our science correspondent pallab ghosh joins us. llab, what do scientists know about the affects of covid—i9 on children at present? there is a great deal of clinical evidence which shows that children tend not to become severely ill from covid—i9 and we have had evidence just this week which suggests they might bejust just this week which suggests they might be just as likely to get the virus as adults. the critical question is how likely they are to spread it. now, as we heard in jessica's report, schools which have reopened in other countries haven't become infection hotspots but it is early days and there's not enough data to give definitive reassurances that children don't pass on the virus. those risks, which might turn out to be low, have been balanced against the known risks of children falling behind in their development from not going to school, physically those from poorer backgrounds. palla b those from poorer backgrounds. pallab ghosh, our science correspondent, thank you. people are still being urged to stay away from t

england, two weeks before more children could be back behind a desk. 0ur science correspondent pallab ghosh that the risk that children may contract or pass on coronavirus will have been measured against the risk of children in england falling behind with their education. there is a great deal of clinical evidence that shows that children tend not to become severely ill from covid—19. and we have had evidencejust this week that suggest that they may be just as likely to get the virus as adults. the critical question is how likely they are to spread it. now, as we heard injessica's report, schools which have reopened in other countries have not become infection hotspots, but it is early days and there is not enough data to give definitive reassurances that children don't pass on the virus. but those risks, which may turn out to be low, have to be balanced against the known risks of children falling behind in their development from not going to school, particularly those from poorer backgrounds. the former us president, barack obama, has strongly criticised the trump administration over its r

let's speak to our science correspondent, pallab ghosh.red as soon as possible. the business secretary was keen to play at the positives with 30 million doses available should a vaccine be developed by september. but that is incredibly optimistic. i think very few people thing a vaccine will be developed by september. the optimists believe it will be in the year, vaccines and make it takes year to develop them and we heard today from the prime minister ina and we heard today from the prime minister in a newspaper article the admission that a vaccine may never be developed. what was interesting to me in the briefing today is what the business secretary was not able to say. he was not able to answer vicki young's question about contact tracing for teachers by the end of june. and also, i was struck by the graph stephen powis showed of hospital admissions which has steadily been going down, that was interesting because it is an interesting because it is an interesting of the most accurate indication of the r number. for several weeks, we have

my colleague, martine croxall, put those questions to our science correspondent, pallab ghosh, earlieran immunity test will tell you whether you are immune to a certain disease, in this case, coronavirus, and the antibody test which we have will tell you whether you have got antibodies against it. normally, if you get a disease the body has an immune response and it has antibodies which fight the virus and defeat it. should you get reinfected, it will defeat it again. in this instance, coronavirus is unusual in that there are cases of reinfection. just because you have had it or have antibodies, it does not guarantee that you are immune. that is crucial, because boris johnson described the arrival, the potential arrival of this test back in march, as a game changer. now that it is about to arrive, public health england described it as a positive step forward. the reason of the change in superlatives is the fact that because having antibodies to coronavirus doesn't necessarily guarantee immunity, it is much less useful to individuals because you do not know if it is safer for you to bec

to give us more on this, let's speak to our science correspondent, pallab ghosh.turkey but now we are told they don't meet standards here in the uk. why did this happen, why did the government not know that they were not what they expected them to be? if you cast your mind back to mid april, you will recall the government was under immense pressure because there were a shortage of ppe, doctors and nurses and front—line staff and social care staff just not getting and front—line staff and social care staffjust not getting the equipment they needed. one would imagine that they needed. one would imagine that they had cut corners not checked the equipment that they needed to, that they otherwise would have and shipped over this consignment from turkey which has turned out not to meet the safety standards. i have had a look at what those standards should be and they include four surgical gowns that they should be made of well established materials, they must be sterile, what it repellent. all these things were not checked. until the consignment of 400,000 gallons arriv