a this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. as the uk's coronavirus death toll rises above 28,000 the prime minister describes preparations to announce his death when he was in intensive care for coronavirus. churches in germany reopen for sunday services with strict regulations in force and singing forbidden. a rare exchange of gunfire between north and south korea along the demilitarized zone, a day after kim jong—un‘s also in the programme: how muslims breaking their ramadan fast virtually — to stay connected — is leading to a permanent change

in attitudes towards social media. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. also in the programme: how muslims breaking their ramadan fast virtually — to stay connected — is leading to a permanent change in attitudes towards social media. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first 7 the number of people in the uk who have died from coronavirus has risen above 28,000 — the second worst total in europe — and the british prime minister has spoken for the first time in detail about his experience of being in intensive care with the disease. speaking to the sun on sunday boris johnson said "contingency plans" were made to announce his death while he was seriously ill with covid—19..and that he was given a face mask

and ‘litres and litres‘ of oxygen while he was in hospital. meanwhile, 2,000 patients in england, wales and northen ireland admitted to intensive care with coronavirus also suffered kidney failure. they needed specialist renal support treatment but that's led to a shortage in essential equipment. churches, mosques and synagogues in germany are opening today for the first time since the lockdown there began in march. but the number of worshippers will be restricted and singing is banned, as officials say it can spread the virus. 2a hours since the north korean leader kim jong—un re—appeared after a three—week absence, north and south korea have exchanged gunfire in the demilitarised zone between the two countries. no casualties have been reported. well, first, with more on that interview with borisjohnson, here's john mcmanus.

coronavirus continues to take its toll on families across the uk. the country now has the second—highest death toll in europe behind italy. 28,131 people have now succumbed to the virus, and thousands more were left severely ill, including the prime minister. in an interview with the sun on sunday, borisjohnson said doctors had to administer litres and litres of oxygen, and at one point he wondered, "how am i going to get out of this?" he said the bad moment came when it was 50—50 whether they were "going to have to put a tube down my windpipe". in the end, mrjohnson didn't reach the stage where he needed to use a ventilator. good morning. now back at work, one of the biggest issues he faces is how to leave the lockdown. a review is due on thursday. at the start of the restrictions, 1.8 million people in england were told to shield themselves as they were considered most at risk. they included those being treated for some forms of cancer,

or with diseases such as asthma and cystic fibrosis. at saturday's downing street briefing, the government indicated those restrictions could be reviewed as more evidence emerged. we do recognise that asking somebody to stay shielded for their own health protection for a very long period of time, and it may be several months, is quite a difficult thing for them to do. and regarding the next—most—vulnerable group of people, such as pregnant women and the over—70s, who've been following stringent social distancing measures, doctors, including the royal college of gps, say that age shouldn't be the only factor in deciding who continues to self—isolate when the lockdown is eased, and they've warned the mental health of those staying at home should be considered. many european countries are now coming out of their lockdowns. the challenge for the government is to formulate a successful road plan for britain. john mcmanus, bbc news. a short time ago we spoke to david wooding, political editor for ‘the sun on sunday‘ who spoke to boris

johnson in an exclusive interview about his experience in hospital. we all realise how serious it was. but it is only when you look in the eye and sit down in his office and retail shoe in graphic detail that you realise what a nasty and pernicious disease dangerous this is. it is just another influenza. it is attacked a man in his 50s and can attack any others. how did he sing to you? add a news conference he was a little breathless at the beginning because of the walk to the runway. what do you think of his physical condition?

i have interviewed him several times both as london mayor and as an mp andi both as london mayor and as an mp and i noticed quite a change in him. ido and i noticed quite a change in him. i do not know how deeply this has affected him but there was something different about him. his emotions looked a raw and he was clearly aware of just how looked a raw and he was clearly aware ofjust how close he came to death. there was a mixture of elation at the birth of his son and enjoy but also of seriousness and a bit of relief and it is —— a bit of exhaustion i would think, j. churches in germany are opening for sunday services for the first time since the country‘s coronavirus lockdown began in march. but strict safety guidelines will apply and singing will be banned to help stop new infections. germany is just one of many european countries that are gradually easing restrictions as the number of infections comes down, with austria now allowing

all shops to reopen, and portugal lifting its six—week state of emergency. for more on the logistics of holding religious services with the restrictions, i‘ve been speaking to our correspondent in berlin — damien mcguinness. today is the first day sunday services can take place in germany since the middle of march. not all churches will start opening their doors to worshippers just yet because strict restrictions are needed. some churches have already started services today but others are trying to figure out how you can go along with these new rules because for example

in some churches they are talking about having to go in one entrance and leave from another door, another exit. other churches are thinking how much to spread out congregations because you still have to have distances between worshippers. tp as you said earlier, singing is not allowed bt —— loud, forceful singing is quite a dangerous way to spread the infection and also numbers are going to be restricted of people entering churches. some churches are even registering people as they come in, that is quite complicated. also synagogues and mosques are looking that is quite complicated. also synagogues and mosques are looking at how they can go along with new regulations and are allowed to open. they have not opened just yet because there are also trying to figure out how best to protect worshippers. it is reallyjust one part of the broader picture here in germany where all sorts of sectors reopening are trying to figure out how to do it in a safe way and how to do it while going along with the new regulations which the government has in force in order to

prevent another wave of infection you sparking off germany. a former government chief scientific adviser has assembled a group of experts to look at how the uk could work its way out of coronavirus lockdown.sir david king, who worked under tony blair and gordon brown, reportedly said the group the government‘s scientific advisory group for emergencies (sage. tp sir david king joins me now via webcam from cambridge. the idea is very simple, an independent group of science advisers is independent of government but also in the sense that its voice will be available to the public. it is going to be on youtube live tomorrow from 12 noon on the idea is to demonstrate how scientists get together and argue and determine what the best way forward is and how i can challenge

the process and determine what is the process and determine what is the best way out of this pandemic. what we are doing is simply looking at where we are today and how we can get out of this with minimum number of further fatalities and as quickly as possible. why might we know the government keeps saying they are being guided by the science but are you worried that the scientific advice they are getting from sage, from the scientific advisory group for emergencies is not transparent enough and we the public do not know enough and we the public do not know enough about the detail of what they have been discussing and telling the government? absolutely. that is precisely the reason for holding this meeting tomorrow. when i was in government i was facing you guys as chief scientific adviser. i do not see that sir patrick is being allowed to accept to come on to

broadcasting corporations etc to say what his advices independently. and i think there has been a very serious change in policy since 2010 compared with a policy that was there from 2001. what i want to say is this means we have almost gone full—circle back to where we were with the bse crisis when the reporter came november 2000 said in effect the scientists must be able to give advice to the government and pictures of the public domain so the public knows what devices and can gain trust and that advice. it must not be that ministers are telling the scientists what to say. on that question of alleged political interference with the sciences, has been controversy because dominic cummings, chief adviser to the prime minister has been sitting on that scientific advisory group, what you

make of that? first of all, we are to demonstrate what independent signs advice looks like and it is advice. i will say this when i was in government, i give the best possible advice i can and it is for the politicians to make a political decision based on hearing with clarity that advice. i do not think it is wise to have members of the government in the numbers that they are in on sage, 13 out of 23. i think it is much better to have a group of people from outside government so there they might pressure on them. everyone knows that dominic cummings to play a significant role in labour still plays on sage. —— may still plays.

but he may still be influencing. urge you to advisers who have been on sage giving advice to the prime minister. 0ne on sage giving advice to the prime minister. one is a scientist and the other is a political adviser and i think that is seriously wrong. the other question is that when the government says it is being guided by the science, science is not a unified view. we need all the time from different professors and different universities all seeing quite different things. yes, let me be very clear, if you want to know when the next full moon movie you can align the scientists and if you wa nt to can align the scientists and if you want to know what the weather will be tomorrow you can rely on the sciences. is a situation which is more difficult. but seriously, it is not quite as difficult as you are hitting out there because this is a virus that emerged in china. he prepared the ground for a pandemic backin prepared the ground for a pandemic back in 2006, a global pandemic. we know how to operate once it happens

and either way that means testing and either way that means testing and tracing immediately the virus emerges somewhere in. we did not mmp emerges somewhere in. we did not ramp up ourcapability emerges somewhere in. we did not ramp up our capability to do that i don‘t want to get into a criticism of what we did did not but nevertheless the science advice does not have that much uncertainty to it. this is a new virus and is very serious. that is important. managing an academic, there are certain rules you have to follow. now the challenge is going to be how do we emerge from the lockdown and when did we emerge when will it be safe and so on. that really is what the committee tomorrow is going to address principle. but like i suppose some critics and some people watching your interview no mercy is not a danger if you are setting up such a shadow committee of scientists, a sort of parallel

committee, you can watch it on you might need but muddying the waters waters little bits and a bit? that gives me the opportunity to say that he simply gives everyone a good rating advising the government. the royal society is busy pitting advice into government at the moment and the royal academy of engineering. we do have other sources of advice to government and the government is heeding them. the difference with this as it is really there to illustrate the importance of transparency and if you like, the absurdity of not being transparent. that is how you gain the trust of the public. i live so came, thank you so much for your time. —— sir david kane. —— came. ——king. north and south korean troops have

exchanged gunfire along the demilitarised zone which separates the two countries. that‘s according to officials in seoul. the south korean military says multiple bullets were fired from the north which hit a guard post, prompting troops to broadcast a warning and fire back. laura bicker, our correspondent in seoul, gave us some more details on the incident and what it means. these incidents are rare. the last time there was an exchange of fire was 2017 when a north korean soldier made a dash across the south amid a hail of bullets. when it comes to the motivation behind this the south korean military is trying to find out, was this a deliberate act on behalf of the north or simply an accident? right now a south korean official has said he is assessing this as a low probability this was a deliberate act but they are still his assessment is based on the fact

foru bullets were fired at the guard post, that was not the optimum firing range and he says the weather was bad and there were no unusual north korean troop movements. but again that is one assessment not the final assessment of this time. the timing of this is what many people are worried about because it comes just 2a hours after kim jong—un made his reappearance after a 21—day absence. in past the north has made deliberate provocations to the south to try to use it as leverage when it comes to negotiations so some are concerned that might be going on but right nos more details are needed. let‘s talk about coronavirus in south korea. the authorities there have been widely praised around the world for the way they have had handled the outbreak. what is the latest on the social distancing rules and

when you say social distancing, i raise eyebrows, and i know this will make a few people around the world veryjealous others there are sadly very few social distancing guidelines here. masks in public places are part of culture here and there are temperature checks that many places have been remaining opening. for the crisis and there was a time when many people scared the match stayed at home because the asked if it was never today there are 13 cases and some of the highest it has been for the last few days. we had zero locally transmitted cases on thursday. the majority of cases are coming from overseas which are found at the airport., from the united states and those

coming from europe are automatically given test and they must spend watching these important gene. the latest in a land for the prime minister today, is a formal announcement saying it is an end to the current social distancing guidelines are now the advice is keep washing your hands, just a very, very careful and now they‘re looking to reopen schools within the next few weeks. let‘s take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the daily death toll from coronavirus in spain has fallen to 164 in the past 2a hours, according to the newspaper el pais. it marks the lowest daily number of deaths in the country since the 18th of march. it comes as spain has gradually begun to ease the lockdown, with different age groups allowed out for exercise at various times of the day. the government of the philippines has announced a suspension of all commercial passenger flights to and from the country in order to help further contain the spread of the coronavirus. no official date for the end of the suspension has been announced yet, with thousands of foreigners remaining stranded in the country. a bid by the united states women‘s football team for equal pay has been dismissed by a court, with the judge rejecting the players‘ claims they were underpaid compared to the men‘s team. the 28 women‘s national team players

were asking for $66 million from the us soccer federation in damages under the equal pay act. a spokesperson says they plan to appeal the ruling. the uk government will begin live testing a contact tracing mobile app in the coming days, as the country tries to prevent a seond peak of coronavirus. the transport secretary grant shapps has been speaking to the bbc..... we will be asking the whole country possible to download this mobile phone app immediately to remove the need for individuals. if you and i haveit need for individuals. if you and i have it and i tested and positive i can alert you. and you absolutely sure we will have enough tracker and tracer people trained up in time? sure we will have enough tracker and tracer people trained up in time7m terms of dating? absolutely. it is not ridiculous ask itself.

0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is here. the government is expected to announce some possible easing of the lockdown later this week. the key is i°y lockdown later this week. the key is joy ina lockdown later this week. the key is joy in a more accurate picture of how far the virus is spread by the uk at the level of infection through as we are told the initial cases and peak of people who sadly lost their lives to the violence. as a transport for secretaries outlining their the effort to trace the number of cases and also those who they have come into contact with former key pa rt have come into contact with former key part of that because it allows ministers, ideally it allows the health professionals to isolate and target outbreaks of the finest in certain areas so this app will be asked to download and encourage the use and having the phones on a daily basis will be a key part of that.

try that the isle of wight in the coming week or so and also this group of 18,000 people who will be tasked with running that tracing strategy. as exactly how it will work or how widely it will be run, in the near future, work or how widely it will be run, in the nearfuture, we do not work or how widely it will be run, in the near future, we do not yet know one thing is for certain, it is absolutely key in allowing government to be able to lift the restrictions in place on a long—term basis. while is any more education about any particular time when that lockdown is going to be eased? we expect an announcement from the government on thursday. we will get more details on thursday when the government is legally obliged to review the instructions in place. —— restrictions that are in place. the prime minister signalled we will be about what he has described the comments of plan. detail what will be on that yet and we have read and heard about all sort of things ported and businesses being able to open that were not able to first of

all social distancing measures has public transport being expanded and run on a socially distance limited basis and perhaps being told we can only socialise with a limited number of people. these are things that are being looked at the don‘t necessarily confirm. the welsh first minister mattrick has been speaking this morning on the andrew marr programme. “— this morning on the andrew marr programme. —— market rate for. he says the wheels are set out in more detailed timetable for schools like the uk to move this one through the next phases of petitions missing restrictions. sign up we will not have all the children back in all the schools on the first day. we get was children for whom we have the greatest priority to begin with an monitor that carefully. we have more children and as we are confident we can do that safely. over time we will get back to something like the normal that we will use it. —— were

used to. we have had an interview on this sun on sunday for the panellists are talking about the dark and dangerous regimes in hospital. it is the first interview since coming out of hospital a top side had candidly about how serious things were for him. say seems at first reluctant to go into hospital when he was in isolation suffering from coronavirus doctors forced into a looking back he says he started out and the right to do that. he says he conscious registry notes in intensive care and also aware of what was going on. that 50—50 moment he has described things possibly going either way, it was a tough old moment he says and i won‘t deny it. the doctors were starting to think about how to handle at presentation rate so i think that is an indication of the prime minister and those around that by clearly preparing for the worse. he is also said this whole experience left him

being driven by desire to stop people suffering but also the country back on its feet. here in the uk, the duchess of cambridge has made a virtual bedside visit to some new parents during a special video—call to midwives. the duchess worked on a placement with the team at kingston hospital‘s maternity unit in london last year, as part of her campaign to raise awareness of the importance of the early years. she spoke to new parents rebecca and john. he rebecca and john. is so sweet. congratulations. w did he is so sweet. congratulations. why did you have? last night at ten again. my goodness, must be exhausted. you can reach me on twitter.

hello. before we start looking ahead with our forecast for the next few days, i‘m just going to take take a quickjump back into april because april 2020 was quite exceptional. it turns out to be the sunniest april on record, many of us seeing 50% more sunshine than we typically would. it also, though, was very dry. the april showers were few and far between. the darker the brown on the map, the drier it was, some parts of northern england seeing less than 20% of their monthly rainfall. and dry weather will play a large part in our forecast for the week ahead. looking at the chart behind me, you might think, "0oh, "there is a weather front to the south, don‘t they "normally bring rainfall?" well, yes, but not that much today for southern areas. just a lot of cloud, i think, across southern counties of england and south wales.

the more significant rain today is likely where we start the day with clearer skies and will develop showers across scotland, northern england, parts of the midlands into east anglia through the afternoon. some locally heavy and thundery downpours to come here and these showers will persist on into the evening and the small hours of monday. to the south, some drizzly rain across southern parts of england, very misty and murky, but mild, temperatures in double figures. clearer skies across northern scotland and a patchy frost to take us into monday. still quite a lot of cloud across northern and eastern england through monday morning and some further rain here before the showers pull out into the north sea. come the afternoon, it is pretty much a case of dry and sunny weather across the board. still chilly along the north sea coasts, highs of 11—12 degrees, looking at 19 or 20 degrees for cardiff. but cast an eye toward the south—west and it looks like this weather front coming in overnight monday into tuesday will be more significant in terms of rain. the exact position is our biggest

forecasting headache at the moment, how far north will it run? certainly, it looks like for the south—west of england and south wales there is a wet and windy and chilly day to come on tuesday, certainly much cooler in cardiff, perhaps just the mid—teens. 0ur hotspots on tuesday will probably be the scottish borders, where there will be a lot of sunshine. for the rest of the week, though, the high pressure will dominate and we will lose that rain from the south—west as the sunshine becomes increasingly widespread and we will also see some warmth building as well.

this is bbc news with me, ben brown, the headlines: as the uk‘s coronavirus death toll rises above 28,000 prime minister borisjohnson has described preparations to announce his death when he was in intensive care for coronavirus. he says he needed ‘litres and litres‘ of oxygen. there‘s been a rare exchange of gunfire between north and south korea along the demilitarized zone separating the two countries. it comes a day after the reappearance of kim jong—un following a mystery absence. more us states have begun lifting their lockdowns, but there‘s been no let up in new coronavirus cases nationally. the us now has more than 1.1 million recorded cases and more than 65,000 people have died. churches in germany are reopening for sunday services for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed there in march.