this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm aaron safir. as the us virus death toll nears 70,000, donald trump says he's done a greatjob handling the pandemic. the british government starts to talk about ending the virus lockdown — but says it could be reimposed in different areas. that means that we can pause or even reintroduce those restrictions that might be required in order to deal with localised outbreaks. celebrities and activists call on brazil's government to prevent a genocide against indigenous people from the coronavirus. and, football matches return to taiwan after its successful

campaign against the virus. hello and welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we'll have more on those stories a little later but first a quick look at some of the main developments on the pandemic. italy has registered 174 coronavirus related deaths, the lowest daily figure since the lockdown was introduced two months ago. churches across germany have resumed services for the first time since march. and in the uk there's been a dip in the daily testing figures — around 76,000 were counted, far short of the government's 100,000 a day target. but we begin in the us —

where donald trump says he hopes the presidential election in november turns into a referendum on his response to the coronavirus pandemic — that's because he believes he's done a greatjob. in a televised town hall event, broadcast by fox news, mr trump insisted his decision to impose restrictions had saved lives, and refuted claims that he had failed to act quickly enough. we're going to lose anywhere from 75—80 to we're going to lose anywhere from 75-80 to 100,000 we're going to lose anywhere from 75—80 to 100,000 people. that is a horrible thing. we shouldn't lose one person levies. this should have been stopped in china, it should have been stopped. if we hadn't done it, a million, that is the minimum. we probably would have lost higher than 2.2. the way you have to look at that is, you, i have never experienced death like this, you talk about the flu and things like that was upi the flu and things like that was up i have known people who have had the flu all my life. then they want to give a flu shop, —— flu shot, i didn't

wa nt shop, —— flu shot, i didn't want it, i know people who had the flu all through my life, i never had a friend who had the flu and he died! 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, says president trump renewed his attacks on china and claims it had originated at a laboratory in china. indeed, the president did touch on this issue of china, talking about the incompetence, potentially of people in this laboratory, saying that the virus should have been stopped by china. this is something that's going to run around in terms of the debate and dialogue surrounding this virus and who is to blame and it may well go to the heart of the president's election campaign in terms of pointing the finger of blame, when many of the democrats are pointing at the president and saying he should have done much more early on during the outbreak. one of the interesting things the president has said during this debate is he has claimed he thinks there will be immunity in terms of a vaccine for this virus

by the end of the year. he says he bases that on talking to the pharmaceutical companies, that he thinks they will have developed this vaccine in a matter of eight or nine months' time which will be much faster than many global scientists are predicting. joining me now live from washington is lisa hagen, who is a political reporterfor usnews. for our viewers who are not familiar with the term, what is a town hall? is a nice event that usually when we are not in a pandemic, people can congregate and convene and usually it is one or two reporters interviewing a political leader or the president and usually attended bya president and usually attended by a select audience and a lot of the time, the audience is able to ask a question but this time since we have been in the pandemic, it is a virtual one that they had recorded videos of people asking questions for the president. is quite

striking to see people on the steps of the lincoln memorial. why did he do this now, do you think? yeah, it was interesting. in the town hall, it was kind of a point of contentious agreement on who actually picked him to appear in this town hall in front of the lincoln memorial. fox news had said that the white house had said that the white house had chosen it and he had said that he thought that fox news picked it that obviously it was very intentional put it in front of the lincoln memorial. iam assuming front of the lincoln memorial. i am assuming it was meant to bea i am assuming it was meant to be a show of patriotism and a point of unity at this very uncertain and volatile time. the president hasn't been able to do one of these in a very long time pulled up his last town hall was almost exactly two months ago. it was early march. it was in front of a live audience. this is really the first time he has been able toi the first time he has been able to i guess reach americans and voters a little bit more personally. he is usually holding daily or daily

semiweekly briefings at the white house though it is definitely a different setting for him than what he has originally been able to do. he says he hopes the november election will be a referendum on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic was up with that election were held tomorrow, where would most americans stand on his handling? it is hard to say but looking at current polling right now, we do see presumptive democratic nominee joe biden ahead of trump both in national and state polling. particularly those battleground states which will likely decide the presidential contest so he has had mixed polling. i have seen a recent poll showing that his approval ratings have actually gone up a bit. so polling is very finicky u nfortu nately polling is very finicky unfortunately and it is so hard to predict but i guess right 110w to predict but i guess right now is a snapshot of where we are,joe now is a snapshot of where we are, joe biden does have a bit ofan are, joe biden does have a bit of an edge over the president as he is dealing with these

extremely difficult times.” suppose we ought to say that the polls have been wrong before. looking ahead to november, i'm just wondering, before. looking ahead to november, i'mjust wondering, i know this is a bit of a political issue at the moment, how on earth is america going to vote in november with social distancing potentially still in place in some shape or form? that is there million and really, billion dollar question. 0ur really, billion dollar question. our country is facing it right now. we saw how that played out in wisconsin just earlier, not this month but last month, and we saw that people were still having to go to the polls, they didn't expand male voting, they didn't postpone the deadline. the date for the elections. so we saw people going to limited polling locations and voting in person and we have seen that dozens of people got, and did test positive for the virus because of that. we are seeing in our country this fight over mail voting and trying to expand it

as quickly as possible because as quickly as possible because a lot of the states require some excuse to request an absentee ballot so that is the current shot on the november election. we will see how they can do that and how much access americans will get to rail ballots or whether they will resort —— mail ballots or whether they will resort to voting in person and whether there will be a resurgence in there will be a resurgence in the fall. thank you so much for your time. here, the government says it's looking at ways to lift the lockdown ahead of an announcement next sunday in which the prime minister will set out the how the country will get back to school and work. 0ur political correspondent chris mason reports. a portrait of the uk in lockdown. for well over a month, streets have been quiet, most shops have been closed. a pause button pressed on normal life. but if imposing these restrictions felt like a massive moment, easing them could prove much, much more fraught.

at this afternoon's government news briefing, one of the prime minister's most senior colleagues told me local lockdowns might have to be reimposed. a phased approach is one which allows us to monitor the impact that those changes are having on public health and if necessary, in a specific and localised way, that means we can pause 01’ even reintroduce there's restrictions that might be required in order to deal with localised outbreaks. trains won't look like this again for some time. but if we are to return to work, they won't be able to look like this either. i am working with the train companies, unions and all of the above, and there are a series of different things that we can do, including, for example, staggering work times, working with businesses to do that. there is a similar challenge in schools. empty or near empty classrooms in lockdown, and now tentative

plans being sketched for them reopening. wales's first minister said today it would take three weeks to get schools back open from the moment the decision to do so was taken. if we bring particular age groups back in first, that will allow us to spread them out through the school as a whole, enabling us to observe social distancing and, therefore, giving confidence to parents and teachers. mr drakeford said it will be a decision for his government as to when this happens. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon said the same today too. but take a look at this. this was leeds this afternoon. getting the country going again could involve more thanjust changing the rules. it's likely to require persuasion too. we have got very used to the mantra plastered across the lecterns you are stood behind. can we expect a more subtle message to come in the next phase to mirror what could be a more subtle and nuanced set of rules?

what we need to do is just to make sure the underground advice that we give is sufficiently reassuring. i think it's about making sure that people feel the point is we are giving about how a workplace can be safe, sensible, reliable, supported by employers and trade unions. getting back from this to normality is going to be a long and difficult slog. the government is promising to set out the next steps next sunday. chris mason, bbc news. plenty more on that story on oui’ plenty more on that story on our website. in brazil, the number of confirmed cases for covid—19 has passed 100,000, with more than 7,000 deaths. the latest figures are the highest in latin america, although president jair bolsonaro continues to call the virus a mild flu. he again appeared in public, greeting supporters in the capital, brasilia. meanwhile, in rio dejaneiro, a face mask has been projected on christ the redeemer, to raise awareness of social distancing and self—ca re amid the pandemic. as the number of coronavirus

cases climbs in brazil, the communities in the amazon region are threatened. already, the biggest city, manaus, has seen its health system collapse — but for the indigenous people of brazil, the pandemic represents both a health and an environmental challenge. raising awareness of this are more than 60 celebrities from around the world, including paul mccartney, madonna and brad pitt, who have signed an open letter to president bolsonaro warning him that indigenous communities face an extreme threat to their survival. let's get more on this from sao paulo, withjournalist euan marshall, from the brazilian report. tell us why our indigenous communities in the amazon region danger. what is the unique danger facing them?

first of all, we have to remember that even in the best case scenario, healthcare in indigenous communities in brazil, it is always been precarious and it is hard logistically to get doc as to these regions often to get to a health clinic you have to take a log book for example so a lot of the new graduates from medical school don't often look to get public service posts in the amazon. but with the coronavirus, what that rings in is the nature of the virus —— brings in, the nature of the virus being a respiratory disease, extremely contagious and with the best recommendations being as the world health organization has said, washing your hands and social distancing, that sort of thing. this doesn't really translate very well to the indigenous way of life and how indigenous way of life and how indigenous communities in brazil are. you often have a lot of families living in small spacesin lot of families living in small spaces in the same house, for

example. your whole extended family might be living in a very small village. the sanitary conditions are often not the best. though the risk is that if the virus was to properly make it to these villages, it could be a major issue on the health front. do we have a sense of how much the virus has penetrated these communities? if you bear in mind that the indigenous community as a whole in brazil adds up to around 900,000 people, so far, we have had 120 confirmed cases and six deaths so confirmed cases and six deaths so far. but as the numbers are rising all around brazil, we feel that that is probably going to increase quite soon. what action has the brazilian government been taking then? what action has the brazilian government been taking themm terms of the government and indigenous matters, there is a very long story there in fact. the jair bolsonaro government when it came to power last

year, one of its platforms was essentially trying to show indigenous lands and the amazon asa indigenous lands and the amazon as a whole is this really wealth rich land that had to be exploited for profit essentially. so there hasn't been a lot of care given to indigenous communities around brazil in terms of concrete health actions that have taken place. you have the indigenous health secretary ‘s handing out masks and hand sanitiser, all that kind of thing. there have been some hospitals set up in major amazonian cities but nowhere near where these indigenous communities are so it has been this kind of you will get a lot —— a lot of press statements from the government saying they are helping the indigenous community is quite a lot but we haven't seen any concrete behaviour. thank you very much for your time. a complicated picture so thank you for filling some of it in. let's take a look at some of today's other stories in brief. figures for coronavirus infections in saudi arabia increasingly suggest that the overwhelming number

of confirmed cases are among male expatriate workers. the saudi health ministry said that foreigners accounted for more than 80% of the 1,550 cases newly detected in the past 2a hours. spain has recorded its lowest daily number of deaths linked to coronavirus, since its lockdown was declared in mid—march — another 164 people have died. there have been 838 new infections, the first time the number of cases has been under a thousand in a similar period, despite higher rates of testing. the afghan health ministry says 500 random coronavirus tests carried out in the capital kabul revealed that more than 150 people had been infected. a spokesman said the results, in a city of more than four million people, were a cause for concern. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we meet some of the first volunteers to receive a new drug intended to help with recovery from the coronavirus.

i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterrand. but the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now, the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in underfour minutes. memories of victory as the ve celebrations reach their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in the future of peace and freedom.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: president trump has defended his response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying he's done a greatjob and would be re—elected if november's vote turns into a referendum on his performance. the bbc has seen the first draft of the government's strategy to reopen the uk's workplaces — it indicates businesses won't have to maintain social distancing of two metres between employees. russia has recorded its biggest daily increase in confirmed coronavirus cases. there have been more than 10,000 new cases reported over the past day, bringing the total number to around 135,000. more than 1,200 people have died from covid—19 so far. more than half of all cases and deaths have been reported in moscow, from where sarah rainsford sent this report.

moscow's hospital wards are filling up. the number of coronavirus cases is still rising. around 1,700 patients are admitted now every day. this week, the prime minister was one of them. after loud assurances that early action would help russia sidestep the worst of this pandemic, it's now in the top ten countries worldwide for cases. 0fficials here say they are detecting covid—19 because they are actively looking for it, running 170,000 tests a day. the official death rate is low. up to half of the new cases are said to be in people with no symptoms. some are frontline medics who get screened every week. in moscow, many are now sleeping in hotels between exhausting shifts to keep their families safe. yevgeni was a plastic surgeon before the outbreak. now, he says,

beauty will have to wait. like many, he switched to treat coronavirus. it's the start of the long may holidays here, and moscow's streets would usually be crowded. this year, even outside exercise is banned. cities across russia are in lockdown to try to slow the spread of this virus. hospital facilities in the regions are a far cry from those in the capital. russians are getting restless with all the restrictions, but moscow's preparing thousands of extra temporary hospital beds and warning that the worst still lies ahead. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. earlier in the week, we learned that the russian prime minister had tested positive for coronavirus. with so few drugs available to help to fight the virus, sciences around the world a re

virus, sciences around the world are racing to develop new treatments. a promising new treatments. a promising new treatment developed by uk researchers is promising. 0ur reporter was invited to university of southampton with the first volunteers were receiving the new drug will stop the trial is taking place in the hospital's coronavirus was. it has been given urgent ‘s research status by the government. before i see how it works... i have to put on the protective equipment we have brought. the only way to test these drugs is to give them to people who have the illness. that is why we need to go onto the ward. here we go. how is your breathing been? very, very shallow. like your lungs are blocked? yes it was. 67—year—old kay was diagnosed covid—19 last week and admitted

to hospital. she is one of 75 patients in uk hospitals who volunteered to help test the new drug. this is the machine i showed you the other day. nurse sandy shows her how to operate the nebuliser which will help get the drug deep into her lungs. it uses a protein which is part of our body's first line of defence against viruses. professor tom wilkinson is heading up the trial. is a naturally occurring proteins that many of the cells in our body produce on a daily basis. so when the lungs experience a viral attack, the cells in the lining of the long produce the protein naturally and it helps the immune system co—ordinate the response of the virus. hundreds of new drugs are being tested for covid—19 around the world. southampton

based company that developed this one as orally shown it can stimulate an immune response in patients of other lung diseases. what would you hope would be the result of the drug trial? if we get good results from the trial, we will scale up from the trial, we will scale up trial efforts and hopefully have enough patients into so that we can reduce mortality and get people out of hospital sooner. he says it won't be some kind of miracle tube for patients like k but thinks it could save lives by helping our bodies fight the virus. of course, he will only know if it does when he gets the results of the trial injune. we will be keeping our eyes on that one. the wait goes on for millions of football fans around the world, but one place that is seeing competitive matches is taiwan — as the bbc‘s tim allman explains.

it's been described as the most important of the least important of the least important things. for many, football is like a religion but during the global pandemic, worship has been indefinitely delayed. not everywhere though. this is the taipei municipal stadium. so successful has been taiwan's fight against coronavirus that the authorities have allowed the season to begin, albeit with some major restrictions. translation: actually, it is better to have people watching in the stadium during the match so that players can get excited. but because this is a closed door match, there's nothing we can do about it. so everybody has to lift their spirits and imagine there is an audience watching. football is something of a minority sport

here. baseball is the major obsession but since this is one of the few places on earth where matches are actually taking place, it is hoped it will help raise the game's profile. i think for taiwan, is a great opportunity. it's a country, like as a country to be known. a lot of people are watching. i think the first game, more than 40,000 people online. a lot of people watching it here in taiwan. local officials say they want to show that taiwan can write and epidemic and play football too. tim allman, bbc news. president trump has said that he hopes the presidential election in november turns into a referendum on his response to the coronavirus. that's because he believes he has done a great job. he was speaking at a town hall event on fox news and insisted his decision to impose restrictions had saved lives. it also refuted claims he

failed to act quickly enough. you can reach me failed to act quickly enough. you can reach me on failed to act quickly enough. you can reach me on twitter. thank you for watching bbc news. hello. 0ur weather looks like warming up for a time in the week ahead before doing a complete u—turn next weekend, as we'll see in a moment. it will be pleasant where there are some some sunny spells during monday, still a chance of catching a few showers, particularly across parts of eastern england, whereas elsewhere it is high—pressure in control, so it looks dry. one or two showers for south—east scotland to start the day. they're going to clear. a frosty start in northern scotland. a few spots in northern ireland. scotland and northern ireland though, seeing abundant afternoon sunshine. you can see where the showers are, merging to give longer spells of rain and showers across parts of yorkshire, lincolnshire, showers developing in east anglia and parts of the midlands too, into the afternoon, some of which could be heavy. much of southern england, west midlands, wales, north—west england staying dry, a warmer day with sunnier skies

compared to sunday. the breeze starts to pick up across southern parts during the day. turns quite windy overnight into tuesday morning across south—west england with some heavy rain moving in here across the channel islands as well. elsewhere, staying dry overnight, fairly chilly as we start tuesday morning, and there is a lot of fine weather on the way on tuesday, but clearly not for everyone. still some rain in south—west england fringing south wales, mayjust push in across parts of south—east england as well, thiugh there's a bit of uncertaintyjust how far north and east this is going to get before easing, along with the strength of the wind. still quite breezy and actually cool as well with temperatures in the mid—low teens in some spots, whereas elsewhere sunny spells and a pleasant day, 17 in glasgow. 0nshore breeze along this north sea coast keeping it cooler compared to elsewhere. the weather system to the south—west dies a death overnight and into wednesday, as high—pressure reasserts its dominance. apart from a slim chance of a shower, the closer you are towards south—west england, maybe west wales, most places will have a fine wednesday, and the winds for the most part are light and temperatures are creeping upa bit. getting quite widely now into the high teens,

just a few spots in the low 20s, from cardiff and also into parts of north—west scotland. a few showers later in the week, but some warmth when the sun is out. look at the change as we go through the weekend. a selection of locations here, but pretty much happens to all of us, temperatures will take a significant drop, increasingly likely that it turns much colder from the north next weekend, with frosts and maybe some wintry showers.

this is bbc news, the headlines: donald trump has said he hopes the presidential election in november turns into a referendum on his response to the coronavirus pandemic because he believes he's done a greatjob. in a televised town hall event, the president denied claims that he had failed to act quickly enough. the bbc has seen the first draft of the uk government's strategy to reopen the workplaces. it indicates that businesses won't be required to maintain two metre distancing between employees. where social distancing is not possible, it says additional measures should be considered, including the use of protective equipment. a group of worldwide celebrities has signed an open letter to the brazilian president jair bolsonaro warning that the effect of the virus pandemic on the country's indigenous people could amount to a genocide — unless swift action is taken. among those signing were paul mccartney, madonna and brad pitt.