welcome to bbc news, here are the headlines. the government signs deals for ninety million doses of coronavirus vaccines being developed overseas — on top of a pledge for 100 million doses of the oxford university vaccine. a new treatment for covid—19 developed by a uk company could dramatically reduce the number of patients needing intensive care. schools will be able to decide how to spend their extra coronavirus catch—up funding. it's about making sure that teachers have the ability to do an assessment of the children. where they fallen behind, what they've missed out on, how we can get the right

types of interventions. as tensions grow between britain and china — the uk is expected to announce it's suspending its extradition treaty with hong kong. the parents of a student who took her own life in 2018 are suing bristol university in what's thought to be the first case of its kind. if you are getting in touch with us today, send me a message on twitter or on our website. also coming up this hour. an historic mission to mars is under way — the first attempt by the united arab emirates to reach the red planet.

good morning. the government has signed deals for 90 million doses of coronavirus vaccine developed overseas. one of them is with a partnership between the german and us pharmaceutical giants biontech and pfizer. its vaccine produced a strong immune response in early trials. if successful, the first of 30 million doses could arrive by the end of the year. the other deal is with the french firm valneva, which won't begin trials of its jab until the autumn. that agreement is for 60 million doses. and there's already a deal to buy 100 million doses of the vaccine produced by the university of oxford. also this morning there's been some positive news about a new treatment which could dramatically reduce the numbers of patients needing intensive care. more on that in a moment but first our medical correspondent, fergus walsh has this report. there are now an astonishing 23 coronavirus vaccines in clinical trials around the world, including two in the uk developed by oxford university

and imperial college london. today, the government announced deals with two overseas vaccine producers. biontech, pfizer, is one of the frontrunners — a german—us partnership. its coronavirus vaccine produced a strong immune response in early trials. if it's successful, the first of 30 million doses could arrive by the end of the year. the other deal is with the french firm valneva who won't begin trials of theirjab till the autumn. that agreement is for 60 million doses. its vaccine will contain an inactivated virus. this is a more tried and tested method for creating a vaccine so could be important if others fail. there's already a deal to buy 100 million doses of the vaccine produced by oxford university. this may look like the uk government has overbought but bear in mind that nine in ten vaccines are unsuccessful, and you see,

the logic behind the decision to back several horses in the search for a winner. also, most of the coronavirus vaccines in trials require more than one dose. vaccine trials depend on volunteers. the public are being encouraged to sign up to a new nhs website to speed up the process forjoining coronavirus vaccine studies. the aim is to get half a million people to register interest by october. fergus walsh, bbc news. the education secretary, gavin williamson said the vaccines were the most advanced in development. there's a very high degree of confidence but we'll be entering trials. we'll need half a million people to be able to trial these vaccines going forward through the winter. but it's a really important part of their development. but it's vital that britain

is leading the way and as i'm sure you'll know, britain is a world leader in terms of research and development and we talk about the work that's going on at oxford, but similar work going on at imperial, some amazing universities in this country. but not only are we leading the way in terms of the research, we're leading the way in terms of manufacture as well. you'll see the investment and development of manufacturing facilities, you know, expansion in scotland at livingston, but also the creation of a new vaccine centre in 0xfordshire as well. so we lead the world on research and development but also lead the world on manufacture. positive news this morning about a possible new treatment for covid—19 which reduces the risk of patients ending up in intensive care. it uses a protein which our bodies produce to fight infections. 0ur correspondentjustin rowlatt has more detail. these are preliminary results of a relatively small clinical trial

the company did with the drug. but it does produce what the scientists call a very strong signal. it suggests there was a reduction of 80% in the number of patients whose condition deteriorated once they were in hospital. patients were more than twice as likely to recover fully within 28 days. they were likely to leave hospital earlier, so instead of spending nine days in hospital they'd spend six days and one of the key symptoms of covid—19, breathlessness, was reduced very significantly, according to the study. so those are all very positive signals, very good news. the health warning, if you like, on the study is, as i said these are initial preliminary results. we haven't had this reviewed in a peer—reviewed journal. we haven't had the data released so the bbc hasn't been able to confirm the claims the company is making. but, if the claims the company is making are correct, then this is a very significant new development in the treatment of coronavirus illness. one of the clinical lead

around the clinical trial, a guy called tom wilkinson, described it as a potential game changer in terms of the treatment of covid—19. the managing director of the company says it is a major breakthrough, potentially. but the warning again, these results have not been peer reviewed yet so this is quite an early stage. but nevertheless, very encouraging news on the treatment of covid. health ministers have admitted failing to assess data protection risks around the nhs test and trace programme for coronavirus in england. the system traces contacts of people who may have been infected with covid—19 but privacy campaigners are concerned over how personal details are collected and stored. they say the admission means the programme has been unlawful but the government insists no information has been misused. the government says all state schools in england will receive a funding increase of at least 2% next year. in a settlement agreed and announced last summer, education spending will increase

by £2.2 billion, an average increase of 3% per pupil. the institue for fiscal studies says there's been am 8% real terms cut in per pupil spending since 2010. ministers are also providing an extra £1 billion covid catch—up fund to help children who have missed over four month of education due to school closures during the lockdown. 0ur asisstant political editor, norman smith, is at westminster. this is part of a three—year funding settlement, which was actually agreed under the previous prime minister, theresa may? the money is not new, we know about this, it is a sizable increase, £14 billion over three years. what we do get today is a little bit more detail about where the cash is going to go and what is interesting in that, the areas which are getting the biggest increase are areas which traditionally have been more deprived. the south—west and the north—east see the biggest

increase. that, of course, part of boris johnson's increase. that, of course, part of borisjohnson‘s levelling up agenda. in education terms, i think there is a view that london in particular has done very well in recent years and that has been reflected increasing educational standards. and now the hope is to try and replicate that in other parts of the country. that is one part of the announcement we get today. the second part is covid related because obviously children will have been away from school for almost six months by the time they go back in september. real concern about how much they have lost out in terms of schooling. again, it is not new money but confirmation of the 1 billion set aside for schools. here, most of the cash, it is pretty much going to be left up to individual heads to decide how they spend it. it is not going to be civil servants in whitehall saying you have got to spend it on one—to—one teaching, or whatever. it will be left up to

individual heads. that was the message from the education secretary, gavin williamson. in terms of covid catch up, it's about making sure that teachers have the ability to do an assessment of the children where they fallen behind, what they've missed out on, how we can get the right types of interventions. what we have been encouraging on the £650 million that has been announced going to schools, we are giving schools the discretion on how to spend that but we have been looking at them to give extra coaching for small groups of children, making sure that if they fallen behind on their maths or the english or foreign languages, they have been given that little bit of extra support. the other thing interesting was listening to labour on this issue. they are critical because they say this extra cash does not make up for the cash lost out under austerity. but the interesting thing i thought was they seem much more supportive

of children going back to school in september. you will remember previously, they appeared more closely aligned to the unions and concern about whether children going back would increase transmission, would put teachers at risk. listening to the new education spokeswoman kate green this morning, she was stressing just how important it is that children go back in september because of the lack of socialisation and the lack of schooling and i do think there is a tilt now by labour to be much more pro—children going back and much less automatically identified as in the same camp as the teaching unions. thank you very much, norman. robert halfon is a conservative mp and chair of the commons education select committee. he joins us from harlow. hello, good morning. good morning. for secondary school pupils it is about £150 extra per people per year, just over £4 a week. what can

a head teacher get full four quid? this comes on top, don't forget this is an increase on the existing school budget. that is the important thing. as you rightly acknowledge it is going to go up by 3% a year and it comes on top of the 1 billion for the catch up front and also a further billion for capital funding, school buildings. the money as a whole will make a difference and it will be up to each individual school what they spend their money on.“ we just talk about the funding settle m e nt we just talk about the funding settlement rather than the catch up front, it is an extra £4 a week per people? it is nothing. it is an extra 14 billion over three years, 2.3 billion over the coming school year, 2020, 2021. but it is per people, i am giving you the figures

extra per people and it is around £4 per week, per people. you are looking at just the per week, per people. you are looking atjust the amount of increase. that is exactly what i am looking at. it is going up to £5,125. if you look at it in total, the school budget is increasing significantly, and rightly so. do you think the school budget is increasing significantly when it works out, when this increase works out at just over £4 extra works out, when this increase works out atjust over £4 extra per pupil, per week? what it is, the school budget is £5,000 per pupil in secondary school and it is now going up secondary school and it is now going up to £5,125 per pupil. it is not perfect, it is a 3% increase overall. it is 14 billion extra over the next three years and you are not including the catch up front, the pupil premium, you are not including

the £1 billion on top of the existing budget to be spent on school buildings. between 2010 and last year, the institute for fiscal studies says there was an 8% real terms cut in total school spending per pupil. 8% real terms cut? so the 296 per pupil. 8% real terms cut? so the 2% to 3% increase in funding next year does not go anywhere near reversing that, would you accept that? i would say it is a step in the right direction, an important step and it isn'tjust one year, because the following year there will be a bigger increase and there will be a bigger increase and there will the extra 14 billion. there we re will the extra 14 billion. there were difficult years after 2010 with the economy and having very little money to spend and this goes forward to addressing that. the select committee has asked for a long—term

plan for education and funding. i will always support more funding and there will never be enough money in there will never be enough money in the system, but when the government does the right thing and makes an important step forward, i think it is right to acknowledge it. but it ta kes is right to acknowledge it. but it takes is nowhere near what funding used to be in 2010, according to the iss. used to be in 2010, according to the 155. if you look at the settlement over the next three years, an extra 14 billion, go some to addressing that. i have, so for 2021 it is 2.6 billion and then it goes to billion and then in 2023 it is 2.4 billion. you have to include the extra money announced for the catch up front, the people fund and they are talking about school per head funding. it is not perfect, but it is an important step forward in the right direction. 0n the catch up front, you may know

that some head teachers have said, actually that is likely to be spent on making schools coded secure because they don't have enough money to do that. it may not be spent on helping kids catch up. of that billion, 750 million is for the schools to spend how they like. that is right. and also the rest of it to be spent on the catching up for tuition. forjust a few hundred pounds, if you do a couple of hours a week for 12 weeks, you can advance a week for 12 weeks, you can advance a child's learning by over five months. this is not perfect, of course there will always be a need for more money but that money didn't exist a few weeks ago. the government have announced the extra billion pounds but also the extra billion pounds but also the extra billion pounds but also the extra billion pounds for capital spending. it is important to welcome this when the government do the right thing. thank you very much.

your reaction to that announcement offunding, it your reaction to that announcement of funding, it was agreed last summer of funding, it was agreed last summer under the previous prime minister. it has been re—announced, i suppose you would say today. you can e—mail me and message me on twitter. an investigation is under way after an outbreak of coronavirus infections at a call centre in motherwell which carries out contact tracing for the nhs. measures have been brought in by the region's health board to try to suppress the outbreak. at least seven workers are understood to have tested positive. a mosque in blackburn is being investigated by police and public health officials after around 250 people attended a funeral there last monday. the imam has since tested positive for covid—19 and mourners have been advised to self—isolate for a fortnight. a maximum of 30 people are currently allowed at funerals in england. the foreign secretary, dominic raab,

is expected to suspend the uk's extradition treaty with hong kong. it follows increasing tensions with beijing over a tightening of civil liberties in the chinese territory — and the decision to ban huawei from the uk's 5g network. eu leaders in brussels have been talking through the night to try to agree on a coronavirus recovery fund, stretching their two—day summit into a fourth day of negotiation. some member states believe the 750 billion euro package is too large and should come as loans — not grants. the summit is the first face—to—face meeting between leaders since the lockdowns began in march. gavin lee is in brussels and says there is still some hope they could reach agreement. i think there are some signs or a puff of white smoke emerging at least from the austrian camp. because sebastian kurz has tweeted this morning that after some tough negotiations, he is happy with where this is going and suggestions that they could conclude by this afternoon. it is already the longest european summitfor20 years, go back to nice 2000 when they were

expanding from 15 countries. this is about money, this is about trust, this is about the idea that these frugal four, the self—proclaimed frugal four, austria, sweden, netherlands, denmark plus finland in this circumstance, they are not budging, according to the others. they have been saying we don't want to give 500 billion euros in grants. we don't trust enough that the money will essentially that'll be it and it will be spent on the right things and the furthest is the dutch leader, mark rutte, who wants a veto for the dutch to be able to say, we don't like the spending let's stop it at this point. so it's basically been a back and forth between the council, putting new proposals on the table with lots of different meetings. now, where we are at at the moment, the so—called frugal four are saying they will offer as grants, no more than 375 billion euros. if other countries, including france and germany are saying that they won't go over 400 billion euros and at the table this afternoon will be around 390 billion. that is where it seems to be at.

and this has got pretty nasty at points. tempers flaring like i haven't seen it before, you've had the bulgarian prime minister, boyko borissov, calling mark rutte acting as a policeman of europe. victor 0ban, the hungarian leader saying, who's to blame? not me, it's the dutch guy. this morning in the early hours, emmanuel macron, the french president, banging his fists on the table saying to the frugal four, you are putting the european project in danger. according to french officials and italian diplomats told me that giuseppe conte, the prime minister said to them, you might be a hero in your home country in the short term but you will be lambasted, you will be seen as part of the reason europe fails. so that is how it's got, tiredness leading to tempers flaring and the art of diplomacy, like the masks that the leaders have been wearing, slipping. the parents of a student who took her own life in 2018 are now suing the university of bristol, in what's thought to be the first case of its kind.

natasha abrahart was in her second year, studying physics and was the tenth of 11 students to die at the university in just over 18 months. an inquest last yearfound neglect and a series of failures by mental health services contributed to her death, but did not look into the role of the university. we can talk exclusively to natasha's parents this morning. bob and maggie abrahart in nottingham. and gus silverman is a human rights solicitor for irwin mitchell, representing the family. mrand mrs abrahart, mr and mrs abrahart, can you tell us about natasha, what was she like? she always had difficulty speaking in front of other people but she did live a well—rounded life and she did everything she wanted to do. she would describe herself as a bit of an nerd but she loved baking, cooking and she loved playing the

piano, rock climbing. really, she did everything we wanted her to do. how did her mental health deteriorate in the last few months of her life? natasha suffered from social anxiety and she coped quite well at school, partly because she was able to avoid situations. social anxiety, it is a fear of social or performance situations which is out of proportion to the actual threat. as much as somebody who has agoraphobia would be scared of spiders, she would have been scared of social situations, particularly a fear of being judged by other people. one of the things i think with social anxiety, people don't go for health because that would mean they were being judged. so that is something that is very difficult. we weren't really aware of natasha's difficulty at university, because

when she was home she was in a co mforta ble when she was home she was in a comfortable environment where she felt safe. but it is clear, looking at the evidence there was a decline and she found herself unable to do one—to—one interviews with people, to speak out. why are you taking legal action against bristol university, what do you hope to achieve? first of all, why are we doing this? we don't want to be here in this position, we don't want to be suing anybody. the reaction of bristol university has forced our hand. the mental health trust work with us, they identify problems and they are being fixed. the university are doing the opposite, they are in denial and have attempted to block out the investigation at every step. they said it wasn't theirjob to investigate, it was the role of the coroner. they have learnt no

lessons, made no changes, nothing has been fixed. social anxiety disorder is the third most prevalent anxiety disorder. there will be other people like natasha in the pipeline. this situation will repeat. i am pipeline. this situation will repeat. lam notjust pipeline. this situation will repeat. i am notjust going to sit back and that somebody else's child suffer in exactly the same way that natasha suffered at bristol. what do we hope to achieve? i want to stress this is not about money. at best, we hope to break even. what we are looking for in the first place is no more secrets. we want full disclosure, full access to witnesses, we want our questions answered. everything we were denied in coroner's court. we are seeking a declaration from the court that natasha was discriminated against. we are going to put an end to the squabbling. importantly, we are also going to be looking for greater

clarity on duty of care. he read it in university literature, it is thrown around as a phrase like confetti. what does it actually mean? there seems to be a lot of confusion and at the end of the day, we are looking for improvements. improvements to their processes and practices. we are looking at starting at bristol and we are hoping it will disseminate through the higher education sector. 0k, let me bring in your solicitor. i have a statement from bristol university. they say, may 2019 found that natasha abrahart, a student at the university sadly took her own life in april 2018. her death deeply affected everybody at the university but particularly her family and friends who knew her best. legal proceedings about her death are under way so it would be inappropriate for us to comment. they go on to say that they

recognise mental health as one of the biggest public health issues and thatis the biggest public health issues and that is why they have introduced an inclusive and safe approach for stu d e nts inclusive and safe approach for students and staff and they are committed to reducing the stigma of mental health and create space for it to permeate through every aspect of the university's culture and experience. do you read that as them learning lessons from natasha abrahart‘s learning lessons from natasha abra ha rt‘s death? learning lessons from natasha abrahart's death? it is very difficult to say. it is right, bristol university has invested, on the face of it, a significant amount of money into well—being services, perhaps understandably after the death of so many students at bristol university. the problem is, it is one thing for there to be the investments and policy is written. it is not a thing for those policies and investment to reach students on the ground. and what we know so far about natasha's time at bristol

university was notwithstanding the fa ct university was notwithstanding the fact that the university was aware of at least one suicide attempt, was also aware that she suffered from what they described as a genuine case of social society disorder. there was no direct contact from the student well— being service to natasha. the service appears to have had a significant amount of investment in it by the university. there was an e—mail sent to her by the disability services who knew that she suffered from social anxiety disorder, but when she didn't respond to that one e—mail there was no further contact, no further attempt to contact her by the disability service. the school of physics made no attempt to contact the disability service, have you been in contact with the student, she is struggling, she is not attending these oral assessments and is failing her course and she is vulnerable. what happened on the ground with natasha does appear to conflict with some of the public

statements made by the university. this is a legal action using the equality act, could you explain the releva nce equality act, could you explain the relevance of that legislation in what would be your argument against the university? indeed, absolutely. the university of bristol owes a duty under the equality act to make reasonable adjustments to any of its standard policies, practices or procedures that could place a disabled person at a disadvantage when compared with someone who does not share their disability. in this case it would be a matter to be determined by the court, but our case is natasha's social anxiety disorder meant she was a disabled person for the purposes of the equality act. the university was required to look at its standard practices, requiring students natasha's course to be assessed orally to be asked questions, to give a laboratory conference presentation to a lecture theatre seating 329 people. and if those

standard practices were to place students with natasha's disability, ata students with natasha's disability, at a disadvantage, things should be done to remove that disadvantage. natasha was a bright and capable student, she did fantastically well in her written work. the case argues that approach could have been continued. let me go back to mr and mrs abrahart, if i may. have you ever received an apology from the university? absolutely not, they have shown no remorse or regret and they accept no responsibility for anything. in fact, their latest argument is they performed perfectly well within their rights. is that something, mrs abrahart, you want from the university? is it something

thatis from the university? is it something that is important to you? the most important thing for us is to have a full investigation of what went wrong. if you cannot look at your practice and see what went well and what did not go well and what policies followed, if you cannot look at that i don't see how you can know whether you have done the right thing. it is really important that they look at their practice and polities in detail before they make a decision. -- policies. thank you for talking to us, we appreciate your time this morning. the parents of natasha abra hart, your time this morning. the parents of natasha abrahart, who took her own life in 2018 at bristol university and you also heard from gus silverman, their lawyer. if you've been affected by any of the issues we've been talking about, sources of information and support are available

now it's time for a look at the weather with carol. hello, again. as we go through this week, it looks very much like temperatures looking to be around about average for this stage injuly. today what we got, a bit more cloud across scotland, northern england and northern ireland producing some showers. as we move further south there will be sunny intervals, the best of which will be in wales and southern england. we've got temperatures 20 to 22 as we push further north, looking at a range of 14 to 19 degrees. through this evening and overnight, the showers in scotland will become more well scattered. clear skies, some cloud coming in from the irish sea across parts of wales and north—west england and those temperatures are what you can expect in towns and cities will be lower than this in rural areas. so a chilly start to the day tomorrow but with the clear skies it means there will be a lot of sunshine first thing. the cloud will build through the course of the day and weather fronts from the west will introduce thicker cloud and rain across western

scotla nd cloud and rain across western scotland and northern ireland. hello, this is bbc news with victoria derbyshire. the headlines: the government has signed deals for 90 million doses of coronavirus vaccines being developed overseas — on top of a pledge for one hundred million doses of the oxford university vaccine. a new treatment for covid—19 developed by a uk company could dramatically reduce the number of patients needing intensive care. schools in england will be able to decide how to spend their extra coronavirus catch—up funding. it's about making sure that teachers have the ability to do an assessment of the children — where they've fallen behind, what they've missed out on, how we can get the right types of interventions. as tensions grow between britain and china the uk is expected to announce it's suspending its extradition

treaty with hong kong. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's sally nugent. good morning. we will start with the cricket. it promises to be a thrilling day at old trafford as england try to level the test series with the west indies. stuart broad was the star on day four, taking three wickets in 14 balls as england eventually bowled the tourists out for 287 at old trafford. england then sent out the big hitters — ben stokes and jos buttler — to try and get a quick lead, but it didn't last long as buttler went for a duck. england go into the final day's play on 37—2, that's a lead of 219 runs. it's all set to start at 11am this morning, weather permitting. david de gea is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world but the manchester united goalkeeper had an absolute nightmare at wembley. he did. he made two big mistakes, as united lost to chelsea in their fa cup semifinal.

ben croucher reports. there may not have been any fans at wembley, but in their place, all the signs were there. this was an uncomfortable evening for manchester united. so often were their players in the wars, there were 14 minutes of added time in the first half. in the 11th, 0livier giroud pounced. david de gea may well have felt he could have done better, that wasn't even the worst of it! commentator: this is mason mount! oh, and it's gone right through david de gea and into the back of the manchester united net! well, the first goal might have been a de gea error, the second goal is an absolute howler! de gea couldn't really be faulted for the third. if chelsea's players found it easy beating him, his own defenders did, too. harry maguire with the inadvertent final touch. as consolations go, bruno fernandes' penalty did little to improve his manager's mood, for this was chelsea's and frank lampard's day. i don't want to put everything on three games defining the progress

that individuals have made, i think we've made as a team collectively, but of course we want top four and we want to try and win that final. and we're at the business end, so let's see, let's try and replicate today. they'll have the chance against arsenal a week on saturday. will blue be the colour again? ben croucher, bbc news. the former watford manager nigel pearson has responded to his sacking by the club. he has just posted on social media to say he's overwhelmed by the support he has received since being dismissed yesterday. pearson joined in december when watford were bottom of the table — he's since guided them out of the relegation zone, and although they still can go down, his dismissal was a bit of a shock. watford are the first premier league team to sack three managers in the same season. let's stay at the bottom of the table because bournemouth now need a miracle to stay in the premier league. they lost 2—0 at southampton yesterday. that leaves them three points off safety, but they've only got one game left to play. so they not only need to win that, but they need other

results to go their way. elsewhere in the premier league, leicester city stumbled, once again, as they try to qualify for the champions league. they were beaten 3—0 by tottenham, and that opens the door for them to be overtaken by manchester united who have a game in hand. lewis hamilton has criticised formula one and his fellow drivers for not doing enough to combat racism. he was speaking after a second consecutive race where the anti—racism demonstration was disrupted by confusion, and a lack of unity. his disappointment didn't affect his race, the six time world champion won the hungarian grand prix pretty easily. he's now five points clear of his mercedes team mate valtteri bottas in the drivers championship. and rory mcilroy is no longer golf‘s world number o0ne. he's been overtaken by spain's jon rahm, who won the memorial tournament in the us state of ohio. rahm is just the second ever spaniard to top the rankings, the other was the late,

great seve ballesteros. that's all the sport for now. more from us on the bbc news channel at 12:15pm. this year, tens of thousands of student nurses, radiographers, paramedics and other healthcare workers were given a choice: postpone their training placements and concentrate on theory work instead or sign up as a paid volunteer, helping the nhs through the covid—19 outbreak. more than 40,000 students answered that call, according to new figures seen by the bbc. we've been following the lives of four of those volunteers. this film by our reporterjim reed. it's here. monday the 1st ofjune, 5am,

and it's my first day on placement. my nerves are through the roof. it's kind ofjust like an induction day to welcome us back in and brief us on how things have changed. so, this is liskeard community hospital. it is normally a rehabilitation community hospital. during covid—19, it is the allocated award the allocated ward for covid—19 positive patients. at the height of the pandemic, the ward was full, so bed capacity is 31. lots of students were not able to come out on placement because they needed to shield loved ones. so students very much had a choice to volunteer to come on placement. for me, the drive was very strong. i discussed it with my friends and family and i really wanted to be out here.

imaging plays a key role in covid. a lot of our role has been chest x—rays and abdomen x—rays to check for signs of covid. right now, i am in the prayer room. i have come here to have my lunch and pray. with the whole covid thing, i got fit tested the other day, which was pretty interesting, and also scary, because you get the mask put on and they almost put like a beekeeper mask on top and spray this kind of bitter spray. i was in theatre, so in theatre, we all have to wear for ppe. i had my ffp3 mask, i had a visor, a lead gown and gloves. got really hot and really sweaty, especially with the lead gown, my back was sore within half an hour.

it was painful but you don't really notice it until after you've taken them off. i think with coronavirus, maybe our role is starting to become a little bit more recognised. patients, for example, who are admitted to intensive care can't eat or drink and so it's the critical care dietician's role to feed that patient via a tube and they would work out their requirements, work out which type of food they need, what rate to feed them at. so, it's been a busy day, as expected. i'm coming out towards the end of the shift now. i've seen an itu step down, a recent coronavirus patient who has been weaned off an ng feed, so the food goes through a tube. wide variety, busy day, heading back to the office now. i'm a mature student with three children and i'm also a single parent.

before i did nursing, i was an accountant, quite a big change. and it's been quite the journey, since i started being a student nurse. so, today was a tough day. this was the first time that i have really experienced or witnessed... um... a covid patient, really. this patient had been in icu, had been in hospital for a long time. probably about six to eight weeks after their first symptom. and it was tough to see the difficulty that they had breathing. they were so keen to help the research. they felt like a debt, they felt like they wanted to repay something. and ijust thought that was beautiful to be part of. um... so there you have it,

that was my day. so, i'mjust in the room where i could show you how the hospital has been supporting families during covid. so, this is the bed. very often we will turn the bed round. this is where loved ones can come and chat. not ideal, there's nothing like that personal contact. but for me on the first day, it was quite moving. it made me a little bit tearful because it was so lovely to see families able to see their loved ones. but it was also a bit heartbreaking that no contact, no physical contact. when you experience covid and you see patients suffering with covid, that's when it hits you. you don't realise the reality of it until you're experiencing it. obviously, i was scared. my parents were both really, really scared and they were like, "nope, not happening, not going back."

but when i spoke to them, they came around and really understood that i was passionate about it and this was something i really, really wanted to take on. this has drastic changes on people's lives. so many people have lost their lives. here, some positive news this morning, actually. a patient i had been seeing who was in intensive care step down for coronavirus has been discharged. down for coronavirus has been discharged home. so, they actually recovered really well and no longer need to be tube fed. eating and drinking really well, so we have given some extra advice to go home with. but, yeah, that's made my day. so, a positive start to the shift today. so, we've taken the blood from the patient. i suppose it's what goes on behind it, it's about making that difference, that is what the special thing is, maybe. it's not so much about finding the vaccine for coronavirus, it's about being part of something much bigger than me and helping people and making that little

difference in the world, i suppose. so, today, we heard that the last patient here who was covid positive has now tested covid negative. for the whole team here, it's quite a surreal moment, because the wards are eerily quiet. there's also a strong sense of... ..we've been through it. and if it comes again, everyone feels more ready and able to cope. cautiously relaxed, but anticipating the next wave. so, for the team here, it's a huge, huge significant moment. last week, we talked about post—natal depression during lockdown and we were overwhelmed with emails and messages from parents who said they were experiencing similar feelings. helen evans, a nurse, got in touch to say that very sadly she lost her baby in january and that lockdown had made her grief even more isolating.

now, the charity sands, which works to support anyone affected by the loss of a baby, has told us exclusively that they've seen a rise of 30% in demand for their services in june alone. we're going to talk now to helen now and clea harmer, ceo of sands. thank you for talking to us. helen, how are you doing? not bad, thank you. i would like to let our audience know you want to come on airand want to audience know you want to come on air and want to talk about this because you feel it is a taboo subject. yes, it really is. it is something that you kind of end up thinking it's not going to happened to me. you don't talk about it, it's not something that is spoken about. even in your own antenatal

appointments it is one thing to say you might lose your child up to 12 weeks but beyond that, no one talks about baby loss. and ifell within weeks but beyond that, no one talks about baby loss. and i fell within a very strange category in that i lost my son, edward, before 24 weeks, i lost him at 20 weeks. however, he was live—born. so we had to register his birth and his death. ifell within a very odd category with that. the support, i don't feel, was really there for me at all. tell us about edward. sorry, i can't hear you. tell us about your little boy. we found out we had a little boy all of three days before. so, that was

on the 6th of january. i was told everything looked healthy. he was perfectly growing, nothing to raise any form of concern with regards to my son at that point. and even when he was born, he was born alive, he was moving. he had nothing wrong with him at all. he was beautiful, albeit a very small little boy. and how long did he live for? he lived for about 25 minutes. so, not terribly long. however, he was still a living being. which is why, because he did live, we had to register his birth and his death and we had a funeral for register his birth and his death and we had a funeralfor him. he is still, and always will be, my son.

and he is very special to us.|j wonder if you could explain why trying to grieve during lockdown actually was even more difficult. um, yeah...| actually was even more difficult. um, yeah... i grieve very differently from my husband. my husband, he would talk. whereas i was quite happy to sit in my own little bubble... and almost think this is a dream, i will wake up from this. so, throughout lockdown, i didn't really see anyone. i waved at neighbours over the fence, had the odd chat with them, but the result was that i didn't have to face anyone. i didn't have to see anyone, ididn't anyone. i didn't have to see anyone, i didn't have to talk to anyone. and

it's made more difficult now that i've returned to work, now that i have... you know, we've all sort of come out and it's made it harder to actually face speaking to people. everyone means so well. all my friends, all my family, colleagues, my employer. they've all been so supportive and they want to support me. and they want to do their best to help me. i'm incredibly lucky and i'm incredibly grateful for that. but because lockdown has been such an isolating period is notjust for me but for every single person it has been difficult to deal with that side of things, the social aspect. when you are in that state of grief. idid when you are in that state of grief. i did actually seek my own counselling. the weight on the nhs was tremendous. unfortunately

lockdown happened and that had to all stop, which ultimately put me in all stop, which ultimately put me in a position where i was getting very low, getting anxious about going out and seeing people. it must have been really, really, really hard. i'm going to bring in clea from the charity sands. clea, injune you saw a 30% rise in demand for your services, what do you read into that? just as helen is describing... the devastating grief of losing your baby with not having... clea, clea, we're going to try to get you on the phone because it's really important what you're trying to say to people because there may be people watching who want to hear your advice. if we try to get you back on the phone, would that be ok? i'm so sorry about

that. helen, iwant would that be ok? i'm so sorry about that. helen, i want to ask you because you felt it was important to come on airand because you felt it was important to come on air and talk about this. there may be others watching who have experienced something similar to yourself and are really struggling. what would you say to them? i would say push for that help. as a nurse, i have a better understanding perhaps than some of sort of how the system works. i pushed and i pushed for support. and in the end, it was actually my co nsulta nt in the end, it was actually my consultant who would be looking after us in the future who did me a referral to the charity petals for counselling. she wasn't sure what i would be accepted come because of the funding side of things but tha nkfully the funding side of things but thankfully they did accept me —— accepted, because. and i did get that support. but i did feel that the support for grieving parents isn't there as it should be. because

if you walk home with a baby that is alive, i believe you are seen by health visitors and midwives, who will support you going forwards and i believe they do postnatal depression screening. however, when you leave hospital with a sympathy box, which is what we're left with, you don't have that. you don't get that six postnatal checkup. and of course, it would be possible for you, helen, wouldn't it, to have postnatal depression? which is what you got in touch with last week, because that is what we were talking about. absolutely. my body, as a living child's parent, has gone through those same hormonal changes andi through those same hormonal changes and i am still going through that. just because i haven't got a living child with me doesn't mean i'm not going through those same changes.

i've just going through those same changes. i'vejust got grief going through those same changes. i've just got grief on top of that. yeah, you said that your little boy lived for 25 minutes. i wonder... may be because you are a nurse, were you asking the nurses to resuscitate him? i did, yes. for this, i'm in a very strange situation, because as a nurse, if i put my nurses head on, i understand why they did not resuscitate him. he was too small, he would have gone through a lot of pain in them trying. if he had survived, he would have probably been quite severely disabled. in that sense, i understand that the kindest thing for them to do was to let him pass away peacefully with me. if i put my helen as a mum head

on, i would do anything to have helped him. at that moment in time, i was helen, i was not nurse helen, i was helen, i was not nurse helen, i was just i was helen, i was not nurse helen, i wasjust helen i was helen, i was not nurse helen, i was just helen and i begged them. at the midwives were amazing. they we re at the midwives were amazing. they were so kind and they were so supportive. and they just were so kind and they were so supportive. and theyjust very gently explained to me why they didn'tand gently explained to me why they didn't and why they couldn't. and, yes, that is something extremely ha rd to yes, that is something extremely hard to understand and extremely ha rd to hard to understand and extremely hard to grasp hold of, but i'm in a place now where i can accept that that was the kindest thing for my son. helen, you've been incredibly courageous in telling us about this and telling our audience. i am going to talk to clea now, i think we have her on the phone, can you hear me 0k? her on the phone, can you hear me ok? i can, thank you. i wonder if you could festival talk about what helen has been saying and if you could give some advice for people

who are watching right now who may find themselves in a similar position to helen. it is incredibly brave, as you say, for helen to share her story. that mix of the devastating loss of your baby and not having the contact, the face support from family and friends, also having the fear and anxiety that the whole covert crisis has generated, i think all of that has made it even more difficult to take with the grief after a baby dies. for helen, after edward died. that has been our experience at sands, a 30% increase in calls to our helpline. but what we want people to know is that you don't have to cope with this on your own. we are here to support parents like helen, who have been through this devastating experience. and on our website,

sands.org.uk, there are lots of different avenues that you can use to access support not just the helpline but we use social media. there is an online community, e—mails, support groups and a facebook page. they are there and it is important that people find the channel that works for them, but know that they don't have to do this on their own. we are here to walk beside you and to be there to try and offer that support. and it obviously goes without saying this is for mums and dads, of course. absolutely. we don't have a great deal of time left, clea, i apologise. helen talked about how difficult it was to access counselling on the nhs. it is counselling on the nhs. it is counselling something you can help people with? yes, we can signpost people with? yes, we can signpost people to the sort of counselling that they need. it is really difficult, it is a very complex grief for parents. in fact, many parents suffer ptsd after the death

ofa parents suffer ptsd after the death of a baby, stillbirth or neonatal death or a miscarriage. they need a whole range of support. sometimes peer to peer support is right, sometimes more psychological interventions are right. but we can help try and find what is right for you. nobody is exactly the same. and each person's grief is very personal but we can help you find what is right to carry on with this journey thatis right to carry on with this journey that is going to have to be made with the grief that parents are experiencing. well, thank you very much, clea, the ceo of sands. helen, thank you so much for talking to us today and speaking to our audience. i want to send you lots of love and strength. if you've been affected by any of the issues we've been talking about, sources of information and support are available at bbc action line, that's at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

and if you want to talk about a particular area, a particular subject or look into an issue, send me an e—mail. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol. hello, again. this week looks like temperatures will be about average for this stage injuly. we've got more cloud across scotland, northern england and northern ireland, producing some showers. further south, sunny intervals, the best of which will be in wales and southern england. temperature 20—22 and as we push further north, a range of 14-19. this push further north, a range of 14—19. this evening and overnight, showers in scotland will become more well scattered and clear skies with cloud coming across the irish sea in north—west and wales. these temperatures are in towns and cities but lower in rural areas. a chilly start tomorrow but with clear skies, lots of sunshine first thing. the

cloud will build as we go through the course of the day and some showers ahead of weather fronts coming in from the west which will introduce thicker cloud and rain across western scotland and northern ireland.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm victoria derbyshire. the uk signs deals for 90 million doses of coronavirus vaccines being developed overseas — on top of a pledge for 100 million of the oxford university vaccine. there is a very high degree of confidence but we will be entering trials, will need half a million people to be able to trial these vaccines going forward through the winter. but it's a really important part of their development. a new treatment for covid—19 developed by a uk company could dramatically reduce the number of patients needing intensive care. eu leaders in brussels hold

talks through the night — as they attempt to reach agreement on a coronavirus recovery fund.