a very warm welcome to bbc news. with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. my name's mike embley. american coronavirus cases move past a million — nearly a third of the global total. over 30% of all deaths linked to coronavirus in england and wales are now happening in care homes. france plans to ease its lockdown from next month, but masks will remain a way of life. thousands of vietnamese nationals return home, as hanoi wins praise for successfully combating the coronavirus pandemic. and understanding immunity — we have a special report on one of the major questions about covid—19.

hello. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first: the united states has now registered more than a million known cases of the coronavirus. that's roughly four—times the second—worst affected nation, spain. here, the uk government says it's significantly expanding access to testing to include all care home residents and staff, not part of the official figures so far. iag, the parent company of british airways, has said the airline may make up to 12000 workers redundant. aid agencies are warning a lack of resources in conflict zones could spread the virus even further. and in france, all food shops will reopen from may the 11th but bars and restaurants will remain closed. much more on all that to come, but first jane o'brien

reports from new york, as states across the us plan to lift some lockdown restrictions. a salute to the covid—19 warriors, paying tribute to those on the frontline of coronavirus. they flew formation across the east. an uplifting spectacle for resident in lockdown. new york continues to be the worst hit today a glimmer of hope... what we have seen is clearly progress and that is getting us closer to the day when we can start opening things up. but we need to be cautious, careful and be governed by the facts stop more than 1 and be governed by the facts stop more thani million people in the us are known to be infected and the emphasis is on more testing. in manhattan people lined up to the latest facility. 0ther people lined up to the latest facility. other states are moving faster, even without the recommended level of testing.

georgia has taken aggressive steps to restart its economies, opening salons, gymnasiums and some restaurants. some states making plans even without any time plan. you have to understand, when it comes to cases, we do more testing so we will show more cases because we do more testing, double anybody else. if you add everybody else combined, that would be a numberand at combined, that would be a number and at the appropriate time it will be down to zero. but even as some businesses open their doors, it is not clear americans at home are ready to open theirs. consumer spending drives the us economy but, with no cure for coronavirus and social distancing the only proven control so far, they may not feel safe enough to spent outside. jane 0'brien, bbc news. let's speak to our north america correspondent, peter bowes. for all these talk of lifting

lockdown, some really grim milestones today? yes, really too grim milestones. the one we have been hearing about — more thani million have been hearing about — more than i million cases of covid—i9 across the united states and another milestone in that more americans have now died asa that more americans have now died as a result of this virus than were killed during the almost two decades of the vietnam war. a lot of talk about states getting back to normal, of businesses restarting and parks opening and beaches opening, but we are still a long, long way from the end of this. the president saying the figures eventually going down to zero but doctor fowler cheat sounding a warning --dr fowler cheat sounding a warning ——dr fauci? fowler cheat sounding a warning --dr fauci? he has said similar things before but this was specific. he believes with certainty that the virus will be back in the autumn and stressed it may never go away

and it may be with us all the way through the summer. there will be pea ks way through the summer. there will be peaks and troughs and continued to go down and some optimistic in places like chicago and boston and new york city but the reality is this virus, this these days, will be with us at the end of the year and major implications for people because it will coincide with the presidential election which has to take place in november. this curious instant involving the vice president's visit to a hospital? his been visiting a hospital, a leading medicalfacility in the visiting a hospital, a leading medical facility in the us, eating some of the workers and he said thank you for their work but he was not wearing a mask and we understand, he was told as he went into their place, it was the policy that all visitors should indeed wear

all visitors should indeed wear a mask and in the pictures we have seen everyone else and then had some protection in theirface. he explained then had some protection in their face. he explained that as the vice president he is tested regularly and he did not believe that he needed to wear a mask. thank you very much for that. all residents and staff in care homes in england are to be eligible for coronavirus tests from wednesday, if they have symptoms or not. scotland, wales and northern ireland are expected to follow suit. figures released earlier revealed that a third of all covid—i9 related deaths in england and wales were in care homes. at present, the number of deaths outside hospital isn't included in the daily totals reported by the uk government. the care sector says it's now the real front line in the battle against the pandemic, as our social affairs correspondent, alison holt, reports. at st cecilia's nursing home in scarborough, like many homes across the country, they believe the fight they've been waging against coronavirus for weeks

is only now being reflected in officialfigures. this is the area that we will have for anyone that is being barrier nursed. they locked down early, have areas set aside for nursing coronavirus residents, and people stick to their rooms, but still, across the three homes in the group, they've had 11 deaths, four confirmed as covid—i9. i was called and did see her for the last, on the day that she died... one of the residents who died was reg kemp's wife liz. they were married for more than 50 years, and she loved spending time with her grandchildren. he says staff did all they could for her. ijust hope that the ministers do recognise the wonderful work that's gone on and goes on up and down the country in nursing homes just like where liz was. they are doing a job equal to anyone in the national health service.

information collected by the care regulator up to last friday suggested deaths in care homes are still rising. even so, homes like this one continue to struggle to get the testing and protective equipment they need. there are far more people being cared for outside the nhs than in the nhs and they all need looking after. they deserve better than they've got. i think it's been too little, too late. the government says mobile units and home kits are making testing easier and that all residents and staff will be eligible for checks. it insists it is also providing millions of pieces of protective equipment. but that offers no comfort here. ayse is struggling to explain to her two—year—old granddaughter why her mother, a care worker, isn't coming home. 26—year—old sonya kaygan died of coronavirus. herfamily say she loved herjob looking after others, but they want people to understand the anguish and questions they are left with.

they showed us the mask that sonya had bought online to protect herself. i believe what my sister has confirmed, that they have arrived when she was in hospital. so, too late for her? too late for her. in time, there will be questions that many families need answering about the impact of the virus on care homes. alison holt, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news: british airways is set to make up to 12,000 workers redundant. its parent company, iag, announced the planned job cuts as revenues had plunged 13% in the first quarter of the year. british airways has currently furloughed its 22500 employees. iag says the recovery of passenger demand to 2019 levels will take years. scotland has become the latest place to advise the public to wear masks in areas where social distancing is difficultm distancing is difficult, such as shops and on public transport. the uk government is yet

to announce its decision on masks but the health secretary said their use was based on weak science. spain's prime minister, pedro sanchez, has outlined a four—phase withdrawal from one of europe's strictest lockdowns, with the aim of getting back to something like normality by the end ofjune. social distancing will remain but schools won't re—open until september. president putin says the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in russia has not yet been reached and he's extending the lockdown until may the 12th. he said the spread had been slowed but warned of the risk of acting too quickly to lift restrictions. so far there's been 867 recorded deaths. vietnam has won praise as one of the most successful countries in combating the coronavirus pandemic, so much so, vietnamese nationals in other countries are now returning home to escape the virus, with tens of thousands expected to arrive in the coming days. experts warn the influx of returnees may put extra pressure on the country's health system. vietnam has recorded no deaths so far with no new cases reported for 12 days.

let's speak now to ambassador nguyen phuong nga, one of vietnam's top diplomats. thank you for your time. how are you preparing for this very large influx of vietnamese people coming home? thank you, mike, nice to talk to you. so for ours country has managed to put the epidemic under control and control the spread of community transmission. we understand and sympathise with the vietnamese citizens who live, work and study abroad and 110w live, work and study abroad and now want to go back to vietnam. however, the pandemic is continuing to develop in other parts of the world and that is why we have to continue restricting entry into vietnam from abroad and we encourage

people to stay in the same place and follow guidance of local authorities and that travelling is risky. at the same time, we have a ready organised more than 30 flights, bringing more than 200 vietnamese citizens back home. in the coming time... excuse me, cani in the coming time... excuse me, can ijust ask you, what would you say is behind vietnam's apparent success. a single party, very authoritarian regime, you can control your people more easily, i guess? that is not the case of the regime. i think that here there are a lot of things contributing to our success. our government humanitarian policies and strong determination to protect public health and people's lives, in spite of having to sacrifice the economic gains, is in the interests of the people and enjoys a full support and trust of the

people. social unity is our strength and we have been able to mobilise the whole system, the whole people to act... and leaving no—one behind. the whole people to act... and leaving no-one behind. forgive me, i understand you wanted to be sure about what you wanted to say but you seem to be reading from a prepared statement. 0ther statistics from a vietnam reliable? statistics from many countries, including our own, have not a lwa ys including our own, have not always been entirely reliable because of inaccuracy or inadequate testing or fabrication. you can fully trust out study base. there is no doubt about it. not only what i say but other experts say that, in either media and also in the british media as well because we have a very... you know, very thoroughly

carried out the plans and actions in contact tracing and also we have a very good system of monitoring and people are volu nta ry of monitoring and people are voluntary registering in a website with medical help situations so everything is then done in a very transparent way and people are willing to co—operate with the local government and authorities because this is anything interest, it is in the interests of the community. ambassador, thank you very much indeed. iam ambassador, thank you very much indeed. i am sure everybody wishes you and your people well. thank you for your time. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a warning that a billion people worldwide, could be infected by coronavirus — unless action is taken to help poor and war—torn countries.

nothing, it seemed, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls for government help to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them, they've taken the capital, which they've been fighting for for so long. it was 7:00 in the morning, the day when power began to pass on the minority to the majority, when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its last white colony.

this is bbc news. 0ne headline still dominating the news: american coronavirus cases move past a million — nearly a third of the global total. france is set to ease lockdown measures from the middle of next month. schools and shops will begin reopening, and people can travel within 100 kilometres of their home. but that depends on infection rates remaining low. 0ur paris correspondent lucy williamson reports. of all the lessons learned during lockdown, the hardest for the government has been working out how to end it. aurelie's four children have been studying at home since the middle of march. primary schools will reopen on the 11th of may but aurelie says it's too soon. translation: i don't think my kids are going back in may. i'm going to wait before i send

them into a group environment. the prime minister warned today that france risked the collapse of society if it kept the restrictions in place for too long. translation: never in the history of our nation have we known a situation like this. not during war, nor occupation, nor in previous epidemics. never has the country been confined as it is today. it can't go on forever. if infection rates stay low, most major restrictions will start to be lifted next month. schools will begin opening from the 11th of may on a voluntary basis. all shops will reopen. and people will be free to move within 60 miles. but beaches, cinemas and large museums will stay closed. and a decision on bars and restaurants has been pushed back to the end of may. pressure to lift the lockdown here is coming from the top. earlier this month, president macron set a date

of the 11th of may to ease restrictions and start reopening schools. his government has quickly pulled together a plan for how to do that. but it's delicate, it's complicated and there is strong opposition from those on the ground. teachers' unions have described the reopening of schools next month as "unworkable", even "mission impossible". translation: the scientific advisers have proposed that classes are staggered, that the children are a metre away from each other at all times, that they shouldn't circulate in the corridors. all this will cause us enormous problems. the plan for lifting lockdown here rests on keeping new infections low, under 3,000 a day. some areas may need to relax the rules more slowly. but the task of containing this epidemic is shifting from government responsibility to individual response. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. china has insisted it should

not be blamed for the covid—19 outbreak that it has suffered along with the rest of the world. president trump has made it clear he feels beijing should have done more when the virus first emerged. but, speaking on the bbc‘s hardtalk programme, china's ambassador to the uk said it was the virus rather than his country which the us should be targeting. since the outbreak opening president xi and president trump keep a close contact with that they have 2—way telephone conversations. i just want to let americans know that china is not the enemy of the united states. it is the virus. this virus is the enemy over the united states. they need to find the right target. china's ambassador to the uk. you can watch stephen sackur‘s full interview with the chinese ambassador to the uk on wednesday and thursday, here on bbc news. until now, the virus has largely been concentrated in europe, the united states and china — where health systems are well—established.

so far, developing countries have been less affected, but are particularly vulnerable should the virus takes hold. and the dangers are amplified in parts of the world affected by conflict, as our middle east editorjeremy bowen explains. welcome home. syrians crossing back from turkey face 1a days' quarantine in regularly disinfected dormitories. this is idlib, the last syrian province holding out against the assad regime, with almost1 million people displaced by war. social distancing and washing hands are not easy if you live in a tent with little or no clean water. jannah knows all about the coronavirus but much more about sudden death. she is ten, her brother mohammed is 13. they've been bombed and shelled for most of their lives. jannah fears chemical weapons more than the virus. but she is still scared.

translation: yes, i am, because it would spread rapidly. people gather to get bread even here in the camp. lots of people in a small place. 300 people share four toilets, even more than 300. if someone catches it the whole camp would be infected in a day. even before the pandemic, yemen was locked in the world's worst humanitarian crisis. across the middle east, at least 60% of people are under30. that's a plus in the fight against the virus but it could be cancelled out by illness, poverty, malnutrition and war. the us aid organisation international rescue committee works in 3a fragile countries and sees disaster looming. we think between 500 million and 1 billion people could become infected in those 3a countries. and between 1.5 million and 3 million people are at risk of dying.

how confident are you about the numbers? if you're in south sudan there are only four ventilators. if you're in north—west syria, 85 health facilities have been bombed by the government in the last six months. so i fear that, if anything, this will be an underestimate, not an overestimate. back in afghanistan, this doctor treats war casualties. and now he's in another fight. we are like the soldiers, those who are in the front line. but without weapons and ammunition. we don't have enough number of ppe kits to save ourselves. the challenge is huge. rich nations that might have helped are struggling. even though they have individual hospitals with more ventilators than entire countries. and time is short. jeremy bowen, bbc news. a research paper published

in the medicaljournal the lancet has highlighted what is known and not known about immunity after a person has been infected with coronavirus. understanding the nature of immunity is key to developing successful treatments and vaccines as well as helping governments decide on the way various lockdowns might be relaxed. our science correspondent rebecca morelle has been investigating. it's the virus that has mobilised the world's scientists. and a majorfocus now is how the immune system responds to it, because understanding this could help us to stop covid—19's spread. and the big question is, if you've had the virus, are you immune 01’ can you catch it again? how does immunity work? the coronavirus is covered in spikes which allow it to dock onto a structure on the surface of our cells. it's like a key opening up a lock, so the virus can enter and infect the cell. to fight this off, we produce antibodies. these block the spike. it's like a cap covering the key.

it means the virus can't get in and replicate, so eventually it's killed off. the antibodies, though, stick around. the idea is if the virus comes back, they can rally an immediate response. a small study revealed that monkeys who'd had the virus didn't catch it again a month later. for humans, though, there's still much we need to learn. early data's showing that there are antibodies being generated, but it's really important to follow up with more in—depth studies about whether these are the right kind of neutralising antibodies, because those are the ones that can then give protection if there's enough of them and they last long enough. building up antibodies is just the first step. what scientists want to find out is how long any immunity lasts. because covid—19 is so new, scientists are having to look at the viruses it's related to. from everything we know so far, it would be very hard for me to reassure you with any kind

of certainty that if you've been exposed to the virus you will definitely have protective antibodies in one or two or three orfour years' time. so that makes it very hard to know how we would mitigate against a second wave if it comes along. coronavirus affect people in different ways. but does the severity of symptoms alter immunity? some people with covid—19 are so ill they end up in intensive care. but others have very mild or even no symptoms. scientists are trying to understand what difference this makes. people who've got severely ill make a lot of antibody in general and people who haven't got so ill make a lot less. what that means may be that people who've only had a mild infection might lose their immunity faster than others and might not be protected if the virus comes back. scientists say we need answers on immunity urgently to determine the next steps to take in the fight against covid—19. rebecca morelle, bbc news.

and that is it for now. much more for you any time on the bbc website and on twitter. thanks for watching. hello there. it has been the sunniest april on record and for much of the month it has been exceptionally dry. but things changed a bit on tuesday for many of us, you can see the way in which rain pushed its way in which rain pushed its way north and certainly across england and wales, there were showers for scotland and northern ireland. the first area of rain is veering away, you can see a frontal system sliding out into the new continent but there is another area of low pressure out of the west. more frontal systems coming our way, which means there is more rain in the day ahead. this is our main rain band,it ahead. this is our main rain band, it is pushing its way east initially moving across the south—west of england, into wales, the midlands, and london

by lunchtime, getting into northern england, northern ireland and southern scotland by the end of the tables of northern scotland will hold onto something brighter but with one or two showers and brightness goes returning behind the rain band as well. what a windy day across parts of northern ireland and also the south—west of england. and those temperatures are generally between 10— 1a degrees, i think some coastal areas in north—east england might struggle at around eight 01’ might struggle at around eight or nine. two wednesday night here is our first or nine. two wednesday night here is ourfirst rain band northwards but a pulse of heavy rain will slide its way north eastwards a cross rain will slide its way north eastwards across up into southern scotland, some hefty showers chasing on behind. temperatures to start thursday morning generally between 5— eight degrees. so for thursday, low pressure family in charge of the scene, you can see these various frontal systems spiralling around below. they will be some outbreaks of rain too contend with some patchy rain drifting its way northwards across scotland, perhaps parts of eastern england for a time. and yes, we'll see some spells of sunshine but some showers, of those hours across the southern

half of the uk will be heavy and thundery into the afternoon. very windy across the south of england and the channel islands, across the channel islands, across the channel islands, across the channel islands we could see gusts of females an hour, potentially temperatures in the range of10— potentially temperatures in the range of 10— 1a degrees. —— 50 miles an hour. before friday, another day of sunshine and showers, the centre of low pressure will slide is good so we may see something a little bit brighter and certainly drier developing. temperatures nudging upa drier developing. temperatures nudging up a little bit, could get as high as around 15 degrees. and then we get into the weekend, certainly to start off it will be drier with your showers. i think some of us was the rain returning from the west on sunday.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the number of coronavirus cases in the united states has now passed one million. the figure is nearly a third of the world total, and includes more than 57,000 deaths. president trump put the unwanted mile—stone, down to the volume of tests the us is carrying out. the uk government says it plans to offer all residents and staff at care homes, in england and wales, a test for coronavirus, after new figures showed this is where a third of all deaths linked to the pandemic are happening. they have not been included in official figures so far. the french government has laid out plans for easing the country's lockdown, from next month. under the proposals, all shops will be able to reopen on may the 11th, and schools will also be allowed to resume teaching but masks will have to be worn in public spaces.

now on bbc news, more than a third of