welcome to bbc news. our top stories: the british government announces a plan to end its lockdown, but there's disagreement from scotland, wales and northern ireland. we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures. the opposition says the plan doesn't answer crucial questions and trade unions call it "a recipe for confusion." south korea is facing a second spike in infections just a few days after beginning to ease its lockdown. and a small piece of good news from the pandemic. an absence of tourists means a record number of turtle hatchlings reaching the sea.

hello and welcome. the united kingdom has become the latest country to announce a gradual relaxation of some of its coronavirus restrictions, although the changes will only apply to england. in an address to the nation, the prime minster announced a new covid alert system with five levels, which would govern how quickly society can reopen. borisjohnson said it was the right time to "update" the government's message, from "stay at home" — to "stay alert". but scotland, wales and northern ireland have refused to adopt the government's updated message, and the leader of the opposition labour party said the government still wasn't providing the clarity and the answers people needed. here's our political editor laura kuenssberg. it is now almost two months... 48 days since so many of us tuned in.

to hear the prime minister introduce measures not seen in a time of peace. after seven weeks of lockdown, around the country people watching again. from the living rooms and homes where the prime minister told us to stay. thanks to you, we have protected our nhs and saved many thousands of lives. and so i know, you know, that it would be madness now to throw away that achievement by allowing a second spike. we must stay alert, we must continue to control the virus and save lives. although lockdown help to control the disease it has crippled the economy, so in england if you can't work at home, ministers want you to go back to help struggling businesses get going again. we can see it all around us in the shuttered shops and abandoned businesses and darkened pubs and restaurants. there are millions of people who are both fearful of this terrible disease, and at the same time, also fearful of what this long period of enforced inactivity will do to their livelihoods

and their mental and physical wellbeing. to their futures, and the futures of their children. so i want to provide, tonight, for you, the shape of a plan to address both fears. that means slowly in england, limits on exercise will be relaxed, you can sit in the park and play some sports and a government official confirmed you could meet one person from another household, as long as you stick to the two metre distance. and if you can't work at home you will be actively encouraged to go to work. from june, the ambition is to reopen primary schools for reception, year one and year six, but no full return for secondaries before the summer. they could also be a phased reopening of shops. then injuly, the hope is for a limited return of the hospitality industry and opening other public spaces. but this is all dependent on how the disease progresses, and if it flares

restrictions might return. no, this is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week. instead, we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures. if there are outbreaks, if there are problems, we will not hesitate to put on the brakes. we have been through the initial peak. but it's coming down the mountain that is often more dangerous. we have a route and we have a plan and everyone in government has the all—consuming pressure and challenge to save lives, restore livelihoods and gradually restore the freedoms that we need. labour called for an exit strategy several weeks ago but the leader watching carefully was disappointed with what he heard. what the country wanted tonight was clarity and consensus, and i'm afraid we've got neither.

this statement raises as many questions as it answers and we see the prospect of england, scotland and wales pulling in different directions. there is a big gap for the government to make up. the uk's new message, stay alert, is designed to cover all sorts of different sectors and advice as the situation evolves. to help save lives, stay home. but scotland, wales and northern ireland are sticking to the message ‘stay at home'. the disease is thought to be spreading faster there. nicola sturgeon obviously unimpressed. i asked the uk government not to deploy their stay alert advertising campaign in scotland because the message in scotland at this stage is not a stay at home if you can, the message is, except for the essential reasons you know about, stay at home, full stop. if i say to you now my message is stay alert, and you say does that mean i stay at home or not? i can't give you a straight answer.

we have been following this family in wolverhampton coping with lockdown. tonight's message gave them some comfort but questions too. just before lockdown we were due to launch a clothing business and with manufacturing now on the cards that certainly gives us something to think about. disappointingly for me there was no mention of family and when we can see people from outside of the household. i lost my dad recently and i'm missing my mum and the children are missing their nanny. this emergency first required a rapid response from the downing street desk. this unfolding phase brings pressing questions of detail, and dilemmas not just about his decisions but also all of ours. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. with me is our reporter rich preston. the prospect really of the nations of the united kingdom going in directions, that's confusing? yes, boris johnson's

address was uk wide, but really it was only addressing people in england, because these help and lockdown measures are devolved matters. they handled separately in scotland, northern ireland and wales. those three leaders were pushing back firmly against borisjohnson, saying they would prefer to stick with the message stay at home, and that is what they have done. first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, has said the message stay alert is vague and doesn't make any sense. it's confusing for people. and the science doesn't stop at the borders, of course. seniorfrontline police officers are saying this is com pletely officers are saying this is completely unenforceable and it's not the firm message the government needs to be giving out. it's notjust the messaging is it? because the detailed plan of what might happen under certain circumstances, there are lots of conditional tenses being used, and i wonder if that also deludes the message somewhat? lots of ifs and buts. the men wondering if the infection rate

sta rts wondering if the infection rate starts to go up again, we stopped there straightaway and we stuck to go back indoors. but borisjohnson says he doesn't really want that to happen. if the infection rates days down, this will be a 3—step process so we can ease measures in england. and the infection rate, the r number, what did we learn from the prime minister about that? well, we want to keep that at a factor of one. if each person who has the virus infects fewer than one of the person, that's a good thing, it suggests the virus would decrease among the wider population. if it tips over one, then the virus is much more likely to spread again as we have seen in germany and south korea. two countries that saw a drop in the infection rate and is there lockdown measures but u nfortu nately lockdown measures but unfortunately they have seen infection rates start to rise again. rich preston, thank you. let's get some of the day's other news: new coronavirus infections are on the rise again

in germanyjust days after the country eased some lockdown measures. officialfigures suggest the number of people that a sick person could infect — that r value — has risen above one, meaning the number of cases is growing. china has confirmed five new cases of the virus in wuhan, that's the original epicentre fo the disease. it's the second day running that new cases have emerged from the city. in total, 17 new cases were confirmed across china, that is the highest number for two weeks. and in the us, vice president mike pence is reported to be self—isolating after an aide was diagnosed with coronavirus. his press secretary, katie miller, has tested positive. her husband stephen is a senior advisor to president trump. the white house hasn't commented on the vice president's self—isolation, but has previously stated both he and president trump were being tested daily. now, one of the many questions being asked is what will happen after countries slowly emerge from lockdowns and whether that

could lead to a second wave of infections. well, that's exactly what's happening in south korea. it was one of the countries most widely praised for how it first responded to the pandemic. but authorities there have reported a spike in new cases just as social distancing rules are eased, forcing the closure of all clubs and bars in the capital, seoul. reged ahmad reports. the normally popular nightclub scene in seoul, closed, with signs explaining why. south korea had just started easing its social distancing rules imposed in march after an impressive effort to contain the coronavirus, when a spike in case numbers was registered. translation: the number of patients related to itaewon clubs is 5a. we are continuously tracing additional contacts and sources. it's prompted the south korean president to warn the public to brace for a second wave of infections. translation: the infection cluster that recently occurred in entertainment facilities has raised awareness that even

during the stabilisation phase, similar situations can rise any time, anywhere in an enclosed, crowded space. it's not over till it's over. those are words which may echo in people's ears as governments watch progress in south korea closely. that's because it's been one of the countries at the forefront of the trace, test and treat policy, successfully getting on top of its pandemic and keeping case numbers low, all without a total lockdown. this setback will be a disappointing reminder of the challenge in keeping things that way. translation: people felt relaxed because the situation was getting better but after the outbreaks at nightclubs in itaewon, i thought, we shouldn't put our mind at ease because we don't know when and where the virus will spread. translation: the outbreaks in nightclubs suddenly occurred in my neighbourhood, so i'm very scared and disappointed. for other countries still in the middle of strict lockdowns or just at the start of easing social distancing, this spike in cases could be an uncomfortable glimpse

into the future and an example of the lessons yet to be learned in fighting the covid—i9 pandemic. reged ahmad, bbc news. health officials in the state of new york are investigating 85 cases of children with an inflammatory disease linked to covid—i9. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a record number of turtle hatchlings reach the ocean this year. experts says it's because — you guessed it — coronavirus lockdowns have kept beaches deserted. the pope was shot, the pope will live. that is the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon — that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to the vatican. the man they called the ‘butcher of lyon,‘ klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentenced to six years injail.

the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake, the worst to hit the country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion, garry kasparov. it is the first time a machine has defeated the reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america! this is bbc news. the latest headlines: as part of a relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in britain, some people are being encouraged to return to work on monday. but schools and shops

will remain closed untiljune. the opposition is concerned that workers in manufacturing and construction are being asked to go back before official safety guidance is published. let's stay with that story. the british prime minister's televised statement said that no measures will be taken to ease the lockdown if there's a risk of the nhs being overwhelmed. well, a month ago our medical correspondent fergus walsh and cameraman adam walker visited the intensive care unit at university college hospital in london, one of the busiest in the uk. they've been back to see what's changed and how staff are coping. coronavirus is still taking a heavy toll in intensive care. it doesn't feel like it's overfor a long shot. some people patients have been on a ventilator here for a month. brutal is the word. people stay acutely sick for a long period. it's not just their lungs that are damaged. many have kidney failure and need dialysis.

when you are not here, you're still thinking about here so you can't get it out of your mind a lot of the time. in the months since we were last here, drjim down has not become any more optimistic. the disease continues to be a horrible disease, even by itu standards. i don't think i'm feeling more positive. i think i am pretty shellshocked by this disease, if i'm really honest. these patients don't get better quickly so we had a slow and difficult period of time with trying to help these patients to recover. day after day, week after week, staff are working in full ppe. although patient numbers are falling, matron elaine thorpe says the psychological impact on staff is rising. i'd say in the last week, i started to see the emotional trauma coming out in our nurses and doctors and everybody really and me for one, i can't get this image out

of my head. a group of patients lying all face down, prone. they felt faceless. this is a sobering reminder of the devastating impact of coronavirus. extreme caution will be needed when relaxing lockdown measures or it could lead to a surge in infections and that would mean many more patients coming into hospital. as covid wards are slowly emptying, the dilemma is how to reintroduce services like outpatient services and planned surgery. part of the problem is, no matter how ill they feel, many patients without coronavirus are hesitating to come in. josephine, who is 83, passed out at home. when they said you had to go to hospital, were you concerned because you hear all these things about coronavirus? i was.

my daughter said to me, "we mustn't go to hospital, "mum, because of the virus," but i really felt terrible and i was in pain so i'vejust got to take a chance and go. of course. which i did. non—covid emergency admissions are down 50%, which may be storing up problems. if you stayed home with a heart attack, you may actually not die but you may have a bigger heart attack than you would otherwise have and you may end up with heart failure or if you do not treat your asthma in an early phase and with adequate treatment in hospital, you may end up in a much more serious condition. one in two patients with coronavirus do not survive intensive care. but there are successes, like ertan, who we met at the beginning of april. hopefully you will be able to see your wife again soon? i'm hoping so,

because she is waiting. i will fight this, definitely. the 70—year—old bus driver was finally discharged afterfour weeks in hospital. his first follow—up appointment was done via video. i would have thought you are feeling a bit weak? i'm feeling quite good at the moment. daytime, my life is like as if it's normal. with his grateful family, so relieved to have him back. thank you, thank you, thank you. thank you, we got him home, all thanks to you. in thailand the rate of infections and deaths from the coronavirus has been very low — just over 3,000 cases, and fewer than 60 deaths. it's allowed government to begin easing restrcitions from sunday — but there's nervousnous about the

possibility of a second wave of infections, so many restrictions still remain in place. 0ur correspondentjonathan head reports from bangkok. temple in bangkok's port district. the residents have been summoned for sample testing. few countries have got their covid—i9 cases down as low as thailand has, but the authorities are nervous. they wa nt to authorities are nervous. they want to keep it that way. thailand doesn't have the testing capacity of countries like south korea, so the government is focusing on any areas it views as high risk like this one, to prevent or discover early any further outbreaks of the virus. a six—week lockdown has been eased, but only partially.

street stalls have been able to stay open, but restaurants like this one can only restart their businesses with strict social distancing measures. this man reckons he can only keep going another three or four months like this. but one restau ra nt four months like this. but one restaurant has come up with an ingenious solution to dining in these socially distanced times. it is these plastic screens which allows customers how to dine at the same table while still observing the strict health requirements laid down by the thai authorities. far from putting people off, the novelty of sharing a meal through a plastic screen seems to bea through a plastic screen seems to be a winning formula for this young and fashionable

crowd. 0ne winner among one winner among so many businesses which are struggling to adapt to the strange new post covid—i9 world, as we emerged from lockdown. more than half of people globally think the country was far too late in responding to covid—i9. but not surprisingly, the picture is very significantly different depending on where you look. china topped the list of 86% of respondents apparently signalling they were satisfied by the political response to the pandemic there.

next came vietnam, followed by new zealand with 67% of citizens pleased with their government's response. at the other end of the scale, only 14% of french citizens thought their leaders had done enough. in hong kong even fewer did, despite the city recording some of the lowest coronavirus numbers in asia. and injapan, a tiny 5% of people surveyed said they were happy with their political leaders. i spoke to david black, of blackbox research, who carried out the survey — and asked how they insure they recieve open, honest answers from citizens of countries like china. we have been doing this a long time, a company is based here in asia, in singapore, so we do of this nature all across the region all across the time, so i think with our surveys we are careful to try to ensure that what we put into them and who we are covering is as

representative as we can. with every state, whether it is china or anywhere else, their response is always going to be dependent on state control of media, political influence, although sorts of things, but by and large what we tried to do in this study was cover as many different types of states as we can, notjust democratic states but also other states and if you look at the study, apart from china we included countries like iran as well we got vastly different responses. we talked about some of the quite wide—ranging responses, what stood out for you then, what stood out for you then, what kind of responses caught your attention? firstly, it is important to realise you talked upfront about some of the political responses, but the point of the study, what we we re point of the study, what we were trying to really achieve was firstly, really just trying to look right across the world, trying to do it in quicktime, obviously trying to get help people are perceiving things in real it is critical, but what we we re

real it is critical, but what we were trying to do was not just look at the political response but also how people we re response but also how people were feeling about how business responded, how their local communities were responding and even how media was responding andi even how media was responding and i think the big thing that really stood out for me in the range of responses was, i think we are kind of calling this psychic shock in the west or the advanced countries and that includes places like japan as well, where we are seeing lower results and it seems to be the data is telling us it is more to do with the level of surprise that countries weren't necessarily as prepared, and people are saying that their expectations went met and many of these countries, you mentioned japan and also france, and there were several others in there. i think the one exception or the outlay here was probably, amongst the advanced economies was new zealand, which has obviously got a very popular leader at the moment but i think what is also got in about new zealand is they also went through a crisis previously with the grace church killings, so there may be something in that which

was a level of preparedness there which may be some other countries haven't had more recently. that is david black, ceo of blackbox research. the pandemic is having all kinds of unexpected side effects. as a result, of millions of people being forced to stay inside. many places are reporting cleaner air or water as pollution has been greatly reduced. and on the coast of south—east india, the absence of people has had a dramatic impact, as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. —— and more of those eggs have now hatched. before we go, the uk has become the latest country to announce a gradual

relaxation of their restrictions. prime minister borisjohnson made those changes in an earlier address to the nation, you can watch that on the bbc website. very chilly out there at the moment. the cold weather which arrived on sunday is here to stay for the next few days. it's certainly not going to be warming up in a hurry. here's the cold front on the satellite picture, which swept across the uk. and behind it, cold airsurging in from the northern climes, all the way from the arctic, and spreading into other parts of europe through early monday as well. and, as i say, that is going to stick around for a few days. now, overall, monday is going to be a bright if not sunny day. but at times it will cloud over, and we are expecting some showers, particularly across scotland, and maybe one or two on the north sea coast. and actually, through early monday, a few showers peppered around across yorkshire

and the very far north of the uk, but predominantly it's clear. that's led to a frost across scotland, northern england, an air frost, and certainly a ground frost in southern parts of the uk, at least in a few areas. so monday gets off to a chilly but sunny start. the winds will be very brisk. you can see them blowing off the north sea there, on the yorkshire coast, east anglia and into the south—east. temperatures struggling — we should be closer to 17 in the south. we may not even make 12 degrees, and single figures on the north sea coast. now, here's tuesday's weather map. high pressure's with us. that does mean mostly dry weather, though not completely, because on the edge of this high pressure, there is this little mini cold front which is going to sweep in even colder weather temporarily into scotland. notice the blobs of blue there in scotland, and even some white there, indicating some wintry showers. so scotland on tuesday a very chilly day, with perhaps some sleet and snow moving across the highlands. only five degrees in stornoway.

to the south of that, it won't be quite so cold. temperatures should make double figures, around 10—11. and mildest conditions there in the south—west of the uk, perhaps even 13 or 14 degrees. and then, on wednesday, again a couple of showers potentially affecting the north sea coast, but otherwise it's just broken cloud, some good sunny spells coming through, and temperatures still struggling, typically around say 10—12 degrees. just that slightly milder spot there in the south—west of the uk, perhaps 14 or 15. and the temperatures will gradually recover through the course of the week, perhaps making 16 or 17 by the time we get to friday, and maybe even 20 over the weekend.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the uk government has set out a "conditional plan" to gradually ease the anti—virus lockdown in england. those who cannot work from home will now be actively encouraged to return to their workplaces but should avoid public transport. from wednesday, people will be able to do unlimited exercise outdoors. the measures won't apply in scotland, wales or northern ireland. leaders in those parts of the uk say people should continue to remain in their homes — except for essential reasons. the leader of the opposition labour party said the government's announcement ‘raises as many questions as it answers'. south korea‘s president has warned of a prolonged war against coronavirus after the authorities reported a spike in new cases. on sunday the authorities confirmed thirty four infections linked to nightclubs in the capital, seoul. the country had begun to ease some its social distancing