this is bbc news, with the latest headlines. test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. scientists say it's not a magic bullet but ministers hope it will allow the nationwide lockdown to be replaced with localised restrictions. if we all participate in this system when asked, then we'll be able to more safely

lift the lockdown measures and lift the sort of the aggregate national lockdown by having this more targeted approach. the number of people who've died with covid—19 in the united states has now passed 100,000. easyjet has said it will have to cut up to 30% of its workforce as a result of the pandemic. thunderstorms have forced the postponement of the first privately run mission to the international space station — 17 minutes before take—off. hello, a very good morning. welcome to bbc news. new coronavirus test and trace

systems will go live in england and scotland this morning. in an attempt to keep infection outbreaks contained, anyone who's been in close contact with someone who has tested positive will now be contacted and asked to self—isolate. the uk government has said the english the system "will change people's lives" — scientists think it could prevent between 5—15% of cases. northern ireland has its own version of the programme up and running, and wales' scheme is due to start in earlyjune. charlotte rose reports. we've all got used to the slogans and rules for tackling covid—i9, but from today, there's a further change as parts of the uk move into the test and trace phase. the aim is to start to ease the nationwide lockdown and only bring it back in places where there's an outbreak. so, how will test and trace work in england? if you get symptoms — a high fever, persistent cough or loss of taste and smell — you must self—isolate and order a test.

if you test positive, an nhs test and trace official will call, text or e—mail you to discuss who you have recently been in contact with. the treasurers will call those people and tell them to self—isolate for 14 days, even if they do not have symptoms. members of their household won't have to quarantine unless they also develop symptoms. you might remember an app that was being trialled on the isle of wight. that's not yet ready to be launched across england, so it's not part of government plans. the new system will be dependent on people following the rules around self—isolation. if you are contacted by nhs test and trace, instructing you to isolate, you must. it is your civic duty. so you avoid unknowingly spreading the virus and you help to break the chain of transmission. but some remain cautious about how well the new system will cope. you absolutely need

rapid test turnaround. the international standard is you should get test results back within 24—hours. there are far too many places, in terms of our trusts, but also care homes who are saying they can't get results back any quicker than, for example, an average of 3—5 days. later today, scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon is set to announce plans for an easing in lockdown measures. the first minister's already announced plans for a scottish test and protect system. northern ireland has already launched its tracing system and wales is set to follow next week. it comes as a further 412 people died with coronavirus yesterday, taking the total number of deaths to 37,460. 117,013 tests were done yesterday, with 2,013 people testing positive. those people living in england will be the first to be contacted today as the new system launches.

the government hopes these new measures will help to start to allow the economic and social recovery from the virus. charlotte rose, bbc news. 0ur health editor hugh pym explained a little earlier how the new system relies on the good will of the public. matt hancock the health secretary unveiling this yesterday, said it was our civic duty. the point being made was there would be a minority of people who will be asked to do a lot, to self—isolate for two weeks for the greater good. everybody else, i suppose you could say, in terms of making it easier to ease restrictions. it is asking a lot. i think you could argue everyone has broadly gone along with lockdown restrictions in the last month or so ina way restrictions in the last month or so in a way that probably exceeded the government because my expectations. but from nine o'clock today people will be getting calls in england and scotla nd will be getting calls in england and scotland and they are going to be told or texted or e—mailed that you

have been in contact with somebody, we can't tell you who, who is infected, you will need to self—isolate for two weeks. so that is quite a big change from where we have been before. al health editor hugh pym. ministers will meet their scientific advisers today to finalise plans for the next phase of easing the lockdown in england. the measures are reviewed every three weeks. an announcement is expected at today's downing street news conference. 0ur assistant political editor, norman smith, is at westminster. good morning to you, norman. the focus this morning, of course, on this test and trace system. talk to me about the capacity to deal with eve ryo ne me about the capacity to deal with everyone reporting symptoms, to trace their contacts and underpinning all that, how quickly people can get results back from tests for the virus, what is the government saying? there is still an awful lot of it to be bedded down and worked through but they seem pretty confident they have enough staff to implement the test and track scheme. 35,000 taken

on, 7000 clinicians. tests getting back quickly, though, is still a work in progress. at the moment, i think 95% of tests are done within 48 hours. they want to move that to 24 hours because obviously the quicker you can get the test back, the quicker you can start tracing people. and the app, which many countries have viewed as central to the success of the scheme, that is not going to be rolled out until mid june. not we are told because of technical it problems but because the government takes the view they are not sure the public is quite ready for an app because of concerns about privacy and data retention. so they are going with a more basic test and trace system to start with, which will be human tracing the stop but i guess the big first hurdle they have got to get over is to get people to go along with it. and it is an awfully big ask because you could end up asking people who feel absolutely fine, no problems at all, nevertheless, they will have to

self—isolate for 14 days if they have been in contact with someone with covid. and even if they were then to have a test that gave them then to have a test that gave them the all clear, they would still have to self—isolate for 14 days. so that isa to self—isolate for 14 days. so that is a huge ask. at matt hancock this morning again stressing they were hoping that people would do this as pa rt hoping that people would do this as part of their civic duty. all of this is about doing the very best that we can, not only my team, the people who are working in nhs test and trace, but also all of us who are participating — those who test positive and those who are contacts and so get the communication from nhs test and trace that they need to self—isolate. if everybody does our best, then we will get that rate of transmission down and we'll break the chain of transmission from the virus more often. the government has called on people to do their civic duty and all of this but what financial support will there be for someone who is told

they have to self—isolate because they have to self—isolate because they have to self—isolate because they have been in contact with someone they have been in contact with someone who has the virus, even though they themselves are not displaying any symptoms? imean, the displaying any symptoms? i mean, the short answer is it looks like employers are going to have to pick up the tab because if you have symptoms of coronavirus, that will be required as you are sick and you will have to be entitled to sick pgy- will have to be entitled to sick pay. but even if you don't have symptoms and are ok, if you are asked to self—isolate then yes, employers again will be expected to pay sickness pay. this could be... this could mount up because we also learned today that you may have to self—isolate a number of times. so hypothetically, you are on the train going into work. the person sitting opposite you has coronavirus. you then subsequently self—isolate. you do sofa 14 days. you come out of self—isolation, going to work again. 0h self—isolation, going to work again. oh no, how unlucky, you are sitting someone oh no, how unlucky, you are sitting someone else who has coronavirus, you would have to self—isolate again. the expectation at the

moment, at least listening to mr hancock, is its employers who will have to pick up the bill. the onus is on employers and when you're instructed to go home by the nhs, that is equivalent to being off ill. we did put in place support much earlier in the crisis to deal with this challenge. it is a very significant problem. interesting, though, that ministers are stressing this is going to be an nhs test and trace scheme. they want to present it as something which the health service is asking people to do rather than the government ordering people to do and that is because of the very simple calculation that they believe people are much more likely to go along with something which clinicians, doctors, nhs staff ask them to do, rather than some remote figure in government telling them they have to do this. 0k, norman, thank you very much for that. norman smith in

westminster. let's speak now to doctor siema iqbal from manchester, who can help explain how the test and trace system will work. very good morning to you. thank you for your time today. let's say a patient of yours rings up as a first point of contact at your surgery and says they have symptoms of coronavirus, what happens next? as we already are doing, the first piece of advice we would give is for them to isolate and obviously the members of their household to isolate for 14 days post as of today, however, the advice will change slightly in that we will advise them to ring 119 in order to be tested and then if their test is positive, to be contact traced. this does rely on a number of factors, which is that the patient will actually ring 119 and that the tests will have a rapid turnaround, as we've already heard, preferably within 24 hours, which, to be fair, hasn't been the case for nhs workers, but we are hoping with this

new system, tests will be turned around quickly. then if it is positive, it relies very much on the fa ct positive, it relies very much on the fact that the patient then discloses who they have been in close contact with and feels confident to be able to do that without being penalised. let's pick up on that. first of all, the tone of the conversation, a lot of the people involved in the contact tracing our health care professionals but will the conversation that any member of the public would have with someone doing that be like a conversation between themselves and their gp? so, even if they think they may have contracted they think they may have contracted the virus because they were breaking the virus because they were breaking the rules, were in close contact with someone else, were not socially distancing, will there be any penalty for them saying that to the contact trace of? to be honest, the details are very vague for us, to be honest, the details are very vague for us, even to be honest, the details are very vague for us, even myself as a gp. the first i heard of this system is at the briefing yesterday when we

all watched it together. i would assume that just as all watched it together. i would assume thatjust as a conversation with your doctor is confidential, the only way this will work is if patients have the confidence that the information that they disclose to those that are doing the contact tracing will remain confidential and they will not be penalised for breaching lockdown laws. 0therwise, this whole process becomes futile because you will not be able to break the chain of transmission. they should feel safe to be com pletely they should feel safe to be completely honest? they should. there is a lot of talk, matt hancock said yesterday its a civic duty. it's not mandatory in this country but civic duty only works where there is a lot of trust in the government and the fact that the government and the fact that the government is doing what is best for the people. you know, given current things that have been happening, we need to make sure that that trust comes back in the government and people feel safe and confident to disclose the information and feel that that information will not be

used against them. a couple of questions to try and get through. you are told you have been in contact with someone who has the virus but you yourself have already had the virus. will you then still have two isolate? based on current guidance, unless you have been tested... if you've been tested and a pcr test has come back positive and you have definitely had the virus, i would still, you know, at the moment i would still recommend that it's best for you to isolate because until more guidance that comes out is very clear about is the fact you have had it once you will not need to isolate again... it is still very unclear for us as health care workers, does the guidance apply to us also? we are being put on the front line and are being put on the front line and are being put on the front line and are being exposed to the virus, we may have patients repeatedly who test positive. does that mean we have to isolate every time for two weeks as well or are we exempt from the guidance? that's a good question

and the health secretary seem to indicate this morning, he said if you have had the virus already, as he has, and you have been in contact with someone else who has the virus currently, yes, you would still have to isolate again. and the rest of your household, so say again you've beenin your household, so say again you've been in touch with someone who's had the virus, you are told to isolate, you yourself are not showing any symptoms and feel fine at the moment, does the rest of your household have to isolate as well? i think these are the questions that need to be made very clear. the guidance has to be very clear because the impact can be quite far—reaching if the guidance remains as vague as it is. 0k, yes, more questions are more detail is required. doctor siema iqbal, thank you for your thoughts on that this morning. and with the launch of testing and tracing systems in england and scotland today — we'd like you to send in your questions to us about how the system is going to work — get in touch by emailing yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or you can use the hashtag bbc your questions — and we will answer your questions

at 12.15 this afternoon. the coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 100,000 lives in america over the last four months. it's the highest total of any country in the world. 0ur north america correspondent aleem maqbool has been speaking to some of the families who have lost loved ones. # happy birthday to you...#. friends and relatives of more than 100,000 people in america can nowjust cling to the memories of happier times — before the coronavirus. my father was a really caring person and he just wanted to help people and he was really outgoing. he thought he was really funny. doug lambrecht was one of the first confirmed deaths, back on the 1st march.

as somebody who lost someone so close to them, and who was obviously very, very dear to you, so early on, when you saw the way this was going in the country, how has it made you feel over the last couple of months? it's scary, it's sad. i feel angry. we should have been listening to the doctors and the scientists. we should not have been listening to people talking about the stock market. it's natural that people are reaching for answers, for someone to be accountable, after scenes like mass graves being dug in new york and refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full. if the lord say so, i'll see you saturday. we now know that african—americans, like rhoda hatch, are still dying in disproportionate numbers. i think 100,000 is an extraordinary number. it means that there's a lot of pain and grief. but some of us in the black community are very concerned that

as the narrative became that african—americans were disproportionately impacted by the virus, that there was also then a push to open up the country, that many of us think prematurely, that, again, suggested the evaluation of black lives. those calls to reopen go on, even as the number of dead continues to mount and as the nation mourns. well, flags have most recently been lowered here after tragedies like mass shootings, and even then, it's been difficult to grapple with the scale of loss after sometimes dozens of people have been killed. but how, then, does america even begin to count the emotional cost of such a staggering number of deaths? to really do justice to the stories of those lost would take many lifetimes. for people left behind, the question lingers — could more have been done so these americans and tens of thousands of others might still be around?

aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. 9:18, the headlines on bbc news: test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today, as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. ministers hope it will allow lockdowns restrictions to be eased. but scientists say it's not a magic bullet. the number of people who've died with covid—19 in the united states has now passed 100,000. the budget airline easyjet has announced it plans to reduce its workforce by up to 30% due to the collapse in demand for air travel, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. it follows similar moves by other airlines, including british airways and ryanair. we've also just heard this morning that nissan is to shut its barcelona car factory employing 3,000.

our business correspondent ben thompson joins me. good morning to you. on the easyjet first, as we were just saying, the first, as we were just saying, the first airline to talk about restructuring because of the pandemic. tell us more of the detail, a big hit of thejobs? yes, absolutely. good morning. easyj et yes, absolutely. good morning. easyjet telling us, like others, that it will have to change the way it operates to deal with that slump in demand as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. so easyjet pulling 15,000 people, about 30% reduction, about four and a half thousand jobs. the union say this is a kneejerk reaction thousand jobs. the union say this is a knee jerk reaction to a shorter term problem but if you start to look at the detail of what we have heard from easyjet this morning, they tell they don't expect the amount to be back to levels seen before this outbreak until 2023 at the earliest. so for the airline, it

has to come up with a way to cut costs. this is one of the ways it intends to do it. we have heard from the bus this morning talking about very difficult decisions that need to be made but he talked about trying to safeguard the future for those jobs and the wider airline, to make sure it can operate. all sorts of worries about the airline industry right now. easyjet, like many of the others, grounded its entire fleet in march. they are still paying a lot of money to keep those planes on ground without passengers on board or money coming in. there are also big questions about our willingness to travel after a ll about our willingness to travel after all a debate is over. whether we will be more nervous about going away or sitting on a plane given concerns about social distancing, so the airlines are really concerned that even when all of this is over, therefore tunes will notjust bounce back overnight and it could be a longer term problem. —— their fortunes. this is one of the way they will cut costs. they also said

they will cut costs. they also said they will cut costs. they also said they will streamline their fleet, so they will streamline their fleet, so they will streamline their fleet, so they will run fewer flights and that means inevitably they need fewer staff, so this morning announcing a 30% cut in its workforce, we think equating about 4500 staff. nissan using that restructuring word as well today with the news that is closing its factory in barcelona. what does that mean for the plant here in the uk, in sunderland? yes, it's all happening as we speak, actually. i'm watching the press conference being given from nissan. they are talking about their plans to re—emerge as a viable player because nissan has really been struggling of late, even before the outbreak of coronavirus. it was on track to report its first loss in about 11 years. it has operations, as you well know, right around the world, particularly in asia but also in parts of north america, latin america and here in europe. the focus so far in the presentation

this morning is on europe. what they have told us is they will close their plant in barcelona with the loss of 2800 jobs. just as we are speaking there, they have reaffirmed their commitment to the sunderland plant. a really important plant for nissan in the uk, employing thousands of people in the north—east. what they have told us is they will reconfirm their commitment to it. they have been big questions over the future of sunderland, given the brexit negotiations as well because at the time, nissan said it would simply not be viable to run that factory if the uk was operating on wto trade terms, basically subject to tariffss the parts and components. they have told us they will maintain sunderland as the production plant. no details what cards will be made there, if any production will shift from the bustling plant —— barcelona plant to the one in sunderland.

there was talk of moving three shifts down to two, that could be a way to save costs. they have also said they will cut their model line—up, the number of vehicles they may, by 20% and they will also be expected to reduce their costs and production by 20%. so lots of issues for them to contend with. i will keep an eye on that presentation for you. as we get more details about what to expect from nissan, but nonetheless, some reassurance in that statement, saying they will maintain sunderland as a production base. good news for sunderland there. thank you very much. boris johnson faced questions from senior mps yesterday, as the uk moves towards a phased reopening of the economy. but, the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been overshadowed by questions about the conduct of borisjohnson's chief adviser dominic cummings, questions which are hampering the government's efforts to communicate with the public about its strategy for returning

the uk to normal life. but is the government doing the right things; is it being too cautious, or not cautious enough in easing the lockdown? are the track and trace mechanisms being introduced in england and scoltand today the right approach? and what should be the key public health priorities now? i can now speak to professor karol sikora who's a former head of the world health 0rganisations cancer programme and has spoken extensively about the lockdown. i'm also joined by margaret harris, who's from the world health organisation. really good to see both of you again this morning. thank you forjoining us. this morning. thank you forjoining us. lets talk about the public health messaging, doctor harris, i will begin with you at this critical point. how important is it the government gets itjust right and that the public follows the close? you are absolutely right to put it this way. this is a partnership. stopping the transmission, getting out of lockdown, easing it is

totally in our hands. that means there has to be a good partnership between the authorities who are making the decisions about the strategies and the public, who are those who have to really carry out the strategies and comply with what is recommended. because, professor sikora, some people not listening, we had seen the pandemic spreading from a few cases to an explosion in the numbers. just a few people, i guess, not really following the rules can mess this up for everyone? absolutely. margaret is completely correct. standard public health is the way forward. we can modernise it with computers that we cannot force people. my nightmare scenario is a tracer knocks on my door with a couple of policemen behind her and says, you know, i need details, you have to isolate... because it's

anonymous, i don't get told what the incidence was that i'm supposed to have contacted someone. so there is a lot of unanswered questions. this doesn't seem to be totally thought through here. i think we are not south korea, we are not singapore, a much more disciplined audience, this is britain. i think, you much more disciplined audience, this is britain. ithink, you know, the opportunities for not so much fraud but for misuse of this system seems, potentially, quite huge. i would just like to see more details. we will get them today or maybe i will be less cynical. but it seems a good idea to have this in place but i would like to think we are moving so fast now, we are in the last dance between the virus and us and we just have to get out of here and get moving again. but we have to have this as a back—up in case it comes back. before i go back to doctor harris, professor sikora picking up on what you are saying there. what we had from the health secretary this morning and yes, there are still lots of questions in detail to

be fleshed out but he said it was his instinct not to give any compulsion to people in law to a nswer compulsion to people in law to answer these questions. he hopes people will volunteer to give the information that is asked of them. do you think that is the right approach at this point, a more softly softly approach as we go into this test and tracing system? absolutely. civic duty was the way it's been written in the documents. that is not a bad thing to have. the trouble is, do we trust the government now question what the a nswer government now question what the answer is, if you ask the man in the street, they are going to say no, we're going to look after ourselves. that is a problem we have now. doctor harris, i'm going to ask you to give us an overview of how the uk government is doing at this point, compared to other countries, other governments who have already got their testing and tracing systems and running and have been doing for quite a few weeks now.

sol quite a few weeks now. so i never actually do a comparison of countries but what is important is indeed to have the tracking and tracing. it is one of the six criteria we have for effectively easing your lockdown. before you bring people out, you need to have a very clear means of testing the people who are infected, finding the people who are infected, finding the people who are potentially infected and separating them. now, some countries have done very well but no country is out of the woods. south korea, that was mentioned, it was very, very disciplined and has done great work that they are seeing an uptick around clusters. so you need a really good tracking and tracing syste m a really good tracking and tracing system and, indeed, their compliance, acceptance and agreement of the public to make it work to be sure that you are really following what's happening with your outbreak and being able to shut it down when you get, as you probably will get, new clusters. so clearly, the government, the health service needs to monitor what's happening really, really

closely on a daily basis and fine tune and tweak where necessary. i talk to you doctor harris, from the start of this pandemic. you have been giving us an overview on how things are looking. at this stage, are you optimistic, still pessimistic, cautious i'm sure, but where is your thinking out right now, in terms of where this pandemic is going? will there be another spike, do you think, or perhaps not? i'm always optimistic because i see the incredible spirit that has been unleashed amongst the general public. there is a lot of work to do and this pandemic is still huge in the world. last week we saw over 100,000 cases reported every day, which was the biggest level we have seen which was the biggest level we have seen and we are seeing very large outbreaks in south america,

particularly a continuing large outbreak in the usa, and we are seeing some outbreaks are being ceded by repatriated migrant workers, so we have to still understand how connected we are and how all of our actions are affecting each of the country. we really are a global community and that is what makes me optimistic. and the same question to you, professor, are you optimistic or not? it seems we are ata optimistic or not? it seems we are at a moment of great potential but also at a point of danger as well.|j am always optimistic and in my specialty, cancer medicine if we don't get motoring soon with cancer patients who have not turned up because of the delays of coronavirus there's going to be serious consequences. there's going to be serious consequences. i think it is coming to the end. i think we handled it reasonably well, the nhs has handled it impeccably, no doubt, and we have

to get moving again for people with other illnesses. at the end of the day we have to get over the fear factor that is there. testing and tracing is vital, it is a tool to look for second clusters that come out but we somehow have to get moving and get rid of the culture of fear that we have got embedded in britain now. thank you to you both very much for your time today. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. have you got some more sunshine for us? hi, i do, plenty of it, but no rain and if your garden is dry at the moment. sunshine from dawn to dusk for most and still some low cloud across eastern counties but that will clear away and a bit more clout in the far north of scotland well some will remain, limiting temperatures to between 11 and 15 but across other parts of scotland as the sunshine comes out, 24, 25 and same to the west and northern

ireland and western and england want and wales, 26 or 27. cooler in east anglia with the breeze of the sea but the sun will be strong and through the night the breeze will bring low cloud to eastern counties and most will be dry and clear with temperatures dipping into single figures for some into tomorrow morning. tomorrow we do it all again. a bit more sunshine across the north and scotland and shetland, low cloud across eastern counties which will take awhile to shift but for many a day, slightly breezy, but a warmer day away from the east and temperatures in the west could hit 27 or 28 degrees, and 26 degrees in north—west scotland is above where we should be in may. goodbye for now. hello, this is bbc news with annita mcveigh. the headlines: test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. ministers hope it will allow

lockdowns restrictions to be eased. but scientists say it's not a magic bullet. the number of people who've died with covid—19 in the united states has now passed 100,000. easyjet has said it will have to cut up to 30 percent of its workforce as a result of the pandemic. large protests have broken out in america after the death of an unarmed black man in police custody. president trump says he's asked the fbi and the department ofjustice to investigate the incident. george floyd died in minneapolis —he'd been arrested and pinned down in the street, with an officer kneeling on his neck. four officers have been sacked. david willis reports. there are some images you might find distressing. racial fault lines laid bare once again in a nation at the epicentre of the covid pandemic.

protesters clashed with police in the city of minneapolis and looting broke out as calls grew forjustice following the death of another unarmed black man at the hands of white police officers. cellphone video of the arrest of george floyd shows him handcuffed and pleading forair... i cannot breathe! ..as an officer presses his knee on the back of mr floyd's neck. he eventually loses consciousness and was then taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. police originally said he was resisting arrest, but security camera footage provided no evidence of that. during a visit to nasa's kennedy space center, president trump gave his reaction to george floyd's death. very, very sad, sad event. reporter: should the police officers be prosecuted, sir? well, we're going to look at it and we're going to get a report tomorrow when we get back. and we're going to get

a very full report. but a very sad day. 46—year—old george floyd was arrested on suspicion of trying to pass off a counterfeit cheque, four of the police officers involved in his arrest have since been fired, but there are now growing calls for them to face criminal charges. i'm calling on hennepin county attorney mike freeman to act on the evidence before him. i'm calling him to charge the arresting officer in this case. a demonstration in support of george floyd in los angeles also turned violent — police cars were attacked and one of the city's main freeways was blocked for a time by protesters. in minneapolis, a city with a police force that has long been criticised for tolerating racism, feelings are running high. george floyd's death has prompted comparison with previous killings in other parts of the country involving black suspects and white police officers. a problem this country cannot seem to shake off.

david willis, bbc news, los angeles. a british charity dealing with forced marriages says it's seen an increase in the number of young people asking for help since lockdown began in march. karma nirvana — which provides support for people who are facing physical and emotional abuse from relatives — has told bbc asian network it's currently dealing with 116 new cases where women are being threatened with forced marriage or are trying to escape one. sheetal parmar reports. the hidden victims of lockdown, young people not going to school, couege young people not going to school, college or work are now at risk of a forced marriage. 0ne college or work are now at risk of a forced marriage. one of them is jasmine, who is in her early 20s and he fled her family home after threats were made to her life. since the beginning of lockdown i've had all my human rights taken away from me by my family members, my mother, my father and my siblings. jasmine,

whose name we have changed, left her home early one morning fearing for her safety. my mother had threatened to burn my skin, bone my body, if i neglected the prayer and she said to my face, wait till lockdown is over, you are getting married. during the lockdown we have had an increase of up lockdown we have had an increase of up to 200% in the healthline. the charity karma nirvana says they are dealing with 116 people who have been asked to go into a forced marriage in the last two months of lockdown. what we need to understand about this abuse is it's one of britain's worst kept secrets, it is not a cultural issue, its abuse victims need to be empowered to come forward and likewise, professionals need to be empowered to recognise theissues need to be empowered to recognise the issues so they respond appropriately when victims do come forward. forced marriage has been illegal since 2014 but there have only been two convictions in that time and very few prosecutions.

while the problem is suppressed during lockdown, authorities fear there could be a spike in cases when restrictions are lifted. while lockdown permits this sort of behaviour and enables it, young people are isolated in the homes with theirfamilies people are isolated in the homes with their families without their usual support mechanisms, and families who are intent in arranging orforcing marriages, particularly with family who are living abroad can easily do so online. zara, which isn't her real name, is a teenager who wrote to me about her lockdown ordeal while schools are closed. they are on what's up to my family in pakistan, looking at pictures of men for me to marry. my brother sticks with my dad and my mum is just too scared to say anything. charities and some experts who worked on the original forced marriage law are calling for

specialist services to have a ring fenced funding during the lockdown if they are going to help with multiple victims in the months to come, but that may not come easily. we can talk now to lynne townley, a barrister and lecturer in law at city law school who worked on the legislation to outlaw forced marriages and polly harrar, founder of the sharan project, which supports women who've been disowned by their families. very good to have both of you with us very good to have both of you with us today. polly, first of all, what have you seen since the start of the lockdown? like many organisations, we've also seen lockdown? like many organisations, we've also seen an lockdown? like many organisations, we've also seen an increase in calls to our service, and particularly high risk, honour —based cases where physical abuse is being used and many young people, particularly women, are having to flee during lockdown to get to safety. lynne, i guess this lockdown to some extent

enables or makes it easier for the people involved in this controlling behaviour to do it. yes, it does, because the behaviour around forced marriage as the charities have said is his -- marriage as the charities have said is his —— is hidden and takes place within family homes, so unfortunately the lockdown enables this behaviour to go unchecked and also young people don't have access to the outside world and any other mechanisms that they would usually have full support outside of the family. is that something that people contacting you are saying, that they don't have access to safeguarding staff that they might be able to talk to at school or couege? be able to talk to at school or college? what we need to recognise this for many of these people they we re this for many of these people they were already in a state of lockdown, of being surveyed and controlled and that's been exacerbated by having restrictions on movement, employment and childcare and education, so yes,

it was already a ticking time bomb that we were seeing. lynn, as someone that we were seeing. lynn, as someone who helped to make forced marriage illegal as we mentioned in the introduction, i think there have only been two convictions and a handful of prosecutions. why? because it is a family problem and this was known when the legislation was going through that it would be very difficult to get prosecutions, because individuals simply do not wa nt because individuals simply do not want to give evidence in court, in a public forum against family members, loved ones and close family and we always knew it was going to be an uphill struggle at the time to get victims to come forward and that is why it is so difficult to mount prosecutions because victims withdraw evidence or refuse to cooperate all the prosecutions fall at the last hurdle in court.|j cooperate all the prosecutions fall at the last hurdle in court. i know there is a concern that after the lockdown there might be a spike in young people being taken abroad, and

also, apparently, some of these forced marriages are happening online. what more can you tell us about that? sure, once we see more relaxations on the restrictions we do see an increase in calls to our services but we are preparing for those and when it comes to being taken overseas, those and when it comes to being ta ken overseas, mechanisms those and when it comes to being taken overseas, mechanisms are in place but we need to have education so place but we need to have education so these young people know what they can do to safeguard and u nfortu nately can do to safeguard and unfortunately the safeguarding often falls on the victim, to protect themselves from being taken overseas but services are open and are available and we are all working together to ensure that anyone at risk of a forced marriage knows they have access to services and support. education is so important, but what are your concerns around the post lockdown period and people being taken abroad? do you think there is a real danger period coming up?

sorry, lynne, isaid polly, i meant to ask lynn. i beg your pardon. sorry, i thought we had lost you. we will try again with that and hopefully we will hear your full a nswer hopefully we will hear your full answer this time. after the lockdown, what the fear is that there will be a lot of arrangements that have gone on during the lockdown period to take young people abroad immediately once lockdown ends, so the fear is that once international travel is permitted again that there will be a larger than usual number because it depends how long we are in lockdown during the amount of time that people could not travel, so there is a real danger that there will be a big spike of people going as soon as as they allowed to travel

internationally again. polly, we know the charitable sector funding has been squeezed before all of this. do you think charities and others who might be in a position to help will simply have the resources to reach out and try to help the people who are being forced into marriages that they don't want to be in? i know that we are all making contingency plans to continue our services. funding has always been an issue, especially for specialist services such as ours. i certainly think more does need to be done to ensure the sustainability of specialist services, right now and after the lockdown as well. 0k, polly, lynn, thank you for talking to us about the story today. thank you again. the headlines on bbc news...

test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. ministers hope it will allow lockdowns restrictions to be eased. but scientists say it's not a magic bullet. the number of people who've died with covid 19 in the united states has now passed 100 thousand. some children in england are going hungry because of the government's decision to close schools during the coronavirus lockdown. the claim comes in a report from human rights watch, and says england's school food vouchers scheme — which allows children who would normally get free school meals to get food in supermarkets — is particularly problematic. let's talk to katie berry, the headteacher of st georges primary school in gainsborough, who had to navigate the voucher system, and kartik raj the author of that report. and the author of that report. beginning with you, tell | about and beginning with you, tell us more

about your findings. sure. it's really alarming that in the uk, the fifth richest country in the world, ina time fifth richest country in the world, in a time when the government decides to close schools there is an inadequate plan in place to make sure that the country's kids from the poorest families have enough to eat. it really is an indictment of how the government has planned for this and better practices possible. we have seen in scotland, and northern ireland more productive approaches that are reaching more kids. so very different approaches from the devolved nations. kt, at the coal face of all of this, as a head teacher, and i believe 70% of the children at your school are eligible for free school meals, what has it been like trying to navigate this system and help people access these vouchers for food? it's been incredibly frustrating, actually. we've provided hot meals for the majority of our families by keeping

the kitchen open but we did have a proportion of families for whom we felt the voucher scheme was the safe st felt the voucher scheme was the safest option, if they had children with medical conditions who needed to shield, so we tried to access the vouchers for a proportion of our families and it was incredibly complex, it was incredibly time—consuming and there was actually a period of maybe three weeks between us starting that process and parents being able to receive and use their vouchers. that is an awfully long time, three weeks, if you are desperate for food and not sure where your next meal is coming from, isn't it? i know you've talked about problems with codes on the vouchers not working and you had a terrible story where one of your pa rents a terrible story where one of your pa re nts we nt a terrible story where one of your pa rents went to a terrible story where one of your parents went to a supermarket with vouchers which i believe were in denominations of £15 of value. tell us denominations of £15 of value. tell us what happened there. so after three weeks of waiting for their

vouchers, they did go to do their shopping and the local supermarket said they were only expecting vouchers in denominations of £10 so the advice was to maybe wait until next week and double up your vouchers then. but our families do not all have cupboards full of food, so not all have cupboards full of food, so to be told to wait an extra week, you may have hungry children at home. listening to what katie is describing there, clearly there has been vast room for improvement in how this system is working. what kind of examples do governments have when it comes to setting up a system like this speedily? are they starting from scratch or are there better models out there that could have been accessed? better models out there that could have been accessed ?|j better models out there that could have been accessed? i think there is no question the government had a tough logisticaljob to do in setting up alternatives during

school closures, but it was clear very quickly that the voucher scheme wasn't working, and the voucher scheme was announced 12 days after schools were closed. so the planning, the horse had bolted from the stable before the bout —— vouchers were announced, if you will, and what other governments in the devolved areas did was move straight towards cash transfers and thatis straight towards cash transfers and that is what we are encouraging the department for education to do because frankly having a boosting cash for families to spend on food during times of closure where it is an emergency or in holidays is much more useful than having them vouchers which can lead to demeaning and humiliating situations at supermarket checkouts where families are told to come back because the vouchers they have are not good or made to feel worthless because they have showed up with vouchers. kt, in

terms of more pupils returning to school, do you expect to see a few pupils coming back at the start of next month because, it's notjust about the education, perhaps, they also want them to get some good meals into their kids during the day? i do, and i think it is a long time that schools have been much more than somewhere just for education and schools are there to support families with loss —— lots of pastoral needs and we fill those hungry bellies. 0ur of pastoral needs and we fill those hungry bellies. our children would normally come to us for a free brea kfast normally come to us for a free breakfast as well as a free lunch so for all of those things to be taken away so quickly, providing food has been one of the main thing is we have done over the past few weeks, especially knowing that the voucher scheme for some families was not working, so we've resorted to being a food bank and we are providing hampers regularly to our families.

so, yes, coming back to school does add that extra bit of security in terms of the children being fed. 0k thank you very much. thank you. members of the chinese parliament — the national people's congress — are expected to vote in the coming hours on the hong kong security law. the proposed legislation would make it a crime to undermine beijing's authority and could see china's national intelligence agencies set up offices in hong kong for the first time. the bill has triggered renewed street protests and the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has said that hong kong no longer qualifies for special us trade status because it has ceased to maintain a high degree of autonomy from china. and in the past few hours, hong kong's legislative council had to be adjourned because of the tense exchanges between the pro—democracy

and establishment camps. two pro—democracy lawmakers had to be removed during a debate on a bill that would make it a criminal offence to disrespect china's national anthem. stephen mcdonell is out chine correspondent and joins me now. basically these protesters, under the new security law, the sanctions, the new security law, the sanctions, the sort of penalties that they could face would now be much, much tougher than we saw under the pro—democracy protests of the last year or so. pro—democracy protests of the last year or so. yes, the problem is that we don't actually know the detail, so we don't actually know the detail, so the pro—democracy camp has been asking for clarification as to what types of speech and what types of actions might constitute treason under the new law, so at the moment, more than 7000 activists have been arrested in the last year in hong

kong, rioting, assembly charges, this type of thing. but under what circumstances might they face crimes of sedition? 0r circumstances might they face crimes of sedition? or something like that? which could carry up to two decades in prison in terms of punishment. much more serious crimes. today, here in beijing, the bill went pretty easily through the national people's congress and we did not expect there to be much resistance and infact expect there to be much resistance and in fact it was 2787 votes in favour and only one vote against and six abstentions, so now the bill goes to the next stage, to the standing committee of the national people's congress and could be law before the end of the year. we mentioned that the us are saying that hong kong no longer qualifies for special status because it doesn't have autonomy from china any more, in its view. how much concern is that causing in hong kong and indeed china? in china what they are

more worried about is instability. the chinese leadership would let the hong kong academy completely colla pse hong kong academy completely collapse if the choice was that or the possibility that that instability they've seen in hong kong bleeding into the chinese mainland. and, sure, ithink they would expect that hong kong might lose its favoured trading status given the comments from the us secretary of state but they've shown no preparedness to open up dialogue with the pro—democracy camp although millions of people have marched in support of that movement and we should stress that it's only been a relatively small number of people who have engaged in these very violent acts that we have seen there, petrol bombs, smashing things up, even bashing up opponents but nevertheless that is the way they would see it, that they are crashing down hard on the pro—democracy camp and they see that as the way forward. steve, thank you very much.

bad weather has delayed the launch of the first privately funded mission to the international space station. the space x falcon 9 rocket, funded by tesla owner elon musk, was halted 17 minutes before take—off because of thunderstorms. the next available window for a new attempt is on saturday. i found myself glued to that last night, looking up bob and doug in their capsule. married to two astronauts as well, but hopefully they will manage to take up on saturday. —— take off. time for the weather with matt. if your garden is desperate for rain, none in the forecast for the rest of the month and certainly out there today a day of blue skies from dawn to dusk in many parts and the early cloud across eastern england will have gone through the afternoon, a bit more clout to the north of scotland which will take

temperatures between 11 and 14 degrees in 0rkney and shetland, mainland scotland warming up, 22 up to 25 potentially. around the coast with the breeze of the sea, cooler would see temperatures around nine or10 would see temperatures around nine or 10 degrees, 12 or 14 further south. western parts of northern ireland warm at 24 and western parts of england and wales up to maybe 27 degrees. and it is a bit cooler towards the east because there is more of an easterly breeze compared to the past few days, but even here the sun is every bit as strong and very high uv levels in the south today. into the night, dry and clear, low cloud lingers in shetland, misty, low cloud returns to eastern parts of england but tomorrow morning is a good morning after the heat of the day. 0pening the windows, let some fresh air in and temperatures down to single figures. it will quickly warm up and though we have low cloud in the eastern counties of england, that will break up may maybe one or two spots linger near the coast and even the low cloud and shetland will be less dominant with a better chance

of sunshine, but for most another sunny day with a bit more breeze from the east or south—east, so when the windows of sea, temperatures will be in the teens, but widely in the 20s, 25 up to 27 degrees and the west and we could hit 26 in the north west of scotland, so a good few degrees above where we should be at this time of year and with high pressure a cross at this time of year and with high pressure across scandinavia the flow of dry airof pressure across scandinavia the flow of dry air of the near continent keeps weather fronts and cloud at bay at the atlantic, so a sunny weekend and i will certainly be the case on saturday. strong sunshine across the board. what you will notice on is a bit more breeze blowing and where the breeze comes off the sea, the eastern counties of england, temperatures generally in the teens, but most in the 20s again. 27 or 28 degrees possible towards the west. may be a bit cooler across scotland on sunday and some other eastern areas with the breeze coming in off the sea, but warmest of all still towards western england and wales where 26 or 27 is

possible and the dry story continues into the start of next week at least.

this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today, as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. scientists say it's not a magic bullet but government ministers hope it will allow lockdowns restrictions to be eased across the uk. if we all participate in this system when asked, then we'll be able to more safely lift the lockdown measures and lift the sort of the aggregate national lockdown by having this more targeted approach. beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong.