this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. latest death figures from the uk show that more than 30,000 people are now known to have died from coronavirus. the figures show that more than 6000 people died from the virus in english care homes up to the start of may. a smartphone app aimed at tracking the spread of coronavirus goes live for the first time, in a trial on the isle of wight, the government says the system, which uses bluetooth, is secure, despite concerns from privacy campaigners. we can give very significant reassurances on the privacy aspects, but what i can tell you is if you download the app, then you are doing your duty. a bbc investigation has found an iranian airline with links to the revolutionary guard played a central role in the spread of the virus

from china to the middle east. india reports its biggest dailyjump in coronavirus cases and deaths as the pandemic starts to take hold in south asia. warnings of a lost generation. we'll look at how coronavirus has affected school pupils and why there are fears some are being left behind. 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. more than 30,000 people in the united kingdom have died with suspected covid—i9. the office for national statistics has released new figures for england and wales on the number of coronavirus deaths, including those deaths outside hospital.

the figures show that in the week ending 24th april, a total of 21,997 deaths, for any cause, were registered in england and wales. that is over 11,500 more than the average for this time of year but the first decrease during the epidemic. a new nhs app to track the spread of coronavirus is being rolled out on the isle of wight today. the trial will help shape the uk government's strategy for easing the lockdown. in other developments, some of england's largest providers of care in the home have told the bbc they can't get the ppe they need to protect the people they're looking after. there are calls for funeral services to resume in churches. more than 30 conservative mps have signed a letter to the church of england saying updated government guidance allows funerals to take place as long as social distancing measures are observed. an investigation by bbc news arabic

has found how one iranian airline contributed to the spread of coronavirus around the middle east. india has recorded its biggest daily jump in the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities. health officials said there were nearly 4,000 new cases of the virus, and about 200 deaths in the past 2a hours. 0ur head of statistics robert cuffe is with me now. let's talk through the very upsetting numbers we have had to release this morning from the ons. the first thing that has really come out from this data that is new is the change in the pattern of deaths we are seeing, we the change in the pattern of deaths we are seeing, we are the change in the pattern of deaths we are seeing, we are seeing care home deaths continue to rise, whereas deaths in the hospital seem to be falling. if we bring up that graph, last week deaths that were shot deaths with covid and hospitals

we re shot deaths with covid and hospitals were running at about 6000 in hospital and they have fallen to just below 5000, we have known about that. it is the care home figures that. it is the care home figures that just keep that. it is the care home figures thatjust keep going up. they are now just thatjust keep going up. they are nowjust under 3000 deaths, we think about 6000 in total deaths in care homes so far registered to covid. sorry, go on? when you put it together, the picture looks no different to last week, but that is masking two things going on underneath. falling in hospitals, we had seen it in scotland and northern ireland, and care home deaths continuing to rise. in terms of these totals up to the week ending april 2a, how do they feed into the overall picture of the number of people who died with coronavirus in this country? it looks like it is around 30,000 people who had died with coronavirus mentioned on the dead certificate, but that does not ca ptu re dead certificate, but that does not

capture the full picture. because you had to look at the total number of deaths we have seen this year, not everybody dies with coronavirus oi’ not everybody dies with coronavirus or because of it will have it mentioned on the death certificate, so mentioned on the death certificate, so if we show viewers the overall pattern for deaths this year, it has increased by a bit more than the 30,000 we seejust increased by a bit more than the 30,000 we see just for the coronavirus registered deaths. a couple of minutes ago you said there are about 22,000 deaths in the last week, that is about 11,000 higher than we would expect at this time of the year. not all of the coronavirus deaths we have seen, around 8000 in the last week, mentioned coronavirus, so that is another 3000 of the extra deaths not mentioning it directly. but that is the key figure, the number of excess deaths? yes, we saw in that graph the figure had jumped yes, we saw in that graph the figure hadjumped up as yes, we saw in that graph the figure had jumped up as the number of coronavirus deaths increased, in the last week it has flattened, it has come down a tiny amount, about 350

deaths in total and slightly more when you feed and northern ireland and scotland, but still well, well above—average. the covid registrations capture most of that but not all of it. anything else, robert? that's it. thank you very much, robert cuffe, our head of statistics. an iranian airline may have played a central role in spreading the coronavirus from china across the middle east. an investigation by bbc news arabic has found that mahan air, which is linked to iran's revolutionary guard, continued to fly to and from china, and is believed to have taken the first covid—19 infections to iraq and lebanon. the airline did not respond to the bbc‘s request for comment. nawal al maghafi has this report. on january 31st, iran suspended all flights to and from china to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. despite the ban, the bbc has found that one airline kept flying — mahan air. iran's largest and first

privately operated airline. it's sanctioned by the us for its ties to the powerful iranian revolutionary guard. these restrictions on mahan air are part of wider sanctions imposed on iran, bringing the country much closer to china economically, and mahan air plays a key role in this relationship. analysing flight—tracking data, we discovered that from the 31st of january until april 20th, mahan air was given permission by the iranian authorities to conduct 157 flights between iran and four chinese cities — in breach of its own government flight ban with china. we found that ten additional flights were used for aid and to evacuate iranians citizens. by the middle of february, the virus was at its peak in china, and spreading at an alarming rate in iran. videos started to appear on social media of hospitals being overrun,

and by the end of the month the bbc reported that at least 210 people had died across the country... but iran's official figure was 34. mahan air wasn't only flying to china. it also flew to lebanon, syria and iraq — countries with strong ties to the iranian revolutionary guard. this caused widespread alarm. it seems that these fears were justified. lebanon's first case of covid—19 was announced on the 21st of february — a 41—year—old woman returning from a pilgrimage to qom. a picture of her passport was posted on twitter. and in iraq the first official case was reported on the 24th of february — it was this iranian student.

we can confirm that both lebanon and iraq's patient zero were passengers on mahan air flights. a mahan air insider told the bbc that as flights continued around the region, more than 50 of their cabin crew were showing symptoms of covid—19. they say that their calls for ppe were ignored by the company and they were given this nondisclosure agreement to sign, threatening them with prosecution if they spoke out. they also say they're being blamed for spreading the virus to their loved ones and in the country. there were other airlines flying in and out of iran at this time, but mahan air was the only one operating on such a large scale. the flight—tracking data reveals that there were a further 82 flights around the world. all these countries must have given the airline permission to land, and they did so despite their own travel bans with iran. the airlines' links to the iranian revolutionary guard may have given mahan air the cover it needs to continue to do some

business around the world, helping to spread the coronavirus and endanger people's lives. nawal al maghafi, bbc news. britain's health secretary, matt hancock, says people will be doing their duty if they sign up to an nhs app which will trace the spread of coronavirus. a trial is beginning today on the isle of wight but the government hopes to expand its use across england by the middle of this month, as andy moore reports. the nhs covid—19 app lets you know quickly if you've come into contact with someone who has symptoms... this is the nhs app that could play a key role stopping a second wave of the virus. it's already been trialled on a small—scale at an raf base in north yorkshire. now it's been rolled out across the isle of wight. today, council staff and healthcare workers will be able to download it. on thursday, the general public on the island will have access. the new app uses a phone's bluetooth connection to work.

once you've installed the app, every time you come into contact with someone else who has it, your phone records that fact. then if you tell the app you have symptoms of covid—19, the other people who you've been close to will be automatically alerted and should self—isolate. the app is just one part of a wider strategy to test, track and trace the virus. it's hoped 18,000 specialist staff will be at work by the middle of the month using widespread testing to stamp out any virus hotspots. the aim of test, track and trace is to hunt down and isolate the virus so it's unable to reproduce, and crucially, test, track and trace allows us to take a more targeted approach to lockdown while still safely containing the disease. by embarking on this project and by embracing test, track and trace, you will be saving lives. 288 coronavirus deaths

were reported yesterday. that's the lowest daily total for more than a month, but may reflect a lag in reporting over the weekend. there's been a total of 28,731; fatalities in the uk. there are privacy concerns over the new nhs app, but the government says users only need to give limited personal details. there are also worries it may not be compatible with similar apps used overseas, and that could eventually cause problems for foreign travel. but in the short—term, the current lockdown looks set to be extended on thursday, and we will have to wait for a broadcast by the prime minister on sunday to find out details about how and when the restrictions will be eased. andy moore, bbc news. we can talk to our political correspondent, nick eardley, in westminster. good morning. plenty of people on my timeline say they want the

opportunity to download this app, quite 80 was sceptical and worried about privacy? it is interesting, clearly this is a big part of government strategy over the next few weeks, to make sure that they know where the virus is and who needs to go and get tested as quickly as possible because they have come into contact with somebody else who has shown symptoms, but there appeared to be those two groups, people hugely enthusiastically want to get behind it because they think it will allow them to get back to something approaching normal, and those who are worried they are giving lots of information to the government. ministers are saying that is not the case, they had designed this specifically to take as little information as possible, example most of the data stays on your phone rather than going to a main database run by nhs england. but listen to health secretary matt hancock reacting to some of that criticism this morning.

the data is stored on your phone until you need a test, in which case you've got to tell us who you are because we got to get the test to you, so the data is entirely stored on the phone. it doesn't go into some sort of database in the sky. so i think that we can give very significant reassurances on the privacy aspects, but what i can tell you is that if you download the app then you are doing your duty and you're helping to save lives. almost a patriotically from the health secretary, saying the more people that download this app, the better it will work, the easy age will be to track where this virus is going. —— the easier it will be. interestingly, labour say they understand the concerns over privacy but they are not quite taking them up, saying that they name is to make sure this app works, help people to track the virus and help people try to get out of the lockdown we are in

just now. but they are raising concerns over tracing. they are saying the government should not just put all its eggs in the app basket, it should not be focusing all its energies on this one strategy to get out of the current logjam. the new labour leader keir starmer said the government, instead of having around 20,000 tracers, needs about 50,000, and they need to be doing a wide the writing of different things. —— wide variety of. i really hope it works because i think testing and tracing is going to be crucial to getting to the next stage of fighting this crisis. my concern is obviously if it doesn't work what then? and secondly, that there was an app in singapore where, in the end, only 20% of the public actually used it, so there is a real challenge there and what i'm saying to the government is don't put all your eggs in one basket. we need to have the sort

of traditional methods of tracing as well, ramped up, because we may need them sooner rather than later. and allied to that, just one other point is i want to see the number of tests go up, up, up. at the moment, they have gone up in the last week to ten days, but they are still key workers, they are key members. what we now need is testing for everybody who has got symptoms and everybody who's been in contact with anyone who's got symptoms, so we just need to keep that curve number of tests coming up and up and up, and have in addition to the outcome if it works and i really hope it does, in addition to that, you're going tojoin traditional methods of chasing as well and i want to see them in place really quickly. so that is the labour view. the trailers on the isle of wight right now, but ministers are hoping that if it goes well they could roll this app across england over the next few weeks, slightly different in scotla nd weeks, slightly different in scotland and wales, who have their own decisions to make about exactly

how they use technology to track the virus. but the truth is it is only one part of what the government needs to do to try to get life back to something approaching normal. quite interesting this morning, we have had minutes published by the scientific advisory group on emergencies, the ones the ministers keep talking about when they say they are following the science. not much in the minutes from this meeting is at the start of april that we did not know, but very clear that we did not know, but very clear that restrictions need to be is to gradually, people need to be told why we are doing certain things slowly and that this will not happen particularly quickly. we might be getting an app, but not anytime soon. thank you, nick in westminster. a group of lawyers has warned the nhs tracking app may contravene human rights and data protection laws. i'm joined now by matthew ryder qc, who's a barrister at matrix chambers, and the former deputy mayor for social integration for london under the labour mayor, sadiq khan.

hello, what are your worries? at the moment the government has opted for the type of app which is most likely to infringe your privacy and interfere with privacy. across the world, other european countries, germany, austria, italy, estonia, have opted for another system, the one facilitated by google and apple, which is decentralised, meaning the data stays at all times on your device and has the minimum level of privacy interference. so we need to understand from the government, the government needs to produce evidence as to why they have opted to do the same thing these other countries are doing but with an app which has more interference to privacy than that option. we just heard matt hancock say the data is stored on our phones until that point where we might need a test, and then we need to give people our name and address. yes,

but once you submit your data, lots of data goes up, and when it goes substantially it has the potential to be combined with other data. a decentralised app is specifically designed to minimise the risk of additional information going up and to minimise the risk of what is called mission creep, when your data for one purpose started to be used for one purpose started to be used for another. lots of countries are saying we do not need a centralised app, we can deal with privacy most effectively by a decentralised app, which is the one that those countries are adopting. 0ur position as the government may be able to justify using a centralised, it is very important, we all want this to work, the government is trying to protect us and regard our right to life, but they need to explain to us as lawyers and people interested in this process and to get public trust why they are opting for the type of system which is more likely to interfere with your privacy and have

higher risks than the one that the other countries are using. why do you think they are? i don't know, which is one of the reasons we publish the opinion, we deliberately published it before the app was released on before the joint committee on human rights met yesterday, and we did that because we wa nt yesterday, and we did that because we want to add constructively to the debate. this is not a lawyer saying we wa nt debate. this is not a lawyer saying we want to pick fault with something, we are trying to make sure that the government's good intention to get an app out of that helps us is not thwarted by the fact they are doing something that is not properly complying with the law and not doing the minimum interference necessary to interfere with no —— with our rights. it is important they do the right thing by us but it is important that they comply with the law. when the government issues 01’ pursues the law. when the government issues or pursues an app or a system of that kind, they need to provide the evidence for data protection and human rights reasons to show they

are not interfering more than they are not interfering more than they are required to do for the purposes of the app. they must produce the evidence. that is the normal process and totally fine, i am sure they will try to do so, the information commission indicated yesterday that data protection impact assessment from the government. so the information needs to come, but in order to justify information needs to come, but in order tojustify their information needs to come, but in order to justify their action they need to produce their evidence and at the moment we have not seen any of it and it does not match with other countries who say we can achieve the same name but with an app that interferes with privacy much less. thank you very much for talking to us, matthew ryder qc. a year people are sceptical about the app, let me read some messages. let a new people. helena says, security issues aside, it is a tad late with 30,000 dead and rising in the uk. karen says i will download it, if it helps to stop the spread

of covid—19. for those worried about surveillance, if we are not doing anything wrong, we have nothing to hide. 0ur movements are tracked everyday by gps, cctv etc, i have no problem with anybody knowing with whom and where i am, to which jane has said, oh, bless! russia has recorded 10,102 new covid—19 cases in the past 2a hours. it's the third consecutive day when new cases have been above ten thousand. russia has a total number of confirmed cases of infection of 155,370. 95 people have died in the past 2a hours, bringing the total death toll in russia to almost 1500. india has recorded its biggest dailyjump in the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities. health officials said there were nearly 4000 new cases of the virus and about 200 deaths in the past 24 hours. the largest spike came in the western states of maharashtra and gujarat, two of india's richest regions. here's the bbc‘s divya arya.

one reason which has been given for the rise in cases which has actually been steady now for the past four days, the number is much higher than what we have seen earlier and of course the last 24 hours, a dramatic increase of more than 2,000 cases in one day. the highest so far. and the reason being given is an increase in testing. now, india has been appreciated for implementing a lockdown very early into the spread of the pandemic, but criticised for one of the lowest testing levels across the world. so now, as the testing levels are being increased, the numbers are also increasing. the health ministry, which does a press conference every day, almost every day, has been asserting that the curve has been flattening. they have also said that the recovery rate is much better, but, as we can now see, the deaths have suddenly started climbing up, ironically, as india has started to ease its lockdown.

there are warnings of a growing gap between disadava ntaged pupils and those from wealthier families as a result of school closures. with no set date for reopening schools, charities and headmasters are worried about the long—term implications for the most vulnerable children. john 0wen reports. for weeks now, schools that are usually a hive of activity have looked more like this. and for most schoolchildren, the new normal looks like this. with the exception of the children of critical workers and some vulnerable children, most young people are attempting to continue their education at home, with schools relying heavily on online resources. but now school leaders and charities have warned of a growing gulf between disadvantaged pupils and their more affluent counterparts, and of the long—term consequences that could follow for those young people who are currently being denied an education. we face a huge potential wave

of educational poverty. there are some families that have had to stop paying for their monthly broadband because they haven't got the money to be able to do it. i think there could possibly be a lost generation of young people. carlton bolling academy is a comprehensive school in one of the most deprived areas of bradford, with 1,500 students, most of whom are not currently attending school. at the present time, we've only got about 35% engagement in the online learning. part of the problem is that some of our young people do not have, and theirfamilies do not have, access to the internet or to laptops, so it means our interactive learning, online, they cannot access, so they've got paper—based learning. jane explained while many students do not have any access to the internet at all, some, like year10 laiba kazmi, simply have limited access. me and my brother both share a laptop, and also i've got an auntie at home who's

studying her lpc at this moment in time, so between the three of us, there's one laptop that we have to share. research suggests a third of pupils overall are taking part in online lessons each day, but those from private schools are twice as likely to do so as their counterparts at state schools. the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged in our education system is already significant. we know what's now happening is that gap is getting wider even despite the best efforts of schools, the bbc and other people providing all kinds of online resources. the government has pledged £100 million to boost remote learning and has committed to provide laptops to vulnerable young people and disadvantaged pupils in year 10, but some say more action is needed. the government need a national strategy to look at imaginative solutions to make sure these left behind vulnerable children, pupils and students are being looked after and educated. but with no clear end to the lockdown in sight,

fears of irreparable damage to young people's educational prospects continue. john 0wen, bbc news. we can speak now to the education minister for wales, kirsty williams. good morning, miss williams, thank you for talking to us. tell us your principles for sending children back to school? we published our principles ten days ago, the first of which is, of course, the health, safety a nd of which is, of course, the health, safety and emotional well—being of our children, young people and our workforce that teach and support teachers. we obviously need to see schools in a context of wales' endeavours to stop this pandemic. we also had to recognise that even if we we re also had to recognise that even if we were to make schooling available to more children, recognising over 500 schools in wales are open everyday at the moment, we need the confidence of parents to send their

children into school, we need to think about the practicalities of doing that, how we can make those environments as safe as possible. and it is clear to me, and environments as safe as possible. and it is clearto me, and i environments as safe as possible. and it is clear to me, and i have been very clear with parents and teachers, that when we are able to open up education to more children it will not be what it was like before the pandemic, social distancing, for distance, and school timetables, so looking at a stage no phased approach. so those are my guiding principles. —— so looking at a staged approach. we have some questions from viewers, the kind of things we are all discussing who have children at school. judy hamilton says how can social distancing be maintained in corridors, playgrounds, toilets, the canteen and not to mention every surface touched hundreds of times a day. the desks, door knobs, banisters, books, tablets etc? absolutely, it is really challenging especially in primary schools with our very youngest learners for whom carpet time and being close to one

another and by teachers as part of their everyday routine. we are keeping a very close eye on some of the school systems in europe and other parts of the world that have already seen some children go back to school, so for instance in denmark children have set desks, they are not allowed to move around. we are also looking at whether we can have some children in school for pa rt can have some children in school for part of the week, staggered start time so you would not have everybody congregating at the school gates, studded lunchtimes, but these are really complex issues we had to think through before making a decision about allowing more children to attend, because it is sweeter challenging. susie says my partner is shielding because of a lung condition and asthma, i am scared at the thought of our two children going back—to—school. that's perfectly understandable. even when there's people at home with a shielding letter, many people

live with grandparents, i do that with my own family, my husband, three children, my mother—in—law in the 805, so i understand those concerns and we have been very clear, when we do open up education to move children, they will be going into an institution which is as safe as it possibly can be but also we recognise that for some parents they will have to make individual choices. their own children may be in receipt of shielding letters, and have health conditions them5elve5 that would not be appropriate sometimes for them to return. that's interesting. you are going to give pa re nts a interesting. you are going to give parents a choice. so you won't find them if they don't send their children back? no, we won't be fining parent5 children back? no, we won't be fining parents who decide not to send their children back. we will hope to instill confidence in pa re nts hope to instill confidence in parent5 so they feel it's safe to send their children back, but we will not be fining parent5 send their children back, but we will not be fining parents in wales. david spencer says what about the vulnerable grandparents to assist with taking and collecting children from school? you mentioned

grandparents, but in switzerland you may know this already, children under ten can hug their grandparents, because children are very really infected and do not pass on the virus, it's been said, which i5 on the virus, it's been said, which is why small children po5e on the virus, it's been said, which is why small children pose no risk to high risk patients or grandparents. what do you say to that? that's the decision they've come to in switzerland. 0ther countries take a different approach and that's one of the issues we need to get to grips with in wales, and across the uk. does that suggest that the science isn't 5ettled or is it about interpreting the science in different ways? i don't think of earth science is settled yet because this is a new virus, we don't know exactly how it behaves. 0ne this is a new virus, we don't know exactly how it behaves. one of the things we are trying to find out more is actually, how at—risk our

children? this evidence which suggests tho5e children? this evidence which suggests those under the age of 13 are suggests those under the age of 13 a re le55 suggests those under the age of 13 are less likely to develop the virus and transmit the virus, however, for teenagers who attend high school, it seems that the virus is no different for them as it is for older people. we just for them as it is for older people. wejust 5imply for them as it is for older people. we just simply do not know enough. what we are learning every day about the role of children as part of this overall pandemic, that's why we need to continue to do the research and the modelling to understand the role of children both younger children and older children, and therefore help them make decisions about returning to education and what it will look like. thank you very much for talking to us. some messages from you about how you're feeling about your children back to school. karen says only of social distancing matters can be put in place. she is in year5ix, so matters can be put in place. she is in year 5ix, so i would like her to go back for a few weeks to have some closure. that's the last day of primary school in the uk. not the

whole class back, no. karen says no, scottish school5 finish fourth summer holidays end ofjune so no rushing them back and my seven—year—old could not cope with that. we need a clear plan of how this will be done, not a rush job when health is at risk. ye5, says keith jackson, a5 when health is at risk. ye5, says keith jackson, as key workers and children go two days a week to school but i'm happy for them to go back full—time. 0ne school but i'm happy for them to go back full—time. one more, elizabeth, i'm a nursery a55istant back full—time. one more, elizabeth, i'm a nursery assistant and i going to school for key workers children and there is no social distancing, but there is lots of hand washing. lucy, yes, iwould but there is lots of hand washing. lucy, yes, i would like my child to go back, i have a child with autism and it's very tough for him. thank you for those. throughout the day here on bbc news we're going to have a special day of coverage looking at how the coronavirus epidemic has impacted schooling and education, both in the uk and around the world. if you've got experiences you want to share you can contact us by sending us your thoughts, questions and videos

to #bbcyourque5tion5 on twitter. hello. this is bbc news with victoria derby5hire. the headlines. more than 30,000 people have died from coronavirus in the uk. hospital deaths are down, but the numbers in carehome5 continue to rise. globally, another grim milestone is reached, as the number of deaths from the virus exceed5 250,000. a smartphone app aimed at tracking the spread of covid—19 in the uk goes live for the first time, in a trial on the isle of wight. a bbc investigation has found an iranian airline with links to the revolutionary guard played a central role in the spread of the virus from china to the middle east. india report5 its biggest dailyjump in coronavirus cases and deaths as the pandemic starts to take hold

in south a5ia. the parliamentary health 5elect committee in the uk are examining the scientific evidence given to the british government on the lockdown, and the impact of the virus in the uk. they're talking to drjenny harries. let's listen in. and my comments at the time where that we were focusing our testing and tracing on those individuals, so at the time, we would have been doing outbreak control for example in care homes or in other high—risk environments such as pri5on5, so that contact tracing have continued. my question is very specific, if i may, do you still think it was not appropriate to test in the community

because that's what they did in south korea and germany and they do seem to have much lower death rates than us? and we could have chosen them at the beginning of march to mmp them at the beginning of march to ramp up the testing as we actually did a month later but we didn't, we stopped testing in the community and therefore we did not know where the virus actually was and you were very clear it would not have been appropriate to test the new community and i want to check that you still think that? i think the i55ue you still think that? i think the issue here is what capacity do we have to undertake testing and where should do be prioritised? so in the unlikely event of a country has an ending capacity to test, then i think we would continue. however, there is an issue around notjust there is an issue around notjust the testing, i think unfortunately some of the conversations of ended with perhaps just thinking about the

te5ting. with perhaps just thinking about the testing. if the action which goes with it, so i think given the exa m ple5 with it, so i think given the examples you have given, there would bea examples you have given, there would be a large component, notjust of doing the test, because that perhaps in itself does not lead to a change in outcome, but actually the a55ociated actions, so in germany, there was i think follow—up contact tracing but also a large number of very different population groups, a number of young people coming back from germany, so the population comparison is different. in south korea, they had very focused outbreaks. it would have been followed through in the same way in the uk. becau5e followed through in the same way in the uk. because they were identifiable, local hot areas, if you like, rather than sustain community transmi55ion acro55 you like, rather than sustain community transmi55ion across the country, so i think to answer your que5tion, country, so i think to answer your question, if we had unlimited capacity and the ongoing support

beyond that then we perhaps would choose a slightly different approach, but with the resources we had, andi approach, but with the resources we had, and i mean that in a broad 5en5e, had, and i mean that in a broad sense, because many other specialists and you need to carry out additional contact tracing will also be supporting the changes which have been successful, for example, ramping up nhs capacity, so there are clinicians working on the interface between public health and the nhs and it's appropriate that that capacity is maximi5ed to save lives as well as considering the 5pread lives as well as considering the spread of disease. i'm sorry to press you on this, but you know, south korea had the virus worse than us, they are closer to china, they had super spreader in religious cult, germany is closer to italy and they got the virus before us, but they got the virus before us, but they carried on community testing. the other thing is that because your commentjust the other thing is that because your comment just now about testing, when you were asked at one of the downing

street press conferences about the who advice to test, test, test, you said the clue for the who is in its title, it's the world health organization. very much suggesting that that advice, test, test, test, didn't apply to countries with high developed care systems. i wonder if you still have that view? developed care systems. i wonder if you still have that view?” developed care systems. i wonder if you still have that view? i would like to clarify my position on that. ido like to clarify my position on that. i do think the test, test, test mantra if you like from the who wa5 very much at a time when a number of countries were not actually testing at all. it was entirely appropriate to encourage the whole world to be testing because unle55 to encourage the whole world to be testing because unless you are testing because unless you are testing you wouldn't know whether you had any cases and so the comments made were very much to reflect that. that doesn't mean to say that i think countrie5, more developed countries of more developed countries of more developed health systems shouldn't

be te5ting, developed health systems shouldn't be testing, and indeed, we did continue to do so, but there is a balance point in this with resources you have available, and i use that in its broadest sense, this is very much specialists to follow through with testing, that you need to prioritise that. i think at the time we did that, we had to balance our resources a cross we did that, we had to balance our resources across the testing and other areas. this issue about countrie5, other areas. this issue about countries, we refer to germany a lot, but it is interesting that on the testing alone, i think, and i'm happy to be corrected, but the broad number of tests carried out in germany is broadly the same of the number of tests carried out in italy, so testing per se doe5 number of tests carried out in italy, so testing per se does not have a direct causative link and so it is the follow—on activity from that. i think what we are

identifying here is contact tracing, and there is a resource component to that, privatisation component, which needs to be considered. do you advise the government on the 12th of march, when we stop community testing and contact tracing, that you didn't want to do that and you understood why it had to be focused on hospitals, but really, we should be increasing our testing capacity as soon as we can so we can carry on testing in the community? was that your advice? i wouldn't have made that advice personally. just as a preface for this. but i think it was recognised within the plan for moving from containment to delay and mitigation that, as we moved into the delay pha5e, mitigation that, as we moved into the delay phase, the prioritisation of approach would not necessarily be to be testing in all cases in the community, but to be focusing on where it could have the most effect.

i think we have always recognised that there should be active te5ting. within an appropriate framework. and of course, there is a very large programme of testing available now and of course it comes back to the earlier conversations which patrick made which is different elements of testing are for different interventions and it's important, so some full surveillance, which we've ju5t some full surveillance, which we've just been talking about and understanding transmission, clinical management, ensuring staff can go back to work for example. so i think we have always had a very active approach to increasing testing and i think we do recognise and always recognised that there may be a point where the prevalence of disease is lower, as we are coming to now and i'm sure everybody is aware of the isle of wight test, when the

prevalence of disease is under control, then that element of testing and contact tracing becomes a very significant part again. that was doctorjenny harris, the deputy chief medical officerfor was doctorjenny harris, the deputy chief medical officer for england being questioned by the chair of the parliamentary health select committee, jeremy hunt. really interesting what she was saying particularly for uk viewers in this country, as you know, we stop community testing the middle of march and jenny harris saying if we had unlimited testing capacity and ongoing support than perhaps we would have chosen a slightly different approach, and carried on community testing as opposed to, at that point, moving from containment to delay, privatising testing of people in hospitals. big questions byjeremy hunt, former health secretary, as you know. france has reached the grim

milestone of over 25,000 coronavirus deaths as its government defends plans for easing a lockdown. next monday some french schools are due to reopen. this is on the instruction of president emmanuel macron, who has gone against the advice of his government's scientific committee. other governments in denmark, norway, ireland and here in the uk have kept most schools closed because of the risks of spreading the virus. we can speak now to a mum in france who's getting ready to send her two girls back to school. rachel beatty riedl is in nantes with her daughters adelaide and amelie, and has been home—schooling them since the middle of march. and we can speak now to eric charbonnier, education analyst at the oecd directorate of education in paris. hello, both of you. thank you very much for talking to us. what does the science say about whether safe for some pupils to go back to school in france? yes, it's a complex

situation in france, because france isa situation in france, because france is a centralised country, so the decision to reopen is putting pressure on parents to decide if they want their children to go to school, if they want to be sure the security is sure and the spread was very fast in some regions of france and then slow in others, so the security is not guaranteed in schools, especially for very young children. each child, it's difficult for them to respect social distancing and that a decision of the president to open primary schools and primary education. why has the president made this decision that elementary schools will be one of the first to go back? two reasons, first of all, of course, economy, because it's important to restart the economy and for parents

of very young children cannot go to work, it's an opportunity for them to put their children in school, and it's an educational reason, because france is one of the countries with inequality in the early stages of education, so they are investing a lot in education for this age group, and they want to continue this policy to give priority to primary education. it's not the direction taken in other education. it's not the direction ta ken in other countries education. it's not the direction taken in other countries like germany, where other education facilities open first. rachel, how are you feeling about sending your jack monroe factor still? we are quite excited by the prospect of still been quite nervous and jealous

us be the same as when the girls where there back in march. very mixed feelings in terms of raising levels of anxiety in some ways, but it's something for the girls to look forward to, returning to school. it's something for the girls to look forward to, returning to schoolm you allow them to go back, you must feel that with social distancing in place, however they will organise it in schools, that they will be safe? exactly. so we are in a region which is relatively fewer number of cases, and so that helps us to make the decision. of course we will be watching the numbers daily, and can always re—evaluate at a later point. we have also received good communication from the school about the precautions they will be taking, we know the children will be wearing masks all day and they will not be eating together in the canteen. they have to stay one metre apart during

recess, so they will be washing hands frequently, sitting further apart in schools, so they are putting it in place, a lot of rules to try to protect them but of course it raises everyone's level of risk. yes. although those plans might be in place, when it comes to the practicalities, particularly the primary school quite hard to stop a couple of kids running over and hugging each other or playing football and tackling each other or whatever it may be. absolutely, and that so much of what we see, during this period of confinement when the isolated, they don't have space to have fresh air, run around, recess, they don't have the interaction of teacher feedback, so these are balances every family has to ask themselves in terms of what is best for their children, what their family can support, in terms of working with them at home and what risk they are willing to take to access education. that's a really good point, rachel wasjust made, eric, isn't it? the president is

saying one thing, his scientific advisory group is saying something else, so in the end, parents will have to make the decision that suits them best? yes, that's it. a lot of pressure on parents. it's more complex because the president and his ministers said the maximum class size would be 15 children per teacher but because of health security in primary education, the teacher will have five or six children maximum, so children can wa nt to children maximum, so children can want to put their children to school by the teachers could say no, priority will be given to children of key workers, nurses, doctors, teachers, and children with difficulties because the idea is to decrease the inequalities in france.

pa rents decrease the inequalities in france. parents will receive no from some of the schools. some parents will not be able to put their children into schools next week. it will be really interesting to see how many turn up on monday of those who are eligible to go back. thank you both very much for talking to us. thank you for talking to us and good luck. new zealand's prime minister, jacinda ardern, has taken part via video link in a coronavirus meeting of the australian cabinet, where they discussed restoring travel between the two countries. ms ardern told journalists there would be no open borders with the rest of the world for some time to come, but they were looking at whether they could establish something between new zealand and australia. under the proposal, movement between the two countries would be permitted without a two—week quarantine period.

the whole purpose of having a safe zone of travel would be so that you wouldn't have to have a quarantine attached. i think everyone would acknowledge it would be prohibitive, people wouldn't travel if they had to stay on either side in quarantine for a two—week period and had to do the same again when you return. the irish airline, aer lingus, says it is reviewing procedures on its belfast to london flights, following a claim it is not observing social—distancing measures. one passenger, sean mallon, took this photo on a flight to heathrow yesterday, showing almost every seat occupied and most passengers sitting next to each other. aer lingus says the safety of customers and crew is its "top priority" and any necessary changes will be implemented urgently. there are calls for funeral services

to resume in churches. more than 30 conservative mp5 have signed a letter to the church of england saying updated government guidance allows funerals to take place as long as social distancing measures are observed. a church of england spokesman said it has reviewed its advice regularly. america's film and tv industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus lockdowns with production effectively coming to a halt. many studios are now hoping to reopen at the earliest opportunity, but the demands of their industry mean that may not be straightforward. our correspondent in los angeles, sophie long, sent this report. i've done some crazy (bleep) in my day. lapd! this is the latest american cop drama, la's finest. and this is how it's made. one more time. cast and crew crammed together. and. . .action! los angeles was once a hot bed of creative activity.

but now, iconic locations where films and television series are set lie empty. and while piers and beaches could soon reopen to the public, it's unlikely cameras will be allowed to roll any time soon. there's so many micro industries built within one production, so, you know, for instance, we have the regularfilming, which requires our crew, and you have your camera operator who also has a dolly grip who pushes the dolly that the camera sits on. for them to be six feet apart is almost impossible because they're right there, side—by—side. i can do this! oh, can you?! period dramas like the much—loved downton abbey present their own unique damages in a post covid—19 world. you make sleeping beauty look alert. the obvious difference between period drama and contemporary drama, i suppose, is the detail — the hair, the make up, the costumes. there's more need for people to put their hands on you, basically.

as films sets lie deserted, emptied by the same pandemic as the real streets they replicate, several scenarios circulate as to how productions could function in the future. so, one project that i heard about was considering quarantining the entire crew just because it is interesting and a unique way to do it. it sounds like everyone would get tested beforehand, go into quarantine together, make the movie together, but that would mean a lot of challenges for people too, and not seeing your family, and depending how long that is, that could be really tricky. ez finessing his swing while he waits for work to resume, confident they already have the ability to create a safer environment. when we shoot intimate scenes, you know, love scenes and things like that, we really try to keep a closed set. this is going to be the new norm. actors are much more valuable than we are. you know, i hate to say it, but they are! and i think we have to do everything we can to make them feel

comfortable and safe and that is what is going to take the time, is to get them back on set and feeling comfortable and safe so that they can do what they do. i think that's kind of touching that he says that. but the fact is we are all in it together. there is no difference, there isn't. a dolly gripper is exactly the same importance as an actor, as is a driver, as is a catering person as is a wardrobe person. they're all the same. we're a group of people, we depend on each other completely. so it's not a matter of when the actors are ready, it is a matter of when we reach a point where we think this has subsided, i suppose, and that it's safe for everybody. # as she gets too hungry fordinnerat 8:00... the work may have halted, but many here were born to perform. in the absence of theatres, every balcony has become a stage. # she'd never bother... and while much of this city, itself a film set, lies empty, the creative community are confident the wheels of production

will turn again. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello, there. a fair bit of sunshine around again for many through today, but there have been some notable exceptions so far, particularly the south—west. this was the scene this morning in paignton in devon. the winds whipping up some pretty rough seas, rain falling quite heavily as well. and it's all tied into this weather system which pushed out to france through the night. it's still sitting there as we go through this afternoon, but it's starting to lose a little bit of its energy. so the rain turning a bit lighter and patchier, but there's still some wetter weather anywhere, really, from the isle of wight westwards and into south wales. a bit damp at times in the channel islands too, and fairly breezy. those winds making it feel colder, though not as strong as we started the day as we go through the afternoon. winds lighter further north,

and so with sunshine out, western scotland, north—west england some of the warmest spots, up to around 17 or 18 celsius. still that onshore breeze in the east keeping things a good deal cooler. now, most of the rain and drizzle will fizzle out through tonight across the south—west. still one or two heavier showers, though, for cornwall potentially, and a lot more cloud across orkney and shetland. but in between, with clearer skies, a human stand fog patches and note the temperatures down into lower single figures, that's a good indication that one or two of you will see frost into tomorrow morning. but despite cold start, through the second half of the week what we are going to see is recent warmth across spain and france push a bit further north towards our shores. temperatures will be above average for the time of year for many of you for the second half of the week. so after that chilly start on wednesday, under sunny skies and just a bit of mist and fog, it's going to be a warm day. more cloud, though, in parts of south—west england, south—west wales. couldn't rule out a shower here. still a bit breezy, but not as windy or as cool as it was. temperatures more widely into the high teens and a few more spots getting into the low 205 across scotland and england especially. thursday we see more cloud

in the west, bringing the shower here and there, particularly for northern ireland and scotland, the odd heavier one too. most places, though, staying primarily dry and in the sunny spells, england and wales see temperatures climb into the 205 more widely, maybe 23 or 24 celsius. still into the high teens across scotland. we could nudge temperatures up even further across england and wales on friday. ve day, of course. lots of dry weather, a bit of cloud across the north but notive saturday, edinburgh 10 degrees, london 22. cold air will make a surge southwards and that'll happen throughout this weekend, so by the time we hit sunday all of us will be in the chilly air and there could even be, believe it or not, a few snow showers the north—east. bye for now.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. more than 30,000 people have died from coronavirus in the uk. hospital deaths are down, but the numbers in carehomes continue to rise. globally, another grim milestone is reached, as the number of deaths from the virus exceeds 250,000. a smartphone app, aimed at tracking the spread of coronavirus goes live for the first time, in a trial on the isle of wight. the government says the system, which uses bluetooth, is secure, despite concerns from privacy campaigners. we can give very significant reassurances on the privacy aspects, but what i can tell you is if you download the app, then you are doing your duty.

a bbc investigation has found an iranian airline — with links to the revolutionary guard — played a central role in the spread of the virus from china to the middle east. india reports its biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases and deaths, as the pandemic starts to take hold in south asia. warnings of a lost generation. we'll look at how coronavirus has affected school pupils and why there are fears some are being left behind. 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. let's start in the uk, where more than 30,000 people are now known to have died

with covid—19. latest figures show more than 6,000 people died from the virus in english care homes, up to the start of may. a new nhs app to track the spread of coronavirus is being rolled out on the isle of wight today. the trial will help shape the uk government's strategy for easing the lockdown. in other developments, some of england's largest providers of care in the home have told the bbc they can't get the ppe they need to protect the people they're looking after. the worldwide covid—19 death toll is now above 250,000, according to johns hopkins university. an investigation by bbc news arabic has found how one iranian airline contributed to the spread of coronavirus around the middle east. india has recorded its biggest daily jump in the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities. health officials said there were nearly 4,000 new cases of the virus, and about 200 deaths in the past 24 hours.

first, we'll turn to those updated figures for the uk. the head of the uk health select committee jeremy hunt put the numbers to the deputy chief medical officer for england drjenny harries a few moments ago — and asked why the uk has, along with spain and italy, a higher number of deaths compared to countries such as germany and south korea. it is extremely difficult to compare between countries at the moment. we need to notjust look at the numbers, clearly, but at some sort of rate, so the obvious one would be an age standardised death rate per million population. those are not the numbers that are routinely reported and so again it is really quite difficult to do direct comparisons. i think they are... it would be helpful to look at this information and to check and to continue talking to public health and science colleagues

in all of the different countries, particularly where there are significant differences to ensure we understand as best we can. if i remember rightly, i think when the cmo came before the health select committee last time, he highlighted a conversation he had had with his german counterpart, trying to understand the differences in approach and the outcomes in the two different countries. and these remain unclear in some cases. so very important we look at death data but we also need to be very careful about how we interpret it. drjenny harries there, and our head of statistics, robert cuffe is with me now. every week get figures from the office for national statistics and every week they are shocking. bring us up to date with the latest they have said about the number of covid deaths. the total number is running

around 30,000. that is a different number to the number we hear every day from the department of health. that number is people who have tested positive and these figures from the office of national statistics go wide they include people where covid—19 is mentioned on the death certificate, suspected deaths. the bad news is it is out—of—date, running up to the 24th of april. we know we will have seen even more deaths from covid. the good news, the glimmer of hope is that we can week changes have started to look better. we sawjust under 8000 covid deaths... just under 8000 covid deaths... just under 9000 covid deaths in the week to the 17th of april in just over 8000 now. the totalfigure to the 17th of april in just over 8000 now. the total figure of covid registered deaths has come down.

what did the latest figures tell us about the picture in hospitals and ca re about the picture in hospitals and care homes where they are quite different stories? they are two different stories? they are two different epidemics. we can see that when we look at the daycare. the top line is that deaths in hospitals, the red line, which has come down in the red line, which has come down in the last week. care homes have increased significantly, up from just almost 3000 deaths. this is more extreme in scotland and northern ireland. we are not there yet in england and wales. hospitals coming down, care homes getting worse. and crunching all the numbers, is it possible to give as accurate a figure as possible about the covid—19 deaths to date? the figures we have from the ons, although they are a broader range of deaths can be get daily from the

government, it is not up to date. they do take longer but the death has to be registered and that can ta ke has to be registered and that can take a couple of days and they need to be coded and analysed. even the death registrations miss some of the picture. you need to look at the total number of deaths, the excess mortality that chris whitty, the chief medical officer has been talking about. you can see that quite clearly in the graph we are showing now. the red line shows the total number of deaths registered every week in the uk and it compares it with what we would expect, the grey line. that number is up at 25,000, almost double what we would expect at this time of year. some good news, it is coming down but only very slightly from previous weeks. that picture shows two different stories, hospitals coming down quite a bit and care homes not

so much. liz kendall is the shadow minister for social care, shejoins me now. the picture is clear again, care homes —— is still increasing. what is your reaction to the latest figures and the situations?” is your reaction to the latest figures and the situations? i think these are devastating figures. so many families bereaved from losing a loved one and i am sure so many staff who work in care homes desperately worried and anxious about what they are facing. there has been a lot of talk about us having reached the peak of the virus in the nhs but that is simply not true in social care and i think the government does need to take more steps urgently to try and bring these death rates down because, you know, if there is a sense that we

are all moving on, to people who have families and loved ones in residential care and for people who work in it, that will not feel right. what other steps that you think will make a difference? we are still hearing problems about getting the right kind of protective equipment and enough of it regularly enough, to front—line staff. i think that care workers really need to be a top priority in terms of testing. we have had some very big figures in terms of the number of tests that have been achieved but i think care workers really need to be at the top of that list and we need more to get the tests to their own home so they can use them on themselves and their families as well as to care homes. thirdly, i think it is really important that we see the nhs supporting care homes, gps, geriatricians, people who specialise in palliative care because it is one

health and care system, or it should be. there should be one team of people trying to keep elderly and disabled people safe and commit you know, it is one person, whose needs are split between social care and health care. so we need to see more from the nhs in supporting care homes in particular. is there a divergence in the national strategy with the app being rolled out to enable tracing when you come into contact with somebody who has been exposed or has covid—19? there is that strategy in terms of the bigger picture betting care homes, people with covid—19, or suspected covid—19 and the risk of exposure is continuing and, in the figures, that continues to grow. we have heard we are dealing with three pandemics can at one end the hospital, one in the community and one in care homes. it

is right that we are talking about testing, tracking and tracing as pa rt testing, tracking and tracing as part of a strategy for emerging from the lockdown. so many people are tragically dying in our care homes. we must not lose focus and priority and attention on that because people in care homes and their staff in ca re in care homes and their staff in care homes matter as much as everybody else. there is still an increasing problem in care homes. what has happened so far has not worked and so i think we need to hear from the worked and so i think we need to hearfrom the government worked and so i think we need to hear from the government what further steps it is going to take on ppe, on testing and getting the nhs support. without that we could see these figures tragically rising more in the weeks ahead. thank you. an iranian airline may have played a central role in spreading the coronavirus from china across the middle east. an investigation by bbc news arabic has found that mahan air, which is linked to iran's revolutionary guard, continued to fly to and from china,

and is believed to have taken the first covid—19 infections to iraq and lebanon. the airline did not respond to the bbc‘s request for comment. nawal al—maghafi has this report. on january 31st, iran suspended all flights to and from china to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. despite the ban, the bbc has found that one airline kept flying — mahan air. iran's largest and first privately operated airline. it's sanctioned by the us for its ties to the powerful iranian revolutionary guard. these restrictions on mahan air are part of wider sanctions imposed on iran, bringing the country much closer to china economically, and mahan air plays a key role in this relationship. analysing flight—tracking data, we discovered that from the 31st of january until april 20th, mahan air was given permission

by the iranian authorities to conduct 157 flights between iran and four chinese cities — in breach of its own government flight ban with china. we found that ten additional flights were used for aid and to evacuate iranians citizens. by the middle of february, the virus was at its peak in china, and spreading at an alarming rate in iran. videos started to appear on social media of hospitals being overrun, and by the end of the month the bbc reported that at least 210 people had died across the country... but iran's official figure was 34. mahan air wasn't only flying to china. it also flew to lebanon, syria and iraq — countries with strong ties to the iranian revolutionary guard. this caused widespread alarm.

it seems that these fears were justified. lebanon's first case of covid—19 was announced on the 21st of february — a 41—year—old woman returning from a pilgrimage to qom. a picture of her passport was posted on twitter. and in iraq, the first official case was reported on the 24th of february — it was this iranian student. we can confirm that both lebanon and iraq's patient zero were passengers on mahan air flights. a mahan air insider told the bbc that as flights continued around the region, more than 50 of their cabin crew were showing symptoms of covid—19. they say that their calls for ppe were ignored by the company and they were given this nondisclosure agreement to sign, threatening them with prosecution if they spoke out. they also say they're being blamed for spreading the virus to their loved ones

and in the country. there were other airlines flying in and out of iran at this time, but mahan air was the only one operating on such a large scale. the flight—tracking data reveals that there were a further 82 flights around the world. all these countries must have given the airline permission to land, and they did so despite their own travel bans with iran. the airline's links to the iranian revolutionary guard may have given mahan air the cover it needs to continue to do some business around the world, helping to spread the coronavirus and endanger people's lives. nawal al maghafi, bbc news. and our special correspondent nawal al—maghafi joins us now from south—west london. what's the iranian reaction?

we have not received any reaction yet. it was notjust the airline's responsibility. they would have had to get permission from other countries to get permission to land. no others replied except the iraqi government. we did not receive anything from mahan air either. what has happened to the staff on those flights? they were put in a tricky position. as the virus spread through china and iran, they were flying back and forth and not given the opportunity to self—isolate. they called for ppe, personal protective equipment time and again and the airline did not answer any of their calls. when the story started coming out, they were also forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement to not speak about what was happening. thank you very much. britain's health secretary, matt hancock, says people will be doing their duty if they sign up

to an nhs app which will trace the spread of coronavirus. a trial is beginning today on the isle of wight but the government hopes to expand its use across england by the middle of this month, as andy moore reports. the nhs covid—19 app lets you know quickly if you've come into contact with someone who has symptoms... this is the nhs app that could play a key role stopping a second wave of the virus. it's already been trialled on a small—scale at an raf base in north yorkshire. now it's been rolled out across the isle of wight. today, council staff and healthcare workers will be able to download it. on thursday, the general public on the island will have access. the new app uses a phone's bluetooth connection to work. once you've installed the app, every time you come into contact with someone else who has it, your phone records that fact. then if you tell the app you have symptoms of covid—19, the other people who you've been close to will be automatically alerted and should self—isolate.

the app is just one part of a wider strategy to test, track and trace the virus. it's hoped 18,000 specialist staff will be at work by the middle of the month using widespread testing to stamp out any virus hotspots. the aim of test, track and trace is to hunt down and isolate the virus so it's unable to reproduce, and crucially, test, track and trace allows us to take a more targeted approach to lockdown while still safely containing the disease. by embarking on this project and by embracing test, track and trace, you will be saving lives. 288 coronavirus deaths were reported yesterday. that's the lowest daily total for more than a month, but may reflect a lag in reporting over the weekend. there's been a total of 28,734 fatalities in the uk. there are privacy concerns

over the new nhs app, but the government says users only need to give limited personal details. there are also worries it may not be compatible with similar apps used overseas, and that could eventually cause problems for foreign travel. but in the short—term, the current lockdown looks set to be extended on thursday, and we will have to wait for a broadcast by the prime minister on sunday to find out details about how and when the restrictions will be eased. andy moore, bbc news. this morning, the health secretary matt hancock told the bbc that, by downloading the app, the public would be helping the government figure out exactly where the virus is. the more people who have the app the better and even if fewer people than the numbers you were talking about have the app, then it still will help us to tell us where there might be hotspots, where there might be many more people having the symptoms and getting the tests, which will allow us to have a picture across the country

of where there might be hotspots of the virus in the future. he also addressed concerns about the the amount of information the app would store once once it had been downloaded. the data is stored on your phone until you need a test, in which case you've got to tell us who you are because we got to get the test to you, so the data is entirely stored on the phone. it doesn't go into some sort of database in the sky. so i think that we can give very significant reassurances on the privacy aspects, but what i can tell you is that if you download the app then you are doing your duty and you're helping to save lives. the labour leader sir keir starmer told the bbc he hoped the app would work, but said it was important the government also increased traditional tracing methods. i really hope it works because i think that testing and tracing is going to be crucial

to getting to the next stage of fighting this crisis. my concern is obviously if it doesn't work, what then? and secondly, there was an app in singapore where in the end only 20% of the public actually used it. so there is a real challenge there and i am saying to the government, don't put all your eggs in one basket. we need to have the traditional methods of tracing, as well, ramped up because we may need them sooner rather than later. allied to that, one other point is, i want to see the number of tests go up, up, up. at the moment they have gone up in the last week to ten days, but they are still key workers, they are key workers. what we now need is testing for everybody who has got symptoms and everybody who has been in contact with anyone who has got symptoms. so we just need to keep that curve — the number of tests — going up and up and up.

and have, in addition to the app — if it works, and i hope it does — in addition to that you need your traditional methods of tracing and i want to see them in place really quickly. our technology correspondent, rory cellan—jones, joins me now. there are concerns around the security and safety aspects of the app. we had from matt hancock saying the data stored on your phone does not go into a database anywhere else. is that going to be enough to provide reassurance? it is a complicated setup. our app is different from the approach a lot of countries had ta ken. different from the approach a lot of countries had taken. it is a centralised system. initially no data goes essentially commit when you alert the system that you may have symptoms, then all of your contacts have symptoms, then all of your co nta cts a re have symptoms, then all of your contacts a re effectively have symptoms, then all of your contacts are effectively stored centrally and so there is some concern about that. i think there

are greater practical concerns because the route that we are taking in the uk, this centralised route, does not really work with the new system that apple and google are bringing intimate bluetooth work more effectively in the background and there are big questions which the nhs says it has solved about whether the app will, for instance, drain your battery, whether it will need to be open all the time to actively send out the bluetooth signals and record your proximity. this isle of wight trial is going to be absolutely crucial in discovering whether the app really works and can bea whether the app really works and can be a pragmatic solution to perhaps easing the lockdown. that may go some way to answering the next question i am wondering about. the trial is happening in the isle of wight while people are in lockdown. ina wight while people are in lockdown. in a sense of actually chasing contacts, will it be helpful? i guess it is more about testing

whether the technology works and what it does to the phones. both. they had a difficult decision to take. they decided they could not ease the lockdown in one specific place early to turn those people into guinea pigs to see if the app worked. yes, there will be very few proximity cases in the isle of wight. there are a low number of infections anyway. it is measuring health workers but an interesting thing i have noticed this morning, it does save people are wearing ppe, the app should be turned off because they don't want to record events when people are actually being protected from the virus because that would potentially score a lot of false alarms. sorry to interrupt. i don't understand that. we keep

being told that ppe, face masks don't completely protect. why do divergences? they have decided if you are a health worker wearing full ppe, then it should not, for instance, two health worker standing next to each other wearing full ppe, they are saying that should not be regarded as a dangerous proximity event because they are wearing ppe. that is how they have decided to calibrate this app at the moment. the act could be controversial. thank you very much. let's talking about how a similar app is working in australia. they have not had the required number of people downloading at this stage to see if it is working. josh taylor is a guardian australia reporter based in melbourne. hejoins me now. tell us how it is working so far and how many people are downloading. we

are up to 5 million downloads. we do not have information on how it is working at the moment. it is collecting the data insofar as it can at the moment. because the federal government needs to get the states and territories to agree around the use of the data that it is only useful contact tracing, they are still working on agreements. they are still in the very early stages and there is no information on how it would work in practice. what has the reaction been? the numbers are not where they need to be because... why is that? do people feel concerned about it? they reckon there are 60 million people in australia with smartphones, who are adults. we are not there with their

numbers. the reason is, there are a couple of reasons. a lot of people would not be aware this is something thatis would not be aware this is something that is around. the lower information, people would not be around. a lot of people do not have compatible smartphones and our people concerned about the privacy and the fact it is from the government. the federal government has tried to dispel a lot of concerns around privacy. it is still early days. 5 million in a bit over a week is pretty good but i think once legislation is introduced into parliament next week and it will protect some of the privacy concerns andi protect some of the privacy concerns and i think that will go a long way into reassuring some people into downloading the app. what is the latest picture in australia on the

spread of covid—19? latest picture in australia on the spread of covid-19? we are doing pretty well. we are looking at easing restrictions. the federal government is pushing that. they say this is the key to unlocking a lot of restrictions. similar to a lot of countries we have had issues with processing facilities and retirement homes. in most cases we have had low incidences of coronavirus. we are about 95 deaths at the moment. we are at the stage now where we can start easing back on some of the restrictions but the federal government does not want to put them back on, so this is why they are pushing contact tracing out so much. they are trying to stop any outbreak from happening through testing, tracing and that is why it is so

important. this afternoon, our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones and isle of wight mp, bob seely be answering your questions on the new coronavirus track & trace app. feel free to send them into us by e—mailing yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweeting them to the hashtag bbc your questions. that's coming up at 3.30pm here on bbc news. russia has recorded 10,102 new covid—19 cases in the past 24 hours. it's the third consecutive day when new cases have been above ten thousand. russia has a total number of confirmed cases of infection of 155,370. 95 people have died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll in russia to almost 1,500. india has recorded its biggest dailyjump in the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities. health officials said there were nearly 4,000

new cases of the virus and about 200 deaths in the past 24 hours. the largest spike came in the western states of maharashtra and gujarat, two of india's richest regions. here's the bbc‘s divya arya. one reason that has been given for the rise in cases, which has actually been steady for the past four days — numbers much higher than what we had seen earlier and of course the last 24 hours — a dramatic increase of more than 2,000 cases in one day — the highest so far. the reason given is an increase in testing. india has been appreciated for implementing a lockdown very early into the spread of the pandemic, but criticised for one of the lowest testing levels in the world. so now the testing levels are being increased, the numbers are also increasing. the health ministry, which does a press conference every day — almost every day — has been asserting that the curve has been flattening. they have also said the recovery rate is much better, but as we can now see, the deaths have suddenly started climbing up —

ironically, as india has started to ease its lockdown. the headlines: more than 30,000 people have died from coronavirus in the uk. hospital deaths are down, but the numbers in carehomes continue to rise. globally, another grim milestone is reached as the number of deaths from the virus exceeds 250,000. a smartphone app aimed at tracking the spread of covid—19 in the uk goes live for the first time in a trial on the isle of wight. a bbc investigation has found an iranian airline, with links to the revolutionary guard, played a central role in the spread of the virus from china to the middle east. india reports its biggest dailyjump in coronavirus cases and deaths, as the pandemic starts to take hold in south asia.

papers released by the government's scientific adviserory group sage reveal concerns about the reliability of testing. scientists fear that some people may go back to work thinking they have immunity when they do not. the papers, which are heavily redacted, express concern that some employers may discriminate on the basis of antibody status. our correspondent, naomi grimley, has been looking at the papers this is really interesting. the advisers have been weighing up the risk of using an antibody test as a way of sending us back to work. one thing they are worried about is false negatives or false positives, so for example what might happen if a health worker went back to work thinking they had immunity when they didn't. they are worried about some

people hiding away in society, perhaps thinking they don't have immunity and therefore they shouldn't go to work at all. they are also worried about people gaming the system, even trying to get infected on purpose in order to then get some kind of preferential treatment in society, and ginger introduction, they are also worried that employers might fight shy of employing those who have not got immunity and instead promoting those who have. so really interesting stuff on some of the ethics of antibody testing. there are obvious questions to ask when there are discussions around effectively issuing immunity passports, because you can see the possibility therefore effectively a two tier system panning out for workers. they are raising the question is, are they coming up to answers to these issues? the idea of these documents

issues? the idea of these documents is that they are providing some kind of discussions for ministers and officials to read and then come up with the policy solutions. there is a bit of an embarrassment in these documents for boris johnson a bit of an embarrassment in these documents for borisjohnson because on the 3rd of march, the scientists we re on the 3rd of march, the scientists were telling him and his ministers that they needed to think about public messaging around handshakes. they were advising against shaking hands and saying that there needed to be some signal about the importance of hand hygiene —— that was on the very day borisjohnson addressed at a press conference where he boasted about shaking hands ona where he boasted about shaking hands on a visit to a hospital where some covert patients were being treated. that is something that perhaps the government would rather forget. that has been picked up a lot since then. thank you very much. there are warnings of a growing gap between disadava ntaged pupils and those from wealthier families

as a result of school closures. with no set date for reopening schools, charities and headmasters are worried about the long—term implications for the most vulnerable children. john owen reports. for weeks now, schools that are usually a hive of activity have looked more like this. and for most schoolchildren, the new normal looks like this. with the exception of the children of critical workers and some vulnerable children, most young people are attempting to continue their education at home, with schools relying heavily on online resources. but now school leaders and charities have warned of a growing gulf between disadvantaged pupils and their more affluent counterparts, and of the long—term consequences that could follow for those young people who are currently being denied an education. we face a huge potential wave of educational poverty. there are some families that have had to stop paying for their monthly broadband because they haven't got the money to be able to do it. i think there could possibly be a lost generation of young people.

carlton bolling academy is a comprehensive school in one of the most deprived areas of bradford, with 1,500 students, most of whom are not currently attending school. at the present time, we've only got about 35% engagement in the online learning. part of the problem is that some of our young people do not have, and theirfamilies do not have, access to the internet or to laptops, so it means our interactive learning, online, they cannot access, so they've got paper—based learning. jane explained while many students do not have any access to the internet at all, some, like year10 laiba kazmi, simply have limited access. me and my brother both share a laptop, and also i've got an auntie at home who's studying her lpc at this moment in time, so between the three of us, there's one laptop that we have to share. research suggests a third of pupils overall are taking part in online lessons each day, but those from private schools are twice as likely to do so as their counterparts

at state schools. the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged in our education system is already significant. we know what's now happening is that gap is getting wider even despite the best efforts of schools, the bbc and other people providing all kinds of online resources. the government has pledged £100 million to boost remote learning and has committed to provide laptops to vulnerable young people and disadvantaged pupils in year 10, but some say more action is needed. the government need a national strategy to look at imaginative solutions to make sure these left behind vulnerable children, pupils and students are being looked after and educated. but with no clear end to the lockdown in sight, fears of irreparable damage to young people's educational prospects continue. john owen, bbc news. we can speak now to katharine birbalsingh, headteacher of the michaela community school, a mixed secondary school and sixth

form in wembley, london. thank you very much forjoining us. how are the kids engaging with online schooling? it is going 0k. how are the kids engaging with online schooling? it is going ok. we make sure that teachers ring, every week, so every family gets a phone call from one of teachers every week to help the child stay on task. that is the biggest issue i think for many children, is to keep their engagement over this long period of time when they are away from school, away from their friends and the general culture and habit of doing work in school. the difficulty is that, on the one hand, they need a device to be able to access the work, so we have zoom and video lessons, on the other hand it is the device that. them from working because they are busy on snapchat and instagram. we are not talking about that enough in the country, about that enough in the country, about the damage that devices can do. i don't have a solution, because

they need the devices to access the work, but we need to recognise how much damage the device can do. obviously, the parents are at home with the kids, but it is very difficult to police everything and home—school when these are parents... none of us are train teachers. you can give parents advice about how to use reward systems to reward the good work and that sort of thing. the more siblings there are, to smaller the flat, the more likely parents might say, you know what, it is ok if you spent the next six hours on snapchat, because they are stressed with the other children in the flats. the divide will be made worse between rich and poor. if you have a much he is normally there, she can

give herself 100% to her '5 learning. the more children there are, the more parents are working, the more difficult that is for them. we do need to recognise just how dangerous these devices can be. snapchat and instagram are a far bigger bill than perhaps our video call lesson. children are naughty, they might pretend they are on the lesson, they might send in a message to say they are ill claiming it is from their parents. they are naughty, that is why we love them. all of us in education will be go back to school as soon as possible, clearly while keeping safety in mind. how do you feel about the prospect of going back? could you set upa

prospect of going back? could you set up a school for social distancing? no, that is the difficulty. social distancing in schools is simply impossible if you have the whole school there. if you have the whole school there. if you have the whole school there. if you have the send to everyone who has a cough and sent everyone who has an underlying issue, like asthma, well, loads of people have that, so you would have less than half your staff there. if you have the whole school there, our corridors are a metre and a bit wide. how will the children pass each other? i will to get in and out of the classrooms? when they are sat in the classrooms they are right next to each other. if you allow the staggered approach, so let's say you have you have year ten, year12, let's say you have you have year ten, year 12, then it could be done if you have a quarter of the population in the school. when they build up, social distancing possibilities are reduced. that may be something that the government

decides is necessary in order to get the country back to work. i don't know, i'm notan the country back to work. i don't know, i'm not an economist or at biologist in order to be able to make an accurate decision on that. thank you very much. ed vainker is the headteacher of the reach academy feltham, west london. the academy is an ‘all—through‘ school, taking pupils from age two in nursery right up to 18—year—olds in sixth form. you have such a spectrum, how are you finding home schooling, how many kids are doing it properly? we have been really delighted. we have managed to get to 95% of our stu d e nts managed to get to 95% of our students submitting work regularly. what has been helpful to us is to have our teachers recording videos that pupils can pose and do their work in an exercise book. at the end of the day to take a photo of their work or do a quiz on google classroom and to get feedback about their work every day. as catherine

was saying, that includes the engagement and feedback loop which keeps their motivation high. we are phoning home as well and doing all the other things. we are feeling positive that we are making the best ofa positive that we are making the best of a difficult situation. how does it compare with how much they would be learning if they were in school? if kids are engaging at all they will fall far behind, but even with the best levels of engagement, how does it compare? it is not the same, it is really not the same. for some of a—level students it is comparable. for the children in reception and year one it is really difficult. one of the things we have been clear about it we should not put you much pressure on parents here. i have a six—year—old and a nine—year—old and maintaining a positive relationship with them in this difficult time is one thing, trying to teach them something else. where possible, we have been trying to ta ke where possible, we have been trying to take that responsibility, acknowledging it is not the same as

being in school. you are racing really important point is there about the pressure on pa rents point is there about the pressure on parents and sang the relationship with the kids is one of the most important factors when you are shut up important factors when you are shut up behind closed doors together. what is the most important approach in the end? how much should parents be worried about the kids falling behind? we must all do what we can. it is important to acknowledge that eve ryo ne it is important to acknowledge that everyone is having a very different experience. some people are having great quality time with their families and doing activities. for other reasons, reasons of health, anxiety, economic reasons, this is incredibly stressful. we should try and remove stress from people by acknowledging that schools will be here when we get back, we will be

excited to welcome mar 900 pupils, and wherever they are up we will support them to catch up, because thatis support them to catch up, because that is what we do. i think doing what we can but not worrying too much would be my message. that sounds like good advice. thank you very much. thank you very much. throughout the day here on bbc news we're going to have a special day of coverage looking at how the coronavirus epidemic has impacted schooling and education, both in the uk and around the world. if you've got experiences you want to share you can contact us by sending us your thoughts, questions and videos to #bbcyourquestions on twitter. the headlines on bbc news: more than 30,000 people have died from coronavirus in the uk. hospital deaths are down, but the numbers in carehomes continue to rise. globally, another grim milestone is reached, as the number of deaths from the virus exceeds 250,000. a smartphone app aimed at tracking the spread of covid—19 in the uk goes live for the first time in a trial on the isle of wight.

new zealand's prime minister, jacinda ardern, has taken part via video link in a coronavirus meeting of the australian cabinet, where they discussed restoring travel between the two countries. ms ardern told journalists there would be no open borders with the rest of the world for some time to come, but they were looking at whether they could establish something between new zealand and australia. under the proposal, movement between the two countries would be permitted without a two—week quarantine period. the whole purpose of us discussing having a safe zone of travel would be so you wouldn't have to have quarantine attached. but it would be difficult. people wouldn't travel if

they had to quarantine for a two—week period, and do the same again when you returned. our correspondent phil mercer in sydney told us more about the discussions. effectively, new zealand and australia have shut themselves off from the rest of the world because of the covid—19 pandemic. what we've heard today, the new zealand prime minister, jacinda ardern, in a video conference with australia's state, federal and territory leaders, they have been charting this nation's response to the coronavirus crisis. one of the items up for discussion, the possibility of creating a tra ns—tasman bubble. this would allow travellers from australia and new zealand to travel to both countries without having to go into quarantine. both countries want it to happen, but of course, both nations extremely wary of the continued threat of covid—19, even though australia and new zealand believe they are containing the outbreaks in the respective countries. research by french doctors has suggested that the coronavirus was in the country at the end

of december, four weeks before the first officially recorded case. a hospital in paris re—examined old swab samples from pneumonia patients. one tested positive for covid—19. the patient, a man in his 505 who has since recovered, said he had no idea where he caught the virus as he had not been to any infected areas. to the us, and a security guard at a shop has been shot dead after refusing entry to a woman because she was not wearing a face mask. calvin munerlyn was shot in the back of the head on friday at a store in flint, michigan — one of the us states hardest hit by the pandemic. the woman who was turned away has not been charged, but her mother, sharmel teague, has been arrested. her husband and son, who are accused of going to the store shortly after the incident and attacking mr munerlyn, remain at large. all three face murder and firearms charges. the governor of michigan has ordered that face coverings be worn inside shops to limit transmission

of the virus. high schools and universities have reopened in iceland as the country starts easing measures put in place seven weeks ago to curb the spread of covid—19. the vast island in the north atlantic has registered 10 deaths. widespread testing is thought to be responsible for the low number. gail maclellan reports. keeping their distance — at this vocational school in reykjavik, every second seat is empty. high schools and universities have begun to open again in iceland, cautiously. that caution could be what has kept the numbers of coronavirus cases across the country so low — just 1,799 cases. another is the world's most extensive testing regime — keeping their distance — at this vocational school another is the world's most extensive testing regime — 14% of the population has been tested.

vocational schools have been amongst the first to reopen. it's difficult to learn some skills via the internet and their coming exams need to be practical, tests conducted in person. the students are pelased to be back. the students are pleased to be back. it is so hard being at home, so easy to procrastinate. just sitting at home. it's much better to go to school every day and have a routine. i feel good. it's good to see my friends and be with them again. it gets a little bit lonely being alone at home. many high schools will continue distance learning for the last three weeks of the academic year to avoid the need to find tricky solutions to social distancing in classrooms. hair salons, dentists and other businesses across iceland are also starting to be reopened. though, bars, gyms and pools remain closed. iceland seems optimistic, cautiously, that normal life is visible on the horizon. gail maclellan, bbc news.

officials in delhi have raised taxes on alcohol by 70 percent, to try to deter large gatherings outside shops. it comes after crowds flocked to shops selling alcohol, when they re—opened on monday as the country began to relax its lockdown. police were forced to intervene. similar price—hikes are being introduced in several other parts of the country. all filming in hollywood has been completely shut down due to coronavirus and delays mean some movies and tv series will now never be made. cast and crews might have to quarantine together in future to enable filming to begin again. our los angeles correspondent sophie long reports. this is the latest american cop drama, la's finest. and this is how it's made. one more time. cast and crew crammed together. and. . .action! los angeles was once a hotbed of creative activity. but now, iconic locations where films and television series are set lie empty.

and while piers and beaches could soon reopen to the public, it's unlikely cameras will be allowed to roll any time soon. there's so many micro industries built within one production, so, you know, for instance, we have the regularfilming, which requires our crew, and you have your camera operator who also has a dolly grip who pushes the dolly that the camera sits on. for them to be six feet apart is almost impossible because they're right there, side—by—side. the obvious difference between period drama and contemporary grammar is the detail, the hair, the make—up, the costumes are fussier. there is more need for people to put their hands on you, basically.

as films sets lie deserted, emptied by the same pandemic as the real streets they replicate, several scenarios circulate as to how productions could function in the future. so one project that i heard about was considering quarantining the entire crewjust because... interesting and a unique way to do it. it sounds like everyone would get tested beforehand, go into quarantine together, make the movie together, but that would mean a lot of challenges for people, too, and not seeing your family, and depending how long that is, that could be really tricky. e2 is finessing his swing while he waits for work to resume, confident they already have the ability to create a safer environment. this is going to be the new norm. we need to do everything we can to make them comfortable and safe. we need to get them back on set feeling co mforta ble to get them back on set feeling comfortable and to get them back on set feeling co mforta ble a nd safe

to get them back on set feeling comfortable and safe so they can do what they do. it is touching when he says that, but we are all in it together, there is no difference. a dolly grip is the same importance of an actor as is the driver as it is a catering person, wardrobe person. we depend on each other completely. it's not a matter of when the actors are ready, it is when we reach a point where we think that it is safe for everybody, i suppose. and while much of this city — itself a film set — lies empty, the creative community are confident the wheels of production will turn again. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. china has reported more than a hundred million domestic tourist trips over the may day holiday. the figure is roughly half of the usual number, but there were enough people to force some attractions, like the forbidden city in beijing, to place limits on the number of visitors.

the irish airline aer lingus says it is reviewing procedures on its belfast to london flights, following a claim it is not observing social—distancing measures. one passenger, sean mallon, took this photo on a flight to heathrow yesterday, showing almost every seat occupied and most passengers sitting next to each other. aer lingus says the safety of customers and crew is its "top priority" and any necessary changes will be implemented urgently. germany's biggest state is going to be reopening restaurants on the 18th of may, according to the bavarian premier. they are personally reopening for tourism from the 30th of may, with hotels opening their doors, albeit with restrictions. that is the latest countryjust announcing new easing of restrictions. it is happening in different countries around the world

at different stages. we will keep you updated here on bbc news. you are watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello, there. a fair bit of sunshine for many today, but there have been a noticeable exception so far, particularly in the south—west. this was in devon this morning. the wind whipping up some rough seas and the rain falling. it is tied into this weather system that pushed out to france during the night. it is starting to lose a bit of its energy, so the rain turning lighter and patchy. so wet weather from the isle of wight westwood and into south wales, a bit damp at times in the channel islands. fairly breezy here, too. the priest will not be as strong as we started the day. when slighter further north, and with the sunshine out, north—west scotland

and north—west into some of the warmer spots. most of the rain and drizzle will fizzle out tonight across the south—west, the one to two heavier showers for corn or potentially. more cloud for orkney and shetland, but in between with clear skies, mist and fog patches, with temperatures down to single figures. one or two of you could see frost tomorrow morning. for the second half of the week, the recent warmth for france and spain will move up towards the uk. a chilly start for wednesday under clear skies. more cloud for parts of south—west england, south—west wales. still a bit breezy but not as windy or as cool as it was. temperatures into the high teens, and even into the low 205 in scotla nd and even into the low 205 in scotland and england. thursday, and more cloud to the west, particularly

for northern ireland and scotland. most for northern ireland and scotland. m ost pla ces for northern ireland and scotland. most places will stay dry. england and we also see temperatures climb into the 205 more widely, maybe 24 celsius. high teens across scotland. temperatures could not drop even further on friday for england and wales. lots of dry weather with plenty of cloud in the north. 10 degrees in edinburgh, 22 degrees in london. cold air will move southwards by the weekend. by sunday, all of us could be in the chilly air and there could be, believe it or not, some snow showers in the north—east.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. more than 30,000 people have died from coronavirus in the uk. hospital deaths are down, but the numbers in care homes continue to rise. globally, another grim milestone is reached, as the number of deaths from the virus exceeds 250,000. a smartphone app aimed at tracking the spread of coronavirus goes live for the first time, in a trial on the isle of wight. the government says the system, which uses bluetooth, is secure, despite concerns from privacy campaigners. we can give very significant reassurances on the privacy aspects, but what i can tell you is if you download the app, then you are doing your duty. a bbc investigation has found an iranian airline — with links to the revolutionary

guard — played a central role in the spread of the virus from china to the middle east. india reports its biggest dailyjump in coronavirus cases and deaths, as the pandemic starts to take hold in south asia. warnings of a lost generation. we'll look at how coronavirus has affected school pupils and why there are fears some are being left behind. 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. in the uk, more than 30,000 people are now known to have died with covid—19. latest figures show more than 6,000 people died from the virus in english care

homes, up to the start of may. a new nhs app to track the spread of coronavirus is being rolled out on the isle of wight today. the trial will help shape the uk government's strategy for easing the lockdown. in other developments, some of england's largest providers of care in the home have told the bbc they can't get the ppe they need to protect the people they're looking after. the worldwide covid—19 death toll is now above 250,000, according to john hopkins university. an investigation by bbc news arabic has found how one iranian airline contributed to the spread of coronavirus around the middle east. india has recorded its biggest daily jump in the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities. health officials said there were nearly four thousand new cases of the virus, and about 200 deaths in the past 24 hours. first, we'll turn to those updated figures for the uk. the head of the uk health select committee jeremy hunt put the numbers

to the deputy chief medical officer for england drjenny harries, and asked why the uk has, along with spain and italy, a higher number of deaths compared with countries such as germany and south korea. it is extremely difficult to compare between countries at the moment. we need to notjust look at the numbers, clearly, but at some sort of rate, so the obvious one would be an age standardised death rate per million population. those are not the numbers that are routinely reported and so again it is really quite difficult to do direct comparisons. i think they are... it would be helpful to look at this information and to check and to continue talking to public health and science colleagues in all of the different countries, particularly where there are significant differences to ensure we understand as best we can.

if i remember rightly, i think when the cmo came before the health select committee last time, he highlighted a conversation he had had with his german counterpart, trying to understand the differences in approach and the outcomes in the two different countries. and these remain unclear in some cases. so very important we look at death data but we also need to be very careful about how we interpret it. our head of statistics robert cuffe explained what the numbers showed. these figures from the office for national statistics go wider because they include people where covid—19 is mentioned on the death certificate and include suspected deaths as well, that is why it is bigger. the bad news it is out of date, running up until the 24th of april. we know that in the week since then we will have seen even more deaths from covid. the good

news, the glimmer of hope is that there week on week changes are starting to look better. we sawjust under 8000 covid deaths, just under 9000 covid deaths in a week to the 17th of april and it is just over 8000 now. the totalfigure is coming down but the overall number is going to keep on going up. what did the latest figures tell us about the picture in hospitals and care homes? two very different epidemics. we can see that when we look at the data. you can see the top line is deaths in hospitals, the red line and that has come down in the last week. care homes have increased significantly, they are up from just over 2000 to almost 3000 deaths in a week to the 24th. the pattern is more extreme in scotla nd 24th. the pattern is more extreme in scotland and northern ireland where ca re scotland and northern ireland where care home deaths had overtaken hospital deaths. the pattern of two

very different epidemics, hospitals coming down and care homes getting worse. crunching all the numbers, is it possible to give as accurate a figure as possible about the covid—19 deaths to date? the figures we have got from the ons are a broader range of deaths lemme get daily from the government that is not it, is it? fora daily from the government that is not it, is it? for a death to be registered, sorry, a death has to be registered, sorry, a death has to be registered and takes a couple of days and they need to be coded and analysed one thing you can say, even death registrations missed some of the picture. you need to look at the total number of deaths we are seeing in the uk, that is the excess mortality that the chief medical officer has been talking about. you can see that quite clearly in the graph we are showing now. the red line shows the total number of

deaths registered every week in the uk and compares it to what we would expect, the grey line. it is up at nearly 25,000, almost double what we would expect at this time of year. some good news, it is coming down but only very slightly from previous weeks. that masks different stories. an iranian airline may have played a central role in spreading the coronavirus from china across the middle east. an investigation by bbc news arabic has found that mahan air, which is linked to iran's revolutionary guard, continued to fly to and from china, and is believed to have taken the first covid—19 infections to iraq and lebanon. the airline did not respond to the bbc‘s request for comment. nawal al—maghafi has this report. on january 31st, iran suspended all flights to and from china to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. despite the ban, the bbc has found that one airline kept flying — mahan air. iran's largest and first

privately operated airline. it's sanctioned by the us for its ties to the powerful iranian revolutionary guard. these restrictions on mahan air are part of wider sanctions imposed on iran, bringing the country much closer to china economically, and mahan air plays a key role in this relationship. analysing flight—tracking data, we discovered that from the 31st of january until april 20th, mahan air was given permission by the iranian authorities to conduct 157 flights between iran and four chinese cities — in breach of its own government flight ban with china. we found that ten additional flights were used for aid and to evacuate iranians citizens. by the middle of february, the virus was at its peak in china, and spreading at an alarming rate in iran. videos started to appear on social media of hospitals being overrun,

and by the end of the month the bbc reported that at least 210 people had died across the country... but iran's official figure was 34. mahan air wasn't only flying to china. it also flew to lebanon, syria and iraq — countries with strong ties to the iranian revolutionary guard. this caused widespread alarm. it seems that these fears were justified. lebanon's first case of covid—19 was announced on the 21st of february — a 41—year—old woman returning from a pilgrimage to qom. a picture of her passport was posted on twitter. and in iraq the first official case was reported on the 24th of february — it was this iranian student.

we can confirm that both lebanon and iraq's patient zero were passengers on mahan air flights. a mahan air insider told the bbc that as flights continued around the region, more than 50 of their cabin crew were showing symptoms of covid—19. they say that their calls for ppe were ignored by the company and they were given this nondisclosure agreement to sign, threatening them with prosecution if they spoke out. they also say they're being blamed for spreading the virus to their loved ones and in the country. there were other airlines flying in and out of iran at this time, but mahan air was the only one operating on such a large scale. the flight—tracking data reveals that there were a further 82 flights around the world. all these countries must have given the airline permission to land, and they did so despite their own travel bans with iran. the airline's links to the iranian revolutionary guard may have given mahan air the cover it needs to continue to do some

business around the world, helping to spread the coronavirus and endanger people's lives. nawal al—maghafi, bbc news. britain's health secretary matt hancock says people will be doing their duty if they sign up to an nhs app which will trace the spread of coronavirus. a trial is beginning today on the isle of wight but the government hopes to expand its use across england by the middle of this month, as andy moore reports. the nhs covid—19 app lets you know quickly if you've come into contact with someone who has symptoms... this is the nhs app that could play a key role stopping a second wave of the virus. it's already been trialled on a small—scale at an raf base in north yorkshire. now it's been rolled out across the isle of wight. today, council staff and healthcare workers will be able to download it. on thursday, the general public on the island will have access. the new app uses a phone's

bluetooth connection to work. once you've installed the app, every time you come into contact with someone else who has it, your phone records that fact. then if you tell the app you have symptoms of covid—19, the other people who you've been close to will be automatically alerted and should self—isolate. the app is just one part of a wider strategy to test, track and trace the virus. it's hoped 18,000 specialist staff will be at work by the middle of the month using widespread testing to stamp out any virus hotspots. the aim of test, track and trace is to hunt down and isolate the virus so it's unable to reproduce, and crucially, test, track and trace allows us to take a more targeted approach to lockdown while still safely containing the disease. by embarking on this project and by embracing test, track and trace, you will be saving lives.

288 coronavirus deaths were reported yesterday. that's the lowest daily total for more than a month, but may reflect a lag in reporting over the weekend. there's been a total of 28,734 fatalities in the uk. there are privacy concerns over the new nhs app, but the government says users only need to give limited personal details. there are also worries it may not be compatible with similar apps used overseas, and that could eventually cause problems for foreign travel. but in the short—term, the current lockdown looks set to be extended on thursday, and we will have to wait for a broadcast by the prime minister on sunday to find out details about how and when the restrictions will be eased. andy moore, bbc news. this morning, the health secretary matt hancock told the bbc that, by downloading the app, the public would be helping the government figure out exactly where the virus is. the more people who

have the app the better and even if fewer people than the numbers you were talking about have the app, then it still will help to tell us where there might be hotspots, where there might be many more people having the symptoms and getting the tests, which will allow us to have a picture across the country of where there might be hotspots of the virus in the future. he also addressed concerns about the the amount of information the app would store once once it had been downloaded. the data is stored on your phone until you need a test, in which case you've got to tell us who you are because we've got to get the test to you, so the data is entirely stored on the phone. it doesn't go into some sort of database in the sky. so i think that we can give very significant reassurances on the privacy aspects, but what i can tell you is that if you download the app then you are doing your duty and you're helping

to save lives. the labour leader sir keir starmer told the bbc he hoped the app would work, but said it was important the government also increased traditional tracing methods. i really hope it works because i think that testing and tracing is going to be crucial to getting to the next stage of fighting this crisis. my concern is obviously if it doesn't work, what then? and secondly, there was an app in singapore where in the end only 20% of the public actually used it. so there is a real challenge there and i am saying to the government, don't put all your eggs in one basket. we need to have the traditional methods of tracing, as well, ramped up because we may need them sooner rather than later. allied to that, one other point is, i want to see the number of tests go up, up, up. at the moment they have gone up in the last week to ten days, but they are still key workers, they are key members.

what we now need is testing for everybody who has got symptoms and everybody who has been in contact with anyone who has got symptoms. so we just need to keep that curve — the number of tests — going up and up and up. and have, in addition to the app — if it works, and i hope it does — in addition to that you need your traditional methods of tracing and i want to see them in place really quickly. at a hearing of the health and social care select committee this morning, the chief scientific officer, sir patrick vallance, was asked to reflect on the government's strategy during the pandemic, and if there was anything he would have done differently. iam sure i am sure there are lots of things are looking back, you'd think, what if we had done that differently? that is standard in clinical practice to look at where you may have made different choices at different times. i would be amazed when we look back to think we would

have done something differently. in terms of what we have seen now, i think probably, in the early phases, andi think probably, in the early phases, and i have said this before, i think if we had managed to ramp testing capacity quicker it would have been beneficial and for all sorts of reasons that didn't happen. i think it is clear you need lots of testing for this but to echo whatjenny harrison said, it is wrong to think of testing as the answer, it is part of testing as the answer, it is part of the system you need to get right. the entire system needs to work properly and you need to have that link to contact tracing and isolation and so on. i think there will be plenty of time to say what worked and what did not work and what we need to do differently.

india has recorded its biggest dailyjump in the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities. health officials said there were nearly 4,000 new cases of the virus and about 200 deaths in the past 24 hours. the largest spike came in the western states of maharashtra and gujarat, two of india's richest regions. here's the bbc‘s divya arya. one reason that has been given for the rise in cases, which has actually been steady now for the past four days, numbers much higher than what we had seen earlier and the last 24 hours, a dramatic increase of more than 2,000 cases in one day, the highest so far. the reason being given is an increase in testing. india has been appreciated for implementing a lockdown very early into the spread of the pandemic but criticised for one of the lowest testing levels across the world. now, as testing levels are being increased, the numbers are also increasing. the health ministry, which does a press conference every day, almost every day,

has been asserting that the curve has been flattening. they have also said the recovery rate is much better but, as we can now see, the deaths have suddenly started climbing up, ironically, as india has started to ease its lockdown. officials in delhi have raised taxes on alcohol by 70%, to try to deter large gatherings outside shops. it comes after crowds flocked to shops selling alcohol, when they re—opened on monday as the country began to relax its lockdown. police were forced to intervene. similar price—hikes are being introduced in several other parts of the country. the southern german state of bavaria will partially re—open for tourism from the end of this month. the state's premier, markus soeder, says restaurants would also be able to resume business from mid—may, though some restrictions on social distancing and opening hours would be enforced. some schools across germany re—started lessons on monday, although with reduced number

of children in the classrooms. germany's public health authority says the reproduction rate for the coronavirus is currently estimated to be 0.71%. there had been concerns the easing of restrictions would lead to a resurgence of infections, but that r—figure, as it is known, suggests the number of new cases is now falling. let's get a round up of some more coronavirus news. research by french doctors has suggested that coronavirus was in the country at the end of december, four weeks before the first recorded case. a hospital in paris has re—examined old swab samples from 24 pneumonia patients and one was found to be positive for covid—19. he's since recovered, and it's not known how he contracted the disease. russia has recorded more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours — the third successive day the figure has been at that rate. the majority of the infections were in moscow.

more than 150,000 people in russia have contracted covid—19 but, so far, according to officialfigures, there have been less than 1,500 deaths. the united states treasury has said it will borrow a record $3 trillion between april and june. the funds will be put towards coronavirus relief programmes for individuals and businesses. it's more than twice as much as the us borrowed in the whole of the last financial year. the education secretary has told mp5 he wants to see children returning to school "when it's the right time" based on the scientific and medical advice received by the government. in response to a question from the shadow education secretary, rebecca long—bailey, gavin williamson said there would be a "phased approach" to reopening schools. in terms of returning to schools, she shared with me a desire to see

children getting an opportunity to return to school when it is the right time to do so. this will be based on scientific and medical advice that we receive. i can assure her that we will take a phased approach in terms of reopening schools and we will always aim to give schools, parents and of course critically important need children, the maximum amount of notice in terms of when this is going to happen. amanda spielman is the chief inspector of ofsted and we can talk to her now. normally ofsted would be off inspecting schools but it is not possible right now. what is going on with the education schools are providing to kids at home? is that something you are able to monitor? no, it isn't. we are in very exceptional circumstances. guidance under which schools are operating is

not allowing them to function as schools. it has obligations around safeguarding that schools are working out for themselves what they can do. the vast majority are getting on and doing it. do you have any statistics on that question at the other end, their kids will come out and pick up their education properly. if there is a varied offering at the moment, it will potentially disadvantage some children. of course. we have serious concerns about the prolonged drop in education for many children. we know it affects so many kinds, the youngest, the ones with special educational needs met limited english and those in economically disadvantaged situations in the most difficult families. many children will be getting less than they get at school. for many children, it in their interests to be back at school as soon as possible. all these other

factors have to be balanced around the safety of other members of the family well, around the wider health of the medical system and many other concerns as well. we are very reliant on people with all different areas of expertise putting this together into a coherent picture to set priorities, which is why it is not possible for me or anyone else to say schools should be open now all schools should not be open now. would it have made sense for there to had been a more coherent instruction to schools about what exactly every school should do, said there was a uniform approach? that feels like the next stage. in an absolute emergency, where you have to do something to protect the most vulnerable children urgently, it is right to focus on that. we're looking at sustained disruption and there will be a considerable period in which at least some, and probably

many children will not be able to attend school as normal. we need to get to a point where we do have clear expectations of what is schools should be doing and perhaps what they do not need to be trying to do. schools and parents alike need that to help them understand what the right expectations are and to give them the help they need to make sure that, at their respective ends when they can do what they need to do. are you focusing on a date, and expectation of when you think schools might be able to go back?|j schools might be able to go back?” cannot do that. as we all know, we had committees of experts in all the areas involved, some deliberating and bringing the best expertise we have to bare. i cannot second guess that. i have evidence around children and i can see from their point of view that their own interests are largely served by being back in school. that has to be weighed up against so many other

things that i absolutely would not say children should be back in school on such and such a date. thank you very much. you are watching bbc news. well, many parents and carers are finding the demands of home schooling somewhat challenging! how much work should be being achieved? and what about establishing a routine? they're issues being wrestled with here in the uk and around the world. we can speak now to mum cynthia davis and her six—year—old daughter elsa from buckinghamshire about how they're managing. lovely to see you both. thank you for joining lovely to see you both. thank you forjoining us. do you festival, cynthia, i know you are managing a job, you run two businesses at the same time as home—schooling alsa. how are you coping? it has been an interesting challenge. i think it is really just trying to interesting challenge. i think it is reallyjust trying to juggle. the most important priority is elsa and

her well—being and welfare. we had tried to make sure she comes first and that comes second, so to speak. it is trying to juggle. like many pa rents, it is trying to juggle. like many parents, it is trying to find the balance we have realised is a struggle, so... elsa, how are you finding being at home instead of being at school? it has been a bit difficult. when we normally go to school we have chairs and tables, so we work at tables but, from home, it has been a little different. is your mum very has been a little different. is your mum very strict? is she making you do lots of work? we do some english and handwriting. how does it compare with what you would normally be learning at school? reprint our work, do it and only send it to our

teacher. —— we print. every friday, one person gets hot chocolate. have you managed that yet? once when we did home—schooling, everyone got the hot chocolate. one friend of mine showed me the schedule for her kids, it was mind blowing, taking up the whole school day suggesting if their work was finished, what else can be done to fill the blanks? how are you approaching this? we took a similar approaching this? we took a similar approach at the beginning, we put a schedule in place where we tried to split the day into two, so my husband and i had to divide the home—schooling. he normally does the morning session at work and i did the afternoon at work and have elsa for home—schooling in the morning. that seemed to work quite easily in a sense we were able to pick three

targets we are able to focus on. we have been lucky in the sense we have grandparents who are ex teachers and they have been able to chip in and support. she does skype lessons with her grandparents, which has been phenomenal helping us to have some form of structure. we have learned to have a full day of schooling, which is difficult. it is not a school environment and we have had to be careful not to recreate home as school but still try to get some of the work done where possible. lucky you, having grandparents being able to do that. that must be nice for you, elsa. how able to do that. that must be nice foryou, elsa. how do able to do that. that must be nice for you, elsa. how do you feel about going back to school? when we go back to school, we might have to wear some masks. when we get to see grandparents, we will not be able to touch them or maybe because we will still have masks on but we'll be able to go to their house.”

still have masks on but we'll be able to go to their house. i expect you are looking forward to that, are you? just like everyone else. yes, i really miss them. i really hope you get to see them soon. thank you for joining us. for viewers in the uk, this afternoon, we'll be putting your education questions to matthew burton, headteacher at thornhill community academy and star of the channel 4 programme educating yorkshire, and to amy gibbons who's a reporter with the times educational supplement. you can send them to yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet them to the hashtag #bbcyourquestions. that's coming up at 2.30pm here on bbc news. nicola sturgeon will be coming up for her latest briefing, but let's catch up with the weather with matt taylor. it will be dry and reasonably sunny

for most parts of the uk today, but there is some rain in the south—west. there will be damp weather anywhere from the isle of wight weather anywhere from the isle of wig ht westwards weather anywhere from the isle of wight westwards and into south wales. some cloud and shetland, but the sunshine hazy in few spots. it will feel pleasant in the sunshine where you have it, 17 or 18 degrees in scotland, and in north—west england and north wales. colour along the east coast. winds will ease in the south—west, but still fairly cloudy. more cloud for shetland, but with clear skies in between, it will be a chilly night with temperatures well done into single figures. thank you forjoining us today. as of nine o'clock this morning that have been 12,437 positive cases confirmed, which is an increase of

470 1 cent yesterday. a total of 1656 patients are currently in hospital with either confirmed or suspected covid—19. that is a decrease of 64 cents yesterday. a total of 104 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected covid—19 and that is an increase of 5 cents yesterday. i can confirm that since the 5th of march, 2847 patients who had tested positive and been hospitalised for the virus have not been able to leave hospital. that is positive news, of course. sadly, in the last day 44 deaths have been registered of patients who had been confirmed to bea of patients who had been confirmed to be a test of having the virus, which takes the total number of deaths to 1600 and 20. we must never think of these numbers as just statistics. they represent individuals whose loss is a source

of sorrow to many and i again want to send my deepest condolences to eve ryo ne to send my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to this virus. we are all thinking of you. i also want to again thank our health and care workers for the extraordinary work that you continue to do for us in the most challenging and difficult of circumstances. i have one substantive issue that i wa nt to have one substantive issue that i want to discuss today. forgive me if ido want to discuss today. forgive me if i do so. it is of greater length than normal. this follows my update yesterday on our plans for test, trace and isolate. today, i want to set out for you our latest data on the level of infection and the important are the level of infection and the importantarea the level of infection and the important are a number of you have heard us talk about before. i want to describe the work we are doing now to provide for careful and gradual changes to the lockdown

restrictions. but that is only when wejudge it safe restrictions. but that is only when we judge it safe to make them, which it is not right now. you will find more details of what i'm about to cover today in a new document we have just published on our website. it updates the one we published a couple of weeks ago and i am asking you pleased to have a look at that. i want to encourage you to use the new online tool that we are launching today which gives you the chance to offer ideas on how we should move forward. i have said before, but it is worth repeating, the decisions of how we come out of lockdown will affect each and eve ryo ne lockdown will affect each and everyone of us, perhaps for some considerable time to come. i am determined that i am the scottish government make those decisions as openly and as collaboratively as we possibly can. as i said yesterday, by thursday this week we have to formally assess whether any lockdown restrictions should be lifted at

this stage. the other uk governments will also be making an assessment on or around that date. as we move forward we will continue to discuss and where appropriate reach decisions on a four nations uk basis. it remains my intention to have uk wide alignment where the evidence supports it, though obviously my overarching responsibility is to reach evidence—based decisions that are for scotland. as indicated yesterday, it is highly unlikely that the scottish government will be able to make any significant changes to the current restrictions on thursday. i think it is important that i am frank with you about that. to's paper sets out in detail the data that underpins that conclusion. in short, we are seeing progress, real progress, particularly in the number of people admitted to intensive care, but that progress is

still fragile. that means any increase in the physical interactions we have with other people can quickly see transmission of the virus increase again. we estimate that there are currently around 26,000 people with covid—19 in scotland. i stress these are estimates. that is still too high a numberfor us estimates. that is still too high a number for us to consider that the virus is under control. i have also spoken before about the vital importance, the critical importance of keeping the r number blue one. we know that number is higher in care homes, but our best estimate is that the number in the community is currently between .7 —— one. but we cannot be sure that it is closer to one than 0.7. there is some evidence that the r number might be higher in scotla nd that the r number might be higher in scotland than in the rest of the uk, but the modelling that is based on a

subject to a high degree of uncertainty. in any event, the r number is not far enough below one that can be confident that any changes to current restrictions would not send it over one again, and the virus would increase exponentially again. that could overwhelm our health service, force us to re—restrictions and it would lead to many more deaths. as an illustration of this, we include in the paper at chart which is based on recent danish data. we are looking at experiences in other countries of the time. what this chart suggests is that if we were to fully reopen nurseries in primary schools now, the most likely scenario would be a resurgence in the virus that would overwhelm our hospital capacity in a matter of weeks. the fact is that any easing of restrictions whenever we introduced and will have an impact —— have an impact on the r

number, but if we get our best number, but if we get our best number lower than it is now we would have more headroom to be able to cope with that. the hard fact is, we must see further restrictions in new cases, hospital admissions and deaths to be sure that the overall level of infection and the r number lower than they are now. that means for the moment we do need to stick with the current lockdown restrictions. however, am acutely aware that the severity of the restrictions we are living under now cannot continue indefinitely. we know that lockdown is doing its own damage. we also need to be preparing to make changes as soon as it is safe to do so. the next three week period of lockdown after this thursday is due to end on the 28th of may. let me stress, that doesn't necessarily mean that we can't make

any changes before then if the evidence suggests it is safe to do so. if we can, we will. for example, iam keen so. if we can, we will. for example, i am keen as soon so. if we can, we will. for example, i am keen as soon as so. if we can, we will. for example, i am keen as soon as possible for the sake of mental health and well—being to enable people to be outdoors more. obviously, we are all keen to get the economy moving again as soon as we can. today's paper sets out some options that we are working on both in terms of assessing their impact and on the practicalities of implementation so that we will be ready to make changes when the evidence tells us it is safe to do so. to be clear with you, because i have to make sure i am setting the out clearly, this is not a list of things we will definitely do by certain dates. indeed, we might not be able to take all of these steps even at the end of may. this is going to be a long process with different faces along the way. we will only implement these changes when we are as certain

as possible it is safe to do so and when we can also assure you of that. in the meantime, it is vital we stick rigorously to the current rules. it is important that we are preparing now. iwant rules. it is important that we are preparing now. i want to briefly set out the options we are working on, though again, i must stress these are not changes we are implementing now. we are considering if and how we could safely change our advice on spending time outdoors to allow exercise outsized to happen more than once a day, so long as we continue to stay apart from people outside their own households. second, we are also considering if a slight relaxation in the rules to allow meeting up with a small defined group of people from other households in a sort of double might be possible, even if initially there was only possible out of doors and not endorse. this is of course one way in which we could start interact a bit more with family and friends,

which i know are so important to all of us. however, we have to consider carefully the impact on the spread of the virus and we have to think through how such an approach could be implemented in practice and how the limitations of a could be enforced if necessary. it is also not something that would be possible for those who are currently shielding, so we have to think also about the fairness of it. the third area we are looking at is wayin and in what order we can resume some nhs and community care services. we stopped some services, like non—elective procedures, to make sure the nhs could cope with the virus, but these postponements also have implications for health so we must consider how services can be restarted as soon as possible and thatis restarted as soon as possible and that is what we are currently doing. the fourth area relates to how we carefully were gradually and safely allow businesses to reopen. that is

allow businesses to reopen. that is a major area of work for obvious reasons. we need to work with business and with trade unions to consider the practical arrangements for different work environments to start up safely as changes to working practices, physical layers of workplaces, the appropriate use of workplaces, the appropriate use of ppe, and the operation of public transport. we are looking carefully at the work the uk government is doing and we are consulting our own stakeholders on that. initially, we are given particular consideration to businesses and the construction, retail and manufacturing sectors, and to some outdoor and rural businesses. home—working as possible, we are likely to insist on that for the foreseeable future. i wa nt to that for the foreseeable future. i want to be very clear that as of now current guidance to business remains in place. finally, isaid before that one of the hardest decisions i have ever taken was the closure of schools. i know the impact this is having on young people and i want to thank all of you watching today

again for your patience. it has a big impact on family routine. the deputy first minister is chairing the education recovery group, which is considering options for how pupils might gradually return to school. i can, pupils might gradually return to school. ican, i pupils might gradually return to school. i can, i need to be clear, a return to school might not be possible at all the side of the summer holidays, but we are considering whether some groups of stu d e nts considering whether some groups of students such as vulnerable children, children who are making the transition from primary to secondary school could return to school ahead of others. any initial return to school is likely to be requiring of a mixture of time in school and learning at home. for example, it is possible that different schools could attend school part time to enable physical distancing and deep cleaning of schools between sessions. in all of this, we are trying to find the right balance between children's educational and wider needs and

public health imperatives. i want to be crystal clear that while we will ta ke be crystal clear that while we will take the greatest care and all of this, that that is particularly the case with schools. we will not compromise the safety of your children. as you will understand from the detail i have just given, none of these decisions are easy. there is no absolute certainty and any of this and complex judgments will have to be made. as i said before, lifting the lockdown will not be like flicking a switch. it will be a gradual process which will happen in phases. what we are seeking to do is find a path to a new normal, one which is less restrictive current lockdown, but which does a new normal, one which is less restrictive current lockdown, but which doesn't list the virus ramping up again. we do not have definite dates for any of what i have just set out. i will update you on an ongoing basis on the days ahead as evidence assessment

develops. as soon as we can start to attach tentative dates, we will do that. in parallel, we will continue to work on the test increase capacity. the most important task for all of us in the here and now is to get the virus under more control thanit to get the virus under more control than it is now. i cannot stress that enough. we really are at a critical stage and what i have set out today about our assessment of the r number in particular, it tells us how critical this stage is and how easy it would be to go in the wrong direction. that means asking you again to stick rigorously to the current rules. it means asking you to think hard about your own compliance and tightening that if anything, not easing up on it. if you have been going out more than

you have been going out more than you should, please rectify that. please stay at home, except for essential purposes, and remember, to essential purposes, and remember, to essential purposes, and remember, to essential purposes means only essential purposes means only essential food supplies, medicines and daily exercise. you should ask yourself if, for example, going for a drive through coffee is really an essential journey. a drive through coffee is really an essentialjourney. stage two metres from others when you have to be out, don't meet up with people from other households, isolate completely if you or anyone in your household has symptoms, wash your hands regularly and weara symptoms, wash your hands regularly and wear a face covering if you are in an enclosed space with other people, like a shop or public transport. all of this is tough. it is really tough and i know and understand that, but i want to stress again, right now we are going in the right direction. if we keep doing all of the right things, we will keep going in the right direction and we will get there. our light at the end of the tunnel will

get brighter as the days go on and we will find a way through. please, keep doing the right things and thank you for everything you are doing to comply. i will hand over to the chief medical officer who will say more about the evidence before us before i open up the questions. third continues to be good evidence that the cases of covid—19 in scotland are going in the right direction. we cannot yet relax. i wa nt direction. we cannot yet relax. i want to remind everyone it will remain necessary, and through all of us working together and reducing the ability of this virus to spread. this nasty little virus spreads all too easily and it preys on those who are most vulnerable across our communities. we don't have a treatment for it and we don't yet

have a vaccine. because our population has never encountered it before, it is prime to spread easily and readily when we come into close contact with others who do have it. the first minister has spoken today about the r number. this is the numberof about the r number. this is the number of people who would be infected by one person. it is substantially lower than a few weeks ago. it has probably reduced by up to 80%, but we can't say with confidence it is low enough to begin changing significantly some of the restrictions that are in place. neither can we say that there are few enough new cases are merging to be confident that any change will not send us back to that exponential level of growth that we saw before. the law we get this number the more confident we can be that this will not happen. my advisory group continues to provide very valuable

interpretations of the evidence and modelling so the scottish ministers receive advice on applying the releva nt receive advice on applying the relevant science that shapes their approach. i'm very grateful to all the members of this and vibrate —— this advisory group. after very careful discussion with them, i support the collective view that there is insufficient evidence to allow confidence in recommending any significant changes to the restrictions at this time. we have come away and a short time, but it is too soon to be confident that changing our approach is safe and would lead us back to the exponential levels of growth we all fear. once again, i am asking for your help. on behalf of my colleagues in the nhs and my colleagues in the nhs and my colleagues across the country to be resolute in sticking to these restrictions. limit your physical contact with other people and make sure we don't create new bridges for this virus to spread amongst us. despite continuing —— it is by

continuing to work together, making sure that we isolate if we have symptoms, we can reduce the impact this virus is having on our communities. the health secretary is not with us today because she is due to a nswer not with us today because she is due to answer a question and the scottish parliament shortly. i will move straight to questions and ask lisa summers of the bbc —— the first one. he said that you want to see sustained evidence that the r number is below one. oh long would you want it to be at that before you would be confident to lift restrictions? you say you don't expect schools to open fully, or even partially in the near future. what will skilling look like in the next academic year?”

future. what will skilling look like in the next academic year? i want to start to give a shape and a sense of the options we are looking at. we are specifically looking at the options of certain gear groups going back ahead of others. that would be year groups who are at transition points in their education or who are studying for exams, or having different groups go back for different groups go back for different chunks of the week. what you take from that is that we need to configure schools in a way that allows more social distance in between pupils, recognising of course never younger children that is very difficult, underlying regular deep cleaning of the surfaces that young people are learning on in the classrooms. in terms of the definite dates, i want nothing more than to stand up here and give firm dates, but i can do that right now in a way that i would be confident is safe and that i

could tell you is safe. what i am going to do, and we started this with the first paper, as soon as evidence develops and are planning develops evidence develops and are planning d evelo ps we evidence develops and are planning develops we will put more detail with more definite milestones around this. i will share that as possible. in answer to the question how low does it have to go, that is for experts to advise me. i wish i could say here is a numberfor two experts to advise me. i wish i could say here is a number for two weeks then we would know we were out of danger. experts will look at all the indicators and make judgments about the rate that our number is at, how sustainable that is and what the impact of different changes would be on that. one key point is that when, for example, will reopen schools, there will be an impact on the r number. if that is happening on the r number that is 0.2, it doesn't ta ke r number that is 0.2, it doesn't take you into the danger zone as if

it was a number that was not .8, we re it was a number that was not .8, were quickly it would get over one again. these are difficult judgments. we are seeking to learn from different countries. the danish data are referred to today when danish school started to go back, there was an increase in the r number. if we implemented that on us, that would lead to difficulties again in stressing our nhs. ireland, for example, has indicated that schools will be back before september so we are looking and learning as much as we can, but fundamentally, we have got to base these decisions on what the evidence in scotland is telling us, and that is what we will continue to try to do. stv news. could you clarify for us what the position is for businesses where social distance and

just isn't an option, for example, hairdressers, beauticians? what circumstances would have to be in place for them before they reopen. this has to be worked through very carefully in consultation with the businesses themselves, but also trade unions and workers who have to be confident they can go back to work safely. where you are working from home right now and yourjob makes it possible you to do that, it is likely that we will ask you to do that for quite some considerable time. safe social distance and can be applied in the workplace, those are the options we will be looking at. where the appropriate use of ppe might be possible where social distancing is not as possible, to use your example hairdressers, not to pick on them in particular, just because you mentioned it, all of these things will have to be worked through. we are hearing much of this discussion around the work that the uk government has been doing on

workplace guidance. there are issues we would have to work through about what we are expecting of individual businesses in terms of any legal requirements they would be under and how workers can nature sure they are properly protected. these are complex issues. what i am saying now is we might not be able to make any of these changes now, but if we do the practical detailed work now, then when the evidence tells us that we could make some changes we would be in we could make some changes we would beina we could make some changes we would be in a much stronger position to do that more quickly than otherwise. sky news? your document published today speaks of the r number estimated in scotland being higher than elsewhere in the uk, why would that be? it also says that the numberand care that be? it also says that the number and care homes and hospitals is higher than number and care homes and hospitals is higherthan in number and care homes and hospitals is higher than in the community and it is of critical concern. what is that r number? i can give you a deaf

—— a definitive numberfor that. i can say with certainty that the r number in care homes would still be above one, but that doesn't mean it would be above one in all care homes. there are still care homes, around half of them, that it never had an infection. that is nicola sturgeon with her daily briefing to the media. the one o'clock news is coming up in a few moments with all the latest developments in covid—19. right now it is time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. afair bit a fair bit of sunshine a run for many today, but with a few notable exceptions. this was the scene this morning in devon, the wind is whipping up some fairly rough seas and rainfalling. whipping up some fairly rough seas and rain falling. it is tied into this weather system that pushed out to france during the night. it is

still bare through this afternoon, but it is losing some of its energy, so the rain is turning lighter and patchy. it could be read anywhere from the isle of wight westwards into south wales. it will be fairly breezy here, with the wince making it feel colder. the winds are lighter further north, so with the sunshine outcome of the west of scotland, north—west england are some of the warm spots, up to around 18 celsius. most of the rain or drizzle will fizzle out tonight. that is in the south—west. still a few showers for cornrow, potentially. also some cloud for shetland. but in between, clear skies, and there is a chance of some frost into tomorrow morning. despite the cold start, this warm air will start moving towards our shorts. temperatures will be above average

for many for the second part of the week. wednesday, sunny skies, warm day. more cloud for parts of south—west england, south—west wales. still a bit breezy but not as cool as it was or is windy and temperatures more widely into the high teens. into the low 205 across england and scotland. more cloud for the west, the odd shower here or there, particularly for northern ireland or scotland. most cases than primarily dry. in the sunny spells, comment on them will see temperatures climb into the 205 more widely. we could not temperatures —— nudge temperatures up even further for friday, with lots of dry weather. notice saturday, 10 degrees in edinburgh, london 22. cold air will make a surge southwards and that will happen throughout this weekend. at the time we had sunday, all of us will be in the chilly air and could even be, believe it or

not, a few snow showers in the north—east.

the uk death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is now more than 30,000. as the number of deaths in hospital is falling, a plea from care homes as theirfigures in england and wales continue to rise. we need more help from the government on testing, on ppe and financial support, and i think we need more help so we can reduce the deaths in care homes going forward. we need to be at the centre, not on the periphery. we'll be looking at those coronavirus mortality figures in more detail. also this lunchtime... criticism of the uk's initial coronavirus testing procedure, from its own chief scientific adviser. i think if we had managed to ramp testing capacity quicker, it would have been beneficial, and, you know, for all sorts of reasons that didn't happen.