this is bbc news, the headlines: liverpool supporters are celebrating after the club were crowned premier league champions. it's the first time they've won english football's top—flight title in 30 years. the side needed one victory to seal the league but manchester city's failure to beat chelsea means they cannot be caught. the us congress is voting on a policejustiice and reform act one month after the death of george floyd in police custody in minneapolis. the manner of his death has led to a global wave of protests, calling for police reform and an end to institutional racism. the us is facing a new coronavirus spike, after lockdown restrictions were relaxed. texas has now suspended plans to further re—open the economy, because of a significant rise in covid 19 cases. across the country a record 35 thousand new cases were identified in a single day.

some of the uk's largest councils says the financial pressure of the pandemic means they may have to declare themselves effectively bankrupt. a bbc investigation has found at least some local authorities may need to implement emergency spending controls and many have shortfalls of millions of pounds. our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports from leeds. the lockdown has meant this support group have had to counsel everything. there should have been a full dance class here this afternoon. i like socialising with people so it is good because i like talking to people as well so it interests me. and when i'm not here iam upset interests me. and when i'm not here i am upset because i don't like being away from people. up to 100 people attended the groups weekly but funding from the council is due

to end next march, creating huge uncertainty for the organisation. those people, they are suffering from depression, mental illness and are going to need a lot more support than we have ever given them in this life so to cut it now, when people need all the support, is going to be devastating for the community. the crisis has created a £200 million shortfall for the council in leeds. there are fewer monies coming in. and cost for frontline staff of balloon. counsellors are considering more than 400 job clouds. we are looking at cutting services altogether, reducing opening hours, and really impacting on services know people in leeds we know use. and really impacting on services know people in leeds we know usem wilts and other councils, the pandemic has meant a combined

shortfall of £2.3 billion according to bbc research but problems for many councils is there is little slack. the crisis coming after a decade of austerity during which tens of billions of pounds were taken out of budgets. the uk government so they're working on a comprehensive plan for councils but experts say there are a few options for plugging the gap. unless the government can precisely match the amount of extra resource councils are given or allowed to race, precisely matching the income and spending, then it will eitherfall through into cuts to services, possibly this year and certainly next, or the need to raise council taxes sharply next year. coronavirus has impacted the health and livelihood of large parts of england and it could lead to cuts to services we need and rely on.

now on bbc news philippa thomas hears from people around the world about their extraordinary experiences during the pandemic and how covid—i9 has changed their lives. welcome to coronavirus: your stories, a programme about how covid—i9 is changing the lives of people around the world. i'm philippa thomas. this week, we are talking about birth and death. i'll be hearing from a british doctor whose job it is to talk to the dying about the ways this pandemic has transformed end—of—life care. but first, what the virus is doing to significantly change the experience of childbirth for women around the world. when we give birth, most of us want our partners to be with us. we want to be able to see the faces of midwives and doctors.

we want to feel a sense of touch, notjust for medical reasons but for that sense of human connection. what if all that is gone? new mum giannina white in tampa bay, florida had her little boy leo three months ago. in karachi, pakistan, neha makani manages a team of community midwives at a rural birthing centre. can i come to you first, giannina? what has it been like with a newborn in lockdown? it's really hard for myself, to not to have a support team, to notjust have anybody pop over like family and friends or anything. it's a little bit more lonely than a normal new motherhood would be. for a first—time mother, i guess you'd normally would have expected to be having family and friends popping in, and midwives or health visitors. yeah, and that doesn't really happen.

it's more over the phone, calling, and just my mum pops over ‘cause she quarantined herself, so that's about it. neha, in karachi, as a midwife, and for the midwives that you're managing, how different has it been in this time of coronavirus? it's been a scary time for midwives and i think this is true of midwives and healthcare providers all over the world but is has come at the point with covid where our health systems are crumbling. midwives have had it hard for a number of reasons and again, a lot of it is because of the uncertainty and fear around the pandemic, people and midwives are scared for theirjobs, their health, their family and they are scared, they are actually scared of being able to do theirjob properly. i think a lot of this is because midwives aren't considered front—line health workers, so in a lot of places, they don't have access to ppe and they are not provided with masks and other protective gear. giannina, how does it deal hearing

to you that midwives are not considered key workers? it's just crazy, obviously, because they are so important. and especially right after having the baby, i can't even imagine not having the ability to speak to my 0bgyn or anyone, you need more. there's no—one else to speak to, so you rely on your doctor ever more. giannina, you were able to have your husband cory with you, but even that has been taken away for quite a lot of other new mothers. yeah, so my birth was one of the last. my week, and then after my birth, they took away the ability to have your husband or any partner, and you have to wear a mask to deliver, so i can imagine the girls after me, it's a lot more stressful. i, luckily, was one of the last to have at least one visitor, and my husband.

ihearyou, giannina, talking about your experience but obviously you're in touch with other new mums or women who are about to be mothers. i'm getting the sense ofjust high stress, and stress levels going up and down with the uncertainty of it all. yeah, it's really difficult to know what process orjourney you're going to have because it changes every day. when i went into the hospital, it changed that night and i didn't even know walking into the hospital that it was going to change. so my sister—in—law is about to deliver in august and every single day we chat about how she has no idea what the hospital is going to be like in august and that's only two months away. so she is stressed out. and i can imagine. i'm thankful that mine is done and over with, because every day is a gamble. neha, what are you hearing from your midwives at the birthing centre about whether women are worried about coming

to the birthing centre or the kind of state they're in? women are really worried about coming in and midwives are very anxious about providing care, and women are anxious going to a clinic and this has been a big issue for a number of reasons. a lot of women have started cancelling their antenatal appointments because won't come to the health centre where they are scared they might contract something. a lot of women also are choosing to deliver at home but not with midwives, they are using traditional birthing attendants who are not qualified to provide maternity care and a lot of these births have devastating outcomes, because they are being done at home without any infection prevention. giannina, hearing about women giving birth at home, do you think that's is that possibly happening more at home where you are? definitely. i'm still in a mother group a lot of girls during my birth were dropping out to have it at home

just because they wanted their partner, they didn't know it would change the day they went in. also, you're also in florida, and we've been hearing this week about the numbers still rising in florida. i think more than 100,000 cases? yeah, yeah. it's very stressful. so we're not really..we were leaving the house a little bit but we're not as much. i mean, it went from two times a week to maybe one now and we just ride around in the car to get an escape and we don't go anywhere because i don't want to expose leo to any of that. neha, infections are still rising in pakistan as well, i think. what are you hearing from mothers and midwives? have you heard of cases of covid—i9? yes, so as of right now, our cases are definitely still going up. no signs of them coming down anytime soon. we are also seeing that a lot of women because of this are being turned away from hospitals because a lot of hospitals that

cater to, that are maternity hospitals, are not equipped to manage covid cases because the staff there are not trained or they don't have the required resources so a lot of covid patients are being turned away, then they don't have a place to deliver. neha, that means women are in more dangerous situations than they would have been before covid. absolutely, yeah, because itjust takes away really something that was considered safe, something that a lot of people could take for granted, they aren't able to anymore. i mean, i'm in the sector so i will get a call every two days from someone saying that someone i know is trying to get to a hospital. and their hospital has refused to take them. or i spoke to this woman who was about to give birth and she was in a hospital and she told me that in the middle of her pregnancy, it was very high—risk pregnancy, she...her blood pressure went up a lot and she said, "i went to the facility that i was supposed to deliver at," and they said, "sorry,

we've had a lot of cases, and a lot of doctors and nurses are sick, so we are not taking anyone in." it led to eventually her blood pressure going up, she went to three hospitals, she was turned away and she eventually suffered an eclamptic fit and this was something that was very avoidable but with the health system crumbling, no—one really knows how to deal with these things. and neha, there is also the question of cost because people are obviously losing theirjobs, their livelihoods around the world because of the pandemic, but getting hospital birthing services costs money. a lot of people have lost theirjobs and a lot of people had saved, but they don't have the money anymore. so part of what i do, i manage this mum and baby fund and the mum and baby fund bridges for people in financial emergencies during the maternity process and i started getting a lot of cases of people who have to deliver or they have to have a c—section or need blood or the baby needs to go to an icu and they say, "we don't have anything." they are not able to pay the fees,

so a lot of them are choosing, some will take their baby out of an icu, some will choose to go to a health facility that may not be as good but everyone's resources have just become a lot more limited so that goes towards the quality of care that people are receiving. giannina in florida, or in the united states, do you think money is a factor as well because health insurance costs a lot? yes, for sure. a lot of people are losing theirjobs. i am a teacher but i was on maternity leave and my husband didn't lose his job either but i can't even imagine. i'm listening to her story, i can't imagine being turned away or not thing able to afford some in, that's really scary. i don't even know what i would do in that situation. giannina, what would your advice be for other very new mothers or those were about to have their babies? it's very overwhelming. i know you get exasperated, you just get exhausted

with everything happening. i would say take it one day at a time. giannina white in florida and neha mankani in karachi sharing during the experiences of childbirth in pandemic. i'm philippa thomas and you're watching coronavirus: your stories, a programme about how covid—i9 is changing lives around the world. next, an english doctor whosejob it is to talk to the dying, to connect with, treat and comfort to those who are reaching the end of lives. rachel clarke moved from her work in hospices to hospital wards to get closer to those in fact it. everything transformed in the last few months and the majority of patients that i've been seeing in the hospital where i work had been very frail, overwhelmed,

very quickly, by the illness. sometimes they are so short of breath, they are struggling hard to breathe. they can barely talk at all and we almost have to communicate using gestures, so they nod and shake their heads to communicate with me. and it's a real challenge wearing our ppe, our personal protective equipment, to communicate with the kind of care and compassion that you'd normally like to because you have literal physical barriers between you and your patients. but we all try our utmost to convey that care and convey that every single patient matters. it's a bit of a unique situation, isn't it, because if you're dying and you can't touch anyone and you can't properly see anybody around you, that is really brutal? absolutely, and i think that's one of the great cruelties of this disease, the fact the infection control measures not only put up these physical barriers between doctors and carers and their patients, so we have to be

separated from them by gloves and masks and visors, but also family members very often have to be kept away, so although in my hospital we are now able to allow one, possibly two, members of a family to visit a loved one right at the end of life, that's only very recently been the case, and so the tragedy as this pandemic has unfolded has been people in their hour, really, of greatest need, when they really desperately want another human presence, ideally someone they love and cherish, at their bedside, those people haven't been there. so it has fallen onto us — the healthcare professionals — to try and fill that role. we can never replace a loved one but we can be there, we can kneel down, we can

hold people's hands, we can tell people that we care about them, they matter to us, and at least there's a way of communicating some of that human warmth and compassion which is so important when anyone's vulnerable, but particularly at the end of life. what more do you do to try to make that connection between the patient that's right in front of you, rachel, and the family, who very often isn't or can't be? well, we have learned really on the job, as it were, we've had to make it up as we go along and we've tried to be creative and imaginative to help patients make those human connections and feel cared for even in the absence of loved ones. so a lot of conversations will happen over a tablet or a smartphone so a loved one can be there in the room via a tablet and communicate with their relative.

and sometimes we use symbols, symbolic gestures, that can be enormously powerful. so if we know a patient is approaching the end of life in my hospital, a whole series of volunteers from the local community have made little red hearts that they have crocheted out of wool, and we will place the red heart somewhere in the room and we will show it to the family who can't be there on a tablet so they can see that as a symbol of care and love, and then when that patient dies, we will give another of those hearts to the family, so it's a symbolic way of showing the connection and the love has been there, and sometimes a family will choose to take back the heart that they knew was there in the final days with the patient who was suffering from coronavirus, and so they bring them back together again and can keep both of them.

and all of those little gestures on the one hand are only small, they're only symbols, but actually they can be incredibly important and i have spoken to family members who say that those gestures mean everything because they are a way of knowing that, for all their loved one feels a million miles away, they actually know that they're in an environment with doctors and nurses who care about them deeply. and when you're speaking to family members, do you get asked — i think i would feel this — how to have a conversation with someone who is dying, because there is a fear of saying the wrong thing and being inappropriate at this really important moment. people are often incredibly apprehensive about saying the wrong thing to somebody whose time is limited and who we know is approaching the end of their life. they think if they get the words wrong or if they are clumsy

or inarticulate, they will somehow make things worse. if there's one message i could communicate to people as widely as possible, in my experience as a palliative care doctor, nothing could be further from the truth — the one thing patients crave more than anything is to know that people care about them, that they love them, that they're surrounded by care and compassion. and you can communicate that with the clumsiest most inarticulate words imaginable. you don't have to be eloquent, you don't have to say something beautiful. if all you say to somebody is, "i love you desperately and i don't want to lose you, and i'm so, so sorry this is happening to you", that is a clear and powerful message and that's what people want to hear. i can't imagine any more emotionally intense work and with covid—i9 there've been so many cases, so many people dying so quickly, how do you manage, how do you cope at the end of a day with these sorts of conversations?

there are moments where i have to make myselfjust steely hard, hard as nails, because it's the only way i can do thatjob and in that moment, my feelings don't matter at all — it's only the patient and their families that matter. you can do that because you're trained to do it but i think at the end of the day sometimes, you come home and you feel utterly bereft because you have a sense that this is happening over and over again in hospitals up and down the country. there have been times where i have had to pull over on the side of the road and actually stop driving on the way home and sit there and cry to myself in silence inside my car because i have felt so shocked by the speed of the pandemic and the relentlessness of it, the sheer numbers of people who are dying too quickly and too often.

it's like nothing any of us have ever experienced, it's like a battlefield environment. but you cry because you can't really take that home to your family, how can they understand what great what you're going through? but you get up the next day and you go back in because there's patients that need you and it's the job you do. we do hear every day statistics, but that is a potent reminder that, of course, we're talking about individuals, and you're talking about people seeing some real desperation and despair and resilience, isuppose, from families, but you are seeing emotions in the raw, rachel. i remember one family who i took two siblings to see their dying parents and one of the siblings turns to me, suddenly consumed with very understandable anger and said, "i don't want him to be a statistic, i do not want him to be

a statistic, he's my father." and i knew and he knew that tomorrow, in all likelihood, his father would be included in the daily statistics. he would be one of the 500 people who had died the day before, and it was heartbreaking because to these two siblings, this was a father, this was a colossus — someone they had adored for their entire life and they didn't want to see him being reduced to a number. so the statistics, i think, can be terribly painful for bereaved families to hear. rachel, i'd like to end at the beginning, in a way, and i don't know quite how to phrase this but i'm talking to you as a palliative care specialist. the sense i get from what you do is that covid is bringing us deaths

in unimaginable numbers, but we shouldn't turn away from the fact of death and the processes of dying. yes, i think there is no denying the fact that the last six months have been stunningly traumatic for us all as we have been through this pandemic, but i don't believe it is wholly bleak. i think in times of upheaval and uncertainty, we actually learn and we can discover profoundly important truths about how we want to live our lives, who we want to be, how we want to do things differently, and i think this pandemic in a sense is a little bit like my work in a hospice with patients who are approaching the end of their life, only writ large on a global scale. and by that i mean that patients who know they are dying have this extraordinary capacity very often to really savour the time they have

left, really focus on what matters, what's important, and all the things that we know deep down matter to us, like the love of our friends and family, compassion, kindness, how we relate to each other, all of that comes centrestage. and i think we have seen that happen with coronavirus as well. i think people have behaved remarkably compassionately towards each other. we have been a community — in a way, a global community — like never before, and that has been, for me, a startlingly uplifting thing to witness even in these times of bleakness and darkness. i think there's a lot to learn from the last six months, and i hope perhaps more than anything, that we don't forget

it, that we carry what we've learned through into our future and think, "how do we want to do things differently from this point on?" rachel clarke, a doctor who dedicates her working life to the dying. i'm philippa thomas. thank you forjoining us for this week's coronavirus: your stories. hello. thursday brought us, for the third consecutive day, the hottest day of the year so far in the uk. temperatures at heathrow in london reached 33.4 celsius, but if you are not a fan of the heat and the humidity, you will probably be pleased to hear that things are now turning fresher. through friday, it will be a cooler day, the chance of some heavy showers and some thunderstorms around too. still quite a mild, muggy start to the morning. first thing friday, those temperatures quite widely in the mid to high teens, could be not shy of 20 degrees for central london first thing friday morning. now, we start with this

band of fairly heavy showers and thunderstorms. this is nine o'clock in the morning. it will be drier down towards the southwest of england and wales. the southeast of england, through the midlands, up towards north and northwest of england into northern ireland as well, that's where we are likely to see some of those heavy downpours. and for the western isles, some of them are going to be really heavy and thundery once again. northern and eastern scotland, probably avoiding quite a good deal of those heavy showers. now, across england and wales, they push their way northwards and eastward through the course of the day. so, it's much of northern england, north wales into scotland that is going to be seeing some of the heavy showers and thunderstorms. northern ireland seeing fewer, i think, during the afternoon, but they will be hit and miss. it will still feel warm in the east with temperatures around 28, possibly up to around 30 degrees, but for many of us, it is turning cooler. into the weekend, fresher conditions moving across the whole of the uk — with some rainfall in the forecast as well. down to the fact that we've got this area of low pressure moving

its way in from the west, quite a lot of isobars on the map, as well as those heavy showers rattling around that area of low pressure. so this is how saturday is shaping up then, sunny spells but frequent heavy showers. again with some hail in some lightning mixed in with some of those heavy thunderstorms. quite blustery winds as well, particularly where you do see the heavy showers, the thunderstorms, with hail as well, that's where you could see some squally and gusty winds at times too. temperatures quite a bit cooler than recent days, somewhere between about 18—2idc for many of us. still a bit of sunshine in between the showers. by the time we get to sunday, the heaviest of the showery rain will be in the north and northwest. a little bit drier further south with a little bit more sunshine on offer, but the winds will be picking up. a blustery fresher feeling day with highs of 15—21 degrees. bye— bye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan jones. one month after the death of george floyd in police detention, the us house of represenatives passes a police reform bill. his brother tells us what he would have made of the changes. he would be humbled. he would be, you know, sad that he is not here to be in a world that is making change like this. the us faces a coronavirus spike, as social distancing is relaxed. more than 35,000 new cases are identified in a single day. thousands flock to the beach in england, despite warnings coronavirus cases will rise again if people abandon social distancing. cheering and applause.