this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan jones. virus deaths surge in brazil, it now has the second highest toll in the world. fears of a second wave of infections start to rise, as cases increase in china and india. a second night of protests in lebanon as anger over the country's economy boils over. an easy life for the army's horses, why they won't be on parade for queen elizabeth's official birthday on saturday.

hello and welcome to bbc news. brazil has overtaken the uk to become the country with the second highest number of coronavirus deaths, only the us has recorded more. the total number of deaths in brazil now stands at 41,828. the world health organisation says the situation is concerning, with some intensive care units close to reaching capacity. katy watson sent this report from sao paolo. siren. another covid call—out in brazil's biggest city, and the epicentre of the pandemic. the traffic is lighter these days because of quarantine, but this is still a city of 22 million, and the roads are as bad as ever. the team is attending a woman in her 90s with covid—19. 70% of their callouts are now related to the virus. she had been unconscious and struggling to breathe, so the family made the call.

in these uncertain times, people just don't know if this might be the final goodbye. the patients who make it to hospital are, in a sense, the lucky ones. the team says three times as many people are dying at home compared to life before the pandemic. translation: when the pandemic started, all we were doing was registering deaths at home. people went to sleep and never woke up. they didn't even have a chance. putting on protective gear and the continuous cleaning of their ambulance slows them down, but they're not taking any risks. a colleague many in the force looked up to passed away from covid—i9 in april. they know many won't survive this pandemic.

in this poor neighbourhood in eastern sao paulo, one of the worst—hit areas of the city, the virus is all too visible. antonio and kelly are two of the faces behind the numbers — dad and daughter. they lived together, and last week died together. admitted to hospital the same day, together in intensive care, then passed away within a day of each other. "we think he knew", says marcos, his grandson. "he told us he'd rather die than bury his daughter." while the family mourns antonio and kelly, cities like sao paulo and rio are starting to reopen, this despite the ever—rising death toll. brazil has hit yet another grim milestone. but these deaths aren't serving as a wake—up call — far from it.

jair bolsonaro continues to downplay the virus, and for a man who has never respected social distancing or isolation, ironically, he is becoming more and more isolated every single day. francis also feels isolated. he has not hugged his son artur for more than two months, such is his fear of passing the virus on. this has to make do, for now. as various countries around the world gradually ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions, fears of a resurgence in cases have intensified. that's after several countries which had started to allow greater freedom of movement began to see the number of infections rise, prompting authorities to re—impose some restrictions. gail maclellan has this report. in china, where the coronavirus was first officially reported last december, authorities have closed down six food markets in the capital, beijing, after new cases were reported for a second day running,

the first reported cases in the capital in nearly two months. translation: i am a little worried, because this has happened somewhere very close to me. translation: i'm slightly worried, but if we carry out proper prevention during this outbreak, then things shouldn't be too bad. officials say restaurants which may have received food from the markets will be inspected, and plans to reopen schools in beijing have been put on hold. india has seen record daily increases in cases after relaxing lockdown measures this week in an effort to boost the economy. hospitals are struggling to cope. critical care for the very sickest patients is particularly hard to come by. the number of coronavirus cases have doubled in recent weeks, and is still surging. south korea, which was widely praised for its relatively successful containment of coronavirus, is indefinitely extending new preventative

measures until the daily number of new cases drops to single digits. when students in the capital, seoul, started to return to school last month, authorities quickly shut some of them back down after a sudden rise in infections. officials say they are extending strict sanitation guidelines. translation: these guidelines are aimed at cutting the series of infections in seoul, while minimising damage to schools and business. and in russia, which has the third—highest infection rate in the world, there are fears that lockdown restrictions have been lifted too early. restrictions were eased this week, ending six weeks of lockdown. president putin says people can go back to work as of tuesday. but with the increased movement of people has come a rise in the number of daily infections. it is five months since the first reported death of a man from a mysterious

new disease in central china. since then, coronavirus has spread across the world, killing hundreds of thousands of people and changing the way society functions. as many hope to see things return to some semblance of normality as soon as possible, this news out of china, india and russia may pour cold water over that, and prove a stark warning to governments everywhere that easing lockdown restrictions can't be a one—way street. let's get some of the day's other news. the government in chile has expanded its mandatory quarantine to include two more cities. the army has drafted in reinforcements to help enforce the coronavirus lockdown. 222 deaths have been recorded over the past 2a hours, the worst daily figures so far. france says the decision by the united states to impose

sanctions on some employees of the international criminal court is an attack on countries that established the icc. the french foreign minister has called on the united states to withdraw the measures. there's been a second night of protests in lebanon. demonstrators have clashed with police in the capital beirut and other cities, angry at the state of the country's economy. the government says it'll shore up the market with us dollars after the lebanese pound dropped 70% in value since october. rich preston has this report. these people are hungry. not just for change, but literally. the value of the money in their pockets as a fraction of what it was a few months ago. in the capital beirut, protesters threw stones and fireworks at police. their anger has boiled over. anger at the ban and at the authorities. ——at the banks

and at the authorities. police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. years of corruption and financial mismanagement have crippled levin on‘s economy. the pound has fallen to a record low, about one third of people are unemployed, around half live in poverty. what was already a bad situation, coronavirus has made far worse. in the northern city of tripoli, the banks took the brunt of the anger, with the military brought in to suppress the violence. government ministers held an emergency meeting on friday. they say they will inject us dollars into the market to try to stop the pounds free. they are also seeking billions of dollars of support from the international monetary fund but the economic impact of coronavirus being felt around the world, lebanon is not the only country asking for help. the situation is dire, and what for many years has been one of the more stable countries in the region. reality is starting to hit. last month 11 on defaulted on its foreign debt payment,

something it has never done before, not even at the height of the civil war of the late 70s and 80s. months of demonstrations last year thought to change the country's political structure with some success. political structure with some success. the changes being sought now will be much harder to bring about. the goal much more abstract and ways of achieving it much less tangible. some wawn the scale of the economic catastrophe could be more devastating of the darkest days of living on‘s civil war. in seattle, protesters have set up a police—free area of the city. they're calling it an autonomous zone, across four blocks of the city. president trump has threatened to end the demonstrations with military force. the governor there says the president should stay out of the state's business. there are still growing calls for police reforms across the us, in the wake of george floyd's death. jane o'brien has more.

woman: black lives matter! the capitol hill autonomous zone, or chaz, as seattle's artsy neighbourhood has been rechristened, has the vibe of a block party according to the city's mayor. there is a "no cop co—op" offering free food and other supplies, and shrines to george floyd, whose death in minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer sparked global protests and reenergised the black lives matter movement. but seattle's police chief, in a video to her department, painted a darker picture of general lawlessness. leaving the precinct was not my decision. we fought for days to protect it. i asked you to stand on that line, day in and day out, to be pelted with projectiles, to be screamed at, threatened, and in some cases hurt. then, to have a change of course nearly two weeks in, it seems like an insult to you and our community. president trump has told mayorjenny durkan to take back the city, tweeting

"if you don't, i will." she said his threats were unwelcome, and any such action would be illegal. but, in an interview with fox news, he renewed his criticism. i saw her break down, i saw her leave, i saw her have absolutely no control, and i saw her make a lot of bad decisions, including don't do anything that's going to affect anybody. toughness sometimes is the most compassionate. protesters say they have no intention of leaving, and are reportedly limiting access to the area. i would love to see the seattle police department be turned into a youth centre. what happens when no—one's here and theyjust clear the road and then it goes back to normal? and it defeats the purpose, and they win, they can come back and get into the precinct that theyjust closed down. you know, we want it to stay closed down forever, so we're going to stand out here forever. supporters call the protesters patriots. critics, including the president, say they are anarchists and terrorists, language that shows just how

divided america remains over police reform, and how to achieve it. thousands of volunteers are being recruited to test the experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by oxford university. the whole process is a race against time because the less virus there is spreading around the community, the harder it is to see if the vaccine is working. five hundred of those volunteers are front—line health workers in cambridge. our science correspondent richard westcott went to meet some of them. the best way to test a vaccine is to give it to an army of volu nteers is to give it to an army of volunteers and see how many go on to catch the virus. you have literally just had the on to catch the virus. you have literallyjust had the vaccine, why have you got involved? you work and intensive care as a nurse? that's right, just

seeing firsthand the devastation that covid—19 has caused, reallyjust, it was a no—brainer for me. i felt k had two. one of the last few weeks been like? devastating, for the patients and more so for the families who haven't been able to be there by their relatives side through some horrendous weeks. it normally takes months to set up a big trial like this. a volunteer every fifth ten minutes, on a conveyor belt of test and checks before they are given either the experimental new vaccine or another control vaccine, they aren't told which. none of this would have happened withoutjoe who was the head nurse here. she has organised this absolutely meticulously. so you are the boss basically? how complex has this been? that has beena very complex has this been? that has been a very complex thing to organise because we are trying to get through a lot of people ina to get through a lot of people in a short period of time for the screening and vaccination and we are also working together with three hospitals, that's three different sets of nurses that work together and

it has all gone amazingly well. across britain 10,000 volu nteers across britain 10,000 volunteers will trail this oxford university vaccine. they are all front—line health workers because they need people who are regularly exposed to the virus.|j people who are regularly exposed to the virus. i am a doctor here and i have seen what covid—19 does. i am fed up with that and want to do all they can to get rid of it. because what people want to know always is when might you have some results? when might you know if it is going to work 01’ you know if it is going to work or not? oxford have been saying they would hope to have some results or some preliminary results or some preliminary results by the autumn or by christmas of this year. and certainly, at the moment, vaccination production is being scaled up massively so if the trail is shown to be beneficial they will be able to roll out vaccination is very speedily. there are no guarantees that this vaccine will work but the research is being fast tracked because everyone hope it is a way out of this crisis.

you're watching bbc news. a reminder of our main stories this hour: brazil has overtaken the uk to become the country with the second highest number of coronavirus deaths. only the us has recorded a higher toll. there are growing fears in several countries that a second wave of infections is developing. there's been a rise in cases in china and india. here in the uk, the devastating economic impact of coronavirus lockdown is becoming clear, the economy just suffered its biggest ever monthly drop. gdp fell more than 20% in april. it's three times bigger than the drop during the whole of the 2008—2009 financial crisis 12 years ago. meanwhile, in the last 24—hour period, the number of virus—related deaths reported in the uk were up by 202, to nearly 111,500. 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 of sales don't happen because they cannot. but such a slump on this scale in one month isn't just a record. it was unimaginable, and way beyond any normal scale. marwell zoo 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 marwell to enjoy the zoo, and in the end, we got nobody at all. so whilst we were expecting about £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 by just 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 in 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. we have been very badly hit by this, but we're also amazingly resilient and creative. we will bounce back. there was a report that came out a couple of days ago from the oecd, 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're in a very, very difficult situation as a country. in oxfordshire, 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? 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, you know, ready, and ready to take action — notjust the bank of england, but more broadly on what we can do to offset those longer—term damaging effects. for the moment, the government is focusing on a gradual reopening — for example, of the housing market. we're just starting to recover. i do believe it will take at least until the end of the year to come close, whether we'll 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 gyms 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've never seen a weaker month, the economy far from fighting fit. the question — just how long the process of rehabilitation will take. faisal islam, bbc news. borisjohnson 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. mrjohnson also warned people to "stay away" from protests planned for saturday because of coronavirus. chi chi izundu reports. all chant: 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's protest had fewer people but a heavier police presence and tonight, a change in tactics. london's metropolitan police say it's imposing conditions on a stricter route and a definite 5 o'clock finish for the black lives matter, right—wing and left—wing affiliated 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 over 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 to have statues of men that don't represent the society 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 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 for 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 alfred fagon 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 taken down is overshadowing their black lives matter message. chi chi izundu, bbc news. queen elizabeth's official birthday celebrations this weekend will look different, because of the coronavirus outbreak. instead of the usual flypast at buckingham palace, there's going to be a smaller ceremony at windsor castle. our royal correspondent sarah campbell reports. pulling the first world war guns into position. in normal times, state and ceremonial occasions are punctuated by the king's

troop, but with all such events cancelled since march, most of the regiment‘s horses have been enjoying a quieter life, locked down in —— cancelled since march, most of the regiment‘s 140 horses have been enjoying a quieter life, locked down in leicestershire. the decision has been taken to get them back to the barracks. one of the first to return is ten—year—old equinox. he has just been eating grass and chilling out. he needs to do some exercise. in common with many others, he needs a haircut. —— in common with many of us, he needs a haircut. we take off the manes off for safety reasons because when they are in harness, it can get entangled. back to work means getting the correct footwear. hundreds of hours of practice would have been put in to make sure no mistakes are made on parade — not least because the commander—in—chief, the queen, will be watching. for new recruits like emma, it is disappointing to be missing out this year.

she joined the unit just as lockdown began and has stayed on site throughout. it has been different, because we are used to having so many more horses here, so i am looking forward when it goes back to normal, to experience what it is really like with the shows and parades, so i am itching to do all of that. at the barracks, they are champing at the bit to get back on parade. with humans and horses getting ready to resume normal duties as soon as it is safe to do so. sarah campbell, bbc news. there's been a baby boom at a palestinian zoo, which staff are attributing to the recent lack of visitors. 15 animals were born in the west bank zoo during the two months it was shut down due to covid—19. that's three times more than usual. staff say the lack of excursions by school children provided a more comfortable environment for some animals to breed. the zoo says it missed out

on around 200,000 visitors during lockdown, but have started to see people return since it was reopened late last month. this is bbc news. hello. there are some big thunderstorms in the forecast for this weekend but it is not going to be raining everywhere all the time. in fact, there will be some sunny spells. and in any sunshine, it will feel quite warm and pretty humid but some thundery downpours are likely, all driven by an area of low pressure. you can see this swirl of cloud on the satellite picture. our area of low pressure has been spinning around across the bay of biscay. it's been throwing lumps of cloud and rain in our direction — a process which continues on through saturday. we can follow the different lumps of wet weather. this area of rain moving across north east england through the morning and then up into scotland. i think it's going to stay quite grey and murky for some of these northern and eastern coasts. northern ireland should brighten up a little bit with some sunshine, but some showers. and then down across england and wales, we will see some sunny spells developing,

but some very heavy downpours and thunderstorms breaking out here. a more persistent area of wet weather likely to push towards the south—west of england as we head through the afternoon. and then you can see these scattered downpours and thunderstorms across parts of the midlands, wales and up into north—west england particularly. but it will be warm temperatures there for liverpool, for example — 23 degrees. the odd shower for northern ireland and some outbreaks of rain continuing across some parts of scotland — although i think north—west scotland will see a decent amount of sunshine. north—east scotland holding onto some of that coastal cloud, mist and murk. so, as we go into saturday night, we continue to push our various lumps of wet weather northwards and westwards across the british isles. there will be some clear spells. equally, some fog patches — i think it's likely to stay very murky for some of those eastern coasts of scotland and england — but a very mild night. temperatures as we start sunday morning between 11—14 degrees. then for sunday, well, really it is more of the same. a lot of the cloud for these eastern and northern parts. elsewhere, some spells of sunshine, yes, but a scattering of showers. they will be quite hit and miss

but where they do pop up, they could well be heavy with some hail and thunder thrown in for good measure. and it's another warm day as well with temperatures widely 21—24 degrees. a little bit cooler, though, where we keep the cloud, close to some of those north sea coasts. now, our area of low pressure will still be with us as we head into monday, but it does weaken. it becomes quite flabby — not many white lines on the chart, you'll notice. not many isobars, so not much of a wind, but any showers that do crop up will be heavy and slow—moving. and it stays unsettled, showery and rather humid throughout next week.

this is bbc news, the headlines: brazil has now recorded the second highest number of deaths from covid—19 of any country. president jair bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the severity of the crisis. some densely populated cities have begun lifting restrictions, even though many brazilians fear the worst of the epidemic is yet to come. there are growing fears in several countries of a possible second wave of covid—19 infections. beijing has shut down six wholesale food markets after new cases were reported for a second day running. india, which opened up this week, has seen record daily increases in cases. protestors have clashed with police in lebanon for a second night, furious at the economic plight of the country where the currency has crashed. demonstrators in the capital, beirut, and in the northern city of tripoli, threw stones and fireworks at police,