this is bbc news. i'm tim willcox with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the us economy slumps, and the worst is yet to come. spending nosedived in the last quarter as the coronavirus lockdown began. the number of coronavirus deaths in the uk passes 26,000. for the first time, the figure includes deaths in care homes and the community as well as hospitals. hope for a coronavirus treatment — the us says there's "clear—cut" evidence that a drug can help people recover. it is a very important proof of concept, because what it has proven is that a drug can block this virus. and the british prime minister and his partner

are celebrating the birth of their baby son. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. we start in the us where the economy is shrinking at the fastest rate in more than a decade as figures from the last quarter show the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on economic activity. there was a 4.8% contraction, but economists warn that the worst is yet to come because the data only covered the first few weeks of the us lockdown. here in the uk, the number of dead has passed 26,000 as official figures include deaths in the community, such as in

care homes, for the first time. but as the impact on human life and the global economy continues to grow, there's been some hope. the white house health advisor dr anthony fauci says there's been positive data from the trial of an existing antiviral drug to treat coronavirus. more on that shortly, but first let's return to the us, and the impact of the coronavirus on the world's biggest economy. nick bryant reports from new york. new york is a city caught between dread and desire. desperate to open up after six weeks in lockdown, but fearful of the fatal consequences of doing so too soon. a new york without new yorkers has hammered the economy, its tourism and hospitality sectors have also been decimated. wall street, america's financial hub, fears the onset of another great depression. but even though the city has passed the peak of its outbreak, the density of its population makes it

especially hazardous to quickly open up. that covid conundrum. it's... i 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 is 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, where they've got everybody scared to death, we all go out of business. steve, it's a vicious virus, i've had it myself, 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. horns honk. we are seeing more beggars on new york's 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 shutdown day. don't open up too soon. the public health officials such as danielle, who live in these communities, warn against the rush to reopen. people are hurting financially, they are 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. this is one of the most impatient cities in the world. they talk about the new york minute — it means right now, immediately, without hesitation. but although some parts of this state could start the gradual process of reopening in mid—may, here in new york city, the tough restrictions will remain in place certainly for weeks and maybe for many months. every night at nine o'clock the empire state building is illuminated in a red—and—white siren light to honour

the emergency workers providing care. it is a ritual that will continue until this crisis is over. but that's the unanswerable question — when will new york return to being new york? nick bryant, bbc news, new york. the full human cost of the uk's coronavirus outbreak is becoming clearer. latest figures combine, for the first time, the total number of deaths in hospitals with those in care homes and the wider community. they showjust over 26,000 people have died so far, a surge of more than four—thousand recorded deaths compared with the previous day. most of the newly—announced fatalities have come from care homes, where there are growing concerns that the number of cases is continuing to rise. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, explains the implications.

happier times for betty, celebrating her 97th birthday. she's 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's a bit late. i think that coronavirus, if the truth be known, is endemic in our nursing homes, and the people that are going to suffer the most are the elderly and the vulnerable. not to mention the staff. testing for all care home residents and staff, including those without symptoms, has now been made available, either with kits sent to the homes, or mobile units visiting them. managers say they need help running the testing and it's urgently needed. i do think that there is a tsunami of deaths that we probably... that we may have been able to avoid, should we have had this testing

an awful lot earlier. because the elderly do not... they don't present in the classic way. they don't normally have rip—roaring temperatures. it can be quite insidious, they are just a bit off colour. i asked about the new care home testing plan at the downing street media briefing. couldn't testing really have started sooner than that? the scale and the speed of this epidemic is really in the last couple of weeks. and there is a huge national and local endeavour to both not just test, which is very important, but to also 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 we can put in place measures that 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'm a private carer, i work for myself, so i couldn't get tested before

today. and it is really important, not for me, but also for my clients. over 65s qualify for testing as well, like mac and anthea. well, we both had the symptoms for a few days. and so therefore we really wanted to get checked, but the symptoms hadn't increased, so we didn't need to phone 111, but as soon as the tests for over 65s, which we are, came available, we were quite happy to come and have a test. home test kits can be ordered online but only by those with symptoms. we haven't opened the packaging on this one, so it is safe for future use. there are a couple of different types of home testing kit. this is one of them. before you do anything, you need to register online and book the free courier collection service to come and pick it up. then you take the swab sample from your nose and throat, put it in the plastic container, and in the packaging, and then it's 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, are bookable again this evening. the health secretary, matt hancock, has set a target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. and that's tomorrow. hugh pym, bbc news. a senior white house health adviser has expressed optimism that an existing antiviral drug could help fight the coronavirus. dr anthony fauci said data from a clinical trial of remdesiveer showed it could reduce the recovery time in sufferers and that the drug showed great promise. the data shows that remdesiveer has a clear—cut significant positive effect in diminishing the time to recover. this is really quite important for a number of reasons. i'll give you the data. it is highly significant. if you look at the time to recovery being shorter,

it was 11 days compared to 15 days. that's a p value for the scientist listening of 0.00 one. so that's 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. the news from the us comes as the world's biggest study is taking place here in the uk, where thousands of patients are involved in the search for potential coronavirus treatments. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. 170 hospitals throughout the uk have been enrolled what would the world give for a cure for coronavirus? it hasn't turned hospital wards into alien landscapes. patients like

peter, who is 89, must rely on oxygen, the one thing known to help. that was day three, i was fighting for breath. i couldn't breathe. the toll on individuals and their families has been enormous. i feel at my —— ifelt has been enormous. i feel at my —— i felt at one point it would ta ke —— i felt at one point it would take me away. at my age, eve ryo ne take me away. at my age, everyone said it would. you are doing so well. peter is part of a national trial which is examining five drugs used for other conditions to see if they work for coronavirus. i'm just so work for coronavirus. i'm just so weak. untilthey work for coronavirus. i'm just so weak. until they get results, doctors have limited options. is extraordinarily difficult to watch a large numberof difficult to watch a large number of patients get so

incredibly unwell and know that we have no therapies it means there is an urgent health need to do research that we can understand what works and what doesn't. drugs for hiv and malaria are being tried to see if they can help stop the virus replicating in the body. 0ther patients are being given treatments to reduce inflammation and dampen the immune system, which can go haywire. jeff, who 60, has had cancer. he can't take off coronavirus after being infected six weeks ago. twice have been treated with chemo and twice i've had remissions. then william, you get this. he signed up for two clinical trials. what the point? they pump you with all sorts of

things not knowing what it is. it probably won't help me, but it might help the follow behind me. the first results of the trials could come as early as june. it will be here at the big data institutes in oxnard that the trial results will be analysed. in a little over a month, around 8000 patients from nearly 170 hospitals throughout the uk have been enrolled. and what is the biggest quit study in the world into covid—19 treatment. biggest quit study in the world into covid-19 treatment. we we re into covid-19 treatment. we were enrolling 400 patients a day. lessons have been learned from swine flu, when experimental treatments were not properly assessed. the best example is a 2009 pandemic where tens of thousands of patients were treated with drugs outside clinical trials. no results. we can afford to do that again. we need to know what works for covid—19 so i

think these trials are critically important. don't expect a cure, but even a treatment that is partially effective could save thousands of lives and pave the way for other better medicines. fergus walsh there. stay with us on bbc news, still to come... african—america ns have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. we'll look at how one community in georgia has been trying to stay safe.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines... the us economy slumps, and the worst is yet to come. spending nosedived in the last quarter as the coronavirus lockdown began. the number of coronavirus

deaths in the uk passes 26,000. for the first time, the figure includes deaths in care homes and the community as well as hospitals. let's get some on the state of the us economy. 0ur correspondent gary 0'donoghue is in washington. i asked him what we might expect from future quarters. but the next quarter and maybe the third could be even worse. when you look at the time period, which these numbers covered, really, things were only starting to shut down in march. so the expectation would be that once you see the second quarter, it's going to be an awful lot worse. the president and his economic advisers are hopeful, they say, that the third quarter will be great and the fourth quarter will be marvellous. so that's the kind of message

we're getting out of the white house in terms of the numbers on the economy. it's interesting looking at the drop in personal consumption. i thinkjust over seven and a half percent. health care a big drag as well because hospitals have stopped the elective procedures. president trump has mentioned that, hasn't he, in recent press conferences. is there gonna be a call for more cash, do you think, to be passed by congress? because they're already up to 3 trillion. yeah, i mean 3 trillion directly in a sense committed by congress. if you look at the total support that the fed and the treasury have given in terms of underwriting debt, you're looking at a total rescue package this government is underwriting of around $9 trillion. you get on towards 45% of us gdp at that kind of rate. but yes, there will be more pressure. particularly for another congressional fund. but

the difficulty at the moment is there is a sticking point. the democrats want the next round of funding to hand out money to states, particularly to places like new york and the republicans say they don't want to bail out the states, so there is no meeting of minds what the next package could look like. we've learned you can get negative oil prices. who knows? so the fed doesn't really have anywhere to move on this stage. frankly, the levers of macroeconomics are not really available any more at the moment to government and what they hope of course is with half of states now starting to loosen up and to draw up some of the restrictions, some people don't

like that, some people do, but with that happening, that might start to alleviate some of the drain on unemployment. as we know, 26 million people lost theirjobs in the four weeks up to this week. as the coronavirus outbreak sweeps across the us, it's killed black americans at a disproportionate rate. in albany, georgia, decades of poverty and economic inequality are threatening an entire generation of african americans. chelsea bailey reports. when america catches a cold, black america gets pneumonia. if this virus was an actual walking person, it would be a villain that picked the right place, the right time, and the right circumstances to just do utter devastation. across the us, predominantly—black communities like this rural county in georgia are bearing the brunt of the pandemic.

with more than 1400 infections and at least 100 deaths, the virus is nearly twice as deadly here compared to the national average. there are a lot of crucial elders in this world that feel that god don't love them... this really is a forgotten out—of—sight, out—of—mind part of town. people on this side of town don't have family doctors. so, days go by, they go to buy over—the—counter medication, they try to fix it themselves. well, by that time, the symptoms get worse. and so when you mix that covid—19 with high blood pressure, sugar diabetes, and all those health issues, it is like gas on a fire. as the coronavirus ravages the us, similar disparities have played out in other virus hotspots like new york, detroit, and chicago. decades of poverty, inequality,

and the lingering impact of racial discrimination have made african—americans particularly vulnerable. there are a lot of diseases that disproportionately affect the african—american community such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and other illnesses. and those illnesses are also things that we think are predisposing factors that people have in the worst outcome when it comes to coronavirus. i don't think it's a factor of the disease itself. i think it has more to do with other health disparities, and those socioeconomic disparities that make it more likely to happen in an african—american community here. you know, once we tally up the losses, look at the elders that we've lost, and there are people behind these numbers. we didn't ask for this to happen. we need to understand that if we're going to do anything,

we have to make this right, we have to make the african—american communities healthy and whole. let's get some of the day's other news. some emergency lockdown measures in cyprus will ease from monday. the construction sector will re—open, as will retailers and markets. an evening curfew will remain in place, but people will be allowed to leave their homes three times a day, up from once a day. switzerland is also announcing a loosening of its lockdown. shops, restaurants, bars and museums will be allowed to to re—open on the eleventh of may. but there'll be a limit of four people around restaurant tables with a distance of two metres between tables, and a ban on large gatherings

remains in place. borisjohnson boris johnson and his borisjohnson and his fiancee carrie symonds have received good wishes around the world following the birth of their baby boy. downing street says the prime minister won't be taking maternity leave at the moment as our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. champagne arrives at number ten after the birth of a baby boy for whom this will be home. there were whispers in westminster about the prime minister's whereabouts. then news confirmed just before 10:00am. no glimpse yet of carrie symonds or her first child, but a picture of borisjohnson, already known to have fathered five, on his return from their side. so, again, the foreign secretary played understudy in parliament. good morning. the labour leader on his way to not—quite prime minister's questions again. both mother and baby are doing well and i'm sure the whole house will want to join with me in sending congratulations and our very best wishes to them.

i think we all recognise the anxiety that the prime minister and carrie must have gone through in these past few weeks. unimaginable anxiety, and so i really hope this brings them incredible relief and joy. such happy news amid such uncertainty. 2020 is certainly a year they will never forget. with the most grave reasons to remember, a year more dangerous and dramatic than the most outlandish political fiction. thank you, thanks all. trying to run the government's response to a serious health and economic emergency... i must continue in self—isolation. .. ..then the prime minister confined to intensive care, his own health touch—and—go. back at work now, with plenty of well wishes for his family news, but facing as a government the most agonising and important decisions of its time in charge. the government itself, the public, schools, businesses, trade unions, need to plan ahead. and they are saying that loudly and clearly.

the prime minister said on monday that he wanted maximum transparency. well, will the first secretary give us some now and tell us when the government will publish an exit strategy? but with the government's scientific committee, sage, closely monitoring the situation, ministers are reluctant to give more clues. it would be very difficult for us to responsibly set out those proposals before we've had that subsequent advice from sage, both on the rate of infection, the death rate. we can't be pulled into making proposals in advance without sage on board. but after gathering his ministers tomorrow, it's likely the prime minister will inch towards what might be next. not with an encyclopaedic exit strategy, but with a gauge perhaps of how we might start to tiptoe our way out of this moment. those in charge have been scrambling to keep up with the pace of the virus, yet the journey out of this crisis will be anything but quick. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster.

full coverage on bbc news about first press conference by the prime minister, boris johnson. bye— bye. hello. it was not so much a case of april showers on wednesday. this was the scene for a time across birmingham but give it a wee bit of time and eventually that rain cleared away and out came the sun. the reason is we have two weather fronts to contend with and thursday again a mishmash of weather, low pressure very much the dominant feature. the isobars squeezing together on its southern flank. it will not be a particularly cold start today given all the breeze and cloud as well but for some it may well be a wet one. just pushing wednesday's rain away from the north of england up into central and southern parts of scotland. there will be showers across wales and south—west england, these will rush their way further east as we get

on through the afternoon, may be the odd rumble of thunder and those winds too noticeable through the channel areas. 40—45 mph or so in the highest of the gust. the best of the brightness in northern ireland perhaps towards the west later in the day. stuck underneath the cloud, the eastern side of scotland, nine only, a high of about 13 or 14. those showers keep going for those eastern areas during the course of the evening. gradually filtering away as the low pressure tries to move its centre of gravity out into the north sea. it is still the dominant influence across the northern half of the british isles and in the afternoon again, we will see heavy downpours towards the eastern side of the pennines. perhaps the driest of the weather towards the south and west. where we could see a high of 15 or 16. that low pressure still dominant as we take you out of friday and move into the first part of the weekend. you get the sense that it is drifting a little bit further towards the east.

and that allows us to pick up a north and north—westerly wind. it is the northern areas fully exposed to that wind that will probably see the bulk of the showers. elsewhere, saturday is shaping up to be a pretty reasonable day. quite a lot of sunshine around and the temperatures responding as a consequence — a high on the day of about 16 or 17. but it does not last. some uncertainty about sunday. it could well be that the rain i am showing you here working its way into the south moves a little bit further north. we will keep you posted on that one. take care, bye—bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines. the coronavirus pandemic has driven the us economy into its most severe contraction for more than a decade. it shrank at a rate of nearly 5% in the first three months of 2020. the head of the us central bank has warned there'll be further economic pain ahead. the uk death toll from coronavirus deaths has passed 26,000. for the first time, the official toll counted all deaths linked to the virus — including those in care homes. the new method shows that the pandemic claimed nearly 4,000 more lives than were being recorded previously. the white house health adviser, dr anthony fauci, has expressed optimism about an experimental antiviral drug for treating coronavirus. he said trial data showed that remdesivir had a clear—cut and positive effect in reducing recovery time.