tonight at ten — the devastating effects of coronavirus on the economy. it shrank by over 20% in the first full month of lockdown, april. empty gyms, offices, restaurants, and shops — large swathes of the economy ground to a halt, in the sharpest contraction on record. it is going to be tough for a few months but we will get through it and we will bounce back very strongly indeed. but the governor of the bank of england does see signs of a gradual recovery, and says he's ready to take action to limit the long—term damage. also tonight. the government rules out prolonging trade talks with the eu beyond december, but checks on goods coming to the uk will be phased in next year. coronavirus has hit deprived areas twice as hard as wealthier ones, according to new figures.

the prime minister says it's absurd and shameful that a statue of churchill has had to be boxed up to protect it from anti—racism protesters. and the ancient treasures of persia. we get rare access to the culturaljewels of iran. and coming up on bbc news, the premier league allows players to wear the words "black lives matter" on the back of their shirts when the season restarts next week. good evening. the dramatic economic effect of the lockdown was laid bare today, with figures showing that the uk economy shrank by more than a fifth in april. that's the largest monthly contraction ever recorded, in our first full month in lockdown. the slump of 20.4% in economic growth is three times larger

than that seen during the whole of the financial crisis 12 years ago. the office for national statistics says it's affected almost all areas of economic activity, with house—building and car manufacturing particularly badly hit. the uk is now on course for a recession, which is two consecutive quarters of negative growth. but analysts say that april was likely to have been the worst month. our economics editor faisal islam has this report. a massive hit to the economy is no surprise when streets are silent, shops are closed, factories idle and tens of billions in sales don't happen because they cannot. but such a slump on this scale in one month isn'tjust a record, it was unimaginable and way beyond any normal scale. marlow zoo is one example of a leisure attraction whose shutdown during this pandemic is seen in these numbers. april had easter this year, so we were expecting about 70,000

guests to come here to enjoy the zoo and in the end we got nobody at all. whilst we were expecting £1.8 million in terms of visitor income for the month, we didn't receive anything at all, so disastrous really, april, for us. in april, the first full month of lockdown, the economy fell byjust over 20%, losing a fifth of its total value. it means since the pandemic and lockdown began in march, the uk economy has lost a quarter of its value, that is the cliff on this chart, making the financial crisis in 2008 resemble a small blip. the question — where do things go from here? for a dynamic, creative economy, we depend so much on human contact and we have been badly hit by this, but we are also amazingly resilient and creative. we will bounce back. there was a report that came out a couple of days ago from the 0ecd, that group of industrialised nations, and it suggested that the drop in gdp for this year for the uk would actually be worse than for every

other industrialised nation so we are in a very difficult situation as a country. in 0xfordshire, an airfield with tens of millions worth of vehicles waiting for the showrooms to sell again. and in turn meaning the car factories will be far from full tilt. so this is what those grim numbers look like in reality. up and down the country, storage areas, airfields, ports, full of unsold cars. in april, a 99.7% fall in car sales. the challenge now, as lockdown just starts to ease, is will it actually return to normal? will these cars actually sell or is the economy fundamentally damaged 7 in germany, they funded thousands of euros for new purchases of green cars, and slashed vat as part of a massive second rescue package.

here, more support on its way, signalled by the bank of england. we have to be ready and ready to take action, notjust the bank but more broadly on what we can do and offset those longer term damaging effects. for the moment, the government is focusing on a gradual reopening, for example, of the housing market. we are just starting to recover. i believe it will take until the end of the year to come close, whether we will even get there, but i feel positive that there is enough people who want to move, and if there's enough people who want to move then people will sell and people will buy. and there is much lost ground to make up in gyms too with the added challenge of whether people will use them in a new normal. the fitness sector has proved before that it is particularly resilient in a recession, and i think we will benefit greatly from the tailwind provided by the pandemic, actually. we have never seen a weaker month, the economy far from fighting fit. the question isjust how long the process of rehabilitation will take. faisal islam, bbc news. well, the economic uncertainty has

led to calls for trade talks with the eu following brexit to be extended beyond the end of this year. but the government has ruled that out, with cabinet minister michael gove saying he'd "formally confirmed" to the eu that there will be no delay. but checks on goods coming here from the eu will be phased in next year, to give businesses time to adjust. 0ur political correspondent alex forsyth reports. it's not been business like this for months. many firms disrupted because of the virus and at the end of this year, another big change could be brewing. our current trade terms with the eu end and there'll be no extension — whether there's a new deal or not. we would not be extending. that's it. we are leaving the transition period on december 31st. that provides clarity and certainty to business and our announcement today allows business to plan in an appropriate and flexible way. the uk left the eu onjanuary 31st,

allowing a year where not much changed to work out future relations. those talks haven't made huge progress, so on monday, the prime minister will meet eu figures to try to get things moving because december 31st is the deadline for a new trade deal to be agreed, and that won't be extended. although some still think it should be, and why? to take away the risk of a no—deal outcome and also to make sure that all of us remain focused on supporting business through the post—covid recovery and not making the challenges that the economy and our businesses face any worse than it already is. for some businesses, though, some relief today. this fashion firm imports from and exports to the eu and today, the government said from january, it would relax new rules on some goods coming in. six months‘ grace for customs paperwork and payments, which was welcomed here. setting up a whole new border control system in seven and eight months wouldn't be realistic, and i think the uk consumer will benefit from that. the government insists it's not

backtracking on previous plans, arguing that a phased approach to new customs checks is pragmatic in the current economic climate. but the eu is not reciprocating, saying it will be ready for controls on imports come january. brexit may not have dominated here of late, but that doesn't mean the political pressure‘s eased. the government was re—elected with a significant majority, with a strong mandate to get on with brexit. if the government's going to fulfil the commitments on which it's elected, we need to have those customs processes and our borders fully operational as soon as we can. for businesses, certainty, as ever, is key, even more so given the turmoil of coronavirus. while a slower approach to new border checks might be welcomed by some, it's whether a trade deal can be done which remains crucial to many. alex forsyth is in westminster. coronavirus and brexit,

two huge issues in the government's in—tray. yes, i think that's right and on brexit, the fact that government is relaxing the timetable for those new customs checks is something of an acknowledgement of the disruption that businesses are currently facing but the big question of causes whether a trade deal can be agreed in the timetable the government has now committed to. both the eu and uk state is possible and they have agreed to accelerate talks in the coming weeks but there are still big gaps between the two sides so it will require significant compromise. of course, the backdrop to all of thatis of course, the backdrop to all of that is the economic picture that was painted so starkly by those figures released today. it may not bea figures released today. it may not be a surprise, of course, that the economy took such a hit during the lockdown period but what is key now is whether the recovery is fairly, relatively quick or whether there is lasting and deep damage. remember, this was a government that was elected on a platform of getting brexit resolved but also to tackle some of the regional, societal and

economic inequalities in this country and i think what is clear now on both fronts is simply the scale of the challenge the government is now facing. alex, many thanks. alex forsyth westminster, there. coronavirus has hit the most deprived parts of england and wales twice as hard as wealthier areas, according to official figures. urban regions, which are more densely populated, were worse affected than rural areas. meanwhile, in the last 24—hour period, the number of deaths reported in the uk in hospitals, care homes and the wider community related to coronavirus were up by 202, bringing the total number of deaths to 41,481. 0ur health editor hugh pym reports. big cities with big populations — the virus spread fast with a higher risk of deaths. 0ne message underlined by today's new data. richard musa worked as a nurse in london for 26 years. he died in hospital with covid—i9 and his family couldn't give him a final farewell.

covid and the rules around it made it extremely difficult for us, as a family, and it added to our grief. so, it felt like grief upon grief that we couldn't see him, we couldn't be near him, we couldn't see him before he was buried. all of the things that we would have wanted to do, that proper goodbye, we were denied that opportunity and it's really, really difficult. the north—east of england has been hit hard by coronavirus. following the peak in april, the number of deaths fell across the country last month, but slower in this region than elsewhere. and local health experts say there were a number of factors. as a gp in inner—city newcastle, we have large numbers of people living with long—term conditions or chronic diseases, and the ones that we see a lot of include chest diseases. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is very common.

and that clearly puts you at greater risk if you were to catch the virus. figures out today for england and wales show a range of death rates linked to covid—i9 between march and may. they're adjusted for differing age profiles in each area. in england, in the north—east, the figure was just over 97 per 100,000 of population. in london, the highest, it was 137 per 100,000 of population. and the lowest in england was the south—west, with just over 41. in wales, the highest area, once again a big city, was cardiff, at 125 per 100,000 deaths. wales as a whole, at 67, was below england. the figures show death rates in the most deprived areas were a lot higher than in the wealthiest parts of the country. in england, more than twice as high. there is a higher death rate from covid amongst people who, for example, work in unskilled labour, and it's quite likely that there are higher proportions

of people in that nature of work in deprived areas. similarly, we know that if you're in an area of high population density, it's harder to do your social distancing effectively. many of the deprived areas we are looking at are areas of high population density. the medical director for nhs england acknowledged these were challenging issues. those things that mean you are more likely to do badly when you get the infection, like diabetes, like obesity, like heart and lung disease, we see more frequently in more deprived areas of the country. in scotland and northern ireland, there are no comparable figures for death rates adjusted for age demographics. there will be a lot more research on health inequalities, prevalence among bame communities, and underlying conditions. today's figures do add a bit more to an understanding of the impact of coronavirus. hugh pym, bbc news. from monday, face coverings

will be mandatory on public transport in england. transport operators will be able to refuse permission to travel to those who are not wearing a face—covering, and it could lead to fines. the transport secretary grant shapps confirmed that new volunteers called journey makers will be deployed to remind people. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has insisted that a programme to test care workers for coronavirus is accelerating. so far, just over a third have been tested — that's despite a promise last month that all care home staff would get a weekly test. 0ur scotland editor sarah smith reports. right, i'm just going to take yourobs, darlin‘... all staff working in every care home in scotland are supposed to be tested for coronavirus every week. a big promise. the big problem is that nearly four weeks after that commitment, only around a third of staff have been tested even once. at this home in dumfries

and galloway, they've had no confirmed cases but they've also been unable to get hold of the tests. i think it would've been beneficial for us to have been tested earlier. it would have kind of put us all maybe a bit more at ease. we're further down the line now, having been closed since march, it's quite scary thinking that if somebody comes back with a positive test, that'll have a huge impact on the home. across the whole of dumfries and galloway, only four care home staff were tested in the first week of this month. of all the people in scotland who have died of covid—19, 47% of them have been in care homes, that's more than have died in hospital. and the government know that without visitors, it's staff who pose the greatest risk for bringing the virus into homes — that's why they want to test them all every week. but it's a target they've yet to meet. the charity that runs this home say they have only been able to get 5% of their scottish staff tested compared to 90% in their homes in england. i welcome the commitment to weekly

testing because that is a commitment that has ‘t happened in england, but the reality has to catch up with the government position. the first minister will not set a date for when the government might reach the testing goal. why is a commitment to test all care home staff not being met even though it's over three weeks since it was first made and when will that promise be fulfilled? it does take time to put in place a programme of testing that number of people in place and health boards have been doing that. the health secretary and i have, i think, given a fairly direct indication over the last week or so that we think that progress should be accelerating and that's why the health secretary has made that very clear to health boards. 0n the other side of that is that we've made clear to health boards that the scottish government is there if they need additional resources and support. the scottish government is working on a deal to cover sick pay for any care home workers who do test

positive and have to isolate. figures for staff testing will now be published every week, intensifying pressure to increase the tests. sarah smith, bbc news, glasgow. a report by the national audit office says it is not known how many of the 25,000 people in england discharged from hospitals into care homes at the height of the pandemic were infected with coronavirus. it says that due to government policy, priority for testing was given to patients with respiratory illness or flu—like symptoms. the prime minister says it's "absurd and shameful" that a statue of winston churchill has had to be boarded up because of fears it may be vandalised. last weekend, protesters daubed it with graffiti saying that churchill was a racist. borisjohnson also warned people to "stay away" from protests because of coronavirus. tonight, the metropolitan police has imposed conditions on those intending to protest tomorrow, as chi chi izundu reports.

take it down, take it down! it's been a week of anger. peaceful anti—racism protests marred by violence. 99 police officers reported injuries over all the protests so far. today does not protest had fewer people but a heavier police presence and tonight, a change in tactics. london's metropolitan police say its imposing conditions on a stricter route and a definite five o'clock finish for the black lives matter, right—wing and left—wing affiliated protest tomorrow. we will try to prevent protest tomorrow. we will try to p reve nt a ny protest tomorrow. we will try to prevent any confrontation and any violence and, indeed, damage to buildings, to memorials and to statues. last weekend, this is how the churchill statue outside parliament was left. this is how it stands now. 0ver fears today's march would result in more damage. the

prime minister calling it shameful the monument had to be secured. the statue of winston churchill, who is a national hero, has had to be boarded up for fear of violent attack. i think it shameful we have a lot of these statues in the first place. a lot of these statues shouldn't be put up in the first place. it no longer serves us put up in the first place. it no longer serves us to have statues of men that don't represent the society we live in today. even though it's pa rt we live in today. even though it's part of the british history, i don't think it should be celebrated and memorialised by statues. tearing them down doesn't mean tearing all them down doesn't mean tearing all the pages out of the history books. a demonstration planned for tomorrow was cancelled and brought forward to today because of concerns there could be trouble between people determined to defend the monuments and those who may have wanted to deface them. this is now a second week where people have taken to the streets are anti—racism marches and the protest organisers have said again and again that these marches

should remain peaceful and they said again and again that this won't be the last one. but the debate around statues continues. police are now investigating after this bust to black playwright and poet was attacked with bleach earlier this week, while the thomas guy statue outside the hospital in london he founded has been boarded up because of his links to slavery. but not all the protests have ended like today's and its organisers are concerned that the discussion about whether statues should remain up or a is