disaster. nick bryant, bbc news, queens. here in the uk hospitals have warned that supplies of face masks could be put at risk, if the government starts recommending that the public wear them. on tuesday the government's scientific advisers discussed the issue of masks — their conclusions are expected later in the week. 0ur science editor david shukman has been looking at the arguments. a familiar sight on the medicalfront line — masks protecting the faces of doctors and nurses. by contrast, masks worn by the public are generally helping to protect the people around them. there are two key reasons why it may be helpful for people to wear some kind of face covering. one is that if you become infected, five days may pass before you start coughing

or having a fever. and in that time, especially in the two days before symptoms start to show, you can be highly infectious, passing the virus around without even realizing. the other reason is that some people become infected and never show symptoms. maybe for ten days or even longer, no one really knows. and they also could be passing on the virus without even being aware of it. people started making homemade masks and giving them to others for free. there's now a campaign to make your own mask. this one started in the czech republic. it's one answer to the pandemic. masks aren't a magic bullet, but what they can do is to slow the spread. and we can see that from countries such as taiwan, which haven't had a lockdown, they've managed to slow the spread of the virus through multiple measures. one of those is masks. and if all of us, or the majority of us wear masks, i'm convinced we can slow the spread of covid for the benefit of all of us,

and protecting the nhs. but this has led to a serious worry among health professionals that if everyone rushes to buy masks, hospitals will face even more of a struggle to find them. we need to make sure that health care workers can protect patients and can protect the public. that's what an individual has to think about when they're thinking of buying those higher grade masks. so while we're being urged not to try to buy professional face masks, there is growing evidence that homemade ones like an old t—shirt can be very effective. one study found that just two layers of cotton are enough to stop 90% of any virus you might be breathing out. a grim reminder of how easily the infection can spread. so when the lockdown is eventually relaxed, some kind of mask may be the answer. david shukman, bbc news. across the united kingdom in recent weeks there have been

repeated public expressions of gratitude for all those nhs staff caring for patients affected by coronavirus. 0ne leading artist came up with the idea of celebrating the doctors, nurses and other health care workers by offering to paint their portraits. other artists then followed — as our arts editor will gompertz reports. the artist tom croft has painted a lot of portraits over the years. he's done footballers, politicians, bishops and rock stars. but the pandemic left him short of subjects. until, that is, he had an idea. when the lockdown first started, i was really struggling, as i know a lot of artists were, to find almost the point in their work. and so i thought about a portrait being a celebration of people achieving extraordinary things, maybe in their professional lives. and who is more deserving at the moment than the heroes on the frontline of the nhs?

and so he posted an instagram message. the first doctor, nurse, key worker to contact me in this post, i will paint their portrait in oils forfree. harriet durkin, an a&e nurse at the manchester royal infirmary, did just that. and tom got to work painting harriet wearing her ppe. what does it mean to you now to have it? i'll have that picture forever and be able to look back, you know, and remember what a difficult time it had been, but people that i work with, people i call my friends, everybody coming together, i can look at that and think, gosh, you know. it's very emotional. critical care nurse carolina pinto also got in touch with tom, who has been inundated with portrait requests from hundreds of doctors and nurses. he matched her with bp portrait award finalist mary jane ansel, who conducted a virtual sitting. so i'm really excited to paint you and i think this is such a lovely idea. i never had my portrait done before, but it's also good

to have like this kind of experience where people are supporting us in a different way. that must be really difficult when you've got your mask on, because i know that that sort of connection that you have with your patients, that's such a huge part of looking after them. and not being able to have that? they can not really understand your expression. so it's the same if i'm smiling or not, because all they really see is your eyes. most of the time it seems like we are screaming, and we just want them to understand what we are saying. so yeah, you lost a bit of the human connection. so far, there've been around 500 parings of hospital key worker and professional artist under the hashtag #portraitsfornhsheroes. the hope is once the lockdown is over to have a public exhibition of them all as the culmination of an initiative that has already been copied in america, spain, belgium and ireland. will gompertz, bbc news. that is it for me.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ ben brown bbc. you're watching bbc news. hello. tuesday was another sunny but windy day for many parts of the country. there was cloud for a while across cornwall and the channel islands gave a couple of millimetres of rain and then in the sunshine along the west coast of wales, south coast of england, temperatures reaching 21 celsius. we had a lovely sunset across southern parts of england. helped by a bit of high cloud that is coming in from continental europe. still a lot of what weather to come in the mediterranean but our weather is dominated by that area of high pressure over scandinavia. not as many isobars on the chart for wednesday in the wounds will not be quite as strong. with a bit of a bruise overnight, these temperatures we start off with on wednesday. like the ones in this guide explains there may be frost around here. at that may be some mr low

cloud affecting the seven pennines and that will not last long at all. he gets blown away and a lot of sunshine on wednesday. hazy at times across other parts of the uk but the winds will not be as strong. it may be a degree or two warmer. a touch cooler along the north sea coast but that she had further west across the uk commit those temperatures are 20 or 21 degrees. as we move into thursday it gets mixed and flow cloud clearing away, the same areas, a lot of sunshine around in high cloud drifting a little bit further north by this stage the winds will be much lighter on wednesday, everywhere. it will feel warmer and the temperatures will probably peaked at 25 degrees, somewhere in 0xfordshire or hampton. there will be the peak of the temperature. friday is far behind. if if you missed a few mystified patches. in the morning and light winds again and a lot of sunshine. —— a few

mist and fog patches. 22 or 22 degrees. a little bit cooler across northern scotland, a bit ofa across northern scotland, a bit of a northerly breeze here. the weather starting to change a bit over the weekend. pressure is going to be much lower come across scandinavia but also across scandinavia but also across the uk. a very weak with the front coming across. that may bring a few showers across scotla nd may bring a few showers across scotland in northern scotland. perhaps into northern ireland, it will be drier over the weekend. a bit more cloud coming down the eastern side of the uk and temperatures beginning to slip away a little and highs of 19 or 20.

this is bbc news, the headlines donald trump has given more details about his intention to sign an executive order, temprorarily, blocking immigration into the us. the president says the restrictions — which will apply for 60 days to green card applicants — are to protect workers, from overseas competition, after the lock—down. the number of people in the uk who have died due to coronavirus has risen sharply — after falling for the previous few days. the latest figures show that a further 823 people died from the virus, in hospitals — taking the total number of deaths to over 17 thousand. the un's world food programme has issued a stark warning about the millions in regions of conflict, who could starve because of the coronavirus outbreak.