welcome to 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 are a very brilliant nation, scientifically and otherwise. it got loose, let's say, and they could have kept it, they could have stopped it, but they didn't. 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 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. coping with a pandemic in the middle of a war — yemen's health workers fear a major outbreak is imminent. and, 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 contining to have a dramtic impact on the world's health and economic prospects. worldwide there have now been 230,000 coronavirus deaths, and over 3.2 million infections. 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. borisjohnson 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. 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 the origins of the virus. and the reduced demands for energy caused by the pandemic will lead to a decline of almost 8% in co2 emissions — the largest decrease ever recorded. those are the the main developments. this is what president trump had to say about china, a little earlier. 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 to what took place with the 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. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, has more on president trump's suggestion that the virus may have originated in a laboratory in wuhan. he says he has seen evidence, as he put it, 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 the coronavirus but he would not be drawn on precise details of that. he said that the virus could either have spilled out accidentally or the chinese may have been

content to allow it to slip out and spread. us intelligence, of course, earlier today issued a statement saying that they had concluded this was not genetically modified or man—made, the virus, 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, president trump has said that, if that is found to be the case and that china was negligent in this regard, then there would be consequences, possibly they could be in the form of sanctions but the chinese are very vigorously denying suggestions that this originated in the lab. 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—19. 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 very, very 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, a plummer, lost his 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. laura kuenssberg there. yemen has recorded

its first two deaths linked to coronavirus, raising fears of a devastating outbreak in the war—ravaged country. according to local media, the victims were brothers who died in the same hospital in the separtist controlled port of aden. the un has warned there's a high chance other cases are circulating undetected. freya cole reports. silence in the centre of aden. the southern port city has been put in lockdown after the first reported deaths of covid—i9. markets are closed, the streets are near deserted and residents fear the worst. translation: there is no state, no legitimate government, there is nobody you can seek help from. if the epidemic sprints you, we will die. the curfew and forced by the southern transitional council, a separatist group

which claimed power of the city last weekend. at major checkpoints, soldiers have been telling residents to wear face masks but aid agencies fear yemen is on the brink of catastrophe. after six years of civil war, 20 million yemenis do not have access to healthcare, famine do not have access to healthca re, famine is do not have access to healthcare, famine is rife and hospitals are ill—equipped to deal with a full—blown pandemic. in the capital city, sanaa, the streets are being disinfected. the un has warned there is a high chance the virus is circulated in crowded areas undetected but the rebel who think movement which controls the city say cases have returned negative. houthi.

translation: we are calling to ta ke translation: we are calling to take preventative measures and to stop gathering in public markets and attending friday prayers during his exceptional circumstances. meanwhile, the united nations has called for the coalition ceasefire to resume ina the coalition ceasefire to resume in a desperate attempt for unity. freya cole, bbc news. there is a simple number that help us with the covid—i9, our science editor explains. 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. so the outbreak accelerates and that's what potentially can 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 its 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 add 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 it is less than i 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 could be quite severe. with so much about the virus uncertain, every government is being cautious. germany has about small shops to reopen 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. 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. britain's prime minister, borisjohnson, says the country is past the peak of the coronavirus, but it's too soon to lift the lockdown. the european union has denied bowing to chinese pressure to water down a report on coronavirus disinformation. the report was published on the eu's monitoring website last weekend and refers to "significant evidence of covert chinese operations

on social media". but the new york times is reporting that an earlier draft was much tougher, and referred to china running a "global disinformation campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak". there are also reports that beijing complained three times to the european union about the text, but the eu insists it did not bow to any kind of external pressure. earlier i spoke to victor gao, vice president of the center for china and globalisation, a think—tank in beijing. i asked if he believed the text had been changed. first of all, the changing in the text of any document should be expected to be normal, logical, especially in light of a fast changing circumstances. i think the world does need to know the truth, but you cannot impose truth by one country onto another country. and, as for the origin of the virus, of course scientists and

virologists of all the countries are doing a lot of work, and eventually i think mankind will have a much bigger, a much we are a picture as to what exactly happened. —— clearer picture, in this difficult time, to impose a country's version of the truth onto the world is wrong. i think we need to allow the state of california and the state of california and the state of california and the state of new york to do their process to complete their autopsies, because they have discovered and realised some of the deaths originally diagnosed as deaths caused by flu, were actually caused by covid—i9. and... i haven't seen any evidence of that. we will leave that to one side for the moment, because what we want to talk about is this covert chinese operations on the shore media, that was in the watered—down version of the text, the allegations from the

new york times. what about that? do you think there were covert operations on social media from china? the covid-19 pandemic, i personally believe there is no skeleton in the chinese closet, china has been very transparent from very beginning, notifying who as early as december 31, 2019. and ever since then, china has been in co nsta nt ever since then, china has been in constant contact with the wto. china invited a wto delegation, which included members from the united states. they visited china, visited wuhan, and such dialogues should play a very important role in alerting the rest of the world about the danger of this outbreak. so... victor gao, no—one is squabbling with those dates, that level of transparency certainly did take place, but we still don't know

what the origin is? and donald trump today says he has seen evidence that it came from this laboratory in wuhan? talking about the wuhan laboratory, that was a china — france joint—venture to start with. and for many years that will hunt laboratory had very good cooperation with counterparts in the united states, including doctor fauci's led, it's called the united states national institute, niaid, basically. and i think there cooperation lasted all the way until very recently, that's a fact. and the china cdc had, doctor gao, talks to doctor redfield, the head of the us cdc, all the time since the beginning of this year. but do you think there is any evidence that will emerge that donald trump seems

to be suggesting that he has seen evidence that this virus did emerge from this lab? no. i think president donald trump probably is blaming anything, anyone, any country, that you can think of is that blame could help save his presidential election. let's focus on what donald trump is really u p focus on what donald trump is really up to. that is his political game, the litter sizing intelligence, politicising science —— politicising science —— politicising intelligence, litter sizing science work should be avoided. president trump was asking people to drink disinfectant security coronavirus. does anyone really wa nt to coronavirus. does anyone really want to try that? does anyone really wa nt want to try that? does anyone really want to put his or her family members we posit life at risk -- family members we posit life at risk —— femme —— family members' life at risk by trying back? -- trying that? so, do

you think we will shortly get to know the origin of this coronavirus? i think it really will require a lot of extensive scientific work by the scientists and the virologists throughout the world. and i think the autopsies in california, in new york, a very important, the vaping investigation in the united states is very important. we need to do all the homework by scientists in many countries to really get to the real origin of this coronavirus. evicted gao there. —— victor. just a few weeks ago captain tom moore was unknown — now he's a national hero, "a one—man fund raising 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...

planes fly overhead ..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. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. from friday residence in the state of illinois must cover their faces state of illinois must cover theirfaces in state of illinois must cover their faces in public state of illinois must cover theirfaces in public when social distinct is not possible and encouraging people to observe safety measures, iconic landmark in chicago have been fitted with masks. the lions in chicago have been covered with the chicago flag and the famous chicago oh picasso scope ——

because of sculpture is also being masked —— car so sculpture. hello there. well, we may have had to wait right till end of april, but yesterday's storms were quite impressive. the radar picture shows just how widespread those showers were, nowhere immune from seeing several downpours through the day. but some of the showers were particularly impressive. from this mammatus cloud — the sign of very active convection in wiltshire — to pea—sized hail falling from those thunderclouds in buckinghamshire, and further north in scotland, we had this funnel cloud dropping from stormclouds in dumfries and galloway. now, over the next few hours there are still a few showers dotted around in northern england, wales, northern ireland and northern scotland, too. it's not too cold, though, for most of us. we are looking at temperatures around 4—7 celsius. low pressure, then,

still in charge of our weather and as we head into friday and it's another day where nowhere's immune from seeing a shower or two. even across parts of southern england 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. it's across these areas through the afternoon 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 north of the uk will be slow—moving, so, some fairly lengthy downpours as well. now, this weekend the winds will tend to fall much lighter and there will still be some showers around — particularly across the north and east. some sunshine but it will be quite cloudy at times, too. on saturday we start with some morning sunshine but clouds will develop and it will turn quite cloudy towards the middle part of the day and early afternoon. there will be some showers around northern and eastern scotland, some running into parts of northern and east england as well. temperatures, looking at highs for many of us about 14—17 celsius. we start again fine on sunday

but cloud builds across the sky into the early part of the afternoon and again there are still some showers to come, particularly across northern and eastern scotland again and running into parts of north—east england. temperatures very similar to most of us, highs between 14—17 celsius, so it is going to be relatively mild. now, the forecast into next week, the weather is going to settle down more. there will be a bit more sunshine to look forward to 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. 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. now on bbc news, panorama. tonight on panorama: has the government failed to protect the nhs... we've been put on the front line, to use government terminology, but without front—line protection. ..and left staff on the covid wards frightened for their lives? this is what you'd expect a dinner lady to wear. it's like a pinny. it's plastic. so, there you go. it does nothing. we reveal the mistakes that have put workers in danger... there's no excuse for not having adequate stockpiles to support the country when it faces a desperate crisis like this. ..and how the government downgraded protection standards,