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 has passed 26,000. for the first time, the official figures 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 advisor, dr anthony fauci, has expressed optimism about an experimental anti—viral drug for treating coronavirus. he said trial data showed that remdesivir had a clear—cut and positive effect in reducing recovery time, anyone with suspected symptoms

of cancer is being urgently advised to contact a doctor. the official advice follows a significant fall in urgent referrals in recent weeks. special surgical hubs are now being set up in 21 areas of england to carry out urgent cancer operations, as our health correspondent lauren moss reports. this operation is one of thousands being performed at new cancer hubs across the country. for patients like rod pletheroe, who has cancer of the jaw, it means urgent surgery can take place in a hospital that's free of coronavirus. i took that chance straightaway, because it's a covid—free area. cancer isn't a disease that waits for you, it's progressive. rod's being cared for at queen victoria hospital in west sussex, one of 19 regional centres in england. how are you this morning? i'm fine, thank you. to keep it clear of covid, consultations are done via video call. patients are prioritised, they isolate for a week,

our patients need to have that assurance. if they're coming in to have surgery with us and they've already got a cancer diagnosis, they're already at risk. so, they need to know that we've absolutely minimised the risk of coronavirus in this site. and have you had a new persistent cough lately? no, i haven't. before we were allowed on—site, we were screened, had our temperatures checked and put on masks. the importance of continuing cancer ca re‘s been highlighted in a study by the university college london, which suggests delays could contribute to 18,000 additional deaths. cancer patients aren't being treated in their favour because of the lack of capacity within the nhs. if there's a delay, there will be a significant downward effect on those patients‘ outcomes. diagnosis is also key. fewer people are visiting doctors, but certain tests also aren't being done. many diagnostic pathways are not open at the minute. some investigations are not available because

they're unsafe to do. so, gps can't get our patients to have those procedures done at the minute, for good reasons. there's been a 70% reduction in cancer referrals since the start of the outbreak, and there's real concern that people aren't seeking help. covid—free surgical hubs like this could be used as a model for other procedures, as the nhs reminds the public it's very much open for business. how are you feeling now? similar covid—free systems are up and running elsewhere in the uk, and there are plans to reopen other parts of the nhs over the next six weeks. separating patients and treatment in this way may become the blueprint for the foreseeable future. lauren moss, bbc news. now on bbc news: deforestation has skyrocketed in colombia since the peace deal of 2016. our world joins a team of scientists from the royal botanic gardens. in the forests of colombia, nature is under attack. since the civil war ended in 2016,

deforestation has skyrocketed. i'm frank gardner and i am heading into what remains of the virgin tropical rainforest. i traded in my wheelchair for a packhorse and am tested to my limits. i don't think i can do this. i think this is too dangerous. i am joining a crack team of scientists from the royal botanic gardens, kew. they are on a mission to discover and save unique plant species before they vanish forever. i am going to bear witness on the frontline of rainforest conservation.

this is where the journey begins — not in colombia, but in the royal botanic gardens, kew, london. kew is the world leader in developing plant science. the botanists are preparing for their mission to discover new species. and it is from here that this expedition will be launched. i have come here to see the expedition leader, doctor mauricio de bernardos. he works in a library for lab specimens. this is where we identify new plants. we believe we have more than 200,000

different species here. you are a botanist and a biologist. and a scientist and an explorer in some sense. what are you expecting to get from this mission? the most remote areas are the best preserved and this is going to be our most important expedition. we're going to try to get into the of this area. we're going to try to get into the heart of this area. we do not know what we expect to find. what is at stake with this whole trip that we're doing? why is this so important? we are in a race against time to protect this biodiversity from disappearing. we have rapid deforestation. we see how we are losing this forest very quickly and ourjob is to get an understanding about the diversity of these resources as well as their importance.

in 2016, the colombian government signed a peace deal with the farc rebels. for more than half a century, civil war actually slowed the pace of deforestation. but now remote tracts of land have opened up. farmers, loggers, and miners are scrambling for resources. colombia is now reportedly losing 3,000 square kilometres of forest every year. we are travelling to an area famous for its emerald mines, western boyaca. this is a bittersweet journey for me. this could be the last time that i could see this forest. if i come back in ten years, this forest could be gone. colombia is still an eden. it's the second most biodiverse country in the world, after brazil.

i may be the bbc‘s security correspondent, but my passion is for nature. you know, just look around you. there's incredible scenery. it is such a privilege to be here. i love being surrounded by the sounds and smells of nature. nature has always been something of an antidote to myjob as a security correspondent. in 2004, i was shot and partly paralysed while on the job. i won't deny, i have a certain trepidation about the trip itself because everybody else is walking. i will need to do this on horseback or i will not make it. the team assemble at the edge of the rainforest in las quinchas.

it's going to be a beautiful day. yes, it is going to be a beautiful day. this is the first time this area will be explored by scientists. for so many years, conflict and criminality made this area inaccessible to outsiders. if you see a snake, everybody please freeze, don't move. we are going to carry radios at all times. you, actually, frank, you'll have a radio. so this is going to be your radio. i'm going to be quite busy trying to control the horse. well, yes, maybe we can put this on the horse so you can have something that you can... the horse can do the radio. there is a bit of a risk here. my legs are like

honeycomb, the bones. i cannot afford to fall off and break things. at the beginning of the track is a steep descent. the botanists hope to find new species deep inside the forest. but i am unable to hold on with my legs. guys, i don't think i can do this. i'm going to fall off. i think this is just too dangerous. i mean, it breaks my heart, ijust... i think you will have to carry on without me. but the local guides come up with an idea. well done. 0k. i am so thrilled that

despite my injuries, thanks to the endurance and kindness of these guys, i am able to see this amazing scenery. primary forests are the most bio—diverse terrestrial ecosystems anywhere on the planet. forests are not only vital in mitigating climate change, the botanists hope to find plants with untold potential. they get to work collecting specimens. we don't know what it is. it could be a philodendron. beautiful. one of the local guides believes that he has chanced

on something extraordinary. this, we actually don't know exactly what it is. it could be something new. we are the first botanists collecting in this area. so basically every single collection is a new report for science in this area. the scientists will take the cuttings to the laboratory for further examination, in kew. beyond the fact that it is scientifically interesting,

what does it mean to find new species like this in a remote forest? in a country like this, unusually biodiverse, we still do not know how many species are out there. we are estimating in colombia we have about 30,000 species, but still probably 6,000 new species to be discovered. so you think that there are new species out here in these forests that could actually vanish before they are even discovered? yes, absolutely. and we still don't know the uses of many species. some of the species could have the properties to cure important diseases for humans. and so as biologists, as botanists, we need to understand as much as possible as quick as possible of this amazing biodiversity. this is like a supermarket, or a pharmacy, and we don't know it, we don't appreciate the forest. our quality of life relies on the preservation of these environments. in the fight to save the forests, the colombian government has extended its protection

to millions of acres of land. the army launched operacion artemisa in 2019 to combat illegal logging. colonel hermida has a thousand troops deployed in the area. what effect has this had on deforestation here?

but this can't really apply to the whole of colombia because deforestation is continuing throughout the country. even here, they are still doing it. this region, colonel, seems very secure, very peaceful but of course in the past, it wasn't like that. do you worry that if they don't find proper alternatives for people to make a living, that this region will go back to conflict?

under colombian law, illegal deforestation carries a sentence of up to 12 years in prison. but in remote places, the law is hard to enforce. illegal loggers are still at work in these forests.

the loggers say they have bills to pay. they've chosen their target — an 80—year—old rosewood tree. chainsaw revs

this fallen giant will make the loggers $300. these valleys are populated by miners and loggers. in the town of otanche, members of the community have been invited to a workshop

organised by the authorities. they hope ecotourism will be the silver bullet, providing an income for the community while saving the forest. the botanists from kew have been invited to make their case. the fact that there is such

a good turnout here, better than expected, shows there is a lot of interest in alternatives to cutting down the forest. but the question is, is it going to give people enough of a livelihood, and that's a big question. the colonel has turned up. sitting next to him is edemildo, who's been a logger all his life. now, though, he is looking for new opportunities.

lidia is one of the pioneers of ecotourism. she set up a butterfly sanctuary to try and entice tourists into the region. it is a natural destination for tourism but there is no infrastructure for it at all. it's going to take years, isn't it, and by then, the forest will be almost gone? are you optimistic or pessimistic? are you going to win this fight to save colombia's natural heritage?

for future generations and the environment, time is running out. the need for a solution is urgent. i'm back on the horse on another field trip with the botanists. this time, on more even ground. oh, my god. it's like... this is incredible. of all the wild, remote places i've been to in the wild, i think this is got to be right up there near the top and as a disabled person, as somebody who can't walk, who has to use of wheelchair, it's amazingly liberating that here amongst all this flora and fauna, there are these beautiful

butterflies and rare plants, it's this amazing biodiversity. the scientists from kew remain hopeful of finding hidden treasures before it's too late. there are things i've never seen before. i have no idea what genus it belongs to. the thing about plants, they can be rare and special. they all look the same but it's when you go back and start comparing them with others you found out how important they are. mauricio, do you think you can persuade people to stop cutting down the forest soon enough before the forest is gone? that's very hard to say. that's our hope and that's our mission. that's why we are here. i believe that we can make a change. we just have to do our best to protect the best of this biodiversity.

jennifer is a local botanist. she's exploring new areas of her country for the first time. how optimistic or pessimistic are you that you and others like you, who care about nature, who care about biodiversity, that you can save this forest? it's great that you're optimistic but the reality is, the area of forest is getting smaller every year.

colombia today is a post—conflict nation, but it faces a new battle to protect its natural resources. the biodiversity contained in these forests could prove to be its most precious commodity of all.

hello. it wasn't 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 for it all? well, we had not one but two weather fronts to contend with. and thursday again is a real mishmash of weather, low pressure very much the dominant feature, the isobars squeezing together on its southern flank. so, it isn't going to be a particularly cold start given all the breeze and the cloud as well, but for some it may be a wet one. we're just pushing wednesday's rain if you you like, away from the north of england up into central and southern parts of scotland. right from the word go, there are showers to be had across wales and the south—west of england. these will rush their way ever further towards the east as we get on through the afternoon. we may even hear the odd rumble of thunder and those winds too, quite noticeable through the channel areas, 40—115 miles

an hour or so in the highest of the gusts. for northern ireland, the best and the brightest perhaps later in the day, out towards the west. stuck underneath the cloud, the eastern side of scotland, nine only, a high in the day of about 13 or 1a. 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. but it's still the dominant influence across the northern half of the british isles. and come the afternoon again, i think we'll see some pretty heavy downpours towards the eastern side of the pennines. perhaps the driest of the weather further towards the south and west where we could well see a high in the day of 15 or 16. that low pressure is still the dominant feature as i take you out friday and move you into the first part of the weekend. but you just get the sense that it is drifting a little bit further towards the east and out allows us to start picking up the north and north—westerly wind.

so the northern areas fully exposed to that wind, we will probably see the bulk of the showers there. 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 in the day of about 16 or 17. but it doesn't last. now, there is some uncertainty about sunday, it could well be the rain i'm showing you here working its way into the south actually moves a little bit further north. we will keep you posted on that one. take care, bye—bye.

a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name's i'm mike embley. our top stories: the us economy slumps and worse is still to come. spending nosedived in the last quarter, as the 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 wider community. hope for a treatment — one of the most senior health advisers in the us says there's "clear—cut" evidence an antiviral 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.