anna collinson, bbc news.d on containing the so—called r rate the rate the so—called r rate, the rate of people being infected. 0ur medical correspondent, fergus walsh, is here. you can explain more clearly than me what it is and why it is so important. the reproductive rate is simply the number of people on average that each infected person goes on to infect. if it is over one, then you have an increasing infection, it will increase exponentially. if you can get it down to below one, then eventually an outbreak will die out. at the start, about a month ago, it was up to somewhere between three and four. it is now below one. we have a graph that can help illustrate this. you can see on the 12th of march self isolation was brought in for those with symptoms. it was an r rate of nearly four. then after lockdown and the social distancing measures, the virus was not able to transmit between people is effectively because we were all keeping our distance and it fell off a cliff in terms of the r number. in care home

anna collinson, bbc news.n to help people across the uk affected by the pandemic. the programme on bbc1 last night saw children in need and comic relief join forces for the first time — and the government has now promised to double the fundraising total. 0ur entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba was watching. music plays. like children in need night and red nose day, the show followed the familiar formula of featuring many of entertainment‘s biggest names. but this time, they were taking part from their homes. as arnold schwarenegger: who do they? who are they? david walliams and matt lucas reunited to bring viewers the first new little britain material in years. now, andy, i'vejust been to the supermarket for you — only took 11 hours — and i've got all your favourites for your tea. the vicar of dibley herself, dawn french, recorded a special monologue. those of you who were with me last sunday will know this room was crammed with easter eggs from the floor to the ceiling and now — voila — just the one left.

anna collinson, bbc news. alerted to an apparent rise in the number of children being admitted to hospital with an inflammatory condition that may be linked to coronavirus. little is known about the multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which requires intensive care. although the number of children affected is likely to be small, health officials have asked gps to refer those presenting with it as a matter of urgency. the symptoms include stomach pain, vomiting and inflammation of the heart. lockdown restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of covid—19 may be making violence in homes more frequent and more severe. mps on the home affairs select committee are urging the government to draw up a strategy to tackle domestic abuse during and after the lockdown. police and domestic abuse charities have reported a huge increase in calls for help. let's speak to our correspondent june kelly. this well, simon, this committee of mps says there needs to be an across—the—board strategy mps says there needs to be an across—t

here‘s our health correspondent, anna collinson. are likely to be happening, and of course it‘s likely to be happening when people are infected. how do you know people are infected? you test them. a senior minister has admitted the government may miss their 100,000 daily target, but hospital chiefs say that‘s a red herring and testing needs to be part of a wider strategy including contact tracing and regular checks of front line workers. what we need to know is, what are we going to do in terms of the testing regime over the next six, eight, ten, 12 weeks, as we come out of lockdown and as we ensure that we protect patients and staff in hospitals, community mental health and ambulance trusts? prime minister boris johnson will now attempt to answer some of those questions. today‘s daily briefing will be his first since returning to work, and one focus will be the so—called r number, which reflects how infectious a virus is. at the height of the outbreak, the r number was around three. this means anyone affected could pass it on to th

health correspondent anna collinson is here with us.n update on the prime minister's condition? we are hearing he is still in hospital and receiving care. that's the latest we have so far. that's very much it. latest figures suggest from public health england that more than 400 people have died today. we are still waiting for the uk figures from the department of health but we have been receiving the figures for england and wales and scotland. a further 403 hospital patients have now died after contracting coronavirus in england, taking the total in england to 4897. there have been an extra 27 deaths in wales, taking the overall number there to 193. to make further deaths in scotla nd 193. to make further deaths in scotland where the total now stands at 222. we have seen a weekend dip, we have seen that in the last two weekends with these figures, but what we are expecting to see is a clearer picture tomorrow. that has been the trend we have seen in the figures in the last few weeks. some other interesting elements to these figures, pat

anna collinson, bbc news.k to our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson, who's here with me now. iam sure i am sure there will be lots of questions for mrjohnson and the chief medical officer about testing. it had been, so they hoped, around 100,000 a day by the end of today. the latest figures from yesterday suggestjust over 50,000? yes, we are only halfway there. whether they have pulled a rabbit out of the hat today, i think people would be pretty surprised if they get to the 100,000 they say will be tested by now, coming up to the end of april. if you look back even further than that, the prime minister had actually said he thought that very soon, that was about a month ago, there might be tests of 250,000 a day, he was hoping for. we are way off any kind of figure like that. there has been criticism that other countries like germany, one where the example is often given, they have been testing half a million people a day, a week for a number of weeks now and questions about why aren't we there? what is

anna collinson has been talking to some new and expectant mothers about how covid—19 has disrupted theirthe coronavirus means her birthing plan is no longer possible and she's anxious her husband can only stay with her for a short time following the birth. i understand any decisions that any trusts are making are going to be for the benefit of my health and the midwives' health. but it's just quite sad that, you know, you kind of have this image in your mind of what you'd like and then it's not kind of working out. evie budden was born on good friday. her dad tom was allowed to be present for her birth but was soon asked to leave the ward. it was incredibly difficult saying goodbye to tom after our baby had just been born. the midwives on the ward were amazing and really, really supportive but it's just not the same as having your husband there for you. the coronavirus has hit maternity services hard. staff shortages mean hospitals are having to reduce services. though some are having to do it more than others. the situation is constantly under review, though some women have told us the

here's our health correspondent anna collinson.an a month of lockdown and self—isolation. to get people back to work on britain back on its feet, it said testing is going to be key. last friday, the government launched a website allowing essential workers to order home testing kits for covid—i9, only for the website to close just hours later due to demand. over the weekend, tens of thousands of workers have been unsuccessful. this morning, this was the message at 9:10. we spoke to a key worker who struggled to buy a kit online so had to go to a testing site. there was no time slot available near where i live, which is leeds, so i had to go to doncaster airport. it took five to six hours to go to the process of being tested. where the bottleneck was happening was you have to self administer the test. the government's deadline of securing 100,000 daily tests is just three days away. to boost efforts, the military has set up nearly 100 pop—up facilities across the country and drive—through test sites are still available, but the briti

our health correspondent anna collinson has been looking at those latest coronavirus figures in a little the uk from coronavirus, so that is a rise of 684 deaths which is the largest day on day increase we have seen yet but it is slightly below trend, so we have been taking a look at these figures and comparing, and the recent trends in deaths were doubling roughly every 3.5 days, so that would have predicted around 800 deaths per day, so predicted around 800 deaths per day, so compared to that rejection, as alarming as that 684 figure is, we are seeing a potential silver lining to these figures if that pattern continues. we have to stress, one day a figures does not necessarily mean anything, it can be a blip. what it is hoping is that this is a sign that social distancing measures are working but we still have time to go before those measures properly clicking. we have also got the new confirmed cases in, 4450 new confirmed cases in, 4450 new confirmed cases in the uk. there, we've seen three days with almost no growth in new cases so this again looks like further evidence that the new

let's speak to our health correspondent anna collinson to break down today's latest uk figures.rst about the latest daily death figures from the uk as a whole, the hospital death figures. it is still a large number. there has been a slight fall since yesterday, but a lot are losing their lives. absolutely. these figures from the department of health and social care are released every day and they look at the effects the coronavirus is having on the uk. there were 759 deaths reported yesterday in the uk. that ta kes reported yesterday in the uk. that takes the total in the uk to up to more than 18,000. we saw a jump in the figures yesterday following a lag over the weekend. yesterday there were more than 800 deaths reported. so today we have seen a slight drop in comparison, but we shouldn't read too much into one set of figures, particularly as we are seeing delays in reporting. it is of course important to remember that behind every figure is a family devastated or friends without loved ones. but overall, the trend does appear to be going down. if we think back to the peak of 9

with me now is our health correspondent anna collinson. let's talk more about testing.oking at whether one of those tests is more useful than the other in terms of dealing with the immediate weeks of an opera? well, yes, as you've mentioned before, there are these different types of tests, the swab test, ta ke n different types of tests, the swab test, taken from your mouth and the idea with that is do you have the virus now? and then the antibody test which is going to look at have you had the virus and have you developed immunity to that virus and you can get that by having a symbol of your blood taken. at the moment, the majority of tests, the vast majority of tests being done, 10,000 a day or the swab test because we know that those tests work and u nfortu nately for know that those tests work and unfortunately for health workers, they are wanting to see more of those type of tests. the government has ordered millions of these antibody tests and they currently i think they've bought about nine different brands of those tests but currently a re different brands of th

thank you, jonathan. 0ur correspondent anna collinson says some of the antibody tests the government reliable. they have bought these nine different brands of testing and they are currently in the process of trying to work out what they can use and get out there, because they want to get these tests and there, they wa nt to to get these tests and there, they want to first start with patients, obviously, but then key critical workers on the front line, this is a big concern for them. as the test is working, the better, they are hoping that will be by the end of the month. is that the situation globally or do other countries have antibody tests proving more reliable? some countries have been far more on the ball, according to a lot of people, than others with testing. pledges like germany are giving 500,000 tests a week, reportedly. —— countries like germany are dealing. matt hancock has previously said that countries like germany have had the industry in place to make that happen, whereas in the uk that industry was not in place. what they are hoping going forward is that that will ch

it brings the total death toll now to 18,100. 0ur health correspondent anna collinson is here.f health, and they cover the whole of the uk. so we have had england and other parts of the uk earlier. and what they are saying is in the past 24 hours there have been 759 deaths on these figures, which takes the total in the uk up to more than 18,000. now, we also saw a big jump in those figures yesterday. there we re in those figures yesterday. there were more than 800 deaths announced yesterday following a bit of a dip at the weekend, which is what we have been seeing over the recent weeks. so this set of figures is a slight drop, compared to yesterday, but as we have been saying, you can't read too much from one set of data. overall, though, the trends we are seeing in the figures is that we are seeing in the figures is that we are going down and this is backed up by the number of people we are seeing in hospitals, and the number cases we are seeing. seeing in hospitals, and the number cases we are seeing. the peak is expected to have taken place on the 2nd of april, two weeks ago