this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan jones. a scientific landmark — two uk volunteers are injected as the first vaccine trials for coronavirus in europe get underway. american lawmakers pass another relief bill worth $480 billion for small businesses andoverwhelmed hospitals. and overwhelmed hospitals. violence in venezuela, as people break a strict quarantine to protest against food and petrol shortages. and smart or stupid? why sweden is bucking the trend for lockdowns.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first: the total number of people known to have died from covid—19 around the world has now reached 190,000, according to figures collated byjohns hopkins university in the united states. and the us is the worst—affected country, with 50,000 confirmed deaths — around a third of those are in new york state. but there are signs that the number of confirmed new cases is starting to decline in the worst—affected countries. in the us, seven european countries and iran, the five—day—averages of new cases are falling. and the search for a vaccine is gathering pace. there are now 70 candidates for possible vaccines in development around the world, of which five have begun clinical trials. two are in china, two in the usa, and one here in the uk. 0ur medical correspondent, fergus walsh, was invited

to the university of oxford to witness the first doses being given. this could change everything. a vaccine against coronavirus. a way out for all of us. ok, so a needle scratch. the first volunteer to receive it was elisa granato, a microbiologist. she's 32 today. i'm a scientist, so of course i want to try and support science, the scientific process whenever i can, and since i don't study viruses i felt a bit useless these days, so i felt like this was an easy way for me to support the cause, yeah, and that's why i'm here, and i'm excited. half those on the trial will get the coronavirus vaccine, half a different jab. the volunteers don't know which one they have received. i am just basically going to sit here and incubate this thing, and hopefully provide some good follow up data, and we'll see, and hopefully it works. what would normally take years has been done in three months,

by scientists at oxford university. around 80 groups world wide are developing coronavirus vaccines. a few others, in the us and china, have also started human trials. there's no guarantee any of them will succeed. personally, i am very optimistic it's going to work. formally, we are testing it in an efficacy study. there's absolutely no suggestion we are going to start using this vaccine in a wider population before we have demonstrated it actually works and stops getting people infected with coronavirus. so how does the vaccine work? scientists have taken the genes for the spike protein on the surface of coronavirus, and put them into a harmless virus. this forms the vaccine. after it's injected, the vaccine enters cells, which start to produce the coronavirus spike protein. this prompts the immune system to produce antibodies, and activate killer t—cells which should recognise

the coronavirus in future, and destroy it, preventing infection. the scientists will only know how effective the vaccine is if lots of volunteers are exposed to coronavirus. well, at this moment we are chasing the end of this current epidemic wave, and of course, if we don't catch that, we won't be able to tell whether the vaccine works in the next few months, but we do expect that there will be more cases in the future, because this virus hasn't gone away. why not simply infect people with coronavirus after they have had the vaccine, then you would know? at this moment, it would be very difficult to do that with a disease which potentially has quite a high fatality, so i think if we reached a point where we had some treatments for the disease and we could guarantee the safety of volunteers, that would be a very good way of testing the vaccine. the vaccine is stored in this

freezer, at minus 80 degrees. rarely has a medical trial had so much riding on it, for so many people. it is hard to overstate just how important this vaccine could be. if—and it isa big if— it proves to be safe and effective, it would represent science giving us the solution to the coronavirus pandemic. well, i think everybody agrees it is the only way we are going to get out of the lockdown, the social distancing, and really be able to still have people protected as they go about their daily lives. edward, a cancer researcher was next up. there is a theoretical risk the vaccine could make a coronavirus infection worse, but the team here think that highly unlikely, and the volunteers will be carefully monitored. it seems like the right thing to do, to ensure that we can, you know, combat this disease and get

over it a lot faster. do you have any concerns at all about safety? i think you can neverfully exclude any potential risk, but i think you have to, i guess, walk in faith in these things. you have to trust in what they, that the work is being done as best they can, and know that the cause is important. the oxford team are hoping to have a million doses of vaccine ready by september, with a huge scale up in manufacturing after that. it is not clear, though, who would be prioritised to get the vaccine first, and for now, we have to wait and see if it works. president trump gave his daily coronavirus update to the media at the white house, a short time ago, and took questions from our north america editor, jon sopel, who asked whether the us was in a position to roll out the vaccine being worked on by british scientists in oxford, if it turned out successful.

oxford is one, johnson &johnson is working, they're also working together. you have many companies working together on a vaccine. don't you think their scale up production and the pharmaceutical companies will be able to do that quick? if we had a vaccine, it'll be scaled up very quickly. in fact, some of the companies, johnson &johnson is one, is scaling up already before having they have the final answer — a number of companies are doing that — you save a lot of time, rapidly. would you put a timescale...? no, i don't want to put a timescale because then the media, the so—called media, lamestream media, will say, "he said a time..." — i don't want to say time because every time i say a time, if you don't hit it, they'll say — so i don't want to talk about time but i will say that there has been tremendous progress made over the last month. can i just ask a very quick question? you spoke to boris johnson this week, ijust wonder how he sounded, how he was and when you think he'll be back at work? he called me a few days ago. i will tell you, he sounded incredible. i was actually surprised.

i thought he's be like, "0h, donald, how are..." — he was ready to go. i could — i'm very surprised to tell you this — it's like the old boris. dr patrice harris is the president of the american medical association. she says easing lockdown restrictions in the us should only happen under certain conditions. certainly, as we began to loosen stay—at—home restrictions, we need to do so keeping the science and evidence in mind. at the ama we recommended loosening restrictions only when we have the capacity to test and trace, when we have a good capacity in our medical infrastructure, and certainly when we are able to test more, and that is both diagnostic testing and anabolic testing, and we are still on our way to getting there,

so we have great concerns about loosening these restrictions too early. we do not want to see a rebound in the number of infections. as things stand at the moment in the us, the testing regime just is not where it needs to be in your opinion? no, we have been behind and certainly we are improving, but we still need to be able to make sure that the diagnostic testing is getting particularly to the hot spots, those areas that seem to have the most rate of infections, most hospitalisations, and, unfortunately and tragically, most deaths. we are still early on in getting our anabolic testing up. you know, our fda has made some emergency use authorizations, but we still need to test those and make sure those anabolic tests are both sensitive and specific so we believe we have still a ways to go to get our testing

infrastructure in place. there's been violent unrest in venezuela as people broke a strict quarantine in several states to protest against food and petrol shortages. a man was killed and at least six injured during clashes with police in bolivar state, as hundreds of people looted a local supermarket. the economic impact‘s being felt across much of latin america, as the bbc‘s tim allman reports. here, in this city, some people have reached breaking point. rocks and stones are thrown at what is believed to be a chinese supermarket. venezuela has been in lockdown for six weeks. food supplies are running low and it is suffering the worst fuel shortage in a decade. things were bad enough before the pandemic but the virus has made the situation so much worse. translation: that

has been an upturn in mental illness in the country and those of us who are dedicated to mental health are concerned about the situation. it must be addressed in the most effect of and proactive way that it can be in these cases. cuba is another country that has enjoyed difficult times long before the arrival of covid—i9 but now rationing, which was supposed to be phased out, is a comeback. translation: this situation that started two months ago is not the only reason for this rationing. imports had really begun to decrease stop then covid—i9 arrived and it was difficult to keep up these long queues of people because of social distancing so rationing has been given a breath of fresh air. things are not quite so bleak in mexico although the situation that is complicated with the sometime fractures

relationship with its northern neighbour. brenna virus is affected supply chains and donald trump has put a halt to immigration. —— coronavirus. he stresses it is only temporary. translation: regarding the immigration policy of the united states, we need each other mutually. one could not close the body completely because there is a degree of integration that makes it indispensable to keep the border open. in peru, people scramble for food being border open. in peru, people scramble forfood being handed out by the local government. a state of emergency has been extended here for another two weeks. the country's president admits these are tough times for everyone. tim allman, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the young royals leading the applause for britain's carers and key workers.

the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought that they would 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. ijust couldn't believe it, i didn't believe it. he was just 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. mission control: and lift-off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine in europe have started. two uk volunteers were injected in oxford. american lawmakers pass another relief bill worth m80 billion for small businesses and overwhelmed hospitals. as many people prepare for social restrictions to remain in place for the rest of the year, there's one country taking the opposite route. all eyes are on sweden, which has decided to have no lockdown at all, except for the most vulnerable. so are swedes playing the smart long game, or are they simply courting disaster? gabriel gatehouse has been there to find out. stockholm feels like a parallel universe, where life, as we all once knew it, continues as if unchanged. i think there has been a huge

overreaction in most countries around the globe. they're doing the wrong thing. that's what i think. they should be doing more like sweden does. government advice is this — keep your distance and if you feel sick stay—at—home. the priority — to protect the elderly and the vulnerable. but otherwise the swedes are free to do almost all the normal things that, to an outsider, now feel dangerous. trust is at the heart of the swedish strategy. social distancing measures are requested, not dictated, and in return most citizens, more than 75%, according to a recent poll, have faith in the authorities' approach. i think to a great part we have been able to achieve what we set out to achieve. i mean, swedish healthcare keeps on working, basically with a lot of stress, but not in a way that they turn

patients away. what has not worked out very well is our death toll. and that's very much, i mean, is partly due to the strategy, but not really very much. it's mainly to due to our elderly — our homes for elderly have not been able to keep the disease out. today the public health agency estimated that by the end of the month a quarter of the capital's residents may have been infected with covid—i9. progress towards herd immunity? perhaps. but the truth is no—one knows the real numbers. i've spoken to a doctor who works with covid patients at a hospital here. he didn't want to appear on camera, but he told me "i'm afraid". he said, "there are so many things that we don't know about this virus. why are they taking this risk?" "they're gambling with people's lives," he said, "and they're gambling with the lives

of those who are trying to save lives." compared to sweden's neighbours, the numbers don't look good. deaths from covid here are three times higher than in denmark and six times those of norway and finland. those countries have imposed strict lockdowns. i think it's too early, also, to say is lockdown good or bad? because many countries are now having a discussion within the political sector, but also in the whole society, should we lift the restrictions, in what way, what will happen? that is not the debate in sweden. and it's not something the government is preparing for. we are not lifting any restrictions for the moment. if lockdown is a treatment that's being trialled globally, then sweden is the control group. this is not about going out and getting your hair done or meeting your mates down the pub. this is about whether the course the rest of the world is on is sustainable or even beneficial in the long—term.

i don't think we will have more death. come back in one year and i think we will have the same proportion of deaths. this is a hunch? it's likely. it will be sometime before we know whether this hunch is proved right. for now it does feel like a big gamble. though crime is down in america at this time of crisis — gun sales are up, as americans worry about personal safety. the fbi did 3.7 million background checks for gun purchases in march and on march 20th, a record was set for the most checks ever conducted in a single day. the bbc‘s jane o'brien has more. first—time buyers lining up outside a store near san francisco. it's a scene replicated across the country as americans stock up on what some consider essential items.

we want to feel safer. the mentality of some people, theyjust, they get crazy and desperate, and you never know what's going to happen. but as cities remain in lockdown, there's been a sharp decline in reported crimes. from chicago to la and in new york, the epicentre of the virus, serious crime has seen a double—digit drop. but 20% of new york's police force is also sick — an example of why americans who've never owned a gun now feel they need one. you have a lot of police officers and first responders right now that are ill and are not out on the streets being able to help people protect themselves. so, you look at the violent crime going up, you look at first responders not being there or being able to be there, the first line of defence to protect yourself is your self. the second amendment guarantees the right to bear arms but exercising that right during the pandemic has become dependent on where you live.

the federal government says gun stores are essential businesses and should stay open. but the hodgepodge of existing controls in different states has become more pronounced with the power of individual governors to impose emergency restrictions. in the united states, we have the freedom of assembly, we have the second amendment freedom, freedom of religion... you know, they can't just shut down and shred the constitution because of a virus. attorney andrew couture is suing the state of massachusetts where the governor has ordered the closure of gun stores as part of measures to control the spread of the coronavirus. this is nothing more than an attempt to bankrupt every gun store in massachusetts so when we can finally get through this critical time in our nation's history or the world's history, let's face it, that they would not be able to open. americans have already given up significant freedoms, many protected by the constitution.

who has the authority to order such restrictions and enforce them is an ongoing political and legal debate. on loud-hailer: it is a government that is out of control! and it is notjust gun rights. across the country, americans have begun protesting against restrictions they say are creating more harm than the virus itself. ultimately, such measures will only work for as long as the citizens themselves agree to them. jane o'brien, bbc news. at least six people are now known to have died after a series of tornadoes ripped through several southern us states, leaving a trail of destruction behind them. rich preston has this report. in southern oklahoma, near to the state border with texas, this terrifying sight. at least two people were killed as tornadoes swept through marshall county. wait, is that one for real? in texas itself, a trail of destruction in poke county, about 70 miles north

of houston. came back here and my home's not there. this is my second worst storm that i went through. i mean, my first one i didnt lose everything. but this one i lost everything i worked for. i woke up this morning thinking it was all a bad dream but it really wasn't. it came in so quick all you heard was the woo—woo—woo and saw a big debris field and knew it was coming. it kind of disturbed for a second and reformed and came right back down. very scary. thousands across texas and oklahoma were left without power. dozens were injured. emergency crews working round—the—clock in search of survivors. weeks of extreme weather have killed more than 20 people across four southern us states. rich preston, bbc news. the duke and duchess of cambridge and their children

have led the uk in the weekly national applause for britain's carers and key workers. jon kay reports. applause. standing together... ..while standing apart. another thursday night... ..in the uk. it is a little tiny thing i can do, to, you know, make some noise, just to say thank you. every week. every week? yes. not missed one? not yet. and we won't. on this street, like so many others, it is personal. sarah, at number", is on the front line. she's a healthcare assistant at the birmingham hospital trust, that has had more than 600 covid—i9 deaths. does this help you get through? yes, massively, 100% helps me. every thursday. it is like a release. it is a release. i come out and they are all clapping, it is another week coming to an end. just amazing. just fantastic, i can't believe it.

0h... at precisely 8:00, for the fifth week in a row, it felt like the whole of the uk erupted. # let it shine, let it shine... sirens. 8,000 miles from home, members of the british antarctic surveyjoined in. in the middle east, divers from hms ledbury clapped and washed their hands at the same time. in the skies above wiltshire, the pilot of a light aircraft plotted his flight path to spell out his gratitude. while on the ground, the social distancing red arrows. from bin collectors in norfolk, to the royal family. back in the midlands, sarah and her husband gary,

who's a delivery driver have moved into a caravan on the drive. see you soon, we love you loads. so they don't put sarah's mum at risk. gwen is 83. clapping for her daughter, and for thousands of others, and she will be saying thank you again, next week. jon kay, bbc news. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some —— lets go to bristoljust before you go. a famous picture by ba n ksy before you go. a famous picture by banksy has been given a makeover. it is a mural on the side of a building in his home city. it is a take on the girl with the pearl earring. we

don't know whether banksy added the mask. that is it. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. this is bbc news. i i. —— bye—bye. hello there. many places across the uk had gin clear skies from dawn till dusk on thursday. in actualfact, parts of the south—east saw highs of 2a degrees, 75 fahrenheit, and it's probably going to be the warmest day this week. a slightly different story, however, coming in across eastern england, with a breeze from the north sea and a little more cloud here, temperatures struggled at around ten or 11 degrees. now, we start our day on friday with some cloud across parts of eastern england, stretching in as far as the east midlands, maybe. but as we go through the day they should melt away, dry, settled, and sunny for many. just an outside chance later on in the afternoon for an isolated shower, perhaps across the south—west. but we should see temperatures peaking at 22 degrees, you might see 20 degrees into western scotland as well. now as we go through the evening we keep clear skies for most. the risk of an isolated shower

across higher ground of south wales and south—west england continues, but as we go into the weekend it looks likely to stay largely fine and dry. it will be just that little bit cooler and we increase the risk of some showers as we go through the second half of the weekend. but we start off on saturday with very, very open isobars, light winds across the country. this little fellow here might just introduce some more cloud and eventually the risk of further showers. so as we go through the day on saturday we could have, again, a little more cloud to start with along that east coast. that melts away. lots of sunshine coming through. cloud thickens into the far north—west but saturday should stay dry and pleasantly warm out there with highs of 9—21 degrees. now as we move out of saturday into sunday, that weather front will just creep towards the north—west of scotland and enhance the risk of some showers as we go through the day. so a slow and subtle change

of the story for the second half of the weekend. so the potential for some showers and cooler fields may develop as the winds swing round to a northerly. though showers may creep into north—west england and north wales by the end of the day on sunday. but ahead of it stays pleasantly warm with 22 degrees, behind it somewhat cooler conditions, 10—14 in the far north of scotland. but the dry story is set to continue for the remainder of april, as you can see, dry, settled, and sunny, butjust that little bit cooler right across the country. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine in europe have begun. hundreds of volunteers will get the vaccine — two of them were injected on thursday in oxford. scientists say they are already working with manufacturers to produce millions of doses later this year. american lawmakers have passed another relief bill worth m80 billion for small businesses and overwhelmed hospitals. as new figures put the jobless total at 26.5 million, it's hoped employers will be encouraged to keep staff on their payroll. there's been violent unrest in venezuela as people broke a strict quarantine in several states to protest against food and petrol shortages. a man was killed and at least six injured during clashes with police in bolivar state.

now on bbc news, panorama. news archive: the sound of coventry and warwickshire is bbc cwr. news archive: there has been a sharp ride in the number of deaths from covid19 across the midlands. news archive: the government says the midlands is now a particular area of concern. news archive: the question remains - can the region weather the storm? the last few weeks have seen record numbers of deaths and the biggest challenge for the nhs in its 70—year history. have you ever seen anything like this before? absolutely not, absolutely not, there's nothing like this. panorama's been invited into university hospital coventry