this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk prime minister borisjohnson is back in downing street, two weeks after being discharged from hospital treatment for conronavirus. uk ministers say the public must adjust to "a new normal," as the coronavirus outbreak remains at a "delicate and dangerous" stage. latest figures show another 413 people died in uk hospitals. senior nhs officials insist that social distancing measures remain vital. we now have a very definite trend in a reduced number of people in hospitals. that is definitely showing that our compliance with social distancing is proving to be beneficial. there's continuing concern in care homes in england, over testing for staff and residents.

italy's prime minister announces measures to ease the coronavirus lockdown from next month, as the reported death toll there is the lowest in over a month. children in spain are allowed out for the first time in six weeks, as the daily number of deaths fell to its lowest level in more than a month. i'll be running 2.6 miles every day for ten days. keep on running! the creative ways london marathon participants have come up with joining in now that the event has been postponed because of coronavirus. this is bbc news, reporting on the latest in the cornavirus crisis, both here in the uk and around the world. today's main developments... boris johnson is back in downing street tonight as he returns to work

after recovering from coronavirus. his return comes as the national medical director of nhs england, professor stephen powis, said the uk is now seeing a very definite downward trend in the number of people in hospital with the coronavirus. but the latest figures show a further 413 people have died across the country. that brings the total number of deaths in hospitals across the uk to 20,732. and those figures do not include deaths in care homes or other settings in england and northern ireland. the environment secretary, george eustice, said lockdown measures would be reviewed in a couple of weeks, but it was very important not to act too soon. mr eustice also said that more staff were back at supermarkets as absence from illness and self—isolation has more than halved. more european countries have begun easing their restrictions. in spain, millions of children have emerged from weeks of lockdown, as the number of deaths and infections continues to fall. meanwhile, the italian prime minister has announced measures

to ease the lockdown from next month. it comes after the country's lowest daily death toll for over a month. we'll have more and all these stories in the next half hour. first, this report from our science editor david shukman. in towns and cities, usually busy streets remain empty, a scenario set to continue as scientists warn that any relaxation of the lockdown could risk killing tens of thousands more people. the government insists on moving very carefully. we'll end up moving to a new normal and i think we will need to make sure we can proceed in a sure—footed way, which is why i know there is a temptation to start announcing proposals now but until you have the evidence, that is not responsible. it risks you misleading people. we need to take a sure—footed step forward which protects life, but also preserves our way of life. a key measure that all governments are worrying about is the rate of infection. a month ago in the uk, it was about three, which means that

anyone infected could pass it to three others. since then, it's come right down to something like 0.7, crucially below the line of one. anything above that, and the virus takes off again. so what about the effect of easing some of the restrictions? well, allowing public gatherings again would probably take you above that key line. but reopening schools might be possible and still stay below it, but no one is entirely sure. at today's downing street briefing, the government suggested that social distancing within schools might be an option, but wouldn't be drawn. might it be that when you look at relaxing different measures, reopening schools might be one of the first things you consider? of course school closures is one of those measures. it is highly likely that there will be different combinations of measures, some of which are in place at the moment but others you will have heard about, such as more sophisticated tracking and tracing, that in combination will keep the number below one.

all this is being assessed by the different nations in the uk. they may come out of lockdown in their own ways, but all face the same challenge. some of the margins we will be faced with as we start to ease things are very fine indeed. there will be a need for real care and caution and perhaps in some instances to go back again if we find that things we have done have allowed the virus to run out of control. it's a really difficult balance. in sweden, a more relaxed approach means cafes are open and although the death rate is now rising, the priority is to avoid a public backlash. it's a real fear that if you have too harsh measures, then they can't be sustained and you will get a counter—reaction and people will not respect the voluntary recommendations that we need to be respected for a very long time until we have a vaccine. and all the time, warnings from countries that thought they had

the outbreak under control. singapore is now installing thousands more hospital beds after a new surge in cases. whatever the policy, the virus remains a threat. david shukman, bbc news. tonight the prime minister boris johnson is back in downing street following his two weeks of convalescence at his country residence chequers. our political corrrespondent iain watson is at westminster. for the first time in more than a month the prime minister is out of isolation, hospital and recovery. that is right, a couple of weeks after he left hospital, we knew he would be coming back tonight because he starts work in downing street tomorrow and just over an hour ago we saw a range of vehicles heading towards downing street. the first, incidentally, was delivering his luggage to downing street ahead of the prime minister himself. obviously he has got his priorities right. it is quite a lot of

political baggage for him to do with inside downing street, he will be getting briefings tomorrow morning and he is then going to deal with the covid—i9 meeting as it is called, which is basically a war cabinet, the senior cabinet members, alongside some of those senior medical and scientific advisors and at that meeting of course, he will be wanting to know what progress has been happening in his absence, a whole range of issues, including getting 100,000 has by the end of this month. but beyond that, i think the major decisions he will have to deal with our where there is pressure from the opposition and inside his party, how does he ease the lockdown? it has to be reviewed on the 7th of may and it is likely he will come forward with some kind of plan by then and there are a whole range of complex issues he will have to grapple with now he is fully in charge again. downing street is saying it is business as usual, but he has got a lot of catching up to do. as you say, he

has been effectively out of action for several weeks, last week at his country retreat, he did bring himself up to speed with the meeting with some senior ministers and he did discuss at least some of the options for easing the lockdown, but no firm decisions have yet been taken. how does it change the government to have the prime minister back after such a long time when some big decisions were on hold? actually most ministers and advisers you speak to have been quite impressed with the de facto leader dominic raab holding the fort. it has given them a great boost to see boris johnson fort. it has given them a great boost to see borisjohnson back in to some extent, the government is his own image —— in his own image and he will give it fresh impetus and he will give it fresh impetus and in certain areas, his own party might listen more to him than a variety of other cabinet ministers. i think one of the things he will wa nt to i think one of the things he will want to establish straightaway, is that in his view, there is no dichotomy between the health of the

nation and a healthy economy. some in his own party and some of his donors have been saying, we have got to get the economy moving, you may have to take more of a risk with lockdown and he will proceed very cautiously and he will try to make the argument to them as well as the wider public that if you lift some of these restrictions too soon and the virus gets out of control, the economic damage will be greater than under lockdown. i think there will be greater authority now he is back in downing street but some of the big decisions that the government have been grappling with for the past few weeks will stay the same, some of the external pressure from the opposition for clarity on where the opposition for clarity on where the country is going, that, i think, will only increase. iain watson, thank you so much. some positive news from italy now. the country has reported its lowest coronavirus death toll in over a month and the prime minister has announced a gradual easing of the country's lockdown. the 260 daily fatalities reported by the civil protection service today were the lowest since march 1a. in a televised address,

italy's prime minister, giuseppe conte, said takeaway food outlets could reopen from may 4th, as could some sporting activity, but not with spectators. driving alone or with children would be allowed, and visits to relatives in small numbers could resume, but not full family reunions. he did cofnirm, however, that social distancing would remain in force for months to come. spain, which has had one of the strictest lockdowns in europe, is now allowing children to leave their homes, if they're with an adult, for the first time in six weeks. and the government is hoping to extend the relaxation further, so that everyone can exercise outside. from madrid, here's damian grammaticas. released... after 42 days cooped up inside. all six members of this family, finally today able to get out of their apartment block.

spain's lockdown rule banned children from going outside. so while the boys played cluedo, the six—year—old had the balcony as her playroom. today, spain relaxed those rules. 8 million children, freed from their confinement. "i was bored inside", she says. "i don't like it. i want to be outside". now they can, for an hour a day. and this is what the boys have missed most, a kickabout. for them, it was the hardest thing. playing football, they love it. they miss it really much. they couldn't do this in your apartment. no, no! they are not allowed to do it. i couldn't go out for 40 days. me and all my family are people who like to go out and have fun outside.

spain has some of the toughest lockdown restrictions of any country in europe. that's why it's still so quiet here. if the rate of infections continues to decline, though, the prime minister says adults may be allowed out to exercise, but only in a week's time. today, though, was the children's day, maria's day. for six weeks, maria and pablo had been stuck with a tantalising view of the park across the road. and that's what she made a beeline for as soon as she was outside. "papa", the four—year—old says, "look at this, look at this! "look what i have for mum"... ..before heading off to pick some more. spain's moves are cautious. more than 23,000 people have died here, and no one wants to take risks. "of course it's worrying", says maria's mother paloma. "a lot of people have been infected and we worry about the older generation".

at least paloma can now catch up with friends from a distance, while maria gets used to life in a mask and the small joys of being outside. damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid. the australian government has launched a coronavirus tracing app which uses bluetooth signals to log when people have been close to someone who may be infected. the health minister, greg hunt, said the app would help australia get back to normal, but it's been criticised by civil liberties groups as an invasion of privacy. mr hunt, however, insisted that the data gathered by the device would be accessed only by state health officials. the announcement comes a day after the country had to shut its beaches again following a lack of social distancing measures there. there remains concern among care providers about testing for staff and residents in care homes in england. the bbc has spoken to more than 200 providers, and three quarters say none of their staff has been screened. access to testing for residents also appears to be patchy.

the government says more people will be tested. here's our social affairs correspondent, alison holt. at harbour house residential home in dorset, they're keeping one of their residents who's returned from hospital isolated. they've been in lockdown for weeks now, and need to be sure that no one brings covid—19 into the home. what is it you're doing now, lana? i'm going to see brian. he's been self—isolated for 1h days, so we're putting on personal protective equipment. they've been told they need at least two suspected cases before they get testing of residents. hello, brian, can i come in, please? and for staff, the nearest drive—through testing centre is a three—hour round—trip away. these are fluid—resistant surgical masks. this and continuing worries over getting enough protective equipment leaves the home manager at the end of her tether. it's not good enough. it's really not good enough. the voices of everybody working in care, the nhs, the care industry, we need to be heard,

and we need to be saved. the bbc has spoken to more than 200 care homes across england. of those, 159, about three—quarters, said up to last wednesday, none of their staff had been tested for covid—19. 127, so nearly two—thirds, said they'd seen no screening of residents in their homes. care providers have told me with some homes already seeing a high number of deaths from coronavirus, testing is vital to combat the infection. the only way to do that is to ensure that we have testing for everybody in the service. we can mitigate risk, but we can't eliminate it without the support of having accurate testing available to the services. the government says it's introduced mobile military units to provide testing in places like care homes, and that residents returning from hospital are being screened. on testing, we have been ramping up our capacity to do those tests. it currently stands at over 50,000

today and we have started to invite large numbers of people now working in the care sector and care homes to undertake those tests and significant numbers have. with care homes on the front line of tackling the virus now, the pressure to get more testing on the ground quickly is intense, and it's unlikely to go away. alison holt, bbc news. business lobby groups are calling for the government to publish details of the perameters that would allow a reopening of the economy. the institute of directors says its members are "clamouring" for more information. tomorrow, unions will ask ministers to make sure employers take thorough steps, to keep staff safe when they do go back to work. our business correspondent, katie prescott, reports. 28 years of business, closed in a day. hello, welcome. come in. thank you very much. this restauranteur is desperate to see his tables filled with diners once again.

but he'd like some sense about when that might be and what happens if the restrictions ease, but the threat of the virus remains. it'd be good to know what the model is going to look like. are they going to be measured or will there be a quota of people per square foot? a little bit of clarity would be good. it's not going to be something crowded. something hustley and bustley. it's not going to be anything like we've known. but then, if it's not, can the business sustain it? for some businesses, social distancing is harder than others. this hairdresser in leeds is expecting a flood of customers when they reopen, desperate for a post—lockdown haircut. but how they can do this safely is a major headache. it'd be great if we had a bit more guidance or advice about when we think that could be. i'm expecting it in may. and even then, i don't think we'll be open as we were before. i think it'll be a new normal where we've got to be a lot more careful with the precautions that we take, really.

but also, most importantly, we've got to work on client confidence as well. some companies not on the lockdown list are getting back to work. as construction firms start to build again, this shower manufacturer will bring in a quarter of its staff from monday. we're sort of envisaging pent—up demand will hopefully see quite a busy may and june and then we'll see where it settles from there. but i don't know what normality is going to be, whether it will be october or november that we have a normal month. the government has started to talk to businesses about how to lift the lockdown safely. and it's looking to examples of other countries that are slightly further advanced in terms of the pandemic. but what businesses want to see now are those conversations turned into concrete plans. katie prescott, bbc news. new york governor andrew cuomo's briefing today started with "relatively good" news. new york state reported 367 new deaths from the coronavirus which is its lowest daily total since march 30.

governor cuomo said construction and manufacturing would be the first businesses to reopen and could restart after may 15 in the upstate region with certain precautions and if cases continue to decline. medical professionals in the uk and the united states say they are worried patients with serious conditions like strokes or heart attacks are staying away from hospitals because of coronavirus. it's believed some people with health problems fear going to the emergency department of a hospital will expose them to covid—19. doctors are advising patients with potentially life threatening conditions like a heart attack to seek help. we're joined now by dr katherine henderson, president of the royal college of emergency medicine here in london. i would imagine people don'tjust stop having heart attacks or strokes just because there is a pandemic, or those patients now stayed away from hospitals? it certainly seems

unlikely that we would have seen an acute reduction in the number of people having those sorts of medical conditions. you can understand people not having car crashes, but you can't understand people not having strokes or heart attacks. we have certainly not been seen them coming into the emergency department. you can understand the fear in some of their minds, if they are feeling unwell, they might think, why risk going to hospital and catching a disease that will make it even worse for them, that they might try to ride it out at home. how can you convince them that it would be safe to seek treatment? ican it would be safe to seek treatment? i can absolutely understand that fear. what they need to understand is the practical measures that we are making to make it safe. we cannot make it zero risk, but we can reduce the risk as much as possible and we do that right from the beginning, from the moment they arrive, we have our department is divided into areas where the patients there are likely to have

covid and patients are likely to not have it. red and green zones in the departments, so we can manage patients in an area that is appropriate for them. so somebody that presents with a problem that does not seem to be related to covid will still be seen by a health care professional wearing a mask and they will be in an area where there is space, there will be staff that are staying in that area all day and we will do everything we can to make sure that they are kept safe. do you think people know this? because if they did, surely they would be going to emergency rooms.|j they did, surely they would be going to emergency rooms. i think we have been saying it quite a lot, but i still think people are concerned and they do not want to call the ambulance, they do not want to bother the nhs which is lovely of them. i think it is exactly the people who often have the most serious symptoms who are being the most stoical about their symptoms. they don't come to emergency departments. this is something we are going to have to live with for quite a long time, even when the

lockdown comes off, when we are starting to open up services within the nhs again, we are going to have to work out how we keep everyone safe, the traditional... medicine prior to all of this happening was crowded departments. we clearly cannot go back to having crowded departments, because we have got to keep people safe, we have to keep patients safe and we also have got to keep staff safe. so the new normal, in an emergency department, is going to be different from what it was like in the past. you have talked about a new normal and talked about this crisis continuing for very long time, one rough and way of counting covid death, is excess mortality and explain what might be, comparing deaths in this april to last april and assuming that the excess is covid patients. the longer this goes on, is it likely that the excess mortality would include those with heart attacks and strokes who could have and should have got

treatment but did not? that is exactly the worry. we obviously expect there to be deaths that are covid related and we expect there to be deaths that are likely to be covid related but what we do not wa nt to covid related but what we do not want to see is people coming to harm because they have not come. some of that will not happen immediately, someone who has had the minor symptoms of a stroke he does not present, doesn't get the preventative measures and then they come with a completed stroke and thatis come with a completed stroke and that is what we would want to avoid. or someone does not come with a heart attack and then cannot get the time critical interventions that they could have had if they presented early. there can be a lag of harm, both for the immediate health problems, but also going on in that person ‘s hell. they may have more problems than it would have more problems than it would have had later on their life. doctor henderson, thank you. thank you very much. singapore is rapidly building bed space for coronavirus patients in exhibition halls as it faces a surge in cases, mainly

among its large community of migrant workers. at the new changi isolation centre, remote—controlled robots provide meals and teleconferencing services to reduce contact and each room has blood—pressure monitors and other medical equipment for patients to conduct their own health checks three times a day. after months of training for the london marathon, elite athletes and fund—raising runners, have been thinking of other creative ways now the event's been postponed, to raise money for charities. thousands of people are taking part in the 2.6 challenge. the 40th london marathon which was due to take place today has been pushed back to october. natalie pirks reports. it's the biggest one—day fundraising event in the world, attracting 40,000 runners every year. but this weekend, the capital's iconic sights look rather different. to fill the void, organisers came up with the 2.6 challenge... ..where people have to do something with the numbers two and six.

like sophie, who swam 2.6 kilometres in her back garden. i'll be running 2.6 miles every day for 10 days. or finn, who has cystic fibrosis. i'll have run 26 miles. as far as the marathon! danny watts has raised more than £1000 for the rfu's injured players foundation. they helped her adapt to life in a wheelchair after she was paralysed playing rugby three years ago. most of these challenges i've done in quite a lot of extreme pain. the pain i get is like someone is literallyjabbing a hot poker in you and just crunching through your bone. i can't explain it any more than that. but this challenge, it kind of relit the fire that went out for sport a few years ago. well, it would have been considerably busier than this here in blackheath at the start line of the marathon. and the worry now is this will make things very quiet for charities. last year's marathon alone raised more than £66 million and it's estimated the lockdown could cost

charities more than £4 billion in lost donations. mind is estimating it will lose between 12 and £20 million in donations this year. partly as a result of our shops being closed but also from the postponement or cancellation of events like the london marathon and many other community events where people choose to run for us. the 2.6 challenge has already raised more than £4 million. britain is showing charity really does begin at home. natalie pirks, bbc news. you're watching bbc news. visit scotland says tourism has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. before the crisis, hundreds of farmers had even diversified into so—called agri—tourism. now that crucial income has been lost, as alexandra mackenzie explains. portnellan beef farm overlooks loch lomond. chris came home to the family

business after university. to make a living, he diversified into agri—tourism. part of that is offering watersports to visitors. but after lockdown, his bookings were cancelled. obviously, my income's taken a big hit at the moment, as has the farm income. we can survive it for a while, but if it doesn't come back at some stage, it's going to become much harder. a newborn lamb on a nearby farm. it's been in the same family for nearly 300 years. like many farms, they relied on the income from agri—tourism. this included self—catering accommodation and farm tours, all gone because of covid—19. if we can't get that going, that would be serious. i don't think we could survive through it without that. the tourism side of the business is run by bobby's daughter kay. the farming venture itself could support the one family. the additional diversification gives

the income to myself and my family. so if it goes into the following year, i don't know how i'm going to feed the kids. i'm not sure how i'm going to put clothes and food on the table. i'm not sure how that will happen. tourism brings millions of pounds into the scottish economy, but visit scotland has said the industry has been completely devastated by the coronavirus lockdown. on a day like this, loch lomond would normally attract visitors from around the world. i think we've just got to focus on how we're going to bounce back from this and focus on our businesses, both the agricultural side and the diversified side as well. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news, loch lomond. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. it was another warm and sunny day across the south of the country and further north we saw showers and it

was cooler and that is how this upcoming week is shaping up to be. cooler, more unsettled with some rain thanks to low pressure. the heavy showers through central parts of the country will fade away overnight in the front will bring a legacy of cloud here and it will continue with breezy conditions in the north of scotland with showers. further south, northern ireland, central and southern scotland and the fat north of england under clear skies, it will be colder, touch of roster places. monday, a different feel in southern areas, showers as well, further north, with brightness, but it stays rather showery in the north of scotland, particularly in the north and it will be a cooler day for most, although the far south—east, given some sunshine once again. it will be quite warm. it does turn cool into tuesday for all of us, outbreaks of rain particularly in the south, more showers to come on wednesday.