this is outside source on bbc news for viewers in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the us economy has shrunk at its fastest rate in a decade, as the lockdown virtually shut down the world's biggest economy. and there is worse still to come. the number of people who've died in the uk hasjumped past 26—000 — as the government starts adding deaths in care homes and in the wider community to the official death toll. a stark warning from the

international labour organisation: half of the global workforce‘s livelihoods are at risk because of the pandemic. after weeks of separation — we'll tell you why switzerland now thinks its safe once again — for the elderly to hug their grandchildren. welcome. the us is the world's largest economy. today we learnt that in the first three months of this year, it shrank at an annual rate of 4.8%. the country has introduced lockdown measures to slow the spread of coronavirus, which has killed more than 58,000 people there. as you can see from this graph, the us economy has suffered the sharpest drop since the financial crisis more than a decade ago. it ends the longest expansion in us history as coronavirus virtually shut down the country. but the figures don't reflect the full crisis, since the country did not begin its lockdown

measures until march. as the economist mohammed el—erian points out on twitter, the next quarter could see the us economony contract as much as a0%. here he is outlining what this will mean. it's a battle against global depression. and what today's number tells you is two things. one is the urgency of containing the damage so that short—term hits don't become long—term hits. and that's — and the second issue tells you that we've got to build a runway for medical advances to be able to sort out the lives versus livelihood equation. and importantly, notjust to win the war against the depression, but to secure the peace. we failed to do that in 2008. we won the war against the depression then, but we didn't secure peace of high, sustainable, inclusive growth. today's number tells you that even

now, we have to think about winning the war and securing the peace. despite the threats to economic growth, the us federal reserve has said they will be keeping interest rates between zero and 0.25%. former treasury secretary larry summers says that containing the coronavirus outbreak is still america's primary concern. we do know that economic downturns cast a substantial shadow forward. and the people who are going to be the victims of this in many cases are the people coming out of school into a very weak economy. and studies show that people who come out of school during very difficult times — the impact of that is there 20 years later on their wages and the quality of the jobs that they have. so it is a very big deal to do what we can — everything we can to support the economy through this period. but we need to remember that it

all starts with the virus. people are terrified to work with others, terrified to go into a store. you can do whatever you want with interest rates and you can have whatever fiscal policy you want, but you'll still have an economy that is weakened. the decision over how and when to reopen the us economy has caused new divides amongst americans. nick bryant has been speaking to some of them in new york. can't even wrap my head around it. it's incredible. steve owns a road—building firm in staten island, which he fears will be bankrupt byjune. he's a trump supporter who believes the democrats who run new york are being too cautious. if i'm not working and this economy's not opened up, and these fear mongers don't back off — they've got everybody scared to death — we'll all go out of business. steve, it's a vicious virus, i've had it myself. do you accept that? and i'm sorry to hear that. the reality of it is, people

are going to continue to get sick. i don't think they're going to continue to get sick at any alarming rate. we are seeing more beggars on new york streets. this is harlem, a mainly african american community, severely hit by this health and economic contagion. and this is upscale soho, the home of high—end retail — boarded up like a hurricane is about to rip through, which economically it has. every single shut down day. don't open up too soon... but public health officials such as danielle, who live in these communities, warn against the rush to reopen. people are hurting financially, they're struggling to feed their families. but we really need to take this slow because i would hate for us to have to shut down the economy again if we get more cases. some of the perspective from new york. here's samira hussain with more on the tug of war in the us over public health and economic growth. we are seeing lots of different

state—level governments are really trying to grapple with, which is why you are seeing in parts of the country, and places like georgia, for example — you're seeing some slow reopening. but of course, the great fear is that if you start to reopen parts of the economy too quickly, are you going to spark yet another coronavirus wave? and will that be even more serious? but there's no way to discount the kinds of severe economic numbers that we are seeing. and when you want to talk about these economic disparities, it certainly is being evidenced here in new york. again, we saw a part of that in nick's package. the economic disparities that exist in new york in this pandemic, there is no doubt that it will exacerbate those. and that is one of the challenges, how do you try and protect all of the citizens again while trying to reopen the economy, knowing full well the economic tsunami that is coming through this country?

the head of america's institute for infectious diseases has expressed optimism about an anti—viral drug to help fight the coronavirus more quickly. remdesivir, which was originally developed to treat ebola, has shown that on average four days less time was needed to shake off the effects of coronavirus. here's dr anthony fauci speaking at the white house. if you look at the time to recovery being shorter in the remdesivir arm, it was 11 days compared to 15 days. so that is something that, although a 31% improvement, doesn't seem like a knockout 100%. it is a very important proof of concept. because what it has proven is that a drug can block this virus. now you're up—to—date with the situation in the united states. let's turn to the uk. all deaths linked to the virus, including those in care homes

and other community settings. and they show that the pandemic has so far claimed nearly 4,000 more lives than were being recorded under the previous system. in the past 2a hours, there have been 765 deaths across the uk, taking the total number of deaths in the uk to over 26,000. here's our health editor hugh pym. happier times for betty, celebrating her 97th birthday. she is now in critical care in hospital with coronavirus. her daughter andrea says she picked up the virus in a nursing home and testing at an earlier stage for residents and staff might have kept her safe. i think it is a bit late. coronavirus, if truth be known, i think, is endemic in our nursing homes and the people who will suffer the most are the elderly and vulnerable, not to mention the staff.

testing for all care home residents and staff, including those without symptoms, has been made available either with kits sent to the homes or mobile units visiting them. but there have been warnings that carrying out the tests will not be easy. it is the physicality of some of these people, they are so frail that doing the test itself, it takes a lot of time, it takes time to sit and explain it, time to reassure them, time afterwards to explain again. i asked about the new care home testing plan at the downing street media briefing. couldn't testing, really, have started sooner than now? the scale and speed of this epidemic is really in the last couple of weeks and there is a huge national and local endeavour to not just test, which is very important, but understand the measures that would make a difference in care homes and to look at that in a very rapid way, looking at the evidence so that we can put in place

measures to protect people. drive through testing or home kits have been made available to millions of others with symptoms, including heather, who did her swab test at taunton today. because i am a private carer, i work for myself, i could not get tested before today. it is really important not for me but also for my clients. over 65s qualify for testing, like mac and anthea. we both had symptoms for a few days and therefore we really wanted to be checked, but the symptoms had not increased so we did not need to phone 111, but as soon as tests for over 65s, which we are, became available, we were happy to have it. home test kits can be ordered online but only by those with symptoms. we have not opened the packaging of this one so it is safe for future use. there are a couple of types of home testing kit, this is one. you need to register online before

you do anything and book the free courier collection service to pick it up. then you take the swab sample from your nose and throat, put it in the plastic container and then the packaging and it is ready to be collected. slots for drive—through tests have been in high demand, home test kits ran out earlier today, but with new supplies they are bookable again this evening. health secretary matt hancock has set a target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month, and that is tomorrow. hugh pym, bbc news. another big story in the uk today — the prime minister borisjohnson and his partner carrie simonds have spent their first day as parents after the birth of their baby boy. downing street says the prime minister won't be taking paternity leave at the moment. the prime minister is known to have fathered five children but as dan bloom from the daily mirror points out...

well, here's what the foreign secretary dominic raab told parliament. both mother and baby are doing well, and i'm sure the whole house will want to join me in sending congratulations and our very best wishes to them. iain watson is in westminster. for the first time, the uk is now counting death and care homes and in the community and unsurprisingly, the community and unsurprisingly, the number of deaths has gone up. that is right. the government very keen to shut this is ace not a surgeon a keen to shut this is ace not a surgeon a break because what happened before as we got daily numbers. desh keen to say this is not a surge in numbers. we counted those for hospitals but not on a daily basis of those who died and ca re daily basis of those who died and care homes or in the community. the figures were really separately in

use and sometime leg. we would see oi’ use and sometime leg. we would see or expect to see an increase in the numbers in total and indeed we did. almost 4000 more in fact because the numbers and incorporate those who died in care homes and the total figures now in 26,091 people who have died of coronavirus in the united kingdom. that takes on board yesterday's numbers of death in hospitals but in the committee they go back to march the 2nd. we would expect to see such a big increase in the figures tomorrow but there has been criticism of the government are simply concentrating on hospital deaths and look perhaps that is your victory in britain was very similar to italy and france but they have pressure on them to make sure they at the same time announce that's outside of hospitals. and that according to the labour opposition suggests that we are on course they said for one of the worst totals in

europe is, so they have been expecting some concern about that the numbers are still being underreported because these are people who have been tested for coronavirus and who have died and again it was made clear at the downing street press conference today that it is possible and care homes as well with the infection spread it very rapidly that people may well it before they are tested and also they may be a subsidiary reason for death on a death certificate reeks of the figures can be even higher than the 26, nearly 27,000 announce today. thank you for that. stay with us on 0ustide source, still to come: we'll tell you how people in spain are coping as the coronavirus pandemic continues to shock the economy.

new figures from scotland show more than half of the coronavirus deaths recorded last week were in care homes. the figures bring the total number of people to have died with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus to more than 2,000. the deaths included six members of nhs staff and five social care workers. here's the scotland first minister nicola sturgeon. the proportion of deaths in scotland in care homes whilst obviously deeply distressing is, however, broadly in line with the proportions being reported now from many other countries. that demonstrates again how crucial it is to make care homes as safe as they can possibly be during a pandemic of this nature. care homes have had strict guidance to follow since 13 march, and it is incumbent on care home providers, whether they are in the public or the private sector, to follow and to implement that guidance.

this is 0utside source, live from the bbc newsroom. the us economy has shrunk at its fastest rate in a decade as the lockdown virtually shut down the world's biggest economy. in the past hour the us federal reserve has announced that interest rates will be kept at near zero. well, our top story is that us economy contraction. if you want a more direct measure of how it's affecting people — more than 26 million people in the us have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic began. and of course, this is a global phenomenon. ros atkins has been looking at this. hi, ros. what do you have? thank you. let's begin. today we heard a stark warning from the un's international labour organisation. it says half of the world's workers are in danger of having their livelihoods

destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic. its report focuses on workers in the informal economy — that involves workers who are not regulated or protected by the state. here's the head of the ilo. for 1.6 billion workers, their livelihood has been massively impacted by what's going on. and these are people who earn very little on a good day, and their incomes are going down by an average of 60% in the first month of the pandemic effect. these are people in desperate straits, and they need our help. let's look at this issue through the experiences of different countries. in india for example, the figures are staggering. the ilo has warned that around 400 million people who work in the informal economy in india are at risk of falling deeper into poverty because of this crisis. next bangladesh — this article from bbc bengali highlights how how empty high streets around the world

are putting two million bangladeshi jobs ‘at risk‘ because clothing orders have dried up. that's one example of how globalised trade means that the experiences in one country can impact on others elsewhere. here's another. in africa — many families are reliant on the relatives who are working abroad and who send back money — remittances as this is known. to give you an idea of the scale of this. according to the world bank, in 2019, just over $700 billion dollars were paid in remittances across the globe. it's predicting that remittance transfers will drop by about 20% in 2020 — so a loss of $255 billion dollars for families who rely on them. bbc africa's maya hayakawa has been investigating this issue. this migrant worker in south africa would normally send money to his ageing parents in malawi

to cover their medical insurance, but now with a partial lock down in malawi, and a strict stay at home order in south africa, he is unable to use the traditional transfer services as they are temporarily closed for not being essential business. he has had to find other ways to send money to his parents. i have got friends who have businesses in malawi. so it was about asking for a favour for them to send money to my parents for this month. but you cannot go on like that because they've also got their own cash flow issues. the world bank says the economic tips are temporary, already forecasting a slight recovery in remingtons flow for 2021. but the road to recovery is an uncertain one as the world continues to fight the pandemic. now let's be clear — the economic impact is being felt

right across the world, including in europe where countries are wealthy by global standards. so let's move to focus on spain. damian grammaticas has this report. in spain, the daily tally of the dead may be falling, but the lines of the hungry are lengthening. queueing for hand—outs to fill empty stomachs. a new wave of suffering brought by the virus is gathering force. norma, a cleaner, has lost all of her work. 300 euros a month is what she's left with. the poorest being hit hardest. translation: the people whose house i was working at told me, "don't come any more until this is finished." now i don't know if i can even afford to pay my rent. the little she gets,

she shares with her brother. his work distributing flyers to homes has dried up and there are four in his household to feed. even in the worst of spain's economic crisis, those on the margins could find odd jobs — not now. assistance from others is all that's left. translation: every day, we pray for help for the nation's volunteers, and thanks to god we're getting them. it is a miracle. a miracle is what many of spain's businesses need too. the plan is they will start reopening next month but customer numbers must be limited. cafes can only serve outdoors. businesses, shuttered for weeks, may struggle to survive. paco's come back to find the bills piling up, more than he thinks he's able to pay. if his restaurant fails, the five staff he's kept on will be jobless too.

it will be many months until we know whether that emergency fund from the eu is really helping spain italy, and some of the other countries in the south of europe which have borne the south of europe which have borne the brunt of this. thank you. since covid—19 began, elderly people have been shielded from social contact — even from members of their own family. this care home in austria is one of many across europe which introduced social distancing rules so that when relatives visit, the elderly residents can see them from a balcony, but no closer than that. neighbouring switzerland however has struck out on a different path as it begins to lift its lockdown measures. it's announced that that young children can now hug their grandparents once more. however some experts are sceptical — because its not yet known conclusively whether children

transmit the virus. switzerland's decision highlights just how important human touch is to us — and how much its missed, when we're denied it. prof tiffany field is director of the touch research institute at the university of miami. thank you so much forjoining us. but other scientific examples have physical touch is for us? the most extreme example is children and romanian orphanages who fail to thrive or grow and they have very disturbing behaviours, but that is an extreme example. i don't think thatis an extreme example. i don't think that is happening in this covid—19 period. i think it is wonderful that children can hug their grandparents and vice versa, because hugging does and vice versa, because hugging does a lot for our immune function. maybe

where mass don't run the risk and that would be fun for the kids especially and for grandparents. but we know from studies that we have done on elderly people, touching children lowers their hormones. we lower stress hormones, you save natural killer cells. natural killer cells killed by the league sales. ironically in this pandemic or were not allowed to touch people, touch is more important for saving the natural killer cells. this is one country that were introducing that is for introducing the possibility for grandparents to touch younger grandchildren and other saying we don't know the ability of children to pass on covid—19, so many other countries are not introducing this just yet. so in that case, for those

who cannot reach out to younger children, those grandparents, what else can we be doing to substitute human contact? yes, there are a lot. positive effects. when you move the skin, you're simulating receptors on the scan. that sends a message to the scan. that sends a message to the vagus nerve in the brain and the vagus nerve and turn flows down the nervous system and the nervous system is slowing down in the slowing of heart rate and blood pressure. then you have the saving of the natural killer cells. so walking around the room and lying on the floor and washing their hands, simply with their legs crossed and swing delays, there simulating their skin, they are moving the skin, so a lot of physical things you can do,

most exercise... thank you so much. we have to end it there. great advice. physical activity is all ways a good idea. i'll be back for the next edition of outside source very shortly. hello. weather that for days on end to weather that now seems to change every hour or so. this afternoon sunshine and structure came after some rain. the uk will see some rain tonight and heavy showers on their way tomorrow. all because low— pressure way tomorrow. all because low—pressure is now in control around the weather branch coming and welcome rain for many of us in the gaps singing some drier and sunnier outbreaks. overnight we will see another spell a heavy downpour is, north and east across england and wales into northern ireland reaching seven parts of scotland later in the night, separate area of rain across north of scotland. all of that going

on from the up mid to high single figures as we start the day tomorrow, and a sunday smells and the weather across the eastern side of england but a ban of rain affecting northern england and parts of southern scotland and the heavy showers initially wales and weston are pushing the east across east billy mckinlay and some sunny spells in northern scotland and wanted to showers around and ran across the northern isles. catch a shower it could be heavy, hail possible and gusty winds, the wind gust along the english channel coast into the channel islands, 40 to 50 miles an hour. it will be when the us and temperatures in the mid to low teens. not farfrom temperatures in the mid to low teens. not far from average for the time of the year. as we go through the evening into the night, noticed a showers are still around. further between but likely further showers affecting as we go through the night. not too many to start off on friday but some of these will get going again. parts of western and southern scotland and northern ireland in england and wales midlands not too many on friday, the

first day of may, here with more on the way of sunny spells and temperatures may just be the way of sunny spells and temperatures mayjust be a little bit higher. the picture for the weekend. a gap between weather systems on saturday, low—pressure is going to come in with more rain on sunday. not dry for everybody. still the chance of a few showers in northern and eastern parts of the uk but more of us will be dry on saturday before that rain gets it on sunday. a selection of locations to show you here. pretty much all on the same vote. temperatures pretty similar. but most of us will see somewhat what the rent for a time on sunday. —— better weather for a somewhat what the rent for a time on sunday. —— better weatherfor a time on sunday.

this is bbc world news, the headlines the us economy has been hit by its biggest downturn for more than a decade, shrinking a rate of nearly five percent in the first three months of 2020. economists are warning there'll be further economic pain ahead. the uk death toll from coronavirus deaths has passed 26 thousand, but the government says the figures do not represent a "sudden surge". instead, officialfigures are now including deaths in the community, such as in care homes, for the first time. the international labour organisation says the livelihoods of up to half the global workforce are affected by the pandemic — that's about one and a half billion people. the actor irrfan khan has died at the age of 53. he was known internationally for roles in slumdog millionaire and jurassic world. the bollywood star was diagnosed with a rare form of tumour two years ago.