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 while 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 reappearance following a mystery absence. the uk plans to start live testing a phone app in the coming days to speed up covid—19 contact tracing and help the country out of its lockdown. if you and i have it and we are within bluetooth range

of each other and i am later tested and i am positive it will alert you. he's so sweet! and a royal welcome — the duchess of cambridge shows her support for new parents and maternity staff with a virtual visit. 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 borisjohnson said "contingency plans" were made to announce his death while he was

seriously ill with covid—i9. speaking to the bbc this morning, transport secretary grant shapps, said the new nhs contract tracing app is being trialled on the isle of wight this week before being rolled out more widely later this month. meanwhile it's emerged that more than 2000 patients in england, wales and northen ireland admitted to intensive care with coronavirus also suffered kidney failure. those affected received specialist renal support treatment but that led to a shortage in essential equipment. elsewhere, 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 in germany 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 borisjohnson has given, 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. 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, as you say, is the first day that sunday services can take place

in germany since the middle of march really. not all churches will start, though, opening their doors to worshippers just yet because strict restrictions are needed. so some churches have already started services today but others are trying to figure out how they can go along with these new rules because, for example, in some churches they're talking about having to go in one entrance and leave from another door, another exit. other churches are thinking of how to spread out congregations because you can only have... you still have to have distances between worshippers, as you said earlier. singing is not allowed because it's thought that loud singing, 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, so it's quite complicated. also synagogues and mosques are looking at how they can go along

with new regulations and are allowed to open. they haven'tjust yet because again, they are also trying to figure out how to best protect worshippers, so it's quite a complicated situation and it's reallyjust one part of the broader picture here in germany where all sorts of sectors are reopening but 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 enforced in order to prevent another wave of infections sparking off here in germany. 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 are asking the whole country, where possible, to download this mobile phone app, which will help automatically to remove the need for people, individuals to be involved. because that will say, if you and i have it and we are within bluetooth range

of each other, and i'm later tested positive, it will alert you. so it removes the need to have a person in between. and you're absolutely sure that we're going to have enough tracker and tracer people trained up in time for this? 0h, in terms of the 18,000, absolutely. as i say, it's not a ridiculous ask at all. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake told me that the app will have an important role to play as the government considers how to ease the lockdown. yes, and the key to that, which ministers have said all along, is building a more accurate picture of exactly how far the virus has spread around the uk and the level of infection now that we are through, as we are told, the initial peak of cases and peak in number of people who have sadly lost their lives to the virus, and as grant shapps the transport secretary was outlining there, the effort to trace the number

of cases and also those who they have come into contact with will form a key part of that because it allows ministers, ideally, it allows the health professionals to isolate and target outbreaks of the virus in certain areas, so this app that people will be asked to download, encouraged to use and have on their phones on a daily basis, will be a key part of that. they are going to trial that on 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 for exactly how this will work, or how widely it will be run in the near future we don't yet know, but one thing is for certain, it is absolutely key in allowing the government to be able to risk the restrictions that are in place on a longer term basis. -- lift the —— lift the restrictions. and is there any more indication, speaking of that, about any particular time when that lockdown is going to be eased?

we are expecting an announcement from the government on thursday, aren't we? yes, we will get more details on thursday when the government is legally obliged to review the restrictions that are in place, they have to do that every few weeks, but the prime minister signalled that we will hear about what he has described as a comprehensive plan. no detail as to what will be in that yet, we have been reading and hearing about all those sorts of things reported, new businesses being able to open that won't first of all, with social distancing measures in place, perhaps public transport being expanded and run on a socially distanced limited basis, and perhaps being told that we can only socialise with a limited number of people. i stress that those are things that are being looked at but not necessarily confirmed. the welsh first minister mark drakeford has been speaking this morning on the andrew marr programme and suggested that he would, although wales has set out something more of a detailed timetable than the uk government has for schools there, he would like the uk to move as one to the next phases of potentially loosening the restrictions in place. we're not going to have all the children back

in all the schools on the first day. we get those children is in for whom we have the greatest priority to begin with. we monitor that carefully, we add more children in as we are confident that we can do that safely, and over time, we will get back to something like the normal we were used to. jonathan, meanwhile, we have had an interview from the prime minister in one of today's british newspapers, the sun on sunday. talking about the dark and dangerous days when he was in hospital. yes, it's borisjohnson‘s first interview since coming out of hospital and he talks very candidly about just how serious things were for him. he says that he was at first reluctant to go into hospital when he was in isolation suffering from coronavirus but doctors forced him to and looking back she says he is glad that they did and they were right to do that. he was conscious throughout, he says, during his three nights in intensive care, and all too aware, as he puts it of what was going on and that 50—50

moment he has described of things possibly going either way, it was a tough old moment, he says, i won't deny it, and the doctors were starting to think about how to handle it presentationally so i think that is an indication that the prime minister and those around him at that point were clearly preparing for the worst and he has also said that this whole experience has left him being driven by a desire to stop other people suffering but also to get the country back on its feet. 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 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. 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 kind of rare. these incidents are kind of rare. the last exchanger coil was in 2017 when a north korean soldier made a dash across to the south in a hail of bullets. when it comes to the motivation behind this, the south korean military is trying to find out, was it a deliberate act on behalf of the north? 0r out, was it a deliberate act on behalf of the north? or simply an accident? right now, a south korean official has said he is assessing a low probability that this was a deliberate act, but they are still trying to contact the north to find out. his assessment is based on the fa ct out. his assessment is based on the fact that four bullets were fired which it the guard post but it was not the optimum firing range, and he said the weather was bad and there we re said the weather was bad and there were no unusual north korean troop movements. but again that is one assessment, not the final assessment. the timing of this is what many people are kinda worried about, because it comesjust what many people are kinda worried about, because it comes just 2a hours after kim jong—un, the about, because it comes just 2a hours after kimjong—un, the north korean leader, made his reappearance

after a 21 day absence. in the past, the north has made deliberate provocations to the south to try to use it as leveraged when it comes to negotiations. so some are concerned that might be going on, but right 110w that might be going on, but right now more details are needed. meanwhile, let's talk about coronavirus. the authorities in the south korea have been widely praised for the way they have handled the outbreak. what is the latest on social distancing rules and regulations there? when you see social distancing, i raise an eyebrow and it will make a few people around the world very jealous, but there are very few social distancing guidelines here. 0bviously, some masks, that is part of culture here. there were temperature checks. but many places have remained open, restaurants, cafe and bars have all been open throughout the crisis. there was a time when many people stayed at home because they were asked to, but there was never any lockdown. cases

have declined rapidly. today, 13 cases announced , have declined rapidly. today, 13 cases announced, that is the highest for the last few days. we had zero locally transmitted pages on thursday. the majority of cases are coming from overseas, found at the airport. anyone coming from the united states, from europe, they are automatically given a test and they must spend 1a days in quarantine. the latest announcement by the prime minister today, just a formal announcement saying it is an end to the current social distancing guidelines, and now the advice is keep washing your hands, just be very careful. and now they are looking to reopen the schools in the next few weeks. more than 2,000 covid—19 patients admitted to intensive care in england, wales and northern ireland have suffered kidney failure. they were given specialist renal support treatment — but that's led to a shortage of essential equipment.

angus crawford reports. meet maurice marshall before covid — singer and student... ..and now survivor. i was terrified, petrified. well, as i got into the ambulance, looked at the house, i thought, "say goodbye to the house, you're not coming back," because i was struggling to breathe. he spent 22 days on a ventilator. the virus attacked his lungs and moved on through the body. my kidneys failed several times, so what people do fail to realise is that with covid, it's notjust about covid pneumonia, you know, you get a bit of a heavy—duty flu, or you have problems breathing, it does go for other internal organs. so when you're performing crt... the latest figures show more than 20% of those in intensive care suffer kidney failure. many needed specialist treatment. some with this kind of machine, delivering what's called renal replacement therapy.

the virus can be seen within the very fine structures of the kidneys, and it also affects the stickiness of the blood. the blood becomes very sludgy, and because the kidneys are full of little blood vessels, it sludges up in the kidneys and therefore the kidneys start to fail. leading to a worldwide surge in demand for machines, tubes, filters and fluids. this german factory has increased production, but there's a warning of severe disruption to supply in the uk. british doctors are having to use new techniques to conserve equipment. some patients are now sharing machines. the volume of kidney failure has reached the point that neither myself nor my colleagues have ever seen such a great surge in the incidence of acute kidney injury, and that is certainly putting stress on the system. but a word of reassurance too —

these machines are only used in intensive care, not for the 30,000 or so people who need regular dialysis in the community. that service shouldn't be affected. dance music plays maurice in better times. now, bit by bit, rebuilding his health, thankful to friends, family and medical staff, but also sounding a warning: this thing, it's vicious. it's non—discerning, it will go for anyone. we really do have to focus and not get lax about it, because that's when things will get worse again. 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, said the group was designed to act as an alternative to the government's scientific advisory group for emergencies. i've been speaking to sir david — who says a lack of transparency is the reason he's formed the group when i was in government, i was facing you guys myself as chief scientific adviser. i don't see that sir patrick is being allowed to accept, to come onto broadcasting corporations etc to say what his advice is independently. i think there has been a very serious change in policy, since 2010, compared with the policy that was there come 2001. what i want to say is this means we have almost come full circle back to where we work with the bse crisis, when the philips commission report which came through in november 2000, said in effect the scientists must

be able to give their advice to the government and put it into the public domain so that the public knows what the advice is and can gain trust in that advice. it mustn't be that ministers are telling the scientists what to say. 0n telling the scientists what to say. on that question of alleged political interference with the scientists, there has been controversy because dominic cummings, the prime minister'schief adviser, has been sitting on the scientific advisory group sage. what do you make of that? two things, first of all we are keen to demonstrate what independent science advice looks like. it is advice. i a lwa ys advice looks like. it is advice. i always said this when i was in government. i give the best possible advice i can, and it's all the politicians to make a political decision with clarity on that advice. i don't think it's wise to have members of the government in

the numbers they were in, they are in sage, 13 out of 23. i think it's much better to have a group of people from outside government so there is no government pressure on them. dominic cummings, well, eve ryo ne them. dominic cummings, well, everyone knows that he did play a significant role and maybe still does on sage, so i would say he may have been influencing what has been said and done. but more seriously, you have two advisers having been at sage giving advice to the prime minister. 0ne sage giving advice to the prime minister. one of them is a scientist who surely is the one who really understands the scientific position. the other one is a political adviser. and i think that is seriously wrong. a survey suggests almost twenty—five per cent of adults in britain have watched or listened to a religious service online or on the radio since places of worship were closed

at the start of the lockdown. before the pandemic, less than six per cent of people attended a service during any given week. the survey was commissioned by the christian charity, tearfund, and carried out by comres. 0ur religion editor martin bashir is here. talk us through the figures and what influences we can draw from them? what is remarkable is before the coronavirus lockdown according to the database coronavirus lockdown according to the data base british coronavirus lockdown according to the database british religion in numbers, they found that around 6% of the population across religions attended a place of worship once a week. that figure has now shot up to 2596 week. that figure has now shot up to 25% to be people listening on the radio to services, watching online streaming services. another interesting and remarkable fact is 44% of britons now say they are playing and one third of them say they started doing so because they believe it will make a difference to their own lives and also to the life

of the country. i think these figures raise questions about whether this lockdown in churches should continue. you have been reporting today that in germany synagogues, reporting today that in germany synagogues, mosques and reporting today that in germany synagogues, mosques and churches have relaxed the rules a little, they will be limits on numbers going to those places. social distancing, no public singing. but many clergy in this country are saying, hang on a second, if you can go to a supermarket, why can't you come to church? for many people, there is that desire to be in a place of worship, to be quiet. they are not looking for socialising. they are looking for socialising. they are looking to reflect on what has happened to them and their families. it is also the case, of course, that we are about a week into the month of ramadan. many people talk about ramadan purely in terms of fasting, but in fact it is the communal meal when the fast is broken every day thatis when the fast is broken every day that is incredibly important to communities and muslims. at the end of that, people go to the mosque for

special players. but of course muslims are abiding at the moment why all of this. i came across something interesting. during the second world war, cs lewis, great medieval christian apologist, he was invited to come into broadcasting house to do a series of talks. he was prompted to do so because the director of religious broadcasting at the time had read his book in 1940 at the time had read his book in 19110 called the problem of pain. this is what he said. god whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. andi in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. and i think there is a sense on the part of many people that, in our desperate plight, there is a desire to seek someone, something other than ourselves, the transcendent if you like. martin, thank you. 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 let's bring you more on that virtual visit. gina brockwell is director of midwifery at kingston maternity unit — she's been telling the bbc about how the couple felt when they were told they'd be getting a royal video call. this was that mother and her partner's moment, they had just had their second baby. they didn't mind at all speaking to the duchess. again, the duchess is a mother so she can understand that moment when you have not long had your baby. but they were just interested also to talk to her, but also explain how

they had been managing under lockdown, what it was like coming in to have their baby max. now, the weather. hello, a lot more cloud across southern reaches of the uk today. thanks to this weather front. but it is not a major source of rainfall for sunday. actually, to the south, quite a lot of dry weather, misty and murky for the afternoon. further north we have had some morning sunshine but will have some heavy thundery showers across parts of scotland, northern england into the midlands and east anglia in the second half of the day. it will be chilli along the north sea coast. temperatures typically in the mid—teens. in the evening and overnight, more showers for the south east of scotland and north—east of england. in the south, keep the cloud, misty and murky and drizzly but mild temperatures in double figures. clear spells across

scotland, patchy frost first thing. till some showers for the north—east of england through monday morning. some drifting south into the midlands and east anglia. by the afternoon, largely dry, more sunshine to the south.

you are watching bbc news. the latest headlines. as the uk coronavirus death toll rises above 28,000, the prime minister describes preparations to announce his death while he was in hospital in intensive care coronavirus. churches and other places of worship reopen in germany for sunday services, with strict regulations in force and singing forbidden. a rare exchange of gunfire between north and south korea along the demilitarised zone a day after kim john hahn's reappearance following a mysterious absence. testing the water, crowds

returned to south korean beaches as the country turns the corner in the fight against coronavirus. uk plans to start live testing a phone app in the coming days to speed up covid—19 contact tracing and to help the country out of lockdown. the duchess of cambridge has shown her support for new parents and maternity staff with a virtual visit via video call. now on bbc news, carrie gracie presents dateline london. hello and welcome to dateline london. i'm carrie gracie.