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 coronavirus. uk ministers say the public must adjust to "a new normal" in the fight against coronavirus. medics insist that social distancing remains 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 — the first country in europe to introduce a lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak — is to ease some restrictions from early may. meanwhile, 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 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 developmentszprime minister borisjohnson is back in downing street tonight 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 in 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 more than 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. more now on the uk prime minister borisjohnson arriving back in downing street following his two weeks of convalescence. our political corrrespondent iain watson gave us the latest from westminster. we knew he'd 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 deal with inside downing street. he will be getting briefings early on tomorrow morning. he is then going to deal with the covid—i9 meeting as it is called, the c—19 meeting, which is basically a war cabinet, the senior cabinet members alongside some of those senior medical and scientific advisers.

and at that meeting, of course, he will be wanting to know what progress has been happening in his absence on a whole range of issues, including getting 100,000 tests by the end of this month. but beyond that, i think the major decisions he is going to have to deal with are... there is some pressure both from the opposition and inside his party, how does he ease the lockdown? it has to be reviewed on the 7th of may. it is likely he will come forward with some kind of plan by then, but there are a whole range of complex issues he will have to grapple with now that 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, james, he has been effectively out of action for several weeks. last week at his country retreat, he did bring himself up to speed with a 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 or advisers you might speak to have been quite impressed with the de facto deputy, dominic raab, holding the fort. it has given them a great boost to see borisjohnson back in to some extent, the government in his own image and he will give it fresh impetus. in certain areas, his own party might listen more to him than a variety of other cabinet ministers. so 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, 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. he will proceed very cautiously and he will try to make the argument, i think, 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. so i think there will be greater authority now that 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 and some of the external pressure from the opposition for clarity on where the country is going, that, i think, will only increase. 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 14th. in a televised address, prime minister giuseppe conte outlined the restrictions that were being lifted or reduced he did confirm, however, that social distancing would remain in force for months to come. let's speak to the bbc‘s mark lowen in rome. mark, give us a sense of how life in

italy might be about to change. mark, give us a sense of how life in italy might be about to changem is almost seven weeks to the day, tomorrow it will be seven weeks insta ntly tomorrow it will be seven weeks instantly became the first country to launch lockdown since the code of virus pandemic began here. now the prime minister has laid on a road for a look italy. from may before the various things will be allowed, parks will reopen, funerals will be allowed to resume with a maximum of 15 people. bars and restaurants will be allowed to offer take a ways again. manufacturing, construction and wholesale businesses will be able to restart and people will be able to restart and people will be able to restart and people will be able to move around again within their own regions, but not beyond and they will be allowed to visit family members but they will have to wear face masks and family members but they will have to wearface masks and no large family members but they will have to wear face masks and no large social gatherings will be allowed. individual sport will be allowed and people will be able to go out running and private athletes and individual athletes will be able to train behind closed doors and two weeks later there will be a further relaxing in which smaller

construction companies will be able to restart, libraries and museums will reopen and sports teams can practice behind closed doors. 0n the ist ofjune, practice behind closed doors. 0n the ist of june, that practice behind closed doors. 0n the ist ofjune, that is the date currently planned for bars, cafe sand currently planned for bars, cafe sa nd restau ra nts, currently planned for bars, cafe sand restaurants, hard hours —— michael hairdressers and beauty salons to reopen. schools will remain closed until september however. do italians, either getting used to the fact that they might have to do this distancing for many more months, even if there is some easing of restrictions? that was the line that the prime minister was stressing and i think people are very aware that this will be the norm in terms of social distancing for months to come, really until a vaccine is found and he said the words, if we love italy, we remain and we keep our distance and he was really stressing at each moment that social distancing will be the absolute priority when the restrictions are raised and he said that in some instances you will have to wear face masks and he also said that the government will be able to

monitor the infection curve and then if the infections rise again, the government will have the powers to intervene and we impose certain restrictions and this is a cautious unlocking, a cautious easing of the restrictions, but for this country which has endured real hell for eight weeks really ought nine weeks since those infections began in northern italy, this is a taste of freedom. you interviewed the prime minister the other day, how do italians write his handling of the crisis? you will know from your time here in italy, before me, that the prime minister was an unusual choice for prime minister. he was plucked out of obscurity as an academic, he was not intending or intended to be prime minister, but he has absolutely soared in popularity during this coronavirus outbreak and he leads a pretty fractious coalition government but polls show consistently that the vast majority of italians think he is doing a good

job and that is the case with other leaders as well right around the democratic world, where they have also got a bit of a boost from the handling of the outbreak and that is certainly the case in italy.|j remember getting his name wrong at one stage. mark lohan, thank you so much. 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. 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. and what about the rest of the us? a senior doctor on the white house covid—i9 task force says she believes social distancing will be needed throughout the summer. vice president, mike pence, said on thursday that the epidemic would be mostly over by the end of may. in an interview on nbc‘s meet the press, dr deborah birx said the fact that coronavirus cases in some cities appear to have peaked gave her hope. it's very much based on detroit, louisiana and other groups, and then looking at seattle that never really reached a peak and has

never really had a large outbreak and trying to understand what we can do as a people to ensure... social distancing will be with us through the summer, to really ensure that we protect one another. the bbc‘s peter bowesjoins me now. peter, we have got the doctor saying social distancing will be needed throughout the summer and the vice president saying the epidemic would mostly be over by the end of may. it is not necessarily one message. mostly be over by the end of may. it is not necessarily one messagem is not necessarily one messagem isa is not necessarily one messagem is a rather more cautious approach from the doctor and some of the other scientists and doctors on the president ‘s team, the vice president ‘s team, the vice president as well, often leading the task force press conferences and seemingly a little bit more optimistic than scientists with the vice president talking about the end of may when this may be mostly over in the united states. he said, as we

have just heard, the doctor talking about the entire summer and i think if you read between the lines a little bit, she is potentially talking a little bit longer than that and most scientists, not only in the us at around the world seem to agree that there is not a definitive end to any of this and a lot of talk, potentially, about a second wave of the virus at the end of the summer in the autumn, perhaps when the weather gets to change. so she has been rather cautious, the politicians being a little bit more optimistic. from what i understand, there might not be a white house briefing today, there was not one yesterday, is that it for those briefings? how will the president and white house communicate their daily strategy? well, the president said they were not worth the time and the effort. what he did not say ina and the effort. what he did not say in a tweet which came about 2k hours ago, was that the briefings were going to end. that was left hanging to some degree and maybe they will

continue and they will be purely briefings by the vice president and members of the scientific team. it is difficult to imagine that happening without the president wanting to be front and centre, as he has been over the last few weeks. but the point that he was making, was as he sees it, the press is against him, that those journalists and we have seen the many arguments that he gets into with reporters with whom he disagrees, he believes that his message is not getting out there to members of the public as he believes the message should be framed and of course, the tension between journalists at that white house briefing on the president heightened in the past few days after his comments about disinfectants and ultraviolet light. much of the criticism coming outside of the press room and the reaction generally to what the president said, which he defended saying that he was simply being sarcastic. we have heard from the new york governor that there is relatively

good news in new york state and you are in california, how are things there? california has been looking pretty good, actually, over the past few weeks and i say pretty good, clearly people are dying here as well, but not in the large numbers that we have seen in states like new york. it is very possible that we are seeing the peak, the levelling of the curve in california. we have also heard it from cities like boston and chicago as well, the doctor said it gave her hope that we could be seen an end or at least the beginning ofan could be seen an end or at least the beginning of an end in the united states of this pandemic. thank you so states of this pandemic. thank you so much. 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—i9 into the home. what is it you're doing now, lana? i'm going to see brian. he's been self—isolated for 14 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—i9. 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. 0n 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. 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—point—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. 0r 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. 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.

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 there is more on our news website. you are watching bbc news. as more stores open across the country, such as diy, there have been calls to open gardening centres as one of the first steps in easing lockdown restrictions. earlier clive myrie spoke to the broadcaster and gardener alan titchmarsh about why they're so important... everybody has found, i think, over the last month or more, the beneficial effects of being out in the garden. that piece of space that you are allowed to go into. we play, you know, a lot of lip service to mental health, and gardens are a practical and spiritual way of ensuring that mental health continues. the other consideration is the fact that the british horticulture industry will be on its knees byjune if they don't open until then.

we have a situation now where if this carries on untiljune, and this is no trading allowed, then a third of all growers will go out of business. this has been an established fact. holland have been very clever, the dutch government put in place a system of compensation for growers. so they know that they have a future. if a third of our growers disappear, what it means for the future is that we will have to import far more, and the controls of plant health in europe are not always as effective, as efficient, or as stringent as ours are. we risk plant health declining, we have implications there for climate change. we also have implications for a 25 billion horticulture industry in the uk, which could be crippled. i mean, do you, in your own mind, understand why the government has made a distinction between garden centres and diy centres? i did, but then i think when they decided that b&q, for instance, as a chain, was allowed to stay open as a diy

centre, it could open its garden centre end as it were, so garden centres turned diy stores could open, but pure garden centres, which earn their entire living from plants and the nursery they are supplying them to couldn't open then there is a disparity, and this is notjoined up thinking in terms of government at all. and it needs to happen soon, so that not only the economy, with obviously strict health protocols in place, but surely they are far easier to put in place outdoors in the garden centre than internally in the supermarket, which is our condition. it has come to the point now where it's looking really rather silly and ill considered that garden centres are not being allowed to reopen. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello there. it was another warm and sunny day in the south of the country. further north we saw more cloud, showers, a bit cooler as well, and that is how this upcoming week is shaping up to be. cooler, more unsettled, with some rain or sun,

thanks to the low pressure. now, the heavy showers we have had through central parts of the country will start to fade away overnight, but the front will bring a legacy of cloud here. it will continue with some breezy conditions across the north of scotland, with some showers here. further south, northern ireland, central and southern scotland and the far north of england and the clear skies will be quite chilly, with a touch of frost in places, but where we have the cloud, it will not be quite as cold. for monday then, a different feeling day for southern areas, more cloud around, a few showers, too, further north there will be drier weather, with some brightness, but it stays rather showery across much of scotland particularly in the north. it will feel a cooler day for most, although the far south—east, given some sunshine, will once again be quite warm. but it does turn cool into tuesday and those outbreaks of rain, particularly in the south, more showers to come on wednesday.

hello, this is bbc news, the headlines... the uk prime minister borisjohnson is back in downing street,