this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. there's a huge rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the uk — an increase of almost 70% in april. the uk's approach to coronavirus testing has been "inadequate" throughout the pandemic, according to a committee of mps. president trump says he's taking an anti—malaria drug to ward off coronavirus — despite health officials warning it is unsafe. what do you have to lose? 0k, what do you have to lose? i have been taking it for about a week and a half. every day? at some point... every day, i take the pill every day.

the president also issues an ultimatum to the world health organisation — reform within 30 days or lose all us funding. deaths from coronavirus in uk care homes fall for the second week running, according to new data from the office for national statistics. and the differences in lockdown regulations between the uk's four nations continues to widen. from today, groups of six people can meet up when outdoors in northern ireland. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. there's been a steep increase in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the uk as the effects of the coronavirus lockdown start to impact the economy. figures released by the office for national statistics show

the number of people claiming the benefit has risen by 70% — it's now at 2.1 million, and the total number of weekly hours worked showed its largest annual decrease for ten years, a drop of 25% in the final week of march, after lockdown was introduced. in the us, donald trump has said he is taking the anti—malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus, despite health officials saying it is dangerous. and the president launched another attack on the world health organisation, threatening to pull us funding permanently over its response to covid—19. first let's get the latest on those breaking unemployment figures in the uk from our business correspondent ben thompson, ben, which paid out these figures for and what do they tell us? yes, good morning. they do suggest what could be on the way, because that official figures, the

could be on the way, because that officialfigures, the headline figures, are rather unchanged. they relate to the first three months, january, february and march of this year, and remember in the uk the lockdown was only introduced in that last week of march, so the headline figure is not giving the real picture but if we start to look at some of the indicators they could suggest what is on the way and we get a more accurate picture may be of the challenge coronavirus will pose for the economy and jobs market. you touched on it there. the claimant count is one of the most pressing because that's the one giving an indicator of the number of people who have needed to seek universal credit, financial support, orjobseeker‘s allowance because they are out of work, and as you said that jumping by they are out of work, and as you said thatjumping by nearly 70% coming in at a new high, said thatjumping by nearly 70% coming in ata new high, 850,000 new claimants for that, because people have been unable to go to work. remember, the headline unemployment figures do not reflect people who have been so—called for that, because people have been unable to go to work. remember, the headline unemployment figures do not reflect people who have been so—called

furloughed, those not working but having their salary paid for in large part by the government and still in work, and the figure suggests those figures will get worse if and when that for the scheme does expire. looking towards jobs we can also see the number of vacancies available following at the sharpest rate for ten years, suggesting those who do get laid off could find it very difficult to get a newjob. also, you touched on it, the number of hours worked as well falling by its greatest in ten yea rs, falling by its greatest in ten years, suggesting those who are working are not working as much as they were before. all of that painting a picture of the jobs market really struggling to deal with the impact of coronavirus. currently, the headline rate of unemployment in the uk at 3.9%, one of its lowest levels in a long time, but many of the economists we've spoken to this morning suggest that figure could rise by up to 10% by the end of the year. of course, the big question is when, if and when that bounce back comes m, if and when that bounce back comes in, and many economists are expecting this to be a short lived decline before bouncing back, but

the big question, how long will that bounce back take? and when the economy does start to recover how many of the jobs lost between now and the end of the year can it create once again? that's a big problem and many expecting the unemployment rate may stay elevated for quite a few years to come. thanks, ben. president trump says he's taking an anti—malaria drug as a precaution against the coronavirus, even though american health authorities have warned against it. the us food and drug administration said several weeks ago that there was no proof hydroxychloroquine was effective against the virus, and that it could cause heart problems. mr trump has also renewed his attack on the world health organisation over its response to the initial outbreak in china. in a letter, he said he might make the temporary freeze of us funding of the who, permanent, if it didn't reform. peter bowes reports. hydroxychloroquine, the pill president trump has been promoting for weeks as a drug that may lessen the symptoms of the coronavirus. there is no medical evidence it helps patients recover from the disease.

in fact, it could have fatal side—effects. but mr trump says even though he's healthy, he's trying it anyway. the front line workers, many, many are taking it. i happen to be taking it. hydroxychloroquine? i happen to be taking it, hydroxychloroquine. when? right now, yeah. a couple of weeks ago i started taking it. why? because i think it's good. i've heard a lot of good stories. last month the us food and drug administration said hydroxychloroquine had not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing covid—i9. it issued a warning that some people could suffer serious heart problems as a result of taking it in combination with other drugs. mr trump said he'd heard anecdotal evidence that it had helped some coronavirus patients. this is a pill that's been used for a long time, for 30—40 years on the malaria, and on lupus too, and even on arthritis, from what i understand.

so it's been heavily tested in terms of... i was just waiting to see your eyes light up when i said this, when i announced this, but, yeah, i've taken it for about a week and a half now, and i'm still here. the president's doctor said president trump received regular testing for covid—i9, and that he was negative for the virus and free of symptoms. "after numerous discussions he and i had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risk." but that's not how other doctors see it. the president has been roundly condemned for his use of the drug. it's a medication that has serious side—effects, including cardiac arrhythmias, abnormal heart rhythms, that could be fatal. and so i really worry about other people listening to what president trump is saying and potentially taking this medication that has no proven benefit but actually could have a lot of harm.

with the us death toll from the virus now over 90,000 and the country gradually reopening, president trump seems determined to defy his own experts and offer americans hope that the coronavirus crisis will soon be over. mr trump has also given the world health organisation an ultimatum, threatening permanently to stop funding the who if it fails to to major steps substantive improvements within the next 30 days. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. president trump's renewed criticism of the who comes as the organisation holds a second day of an online meeting of its governing assembly. our correspondent imogen foulkes is in bern for us — i asked her what the response has been to those comments from mr trump. well, the world health organisation in geneva are waking up this morning to that letter, and i think it has caused a certain amount of shock and

dismay, because as the who director—genera dr tedros keep saying, we are in the middle of a pandemic, and our focus saying, we are in the middle of a pandemic, and ourfocus needs to be saving lives, controlling the virus, supporting countries to get to a point where they can get people back to work and return to some kind of normality. there are millions and millions of people facing difficulties all over the world because of this virus. so i think the move by donald trump to say if he doesn't do what he says you will cut theirfunding, he doesn't do what he says you will cut their funding, it he doesn't do what he says you will cut theirfunding, it is he doesn't do what he says you will cut their funding, it is really worrying, for the united stations as a whole —— united nations as a whole, because it depends on states working together, unilaterally, and other countries taking part in the world health assembly have tried,

while approving an independent investigation into the handling of the pandemic, are trying to show their willingness to show solidarity and unity in the face of this pandemic. so it's dismaying notjust to the who, but i think too many other member states as well, this letter. beijing has responded to mr trump's claims that it misled the world health organisation about the coronavirus outbreak, by saying that he is trying to mislead the public to smear china, and use the issue to bargain over its obligations to the who. the uk's cross—party science and technology committee has said testing capacity was not increased "early or boldly enough" when the outbreak began. it said a lack of capacity had driven the decision in mid—march to scale back contact tracing, and largely restrict tests to hospital patients.

our assistant political editor norman smith is in westminsterfor us. tell us more about what the science committee have said. it focused on this decision to stop community testing and focus all testing on hospitals, and the committee want to know who took that decision and why it was taken, because the consequences are as we know care homes were deprived of adequate testing, with devastating consequences for them. it made it much harder for the scientists to model what was going on in the community and how that infection was spreading, and it also pushed back the of test, track and trace, which is now our sort of way out the lockdown. the committee pretty much point the finger of blame at public health england, who they say were too secretive, too restrictive, tried to keep all the testing within their laps rather than encouraging others, universities, health laboratories, to get involved in roll—out mass

testing. public health england have come overnight, hit back saying, not us, not ourjob to provide the logistics for mass testing, we simply test for new pandemics in our laboratories. they say the people who should have been rolling out mass testing where the department of health, in other words matt hancock. i think we are now seeing the shape of the blame game which will now u nfold of the blame game which will now unfold between some of westminster who clearly believe public officials and public health england dropped the ball, and others who take the view it was the government to drop the ball and should have been instructing public health england and other laboratories to roll out mass testing much, much earlier. what about the contact—tracing app? this is crucial. we know it has been piloted in the isle of wight and there has been a fairly good take—up of it. we know matt hancock has recruited something like 21,000 people to carry out the track and trace. we also know he doesn't think you need to get new infections down

much further, that we are pretty much further, that we are pretty much good to go. but we are not good to go because ministers are refusing to go because ministers are refusing to give any timeline beyond saying "in the coming weeks. " and this matters because teaching unions have said, "well, we are not going back on during the first unless and until track and trace is up and ready, unless this app is functioning," and this morning the work and pensions secretary therese coffey was asked, well, does this therefore means schools are not going to go back on during the first? this is what she said... i'm not aware that that's been set as a necessary condition for the phased reopening of primary schools and we should remember primary schools have actually been open throughout this time, for a very small number of pupils. and this is about seeing us take—back reception yeari and 6, so people at the beginning and end

of their primary education, and the guidance has been written very carefully to help headteachers to open their schools safely, and i think it is better to get the app as good as we can make it rather than rush out and app then have to change it. so it is important that that trial, that pilot on the isle of wight, is allowed to run to its full length that is needed rather than perhaps the target deadline which the health secretary had set. listening to therese coffey there, it sounds like there may be some glitches with the app. to have testing, tracing, all of that, we need the app and if there are doubts about that it puts the whole sort of scheme back, which means our route out of the lockdown becomes longer.

so we really need some sort of solution if there are difficulties with the app, given we know there have already been rumblings about why the nhs has been developing its own app rather than using the one other countries are using devised by apple and google, that we could simply have gone with their app, but instead decided to have our own, and when we read some of the technical blog sites etc there do appear to be some difficulties with this model of app. thank you very much, norman. that was norman smith at westminster. figures from the office for national statistics show that the numbers of deaths in care homes are falling for the second week in a row. in the week to may eighth, there were 1,666 covid—19 registered deaths in care homes in england and wales. this is down from 2423

the previous week. let's go into those figures in more detail — with me is robert cuffe — the bbc head of statistics. cya n cyan i think it can be confusing for people to hear the statistics versus the one we hear everyday from the government —— yes, i think. we need to go back to the 8th of may, because there is quite a delay with deaths being registered. around that time, the uk government had announced just under 32,000 deaths, people who had tested positive for covid, and they are shown on the top bar of the covid, and they are shown on the top barof the graph covid, and they are shown on the top bar of the graph that viewers can see here on the screen in front of you. looking at the death registrations, people notjust testing positive but we are a doctor thought covid contributed to their death, it is broader, just over 40,000 across the uk. looking at the number statisticians prefer, and we here at the press conferences all the time, it is called excess mortality, just how many people more died compared to what we expect at this time of year, that total figure isjust under 55,000

this time of year, that total figure is just under 55,000 now, this time of year, that total figure isjust under 55,000 now, the total death tour of covid both directly from the virus and indirectly and that keeps going up, up and up and up that keeps going up, up and up and up and it is different from the numberwe are from up and it is different from the number we are from the government every day, but it is doing a different thing. and it is a shockingly big number. tell us about the trends. this is cumulative, the total so far, and this tells us on a week by week basis what is happening in the news is good. the total numberof in the news is good. the total number of deaths are falling, the total number of deaths where people suspect covid is at the heart of it is falling as well, so that is good news we have been hearing for a while. the new stuff today is really about care home deaths, the second week ina about care home deaths, the second week in a row as you have said that ca re week in a row as you have said that care home deaths have been following andl care home deaths have been following and i think we can hopefully show that to the viewers as well, where you see the number of deaths we have seen across the uk in care homes is now down atjust seen across the uk in care homes is now down at just under 5000. we might not have that figure quite ready yet. at the peak it was over 8500 deaths, so it has full insignificant little over the last two weeks. there is an issue here.

in the week until the 8th of may there was a bank holiday, registration offices closed, therefore you might miss a day of registrations, but the falls we have seenin registrations, but the falls we have seen in the last week are bigger than you would expect than simply by lopping off 20%, so it is really that second week in a row where we have seen evidence that the number of deaths in care homes are falling, notjust of deaths in care homes are falling, not just those we know are caused of deaths in care homes are falling, notjust those we know are caused by covid, but broadly all the debts we are seeing there as well. can we use these figures to illustrate who is most at risk from covid—19? illustrate who is most at risk from covid-19? you can analyse them by way of the deaths have happened, like we have been discussing, and you can also look particularly at age. it is worth reiterating that age. it is worth reiterating that age isjust the single biggest risk factor for dying from covid. of all the debts we have seen so far about 70% have happened in people over the age of 75. that is not 70% of the population, so it is a really disproportionate risk. many people who have just retired, 65 plus, that accounts for 15%. in those —— 50%

full stop in those aged 15—44, big bulk of the population, it is only 10% of the debts, and those under that age, under 44, 10% of the debts, and those under that age, under44, it 10% of the debts, and those under that age, under 44, it is less than 10%, so there is a really strong pattern where you see a tiny proportion of the deaths happening in people under the age of 40—45, then that risk increases steeply as you go up in age with the vast majority happening in people who are retirement age and, to be honest, even further on, passed 75 years old. it doesn't mean they would have died three weeks later but it does mean the big risk is happening in those kind of older people. thank you very much, robert. thank you. let's bring you the headlines on bbc news... there's a huge rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the uk — an increase of almost seventy percent in april. the uk's approach

to coronavirus testing has been "inadequate" throughout the pandemic, according to a committee of mps. president trump says he's taking an anti—malaria drug to ward off coronavirus — despite health officials warning it may be unsafe. with lockdowns across europe beginning to ease, signs of the economic impact are onlyjust starting to show. here to tell us more is katharina utermohl, senior economist for europe at allianz. i wonderfirst if i wonder first if you could describe the impact on jobs across europe. we like to describe the impact of the covid—19 crisis on the economy is being struck by an asteroid. even in countries like germany where there has been a remarkable run over the la st has been a remarkable run over the last decade there has been a surge in unemployment over march and april. sorry, i was in unemployment over march and april. sorry, iwas going in unemployment over march and april. sorry, i was going to ask you specifically about the situation in germany. in germany what is interesting, the real extent of the

labour market output here can only be seen in the number of workers using short work schemes. taking that into consideration, we have a shadow unemployment rate of almost 30%, whereas the real unemployment rate is actually below 6%. your economy in germany is now gradually opening up, isn't it? what differences that it is a huge difference. what we see for germany as an early opener is that economic activity is showing signs of recovery, but germany already before that was better placed to come through this crisis because the lockdown was less stringent and was overall shorter in duration, and in addition clearly the determined fiscal policy action, we have to think 30% of german gdp has been put on the table to mitigate the economic consequence of

this, a clear reason why germany will probably outperform its european neighbours. is that what economists describe as a v shaped recovery, economists describe as a v shaped recovery , a economists describe as a v shaped recovery, a proper bounce back, or what are you expecting in germany? unfortunately not. we are holding onto our forecasts of au we are holding onto our forecasts of a u shaped recovery, so economists also in germany where we might go through this crisis and a better condition, we don't expect a return to business as usual. this is to do with on the one hand some restrictions remaining in place for now, for instance bans on large events, but also as restrictions are lifted, you know, consumers will remain cautious regarding big spending decisions. you know, for instance, given the labour market situation. but also going into social situations, because there is still a fear of contagion. will there be some sectors that are

damaged for the long term? yeah, so in particular here what we see is the tourism sector standing out as one that will reopen fully at a much later stage, and probably where we will see the recovery to be less dynamic compared to other sectors. so here, going back to the labour market, short work schemes will basically build a bridge into nowhere, because it will take much longer for activity to return to a normal level, something that we have seen last maybe in december 2019, and therefore as short work schemes run out we will still see an increase in unemployment in those sectors. thank you very much for talking to us, thank you, katharina utermohl, senior economist for europe at allianz. meanwhile, in the uk a study warns that the country's youngest workers could see their incomes permanently affected because of the impact of the coronavirus lockdown. the research has been carried out

by the resolution foundation — a think—tank which focuses on low—to—middle incomes. nye cominetti, senior economist at the independent think—tank the resolution foundation. thank you very much for talking to us. tell us a little more about the figures, particularly the impact on 18 to 24—year—olds. figures, particularly the impact on 18 to 24-year-olds. yes, this morning the ons published data on the labour market and it is really our first look at official data at the scale of what is happening in the scale of what is happening in the labour market. so we saw one measure of employment was down by 500,000, and the number of vacancies in the economy have fallen by half, down by 400,000 from march to april, and a very big increase in the number of people claiming unemployment —related benefits. that was up by 850,000 from march to april. some data, like the official unemployment figure, is actually still a bit old and we are sort of looking in the rear view mirror as

it is only up—to—date from march. but in our up—to—date data now taking us to april we can now see the scale of the virus on the labour market. in terms of, i mean, do you have a breakdown of the ages? we do. separately, we did our own study looking at who in the labour market has been affected and, as it probably won't be a surprise as young people are one of the groups ha rd est young people are one of the groups hardest hit, obviously because there are more likely to work in the sector is being shut down. we found that one in three young people aged under 25 have either lost theirjobs or been furloughed compared to one in six workers of prime age. that is obviously worrying in the short term but we also know from past recessions that what happens to young people in a recession, you know, they carried out within four yea rs, know, they carried out within four years, so we called it employment scars, so those who saw the jobs and

pay cut in the last recession are still likely to be lower paid seven yea rs still likely to be lower paid seven years on so that is why it is such a worrying crisis for young people. absolutely. of course these figures would be worse if it wasn't for the chancellor's job retention would be worse if it wasn't for the chancellor'sjob retention scheme which has protected about 7.5 millionjobs? yes, i think the latest data this morning was actually 8 millionjobs. these figures really underline quite how important that scheme has been. 8 million jobs, important that scheme has been. 8 millionjobs, if that important that scheme has been. 8 million jobs, if that scheme wasn't in place, you know, unemployment would be absolutely catastrophic. we are already expecting record levels of unemployment next month when we get the more timely data but, yes, it shows how important that scheme has been. thank you for talking to us this morning. nye cominetti from the resolution foundation, and independent think tank. —— an independent think tank. —— an independent think tank. —— an independent think tank. let's just take a moment to share

with you some of our bbc research — comparing the way the coronavirus outbreak is currently affecting different countries around the world. starting with brazil — and you can see that infections and deaths are still on a rising trajectory. the country has the fourth—highest number of confirmed cases in the world, and the statistics suggest transmission is still at a high rate. russia would appear to be at a similar stage of the spread of covid—19. the country says it has 2,700 deaths and nearly 300,000 confirmed cases of infection. compare those graphs with some european nations which have been in lockdown for several weeks. the uk's line is now moving steadily downwards — and the government has begun easing restrictions. and france seems to be even further ahead in stopping the spread of the virus. a french court has now ruled that the government must lift a blanket ban on meetings at places of worship — saying the ban is "disproportionate in nature".

sweden has attracted worldwide attention, think —— for never going into a full lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic. but now the country is facing growing criticism for failing to protect its older population. more than half of elderly deaths from the virus have taken place in care homes. the bbc‘s seen evidence which suggests some regions may be restricting access to health care, by discouraging nurses and care workers from sending patients into hospital. maddy savage reports from stockholm. a country that never had a lockdown. sweden promised to focus on protecting the elderly, while keeping much of society open. but thousands are dead, and there are concerns many patients aren't getting enough help. the nurse called me and told me that my dad passed away. he was coughing and he wasn't feeling good, so she gave him a dose of morphine. and some other shot.

the doctor visited him and he didn't get any oxygen. it's horrible. it's up to individual regions to make decisions about health care. in stockholm, officials insist oxygen is available for those who need it most. i think it's an ethical dilemma for both of the patients and the staff. but if you look at the guidelines, you can make good palliative care at the homes with the ordinary measures without oxygen. if you need oxygen, maybe we can bring it to the care centres or the other homes or you can transport the patients to the hospital if the medical decision is that they should benefit from it. but some believe not enough patients make it to hospital. this nurse worked in care homes in this city during the start of the crisis. they told us we shouldn't send

anyone into the hospital. even if they may be 65. how do you feel about that? well, some of them have a lot of years left to live with loved ones, but they don't have the chance. officials in her area say nurses can call in doctors into make assessments about hospitalisation. in stockholm, this unused military field hospital has become a political battle ground. officials say its proof the elderly aren't being held back because of a lack of beds. but critics say it's a symbol sweden's been more cautious of hospitalising elderly people tham many of its european neighbours. the message has been "they are so fragile, they can't cope with more advanced care." that's the swedish message. do you think that is the right message? no. why not? because if you need care and you can benefit from care, for example, oxygen for a short time, you should have it.

at a press conference last week, sweden's prime minister said he trusted regional authorities to make the right decisions. translation: sometimes the best mate be to move this person to hospital, but experts also say there are occasions when that is not the right thing to do. we told the regions that the state will cover all the extra costs that is connected to covid—19, so don't bother about the finances. we will take care of that — make sure that it works in the best way. but the government's admitted it is deeply concerned by the number of deaths in care homes. it recently announced funding to improve training for workers and create thousands more permanentjobs. but that's a bittersweet message for the many who've already lost loved ones. maddy savage, bbc news, stockholm. about another regular we spoke to a man called pull stupor to find himself homeless in in bradford. --

we spoke to a man called paul stewart. he was illegally evicted. we asked if anyone could help. a man said he had accommodation in shipley. maddie has said she lives five miles from him and need some joinery work done. she said she would be happy to fetch pull from shipley and pay him to complete the work. steve said please pass on my details to the man who needs help. morris has asked her to help, lisa has offered to give him £10 towards his phone bill. best of all, we have had an e—mail from his phone bill. best of all, we have had an e—mailfrom bradford council, we are trying to get in touch with your guest in order to support him, do you have contact numbers and

possibly a location? that is from bradford city council, that is the power of the medium, so to speak, as they come off air i will make sure that he gets in touch and he gives paul some accommodation for the night, and i will let you know. the headlines: there's a huge rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the uk , an increase of almost 70% in april. the uk's approach to coronavirus testing has been "inadequate" throughout the pandemic, according to a committee of mps. president trump says he's taking an anti—malaria drug to ward off coronavirus — despite health officials warning it is unsafe. what do you have to lose? ok, what do you have to lose? i have been taking it for about a week, about a week and a half — at some point every day. i take itakea i take a pill everyday.

the president also issues an ultimatum to the world health organization — reform within 30 days or lose all us funding. deaths from coronavirus in uk care homes fall for the second week running, according to new data from the office for national statistics. more now on president trump having revealed he is taking the drug hydroxychloroquine as a precaution against covid—19 after a white house aide tested positive for the virus. hydroxychloroquine is a drug prescribed for those suffering from malaria, auto—immune conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. the us food and drug administration has classed the drug as not safe or effective for treating or preventing coronavirus, and warned taking it could be fatal. here's the president speaking at the white house last night. i happen to be taking it, i happen to be taking it.

i'm taking it. hydroxychloroquine. right now, yeah. a couple of weeks ago i started taking it. i think it is good. i've heard a lot of good stories. dr sarahjarvis is a gp and clinical director for patientaccess.com. hello to you, drjarvis, good morning. how do you react to this? intensive bad news, donald trump appears to be the gift that keeps on giving. if it was not bad enough that he was touting this drug before there were any studies, then he went on to suggest scientist should be injecting disinfectant into cells inside peoples bodies, and ultraviolet light, which we know can cause cancer. his latest pronouncement is in direct contradiction to the food and drug administration and the nhra in britain. there are risks as well as

side—effects with all drugs, even if they drug has been used in one condition for a long time, if another condition has different risks, that drug might be different. one of the big issues with covid is heart conditions, and both hydroxychloroquine and the other drug given with that can exacerbate heart rhythm problems. he seemed to intimate he had come to this decision together with his physician. i don't know if you had seen any interviews with his scientific team, i know he has managed to fall out with anthony faucl managed to fall out with anthony fauci, an extraordinary clinician, but he appears to ride roughshod. what he claims, my understanding was, was that he requested it from the clinician and they, quote, discuss the risks and benefits for him. if you were trump's physician and you knew with a reasonable degree of certainty, i would suggest, knowing his previous

actions, that you would be sacked within minutes if he did not get what he wanted, what would you do?|j am what he wanted, what would you do?” am not sure i would give him a drug which could potentially lead to some sort of heart failure? or an abnormal heart rhythm which could be fatal or lead to problems within this —— inside the eyes, the liver, it could cause psychosis. you are right, iam it could cause psychosis. you are right, i am with you but i am not his doctor. would i have preferred to be sacked than give him it? categorically, yes. is this dangerous? will it lead to others attempting to use this drug if they can get hold of it? no question, there is very good evidence already that overall we have a fairly stable number of people taking these drugs, it is used for lupus, sometimes it is used in rheumatoid arthritis and sometimes to treat malaria, but people have been travelling less so none malaria is countries, the level of required should go down. we had

seen a vast spike in the usa, we had seen a vast spike in the usa, we had seen the lupus association over here saying in the early days when donald trump was talking about it, they really begged people not to start stockpiling and doctors not to prescribe it because it was calling shortage for patients with lupus who desperately need it. when he made the pronouncement about disinfectant, maryland and new york had to issue emergency statements because they had had so many calls from people to the emergency services about whether they had taken over planning to take disinfectant as a result of what he said, ido disinfectant as a result of what he said, i do not think there is any doubt this will have an impact and it worries me enormously. thank you very much for talking to us, doctor sarah jarvis. last year india's unemployment rate was at 6% — a 45 year high. now, the coronavirus outbreak has made a bad situation much, much worse, with india's unemployment rate rising to 24%. one in four people lost theirjobs in the country between march and april, hitting daily wage earners and those from poorer

sections of society hardest. from delhi, the bbc‘s arunoday mukharji reports. every day the covid—19 outbreak brings a new challenge for india's working class. 90% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector. with 18 million entrepreneurs shutting down their operations, daily wage labourers have no certainty on whether there will be jobs to go back to. translation: we're helpless. we can't send money home. by taking ourjobs away, they're snatching away food from our mouths. unable to wait out the lockdown and in desperation to get home, an overcrowded truck or a journey on foot are the only options. 122 million workers have lost theirjobs since march and the international labour organization has warned that nearly 400 million workers are at risk of being pushed deeper into poverty during this crisis. even lower incomejobs

like pinky's are on the line. translation: there are no savings to depend on. we have to work every day so that we can afford food and basic living. and it's notjust those already in the job market. with millionsjoining india's workforce every month, the pandemic‘s economic cost on india's youth may be irreversible. the long—term damage is youngsters who are unable to find jobs today are unable to save for tomorrow. so the country is going to see a large population with low incomes and no savings. 60 million people who lost theirjobs last month were below the age of 30. before the lockdown, 40—year—old chandra ka nt gajbha re used to make ends meet by driving an auto rickshaw. despite being a phd scholar, he has struggled to find a suitable job for years. translation: i have got a masters degree, a bachelors in education, five of my research papers have been published and my phd is in its last stage.

and now, the lockdown has meant he too is without an income. as india fights covid—19, the fate of millions hangs in the balance, and it's notjust about saving lives, but also, livelihoods. arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. from today, groups of up to six people from different households are allowed to meet outdoors in northern ireland. it's the latest example of the widening gap between the lockdown rules of the four uk nations. a cross—party group of mps has written to prime minister boris johnson to stress the importance of england, scotland, wales and northern ireland working closely together during the pandemic. andy moore has this report. from today in northern ireland, up to six people from different households can meet outdoors. in england, only two people can meet up. in wales and scotland the message is still to stay at home. it's a sign that the easing of lockdown is happening

at a different pace in different parts of the uk. the northern ireland executive says sports like tennis and golf can also now resume. we are told that outdoor activities are able to be accommodated because the virus doesn't spread as easily outdoors as indoors. and so we have been told that we will revisit this issue again, and we will, it will be kept under constant review. the people of scotland will have to wait a little while longer, until the end of the month, for restrictions to be eased. the first minister said she would be announcing more information about a phased reopening on thursday. this will take account of the up—to—date estimates of the transmission rate or our numberand the number of cases. it will also take account of the latest national records of scotland report due on wednesday on the number of deaths from covid. the uk government has now announced the loss of smell or taste will be

added to the official list of symptoms for covid—19. some scientists say that's much too late. the government said it would only make a very small difference to the number of people diagnosed. the important thing was to work out if this would add any sensitivity to the diagnostic cluster we were using and the answer is it makes a small, very small difference, and we have therefore decided to do it. there's been a significant expansion to the testing programme. across the uk, anyone over the age of five who has symptoms can now get a test done. the results should be available within 48 hours, but in many cases it's currently taking longer than that. it was announced yesterday that another 160 people had died with coronavirus in all settings in the uk. that's the lowest figure for several weeks, but there's often a lag in reporting on a monday. the total death toll

now stands at 34,796. for those of us still dreaming of a summer holiday abroad, there is some hope. from next month its planned there will be a 14—day quarantine scheme for people returning home from overseas. but the government said there could be exemptions for countries with a low coronavirus infection rate. andy moore, bbc news. let's get the thoughts now of virologist dr lindsay broadbent from queen's university belfast. good morning to you. what do you make of this news that altoe gatherings of up to six people from outside the same household in northern ireland can go ahead? -- outdoor gatherings. i think lots of people will be pleased to hear this, many others have next friends and family for a long time. obviously any easing of restrictions carries risk but i think the risk here has

been carefully weighed against the benefits. i am optimistic that this is moving forward in a logical, very sensible manner. does it makes sense to you that up to six can meet in northern ireland, in england it is just one—on—one and in scotland and wales the message is still too stay at home, essentially? if people are maintaining social distance when they meet outdoors, be it in a park, a beach or garden, as long as they are keeping more than two metres distance from each other, i am not sure of any added risk if it is 204 people as long, as i say, social distance is adhered to. we know for example that many people have gone out to exercise, so there after very busy parks, he would come into contact with many people you do not know. i think this six people, although there is slightly increased

risk with a larger group, that risk is very small. does that mean it is about the way politicians interpret the science? because the science cannot be different in england, scotla nd cannot be different in england, scotland wales and northern ireland? you are quite right, the science behind virus transmission is the same worldwide, and that is really driven by the proximity you are to someone, how long you spend with someone, how long you spend with someone and how many people you are in contact with. obviously the different chief medical officers and the different health departments will adhere to different rules and regulations, but they are all following the same science. does it matter that michael lets compare northern ireland and england, in england i could go out in a park and meet one person from another household. if i was in belfast i

could meet six. i use saying the numbers don't really matter because the risk of transmission of the virus is the same and as long as you are two metres apart it is fine? in essence, yes, as long as you are maintaining social distance there is not risk. however, if you are meeting in a very crowded part, that adds risk, so i would urge people, whether they are meeting two or six people, try to do it in an area that is not too busy. if you can imagine having several groups of six or even two people, it adds to the overall impactand two people, it adds to the overall impact and crowded nurse of an outdoor area. the other initial risk is how you will travel to get to where you are meeting, are you using public transport or does everyone have to enter through the same date, are they all touching the same hard surfaces? those actions carry more risk than sitting two metres apart from a new friends. as a viral

adjust, do you have a view on president trump taking this anti—malaria drug? —— is a virologist? quite frankly, ithink it is ridiculous, there is zero evidence that hydroxychloroquine works. the first study conducted was in severely ill patients and showed a severe no small benefit to severely ill patients in icu. —— showed a small benefit. there was any study of thousands and thousands of covid—19 patients which showed that hydroxychloroquine was associated with greater risk of death. i would urge people, please, do not take hydroxychloroquine u nless do not take hydroxychloroquine unless prescribed by a doctor. thank you very much. in two as. dr lindsay broadbent. the headlines on bbc news... there's a huge rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the uk , an increase of almost 70% in april. the uk's approach to coronavirus testing has been "inadequate" throughout the pandemic,

according to a committee of mps. president trump says he's taking an anti—malaria drug to ward off coronavirus — despite health officials warning it may be unsafe. there's been a huge rise in people claiming unemployment benefit — because of the lockdown. before the pandemic employment had hit a record high. ben thompson is our business presenter. hello. good morning. we are starting to get a snapshot of what the coronavirus pandemic means for unemployment in the uk. the headline figures do not show much change because they relate to the first three months of the year, the lockdown in the uk only came into force in the last week of march. the most force in the last week of march. the m ost rece nt force in the last week of march. the most recent figures paint a picture ofan most recent figures paint a picture of an economy that will really

struggle to sustainjobs of an economy that will really struggle to sustain jobs because people are at home, unable to work, and those businesses able to get back had so little certainty about what happens next. furniture manufacturer. good morning. i know you have about 38 staff, give me a sense of what they are doing and how much, crucially, they can work? 38 staff, of which 26 are currently furloughed and we have 12 currently working in the business. a lot of those are in the business. a lot of those are in the production facility. what we are actually doing is working with the nhs to provide sneeze screens in hospitals and covid—19 isolation pods and a number of other measures which we will be launching an

additional package to go into the general workspaces in factories, offices and warehouses to provide social distancing measures. so there isa social distancing measures. so there is a silver lining in some of this for you in that you're working with giving before, and i know you have a big order book of stuff that is simply on hold because your clients do not know what is happening and you cannot get in and deliver, but you cannot get in and deliver, but you cannot get in and deliver, but you can adjust the business to maybe make use of some of these changes that might come into work places, to make bespoke furniture to keep us further apart, for example? to give you a bit of background, our business was turning over 2 million at the end of the last financial yearin at the end of the last financial year injuly19, we launched our interiors division so we could provide a full end to end solution, not only manufacturing but also designing the space, fitting it out,

everything that happens in that space we can manage and install, including all of the mechanical electricals, the plumbing as well, flooring, ceilings, walls. the situation for us, we were on target to do 3.6 million this year and it match our order book of over 700,000 confirmed orders was delayed, so as you can imagine, with everything invested in the business, the house on the line and an absolutely amazing team of colleagues that i work with, of which 28 have over 600 years ofjoint service, i was obviously very worried about our future. we have repurposed, as we said earlier, and i think we are waiting for our order book to come back, some of which had started to come back. we are doing a coffee

shopin come back. we are doing a coffee shop in oxford at the moment, we have a restaurant in baker street, london, to do, which might happen in june but will definitely happen. the re st of june but will definitely happen. the rest of eight, i will give you an example, there was an hotel that we we re example, there was an hotel that we were doing 138 bedrooms, that has been pushed back for another 18 months. i would welcome anybody in the industry to come to us, because we can provide an excellent service, we can provide an excellent service, we have a really good team and i would rather have a team working here with a full order book, because we need to grow employment in this region, this is the black country, it is the midlands powerhouse, if you like, the midlands engine, and without smes like us, the region will be decimated. ok, mark, it is good to talk to you. as you said, with everything on the line i know time is really tough for you, so

best of luck and i hope the audiobook bounces back and you get the staff back to work. victoria, so many businesses in that position, finding it really hard to know what to do next, lots of things on hold, lots of uncertainty, they are really hoping there is clarity about when they can get back to work. business will adapt and change, it will find opportunities but it needs a bit of encouragement uncertainty about where to make those decisions. more from me later. —— encouragement and certainty. a mass evacuation is under way from coastal areas of india and bangladesh as cyclone amphan moves towards land. it's the first ‘super— cyclone' in the bay of bengal in 20 years. forecasters say it has wind speeds in excess of 200 kmh with even stronger gusts. amphan is expected to weaken slightly when making landfall on wednesday. our correspondent yogita limaye is following developments from mumbai. in india around 50,000 people have

been moved to safety, from the area north of the sundarban islands. other people living along the coast in the states of orissa as well as west bengal are also being evacuated. in bangladesh the disaster management minister has told the bbc that they plan to move as many as 2 million people to cyclone shelters, and that process has been going on all of today. the cyclone was expected to make landfall sometime on wednesday, an area near the border of india and bangladesh. the densely populated city of calcutta, india's disaster response chief has said could be impacted by the cyclone, is a massive process is under way. both of these countries have a lot of experience dealing with cyclones, because they develop every year between april to december in the bay of bengal. of course this is a super cyclone and while wind speeds are expected to reduce slightly when it

makes landfall, india's weather department are saying that the storm surge could be as high as 10—16 feet, so flooding in coastal areas is a major worry right now. you are watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol. over the next couple of days it will turn our men so today is longer than yesterday —— our yesterday and tomorrow will be warmer than today. dry weather, sunshine, lots of it will ease but some across the north of scotland where we have a weather front will linger. we will hang on to the cloud here. for the rest of the uk, as we go through the afternoon, the cloud continues to break and i will be more sunshine. digital bits and pieces we have left across northern england, north wales, may be northern ireland, will ease in the next couple of hours. —— the drizzly bits and pieces. temperatures responding accordingly, highs of 25

or 26 responding accordingly, highs of 25 or26 in the responding accordingly, highs of 25 or 26 in the london area, along the east, temperatures getting up to 20 or possibly 22 but in northern ireland we are looking at about 19 in belfast. through the evening and overnight, we will see low cloud, understand fog form through the irish sea, english channel and north sea, with hill fog affecting some western parts of the uk. with this all going on it will not be cold and we will lose the low cloud, mist and fog very quickly tomorrow, leaving us with a lot of sunshine across—the—board. we are dragging up some warm airfrom across—the—board. we are dragging up some warm air from france and across—the—board. we are dragging up some warm airfrom france and spain and once again tomorrow we are looking at something skies. tomorrow could be the warmest day of the year so far if we hit 27 or 28 in the london area, the 22 in glasgow, aberdeen 19, 17 in belfast. this is a weather front coming from the west, it will push steadily eastwards overnight wednesday and

into thursday as a weak feature. the other thing that will happen on thursday late morning into the early afternoon we will start to see thunderstorms developed anywhere in the south—eastern quarter. we will not all catch one and if you don't it will still be warm. on the other side of the weather front we get back into dry conditions, temperatures down a touch but 20 in glasgow still feels pretty nice. a deep area of low pressure comes our way on friday, introducing windy conditions and terrain sweeping across the uk. 30 weak in the south—east. gusts of between about 50 and 60 mph off north—west scotland.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. there were almost 55,000 excess deaths in the uk between march 21st and may 8th, according to new figures from the office for national stastistics. the data reveals that deaths from coronavirus in uk care homes fell for the second week running. there's a huge rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the uk, an increase of almost 70% in april. president trump says he's taking an anti—malaria drug to ward off coronavirus, despite health officials warning it is unsafe.

i happen to be taking it. i happen to be taking it. the president also issues an ultimatum to the world health organization — reform within 30 days or lose all us funding. the uk's approach to coronavirus testing has been "inadequate" throughout the pandemic, according to a committee of mps. and the differences in lockdown regulations between the uk's four nations continues to widen. from today, groups of six people can meet up when outdoors in northern ireland. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. official statistics released in the uk show the number of excess deaths caused by coronavirus.

figures from the office for national statistics indicate that the coronavirus crisis led to an extra 55,000 deaths in the uk, up until the week of may 8th. meanwhile deaths realted to covid—19 in care homes in the uk fell for the second week in a row. —— increased, but by a smaller number ina —— increased, but by a smaller number in a row. in the us, donald trump has said he is taking the anti—malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus, despite health officials saying it is dangerous. and the president launched another attack on the world health organization, threatening to pull us funding permanently over its response to covid—19. and back in the uk there's been a steep increase in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit, rising by 70% up to 2.1 million. let's go into those figures in more detail. with me is robert cuffe,

the bbc head of statistics. talk us through that 55,000 figures because that's number of excess deaths but it's always a complicated picture. and it's a very different number we're used to hearing about everyday in the daily briefings from the government so it's worth explaining we get there. activate the main which is when these figures refer the government announced nearly 32,000 deaths in the uk. those were people who had tested positive for coronavirus and then died within four weeks of that and that's the bar we four weeks of that and that's the barwe are four weeks of that and that's the bar we are seeing at the top of this chart right hind us. those are people with a positive result. you are missing the picture in the community. if you go broader than that and look at after people die, their death certificate see if it mentions covid—19 as a possible cause, including clinical diagnosis, that captures more of the figure. it

goes from around 32,000 to just over 40,000. the figure we're talking about, 55,000, is what statisticians call excess deaths. deaths run a pretty predictable pattern. you would expect a certain amount at this time of year and we have seen far in excess. if you add those up you cannot tribute them to the pandemic, not necessarily just you cannot tribute them to the pandemic, not necessarilyjust from infections but the strain on health care, social care and the problems of lockdown and that is what brings you to 55,000. the total death toll of the epidemic really, notjust the virus. that's the figure that will be the important one in the end. borisjohnson said international comparison will be only correct when countries have their own excess death figures. daily death figures area death figures. daily death figures are a little bit different but we have to be careful not to run away from comparisons because there are

some date clear messages in the data even at this early stage. countries like south korea and germany who have far fewer deaths even on the slightly dodgy daily measure, the difference between the uk and those countries is much bigger than can be explained away by deferential differences. true desyrel is best ca ptu red this a figure that has committed eight is that a quarter of all coronavirus deaths have come in care homes. the ones that mention covid—19 on the death certificate, about 11,000 happened in care homes. the total height of the bars is the total number of deaths in care homes in the red blocks are the ones where they mentioned covid—19 on the death certificate. we can see that sums up to around 12,000, more than a

quarter. we know a lot of residents move hospital before they die and so thatis move hospital before they die and so that is maybe what is going on there. that's the bad news but the good news is these figures are coming down. we have seen for a couple of weeks of the death figures have been falling across the uk. this is the second week we have seen these fall and we can see from the chart both total death are falling, covid—19 registered deaths are falling, both coming down. maybe a bit ofan falling, both coming down. maybe a bit of an artefact in the last week in that it was a bank holiday, not very meth death registrations get processed but this fall is even bigger than you would —— not very many death registrations. we are still way above normal, but it is getting better. what else can you glean from the statistics? they do analysis by where the deaths happen but also who is getting affected and there is a really clear pattern we have been seeing in many sources. if

you look at all the coronavirus registered deaths so far, more than 70% happened in people over the age of 75. contrasted with people under the age of 45, they are accounting for maybe around just over 10% of the deaths and of course that's a much larger chunk of the population. so the risk increases deeply as you get older. but it's a very low for people under 45... get older. but it's a very low for people under 45. .. sorry, comparatively low for people under 45. and it is affecting those over the age of 65, 75 and 85 even more. thank you. let's get more on those unemployment figures from the office for national statistics, it's the first set of unemployment and benefit figures affected by the coronavirus lockdown. the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in april soared by more than 856,000 to almost 2.1 million. with me now is our business presenter ben thompson. talk us through the figures. you are

right, we are getting a snapshot now of what the coronavirus pandemic means for the economy and crucially for our jobs. means for the economy and crucially for ourjobs. the overall headline figures don't give us too much of an insight in that they relate to the first three months of the year, january to march and remember the lockdown of the uk only coming into force on that last week of march. so to get a better idea of what could be happening, we have other indicators that are more recent. they also account for part of april too. the most clear of those are the i too. the most clear of those are the , that could includejobseeker‘s allowa nce , that could includejobseeker‘s allowance but might also include things like universal credit. given the increase we have seen, 85 6000 extra claims. 5.8 relates to the proportion of those that are claiming it from the population. a big increase you can see over the course of just a big increase you can see over the course ofjust a few

big increase you can see over the course of just a few weeks. big increase you can see over the course ofjust a few weeks. 2.1 million people now as part of that jumping by 69%. we also get a sense about what the number of job vacancies the number ofjob vacancies also falling pretty sharply falling at its fastest rate in ten years suggesting that even those out of work finding a new job suggesting that even those out of work finding a newjob could prove to be much more difficult. you can see the big falloff in the number of jobs that are on offer. that suggests two things. we have had researchers arresting young people's pay could be affected for years to come, maybe just pay could be affected for years to come, maybejust entering pay could be affected for years to come, maybe just entering the jobs market might find it hard to progress within their career in terms of pay scale. but also for older people. that they mount find they are asked to retire or finish work earlier given the pressure this puts on thejobs work earlier given the pressure this puts on the jobs market. related to that overall figure, has actually

fallen slightly but relates to the start of the year at 3.9%, most economists predict the uk could hit 10% by the end of the year. president trump says he's taking an anti—malaria drug as a precaution against the coronavirus, even though american health authorities have warned against it. the us food and drug administration said several weeks ago that there was no proof it was effective against the virus and that it could cause heart problems. mr trump has also renewed his attack on the world health organization over its response to the initial outbreak in china. in a letter, he said he might make the temporary freeze of us funding of the who, permanent, if it didn't reform. peter bowes reports hydroxychloroquine, the pill president trump has been promoting for weeks as a drug that may lessen the symptoms of the coronavirus. there is no medical evidence it helps patients recover from the disease.

in fact, it could have fatal side—effects. but mr trump says even though he's healthy, he's trying it anyway. the front line workers, many, many are taking it. i happen to be taking it. hydroxychloroquine? i happen to be taking it, hydroxychloroquine. when? right now, yeah. a couple of weeks ago i started taking it. why? because i think it's good. i've heard a lot of good stories. last month the us food and drug administration said hydroxychloroquine had not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing covid—19. it issued a warning that some people could suffer serious heart problems as a result of taking it in combination with other drugs. mr trump said he'd heard anecdotal evidence that it had helped some coronavirus patients. this is a pill that's been used for a long time, for 30—40 years on the malaria, and on lupus too, and even on arthritis,

from what i understand. so it's been heavily tested in terms of... i was just waiting to see your eyes light up when i said this, when i announced this, but, yeah, i've taken it for about a week and a half now, and i'm still here. the president's doctor said president trump received regular testing for covid—19, and that he was negative for the virus and free of symptoms. "after numerous discussions he and i had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risk." but that's not how other doctors see it. the president has been roundly condemned for his use of the drug. it's a medication that has serious side—effects, including cardiac arrhythmias, abnormal heart rhythms, that could be fatal. and so i really worry about other people listening to what president trump is saying and potentially taking this medication that has no proven benefit but actually could have a lot of harm.

with the us death toll from the virus now over 90,000 and the country gradually reopening, president trump seems determined to defy his own experts and offer americans hope that the coronavirus crisis will soon be over. mr trump has also given the world health organisation an ultimatum, threatening permanently to stop funding the who if it fails to to major steps substantive improvements within the next 30 days. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. president trump's renewed criticism of the who comes as the organisation holds a second day of an online meeting of its governing assembly. our correspondent imogen foulkes is in bern for us. i asked her what the response has been to those comments from mr trump. well, the people at the world health organisation in geneva are waking up this morning to that letter. and i think it has caused a certain

amount of shock and dismay, because as the who director—general dr tedros keeps saying, we are in the middle of a pandemic, and our focus needs to be saving lives, controlling the virus, supporting countries to get to a point where they can get people back to work and return to some kind of normality. there are millions and millions of people facing difficulties all over so i think the move by donald trump to say do what i say or i will cut theirfunding, it is really worrying, for the united nations as a whole, because it depends on states working together, unilaterally, and the other countries taking part in the world health assembly have tried, while approving

an independent investigation into the handling of the pandemic, are trying to show their willingness to show solidarity and unity in the face of this pandemic. so it's dismaying notjust to the who, but i think to many other member states as well, this letter. we will have some analysis of that in the next 20 minutes or so. beijing has responded. the uk's cross—party science and technology committee has said testing capacity was not increased "early or boldly enough" when the outbreak began. it said a lack of capacity had driven the decision in mid—march to scale back contact tracing, and largely restrict tests to hospital patients. our assistant political editor norman smith is in westminsterfor us. what is the latest? concern focuses

on this absolutely crucial decision taken at the start of the outbreak to end community testing and to concentrate all resources on testing in hospitals. the consequences of which we now know were pretty catastrophic for care homes where there was negligible testing. it also made it harderfor scientists to model the level of infections in the community and also pushed back the community and also pushed back the option of testing tracking and tracing which we are now trying to put in place and mps on the committee are trying to understand who took that decision. and why was it taken. they seem to point the finger very directly at public health england who they suggest were too secretive, too restrictive in trying to keep the tests all within their labs rather than encouraging universities and private companies to start testing as well. public health england has overnight hit

back, saying it was not theirjob to roll out mass testing. they were simply there to provide laboratories to test for the outbreaks in pandemics. they point the finger of blame at the department of health, other words matt hancock and it will be one of the central tussles of the blame game that is beginning to unfold. between those at westminster who think public health england did drop the ball on testing and others here think actually it was up to matt hancock and the department of health to start issuing instructions to public health england to get other private companies involved in the testing process. i'm not aware that hasn't set as a condition that is necessary for the phased reopening of primary schools and we should remember primary schools have actually been opened throughout this time for a very small number of pupils and this is about seeing our state back, excuse me, year one,

reception and year six. those at the end of primary school education. the guidance has been written very carefully to help head teachers in order to open schools safely and i think that it's better to get the app think that it's better to get the app is good as we can make it rather than rush out and app and have to change it. so it's important that trial, that pilot in the isle of wight, is allowed to run to its full length that's needed rather than perhaps the target deadline which the health secretary had set. talking about one of the consequences of that decision which was the fact that rolling out testing, tracing and tracking looks like it or be set back for several weeks and the impact that will have on whether schools go back because the teaching unions have said pretty clearly that if the test and track app is not up and running, they are not going to be returning to school onjune not going to be returning to school on june one. the not going to be returning to school onjune one. the indications are there may some difficulties with the app itself that will also impact on

easing orfurther app itself that will also impact on easing or further moves to ease the lockdown because central to doing that has been getting up a coherent and credible system to test track and credible system to test track and trace and if the app is not working it will be much harder to do which means it will take longer to ease the lockdown. thank you. from today, groups of up to six people from different households are allowed to meet outdoors in northern ireland. it's the latest example of the widening gap between the lockdown rules of the four uk nations. a cross—party group of mps has written to the prime minister to stress the importance of england, scotland, wales and northern ireland working closely together during the pandemic. andy moore has this report. from today in northern ireland, up to six people from different households can meet outdoors. in england, only two people can meet up. in wales and scotland the message is still to stay at home. it's a sign that the easing of lockdown is happening at a different pace in different

parts of the uk. the northern ireland executive says sports like tennis and golf can also now resume. we are told that outdoor activities are able to be accommodated because the virus doesn't spread as easily outdoors as indoors. and so we have been told that we will revisit this issue again, and we will, it will be kept under constant review. the people of scotland will have to wait a little while longer, until the end of the month, for restrictions to be eased. the first minister said she would be announcing more information about a phased reopening on thursday. this will take account of the up—to—date estimates of the transmission rate, or our number, and the number of cases. it will also take account of the latest national records of scotland report due on wednesday on the number of deaths from covid. the uk government has now announced

that loss of smell or taste will be added to the official list of symptoms for covid—19. some scientists say that's much too late. the government said it would only make a very small difference to the number of people diagnosed. the important thing was to work out if this would add any sensitivity to the diagnostic cluster we were using and the answer is it makes a small, very small difference, and we have therefore decided to do it. there's been a significant expansion to the testing programme. across the uk, anyone over the age of five who has symptoms can now get a test done. the results should be available within 48 hours, but in many cases it's currently taking longer than that. it was announced yesterday that another 160 people had died with coronavirus in all settings in the uk. that's the lowest figure for several weeks, but there's often a lag in reporting on a monday. the total death toll now stands at 34,796. for those of us still dreaming of a summer holiday abroad,

there is some hope. from next month, its planned there will be a 14—day quarantine scheme for people returning home from overseas. but the government said there could be exemptions for countries with a low coronavirus infection rate. andy moore, bbc news. let's just take a moment to share with you some of our bbc research comparing the way the coronavirus outbreak is currently affecting different countries around the world. starting with brazil you can see that infections and deaths are still on a rising trajectory. the country has the fourth—highest number of confirmed cases in the world and the statistics suggest transmission is still at a high rate. russia would appear to be at a similar stage of the spread of covid—19. the country has 2,700 deaths and nearly 300,000 confirmed cases of infection. compare those graphs to some european nations which have been

in lockdown for several weeks. the uk's line is now moving steadily downwards and the government has begun easing restrictions. and france seems to be even further ahead in stopping the spread of the virus. a french court has now ruled that the government must lift a blanket ban on meetings at places of worship, saying the ban is "disproportionate in nature". sweden has attracted worldwide attention, for never going into a full lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic. but now the country is facing growing criticism for failing to protect its older population. more than half of elderly deaths from the virus, have taken place in care homes. the bbc‘s seen evidence which suggests some regions may be restricting access to health care, by discouraging nurses and care workers from sending patients into hospital. maddy savage reports from stockholm. a country that never had a lockdown. sweden promised to focus on protecting the elderly, while keeping much of society open.

but thousands are dead, and there are concerns many patients aren't getting enough help. the nurse called me and told me that my dad passed away. he was coughing and he wasn't feeling good, so she gave him a dose of morphine. and some other shot. the doctor visited him and he didn't get any oxygen. it's horrible. it's up to individual regions to make decisions about health care. in stockholm, officials insist oxygen is available for those who need it most. i think it's an ethical dilemma for both of the patients and the staff. but if you look at the guidelines, you can make good palliative care at the homes with the ordinary measures without oxygen. if you need oxygen, maybe we can bring it to the care centres or the other homes or you can

transport the patients to the hospital if the medical decision is that they should benefit from it. but some believe not enough patients make it to hospital. this nurse worked in care homes in this city during the start of the crisis. they told us we shouldn't send anyone into the hospital. even if they may be 65. how do you feel about that? well, some of them have a lot of years left to live with loved ones, but they don't have the chance. officials in her area say nurses can call in doctors into make assessments about hospitalisation. in stockholm, this unused military field hospital has become a political battle ground. officials say its proof the elderly aren't being held back because of a lack of beds. but critics say it's a symbol sweden's been more cautious about hospitalising elderly people tham many of its european neighbours. the message has been,

"they are so fragile, they can't cope with more advanced care." that's the swedish message. do you think that is the right message? no. why not? because if you need care and you can benefit from care, for example, oxygen for a short time, you should have it. at a press conference last week, sweden's prime minister said he trusted regional authorities to make the right decisions. translation: sometimes the best thing might be to move this person to hospital, but experts also say there are occasions when that is not the right thing to do. we told the regions that the state will cover all the extra costs that is connected to covid—19, so don't bother about the finances. we will take care of that — make sure that it works in the best way. but the government's admitted it is deeply concerned by the number

of deaths in care homes. it recently announced funding to improve training for workers and create thousands more permanentjobs. but that's a bittersweet message for the many who've already lost loved ones. maddy savage, bbc news, stockholm. let's return now to those uk unemployment figures that were released by the office for national statistics this morning. figures show that the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the uk soared to 2.1 million in april, while separate figures show the number of unemployed people rose by 50,000 in the three months to march to 1.35 million. joining me now is professor chris warhurst, the director of the institute for employment research at warwick university. thank you forjoining us. these figures in line with what you were expecting? i think we have to remember at the moment these are just the tip of the iceberg. the figures only cover the first quarter

of this year which is january, february and march and so we only pick up the last week of the lockdown. but what they do show is the beginning of an increase in unemployment in the uk. we have been, we spent the last ten years developing record highs of employment so the fact it is beginning to have rising unemployment is worrying. what is public more indicative as the calculated claim account which is really shot up through the roof but also the vacancy data. it shows that somejobs in some also the vacancy data. it shows that some jobs in some areas, there are a number ofjobs some jobs in some areas, there are a number of jobs being advertised some jobs in some areas, there are a number ofjobs being advertised as collapsed so what it begins to show is the beginning of a trend, the next quarter will be the real difficult one for us to look at what it shows we are probably heading towards rising unemployment in the rest of this year, probably tipping

towards 10%. by the end of the year and will probably remain relatively high into next year as well. absolutely grim figures and of course there is the furlough scheme. how much would you expect... that will obviously have medicated unemployment, so will the second quarter, the furlough will impact on that. how dramatically different to you expect the second quarter to be? the government has been absolutely right and trying to support people in work, job retention scheme but what it is also doing in providing that support is masking what is probably going to be hidden unemployment. there's probably lots of people who are currently on furlough scheme who when the lockdown furlough scheme who when the lockd own starts furlough scheme who when the lockdown starts to ease, and are being asked to go back to work, their particular businesses will either find it very difficult operate orfind it either find it very difficult operate or find it impossible to operate or find it impossible to operate and therefore likely to be laid off. a good example of that is

the hospitality industry, the hospitality industry at the moment has the greatest proportion of workers on the furlough scheme. where those businesses open up it will be very difficult to operate as they did in the past and so it is likely some people will not be viable businesses. smaller businesses or simply that their capacity to operate via level —— viable level overall, the number of jobs overall, the number ofjobs has shrunk dramatically, but some sectors have been taking on workers. where are the glimmers of hope? not surprisingly, some of the work we are looking at is where the vacancies are in the labour market. we have a team here at the institute looking at this. not surprisingly, there arejob looking at this. not surprisingly, there are job vacancies for nursing staff, that has risen dramatically. there is an opportunity for the

government to get ahead of the curve and think strategically in the light of the coronavirus about what kind of the coronavirus about what kind ofjobs and industries doesn't want to support in the future. we have had a lot of talk about key workers, but it is interesting that the government, the office for national statistics, the tuc have all come up with different lists of key workers. we need to have a definitive list of workers, those key workers, and support them in the jobs they to make them stable and to try to make them attractive so we can recruit and retain workers in those industries. beyond that, there is something that we might call not just key workers, but key products. we have seen this obviously with ppe. we are not producing the number of ppe that we need in this country when we have a crisis. the government needs to think about what

products are key products that we need to make sure are there for this kind of crisis and ensure that the manufacturing of some of these products. there is potential, if the government gets ahead of the curve and think strategically, to start shoring up vacancies where they currently exist, but also perhaps to start creating new jobs currently exist, but also perhaps to start creating newjobs in the future in the medium term. thank you. thank you. many families across the uk have been struggling with the financial strains that have come with the coronavirus pandemic including kamila ferry and her husband michael, who both lost theirjobs in hospitality when the lockdown began. neither of them qualified for the government's furlough scheme, leaving them without an income. they've been speaking to our scotland correspondent, lorna gordon. kamila ferry and her husband, michael, work in hospitality, but when lockdown happened they lost their jobs. because he recently changed jobs he's not eligible for the furlough.

i am a seasonal worker, so i'm not eligible for furlough either. so we have had the whole month with no income. the couple and their two children, isabel and oliver, live within inside of loch ness the north of scotland. kamila said the sudden unemployment means that had to cut back to make ends meet. just trying to buy not as much food. we had to cut on our bills quite a lot. everything that we could have cancelled, pretty much, we've cancelled. we've ta ken advantage of the mortgage holidays. we've taken our car off the road. yeah, like everything pretty much we could have cut down we cut down. her husband has now got some work, but money's still tight. i am a bit relieved now when he picked up hisjob, because i know we have some money coming in. it's definitely not —

nowhere near what we need. but the past two months has definitely not been easy and i think it obviously gives you stress, it gives you anxiety. this is an area where many work seasonally in jobs related to tourism. kamila was not alone in finding herself newly unemployed. i've been quite lucky, to be honest. i've even had people bringing me some shopping and that. it was really nice, actually. there is nojobs. there are so many people struggling. i don't think for me, at the moment, for another three orfour months i don't think i will get another job. and how does that make you feel? anxious. i've never been without a job. never, ever in my life. grateful for the help from friends and neighbours in their small community, but kamila, like others now left looking for work, these are anxious times. lorna gordon, bbc news. president donald trump has threatened to permanently freeze us funding of the world health

organisation. in a letter to the organisation's director general, donald trump warned that "if the who does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, the temporary freeze on us funding will be made permanent". the letter contained a number of claims regarding the organisation's record during the coronavirus outbreak, taking particular issue with the way the who supposedly failed to gather and share information. joining me now to discuss the veracity of president trump's claims is our reality check correspondent, chris morris. let's start with this claim that the who failed to adequately get and share information. this is talking about the early phase of the outbreak. the who said they were informed by china of an unknown cause of pneumonia... they put out a statement asking for more

information from china. on the 21st of january they sent a team to wuhan to investigate. at the end of the month i declared a global health emergency. you can argue that it could have acted quicker, but you can certainly make the arguments of that of many governments around the world. the crucial point is the who doesn't have the power to force or compel any government to do anything, including handing over information. it seems like in the absence of that power it decided, rightly or wrongly, that by praising china publicly it would be the best way to get what is a secretive society to cooperate. he also said the who just repeated the chinese idea that there was no evidence of human—to—human transmission early on. this is based on a tweet that the who put out on the 14th of january. they said preliminary investigations by the chinese

authorities that there was no clear evidence of human—to—human transmission. if you look back at what the senior officials at the who said the time, they said transmission could be happening. a week later, they upgraded their advice to say there clear evidence of human—to—human transmission. a confusing message at the time. at that time, donald trump himself tweeted in praise of china saying it was doing all it could to prevent the spread of the disease and praising its transparency. he is throwing stones now, but it is not what he was staying at the time. he says the who is largely funded by the us, so that raises the question of how much it would be hit by the loss of their funding, but it also says they are pro—chinese. loss of their funding, but it also says they are pro-chinese. the us provides a 15%. there are substantial contributions from the uk, from germany and from private

organisations, the gates foundation, which has quite a lot of money to push around. is the who pro—chinese? china is very active in the organisation and the who is aware of that and sensitive to it. its critics would say it was oversensitive to it. it finds it difficult dealing with taiwan. taiwan is not a member of the who because it is not a member of the united nations. that is the focus of criticism of the who, as well. some of the things that donald trump said in his later —— in his recent letter are certainly not correct. we saw a tweet today from the editor of the la ncet tweet today from the editor of the lancet sent to president trump, g cycle a nd lancet sent to president trump, g cycle and sit on your attack on the who, please let me correct the record. the lancet did not publish any report in early december 2019 about the virus spreading in wuhan. the first report we published were from chinese scientists on the 24th

of january. when you talk to all experts, the overwhelming majority of expert safe by all means criticise the who. they should not be avoiding criticism. at the idea of cutting off funding to the only truly global health foundation we have in the middle of a pandemic is very dangerous. there's been a huge rise in people claiming unemployment benefit because of the lockdown. before the pandemic, employment had hit a record high. ben thompson is our business presenter. thank you. these figures to give us a sense of what the jobs market could look like in the weeks and months to come because whilst the headline rates of unemployment and jobless total hasn't changed a huge amount, that relates to the first three months of the year, the first quarter, of which isjust three months of the year, the first quarter, of which is just one week of that was the uk lockdown. what we are getting today is a sense of the

figures for april and things like the claimant counts, the number of people on jobseeker‘s allowance or universal credit, but also the number ofjobs universal credit, but also the number of jobs vacancies available. if people are laid off, could be more difficult to find anyjob. so much uncertainty for the jobs market right now. some businesses are able to get back in some shape or form, but many others, including lots of retail and hospitality not able to do so. i'm joined now by kate nicholls, chief executive of uk hospitality, a trade association which represents the uk's hospitality sector. for hospitality, times are far from certain. absolutely. we know from what the prime minister said last week that hospitality was first into this crisis, the effects on our

businesses were starting to be felt in late january, and clearly will be the last out, with the 4th ofjuly being a date being mentioned to get out of it. that is a long time to go. it will be a less than profitable restart when we it to reopen. at 84% of our workforce, 2.5 million people, currently furloughed, it is vital that we have the support that we need to make sure that those job losses in our sector do not get any worse. you talk about those job losses. the challenge is knowing what will happen next is when you are able to reopen, when people can get back to work. the bigger uncertainty is how many people will come back to hotels and bars and restaurants even when those lockdown restrictions are lifted. yes, absolutely. that is the critical point that we still can factor into the equation. we are

working with government to identify the covert secure guidelines against which we will need to reopen. that will depress revenues and capacity or our members. we estimate people will be starting with 30% to 40% of normal revenues and won't rise to 70% until we get to the end of the year. the key thing is, what is the government doing to support and encourage consumer confidence and to encourage consumer confidence and to encourage people back into city centres, town centres and to give them the reassurance they need are going back out to hospitality and going back out to hospitality and going on holiday is safe. we need to work with the government to make sure that our message over the next four to five weeks and provides the confidence that is needed to our teams and to our guests so that reopening can be successful. we need to make sure we have that support going forward so we don't have to let go of many staff as the reopening takes longer to come through. kate, it is good to have

your thoughts this morning. as kate was touching on, the real concern is for many businesses not knowing what they can tell their staff about when they can tell their staff about when they might reopen. whilst that headline rate of unemployment that i talked about, that 3.9% for the first quarter of the year, there is no way reflect what could happen over the next week's and months to come. some economists suggesting that the headline rate of unemployment could be more than 10% at the end of the year before, one would hope, bouncing back. the question is how long will it bounce back take and when the economy sta rts back take and when the economy starts to grow again will it create those jobs that will inevitably be lost between nye and the end of the year. no one has answers to those questionsjust year. no one has answers to those questions just yet. last year, india's unemployment rate was at 6% — a 45 year high. now, the coronavirus outbreak has made a bad situation much, much worse, with india's

unemployment rate rising to 24%. one—in—four people lost theirjobs in the country between march and april, hitting daily wage earners and those from poorer sections of society hardest. from delhi, the bbc‘s arunoday mukharji reports. every day the covid—19 outbreak brings a new challenge for india's working class. 90% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector. with 18 million entrepreneurs shutting down their operations, daily wage labourers have no certainty on whether there will be jobs to go back to. translation: we're helpless. we can't send money home. by taking ourjobs away, they're snatching away food from our mouths. unable to wait out the lockdown and in desperation to get home, an overcrowded truck or a journey on foot are the only options. 122 million workers have lost theirjobs since march and the international labour organization has warned that nearly 400 million workers are at risk

of being pushed deeper into poverty during this crisis. even lower incomejobs like pinky's are on the line. translation: there are no savings to depend on. we have to work every day so that we can afford food and basic living. and it's notjust those already in the job market. with millionsjoining india's workforce every month, the pandemic‘s economic cost on india's youth may be irreversible. the long—term damage is youngsters who are unable to find jobs today are unable to save for tomorrow. so the country is going to see a large population with low incomes and no savings. 60 million people who lost theirjobs last month were below the age of 30. before the lockdown, 40—year—old chandra ka nt gajbha re used to make ends meet by driving an auto rickshaw. despite being a phd scholar, he has struggled to find a suitable job for years. translation:

i have got a masters degree, a bachelors in education, five of my research papers have been published and my phd is in its last stage. and now, the lockdown has meant he too is without an income. as india fights covid—19, the fate of millions hangs in the balance, and it's notjust about saving lives, but also, livelihoods. arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. just over 4,000 people have died in turkey during the coronavirus pandemic. istanbul has been the epicentre. life is slowly getting back to normal, with some of the lockdown restrictions eased, but one place remains busy — the cemetery. neyran elden, from bbc turkish, reports. on a hillside above istanbul, new graves are being dug. it's peaceful here as the fight against coronavirus continues below. there has been a huge focus on hospitals, but this is also the front line. translation:

people who work in the cemetery service during this time are at risk. they may not face the same exposure as health workers, but there's a higher risk. we take the same precautions as health workers in intensive care units. they wear full protective clothing in case coronavirus can be caught from a dead body. their role is vital to ensure a proper islamic burial. the body is carefully washed before being placed in a coffin. official figures show dozens of extra people have been buried in istanbul per day since the start of the pandemic. the staff have also found time to pray for the dead when no family can attend. translation: we had a sad experience where a family

of three to five people, they all had coronavirus. they are either in quarantine or in hospital. one person dies and nobody can come to the funeral. in this case, this person becomes one of us and we act as if this funeral is our funeral. it's a reassurance for family members that their loved one isn't alone. the death toll is falling and some of the lockdown restrictions have been eased, but still, it's too soon to assume life can go back to normal. translation: when a boxer says he's the best, that's the moment he loses the match because he has lowered his guard. we definitely shouldn't lower our guard against this virus. a mother's cry for her son who has

died from coronavirus. he was only 27 years old. a sound familiar across the world. the only hope is that this cemetery will soon become silent with normal loss. neyran elden, bbc news, istanbul. seaside towns are likely to be hit by the fallout of the coronavirus crisis harder than some big cities, as many of them rely on a seasonal economy. in morecambe, one family who work as part of a travelling circus are now stuck on the promenade with no money coming in. sarah corker has been to meet them. we are just in this state of nothingness, really. we have no money coming in, so we will survive as long as we can. we need a miracle, really. olympia and herfamily are part of a travelling circus. since march, olympia and 30 other people have been stuck on morecambe promenade, waiting for restrictions to be lifted. we were having a wage,

then all of a sudden, nothing. we don't know when we'll get money next. the next paycheque is coming. we don't know anything and this is the problem. i'll take you inside now and show you. so, it's almost like the pause buttons have been pressed here. they were in the middle ofa uk tour, and most of the staff are self—employed. orange juice? food parcels from a local charity are keeping them going, but they don't know how long they will have to stay here. it's fear, fear that my life and myjob, which is essentially the same thing, sorry... that i might not be able to do what i love again, which is perform in the circus, because we might not recover from this.

the economic predictions for the months ahead are grim. morecambe bay foodbank normally provides 70 food parcels a week, now it's more than 700. have you ever seen demand like this before? no, no. it's unprecedented. morecambe is a classic seaside town but it has had its fair share of economic struggles. we see the sharp end of that when the economy is not working well and i think it is going to be a long road back. the government's furlough scheme, which sees the government pay 80% of wages, has so far helped keep coastal resorts afloat. economists have warned the furlough scheme could be simply delaying redundancies instead of saving jobs. new research has found these coastal communities reliant on tourism

have a high proportion of the workforce currently on furlough. there are no phone calls and no beeps on your phone to show online bookings. further down the coast in southport, many of the bed and breakfasts are family run. financial strain is showing. hopefully people have savings and hopefully the banks will help them out. small guesthouses don't have much money left. we all live on the premises, so it is our home at the end of the day. people feel we aren't going to just lose the business, we could lose our home as well. and history shows school leavers like caroline's daughter are often hit hardest by recessions. if i don't get my grades and i can't go to uni, i don't know if i will be able to get a part—timejob, and if not, i don't know what i will do to survive the year, really. it's scary, isn't it? for seaside resorts, this economic storm will be long lasting. and back in morecambe,

all olympia can do is wait. if you didn't have the food bank, how would you afford to eat? if we didn't have deliveries from the food bank, no—one would eat. no—one. and the longer this goes on, charities are expecting the demand for help to keep rising. sarah corker, bbc news, in morecambe. in the uk, children from wealthier families are spending more time each day studying during the lockdown than the poorest, according to new research from the institute for fiscal studies. it found children from disadvantaged backgrounds have fewer resources for home learning. our correspondent fiona lamdin reports. two weeks ago we met becky and her two children who were struggling with home learning, sharing one device, her smartphone. that's the only device i've got. well, we've been inundated with offers, many of you have been donating your own devices — to help with home—schooling — that you're not currently using.

paul had five new—ish computers just gathering dust. i've got these pcs, five pcs, from a call centre that we shut down, and why not give them? so we brought them to the school's it hub. so in 35 years of being in education, i have never seen this kind of generosity. any kit we get that's probably less than five years old, we'll clean, we'll make sure that it's almost factory reset but with none of your personal data on it, we then as a result we can then start to reconfigure it and get it ready for our kids to learn. and just around the corner, we meet seven of nick's pupils, all trying to do homework on one smartphone. but it's been hard, yeah? really hard. yeah. and when dad goes to work, he takes his phone with him. when my dad is at work i don't do my homework. but when he is at home i do my homework. and i'm very happy to do my homework.

but this new tablet donated by a viewer, will help. thank you! and it's a similar story a few streets away from michelle and neville's six children. you're doing it all on this? doing it all on the phone. it does stress them out because they can't do it when they want to do it. we want to try and take it in turns but some of them don't quite understand "in turns. " each child gets an hour slot. ten—year—old zion is in her last year of primary school, hers isjust before bedtime. it's quite hard because i'm falling behind a little bit. and ijust want to, like, produce more good, up—level work. and there might not be, like, time before your bedtime and then it's hard to fit in all of you in on the phone to do your schoolwork. well, this tablet has been donated by the viewers and i hope it helps with your home learning.

thank you. just two devices... thank you! ...tra nsforming the lives and education of 13 children. fiona lamdin, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. hello, i can. overthe hello, i can. over the next few days it is going to turn warmer. today we are looking in dry weather, sunshine, but there is some rain in the forecast but a lot of it will ease, but some affect on the north of scotla nd ease, but some affect on the north of scotland will tend to linger. here, too, you will hang on to the cloud. for the rest of the uk the cloud. for the rest of the uk the cloud will continue to break and there will be more sunshine. the drizzly bits and pieces across north england, north wales and northern ireland will tend to ease in the

next couple of hours. in the sunshine, temperatures responding accordingly. we are looking at heights between 25 and 26 in the london area. in the east we are looking at temperatures getting up to possibly 22. for northern ireland, we are looking at 19 in belfast. through this evening and overnight, we will see some look like, mistand overnight, we will see some look like, mist and fog form, particularly in the irish sea, the english channel and the north sea. with all of this going on, it will not be a cold night. we will lose that low cloud, mist and fog fairly quickly tomorrow morning, leaving us with a lot of sunshine across the board. we are dragging up some warm airfrom france board. we are dragging up some warm air from france and board. we are dragging up some warm airfrom france and spain. once again, tomorrow, we are looking at some clear skies. tomorrow could well be the warmest day of the year so far, hitting 2728 in the london area. then we have a weather front waiting in the wings. this is a tear, coming infrom

waiting in the wings. this is a tear, coming in from the west, and it will be pushing steadily eastwards overnight thursday into wednesday as a weak feature. the other thing that could happen on thursday is late morning into the early pa rt thursday is late morning into the early part of the afternoon we start to see some thunderstorms develop in the south—east quarter. not all of us will catch on. it will be worn. on the other side of our weather front there will be dry conditions, temperatures down a touch, but 20 in glasgow will still feel pretty nice. a deep area of low pressure comes away on friday introduced in windy conditions and rain sweeping across the uk. it will be weak in the south—east. costs between 50 and 60 miles an hour for north—west scotland.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. there were almost 55,000 excess deaths in the uk between march 21st and may 8th, according to new figures from the office for national stastistics. but the data reveals that the number of deaths from coronavirus in uk care homes fell for the second week running. there's a huge rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the uk. an increase of almost 70% in april. president trump says he's taking an anti—malaria drug to ward off coronavirus, despite health officials warning it is unsafe. i happen to be taking it... i happen to be taking it. reporters clamour. hydroxychloroquine? i'm taking it, hydroxychloroquine.

the president also issues an ultimatum to the world health organisation — reform within 30 days or lose all us funding. the uk's approach to coronavirus testing has been "inadequate" throughout the pandemic, according to a committee of mps. and the differences in lockdown regulations between the uk's four nations continues to widen. from today, groups of six people can meet up when outdoors in northern ireland. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. official statistics released in the uk have shown the number of excess deaths caused by coronavirus. figures from the office

for national statistics show that covid—19 led to an extra 55,000 deaths in the uk, up until the week of may 8th. meanwhile, nearly 10,000 people have died in care homes, but the number of new deaths fell for a second week in a row. in the us, donald trump has said he is taking the anti—malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus, despite health officials saying it is dangerous. and the president launched another attack on the world health organization, threatening to pull us funding permanently over its response to the pandemic. back here in the uk there's been a steep increase in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit, rising by 70% to 2.1 million. let's return now to those figures from the ons, showing that coronavirus has led to an extra 55,000 deaths in the uk, up until the week of may 8th. the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe, told me why this number differed from that

being given by the uk government. it's a very different number to the one we're used to hearing about everyday in the daily briefings from the government for example so it's worth explaining we get there. so it's worth explaining how we get there. if we wind back to the 8th may which is what these figures refer to, at that point the government had announced nearly 32,000 deaths in the uk. those were people who had tested positive for coronavirus and then died within four weeks of that and that's the bar we are seeing at the top of this chart right behind us. those are people with a positive result. that misses you if you never got tested and there maybe wasn't enough testing in care homes. you are missing the picture in the community. if you go broader than that and look at after people die, look at their death certificate and see if it mentions covid—19 as a possible cause, including clinical diagnosis, that captures more of the figure. that captures more of the picture. it goes from around 32,000 tojust over 40,000. the figure we're talking about, this 55,000, is what statisticians call excess deaths.

deaths run a pretty predictable pattern. you would expect a certain amount every week at this time of year and we have seen far in excess of that over the last fwe weeks. if you add those up you can attribute them to the pandemic, not necessarily just biologically from infections but the strain on health care, social care and the problems of lockdown and that is what brings you to 55,000. the total death toll of the epidemic really, notjust the virus. that's the figure that will be the important one in the end. borisjohnson said international comparisons will only be correct when countries have their own excess death figures and we compare that. daily death figures are a little bit different but we have to be careful not to run away from comparisons because there are some big clear messages in the data even at this early stage. countries like south korea and germany who have far fewer deaths even on the slightly dodgy daily measure, the difference

between the uk and those countries is much bigger than can be explained away by definition differences. the true death toll is best captured by this excess deaths figure. this a figure that has come out that a quarter of all coronavirus deaths have come in care homes. the ones that mention covid—19 on the death certificate, about 11,000 happened in care homes. the red blocks. the total height of the bars is the total number of deaths in care homes and the red blocks are the ones where they mentioned covid—19 on the death certificate. we can see that sums up to around 12,000, more than a quarter. we know a lot of residents get moved hospital before they die and so that is maybe an under estimate what is going on there.

that's the bad news but the good news is these figures are coming down. we have seen for a couple of weeks of the death figures have been falling across the uk. in care homes they had been lagging. this is the second week we have seen these fall and we can see from the chart both total death are falling, covid—19 registered deaths are falling, both coming down. maybe a bit of an artefact in the last week in that it was a bank holiday, not very death registrations get processed but this fall is even bigger than you would expect if you closed registration offices a week. we are still way above normal, but it is getting better. what else can you glean from the statistics? they do analysis by where the deaths happen but also who is getting affected and there is a really clear pattern we have been seeing in many sources. on age. if you look at all the coronavirus registered deaths so far, more than 70% happened in people over the age of 75. contrasted with people

under the age of 45, they are accounting for maybe around just over 10% of the deaths and of course that's a much larger chunk of the population. so the risk increases steeply as you get older. but it's a very low for people under 45. .. sorry, comparatively low for people under 45. and it is affecting those over the age of 65, 75 and 85 even more. president donald trump has threatened to permanently freeze us funding of the world health organisation. in a letter to the organisation's director general, donald trump warned that "if the who does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, the temporary freeze on us funding will be made permanent." the letter contained a number of claims regarding the organisation's record during the coronavirus outbreak, taking particular issue with the way the who supposedly failed to gather and share information. joining me now is our global health correspondent tulip mazumdar. we will talk about the who and the

moment but let's talk about what the president has also been saying about taking an anti—malaria drug for covid—19. causing quite a strong reaction because has been a lot of controversy around this? yes, these are controversy around this? yes, these a re really controversy around this? yes, these are really extraordinary revelations, from president trump that he has taken an unlicensed, unproven drug for covid—19. remember there are no proven treatments for this virus. hydroxychloroquine is an anti—malaria drug, there are a number of trials under way around the world including here around the uk to see how effective it might be against covid—19 but there have not been any solid positive results for those yet although some hospitals in the us, france and a couple of other countries are using it on an experimental compassionate basis or sick covid—19 patients. the president's physician dead later

issue —— dead later issue a statement saying after numerous discussions for and against using this drug we conclude that the potential benefit outweighed the relative risk. but there are risks of serious side—effects. the scientists in the us, uk and other countries have pointed to that it can cause problems with your liver and for covid—19 patients it can cause or has been associated with heart problems. now there are serious concerns that people are hearing the president of the united states is using this drug in that they may well feel they should go out and try and get it. that could be extremely dangerous. there is not the evidence to back this drug as things stand as i said and also this isa things stand as i said and also this is a dog that is used to treat malaria patients and their are concerns that they could be stuck to people who actually did for malaria. the threat to the who, freezing us funding unless it changes the weight

operates over covid—19, what's the reaction been to that? this was a four page letter that the president trump sent the director—general of the world health organization and in it he reiterated what he said over the last few weeks. he said there is an alarming lack of independence from china and he called for a significant change. the who has not directly responded to it yet. i'm sure it well because at the moment there is the annual world health assembly where countries around the world, the member states of the world health organization come together and discuss priorities for the year ahead and obviously covid—19 is essentially the only thing on the agenda this year. but it's important to remember that the who is an advisory body only. it does not have the power to force countries, including china to share information with it. to allow it into the country to do its own

independent investigation. if the us wa nts independent investigation. if the us wants that to happen, then actually the world health assembly this week is where they should push for that and country such as south korea and australia have pushed together who more powers to be able to go into, weapons inspector style, two countries early on in outbreaks together crucial information like how the virus emerged so it can help advise other countries but as things stand at the who is not set up like that. the other thing that's important is that this has been going on for a while. china and the us have been fighting over this pandemic for a while and it looks like the world health organization has been caught in the middle of it. that's not to say the who has not come under criticism from other quarters as well for being too praising of china, the us is doing its bidding, covering up for some of the lack of transparency that again many people say china displayed at the start of this outbreak. the who

itself has said they should be an independent investigation into how it has dealt with the outbreak of around the world have dealt with the outbreak and it has promised to look into that soon. the fact that the us, one of the who main funders, 15% of its budget that it gets, is saying it could permanently stop funding, that is a real blow. thank you. let's talk in more detail now about the unemployment figures for the uk that have been released this morning. these are the first set of figures that have been directly affected by the coronavirus lockdown. the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in april soared by almost 2.1 million. that's an increase of over 850,000. in another indication of the bleak employment landscape, the number ofjob vacancies fell by nearly a quarter to 637,000 in the three months to april. let's get more on this now with jonathan reynolds, who's shadow secretary of state

for work and pensions. thank you forjoining us. what's your reaction to those figures? the figures are proof if any more were needed as to the scale of the economic side of this crisis. i think we should not forget as a human story, human cost to each of the statistics we have seen today. u nfortu nately the statistics we have seen today. unfortunately the people claiming support will be finding that the uk has one of the least generous and supportive out of work social security systems in the developed world. the government themselves have recognised that, there have been some changes, especially to universal credit since the crisis began. we don't think anyone who has had a claim accepted should have to wait five weeks for the money to come through, we don't think the support for family should be capped at two children. there will be people within this cohort of claimants who are entitled to support they will not receive, so we recognise there have been changes but we think the government simply have to go further, they have to

meet the scale of this crisis. they obviously have the furlough scheme which is hugely expensive and is helping a huge number of people in this country. obviously that will have mitigated unemployment. and we obviously just have have mitigated unemployment. and we obviouslyjust have to see what happens with that, whether that is just delaying an increase in the number of unemployed in this country. do you think the government has now done enough with a furlough scheme? furlough scheme is good, it is the right approach but the fact that unemployment has risen by so much despite the follow scheme and despite the self—employment support scheme, shows first of all there are gaps in those games, we have to be honest about that. but it also shows there are some people who have not coming by that and deserve and need support as well. they could not mitigate or do anything to avoid a clu b mitigate or do anything to avoid a club pandemic, to factorfurlough scheme has had to be set up is partly a reflection the government

recognise that this social security system we have would not have got people through. you are right to say there a danger. that when it is unwound it will simple have postponed redundancies and further unemployment so it means first of all the government must do more to support people who are out of work but they cannot also think about how to get people back into work. you reference the vacancy rate, the number of vacancies in the economy has gone down very significantly, there will probably be more people looking for work then vacancy so they have to look atjob guarantees for younger people and also how to getjob centres for younger people and also how to get job centres local for younger people and also how to getjob centres local authorities backin getjob centres local authorities back ina getjob centres local authorities back in a position where they can get people back into work at the minute of course they are processing claims and they have a lot of other duties and the government has to reflect that in the next... you talk about the impact of this on younger people. covid—19 is a virus that

disproportionately affect older people who are going to be staying away from the workplace for reasons of the virus. do you think that what we may end up seeing here actually isa we may end up seeing here actually is a shift in the patterns of employment in this country and a that governments have had to try to increase the age at which people are in the workplace providing support for to continue working to all the pension age but actually that might suddenly be reversed because of what we are experiencing? anyone looking for care sector could not deny the burdens of the health side of the crisis has hit people very hard. we know that economic downturns have a negative effect on younger people. people out of the workforce when they are younger it scars them for many years after that and we have seen that in every recession we had

in this country after 2008, a lot of good work was done around policies like the future jobs fund to meet your 18—24 —year—olds got back into work, simply not thrown on the scrapheap therefore minimise the cost on them going forward. we still have to be aware that the cost tends to fall on younger people notjust because people who have lost their jobs but because they have not been able to move into the workforce to begin with. so in economic side, recognise what you said about younger people and older people in the care sector. let's just take a moment to share with you some of our bbc research comparing the way the coronavirus outbreak is currently affecting different countries around the world. starting with brazil and you can see that infections and deaths are still on a rising trajectory. the country has the fourth—highest number of confirmed cases in the world, and the statistics suggest transmission is still at a high rate. russia would appear to be at a similar stage of the spread of covid—19.

the country has 2,700 deaths and nearly 300,000 confirmed cases of infection. compare those graphs to some european nations which have been in lockdown for several weeks. the uk's line is now moving steadily downwards and the government has begun easing restrictions. and france seems to be even further ahead in stopping the spread of the virus. a french court has now ruled that the government must lift a blanket ban on meetings at places of worship, saying the ban is "disproportionate in nature". let's go to new york now, where our business correspondent samira hussain has returned to a brooklyn food bank to assess the dramatic impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the livelihoods of americans. america. a land of inequality and extremes. never has it been more apparent than during a pandemic. as job losses mount, the lines at food banks get longer. at this one in brooklyn, everyone has a story of a life upended. before the virus hit,

denise worked in food services at a local university. now she has found herself waiting in line just to feed herself. like so many, her claim for unemployment insurance is in limbo. i apply, i claim and every week they say my claim has been entered for processing. but there's nothing at the bank. there's nothing on my card. chris grew up poor in detroit. talent and ambition took him out of the neighbourhood and to a life on the ballet stage in new york city. but now he finds himself depending on food pantries, again. i mean, i'm really surprised. i haven't been here since i was a kid, so... it's kind of like a cycle. inside, volunteers cannot fill bags fast enough. more than1 million people have filed for unemployment insurance in new york city alone. one of the most damaging effects of these record job losses is the sudden rise in the number of people struggling to feed themselves and their families. i was at this food pantry just six weeks ago and this room was empty and it's now become

the main staging area. that's just how much the need has exploded. what they used to give out in a week they go through in just one day. it's notjust new york city. across the country, from hawaii to virginia and many places in between, long lines of people waiting for food. the country's youngest residents are not being spared. last month, one in five households with kids under the age of 12 was not always sure where the next meal was coming from. it takes a lot for a mother to admit on a survey that she is not able to feed her children. and so we do think that children are skipping meals and that the meals they are getting are not sufficiently nutritious and aren't sufficiently filling. it's not clear when or if things will go back to normal. so in addition to dealing with potential illness, millions of americans will have to content with months, maybe years, of financial hardship and hunger.

we know coronavirus is disproportionately affecting people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. black men and women are nearly twice as likely to die with coronavirus as white people in england and wales, according to the office for national statistics. now, bbc asian network has put out a series of videos in different south asian languages, explaining what covid—19 is and sharing important advice. the videos feature some familiarfaces. let's take a look now.

for more on this, i'm joined by sheetal parmar from bbc asian network. remind us what the evidences in this country of how the ame countries are being affected. what we know is that there are two met reviews going to be held, one by public health england on the other by labour. that's in light of the fact that up to the 5th of may, there were just over 3300 deaths due to covid—19 in the uk of black and minority ethnic individuals. that represents 17% of all deaths up to that point. so obviously it is a big number and we know that also matt hancock the health secretary has said that we need to get to the point of —— bottom of this to find out why it is disproportionately affecting black and minority ethnic people. this video has been put together presumably with the goal of communicating with people who are perhaps not getting the messages because of a language barrier? yes, in some cases definitely. what we

heard at the bbc asian network prior to lockdown when people started talking about coronavirus was we heard from listeners who were saying that older relatives for example we re that older relatives for example were not necessarily getting the message, they did not think of no virus was a threat to them. they did not understand what the symptoms were. “— not understand what the symptoms were. —— corona by. and they did not understand what social—distancing was either. —— coronavirus. the bbc asian network made a number of videos in april where we had doctors and gps in various languages, known in the communities, speaking to explain exactly what covid—19 was, what you are supposed to do, who it is affecting and the kind of symptoms you would have. some of these videos that thousands of views and have just been shared a lot and it's actually something that has been really, really appreciated by our community and listeners. has also been discussion around different ways of living actually

multi—generational families living under one roof in different communities? yes and this is another reason we felt we had to make these videos. because we know that families living in multi—generational homes as you said are being affected by this in lots of different ways. most of them don't necessarily have separate rooms they can go into either. separate bathrooms. there was a real need for information in language where younger listeners to the bbc asian network and share these videos with older relatives and the impact has been immense. it has had over1 million views on facebook and twitter alone, thousands of shares as well. and we have done them in various languages, as you have seen from that video, we have bbc news presenters. i suppose they wanted to get involved in it. they sought we're doing and it was something that was helping communities up and down the country but also abroad, they have been shared abroad. and in a number of languages for south asian, we have hindi, urdu, punjabi,

cameo and bangla. talking specifically about the evidence of bame communities being affected, is the same thing emerging elsewhere? it's difficult to say. at the moment, we're at stats at asian network for stats for india for example. and the stats they are shown at the moment are in the thousands but we would expect a country as large as india to have numbers far greater than that. we know there have been some restrictions on the reporting of numbers that one of our colleagues has also reported on. wejust don't know the scale of it yet and i think what has happened is that the misinformation that is being spread about covid—19 is worrying lots of people. so these videos are really there to show people that actually there to show people that actually there is information out there. if you are hearing this information being shared, fake news on social media for example, there is a

trusted place you can go to in that place is the bbc asian network and you can just google place is the bbc asian network and you canjust google bbc place is the bbc asian network and you can just google bbc asian network coronavirus and the language you want a ten orjust go to social media, facebook or twitter. thank you very much. you're watching bbc news. breaking news about easyjet. hackers have accessed the e—mails of around 9 million customers and the credit ca rd 9 million customers and the credit card details of more than 2000 of them and what they are describing as a highly sophisticated attack. they say there is no evidence of any personal information being misused. they are communicating with the approximately 9 million customers whose travel details were accessed to advise them of protective steps to advise them of protective steps to minimise any potential risk of fishing. the airline has of course grounded most of its flights because of the covid—19 pandemic. this is

just the details of this hackjust coming through, what the country is describing —— company is describing asa describing —— company is describing as a highly sophisticated attack. they say we take these issues extremely seriously and continue to enhance our security environment. they have engaged leading forensic experts. the chief executive of care england which represents care home providers in england says he believes the number of cases of coronavirus in care homes has reached the "top of the curve". speaking in front of parliament's health and social care committee professor martin green also revealed that there have been significant delays in getting covid—19 test results and called for regular testing in care homes. joining me now isjeremy hunt, the former health secretary and current chair of pa rliament‘s health and social care committee, who has been hearing evidence from care providers this morning. and also looking at what other

countries have been doing with regards to handling covid—19 and what lessons can be learned here from that. welcome. good afternoon. first of all, the care home session. what struck you most pertinently during the hearings this morning? we had a fascinating session. we heard someone from hong kong where they had not only had no covid—19 deaths in care homes at all, they have actually had no infections at all. we heard from someone from germany where they have had about a quarter the number of deaths we have had, despite having a population that is bigger than us. the also to be doing a lot of practical things. for example in germany before they got testing regime going, the care homes they would not accept hospital patients unless they could quarantine them for two weeks, isolate them inside the care home. they were very strict about that. in hong kong where they had terrible

experience of sars in 2003, every ca re experience of sars in 2003, every care home has 1—3 month supply of ppe in the care homejust ready care home has 1—3 month supply of ppe in the care home just ready for use. we also heard that countries like israel and canada and singapore have introduced measures like stopping people from working in multiple care homes. we use a lot of agency staff here and they cannot course spread the virus from one ca re course spread the virus from one care home to another. i think a lot of very interesting best practices internationally. these things sound really sensible and obvious. can you understand why those sort of things we re understand why those sort of things were not done here?” understand why those sort of things were not done here? i think it's pa rt were not done here? i think it's part of a bigger pattern which is that we were preparing hard for a pandemic flu. indeed i have to hold my hand up because i was health secretary for six years when those pandemic preparations were done and we we re pandemic preparations were done and we were not thinking hard enough about pandemic coronaviruses like

sars and pandemic coronaviruses because they have a long incubation period, there is a long period where you can spread the virus without showing any symptoms, testing becomes much, much more important andi becomes much, much more important and i think that's why the country in europe and america thinking about flu have had a less effective response than the countries in asia which really had their fingers response than the countries in asia which really had theirfingers burnt with sars. along the way, notjust the preplanning, but the steps that were taken when it was clear what was unfolding elsewhere and tear. the 19th of march, nhs guide and said that unless required to be in hospital, patients must not remain in an nhs bed, in order to free up beds for covered 19 patients. on the 2nd of april, rules for discharging we re 2nd of april, rules for discharging were clarified, is a negative covered 19 tests are not required prior to transfer it into a care home. that is a very important where you got into the care homes. in

germany, they were saying that couldn't happen and people had to be quarantined. that clearly was a mistake, with the benefit of hindsight and we never should have been discharging people into care homes without either quarantining them properly for two weeks or a negative covered test. that is the one “— negative covered test. that is the one —— that is one of the big issues when you're focusing on the flu and not focusing on the testing regime. the big issue here is successive governments, including myselfi the big issue here is successive governments, including myself i was health secretary, we separated the health and social care systems and they really needed to be treated as one in the same. you can say we will protect the nhs and not say we will protect the nhs and not say we will protect the nhs and not say we will protect the social care system at the same time. we need our ten year plan for the social care system, just as we know how for the nhs, a long—term funding settlement for the social care system, proper integration of the health and social

systems. the same older people who depend on both systems, so if you to keep people healthy and happy at home they would be to go into hospital. that is the big thing we need to accelerate when we get this crisis behind us. jeremy hunt, thank you very much. nicola sturgeon... live to edinburgh where scotland's first minister, nicola strugeon is holding the daily news briefing. as of nine o'clock this morning, there have been 14,655 positive cases confirmed, which is an increase of 61 from yesterday. a total of 1447 patients are in hospital. 969 of those have been confirmed as having the virus and 478 are suspected of having it. that represents a total increase in the

number of people in hospital of 20 from yesterday. within that, it is a decrease of 36 in the number of confirmed cases. a total of 59 people last night were in intensive ca re people last night were in intensive care with either confirmed or suspected covert 19, and that is that disc —— decrease of four from yesterday. —— covid—19. 3408 patients who had tested positive and have been hospitalised have been able to leave hospital. i also have to report in the last 24 hours 29 deaths have been registered of patients who had been confirmed as having covid—19, and that takes the total number of deaths in scotland under that measurement to 2134. tomorrow... let's go to matt hancock in the house of commons. in the uk, 89% of all deaths have

been those aged above 65 and from the start we have worked hard to protect those in social care. in early march, we put £3.2 billion into social care, half through the nhs and have three local authorities. we have repeatedly set out in strength and guidance for infection control and support. for anyone who has a loved one living in anyone who has a loved one living in a care home and all those residents and staff i understand what a worrying time this has been. i'm glad we have been able to project the majority of homes and we will keep working to strengthen the protective ring we have cast around all of our care homes. as i said in the house yesterday, last week we set out a further 600 million to strengthen infection control. this comes on top of a substantial programme of support. testing from the start, we have tested symptomatic residential care homes, even when testing capacity was much lower and this has always been a top priority. we are now testing all ca re priority. we are now testing all care home residents and staff in

england. this is being done according to clinical advice, starting with the most vulnerable and extending to working age residents, too. second, we strengthen the nhs support available to social care. we are putting in place the claimant —— a name clinical lead for every care home in england and an nhs infection control expertise to the sector. third, we are making sure that local authorities play their part. councils are conducting daily reviews of the situation on the granting care home so every care home gets the support they need every day. fourth, we are supporting ca re every day. fourth, we are supporting care homes with getting the ppe they need. first, we have increased the social care workforce during this crisis and provided more mr speaker, this is an an unprecedented level of support for the social care system andi support for the social care system and i want to thank colleagues across social care for their hard work. we have also broken down some of the long—standing barriers including between health and social

ca re including between health and social care board. we have learnt the importance of making sure the money for social care is ring fenced specifically for social care as the £600 million agreed last friday has been. on top of this, we are a much better data from social care because partial data has bedevilled the management of social care for many yea rs management of social care for many years and made policy—making more difficult. regular information returns are required in return for this latest funding and we are looking to change the regulations to require data returns from every care provider so we can better prepare and support social care. our elderly ca re and support social care. our elderly care homes provide for people towards the end of their life. they do an amazing job and they deserve the praise that they have received from the public during this crisis. residents are looked after when they need care the most. their hands are held, their brides are marked and they are made comfortable. as our collective result of our efforts, especially of care colleagues across

the country, 62% of care homes have had no reported cases of coronavirus. today's figures, released by the office for national statistics, show that the number of deaths in care homes has fallen significantly down by a third in just the last week from 2423 to 1666. this morning statistics confirm that 27% of coronavirus deaths in england have taken place in care homes, which compares to a european average of around half. whatever the figures say, we will not rest from doing whatever it is humanly possible to protect our care homes from this appalling virus, to make sure residents and care collea g u es make sure residents and care colleagues have the safety and they deserve. in welcoming the honourable lady to the front bench, i call on liz kendall. mr speaker, over 23,000

more people have died in care homes in the first four months of this year compared to last. this virus is the biggest health challenge of our lives, but ministers have been too slow to tackle the problem in care homes, social care has not had the same priority as the nhs and the services have not been treated as inextricably linked. can the health secretary explained why guidance and ca re secretary explained why guidance and care homes were very secretary explained why guidance and care homes were very unlikely to be infected wasn't withdrawn until the 12th of march, when the chief medical officer warns about community transmission and the risk to the elderly on the 4th of march? nhs england rightly asked hospitals to free up at least 30,000 beds to cope with the virus, but can he explain why there was no requirement to test those being discharged to ca re to test those being discharged to care homes, the very group most at risk until the 15th of april? care

providers had serious problems getting ppe as there normal supply was requisitioned by the nhs when both are equally important. why did that happen? it took until mid april for the government to produce a social care plan, until the end of april to say all residents and staff should be tested and until the 11th of may to set a deadline for achieving this. that deadline still isn't until the 6th ofjune. can the health secretary explain how he squares all this with his claim that the government has thrown a protective cloak around care homes right from the start? despite all of the warnings, care homes in my constituency told me over the weekend they can't access the government's new online testing portal, tests are being picked up and it is often weeks until they get results back. when will this be sorted out? finally,

the government has said the nhs will get whatever resources it takes to deal with this virus. will the minister now make the same commitment to social care and guarantee no provider will collapse because of this virus? no one denies how difficult this is, but instead of denying problems and delays, ministers should learn from their m ista kes ministers should learn from their mistakes so they pick the right measures in place in future and keep all elderly and disabled people safe. thank you very much, mr speaker. i welcome the honourable lady to her post. and herfirst question in this new role. i know that she enjoys a good working relationship with the minister for ca re relationship with the minister for care andi relationship with the minister for care and i know that the cross party working during this crisis has gone on throughout, and i thank you for that and for the approach that she is taking. she is right and perfectly reasonable to ask questions about how we can further improve the support that we are giving to the care sector. as i have

said from this dispatch box before, we have made social care are priority from the start. the first guidance went out to social care in february. she refers to the 13th of march guidance. that was only a matter of days immediately after the risk to the public was raised on medical advice. the guidance in place until then, as she probably knows, explicitly stated that the guidance was in place while community transmission was low and said it would be updated as soon as community transmission went abroad, and that is exactly what we did. more importantly, she raises the question of discharges. i understand there are questions that have been asked about discharges into care. it is important to remember that hospital can be a dangerous place for people, as well as saving lives.

it also can carry risks. it is appropriate, in many cases, for people to be discharged from hospital and saferfor people to be discharged from hospital and safer for them to go to a care home. what is important is that infection control procedures are in place in the care home and that those infection control procedures were put in place at the start of this crisis and have been strengthened exactly as she said, as we have learnt more and more about the virus all the way along. as the clinical understanding of coronavirus has strengthened, so too we have updated and strengthened our guidance. she asked about ppe, which every member of the house knows, has been an enormous global challenge with a global shortage of ppe, and the need to get ppe distribution out to tens of thousands of settings. the guidance that we put out again,

which is guided by the clinical expertise, states the level of ppe thatis expertise, states the level of ppe that is required and we are now delivering against those standards and we have processes in place to start all care homes that have shortages, and the numbers are coming down, i'm glad to say, can get in contact with their lra and make sure they can get the ppe. those processes are in place. it has been a huge challenge. it was called the biggest logistical exercise of the biggest logistical exercise of the last 40 years by the head of the army and i think he was right. she asks about resources. of course, if there are more resources needed, we are open to those discussions. the fa ct we are open to those discussions. the fact we have put through 600 million more pounds that will go directly to social care, that will not be able to be held by councils to go directly into social care, i think thatis directly into social care, i think that is right. we have also learnt some big things about the social

care, confirming many things some of the stop before. for instance, it is true that we need to have a more coordinated policy and we need to have a more coordinated policy between health and social care board. these social care reforms, which are long overdue and have not been put in place by governments of all colours absolutely must be. clearly tackling this virus in care homes is a very difficult thing, but the chief executive of the hertfordshire care providers association is on the records and that care providers in the county feel well supported during the pandemic. does the secretary of state agree with me that what is required to achieve this, as in hertfordshire, is a very close working relationship, a partnership, between care homes, the councils,

the coc, and the clinical commissioning groups? it is a partnership that is needed.” entirely agree. we have seen much, much better partnership working in those parts of the country during this crisis. the partnership between local authorities with their statutory responsibilities in the nhs with its statutory responsibilities. all parts of the nhs, trusts, the clinical care groups, and the integrated care systems, are very important. it has worked much better over the last few months than they have done hitherto and we need to make sure that that coming together in a very difficult circumstance, which is broken down boundaries, that that coming together continues and i look forward to working with him and others and making sure that the boundaries that exist between social ca re can boundaries that exist between social care can be brought to the ground.

doctor philip whitford. the london school of economics reported there we re over school of economics reported there were over 23,000 excess deaths in ca re were over 23,000 excess deaths in care homes in england and wales, but only 12,000 were put down as due to covert. how does the secretary of state explained the other 10,000? testing of care home staff is critical to reduce bread, but how will he improve the return of results to local gps and public health teams? concerns have been raised at a quarter of tests are false negatives, which could send staff with the virus back into care homes and hospitals. it is a difficult sample to take, so is there any comparison being done between self—administered tests and those carried out by health care staff? finally, where is the green paper that was promised in 2017? on

the point about tests, absolutely work was done and carried out to assess the difference in efficacy between professionally administered and home administered tests and found that the efficacy was very, very similar and is not significantly different. that is why across england and scotland and the whole uk we use home tests and that is an important part of our testing regime. she asks about the difference that the increase, sadly, the increased number of deaths that there has been in care homes, she is absolutely right that there is been an increase. we analyse the causes of all of the different factors that may have had an impact, and this is something that our clinical advisers are looking at. it's same is true in scotland, i think, are looking at. it's same is true in scotland, ithink, and i'm sure are looking at. it's same is true in scotland, i think, and i'm sure that the scottish medical advisers are looking into the same. when it comes

to the green paper, at the moment we are working on crisis response and i think that is the appropriate thing to do. andrew jones. think that is the appropriate thing to do. andrewjones. across think that is the appropriate thing to do. andrew jones. across north yorkshire county council has established a step down facilities for patients being discharged from hospital, using care homes with segregated space. this is in addition to the testing and protective arrangements, not a replacement. i welcome this as a valuable addition to the tools available in keeping some of the most vulnerable people in our community safe. would he agree and come decide to be replicated further across the country? i pay tribute to those who are working across harrowgate to approve services in the way the honourable member, my honourable friend describes. i would like to look into more detail. the

health and social care board select committee just heard evidence that there has been not one single care home death in hong kong or south korea, despite their proximity to china and shorter time to prepare for this crisis. in comparison, the uk has nicely over 10,000 deaths of loved ones in care homes. i can government describe this as a success and isn't it now time to learn from countries who have genuinely put a protective ring around their care homes? well, yes, absolutely it is important to learn from everywhere around the world. this epidemic has had a different shape in different parts of the world and, as she knows, a very significant impact throughout europe. andrew mitchell. thank you, mr speaker. it is good to see my right honourable friend bearing up so well under the considerable burdens of his office. can he reassure me that the ppe supply into

the uk and within the uk is now flowing into all care homes in a timely and a comprehensive manner? i'm concerned that those who are running our care home so well in sutton coldfield should have a security of knowing that they can rely on continuous supply? yes, i can reassure my right honourable friends and thank him for what he said about the work that we are doing in the departments. i can reassure him, firstly that the supplies of ppe into the country and buying around the world has improved significantly. we have put huge amounts of effort into improving that. secondly, that the supplies, the equipment is in the country, out into the care homes and where it needs to be is improving all of the time. the number of care homes reporting that they are within 48

hours of the stock out, which is the measure we use, has been falling and is less than half of what was a month ago, but of course we keep working to get that number down. when a care home is within two days of the stock out, we of course immediately work to get them the ppe that they need. thank you, mr speaker. at the health select committee this morning care england said that care staff are suffering a co nsta nt said that care staff are suffering a constant cycle of bereavement. with so many deaths in care homes, staff are not only caring for but also comforting those they know well who are dying alone. will the secretary of state take steps this week to provide a 24—hour mental health phonein provide a 24—hour mental health phone in line to all care staff as well as fast—track access to professional mental health services, as is the case for the military?” will absolutely looking to the proposal that she looks forward.

pauline latham. i would like to say to the secretary of state that he is doing a phenomenaljob. it is a huge crisis and a huge thing to mobilise everything that is needed mobilising. i have spoken to most of my care homes, and most of them are doing very well, but milford care is having a problem with getting test kits. six people in the home have died recently. they've requested test —— test kits on the 12th of may, but were told there was a very limited supply. they may get them on wednesday this week, if they are lucky, but if not they will have to reregister for them. staff and residents may be infected but they aren't aware and i have had somebody else who was tested and seven days later they were told there were positive, even the they had no

symptoms, so clearly the virus is spreading. what can my right honourable friend suggest that they do? the best thing they can do is wrestle with a very effective local mp who can bring it to my attention, and that is exactly what they have done. i will get right onto it straight after the session in the house of commons. we have the testing capability. making sure you get exa ctly testing capability. making sure you get exactly the right test on the right place at the right time is a huge lift is —— logistical challenge but i will look into this immediately. vicky foxcroft. cqc theatre revealed —— at 175% increase for people with autism and learning disabilities last month, yet the new ca re disabilities last month, yet the new care home portals are only available for those aged 65 and over. what is the minister doing to make sure that all care homes are able to access

tests, and will the government conduct a review of why there has been such a sharp increase in deaths amongst these groups? . yes, i did address this point in my opening response to the urgent question, and we will rely testing to care homes of all ages. this is an area that i ta ke very of all ages. this is an area that i take very seriously indeed. we are looking into the statistics that have been mentioned in the public domain. some of the statistics are not quite as they first seen and we will make sure that we publish accurate and full statistics because transparency is absolutely vital in this area. stephen flynn. the resolution foundation have detailed that 61% of front line care workers in england are paid less than a living wage. the scottish government

introduced a real living wage for ca re rs introduced a real living wage for carers in 2017. will the secretary of state adopt those, and finally give front line care workers in england are real living wage?” give front line care workers in england are real living wage? i am a massive supporter of the living wage and of course the increase in the living wage that we have seen since its introduction in 2015 has had a very positive impact on the pay of the lowest paid people in our country, right across the board, including many in care homes. i think it is an excellent policy and iam think it is an excellent policy and i am delighted that we have brought it in. doctor luke evans. the 600 million presented by the secretary of state for infection control is very, very welcome. in particular, having an inclination to help support care home staff is really important. back came out in the health select committee. one of the

lessons hong kong led several years ago was to have a named person in a ca re ago was to have a named person in a care home, but also to yearly virus drills. is something he would consider putting in place going forward , consider putting in place going forward, to help deal the impact... coverage in this session continues on bbc parliament. he is being questioned on the day it emerged that a quarter of all deaths from covid—19 in this country have happened in care homes. he said that 60% of care homes have had no reported cases of coronavirus. the one o'clock news is coming up in a moment, but right now it is time for the weather. this week is shaping up to be quite a mixed week. the next couple of days it is going to warm up significantly. we are looking at the warmest weather of the year so far. then a chance of showers and

thunderstorms on thursday, then it will be cooler on friday. tonight, most will be cooler on friday. tonight, m ost pla ces will be cooler on friday. tonight, most places will stay dry after a fine day. the rent becomes confined to the northern isles by the end of the night. elsewhere, it will be a mild night with temperatures no lower than ten or 11 degrees. into wednesday, this is likely to be the peak of the heat. high pressure establishes itself across the uk, pushing this weather front northwards, drawing up this warm air from spain and france. all areas will be warmer on wednesday, noticeably sew across scotland and northern ireland. the rain will clear away from the northern isles, lots of sunshine, luke lloyd, mr and mark affecting southern coastal areas during the day. temperatures climbing up to the mid 20s for a good portion of england and we is. through wednesday night, this weak cold front starts to move in, bringing a bunch of cloud and rain

into northern ireland and western scotland. thursday, another dry and sunny day for many central and eastern areas, but as this weather front eastern areas, but as this weather fro nt m oves eastern areas, but as this weather front moves eastward to could spark off hit and miss heavy showers and thunderstorms in the country, maybe the odd one in eastern scotland. another one day on thursday, temperatures comment on a touch in scotla nd temperatures comment on a touch in scotland and northern ireland. it changes to end the week. on friday, this area of low pressure will move and bringing strong winds to all areas, especially the north and west, and a band of rain that will spread across the whole country. some useful rain, maybe not enough in england and wales. gilts across scotla nd in england and wales. gilts across scotland and northern ireland with plenty of happy, blustery showers. the temperatures come coming down. mid teens in the north. that afternoon sunshine, we could see 22 degrees in the south—east. it stays u nsettled degrees in the south—east. it stays unsettled into the weekend, further windy weather with showers on

saturday. high pressure building and across the south, turning it sunnier and warmer.

latest figures show there were more than 40,000 coronavirus related deaths in the uk up to the end of the first week of may. more than 11,000 of those deaths happened in care homes — that's more than a quarter of the total number. we will not rest from doing whatever it is humanly possible to protect our care homes from this appalling virus. we'll be analysing the latest figures. also this lunchtime: the number of people claiming unemployment benefit soared to 2.1 million during the first few weeks of the lockdown. nine million easyjet customers have their details hacked. the airline has apologised. the self—medicating president — doctors express dismay as donald trump admits taking an anti—malaria drug to prevent coronavirus. what do you have to lose, ok? what do you have to lose? i have been taking

it for about a week,