john mcmanus, bbc news.te, the epicentre of the us outbreak, governor andrew cuomo says independent pharmacies will be authorised to carry out tests for covid—19. it comes as figures suggest that the outbreak there seems to be slowing down. rich preston reports. new york state has reported more than 21,000 deaths from coronavirus, but the positive news that the number of hospital admissions is declining. we are back where we were 21 days ago. 21 days of hell, but we're back to where we were. the move to allow high street pharmacies to carry out covid—19 tests is a significant step in increasing testing available to new yorkers. the governor also said four hospitals will expend antibody testing, starting with the essential workers. as we continue to develop our testing capacity and the labs are coming up to scale, the collection sites are opening, the more testing we have, the more we will open eligibility. hopefully, one day, we get to the point where anybody who wants a test can walk in and get a test, righ

john mcmanus reporting there.holly hamilton, an escalating row over premier league football is taking a pay count. that's right, loads of criticism over the last few days and whether they should take a pay cut. bosses have been trying to reach an agreement over the last couple of days. there's been plenty of criticism around premier league footballers recently as bosses try to reach an agreement over their pay with bosses tabling a 30% percent pay cut but its been described as a "no—win siutation" by wayne rooney. the derby striker says he is happy to offer support but in his column in the sunday times he also said, "why are footballers suddenly the scapegoats? " he added if players come out and say they can't agree, even if the real reasons are that it will financially ruin some, it will be presented as, "rich players refuse pay cut." gary lineker has been sympathetic as well and says people shouldn't be too quick to judge. the players that i have spoken to, they are all desperately keen to do it. the problem is,

john mcmanus, bbc news.are urging the government to announce a further extension to the furlough scheme, which allows them to claim government help to pay 80 per cent of the wages of staff temporarily laid off during the lockdown. the job retention scheme, which will accept online applications from tomorrow, is currently due to run until the end ofjune — a month longer than originally planned. disadvantaged teenagers in england will be able to borrow laptops to help them study at home when schools are closed during the pandemic. it will be up to schools or local authorities to decide who needs help with access to a computer and 4g routers to help families connect to the internet. an online academy offering pupils 180 lessons every week will also be launched to support remote learning. almost all of europe is still in lockdown and while some countries are beginning to ease restrictions, many others have extended the measures introduced to fight the virus. the impact is clearly visible, with empty streets bein

john mcmanus, bbc news.reet has rejected a report in the sunday times that borisjohnson and his team dragged theirfeet in the run—up to the outbreak. let's go to to our political correspondent, iain watson, who joins us from westminster. many might not have seen the government response? it is a very detailed response. the sunday times made serious allegations that effectively the government had ignored dire warnings on the spread of the virus and missed five weeks at the beginning of the year in preparing their response. the government lost no time in preparing the response to the allegations saying it contained a number of falsehoods. for example, one of the claims they wanted to knock on the head quite quickly was the idea that the prime minister was missing in action in the five meetings of the emergency committee, cobra in january but it is far more relevant for the secretary of health to chair the meeting and discussed the crisis in the january seven with the prime minister and had begun to put in place

john mcmanus, bbc news.ssistant political editor norman smithjoins me now. hello, good morning. we are told that boris johnson hello, good morning. we are told that borisjohnson is very cautious about easing lockdown restrictions, why? because i think his fear is that if he reads too early, you risk the virus returning and then you have to have a second lockdown. you know, it is the debate which is now at the centre of this whole crisis, how do we get out of this? mr johnson's view appears to be we have to do this slowly, incrementally and almost on a trial and error basis because his concern is if they go too fast when they have this review in three weeks' time, the virus re—emerges and that threatens not just more unnecessary deaths but also, actually, that it would have a profound effect on the economy if firms were allowed to relax and then told no, you have to close back up again. the fear is that attritional effect on business would be much more profound and many more businesses would risk going bust.

here's our correspondent john mcmanus. the faces changed daily. so do the stories. e heartbreak is the same. john coker, a constable for the british transport police, who is left behind a wife and three children. this woman, awarded an obe after being —— founding a children's charity. just two of the victims in the uk. and the victims continue to grow. yesterday it was confirmed the total was brought to 15,464. but those statistics don't include deaths outside wards. no, the national care forum, which represents adult care providers, says it has evidence that the number of deaths and care homes in one week was double those in the whole of the previous month — that's more than 4000. the organisation says the care sector needs the same support as the nhs and has called for more personal protective equipment and comprehensive testing. the government has been under fire for weeks over the distribution of ppe. after previously insisting that supplies were reaching the nhs, it's 110w supplies were reaching the nhs, it's now admitted that's not always the case. i completely

john mcmanus, bbc news.k, the cabinet minister michael gove has said the government is not thinking of lifting the lockdown yet. newspaper reports had suggested that ministers had planned to open schools in three weeks, which mr gove denied. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is here. there was some detail stuff in the papers about the possible exit strategy, but michael gove having none of it. a lot of questions in re ce nt none of it. a lot of questions in recent days, understandably perhaps from people wanting to know when we can get back to life as normal and he's lockdown restrictions that we have been living within the uk might begin to be lifted. this morning in the papers there is more talk of plans being drawn up, a possible traffic light system by which there would be a phased return to life as normal, and specifically in the sunday times, claimed that schools could reopen in as little as three weeks. i have to say that was denied by the education secretary first thing this morning, he was

john mcmanus, bbc news.ng to speak to the former labour prime minster tony blair in the next few minutes about his strategy for easing lockdwon restrictions. scientists around the world are working hard to find an effective treatment for covid—19, but it's a long process that could take many months or even years. here in the uk, a team is already carrying out some human trials, with a technique which uses the blood from survivors to treat those who are ill. 0ur science correspondent rebecca morelle explains. it's a race to save lives and in the hunt for new treatments, blood may hold the key. nhs blood and transplants have started approaching people who recovered from covid—19. their blood contains antibodies, which are produced by the immune system and destroy the virus. the hope is to start a clinical trial to see if these antibodies can help patients who are currently ill. scientists have welcomed the move but say the uk has been too slow. in terms of the uk, i think there are many aspects of this pandemi

john mcmanus, bbc news.he uk, the cabinet minister, michael gove, has said the government is not thinking of lifting the lockdown yet. newspaper reports had suggested that ministers had planned to open schools in three weeks, which mr gove denied. earlier, our political correspondent jonathan blake explained the government response. people are keen to know when we can get back to something like life is noble —— as normal at these lockdown restrictions might begin to be lifted. there are more talks of plans being drawn up, possible traffic light system by which there would be a phased return to life as normal, and specifically in the sunday times, claimed that schools could reopen in as little as three weeks. i have to say, that was denied by the education secretary, gavin williamson, first thing this morning. he was quick out of the blocks on twitter to say no decision had been taken and it would only been taken —— be taken when the scientific evidence that it was right to do so. we have heard from the cabin

john mcmanus, bbc news. where do you think we are today?aid in your piece, we are in a very difficult situation today. we believe that it is possible that gowns may run out for some trusts this weekend. just to put that into perspective, we probably got tens of thousands of gowns left but each day a big hospital might use around 4000 gallons and london alone can use between 30 and 40,000 gallons so we are ina between 30 and 40,000 gallons so we are in a really worrying situation in terms of gowns and if you are a hospital trust leader that is particularly challenging because your top priority is to make sure your top priority is to make sure your staff are safe and are doing everything they can, working really closely with the national supply chain to try and get as many downs across the country but there is a shortage and a global shortage. it isa shortage and a global shortage. it is a really worrying situation and it isa is a really worrying situation and it is a concerning situation but these new guidelines have come out to help get thr

john mcmanus, bbc news.ose organisation represents the whole range of organisations that commission and provide nhs care. thank you forjoining us. what is your assessment of the situation today? i think there is going to be real anxiety in the health service over this weekend. we understand that there is no some hope that we may be able to get through the next couple of days. there was certainly huge amounts of nervousness at the end of the week as it were that there might be shortages in the nhs, particularly around this question of guns, which are used in places like intensive care where there is a very high level of viral load —— the question of gowns. even if we are in a better position than we were 70 hours ago, we could still face the problem in a few days' time because the whole thing is working very much on hand to mouth basis and certainly all the members i have talked to to have been talking about we have enough supplies until 11pm scratch ii o'clock tomorrow or we did not get the numbers we though

john mcmanus, bbc news.e of the nhs confederation, which represents a whole range of organisations that commission and provide care for the national health service. he says front line staff are still very concerned about the issue of the availability of protective equipment. i think there is going to be real anxiety in the health service over this weekend. we understand that there is some hope that we may be able to get through the next couple of days, there was certainly a huge amount of nervousness at the end of the week, as it were, that there might be shortages in the nhs. particularly around this question of gowns, which are used in places like intensive care, where there is a very high level of viral load and where people are doing really quite a difficult procedures, where there is a risk of them getting in touch with droplets of the virus. but even if we are slightly better positioned as of this morning that we were, say, 48 or 72 hours ago, the reality is that we could still face the problem in a fe

john mcmanus, bbc news.monstrations have continued in several areas against lockdown restrictions imposed by state officials to try to stop the spread of coronavirus. donald trump has criticised state governors, saying they were getting carried away with imposing too many restrictions. rich preston reports. from new hampshire to minnesota, ohio to texas, these protesters want lockdown restrictions lifted. angry at how measures to control the spread of coronavirus have impacted on work and the economy. some have lost theirjobs, their livelihoods and their incomes. and so they would rather risk catching the virus and continue like this. president trump using saturday's white house press briefing to reaffirm that america will again be open for business. texas and vermont will allow certain businesses to open on monday, while still requiring appropriate social distancing precautions. montana will begin lifting restrictions on friday, 0hio, north dakota, and idaho, have advised nonessential businesses to prepare

john mcmanus, bbc news. accused of dragging its heels over demands for a guarantee of financial support to the families of healthcare workers who've died treating coronavirus patients. the british medical association wants all staff to qualify for death in service benefits, even if they're not covered by existing arrangements. at least 90 nhs workers are known to have died with covid—19. the department of health said it was evaluating financial support for the families of those on the front line. spain has had one of the strictest lockdowns in europe, but will start to ease restrictions today by allowing children to leave their homes for the first time in 6 weeks. parents are being told to be responsible and exercise with extreme caution. new deaths in spain have dropped to just under 400, and the prime minister pedro sanchez says more people might be allowed to exercise outside from next week. in germany, riot police have arrested dozens of anti—lockdown protesters in central berlin. around 1,000 people ign

john mcmanus, bbc news. to our political correspondent jonathan blake who's in downing street. the prime minister is back in the topjob and the prime minister is back in the top job and the to—do list is a significant one. it is. three weeks after going into hospital, boris johnson is back at work here at number ten downing st. a month since he was diagnosed with the virus. of course, he spent a week or so in isolation in the flat above number ten. but since his arrival at around seven o'clock last night here in downing street, it is very much back to something like at least business as usual as far as number ten is concerned and first up as you say is that meeting of the government's covid—19 response group. the prime minister will share that. it is attended by other key cabinet ministers and the most pressing issue at hand of course is to start thinking about and planning for how and when to lift the lockdown measures that are in place. political pressure on the prime minister from political pressure on th

john mcmanus reports.s workplace, the machinists are more used to making jackets designed to withstand the british weather. but now the staff at this barber factory in southfields have turned their hands to personal protective equipment, ppe, vital to repel not rain but the coronavirus. the company says it hopes to make around 23,000 gallons for nhs staff over a three week period. other ma nufa ctu res three week period. other manufactures have joined them. three week period. other manufactures havejoined them. but despite this, supplies of ppe in england, such as fully fluid rappelling downs, will run out sometime this weekend, according to the head of nhs providers, chris hobson. he blames a global shortage, saying that gowns ordered weeks ago we re saying that gowns ordered weeks ago were just saying that gowns ordered weeks ago werejust beginning to saying that gowns ordered weeks ago were just beginning to arrive now. in response, public health england hasissued in response, public health england has

john mcmanus reports. it's the issue that won't go away.fety of both nhs and care workers by providing them with enough supplies of personal protective equipment, ppe? despite initial assurances that there was enough ppe to go around, ministers have since admitted that in england that has not a lwa ys that in england that has not always been the case and there we re always been the case and there were fears that essential supplies would run out over the weekend. this consignment ppe arrived at glasgow prestwick airport from china on saturday. but a flight on sunday containing supplies from turkey, destined for the nhs in england, never made it to the uk. it was supposed to contain 400,000 badly needed hospital gowns. the british medical association has described the delay is a matter of life and death. and the organisation representing nhs trusts says promises about individual consignments aren't always fulfilled. bitter experience over the last few weeks has demonstrated that because of the erratic nature of the supply, the erratic nature

john mcmanus, bbc news.ctor on the white house covid—19 task force says she believes social distancing will be needed throughout the summer in the united states. dr deborah birx was responding to remarks by vice president, mike pence, that he thought the epidemic would be mostly over by the end of may. in an interview on nbc‘s meet the press, dr birx said, however, the infection rates in some cities do appear to have peaked. it's very much based on detroit, louisiana and other groups, and then looking at seattle, that never really reached a peak and has never really had a large outbreak, and trying to understand what we can do as a people to ensure social distancing will be with us through the summer, to really ensure that we protect one another. with more on this, here's our north america correspondent peter bowes. she does seem to be at odds somewhat with mike pence, the vice president. she is talking about social distancing still being enforced until the end of summer, whereas mike pentz, the vice preside

first, let's hearfrom john mcmanus, who is outside st thomas‘s hospital in central london. . we know you went into intensive care last night. saint thomas has to intensive care units in last night at seven o'clock, the prime minister was given oxygen and given one of those units, so he could be close to a ventilator if needed because if mr johnson needed a ventilator, it would mean his condition had deteriorated and also that he would be sedated because they have the tube is inserted into their throats. that's not the moment but statistics show that so far, around two—thirds of coronavirus patients who do need to go to intensive care are eventually put onto a ventilator. that's not happening right now, specialists in the icu will be looking after mrjohnson, making sure his organs are working, that they have enough oxygen while his immune system fights the virus. helen catt is on downing street. i suppose the important question which will be asking various ministers later, what happens in terms of running the country at the moment? we are in a different place than we were thi