this is bbc news — i'm maryam moshiri with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk records the highest number of deaths, linked to coronavirus — of any european country. ministers say, it's too early to compare. one of the british government's senior scientific advisers, stands down — after breaking social distancing rules. president trump confirms the white house is planning to wind down its coronavirus task force — despite the high number of cases in the us. singing. and — we meet the choir that comes together online — to fight isolation, and support each other.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first, daily figures out of the uk — show that it now, has the highest official death toll from coronavirus in europe — and the second highest in the world after the united states. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, said 29,427 people had now died during the outbreak — 112 people more than the latest figures a leading scientist in britain has resigned from his government role after it was reported that he broke the lockdown rules that he had argued for. a newspaper reported that a woman who doesn't live with professor neil ferguson visited his home twice during lockdown. as the us death toll surpasses 70,000, president trump said

the white house coronavirus task force would be wound down as the country moves into the second phase of dealing with the outbreak. and in england and wales, new figures from the office for national statistics show that care home deaths, involving the virus, increased by more than a third in the week ending 24th april — meaning a total of nearly six thousand care home deaths up to that date. our first report is from, our science editor, david shukman which looks at how the number of deaths in the uk compares with other countries. every so often, there are grim national milestones. this time, as the uk's death toll rises above that of italy, making it second only to the united states, and with every figure a story of loss and grief. the virus never loses the power to shock, killing three members of one family within days of each other. first, keith dunnington, a nurse from south shields, then, a week later, his father

maurice and his mother lillian, leaving the family stand. leaving the family stunnnd. i'm still in disbelief a little bit. keith's children are...erm, absolutely devastated. and then, to lose their nanny and grandad, they're really devastated. my children are both absolutely heartbroken. at today's government briefing, the latest graph shows how the death tolls are rising in different countries. the official numbers confirm that italy has lost 29,315 people, and the uk now slightly more, at 29,427. if it does turn out that we are the country that's hardest hit in europe, what's your reaction to that? there are different ways of counting deaths, as we know, we've had that debate

in this country. we now publish data that includes all deaths in all settings, and not all countries do that, so i'm not sure that the international comparison works unless you reliably know that all countries are measuring in the same way. and it also depends on how good, frankly, countries are in gathering their statistics. and our own office for national statistics is widely acknowledged to be a world leader. there are important differences between the two countries. the uk has more people than italy, and london is far bigger than any italian city. 0n the other hand, the population of italy is older and more generations live together, which increases the risk to grandparents. it's a complicated picture, that's still evolving. everybody knows that making international comparisons in such statistics can be difficult, and it may be that that will take some time to sort out, and this isn't over yet. but all this raises questions about the uk's handling of the outbreak.

the nhs has avoided being overwhelmed — a real success, unlike in northern italy. but it emerged today that fewer than 300 people were put into quarantine earlier this year, at a time when 18 million arrived without any kind of screening. and testing for the virus got off to a slower start than in other countries, and that's now been officially acknowledged. in the early phases, and i've said this before, i think if we'd managed to ramp testing capacity quicker, it would have been beneficial, and... you know, for all sorts of reasons, that didn't happen, and i think it's clear you need lots of testing for this. the numbers dying everyday are now falling, the lockdown is working. but this comes as tens of thousands of people across the uk are now grieving. david shukman, bbc news. the prominent uk scientist, whose work was a key factor in the government's decision to implement the lockdown,

has stepped aside tonight, from the advisory committee called sage. professor neil ferguson said he'd acted in a way that undermined the rules on social distancing. it follows reports in the uk's daily telegraph that a woman had visited his home — in breach of the restrictions. 0ur correspondentjessica parker is at westminster. well, as you say, professor neil ferguson, a member of the scientific committee known as sage, which advises ministers on their approach to coronavirus, he has stepped back from the committee this evening, following reports in the telegraph that he breached social distancing rules after a woman visited his home. i will bring you some of his statement tonight. he said "i accept i made an error of judgment. "i acted in the belief that i was immune from having tested "positive for coronavirus, and completely isolated myself "for almost two weeks after developing symptoms." he goes on to say he deeply regrets any undermining of the clear messages around the continued need for social distancing to control this devastating epidemic. now, it was professor

ferguson's work alongside a team at imperial college london about how devastating this epidemic could be. it was seen as a key driver behind the uk government's decision to go into lockdown. so it's worth saying his work was hugely influential and remains hugely influential now. you might also remember a similar case about a month ago where doctor catherine calderwood, a chief medical officer, in scotland, she resigned from her post after she was found to have breached the rules after visiting her second home. so, tonight, perhaps a reminder for those who are involved in setting the regulations, also under pressure to keep to them. jessica parker there. president trump has confirmed that the white house is looking at winding down its coronavirus task force, despite the high number of cases in the us. vice president mike pence has suggested that it could be brought to a close within weeks. it comes as a draft government report warns the us deathtoll could reach three thousand a day injune — more than double the current rate. president trump spoke

to reporters as he left washington to go to arizona earlier — this is what he had to say. so, i think that as far as the task force, mike pence and the task force have done a greatjob, but we are now looking at a little bit of a different form, and that form is safety and opening. and we will have a different group probably set up for that. it was created with a lot of other very talented people, and the people of our country, the greatest economy in the history of the world. the greatest that we've ever had, the greatest employment numbers, the best numbers we've ever had, the best stock markets, i think we 144 days of record stock markets, and then one day they said, we have to close our country. well, now it's time to open it up. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, joins us. peter, do you think the us is ready for this winding, given the number of deaths at the moment? there is certainly

going to be critics who will say that absolutely not, that the us is still in the middle of this crisis. it's very clear that the president's focuses on reopening the country, and while this particular group is being put down, there will be another group of experts that will include some of the familiarfaces, the will include some of the familiar faces, the medical experts, the doctors that americans have got to know quite well over the last few weeks, they will still be part of this new group, but the focus will be on safety and opening. the reopening of the country, which president trump repeatedly has said is very important to him, and he believes it's very important to americans across the country. of course, many of whom have lost theirjob. also, we saw the president visiting a mask making factory today, but he wasn't actually wearing a mask. what kind of message does that send, do you think? it perhaps sends a confusing message, apparently, there were signs inside this facility ordering

the compulsory wearing of masks. it's fair to say that some people, all of the people around the president, presumably some who actually worked at that facility, they weren't wearing masks either. the president was wearing some safety goggles. he had said earlier that all of the people travelling with him, presumably his close team from the white house, had in fact been tested for coronavirus. he said within the hour before that flight took off from washington and had presumably tested negative. so, the message at least from the president is that he didn't believe that wearing masks at this particular facility, believe that wearing masks at this particularfacility, even though it was a facility making masks, clearly he didn't think it was important. it's been a while, hasn't it, since the president actually left the white house, left washington, and this really kind of looks more like a bit of campaign trail and it, rather than anything else? well, it is perhaps significant that arizona is one of those so—called swing states. it's one of those that could go

either way, to the democrats or the republicans during the presidential election in november. and it is very likely to be high on the priority list of the president when he gets back to more conventional campaigning, if that ever sta rts campaigning, if that ever starts before the election. so, there is i think i need by the president to be seen to be focusing on those areas that he needs to win votes. it's something, of course, that the democrats... it's very difficult for them to do at the moment with their candidates or their likely candidates, joe biden, still held up at home. 0k, peter, as always, good to talk to you. thank you very much indeed. let's get some of the day's other news. a new smartphone app released by nhs england — with the aim of tracing the spread of coronavirus — has been made available on the isle of wight off the coast of southern england. it's part of a trial for easing the lockdown. aianb is cutting nearly 1,900 jobs, as it battles with the downturn in the global travel industry. that's about one—quarter of the company's workforce.

the firm — which connects home—owners with renters — says revenues this year will be about half what they were in 2019. virgin atlantic is cutting 3,000 jobs in the uk and ending its operations at london's gatwick airport, as the travel industry battles with the coronavirus fallout. the compa ny‘s founder, sir richard branson, has warned that the airline will collapse unless it receives government support. stay with us on bbc news, still to come:. india's plans for bringing home hundreds of thousands of people — including 40,000 students — stranded at british universities, by the lockdown. venezuela's health care, infrastructure and economy has collapsed. 0ur infrastructure and economy has collapsed. our people coping enough country where progress

is in reverse? 0ur enough country where progress is in reverse? our world, venezuela falling backwards on bbc world news. angela merkel is facing the toughest challenge of her career. how to protect the health of her citizens and that of the german economy, which is lighted into the worst recession since the second world world, as europe's leaders relax restrictions and struggle with the same question, how far can they go? joinjenny helen question, how far can they go? join jenny helen bbc question, how far can they go? joinjenny helen bbc news. what will it be like when we are all emerge from a lockdown? how will it affect the way we work, travel and socialise. we will be here. life after lockdown, here in bbc world news. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... the uk records the highest

number of deaths, linked to coronavirus — of any european country. ministers say, it's too early to compare. one of the british government's senior scientific advisers, stands down — after breaking social distancing rules. the covid—19 crisis has disrupted all our lives but one possible silver lining relates to the environment. as road traffic and flights have declined, nature has come back in force in many parts of the world. for climate change, the lockdown is also likely to have big implications as emissions of the main warming gas carbon dioxide have fallen in almost every part of the world. 0ur environment correspondent matt mcgrath has been looking at the reasons behind the drop in co2 and what it might mean for global temperatures. right now, we are living through the biggest carbon question ever recorded. crash ever recorded. first century emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas have risen dramatically, but while war and oil crises have caused

falls in co2 before, nothing has come close to the drop in fossil fuel use we are seeing at this moment. because of the coronavirus, the world will probably admit between two and 3 billion tonnes less c02 this year compared to 2019. that fall could be six times larger than during the last global recession in 2008. so what's happened ? well, our skies are a lot clearer, as there has been a huge drop in the number of flights, with a 75% reduction compared to the same time last year. and while the fall off on emissions on the road isn't as large in percentage terms, limiting journeys is having an even bigger impact on the amount of c02 going into the atmosphere. demand for electricity globally has also fallen by around 20% because of the shutdown. but not every city is having the same experience though. paris has seen c02 drop by 72% in march as road traffic fell away, but in new york, carbon emissions have gone down by only 10%, the key reason is that fossil fuel home heating and not cars is the main source of c02 in new york, and demand has remained high during the crisis.

many would hope the carbon cuts being forced on the world right now will at least help keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 celsius this century, that might limit the very worst climate impacts, such as heat waves and floods. but getting there will require changes even greater in scale than what we are living through right now. to truly flatten the emissions curve, climate scientists say we need a pandemic size reduction in co2 every year from now until 2050. that is our environment reporter, matt mcgrath —— matt mcgrath there. the indian government has announced it will start to repatriate thousands of citizens on thursday — including some of those who've been unable to leave the uk. around 40,000 indians are currently studying at british universities — and because they've not been allowed to leave — many have been struggling with the impact of the lockdown — as our correspondent michael buchanan reports. this queue is for neither a shop nor a post office. it's for free food.

hundreds of indian students struggling with social distancing were feeding themselves. it's actually very disappointing for us. we have no food and the landlords are asking for rent and we are really, absolutely in a difficult situation. they are engineers and pharmacists, business graduates and chemists. all studying and stranded in britain. the jobs that sustain them in shops, restaurants, fast food outlets and construction have gone. and there have been no flights back to india since mid—march. after two weeks of doing my job, i was dismissed from myjob because of corona because there is no business in the restaurant. there is no place, so we are looking at flights, but there is no flights. so you can't go back home? i can't go back home and i can't work here.

what once was a thriving restaurant in east london is now an essential community service. six weeks ago, they supported 40 people. last friday, they fed over 400, all paid for by donations from britain's south indian population. in a country like britain we expect so many of these people, a small organisation like us, to try and make ends meet, so, you know, it's a testing time for all of us and we are all trying our best. it's notjust here that people are in need. it's estimated that nationwide over 3000 indian students have needed food parcels in recent weeks. rarely can one image capture the impact of coronavirus. hundreds of people unable to earn money, unable to work, having to queue up for free food. with flights resuming this week, many students will join the scramble to return to india.

for those that don't get home, a kindly lifeline will still be required for some time. michael buchanan, bbc news, east london. over the past couple of months the pandemic has created immense difficulties for people with learning disabilities and those with underlying health issues who find themselves having to self—isolate. but a choir in oxford has shown that music can be one means of challenging the isolation. the soundabout inclusive choir has harnessed technology to support its members as fergal keane reports. # amazing grace # how sweet the sound... a voice from a deep confinement. music helps make isolation bearable for sam pittick, aged 37. he has a vulnerable immune system and can't leave home. # i once was lost, but now i'm

found # was blind... and when you're all singing together, what is the feeling? i feel more powerful when i'm singing. i open my own voice to the power of music. now it's got to this fifth week, it's very difficult for him. sam's mum, ann, keeps a video diary, here filming his daily exercise. that's lovely. good lad. she's in her 70s, her husband in his 80s, both with severe underlying health conditions. the carers who once visited sam every day can't come any more. we're sort of struggling along with it, and the carer usually does it through the phone for him. "come on, sam, you've

got to get in the bath, you've got to get washed". and things like that. it means no more face—to—face sessions with his beloved choir. founded last year by the charity soundabout, and at the centre of life for dozens of special needs people in oxford. for different families, different challenges. choir drummer matthew nicholls was born blind and unable to speak. he cherishes the human touch of his brother, c], of his parents. but matthew lives in supported accommodation and, because of the virus, can't have visits. his mum, sophia and father, nigel bring freshly—ba ked bread which they leave at the entrance for their child. you know, he likes to give you a big hug and a squeeze and a kiss. we miss him quite a lot. i must be honest and say that i do miss him. i miss him, because also not knowing this how long this lockdown is going to be for, you think, if it's only a few weeks, which is what i thought

it was originally, we'd at least be able to see him, but now, you know, we don't know how long it's going to be. but in a time of general anxiety, what's striking about the choir families is their optimism and good humour. 14 years ago, edward shryane was too weak to cry. listen to him now. # whoa—oh—oh, on the radio #. what does the sound of the choir mean to you? incredible. it's changed my life, and i think... i'm just lost for words. can i ask you a very fundamental question? what does he mean to you? you mean everything, don't you, eds? oh, my god! thank you! that's the right answer. i mean, thanks. drives me insane. thank you, that is the right answer. but there is another reason for laughter. using a video conference, the choir overcomes isolation and reunites.

and matthew hears the sound of his mother's laughter. # matthew, hope you have a really good week #. lily bartlett, blind, with special educational needs, taught herself piano and leads in the choir‘s version of an anthem for our times. # when you got what you want but not what you need # lights will guide you home # and ignite your bones # #i will try to fix you #.

applause fergal keane, bbc news, 0xford. now — something to make you smile — damejudi dench has become the oldest person ever to be on the front cover of british vogue. she's also been entertaining her legions of fans across the world by discovering tik tok and has been making videos with her grandson. she's the cover star on next month's edition and at the age of 85 is the oldest in the magazine's 104 year history. earlier she spoke to the bbc. i was completely bowled over to be asked to do it. because vogue is, something, you know, something i've loved for many, many years, and envied all those models and beautiful people. i'm amazed to be on the

front. very very flattered. i haven't actually seen it properly. and i probably won't look for a bit. for more insight on the covid—19 virus, there is much more on our website. including this report from our reality check team — which looks at comparisons between the number of cases in italy and uk. that's if you are interested in looking at the figures and what's behind the figures as well. that's all at bbc.com/news — or you can download the bbc news app. a reminder of our top story.... official figures show the uk now has the highest number of coronavirus—related deaths in europe. nearly twenty nine and a half thousand people have died after testing positive for covid—19 — surpassing the latest total in italy. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, described the figure as "a massive tragedy", but warned against making international comparisons at this stage. britain is still behind belgium, italy and spain

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbcmaryam. thank you for your company. i buy from me. —— bye—bye for me. hello there. heavy rain and localised flooding across uganda. not unusual, that's where the showers are at this time of year. you can see them being picked up on the satellite picture. so for their heavier rain expected across northern parts of kenya. to the south that come it will continue to stay relatively quiet, temperatures into the mid—20s across south africa. to the north of that is welcome it's a dry settled story, with temperatures perhaps peeking in the low 30s as well. so it won't come as any surprise to see that many of the major cities over the next few days stay fine and dry. we could continue to see some rain, fairly persistent across

nairobi. before we get there, it is getting warmer. it will turn very warm in many places. mind you, early wednesday morning, it's not going to feel very warm, maybe a pinch of frost in some rural parts in eastern areas underneath the clear skies and lighter winds. with the lighter winds, it will feel warmer in the sunshine on wednesday. and, for many of us, there will be a lot of thought to come. one or two exceptions, a bit more cloud threatening one or two showers in the far southwest of england and wales. and there is more cloud coming in across the northern isles of scotland. but with later winds, it will feel warm in the sunshine. temperatures are likely to be higher on wednesday, probably peaking at around 19—20 degrees. now, during the evening and overnight, we will start to see more of this cloud running its way northwards, up through the irish sea in towards northern ireland, threatening a few more showers for these western parts of the uk. further east though, we will have clearer skies and light winds. again, another chilly but because it's a bit warmer by day, it may not get quite as chilly by the end of the night and into thursday morning. we have still got high pressure in charge. it will shrink away towards the southeast,

and that is where we will see the heat for longer. further north and west, these weather fronts encroaching, threatening some showers and a bit more cloud. and we will certainly see more of that coming in on thursday across northern ireland, up into scotland, a few sharp showers here, and perhaps the chance of a shower across more western parts of england and wales. head further east though, a good chance it will stay dry. still a fair bit of sunshine around, and those temperatures are continuing to rise, up to 22—23 celsius. probably the peak of the warmth is going to be on friday, and that's for the southeast of the uk. it may be a bit more cloud across england and wales, northern ireland, maybe one or two showers breaking out as well. but we have got this band of rain across northern scotland, and, here, those temperatures are dropping away quite markedly. further south, where we will see those temperatures 24—25 degrees, a very warm day. that band of rain is on that weather front there, and that will be significant, because it's that that's going to sweep its way southwards during this weekend, and, behind it, a stronger northerly wind will push down much colder air across all areas. now, on saturday, it will be cooler across the northern half of the uk, perhaps some rain. further south, still largely dry and warm, with some sunshine, but, even here, it gets much colder on sunday, with

temperatures dropping as much as 10—11 degrees.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the united kingdom has now recorded more deaths related to covid—19 than any other country in europe. it's overtaken italy's total of more than 29,000 as the death rate in britain's care homes continue to rise. only the united states has lost more lives during the pandemic. one of the british government's senior scientific advisers has resigned after he admitted breaking social distancing rules. professor neil ferguson's advice led to the prime minister implementing a uk lockdown, at the end of march. in a statement, he said he accepts he made an error ofjudgment. president trump has confirmed that the white house is planning to wind down the coronavirus task force despite the continuing high number of cases. he has suggested it could be brought to a close within weeks. us health officials are warning the virus may spread again as businesses reopen.

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.