good evening. the education secretary for england says the governent‘s approach to re—opening of schools will be cautious and based on scientific advice — but he warned that the longer schools are closed, the more children miss out. it comes after teaching unions expressed concerns over plans to re—open schools in england from the first ofjune. the children's commissioner for england this morning called on the government and unions to agree a way forward.

a further 468 deaths of people who've tested positive for coronavirus in the uk were reported in the last 2a hours, taking the official death toll to 34,466. here's our education editor bra nwen jeffreys. classrooms now in england but in just two weeks some children are due to return, the hope is that covid cases will have dropped, the education secretary said it is a tentative step and at the press conference i asked how school governors could make the decision. on that point about the school governors, they are going to be thinking about their legal responsibilities in terms of making each school safe. how are they meant to reconcile that conflicting advice they are getting from you and local councils? what we would ask them to do is look up the guidance very carefully a nd do is look up the guidance very carefully and recognise the fact that we are there to provide the

very best for every single child who goes to that school. the best way of doing that, the best way of protecting children, the best way of giving them the best opportunities in life, is actually to have them coming back into school. for those trapped in flats, for children vulnerable to hunger or domestic violence, growing concern about their need for school for a place to learn but also a place of safety. their need for school for a place to learn but also a place of safetylj fear that the best interests of children which we are basically looking at within this debate are being overlooked. i've raised the issue of the hundred thousands of vulnerable children which will be carrying risks out of school, they will not be getting access to education and they may have fragile home environments and mental health will be suffering. schools are getting ready as best they can. changing classrooms, contacting families, it will be parents choice

whether to send pupils and some may need to return to work. teachers say many others remain fearful. so far out of 28 children in my class we have had ten responses saying they will send their children but a lot of those still have reservations about that and they have queries they would like answered before they make the choice. teachers unions still have many questions, and government scientists will keep it under review, and a final decision is likely just under review, and a final decision is likelyjust days before england's schools return, while those in the rest of the uk remain closed. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. ministers insist they will be led by the science when making decisions — so what does the science say about how children are affected? lauren moss explains. we have only known about covid—i9 for under six months and the science community is still learning about it. one of the big questions to

a nswer it. one of the big questions to answer is how our children affected. put simply, children seem to catch coronavirus as much as anyone else, and a survey by the office for national statistics published this week suggests that one in 400 people in england has coronavirus and that children are alsojust in england has coronavirus and that children are also just as likely to test positive as adults. but they don't appear to develop symptoms which are a serious or be as vulnerable to it. in terms of the respiratory illness in adults we have not seen this in children which of course is great news, and the cases we have had in oxford where we have found coronavirus, it seems to have found coronavirus, it seems to have almost been an incidental finding. so if children catch coronavirus, how likely is it then that they can carry it and also spread it? any increase in social mixing could lead to an increase in the r number, the rate of transmission, children are super spiders of diseases like flu but we just don't know how infectious they

could be if they have little or no symptoms —— super spreaders.“ could be if they have little or no symptoms -- super spreaders. if you have a low infection rate in society and you have systems in place to test and try and quarantine, schools are very good place to start because the transmission will be low and you will be able to manage the situation and work out how to open up the rest of society. it is early days as we begin to take steps to emerge from the lockdown. what we learn in the weeks and months ahead will shape what our new normal becomes. lauren moss, bbc news. it's the first weekend since some lockdown restrictions were eased in england. local councils have warned people to stay away from beauty spots and beaches — and many seem to have heeded the warning — as andy gill reports. in normal times more than 3 million day visitors come to the dales every year and it's not hard to see why. national park and local authorities,

though, think it is too early to loosen the coronavirus lockdown. the big fear was that the car park would be full or weak and the river bank was going to be like blackpool when blackpool was busy and open —— all week. nobody social distancing. but as it is we have a slow increase in the amount of people coming, that feel safe to come. but in garsington today, some people were taking advantage of the new guidelines, some travelling from harrogate and leeds. if you follow the guidance and you socially distance, you make sure that you are not touching anything. we have not seen anybody really but everyone we have seen has been a friendly and kept to a safe distance. we feel fine. they reopened the car park here so visitors don't park in the centre of the village or on verges and the idea is that that will reduce contact, and possible infections

between tourists and locals. tourism is vital for this tourism is vitalfor this part tourism is vital for this part of yorkshire and they do want visitors back here once it is safe. one estimate is that the economy in this pa rt estimate is that the economy in this part of the yorkshire dales has taken a 30% hit because of the lockdown. striking the balance between saving lives and saving livelihoods is the challenge here as everywhere else. andy gill, the yorkshire dales, bbc news. the number of life saving transplant operations in the uk dropped by almost 90% after lockdown — and operations using living donors stopped completely. transplant specialists say lives will be lost as a result. our reporter alexandra mackenzie has been to the royal hospital for children in glasgow. 16—year—old zach had kidney failure and was on dialysis, but now he is recovering from his transplant operation.

we were waiting for two and a half years and then i finally got the news, i was so relieved. it actually happened. what was life like before you got the transplant? it was really hard. i couldn't eat a lot of food, like chocolate, crisps, bananas, and i couldn't go out with friends either because i had a central line in, so in case that got damaged. did you think twice about it because of covid—i9? yes, i did, i was really scared about covid—i9. when i got the transplant i was worried about it cos if i'd got it it would have been really bad for me. for zach's mother, she hopes this is a second chance at life. i still can't believe it, when i look at him and i look at how healthy he actually looks now, his colour and complexion, he was very pale before, but now he has colour in his cheeks. he's got a sparkle in his eyes.

in the uk at the beginning of march, there were around 80 transplant operations every week, but in april this fell to around ten. now it has increased again to 47. we had scheduled transplants that have been cancelled and small children who are on dialysis are at risk of having significant problems the longer they are on dialysis for. delaying the transplant has to be done when it has to be done, but these children will get more complications the longer their transplant is delayed for. adult patients on dialysis are at significant risk of covid—i9 and the rate of death in those patients is above that in the general population. covid—i9 has also brought challenges to the ward. we've dealt with things we have not really dealt with in the past, even wearing a mask in the room... zach knows who is wearing the mask because he knows us really well,

but even that, that is a different thing for them all to cope with. the teenager who is even leading a poster campaign is eager to start his new life. i'm very grateful to everyone who has helped me throughout this whole time, the nurses and doctors, and my family, especially my mother, because she has been there for me. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news, glasgow. this week towns and cities across the uk have implemented measures help ensure that pedestrians and cyclists get more space for social distancing. the changes are temporary but could signal a permanent shift in the way we travel, as our chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt reports. deansgate, the main road through manchester, is changing. today, barriers and trees closed a key stretch to traffic. elsewhere, new walkways and pop—up bike lanes are appearing. we want to see change across the city and we want people to walk and cycle more but we want to do

that in a safe way.