this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. india has recorded its highest number of coronavirus deaths in a single day since the start of the pandemic. people in england may not need to self—isolate if they have been in close contact with someone with covid. daily rapid covid tests will be offered as an alternative to ten days quarantine. if they test positive, then they're required to isolate, and they have to take a confirmatory pcr test. so, again, it's a really important time for us to collect these data. so, hopefully, this may be more of a normal situation, so that we can move away from this very, very costly, long isolation. a national day of mourning in israel, after 45 people were killed a crush at a jewish festival early on friday. north korea has accused president biden of pursuing

a hostile policy towards it, and has warned that the united states will get hurt if it provokes pyongyang. surgery in the womb: a pioneering procedure to repair a baby's spine while still in its mother's womb continues — despite pandemic pressures. nasa's first night—time splashdown since apollo 8 — four astronauts have returned to earth from the international space station. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. india has reported the highest number of deaths with covid—i9 over a 2k hour period. the health ministry says almost people died.

on saturday, there was a global record number of infections for a single day. the prime minister, narendra modi, is meeting senior officials to review the situation. i asked the bbc�*s devina gupta in delhi if pressure was now growing for a national lockdown. that's what experts have been calling for in this particular deadly wave because we've seen that india is so far unable to come and assist the millions that need to help right now, the hospitals are over choked. we've seen a shortage of oxygen and medical supplies and beds with families running from pillar to postjust get the aid they deserve and that is where experts have been saying a national lockdown is needed so it gets time to its health care infrastructure in time to break the cycle. alongside this meeting that india's prime minister is having, he is also expecting results from where polling is under way and been much criticised for holding elections an early sign of a covid wave but the party will be watching where it is demanded that the public trusts its leaders over the current

wave, we also sing global aid coming in and that is also thanks to india's diplomacy where countries like the us have pledged $100 million worth of aid and we've seen a fresh shipment of oxygen cylinders from france, germany and other countries, and we are hoping to get more aid from the uk as well, which is another focus area with this administration to see however much global collaboration india has in getting some sort of relief which now seems a drop in the ocean but is much needed. in the uk, people normally have to self—isolate if they've been in contact with someone who tests positive for coronavirus. but that could be about to change. a trial beginning in england next week, will ask close contacts to take a rapid covid test every morning for seven days instead.

the health secretary, matt hancock, says this will allow people to carry on working. our health correspondent jim reed has more. being contacted by test and try central to self—isolate currently means this, ten days of quarantine at home if you are the contact of someone who has tested positive. whether many people really stay in the house the whole time is unclear. some estimates put the number of close contacts who complete the full quarantine period as low as one in ten. so the government is trialling these as a possible alternative. in a new study starting next week, almost 40,000 contacts will be asked to take a rapid lateral flow test every morning for seven

days with the results coming back in 30 minutes. if negative, they can go about their lives as usual instead of having to quarantine at home. the health secretary, matt hancock, said the pilot scheme could help shift the dial by offering a viable alternative to self isolation that would allow people to carry on going to work and living their lives. but the accuracy of the lateral flow kits has been criticised by some scientists. as well as the daily testing with a lateral flow device, we will also ask participants to take a pcr test at the beginning of the seven—day period and at the end of the seven—day period, and also if they test positive at any time to confirm the result. this will help us really understand the effectiveness of this approach. others say there may be a place of this kind of testing, but only if it's backed by improved financial support for those who record a positive result. jim reed, bbc news. let's speak to stephen bustin, professor of molecular medicine at anglia ruskin university and author of several papers on pcr testing.

let me ask you first, what you make this as an alternative to self isolating? it would depend on people on the lateral flow tests testing negative each day.— on the lateral flow tests testing negative each day. well, i think, as is often the — negative each day. well, i think, as is often the case, _ negative each day. well, i think, as is often the case, the _ negative each day. well, i think, as is often the case, the concept - negative each day. well, i think, as is often the case, the concept mayl is often the case, the concept may be valid but the practical implementation and specifics will be problematic. i think another problem is this absolves politician of having to be maintaining the unpopular policies. so that is one concern i have. i think, unpopular policies. so that is one concern i have. ithink, in unpopular policies. so that is one concern i have. i think, in terms of the test itself, clearly sensitivity is a problem because there are numerous studies that show that they are not sufficiently sensitive to detect presymptomatic infection and the fact that they are going to be doing a multiple testing gene kind of alleviates that to a degree but

it is still a problem. just of alleviates that to a degree but it is still a problem.— it is still a problem. just to clari , it is still a problem. just to clarify. just _ it is still a problem. just to clarify, just as _ it is still a problem. just to clarify, just as well - it is still a problem. just to clarify, just as well as - it is still a problem. just to clarify, just as well as the l it is still a problem. just to - clarify, just as well as the lateral flow tests at some point in that period you would also have a pcr test? . period you would also have a pcr test? , i period you would also have a pcr test? ., ., ., ., , ., test? , i have long had the opinion that it all has — test? , i have long had the opinion that it all has to _ test? , i have long had the opinion that it all has to be _ test? , i have long had the opinion that it all has to be a _ test? , i have long had the opinion that it all has to be a pcr. - test? , i have long had the opinion that it all has to be a pcr. the - that it all has to be a pcr. the flow test is in the right way to do it. but, yes, ithink it flow test is in the right way to do it. but, yes, i think it isjust not sensitive enough presymptomatic infection but that's not the main problem. the main problem is the testing procedure itself as an inadequate because this well—being requires some skill so success depends on everyone been able to use a reliable swab and there are several reports that suggest saliva is a better way of doing this but it all requires additional research. fix, all requires additional research. a lot of employers have been using

lateral flow tests, including the bbc, encouraging staff to use them before they come in on the day before they come in on the day before they come in on the day before the next shift to ensure that as far as it is possible to ensure, they are not at risk to other colleagues working in the same building that what you are saying, the accuracy is so low that you really can't rely on it as an alternative to self isolation. you can do multiple _ alternative to self isolation. moi. can do multiple tests and that is what they are suggesting is that need to see how that goes but i think another problem is that they tend to be monochrome antibodies that detect a single variant so if we do have more problems with other variants then this could be problematic as well. but i think ultimately, the main problem is compliance. they may not comply because how do you monitor compliance. if the argument is that

it helps people not tiles to self isolating what happens if the economic circumstances mean that a positive test wouldn't make them do that. what is the incentive for people to actually comply with the test result and clearly that's what needs to be looked at on the needs to be incentives for people to do that. given the way the rate of infection is going at the moment, giving the apparent effectiveness of the vaccination programme subject to uncertainties about new variants, this whole debate could be rendered academic and a couple of months, couldn't? i don't think so. look at brazil and india. couldn't? i don't think so. look at braziland india. ithink couldn't? i don't think so. look at brazil and india. i think this is a real warning for us. we are forgetting about the exponential effectiveness of this virus and we should remember it takes very little to cause a massive number of infected individuals and we need to bear this in mind. we should

progress much more carefully in my opinion and these tests need to be done and we need to trial various ways of identifying individuals that are inverted but in my opinion, my personal opinion, we should be spending money on developing very fast pcr test that can be done because that is the only way to reliably and accurately detect all infections. ., ~ , ., reliably and accurately detect all infections. ., ~' , ., , . reliably and accurately detect all infections. ., ~ , ., , . ., infections. thank you very much for bein: with infections. thank you very much for being with us- _ infections. thank you very much for being with us. a _ infections. thank you very much for being with us. a sobering _ infections. thank you very much for. being with us. a sobering assessment of what all this might mean. a sobering assessment of what all this might mean. the foreign secretary has said "some safeguards" will still need to be in place after the 21st ofjune when the government aims to lift all legal coronavirus restrictions in england. dominic raab said that vaccinating secondary school children was "one of the options" the government was looking at — and possibly the wearing of masks. i've been speaking to our political correspondentjonathan blake,

who told me more about that key date — the 21st ofjune. although all legal restrictions will be lifted than it is hoped there may well still be some guidance and some safeguards, as the foreign secretary called them this morning, in place. he was asked about possibly vaccinating secondary school children which we have heard reports about today in the sunday times. no confirmation of that but it is something the government is looking at and also, the idea that there may well be social distancing or personal protective equipment that is advised for people to wear. let's have listen to what he said on andrew marr this morning. well, we've said it will be evidence driven. if you're talking about the fourth step of the road map... iam. they won't end before then and we're going to be evidence driven, but that's the aim. and i think the progress we've made with the vaccine, over 34,000,000 first doses have been dispensed, that's 60% of the adult population, on track to hit the end—of—july target.

i think we're in a good position, but we've got to keep tracking variants and keep tracking the evidence. holidays is the other big question on peoples minds at the moment. looking ahead to that data, may the 17th fast approaching. we can expect more details from the government towards the end of this coming week. dominic raab said the details were coming shortly this morning but would not go any further than that and asked for which countries it might be easier to travel to any first instance i think we are looking at a very short list of countries on the green list in the traffic light system where there will be quarantine that is needed and minimal coronavirus testing before departure and arrival back in england. the question is portugal, one of the big summer holiday destinations, which could — could — find its way onto that list but as i say, nothing is confirmed yet. sorry, go ahead. no, i was just going to ask on the back of that what are the reactions? the other big question is india. aside from travelling...

the prime minister was supposed to be going there. indeed, he had a trip, which he had to cancel for obvious reasons with the coronavirus situation being so dire in india. the uk's response to that is under some scrutiny but the foreign secretary talked this morning about what help the uk is offering, sending ventilators, oxygen—generating machines, and also oxygen concentrators, which can help the country treat people suffering the severe effects of coronavirus in hospital. the other question is vaccine doses and whether the uk should share or donate any of its supply to india to allow it to speed up the vaccination programme which, as we've heard, has been relatively slow so far and hampered

the country's response. the shadow foreign secretary, lisa nandy, was asked about that this morning and whether the uk should now be sending doses to india to help fight coronavirus there. let's not pit the people of britain against the people of india. we need to keep up the progress that we've made with rolling out the vaccination programme here and we need to dramatically ramp up supply and manufacturing across the world. that's notjust the case in india, although india is a particular issue for the world, because of the size and severity of what we're seeing. it's also the case in other countries in the global south, in the refugee camps, and that's why i completely support what professor 0penshaw was saying. we need a global agreement in order to make sure that we get on the front foot about this and get the vaccination to every corner of the globe. she went on to say that the uk's vaccination programme should not be paused yet, in labour's view but as and when there was a vaccine surplus of doses in this country then they should be sent to india and possibly other countries as soon as possible. the government has said it is not something it is looking at doing at the moment.

the foreign secretary says iran's treatment of the detained dual national, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, amounts to torture, after she was convicted for a second time and banned from leaving tehran. dominic raab told the bbc that mrs zaghari—ratcliffe was being treated in the most abusive way. nazanin is held unlawfully, in my view, as a matter of international law. i think she's been treated in the most abusive, torturous way. i think it amounts to torture, the way she's been treated. and there is a very clear, unequivocal obligation on the iranians to release her and all of those who are being held as leverage immediately and without condition. and we call on iran to step up and comply with its obligations. a national day of mourning is taking place in israel after friday's deadly stampede and crush at a jewish pilgrimage. 45 men and boys died after being trapped in a narrow walkway during the festival at mount meron, attended by up to 100,000 mostly ultra—orthodox jewish people. mark lobel reports. mourning a tragedy — one that's shone an uncomfortable light on israeli society

amid the search for how one of israel's worst peacetime disasters unfolded. for now, grief overtakes the demand for answers. the dead includes a rabbi, foreign nationals reportedly from america, canada, and the uk, and at least 12 children and teenagers. during the stampede, many young lives were suddenly at risk. we received several dozen injured people, among them we had two children who died and we had another three orfour children who were severely injured. the crush happened late at night on a passageway in the mens' section who were severely injured. the crush happened late at night on a passageway in the mens' section during a religious festival attended by ultra—0rthodox dues. this man says he saw people screaming in fear on a steep ramp, trying to get out, but noticed the exit seemed blocked. he says hundreds of people fell and trampled over one another.

he thought about coming back to offer help, but he says it was too terrifying. prime minister benjamin netanyahu visited the site and promised an enquiry, as questions remain. were prior warnings of the risk of a disasterfrom israel's state watchdog heeded? should numbers have been limited this year? did the police help or hinder the events that night? was simple human error to blame? all painful questions at a painful time. mark lobel, bbc news. north korea has accused president biden of pursuing a hostile policy towards the country, and has warned that the united states will get hurt if it provokes pyongyang. the north was giving its first response to the biden administration's policies on the country, which it has set out this week. kathryn armstrong reports.

north korea has issued a sharp response to these recent comments from president biden. 0n iran and north korea, new programmes that present serious threats to american to retain this beauty of the world, we will be working closely with our allies to address the threats posed by both these countries. through the diplomacy as well as deterrents. in turn, north korea also cracked the whip, with its ministry saying... north koreans are again returning to their acerbic and belligerent rhetoric to try and get the research of the negotiations. it's a far cry from president biden puzzlement predecessors hopeful but ultimately

unsuccessful attempt to try to strike a deal with kim jong—un. the white house insisted goal is the complete denuclearisation of the korean peninsula, attempting to charter a new path, a middle road between what it calls donald trump's grand bargain approach and barack 0bama's standoffish one. they said the us would get hurt if they provoked them. a pioneering surgery to repair a baby's spine while still in its mother's womb was made available for the first time on the nhs lastjanuary. since then the surgery, which reduces the complications caused by spina bifida, has been carried out on 32 women, despite the massive disruptions caused by the pandemic. our health correspondent katharine da costa reports.

it comes with risks but then, this operation will mean that i have done the best for her. in my mind, there was no choice — ijust had to do it. someone is tired! this is mila, short for milagro, or miracle in spanish. after six rounds of ivf, helena had almost given up hope of having a second baby but on a seventh attempt, she fell pregnant and things seemed to progress well, until her 20—week scan. i was told the news that she definitely has got spina bifida. she has got a very big lesion on her back so basically, half of her spine was exposed. they said it was likely she will be paralysed, likely she will be incontinent and will need a shunt to drain the fluid from her brain later on. iwas...

i was beside myself when they told me that all of these possible outcomes for having this condition. and ijust could not stop crying, basically. they told me the probability of her walking or moving her legs, very, very low. and, yeah, that was... that was absolutely devastating. within days, helena was referred for tests and scans, similar to this one at university college hospital in london. and because the baby was otherwise healthy, she could be operated on while still in the womb. ok, i might not go too much deeper, thanks. we might need membranes in a second. at 23 weeks pregnant, helena travelled to this specialist hospital in belgium, which is working in partnership with the nhs. a team of 25 clinicians carried out the complex operation, just like this one, to repair mila's exposed spinal cord and close the hole in her back. previously, the baby would have the repair to the spinal defect after birth

but now, because we can offer it — offer surgery in the womb, what it means is that the defect is closed a lot earlier so it means there is less damage to the spine and that increases the chance the baby is going to walk and have much better control of their bladder and the bowel. 0k, mila, shall we do some gym? mila was born at 36 weeks and is doing well. it's hoped up to 30 babies across the uk could benefit from this surgery on the nhs. and while it is not a cure, it could be the difference between a child learning to walk or not. she can move her legs and she has got feeling to her toes, so it is absolutely amazing. i'm just so grateful to the surgeons who have done this operation because her life would look very different without it. katharine da costa, bbc news.

four astronauts from the international space station have successfully returned to earth the capsule splashed down off the coast of florida right on schedule at 2:57am local time after the mission had been delayed due to bad weather. it's nasa's first night—time splashdown for over 50 years. the journey from the iss took six and half hours. the spacex craft is the second to return in a week. a recovery boat took about 10 minutes to reach the capsule to collect the crew and its data. the astronauts had spend more than 160 days in space. to find out more about this night—time splashdown — earlier i spoke with dr david brown from the astronomy and astrophysics group at the university of warwick. it is an interesting option to do at night. it comes with some additional risks, obviously, because there is potential difficulty in locating the spacecraft though these days

with tracking, these risks are somewhat disappeared. one of the reason they have chosen to do it at night this time apart from potential descent duration questions and lining up florida with the space station is also to help them prevent spectators. the return of the demo capsule last august they had a real problem with private boats crowding the capsule, after it landed which is a risk potentially to the astronauts but also to the spectators on those boats. so running it at night might have been a way for them.... david, your pictures frozenjust a moment. we will see if you come back. you are still with us, thank you. we are having some glitches this morning and i think we might have to switch it off and switch it on again when we go off air, but we'll leave it for now. just pick up on that, i wonder

if that might also be partly because this is a new thing for nasa. it's a public—private partnership. in other words, there are commercial sensitivities, perhaps spacex might not want lots of people, camera crews crowding round when its craft hits the water. absolutely. spacex are in competition here with boeing, who also have a nasa contract for a crude capsule. boeing's capsule has experienced some difficulties. and their programme is somewhat behind spacex's programme. but, yes, there will be commercial sensitivity issues there. this is still quite a new venture, relatively, for both nasa and spacex. a new photo of princess charlotte has been released to mark her sixth birthday today. the picture of the smiling princess was captured by her mother — the duchess of cambridge — in norfolk this weekend. the image won't be posted on the royal couple's social media

channels as prince william and katherine are supporting the four day boycott by sporting bodies. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. hello there, keep an eye on the sky through the rest of the day because one minute the sun may be shining, the next a big grey cloud will come along and give you a real drenching. some very heavy downpours in the forecast and then for tomorrow it's going to be more a case of heavy and persistent rain, that rain quite widespread — you can see the unsettled weather gathering out in the atlantic. but in the shorter term, yes, we have got some clear skies around. that's why we are seeing some sunshine but areas of cloud bubbling up and some showers in the afternoon, some of which will be heavy with some hail and some thunder mixed in. the winds very, very light so if you catch a shower it could be with you of quite some time, it's not going to to go scoot along quickly, but in the sun so not feeling too bad. the sun is strong this time of year, temperatures between eight and ia degrees. now, the showers will fade through the evening.

a slice of clear weather for the first half of the night but then we see cloud gathering out west, some rain getting in to northern ireland by the end of the night. a mild night for most of us but for the far north of england and certainly across scotland we could once again see a touch of frost. into tomorrow, low pressure on the scene, this is going to bring some very wet and very windy weather for a bank holiday monday. some areas across the east of the uk will start off dry but rain from the would go across northern ireland and that will push eastward throughout the day, some of that rain will be heavy and we will see some wintry weather mixing and over the very highest ground, the pennines and southern uplands, the grampians saw a little bit of snow on the very highest ground. here it is going to be a very windy day and we can expect gusts of maybe 50 mph to 60 mph over exposed southern and western coasts. with the cloud and rain and wind it will feel top temperatures between seven and 12 degrees. it stays quite blustery through monday night. much of the rain will start to clear

away, as our area of low pressure rolls away eastwards but behind it you can see the white lines, the isobars. you can follow them all the way up to the arctic. that showers with the air will be coming from through the first part of the coming week, that air coming down from the north and that northerly wind feeding chilly conditions in our directions. so it is a mix of sunshine and showers through the coming week. cold days, possibly frosty nights.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: india has recorded its highest number of coronavirus deaths in a single day since the start of the pandemic. as the surge continues through the country, the foreign secretary, dominic raab, says the uk is sending extra 1,000 ventilators to india. throughout this crisis, we've said we need to keep supply chains, particularly critical supply chains,

open and we ought to resolve these kind of issues through collaboration. and that is certainly what we're doing with the indians. people in england may not need to self—isolate if they have been in close contact with someone with covid. daily rapid covid tests will be offered as an alternative to ten days quarantine. if they test positive, then they're required to isolate, and they have to take a confirmatory pcr test. so, again, it's a really important time for us to collect these data. so, hopefully, this may be more of a normal situation, so that we can move away from this very, very costly, long isolation. a national day of mourning in israel, after 45 people were killed a crush at a jewish festival early on friday. north korea has accused president biden of pursuing a hostile policy towards it, and has warned that the united states will get hurt if it provokes pyongyang. nasa's first night—time splashdown since apollo 8. four astronauts have returned to earth from the international space station.