this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the latest official figures in england and wales show a substantial decrease in deaths in the week up to may the 1st. president trump boasts about the number of coronavirus tests being conducted in the us but cuts off his news conference after this exchange with a journalist. ascott china that question, 0k? when you ask then that question you might get a very unusual answer. sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically? the chancellor is set to announce the next steps for the furlough scheme which subsidises the wages of millions of people. the health secretary stresses the importance of getting people back to work.

it is important that people can get back to work, because there is a massive, massive economic cost to what we are having to do for health reasons. a fire at a st petersburg hospital has killed five coronavirus patients recieving treatment in an intensive care unit. russian news agencies are reporting that the blaze was started by a short—circuit in a ventilator. a hospital in the afghan capital is under attack by armed men. a doctor who fled the building told the bbc that about 140 members of staff were inside at the time. figures released by the ons this morning show that the number of deaths mentioning coronavirus has dropped substantially for the first

time since the epdemic began. they're down a quarter in the week up to may 1st. the number of total deaths is also down. meanwhile today more than six million people in the uk will hear whether their wages will continue to be subsidised beyond june today. in other developments, borisjohnson has defended his plans to relax the lockdown rules in england and has issued guidance to clear up some of the confusion. let's take a look at this morning's developments. new figures show there was a substantial decrease in total deaths in england and wales in the week up to may 1st. from tomorrow, people in england can go outdoors as often as they want and can meet with one person from another household in a public space — as long as they stay two metres apart. anyone who can't work from home is being encouraged to go back to work, although they're told to avoid public transport and more details on that

are going to be issued later today. actually, they had just been released in the last half—hour. in italy fewer than 1,000 people with coronavirus are currently in intensive care for the first time in two months. in spain, cafes and restaurants have re—opened outdoor terraces, and gatherings of up to ten people are now allowed in those parts of the country that have been less affected by the virus. in germany — where the infection rate has been rising following the easing of lockdown restrictions, the number of daily infections has jumped to 933. and in the united states the death toll has passed 80,000. president trump has also defended safety measures at the white house after two staff members tested positive for the coronavirus. nick stripe is head of health analysis at the office for national statistics. this is for deaths registered in the

week ending friday may the 1st, the total number of deaths across england and wales was just under 18,000, 17,953, about 4000 lower than the week before, but still 80,000 above the average we would expect to see in this week at this time of year, so it is the seventh highest weekly total since this dataset started in 1993, we have had four out of the top seven weeks in the last four weeks. 0ur head of statistics robert cuffe is here. fill us in about the total number of deaths across the uk?|j fill us in about the total number of deaths across the uk? i think it can be quite confusing, we are hearing different figures all the time. these figures from the 0ns go up to may the 1st. we think back in time, around then the figure we heard that the press conference everyday and so on the comparison websites, that was running at around just under 30,000

deaths. when we look at all of the deaths. when we look at all of the deaths including covid mentions on the death certificates, the figure goes up to just over 36,000 deaths. but when you include all of the deaths that might not have been diagnosed or those closed indirectly by the virus or maybe by the lockdown, that figure goes above 50,000 deaths across the uk, a pretty staggering number. we might put it in context for people, going back to the winter of 20 17th at 18, the total extra deaths compared to normal was around 50,000, so that the moment we are reaching the stage ina the moment we are reaching the stage in a particularly tough winter with a bad flu —— if we go back to the winter of 2017/18. and that is after lockdown has been prevented. that 50,000 figure accessed deaths? exactly right. when we hear chris

whitty talking about excess mortality, they say take a look at the average number of deaths you would expect at this time of year, we are running above that, double that and look at how many deaths we have seen over and above the average and add it up and back it says a clear picture. that is 50,000, but repeat what you said, it was 50,000 which year? in the winter of 2017/18 in england and wales. it is a staggering number and we have had our winter excess deaths because of flu and the cold already, this is landing on top of that. i am not trying to minimise the size of the epidemic, it is worth bearing in context that hundreds of thousands of people die in the uk, over half a million people, every year, so we have seen a significant rise but it needs to be put into context. can we talk about care homes, what do the figures today tell us? it is the first piece of positive news we had seenin first piece of positive news we had

seen in care homes, we have seen the total number of deaths, covid registered deaths, starting full. last week it was at just registered deaths, starting full. last week it was atjust under 2808 single beat from care homes, now it is done to around 2400. —— last week it was just under 2008 uncle —— 2800. it is a long slog from the top, but all of the deaths in care homes, notjust covid, have gone past the total number of deaths in hospitals, which is pretty unusual when you think about the number of people in the population living in ca re people in the population living in care homes, maybe half a million, maybe 1% of the population, if they account for half of the deaths, that is pretty significant. very sobering. any more more trends for today? those are the big numbers. thank you, robert huth, head of

statistics at the bbc. the uk government is expected to give further guidance on making workplaces safer, so staff can return. unions are questioning whether people can refuse to go to work if they feel unsafe. the health secretary says safety is paramount. i think people understand that it is important that people can get back to work, because there is a massive, massive economic cost to what we are having to do for health reasons and although i don't like that, i am absolutely determined to ensure the health of the nation is protected. but where we can put those guidelines in place to allow safer working, then we should. we expect to hear from the uk chancellor later about what he will do with his furlough scheme and how he will taper it out. that will come when rishi sunak goes to the commons this afternoon, which you can watch

on bbc news. our business presenter ben thompson explained what we can expect to hear from the government later today. the chancellor is expected to announce changes to that scheme, introduced at the start of april backdating payments to the start of march for people unable to go to work. you touched on it there, paying up work. you touched on it there, paying up to 80% of someone's salary up paying up to 80% of someone's salary up to paying up to 80% of someone's salary uptoa paying up to 80% of someone's salary up to a cap of £2500 a month. what we expected happen later as the chancellor announces a reduction in that cap, so the £2500 level comes down and the proportion of your salary the government is prepared to pgy- salary the government is prepared to pay. because we know the scheme has cost a lot of money, initially forecast to cost up to 10 billion, some suggesting that if it goes on much longer, maybe until august, it could cost close to 40 billion p, getting on a par with what we pay for the nhs, so what the government and treasury are trying to do is working out a way to encourage more others back to work where it is safe

to do so while still supporting those on lowest incomes, but crucially also trying to work out how they can manage that without costing the taxpayer more than nature dental to making sure that the most vulnerable are still financially protected. an asian—american journalist has confronted donald trump at his daily white house news conference after the president responded to her question by saying that she should "ask china." donald trump has previously made comments regarding weija jiang's background. meanwhile president trump has defended safety measures at the white house after two aides tested positive for coronavirus, forcing several top officials to self—isolate. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. the message of the day, america is doing more coronavirus testing than any other country, according to donald trump. addressing journalists in the rose garden at the white house, he brushed off the suggestions that the system for monitoring staff for covid—19 had broken down after the vice president's press secretary contracted the virus.

i don't think the system broke down at all. one person tested positive, surprisingly, because the previous day tested negative. and three people that were in contact, relative contact, who i believe all tested totally negative, but they are going to for a period of time self isolate. so that's not breaking down. it can happen. it's the hidden enemy. remember that, it's the hidden enemy. white house staff must now cover their faces at all times, except when seated at their desks, socially distant from colleagues. mr trump said he didn't need to wear a mask because he kept far away from everyone. in an upbeat assessment of the months ahead, the president said the us economy was on the verge of being revived and next year will be one of the best the country had ever had. as people head back to work, the us government is to provide $11 billion for individual states to ramp up coronavirus testing. this week the united states will pass 10 million tests conducted,

nearly double the number of any other country. we're testing more people per capita than south korea, the president's blatant boasting about the number of tests being carried out in the us prompted this question from a chinese—american reporter. why is this a global competition to you if every day americans are still losing their lives and we still more cases every day? well, they're losing their lives everywhere in the world, and maybe that's a question you should ask china. don't ask me. ask china that question, 0k? when you ask them that question you may get a very unusual answer. yes, behind you, please. sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically? i'm telling you. i'm not saying it specifically to anybody. i'm saying it to anyone that would ask a nasty question like that. that's not a nasty question. please go ahead. ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. appreciate it. but instead of answering another question, mr trump abruptly ended the press briefing and headed back to the white house. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles.

a fire at a hospital in st petersburg has killed five coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit. the blaze was apparently started by a short—circuit in a ventilator, according to the local emergencies ministry. the fire has now been contained and 150 people have been evacuated from the hospital. it is not clear how many people have been injured — but 20 patients were in the icu. all the patients who died had been on ventilators. 0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford told us more. this is the st george's hospital in saint petersburg, one of a number of hospitals that had been repurposed to treat corona patient specifically. the emergencies ministry the has now said there is reason to believe this file is caused by a short circuit in a ventilator. it was the intensive

ca re ventilator. it was the intensive care units, as you mentioned, there we re care units, as you mentioned, there were some 20 patients being treated in that unit at the time when earlier this morning a fire broke out. 15 people were successfully evacuated from the icu buts in five people have lost their lives and we understand from the emergencies ministry and police that these five people were attached to ventilators, being treated for covid—19, when the fire broke out, and it was impossible to evacuate those five people who have lost their lives. gunmen in afghanistan have attacked a kabul hospital which is partly run by the international charity medicines sans frontieres. local people said they heard two explosions, and then gunfire. a doctor, who fled the building, told the bbc that about 140 members of staff, including doctors and nurses, were inside at the time. let's get the latest from ismael saadat of the bbc‘s afghan service in kabul.

tell us more about this horrific incident? well, the attack is still continuing and the police say this was carried out by gunmen. at least two of them. now they say one of the attackers has been killed. so far they can confirm the death of four people in this attack and the injury of five others including children. the attackers have targeted the maternity ward of the hospital which is run by the french ngo medecins sans frontieres, and the officials say that so far they have evacuated over 70 mothers and children from the ward. but the details are emerging and it will be clear later what the exact scope of the losses

and the damage as a result of this attack. it is not only kabul. today another attack happened in an eastern province where an explosion targeted the funeral of a former commander of the local police in which, according to the spokesman of the local administration, 20 people we re the local administration, 20 people were killed and 40 others injured. the local hospital has confirmed that 12 bodies have arrived in the hospital, plus 58 wounded. 0ne that 12 bodies have arrived in the hospital, plus 58 wounded. one of the members of the local council, prevention council, was also said to be among those killed. the taliban have distanced themselves from both the attacks. they have actually condemned the attack in the eastern

province and said they were not involved, and also in kabul. but the islamic group isis has claimed responsibility for today's attack in the hospital in kabul. what do they want? why would they do that? well, it is not clear what they want. we don't know what their real motives were. the hospital is in a part of the city populated mostly by the shia minority of the country and isis is known for their animosity for and histology against their shares in afghanistan and elsewhere. —— against the shias. and there were

at least a couple of expatriate nurses and foreign national admin staff when the attack happened this morning. but we don't know what the real motives of the attack. thank you very much, our correspondent in kabul. thousands of british residents remain stranded in india, having previously been told that they would be flown home. the british government says it's brought back more than 16,000 travellers and last week announced a further five specially chartered flights, but critics say that's not enough. karen franklyn was encouraged to buy tickets for a repatriation flight — she's in tamil nadu in southern india — but has since been informed that she isn't eligible. she doesn't know when she and her children will be reunited with husband joshua, who is an nhs surgeon in plymouth. and also with us this morning is tanmanjeet singh dhesi — labour mp for slough who has been overwhelmed by constituents in similar situations.

thank you all very much for talking to us. joshua, when your wife and children were unable to get their scheduled flight home, did the british government say they should book a repatriations flight? thanks for having me online. i am not sure if you can see me? yes, welcome. perfect. again, thanks for having me online. to be honest, the british government sent out an official letter telling us that these flights which serve to repatriate british residents and citizens were meant for all of us, it is an official letter, not something passed on the grapevine to be honest. subsequently we we re grapevine to be honest. subsequently we were informed that flights from southern india departing on april 20, we were encouraged to book on those flights. we booked on the flights, we got a reply telling us to pack our bags and be ready and once they had figured out the

logistics they would pick us up 12 to 24 alice beer for the flights depending on final checks and confirmations. —— 2224 hours before the flights. nobody came to pick us up. we had a week or so later on social media that there were no flights and i think last week they sent us an official e—mail saying we we re sent us an official e—mail saying we were never eligible for these flights at all, which is in direct contradiction to the first set of government official correspondence with switched holders that these flights were for all of us. let me bring in karen, how did you feel at that point when you were told you we re that point when you were told you were no longer eligible? it really was a roller—coaster of emotion. we started off getting excited on the 10th of april, waited until the 20th. they were giving out the e—mails 24 hours praia, we did not know we had secured a seat on the flight know we had secured a seat on the flight so we assumed our chances

we re flight so we assumed our chances were good. and then it was a matter of checking spam in your inbox the 24 hours and ultimately you find out you did not make the flight. it was disappointing, to say the least. to say the least. i understand you were supposed to fly back in march 23, when did you and the children last see joshua when did you and the children last seejoshua in when did you and the children last see joshua in person? the end of january, we were supposed to be in here for 45 days that we decided to stay behind, our family is here. the 23rd of march was not very far away so we 23rd of march was not very far away so we booked on the british airways flight so we booked on the british airways flight out of china and i was travelling with a then ten—month—old, she is going to turn one now, and our five—year—old son. how do you feel the british foreign 0ffice how do you feel the british foreign office has dealt with this? well, to

be honest, ithink office has dealt with this? well, to be honest, i think what they are doing is a huge effort, i mean, they have a lot of obstacles to cross and i appreciate that, but i feel like there could have been a lot more communication so one did not have to go through the feeling of giving help and taking it away, i think that was unfair. it would have been better to know right from the start that it was probably not meant for us that it was probably not meant for us and then i would not have pursued it. so from march 23 until april the 20th we kept our bags packed. i think that anticipation of having to leave, explaining to mice and that we are going. i think there was communication right from the start it would have been a lot better —— explaining to my son that we are going. i do not understand why you are not eligible. neither do a if you come across the e—mail i got

la st you come across the e—mail i got last week, i was told, i am sorry you do not fit into the criteria, we are taking you off the waiting list. so essentially i had to rely on helping the indian government might open up some flights for us. joshua, do you have any idea why your wife and children are certainly not eligible? unfortunately not. the first set of official correspondence from the government was that we are all eligible. it is not unambiguous, they clearly mention british citizens and residents, and i think much in keeping with the rest of the government they set out ambitious targets and when they cannot metered they change the rules all the goalposts altogether. we have not been told why. they started off officially telling us we will all be on these flights and then when they realised it would probably be tough, they didn't bother telling us, telling us individually, theyjust

sent out something saying these flights are meant to be for citizens. the significance is that karen is a uk resident, is that right? yes, we have three years left on our visas. yes, you have leave to remain for another couple of years. let me read this foreign office statement, we know it is a difficult time for many british travellers abroad, we have the back of a 30,000 on specially chartered planes, including 13,500 manager, and have helped over a million brits return on commercial flights. staff will continue working around—the—clock to bring british travellers home. let me bring in the mp, mr dhesi. we cannot simply abandon these people and it is highly hypocritical of the prime minister and the government every single week on the camera,

clapping for the national health service staff, clapping for key workers, let me remind the prime ministerand workers, let me remind the prime minister and the government left these are key workers, nhs staff and it is our parents and grandparents' generation that had come to this country and help to rebuild the country, helped to staff and built the nhs and now the government is trying to wash their hands of them. as joshua trying to wash their hands of them. asjoshua and trying to wash their hands of them. as joshua and karen trying to wash their hands of them. asjoshua and karen have trying to wash their hands of them. as joshua and karen have very eloquently highlighted, the guidance has been changed halfway through, goalposts have been moved. it is not enough for government ministers to wax lyrical daily about the commonwealth and the wonderful relationship they have. these individuals who came to the uk and some, by the way, victoria, have lived here for decades, lived, worked and paid taxes here, and made an immense contribution to our community and society, it is at this very point that they have gone on holiday and now deserve to be

brought back. has the government learned nothing from the windrush scandal? is this another windrush? in essence it is, because if those individuals have an indian or pakistani passport or a european union passport, if they had been living here as i mentioned, sometimes for decades on end, just because of the colour of their passport if they are permanent british residents then they deserve the very best from our government, they need to be looked after, they cannot be abandoned because they have a definite leave to remain and if they had made that contribution over all those decades, and let's not forget it is notjust then over all those decades, and let's not forget it is not just then to nhs workers, sometimes, as it is located joshua, it is their or partners or grandchildren who are now living and working —— as is the case withjoshua. now living and working —— as is the case with joshua. many of those are british citizens, they have british

passports, but some of the older generation now stranded at the... i have had cases whereby the elderly are fast running out of medicine and they are saying the guidance before was that we would be looked after, i was that we would be looked after, i was under that same misconception, because i read the government guidance, and now we it to those people, our people, to bring them back home. joshua, i am struck by the fact that you are an nhs surgeon working in plymouth yet your wife and two children will not at the moment anyway be brought back by the foreign office because they are non—british uk residents with indefinite leave to remain. how do you feel about that? i think i just need to correctly one this, we don't have indefinite leave to remain, we have indefinite leave to remain, we have long—term visas but we don't qualify for indefinite leave to remain. my mistake, apologies. that

is fine. to be honest, i have a fabulous hospital here and i go to work and come back and have absolutely no complaints about the whole system altogether, work keeps me busy. it isjust whole system altogether, work keeps me busy. it is just the fact that they change the narrative halfway through which is a bit disappointing. iam through which is a bit disappointing. i am fully aware that citizens probably need to be privatised because they are in a foreign country and probably find it difficult to get around as easy as an indian resident who has gone back home for a while —— citizens probably need to be prioritised. but to say we are not eligible based on the colour of our passport is a bit disheartening. given the fact that resources will be strained post—corona, will be segregated public services based on passport colour? the london tube will need to be socially distanced, will be have

to separate (inaudible) priorities for people with different passport? let's hope not. i don't think that will happen. joshua, while you are with us, as you work in the nhs, we are focusing today on bbc news about the fact that black people and people from other ethnic minorities are much more likely to be infected by and die with coronavirus than white people. presumably you have looked... there have been three studies in recent weeks, is that something in your mind when you go to work on a daily basis? to be honest, in the south—west we have reasonably dodged a bullet, ifi south—west we have reasonably dodged a bullet, if i can be a bit... casual about this. it hasn't been too bad for me. on a personal basis,

considering most of the coronavirus patients have been dealt with by the medical and the intensive care staff, i personally haven't been in a situation where i am constantly fea rful of a situation where i am constantly fearful of my life. but we are aware of the fact that ethnic minorities had been affected the worst and if you look at all the doctors who have u nfortu nately you look at all the doctors who have unfortunately passed away because of coronavirus, most if not all, i may be corrected, has been of an ethnic minority. personally, for me, i don't go to work with a sense of foreboding, if i could be honest, but probably because of which part of the nhs i work in an fact that the south—west has been less affected than probably london and the midlands. understood, thank you for answering that and thank you very much for talking to us, joshua

franklin, karen franklin, a uk resident stranded in india, and tanmanjeet singh dhesi, thank you very much for your time. we wish you all the best and hope to see you back soon, karen. further guidance has been published in the uk this morning on how to manage social distancing on public transport. the rail union, the rmt, says the government's decision to drop the "stay home" message in england could lead to a surge in passengers, and it has advised its members not to work if they feel unsafe. let's speak to our business correspondent theo leggett. tell correspondent theo leggett. us a bit more aboutt guidance, tell us a bit more about the guidance, tell us what it says we should do as passengers, and staff members, to keep ourselves safe. there are two sets of advice here, the first is for passengers, it can be summed up as be prepared to queue. the advice is quite consistent with the government ‘s general message, if you can't work from home you should continue to work from home, if you cannot work

from home and you are in one of the industries which are still functioning, construction, manufacturing, food production, you should go to work but you should try to go to work by walking or cycling and only if you cannot do either of those things, take public transport and if you take public transport, you should try and maintain social distancing, trying to stay at least two metres away from other people and if you had to get closer to other people, do it for the minimum time possible. and there's also a recommendation to wear a face covering although the advice also says that proper masks should be retained for health care workers and the like. so that's the basic advice to passengers. the advice to transport companies is about how to achieve this so there is a lot on getting risk assessments into place, making sure that transport workers are very clear about what their duties are, how they should manage their interactions with passengers. there is a lot of how queueing should manage, obviously if you are

maintaining social distancing, then the likelihood of people having to queueis the likelihood of people having to queue is much greater so there is talk about signage, about having one—way systems and stations, for example. marking the floors so that people don't get close together. none of this is particularly ground—breaking stuff, it's all advice that fits in very much with what we've been hearing elsewhere, there's a lot on cleaning trains and things like, making sure that everything is clean, making sure that people wash their hands and try and where —— try, where possible, to maintain social distancing, which will be difficult and brings me back to my original point, from the tone of this advice it looks as though people should be prepared to queue. just briefly, that bit about, you know, if you have to be within two metres of someone, try and do it for at least a time as possible? is that an acknowledgement that actually on some areas of transport, the london underground for example, some manchester trams, we are going to be squashed on as normal but perhaps wearing face coverings? the tone of

this is more about when you are getting in and out of the train, where there are times you will be forced into close proximity but the reality is that as more and more people take to public transport, the likelihood is that social distancing will become much, much harder to maintain andi will become much, much harder to maintain and i think you are right, i think that's why there is this guidance now to wear face coverings. it is acknowledged in the guidance that this may not help you avoid infection but if you become infected, it may help prevent you from transmitting it onto other people. thank you very much. let's talk more about the fact that if you're black orfrom an ethinic min you are more likely to die from coronavirus in the uk. borisjohnson has been urged to launch an independent public inquiry into the reasons why many ethnic minorities are at higher risk from coronavirus in the uk. black men and women are nearly twice as likely to die as white people if they contract covid 19 and the risk factor is also high

for other groups including those with a pakistani or indian background. we're looking at the issue in detail across the day — this report by the bbc asian network's shabnam mahmood is from brent in north west london, one of the most ethnically diverse — and worst hit — boroughs in the uk. wembley, home to english football. it's also home to one of britain's most diverse communities, many now united in grief after losing loved ones to the coronavirus. the underlying issues were just diabetes and stuff, which is common nowadays, but it wasn't enough to take his life. in the shadows of wembley stadium is where mahindra shah from india spent most of his life, surrounded by family and friends. but he died alone in hospital, something his daughter and her family are still coming to terms with. absolutely heartbroken. yeah. i thinkjust still... sorry.

ithink... getting to grips with it all, still, trying to understand. driving across wembley, it's not difficult to find other families also suffering the pain of loss. this disease has hit people from all religions in the area. i wasjust saying, mum, i love you, and she goes, i love you, too. sadia lost her mum and her aunt within days of each other to the virus. herfamily is of a pakistani muslim heritage, which often means hundreds of people gather for a funeral to pay their respects. a month on, i went on friday to the graveyard and it's hard for me to accept not seeing my mum around, or because i haven't grieved, i haven't hugged my brothers or sisters, i haven't hugged my dad, so... i don't feel like i've let it out. she believes government messages on lockdown and keeping safe just didn't reach communities like hers.

what is being done for those people, those ethnic minorities? is the word getting out? that's my worry. i don't think it's getting out to them. there isn't a family that will not tell you that they've not lost someone. just a few streets away, sharon fraser has lost seven people close to her to coronavirus. i've lost my uncle dante, my oldest daughter has lost her grandfather, we've had one family in the area that lost mum, dad and a sister. i worry about what do we do with our grief, you know? experts say the virus doesn't discriminate, but here there's a story of disparity in places where black, asian and minority ethnic communities live. shabnam mahmood, bbc news. dr sonia adesara is an nhs doctor; she's also a member of the labour party.

she's signed a letter with more than 70 public figures calling for a full independent public inquiry into deaths from covid—19 among people from ethnic minority backgrounds. to you. thank you for having me, victoria. what do you want a public inquiry, rather than the public health england review? the disproportionate number of deaths something that many of us have suspected but the there's also some larger studies that have painted a very sobering actors and we know that black and ethnic minorities are dying in much higher numbers, we know people in certain occupations and those living in the most deprived areas are dying at much greater numbers. i do really welcomed the government saying they would like to look into this with a scientific review but we are calling foran scientific review but we are calling for an independent public inquiry as we believe that would have a broader scope to look at the wider,

underlying factors here. we note that racial disparity in health between racialised groups have persisted for a long time in this country so we are looking for a more extensive inquiry to look at the widerfactors extensive inquiry to look at the wider factors underlying this. sorry, what do you mean by wider factors, i'm not clear why public health england would not look at those as well, it depends what you mean by them. what do you mean? there's been discussions over the past couple of weeks about the social and economic factors that have led to white black and ethnic minorities are at high risk of getting this virus and we know they are more likely to live in overcrowded housing, less likely to have access to open space, more likely to live in poverty but i think we need to ask deeper questions as in why is it that we have those inequalities so persistent in our society. we need to be asking why is it that black and ethnic minorities, it takes them

two to three times longer to find somewhere to rent in this country and also, the 0ns statistics released yesterday showed certain occupations particularly low paid, low paid occupations like transport workers, care sector, these are occupations that are predominantly black and ethnic minority people working in them so again we need to be asking, why is it that these occupations, why is it black and ethnic minorities are overreliant on these insecure, low—paid work but also, the 0ns statistics have showed, even when you adjust —— are just a social deprivation, black and asian energies are at higher risk, we are asking to look into wider issues around racial inequality within our health care system. and also racial inequality within our nhs. these are issues we've known about for a long time, institutional racism within the nhs is a problem we've known about for a long time,

we've known about for a long time, we are looking for these wider issues to be looked into. ok, the deputy chief medical officer of england has been asked at least a couple of times at the daily briefing about this particular issue, black and other people from ethnic minorities being disproportionately affected and dying from coronavirus. he said public health england are conducting a very careful, thorough review and they need to take their time and they need to take their time and they need to get it right. and he pointed out that he himself was a member of an ethnic minority. do you not trust him? it's not about trust. but i think, you know, when you have an independent, i guess we've had audits in the past by the government, we had the race disparity audit under theresa may which exposed the issue, but we've also had lots of academic research injury explaining why health inequality exists. why do you need another one? we are looking at wider social, political and economic

factors here and that's wider than the scientific remit of the government inquiry. is that not what the race ordered from theresa may did? yes, an independent public inquiry will i guess, trying to go one step forward, we have already exposed that the problem exists in the ons exposed that the problem exists in the 0ns statistics coming out expose the 0ns statistics coming out expose the problem exists and having an independent public inquiry, we will be able to take it one step further, to look into why we have these inequalities in the first place, why we have these inequalities in the labour market, why do we have these inequalities in the nhs, why do we still have a problem with institutional racism within the nhs? that is wider, i'm sure you'll understand, it's more of a political inquiry. and i think there's been a president set here with previous independent public inquiry is in the past. which have allowed action to

be taken because i think we have had audits and reviews that have exposed the problem but we need to take two steps further, forward, we need to acknowledge and understand the underlying issues and do we need a real, determined nation and a commitment to address these entrenched underlying problems of inequality and racial discrimination. within our health ca re system discrimination. within our health care system and in wider society as well. i have a statement from the department of health, any death from the virus is a tragedy, we are working incredibly hard to protect public health and we are aware this virus has sadly appear to have a disproportionate effect on people from bame backgrounds, it's critical we find out which groups are most at risk so we can take steps to protect them and minimise risk. we commissioned public health england to understand different factors like ethnicity, obesity, geographical location that may influence the effects of the virus. the more we know about the virus and its impact the more we will be able to protect

lives and limit the spread. the review will also match lap records of covid 19 cases to existing health records to draw down accurate data such as ethnicity and describe the association with covid 19 cases alongside otherfactors association with covid 19 cases alongside other factors like six, age and geographical location. doctor, thank you so much for talking to us today. thank you. talking about an independent public inquiry into why black and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected in the uk by public 19. —— by covu) affected in the uk by public 19. —— by covid 19. education officials in england are advising primary schools to limit class sizes to fifteen, if some pupils return next month. ministers want reception, year0ne and yearsix children to start first. nearly half—a—million people have signed a petition to allow parents a choice on whether or not to send their children back to school. the largest education union in the uk — the neu — has described the government's plan as "reckless". the national education union's joint general secretary

is dr mary bousted, who joins us now. hello, doctor. hello. why is the guidance reckless? we turned reckless, not the guidance that was produced last night, the term reckless was used when borisjohnson made his announcement on sunday. without any guidance and the other reason we think it's reckless is because introducing far many children into school too quickly, before we have other safeguards in place to stop there being that spread of coronavirus in schools. and the potential harm this will do to some children, but also to all the people working in schools and also raising the rate of coronavirus spread in the community. have you read the guidance? yes. is it not doable, in your view? we think the guidance is right in some respects but we think the key issue, there's

two key issues we have with the government. and with the guidance. first, the guidance, really. you can have up to 15 pupils in a class. we don't think it's possible to practice social distancing for children of 15 pupils in a class. no other european country which has come back after the virus and come back with much lower rates of infection in society, germany, denmark, they haven't come back with these numbers are pupils. we think there should be a maximum of ten. so we are very there should be a maximum of ten. so we are very concerned there should be a maximum of ten. so we are very concerned about that. and we are also very concerned that infa nt and we are also very concerned that infant schools, if you get reception and year one back, infant schools are largely reception, year one and you're too, that would be virtually the whole school back. with the children who are least able to recognise what social distancing is.

who demand the most amount of physical care from staff and we don't see how those schools can function in a safeway with reception, and you're one children back at the same time. they don't have schools where you can split up classes and put them in different classrooms, we think there's a lot to work through and we are very concerned about these issues. ok. with the guidance that there is, regularly cleaning the school, whether it's an infant or primary, regularly cleaning the school, getting pupils to wash their hands regularly. desks apart as much as possible, that's less of an issue with reception, i suppose. staggering break and lunch times, staggering assembly, drop—off and collection times, keeping small groups of children together throughout the day. reducing the use of shared toys and items. by doing all those things, the guidance says, it will create an inherently safer system where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced.

transmission of infection is substantially reducedlj transmission of infection is substantially reduced. i think those things may reduce the rate of infection. but no one should underestimate how difficult that is to do in school with children. you know, we all know children don't wash their hands properly. we know children in reception and year one don't have any idea about social distancing and i don't quite understand why you said it's not so important with reception.” understand why you said it's not so important with reception. i meant, and trying to remember at my kids being in reception, do they have desks, i can't remember? that's what i meant. desks, i can't remember? that's what imeant. again, desks, i can't remember? that's what i meant. again, thank you for explaining that. you know, saying equipment should be shared as little as possible, toys should be shared as possible, toys should be shared as little as possible, children, you know, you cannot really, it's very difficult to create a clean environment in a school, particularly amongst younger children, they touch everything. i mean, it definitely is difficult, we spoke to a teacher from denmark earlier he said it's difficult but they've done it, for example, they have to supervise the kids washing their hands and it takes 20 minutes,

ta kes a their hands and it takes 20 minutes, takes a long time but they make it into games and fun and they do dancing on the way down, i've got sinks outside, they've zoned the playground so kids can stay in small cohorts. it's going to be hard but they have found it doable. and that's great. listen, if we could say, if it could be proved, if there was a reasonable assurance that children don't give the virus to adults, they don't bring it back into homes, there is not a danger of them spreading it to vulnerable adults and vulnerable relatives, nobody wants schools to return more quickly than we do because we see how important they are to the community, parents getting back to work, absolutely vital. are you asking for something that cannot be given? zero chance of a child transmitting the virus to an adult? 0k. what are you asking for. no, there's always a risk but we want risk to be mitigated as much as possible but let me talk about denmark and the difference between our education system denmark. denmark has a much lower people

teacher ratio, there are far more teachers for your people and the classrooms are much larger, denmark is rigidly stuck to a two metres social distancing in schools. the government has really set with 15 in a class, you know, this will not be required. denmark has provided a lot of extra money for extra staff in school to supervise hand washing, to provide the extra sinks and extra equipment so it's been done in a very, very measured way and denmark went back, denmark never had the rate of infection that we had and in schools went back in denmark, there we re schools went back in denmark, there were 19 people in hospital with covid 19 so you have to be very careful with these international comparisons and you cannot assume that what works in denmark will work in england. i mean, you are right about the international comparisons, of course, size of population, denmark has 5 million, we have 66 million, of course i understand that but in terms of some of the

inventive ideas they have come up with to try and make it work and guess what, the teacher in denmark told us an hour ago, if a five—year—old pulls over and needs a whole, we give them a hug because we have two and we are being sensible. yes, and you would do that no teacher in england, we would do exactly the same. but what we have to understand and we are not saying there needs to be no risk but there has to be an acceptable risk, we have to look very closely at this government guidance, we are unhappy about 15 children in a class and you know what? i think the number of pa rents know what? i think the number of parents who signed that petition showed that they are unhappy about that as well. they want their children to remain safe. there's just one really important study, came out from the university of east anglia last week. which says they did the modelling two ways in countries who had bad covid 19 infections and the most successful way of keeping the capital are right down, the rate at which the virus

reproduces, school closures so if we're going to have schools opening, we're going to have schools opening, we need to do that in the safest way possible and we are saying, we need to work with government and we need to work with government and we need to be involved in ensuring that the return to school is as safe as it can possibly be because the last thing any of us want is a second spike and we know if we don't do this right, not getting schools back in the right way, is the single most effective way of ensuring a second spike in the community. and that's the last thing we need. so our position is reasonable. it's responsible. we don't think all the groups should come back at the same time, we think perhaps one year group should come back, maybe year six, we test, see how that goes, if its side, if the school can't manage, we get another year group back on a three—year groups back, particularly in infant school spot in primary schools, we think it's too soon and too big a start. ok, thank you very much for your time

today. the national crime agency says at least ten tonnes of class a drugs have been seized globally over the past six weeks, as gangs move supplies in greater quantities than before. but for some young people caught up in gangs and drug crime — the lockdown is giving them a break and there is hope they'll never go back. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw, reports. an early morning wake—up call in east london. police on the trail of drug gangs — a three—year operation and almost 600 arrests. these raids took place as the coronavirus began to spread — and more have followed. it's all about bearing down on violence across london and dealing with drug trafficking, street dealing and all the crime — the violence, the anti—social behaviour — that comes with drug dealing. just before lockdown, we went out

with police in south london. there are over 300 gangs in the capital. they stop a suspected dealer. relax your hand now! the restrictions haven't stopped drug dealing and violent crime but the criminals are on the back foot for now. there are far less cars on the streets, far less movement of people, and so therefore if known drug dealers are seen moving from a to b they stick out more. so, increased risk for gangs but the price of heroin has doubled. there's money to be made. the drug supply chain is driven by greed. they don't stop in times like this. even in a pandemic, they are still moving drugs or attempting to move drugs. globally, thousands of kilos of class a drugs were seized last month — more than usual as gangs risk moving large consignments. so, the streets are quieter, overall crime is down and police

are finding it easier to spot suspects who venture out. and — for some of those who are lying low — it seems this long period of lockdown may be having unexpected benefits. for them, it's been a really profound reflection. they've really had to think about their futures. brixton youth worker mohammed says this could be a turning point for vulnerable young people caught up in drugs and violence. because they are living in such a fast manner in terms of their lifestyle they never really get that time to kind of slow down and really digest where their actions are taking them, whether it's a significant sentence in jail, or carrying weapons, and that's what they've been given the opportunity to do. only when the lockdown measures are relaxed will we know if there's been a lasting positive change or if the drug deals and knife crime will carry on as before, with police in pursuit. danny shaw, bbc news, south london.

joanna gosling will be here with you at the top of the hour with the latest headlines from the uk and around the world. this is bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. another chilly day out there but right for the vast majority of us. most of us staying dry, let me show you on this chart how the rainfall totals will tot up during the rest of this week, the wettest weather it lightly across northern scotland, rain around the fringes, most scotland, rain around the fringes, m ost pla ces scotland, rain around the fringes, most places staying predominantly dry. that's because high pressure at the moment, showing on the satellite imagery from earlier, this slot of clear skies, rain clouds around it, nasty weather to the south of france over the last 48 hours. cloud in northern scotland producing rain, sleet and snow. edging southward through today, away from that, showers through the night west

midlands and northern ireland continuing, dry, but cloudy compared to this morning, the rain increasingly turning to snow across the mainland of scotland as it heads south through this afternoon. coverings in places, five or 6 degrees the high, colder than yesterday. slightly breezy as well. the breeze lighter as well, accordingly temperature is higher. certainly feeling pleasant enough when you get the sun but out of it, you will notice it is cold for the stage in may. this evening the rain, sleet, hills and exposures across northern scotland. pushing across england and wales, more cloud across the southern half of the uk, not school this last night, the northern have come a clear skies, scotland and northern ireland, greater chance of frost. bright start to many, still some snow flurries in northern scotland, centimetre or two of covering here and there. more in the way of rain through eastern counties of england, much like we saw yesterday, the breeze picks up, not quite as strong as yesterday, still making it feel rather cold, for

most, even with sunshine, temperatures down, away from northern scotland, compared to what we see today. there will be changes through the second half of the week, colder blue colours shoved away toward scandinavia. notice the weather map starts to warm with yellows, temperatures returning back to normal, thursday starting frosty, already feeling warmer, the wind gradually easing, still a breeze in the south of england. still a breeze in the north of scotland, maybe one or two showers, mostly dry, best of the sunshine in the morning, but more cloud in the afternoon but sunny spells breaking through. for the end of the we come into the weekend, the chance of further rain in the north—west of scotland, most dry, temperatures back to where they should be for this stage in may.

this is bbc news withjoanna gosling with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the latest official figures in england and wales show a substantial decrease in deaths in the week up to may the 1st. but the figures also show there have been 50,000 more deaths than usually expected in the uk due to the coronavirus epidemic president trump boasts about the number of coronavirus tests being conducted in the us but cuts off his news conference after this exchange with a journalist. ask china that question, 0k? when you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer. sir, why are you saying that to me specifically? the chancellor is set to announce the next steps for the furlough scheme which subsidises the wages

of millions of people. the health secretary stresses the importance of getting people back to work. it is important that people can get back to work because there is a massive, massive economic cost to what we are having to do for health reasons. a fire at a st petersburg hospital has killed five coronavirus patients receiving treatment in an intensive care unit. russian news agencies are reporting that the blaze was started by a short—circuit in a ventilator. a hospital in the afghan capital is under attack by armed men. a doctor, who fled the building, told the bbc that about 140 members of staff were inside at the time. and we're focusing on ethnic minorities and covid—19 — and ask what should be done after research shows that coronavirus is disproportionately impacting people from ethnic minority groups, with black men and women nearly twice as likely to die.

hello and a warm welcome to you. official figures released this morning show that the number of deaths in england and wales mentioning covid—19 has dropped substantially for the first time since the epidemic began. they're down a quarter in the week up to the 1st may. the number of total deaths is also down. meanwhile, today more than six million people in the uk will hear whether their wages will continue to be subsidised by the government beyond june. in other developments, borisjohnson has defended his plans to relax the lockdown rules in england and has issued guidance to clear up some of the confusion. let's take a closer look at the latest developments.

new figures show there was a substantial decrease in total deaths in england and wales in the week up to the first of may. from tomorrow, people in england can go outdoors as often as they want and can meet with one person from another household in a public space, as long as they stay 2 metres apart. anyone who can't work from home is being encouraged to go back to work, although they're told to avoid public transport and more details on that are going to be issued later today. elsewhere, a fire at a hospital in st petersburg has killed five coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit. it was apparently started by a short—circuit in a ventilator, according to the local emergencies ministry. president trump abruptly ended a press conference after being confronted by an asian american reporter after saying that she should ‘ask china'. the death tolls in the us has now passed 80,000. more coming up

on all those developments. first, let's get more detail on those latest figures for deaths in england and wales. nick stripe is head of health analysis at the office for national statistics. this is for deaths registered in the week ending friday 1st of may and the total number of deaths across england and wales was just under 18,000 deaths. 17,953. that's about 4,000 lower than it was the week before, but still 8,000 above the average that we would expect to see in this week at this time of year. so it is the seventh highest weekly total since this dataset started in 1993. we have had four out of the top seven weeks in the last four weeks. 0ur head of statistics robert cuffe is here. first of all, we are getting used to the different ways that the death toll has been counted, just tell us what was said on that front. you're doing well if it is getting used to it because it is a different number

every day. i think it would be helpful to break down the different ones. these are death registrations that ran until then. wait a diversion from the department of health and that is the number of people who tested positive from the coronavirus and that was running at just under 30,000. we can see that at the top are on the graph at the moment. when you look back with the benefit of time, as in office for national statistics have done today, and you look at death registrations that mention covid on the death certificate, all of those who were not tested. that figure is about 36,000. if you look across the uk and you look at all of the debts that we have seen, since about the middle of march, that has been running by higher than normal —— on of the debts that we have seen. —— deaths. it also includes the indirect deaths, people who did not seek care or people who are

suffering under the locked in. that isa suffering under the locked in. that is a bigger tally of the total death toll due to the epidemic generally, not just directly toll due to the epidemic generally, notjust directly biologically. before you move on to the trends, is that excess deaths the key number, really, to look at? i think it is if you want to understand the death toll. if you want to understand what is going on, that is the best number. the number that we had every day is useful for monitoring the trends, the idea is that you look at a small part of the population and can see if it's going up or down, but it takes a long time for an infection to go from infected to death, so we are getting a better picture of the trends of the epidemic now because the office for national statistics are actually going out and assembling people and testing them for whether they had the virus and that gives us an earlier indication and the early indication from that —— and testing people. some statisticians will say that rather than looking at a slightly confusing numbers every day, just look at what number once a week. look at the excess mortality to understand the debts and look at

the survey of infections to understand what is happening with the trends in the epidemic. these numbers are huge and shocking. the good news, though, is the number of deaths is starting to decrease. yes, there are huge but it is worth bearing in mind the context. 50,000 excess deaths, the number we have been talking about, is comparable, roughly, to the excess deaths we saw in the winter of 2017 to 18. it is a big number, but needs to be taken in context. we have seen that these kinds of figures before. we can see the trends on the screen. that reassuring number, as you just mention, the total number of deaths that we have seen is falling. that has the red line and it has shot up 70 middle of march when the epidemic really started to take hold, running very far above the five year average, which is what we would expect to see this time of time of year. it came down only by about 400 on the week to the 24th of april, but now it really helps us to that

is good news. one aspect that we have been paying close attention to is what has been happening in care homes because trains they have been lagging behind hospitals. what is the picture today in care homes? we have anticipated... the first piece of good news we have seen any well. this chart showing the total number of deaths in care homes, notjust the ones that are covid related, those are the red ones. for the first time during the epidemic, that number has fallen, it is just below 7000 now. we are seeing that the number of covid deaths is falling. it does not mean they are through the woods down the bottom of the month again, we are coming from a very high peak. deaths in have overta ken very high peak. deaths in have overtaken deaths in hospitals and thatis overtaken deaths in hospitals and

that is very unusual when you consider the number of people who live in care homes. there is still a significant crisis in care homes, but we're getting the first chunks of good news there. thank you very much. an asian american journalist has confronted donald trump at his daily white house news conference after the president responded to her question by saying that she should ‘ask china'. donald trump has previously made comments regarding weija jiang's background. meanwhile, president trump has defended safety measures at the white house after two aides tested positive for coronavirus — forcing several top officials to self—isolate. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. the message of the day, america is doing more coronavirus testing than any other country, according to donald trump. addressing journalists in the rose garden at the white house, he brushed off the suggestions that the system for monitoring staff for covid—19 had broken down after the vice president's press secretary contracted the virus.

i don't think the system broke down at all. one person tested positive, surprisingly, because the previous day tested negative. and three people that were in contact, relative contact, who i believe they've all tested totally negative, but they are going to for a period of time self—isolate. so that's not breaking down. it can happen. it's the hidden enemy. remember that, it's the hidden enemy. white house staff must now cover their faces at all times, except when seated at their desks, socially distant from colleagues. mr trump said he didn't need to wear a mask because he kept far away from everyone. in an upbeat assessment of the months ahead, the president said the us economy was on the verge of being revived and next year will be one of the best the country had ever had. as people head back to work, the us government is to provide $11 billion for individual states to ramp up coronavirus testing. this week the united states will pass 10 million tests conducted,

nearly double the number of any other country. the president's blatant boasting about the number of tests being carried out in the us prompted this question from a chinese—american reporter. why is this a global competition to you if every day americans are still losing their lives and we still see more cases every day? well, they're losing their lives everywhere in the world and maybe that's a question you should ask china. don't ask me. ask china that question, 0k? when you ask them that question you may get a very unusual answer. yes, behind you, please. sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically? i'm telling you. i'm not saying it specifically to anybody. i'm saying it to anyone that would ask a nasty question like that. that's not a nasty question. please go ahead. ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. appreciate it. but instead of answering another question, mr trump abruptly ended the press briefing and headed back to the white house. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles.

chancellor rishi sunak is to reveal the future of the government's job retention scheme later, amid growing calls to extend it. currently more than six million people are having up to 80% of their wages paid by the government while they are temporarily on leave from theirjobs. mr sunak previously warned the furlough scheme, due to end injune, was not "sustainable" at its current rate. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster. we have explicitly heard of the health secretary this morning talking about the expense of the scheme. what are you expecting to change to? i think it is likely that the scheme will be extended, not indefinitely, because as you point out, the chancellor has previously said it is not sustainable in its current form in the longer term, so it will remain for a longer, but with some alterations and modifications. this will be having a huge cost to the treasury and the

taxpayer as a whole, because of the increased ta ke—up of taxpayer as a whole, because of the increased take—up of the scheme. as you mentioned, it has been hugely popular. around 800,000 firms took up popular. around 800,000 firms took up the opportunity to have their workers wages are paid by the government — up to 80% of their wages, up to that limit of £2500 per month. and the reason why there is pressure on the chancellor to give some sort of indication of what is going to happen beyond the end of june now is that if employers need to make redundancies, mass redundancies, they need to start consulting on that any next week or so if they are going to happen when the scheme would have been due to end at the end ofjune. the hope is that from employers and from trade unions and from labour and other opposition parties had at westminster, that the scheme does continue in some form, but for quite how long and exactly how, we will have to wait for the details from the chancellor later on this afternoon. thank you very much.

jonathan neame is the chief executive of shepherd neame brewery and pubs — he joins me via webcam from kent. 0bviously you're waiting with baited breath to hear from the chancellor, what do you want him to say? we would certainly like the furlough scheme to be extended. there is some suggestion of september, but we would like it to go beyond that to the end of the year. one of the challenges in hospitality as it is a very seasonal business and most of them make their money in the summer and then break even at best in the winter. we do not want to make any employees redundant, we want our tea m employees redundant, we want our team is to be in place because it ta kes yea rs team is to be in place because it takes years to build good teams. i think there is a reasonable prospect ofa think there is a reasonable prospect of a decent recovery next summer — like 2021. the challenge is how do you get from e to b. the furlough scheme is brilliant, it is a great thing that the chancellor has done.

.if thing that the chancellor has done. . if you can extend that to next year, the last redundancies they will be. —— less redundancies there will be. —— less redundancies there will be. —— less redundancies there will be. how will it work if it will be the case that restaurants and pubs will be able to open before that? we have got to square a very difficult circle here. the first thing that we have got to do is reassure our employees, to manage this in our environments. so managing the risk of covid means that we have to reduce high contact and height traffic and high touch areas to risk assessments —— high traffic and high touch areas. to find that difficult balance. every environment is different. we have two reassure customers that it is safe to cross the threshold again and some will be partly confident, others will be much more vulnerable and concerned about that. the third tricky bit is that the revenues that we get on day one when we do reopen will be nowhere near the necessary

level to break even, are certainly not make a profit. i have no idea what they will be, 30%, 50%, it is anybody‘s guess. —— of the normal levels. staff at our greatest asset, they are the people that can sell they are the people that can sell the business and can reassure our customers, they can provide great service. we want to keep them on, we wa nt to service. we want to keep them on, we want to bring them back in waves. we also have to make sure that we can many viable business at the same time. what i say go is notjust hospitality, but all retail environments. the longer the more more flexible it has, the has, the greater the chance we got of getting through to next summer, harry meetings in place and, therefore, a strong business to take —— having the team is in place. i absolutely

hear your desire and rationale behind wanting the furlough scheme to go to the end of the year. it would, though, mean people potentially not working, obviously being paid to stay at home, by the government any very expensive scheme when, actually, if they were released. i appreciate you do not wa nt to released. i appreciate you do not want to do that, but if they were released, they might go to other jobs in the economy that would need to be done and we generate money for the economy. i think it employs wish to resign and go to other roles, then that is something that they can do, but our responsibility as an employer is to try and keep our teams on board. there will be a reduction injobs in the economy going forward, it is going to take a long time to get the economy back on track. i think politicians and the government need to take a balanced view about the balance of trying to keep the current businesses in place, versus the counterfactual of

a seen unemployment levels rise to hopefully not to the us levels, but to substantial numbers of millions, which could be catastrophic and take is even longer to recover. my sense is even longer to recover. my sense is that it will be a quicker recovery if this furlough scheme can be extended and enable businesses to remain intact. highly stressful for people like you are trying to keep businesses together in these times. what has it been like for you and your employees? it is highly stressful, but actually, i am unbelievably humbled and uplifted by the sense of support and encouragement that we have got. not only from our employees, but from all of our customers and our licensees that operate our pubs. there is a huge sense of will and desire for shepherd's name to get through this and i have every confidence that when we do get

through this —— sheherd neame. those are doing great communityjobs and providing grocery services, take out services for people in various villages is truly inspiring. and i think, frankly, this has demonstrated that pubs are absolutely at the heart of british life and we all need them to continue, otherwise the fabric of our society will be undermined. thank you very much forjoining us. a fire at a hospital in russia has killed five coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit in st petersberg. the blaze was apparently started by a short—circuit in a ventilator, according to the local emergencies ministry. the fire has now been contained and 150 people have been evacuated from the hospital. it is not clear how many people have been injured, but 20 patients were in the icu. all the patients who died had

been on ventilators. 0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford told us more. this is the st george's hospital in st petersburg. it's one of a number of hospitals there that had been repurposed to treat coronavirus patients specifically. a spokesperson for the emergencies ministry has now said there is reason to believe this fire was caused by a short circuit in a ventilator. it was the intensive care unit, as you mentioned. there were some 20 patients being treated in that unit at the time when earlier this morning a fire broke out. 15 people were evacuated successfully from the icu but some five people have lost their lives. we understand from the emergencies ministry and from police that these five people were attached to ventilators being treated for covid—19 when that fire broke out, and it was impossible to evacuate those five people who have lost their lives. gunmen in afghanistan have attacked a kabul hospital which is partly run

by the international charity, medicines sans frontieres. local people said they heard two explosions, and then gunfire. a doctor, who fled the building, told the bbc that about 140 members of staff, including doctors and nurses, were inside at the time. ismael saadat of the bbc‘s afghan service is in kabul with the latest. well, the attack is still continuing and the police say that this was carried out by gunmen — at least two of them — and now they say that one of the attackers has been killed. the attackers have targeted the maternity ward of the hospital, which is run by the french ngo medicines sans frontieres. and the officials say that so far they have evacuated over 70 mothers and children from the ward, but the details are emerging and we are...

it will be clear later what the exact scope of the losses and the damage as a result of this attack. islamic group isis has claimed responsibility for today's attack in the hospital in kabul. india will start running a limited train service on tuesday, as the country gradually emerges from a lockdown designed to control the coronavirus epidemic. 30 return trips will run from the capital delhi to other key cities, including mumbai, bangalore and chennai. the indian railways ministry said passengers would be required to wear a mask and undergo screening at departure, with only asymptomatic people allowed to board the trains. further guidance has been published this morning by the uk government on how to manage social distancing on public transport. the rmt rail union says the government's decision to drop the "stay home" message in england could lead to a surge in passengers, and it has advised its members not

to work if they feel unsafe. so how will it work when passenger numbers rise? tim muffet reports. avoiding public transport — easier said than done. this was canning town tube station in london yesterday. adeleye filmed his commute for us. he's a security guard. compared to other jobs, men working in security have the highest death rate from covid—19, according to research released yesterday by the office for national statistics. later we met eric, who is also a security guard.

there were more people on the train than usual. how did you feel about that? uncomfortable. i don't think they understood the two metre distance. the information is not clear. it is absolutely not clear. so we don't know who to follow, what to listen to. for people say who avoid public transport if you can, what do you say to that? it's not possible. it is not possible. how are you going to travel from gravesend to london bridge? are you going to walk? this morning, it was a lot busier. the tube was, definitely. some people don't have the luxury of driving. do you feel safe going on public transport? not really, but there's no other option. people in england are now being encouraged to wear face coverings in enclosed spaces such as public transport. scotland has already issued similar guidance and it's likely to make

commuting feel even more different than it does already. prevention is better than cure. why would you want to cure something you can prevent in the first place? i have kind of taken the view that if it's not being encouraged officially, it's a personal choice and not one i'd take, but if they then go and say we should, why haven't we done it sooner? it was quite busy today, i was quite shocked but i'm not surprised. and we are now all being encouraged to wear masks on public transport. there was hardly anyone on the carriage that was wearing it, apart from me. and how does that make you feel? quite anxious, but i'm not surprised. in some places, public transport hasn't been as busy but on the metrolink tram service in manchester, for example, there are fears that as government guidance takes effect tomorrow, passenger numbers will grow. i think from wednesday, it'll probably grow loads more. that is my main concern, is being on the trams

and being packed like sardines. if people listen, we're sweet. if people don't listen, there is nothing you can do. if we're going to get locked down even more, then who is to blame? the first steps towards easing lock down in england are taken. the questions and challenges keep coming. tim muffett, bbc news. the national crime agency says that at least ten tonnes of class a drugs had been seized over the last few weeks as gangs move greater quantities than before. but for some caught up in gangs and drug crime, it is giving some a break and there is hope that they will not go back. i home affairs correspondent danny shaw reports. an early morning wake—up call in east london. police on the trail of drug gangs — a three—year operation and almost 600 arrests.

these raids took place as the coronavirus began to spread — and more have followed. it's all about bearing down on violence across london and dealing with drug trafficking, street dealing and all the crime — the violence, the anti—social behaviour — that comes with drug dealing. just before lockdown, we went out with police in south london. there are over 300 gangs in the capital. they stop a suspected dealer. relax your hand now! the restrictions haven't stopped drug dealing and violent crime but the criminals are on the back foot for now. there are far less cars on the streets, far less movement of people, and so therefore if known drug dealers are seen moving from a to b they stick out more. so, increased risk for gangs but the price of heroin has doubled. there's money to be made. the drug supply chain is driven by greed. they don't stop in times like this.

even in a pandemic, they are still moving drugs or attempting to move drugs. globally, thousands of kilos of class a drugs were seized last month — more than usual as gangs risk moving larger consignments. so, the streets are quieter, overall crime is down and police are finding it easier to spot suspects who venture out. and — for some of those who are lying low — it seems this long period of lockdown may be having unexpected benefits. for them, it's been a really profound reflection. they've really had to think about their futures. brixton youth worker mohammed says this could be a turning point for vulnerable young people caught up in drugs and violence. because they are living in such a fast manner in terms of their lifestyle they never really get that time to kind of slow down and really digest where their actions are taking them, whether it's a significant sentence in jail, or carrying weapons,

and that's what they've been given the opportunity to do. only when the lockdown measures are relaxed will we know if there's been a lasting positive change or if the drug deals and knife crime will carry on as before, with police in pursuit. danny shaw, bbc news, south london. we have all got used to doing things differently, but one man and his dog had taken twitter by storm. it is andrew, mabel and olive. had taken twitter by storm. it is andrew, mabeland 0live. here had taken twitter by storm. it is andrew, mabel and olive. here is the latest moment of working. right, guys. thanks forjoining us. just keen to have a chat about where we are, the situation at the moment. i think you're both there. 0live, hi, thanks forjoining us. mabel, you are connected but you need to start your video. down at the bottom of the screen. it's a camera, looks like a biscuit,

just nudge it with your nose. there we are. you don't have to be so close, you want to move back a bit? all right, thanks. basically, an update as to where we are. i can see you both look worried, but the good news from head office is that neither of you is going to be furloughed. but we have to try and repay that loyalty with some of our own. i know that's supposed to be a strength of yours. so what we're looking for, what management are looking for are ideas. mabel, this is one of the things we have to address, the lack of focus at times. well, there was the inappropriate stuff with kevin the doberman from accounts, as well. but one thing at a time. there are things we have to try and improve on. i'm uncomfortable with chat as well. mabel, you switched off the camera again, can you switch it back on? right, there we are. ok, the annual report, you've pretty much ruined the sofas, 913 squirrels chased, none caught, so not a good return, so again things... mabel, sorry, if you're going to do that, could you switch off the video function so we don't have to see it?

isn't that brilliant. 0ne isn't that brilliant. one of the newest stars of social media. that clip has now had more than 2 million views online. this is bbc news. the latest official figures in england and wales show a substantial decrease in deaths in the week up to may the 1st. but the figures also show there have been 50,000 more deaths than usually expected in the uk, due to the coronavirus epidemic president trump boasts about the number of coronavirus tests being conducted in the us but cuts off his news conference after this exchange with a journalist. ask china that question, 0k? when you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer. sir, why are you saying that to me specifically? the chancellor is set to announce the next steps for the furlough scheme which subsidises the wages of millions of people.

the health secretary stresses the importance of getting people back to work it is important that people can get back to work because there is a massive, massive economic cost to what we are having to do for health reasons. a fire at a st petersburg hospital has killed five coronavirus patients recieving treatment in an intensive care unit. russian news agencies are reporting that the blaze was started by a short circuit in a ventilator. a hospital in the afghan capital is under attack by armed men. a doctor, who fled the building, told the bbc that about 140 members of staff were inside at the time. and we're focusing on ethnic minorities and covid—19, and ask what should be done after research shows that coronavirus is disproportionately impacting people from ethnic minority groups, with black men and women nearly twice as likely to die.

education officials in england are advising primary schools to limit class sizes to 15, if some pupils return next month. ministers want reception, year0ne and yearsix children to start first. nearly half a million people have signed a petition to allow parents a choice on whether or not to send their children back to school. the largest education union in the uk, the neu, has described the government's action as reckless. dr mary bousted, the joint general—secretary of the national education union, explained her concerns over the government's advice for sending children back to school we think the guidance is all right in some respects, but we think key issue is, well the two key issues we have with the government and the guidance, well, with the guidance really. the first is that you can have up to 15 pupils in a class. we don't think it's possible to

practice social distancing for children of 15 in a class. no other european country which has, after the virus, and, back with a much lower rate of infection, for example germany and denmark, they haven't come back with these numbers are pupils. we think they should be a maximum of ten. so we're very concerned about that. and we're also very concerned with infant schools. if you get reception and year one back, infant schools are largely reception, year one and you are too, so that would be virtually the whole school back. the children won't be able to recognise what social distancing is. they demand the most amount of physical care from staff. we don't see how those schools can function in a safeway with reception and you want children back at the same time. we don't have schools where we can split up the classes ——

children and put them in different classes. we are very concerned about these issues. singapore is beginning to ease lockdown measures that have been in place since april. it's allowing some businesses to reopen, including hairdressers, cake shops and laundry services. it's also rolling out new technology to track people's movements. karishma vaswani reports. it's slowly beginning to relax some of the restrictions put in place on 7th of april. they don't call it a lockdown here — the government calls it a circuit breaker. but, you know, by any name it is effectively a partial lockdown. what we're seeing today is a small cluster of businesses being allowed to open. these are things like hairdressers, for a simple haircut — no longer than an hour, for instance. you can go to the pet store now, and even to the bakery to buy some desserts and cakes. but all of this is being extremely carefully controlled and managed. and the singapore government has been relying on technology to ensure that the people who do go into these shops, into the offices, they have to check in and check out,

using an app called safe entry. and that's because the government wants to keep tabs on people in case there's a new cluster of infections. in fact, technology has become so much a part of the response here in sinagpore, that if you go to one of the parks here, for instance, you might bump into this robot dog. i think you can see pictures of him on your screen right now. he's being trialled in some singapore parks to encourage people to maintain their social distance from one another. so, certainly a vision of the future from sinagpore, where some people have liked it, and others not so much. in south korea more than 100 people have now tested positive for coronavirus, after going to nightclubs in seoul. police are working to track down other clubgoers, but it's thought many gave fake names and numbers on the door. this second spike in cases comes as the government started relaxing social distancing rules after extensive track and tracing brought down numbers.

0ur correspondent, laura bicker, is in seoul with the latest. 102 people have tested positive in total in relation to these club outbreaks. however, when you say it's getting worse, 10,000 people have come forward and been tested. they have tracked and traced that number in just a few days. so it does go to showjust how quickly the authorities can act here when it comes to trying to round up these clusters of infections. 8,500 officers are involved in tracking down over 10,000 people they believe to have been in these various clubs on the dates in question. it was a holiday weekend. the area was entirely packed. this is seoul's party district and i realise people around the world will be raising eyebrows and thinking, what on earth are people doing, clubbing during a pandemic? the clubs were opened after april the 19th, you were allowed to go if you used hand sanitiser, wore a mask, and wrote your name and contact

number at the door. things are complicated by the fact that a number of these clubs were used by the lgbtq community. when it comes to being lgbtq in this country, it comes with a lot of discrimination, it can be extremely difficult to come out, it can mean losing yourjob, your family and that is why health officials are now saying privacy is important. they are putting that at the forefront of their campaign, they are saying people can come forward without giving their names and they can be tested. so i think that is the kind of message that is going out on these emergency text alerts that we are getting, hour by hour here in seoul, urging us to go and get tested and that's the message that officials are using when they are tracking these people down. how do they track them down? they are using mobile technology, they are using phone masts, they've triangulated the area, they got the names and numbers of over 10,000 people who were in the area and that's how police are managing to track them down but also using credit card details and credit card records

from establishments themselves. that's how the kind of track and trace works here in south korea. the prime minister has been urged to launch an independent public inquiry into the reasons why many ethnic minorities are at higher risk from coronavirus. black men and women are nearly twice as likely to die as white people if they contract covid—19 and the risk factor is also high for other groups including those with a pakistani or indian background. we're looking at the issue in detail across the day. let's get more detail from our reporter poonam taneja. an unexpected pattern has emerged from the numbers provided by nhs england. black and minority ethnic communities make up 14% of the population, but 70% of coronavirus deaths in hospitals in england. that is more than 3000 people until the 5th of may. and that is not all.

more starkly, a third of all critically ill coronavirus patients from england, wales and northern ireland, were also from these communities. it is unexpected, according to professor —— one professor. i think we are quite concerned and consists apprised. we hadn't heard this from china or spanish data. this is the first time we had seen this in the uk that people were alerting us that this population, the bame population, were mostly affected at a younger age. what is going on? one explanation is geography. more people from black, asian or minority ethnic communities live in areas where the epidemic has hit hardest. 0ther live in areas where the epidemic has hit hardest. other research has shown that black and asian people are more likely to be key workers in industries like retail, transport and health care. many front line

workers in these communities have died. but research from the office for national statistics shows that even taking age, geography, health and wealth into account, those communities are still affected more than white communities in england and wales. 0f than white communities in england and wales. of those infected, people of indian heritage are around 30 to 40% more likely to die from the disease than white people. it's slightly worse for people from bangladeshi and pakistani backgrounds, at around 60 to 80%. but black people are 90% more likely to die from covid—19. but black people are 90% more likely to die from covid-19. the professor again. now we don't know whether the risk factor control is poorer. the data that came out last week showed that people who didn't have diabetes had higher mortality rates. no one has looked for the risk factors for

hypertension or diabetes in these situations. these figures don't tell the whole story but they do provide a snapshot and the government has launched its own review to find out what is going on. not enough for some, but due to report back by the end of the month. let's speak to dr chaand nagpaul, who is the council chair of the british medical association. the bma is the trade union and professional body for doctors in the uk. welcome. thank you forjoining us. why do you think it might be that ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by covid—19? disproportionately affected by covid-19? well, i'm sure there won't bea covid-19? well, i'm sure there won't be a single answer. they will be multiple factors. which is why it is really important for the government to do this review properly. we identify the various causes and address them. but you heard in the premier to me coming on, some of the reasons why. —— in the prelude.

yesterday we heard how much more risk people in key roles, like bus drivers, taxi drivers and security guards are, notjust getting infected were dying. we know that a far greater proportion of our bame population work in such roles. that has to be considered. if you add to that of that they are not working in an environment that had any protection, they are literally mixing with other people, they are not ina mixing with other people, they are not in a lockdown situation, they are not socially distancing, they are not socially distancing, they are not socially distancing, they are not at home mightjust put you at greater risk and with more people coming across a lot of virus. that can have an impact. another reason is historic socioeconomic inequalities. if you look at overcrowding, for example, 30% of the bangladeshi community are in overcrowded housing compared to only 296 overcrowded housing compared to only 2% of the white population. and we know that the virus through close contact. know that the virus through close co nta ct. if know that the virus through close contact. if you then also add in that some of the people in these

overcrowded houses are key workers that can bring the infection home, they can —— infect others who are more vulnerable, the older members of the household. we know that there isa of the household. we know that there is a greater proportion of certain medical conditions in the bame community, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. and we also know that in the health sector at least many of our doctors are concerned that they don't have the right protection to protect them from getting infected, and a larger proportion sometimes are working at that risky —— in that risky infectious environment. what i think is really important as we have identified many risk factors at the moment, those people at higher risk of ill health from covid—19. while we haven't put ethnic minority background as a risk it needs to be a risk. it needs to be assessed. people need to be protected. i worry

now that the easing of the lockdown, are we going to have further inequalities because some of our bame community will be put at greater risk? especially if you consider opening transport etc. so we need to make sure that we protect through a risk assessment. can i just come in there? it's interesting what you are saying about how to protect ethnic minorities if you say this is an element of the risk factor. but how would that practically happen? so at the moment it is happening already. the government has put out risk categories of people who might have a severe lung disease, those who are having certain sorts of medical treatments. we have an extremely vulnerable group. pregnant women after 28 weeks of pregnancy do not come into work. we have already got that. but we have not got any guidance around assessing risk for ethnic minority workers. sorry to

come in there. are you suggesting ethnic minority workers it should be told to stay at home? no, i'm not saying that. they need to be risk assessed. the part of that is whether they need additional protection. i would argue that it is not... ido protection. i would argue that it is not... i do think we need to consider whether taxi drivers, for example, should be without any protection and be exposed to the virus in an enclosed environment. there are parts of the world where some countries have equipped such taxis with perspex shields. we can do much more about personal protection and the bma do believe key workers should have some sort of protection. the policy around face masks need to be more strengthened in areas like buses and trains, because remember, if people are not transmitting the virus because they are having some covering, that protects people working. so i think we need to have a proper approach thatis we need to have a proper approach that is not simplistic, but reduces risk and addresses those who may be

at the highest risk. there are some who may have medical conditions, coupled with being of an ethnic background, that places them in extreme risk. they should be considered no different to how we considered no different to how we consider other people who are at extreme risk. we need to factor that many thank you. let's take you life to stormont. arlene foster is announcing the plan for northern ireland to ease the lockdown. the executive supported messaging aimed at giving people the knowledge and the confidence to enable them to live their lives as fully as possible, within the existing legislative constraints and in line with public health advice. the department of health has committed to taking this forward with other departments. i want to stress again before handing over to the deputy first minister that our restrictions have worked and they have and are saving lives. we are asking a lot of our people and we appreciate that the restrictions have health and

well—being consequences. we want eve ryo ne well—being consequences. we want everyone to be able to go out, visit relatives, socialise and enjoy everything that this place has to offer. we need to get people back to work when safe to do so, and we will get there. it will take time but we will get there. and i would like to end with a word of thanks for eve ryo ne end with a word of thanks for everyone who is working hard to keep us safe, including those in our bluelight service, the police service of northern ireland, the northern ireland fire and rescue service and the ambulance service, to those who provide our food, look after us in the nhs and care for the vulnerable. we are grateful. thank you. just before my remarks, cani thank you. just before my remarks, can ijust thank you. just before my remarks, can i just put thank you. just before my remarks, can ijust put on record my condemnation of the threats made against members of this assembly over re ce nt against members of this assembly over recent days? those threats have no place in our society and should be condemned by each and every one of us. we're grateful for the opportunity to come before members

today to set out the basis of executive decision—making and our agreed pathway to recovery. we are, as we all know, in the midst of the biggest challenge of our lifetime. this invisible killer, this killer virus, is causing loss of life and great hardship to many people throughout our society across this island and across the world. so let me start by saying that we do not underestimate the impact of the severe restrictions, the impact it has had an everyone across society. it is fairto has had an everyone across society. it is fair to say that in general public support for the unprecedented measures that have been introduced have held firm throughout recent weeks. there is a public awareness and understanding that by imposing these essential containment measures collectively, we have slowed down the virus. and we have collectively saved thousands of lives. i want to acknowledge all of those who have lost their lives from coronavirus across our communities, and to send

our heartfelt sympathy is to their loved ones today. just as we went into this crisis, a pathway out of this coronavirus pandemic will require that collective effort and working with the community. we are appealing to the public to please be patient. we understand that you want your family life back, to be able to visit and socialise with your friends and your families, to give your grandchildren a hug. we know that you crave more leisure time and be able to get out and about an exercise like you used to. we acknowledge the need for businesses to be able to open and operate safely, so we can all get back to ourjobs. we safely, so we can all get back to our jobs. we understand safely, so we can all get back to ourjobs. we understand that parents wa nt ourjobs. we understand that parents want their children to have the educational opportunities they deserve and thrive on. we accept that many people rely on public transport for work and socialising, and we totally understand the pressures on the vulnerable who want to be more self—reliant. the restrictions remain in place at this time because it is necessary and because it's working. 0ur

time because it is necessary and because it's working. our top priority remains saving lives by combating the spread of the virus through staying at home, social distancing and regular hand and body hygiene to kill the spread. 0ur biggest threat in the fight against covid—19 still remains complacency. until a vaccine is found, it means coexisting with the virus and therefore a radical change in how we live our daily lives sometime. life as we know it has changed. we will have to continue to adjust. going forward our whole society will be proactive to prevent the spread of the virus or further outbreaks. this requires a salty change our behaviour. when we are in a position to slowly and carefully move out of the lockdown, we will keep you updated every step of the way, as we begin to restart community life and reboot the economy to keep people in work and to keep society functioning. while the restrictions are still absolutely necessary, it

is important that we give people hope for the future. and today we are setting out our pathway for future recovery, which gives an indication of how the restrictions on different aspects of life may be eased at various stages. there are three elements which go hand—in—hand. firstly, the incremental 5—step approach represents the risk evaluation that we will make at each stage in order to restart family, community, educational and economic activity. secondly, these decisions will be evidenced by medical and scientific advice from our chief medical 0fficer advice from our chief medical officer and chief scientific 0fficer. thirdly, this expert advice and evidence will be marked against guiding principles of criteria and international best practice, including the world health organization. we will then make a risk—based organization. we will then make a risk— based assessment of organization. we will then make a risk—based assessment of the positive and negative effects of the restrictions in place and then decide what to ease and went to ease them. but as we have said before, we

will not give the restrictions in place for a moment longer than they are required. we have built in the necessary flexibility to respond through the complex emergency situation based on all relevant evidence. and we have to be prepared to step forward and step back if this is needed. we must take into account the evidence and the analysis relating to the pandemic. we must take into account the capacity of the health service and the social care services to deal with covid—19, but also the other health and so cares services needed to look after our people. we must ta ke to look after our people. we must take into account the impact on our society and our economy, which cannot remain in lockdown indefinitely. and as we go forward, we cannot fight this pandemic blindfolded. controlling the rate of transmission is absolutely critical. a restriction or requirement should only be relaxed when there is a reasonable prospect of maintaining r rate at or below one. this means

tracking and tracing arrangements to enable us to safely lift the restrictions. am testing capacity has grown and more sectors have been able to avail of that. it will be a cornerstone in our ability to live the restrictions as we move forward. the capacity of our health service to deal with coronavirus is vital. outbreaks must be minimised in special settings like health facilities and in care homes. preventative measures must be in place in workplaces and schools, and other places where it is essential for people to go. importation risks must be managed also. we must ensure that communities are fully educated and engaged to adjust that a changing way of life as we coexist along with the virus until a vaccine is found. coronavirus does not respect any politics or borders. i'm glad to report there is very good cooperation taking place north and south between executive and irish government at all levels. the memorandum of understanding signed

by the executive and the irish government in april is aimed at getting coordination and cooperation right in relation to covert command across the island. recognising the island as a single epidemiological unit, and data and modelling, crossing out — — unit, and data and modelling, crossing out —— where north and south has been undertaken. these are the most challenging times any of us can ever remember. it will only be by working together in government and across society that we will minimise the suffering and the hardship caused by this pandemic. tackle the challenges ahead and celebrate achievements —— social and economic revival. there will be times when there are strongly held by contrasting views on the right next steps. we as an executive set out our criteria and how we would apply that to our decision—making and we will continue to communicate these with the public and of the community. we will also listen very carefully to understand the views and expenses of everyone who has been impacted at this very difficult

time. this is the leaders in northern ireland outlining their blueprint to rolling back the lockdown in northern ireland. it's not going to be happening yet. you are watching bbc news. access to food parcels continues to be the main reason for calling the helpline. over 57,000 food boxes containing essential items have been delivered directly to the door of vulnerable people who cannot access food through online shopping, family friends or local support networks. we have put in place economic interventions for the business sector. our schools are providing places for children of key workers and vulnerable children. the restrictions will be lifted in stages when the timing is right. and it's not in the too distant future. if continue —— if people continue to adhere to the public advice, which is working, we will be able to re move is working, we will be able to remove the restrictions more quickly

and restore your freedoms without further delay. the executive will continue to work as hard as we can with common purpose. covid—19 does not discriminate, so we must remain united ina not discriminate, so we must remain united in a common purpose against the biggest threat facing our community and the world at this time. iwant community and the world at this time. i want to thank all of our health and emergency stop —— responders, and everyone, for continuing to work on our behalf. their selflessness and courage at this time no bounds. we will continue to update our thinking and we are grateful for the opportunity provide the assembly with this update. thank you. thank you. can i think the first minister and the deputy first ministerfor the first minister and the deputy first minister for coming to the house to make the statement. it was remiss of me to overlook to condemn utterly the threats that have been issued. that is stormont sitting, socially distanced. statements from arlene foster and michelle o'neill,

outlining the blueprint for their 5—step covid—19 recovery plan, and making clear that it is going to be a gradual emerging from the lockdown, saying life has changed, safety is vital. they will not keep the restrictions in place for longer than required, but they will gradually emerge from the lockdown. it's important we give people hope for the future. no change right now. just outlining what potentially will be happening in the future. no dates but outlining the scientific and public health criteria that must be made for changes to be made. we will have the headlines at the top of the air. now the weather from matt taylor. hello. it may turn cloudy for many of you this afternoon but most will be dry. a few showers touted around parts of north wales, the midlands and northern ireland. sunshine becomes more dominant in southern

scotland. further not a longer spell of rain heading south. turning to snow as that goes through, particularly on this northern edge. could be a covering across higher ground. temperatures are around five to6 ground. temperatures are around five to 6 degrees as a high. a cold and windy day compared to yesterday. elsewhere it is not going to be quite as windy or chilly, but still for the time of the year temperatures down and where we should be. this evening and overnight flat rain in scotland will spread into northern ireland —— northern england. many rain showers heading south across england and wales. claudia so not quite as frosty to start tomorrow morning. a cloudy start in the north. tomorrow across the board a windy day too.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the latest official figures in england and wales show a substantial decrease in deaths in the week up to may the 1st. but the figures also show there have been 50,000 more deaths than usually expected in the uk due to the coronavirus epidemic. president trump boasts about the number of coronavirus tests being conducted in the us but cuts off his news conference after this exchange with a journalist ask china that question, 0k? when you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer. yes, behind you, please. sir, why are you saying that to me specifically? the chancellor is set to announce the next steps for the furlough scheme which subsidises the wages of millions of people.

the health secretary stresses the importance of getting people back to work. it is important that people can get back to work because there is a massive, massive economic cost to what we are having to do for health reasons. a fire at a st petersburg hospital in russia has killed five coronavirus patients receiving treatment in an intensive care unit. the blaze reportedly started by a short—circuit in a ventilator. a hospital in the afghan capital is under attack by armed men. the security forces have rescued about 70 people, including women and newborn babies. and we're focusing on ethnic minorities and covid—19 — and ask what should be done after research shows that coronavirus is disproportionately impacting people from ethnic minority groups — with black men and women nearly twice as likely to die.

hello and a warm welcome to you. official figures released this morning show that the number of deaths in england and wales mentioning covid—19 has dropped substantially for the first time since the epidemic began. they're down a quarter in the week up to the 1st may. the number of total deaths is also down. meanwhile, today more than six million people in the uk will hear whether their wages will continue to be subsidised by the government beyond june. in other developments, borisjohnson has defended his plans to relax the lockdown rules in england and has issued guidance to clear up some of the confusion. let's take a closer look at the latest developments. new figures show there was a substantial decrease in total deaths in england and wales

in the week up to the first of may. from tomorrow, people in england can go outdoors as often as they want and can meet with one person from another household in a public space, as long as they stay 2 metres apart. anyone who can't work from home is being encouraged to go back to work, although they're told to avoid public transport and more details on that are going to be issued. elsewhere, a fire at a hospital in st petersburg has killed five coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit. it was apparently started by a short—circuit in a ventilator, according to the local emergencies ministry. president trump abruptly ended a press conference after being confronted by an asian american reporter after saying that she should ‘ask china'. the death toll in the us has now passed 80,000. more coming up on all those developments. first, let's get more detail on those latest figures for deaths in england and wales. nick stripe is head of health analysis at the office for national statistics. this is for deaths registered

in the weekend of friday 1st of may —— deaths registered in the week ending friday the 1st of may. and the total number of deaths across england and wales was just under 18,000 deaths. 17,953. that's about 4,000 lower than it was the week before, but still 8,000 above the average that we would expect to see in this week at this time of year. so it is actually the seventh highest weekly total since this dataset started in 1993. we have had four out of the top seven weeks in the last four weeks. our head of statistics robert cuffe is here. robert there are several different ways that the debts are being measured, please bring is up—to—date with the latest today. if we turn the clock back to mary first, which these figures out today refer to, we can show people the different measures of deaths that are likely to be seen —— to the 1st of may. the figures announced that of five

o'clock are the debts for the people have tested positive. that is the top bar here. if you go back now and look at all the death certificates, all the registered deaths, that mention covid these are the people... what is like to use is to look at the number of deaths in total and compare that to what we would expect and that difference is called excess mortality and that number is about 50,000, that is what we have seen in the six or seven weeks since the middle of march. that captures not just the weeks since the middle of march. that captures notjust the direct biological debts because my covers, but the indirect deaths because they did not —— by covid. perhaps people who did not seek care or are suffering under the lockdown. it is a true toll of the virus, notjust the biological part. so that is what we should be focusing most on?! the biological part. so that is what we should be focusing most on? . it is the —— it only comes out once a

week, wednesdays and scotland, fridays and northern ireland on tuesdaysin fridays and northern ireland on tuesdays in england and wales. rather than checking your phone obsessively to get a number that doesn't capture the picture. in terms of the trend, the numbers are starting to drop, which are some good news at least. when you look at the total number of deaths that we have seen week by week, we see that are starting to fall. i think we can see that on this graph here, the red line is the number of death that we are seeing every week. that is all deaths, not just covid. are seeing every week. that is all deaths, notjust covid. it has shot up deaths, notjust covid. it has shot up since the epidemic really took hold in in the middle of march. it came down a little bit, just a tiny fall, last week. we have seen falls in scotland and northern ireland and that big full in england and wales is just catching up. that big full in england and wales isjust catching up. we that big full in england and wales is just catching up. we are far above the average, far above what we would expect at this time of year, that great line in the middle. we are, asi that great line in the middle. we are, as i say, past the peak, but passed the peak is not the same is done at the bottom again. and the situation care homes has been of great concern. a bit of good news that the number of deaths in care homes has started to fall. yes, we

have kind of hard and been seeing leading indicators are very well that pictures were getting better in hospitals, but they have been increasing in care homes. this is the first week we have seen a fall in total deaths in care homes. that is the total size of the bars and it has come down across the great britain. from just over 8000 to just around —— from around 8500 to adjust around —— from around 8500 to adjust around 7000 500. those debts that mention covid, that red bar, that has fallen from just over 3000 by about 400 —— there was a death that we would expect to be around 3000 deaths a week in care homes and we are seeing 7000 even after the fall so it is still a grim picture in ca re so it is still a grim picture in care homes right now. it will be a

long, slow road to early death rates should be, presumably. that is what we are told, you run up the top of the mountain, but you have to slog your way back down again. thank you very much. an asian american journalist has confronted donald trump at his daily white house news conference after the president responded to her question by saying that she should ‘ask china'. donald trump has previously made comments regarding weija jiang's background. meanwhile, president trump has defended safety measures at the white house after two aides tested positive for coronavirus — forcing several top officials to self—isolate. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. the message of the day, america is doing more coronavirus testing than any other country, according to donald trump. addressing journalists in the rose garden at the white house, he brushed off the suggestions that the system for monitoring staff for covid—19 had broken down after the vice president's press secretary contracted the virus. i don't think the system broke down at all. one person tested positive, surprisingly, because the previous

day tested negative. and three people that were in contact, relative contact, who i believe all tested totally negative, but they are going to for a period of time self isolate. so that's not breaking down. it can happen. it's the hidden enemy. remember that, it's the hidden enemy. white house staff must now cover their faces at all times, except when seated at their desks, socially distant from colleagues. mr trump said he didn't need to wear a mask because he kept far away from everyone. in an upbeat assessment of the months ahead, the president said the us economy was on the verge of being revived and next year will be one of the best the country had ever had. as people head back to work, the us government is to provide $11 billion for individual states to ramp up coronavirus testing. this week the united states will pass 10 million tests conducted, nearly double the number of any other country.

the president's blatant boasting about the number of tests being carried out in the us prompted this question from a chinese—american reporter. why is this a global competition to you if every day americans are still losing their lives and we still more cases every day? “ we —— we still see more cases every day? well, they're losing their lives everywhere in the world, and maybe that's a question you should ask china. don't ask me. ask china that question, 0k? when you ask them that question you may get a very unusual answer. yes, behind you, please. sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically? i'm telling you. i'm not saying it specifically to anybody. i'm saying it to anyone that would ask a nasty question like that. that's not a nasty question. please go ahead. ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. appreciate it. but instead of answering another question, mr trump abruptly ended the press briefing and headed back to the white house. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. chancellor rishi sunak is to reveal the future of the government's job

retention scheme later, amid growing calls to extend it. currently more than six million people in the uk are having up to 80% of their wages paid by the government while they are temporarily on leave from theirjobs. mr sunak previously warned the furlough scheme, due to end injune, was not "sustainable" at its current rate. our political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster. what are you expecting to hear from the chancellor? i think it is likely, going by everything the chancellor has said up until this point, that the scheme will be extended by how long and on what terms, we do not know. i think it is also likely that we will see some modifications and changes to the scheme, which is currently running. rishi sunak has said that it is not sustainable to get the job retention scheme going in its current form in the longer term, but he has also promised that there would be no cliff edge, no sudden cut—off to the scheme. that is understandable, when

you look at the numbers who are relying on it at the moment. around 6 million people, a quarter of the uk's workforce, are having their wages, 80% of their wages up to £2500 a month, paid for by the government. around 800 thousand firms had taken up this offer to to keep on their employees and it will bea keep on their employees and it will be a huge cost to the tragedy. they are doing the sums and setting up more detail later on what people can expect —— a huge cost to the treasury. those warning that cutting it off at any given date would cost it off at any given date would cost it more any long term because the numbers of people who would lose theirjobs as a result. but it will be running up a huge bill that the chancellor has it to perform a delicate balancing act and we will hear more details about how he plans to extend the scheme, potentially for her along, in around 20 minutes or so when he responds to a question

in the commons. thank you very much. let's talk more about that and the latest on the number of deaths, particularly in care homes. liz kendall is the shadow social care minister and joins me now. we will talk about care home debts ina we will talk about care home debts in a moment, that is your special area of focus, but first on the furlough scheme, calls on it being extended to the end of the year, what is your view? is that the right thing to do? the furlough scheme has been an absolute lifeline for workers. and for businesses throughout this crisis. we called for it and supported, but i am concerned about reports that that lifeline may be cut back. the impact that it would have on people's incomes, what they are able to spend would not like the economy as a whole, so i think it's really important that that scheme is not cut off and that we do everything

possible to continue to support workers during this extremely difficult time. let's turn to the figures that have come out today because this enables us to see how covid—19 is tracking and the real concern for many weeks, we have talked to you about it several times, has been the situation care homes. today the official figures show that the number of deaths in ca re show that the number of deaths in care homes, while high, has started to fall. the number down over the most to fall. the number down over the m ost rece nt to fall. the number down over the most recent week in which the debts have been counted for the first time. how do you respond to that? in which we have had over 8300 deaths in care homes from this awful virus, that is up homes from this awful virus, that is up over 2400 from the week before. the week before that it was round up 2800, so we are seeing a slight change, but we really are a long way away from getting to grips with this

epidemic. in care homes. there is much more can i think, the government really needs to do, not just to protect care home residents, staff, who support them, but also for the rest of us and the wider society. we heard last week from the key government advisers that it is the epidemic in care homes that are risks raising the b infection rate and the rest of society, so what happens in care homes not scratch my does not just affect the families and users in there, but affects us all. there is much more the government needs to do. in the last few days, the ons said that care home debts are accounting for over 40% of all coronavirus deaths —— ca re 40% of all coronavirus deaths —— care home deaths are counting for over 40% of all coronavirus deaths. what would you like the government to be doing? the absolute priority has to be testing. i have heard from ca re has to be testing. i have heard from care homes in my own constituency

and other parts of the country that there is still complete confusion over who is responsible for testing residents and staff who do not have symptoms. we know this is absolutely essential because families are no longer allowed to come into care homes so the only way it is spreading is from residents who may have been discharged from hospital orfrom care workers have been discharged from hospital or from care workers who, themselves, do not want to infect themselves, do not want to infect the people they are supposed to care for. there seems to be a complete stand—off between public health england under the care quality commission about who is responsible. and even yesterday, —— and the care quality commission. the recovery strategy published yesterday, they said it would not be until the 6th ofjune said it would not be until the 6th of june that they said it would not be until the 6th ofjune that they could guarantee that all care homes would be offered a testing for residents and staff. that has a month away. i mean, that isa that has a month away. i mean, that is a way to slow. a way to slow. the government has got to make testing

of care workers in care homes and i provide home care and absolute priority. and i think, you know, having a deadline of a month away, thatis having a deadline of a month away, that is just not good enough. having a deadline of a month away, that isjust not good enough. thank you very much. a five—stage plan for easing the covid—19 lockdown in northern ireland has been published by the stormont executive. unlike plans announced in england and the republic of ireland, northern ireland's blueprint does not include a timetable for moving from one step to the next. first minister, arlene foster, told the assembly that progression will depend on when certain public health criteria is met. the executive agreed that now was not the time to lift restrictions and we made that announcement on thursday last we also agreed that the time is right to set out our thinking and explain how we will approach a decision making, what we will take into account, and how we see restrictions easing. as of today, we remain subject to restrictions, which no one wants to last a day longer than is absolutely

necessary. these measures we would not contemplate in times. we know that they are having a significant effect on people's ability to live their lives the way they and we want. so we want to set out for the assembly today our thoughts on how we may move forward when the time is right. just as there was a no rule book for putting the restrictions in place, there is no set pathway for lifting the restrictions either. countries and jurisdictions are taking some tentative steps to lift restrictions, some have published criteria and principles and some have outlined a timetable. each are different. there are good reasons for that. our decisions must be based on what is happening here, taking account of our particular circumstances within the four nations approach. differences and nuances between the jurisdictions nations approach. differences and nuances between thejurisdictions in the united kingdom will emerge. the four nations discussions will, however, continue and to that end we welcome the announcement by the prime minister on the establishment

ofa prime minister on the establishment of a newjoint bio—security centre to monitor the levels of infection and identify specific actions and regions where spikes occur. the devolved administrations will participate in and contribute to its work. we will also continue to engage, of course, with her cou nterpa rts engage, of course, with her counterparts in the irish republic. we will remain focused on the health and well—being of our people, on our society, and our economy as a whole. we will be driven by signs, we will be driven by the need to emerge from the current arrangements in the safest way possible, step—by—step. this will require a series of judgments and decisions as we move through. last week, we considered very carefully the effect restrictions are having on our people. we know you want clarity on things that matter very much to you. such as visiting relatives, going to work, taking your children to school. we decided collectively that at the time is not right for making major steps. we will continue to

consider whether some other steps can be taken and, if they can, we will do that ahead of the next review. first minister arlene foster at stormont. our ireland correspondent, chris page, is in belfast. northern ireland taking a different approach from the other nations. there are taking slightly different approaches. tells about the strategy there. i suppose the headline really from it all is no change in northern ireland for the time being. they restrictions to remain in place, we know that they are going to remain in place until the 20th of may will stop whether or not ministers any stormont executive then move on to the first stage of recovery plan. they say it will depend on the signs and no guarantee that things will change at the end of the month. the first stage in that 5—step plan would see people who cannot work from home encouraged to return to work ina from home encouraged to return to work in a phased basis, groups of up

to six people who do not live together would be able to meet outdoors, churches would be open for private prayer, also some larger retailers like garden centres, but ministers very much stressing that they will be guided by the signs, not by the calendar. there will be reviewed every three weeks, but there are also emphasising that it does not mean every stage will last that long —— they will be guided by the science. the final step would see pubs, restaurants and cafe is reopening and public transport operating a full service. as far as schools are concerned, we also know that that is not going to reopen here the side of the summer holidays. people usually go off on the summer holidays in northern ireland at the start ofjuly and remain off school until the end of august. it will be september at the earliest before schools reopen. they will not be a return of all peoples to schools before stage for any

plan. so really, in terms of fixed dates, we do not have that here. in terms of exactly how long it will ta ke to terms of exactly how long it will take to move through the stages, really, there is a great degree of flexibility built into these plans. what is the current situation with numbers with covid—19 in northern ireland? at the moment, the death toll from covid—19 in northern ireland stands at more than 500. we had two different sets of statistics that are released here, once as a daily total that is published by the department for health and social ca re department for health and social care and includes deaths in hospitals and some, but not all, and other settings such as care homes. any weekly set of figures that incorporates all deaths in which covid—19 is recorded as a factor on the death certificate. that is a week behind the date at which it is published, so the latest figures we have from that indicated that there we re have from that indicated that there were just over have from that indicated that there werejust over 500 have from that indicated that there were just over 500 deaths, have from that indicated that there werejust over 500 deaths, though in reality, the death toll, we believe, will be above that. in terms of

comparing it to the rest of the uk, the death rate from the virus is lower here than in other parts, but the likes of the first minister arlene foster you hurt there, the deputy first minister shall anneal saying that there is not any room for complacency —— michelle o'neill. thank you. a fire at a hospital in russia has killed five coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit in st petersberg. the blaze was apparently started by a short—circuit in a ventilator, according to the local emergencies ministry. the fire has now been contained and 150 people have been evacuated from the hospital. it is not clear how many people have been injured, but 20 patients were in the icu. all the patients who died had been on ventilators. this is the st george's hospital in st petersburg. it's one of a number of hospitals there that had

been repurposed to treat coronavirus patients specifically. a spokesperson for the emergencies ministry has now said there is reason to believe this fire was caused by a short circuit in a ventilator. it was the intensive care unit, as you mentioned. there were some 20 patients being treated in that unit at the time when earlier this morning a fire broke out. 15 people were evacuated successfully from the icu but some five people have lost their lives. we understand from the emergencies ministry and from police that these five people were attached to ventilators being treated for covid—19 when that fire broke out, and it was impossible to evacuate those five people who have lost their lives. at least 13 people have been killed in kabul in a militant attack on a hospital partly run by the international charity, medicines sans frontieres. local people said they heard two explosions, and then gunfire. a doctor, who fled the building,

told the bbc that about 140 members of staff, including doctors and nurses, were inside at the time. well, the attack is still continuing and the police say that this was carried out by gunmen — at least two of them — and they say that one of the attackers has been killed. the attackers have targeted the maternity ward of the hospital, which is run by the french ngo medicines sans frontieres. and the officials say that so far they have evacuated over 70 mothers and children from the ward, but the details are emerging and we are... it will be clear later what the exact depth and scope —— what the exact scope of the losses and the damage as a result of this attack.

islamic group isis has claimed responsibility for today's attack in the hospital in kabul. the prime minister has been urged to launch an independent public inquiry into the reasons why many ethnic minorities are at higher risk from coronavirus. black men and women are nearly twice as likely to die as white people if they contract covid—19 and the risk factor is also high for other groups, including those with a pakistani or indian background. it's an issue we are looking at all day here on bbc news. the prime minister has been urged to launch an independent public inquiry into the reasons why many ethnic minorities are at higher risk from coronavirus. let's speak to jabeer butt, chief executive of the race equality foundation. it's an independent charitable organisation to promote race equality in social support and public services in the uk.

thank you very much forjoining us. good afternoon, joanna. it seems to be something that is particular to the united kingdom, why do you think this is emerging? i'm not sure it is particular to the united kingdom. there is sufficient data from the us as well to suggest that black and ethnic minority communities there are experiencing it at a greater extent are experiencing it at a greater exte nt tha n are experiencing it at a greater extent than their white counterparts. i think it all seems to point to the experience of racial discrimination which seems to impact communities in britain even to this day. we can see that in various ways, whether it is the experience of housing, particularly the experience of overcrowding, whether we can see it in terms of broader access to health care and, sometimes, poorer experiences when they do get access to health care —— in terms of poorer access to health

care. those ethnic minorities are still disproportionately affected. the latest a nalysis disproportionately affected. the latest analysis would suggest that this group are at greater risks of exposure as well because they tend to be in thosejobs exposure as well because they tend to be in those jobs that are going to be in those jobs that are going to be in those jobs that are going to be any more contact with people, whether it is a bus drivers are whether it is a bus drivers are whether it is taxi drivers, whether it is front line health care workers, nurses and doctors and so on. so they are at greater risk of exposure, not just at on. so they are at greater risk of exposure, notjust at greater risk of getting the most negative impact of getting the most negative impact of it. so what is the answer here? there are calls for the public independent enquiry, but obviously something like that is going to take time? the importance is understanding things now to protect and save lives, so what do you think should be done? we have been calling

for some time for steps to be taken that actually address the issues as they present themselves now, rather than worrying about an enquiry that might reveal problems in the future. we have seen from the experiences of palaces like bradford where the —— of places like bradford, where the health care local authority have worked together to make sure people are better informed, people have an understanding of how they can prevent the spread of the disease and the actions that the health service can take to support them. actually, you can impact the spread of the disease and you can ensure the vulnerable groups are being protected. u nfortu nately, the vulnerable groups are being protected. unfortunately, that kind of priority does not seem to have been there at the opening of the response from the nhs and public health england. we now are seeing action being taken, but it is actually —— it has actually come quite late in the day when we knew

those risks were there from the start. chief executive of the race equality foundation, thank you.

hello, this is bbc news with joanna gosling. the headlines: the latest official figures in england and wales show a substantial decrease in deaths in the week up to may the 1st. but the figures also show there have been 50,000 more deaths than usually expected in the uk due to the coronavirus epidemic. president trump boasts about the number of coronavirus tests being conducted in the us, but cuts off his news conference after this exchange with a journalist. ask china that question, 0k? when you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer. sir, why are you saying that to me specifically? the chancellor is set to announce the next steps for the furlough scheme which subsidises the wages

of millions of people. the health secretary stresses the importance of getting people back to work it is important that people can get back to work because there is a massive, massive economic cost to what we are having to do for health reasons. a fire at a hospital in russia has killed five coronavirus patients receiving treatment in an intensive care unit. the blaze reportedly started by a short—circuit in a ventilator now let's head over to edinburgh, where the first minister nicola sturgeon is giving the daily briefing. an increase of 136 from yesterday. a total of 81 people last night were in intensive care with either confirmed or suspected covid—19, and thatis confirmed or suspected covid—19, and that is an increase of one since yesterday. in terms of the numbers

in hospital, i want to give a little bit more context to this figure today. as of last night a total of 1618 patients were in hospital. we have provided billions of pounds of tax grants, tax cuts... we are now in the house of commons for the chancellor's statement on the furlough scheme. and a strengthened safety net to protect millions of are most vulnerable people. these schemes speak to my and this conservative government's values. we believe in the dignity of work. and we are doing everything we can to protect people currently unable to work. yesterday my right honourable friend, the prime minister, set out are planned for the next phase of the public health response. and today i can confirm the next stage of ourjobs retention scheme. this scheme has been a world leading

economic intervention, supporting livelihoods and protecting futures. 7.5 millionjobs have been furloughed. jobs we could have lost if we had not acted. nearlyi million businesses supported, who could have closed shop for good. and as we reopen the economy, we will need to support people back to work. we will do so in a measured way. i can announce today that the job retention scheme will be extended for four months until the end of october. by that point we will have provided eight months of support to british people and businesses. until the end of july british people and businesses. until the end ofjuly there will be no changes whatsoever. then from august to october the scheme will continue for all sectors and regions of the

uk, but with greater flexibility to support the transition back to work. employers currently using the scheme will be able to bring furloughed employees back part—time. and we will ask employers to start sharing with the government of the cost of paying people's salaries. full details will follow by the end of may. but i want to assure people today of one thing that won't change. workers will, through the combined efforts of government and employers, continue to receive the same level of overall support as they do now. at 80% of their current salary up to £2500 a month. mr speaker, i salary up to £2500 a month. mr speaker, lam salary up to £2500 a month. mr speaker, i am extending this scheme because i won't give up on the people who rely on it. our message todayis people who rely on it. our message today is simple. we stood behind britain's workers and businesses as

we came into this crisis. and we will stand behind them as we come through the other side. thank you. we now call anneliese dodds, who will speakfor we now call anneliese dodds, who will speak for no more than two minutes. thank you very much, mr speaker. and thank you for granting this urgent question. i would obviously also like to wish the chancellor many happy returns. as a constructive opposition we want to work with government to ensure people's jobs and incomes are protected. a critical element of that is the furlough scheme. many of the more than 6 million people currently furloughed were taken aback by comments made in the media by government spokespeople suggesting that, for example, people needed to be weaned off an addiction to this scheme. there was information that changes might have been announced to the scheme by the chancellor in the

media without proper scrutiny. i have only heard about these changes in the last few seconds. we will look at them very, very carefully, but there are some critical principles that the chancellor surely must follow as he redesigns this scheme. first of all he must acknowledge that people do not want to be furloughed. it occurred through no fault of their own, but through no fault of their own, but through following comment advice on the closure of sectors. it is critically important they are not penalised for that advice. i welcome the flexibility. we have asked for this repeatedly. it applies in many other countries. it has been a long time coming but i welcome the fact it is occurring now. that flexibility in and of itself includes an employer contribution. he needs to provide more information about that employer contribution now. he also needs to provide more information about the alternatives to this scheme. other countries have job creation training schemes, redeployment schemes, we do not have

them yet. i want to ask the chancellor to work with me, trade unions, businesses, local authorities, further and higher education, to create the support thatis education, to create the support that is so desperately needed. thank you. chancellor of the exchequer. thank you, mr speaker. can i thank the shadow chancellor for her warm wishes as well, and thank her for the, i think, wishes as well, and thank her for the, ithink, constructive wishes as well, and thank her for the, i think, constructive support of the announcement today. just to address of the announcement today. just to a d dress two of the announcement today. just to address two of the specific points she raised. first of all, the use of the word addiction is not one that i have ever used no one that i agree with. nobody who is on the furlough scheme wants to be on this scheme. people up and down this country believe in the dignity of their work, going to work, providing for theirfamilies. it work, going to work, providing for their families. it is work, going to work, providing for theirfamilies. it is not their fault that their business has been asked to close. it is not their fault they have been asked to stay at home. and that is why i established this scheme, to support these people and their livelihoods at this critical time. so i

wholeheartedly agree with the shadow chancellor in that regard. in terms of the next steps, i am pleased to tell her that i have already been talking to the trades union congress andindeed talking to the trades union congress and indeed the cbi in particular about the future of helping those to get back into work, who u nfortu nately get back into work, who unfortunately may lose their jobs through this period. it is something that weighs heavily on my mind. every person who loses theirjob through this difficult period is a person this government is determined to stand behind, whether that is with new skills, new training, or indeed supporting businesses to create new jobs. that indeed supporting businesses to create newjobs. that is something we are determined to make sure happens. i look forward to continuing my conversations with members opposite and indeed with the trade unions and the cbi and other business groups, as we look forward toa business groups, as we look forward to a brighter future as we get through this crisis. people can come back to work and we can create the jobs, the opportunities and brighter future for tomorrow.

the chair of the select committee, mel stride. thank you, mr speaker. can i broadly welcomed the statement of the chancellor has made relating to furlough, and in particular the additional flexibility is that he has outlined, most noticeably around part—time working. but as we come through this crisis, a number of businesses, many businesses, will be saddled with a very significant debts, just at the time we are looking to those businesses to invest and grow the economy. so would my right honourable friend agree with me that it is absolutely vital that the government comes forward as soon as possible with a clear plan as to how it is going to assist those companies with that indebtedness, in terms of debt forbearance and also equity finance, so that they can fire up the economy and grow the jobs that the country will so desperately need?

thanks, mr speaker. as always, my right honourable friend makes an excellent point. what i would say to him isi excellent point. what i would say to him is i agree, it is not the answer to all business companies problems at this time. that is why we have supplied unprecedented cash support and grants forup supplied unprecedented cash support and grants for up to 1 million businesses, three quarters of a million businesses benefiting from a cut in their business taxes and indeed tax deferrals, all of that will help. with regard to equity and supporting the future, i hope people agree that the future fund we announced will be part of that solution, where the government is matching essentially quasi investments in early—stage companies to ensure that they are here to power the growth and the innovation that we will need as we recover from this crisis. now north of the border and the snp spokesperson, alison thewliss. thank you, mr speaker. i wish the chancellor a very happy birthday.

the coronavirus scheme has prevented unemployment. i welcome the coronavirus scheme has prevented unemployment. iwelcome its extension and flexibility within the scheme. that is something many in the snp have been calling for. we await the detail of that before too long, i hope. does he recognise that workers would be forced back to work before it is safe? the stay—at—home advice has not changed in scotland. will he commit today to ensuring the job retention scheme will be in place in scotland, wales and northern ireland if our love dance continue longer than england? and lastly, will he continue to looking at the scheme for new starters and really look at those businesses are still waiting for money under the scheme? he said he will do whatever it takes, and if he does not do whatever it takes, that will ring

very hollow. thank you, mr speaker. cani very hollow. thank you, mr speaker. can i thank the honourable lady for her warm wishes, as well. just to clarify, there will be no reduction in the level of support for those on the scheme. that is a commitment that i made earlier. so i'm not entirely sure whether i understood the question right, but it's less than clear that those on the scheme have the reassurance —— crystal clear. the level of support they receive will be shared by the government and employers. i committed to bringing forward by the end of this month, where we'll work through the technical details of implementing part—time following, and asi implementing part—time following, and as i said at the outset, is now and as i said at the outset, is now an extension for the four months to the end of october, which will provide eight months of supporting total to all regions and sectors of the united kingdom and provides a

good and generous runway for businesses and firms to plan against andindeed businesses and firms to plan against and indeed to start getting back to work when the time is right, as per the prime minister's plan outlined on sunday and monday. ben everett. thank you, mr speaker. we know that international comparisons should be made carefully, but i do note that polling released yesterday shows the uk is considered to be the best in the world for supporting businesses and jobs during the crisis. so what steps is the chance and are taking to ensure that this success is continued for companies in milton keynes and elsewhere as we gradually come out of the lockdown?” keynes and elsewhere as we gradually come out of the lockdown? i thank my honourable friend for that mention. i was pleased to see polling that showed that people in this country felt that businesses were well supported compared to almost any other developed country, and indeed the full scale of the economic intervention we have put in place as

a percentage of gdp stands as one of the most comprehensive anywhere in the most comprehensive anywhere in the world. i am very happy to continue listening to my honourable friend to see what more we should be doing to support his businesses in milton keynes, as they look forward toa milton keynes, as they look forward to a future where they can start to reopen, start to get their employees back to work and start to rebuild our economy as we emerge from this crisis. caroline lucas. thank you, mr speaker. crisis. caroline lucas. thank you, mrspeaker. i crisis. caroline lucas. thank you, mr speaker. i welcome the continuation of the furlough scheme and its new flexibility to allow part—time work. vital for business in brighton, particularly those in tourism and hospitality. would he consider further support to that sector by a reduction in vat on tourism? it's a policy which many of his own government mps support. and cani his own government mps support. and can i ask him if he will consider advising the self—employed scheme by including small business owners who ta ke including small business owners who take their income and dividends, as well as those who combine paye with freelance work? mr speaker, those

who work for their own companies can indeed avail themselves of the cj aureus for the paye e part of their income already. i agree the leisure industry has been most impacted by what we are going through, which is why it is the sector that has received the most support with cash gra nts received the most support with cash grants of up to £25,000 for those businesses, almost a million are eligible, and indeed an entire business rates holiday worth almost £12 billion for the entire 12 months of this financial year. i do believe thatis of this financial year. i do believe that is considerable support. but of course as we emerge from this crisis i keep all economic measures under review. james daly. thank you very much, mr speaker. can i thank the chancellor for the speed with which he has managed to get so much money out to my constituency of bury. does

he agree with me that the coronavirus scheme is one of the most comprehensive in the world? it has protected many jobs most comprehensive in the world? it has protected manyjobs in my constituency and throughout the country, many of which would be lost without the scheme. i thank my honourable friend for his support and he is absolutely right in bury as elsewhere, businesses have benefited from the support this government has put in place. they have been able to retain their employees through using the scheme and that means that bury, when we get through this crisis, can be at the forefront of making sure our economy bounces back as strongly as we can. i look forward to hearing from him about what more we can do to support his constituents and his businesses through this crisis. kate green. thank you, mr speaker. the mayor of greater manchester has raised thousands of pounds for our creative industries through a scheme, which may a vital contribution to our economy and

socio— economic well— being. contribution to our economy and socio— economic well—being. with many of the artist working either on a freelance or self employed basis, can the chancellor confirm that full support will be given to that vital sector for as long as it is needed? well, mr speaker, i know my right honourable friend, the culture secretary, is engaged extensively with that sector as part of planning for a future where people can get back to work and sectors can reopen ina back to work and sectors can reopen in a responsible and safe way. that work is already undergoing. and of course many people in that sector are benefiting already from our self employment income support scheme, which opens this week for applications, and people will start receiving their lump sum payment as early as next week. i know that will make an enormous difference to the many tens of thousands, if not more, who work in that sector. natalie

elphick. thank you, mr speaker. may i welcome the announcement on furlough. many operators are benefiting from millions of pounds of support the chancellor has supplied it —— provider. however, la st supplied it —— provider. however, last night p endow, headquartered in dover, has announced redundancy plans for more than a thousand jobs after its dubai owners failed to provide the support the company needs. —— p endow. does the chancellor agree that the companies and their investors cannot simply rely on taxpayer hand—outs would need to play their full part in investing and supporting british businesses and jobs at this time? mr speaker, my honourable friend is an excellent advocate of the importance of the port in her town, which does so much to help fuel the growth of our country, which is why i was pleased to extend support to the

sector to maintain our vital freight links. which it is absolutely right. asi links. which it is absolutely right. as i said at the outset of this crisis, we are in this together. every one has to play their role. that means employees and companies doing their bit to protect their staff to the best of their ability and pitch in to help get through this crisis. i will be happy to talk to her further if there is this crisis. i will be happy to talk to herfurther if there is more edgy things we can do. shabana mahmoud. thank you, mr speaker. women are considerably more likely to be furloughed than men and of the disproportionate impact of covid—19 on our bame communities is already being investigated by public health england. has the chancellor assessed the equality impact of all his package of economic measures on women and bame communities? and if so, will you publish that impact assessment? mr speaker, what is

clear and is emerging is that of the sectors and the people most impacted by this lockdown are disproportionately women, as the honourable member mentioned, and those in lower paid sectors, who probably are financially less resilient. that is why this scheme is so important. it is so important in providing thatjob security, the income security, to millions of people. that is why today i have made the decision to extend the scheme to maximise the possibility that those people will have thatjob to go back to. but she can rest assured i keep a careful eye on all the impacts of this scheme, but i do believe it is benefiting some of the most vulnerable in our society. mr speaker, the chancellor will be aware there was great concern about the future of our airlines, not least in my constituency near gatwick. the ceo of international airlines group appeared yesterday before the transport select committee and made it clear thatjob losses in british airways would only

be considered as a direct result of the pandemic. what further support might be available from the government for uk aviation? mr speaker, the companies in the aviation sector like all others can benefit from the considerable range of support measures already announced, and indeed i know many companies in that sector are benefiting currently from the jobs retention programme. of course, individual companies have the opportunity to engage with the government on a bilateral basis, where that is appropriate. obviously it would not be right for me to comment on those conversations. sir edward davey. can i give the chancellor a small birthday present by welcoming the extension of the furloughed scheme and the greater flexibility for employees coming off furlough, not least because the liberal democrats have been campaigning foran liberal democrats have been campaigning for an almost identical package. but can i urge him yet again to look at those employees and

self—employed you have not been helped at all, and who are in dire straits, people who were not on the payroll in theirjobs, could he consider the new starter scheme i proposed in early april? and could he please review his refusal to properly help those self—employed people who operate for a limited companies and have just been cut adrift? mr speaker, the self—employment scheme in this country remains one of the most generous and comprehensive anywhere in the world. it was designed to provide support to those people who have a different pattern of working. as i've explained previously to the right honourable gentleman, there is a difficulty in differentiating between the dividends that company directors earn from the dividends that anyone might earn through a share portfolio. i have seen the proposals he has sent. my team and i have considered those and are considering those. let's not take

away from the fact that what has opened this week is a scheme which will support millions of those in self—employment and will enable them to receive the same level of support as those in employment, starting with cash coming into their accounts as early as next week. cheryl gillan. can i congratulate my right honourable friend on his announcement today, and also in particular on his handling of the support he is providing to individuals and businesses during this crisis. many of my constituents worked for british airways. despite furloughing nearly 23,000 staff, they have been threatening to make more than 12,000 staff redundant. can he sent a clear message to british airways today that with this extension they should now remove all threat of redundancy which has been adding to the anxiety and stress of so many of their hard working and in

many cases long serving staff? mr speaker, like my right honourable friend, she is right to advocate support for her constituents employed in the airline industry. she is right to urge employers to do the right thing at this difficult time. the government has provided considerable support to companies to help them get through this crisis. and she knows what will benefit her constituents and i will continue to support her in those efforts to make sure that we can protect as many of those jobs as possible. kevin brennan. the chancellor has said that he is doing everything we can. but has he seen a new starter justice campaign for people who started or were due to start a new job after february 28 and are still cut from any help from the

chancellor and his schemes? on the bbc news channel we are leaving coverage of the house of commons, with that statement from rishi sunak. you can carry on watching on bbc parliament. just to bring you up—to—date with the latest detail of the further —— furlough scheme. he said it will be extended for another four scheme. he said it will be extended for anotherfour months. scheme. he said it will be extended for another four months. it means that in total the furlough scheme will have gone on for a period of eight months. there will be no changes to the scheme until the end ofjuly. but from august to the end ofjuly. but from august to the end of october the scheme will continue but with greater flexibility. employees can go back to work part—time and employees can go back to work pa rt—time and employers employees can go back to work part—time and employers will share some of the cost of the wage bill. full details in may. the news that one. now it is the weather. hello. thanks to an area of high pressure, a lot of dry weather for the rest of this week. and on into the rest of this week. and on into

the weekend. it was particularly chilly and windy to start the new week and the next few days will see the wind gradually getting warmer because this area of high pressure reorientate itself. we were sitting to the east of it on monday with a plastic northerly wind. it eventually brings us warmer atlantic airand come the eventually brings us warmer atlantic air and come the weekend our temperatures will get quite a surge. here we are for the rest of today. the weather front working its way down out of southern scotland into northern england. a patchy rain. perhaps some snow on the tops of the pennines. wintry showers in the north of scotland. a trust for scotland. —— frost. overnight more cloud. showers in northern england and southern wales. a few showers in the south—east first thing. the northerly wind will bring more showers into the north of england. very cold along the north seacoast.

still chilly in northern scotland with the chance of a share. the best of the sons and perhaps towards the south—west and probably our top temperatures here 13 to 14 degrees. still in the blue on thursday. it becomes a little fainter. but friday, the warmer air mass moves across the uk. by saturday it's yellow for all areas. temperatures start to bolster. thursday, average figures at best. quite a bit of cloud. in the 15 may be 16 degrees in the south—west. you could feel pleasa ntly in the south—west. you could feel pleasantly warm. we should lose the north sea wind. a big difference at 14 for newcastle and hull. the best of the sunshine on friday likely first thing. cloud filling in as the day goes by. temperatures not so bad. around average values. highs of 16 or 17 bad. around average values. highs of 16 or17 in bad. around average values. highs of 16 or 17 in the south. it is come the weekend we will start to pull in a lot of warmer air. a significant

lift. up to 21 in london by sunday. a lot of dry weather. we could see a weather front bothering the far north of scotland.

keeping people injobs — the chancellor says the furlough scheme for seven million workers across the uk — will be extended for four months the scheme will stay in place until october — with changes from the end ofjuly when employers will be asked to share the cost we believe in the dignity of work. and we are doing everything we can to protect people currently unable to protect people currently unable to work. we'll be looking at what the chancellor's announcement means for you. also this lunchtime... schools in england are working out how they can reopen with staggered start times and only 15 pupils in a class for the first time figures show a decline in the overall number of deaths from the virus in the uk, but also show there have been 50,000 more deaths than would normally be expected