tv BBC News at Six BBC News May 26, 2020 6:00pm-6:32pm BST
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life on a covid intensive care ward — as coronavirus cases fall, the doctors fearing a second peak. as lockdown restrictions loosen, we've spent a week in one of the hospitals hardest hit by the virus. exhausted doctors speak of their concerns for the future. once the lockdown is relaxed, people of course are going to have more contact with each other, so that's the way this is going to spread. a special report on the patients and staff at the sharp end of this pandemic. the other main story tonight — a junior minister resigns
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and nearly 30 conservative mps call for dominic cummings to go over his interpretation of the lockdown rules. as stores in england prepare to reopen next month — we look at what shopping in coronavirus times will look like. we are live in, where people are asking why there are still no lifeguards on the beaches even though large numbers of day—trippers have started to arrive. and on the 80th anniversary of the dunkirk evacuation — the remarkable story of one veteran. and in sport, world number one rory mcilroy says he believes the ryder cup, scheduled to take place in september, will be postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. good evening and welcome
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to the bbc news at six. doctors at one of the hospitals hit hardest by coronavirus in the uk have spoken of their fears of a second peak — as lockdown restrictions loosen. the bbc has been given unprecedented access to the royal london hospital — in east london — which serves the densely populated area of tower hamlets. hundreds of people have died there — with people from ethnic minority backgrounds particularly affected. the medical staff say a rise in cases is now inevitable as people have more and more contact with each other. and they have also spoken of the mental and physical toll the last two months has taken on them. the daily death toll across the uk continues to fall. in the last 2a hours — 134 deaths have been recorded — and there have been no deaths reported in northern ireland.
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37,048 people have died. in times of crisis, we find out who we really are. i have felt broken and a lot of my colleagues have. when souls are laid bare. in this time of coronavirus one hospital and one can unit to reflect on these troubled times. coming up for air to reveal their to us. we saw the fragility of life. we saw its strength. and all the while, one fear learns, another peak of
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infections to rival the first. we we re infections to rival the first. we were 20 beds away from being overrun. don't be fooled by the gentle pace. time is tested here. on the royal london hospital's coronavirus word, while many patients inhabit ventilated worlds of slow motion dreams and hallucinations, the doctors and nurses charged with bringing them back to life inhabit the real world, where time moves too quickly, as this cruel disease eats away at him and lungs with frightening speed. but the medical staff, including this consultant, have their own nightmares. are you expecting a second wave? i would have to say yes because once the lockdown is relaxed people of course i going to have more contact with each other so that
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is the way this is going to spread. then, as their interview ends, he called away. his two minutes turn into several agonising hours. we had permission from all the patients and theirfamilies to permission from all the patients and their families to film. a patient person like vital signs have worsened. he isjust 55. the professionalism of the team is stunning. years of experience gathered around this bed. as the duality of time, the drifting oblivious patient and the rush to save his life merge into a tableau for our times. how concerned are you? i am extremely concerned, especially at this late stage.
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so, there is a final role of the dice. this is a last resort. maybe by turning him onto his front they can by turning him onto his front they ca n force by turning him onto his front they canforce air by turning him onto his front they can force air into his lungs, oxygen into his body. it is all they can do. his lungs arejust into his body. it is all they can do. his lungs are just getting worse, more inflamed. you are preparing to talk to his family? yes, that's right. a presence on the board for absent relatives. potentially we will make a decision about whether it is appropriate to continue what we are doing at the moment or whether you should get an a bit of dignity. imagine this stress multiplied every day for weeks. now you
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understand what the peak of the pandemic was like. this sister bore witness to those dark days. it consumes you. it is what you think about when you go to bed. you are preparing for your next shift. you are relieved the previous shift. you are relieved the previous shift is over. you are sad. it is a huge emotional burden. it is a time of our lives that we will never forget. the peak almost broke mines and according to this consultant almost broke the royal london. we we re almost broke the royal london. we were keeping people alive. that's what our goal of care was, keep as many people alive as long as we can until we can get back to being able to deliver the quality of care we a lwa ys to deliver the quality of care we always aspire to deliver. sometimes it's hard to find light in the
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darkness. what you are about to witness what medicine can do. this is one of the defining moments in an intensive care unit. when a patient‘s ventilated tube is removed. it's a procedure full of expectation and dread. we will pull out the tube as we do that. will it work? he is grimacing as the two inches up his throat. and finally leaves his chest. how does that feel? the heavy breathing of a man given a second chance. but there are other defeats. sadly, that evening,
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one of the patients died, another soul lost. 0n tomorrow evening's programme, a prayer for the soul lost. 0n tomorrow evening's programme, a prayerfor the dying. and the morgue struggling to cope. at the height we were dealing with 25 bodies daily coming into the morgue. ajunior minister has resigned and at least 30 conservative mps have now called for borisjohnson‘s top adviser, dominic cummings, to resign. douglas ross, who was the under secretary of state for scotland, said the way mr cummings had interpreted the lockdown rules was different from "the vast majority" who had done as the government had asked. he was supported by the cabinet office minister, michael gove this morning who said mr cummings' account of his actions was "exhaustive,
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detailed and verifiable". here's our political editor, laura kuenssberg. the prime minister was knocked up adviser no longer protecting his boss. instead of very big problem. —— prime minister's adviser. a minister has jumped because —— prime minister's adviser. a minister hasjumped because dominic cummings has not been purged. douglas ross saying if the number 10 advisable not after breaking at least the spirit of the lockdown that he will not stay. i have constituents who followed the guidance, and whether there were areas you could get around the guidance, they didn't, when the vast majority of the people followed the guidance because the government was very clear that we should stay at home to help nhs workers beat
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their spiders. nearly 40 mps, including former tory ministers, calling on him to quit. —— this virus. former tory ministers, calling on him to quit. -- this virus. we are distracting attention from the key issue which is tackling the coronavirus. a member of the cabinet told me of dominic cummings had any self—awareness he would resign. another said that as long as he steers the government will remain stuck in this groove unable to concentrate on what really matters. and by defending his advisers so strongly this has become a question of the prime minister's judgment. 0ne of the prime minister's judgment. one very worried very senior figure in the party even suggested boris johnson's authority itself is slipping out from under the door. yet downing street is adamant that dominic cummings' trip was covered by the exceptions to the lockdown
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rails. he travelled more than 200 miles to county durham after his wife fell ill and they have tried to justify his 60 mile round trip to a castle where he was spotted by an eyewitness. i don't feel it was right to the true message that it should not be in the public domain. ministers know the public is concerned. for the government review all penalty fines imposed on families for travelling during lockdown? that is a very good question. it is perfectly reasonable to take away that question. i will have to talk to my treasury colleagues. nearly 40 of your collea g u es colleagues. nearly 40 of your colleagues believe the prime minister was like top adviser led the country down and want him gone. given that you stood there and said they were instructions, do you? my
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view is that what he did was within the guidelines. i can understand why reasonable people can take a different view. do you admit it is doing damage to the government's credibility after a question you might review some of the fines given to people for travelling for reasons to people for travelling for reasons to do with their children? it is incredibly important as a nation we keep our resolve. everybody has their part to play. the future of one man and onejob is less important than dealing with the virus but it is a huge distraction. despite the determination and number tend to keep ignoring the wild ride outside. whatever you think of us, whether you are one of the members of public who is furious about what has happened or that it is a load of fast, it is not going away because more and more tory mps are going public seeing dominic cummings
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should resign. matt hancock had to try to make up a policy on the spot in response to a question from a vicar implying that other people's experiences should not go punished. government sources saying he was not announcing a review, he was just saying the government might take a look at that question, but it is a sign at how this has been sticking to the government. they have not been able to draw a line under it, despite the prime minister's support for the adviser at the weekend and that completely surreal press conference by dominic cummings yesterday but tonight downing street in the core borisjohnson adamant he wa nts in the core borisjohnson adamant he wants him to stay on. the social impact of lockdown has been profound. social distancing has defined the way we live.
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some worry that the row over dominic cummings will make it harder. our home editor, mark easton, has been gauging the mood of the british public. there are concerns confidence in the prime minister might have been damaged in the past few days but how serious is it? with the help of our research company we have calculated ivy dominic cummings row has affected the public mood. ivy dominic cummings row has affected the public moodm ivy dominic cummings row has affected the public mood. it is one rule for all of us and the government can do whatever they like and we have to accept it. it is com pletely and we have to accept it. it is completely out of order. and we have to accept it. it is completely out of orderlj and we have to accept it. it is completely out of order. i did not believe a word of it. i thought he was very arrogant and i think boris johnson has lost credibility. you cannot break any regulation. his 30 mile drive to the castle to check his eyesight is irrelevant. how can you do that? when you consider circumstances, his son needed care, and a wife who was ill, or briefly ill, i think there has to be a
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little bit of slack given. listen to the jobless man has got. he is crucial. he could have stayed in that cottage for weeks. who thinks he should resign? he did not apologise. should he resign wednesday night hands up? just on the government appears to have been declining even before the dominic cummings arrived. in april nearly two thirds of people said they trusted the government to control the spread of the virus. by last radiate had fallen to have. do you think the way the government is planning to reduce the lockdown in england is right or should they go faster or slower? unfortunately i feel there is going to be a second wave because more and more people are getting together and people are not taking this as seriously as should be. if the government guidelines about beating one person
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it is not happening. it seems to be whatever you want. —— it is not happening. it seems to be whateveryou want. —— meeting it is not happening. it seems to be whatever you want. —— meeting one.|j do whatever you want. —— meeting one.” do not think the prime minister has any idea what messages he is putting forward. we would like to go shopping but i do not want to catch coronavirus. give it another one or two weeks. today's survey suggests more than half of people worry controls are being lifted too quickly with just i3% wanting lockdown lifted faster. the prime minister is lack of assertiveness has been the defining point of the crisis and not as much asa point of the crisis and not as much as a success as the country would have hoped for. ijust feel like, as usual, we are the laughing stock nation. i understand why we were kind of trying to keep things open, but unfortunately, as a result, i think it's resulted in a lot more deaths than there needed to be. trust in government matters, and even more so trust in government matters, and even more so in a crisis. it may,
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quite literally, be a matter of life and death. mark easton, bbc news. the supercar maker, mclaren, has announced 1,200 jobs will be lost across its operations — including its formula one team. the firm based in surrey said its finances had been hit badly by the cancellation of motorsport around the world and reduced demand for its products during the pandemic. a drug treatment that appears to shorten recovery time for people with coronavirus by around four days is being made available on the nhs. remdesivir is an anti—viral medicine that was originally developed to fight ebola. regulators say there is enough evidence to approve its use in selected hospital patients. the latest weekly figures for coronavirus deaths registered across the uk are the lowest since early april. the data shows the situtation is improving, but experts say widespread testing is the key to keeping on top of this virus. our health editor, hugh pym, has been to basingstoke hospital to see the pilot of a new coronavirus test that gives a result injust 20
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minutes. sonia has come into a&e with breathing difficulties and is being tested for coronavirus. nose and throat swabs are taken and then picked up and carried to the lab here at basingstoke and north hampshire hospital. the swabs usually take at least seven hours to analyse, sometimes a day or more, but with a new piece of equipment, it's nearer 20 minutes. a team here worked with a local technology company to come up with a more rapid process. it's a very exciting project to be part of, and it's been a real big team effort, so having the ability to bring the test nearer to the patients, whether it is in hospital or in the community can have a real impact on how that patient is managed far more rapidly. there is a six—week trial of the rapid testing system both here and in another emergency department run by
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the trust at a gp practice and local care homes. depending on how well it goes, decisions are being made on whether it can be rolled out more extensively. it could make a big difference to health staff. at this london gp surgery, some have had to wait more than a week to get test results back. this has been a very frustrating situation for us at the surgery and we've had staff off when we needed results for them to enable them to return back to work. i've been speaking to my colleagues in secondary care, and they are facing the same problems. the scottish government today unveiled a strategy called test and protect. from thursday, anyone with coronavirus symptoms will be tested and they will be asked to name people they've been in close contact with. these individuals will then be traced by up to 2,000 health officials. technology used by contact tracers will be in place from the start, but we will also add a digital platform to allow people who test positive to enter details of their contacts online. many care homes around the uk
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have called for more support to get staff and residents tested after local outbreaks and fatalities. in the week ending 24th—25th april there were nearly nearly 3200 deaths with covid—i9 in uk care homes but in the first full week of this month that had fallen to belowjust below 1,950, and figures out today showed it was down slightly at nearly 1,900 a week later. the hope now is that this rapid testing equipment does prove suitable to be taken out to care homes. good news for sonia, meanwhile. she hasn't got coronavirus. it was only a brief wait before a further assessment. but there's still frustration and many other parts of the nhs that the testing process just takes too long. hugh pym, bbc news, basingstoke. from monday, car showrooms
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and outdoor markets in england will be able to reopen as lockdown rules loosen again. high street shops, department stores and shopping centres will also be able to reopen in england from the middle of next month — as long as they have measures in place to protect customers and staff. our business correspondent, emma simpson, went to kingston—upon—thames to look at what shopping will now be like. more people are out and high streets are also preparing to come out of hibernation, but shopping will be different. the first thing is, be prepared to queue. it's notjust groceries, all shops will be limiting the number of customers in—store to comply with social distancing. queueing, it seems, is about to become part of our everyday life. when you're inside, expect to see lots of signs on how to move around the store. now, we all love a good browse, but customers are being encouraged not to handle items while they are doing it, where possible, and preferably, shop alone.
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and you can forget about trying stuff on because fitting rooms will be closed wherever possible. here at marks & spencer, if you want a bra fitting, you have to follow their diy guide online. it's back to basics or stores now. next door, and he has far less space to play without his fashion store but he reckons he can also follow the government's new retail rules. the guidance is very detailed and i think it is quite good. so, i'm not nervous about the situation because i think as long as i communicate the right things to the people who work here and set the rules correctly, i think we don't need to be nervous. how keen are you to reopen again? we've got to get on with life. we've got to get this show up and running again. so, yes, i'm excited. i just show up and running again. so, yes, i'm excited. ijust want show up and running again. so, yes, i'm excited. i just want to show up and running again. so, yes, i'm excited. ijust want to get back to work, really. but all retailers are wondering when the doors finally reopen, will shoppers come? very
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keen. yes, very keen as well. can't really wait. i've been shopping online a lot and it's not the same. i think you like to go in and have the experience. you still think it's 0k the experience. you still think it's ok if you are socially distancing? but we have to get the economy going. are you prepared to queue? probably not. if i'm really honest. down the road in kingston, john sells records. 0nline sales have kept him going, but he's in no rush to open up. ijust don't feel co mforta ble to open up. ijust don't feel comfortable bringing people into the shop. the shop has to be about browsing and losing yourself in the shop. i don't think we can do social distancing in here effectively. it's been a long wait, but it's also likely to be a slow and gradual reopening for many of our high street shops. emma simpson, bbc news, kingston. the rnli is calling on the government to restrict access to britain's beaches until they can put lifeguards back on patrol. they were taken off duty when lockdown came into force. but crowds have been flocking
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to beaches across england as lockdown rules were eased. yesterday, two people died in separate incidents on the cornish coast. our correspondent, jon kay, is in bude in cornwall. yes, sophie, suddenly a bit of a haze here but it's been another beautiful day in cornwall and you can see why people would want to come down to get some fresh air on beaches, in england at least at the moment, but there have been no lifeguards on this beach, not singe march since lockdown began and a lot of people have worried what would happen when large numbers of visitors started to return, and at the bank holiday weekend large numbers of visitors did return and we had two deaths in cornwall, including a teenage girl. those two cases are still being investigated, but there is still anger here and people wondering, where with a lifeguards and why are they not back on duty yet? the rnli have issued a statement and published an open
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letter saying they are doing everything they can to get lifeguards back on beaches like this but it's really difficult training up but it's really difficult training up their staff to save lives at a time ofa up their staff to save lives at a time of a pandemic, saving lives safely at a time of social distancing and it will take different types of equipment and training and they say they won't be back on beaches in the normal way for some time. they will start this weekend in parts of england and expand it around the uk over the weeks ahead as various nations change their lockdown procedures. some people here are reassured by that, but others say the weather is forecast to be good, it's half term here and a lot of people are still very anxious and the rnli are saying to the government that until we can get up to full capacity or at least greater capacity, they would like the government to restrict access to the government to restrict access to the beaches so it is at least under control. sophie? greece is emerging from lockdown much sooner than expected. fewer than 200 people have died from coronavirus. the greeks are now preparing to welcome back foreign tourists from the middle ofjune. quentin
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sommerville is on the island of milos, but britons may have to wait until we can return? i'm afraid so, sophie. the greeks are saying that british tourists probably won't be able to come in the first wave of arrivals in a few weeks' time because of the high infection rates back home, but they are saying that they will monitor that situation and as soon as those rates drop, britons will be welcome but for now the islands are open with precautions and to locals only. my with precautions and to locals only. my report contains flashing images. athens is sending a flotilla to fight a pandemic. the greek islands are reopening. among the first to call, a high—speed deployment of doctors with a mission. these islands have been a safe haven from the pandemic, with no confirmed cases of covid—19. these medics from the mainland want to make sure it stays that way.
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it's an annual expedition to the remotest parts of the aegean, with special purpose this year. we will be in contact with the government. whenever they need us, we will come here to check if there is any case of covid infection. the mayor of sikinos welcomes them ashore. we're greeted with elbow bumps, instead of handshakes. there are enough tests for whoever wants them. there are only 250 people on this island, and none of them have been tested for covid—19 until today. the village was built on a hilltop to safeguard it from pirates. they're hoping its isolation continues to offer protection. greece has had only 173 deaths from covid—19, and is leaving lockdown faster than expected. ba rs a nd restau ra nts reopened yesterday. hilary and david brown live here. we spend so much time here, we love it here.
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so even if there wasn't the pandemic and we were told to go home, we still would've chosen to stay here. it's safer. there's no pandemic in the cyclades. only i think two in syros, and one in... mykonos. mykonos, and that's it. father theodorus leads the way. these tests are essential as greece prepares to welcome back foreign tourists in the coming months. today is the first day that everything comes back to normal, including restaurants and all the borders and ships. 50 we are concerned about everything being as planned in the best possible way. greece is emerging from the pandemic earlier than others — not unscathed, but in better shape than most. isolation is a way of life here, but so too is tourism. the health of the islanders depends on both. quentin somerville, bbc news,
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the southern aegean. today marks the 80th anniversary of the dunkirk evacuation when a flotilla of small ships rescued more than 300,000 allied troops from the beaches in northern france. this year's annual gathering of boats to mark the occasion had to be cancelled, but our correspondent, duncan kennedy, watched a small royal navy ceremony in portsmouth and heard the remarkable story of one 99—year—old veteran. he plays last post dunkirk, said churchill, was a miracle of deliverance. lawrence churcher was a witness to that miracle. today, he came to portsmouth to recall dunkirk, its story of liberation and great loss. in may, 1940, lawrence found himself in the chaos of dunkirk. evacuation the only hope against the german advance. he had two brothers serving somewhere in the army.
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but his only thought was to get off that beach. i didn't think about my brothers. i thought, well, how am i going to get back, that's the thing, you know. but then, incredibly, in the confusion of evacuating more than 300,000 men, lawrence, here in the middle, ran into his two brothers — george on the left and edward on the right. their reunion came in the bomb—cratered sand dunes of a beach under siege and it's a moment lawrence says he will never forget. relief, just relief. because there were so many soldiers there and continuous aircraft coming over, dropping bombs and things, you know. all three brothers were rescued by the little ships
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