this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm sally bundock. taiwan's president tsai ing—wen uses her inauguration address to tell china she wants dialogue, but rejects its one—country, two systems policy. brazil's daily death toll passes 1,000 — it's now the third worst hit country for infections in the world. pollution and the pandemic — the world sees a dramatic improvement in air quality. and the mum and dad who never gave up looking for their kidnapped 2—year—old son are finally reunited, after 32 years.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. taiwanese president tsai ing—wen has said that her country wants dialogue with china, but cannot accept its proposal for one—country, two systems. she made her comments in a speech after being sworn—in for a second term in office. ms tsai secured over 57% of the ballot last january, in an election dominated by the island's relationship with china and held, as the coronavirus began to take hold on the mainland. taiwan's success in containing the disease has been widely admired. only 7 people have died there. the bbc‘s cindy sui joins us from taipei.

tell us a bit more about what she had to say today and also how she is viewed around the world, in particular the united states. what tsai ing-wen said todayis states. what tsai ing-wen said today is her administration has made the greatest effort to maintain peace and stability along the straight, basically with china. she said she will continue to do that. she also wa nts continue to do that. she also wants dialogue with beijing but it has to be on the basis of democracy, peace and that the two sides have the duty to create peaceful relations and to prevent antagonism from intensifying. she is willing to work towards that and keep an open mind but at the same time she stands firmly against one—country, two systems, under which beijing wants to unify with taiwan, which it sees as a

province, despite the end of the civil war in 1949. this message is not going to sit well with china because for yea rs well with china because for years it has insisted on preconditions of the one china principle, that the two sides are part of china. predecessors have accepted that principles but tsai ing—wen has not done so. but tsai ing—wen has not done so. in the us, what is the reaction to her inauguration? joe biden has sent a very warm congratulatory message. secretary of state mike pompeo has also congratulated her. this is unprecedented that a secretary of state and joe biden have done so. she has one unprecedented support,

especially from the us, who is willing to work more closely with taiwan to enable them to deal with china on many fronts. including the china sea. taiwan is playing an important role and tsai ing—wen knows this and believes this is her bargaining power to try and inform her relationship with beijing. also in terms of how well they handle coronavirus and contain the disease has given taiwan a lot of credibility overseas. yes, it has added taiwan has done better than most places so close to mainland china. it is only an hour away. yet it has never had a lockdown, the number of cases has remained at about 440 and we have had a whole month, more than a month, without any new domestically transmitted cases and without cases for a week including

imported cases. taiwan has been called a role model and because of that tsai ing—wen is very popular as she enters her second time and she has received a lot of praise from around the world. this is something beijing will have to deal with as it watches her enter a second term with taiwan having a higher profile on the international stage. very, very interesting. good to see you, live from taipei. brazil has for the first time registered a daily death toll of over 1000 in one day. the overall death toll is now 17,971, and the total number of infections isjust over 271,000. it's notjust by far the worst hit country in south america, it's also the third highest in the world. the who has blamed this on president jair bolsonaro's

stance of not taking the pandemic seriously enough. this shows the trajectory of the daily total of recorded deaths going up and up. katy watson, in sao paulo, has more. well, brazil passed two grim milestones, actually, not only was it the highest number of deaths in the past 24 hours, but it also posted the highest number of confirmed infections — more than 17,000 confirmed cases in the last 24 hours. now, tuesdays often peak because of the last few days over the weekend in terms of collecting data, but, nevertheless, thisjust shows what a lot of people have been fearing here in brazil — that the numbers of deaths and the virus is certainly not under control here in brazil. let's get some of the day's other news: the global pharmaceutical giant johnson &johnson is to stop selling talcum—based baby powder in the

united states and canada. the company has denied allegations that the powder it uses contains cancer—causing asbestos, but has been taken to court thousands of times over the allegations. i'll have more on this story in our business section in about 20 minutes. some south korean high school students are the first to return to school on wednesday as educational establishments started reopening after a coronavirus delay of more than two months. reopening plans have been postponed five times. thousands of extra staff have been hired to help schools cope with the new requirements. 0ne rare positive effect of the past few months has been on the environment. the biggest ever reduction in the volume of carbon dioxide released into the world's atmosphere has been recorded since march. at the height of the lockdown scientists discovered that daily emissions around the world dropped by more than 17%. but scientists are warning that this extreme reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

is likely to be temporary, as our science editor, david shukman, explains. all over the world, some stunning transformations — from choked streets in india becoming calmer and easier to breathe in, to the most famous landmark in china suddenly looking clearer. to the centre of paris, often polluted, now quieter and cleaner. the fight against the virus has slowed down many economies at huge cost. but it's also done wonders forthe air and for the carbon emissions that are heating up the planet. the drop in traffic is a major part of that here in the uk and globally. lower demand for electricity has also made a difference, along with the grounding of planes. fewer flights means less carbon released into the air. it's a pattern seen around the world. the lighter the shade here, the bigger the decline in emissions — in some countries, up again, but still a huge change. the fall in emissions we're seeing, 17% per day, is enormous.

we haven't experienced something like this before, as far as we can tell. it's driven by changes in road transport. but now that china's out of lockdown, traffic there is building up, so emissions are rising once again. the carbon cut is not permanent. on some key roads, the traffic is starting to come back a bit as the lockdown is eased, but the impact of the different restrictions on the environment has been really striking. not only are those carbon emissions down, the quality of the air has got a lot better. different types of pollution have fallen dramatically. so, as the economy recovers, will we see a return to the toxic haze hanging over our cities? experts in air pollution hope the crisis has shown what's possible. a very unfortunate natural experiment, but it does really show us that by changing the vehicles on our road or reducing the vehicles on our road or changing over to electric vehicles,

we can immediately reduce air pollution, which is a very, very important message. many cities are now trying to encourage more cycling and walking to help keep people safe from the disease and also to reduce pollution. their hope is that amid the nightmare of the virus, a greener future can be created. david shukman, bbc news. the united nations has warned of an alarming increase in violence against civilians in afghanistan. on tuesday, gunmen opened fire in a mosque, killing eight worshippers, wounding five others. and doctors are still hoping to reunite all the families caught up in one of the country's most shocking attacks. 24 people, including babies, were killed when gunmen opened fire on a maternity ward in kabul. sana safi has this report. an attack on the most innocent

of the terms — babies, some just minutes old. it has been described as four hours of hell as government shutdown 16 mothers and two newborns. this baby was just two hours old when the shooting started. a life changed forever as she was hit twice. doctors say that she almost lost a leg but, worse still, her mother, still recovering from labour, was killed in the attack. at the family home, shock. what was meant to be the celebration of new birth has brought so much misery. his —— translation: new birth has brought so much misery. his —— translationzlj found my wife lying with her hands as if she was still

holding her baby. all of the mothers, they must‘ve tried to under the beds. another victim was 35—year—old midwife. she had only been in thejob was 35—year—old midwife. she had only been in the job two months. herfather said she had only been in the job two months. her father said she was in the middle of a birth when the attacks started. translation: she told them i have a patient in my care, i cannot leave her to die. the child and mother will die if i lived in. she stayed with the patients until the child was born afterwards she tried to leave but that is when the bullet hit her. many of the new bonds that survived the attack have been brought to another local hospital. without their mothers, volunteers have stepped in to breastfeed them. translation: i have come here today to breastfeed these

babies because they have lost their mothers in the bloodied attack. i have a four month old baby who i left at home and came here to give them a mother ‘s love by breast—feeding them. this is the cycle of life and death in afghanistan, a country at warfor the death in afghanistan, a country at war for the past 40 years. from the cradle to the grave. sana safi, bbc news you're watching bbc news, a reminder of our top stories: taiwan's president tsai ing—wen uses her inauguration address to tell china she wants dialogue but rejects its one country, two systems policy. brazil's daily death toll passes 1,000. it's now the third worst hit country for infections in the world. mass evacuations are underway in bangladesh and india, ahead of a major storm there. cyclone amphan is due to make landfall near the border of the two countries

later on wednesday. forecasters are warning of winds above 115mph. the coronavirus outbreak is making it harder to protect those in the line of the storm, as our south asia correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan, reports. the bay of bengal, one of the most vulnerable coastlines in the world. now bracing itself for a powerful storm. officials fear it could be the worst to hit the region since cyclone sidr in 2007, which claimed at least 3,000 lives. now, in the middle of a pandemic, they're moving thousands to safer ground. fears too for hundreds of rohingya refugees stranded at sea. they'd escaped hardship from the camps in bangladesh for a new life in malaysia. beaten and starved by

the smugglers they paid, they're now adrift after malaysian authorities turned them away for fears of covid—19. last month, hundreds of rohingyas were rescued and returned to bangladesh. but the country says it won't accept any more on the mainland. it sent more than 300 to a silt island in the bay of bengal. aid agencies fear it's flood prone and are calling for the refugees to be moved as the storm approaches. this 17—year—old is one of those on the island. we talked to his mother, fatima, before the cyclone warning. "i just want my son alive on any sure, in any country," she says. but for fatima and other rohingyas, living in the world's largest refugee camp the risks are many. if the cyclone hits these settlements don't stand a chance. and last week coronavirus

finally reached the camps. one of the most densely populated places on the planet, were social distancing is tough, cases are already rising rapidly. healthcare facilities are basic. isolation wards have been set up for coronavirus patients, but in a camp of close to a million people there isn't a single ventilator. rohingya refugees fled genocide in the myanmar. they live in poverty in bangladesh. now with coronavirus and a cyclone to content with their resilience is once again being tested. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. in australia, the covid—19 pandemic has made life even more difficult for the towns already struggling after the country's bushfires. the government has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help those areas worst hit,

but towns that rely on tourism are not sure if they'll ever recover. our australia correspondent, shaimaa khalil, has been to one bushfire—hit town in new south wales. this is mogo on new year's eve. 0h this is mogo on new year's eve. oh my god! and this is the voice of lorraine as bushfires to pull through her town, destroying the leather business she has owned for almost two decades. my poor shot! these sunk into the ground.... salvaged from the wreckage, these burnt machines are what is left. a temporary building gave lorraine and others hope, a chance to start trading again. but with covid—19 restrictions, barely any customers are passing through this tourist town. it was heartbreaking and soul destroying because when we got

these containers and invested all this money in having all the stock and setting it up, we we re the stock and setting it up, we were not expected to be stopped in our tracks so early on in the recovery stage. nearly five months since the fires, the cleanup in mogo continue slowly. peter williams and his wife, vanessa, lost both their home and the pottery shop. they say the pandemic is making it harder to move on. the virus has meant that everything was delayed, workers have to be more careful, so this is late everything down. devastation is a reminderevery day everything down. devastation is a reminder every day of what we have lost. we are really looking for a quick cleanup so we can, psychologically, start again afresh and start building out again afresh and start building our lives again. australia has fared better than many countries and it comes to covid—19 cases and restrictions are gradually being eased but tourist towns like mogo have suffered a double whammy, firstly bushfires and now the virus. there is a great deal of

concern here about when bidders will return and whether they will return and whether they will the money to spend. at the mogo's wildlife park, there are hundreds of animals but no visitors, it reopened less than a month after the bushfires and then coronavirus forced it to close its doors again. with no international terrorism expected in australia any time soon, the future of these do depends on domestic visitors coming back. will not have those days when the zoo is packed with people and we hold a keeper talk and people are shoulder and shoulder to see what is going on. it will be different and especially first, it will be almost like private tools, the numbers or be that small. in each hard forest around mogo, there are now many signs of life. but for the bushfire affected towns across australia, recovery still feels a long way off. cambridge university has

announced it will move all of its lectures online until the summer of 2021 as a result of the pandemic. it said smaller teaching groups may continue in person provided social distancing can be maintained. the university stressed it will keep the situation under review and in line with official advice. the 100—year—old british army veteran, colonel tom moore, who's raised tens of millions for britain's national health service, is to be knighted. the honour follows a special nomination by prime minister borisjohnson in the wake of colonel tom's record—breaking feat of walking laps in his garden, raising £33 million — that's over $40 million — for the nhs in its efforts to contain the pandemic. captain tom's achievement made headlines around the world and has also inspired others. in fact, a ghanaian second world war veteran, who also fought in burma, as it was then known, is walking over 3km a day

for a week to raise funds to fight coronavirus. private joseph hammond, who's 95, says he hopes the money will support covid—19 frontline workers and vulnerable veterans across africa. our correspondent, thomas naadi, reports from accra. a vetera n a veteran on a mission, 95—year—old privatejoseph hammond stream has just started. taking to the town on the oxford street in accra, he is at healing to leaders of south africa in his fundraising mission. privatejoseph south africa in his fundraising mission. private joseph hammond walking every day, following in the footsteps of fellow burma vetera n, the footsteps of fellow burma veteran, colonel tom moore, this time, he is fighting a very different war, raising funds for those on today's coronavirus frontlines.

funds for those on today's coronavirus frontlineslj funds for those on today's coronavirus frontlines. i want everybody to take this thing very seriously. because it is actually killing people, from their inception thought it was a joke and it is nojoke. it is an invisible war we are fighting so i am asking everybody to contribute to enable us to have the and help the front that workers and people all over africa. while cases of coronavirus remain relatively low in africa, there are fears that the healthcare system may struggle to cope if there are more numbers. we need more equipment and we want to raise funds to assist us in the right direction and column people to contribute to help raise the necessary funds to purchase the ppa. that would be the best for this man who has fought for us all this time. ——

ppe. at just 16, private joseph hammond was conscripted and sent to fight over the other side of the world in what was then burma. he was one of the malt 200,000 west african troops often seen as the forgotten soldiers. here at the war cemetery, private hammond still remembers a few names.|j know this man. over 100 ghanaian veterans who took part in the second world war still and joseph hammond is still one of them and looking strong for his age and fighting in his own way to help save lives. now, a remarkable story from china, where a couple have been reunited with their son, 32 years after he was abducted as a toddler. the disappearance of

two—year—old mao yin in 1988 became one of china's most notorious child abduction cases, in part because his parents refused to give up looking for him. kathryn armstrong has the story. this was the moment mao yin‘s parents were able to hug their son for the first time in 32 years. mao yin was just two when he was taken in shanxi province in north—west china. thousands of children go missing in china every year, but his parents never gave up hope. his mother, li, devoted her life to finding her son, giving up herjob, crossing the country handing out flyers and joining teams of volunteers investigating other abduction cases. in her search for her own son, she helped 29 other families find their missing children. then, earlier this year, police got a tip—off about a man in south—west china and a suspicious adoption in the late ‘80s.

it led them to a man named mrgu. they used facial recognition technology and dna testing to confirm that mr gu was in fact mao yin — leading to monday's emotional reunion. and what the science verified to many can be seen just by looking. the family resemblance is almost unmistakable. kathryn armstrong, bbc news. an amazing story and nice to have a happy ending. business coverage coming next and will be focusing in particular on what the uk chancellor was saying in a speech, and he said there is no guarantee of a quick economic bounce back and we will be analysing that. we will have some top guests to talk about other issues, including how is the workplace preparing for the return of all workers? this of course as the uk government encourages us to get back to work but also tried

to work at home for as long as possible. see you soon. hello there. tuesday was very sunny and very warm for some of us but not for all. in fact, it was the warmest day of the year so far — with 26 degrees recorded in stjames' park in london. but i suspect wednesday will be warmer still and a little more widespread across the country. however, it's going to be a chance of a few thunderstorms on thursday, then as we head into the weekend, fresherfor all of us. but for the time being, high—pressure, the dominant feature, and it's keeping these weather fronts out in the atlantic for the moment. that's allowing ahead of it a southerly feed of very warm air coming up from the very near continent. so despite a little bit of early morning mist and fog around, it will be a mild start, as you can see, widespread double digits. now, any murkiness close to the coast will lift quite

readily away, and there will be lots of sunshine coming through the day. just a little bit of fair weather cloud into the north, and maybe some showery outbreaks of rain into the northern isles. here, a little disappointing, but the warmth will be quite widespread — low 20s into central scotland, as high as 27 perhaps in the south—east — that's 81 fahrenheit. it's worth bearing in mind if you are going to be spending a little more time outside, where we've got the sunshine, we are looking at high uv levels throughout the day. now, as we move out of wednesday into thursday, that whether front will start to push and from the atlantic, and it's going to bring some outbreaks of light showery rain to scotland. so starting off pretty grey and wet to the west, that will drift its way steadily east, allowing for an improvement. at the same time, it stays pretty hot and humid in the south—east corner, and that could trigger off a few sharp, thundery downpours. dodge the showers, keep the sunshine, again, we could see highs of 27 degrees. but the real change arrives on friday.

you can see quite clearly, more of a significant area of low pressure, tightly squeezed isobars around that centre of the low — that means the strongest of the winds look likely through northern ireland and western scotland. gales not out of the question. there will be some sharp showers or longer spells of rain as we go through the day. a little more cloud generally on friday, and as a result, not quite as warm — top temperatures of around 11—20 degrees. that's 68 fahrenheit. so a fresher start to the weekend, but look at this. for england and wales, as we go into next week, the heat is set to build yet again.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a stark warning from the chancellor for the uk, who says covid—19 may cause permanent scarring to the economy. and johnson & johnson announces it will stop selling baby powder in north america, as law suits mount up claiming its product can cause cancer. hello and welcome. we begin with the latest warning from the chancellor

of the exchequer, rishi sunak, who cautions the uk economy may suffer permanent scarring from the effects of the covid—19 pandemic. sunak added the uk should not count on a immediate bounceback predicted by some when the country went into lockdown in march. his warning comes as figures show the number of people claiming unemployment benefit soared to 2.1 million in april. the chancellor warns there may be more hardship to come. i certainly will not be able to protect every job i certainly will not be able to protect everyjob and every business. we are already seeing that in the data and no doubt there will be more hardship to come but this lockdown is having a significant impact on oui’ having a significant impact on our economy and we are likely to face a severe recession, the likes of which we have not seen, and of course that will have an impact on employment. joining us now from london is james hughes, who's the chief market

analyst at scope markets. good to see you. the chancellor is preparing for a long drawn out recovery and any hope of a swift is wishful thinking. this has been the case for quite a long time. the case has really been hidden by the way markets have reacted. we have seen stock markets around the world crash and then recover significantly but this morning is almost just significantly but this morning is almostjust a reminder to eve ryo ne is almostjust a reminder to everyone that we are in this for the long haul. we note from a social distancing point of view but also from an economic point of view. the key thing we needin point of view. the key thing we need in an economy for it to continue to work is spending and landing. they are the two things the economy need. the spending one is key because as rishi sunak says and as the

figures show, the unemployment figures show, the unemployment figure is going to be the biggest issue. if people do not havejobs, spending will biggest issue. if people do not have jobs, spending will not return to the levels we're used to. to what extent is a recovery a good recovery, one that would rely on a good vaccine? what are vaccine and enables the economy to do is to open up in a way that we can almost... that resembles what we have seen before. the feeling has been that once the lockdown and we go back to normal life but that has not happened. yes, shops and bars start to open but they open in a way that just start to open but they open in a way thatjust does not allow the capacity it did before because we are still social distancing and not enough people will be able to go into shops, bars, to actually buy the products. of course, a

vaccine would change it because it would mean we do not need social distancing as much but social distancing as much but social distancing as much but social distancing is as big a problem as the lockdown itself because it does not allow for business to return to the way it was before and we do not actually know whether business will ever return to that sort of consumption we saw before the pandemic. we are out of time but thank you, good to see you. james hughes joining us from his home. and perhaps that is what the chancellor means rishi sunak saying that business would not return as did before. as companies around europe return to work, many are having to rethink the way they run their business. in the uk alone, almost two thirds of the country's 11.8 million desks will be unusable, if staff have to sit two metres apart. that in turn means 7.8 million people will have to continue

working from home each day. according to the latest survey by the british chambers of commerce, only a third of firms say they can fully implement the guidance from the uk government and get back to work as normal. joining us now from london is sam addison, who's the head of project management at colliers international. lovely to meet you as it were. tell us about the logistics of businesses trying to get their workforce back in the workplace. we know it is not straightforward and one size does not fit all. there is great advice out there but we have created a social distancing calculator and across the uk on average only 40% of desks will be usable when taking into account social distancing rules and also in this to be specific location to

location, taking into account offers floors but how you get to the office, public transport and within the buildings how you move around the building with shared facilities. that is theissue, with shared facilities. that is the issue, it is the entire process that has to be managed by businesses. they have a duty of care, don't they? they do and there is some great advice from hsc in the uk, risk assessments and also focus on sharing the approach with organisations employees. it is about making employees feel safe, great advice about making sure you display what activities organisations are taking. we see interventions and improvements needed — behaviour, design and layout, hygiene, navigation and technology solutions as well. for small and medium—sized businesses, the backbone of our

economy, if they are having to rent space and have much fewer members of staff for quite a long period of time, that is expensive. it could be but this is encouraging people having to work from home so organisations are reevaluating how they feel about that. it is well documented organisations use technologies like zoom and microsoft teams and by blending these different styles, with activity based working, because organisations are still being effective and on a survey recently, people feel as productive if not more productive if not more productive working from home. it does take some new thinking and innovation from management of businesses. i am loving your

background, a good change from bookshelves, clearly you are a spotty household. yes, yes, we. let's take a quick look at how the markets are faring: look at australia, up over 2%. basically what is happening investors are pausing and watching what is going on closely in terms of any success with regards to testing for vaccine. reports on monday that they could be positive views coming from the new us in terms of vaccine success but actually now reports saying we were getting over enthusiastic at the start of the week. more than 3% gains on a monday so some profit—taking going on

on wall street. investors watching carefully at the moment. the healthcare giantjohnson & johnson has announced it will stop selling talc—based baby powder in the united states and canada, due to falling demand after mounting lawsuits claimed that it caused cancer. our north american business correspondent, michelle fleury, has more from new york. johnson &johnson says it will stop selling its talc—based baby powder in north america, along with a range of other items as it focuses on products it considers a higher priority during the coronavirus pandemic. the pharmaceutical giant also continued to defend the safety of its talc baby powder. once a household staple, sales have really fallen over the last few years as users alleged that it caused cancer. and last october, the company voluntarily recalled a batch of its baby powder after the us food and drug regulatorfound that it contained asbestos. now, the recall came

amid thousands of lawsuits saying thatjohnson & johnson knew that its baby powder contained asbestos, a carcinogen. the company has strenuously denied all of these claims. it is worth pointing out that talc—based baby powder from johnson & johnson will still be sold in the rest of the world, and here in north america, you can buy the cornstarch—based version. china's lenovo, the world's biggest maker of personal computers, has reported a 64% drop in net profits for the three months, ending in march. like many firms, its sales have been hit by the global pandemic. we're now joined by mariko oi from our asia business hub of singapore. lenovo the latest to tell us how it is doing. the company currently has about a quarter of the global market share in personal computers ahead of rivals like hp and dell but in the first three months of this

year, personal computers, by 1296 year, personal computers, by 12% because of the coronavirus pandemic, the sharpest fall since 2013. not surprisingly we heard from the company reporting a sharp fall in its profit but the result came in better than what analysts had expected in the company said it could benefit from the new normal of many people working from home. it says it is not just about a growth in pc and similar devices but also in the supporting data centres and infrastructure. not great numbers that we saw the outlook may not be as agreement. thank you very much. let's get some of the day's other news: a new venture planned for later end of the year has been brought forward because of covid—19. stores will appear on

business areas. venezuela's central bank has made a legal claim to try to force the bank of england to hand over $1 billion worth of gold, according to the document submitted in a london court. president nicolas maduro hopes to use the funds to provide support for the country's response against covid 19. starting a business is always tough — most fail in their first few years. but with covid—19 forcing businesses to shut down across the globe, many young africans have little choice but to seek out opportunity despite the pandemic. africa has not only one of the youngest populations in the world, but also the largest number of entrepreneurs. joice etutu talks to some of the region's start—ups about how they're navigating the pandemic. one of million young

entrepreneurs in the african continent. selling skincare products, her goods sold out in hours. she cannot capitalise u nless hours. she cannot capitalise unless she makes the product. we have to chill out. that is when i let my customers know that things are on stencil but it is happening. the lockdown is impacting young entrepreneurs across africa. 3000 kilometres away in nigeria, this toilet paper company initially saw orders surge. able to do double the number ina surge. able to do double the number in a month in business was quite good but then i ran out of product. i have no access to raw material. africa has the highest proportion of entrepreneurs in the world with 22% of workers running the rain

businesses but many are struggling to stay afloat amid the pandemic. a country manager of investing africa have recently put out an advice kit. become more innovative in terms of how you deliver your products or your services. i would advise to spend to keep the business running. 90% of newjobs and most african countries are created both small and medium enterprises. half of that is driven by the young so it is very important that they survive. due to the impact of covid—19, the world bank is forecasting sub—saharan africa will fall to its worst recession in 25 years. young entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the african economy and with billions of firms struggling,

the resilience, energy and creativity will be crucial in surviving the ongoing crisis. you're watching bbc news, a reminder of our top stories: taiwan's president tsai ing—wen uses her inauguration address to tell china she wants dialogue but rejects its one country, two systems, policy. brazil's daily death toll passes 1,000. it's now the third worst hit country for infections in the world. now it's time for coronavirus explained, where we take a more in—depth look at one particular aspect of the pandemic. here's my colleague yalda hakim. on today's coronavirus explained, we are asking

whether vitamin d could be useful in tackling covid—19, a number every sports over the following weeks have suggested a correlation between patients suffering severe symptoms and those who are vitamin d deficient. vitamin d is important for healthy bones, teeth and muscles. there also some evidence to suggest it can boost resistance to and flu. your skin makes it when you are exposed to the son of people with darker skin make less vitamin dthan with darker skin make less vitamin d than those of the lighter skin which means that vitamin d deficiency is more common amongst african american communities in europe. clinical trials are now getting under way in france and spain to see whether the vitamin d have any benefit to the treatment. professor adrian is currently recruiting for a child which is looking for the potential impacts of vitamin d on covid—19. he also joins us along with robert brown, the chair of the nutrition advice

group. thank you both for joining us. professor, tell us more about the research. so we recently launched a study called covid—19 and people 16 yea rs called covid—19 and people 16 years and over in the uk can in role if they want to take place in trials for vitamin supplementation in reducing risk of covert. what have you found so far? we are still in the enrolment phase at the moment. we do not have findings to report. ok, over to robert. tell us about the benefits of vitamin d? vitamin d is a very old evolutionary hormone, featuring in fundamental pathways including transcriptions that the way the genes work on the way we make proteins. it does indeed impact on immune function and arguably the group we are really

interested in are those who are in hospital at risk of dying who tend to be the very, very frail and that is why looking at the data in those populations would make a huge difference. at the moment, we have 6— seven observational studies suggesting that the risk of mortality and icu is correlated to vitamin d levels but what we really need is globally to look at these figures for hospitals to collect vitamin d day tower, for care homes to collect vitamin d data and see what the hospital population outcomes are and this would be immensely helpful. this is a pandemic. most deficiencies have been controlled through observational studies, so scurvy, rickets, all observational, not randomised controlled trials. going back to the professor, what correlation have with them

between other viruses and vitamin d? before i answer that, the last data misrepresents charles a little bit. vitamins c and scurvy was shown in trials in the 18th century, the first child to be done and doing a randomised trial does not involve locking people up. it involves asking people up. it involves asking people for their consent to ta ke people for their consent to take part in research which yields a robust answer. tell us a little bit about how you are planning on unfolding your trials? people would sign up to the platform. they give permission to be randomised, to either receive a trial or not and they are followed up and those who have been consented to receive randomised vitamins and we compare those to those who did not receive it. vitamin d has who did not receive it. vitamin dhasa who did not receive it. vitamin d has a long history in terms of prevention and treatment of

infection as well as is well known in association with bone health. some of the older studies were done in tuberculosis but recent studies show that vitamin day can support innate responses to immune infection but dampened down harmful pathological responses which cause mortality in the context of covid—19. and are using in hospitals, people who have a deficiency, are those being impact the most? yes, there is an association between deficiency and adverse outcomes but we do not know whether that is a causal association. it may be that being ill can reduce your vitamin d level and we know thatis vitamin d level and we know that is true of many micronutrients especially vitamina and micronutrients especially vitamin a and there could be a mixture here of for example it could be that the primary problem is being overweight and it can cause low vitamin d levels and this could be the causal factor levels and this could be the causalfactorfor levels and this could be the causal factor for adverse outcomes. it is very difficult from observational studies to

tease out whether vitamin d is causing this. i suppose we're still learning so much here about this particular virus. robert i will come back to you but tell us a little more about how to get vitamin d. on an evolution basis it has always been sunshine, sunshine, sunshine! if you are living a sparse preindustrial life without access to meat or eggs the only place you get it from, is from the sun, unless you eat a lot of fish. someone with pale skin may be spending 20 minutes ina pale skin may be spending 20 minutes in a bathing costume and can create several units, 50 days worth of 400 iu as a supplement and between different groups, people may more or less ability to make vitamin d. women seem to do it better than men and are probably in our evolutionary roots, the researchers never been done but certainly the sun is the best place to get sensible sun exposure, is the best place to get vitamin d

which is why it is worrying because we have a lockdown and if people are low in vitamin d and as they come into the autumn and vitamin d is a factor in susceptibility to mortality, then we could see a major increase in a return of the covert pandemic in the autumn —— covid—19. the covert pandemic in the autumn -- covid-19. picking up on one point, that that you raised about sunshine the only way of getting vitamin d. that is only true when you have ultraviolet increasing intensity to make vitamin d in the skin and in the uk for example at the latitude we are at in the low 50s is such that the uvb is not sufficient intensity to make that level for six months of the year. what you do in that case, take supplements? take supplements or in scandinavia people have a high vitamin d intake by taking oily fish. who shouldn't be

taking it? other cases where people should avoid a? there are extremely rare conditions associated with hypersensitivity, rare conditions, including overactive thyroid glands which could make you overreact to vitamin d but these are rare. at the end of the day, it is a balancing act, isn't it? if there was enough data which showed that low vitamin day over the world was associated with mortality and people were insufficient, then there would have to be, given vitamin d by their doctors and if that reduce mortality significantly, that would be a game—changer. we may not get a vaccine... . but at this stage we do not know enough about this particular virus? but this kind of, it is back to the parachutes analogy. if you give someone a parachute and it works, why not do it? is that your approach, works, why not do it? is that yourapproach, professor?

should people just take these things given it is a pandemic? well, i think the department of health and public health in the uk makea health and public health in the uk make a recommendation that people during a lockdown should ta ke people during a lockdown should take or have an intake of 400 units, ten mcg of vitamin d a day and i think that's good advice but the question is whether a high dose of vitamin d may protect against covid—19 all ameliorate the worst—case scenario in terms of reducing people ‘s hospitalisation and risk death. professor and robert brown, thank you both for joining robert brown, thank you both forjoining us. and i'm sure you're well aware that there is so much more information and news on the website. do you take a look as and when you need to to keep

up—to—date with all the latest information. you are up—to—date, having watched the programme. thank you for your time pand programme. thank you for your time p and i will see you again soon. “— time p and i will see you again soon. —— thank you for your time company. hello there. tuesday was very sunny and very warm for some of us but not for all. in fact, it was the warmest day of the year so far — with 26 degrees recorded in stjames' park in london. but i suspect wednesday will be warmer still and a little more widespread across the country. however, it's going to be a chance of a few thunderstorms on thursday, then as we head into the weekend, fresherfor all of us. but for the time being, high—pressure, the dominant feature, and it's keeping these weather fronts out in the atlantic for the moment. that's allowing ahead of it a southerly feed of very warm air coming up from the very near continent. so despite a little bit of early morning mist and fog around, it will be a mild start, as you can see, widespread double digits. now, any murkiness close to the coast will lift quite

readily away, and there will be lots of sunshine coming through the day. just a little bit of fair weather cloud into the north, and maybe some showery outbreaks of rain into the northern isles. here, a little disappointing, but the warmth will be quite widespread — low 20s into central scotland, as high as 27 perhaps in the south—east — that's 81 fahrenheit. it's worth bearing in mind if you are going to be spending a little more time outside, where we've got the sunshine, we are looking at high uv levels throughout the day. now, as we move out of wednesday into thursday, that whether front will start to push and from the atlantic, and it's going to bring some outbreaks of light showery rain to scotland. so starting off pretty grey and wet to the west, that will drift its way steadily east, allowing for an improvement. at the same time, it stays pretty hot and humid in the south—east corner, and that could trigger off a few sharp, thundery downpours. dodge the showers, keep the sunshine, again, we could see highs of 27 degrees. but the real change arrives on friday.

you can see quite clearly, more of a significant area of low pressure, tightly squeezed isobars around that centre of the low — that means the strongest of the winds look likely through northern ireland and western scotland. gales not out of the question. there will be some sharp showers or longer spells of rain as we go through the day. a little more cloud generally on friday, and as a result, not quite as warm — top temperatures of around 11—20 degrees. that's 68 fahrenheit. so a fresher start to the weekend, but look at this. for england and wales, as we go into next week, the heat is set to build yet again.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. our headlines today: arise sir tom: captain tom moore is awarded a knighthood after raising 40 million pounds for nhs charities. we'll have the first live interview with sir tom on the programme this morning. pressure grows on the government as council leaders as at least 11 english councils say they have serious concerns about the phased re—opening of schools on the 1st ofjune. from today, all adults in england will automatically be organ donors — unless they opt out. no more propping up the bar, or sharing a hotel buffet. new proposals from the uk's hospitality industry on what pubs,