thank you, fergus. at the data on this and looking to see if adding it to the case definition would change something in terms of what we could practically do. now, i do understand, and you are absolutely right that the loss of taste has been recognised for some time now is a possible symptom of acker one. but if you unpick that on —— covid—19, if you unpick that on —— covid—19, if you unpick that on —— covid—19, if you unpick that further, how often does cost of taste from really early in the illness, that's the first question, versus coming later oi'i first question, versus coming later on in the illness, when there are many other symptoms that are evidence, particularly cough and fever, which are absolutely the most prominent. the next point is how often does the loss of taste occur oi'i often does the loss of taste occur on its own in the absence of other symptoms, and the answer seems to be very rarely indeed. so, from that perspective, what we have had to do is go through all of the possible sympto

decipher these scientists for me, fergus.ether it's working or not? i still can't really tell. personally, i would doubt it, because you're going to need a lot of those volunteers to be exposed to the virus, and if the r number is coming down really dramatically, then it's gonna take much longer. we can't say that it's going to be earlyjune. we simply don't know. it would be great if it was, but the flip side of that is we will then need to have a bit of a raging epidemic going on in order for that to happen. so which do you want? we need people to be exposed to the virus but for the nation, we need this epidemic to get smaller and smaller. can i ask a question about if you're one of the people in these trials, how are you meant to sort of behave right now? if you get symptoms, are you meant to self—isolate and stay at home for two weeks or are you meant to go to work if you can only do your work at work? is their regimen meant to be the same as everybody else's? their regiment is the same as everyone else because they don't

fergus, is this too good to be true?s it garden parties morning, noon and night in england from now on? this is the joy of six, adam! six degrees of separation! let's get into the detail here, so you've got to be really careful when you hand over that charred sausage to your maiden aunt who you haven't seen for two months. and you've also got to be really careful if one of your invitees says, "i really need the loo." can they go in your house? and the answer, chris whitty said, yes, they can, if they're desperate, but they'll have to do a thorough clean afterwards. so this is a way you can get people to come in and clean your toilet for you. yeah, although i have to say, when i heard him say that, i kind of thought, don't people leave other people's bathrooms tidy anyway? maybe there's a cheap gender point to be made here. you don't use an antiseptic wipe to wipe down the surfaces. he said a thorough clean. and also there's a four nations thing here as well, because nicola sturgeon, the first minister of scotland, she ac

fergus, very interesting.orning, fergus walsh, our medical correspondent. lots of questions to explore throughout the day as we look at this antibody test. let's get more from our political correspondent chris mason. this is very interesting, the news of the antibody test on the other big story this morning as the government's response to what is going on with the pandemic in care homes. what detail are we going to get from the government today about what it is going to do for care homes, both the patients and the staff, chris? good morning, i need to. an announcement of an extra £600 million support for care homes in england. this as there are more questions being asked about the crisis in care homes. the reality that it very much is the front line of the battle in this pandemic right 110w. of the battle in this pandemic right now. questions being asked about decisions being made at the beginning of the pandemic which has made it worse. there was the potential scenario of the nhs being overwhelmed and a lot o

and fergus ina studio about two metres apart. and fergus in a studio all by myself.tones because the restrictions of our movements in england certainly, get reviewed every three weeks. today was one of the review days. borisjohnson was at the downing street podium describing it all. and some stuff we do already so some primary school classes going backin some primary school classes going back in england from monday. yep. some shops reopening in england from the 15th of june. some shops reopening in england from the 15th ofjune. yep. dentist, if they can. yes the reinecke casters have been taken a big notice on this. dentistry is back in england at least. but if they got enough to eat pbe and can operate safely. and borisjohnson eat pbe and can operate safely. and boris johnson officially launched the start of barbecue season with your mates. here's how he did it. we will allow up to six people to meet outside provided those from different households continue strictly to observe social distancing rules by saying two metres apart. at the moment people can meet in parks

fergus, can you make it simple?mber, test, track and trace is this system by the 1st ofjune. the prime minister said it would be world—class, 25,000 contact tracers... notjust world class, world beating! yeah! these are people who, by and large, will be following a script. they've had some online training, and they will be... there are about 2,500 cases a day of people who are confirmed positive after testing, and they will be from the 1st ofjune ringing all of those up and talking to them and saying, can you tell us about who you live with and can you remind us of anybody you've been in contact with since you first had symptoms, and they mean close contacts, anybody you've spent more than 15 minutes with closer than two metres, so it's largely family, it might be friends, although, of course, we should all be respecting social distancing, and then they will be tracing and contacting those individuals and asking them to get tested, and also to self—isolate. that's how it's supposed to work. but there's a lot riding

i think that shot fergus. he's blushing. we will see you later fergus.us. yeah, take care. we will say hello to that third person in the clip. adler. hello. i'm good thank you. i had to just push the chair away from me before i came across in the studio and that makes me miss you all the more, adam. other than and that makes me miss you all the more, adam. otherthan that and that makes me miss you all the more, adam. other than that thank you. i'm good. now onto matters brexit related. it feels that quite a few things have happened letters going backwards and forwards, the government in the uk published a paper healthy r&m protocol work. i thought has anything really happened? so it's yes and no. it's one of those things where when you're on the inside it feels like there's lots of stuff happening but when you take that big step away you say look, i think all the productions are despite at the end ofjune there productions are despite at the end of june there is productions are despite at the end ofjune there is a big key you pay summit. that according to

all right, fergus, thanks very much.as taken hold in care homes. the government suggests that one in four of the overall deaths in england have been in care homes. the national care association says they feel "completely abandoned", while others are questioning how quickly the extra £600 million of funding for the care sector will get to those who need it. 0ur social affairs correspondent alison holt reports. at this care home in kent, staff have been living in for weeks now to try to protect their elderly and vulnerable residents from coronavirus. here, the government's plans for more support with infection control are welcome, but feel very late. generally, we start at 7:30am but i have started an hour early to make sure all the ladies are up so we can clean their rooms. obviously, we haven't had a cleaner so it's been a bit stressful... 18—year—old liberty, who has a bunk bed in a room shared with other staff, has kept a video diary for us. we are trying to keep the routines as normal as possible, because, with dement

fergus has been back to the hospital for an update. is still taking a heavy toll in intensive care. update. coronavirus is still taking a heavy toll in intensive carem doesn't feel like it's over by a long shot. some patients have been ona long shot. some patients have been on a ventilator here for more than a month stop its brutal how people stay acutely sick for a long period. it's not just stay acutely sick for a long period. it's notjust their stay acutely sick for a long period. it's not just their lungs stay acutely sick for a long period. it's notjust their lungs that stay acutely sick for a long period. it's not just their lungs that are damaged, many have kidney failure and need dialysis. when you're not here, you are still thinking about here, you are still thinking about here, you are still thinking about here, you can't get it out of your mind a lot of the time. in the months since we were last year, doctorjim downe has not become any more optimistic. the disease continues to be horrible, even by itu standards. i don't thin

our medical correspondent fergus walsh is here.ent's thinking today is based around how quickly the disease is spreading, the rate of infection called the r value. the prime minister kept referring to that end we have heard a lot about it in recent weeks. tell us more. the r number is the rate of infection for the virus. every infectious disease has one. it's the number of people that on average every person with the disease will pass it on to. which coronavirus it is three, you need it below one because then you have a shrinking epidemic. in the uk, boris johnson says, have a shrinking epidemic. in the uk, borisjohnson says, it is between 0.5 and 0.9, perilously close to coming above one. if it was 0.5 across the uk, then for every 100 people infected with covid—i9, they would pass it on to 50 others, and they in turn would pass it on to 25 — the graduallyjo virus will fade away. —— the virus will gradually fade away. if it creeps up to 1.5 in every ten people would infect 15, every ten people would infect 15, every generation wou

well, fergus has been back to the hospital for an update.us is still taking a heavy toll in intensive care. it doesn't feel like it's over by a long shot. some patients have been on a ventilator here for more than a month. i think "brutal" is the word. people stay acutely sick for a long period. it's notjust their lungs that are damaged, many have kidney failure and need dialysis. when you're not here, you're still thinking about here. so you just can't get it out of your mind a lot of the time. in the month since we were last here, doctorjim down has not become any more optimistic. the disease continues to be a horrible disease, even by itu standards. i don't think i am feeling more positive, i think i am pretty shell—shocked by this disease, if i'm really honest. these patients don't get better quickly, so we've had a slow and difficult period of trying to help these patients recover. day after day, week after week, staff are working in full ppe. although patient numbers are falling, matron elaine thorpe says the psychological impact on st

and fergus in another studio in the broadcasting house.

fergus walsh, bbc news.rom the effects of coronavirus, fergus walsh reporting. as the four nations of the united kingdom pursue their individual paths to relax the lockdown, the devolved government in northern ireland has published its own recovery plan. the lockdown there will be reviewed on 28th may. schools are likely to remain closed for most until september. our ireland correspondent, emma vardy reports. not everyone's glad that some schools are open. but in northern ireland, normal lessons won't return for quite some time. i don't think they should go back early. i think they should wait. here, three schools have teamed up to look after the children of key workers like emily. it'll be september at the earliest before she sees her old classmates again. it's quite different than it would be normally because there probably would be a few people at each table. some children in england could go back as early as june. what do you think about the big differences with northern ireland? i think that is a good d

fergus walsh, bbc news.and over with symptoms of the coronavirus can now apply to have a test. the government has made the pledge despite frequently failing to reach its current target of a 100,000 tests a day. and as our health editor, hugh pym, reports, some key workers, already eligible, are facing long waits to get their results. getting tested for the virus — these key workers queueing today had booked online for swaps to be taken ata booked online for swaps to be taken at a drive—through centre and were told the results from labs should be sent to them within 48 hours. very easy. we logged on yesterday. we got the test today. there was hardly any cars there. very efficient. it was very easy to get an appointment, i didn't get much trouble to get that. i am a carer, that's why. just picked a convenient time and that was it, we drove straight here. but some, like michael, have had long waits for results, he has been told it will be at least five days. if you're going to make testing a central part of how

it is my greatest pleasure to welcome to our book passage stage, a master storyteller fergus bordewich. [applause] >> thanks. how's that sound? thank you to book passage for having me here. i had my commendation to the store for sustaining a thousand writers every year, poor desperate hungry writers who are gasping for an ear also for sustaining the writing life and keeping books available to people in an independent venue so you don't have to go to that place online that we all know about. i'm going to be speaking tonight about my most recent book "congress at war" and i appreciate the shout out from my last book which was the first congress which came out three years ago and in some respects i wouldn't call it a prelude but it led to this book. this is, as you can obviously tell, a political history. personally i find politics fascinating dynamic and dramatic. i'm interested in writing the kind of books i like to read and that's to say it's no excuse for a book about politics being boring. you might read it and differ you might not think of accomplished it but i've striven in all the

our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports.could smell it, then the mask will have ——wasn't fitted properly. this person realised he had lost his sense of smell when he was being fitted with personal protective equipment. he kept on working and it was only days later when he had developed a fever that he was swabbed and found to have coronavirus. i couldn't smell it, after 20 or 25 sprays. clearly if you're walking around unaware that you are covid positive, then you are a potential source of spread of the virus. so, i could have infected colleagues, i could have infected patients without knowing it. until today, the only coronavirus symptoms people in the uk were told to self—isolate with were a high temperature or a new and continuous cough. now, loss of taste or smell have been added, but that comes weeks after the world health organisation included them as symptoms. the who also lists tiredness, aches and pains, sore throat, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, headache and skin rash as other possible warning signs. on the ist of apr

fergus walsh, bbc news.ted countries in europe, with nearly 32,000 dead. but in recent weeks the numbers of infections and deaths have been consistently falling. now, after a io—week strict national lockdown, shops, restaurants bars and hairdressers have been finally opening up. mark lowen reports from milan. a plea for guidance as they emerge from the darkness. in milan, where europe's coronavirus plague exploded, they came today for solace, to the first mass since public church services resumed, after the world's longest national lockdown. this parish alone has lost 80 people. a 2,000—year—old church now has new traditions. the communion wafer is passed between unsullied hands. no longer directly on the tongue, but the palm, not a tissue. for some, it's hard to adjust. translation: it's a bit strange to hold the body of christ with the gloves, but it's important that people can come here to regain spiritual and moral strength, after all this suffering. for the faithful, a relief. "it seems like a new world

our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. pepper spray we would spray some pepper spray into the hood and if we could smell it in the mask wasn't fitted properly. he realised he lost his sense of smell when he was being fitted with personal protective equipment. he kept on working, it was only days later when he developed a fever that he was swabbed and found to have coronavirus. i couldn't smell it after 20, 25 sprays. clearly if you're walking around unaware that your covert positive that you are a potential source of spread of the virus. so i could infected colleagues, patients without knowing it. until today the only coronavirus symptoms people in the uk were told to self—isolate with work a high temperature or a new and continuous cough. now loss of taste or smell have been added. but that's weeks after the world health organisation included them as symptoms. the who also lists tiredness, aches and pains, sore throat, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, headache and skin rash as other possible warning signs. on the ist of april t

fergus walsh, bbc news.red the immediate suspension of the state of emergency declared by president nayib bukele. the president, who has been accused of exceeding his powers, had ordered the state of emergency on saturday, when previous orders were set to expire, without congressional approval. our americas editor, candace piette, can tell us more. this is an odd one, is the president out of line? why has the supreme court done this? the court says the president ordered the extension to the emergency without congressional approval. now, the existing laws can arguably allow the president to declare emergency if the congress is not sitting, and with the risk of the virus spreading, he has attempted to justify his actions. are there serious protests about the restrictions? how much concern was that among the wider population? certainly the backgrounds to all of this is that mr bukele has been accused of exceeding his powers and authoritarian tendencies. at the beginning of the lockdown in march he has started a

fergus walsh, bbc news. and of course we will stay across it there.bbc news website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley. stay as safe as you can. hello there. well, we may well be heading towards the middle part of may, but i'm sure yesterday felt more like winter for some. take sennybridge in wales for example, with a temperature to start the day at —4.7. it was the coldest may night for 25 years in wales. further north, the wintery fun didn't stop there because in shetland we had some snow falling, and down south, relatively, in orkney, we had a bit of snow covering the grassy surfaces as well with that colder air arriving behind this cold front. now, as we go through the next few hours, that is pushing southwards. it's weakening all the while, but it's still going to be enoughjust enough to knock down the temperatures a few degrees across eastern parts of england. so it is going to feel a little bit cooler as we head into wednesday. as i say, though, the front itself is going to disintegrate, so an

here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh on what the new antibody test involves.lions of britons want to know, have they already had coronavirus? now it's possible to find out for sure. with a blood test. it has to go through lab analysis, this can be done by hand like here at imperial college london or in an automated process like a new highly accurate antibody test approved for use in the uk. if you get infected with coronavirus your immune system starts to produce antibodies. these become part of your immune systems of memory. so if you get exposed to the virus again they should attack it. but how much protection they will give and how long that immunity will last is unclear. for some coronavirus as we know that that protection can fade and we know from experiments many years ago that is possible to re—affect individuals with except delete neck exactly the same coronavirus may be a year later. even though they had antibodies to start with. so we have to be careful to assume that any antibody will last a long time. remember, it's a swab test like this which will

fergus walsh, bbc news.ive and over with symptoms of the coronavirus can now have a test. the government's made the pledge, despite frequently failing to reach its current target of 100,000 tests a day. and as our health editor hugh pym reports, some key workers already eligible are facing long waits to get their results. getting tested for the virus — these key workers queueing today had booked online for swabs to be taken at a drive—through centre and were told the results from labs should be sent to them within 48 hours. very easy. we logged on yesterday only. we got the test today. there was hardly any cars there. very efficient. it was very easy to get an appointment, i didn't get much trouble to get that. i'm a carer, that's why. just picked a convenient time and that was it, we drove straight here. but some, like michael, have had long waits for results. he's been told it will be at least five days. if you're going to make testing a central part of how we deal with this virus, you've got to get it rig

fergus walsh, our medical correspondent. expected to set out plans later today for employers to share the cost of paying more than eight million workers who are furloughed because of the pandemic. it's thought rishi sunak will tell firms they'll have to start contributing around 20% of staff wages. here's our business correspondent emma simpson. alex runs a small basement bar. it's just him and one other member of staff doing bottles of cocktails online. it's other three workers are furloughed and he's now worried about what the chancellor is about to serve up. the scheme has been incredibly welcome as a lifeline to the sector. with revenues still next to zero and a growing sense bases like this might not be able to open again this year, any changes in that could be cataclysmic. if the 80% is reduced, businesses like mine would either run out of cash very quickly or be forced to lay off furloughed staff. the scheme was launched in april and currently pays 80% of workers' wagers come up to a maximum of £2500 per worker. origi

fergus walsh, many thanks. organisation. he said the body had failed to make "greatly needed" reforms and that american funds would be redirected to other "urgent global public health needs". mr trump has accused the world health organisation of helping china to conceal the coronavirus pandemic in its early stages. now, all this week, we've been reporting from one of the hospitals hardest hit by the coronavirus. in tonight's fourth and final report from the royal london hospital in east london, i've been looking at how the nhs is trying to adapt to the new reality of a virus that, at the moment, has no cure or vaccine, and the continuing grief of those in the local community, who've been worst affected. this is the story of one hospital, and one community in the time of covid—19. their harmony in the face of an almighty challenge. what does the future hold for the men and women in and out of uniform? and can the nhs adapt to a new normal way of working, with a virus that could be here to stay? we were given unp

fergus, thank you.hold in care homes across the uk. the government suggests that one in four of the overall deaths in england have been in care homes. the national care association says they feel "completely abandoned", while others are questioning how quickly the extra £600 million of funding for the care sector will get to those who need it. 0ur social affairs correspondent alison holt reports. this care home in kent was one of the first in the country to lock down, with staff moving in to try to protect their elderly residents with dementia. they are desperate for more support but feel the government's infection control plans are very late. generally, we start at 7:30am but i've started an hour early to make sure all the ladies are up so we can clean their rooms. obviously, we haven't had a cleaner so it's been a bit stressful... 18—year—old liberty, who has a bunk bed in a room shared with other staff, spends two weeks at a time here. we are trying to keep the routines as normal as possible, because

fergus walsh is keeping an eye on medical issues. where are you right now, what have you been doing? lam you been doing? iamat you been doing? i am at the top of a very big hill that i sometimes cycle up. i am not worrying what i would normally be wearing where i am cycling. worrying what i would normally be wearing where i am cyclinglj worrying what i would normally be wearing where i am cycling. i you're looking for the vaccine? wearing where i am cycling. i you're looking for the vaccine ?|j wearing where i am cycling. i you're looking for the vaccine? i have been looking for the vaccine? i have been looking for the vaccine? i have been looking for it, a lot of news on that. huge multinational drug companies said today that iraq reckons it can do a billion doses, and billing, a thousand million doses of the vaccine, if it works by the end of next year. today was four weeks since the first volunteers we re weeks since the first volunteers were immunised. the team will be looking for antibodies. i have to say, there is one big probl

and fergus in another studio in the broadcasting house. and we're going to bejoined by the broadcasting house. and we're going to be joined by the first part by lord fa rwell to be joined by the first part by lord farwell who used to be chief of staff to the previous prime minister theresa may. hello gavin. hi, hi. seeing us were talking about the are all the time now. 0k, nevermind. the reason we brought you in gavin, is to get a bit of insight into how difficult it is making big decisions like, how do you perhaps tweak the social distancing rules and how do you communicate it to the public? because that's the sort of decisions you had to make when you at number two. first of all news casters have been coming up with potential names for the next phase. the on lockdown. the unfurling, lift off my finger on, corned ‘tween. the unfurling, lift off my finger on, corned 'tween. that's in between. corned 'tween. i was think it rollback some people have been talking about rollback or unwind, i've also had the unwind stops but is not going to be

fergus walsh, bbc news.he first to be considered at the end of this month, with measures reviewed every three weeks. the first step includes changes to rules on exercise and allowing churches to open for private prayer. our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. not everyone is glad that some schools are open. putting northern ireland —— but in northern ireland normal lessons won't return for some time. i don't think they should go back early, i think they should wait. here, three schools have teamed up to look after the children of key workers like emily. it will be september at the earliest before she sees her old classmates again. it's quite different than it would be normally because there properly would be a few people at each table. some children in england can go back as early as june. what some children in england can go back as early asjune. what do you think about the big difference with northern ireland question mark i think that is a good decision. obviously we miss our children and staff. but

a month ago, our medical correspondent fergus walsh and cameraman adam walker visited the intensive caret in the uk. they've been back to see what's changed, and how staff are coping. coronavirus is still taking a heavy toll in intensive care. it doesn't feel like it is over by a long shot. some patients have been on a ventilator here for more than a month. brutal is the word, people stay acutely sick for a long period. it's not just their lungs that are damaged. many have kidney failure and need dialysis. when you are not here, you are still thinking about here. you can't get it out of your mind a lot of the time. in the month since we were last year, drjim down has not become any more optimistic. the disease continues to be a horrible disease, even by itu standards. i don't think i am feeling any more positive. i think i am pretty shell—shocked by this disease, if i am honest. these patients don't get better quickly, so we have had a slow and difficult period of trying to help these patients recover. day after day, week after week, staff are working in foal ppe. day after day, week aft

fergus walsh, bbc news.ack on the world health 0rganizaton in the past few hours. speaking at the annual meeting of the organisation's 194 member states — he claimed, it had failed ‘to obtain the information that the world needed, and that failure, cost many lives". he also said — without naming them, that one member state, had tried to conceal the outbreak.‘ earlier china's president insisted, his country had acted responsibly in the initial stages of the outbreak. imogen foulkes reports. the coronavirus pandemic has in many ways united us. neighbours have tried to support one another, communities around the world have expressed gratitude to their health workers. but it has also divided us. us and china are engaged in a war of words about the handling of the pandemic. the world health organisation viewed by washington as being too close to china has had its funding cut. so today the un's chief spoke out. covid-19 must be a wake—up call. it is time for an end to his hubris. the who is irreplaceable, and ease

fergus, as always, the briefing started with some data is to quite where we are.day in a row that we haven't met the 100,000 target. it is bobbing around the 100,000 but of course we now have a new target of course we now have a new target of 200,000. and then if we move on to the number of new cases, we've got 4649, and you can see in orange the ones done in the community and the ones done in the community and the blue ones in hospital. although it doesn't look like it's coming down very much, many more tests are being done so we do have a shrinking epidemic. if we then go on the slide for the number of patients in hospital with covid—19 throughout the uk, that's fallen to 11,788, so 18% down on a week ago. and at one point there were more than 20,000 patients in hospital. that's another sign that this epidemic is shrinking because those people in hospital would have been admitted at least three weeks ago. they would have caught the infection. and then the number of patients in critical care, less tha n number of patients in critical care, less than a third of cr

fergus, thank you. of the tightest lockdowns in europe. people can now leave their homes to exercise outdoors, and small businesses have been allowed to serve customers again. but there are still strict rules, including compulsory use of masks on public transport, hygiene procedures in shops, and social distancing. and there are concerns that some are not following the regulations, increasing the risk of infection. 0ur europe correspondent, damian grammaticas, reports from madrid. this is a country cranking into motion again, but cautiously, keeping their distance. rush hour without the rush and everyone is masked. it's compulsory now on public transport even while stations are mostly empty. translation: today is the first day i leave home and i go to work. iam afraid. you don't know what might happen. you may catch the virus. masks are handed out to anyone who doesn't have them. marilyn isn't taking any chances. translation: this is really uncomfortable. you can't breathe easily but for my protection,

fergus, thank you very much.is coming back, i will talk about the return of the premier league in less than three weeks‘ time in a moment, but first let‘s look at this, the emirates 0ld first let‘s look at this, the emirates old trafford cricket ground which is pretty busy getting the wicket ready, rolling the wicket, cutting the grass. why? standing here at the moment you feel like the players might start turning up for a match, but of course that‘s not happening at the moment, they could be training here, but they lack to keep it in trim. comejuly the 8th we could see this for real with the return of international sport for the first time potentially here or at southampton‘s a jiyas poll for the start of the test series against the start of the test series against the west indies. these two grounds have been picked out because they have been picked out because they have hotels there on the ground, that‘s the red building over there so they can isolate players and commentators because it will be behind closed do

fergus walsh, bbc news.consistently falling. now, after a ten—week, strict national lockdown, shops, restaurants bars and hairdressers have been finally opening up. mark lowen reports from milan. a plea for guidance as they emerge from the darkness. in milan, where europe's coronavirus plague exploded, they came today for solace, to the first mass since public church services resumed, after the world's longest national lockdown. this parish alone has lost 80 people. a 2,000—year—old church now has new traditions. the communion wafer is passed between unsullied hands. no longer directly on the tongue, but the palm, not a tissue. for some, it's hard to adjust. translation: it's a bit strange to hold the body of christ with the gloves, but it's important that people can come here to regain spiritual and moral strength, after all this suffering. for the faithful, a relief. "it seems like a new world," he says. "to start again like this is so moving. we missed it." "i felt so good," this lady says, but emotions s

our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports.if we could smell it, then the mask will have fitted properly. this person realised he had lost his sense of smell when he was being fitted with personal protective equipment. he kept on working and it was only days later when he had developed a fever that he was swabbed and found to have coronavirus. i couldn't smell it, after 20 or 25 sprays. clearly if you're walking around unaware that you are covid positive, then you are a potential source of spread of the virus. so, i could have infected colleagues, i could have infected patients without knowing it. until today, the only coronavirus symptoms people in the uk were told to self—isolate with were a high temperature or a new and continuous cough. now, loss of taste or smell have been added, but that comes weeks after the world health organization included them as symptoms. the who also lists tiredness, aches and pains, sore throat, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, headache and skin rash as other possible warning signs. on the ist of april,

in the medieval world of the book but fergus bend it working for him he will do. just figure.my boys brought them out your voice brought them out of the book and her mother wanted. works. father and daughter set off to do everything to find her experience in countless adventures involving lots of magic but violence to. cornelia didn't only want to write a book she wanted to send out a political message. in one of the themes of in the heart is fascism not the gang in the mountains they're not met v.o.c. they're fascists. they blackmail us without children they blackmail us with their husbands and our friends on them fight and that's what's most terrifying about dictators and fascism they attack us using the things we're most proud of what we think of as our identity what we love most. and they turn us into accomplices that's how fascism operate and that's what i depicted in incarceration and to my house but i didn't call it by its name because i thought it would be more timeless this way if the smartest idea was if there was supposed to be a 4th in card book coming i thought it

here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh to explain.nfection rate, the number of people on average that each infected person passes on covid to. you've got to keep that below one to have a shrinking epidemic. sir patrick vallance said it's currently between 0.7 and 0.9. he said still close to one, not a lot of room for manoeuvre. now, hospital numbers with covid patients are still falling, but it's estimated that fewer than seven in 100 people in england have had coronavirus, so it's most people still susceptible. a crucial part of keeping the rate of infection down is a test and trace system, which was launched in england today. our health editor hugh pym has more. for millions of people, a scheme in place today might make a big difference to their lives though they don't know it yet. potentially they could be told they have met up with someone recently who now has the virus and they will have two self—isolate for two weeks even if they are not ill. they could find out through an e—mail or text or phone call and then be asked to get in

our medical correspondent fergus walsh have been to university college hospital in london — to meet somewly, delicately, patients almost broken by coronavirus are being restored. can i ask you to roll over to the other side now? jake, who has a heart condition and diabetes, spent three weeks on a ventilator. it was touch and go whether he would survive. my chances were, ithink, very, very low. he's still so weak, getting him into a chair is far from easy. but it's an essential part of his rehabilitation he's still so weak, getting him into a chair is far from easy. but it's an essential part of his rehabilitation at university college hospital in central london. jake still has a tracheostomy, an opening in his windpipe which used to be attached to a ventilator. my understanding is recovery works in very small steps. we'rejust going to get you into a fully upright position now. lovely. i'm not going to give up, not a chance. i was given a chance, and i'm not going to waste it. psychologically, has it been difficult? now that i know that i will go back to my family, go back to work, go bac

our medical correspondent fergus walsh is here with me now. who is the dissenting voice? at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. he said with the current level of infections in england, about 8000 new cases per day, you couldn't hope to bring them down any lower by replacing blanket measures by these targeted measures such as test and trace, and he said that that then would equate if you had a fertility rate of 1% to about 80 deaths per day, but he recognised that this is obviously a political decision that has to be balanced against the impact on the economy and on mental health and on children's education, so it is a political decision. there was a huge dump of sage data, the scientific advisory group on emergencies, and the thing that struck me from these documents going back the last couple of months is the huge level of uncertainty amongst scientists. the government always said this is led by the science, but there is a massive level of uncertainty, and one particular paper said that on behalf of people with coronavirus symptoms self—isolate for a mini

here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. it is what millions of britons want to know.o find out for sure, with a blood test. it has to go through lab analysis. this can be done by hand, like here at imperial college london, or in an automated process, like a new highly accurate antibody test, approved for use in the uk. if you get infected with coronavirus, your immune system starts to produce antibodies. these become part of your immune system's memory. so if you get exposed to the virus again, they should attack it. but how much protection they will give and how long that immunity will last is unclear. for some coronaviruses, we know that protection can fade and we know from experiments many years ago, for example, that it is possible to re—infect individuals with the exact same coronavirus, may be a year later, even though they developed antibodies to start with, so we have to be careful to assume that any antibody will last for a long time. roche says it can provide hundreds of thousands of its antibody test to the uk each week. pharmacies and health clinics could

here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. it is what millions of britons want to know.possible to find out for sure, with a blood test. it has to go through lab analysis. this can be done by hand, like here at imperial college london, or in an automated process, like a new highly accurate antibody test, approved for use in the uk. if you get infected with coronavirus, your immune system starts to produce antibodies. these become part of your immune system's memory. so if you get exposed to the virus again, they should attack it. but how much protection they will give and how long that immunity will last is unclear. for some coronaviruses, we know that protection can fade and we know from experiments many years ago, for example, that it is possible to re—infect individuals with the exact same coronavirus, may be a year later, even though they developed antibodies to start with, so we have to be careful to assume that any antibody will last for a long time. roche says it can provide hundreds of thousands of its antibody test to the uk each week. pharmacies and health clin

fergus falls, bbc news.he uk government has been defending its comittments to protecting people in residential care homes for the elderly in england. around a quarter of all known coronavirus deaths in britain have happened in care homes. ros atkins has been looking at this issue. thank you very much indeed well these statistics and care homes in england our stock. thousands have died, tens of thousands of people have been infected by covid—19, and while the human cost is indisputable the reasons for this tragedy are increasingly the front line in the battle over where blame should live for the uk's exceptionally high coronavirus death toll. as you can see here the widely used johns hopkins university virus tracker lists over 33,000 deaths in the uk it's the second highest in the world. should note that the uk government has recently started to question the validity of country comparisons. the story of the care home crisis goes back to march. during that month the uk's overall covid—19 fleet not covid—19 cas

our medical correspondent, fergus walsh, told us more about the antibody test.od drawn, so it's not something you can do at home, and than it is sent off to a laboratory for very sophisticated analysis. public health england has approved this, it has sent the test to its reference laboratories in porton down in wiltshire and found that it was almost 100% accurate. so this test really will tell you if at some point in the past you have come across coronavirus and now have antibodies in your blood. it is likely that if you have antibodies to this and you have a good, strong antibody response and, in fact, we are finding that in laboratories, some people have stronger and some people are having weaker antibody responses. but if you have antibodies to coronavirus, it probably will give you some protection. whether or not it completely protects you is another thing, and how long that immunity lasts for is also questionable. but those sorts of questions will become clearer in the months ahead. there are lots of labs around the world that are looking into this question

a month ago our medical correspondent fergus walsh and cameraman adam walker visited the intensive carehospital in london — one of the busiest in the uk. they've been back to see what's changed and how staff are coping. coronavirus is still taking a heavy toll in intensive care. it doesn't feel like it's over for a long shot. some people patients have been on a ventilator here for a month. brutal is a word. people stay acutely sick for a long period. it's not just acutely sick for a long period. it's notjust their acutely sick for a long period. it's not just their lungs acutely sick for a long period. it's notjust their lungs that are damaged. many have kidney failure and need dialysis. when you are not here, you're still thinking about here so you can't get it out of your mind a lot of the time. in the months since we were last here, doctor jim downe has not become any more optimistic. the disease continues to be a horrible disease, even by itu standards. i don't think i'm feeling more positive. i think i am pretty shellshocked by this disease, if i'm really honest. these patients don

joining me now is e owner of sonoma outfitters in the santa rosa and tina fergus, the owner of an independent bookstore, face in a book and el dorado hills. thank you both for mejoining deborah, let's start with you. you have had some lean times in your business before. sonoma outfitters has been together for 40 years. but, you have never fasod thing like this. how has the pandemic impacted your business? >> it completely closed it down whenhey ordered sheltein place, becse we are a retail store selling clothing, footwear, sunglasses, so we are not considered essential we had to close our doors and had to lay my employees off. luckily, our landlord has been working with us and my vendors have been pretty good sofar, but it all pends on how much longer this is going to go on. n yo, and i have no idea when we finally are able to allow people in the store, are all my old customers going to come back right away? are they going to be able to shop? be able to afford to shop? i don't know. it is just kind of a big question. >> there is a lot of uncertainty right now. >> yeah. >> tina, you have been

. >> reporter: scott kummrow is band director at fergus falls high school in minnesota.he is playing for his high school's virtual graduation-- all 22 parts. it took scott two full days to make this video for his students. and it's educators like him and parents make this a graduation to remember. and so it's our hope when these graduates look back in hindsight at 2020, they won't dwell on what was lost, but what was found, and what was left completely unaffected. moments like this one. >> very proud. a father couldn't be much prouder than i am right now of ld daughter gabrielle. >> reporter: and there's the only graduation speech that matters. steve hartman, cbs news, "on the road." >> o'donnell: beautifully said. and don't forget, steve is still esfering his "kindness 101" every monday for the rest of the school year. next week's topic is "fortitude." find it at cbsnews.com/kindness101. we'll be right back. 80% of bacteria in your mouth aren't even on teeth. 80%? colgate total is different. it fights bacteria in your whole mouth protecting 100% of your mouth's surfaces

now on bbc news, adam fleming, laura kuenssberg and fergus walsh discuss the latest on the coronavirusfamily for years. listens to us all the time. —— part of the podcast family for yea rs. she got in touch with us to tell us about her mum eileen who died a couple of days ago of covid—19 in the care home, and mo has given us permission to read some of the e—mails. she has. it starts, "my mum was 93 on the 15th of april. we couldn't celebrate with her due to lockdown. the fantastic care home staff made a cake and gave her a party. we hadn't seen her for six weeks. 0n the 17th of april, we had a call to say she had a temperature and was a bit pearly.