this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm aaron safir. our top stories: 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, authorises independent pharmacies to carry out tests. it's endured a month under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world — now south africa prepares to begin an easing of some restrictions. when the circus came to town — and stayed. we find out what happened when one troupe of performers and their animals were grounded by the global pandemic.

hello and welcome. 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 uk hospitals has passed 20,000 — a figure thatjust last month government experts hoped would be the outbreak‘s total death toll. and around the world, more than 200,000 people have now died with the coronavirus, according to data compiled in the united states. in other headlines — the world health organization has issued its strongest warning yet against the assumption that people who recover from the virus can't catch it again. the governor of new york state, andrew cuomo, has authorised independent pharmacies to carry out covid—19 tests. while china and south korea have reported no new deaths for the 10th 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 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 this 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 gone after 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. lauren moss, bbc news.

it's been announced that the british prime minister, boris johnson, will return to work on monday — a little more than two weeks after being discharged from hospital, where he'd been treated for coronavirus. 0ur political correspondent, iain watson, has the details. downing street are emphasising the prime minister has been following medical advice throughout this crisis, since he was first diagnosed, about a month ago. and what is interesting is that, although he is supposed to be recuperating at his country retreat of chequers, in truth he has been spending most of the past week preparing for his return to work in downing street. not just those calls with president trump and with the queen, but also daily videoconferencing with his team and, significantly, a three—hour summit with some of the senior members of the cabinet — including his defacto deputy, dominic raab, and, crucially, the chancellor as well. but when he sets foot in downing street, he will face a whole series of challenges because there are mutterings

from some of his own mps about the lockdown and the effect it is having on the economy. the former chancellor, phillip hammond, suggested that perhaps, indeed, the economy could become the greatest victim of this virus. he is also going to be receiving a letter from the opposition leader, from labour leader, sir keir starmer, who is calling for greater clarity on how we will exit the lockdown in due course. now, i think, when the prime minister does make some announcements, we are likely to simply see modifications to the current measures. he's very keen to avoid the second wave of this virus and, interestingly, at that chequers summit i was mentioning, he apparently quoted the roman philosopher, cicero — i mean, he would, wouldn't he? in the english — and the phrase he used, "the health of the people should be the supreme law" and i think that gives us a big clue about where boris johnson stands on this lockdown a debate. in new york state, the epicentre of the us outbreak, governor andrew cuomo says independent pharmacies will be authorised to carry out tests for covid—i9.

it comes as figures suggest that the outbreak there seems to be slowing down. 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're back to where we were. the move to allow high street pharmacies to carry out covid—i9 tests is a significant step in increasing testing available to new yorkers. the governor also said four 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, 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 organization 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—i9 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—i9 in terms of mapping the virus and briefing policymakers. doctor eili klein gave me more details about how — and why — the gathering of statistics played such a crucial role.

we build a lot of models, different types of models. mine is largely an individual—based model and attempts to figure out, based on past experience, where people are likely to go to the hospital if they get infected, and models, in turn, community transmission within the community, how it's spreading the virus across maryland and other locations, and then predicts on some level where they're likely to go and to which hospital, so hospitals can plan for when there's surges and which hospitals are likely to be hit first, and which hospitals are likely to get later effects. and that has been used to adjust transfers where people are going and moving patients from one hospital to another, so that no hospital gets too overcrowded. we live in an information age, there's a huge amount of information about the coronavirus, lots of different ways of collecting it. how do you decide what's important, what's interesting —

what people need to know and what might be irrelevant or distracting? right. well, there's obviously a lot of data and a lot of information, and the question is sort of sifting through that for the most important salient parts. from the modelling perspective, really, the most important aspects are the people who are infected at any one time, and of the people who are infected, how are they infected? are they getting severe symptoms or are they asymptomatic? and that asymptomatic group seems to be the really important aspect in terms of transmission, so if there are lots of asymptomatic transmission and these people who have mild symptoms and are still spreading it, that becomes a much more difficult problem to tackle, we end up in these problems with a lot of spread and not an understanding of where the virus is. it's one thing for you to collect all of this information from these various sources. you then hand it over to policy makers. how much are they listening to your scientific data, and how much are they listening to economists or social scientists or factoring in political considerations? well, i mean, ithink, you know, 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 states in the us have been more reliant upon looking at these types of models and understanding what's driving them, and others have not. and so i think that in the case of maryland, at least, i'm not the only person advising the government, but there is an understanding at least here that there is a real risk of reopening too quickly and that these models show that reopening really fast will result in a lot more infections and a lot more mortality. and i think the key in most of these situations is preventing — i don't think we're going to be able to prevent people completely from dying from this, unfortunately, but preventing preventable deaths, where the healthcare system gets overwhelmed, i think, is sort of the key goal of most governments, and should be sort of their priority.

german police have arrested dozens of people demonstrating against the continuance of lockdown measures in central berlin. about a thousand protestors, from left and right—wing groups, flouted coronavirus restrictions to hold the rally. bill hayton reports. testing the limits of freedom. germany has the fifth highest number of coronavirus cases, and strict measures to fight the disease. but not everyone agrees with them. the organisers of this gathering had been given permission to distribute newspapers in front of the old east berlin people's theatre. but police decided they'd crossed the line by turning the event into a protest. translation: during coronavirus times, and according to the containment regulations, we are required to prevent such gatherings. we have 180 police officers on duty around the square,

ready to react to violations and to uphold the regulations. the protest was organised by left—wing activists, but some of those taking part appeared to be supporters of the right. others took inspiration from an anti—nazi protest movement during the second world war, the white rose. translation: we are here today enjoying the nice weather and thinking about setting an example with the white rose for the protection of constitutional rights, freedom and above all, freedom of speech. it's very important, as it has unfortunately started to regress in the last few weeks. with the crowd refusing to disperse, the police moved in. dozens were arrested. earlier this month, germany's constitutional court ruled protests are allowed, but only if distancing rules are followed. the government has started to ease lockdown measures, allowing smaller shops to reopen, but gatherings of more than 20 people are still banned in berlin.

finding a balance between freedom and disease control remains a difficult challenge. in other news, the authorities in southern yemen have declared autonomous rule, in defiance of the saudi—backed government. the southern transitional council, based in the city of aden, also announced a state of emergency. yemen's foreign ministry said the declaration of self—rule amounted to a resumption of armed insurgency and would have catastrophic consequences. yemen is already divided by civil war with houthi rebels in the north. 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, the epicentre of the us outbreak, says independent

pharmacies will be able to carry out tests for covid—19. spain, which has had one of europe's most deadly coronavirus outbreaks, is starting to take steps to ease lockdown restrictions. children are being allowed out of their homes for the first time in six weeks, and the prime minister has said people may be allowed to exercise outside from next week — if conditions allow. from madrid, here's our europe correspondent damian grammaticas. across spain, children have been confined inside homes and apartments since schools were shut, some six weeks ago, barred from even setting foot outside their front doors by some of europe's strictest lockdown rules. now though, with the number of new coronavirus infections declining to around 3000 a day, they are finally being allowed out, but only for an hour each day, and all parks and playgrounds remain out of bounds. in an address to the nation, spain's prime minister urged parents to be responsible

and exercise extreme caution. translation: this deescalation will be gradual. what does that mean? that we will not suddenly recover all activity and social mobility but that it will be done in stages. for each field of activity, successive stages will be fixed. adults in spain are still only allowed out to get food or medicine orfor essential work. mr sanchez said, if the number of new infections continues to decline, then, from next weekend, people will be allowed to exercise outside. and he said his government will outline a deescalation plan to gradually transition to what he called the "new reality of life" once spain has controlled the epidemic. damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid. south africa will also be easing some of its stringent 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. in 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... laughs. ..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. at the lockdown here, as elsewhere, is causing huge economic damage, in a country that was already in recession. a lot of families here are really battling, and not able to work, so the food package we received today was really a blessing. but it's been tough,

it's been tough. 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. even here in south africa, there has already been some looting and growing frustration. the lockdown may be easing soon, but it will still be more restrictive than in many countries. andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg. as we know, hundreds of millions around the world have been spending the past few weeks at home, but what about those who don't have a fixed address — such as travelling communities? 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 can't go on? that was the question facing the darix orfei circus. they were travelling through sicily when the entire country simply shut down. no crowds to entertain, 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. instead, local community groups are providing as much help as possible. food and drink for staff, the performers, even the tigers.

translation: today we are here in a circus that in the past was by our side entertaining our children with their shows. now 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. like many other leisure attractions across the world, zoos attractions across the world, zoos have been forced to close because of the pandemic. but of course the animals still need care.

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.

a story that is being repeated around the world, i am sure. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ aaronsafir. 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 northeasterly 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 coronavirus 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. 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. south africa will begin to ease some restrictions next week. some economic activity will be allowed to resume, but the government says the approach will be deliberate and cautious. the country's borders will remain closed to international travel and only essential goods would be transported between provinces. and those are the bbc headlines.