he said he wanted to ensure that "no victim of domestic violence has to make the unbearable choice between staying somewhere that they know is unsafe or becoming homeless." this is what robertjenrick said about the funding announced today. while the necessary social—distancing measures and remain in place, it is harder than before for victims of domestic abuse to reach out to their friends, to theirfamily, to to reach out to their friends, to their family, to colleagues and two neighbours for the support that the urgently need. today, i can announce a package of over £76 million in new funding to support the most vulnerable in society during the pandemic. this funding will help charities support survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. it will

support vulnerable children and theirfamilies support vulnerable children and their families and it will support victims of modern slavery. this additional support will ensure more safe s pa ces additional support will ensure more safe spaces and accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse and their children. and the recruitment of additional councillors for victims of sexual violence. and this funding will also help front line charities to be able to offer different ways of supporting those in need, including virtual or phone —based services. we know that some refuges have had to reduce or even cancel the services that they would wa nt to cancel the services that they would want to provide during the pandemic. this funding will help them to meet the challenges posed in this national emergency. and to continue to help those that desperately need support. i would like to say a word

of thanks to domestic abuse charities who are doing so much at this time to help so many people. the women's aid refuge in my constituency is one example. and i would like to thank marlene and her amazing team in new work. people like that do incredible work and deserve other thanks and gratitude now more than ever before. we are refuge‘s don't have enough capacity during the pandemic, some have asked us during the pandemic, some have asked us if they could use hotels or other accommodations nearby on a temporary basis. for example, as move on accommodation where theyjudge it to be safe and appropriate to do so. we will work with refuges to make this option available to them if they judge it to be the right one when it

is necessary. and thank you also to pharmacists such as boots who are providing a safe space for victims of domestic abuse in some of their shops and our training more of their staff to be able to support those people when they come into the stores so they can safely provide support and contact services for help and advice. i'm joined now by sally field, chair of woman's trust which helps women deal with the emotional impact of domestic abuse. thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. you heard the announcement robertjenrick made this afternoon. first of all, your reaction to it? it is welcome. any emergency funding is always welcome at this time. women's trust, like many charity, have to launch fundraising appeals to meet immediate needs because the

fundraising activities have come to a halt and corporate donations are drying up. so yes, we do welcome the announcement. somewhat cautiously, only because we don't have any detail about how we will be able to access these funds. and quite often, the smaller and specialist charities find that difficult, really. they often miss out because of that. he was talking about support for more safe s pa ces was talking about support for more safe spaces and accommodation. there has been an ongoing debate with the number of refuges that were forced to close in recent years because of funding being withdrawn by local authorities in particular in a time of austerity. we are in a time when people are effectively trapped in their homes if they are in an abusive relationship or have an abusive relationship or have an abusive family member. how do you get from a position where first of all you provide those safe spaces that haven't existed for some time and second you get people into them in the middle of a lockdown? that is extremely difficult. and i think the

proposals to open up some hotels and hostels to provide the immediate need is very welcome. but this is why the sector needs long—term sustainable funding, because we need to be able to find that accommodation, adapted for the particular needs of refuge survivors. there are so many women who are turned away at the moment, even before lockdown. so it is gonna ta ke even before lockdown. so it is gonna take a massive cross government effort. to be fair, there has been a lot of attention on this issue, not least in recent weeks based on domestic abuse bell, further strengthening of the legislative powers and the powers prosecute. but prosecution is a long way down the line, isn't it? for many women in the situation. i know it's not only women, it can be men as well but perhaps we're talking about women is the biggest group affected. presumably part oh prosecution is less important than presumably part oh prosecution is less im porta nt tha n safety? presumably part oh prosecution is

less important than safety?m certainly is. and many women actually see it is not necessarily the prosecution, it is actually getting over the traumatic experience that they have been through and being able to rebuild their lives. and quite often, that is why victims will not come to court. because they are just reliving the trauma. and what they really wa nt reliving the trauma. and what they really want is to feel safe and rebuild their lives. it can take many years to recover from the emotional experiences and actually, the community secretary did say that he recognised there was an emotional cost of domestic abuse on people's mental health. and that's another reason for long—term sustainable funding for the sector. so that we can provide all of the services that women need, notjust accommodation. but also tackling all of their needs in the round. let me ask you finally, is there any evidence as to what effect the lockdown has and

having? are there more calls to helplines? has been any measurable way of assessing the impact of this period on people in abusive relationships? the national helpline has reported an increase in calls. but in the rest of the sector, what is worrying us is that we are receiving fewer calls and that is because victims are unable to reach out. they don't have a safe space to make phone calls, they are not even taking the children to school, getting a break where they might have some privacy. so that is extremely difficult and we're really expecting, after lockdown, quite exponential increase in calls. for help. worrying times, thank you for talking to us.

overall, older people seem to be at higher risk from severe symptoms of coronavirus, though there have been a small number cases of children who have become very ill and died. earlier this week, the education secretary, gavin williamson, said that the reopening of schools in england would probably take place in a "phased manner" and would depend on scientific advice. we can speak to professor steve turner from the royal college of paediatrics and child health about the risks for children. let me ask you first of all, when you hear talk of a phased restoration of education, in—school places, obviously some schools have continued to operate and children have continued to go to school, children of key workers. how do you conceive of working? the million—dollar question. i think that we clearly have to be very pragmatic about this. and know that there is no absolutely right way of doing things and we have learned that over the last six or seven weeks. the end point is going to be that schools will go back so the finer points are how and when. i

think everybody is talking about the approach, i suspect head teachers are scratching their heads up and down the country. how they will selflessly children within the context of classes, we have all been there and it's often quite confined. my there and it's often quite confined. my suspicion or my hope is that the pa rent of my suspicion or my hope is that the parent of children who are desperate to get back to school is we do get back to school in some form before the summer holidays. i suspect that some form of social—distancing will have to be part of that process and i think testing is also gonna have to be part of that process and it is worth mentioning that having the public test, particularly a nose swab, isa public test, particularly a nose swab, is a little bit unpleasant but i think for the economy, the sanity of pa rents i think for the economy, the sanity of parents and children and schools do have to go back. it was to happen before summer holidays... it is fine to talk of a staged and a managed approach but in the end he can't say to parents well you can send child one on mondays wednesdays and

fridays and child to can go tuesday is and thursdays this week and monday, friday next week. that is not how people's lives work, is it? everything is different now. you might havejust everything is different now. you might have just come up with a policy that someone is writing down as we speak. we don't know but we will find out, i imagine, within the next few weeks and i think what's happening on the continent might also give the decision—makers better insight. that is exactly, some schools i was talking to a teacher on day one of the school she was in in denmark and she said it was primary school kids what they had to say we are not going to be playing some of the games, no kick around in football, keeping kids separate and they said they were quite serious about it but now the ritual of the day starting with hand washing and things like that, it could be very different? absolutely. it certainly will be different. when they go back to school, hopefully injune, then when they were last in school in march. let's pause there if we may

and thanked viewers to bbc world news who have been watching us over the last half hour, you will be with us the last half hour, you will be with us again later. for now, thank you for watching bbc news. now, let's continue and pick up where we were. in practical terms, there may be different approaches between primary, junior and secondary schools but kids and families are mixed of ages and so on. is there a way that it would be possible to get all kids back to schools whilst retaining some of the restrictions that you are talking about? given the pressures that teachers and other staff in schools are under? again, it is one weather is no a nswer again, it is one weather is no answer and people might be poised again with pen and paper trying to get some notes. i honestly don't know. i think that has to be certain pragmatic nature to this and schools, school teachers and children are amazingly like slow people and i'm sure they will be the

ones, the educational people —— flexible people. they will be working with the public health people to work out how this will work. as a paediatrician, how disturbed are you by the cases that have been, albeit a small number of cases, of children very seriously ill as a result of coronavirus, indeed a very small number of fatalities? yes, and clearly any sick patient of any age is sad. we have seen, i am based in aberdeen and we have had a case and they are terrifying. for the patient, for the pa rent terrifying. for the patient, for the parent and the staff looking after them, for lots of reasons. fortu nately, them, for lots of reasons. fortunately, these cases are very shoo—in for the team —— few and far between. if you are worried about your child, you should seek help from the nhs. it is open it is in many areas very quiet at the moment.

if you are worried, don't wait, seek help. particularly if your child has had a temperature for a few days and just isn't right. in terms of the infectiousness of coronavirus, do we have any measure of how likely children are to pass it onto other and then pass it on two adults? because presumably that is one of the fears and one of the reasons we kept children away from grandparents, one of the concerns there were leading to schools being closed in the first place, the possibility of children spreading the virus. anybody who has child come home from nursery nice and snotty, they will have a sore throat and in it she knows and we have the old. children are very effective carriers of virus. until we know how many children carry the virus without having symptoms, we don't know, but i think... i have worked with children for 25 years now and i

have got more children myself and i know that —— four children. i know children are very effective at spreading a respiratory virus and the coronavirus is a specialist virus but still a respiratory virus andi virus but still a respiratory virus and i think it would be safe to presume children will be very effective spreaders of this virus, even though them sell might not have any symptoms. thank you very much for being with us on bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello again. much of the country will end the day dry with some sunshine but we've still got a few showers into the evening, running down across scotland into north—east england, towards lincolnshire by this stage and one or two still for northern ireland. those showers will fade away and overnight we will see the cloud increasing in the south—west of england and wales,

thickening up to give a little light rain or drizzle. pretty mild here, elsewhere i think it's going to be a cool but probably frost free night. i think it will probably dry off through today in the south—west of england and wales but stay quite cloudy. some of the cloud affecting south—east england. quickly, we'll see showers developing in northern scotland, a few arriving in northern ireland, northern england, and then this time eventually across the midlands towards east anglia as well. those showers could be heavy and possibly thundery. and on the whole, it will be a bit cooler than today although still 18 degrees in the brighter skies in the south—east. into the beginning of next week, may be some showers on monday for eastern parts of england but some wetter weather coming into the more southern parts of england and wales on tuesday and some stronger winds. now on bbc news... as the coronavirus continues to claim lives around the world, global questions invites its international audience to put their questions to a panel of experts on the impact the pandemic has had on china, its economy and its relationship with the rest of the world.