this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: 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 lockdown 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. measuring the reinfection rate to keep us safe. we take a look at the science behind lifting the lockdown. 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. worldwide there have now been over 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 govenment that covid—19"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 —— he says he has seen evidence, as he put it, intelligence 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 today 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.

is this a conscious pivot now from donald trump? does he want to maintain focus on china? 0h, 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 here in the 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 look around, and the president has even made the suggestion that the spread of the coronavirus could have been politically motivated. he said the chinese would do anything they could to stop him

from winning the november election. they would prefer, he said, "sleepyjoe" — a reference to his democratic rival, joe biden, because he would be much less tough as far as tariffs and so on were concerned on the chinese. 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—19 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. russia's prime minister mikhail mishustin has tested positive for coronavirus.

he's placed himself in quarantine. president putin has appointed an interim prime minister to deputise for him. russia has so far recorded almost 107,000 cases, with just over 1,000 deaths linked to the covid—19. 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 travelers, but not requiring their use. 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. 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, 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. 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. 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. there's a simple but crucial number at the heart of understanding the threat posed by the coronavirus.

it is guiding governments around the world on the actions needed to save lives, and it gives us clues to the extent that lockdown can be lifted. it's called the reproduction number — or simply the r—value. 0ur science editor, david shukman, 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 other, so things are stable. but get to a rate of two and people infected are passing it to two others, 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 it's estimated the rate is between 0.6 and 0.9

— crucially below the line of one person infecting only one other. it's thought that reopening schools could possibly at about 0.2, though 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 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 that the message could be well every thing is under control, let's 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 allowed 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 4,000 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 100 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 world news. the latest headlines: president trump says china will be held accountable for the pandemic as soon asus 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. 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 separatist 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 into a three—day lockdown, after the first reported deaths of covid—19. markets are closed, the streets are near deserted, residents fear the worst. translation: there is no state and there is no

legitimate government, there is nobody you can seek help from. if this epidemic spreads here, we will die like locusts. the curfew will be enforced 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 adequate healthcare, famine is rife, and hospitals are ill—equipped to deal with a full—blown pandemic. in the capital city, sana'a, 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 houthi movement which controls

the city says all suspected cases have returned negative. 0fficial case numbers are still low, but the saudi—backed government has issued a plea to all citizens, regardless of their political alliance, to take the outbreak seriously. translation: we are calling opn yemenise to take preventative measures and to stop gatherings in public markets and attending friday prayers during these exceptional circumstances. meanwhile, the united nations has called for the coalition ceasefire to resume in a desperate attempt for unity. freya cole, bbc news. at least 26 million americans have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic. for many, that means losing healthcare, too, because about half of the workforce get medical coverage with theirjobs. angelica casas explains why that is.

this is susan. she is a breast cancer sui’vivoi’ this is susan. she is a breast cancer survivor and has aftermath. until recently, she was a bartender at this new york city theatre and then the coronavirus arrived in the united states. below everything has changed. i lost myjob. i lost my health insurance. that is because her health insurance is because her health insurance is linked to herjob. half of the country relies on this kind of insurance, sponsored by an employer, and as the us unemployment figures climbed to a high because of the pandemic, millions like season are also losing coverage. so how did we get here? assume that susan relies heavily on her employment for medical. before the 24th century, there was not much need for health insurance because there was not much healthcare to purchase. it was you — healthcare to purchase. it was you—a healthcare to purchase. it was you — a virtually unregulated and health insurance non—existent. physicians treated patients in homes and the few hospitals that existed

provided minimal therapeutic care. with millions of workers going off to fight in world war ii, the us faced a severe labour shortage in the 1940s the businesses wanted to raise wages to attract way — — labour but economists had one big concerned. the federal government was trying to prevent wages inflating so they told employers that there were wage and price controls. if you needed more workers, for your factory, because of defence production, let's say, the only thing you could do was offer more benefits. you had to offer them something like health insurance as an extra perks stop by my 1950, more than 70 million americans had employer—sponsored health insurance and today, it is more than 150 60 million, including spouses and children of workers. so what other options to americans have? the us does

not have a national health insurance system. we have a patchwork of different types of insurance policies and that includes public sources of coverage, and these are based upon eligibility. lacking is medicare for people older than 65 in coverage for children. if you only have these requirements, have insurance from an employer and cannot afford your own insurance or you are out of luck, like season and millions of working—class families. season and millions of working-class families. it is a scary thing because i am high risk of having a recurring case of cancer and the fact that my follow—up appointments for michelangelo treatments are now — for my cancer treatments in now potentially gone because i do not have a job is insane. it does make sense. bollywood actor rishi kapoor has died in mumbai. he was 67 and had been

diagnosed with cancer. singing. he was one of indian cinema's most popular actors and worked in around 150 movies. the indian prime minister, narendra modi, called him "a powerhouse of talent" who was multi—faceted, endearing and lively. 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. the us state of texas, which borders mexico, is known for its blend of cultures. and mariachi is particularly popular, so when you can't go to the music because of the current lockdown, it can come to you. singing mariachi. in el paso, mariachi performer orlando antoniojimanez goes door—to—door, singing happy birthday to those celebrating — from a distance, of course. he sings in spanish and english, with a mix of birthday classics and traditional mariachi tunes. don't forget you'll find plenty more coverage on our website, including this video that explores how fasting in lockdown and isolation has changed ramadan for young muslims this year. that's all at bbc.com/news — or you can download the bbc news app for your tablet or smartphone.

you can reach me on twitter. i'm @ l vaughanjones. 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