this this is bbc news. the latest headlines. foreign secretary dominic raab rejects calls for an early easing of the coronavirus lockdown, saying the outbreak is still at a "delicate and dangerous" stage. we will need to make sure we can proceed in a sure—footed way, which is why i know the temptation is to start announcing proposals now, but until you have the evidence, that is not responsible. prime minister boris johnson is to return to work tomorrow, two weeks since he left hospital after falling ill with coronavirus. the british military will begin testing essential workers around the ukfor testing essential workers around the uk for coronavirus in mobile units operating in hard to reach areas.

now on bbc news, foreign correspondents currently posted to london look at events in the uk through outsiders‘ eyes, and at how the issues of the week are being tackled around the world. hello and welcome to dateline london. i'm carrie gracie. this week: the first covid—19 infections in a lebanese refugee camp. the who warns of a rising curve in africa and latin america. and the world food programme warns of massive famine. even before the virus, 2020 was set to be the hungriest year since the second world war. now, the wfp says 265 million

people risk starvation. and while the rich world may not be starving, it too is reeling from human tragedy and economic misery. my guests on socially distanced screens — mina al—oraibi, editor of the national, a news service for the middle east, and american journalist and author jef mcallister. and here in the studio observing the two—metre rule, the bbc‘s chief international correspondent lyse doucet. mina, can we start with you? we have heard so much about iran through this crisis, but we have heard less about the gulf, so how is it tackling the pandemic and how does it sit in terms of its dealing with the pandemic in the middle east generally? there have been over 9,000 cases reported here in abu dhabi.

the first case was first reported towards february in mid—february. they were a family that had come here as tourists from wuhan. from there it spread. in other parts of the gulf mainly kuwait and saudi arabia that had very high numbers to start with, all of those who had the virus had been in iran. a lot has been said about that, partly because from there, a lot of cases from the middle east spread, including from iraq. here in the gulf saudi arabia was under the microscope with how many people going there near hajj, and also because saudi arabia chairs the g20 this year. there have been a lot of questions about what they are doing, not only domestically, but regionally they took the first step to announce the closure

of mosques to worshippers. that was a very important step because it allowed the rest of the muslim world to say, yes, we will close mosques. here in the uae, one of the first countries decided to close schools in the region. at the time, it was seen as quite drastic. this was seven weeks ago. but it was very important to limit the cases. they have been very proactive in testing. the uae approach, we're going to get this under control if we test rigorously and take very stringent measures about having people outdoors. decisions to keep people at home came quite early. working from home was started in about mid—march. towards late march, people were working at home except from essential workers. in brief, it sounds like a relative success story compared to other places in the world?

absolutely. bahrain has been testing and telling everyone they can get free medication. in the uae, if you do get covid—i9, you can get free medication regardless of your income. they have drive—through testing, they were among the first in the region who started the drive—through testing. and the close relationship with south korea, china, learning about what they did there and learning from it. lyse, let's talk about the lebanese refugee camp. a lot of fears of the virus arriving there, but have relief agencies had time to prepare? agencies were warning from the very beginning that there was a nightmare to come in those areas where people live in the worst possible conditions. we are all being told to stay at home. how do you stay at home when your home is a cardboard box,

a flimsy tent, an abandoned and destroyed school? we have been talking to agencies over the weeks that have gone past. some of the big agencies said they were able to send more supplies in, as well as ppe. but it is getting more difficult because they have to worry about the safety of their people in a lot of places as airports are closing, and you can't send in the valuable medical supplies that people need. before all of this happened, the un was warning that almost 70 million people worldwide, displaced people, asylum seekers and refugees, was a record number. that community is the most vulnerable of all. the vast majority living in countries where the health systems are already overwhelmed and where pressure was already building. the lebanese camp, where you had one palestinian woman and four of her relatives in a camp in eastern lebanon.

lebanon has taken a huge number of refugees. a million syrians, many not living in the camps but in settlements. palestinians who have been there for decades. more and more we're going to be hearing more about this. jef, what about the world food programme warning of a hunger pandemic? it is notjust humanitarian agencies that lyse is talking about, for syrian refugees, but it is also people in need of relief all over the world. more than a quarter of a billion people are at risk of starvation, they are warning. i think it is true and i think it is probably going to get worse. food—wise, all sorts of disruption as likely as a result. it is interesting that you have seen very few countries say anything in response to that report. they are all overwhelmed, even the rich countries. you would think that the almost

trillions of dollars of debt and spending, you could spare a few hundred million for relief, but i have not heard much talk about it. the donald trump approach is to defund the who, it is anti— international institutions. in any event, although i think some countries may step up. the only thing that is going to be the solution on a large scale is the return of economic activity. i think the success of india and china in the past couple of decades of getting people out of poverty have shown what really needs to happen is that people need to have jobs and earn and do things at a larger scale so they can eat and go to school and have health care, all the things that are necessary. as long as the world economy is in a mess, which will affect the poor countries

and poor people in those countries more than others, really, relief is very valuable and important but it is only going to be an inadequate band—aid. lyse, coming back to what the who was saying about rising cases in africa and latin america. 0n the one hand, you have a rising curve, the who clearly very worried about infections. the message has been consistent that this virus is going to be with the world for a very long time. it's interesting and worrying that people are now describing it as the first wave, to make people understand that this isjust the beginning. that was the message of angela merkel this week, herself a scientist. cases went up in africa 40% this week. what about the kind of equipment

that you need to treat it? take ventilators. there have been so many discussions in britain about how many ventilators. the who contacted african countries. 41 responded. 2000 ventilators across the continent. somalia has none, central african republic has three. nigeria has fewer than 100. nigeria has two thirds of the population of the united states. and while they worry about the rising curve in terms of covid—19, there is also the threat of malaria. the who is warning that malaria cases could double. people die of malaria still in sub—saharan africa. it is the same story in south america. mina was talking about how testing is in the gulf. testing made the difference in many south east asian countries. in latin america, they are among the highest number of countries with the lowest percentage

of testing being done. i don't want to leave the developing world, mina, we want to get your take on iran. how do you think they are doing at this point? are they coming out of the worst? it is hard to tell. we thought the numbers were beginning to plateau and then they picked up again. let's not forget about turkey. turkey has over 100,000 cases. turkey at first refused to acknowledge having any cases to start with. between iran and turkey, the large significant countries in the region who both host refugee populations, there is a real concern at the moment that iranians have a very weak health care system. there is talk about how much of it is actually getting reported and therefore treated. to go to the point about lives and livelihoods, i want to make the point that there are countries like iran and iraq and nigeria

with oil prices crashing, they are going to suffer even further. and russia too. jef, turning to the rich world, we talk about the united states has being the richest country in the world. some look at its management of the pandemic and say it looks like a developing country. is that fair or is that the way the media picks up the worst of the story? a lot of the way the media picks it up is because the president of the us goes on television for two hours a day and does lots of strange things, so i don't think it is entirely the media's fault. there was a quote which came from churchill but apparently it is not. the americans always do the right things after trying all the alternatives. i think all of the weaknesses of the american constitutional system really come to the fore.

i don't think people appreciate how decentralised it is and how much cooperation and jostling is required. people trying to get onto a common framework that is from leadership and not through dictation that american leadership relies upon. you do see good signs that governors are trying to cooperate with each other. you see i6—year—olds using 3d printers to come up with protective equipment. there is a lot of initiative and good parts about america that you are seeing. but the reaction is kind of scary to me as an american living abroad for a long time. a lot of the weaknesses of the system, governors fighting each other for protective equipment, the president changing his mind on television about what to do. he tells people to stay indoors one day. the next day, he is telling people to liberate themselves from their own state governments. a lot of things that seem to appeal to his base.

that is why he loves going on television for two hours a day and talks about taking disinfectant to stop the infection in their bodies. all sorts of amazing things. the economic response, although substantial and in trillions of dollars, is not quite kicking in enough. unemployment insurance is running out. people cannot get online because the state governments are overwhelmed trying to handle them. it could be so much better than it is. i think it is a blow to america's leadership. such as it now is. i have a friend, a pakistani educated at yale who is quite pro—american naturally who said that not only is america not a leader it has to be quarantined itself because its affect is so pernicious. if americans do not realise that, then the country will be in a downward spiral after november.

that might be hyperbolic, but there has been a lot of soft power squandered in the way that the us has responded to this crisis. the pandemic as a petri dish for how we perceive governments. lyse, talk to us about plans to get out of lockdown. the uk government and the way it is battling the virus. is it managing to get on top this week? this is something that as journalists we wonder. every week of this crisis there has been a different dominant narrative. in britain this week, the narrative now, we are seeing it in the newspaper, is slow. was the government too slow to introduce a lockdown? was it too slow to stockpile the ppe ppe medical workers need? was it too slow to start testing?

the government said in the beginning they were being guided by the science, and it was the science making the decisions. there was a very interesting exchange this week when mps quizzed the four chief medical officers who made it clear that science never goes in one direction. there is not one single arrow without any doubt or uncertainty. it is the politicians that have to make the decisions based on science. sweden's chief scientific officer took a very different approach to his nordic neighbours and they are not locking down there. politicians saying it was based on the right science at the time. but when you have the editor of the lancet saying that lives could be saved, even if it was not a lockdown, if there had been some physical distancing, if people had been warned earlier. we saw last week graphs showing countries that states locked down sooner and longer

having better results. the other issue is, when do you come out of lockdown? the criticism we heard from first minister nicola sturgeon saying, let's have a grown—up conversation and discuss how we are going to come out of this lockdown. but government ministers here are being criticised for treating people as children. people are saying, listen, as individuals, we are being asked to do a lot. in exchange for that, we would like more information from the government. this will go on for a long time. and people looking at this any more systematic way, what could be done? what could be done differently? mina, on lifting lockdowns, different countries are at different points on this journey, but there are some who are slightly ahead, whose numbers are falling in terms of both infections and deaths and who are thinking about lifting the restrictions. do they offer examples for the rest

of us and do they particularly offer examples for those countries where people are clamouring about the costs of the cure, with some saying the cure is worse than the disease? there are a number of issues at play here. one is that certain countries felt that they got through the worst of it, let's say, and started to ease their lockdowns and then got a second wave. south korea was one of those. and also in singapore, we saw things go quite well and suddenly there was a spike in numbers. it's very hard to know unless there is enough testing and unless there are enough procedures put in place where you can see how much you have been able to contain it. especially as commercial flying continues to be almost on a halt. the economic consequences, not only for tourism

and the aviation industry, but the small enterprises that will not be able to deal with this. and also large corporations that are saying we will not be able to take care of our employees much longer. there is not one linear line that this is going in. we can't say, this is the country that did it right so far. even in china, they have had a partial opening up. but there is still the issue of testing and it has not been a long enough time. this is going to require a lot of patience and individuals accepting that they will have to limit theirfreedom of movement and ability to work normally as they do. at the end of it, whether we can get countries to come up with a model that works for everybody, it is too soon to say. the other issue is the issue of vaccines. that is going to take, at a minimum, another year before you can talk about vaccines being part of the way to move forward from this covid—i9 pandemic.

for individual countries, they needs the sign to go city by city. as you try to go back from the big globalised supply chain system that we were used to, to much more local controllable areas where you can control what happens if god forbid there is a spike of cases. jef, picking up what we heard from mina, do you think the world in 2021 is going to look very different from the world before, the way we live our lives, our economy? i think it is going to take a lot longer to recover than people are hoping. the idea that we will open up right away and just bounce back and the airlines are going to be full of passengers and restaurants are full, i just don't see that. as mina said, the idea that we even have an understanding of the way

that this virus operates is simply wrong. the reports in the last week that it not only causes respiratory problems but also, in a number of younger people, strokes and heart disease. we heard reports today that nobody really knows, even if you have had it, you may not have long—term immunity. as people feel their way around their own level of risk, their willingness to go out and do things, i think there is going to be a lot of skittishness. i think even if governments say, go back to work, i think we will face a substantial recession and reorganisation. people will not come back to work as long as they are scared.

many people who have contactjobs and jobs at the bottom, they will not have much choice and it will be huge, huge strain on politics and economics. in rich countries and poor countries. what kind of cooperation would be necessary to get the global economy back into some kind of forward gear? we haven't really seen it in fighting the infection, in a way the world hasn't, in terms of getting the economy on the road again, will be see more cooperation? this is a huge question and those who believe the way forward is cooperation, people look back to history a lot and say, look what came out of the second world war, look at the multilateral institutions, the imf, the united nations, the marshall plan for europe,

all these evidence that states understood that after so much destruction and so much loss, the world could only recover if everyone recovered. all for one and one for all. people are asking now, what will come out of this? will there be a big reset or will people continue to look inwards? will the walls go up? will people be in a race to the bottom in competing for funds and protective equipment? some of the signs are not good, but there is also light at this moment with people calling for global ceasefires, global efforts. but let us see. the virus is a test of our humanity, and so will our recovery be a test of humanity. we are only at the beginning. let's leave that big question there and leave the audience to ponder that for the next week. we will probably go back to it.

i do not want to leave the programme before getting a sense, which we now do every week, about what stories you think we are neglecting as a result of our preoccupation with the pandemic. jef, you go first. a report that the senate intelligence committee, bipartisan, four years later agreed that the russians really did try to mess up the american elections. the fact that there can be bipartisan agreement on that seems to be good sign but it ties into another report that china is now trying to upset american politics in the same way as the russians, using the internet, using conspiracy theories, trying to sow division with strange claims. it is apparently working quite well. i worry that virus, which also needs testing and contact tracing, is allowed to work out of control as well. mina, what about you?

a story that we are neglecting? the year started with americans... the killing of sulaimani the killing of the potential clash between iran and the us. that is playing out at the moment. we are waiting for government formation. there has not been a government, really, since november. the third prime minister is trying to form a new government. tehran and washington trying desperately to work that out. iraqi protesters who went home because of the covid—19 outbreak are trying to raise their voices and change the trajectory of how it goes. fascinating stories, and lyse? two landmark trials in german cities this week. the president of universal jurisdiction is to put people on trial who are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. in one case, people alleged to be

part of president assad's security force, accused of rounding people up to be tortured. in another case, an iraqi put on trial for allegedly being a member of a terrorist organisation. 0n trial for the murder of a five—year—old yazidi girl. this was the first efforts to hold islamic state accountable for what the un has recognised as genocide. the human rights activist in syria said that this is a message to the world that impunity is over. it has been a sombre programme, so let us leave the audience with a moment of light at the end. we want something that has made you either have hope, laugh or smile in the past week. mina, you go first. the story of how the planet

is recovering, the environment is taking a breath even though it comes at a high cost. maybe it was the only way that we could give the fight against climate change a chance. i have a limerick from my next door neighbour. the president's cure to pandemic pox was a main dose of clorox. he said it came from special savvy, in truth he saw it in his lavvy. all true, as reported on fox. as i left home this morning, i heard a little boy and a bicycle screaming to his parents, look, look, this is my first big bike. the childhood joys. the world has been narrowed, and yet those little rituals of life to go on and may those rituals that we cherish come back and may those rituals that we are best not to hold onto, may they go away.

it has been a joy to have you, even though we have talked about serious things. that is it for dateline. we will be back next week, same place, same time. thank you all of you for watching, goodbye. hello. despite some mist and low cloud around the coast and a touch of ground frost this morning, it will be, for many, another dry and bright day. already a change in the north, and for all of us the week ahead brings cooler and more settled weather. showers across the northern half of scotland already, some heavy

showers here through the day, and may be the odd shower for the north of england and parts of wales. by and large in england and wales, it is still warm and bright with hazy sunshine. after 20 degrees yesterday in scotland and northern ireland, it will feel significantly cooler, particularly with a brisk wind across northern scotland, carrying the showers in through the night. the colder air means a cooler night, a touch of ground frost with more cloud and still one or two showers continuing in the south, it will at least be more mild here. a more u nsettled least be more mild here. a more unsettled picture through the week. as ever, more information on the website.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. uk foreign secretary dominic raab rejects calls for an early easing of the coronavirus lockdown, urging "caution" and the need for "ca reful ste ps". we will need to make sure we can proceed in a sure—footed way, which is why i know the temptation is to start announcing proposals now, but until you have the evidence, that is not responsible. he was speaking as uk prime minister boris johnson prepares to return to work tomorrow, two weeks since he left hospital after falling ill with coronavirus. spanish children are allowed out of their homes for the first time in six weeks, as one of europe's strictest lockdowns is relaxed. dozens are arrested in central berlin, after demonstrating