today at six... from heart conditions to cancer — nhs bosses are alarmed by the number of people staying away from hospital. in england, a&e visits have fallen by more than half since the coronavirus outbreak. in other areas, patients face treatment delays. there are an awful lot of people who have various conditions that are being put at, you know, great risk of further damage due to these precautions being taken. we'll be asking what these delays could mean for the nhs in the months ahead. also tonight... a test that can tell whether you've

had the virus in the past has been approved in england. who will be first in the queue to get it? the care home crisis — the national association says staff feel completely abandoned. what's the government going to do about it? the extra cost of tackling the coronavirus outbreak will top £120 billion. it takes uk borrowing to levels not since seen the end of the war. is it curtains for local and regional theatres? how the lockdown has left actors and directors struggling for survival. and coming up in sport on bbc news, england's cricketers can start limited training next week, as team bosses plan for a return to action after the coronavirus shutdown.

good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. there is serious concern that tens of thousands of seriously ill people in england are not seeking help because of fears that they might catch the coronavirus in hospital — or be a burden on the nhs. the starkest illustration of this is the drop in visits to a&e departments — down by more than half since the outbreak began. doctors worry that conditions as serious as heart attacks and strokes are being overlooked. patients groups have also raised concerns that, in preparing the nhs for tackling the coronavirus, other treatments have been delayed. as for today, the total number of deaths linked to the coronavirus across the uk has now reached 33,614. that's an increase of a28 deaths reported in the last 2a hours. here's our health editor hugh pym. plenty of staff and not many patients.

it's got a little busier here in a&e in recent days, but not much. like many other hospitals, they saw an astonishing drop in the number of patients coming through the doors last month. april here was busy from a covid—19 perspective, dealing with sick patients. it was all very calm, controlled and safe but we were busy from that perspective, but we saw a real drop—off in demand of other types of patients that we usually see. normally, assessment cubicles in a&e would be pretty busy but, right now, all these ones along here are empty. they are for non—covid patients. it is a sign of how different things are right now. the worry is that people who might need urgent care are staying away because they are scared of catching the virus. the message from all hospitals, we are open for business and patients who need treatment should come in. if you are concerned about having a stroke, a heart attack, perhaps cancer, do come forward and, at the same time, the nhs will be redesigning the way

in which services are offered to keep them safe. the latest figures for england show that a&e visits fell by nearly 57% in the year to april. the monthly total was below 917,000, the lowest since records began. there are no comparable figures yet from other parts of the uk. the number coming in for routine operations fell by nearly a third in the year to march. all non—emergency surgery was postponed because the nhs needed to clear beds for coronavirus patients, but that has left others, like helen, frustrated. she was told she needed a hysterectomy urgently in february. it didn't happen and she hasn't heard any more. if something is deemed urgent, it's deemed urgent for a reason. i think there are an awful lot of people who have various conditions that are being put at great risk of further damage due to these precautions being taken.

jane has been waiting since february for a gall bladder operation, and, again, hasn't been told when it could happen. i understand that in this current situation that, you know, i'm not a priority. i understand that fully. it does concern me. i'd like to get it over and done with, really, you know, so that i feel it won't build up again and there won't be any further problems. nhs leaders have now told hospitals to restart non—urgent operations and procedures, but all patients who are asked to come in will be instructed to self—isolate for 14 days beforehand — a reminder of the continuing concern about the possible spread of the virus. hugh pym, bbc news. a blood test that can tell whether or not you've had the coronavirus has been approved for use in england. the antibody test has been developed by the swiss drug company roche and it will be available once the nhs has agreed on a price. health experts can use the test

to work outjust how many people in the country have been infected — though whether those people have any immunity to the disease is still an open question. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. it is what millions of britons want to know. have they already had coronavirus? now it is possible to find out for sure, with a blood test. it has to go through lab analysis. this can be done by hand, like here at imperial college london, or in an automated process, like a new highly accurate antibody test, approved for use in the uk. if you get infected with coronavirus, your immune system starts to produce antibodies. these become part of your immune system's memory. so if your immune system's memory. so if you get exposed to the virus again, they should attack it. but how much protection they will give and how long that immunity will last is

unclear. for some coronaviruses, we know that protection can fade and we know that protection can fade and we know from experiments many years ago, for example, that it is possible to re—infect individuals with the exact same coronavirus, may bea with the exact same coronavirus, may be a year later, even though they developed antibodies to start with, so we developed antibodies to start with, so we have to be careful to assume that any antibody will last for a long time. roche says it can provide hundreds of thousands of its antibody test to the uk each week. pharmacies and health clinics could be involved in collecting blood samples. i anticipate that it will be rapidly rolled out in the days and weeks to come, as soon as it is practical to do so. i also anticipate that the focus will be on the national health service and on ca re rs the national health service and on carers in the first instance. there are several other types of antibody test which only require a finger prick of blood. some of which are being trialled by nhs staff. despite buying 3.5 million of them, the

government concluded non—was accurate enough. this is another way of testing for antibodies. you prick your thumb... of testing for antibodies. you prick yourthumb... and of testing for antibodies. you prick your thumb... and then apply a blood spot to this piece of card, which is then sent off to a laboratory for very sophisticated analysis. that dry spot blood test is being developed at imperial college london. it is planning to send out 100,000 home testing antibody kids once they are proven to be accurate and easy—to—use —— kits. once they are proven to be accurate and easy-to-use -- kits. the swab goes to the back of your throat... remember, it is a swab test like this which will show if you are currently infected with coronavirus. so this remains crucial in preventing the spread of the virus. well, until that test is widely available, health experts have to depend on projections. today, the office for national statistics has published the results of a survey.

it's found that one in 400 people in england have the coronavirus. that works out at just under 150,000 people, not including people in hospital and care homes. fergusjoins me now. fergus, i'm afraid, like millions of people at home, to me, that sounds like quite a small number. well, it adds up to 150,000 people, but, one in 400 currently infected. importantly, in 400 currently infected. importa ntly, that is in 400 currently infected. importantly, that is outside hospitals and care homes. but it does mean that your chances of bumping into somebody who currently has an infection on a bus, train or tube is quite low, which is reassuring but, of course, we don't know who those one in 400 people are, so it means that social distancing remains crucial in order to bear down on this infection.” wa nt to to bear down on this infection.” want to turn to underlying conditions. it seems diabetes is

becoming more and more prominent. yes, diabetes, we have known since the start, was one of the health conditions that had a particular problem for people if they got covid—19, but we have now found out new figures that one in four patients who have died of covid—19 in english hospitals had diabetes. now, we don't know whether it is type one or type two. now, we know that the people who die tend to be elderly, something like 88% who die are over 65 and a proportion of those in the general population who have diabetes is something like half of that, it is one in eight compared to one in four, so it shows a really high prevalence of extra risk if you have diabetes. all right, fergus, thanks very much. there's growing anger over how coronavirus has taken hold in care homes. the government suggests that one in four of the overall deaths in england have been in care homes. the national care association says

they feel "completely abandoned", while others are questioning how quickly the extra £600 million of funding for the care sector will get to those who need it. 0ur social affairs correspondent alison holt reports. at this care home in kent, staff have been living in for weeks now to try to protect their elderly and vulnerable residents from coronavirus. here, the government's plans for more support with infection control are welcome, but feel very late. generally, we start at 7:30am but i have started an hour early to make sure all the ladies are up so we can clean their rooms. obviously, we haven't had a cleaner so it's been a bit stressful... 18—year—old liberty, who has a bunk bed in a room shared with other staff, has kept a video diary for us. we are trying to keep the routines as normal as possible, because, with dementia, the second you change the routine, it gets quite confusing for the ladies. last night, we had some sad news.

one of our residents passed away. it wasn't coronavirus—related, and it was a big shocker. the government plans will try to reduce staff moving between jobs, but as well as being recognised for what they do, it's not clear what that will mean in financial terms. the home's owner says the extra costs and pressures of the pandemic are pushing his and other care companies to the brink. it's been lonely, it's been really lonely. it's been... i have cried some nights, not knowing what to do, how i'm going to get through another week, having to motivate people to stay in the homes has been really soul destroying. and many care providers argue they haven't had enough support. this home in kettering is closing after serious concerns about its care. 14 residents have died in six weeks. the owners believe their problems were rooted in the discharge of hospital patients into the home. on march 17th, the nhs said hospitals must free up as many beds as possible at the start

of the pandemic. two days later, the home, which had no signs of the virus, began taking in 15 patients. at the time, they weren't tested for covid—19. about a week later, the company says residents and a large number of staff, including the senior team, became ill with the virus, leaving the home struggling to cope. in scotland, running of a home on the isle of skye which was at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak has been taken over, after concerns about care there. the first minister also announced more testing of residents leaving hospital. nhs tests are also given to all patients due to enter or re—enter a care home from hospital, and if they have previously tested positive for the virus, they must have two negative tests before entering the care home from hospital. the government says, in england, it's increased testing and is already providing homes with a lot of support. there has been a sort of big,

national effort to assist them, and i know that the health secretary will be saying more about that soon, but i don't want to sort of underestimate the extraordinary work that has gone into care homes to make sure that most of them have indeed remained covid free. but for care homes, this is a long—term fight to keep their residents safe. alison holt, bbc news. from the furlough scheme and business loans to extra cash for the nhs — we know that tackling the coronavirus is costing huge amounts of money. now the office for budget responsibility has done the sums and come up with a new figure. it all adds up to a level of government borrowing not seen in peacetime. 0ur economics editor faisal islam is here. we have got used to people saying billions here and billions there, just put it into context for us. more incredible numbers, actually, from the government's official, but independent, forecasters, who updated their analysis of what we

are seeing. back in march, the 0br, as they are known, at the budget, they projected that borrowing, so they projected that borrowing, so the difference between taxing coming in and spending going dead, would be 55 billion. that was two months ago, as the virus was beginning to take hold. today, on the second update because of coronavirus, that has gone up to nearly £300 billion and that includes some of the extra spending on rescue schemes, we have seen spending on rescue schemes, we have seen today, the first billion pounds claimed by the self employed under that scheme, that has kicked in a little early and we heard about the extension to thejob little early and we heard about the extension to the job schemes, paying millions of workers, but that is obviously a huge number, hundreds of billions and, again, that is in one year. and it arises pretty much half and half through taxes going down and half through taxes going down and that spending going up. what that means in historical context is pretty extraordinary. the next chart, 300 billion is 15% of the value of the economy and you have

never had that in peacetime. the last time we even got close was around ve day 1945—46, this is slightly higher than that and you really have to go back to 1944 to get this level of borrowing, if it turns out to be right. thanks very much. for the first time, nhs england has released figures which show the number of people with learning disabilities and autism who have died from covid—19. there have been 451 deaths in hospital settings, which represents about 2% of the death toll there. but campaigners and those working in the care sector fear that it doesn't show the full picture, as our disability correspondent nikki fox reports. married to ann, nigel was well loved and lead a happy life. he died of coronavirus in hospital, alone. we miss him already. people with learning disabilities like nigel

often have other medical conditions. more than 40% have respiratory issues, which means they are at increased risk of dying from covid—19, but yet so far this group have had little attention. they have not been told to shield, and until today there has not been any data. it seems like they have been put to the back of the queue. the last group to be looked into, which again suggests to me they are well down the pecking order. after mounting criticism from campaigners, nhs england has released figures showing how many people with learning disabilities and autism have died of covid—19. so far there have been 451 deaths in hospital, which represents 296 deaths in hospital, which represents 2% overall, but people who work in the care sector say this is only a tiny part of the picture. a very small number live in nhs settings. the vast majority of people live on

their own or in their own family home so you are not looking at the whole cohort of people and don't understand the impact it can have on people and their life expectancy. every day, leo chats to her son, stephen. he has learning disabilities and autism and lives independently with constant support. cheeky monkey! leo is so concerned about a lack of ppe for the staff that support her son, she has been making her own. it is a great fear. it almost paralysed me, to think about your disabled child dying of this horrible disease, because you can't be there. he will say, mummy, come and get me home, go home mummy, and it's breaking my heart. the care quality commission has started looking into the numbers of people who have died outside the hospital

setting, so there will eventually be a clearer picture, something many families and campaigners believe should already be available so that people with learning disabilities are not forgotten in death as they so are not forgotten in death as they so often are in life. nikki fox, bbc news. let's take a look at some of today's other news. and one in eight households has had no access to a garden during the coronavirus lockdown. in parts of london, it's as high as 40%. the figures, based on data from 0rd nance survey and natural england, also show that black people are four times more likely to have no access to outdoor space. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, said today that, without financial support, transport for london must cut its tube and bus networks. a slump in passenger numbers due to the lockdown has caused a 90% fall in income. tfl has been using its cash reserves to meet the monthly bill of operating services but says that is no longer sustainable. the company which owns british airways has confirmed

12,000 job cuts at the airline will still go ahead, despite the government extending its furlough scheme until the end of october.