tom burridge, bbc news. more on that story. stay with us on bbc news.ctions taken to help the poor in war—torn countries. our latest headlines... american coronavirus cases move past a million. that's nearly a third of the global total. a third of the global total. a third of the global total. a third of all deaths linked to coronavirus in england and wales are now happening in here co. —— care homes. france is set to ease lockdown measures next month. schools and jobs will begin reopening and people can travel within 100 km of their home. but that depends on infection rates remaining low. lucy williams reports. of all the lessons learned during lockdown, the hardest for the government has been working out how to end it. these four children have been studying at home since the middle of march. primary schools will reopen on the 11th of may, but she says it's too soon. i don't think my kids are going back in may. i'm going to wait before i send them into a group environment. the prime minister warned today that france risked the collapse of society if it

tom burridge, bbc news.ors have confirmed, again, in the clearest terms, that some social distancing measures will be in force until the end of the year — and quite possibly into next year. among the businesses most likely to be affected in the longer term is the hospitality sector, with pubs and restaurants already badly hit. our business editor simonjack has more details. bell rings the closing bell. it's five weeks since the coronavirus rang time on the hospitality industry, and the government says venues big and small across the uk could be among the last to leave the lockdown. social distancing of two metres will be here for months, and venues like pippa cole's cafe in chester are barely two metres wide in places. we have such a small cafe, even if we did take tables out and tried to reconfigure the layout, it would be extremely difficult to keep the social distancing required. we have to think about our customers as well as our staff. remember this? seems like a long time ago. fuller's operate 400 pubs

tom burridge, bbc news. france is to ease lockdowns from the middle of next month.nd people can travel within 100 kilometres of their home. but that depends on infection rates remaining low. this from our paris correspondent lucy williamson. of all the lessons learned during lockdown, the hardest for the government has been working out how to end it. aurelie‘s four children have been studying at home since the middle of march. primary schools will reopen on the 11th of may but aurelie says it's too soon. translation: i don't think my kids are going back in may. i'm going to wait before i send them into a group environment. the prime minister warned today that france risked the collapse of society if it kept the restrictions in place for too long. translation: never in the history of our country we known a situation like this. not during war, nor occupation, nor in previous epidemics. never has the country been confined as it is today. it can't go on forever. if infection rates stay low, most major restrictions will start to be lifted next month. schools will begin o

tom burridge, bbc news.s whether friday prayers should be allowed to take place during the outbreak. they're also discussing the rules for the muslim holy month of ramadan which is due to begin next week. prayer groups of more than five people are currently banned, though some mosques are reportedly turning a blind eye. let's speak to iftikhar malik, professor of history at bath spa university. very tricky questions. what normally happens in terms of ramadan, and in terms of friday prayers, that is currently not happening because of social distancing? i think because of fasting, people become more pious. go to the mosque and pray five times a and then there are special pairs late in the evening. and the whole book of the koran is recited by the cleric. sometimes people undo their fast in the evening together so there is lots of communal activity, lots of social activity and this is along with friday congregational prayers in the afternoon so religion is a big socialiser and that creates a lot of problems giv

here's more from our transport correspondent tom burridge.wick altogether is radical. it would be a massive blow to that airport. it would mean effectively consolidating its two main hubs here at heathrow and gatwick into one main site here at heathrow, but unions and staff members i've been speaking to today accuse the airline of opportunism. 0ne ba cabin crew member said this is the chance that ba bosses have been waiting for to stab us hard—working colleagues in the back. corporate greed and total disregard for people's lives. and a strongly worded union letter tonight to the airline from the pilots‘ union, saying it has to change course. otherwise, it will damage industrial relations for years to come. but ba says these are exceptional times and it has to protect the business in the long—term. tom burridge reporting there. stay with us on 0utside source. still to come: the us space agency nasa releases the most detailed survey yet of polar ice melting. an raf flypast has been held over bedfordshire to mark the 100th birthday of captain to

tom burridge, bbc news. china is insisting it should not be blamed for the pandemic. on hardtalk, the ambassador to the uk suggested the white house it should be targeting rather than the country. i think president trump keep very close contact, they keep two very close relationship, and i want america to know that china is not the enemy of the united states. the virus is the enemy of the united states. they need to find the right target. that was the chinese ambassador and there will be more on hardtalk. large crowds of people in belarus have attended cemeteries to mark the orthodox holiday — radunitsa day — despite fears of spreading disease. there's a growing divide in the eastern european country about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic — after repeated denials by the autocratic leader — president lukashenko. freya cole reports. a large crowd arrive at the local cemetery in belarus. some are wearing masks and others are wearing masks and others are not. stalls are full of colourful brocades and flowers are placed on the graves of departed relatives. an 0rtho

tom burridge, bbc news the scottish government today changed the way it reports coronavirus deaths inly higher than the 220 deaths previously reported. the domestic violence charity refuge says there has been another huge upsurge in calls to its helpline. it says they more than doubled overnight on monday after the charity reported a rise in women seeking help during the outbreak. the charity said earlier this week that it had experienced a 25% rise in calls and messages. at the old bailey, a lorry driver, maurice robinson, has pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter after the deaths of a group of vietnamese migrants. the 31 males and eight females were discovered in a refrigerated trailer last october in grays, essex. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford is here. he has been monitoring this case. tell us more about what is been happening today. this is the first time anyone has admitted responsibility for the deaths of those 39 vietnamese people found at the back of that sealed container. ina the back of that sealed container. in a video conference style court hearing w

tom burridge, bbc news, in bournemouth.ve risen by nearly a fifth during the lockdown. the charity fears neglect and mistreatment are less likely to be spotted at the moment, because schools and social spaces are closed. tomos morgan reports. i'm worried about the children now, that they'll be at home all day due to the coronavirus pandemic. last night i could hear the mother screaming and shouting aggressively. this has been happening almost daily since the lockdown. these are just some examples of the types of calls the nspcc‘s helpline has been receiving in recent weeks. for some children, their situation may have gotten worse as they have been forced to remain at home. i think the emotional side of it was a lot worse than the physical side, and it went on quite a few years. bethann, which isn't her real name, is from north wales. since she was six years old she says she suffered abuse from her father. i mean, anywhere from a slap to a push down the stairs. he wouldn't think twice about holding a knife up to you. when it

tom burridge, bbc news, at heathrow.ut getting the economy moving again and oui’ getting the economy moving again and our economics editorjoins me now, how much of a challenge well that they? it is about getting solid data from nearby countries about the overall economic impact of the virus and the shutdowns. we had three major european economies reporting for the first three months of the year, italy, spain and france were all down between five and 6%, these are huge numbers for one quarter, normally it moves at no .3 or not .4. italy and france firmly in recession and the bad news is that these may not be the worst, the records may be broken in the current quarter even worse and this is reflective of the fact that these countries saw the virus earlier and the shutdowns earlier. uk numbers are likely to be a little bit better but may be worse in the second quarter. that gives you a shape of the challenges facing the government and unlocking the economy as the prime minister put it. there are up to three challenges, you

tom burridge, bbc news.giving on an update on the measures taken by the government. he says his administration will relax the confinement of children starting april 27 which is important because spain begana april 27 which is important because spain began a national lockdown on the 14th of march, including 7 million children and families have been campaigning recently for children to be excluded from that ban, to be allowed to go out into parks and playgrounds. mr sanchez has also said he will ask the spanish parliament for another 15 day extension of the state of emergency until may the 9th. now, earlier on bbc news my colleague shaun ley wasjoined by lisa minot, the travel editor at the sun newspaper and victoria bacon from the travel association abta to answer all coronavirus travel—related questions my wife and i are due to go on holiday to south africa at the end of august. this is from john daly. we didn't book it through a travel agent. should we cancel? it depends whether they would like to lose the

overall handling of the health crisis by the government like opening up to yahoo but she's extremely burridge about her family's life you would. be unlikely that the after a month and a half of lockdown we are still completely closed except for deliveries and take away. but that is just a drop in the ocean. independent business is a very much on edge not knowing if we are going to survive. but of all that every morning daniela and her husband prepare pizza to take away this very government is taking steps to reopen the economy and allow some businesses to start operating against the us lance can see a clear path out of this crisis that many others radius but the real no exit strategy that is being presented to the public ok no one here say ok if we going to be under you know 200 mill. people who are infected we're going to open up these and that and the other way we're going to close the thing that how about the court what the what if you know what what is the program what is the what what if the what if their work flow the kimono virus pandemic in the midst of a deep political crisis in isra

tom burridge, bbc news. it has to be time for something cheerful. yet. he wants to go even further, this time by releasing a charity single. # and you'll never walk alone # and you'll never walk alone. # and you'll never walk alone.. # and you'll never walk alone. # you'll never walk alone. the 99—year—old war veteran has teamed up with the singer michael ball, and released a version of you'll never walk alone. if he tops the charts on friday, it would mean that he'd be number that would be something else to celebrate. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise. it it were going to hope for the rest of the afternoon. we should see the cloud breaking up and some sand and coming to. it has been a beautiful start into scotland and northern england and northern ireland. you keep the sun shine through the afternoon. an easterly breeze will make it feel cool in exposed coasts, nine to 13 celsius here. only around ten or 11 in the cloud and rain. highest values of 15. as we head into sunday, high pressure sits up to scandinavia. he winds a swingin

british airways has currently furloughed its 22,500 employees. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridgevenue has been slashed down to very small numbers. so british airways made this announcement now and it is symptomatic of the industry more widely. it will be a tricky negotiation between the airlines now and unions in the next few weeks. once you've had the coronavirus, a key question is can you get it again? or does your body develop immunity meaning that you can't? there's evidence that those who have had coronavirus have some of the antibodies to protect them, but it's not clear whether anyone is immune. 0ur science correspondent rebecca morelle explains. it's the virus that has mobilised the world's scientists. and a majorfocus now is how the immune system responds to it, because understanding this could help us to stop covid—19 spread. and the big question is, if you've had the virus, are you immune 01’ can you catch it again? how does immunity work? the coronavirus is covered in spikes which allow it to dock onto a structure on the surface of our cells. it is like a key opening

drivers have died in the capital after contracting coronavirus. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridget links open, the risk of contracting coronavirus is very real. this is him with his son. max was 36. a bus driverfor real. this is him with his son. max was 36. a bus driver for seven yea rs. was 36. a bus driver for seven years. he was treated in hospital for covid—19 and discharged. 0nce home, he fell very ill. i held his face with both of my hands and i said, look at me, look at me, talk to me. and... he said to me... i'm not going to... i am not going to make it. max was one of 14 public transport workers in london who have died from covid—19 in recent days. most of them were bus drivers. it is extremely tough, knowing that his life was put at risk. transport for london says passengers should now only bored through the middle door, but this morning, not everyone had got the message. we are using antiviral disinfectant. we have also made sure there is a perspex barrier between the driver and passengers with a protective film to avoid droplets coming from peoples melts onto the driv

warned that a quarter of its 4,300 pilots are set to lose theirjobs. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridgere suffering but ba sounds like it's in real trouble? some airlines are in much worse position than british airways. they are all haemorrhaging cash, ba has bigger cash reserves, but the airline is moving quickly. it is taking drastic steps now because it says it needs to protect its position in the long term because it does not believe passenger levels will return for a number of years. the idea of abandoning gatwick altogether is a massive, it would be altogether is a massive, it would be a blow to the airport, it would mean consolidating its two main hubs at gatwick and heathrow into one main site at heathrow. but unions accuse the airline of opportunism. 0ne ba cabin crew member said this is the chance ba bosses have been waiting for to stab as hard—working collea g u es for to stab as hard—working colleagues in the back. corporate greed and total disregard for people's lives. a strongly worded union letter tonight to the airline from the pilots union says it has to change course o

tom burridge, bbc news. the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic amidst reports of shortages. but you don't have to be a grown—up to try to make a difference. eight—year—old nahla—rose has been busy approaching the issue head—on by donating masks she's been making at home to hospitals across the uk. serenjones went to meet her. so, once you've got your headband, then you need to get your plastic acetate and you need to punch some holes in it. a diy lesson in design and technology. and there you go, that's your finished mask. nala rose is not your average eight—year—old. she is using her passion for technology to help stop the spread of coronavirus. i started using a 3d printer when i finished school because i wanted to help the nhs not to risk their lives as much. nala's spent hours using the family's 3d printer to make visors for nhs workers who are exposed to coronavirus. over time i've learnt how to use it and i'm quite confident with it. a love for technology runs in the family — her gran is a design an

our transport correspondent tom burridge has been to bournemouth airport, where they already use then future. when we go back to this, can cameras help detect who has the virus? as i approached the thermal imaging camera, it picks me up and it can see that my temperature is 36 point four degrees, but if i've put a bottle full of hot water onto my head, bingo. it thinks that i have got a really high temperature, and that is the alarm sounding, alerting staff, and as you can see, the cameras over here, when it is linked up to the computer over there. there systems are being tested on staff here at bournemouth airport. and, at some hospitals. larger airports have shown interest. other businesses and organisations have too. we've had significant interest from the nhs or a&e departments. we are talking to a numberof departments. we are talking to a number of restaurant chains throughout the uk, construction companies. it will give you a different view, a different set of eyes that you simply cannot have without technology. the airport here has become a parking lot for planes. passengers a

airways has currently furloughed its 22 and half thousand employees. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge the aviation sector as a whole is suffering and we know that. plans on the ground, airlines are playing huge sums of money to be parked up to maintain them in the revenue has been slashed right down to very small numbers of their haemorrhaging cash and the parent group of british airways and looked, compared to other online groups, they are in a relatively 0k position financially but a relatively 0k position financially butas relatively 0k position financially but a s gone out to the employees effectively saying that this is so dire for aviation for us that we do not know when passengers will return to pre—pandemic levels. we do not think that will happen for years and the british airways are saying that they‘re going to take this decision and put out this consultation to reduce staffing levels because we wa nt to reduce staffing levels because we want to protect our financial position in the long term, notjust in the pandemic but afterwards. and a lot of people believe that this will

tom burridge, bbc news.e and they will expect to see less socialising. thank you for your time entry. —— commentary. hello there. it has been the sunniest april on record, and for much of the month, it has been exceptionally dry. but things changed a bit on tuesday for many of us. you can see the way in which rain pushed its way northwards across england and wales, and there were some showers for scotland and northern ireland. now that first area of rain is clearing away. you can see the frontal system sliding out into the near continent, but there is another area of low pressure out to the west. more frontal systems coming our way, so that means there is more rain in the forecast through the day ahead. this is our main rain band, pushing its way northeastwards, so initially moving across the south—west of england, into wales, the midlands, into the london area by about lunchtime, and that rain will eventually get to the mainland into northern england, northern ireland, and southern scotland by the end of th

quarter of its pilots could lose theirjobs because of the pandemic. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridgend gave us this update. these are unprecedented times across the board, but aviation is in a massive pickle, christian. you know, flights have been grounded worldwide, a very small proportion of normal flights come about 10% of normal flights are actually coming in and out of heathrow at the moment behind me. a lot of repatriation flights, cargo flights, that type of thing. but airlines, per se, are haemorrhaging cash. i think there is a sort of surprising thing, or the thing that some people are sort of raising their eyebrows at when it comes to british airways is that british airways is financially in a relatively speaking better financial position than other airlines. it's got bigger cash reserves. but it's moving very quickly, it's taking drastic steps now, and it says it has to, because it has to protect the business in the long term, because it doesn't believe that passenger numbers are going to return to the levels of the pre—pandemic era for several years to come. now, the idea

tom burridge, bbc news.we have been informed that us senator bernie sanders is telling his staff that he has suspended his campaign for the 2020 democratic presidential nomination. that was in a conference call to star. he intends to address supporters later this afternoon in a live stream. that's the news we are hearing right now, he has suspended his campaign and we will bring you more on that later. more than 9 million workers are expected to be furloughed under the government's job retention schemeintroduced to help businesses survive the pandemic. the think tank, the resolution foundation, says the scheme is likely to cost £30 to £40 billion over three months. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity has more details. thejob retention scheme is meant to help firms hit by the shutdown stay in business and still pay staff. companies like those who are working on this construction site near battersea power station in south london will keep staff on even if they're not working, putting them on furlough, mean

earlier, i spoke to our transport correspondent tom burridge who says the future of the airline is hangingiticism, of course, because he personally isn‘t a taxpayer here in the uk and in this letter, i think there is an interesting paragraph where he says that he did not, he claims he did not, leave the uk for tax reasons. he left the uk for his love of his island, his private island that he bought many years ago in the caribbean. so it is an attempt, i think, to sort of counter some of the negative publicity because ultimately virgin atlantic is going cap in hand to the government. it has been in discussions with the treasury for a number of weeks now. the treasury is effectively doing this. it‘s not saying, like other governments around the world, namely the us government, to the airline industry, "here is a "load of money and we will bail you out wholesale." what it is saying is come to us on an individual, case—by—case basis. we know that virgin atlantic has also beenjoined by the scottish carrier, loganair. those two airlines have gone to the treasury and submitted an application. it

let's get more from our transport correspondent, tom burridge, who's at heathrow airport now.is that heathrow is its hub, what is it, about a fifth of its planes fly out of gatwick? it is surplus to requirements at this particular moment. well, people are raising questions about gatwick airport tonight. it is a bitter blow for them and even the suggestion ba could walk away from the second largest airport in britain. but it raises questions also about heathrow, where we are now. most to be a's business at gatwick is tourism travel, flights to places like the caribbean, florida, european cities. analysts believe tourism travel probably will recover more quickly after the pandemic and business flights, the bulk of ba's business flights, the bulk of ba's business at heathrow. so if it suggests it might walk away from gatwick altogether, it suggests it believes its hub at heathrow will ta ke believes its hub at heathrow will take such a significant hit that the best thing is to effectively consolidate into two large centres outside london, notjust one. the problem, of course, for

drivers have died in the capital, after contracting coronavirus. 0ur transport correspondent, tom burridge is very real. this is him with his son. meks was 36. a bus driver for seven years. he was an absolute charming boy. he was treated in hospital for covid—19 and discharged. 0nce home, he fell very ill. i knelt in front of him, held his face with both of my hands and i said, meks, look at me, look at me, talk to me. and... then he said to me... mum, i'm not going to make it. i'm not going to make it. meks was one of 14 public transport workers in london who have died from covid—19 in recent days. most of them were bus drivers. it is extremely tough, knowing that his life was put at risk. transport for london says passengers should now only bored through the middle door but, this morning, not everyone had got the message. we're using antiviral disinfectant. we've also made sure there's a perspex barrier between the driver and passengers, with a protective film to avoid droplets coming from people's mouth onto the driver. we've also made sure that no mpassenger can sit near the driver. pa

let's get more on this with tom burridge, our transport correspondent.thtaking, but given what we have been talking about the last six weeks, british airways not immune from the trouble that are affecting so many airlines. i think it's more very grim news. i think even in the bizarre world that we currently live in, jane, this is pretty extraordinary. gatwick‘s operation for ba at the moment is suspended because of the pandemic and travel restrictions, flight restrictions. it equates to about a fifth of the size of its heathrow operation. but to suggest that the operation. but to suggest that the operation at gatwick could not open once travel restrictions are lifted, once travel restrictions are lifted, once the pandemic is over, is pretty radical. it ties in, of course, with the announcement from british airways that it is planning to lay off around 12,000 staff. but gatwick is predominantly leisure travel, holidays. so if british airways is saying that that whole operation might not reopen at all, then it's effectively saying that it's going to consol

our transport correspondent tom burridge reports. most airports are largely standing still.en of the flights which normally operates in and out of heathrow are still running. airlines say the vast majority of people on board are simply heading home. nobody at the moment is taking a holiday, so these flights are repatriation flights. we need to bring these people home, these people are stranded all over these people are stranded all over the world, barcelona, north america, south america, asia. airlines are working with the government right now every single day to get these people home. kiran sandoo was stuck visiting family in india. forflying home this week there were checks at the airport in india. they asked for if we had any symptoms of covid—19, so we just if we had any symptoms of covid—19, so wejust had if we had any symptoms of covid—19, so we just had to circle or technically correct boxes, so, yes or no answers, do you have a cough, do you have a that kind of thing. and then you go inside the airport and then you've got the staff there doing temperature checks. che