this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a further 711 people with coronavirus have died in hospitals in england, taking the total number of hospital deaths in the uk to over 20,000. coronavirus tests for uk key workers through the government website were booked up within an hour of it reopening this morning. all home testing kits were ordered in less than 15 minutes. the world health organization says people who have recovered from coronavirus may not be protected from reinfection. countries around europe pursue options to end the lockdown — belgium sets out a detailed plan to relax restrictions. meanwhile a former uk chancellor calls on the government to set out how britain can ease its lockdown and restart the economy.

the english premier league holds talks with ministers about how football matches could resume with televised matches played behind closed doors. and we can't go to the zoo at the moment but we've got the next best thing — a virtual tour round edinburgh zoo, courtesy of its keepers. 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 number of deaths in hopitals in england has risen by 771, taking the total number of deaths ——711 in hospitals in the uk to more than 20,000. it comes as the world health

organization has warned that people who have recovered from coronavirus may not be protected against reinfection. in other developments, the majority of coronavirus tests for essential workers here in the uk were booked up through the government website within an hour of it reopening today, with some still available in scotland. as european countries start to ease their lockdowns, belgium has announced a timetable for gradually lifting restrictions. all shops will reopen from 11th may. the former british chancellor philip hammond has called on the government to begin easing the lockdown to restart the economy. and the english premier league has been holding talks with the uk government about how football matches could be permitted to resume. more on that later but first for more on the situation in the uk, richard galpin reports. the drive to get millions of key workers such as teachers, the police and staff working in the food industry began yesterday. but the numbers applying are overwhelming the system. just before ten o'clock this morning, we looked

at the government website, which key workers use to book a test. many of the options were already unavailable. home kits were all booked out within 15 minutes. the only available option for a test was at a site in scotland. this, for many, very frustrating, and requiring a lot of persistence. i tried and it was not working. so i kept on trying throughout the evening. eventually i got back on. and, again, went through the system of trying to book a test. i booked it and this morning when i woke up i received a text to tell me that a test has been allocated for me at 2pm this afternoon. today, senior nhs officials have urged people to be patient. more capacity is coming on stream, so i would urge people who fit in those criteria as key workers to go back onto the website as more appointments become available. also today, the nhs has

announced an urgent campaign, calling on people who have fallen seriously ill with conditions other than coronavirus to go to hospital for treatment. since the coronavirus pandemic hit the uk, the number of people coming to a&e departments has dropped by around 50%. apparently because people fear being a burden in the midst of this crisis. we are here for non—coronavirus patients, too. so, if you are worried about chest pain, maybe you might be having a heart attack or a stroke, or you feel a lump or you are worried about cancer, or you are a parent concerned about your child, please come forward and use the health service in the way that you normally would. delaying coming to hospital when suffering from heart attacks or strokes, or other serious conditions, could have very serious consequences. the nhs says it has the capacity to look after non—coronavirus patients.

richard galpin, bbc news. joining me now is our health correspondent richard galpin. we always have to handle these figures with care because there is a lag in when they get reported. of course, but this is a very significant moment because we know that the chief scientific officer, oi’ that the chief scientific officer, or adviser to the government, patrick vallance, had said back in march that it would be good if the uk can keep the number of deaths 20,000 or below and we now know that number has been reached, it has gone up number has been reached, it has gone up quite significantly. so it is a real moment now for this country, the fact that this is over 20000 and we would expect the number to increase because we have heard from officials that they expect high numbers of deaths, the daily number, to keep being high for certainly

another ten days or so. so they could be quite a considerable increase beyond what we have had today. the government is under pressure from various quarters here in britain to restart the economy, to say when the lockdown is going to end, but they have been very clear that there will be five questions that there will be five questions that there will be five questions that the uk government will want to a nswer that the uk government will want to answer first. yes, and to be most important thing they are saying is to save lives at the moment. that is absolutely critical. however, of course the more we have the lockdown, the more impact on the economy and business people, politicians, are very, very worried about whether we will have any economy left at the end of this is the lockdown persists for a much longer period. other countries across europe in particular have been watched —— are being watched very closely by britain to see what the response is to the lifting of any restrictions. yes, quite a few european countries are beginning to do that. they are small steps, for

example allowing little shops to open for a while. so it is not a big lifting across europe but the first steps a re lifting across europe but the first steps are being taken and for sure, the government here will be looking very, very carefully at that was not in the meantime, the government is trying to increase the amount of tests that are made available to key workers but the demand is outstripping supply. it is huge, they set up this website on friday for people to be able to book appointments and it has gone absolutely crazy since then. it has crashed yesterday, managed to get back up and running but there have been huge numbers again today for stop people trying to be booked in for tests across the country and the system is struggling with it. the point of those tests is to find out supposedly whether you are ok to go back to work. and of course it is absolutely crucial that the people being tested are key workers across all different sectors. absolutely, it isa all different sectors. absolutely,

it is a key thing for health workers, if they know that they do not have the virus, then they can get back to work and in terms of trying to get the economy working again, that is very, very important, of course. richard, for the moment, thank you. i'm joined now by francesco checchi professor of epidemiology and international health at the london school of hygiene & tropical medicine. thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc news. that figure that we know for a fact that there are more than 20,000 people who have died with or of covid—19 in english hospitals, how alarming will that be to the government and its advisers? i would say that is the very sombre milestone, i don't think it is necessarily alarming at this stage in that we know that the lockdown has worked in terms of what it was meant to do, it was meant to slow the rate of contact and the rate of

transmission and it has done that. the reason why we are still seeing a lot of deaths every day is just because essentially the lockdown came into place when there were already a lot of people infected and it means that there is a force of inertia and that is pushing transmission forward for quite some time and it means that therefore we can expect to see quite a few more deaths per day unfortunately for the foreseeable future. when you imagine the peak will occur? i think that we may already be past the peak for essentially slowing in transmission and getting us to a point where fewer than one case results from any average person infected which is where we want to be in order to get the pandemic into a situation of control. i think we may well be

beyond the peak but it still means there are a lot of infected people out there who are still resulting in residual infections and some of these people unfortunately go on to become very ill and die. it is difficult to know, i realise, but how much longer do you anticipate that these restrictions will need to go on if we are to stop a second said? yes, exactly. you have it to be very, very sure that the moment that the lockdown ends, the exit strategy is firmly in place. if we are to go down the route that south korea took, which i think is one of the main options being considered by the main options being considered by the government which is essentially to rely extensively on testing and tackling all the little outbreaks that are going to be popping up around the country, if you are good to go down that track, i think you have to reduce the number of infections left over after the

lockdown to such an amount that it is actually manageable for the testing and concentrating systems i think that is what the government will be wanting to look at. it is how low the epidemic is and the level of transmission, how many infections are left? is it safe to transition to that strategy. ? it is to be so much more that scientists would like to know about how coronavirus, covid—19, behaves and whether in fact, having been infected once, it stops reinfection? yes, you're right. who sounded a note of caution on that. i would say that on the basis of what we know from other coronaviruses that have affected humans in past, it would be quite unexpected if the virus left people with no immunity, even for a temporary amount of time. that would be quite surprising, but there are reports that people seem to have been reinfected, some people, and

that some people don't seem to have developed immunity. it is really a major area of uncertainty at present. thank you very much for joining us. thank you. the world health organization has warned countries against introducing so—called immunity passports to allow those who have had coronavirus to travel or return to work. in a statement, the who said there was no evidence that having been infected with the virus guaranteed immunity. imogen foulkes is in geneva for us, where the who has its headquarters. proceed with caution before thinking you are immune? that is absolutely right. i think the who has been murmuring about this for a while but todayissued murmuring about this for a while but today issued this official advice. countries thinking of issuing people with immunity passports or so—called

risk—free certificates, really need to think again, because while the current, and there is a wild variety of them, these tests, show a bit of the breadth of the spread of the virus in the population, they are new tests and they are not entirely reliable. sometimes they come up with false negatives. sometimes they show somebody has had a coronavirus but not necessarily this one. the common cold is also a coronavirus. most important of all, and this is really key, there is no evidence so far that having had covid—19 once means you are immune to it forever, or even temporarily, and that means you could get it again. that means you could get it again. that means you can spread it again and that means, and immunity passports really come as the moment anyway, it wouldn't be worth the paper it is printed on. what are the efforts

that are being made then to try to determine the nature of this virus and when you can have any confidence that you have got the all clear? well, it probably will take some time. we know that these antibody tests are being used widely. there isa tests are being used widely. there is a test going on here in switzerland, the first results came out at the university hospital of geneva yesterday, which showed a spread of the virus of about five and a half percent of the population pulled up knowing that is useful because it helps the who to know how fast the virus spreads. it is only -- is it fast the virus spreads. it is only —— is it only people who have symptoms or have lots of people had symptoms? have they already had it? that letter appears not to be the case. so that is already a step forwards in knowledge, but these tests are forwards in knowledge, but these tests a re new. forwards in knowledge, but these tests are new. they need to be evaluated more and, above all, it is

a little bit too early to say, three months into a brand—new virus, having the antibodies in your blood shows you will never get it again. we just can't tell that yet. what the who is insisting on really is stick with the tried and tested measures. suppress the spread of that virus. trace all the people who have it. trace their contacts. quarantine them. get a handle on the virus stock that will give the science time to do the rest. image and, thank you very much. —— imogen. a further 711 people with coronavirus have died in hospitals in england — taking the total number of hospital deaths in the uk to over 20,000. coronavirus tests for uk key workers through the government website were booked up within an hour of it reopening this morning. all home testing kits were ordered in less than 15 minutes. countries around europe pursue

options to end the lockdown — belgium sets out a detailed plan to relax restrictions. in spain, the number of people known to have died after testing positive for coronavirus has increased by 378. its lowest number of fatalities in four weeks. the overall number of deaths there is now more than 22,900, the third—highest figure in the world after the united states and italy. for much of the world, the pandemic shows few signs of slowing and the lockdown continues. millions of people are forced to stay at home — many businesses have had to shut their doors. but there are glimmers of hope as some countries, particularly in europe, consider easing the restrictions. tim allman reports. this is mont—saint—michel on france's normandy coast.

millions of tourists come here every year, but not this year. for now, it's like a ghost town. empty streets, empty tables, the lockdown in full effect. translation: i would say it was done like a military campaign, because at nine o'clock, theyjust said, "sorry, sir, you are not opening." that was it, it was done in less than a minute. it was very sudden. so we closed, everyone left, we just dropped everything. it is the same all across the country. this is the place de la concorde in paris, almost completely deserted. but things may soon change. president macron suggesting travel restrictions could soon be eased as france tries to get back to normal. for belgium, that process is already tentatively under way. in a late—night news conference, the prime minister unveiled

a detailed timetable to ease the lockdown. translation: wearing an item of protection that covers both the mouth and the nose will be compulsory when taking public transport starting may 11th for travellers aged 12 and above. most shops schools will begin reopening next month, although classrooms will be limited to ten pupils and facemasks will have to be worn on public transport. translation: if we can present you with an exit strategy, it is because of the citizens that are also leading the fight against covid—19. restaurant owners in germany have been staging a protest, laying out rows of empty chairs in dozens of towns and cities across the country. they say their industry is in a precarious situation and they don't know when they will be allowed to reopen. and there were tense scenes in austria as around 200 people took

to the streets of vienna calling to an end to the lockdown there. restrictions have been eased, but for some, it is just not happening fast enough. tim allman, bbc news. it's time for your questions answered — you've been sending us lots of questions on the economy, government debt and business. with me to answer your questions is pauljohnson who is the director of the think tank, the institute for fiscal studies. lots of very interesting questions. the first, what is the monthly cost to the uk economy of remaining in lockdown? it is pretty big. at

least, it is pretty big and paired with a world in which coronavirus didn't exist at all so our best estimate is probably that the economy is about a third smaller thanit economy is about a third smaller than it would have been without the coronavirus. —— compared with the world. that is about £50 billion a month or thereabouts. that is important to be clear that that is not a comparison between the lockdown and doing nothing with the coronavirus here. so if we hadn't done the lockdown and we had far more people sick and dying, the results could have been even worse for the economy if that resulted in lots of people not being able to work, the nhs being completely overwhelmed and perhaps people panicking and having even less of the economy opening but relative to where we would have expected it to bea where we would have expected it to be a few months ago, the economy is suffering very dramatically and to put it into some sort of perspective, this is going to be the biggest and deepest recession in the

uk, possibly ever, actually. certainly since we got anything like a comparable data. people back through history and they reckon that 1709 it might have been a little bit worse but i think one it can't take much from comparisons that far back. the scale of what we are looking at is really very big indeed in terms of what is happening to the economy and we have seen all sorts of statistics to back that up. we have seen statistics to back that up. we have seen nearly 2 million new applications for universal credit over the last four weeks which is a far higher than maybe a couple of hundred thousand we would have normally expected over that period. the office for national statistics is suggesting that maybe a quarter of all workers are being furloughed over this period, in other words are being laid off but supported by the government scheme. the impact on the economy is really hard to overstate how big it has been. but we are trying to save lives, as you say. we

don't have a name for this question, but it is, at what point does the government say the cost the economy is too high and perhaps risk more deaths by easing the restrictions? again, that relates to what i was saying. because of the economy might be even higher if you the restrictions altogether and the virus gets going completely uncontrolled, but the government has a lot of things to trade off her. whilst we might be saving lives from coronavirus, we aren't losing lives for other reasons. you will have heard today the pleas from senior medics to use the health service for other things was not —— we are losing lives further reasons. we know that the health service have stopped doing a lot of routine operations which is going to cause real health problems for a lot of people and the recession that we are moving into will result, for sure,

in many hundreds of thousands of people being sick later on, chronic mental illness, chronic physical illness and probably losing their lives more quickly. so it is not just a health versus economy, it is now a health now against health in the future issue. but it is going to be an economic issue as well. clearly, the longer we stay in lockdown, the bigger the effect on people's livelihoods, on the number of unemployed, the number of businesses that will go bust. the consequences of that will last well beyond lockdown. i think one of the worrying thing is, not so much shutting the economy down for one, two, three months and we will get back to normal, the problem is it will take a long time to get back to normal because those businesses will have closed and people will have been out of work, because international supply chains and international supply chains and international trade will be damaged. the government will be taking all of that into account, as they gradually

lifted the restrictions. but i think the clear constraint on lifting this restrictions will always be that you have to keep the infection rates down and the death rate down to a level which is, in some sense, acceptable. certainly at a level that the nhs could continue to cope with. moving things so quickly that you get to the point where the nhs is overwhelmed probably creates, not just the dreadful death toll, but also economic consequences and that is going to be a series of very fine judgments about what is and what isn't possible and safe to do. my presumption is that we will have something happening gradually over that period for we have a minute or so to answer this question. how are we likely to recoup the amount the government is having to fork out? the government is borrowing a huge amount. totally unprecedented amounts over this period. hundreds... we are likely to have a

deficit of ineffective £250 billion this year, by far the biggest in peacetime. there are only three ways of recouping that. one is another period of austerity and cutting public spending of the next few yea rs was public spending of the next few years was not i think that is pretty unlikely given the scale of what has happened already. the second is that we pass that debt on to future generations and holds a much bigger debt than we otherwise would have done. i think we will do some of that for sure. the third thing of course is tax rises to pay for the public services. we are all going to be poorer than we thought we were going to be and that means that there is going to be less money to go around but if we want the health service in particular and public services to continue at reasonable levels, the government will probably ta ke levels, the government will probably take more tax from us to recoup the money. thank you.

australians and new zealanders are observing anzac day, their annual commemoration for their war dead, by holding private vigils at home. the coronavirus pandemic forced traditional memorials to be cancelled for the first time in decades. russell trott reports. anzac day is a day when, yeah, we do the dawn service, we march, and at the end of that, we go away to our various watering holes, pubs or clubs, and we enjoy our mates. and again, that's gonna be sad this year because we won't be able to do that. for those like ray james, who are still able to commemorate anzac day, it's a chance to remember their fallen comrades. april 25, 1915, gallipoli, and one of the bloodiest battles of world war i. thousands of troops

from the australian and new zealand army corps, the anzacs, were among a larger allied force that landed on the narrow beaches of the turkish peninsula in an ill—fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives. 105 years later, and thousands of miles away in australia and new zealand, with mass gatherings now banned in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus, political leaders join the veterans for many services at their homes. on anzac day, 1919, the first after the great war, there were no city marches or parades for the returning veterans because australians were battling the spanish flu pandemic. a small group of anzacs who had been arranging and tending the graves of their mates gathered and there was no pomp, at that little service. there were no dignitaries, no bans, just the sound of lapping water on the lonely shore. one said of that little service,

it was the real thing. and so our remembrance today, small, quiet and homely will be. plays last post. so, as daylight broke, they put their concerns of the coronavirus fight to one side briefly and once more remembered those who fell in what was called the war to end all wars. let's just bring you those figures of the latest death toll of people who have died in hospital with awe of coronavirus. this is the tweet that it of coronavirus. this is the tweet thatitis of coronavirus. this is the tweet that it is being put out by the department of health and social care. it says, as of 9am on the 25th of april...

that is the very sombre sobering and significant number that more than 20,000 people have now died in hospital having tested positive for coronavirus. that does not of course include the number of people who have died in care homes or hospices or at home. that is just the hospitalised deaths in the uk. behind every one of those numbers is a tragedy for a family who are having to cope with this appalling

virus. across the world a shortage of masks has meant people are often making do with whatever they can put together. now, a china—based community enterprise normally dealing with air purification equipment is measuring how well everyday items might potentially restrict the virus. stephen mcdonell reports from beijing. here you are at home, you are wanting to make your own mask based loosely on the design of one of these cloth antipollution masks. what he going to use? well, t—shirts, they are all different thicknesses, aren't they? how about a kitchen towel or a handkerchief? even... ..paper towel. now, a beijing team has received so many questions along these lines, they have decided to test these materials properly. smart air is a social enterprise with experience testing masks for pollution. here they are blowing air down a tube and measuring what percentage

of roughly coronavirus—sized particles can pass through various materials. they have found that coffee filters, kitchen towels and nylon are great at blocking, but you can't breathe through them. what we have found as being the best material is a paper towel, some fairly canvassed denim, somejeans, and bed sheets. actually, bed sheets were really good. we tested two different thread counts of bed sheets and they turned out really well. in many countries around the world, makeshift mask production is in full swing. monks in thailand are using their rope materials. in the us, the surgeon general posted a how—to video giving some ideas. but some of what is being used is actually too porous. i see you have got a few scarves here. how did they go? the scarves, we have three scarves, all of them did really badly. they were bad at filtering out the tiny particles. so how might you get an idea

of what could be more effective? you can hold up your material to the light and really compare the amount of light coming through the materials. which will give you an idea ofjust how well they can filter out particles. more light means more particles can get through. you want less light to be more valuable. that is right. however, paddy robinson doesn't want people to overplay their research. some the best materials we found filters 30 or a0%. that is better than nothing, but it is definitely not the solution. cannot all be happy going around wearing facemasks suddenly touching people, kissing people, coughing and things like that. it is a temporary solution. surgical mask manufacturing is ramping up globally. so access to proper masks will eventually be probably not such an issue. yet even some of these can be faulty and never offer complete protection.

the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in huge changes to the way we live our lives — and that includes tight restrictions on the way we mourn the dead. funeral directors say that increased demand and social distancing rules are making it harder than ever for them to care for grieving families. james waterhouse has spent time with one family, as it prepares to say goodbye to a loved one. saying goodbye to a wife, mother, sister and friend. tamarsine sutton died three weeks ago from leukaemia. she was 52. she was always upbeat, always there for other people, always had a smile, even through all this. her funeral was expected to be of family and friends but today's service is very different. i'm sad that it can't be a proper funeral. there's nothing i can do about it. you know, i've got to put on the british stiff upper lip and get on with it. hi, jessica — it's adam from w uden and sons.

is it still 0k to talk? this funeral directors would normally conduct around 35 services a week. now that's doubled. they don't believe the increase is all down to covid—19, however, but its impact is clear. there are now tight restrictions on services, and the team feel a big reason for why they do theirjob as been taken away. to be told that, first off, your loved one's died, second off, you can't actually see them again, and then actually attend their funeral. here in greenwich, there are just five people allowed at tamarsine's funeral, her husband gregg, his mumjune, tamarsine's sister tralauney and her sons, matthew and philip. but the rules differ from council to council and can change daily. uk governments have urged anywhere that holds funerals to allow mourners the opportunity to attend, even during lockdown. as tamarsine's family lay her to rest, they hope they will soon be able to celebrate her life again once quarantine is over. james waterhouse, bbc news.

as the weather's starting to improve for most of us it would be perfect — under normal circumstances — for a day out. so we're bringing you the next best thing. keepers at edinburgh zoo have been doing some filming to show us how the animals there are coping with the lockdown. lorna gordon reports. the animals of edinburgh zoo. lion cubs joined by other additions like this koala joey, venturing out for the first time. there are over 2,500 animals here. the keepers agreeing to film for us to show how the animals are faring while the gates are closed. one of the first things we have to do is check on all our penguins and make sure everybody is ok. the famous penguin parade is for now no longer happening but the breeding season here has started so both the penguins and their keepers have plenty to do.

this is one of our breeding nests for our northern rockhoppers this year. we are currently at this moment waiting for this chick to hopefully hatch in the next couple of days. the city's zoo would usually get thousands of visitors every day. but the lockdown means pathways here are now deserted. but obviously today we are. ..empty. however, we've still got a panda who is outside and having a bite of lunch so let's go and have a look at him. the solitary creatures are among the most popular animals here. their adoring audiences may have disappeared but it has made no difference to them. with everything that is going on, social—distancing isn't really a problem for pandas, because they quite like being solitary and he certainly doesn't miss having company. a lot of people worry that if he's on his own, he's lonely. he's not. as long as yang guang has food, he is perfectly happy. the keepers are always careful around their charges,

but coronavirus means they are taking even more precautions now. we wear gloves when we're handling any food or things like that, but we have started wearing facemasks all the time. one of the things that could potentially is happen is that we could pass coronavirus onto the chimps. as far as i know, there are no known cases of chimpanzees catching coronavirus but they are susceptible to things like the flu so we really don't want to take that chance. the zoo is a charity, so like other similar organisations it has worries now its income from visitors has dropped away. its priority, ensuring the animals here receive the best care possible during this crisis. china is slowly returning to normal. these pictures show the badaling section of the great wall of china. it's near beijing — so, many people from the capital are taking advantage of the easing of lockdown restrictions to get out

of the house and to visit the wall. china was where covid—19 first took hold. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's katherine downes. good afternoon the government plans to set up the first of a series of regular meetings, involving the senior medical directors of major sports, this week, in a bid to return to action as soon as possible. that would include premier league matches being played behind closed doors. but there are lots of caveats to any possible return. firstly, it won't happen before the next review of the lockdown, due on may the 7th. the go ahead would depend, on the government meeting its key five tests for easing restrictions. those tests include seeing death and infection rates fall consistentently. clubs would then have to meet additional criteria including the regular testing of players and ensuring the safety of staff. a government source said watching live sport on tv, would give the country a huge lift. here's the thoughts

on the shadow health secretary. if it can be done in a safe way then of course, but we need to understand what the thinking is behind it, what their medical evidence is but if our medical advice and scientific advice is that it can go ahead behind closed doors in a safe way, then of course we would support it. well, with the premier league suspended the financial implications for many clubs are huge. norwich city have defended their decision to furlough non—playing staff, with the club expected to lose up to £35m because of coronavirus. norwich and newcastle united are the only premier league clubs currently using the uk government's job retention scheme. so while there's the potential of a return for football in england, in the netherlands they've decided to end the season. with major events in the country banned until the start of september the decision has been taken to declare the season null and void — so no champions, promotion or relegation. that means there will be no repeat

of last season's champions party for ajax and they were top on goal difference again however if uefa ratify the decision, they would still qualify for next season's champions league there's no suggestion this could happen in england yet, but the head of the dutch fa thinks it'll be difficult to conclude the premier league season to be honest, seeing what is happening and seeing things get postponed every week, how realistic is it that within the next three or four weeks, we will come to a different conclusion? not so much, i believe. also, the premier league will need a number of weeks to preclude its competition. will there be enough time for that? doubtful, very doubtful. more than 40,000 runners should have been making their final preparations for the london marathon, which was due to take place tomorrow. with the race now postponed

until october due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers are encouraging people to take part in their own charity fundraising efforts at home, with the marathon raising over £66million last year. one of those taking part in her own back garden is britain's european 1500m champion laura muir. this weekend, it was meant to be the london marathon which it is such a shame for everybody involved, not just the athletes but all the people going along to support and all the charities as well so, the 2.6 challenge is trying to do something whether it is 2.6, 26, 260, something to help raise money for those charities who would have been benefiting from this weekend and having a bit of fun with it as well. now, while people are used to seeing joseph parker in the boxing ring, — remember the former heavy weight champion was beaten by anthonyjoshua a couple of years ago — now the new zealander has become, an unlikely star of the coronavirus

lockdown with his musical videos on social media. parker has been recreating scenes from films including grease and love actually, as well as lip synching a host of songs to prove his skills aren't just limited to the ring. oriam or i am very serious and imagine if idid or i am very serious and imagine if i did this before a fight, people would think he was mucking around and not taking it seriously, but having this lockdown has given me time to build relationships with my daughters and my partner but also time to be myself and also have fun. the first person to agree to send me a video of tyson fury. we are very close friends but he is all about having fun, encouraging others and giving others something to smile at and have a laugh out and i think all of us come together to achieve that goal. he may be able to lip sync, but apparently cannot sing. that is all the sport for now.