this is bbc news, i'm simon pusey. our top stories: officials confirm 50,000 people have now died in the united states. meanwhile, president trump attacks the media after he suggested using disinfectants in a treatment. i was asking a sarcastic and a very sarcastic question, to the reporters in the room, about disinfectant on the inside. but it does kill it, and it would kill it on the hands. the uk government's new website for tests is swamped and shut down for hours as it's inundated by key workers. world leaders throw their weight behind a drive to develop new treatments for covid—19 and ensure that everyone gets access to them. and the rohingya refugees rescued after being stranded at sea for many weeks —

virus fears meant they were repeatedly turned away from shore. and troubling signs out of turkey single — doctors there say the country's outbreak could be much worse than official reports. the death toll in the united states from the coronavirus pandemic is now double the second worst—hit country, italy. more than 50,000 people have died, according tojohns hopkins university. around 16,000 of those deaths have happened in the state of new york. the world health organization has launched a global initiative to find ways of preventing and curing the new coronavirus. the united states has declined to participate. it comes as a surreal debate has been brewing in washington, with the president claiming he was being "sarcastic"

when he suggested injecting disinfectants may be a way to fight the disease. he has also refused to take questions at the daily briefing. 0ur north america editor, jon sopel, reports. co ntroversially, some of florida's beaches reopened last week. but maybe it was a smart thing to do. according to new research conducted by us government scientists, sunlight, heat and humidity dramatically reduce the life of coronavirus in the air and on hard surfaces. the scientists said it acted as a powerful disinfectant. and that led the president to muse on whether disinfectant could be used inside the human body to kill the virus. and then i see the disinfectant, that knocks it out in a minute — one minute. and is there a way we can do something like that? by injection, inside, or almost a cleaning? because you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. so it would be interesting to check that. the president's chief medical

adviser looked as though she'd have liked harry potter's cloak of invisibility. in a minute, one minute. newsreel: new lysol spray disinfectant... for over a century, lysol has been one of america's top—selling brands of bleach, but today, in 2020, the manufacturers felt forced to issue a statement saying "under no circumstances should people ingest disinfectant." doctors, health professionals and politicians are similarly disbelieving. very clearly, disinfectants are not intended for ingestion, either by mouth, by ears, by breathing them in in any way, shape or form. but today, the president has sought to explain away the controversy by asserting that he wasn't actually being serious. but i was asking a sarcastic, a very sarcastic question, to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside.

but it does kill it, and it would kill it on the hands, and that would make things much better. that was done in the form of a sarcastic question to the reporters. another question being asked forcibly is whether now is the right time to reopen the us economy. in georgia today, hairdressers, nail salons, tattoo parlours were able to resume business, even though coronavirus is still a serious problem in the state. the president's defence is that he was being sarcastic to the reporters in the room. but i was out last night's briefing and that is not what happened. he addresses his remarks entirely to his chief medical officer and the scientists from homeland security. and he seemed deadly serious. the white house has been scrambling all day to come up with a plausible explanation — this doesn't seem to be it. georgia is one of the states that has partially lifted the lockdown of the coronavirus

outbreak. businesses like gymnasiums and hair salons are now allowed to reopen and move —— in a move that brought widespread criticism as cbs reported brittany miller explained. that happened today, today was day one, but that looked like was a lot of nail salons, a lot of barbershops and tattoo shops, hairsalons, all opening today with what governor kemp called "minimum basic operations", which basically meant they had to take certain guidelines into account when they did open their salons. but a lot of people were out getting their hair done, you know, a lot of businesses did however choose to stay closed and not really abide by the government's guidelines. tell us why that is such a controversial decision from the governor. so many people are just split on what they should do, when you take a look at the numbers here in georgia they are not really seeing a dip in those numbers, so they think it is just too soon to reopen anything. many people are questioning how you can open gyms and hair salons and still stay six feet apart and still

maintain your safety. so a lot of people just don't understand why he is taking these steps now. others however say it is time to reopen the economy and time to put more money back in the pockets of georgians. with so much criticism especially from the mayors in georgia, how much confusion is there for people and businesses as to what they should do, the governor saying one thing, mayors are saying another? right, one mayor was tweeting today "please stay home", again people also choosing to listen to the governor. people are saying to use common sense, for anybody at home who may be confused, it is certainly confusing. even for me living here in georgia, to hear one thing from the governor, and the thing from a mayor, but i think what people are doing is using common sense and doing whatever they feel comfortable with. that was brittany miller speaking to me earlier. here, the british government says around 15,000 people booked tests for coronavirus on its new website before it had to temporarily close it. the 5,000 home testing kits it had available were ordered

within two minutes of the site going live. about 10 million key workers and members of their households are now eligible for testing, should they show symptoms. the daily total of hospital deaths for people with coronavirus rose by 768 — with the total now standing at more than 19,500. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, has the latest. say ah... pop—up units run by the army, part of the new push in england to boost virus testing. the number of drive—through centres is being expanded, and more home test kits will be sent out. all to handle possible demand from up to 10 million key workers and their families. but by mid—morning, all slots bookable online for today had been taken by 11,000 people, and 5,000 more ordered home test kits. the department of health apologised for any inconvenience, and said booking would restart tomorrow, with capacity expanded. mike, who is a teacher, had symptoms and wants to know if it's safe to go to work. he managed to get a test slot.

the whole process was very seamless, um, i was able to register, and then ijust had to wait for the email to come through, and once i'd got that email, i quickly logged on to the site and selected the testing centre for me, and it has been really easy. mike later drove to the testing centre in peterborough. he showed the email he received. it was scanned by a member of staff, and the test went ahead. he's hoping for the result by monday. at another drive—through centre, essential workers who'd had their nasal and throat swabs taken told us about the process. it was the most painless, easy thing to have been done, and i'm actually amazed that there's not more people here. i must say that all the stations were empty except mine. there were two cars in front of me, and there was no—one behind me. so they've got the infrastructure in place. theyjust need the people now. but some weren't so lucky. one said he'd logged

on and been told to expect a text within an hour, but it never came. i would have appreciated it if after the hour then i'd got the message to say, "it's not happening today, can you do it again tomorrow?" but waiting the whole day, it's like waiting for a parcel that never turned up. the scottish government said it was ready to go live with a similar system to england, with laboratories like this one in glasgow analysing the tests. at the downing street media briefing, i asked how much more testing capacity would be provided. obviously you don't want people's expectations to be disappointed. are you pretty confident that you can meet the demand that is out there, certainly in the next week or so? we'll see how it settles down. but we're encouraged by the 16,000 bookings online, indeed 116,000 people went to the portal first thing today. there are some more slots opening up right now as i'm speaking, and there will be more slots tomorrow and the days after. the nhs has spare critical care beds even with the covid—19 patient numbers, and the head

of nhs england said there might now be scope to restart some more routine work which had been cancelled. it looks as if we are now coming through the peak of the coronavirus inpatients, and so we have got spare capacity in hospitals across the country, and that means that as well as other critical and urgent services, we will be able to restart some of those more routine services that the nhs is also here to provide. the welsh government is also looking ahead, publishing a strategy for the exit from lockdown, which could involve a traffic light system, moving from red with some restrictions lifted, possibly as soon as next month, to a green phase, with very few left in place. health editor hugh pym there. let's get some of the day's other news. the brazilian president, jair bolsonaro, has launched a bitter attack against his formerjustice minister, sergio moro, who resigned earlier today, sparking a political crisis. in a nationwide address,

president bolsonaro denied he had overruled mr moro to remove the head of the federal police. authorities in canada say the gunman who carried out the country's worst—ever mass shooting last weekend started his rampage by assaulting his girlfriend. she hid from him in the woods overnight, and has since become a key witness in the investigation. police believe gabriel wortman killed 22 people while disguised as a policeman in nova scotia. the european commission's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, has condemned the lack of progress on trade talks with the uk. he said britain didn't want to commit seriously ona number of fundamental points. downing street said the talks had been constructive, but admitted some aspects of the eu offerfell short of the uk's expectations. world leaders and the un health agency have lies a new global initiative to speed up ways to

help defend and cure covid—19. it is being cohosted by president brian kemp of france and the european commissioner, alongside bill gates. 0ther world leaders also took part in the announcement, but not the united states which has withdrawn its support for the organisation. translation: is inexcusable that any country who finally finds a vaccine keeps it for itself. the moment we reach that point in this fight, we need to make the vaccine accessible as fast as possible for the whole population. the initiative that we are all working on is one that can make this available in any geographical area and that is the fastest way we can get back to a normal life. that was president emmanuel macron there. turkey has the seventh most recorded infection the world just behind the uk and

more than china. that is despite tough lockdown measures in place in 31 provinces. the authorities say the outbreak is under control but medical sources have told the bbc the real number of deaths is not being reported. our international correspondent reports from istanbul. the new landscape of covid—19. istanbul under lockdown this weekend — like much of turkey, trying to shut out an invisible killer. the official death toll here is relatively low, at 2,600, but medical sources say the real picture could be a lot worse, because turkey only counts those who test positive for the virus. this intensive care doctor tells me he has treated about 100 covid patients. we cannot reveal his identity, and an actor is voicing his words. not all patients test positive. when we try to register patients who test negative

in the system, we cannot do it. how many deaths of covid—19 do you think are not actually being recorded in the statistics? only half of our patients who died from covid—19 have that listed as the cause of death. we have to multiply the official number of deaths by two. playing with the real statistics creates a perception that the process is being handled very well. turkey has more intensive care beds than many european countries, and a much lower fatality rate from the virus. it denies deaths have been underreported. speaking turkish. the health minister, fahrettin koca, says the country has given the world health organization the information it wants in a transparent manner, and will continue to do so. but the who recommends

that probable cases, like torhan kaya, should be counted. the turkish actor died last month. his son theo told us he had all the symptoms of covid—19 but tested negative, so it wasn't on the death certificate. theo is bereft without him. he was charming. he was a real gentleman and he was an incredible dad, a really good best friend. and i mean he had a lot of people who loved him because of that. he would give you everything and not ask anything in return. no, he was incredible, truly. obviously you have spoken out, and i know you spoke out before on twitter. i wondered, do you feel like this is something you have to do in memory of your father? i do it for my father, but i do it for a lot of people who haven't lost their father

yet and i hope they never will. but i do it for my dad, but i do it because i know that my dad would've done the same thing. this is a holiday weekend here, but like no other. the turkish medical association says shedding more light on the number of deaths will help the country emerge from this crisis. orla guerin, bbc news, istanbul. stay with us on bbc news, plenty more still to come, including: how the effort to fight the pandemic has left residents of mexico city struggling with a lack of freshwater. nothing it seemed was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to

renewed calls for government help to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had go wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia where they fall to admit the accident. for the merger had forthe merger had in, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12 year war for them, they've taken the capital, which they have been fighting for for so long. it was 7am, the day when power began to pass on the minority to the majority, when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its la st after 300 years, reclaimed its last white colony. you're watching bbc news. a reminder of our headlines: the death toll in the us

has passed 50,000, as president trump backtracks on a suggestion that disinfectant could be used as a therapy to tackle the virus. the uk government website for key workers to apply for coronavirus tests has reopened for bookings, after it was closed due to significant demand. the united nations has issued an urgent appeal to save hundreds of rohingya refugees who are thought to be stranded out at sea on people—smuggling boats. the refugees had been living in vast camps in bangladesh for three years after fleeing persecution in myanmar. south asia correspondent rajini vaidya nathan‘s report contains some distressing images. staggering to safety. scared, starving and stateless after months stranded at sea. rohingya refugees, including unaccompanied children, back onshore after the boat they'd boarded to malaysia was turned away,

for fear they'd bring coronavirus to the country. rescued by the bangladesh coastguard, the hundreds who survived tell the tale of the dozens who didn't. forced to drink sea water to stay alive, eyewitnesses say the bodies of those who didn't make it were thrown into the sea. mohammad made the perilous journey after borrowing money to pay a smuggler. "i couldn't find work in the refugee camps," he said. "the boat was cramped. we were hungry and i fell sick. when we got to malaysia, we were turned away twice. now i feel unlucky and sad." it's believed hundreds more refugees are trapped on boats which were also turned away from malaysia. i asked the bangladeshi foreign minister whether they could return. will you turn the boats away, then? it's a difficult question, because we don't want to see people dying.

it's not the responsibility of bangladesh alone to take care of all the stateless people of the planet earth. ask the global leaders, like the usa, uk, the european union. who will help them now? as the world shuts its borders because of coronavirus, the rohingya refugees hope that the world doesn't shut its eyes to their plight. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. residents of mexico city are struggling with a lack of fresh water. it's a routine problem for those who live on the outskirts of the mexican capital, but the problem's been exacerbated by government efforts to tackle the spread of coronavirus, and reminders for people to wash their hands. it's raised concerns that efforts to tackle the spread of the virus will be hampered by the inability of so many to wash their hands. rich preston has this report. in mexico city, around a quarter of all houses don't have a daily water supply.

one in ten only get water once or twice a week. delivered by trucks and stored in communal tanks. the poor communities in this city of 8.5 million share one of life's essential commodities. they can't even be sure that the water that is available is clean. a lack of running water is bad enough, but at the same time mexican authorities, like so many, are telling people to "wash your hands" and "stay at home". easier said than done for some. translation: we recycle the water for the bathroom to clean the dishes, water the plants. i try to save some until the truck comes every eight days. and if the truck doesn't come, the people in these poorer communities have to use what little money they have buying water. translation: we have to continue using it, but we have to buy it.

if the water truck does not come, it costs us 15 pesos, but we have to buy it anyway because i have to have water. mexico has the highest per capita consumption of bottled water in the world. the instruction to wash your hands is simple enough, the ability to do it is a much more complicated matter. rich preston, bbc news. australians and new zealanders are observing anzac day, their annual day of remembrance for their war dead, by holding private vigils at home. this is sydney, where ceremonies were held in driveways and on balconies as the coronavirus pandamic forced traditional memorials to be cancelled for the first time in decades. first held in 1916, the anzac day parade was last cancelled amid the outbreak of spanish flu in 1918. now, it's friday night in the uk, a time when

not long ago, the pubs would have been packed, but with lockdown measures in place, some have been forced to adapt to the times. they‘ re providing takeaway meals and home deliveries. but others have had to pour out their precious pints, as our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. there are thousands of gallons of lovingly—brewed beer right now going to waste. the landlord of the gardener's arms in norwich disposed of his ten real ales to the hymn played as the titanic sank. we have a cellar full of beer, which is probably all going to be out of date within the next two or three weeks. a lot of the brewers who brew with the products, they love what they do. it's really sad to think that all that beer and all that hard work is being wasted and thrown away. i drank a little bit, but i can't drink loads of it, so i think, all in all, we're up to nearly 6,000 gallons of beer that

we're due to throw away. in cool rooms and cellars across the uk, it's estimated there are some 50 million pints that will suffer the same fate, while off—licence sales of alcohol have jumped by nearly a third. so this bar in belfast came up with an idea. while the rules have been relaxed to allow pubs to operate as takeaways, the hatfield now looks more like a call centre, taking orders for food and drinks, and they added an extra service — delivering fresh pints of guinness. we decided to kit out a wee van, put a keg in the back of it, pull up at your house and pour you an absolutely perfect, fresh pint of stout. it sparked a big demand... you've got the nice perfect head on it... ..and worldwide attention, but after drivers were stopped by police, they were forced to put the deliveries on hold. stopped me and told me it was illegal, but couldn't tell me under what section of the liquor licensing act it was illegal. so where will you go with this? we do believe we were operating within the law. this is about keeping

people in employment. police say prosecutors are now considering whether any action should be taken for a breach of licensing laws. but the pub's mounting its own legal challenge, saying they were within the rules and that they need to adapt to survive. a typical friday in belfast‘s cathedral quarter pre—pandemic. it's a ghost town here now, and the government says that pubs and bars will be some of the last places that can reopen. we have nearly 80% of our staff on furlough at the moment, so we are being very clear and direct with the government and saying, "if you want our pubs to survive this, you must support us throughout the period of closure and also throughout the period of reopening." but with some forms of social distancing possibly lasting up to the end of the year, that won't happen quickly. meanwhile, there are questions over the extent to which a pub is allowed to bring the bar to you. emma vardy, bbc news.

that's just about it for me for 110w. that's just about it for me for now. you can find me on twitter. that's it for now, do stay tuned to bbc news. hello there. after a another predominantly dry week for most parts of the uk, the weekend promises plenty more dry weather. but slow, subtle changes, the increasing chance of catching a shower and it will begin to feel cooler particularly across northern areas. nothing much is changing very quickly at the moment because the pressure pattern is very slack. not many white lines at all on this chart. not many isobars. that means the winds are very, very light. there's nothing really to push the weather along. we start off the day with a lot of cloud across eastern scotland and eastern side of england and misty and murky conditions in place. that should tend to break up, the mist and fog should lift and all of us should get to see

some spells of sunshine. perhaps a bit more cloud than we had over the last couple of days. temperature—wise, 17 to 21 degrees. a bit coolerfor some northern and eastern coasts. north coast of northern ireland having a cooler day and as we go into the late afternoon in the evening, wales and the south—west could see a shower, and the early hours of sunday, generally more cloud rolling in across the north of scotland. those are your overnight temperatures. most places above freezing. it will be a little bit chilly across some eastern parts of england. we go to sunday and this area of low pressure, quite a weak affair, starts to move its way in from the north, that does increase the chance of seeing some showers across northern parts of scotland, a frontal system pushing south and a band of cloud and some showery rain possible with that and ahead of it across the heart of england and wales, we could see the odd hefty shower into the afternoon. there will still be a lot of dry weather and sunshine and another warm day down towards the south, but noticably cooler across the northern half of the country. and into monday, you see the colder air making some inroads southwards, so lower temperatures for most parts on monday.

a band of cloud and frontal system sitting around parts of england and wales and maybe the odd splash of rain but we could see slightly more significant wet weather developing down to the south later in the day. 21 degrees in london, but the further north you are, the much cooler feel to the weather. and for all of us, it is going to turn cooler as we head deeper into next week. and there is the increasing chance of some rain and some fairly brisk winds as well. that's all from me for now.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

more than 50,000 people have now died in the us from coronavirus. meanwhile, president trump has backtracked on a suggestion that disinfectant could be used to tackle the virus. he said his suggestion that injections of disinfectant could treat patients was sarcastic. the uk government website for key workers to apply for tests has reopened after it was closed due to "significant demand". the tests are being offered to around ten million key workers and their families. the governement aims carry out 100,000 daily tests by the end of april. world leaders and the who have launched a global initiative to accelerate work on drugs to treat coronavirus. the head of the who says the biggest health effort in history is treat covid—19. experts say any vaccine that is developed must be made available and affordable.