this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world: president trump says china will be held accountable for the pandemic as soon as us intelligence reports confirm what went wrong. they could have stopped it. they could have stopped it. they are a very... borisjohnson says the uk is finally past the peak of the coronavirus outbreak but warns against lifting the lock down too soon. we can now see the sunlight on the pasture ahead of us and so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slope into

a second and even bigger mountain. as three million australians sign up to contact tracing — we'll look at the pros and cons of apps that warn if you come into contact with an infected person. also in the programme: he saw them fly in anger, now, on his 100th birthday, honorary colonel tom saw them fly in celebration. hello. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the pandemic is continuing to have a dramatic impact on the world's health and economic prospects. worldwide there have now been over 230,000 coronavirus deaths, and over 3.2 million infections. the us intelligence community has advised the government

that the covid—19 virus was not man made or genetically modified. they say they're still investigating whether the outbreak began from animal contact or a laboratory accident. the uk recorded another 674 deaths in the past 2a hours, taking the total number in care homes and hospitals to 26,771 — the third highest in europe. the prime minister wouldn't give a date for the country's lockdown to end or be eased, but did say there'd be a "menu of options" next week. and the reduced demands for energy caused by the pandemic will lead to a decline of almost 8% in co2 emissions, which would be the largest decrease ever recorded. first let's hear from president trump's briefing. and then we signed a trade deal where they're supposed to buy and they have been buying a lot, actually, but that now becomes secondary with what took place to virus.

the virus situation is just not acceptable. and it's not acceptable what happened. it came out of china, and it's not acceptable what happened. and now what we're doing, jim, is we are finding out how it came out. different forms, you know, you've heard different things, you've heard three or four different concepts as to how it came out. we should have the answer to that in the not—too—distant future and that will determine a lot how i feel about china. let's speak to our north america correspondent, david willis. donald trump, let's get to the bottom of what he said, clearly targeting china but what did he say in relation to these laboratories? he says he has seen evidence, intelligent estimates that this virus may have originated in that wuhan laboratory, the wuhan institute of virology. president trump

said he had a high degree of confidence, as he put it, that that had been the origin of coronavirus but it would not be drawn on precise detail of that. he said the virus could either have spilt out accidentally or the chinese may have been content to allow it to slip out and spread. us intelligence earlier issued a statement today that they had concluded this was not a genetically modified or man—made virus is therefore ruling out that it was a potential biological weapon but those same intelligence officials have not ruled out the possibility that it could indeed have originated in a laboratory such as the wuhan institute for virology stop president trump is that if that is found to be the case, china was negligent and they could be consequences, possibly anything form of sanctions but the

chinese are very vigorously denying suggestions that this originated in the laboratory. is this a conscious pivot from donald trump? does he want to maintain focus on china? very much so, he is desperate to pin the blame on this on the chinese and, indeed, in the last few days he has had some pushback from the chinese who have said that he basically wasted time in not tackling it after the first outbreak hear anything united states, he wasted time during the month of february but president trump has raised questions about the death toll in wuhan, he has backed the secretary of state mike pompeo who has called for independent experts to go into that laboratory in wuhan and he has even made the suggestion that the spread of the coronavirus could have been politically motivated stop is

at the chinese would do anything they could to stop him from winning the november election. they would prefer sleeping jack, a reference to his democratic rivaljoe biden, because he would be much less tough on tariffs on the chinese. thank u. the british prime minister, borisjohnson has said that the uk has passed the peak of the coronavirus outbreak. but those hoping for an early easing of a nationwide lockdown will have been disappointed. mrjohnson was speaking at his first downing street daily briefing since recovering from covid—i9, and returning to work at the beginning of the week. 0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg, reports. 0ur doors have been closed for 38 days. in city, country, life hidden away, our streets fell silent. behind this door now, decisions must be taken about what's next, with perhaps the worst behind us. good afternoon. i can confirm today that

for the first time we are past the peak of this disease. we're past the peak and we're on the downward slope. but on his own return to these now routine press appearances, the prime minister was plain there was no easy or quick way out. we've come under what could have been a vast peak, as though we've been going through some huge alpine tunnel and we can now see the sunlight and the pasture ahead of us. and so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain. he'll set out an exit route, but next week, and it won't happen fast, guided by the crucial r infection rate, how quickly the disease passes from person to person. it's gone down but must stay below one to control the infection. keeping the r down is going to be absolutely vital

to our recovery. keeping the reproduction rate of the disease down. and we can only do it by our collective discipline and working together. like the prime minister himself, debbie clifford in cheltenham struggled with the virus in intensive care. she feared she'd lose her life. i can't tell you how i feel about the loss of, well, friends, the four people who died on my ward the day i got well, the fact i had to mentally say goodbye to people that i potentially thought i'd never see again. the lockdown can't stop. there's been huge suffering to people's health, but also to the country's wealth, many people are worried about making ends meet. by continuing with lockdown, are you telling the public that the economy just has to wait? we mourn for every life lost, and we mourn for the economic damage as well that the country

is sustaining, and the dreams that people are seeing shattered in their businesses, their anxieties about theirjobs. we totally understand that. if we're to bounce back as strongly as i think we can, that we don't have a second bout of this, a second bad spike, because that would really do the economic damage. there was a promise, though, of a plan next week, and a hint of how a new normal might look. face coverings will be useful, both for epidemiological reasons but also for giving people confidence that they can go back to work. some jobs, though, have already gone for good. billy hunt lost his plumbing job on tuesday. he's looking for work now in bury st edmunds where he lives, to support his partner and little girl. this past month, i've been furloughed, and then made redundant.

the position that this has put me in has made me feel completely worthless. it's made me worry about every little thing, where i'm going to get money from. i really don't have any avenues to turn down, in that sense. i don't really know what to do, to be honest. economic distress is one of the reasons why the opposition is pushing for answers. well, up until now the government's reply to me has been, "we're not going to produce a plan", so i am glad they have changed their mind. i'm glad our challenge has borne fruit. we will see a plan. we'll look at it in good faith next week to see what the plan is and have discussions with the government. lockdown‘s already changed so many lives. andy gower in milton keynes has three kids... i'll sit next to you, princess. ..and stage three cancer. his treatment is on hold, although the nhs is meant to be opening up. coronavirus has taken away the resources, and if i don't get the operation, it means that i might die.

i don't see why the nhs saving my life is less important than somebody with coronavirus. the rate of infection may be fading for now, but a disease that emerged thousands of miles away is, in one way or another, for each of us, already close to home. let's get some of the day's other news: health officials in new york have launched an investigation after police discovered dozens of decomposing bodies in rented trucks outside a funeral parlour. the mayor of new york city, bill de blasio, said the treatment of the dead was absolutely unacceptable. the eurozone's economy shrank at its fastest pace on record in the first quarter, due to the covid—i9 outbreak. gdp contracted 3.8% from january to march. that's even worse than during the financial crisis. separate data showed a steep

fall in economic activity in france and spain over the same period. amazon says its profits for the first three months of this year plunged by 29% compared to 2019, despite a surge in revenue. while more people have turned to online shopping and entertainment during the pandemic, the company says it is spending more on hiring, wages and safety measures for employees. us airline delta says it will require passengers to wear face coverings on us flights from monday. young children will be exempted. other major airlines like united and american are providing masks to travellers, but not requiring their use. although governments around the world will ease their lockdowns in different ways, they'll all have the same objective: returning to some sense of normality, while keeping transmission rates low. one key measure is what's called the r—number, which is a way of working out how many people might be infected by one person carrying the disease. here's our science editor david shukman.

what is called the r—number is a way of measuring how easily the virus spreads. if the rate is one, that means anyone infected is only passing it to one another so things are stable. but get to a rate of two and people infected are passing it to two othere. are passing it to two others. so the outbreak accelerates and that's what potentially could overwhelm the nhs. get to a rate of three, and things are even worse, it is what we had about a month ago and only drastic action of the kind we are seeing now could bring it under control. right now it's estimated the rate is between 0.6 and 0.9 crucially below the line of one person infecting only one other. it is thought that reopening schools could possibly at about 0.2, although no one can be sure. allowing for public gatherings again might add 0.5. that would take us above the line of one. and scientists reckon that relaxing the lockdown entirely would add two to the rate, taking us back to the worst

of the outbreak which is why it is likely that will only happen in careful stages. estimates for the r—number are based on people needing hospital treatment. so they are not exact and the infection rate varies across the uk. one of the government's own advisers says the r—number is not the whole story. it oversimplifies matters. the problem is the message could be well every thing is under control is get back to normal. it's not like that for stuff you can still have a problem in newcastle and liverpool and that problem would be quite severe. with so much about the virus uncertain, every government is being cautious. germany has about small shops being open but the authorities are watching to see if that raises the infection rate. they will review the measures next week. and all the time, there is the risk of unexpected spikes in infections. singapore is rushing to create 4000 more hospital beds tackling the virus means remaining constantly on the lookout.

david shukman, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: an raf fly past for colonel tom — fundraiser extraordinaire — who's a hundred years old today. 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. the latest headlines: president trump says china will be held accountable for the pandemic as soon as us intelligence reports confirm what went wrong. and britain's prime minister, borisjohnson, says the country is past the peak of the coronavirus but it's too soon to lift the lockdown. many countries are relying on contact tracing apps as a key part of their plan

to ease lockdowns and gradually return to normal. the technology tracks a user's location and alerts them if they've come into contact with an infected person. the australian government is telling residents that downloading its tracing app is the ticket out of lockdown — so far almost 3 million people have done so. james crabtree is an associate professor in practice at the national university of singapore's lee kuan yew school of public policy. thank you very much for being with us. so, you are not as convinced by theirs. you think there are limitations to these apps? i think they are often seen as apps? i think they are often seen as some kind of magic bullet, that and app on your phone is going to get us out of the problem of how you test and track outbreaks of coronavirus. there are many problems with them. the first of which is it is difficult to get people to adopt them. in singapore,

no—one has managed to get more than two out of ten people to adopt these apps, that is not enough according to most experts. if people do download them, though, what other problems then? well, there is a trade—off between privacy and effectiveness. there are various different models, some are very good at protecting privacy, like the one google and apple are developing but they unfortunately may be less useful for public health authorities. 0ne useful for public health authorities. one is that a more useful to public health authorities could come with privacy risks. so there is a conflict model, tracking and tracing people but also protecting their privacy. but what about countries like south korea? look at the success it has had. south korea would be a great example of a country that has gone all the way on the utility side but hasn't done much to protect data from

mobile phone networks. they don't have much in the way of privacy protections. a country like america which has privacy protection rights and groups would find the south korean approach on acceptable —— unacceptable. parking the privacy and take up of people downloading the app, what about the apps effectiveness? downloading the app, what about the app's effectiveness? these can be problems, too. there is a big problem and what they call false positives, this works on lou to commit the same system that would connect an iphone to a pair of wireless headphones. that system won't be able to tell if there are two apps away, whether one is on the other side of a while, a plan of glass, or whether the other person is wearing gloves and a mask. so people may get m essa 9 es and a mask. so people may get messages that they have been in contact with people with coronavirus who actually

haven't had it, that can damage trust in the way these work. i do think apps are part of the solution, part of the toolkit to get us out of this crisis, just not the only solution. there are many things like social isolating and testing that help us more. thank you very much for your time, james crabtree. thank you. british airways has told staff that its operation at london's gatwick airport — which is currently suspended — may not reopen once the coronavirus pandemic has passed. the airline also warned that a quarter of its 4,300 pilots are set to lose theirjobs. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge reports. it's become simply a place to park its planes. but british airways says it might abandon its entire operation at gatwick airport even when travel restrictions lift. the airline wants to cut 28% of its workforce, but it faces a long, bitter and complex negotiation with the unions.

it's a disgrace, it's a stab in the back for loyal staff who, incidentally, have been responsible for making massive profits for the company — £3 billion last year, the same before, the same before that year. it's a massively financially strong company. our members have flown all over the world in order to bring people back, risking their own lives, and this is how they're treated. the british public will be astounded. but the scene at bournemouth airport this week — bizarre and bleak. british airways says drastic measures are needed now because it predicts passenger numbers won't return to pre—pandemic levels for at least several years. and so we might not see this again at gatwick when this is all over. holiday travel is expected to recover more quickly, so the idea that ba might merge tourism flights from gatwick into a single hub here

at heathrow indicates how hard the long—term hit to business travel at this airport could be. the effect of british airways pulling out of gatwick could be quite devastating in terms of the number of flights unless it's replaced by another major airline, say, eastjet moving out of its luton base and taking up the vacuum that's treated there. large job losses would always invoke an angry response, but at a time when the economy's been turned on its head, it's been met with the level of vitriol rarely seen. tom burridge, bbc news, at heathrow. just a few weeks ago captain tom moore was unknown — now he's a national hero, a one—man fundraising machine as prince william described him. his simple goal was to walk a hundred laps of his garden to raise money for nhs

charities before his 100th birthday — which was on thursday. well, he's made it many, many times over — the fund stands at more than £30 million. the tributes have been pouring in, as you can imagine. david sillito reports. # happy birthday to you! # happy birthday, captain tom, daddy, grandpa # happy birthday to you #. cheering i never, ever anticipated, ever in my life, anything like this. it really is amazing and i want to say to everyone thank you very much to everyone, wherever you are. captain tom moore. it began as a little challenge in his back garden. 100 laps to try to raise £1,000 for nhs charities. and today, he was being honoured with an raf birthday flypast as the total reached £30 million. this is the culmination

of an extraordinary few weeks and also a celebration ofjust how one man's cheerful determination has inspired people and... ..raised a huge amount of money. and these birthday celebrations go far and wide. jersey, tamworth, and downing street. captain tom, i know i speak for the whole country when i say we wish you a very happy 100th birthday. but the most startling sight is this, captain tom's birthday cards. 140,000 of them. very emotional. it's amazing. i'm really proud because i've known my granddad all my life, lived with him all my life and he's always been there for us. he's made us think you can be whatever you can be. and there was more, captain tom

is now an honorary colonel. there was also today a letter from the queen and the congratulations and birthday greetings from around the world continue to arrive. it was quite a day for captain tom. i'm absolutely delighted with all the people like you who have come to wish me a happy birthday. it really is absolutely awesome, the amount of people who have been so kind to make those remarks. thank you all very much. david sillito, bbc news, marston moretaine. congratulations, captain tom. now, residents in illinois must cover their faces now, residents in illinois must cover theirfaces in now, residents in illinois must cover their faces in public spaces when social distancing is not possible, and they are encouraged to observe safety measures. iconic landmarks in chicago have been fitted with face masks. the lions are covered with peace if they ——

the chicago flag, as well as the chicago flag, as well as the picasso. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. this is bbc news. bye—bye. hello there. well, we may have had to wait for the end of april, but yesterday's storms we re april, but yesterday's storms were quite impressive. the radar picture showsjust were quite impressive. the radar picture shows just how widespread those showers were, nowhere immune from seeing downpours throughout the day. but some of the showers were particularly impressive. this cloud is the sign of some very active convection in wheelchair. and further north in scotland we had this final cloud dropping from storm clouds. 0ver cloud dropping from storm clouds. over the next few hours there are still a few showers not at around northern england, wales, northern ireland and northern scotland, too. it's not too cold for most of us.

temperatures around 4— seven celsius. low pressure in charge of our weather as we head into friday and it's another day where nowhere is immune from seeing a shower or two. there will be some further showers driven along by a fairly brisk wind here but the heaviest showers throughout the day will be across northern ireland, into northern scotland and england. in these areas you are most likely to see some flashes of lightning, rumbles of thunder and a bit of hail mixed in. there will be some sunshine around but some of the showers across the uk will be slow—moving, so, some fairly lengthy downpours as well. this weekend the winds will tend to fall lighter but there will still be some showers around across the north and east. some sunshine but it will be quite cloudy at times, too. on saturday we started with some morning sunshine but clouds will develop and it will turn quite cloudy towards the middle pa rt quite cloudy towards the middle part of the day in early afternoon. there will be some showers around northern and eastern scotland, i'm running

into parts of northern and east england as well. temperatures, looking at highs of 14— 17 celsius. we start again fine on sunday but cloud builds across the sky into the early part of the sky into the early part of the afternoon and there are still some showers to come, particularly across northern and eastern scotland again coming into parts of north—east england. temperatures very similarto england. temperatures very similar to most of us, highs between 14— 17 celsius, so it will be relatively mild. now, the forecast into next week, the forecast into next week, the other is going to settle down more. some more sunshine and temperatures rising a few degrees as well.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump says china will be held accountable for the pandemic as soon as us intelligence reports confirm what went wrong. agencies have concluded that the covid—19 virus was not manmade. they're still examining if its spread was due to a possible accident at a chinese laboratory. britain's prime minister says the uk has passed the peak of the outbreak. speaking at his first briefing since recovering from covid—19, borisjohnson warned it was too soon to lift the lockdown. he said he would set out a "comprehensive plan" next week, for eventually easing restrictions. the eurozone's economy shrank at its fastest pace on record in the first quarter, due to the covid—19 outbreak. gdp contracted 3.8% from january to march. that's even worse than during the financial crisis.