this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm aaron safir. coronavirus has now taken the lives of 200,000 people around the globe. the number of deaths in uk hospitals has passed 20,000. the governor of new york, the us state worst hit by the outbreak, is authorising independent pharmacies to carry out tests. sporting bodies including premier league clubs prepare for talks next week to focus on how they can eventually restart the season. lockdown at the zoo — we find out how keepers in edinburgh are looking after their animals in this time of crisis.

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 people known to have died with coronavirus in hospital in the uk has passed 20,000 — a figure thatjust last month government experts hoped would be the outbreak‘s total death toll. and around the world, the number of people with covid—19 to have lost their life has passed the 200,000 mark according to data compiled in the us. 0ther headlines, and the world health organization has issued its strongest warning yet against the assumption that people who survive the virus won't be able to get re—infected. new york governor andrew cuomo has authorised independent pharmacies to carry out covid—19 tests. while china and south korea

report no new deaths for the tenth and second consecutive days respectively. let's look now at the situation here in the uk with this report from our health correspondent lauren moss. it is a devastating milestone no—one wanted to reach. in less than two months, more than 20,000 people have now died with covid—19. these are deaths recorded mainly in uk hospitals. the number of those who've lost their lives in the community, including care homes, isn't fully known, but is likely to increase. as the deaths caused by this terrible virus pass another tragic and terrible milestone, the entire nation is grieving. my deepest sympathies and condolences go to those who have lost loved ones, and i would like to pay tribute to the selfless frontline workers who've been struck down by this virus.

on 28 march, professor powis, you said "we would have done very well if fewer than 20,000 people died during this epidemic." we have, sadly, passed that number now. does that mean the strategy should have been different? this, unfortunately, is not going to be something that we will get over in the next few weeks. this is something we are going to continue to have to work our way through over the months ahead. as i've said before, this is not a sprint, this will be a marathon in dealing with this virus. test, track and trace are key strategies to tackle the virus. the drive to check key workers with symptoms continued today, and there's a big demand. within a couple of hours of the government's booking website opening, slots had been quickly snapped up once again. when we looked this morning, home test kits were unavailable within 15 minutes, and drive—through sites were only available in scotland after 10am. more tests will be available tomorrow. the cough isn't

as bad as it was. at one point, i was coughing nearly all the time. mandy works in a supermarket in derby. she's been unwell since monday. she has got an appointment, but even though she lives near some test centres, she's been allocated one 20 miles away in nottingham and can't get there. ijust don't understand why, when i know that there are test centres closer to me, why they are not on the list of options for me to go to? more than 28,000 tests were done in the last 2a hours. the government's committed to carrying out 100,000 a day by thursday. next week will be our fifth in lockdown and there's no prospect of measures being relaxed. we know that people are frustrated but we are not out of danger yet. it is imperative that people continue to follow the rules, designed to protect their families, theirfriends and their loved ones. the uk will continue to find a way through this pandemic as a nation mourning those it's lost.

let's stay in the uk. downing street has announced that the british prime minister, borisjohnson, will return to work on monday a little more than two weeks after being discharged from hospital where he'd been treated in intensive care for coronavirus. he's been recuperating at his official country retreat where he's spoken with queen elizabeth, cabinet ministers and president trump. let's move to the united states. the governor of new york state, andrew cuomo, says independent pharmacies will be authorised to carry out tests for coronavirus as part of efforts to increase testing in the state, which is by far the worst hit by coronavirus in the us. it comes amid news that the outbreak seems to be slowing in new york, as rich preston reports. new york state has reported more than 21,000 deaths from coronavirus, but the positive news that the number of hospital admissions is declining. we are back where we were 21 days ago. 21 days of hell, but we are

back to where we were. the move to allow high street pharmacies to carry out covid—19 tests is a significant test in increasing testing available to new yorkers. the governor also said for hospitals will expend antibody testing starting with the essential workers. as we continue to develop our testing capacity, and the labs are coming up to scale some of the collection sites are opening, the more testing we have, the more we will open eligibility. hopefully, one day, we get to the point where anybody who wants a test can walk in and get a test, right? that was the dream. there are 300 labs across the state to analyse these tests. the aim? for them to process more than 40,000 a day. but the governor warned people not to get complacent. the virus is still keeping thousands of new yorkers in hospital and killing more than 400 every day. rich preston, bbc news.

the world health organization has warned against countries trying to use what have become known as ‘immunity passports‘ to enable people who've recovered from the coronavirus to return to work or travel. the who says there's currently no evidence that antibodies protect survivors from a second infection. reged ahmad reports. closed for business, weeks of lockdown in many parts of the world has crippled local economies, and governments are desperate for a longer—term solution. one idea being touted is a so—called immunity passport. some countries are looking at issuing those to people who've been screened for the presence of antibodies in the hope they can return to work. but the world health 0rganization has poured cold water on this, saying in a statement:

it goes on to say: there are many countries already testing for the presence of antibodies to see who's been exposed to the virus, but much more research is needed. so, there are a range of immunological techniques, which are being used to study whether or not these antibodies are actually protective and neutralise the virus, or whether they are simply markers of past infection — that is a crucial area of science, which we need to understand. the who says some existing studies of people who have recovered from covid—19 are showing low levels of antibodies. that means it's not clear if it's enough to protect against reinfection. it even warns so—called immunity passports could increase virus transmission or stop people from

taking precautions. none of this will be welcome news to many countries who want a way out of this pandemic. but until the science is clearer, it looks like social distancing at least could be here to stay. reged ahmad, bbc news. johns hopkins university in the united states has been at the forefront of the international response to covid—19 in terms of mapping the virus and briefing policy makers. let's get more from dr eili klein, assistant professor of emergency medicine, johns hopkins university school of medicine in baltimore. thank you for your time. thank you forjoining us. yourjob is to try and work out how many people might need hospital treatment at any one time and then pass that information on. how do you work that out? we build a lot of models, different types of models. mine is largely an individual —based model in attempts to figure out based on past experience where

people are likely to go to the hospital if they get infected, and then models in turn, community transmission within the community, how it is spreading the virus —— and a virus across maryland and other locations, and then predicts on some level where they are likely to go and win to which hospital, so hospitals can plan for when there are surgeries in which hospitals are likely to be in which hospitals are likely to get later fracture. and that has been used to adjust transfers where people are going and moving patients from one hospital to another so no hospital gets too overcrowded. we live in an information age, there is a huge amount of information about the coronavirus, lots of different ways of collecting it. how do you decide what is important, what is interesting, what people need to know and what people need to know and what might be irrelevant or distracting? there is obviously a lot of data and a lot of information, and you are sifting through that for the most important parts. from a

modelling perspective, the most important aspects other people who are infected at any one time, and of the people infected, how are they infected? they infected, how are they infected ? they have infected, how are they infected? they have severe symptoms or they asymptomatic? asymptomatic seems to be really important aspect in terms of transmission, so if there are lots of a symptomatically transmission and people have mild symptoms and are still spreading it, that becomes a much more difficult problem to tackle, and why we end up in these problems with a lot of spread and not an understanding of where the virus is. it is one thing for you to collect all this information from these various sources. he then handed over to policy makers. how much are they listening to your scientific data, and how much are they listening to economists or social scientists orfactoring in political considerations? it depends on

who is using it. i spend a lot of time talking with leaders of the hospital and i spend some time talking with the departments of health and i think that there are a lot of considerations that go into all of these decisions and some state in the us have been more reliant upon looking at these types of models, understanding what is driving them, and others have not. and so i think that in the case of marilyn ‘s, iam not that in the case of marilyn ‘s, i am not the only person advising the government, but there is an understanding here that there is a real risk of acting too quickly and these models show reopening really fast will result in a lot more infections and a lot more mortality —— marilyn and. —— marilyn. the key is preventing. —— maryland. we cannot prevent

people from dying, u nfortu nately, by people from dying, unfortunately, by preventing preve nta ble unfortunately, by preventing preventable deaths. where the healthcare preventable deaths. where the healthca re system gets overwhelmed. that is the key goalfor overwhelmed. that is the key goal for governments overwhelmed. that is the key goalfor governments and overwhelmed. that is the key goal for governments and should be the priority. doctor, thank you for your time. clearly, we weren't the only ones trying to get hold of you but we appreciate your time. thank you, no problem. this is bbc news. a reminder of our headlines: the number of people around the world who have died as a result of the virus has passed 200,000. the governor of new york state, which is the epicentre of the us outbreak, says independent pharmacies will be able to carry out tests for covid—19. government—imposed lockdowns continue around the world as the pandemic shows few signs of slowing. tens of millions of people are having to stay at home and businesses have been told to shut their doors. some countries, however — particularly in europe — are considering easing the restrictions. from berlin, damien mcguinness reports. for the past six weeks, a quickjog in the park has been one of the few ways people in belgium

could leave the house. apart from exercise and essential work and shopping, they have been confined to their homes. belgium has suffered the highest per capita death rate in the world from coronavirus, almost 7,000 deaths so far. but, infection and death rate appears to be slowing. so the government has now announced a three stage plan to ease the lockdown. in may, most shops will be open, then a week later children will start going back to school. but to minimise the risk of another wave of infections, new rules will be introduced. translation: wearing an item of protection that covers both the mouth and the nose will be compulsory when taking public transport starting may the 4th, for travellers aged 12 and over. spain is also starting to ease restrictions. on sunday, children will be allowed to be out for the first time in more than a month,

despite a death toll in spain of more than 22,000. there have been worries about the physical and psychological harm the children cooped up in small flats. so, pressure has been growing to exit the lockdown. translation: despite these measures that will alleviate the current situation for the population, we have to avoid excessive euphoria, because we must maintain collective responsibility in order to stop and control this epidemic. italians are also hoping that some of the toughest measures can be lifted. as the country celebrates the anniversary of the defeat of the nazis in world war ii, there are hopes that the government may announce a plan for lifting restrictions in may. and in germany, where small shops opened again this week, there are rows about which sectors are being allowed to go back to work. larger shops, cafe a nd restau ra nts say it is unfair, they can't reopen. in some ways,

leaving the lockdown is proving harder and more divisive than implementing it was. and angela merkel has warned against easing restrictions too quickly. translation: nobody likes to hear it but it is the truth. we are not living in the final phase of the pandemic, we are still at its beginning. we will have to live with this virus for a long time. that is the big dilemma facing all european countries. how to get the economy going again without sparking another wave of infections. damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin. german police wearing riot gear and face masks have clashed with protesters demonstrating in central berlin against the coronavirus lockdown. about a thousand people flouted social distancing rules to hold the rally. more than 100 people were arrested. there have been similar protests in parts of america. south africa, which has had some of the most stringent lockdown restrictions in the world, will be easing some of its rules

in the coming week. some businesses and schools are set to reopen — but the country's borders will remain shut and public gatherings will still be banned. our africa correspondent andrew harding reports. a month under lockdown now, one of the strictest in the world. and a country many feared would quickly be overwhelmed by the virus is proving to be astonishingly successful at holding it at bay. this is very effective and most of the people are wearing masks, most of them are sanitising and most of the people are staying at home. south africa's president hasn't got everything right... ..but as he tours new emergency facilities and prepares to nudge open the economy, you can feel the optimism growing here.

i've been hugely impressed with the level of preparedness. but that confidence comes with a warning... we're going to be reaching a peak somewhere later in august and in september where we will need lots of hospital beds. so, how has south africa kept the nationwide death toll below 100 so far? these nurses hold the answer. tens of thousands of community workers are actively screening millions of people. the advantage of a system already primed to hunt down hiv and tb. send an army of people into the community and do house—to—house surveillance for symptoms, so what that did for us, it put an army on the ground and we went to the most socially vulnerable communities, where this virus was going to most likely spread, that's where we went.

the lockdown here is causing huge economic damage to the many families are hurting and unable to work. the food package we received today was appreciated. but it has been difficult. so, some extraordinary early successes here in south africa, but this is going to be a long battle and there are new hotspots emerging all the time and according to the world health organization, the wider continent of africa is still alarmingly ill—prepared for the virus. andrew harding, bbc news. even here in south africa there has already been some looting and growing frustrated that the lockdown may be easing soon but it will still be more restrict than in many countries. the uk government is to hold the first of a series of regular meetings with the medical directors of england's major sports next week, to discuss ways of allowing

competition to resume. talks have already been held with officials from the premier league, which was suspended seven weeks ago. our sports correspondent laura scott has more. sports up and on the country have been really struggling with the financial implications of the lockdown. and what this is being described as is a quickening of the pace in terms of the detail in the planning going into helping sport resume as soon as possible, when it's safe to do so. and what we understand is the government wants to set up the first of these meetings this week and that it will be a weekly meeting involving the chief medical officers of the major sports — football, rugby, cricket and racing — meeting with the government's medical advisers on logistics of behind—closed—doors sports — that's sports without fans. things like testing, social distancing, hygiene standards and sort of sealed venues. and, clearly, some sports will be able to resume sooner than others. but it's important not to overstate that this isn't about the timeframe of when sport can come back, this is about avoiding any further delay when approval is given. it isn't them readying themselves for an imminent return of sport. so we won't necessarily have premier league football back within the next few weeks,

but these meetings are hoped to mean that sports don't waste any time when they get the green light. and whether or not these plans are to help finish this season or start the next one remains the big unknown. as we all know, millions around the world have been told to stay at home to try and stop the spread of the virus. but what about travelling communities — people who don't have a fixed address — what happens to them? the bbc‘s tim allman reports on one unusual group in italy which found itself stranded when the lockdown arrived. so what do you do when the show go on? that was the question facing this circus. they were travelling through sicily when the entire country simply shot down. no crowds to entertain, no—shows to perform. crucially,

no—shows to perform. crucially, no money coming in. they can rehearse, they can look after their animals to that how are they going to survive? translation: we are stuck here because of the coronavirus but thank god we have been helped in many ways but above all with food. the mayor of the city gave us everything. we have been helped every day by charities that are constantly by outside. instep local community groups providing as much help as possible. food and drink for staff, the performers, even the tigers. translation: today we are here ina translation: today we are here in a circus that in the past was by outside entertaining our children with their shows. now they faced difficulties because they faced difficulties because they cannot work and they need food. we are happy to return the favour and show solidarity with the circus artists. italy

is expected to begin easing some of the restrictions early next month although it will be a slow process. eventually, one day, the big top will be raised and the circus will well and truly be back in town. zoos, like many attractions across the world, have had to close as a result of the lockdown. keepers at edinburgh zoo say they would normally be busy at this time of the year, but despite the lack of visitors they are still making sure the animals are being cared for and sticking to their usual routines during the crisis. lorna gordon has more. the animals of edinburgh zoo. 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. so one of the first things we have to do is check on all our penguins and make sure everybody‘s 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. so, 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 the pathways here are now deserted. but obviously today we are...empty. however, we've still got a panda. the solitary creatures are among the most popular animals here. their adoring audience may have disappeared but it has made no difference to them. 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 got 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 and things like that but we have started wearing facemasks all the time. one of the things that could potentially 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. lorna gordon, bbc news. and before we go a reminder of our top story. the number of people killed by coronavirus worldwide has passed 200,000 dig the figure was combined by john'sjohn hopkins dig the figure was combined by john's john hopkins university in the united states. millions of cases have been confirmed

but the real number is thought to be higher. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @aaronsafir. hello. april is a month often known for its showers. that's unlikely to be the case for this april, however. it's turned out to be particularly dry across some parts of the uk. the northwest of england has only seen 4% of its april rainfall so far. challenging conditions, certainly, for growers. latter days of april could just redress that balance somewhat, as things become increasingly unsettled, also a little cooler as well. here we are with sunday's chart, there is an area of low pressure to the north of the uk, don't they normally bring rain? well, yes, and this one will bring some showers to northern scotland, but the weather front pushing its way south is a pretty weak affair. mostly a band of cloud, maybe some patchy rain

later in the afternoon for northern england and north wales. to the south though, we've still got some heat around through the afternoon, we could trigger some thunderstorms across south wales, the midlands, into yorkshire and lincolnshire through the latter part of the day. so, perhaps some heavier rain locally here, and some sharper showers across northern scotland. showers though across england and wales tend to fizzle out as we head overnight and into monday. a much milder story across the southern half of the uk. overnight, to the north, a risk of a frost across scotland. and here's what that weather front really marks, the boundary between warmer air across the southern half of the uk, and colder air trying to feed into the north or northwesterly breeze as we look at monday. showers across northern scotland, but, actually, quite a lot of sunny spells across the northern half of the uk through the day, whereas the cloud will tend to build further south. still pretty warm in the far southeast. elsewhere, probably mid teens at best, and then showers starting to break out in the southwest later

on in the day on monday, as this area of low pressure winds itself up, and into tuesday, we are talking about heavier and more widespread rain spreading across england and wales. still taking a time to work its way north for scotland, northern ireland, parts of northern england, i think a dry day with some bright or sunny spells. for the south though, a good chance of rain for many areas, and the temperatures sitting in the mid—teens at best. then from mid week onwards, that area of low pressure will throw the influence of its showers further north. a pretty unsettled story across the board, as we look at the forecast through the latter part of the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the number of people killed by the pandemic worldwide has passed 200,000. that's according tojohns hopkins university in the united states. the uk has recorded a total so far of more than 20,000 deaths in hospitals alone. downing street has announced that the british prime minister, borisjohnson, will return to work on monday a little more than two weeks after being discharged from hospital where he'd been treated in intensive care for coronavirus. he's been recuperating at his official country retreat. the governor of new york state, andrew cuomo, says independent pharmacies will be authorised to carry out tests for coronavirus. it's part of efforts to expand testing in the state, which is by far the worst hit by coronavirus in the us. the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be the most expensive event