this is outside source on bbc news for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm babita sharma. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. the us renews its attack on the world health organization and china over their response to the coronavirus pandemic. there was a failure by this organisation to obtain the information that the world needed, and that failure cost many lives. all along, we have acted with openness, transparency and responsibility. new symptoms to look for — if you think you may have coronavirus in the uk —

a loss of smell or taste. and ten weeks on from one of the world's most stringent lockdowns — bars, restaurants and hairdressers begin to open again in italy. welcome. the us has launched a scathing attack on the world health organization — at its annual meeting of the member states. us health secretary alex azhar said the who had failed to obtain the information that the world needed — which cost lives in the pandemic. have a listen. in an apparent attempt to conceal this outbreak. at least one member state made a mockery of their transparency obligations with tremendous cost for the entire world. we saw that who failed at its core mission of information sharing and transparency when member states did not act in good faith. this cannot ever happen again. the status quo is intolerable. who must change, and it must become far more transparent and far more accountable.

the who hasn't yet responded to those allegations. and although the us health secretary didn't name the country explicitly — previous comments give us a clue. throughout the pandemic, the us has called on china — where the outbreak began — to be more transparent. it's a message we've heard again, and again. today president xi jinping had this to say to critics. translation: all along, we have acted with openness, transparency and responsibility. we have provided the information to the who and the relevant countries in the most timely fashion. we have released the gene sequence at the earliest possible time. we have shared control and treatment experience with the world without reservation. we have done everything in our power to support and assist countries in need. the who's 194 member states met virtually — as leaders push for an independent review of the global

handling of the pandemic. who chief dr tedros was first to speak, urging countries to be open to scrutiny. and he made this announcement: i will initiate an independent evaluation at the earliest appropriate moment to review experience gained and lessons learned and to make recommendations to improve national and global pandemic preparedness and response. south korea's president moon jae—in also weighed in. he called for the who to be given more legal powers to ensure countries report outbreaks and share data. translation: we must update the who international health regulations and strengthen them with binding legal force. a new infectious disease could emerge at any time, and we must be able to respond more quickly and effectively. infection—related data should be shared among countries in a more transparent manner,

and an earlier warning system and a cooperation mechanism must be established. with me is global health correspondent tulip mazumdar. a lot of information and lines of interest coming out from this, but was there and less edge of unity from the leaders? certainly for the first four hours or so, countries came online and most of them were really supportive of the who, talked about global solidarity at the time of this pandemic, and, we do know that there are calls, international calls, led by the un and australia for this independent enquiry into the who's handling of the crisis, but all of the sort of goodwill kind of stopped when it came to the us, and you have the representative

speaking there, there are very critical of the who, they didn't mention china specifically, but talked about a member state date that hasn't been completely transparent. so, this is really the world health organisations stuck in the middle of a bigger geopolitical fight between china and the us. the us is not by far the only country that has criticised china for not being transparent enough at the beginning, and also who criticise the who for being too uncritical of china, but really this has become sort of crowded conversations today. most other countries were supportive of the who, but this will be the headline coming out of this meeting. moving forward, obviously now there will be some kind of cohesive action between the member states, the willingness to be transparent and share data when it comes to virus infections and deaths. will that

happen? south korea have been calling for the who to be given more teeth, more powers to be able to get countries to give information, make sure they give information. the world health organization is member, an advisory body only, you cannot force countries to release information about its investigations, and that is what australia and south korea have been saying, that the who's mandate needs to be widened in order to do that. there will be discussions a brand whether that will be included going forward. it is important to say that the who did actually get into china injanuary and the who did actually get into china in january and february this the who did actually get into china injanuary and february this year, but it was invited by china and it was alongside chinese officials. what other countries are saying is that who should go completely independent so they can find out the source of outbreaks, notjust in china for this outbreak, which is what is needed presently, according

to some country, but for future outbreaks. china may not go for that, but for other countries they will need to say that they would allow an independent team in, so thatis allow an independent team in, so that is a sensitive issue. they may make some sort of commitment to look into that when the pandemic is over. before the who meeting got under way more than 140 world leaders and experts submitted this open letter calling for a ‘people's vaccine' that is free and equally available to all nations. it's main message is this: "only a people's vaccine — with equality and solidarity at its core — can protect all of humanity and get our societies safely running again. a bold international agreement cannot wait." one of the signatories to the letter is professor mariana mazzucato — from university college london. there are basically three demands in the letter. the first is to ensure mandatory worldwide sharing of all covid—i9 related knowledge, in other words, in an era when we talk about big data and collective intelligence, this is the moment to walk that

talk, and that does have to do with, for example, creating pattern pools and really making sure that any knowledge is enforced in terms of the licensing capabilities, so it doesn't remain secret. the second is to establish a global and equitable rapid manufacturing and distribution plan so that we can actually make it for everybody around the world, and that really has to be funded fully by rich nations. third, we have to guarantee that the vaccines, diagnostics and the tests are provided free of charge to everyone. scientists around the world are working at record—speed to develop a vaccine for covid—i9 — though most experts tell us that it's unlikely one will be ready in the next year. however we have had a positive development. today we heard the first us company to carry out human trials into a covid—i9 vaccine has reported positive results. moderna is a biotech firm based in cambridge in massachusetts. it says its vaccine produced antibodies that could neutralise coronavirus.

scientists say early results showed the levels of antibodies were similar to those in blood samples of people who had recovered from covid—i9. the company says the vaccine, "was generally safe and well tolerated, with a safety profile consistent with that seen in prior moderna infectious disease vaccine clinical studies." the bbc‘s health and science correspondent james gallagher cautions this is only phase i, and the next stage of the trial — which begins injuly — will determine whether people are protected against the virus. so there are still many challenges ahead. here's moderna president doctor stephen hodge. our goal is to have a vaccine available for broad distribution by year end or early next year. now, the question, of course, that is out there is, as we start to build data over time, and if we and others build data that shows the vaccine has the potential for benefits, that it is safe and has the potentialfor efficacy, then, of course, there are circumstances where the vaccine can be deployed

to high—risk populations earlier under something called emergency use authorisation. really, though, that is a decision that regulators, in particular the fda, have to make. a loss of smell or taste have been added to the uk's list of coronavirus symptoms that people should look out for and self—isolate. until today, the list only included a high temperature and a new, continuous cough. the new guidance was set out by the chief medical officers of england, scotland, wales and northern ireland, although some doctors say that new symptoms should have been added weeks ago. our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. we would spray some pepper spray into this herd, and if we could smell it then the mask wasn't fitted properly. the surgeon realised he had lost his sense of smell when he was being fitted for personal protective equipment. he kept on working on it was only days later when he develops a fever that he was

swabbed and found to have coronavirus. i can smell it up to 20, 25 sprays. clearly, if you are walking around unaware that you are covid positive then you are a potential source of spread for the virus. so, i could have infected collea g u es virus. so, i could have infected colleagues or patients without knowing it. until today, colleagues or patients without knowing it. untiltoday, the only coronavirus symptoms people in the uk were told to self—isolate with we re uk were told to self—isolate with were a high temperature on a new or continuous car. now loss of taste or smell has been added, but that is weeks after the world health organization included them as symptoms. the who also lists tiredness, aches and pains, sore throat, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, headache and skin rash as other possible warning signs. on the ist of april, the symptoms app from kings college london found that six in ten users who tested positive

covid—i9 had reported loss of smell oi’ covid—i9 had reported loss of smell or taste. the researchers said the nhs have been slow to act, and so missed a huge number of cases. we are talking in excess of 100,000, maybe 200,000 cases. they would have been missed, they would have been out there infecting other people, in creasing the r value, so this will have made the problem worse and brought cases to hospitals, so we regret we didn't act. act sooner.l lack of smell, a no smear,... how many cases you think a been missed? the important thing was to work out if this would add any sensitivity to the diagnostic cluster we were using, and the answer is, a mix of small, very small difference, and we have therefore decided to do it.

former love island style rachel fe nton former love island style rachel fenton was another who is loss of taste and smell was her main symptom. a nurse, she later tested positive covid—19. symptom. a nurse, she later tested positive covid-19. it was very difficult for me at the time, because i didn't have anything to refer to, i didn't realise this was a symptom, and it was so severe, i could have literally drank a cup of vinegar, my loss of taste was so strong. adding loss of smell is a symptom should ensure fewer positive cases fall through the net, crucial if the epidemic is to be brought under control. stay with us on outside source, still to come, as more and more countries ease their lockdown restrictions, we examine how public transport is becoming a key issue. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has said the scottish government will publish a "route map" on thursday that will detail the order

in which scotland will carefully and gradually seek to lift current restrictions. she gave more details earlier. assuming that we see progress in suppressing the virus, the first phase will start from the next formal review date of the 28th of may. within a few days of that, we will aim to allow, for example, more outdoor activities, such as being able to sit in the park, meet up outdoors with someone from another household, as long as you stay socially distanced, some limited outdoor sporting activities, like golf and fishing, the opening of garden centres and recycling facilities, and the resumption of some outdoor work. this first phase will coincide with with our ability to start, on a phased basis, a substantial test, trace and isolate operation to help us keep the virus under control as we start to ease up these restrictions, and that part is absolutely crucial.

this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. the united states has renewed its attack on the world health organization for its response to coronavirus. we're going to spend the next few minutes looking at europe — starting in spain which plans to launch a monthly basic income scheme for the most vulnerable households hit by the coronavirus crisis. our correspondent katya adler explains. "spain is to become first country in europe to introduce a permanent universal basic income programme to help people cope with the financial effects of #covid19. each household will receive a62 euros a month. the aim: reaching up to a million "most vulnerable" spanish households." guy hedgecoe has more from madrid. the possibility of introducing some kind of universal basic income in spain has been talked about this some time, but that debate has

certainly been accelerated by the coronavirus crisis, which has already had a massive impact on the economy, destroying hundreds of thousands ofjobs. the way that this scheme would work as it would be a monthly hand—out of around 460 euros to those who most need it, whether it is single—parent families or others who are marginalised from the mainstream economy. it will be paid out, at first, to around 100,000 homes in spain, and then, if that is successful, the policy would be expanded to up to a million households across the country. this has very much been a pet project of the podemos party, a party on the left, which is the junior partner in the governing coalition, and podemos has frequently been accused by parties on the right of being heavily influenced by venezuelan style populism, and certainly this proposal for universal basic income has faced

those kind of charges, as well, but it does seem as if the government as a whole is very determined to implement this and certainly the socialist party of prime minister pedro sanchez is very much behind it, and if all goes to plan, this proposal will be improved by a cabinet meeting next week, and universal basic income could be introduced in spain as early as next month. to italy — which has also begun to open up after a ten week strict national lockdown. the gondolas of venice are welcoming tourists — albeit looking a little different with social distancing and precautions in place. and this is st peter's basilica. u nfortu nately we unfortunately we can't bring you those pictures, but it is open to the public, and not many people lined up to go in, but in rome

people have been able to attend mass for the first time in more than two months. almost 32,000 people have died in italy but the daily death toll and rise in cases are now the lowest since restrictions were imposed. mark lowen is in milan. as of today, shops, restaurants, bars, headdresses, beauty salons, museums have all reopened. church services, too, have restarted, and i'm speaking to you now from italy's oldest department store, its called rinascente, appropriately enough, rebirth, and let mejust show you what they are doing here to ensure other people have safety. so, everybody who comes in as there are temperature checked, you can see, here, temperature held up to the forehead, the staff have an app to check how many customers are in at any one time. you come in, there are these hand sanitising units dotted all around the store. you can't use testers, make—up testers. if you want to try on clothes then any clothes that are tried on stay in a separate room up on the fourth floor. they are not replaced the shelves.

so, it is almost like the clothes are in quarantine even though italy is no longer, and if you try on shoes, you are given specific disposable socks, if you try on anything else, you are given disposable gloves. so, they are taking it very, very seriously here, of course, with reason, because this is a region thatis reason, because this is a region that is accounted for almost half of all the italian deaths, more than 15,000 people have died here in lombardy for the last three months alone, so ten months —— ten weeks on from a lap down, they are not taking anything for granted. as promised, we can take you to pictures of the gondolas in venice. social distancing it with a difference on the gondolas. they are still there, up and running, doing business with those two metre distance is in place. saint peter's basilica with the other thing i wa nted basilica with the other thing i wanted to show you. quiet, but it

has reopened to the public. it will take, i'm sure, many days for the people to line the route into the basilica, but, of course, it is really thrilling for many italians to see, and encouraged to see that has reopened, as well. mass being held for the first time in two months. again, quieter scenes there, but these are all small steps in the right direction, the italians are saying, and the scene in rome earlier today. as more and more countries ease their lockdown restrictions, what to do about public transport is becoming a central issue. to avoid a second wave of cases, countries need to find a way of making it safe to use. and there is more on how this will happen, the challenges of her

ringing back public transport is looking for a medical. the governor advice is to use it only when there is no alternative, but the number of travellers is rising slowly. let's start with the uk. despite numbers increasing, football last week and the ghost train stations was just 10% of pre—pandemic levels. more services this morning, but not many passengers. nobody here, i don't know, it's packed every day, every time. now, you can see, nobody. since the covid—19 started, right? it used to be very busy, this train station. but now, you can see, there is less than about 20 people now travelling. it does stress you out. i mean, i don't sit worrying about it, there's not much you can do except try and be careful. but, i mean, if you think about it too much, you know, it is worrying. small stations like this one near nottingham, deserted.

but measures are in place to manage larger numbers at major stations and on trains. welcome aboard the 8:30 service to norwich... new messages... please follow social distancing advice and spread out throughout the train. ..and more staff directing you around. london underground, please keep to your left. they will also limit passenger numbers. if they judge that there's already enough people on board a particular train, then they might block the gates off here, and other people will have to wait for the next service. as well as that, some long distance trains are ticket only. and in the future people may be required to book time slots for when they can arrive at a station. next to france which too has eased restrictions. hugh schofield is in paris.

a week after the end of the lockdown, many stations to close, and in several lines there are fewer trains than normal, but the big change on the metro as well as the tram and bus service is that capacity has been reduced at a blow by 50% by the fact that on every second seed, now, there is a sticker saying, please do not sit here, because of the coronavirus. masks are compulsory everywhere, and there is also a rule saying that if you travel in rush—hour at peak times in the morning in the evening, you have to have a form, and authorisation, from your employer saying that you have no choice but to travel. many people were predicting chaos, overcrowding, but in fact it hasn't been like that at all. in fact, the number of people travelling on the transport system here a way, way

down on pre—coronavirus levels, saying that many people, most people may be are heeding the government's advice and continue where they can to work from home. ourfinal stop is hong kong. it's been relatively successful in containing the virus but public transport remains a challenge. laura westbrook from the south china morning post is there. here in hk many have returned to work and the daly commute. the first ting yo notice everyone wears a mask. in fact, the hong kong government has promised to deliver free reusable mask to all hong kong residents. in trains there is not a lot of social distancing, they can be packed at peak hours. at stations, handrails, ticket machines and if persons are disinfected with bleach. staff quickly disinfect

carriages, and they are clean thoroughly overnight. there is also a robot that sprays vaporise disinfectant throughout the carriages. people here are pretty strict about their own personal hygiene. at most public places there isa hygiene. at most public places there is a free hand sanitiser that people can use. however, the first thing i do when i get to work is wash my hands. south korea's top—flight football club, fc seoul, has been forced to apologise after its move to fill in empty seats with mannequins went terribly wrong. the club accepted an offer by a company called dalcom and placed these dummies in the stadium. but it drew criticism because, as you can see, they look more like sex dolls. don't they all went according to plan! don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter,

i'm @babitatv more to come, stay with us. hello there. so far, this month of may has been exceptionally dry, with a rain deficit for many areas. doesn't look like there's much rain in the forecast either, certainly over the next few days, it will be turning warmer, particularly around the middle part of the week, after we've had some rain across northern areas to start the week. by the end of the week, low—pressure moves in, so it's cooler, windier, and for some of us, we will see a little bit of rain. now, the pressure chart for the latter part of monday shows these weather fronts across the northern half of the country, higher pressure towards the south. but it means that through tonight, it will stay cloudy and damp across northern ireland, north wales, northern england, much of central and southern scotland, with outbreaks of rain here. try to the far north of scotland, and also dry across the south, where we will see variable cloud and clear spells, and a mild night to come for premature areas,

temperatures 10—11d being the lowest value. for tuesday it starts off mild, rather cloudy, still quite damp across northern ireland, scotland, northern england, but the rain that should gradually peter out and become more confined to the far north of scotland into the northern isles. elsewhere, a dry story with increasing amounts of sunshine. so, again, another warm day in the south—southeast, 25 degrees — high teens further north. high pressure really starts to build in for wednesday. this is where we start to see the heat building. it pushes that weather front north and draws up the air from spain and france. so it looks like it will be a dry story for most. the rain becomes confined to shetland, lots of sunshine around. that warm southerly breeze will lift those temperatures, this is where we will probably see the peak of the warm weather, 27—28d in the southeast, even in the low 20s celsius across parts of scotland. thursday's another warm day in the south, increasing chance of a heavy shower and thunderstorms. some slightly cooler air will gradually push

in from the west through the day, and then as we end the week, we see this. quite a different story moving in there, low—pressure, quite a deep feature as well, you can see lots of isobars on the chart, and also whether front which will sweep northwards to bring some areas outbreaks of rain. so we end the week on a cooler and a windier notes, thanks to that area of low pressure. and some of us, particularly in the north and the west, will see the rain. so it's probably scotland, northern ireland, perhaps northwest england, western wales, which will see outbreaks of rain. signs that some southern and eastern areas could stay dry altogether.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the united states has renewed its attack on the world health organization for its response to the coronavirus. it said the pandemic had "spun out of control" partly because of what it called the who's "failure". italy has further eased its coronavirus restrictions, ten weeks after it became the first country in the world to impose a nationwide lockdown. shops, restaurants, bars and hairdressers have re—opened. france and germany are proposing a european recovery fund worth more than half a trillion dollars. president emmanuel macron and chancellor angela merkel said the fund would offer grants to the countries and regions hardest hit. the mayor of brazil's biggest city, sao paolo, says hospitals are on the brink of collapse. official figures show less than half of its residents are observing social distancing rules to stem the virus. you are watching bbc news.