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 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. congratulations. 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 2,000 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 hymns 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 absense, north and south korea have exchanged gunfire in the demilitarised zone between the two countries.

no casualties have been reported. first, with more on that interview boris johnson 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 second 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 lift the restrictions that are in place on a longer term basis. 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 weren'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 he 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. russia has recorded its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases, with more than 10,000 infections registered. most of them were in moscow,

but the virus is also spreading fast in regions where healthcare facilities are far worse than in the capital. according to authorities, however, the much of the increase is due to more tests being carried out. 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. north and south korean troops 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. the last exchang of fire 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? 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 fact that four bullets were fired which hit the guard post but it was not the optimum firing range, and he 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 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 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 say 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, that is the highest

for the last few days. we had zero locally transmitted cases 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. the headlines on bbc news. 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 with the virus. churches in germany reopened with

regulations in force and singing forbidden. an exchange of gunfire between north and south korea along the demilitarised zone a day after kimjong—un the demilitarised zone a day after kim jong—un reappeared after a mysterious absence. now, earlier this week, the uk's health secretary matt hancock said his target for carrying out 100,000 coronavirus tests per day, which he described as an "incredible achievement." but what's the experience been like for those receiving home testing kits? let's speak now to baschea walsh, who received a home test kit on friday. she ordered a kit because she has a lung condition and was showing symptoms of coronavirus. thank you very much will be in with us. thank you very much will be in with us. tell us a bit more about your experience. good afternoon. so i have been tracking my health on the coded 19 tracker app. i thought i should book a test. —— covid—19

tracker app. the test arrived on friday evening, i opened it yesterday morning and you have to register some details. it would not recognise my date of birth, so i phoned the helpline and i told them there was no return packaging. without a moments hesitation, i was told to dump it, put it in the bin. so you couldn't return it because there was no way of returning it? no, soi there was no way of returning it? no, so i asked if i could have a reply envelope to do the test and she said no, it is not possible, put the whole thing in the bin and you have to book another test. i asked ifi have to book another test. i asked if i could rebook the test with her, and she said no, you have to register back on the website. you can't have a second home test, you have to go to a test centre. so all my test centres, the options

essentially were at least an hours drive away. i have one this afternoon, i have to drive a 100 mile round trip. the whole site is absolutely appalling, it shows availability where there is none. it is recognising, it is not recognising postcodes at all. if you live in bournemouth and you want to book a test, you can go to belfast. it thinks dorchester is in ireland. perth, aberdeen and inverness are also options. the whole thing is an absolute disgrace. my first test has been counted as one of mr hancock's tests, and i would really like to know what the hell they are playing at. so you didn't have a return envelope, but i suppose that could have been a mistake in your case, you don't know how prevalent this is with other people being sent testing? looking on social media

last night and this morning, it looks like i'm certainly not the only one. the speed with which i was told to just dump it, only one. the speed with which i was told tojust dump it, if it had only one. the speed with which i was told to just dump it, if it had just been one, i would think someone would have had to call a line manager to say, what do we do? do we send a return envelope? i am not an isolated case. there are quite a few hundred if not thousand of us who have been tested, according to mr hancock, but in fact the bin has got the test. i suppose what the government, what matt hancock might say having heard your story is, sorry, but there has been a very, very quick ramping up testing capacity in this country up to 100,000 plus. isuppose capacity in this country up to 100,000 plus. i suppose they would say mistakes will happen along the way in certain cases? 0h,

say mistakes will happen along the way in certain cases? oh, so many m ista kes way in certain cases? oh, so many mistakes are being made along the way in this whole crazy situation. and this isjust way in this whole crazy situation. and this is just another one. way in this whole crazy situation. and this isjust another one. and it's not an isolated incident, i am absolutely sure that when this goes out, people will be contacting you and saying, well, i haven't got an envelope. it is a potential bio hazard, you cannot just envelope. it is a potential bio hazard, you cannotjust put it in the post, it has to go in a secure container, a proper envelope. this is just another example of their incompetence with the whole thing, i'm sorry. i am unimpressed. thank you for talking to us about your experience. diabetics are not on the list of people who are vulnerable and need to shield themselves from the coronavirus. but the charity says it's making approaches to the nhs to call for more investigation and research into the condition and how

it is affected by covid—19. i'm joined by daniel howarth from diabetes uk. do you think it does disproportionately affect and hit people with diabetes? the current evidence doesn't really show a great deal of information about how covid—19 affects people with diabetes. but any severe infection can cause diabetes to go a bit out of control. so we are aware of that. at the minute, though, there isn't any information, concrete evidence to suggest people with diabetes need to suggest people with diabetes need to be in the shielding category based solely on their diabetes. most diabetics are not on that list of 1.5 million people around the country. do you think they should be? the thing we need to remember is shielding is not an easy thing to do, really. to almost withdraw from

society and have very limited, if any face—to—face contact for three months is an incredibly hard thing to do. so the 3.8 million people who have diabetes in the uk would essentially be asked to do that. and while if any evidence comes through to suggest that is what they really need to do to keep safe, then we would change our stance and ask the government to do that, but at the minute there isn't any evidence to suggest people need to do that. the 1.5 million people who are shielding, they may also have diabetes as well but they are not shielding based solely on their diabetes. but you are looking for more research to be done on the implications, the effects of coronavirus on diabetics. it is much of that research being done at the moment? at diabetes uk, we have released £100,000 of funding for specific covid—19 implications on

diabetes, and that call has gone out. so research will be carried out and is under way so we can understand more about what this virus in real life does to people with diabetes. it is worth pointing out they were still an awful lot of services available to people with diabetes during this time. —— there are still an awful lot. they are concerned about things and rightly so. concerned about things and rightly so. but people can still access nhs services, they can self refer to the good sam scheme. people with diabetes i on the list of vulnerable people. so they can access services for those who don't feel comfortable going out doing shopping, getting medication and so on. thank you very much, daniel howarth from diabetes 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 is so sweet. congratulations. when did you have him? last night at 10pm. my goodness, you must be exhausted. pretty tired! the duchess of cambridge speaking to a couple of new parents. 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 were absolutely fine, 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. they we re have not long had your baby. they were just interested also to talk to her but also explain how they had been managing under lockdown and what it was like coming in to have their baby max. after six weeks of lockdown, workers and employers in the uk are keen to have more details on how and when britain will be able to get back to work safely. today, the british chamber of commerce has called on the government to introduce a phased re—opening of the economy alongside an extension to support schemes. our business correspondent katy austin has more. liz and phil's independent health clu b liz and phil's independent health club near nottingham has been closed and smart like other businesses. since then, all revenue has ceased but the costs haven't. a huge impact. furloughing their nine employees through the government scheme, a grant and deferring vat have helped but it won't be long before cash runs out. they want some

idea when they can reopen. we need first of all an idea of when, and we need a bit of notice. we also need to know how we will be able to reopen and the scope of it. and also how many people would we like to have in? if the turnover will be restricted by the fact we have to keep social distancing measures in force. they think their industry will need further support to avoid jobs being lost. extending the furlough scheme may be. we have also talked about potentially, rather than deferring vat or tax, they could potentially write it off. office—based companies are also wondering what a return to work will look like. staff at this recruitment agency are working from home or have been furloughed, and they are waiting for clarity from government. the boss is already planning a safe return to work. putting in place

hand sanitiser, bacterial desk wipes is really important. spacing, having people working in a situation where they feel safe. at a fair distance from the next person. 0ne they feel safe. at a fair distance from the next person. one thing we are looking at incorporating is a shift situation, we might have people on an a shift, b shift, different day coming in. whatever the government announces in the coming weeks, these firms know that the path back to normal is a very long one. how stressful has this been for you? on a scale of one to ten, i would say about 1002 recess —— very stressful, lots of sleepless nights, this is our whole life and we don't know where the future lies in ourselves and our staff. —— about 1000! we will have clicked very shortly, looking at the latest developments in the coronavirus outbreak from a technical point of view. now, the weather.

a lot more cloud across southern reaches of the uk today thanks to this weather front. this fund is reaches of the uk today thanks to this weatherfront. this fund is not oui’ this weatherfront. this fund is not our major this weatherfront. this fund is not oui’ major source this weatherfront. this fund is not our major source of rainfall for sunday. actually, to the south, quite a lot of dry weather, misty and murky through the afternoon. further north, we had morning sunshine but we will have heavy thundery showers across parts of scotland, northern england, down into the midlands and east anglia in the second half of the day. it will be chilly on the north sea coast. temperatures in the mid—teens. this evening and overnight, more showers for the south east of scotland and the north—east of england. further south, the cloud, misty, murky and drizzly, but mild with temperatures in double figures. clearer spells across scotland, still some showers for the north—east of england to monday morning. by the afternoon, we are looking largely dry, more sunshine to the cell... —— to the

south... churches in germany are reopening for sunday services for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed there in march. but strict regulations are in force and singing is forbidden. 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 kimjong—un following a mystery absence. russia has recorded its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases, with more than 10,000 infections registered. whilst most of the cases were in moscow, the virus is also spreading fast in other regions. the daily death toll from coronavirus in spain has fallen to 164 in the past 2a hours, according to the newspaper

thats the lowest daily number of deaths since the 18th of march