And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. This is bbc world news america. Reporting from new york, im laura. Laura two millionndeople arouhe world are now infected with coronavirus. As new york citys death toll reaches 10,000. The coronavirus blame game, president trumps decision to cut u. S. Funding for the World Heal Organization gets international pushback. I thinkigve fe out my phone finally. How do i look now . Laura plus, social distancing sesame street style. The beloved tv show is helping kids adapt to these unsettling times. Laura for those of you watching on pbs and around the globe, welcome to bbc world news america. There are more than two million cases of coronavirusd the world. And 1 3 of those infections are here in the United States. In nework city, the death toll has been revised upwards to 10,000. As the governor orders everyone here to wear face coverings in public when social distancing isnt possible. Theres some encraging news amid the gloom. The rate of news infections slowing. Nickryant has more. Reporter to a city known for its energy and life. The coronavirus has brought an n overriding s of fear. New yorks number of dead has soared past 10,000. More victims in all but a few countries. And three times as many people as were killed in the attacks of1. September still, we wait for the sound of sirens, still new yorkers worry that the ambulances outside their windows might soon end up outside their doors. But hospital admissions are down. And after one of the mostwful months in the citys history, the spread of the virus has slowed. Almost everybody is on oxygen. And aost everybody is a covid19 patient. Reporter at a hospital in brooklyn, dr. Malloy has been keeping a video diary of life and death. E wards are crowded still with patients dependent on ventilators. Medics and nurses are fill floriday and emotionally exhausted are physically and emotionally exhausted. But there are signs of hope. Oday there are 43 people in the department. Thats pretty much full. But i have to say,ts doing a lot better than a couple weeks ago when we had 86 to 96 in the department. 30 people boarding. It was really tough it was really bad. A bad week of the but things have gotten a lot better. H reporter tis is still very much a city at half mast. More than 750 new yorkers have lost their les in the past 24 hours. But fears thathe Health Care System here would be overwhelmed have not been alized. And the governor of new york believes the worst is over. The coronavirus hasnt managed to crush the charismatic personality of this city. Here outside a hospital in manhatn, the heroes of 9 11 were saluting the new superheroes of covid19. D in new york, every night at 7 00, the same wave of gratitude for medical workers that swept across the planet. An act of civic commune on, maybe even a commune on, maybe even a global coming i togeth this season ofci soal and national isolation. A times square we thought these people were tourists. Something we havent seen here for weeks. But theyre medics who traveled here from all over america to help new yk at its time of maximum peril. Hopefully that moment has passed. Nick bryant, bbc news, new york. Laura for more on the across the country, im joined by dr. Former director of the centers for Disease Control and prevention. Hes currently president and c. E. O. Of resolved to save lives. Thanks so much for being with us. Here in new york city the death toll is more than0,000. Thats more than died in italy. What is your reaction to the scale of this tragedy . Its jt heartrending. I live in new york city. I was born here. I was health cmissioner here under Mike Bloomberg for nearly eight years. I did my t medicalining here. And all day and all night we hear the sirenan more than 10,000 dead. And in addition, at least 3,000 deaths more than at previous times that are not now known to be covid. Those could have been people who didnt come in for care or who had erother co. The overall there are overall more covid deaths. The tragedy is almost inconceivable. To give you a cparison. 0 thats 10, deaths in about two months. During the 19181919 influenza pandemic, there were an estimated 30,000 deaths in this city in two years. So its looking like that kind of devastation and its certainly the most devastating Global Pandemic weve had in a century. But unfortunately it isnt over. Although its b gettiter, we are not out of the woods. We essentially made a strateg retreat, but when we go back out again, the virus will still be there. Thats why were emphasizing the box. To box it in. Contact tracing and quarantine. If we get those four things right, we can box the virus in, to begin to emerge from our homes. And this is a warning f any city, anywhere in the world. To take this virus very seriously. Laura where else in america are you concerned about . You look at emerging hot zones. Weve seen outbreaks in louisiana, in michigan. Weve seen seattle and parts of california early had cases and react mopromptly. Ironically, having a large outbreak in a nursing home erted the community earlier so they could respond effectively. But rsing homes as a sector are being devastated by this. Thousands of deaths, thousands of Nursing Homes with outbreaks in them. There are about 1. 3 million t 1. 5 Million People who live in Nursing Homes. Most of them are elderly or medically vulnerable. And were seeing mortality rates of 20 or more in the Nursing Homes where this rages so that is ground zero for covid in this country. But also, communities of color, people who are socially or economicallyisadvantaged, were seeing much higher rates. Here in new york city the death rate among africanamericans death rate among white and so that terriealth inequality that were seeing in new york and around the world for years again, showing up with covid deaths. Laura thank you so much for the World Health Organization says it regrets president trumps plans to cut u. Funding for the body. Mr. Trump claims the w. H. O. Pushed chinese misinformation about the coronavirus outbreak. However, president s move came amid mounting scrutiny of his own handling of the crisis. Our Diplomatic Correspondent reports. Reporter as this pandemic sweeps across the world, many countries are fighting the virus their own way. Ere hasnt been much in the way of international cooperation. The one body that has been e sharingertise and guidance is the World Health Organization. An agency of the United States. And yet now its facing io united n. And yet now its facing a huge 15 cut in its funding, about 00 Million Pound courtesy of the president of the United States. President trump oday im instrkting my administration to halt instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organizations role in severelyismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Reporter mr. Trumps criticism focused on the organizations handling of the initial outbreak in wuhan. Si it of failing to get experts in early enough and failing to challenge chinas apparent lack of tlnsparency. F which the president claimed had cost thousands of lives awi wor economic damage. In china, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said his gernment was serioly concerned. The current global epidemic situations grim. It is a critical moment. The u. S. Decision will weaken e w. H. O. s capacities and undermine t cooperation against the epidemic. Reporter the World Health Organization haced criticism for initily playing down the possibility of human to human transmission and for appearing unwilling to criticize c but there was little support across the world for any cut in funding, which many said would make things worse. The u. N. Secretary general said its m belief that th World Health Organization must be supported. Ast isbsolutely critical to the worlds efforts to win the war against cov19. At a time like this where we need to be sharing information, where we need to have advice that we can rely on, the World Health Organization has provided that and we will continue to support it and we will continue to make rco ribution. Reporter donald trump is instinctively disustful of international organizations, but his critics said hison atta he World Health Organization was intended to distract from his own poor handling of the virus in the u. S. Where hes been accused of acting too slowly. With more americans suffering and dyi from covid19 than anywhere else in the world. Laura for more, im joined by the bbcsat as the president tries to blame the World Health Organization for this crisis, he heard virtually from Business Leaders today. What were they telling him . Yeah. Interestingly he summonned this specifically to look at how america can get back open again and the economy can get back on its feet. And the main thing that he heard from these leaders is that they need a lot more testing here in the United States, otherwise whatever the government does, people wont feel confident about going back to work. The testing is still low. About 100,000 americans are being tested every day. Theof estimates ow Many Americans need to be tested every day, though, run up to 22 million. Thats a massive increase. And there don plans to get to that level. Laura and how is the president planning on ramping up that testing . Or is he just goi to leave it to the states . W l, there are reports out just today that the testing in the United States has declined during the course of the past week. Now, that cou be because of some of the criteria of who gets tested. But theresseen t ongoing battle between the states and ovthe federalnment about testing. About Contact Tracing and who gets trained for that. And about who onsp the country. And without some kind of coordinated approachen governors and the federal government and the white house it looks like a bit of a mess, this whole plan for reopeng americ laura nd separately what do you make of the warp speed at which Top Democrats are unifying behind joe biden . Y h, its not often that we get to say the democrats are all on the same page when it comes to elections, i it . But it does look like now we have bernie sanders, yesterday barackbama, today senator elizabeth warren, all rallying behi joe biden, praising him, endorsing him as their candidate. Fand it seems the moment at least that the democrats are all onboard with a real push as thay to get rid of donald trump in november. Because that is their priority. Laura were getting the unemployme figures tomorrow. Just how many people could we see . Maybe north of 20 million americans have lost their jobs in this crisis . We had 6. 6 million last week, right . And 6. 6 million about a week before that. Nobody thinks that its going to get any better. It does look like were goingch to r levels beyond the great depression. Its anybodys guess wha the actual number will be next week. But until we get this testing, lets get back tthe beginning of our conversation. Until we get this testing, Business Leaders just dont believe that americans will feel confint about going back into the economy, whatever those numbers are next week. Laur thank you. Germany is slowly easing the lockdown measures imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus. Chancellor Angela Merkel said schools willtart toeon for may 4. This comes as the e. U. Has been talking about how to coordinate strategy for loosening restrictions. Our europedir reports from brussels. Reporter three days into spains partialif lng of its coronavirus lockdown and theres still a lot of confusion. Police say people are unsure if theyre alled back to work or not. In fact, spain has only lifted restrictions for factory and construcon workers, and in an attempt to kickstart this covid19battered economy. Many are scared. Like im in danger. But what are you going to do . I need to provide for my eefamily. I to go back to work. Reporter spains Prime Minister hit back at his critics today. He only mad decisions after taking scientific advice, he said. Juggling economic, social and health risks is daunting for every government this pandemic. Its a big challenge for the e. U. Too. Remember, remember its messy initial reresponse to the crisis . Today brussels called for a lockdown measures. Trategyrom but only if theres a significant decrease in the spread of theve virus a sustaed period of time. Sufficient health systempa ty is needed. There needs to be a reserve. And you needufficient surveillance and monitoring capacity in the form of lar scale testing. Reporter with 27 Different Health care a systems 27 different economic priorities, the European Commission that in the end, each e. U. Country will dide for itself when to lift restrttions. But worth noting that no one here or in e. U. Capitals is talking about getting back to normal, lifting lockdown altogether. This is a targeted, gradual lifting of the restrictions ich would be reintroduced again if theres another big second wave of infection. Today the e. U. s biggest economy said shops in germany would start opening as of monday. Schools as of the 4th of may. But Angela Merkel insisted s tsnt a race. However wellintentioned. We have t understand well be living with this virus until we have the medication or a vacce to deal with it. Reporter delighted to see parents nervousness, danish children streamed back to primary and Nursery School today. Ese are nailbiting moments for the e. U. As well. Europes lifting on how long. Ut no one knows bbc news,el bruss laura in other news now from around the world amazon boss jeffos has seen his wealth swell 24 billion after soing demand for Online Shopping sent the firms share price to a new high. S fortune now totals 138 billion, according to the bloomberg billionaires index. Former Vice President joe biden has denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a former aide ithe 1990s. Tara read claims that the then senator pushed h against a wall and touched her inappropriately. Mr. Biden is the Presumptive Democratic nominee for president. His Campaign Said this week that the iident absolutely did not happen. Youre watching bbc world ne america. Still to come on tonights program. A new weapon in the fight against coronavirus. How this breathing aid may made by racing car engineeel could hp patients. Party enjoyed a strong sharing elections. Ntrys parliamentary nora bicker reports on the measures in place to ensure voter safety at this time. If you had a temperature that was over 37. 5 degrees celsius, you were moved to ara se polling booth, so they set up a separate voting area for those with a higherur temper reporter also when it came to those in quarantine, there are in quarantine. People currently perhaps theyve come into t contth an infected patient or after returning home fromrseas. They too would be allowed to vote but only a certain time. The last hourf polling. They were told to leave their homes at a certain time and be back. They have to call Health Authorities the minute that these measures have taken an army of volunteers, 550,000 people around thery cou to try to make sure that everything was in place. But s far, fingers crossed, everything seems to have gone quite smoothly. Laura medical sta t around world are innovating as they treat coronavirus patients. In the u. K. Theres a new tool called Continuous Positive Airway pressure. Or cpap. Ev thee was manufactured by the mercedes formu 1 team ander engi at University College london. Trials suggest it may prevent patients from needing ventilators. Fergus wal much reports. Walsh reports. Repoer this is the stark reality of intensive care in this time of coronavirus. Royal suri county hospital in gilford has many critically ill patients on ventilators. I just remember it being really, really difficult t breathe. And it would hurt to breathe. It was horrible. It literally scared me. I thought that was it. And they were taking me away. Reporter tim hall is over the worst. The 37yearoldou spent days on an alternati breathing device known as cpap, which pushes oxygeder pressure into the lungs. On a ventilator, which requires sedation. E tak a nice deep breath for me. Just being ableo know whats going on and who is around you and that, again,k i th makes a big difference. Being awake was a massive thing. Reporter the cpap devices have beeny manufactured b mercedes formula 1 inth nmptonshire. Quite a contrast to their usual job of designingor engins f motor racing. They just fished aner of 10,000 of them for finished an order of 10,000 of them for the n. H. S. It was done inar pership with engineers at University College london who modified and improved an existing design. The manufacturing process has been made freely available. O as a consortium, were really dedicatedupporting the global efforts around covid19 and in response to that re we released all of the desns at zero cost. Weve approved downloads of these desanes and thats across 25 countries. Reporter the more of these devices that are made available, the less pressure there will be on ventilators, a limited reurce which are needed for the most severely ill patients. All the medical staff on intensive care at royalre sur must wear fullrotective clothing because of the danger of the infection. They know all t well the threat posed by coronavirus. So you can see clearlyenhe differce between the normal c. T. Sca herend this c. T. Scan here. In the sicke patients, coronavirusause severe pneumonia. What it tells us is that the lung tissue is damaged. And the damage is associated with leakage of fluid and cells into theung so it stops the little blooms of the lung and you can see this is reallye qugnificant, all this is abnormal tissue here. Reporter National Data shows that of more than 1600 coronavirus patients in intensive care, who finished treatment, around half have eed. But ann higher number remain in critical care. Their outcome is still uncertain. Doctors trialing the cpap device hope it will mean more patients will survive, like tim. Whos has thi message onocial distancing. Anything you thinks worth going outside for, its not. Not when you could potentially it could be the last time or even a week or so without is hard enough. T t point, whatever it is, its not worth it. Reporter the cpap machine was approved by medical regulats in just days. Thats in stark contrast to several new models of ventilator, including one by hison. None of have received the goahead for use in the n. H. S. Laura our world hn ws. Turned upside down by this virus. For kids, the loss of routine is especially hd. Enter the iconic tv show, sesame street. For 50 years big bird and the gang have been teaching preschoolers not just their abcs, but also how to deal th difficult situationsike bullying and divorce. On social distancing with a global special called elmos play date. Elmo, i think i figured out my phone finally. W o i look now . Reporter grover and elmo are having a remote play date like millions of kids in america who cant meen up in per but are trying to stay in touch. The muppets are having just like ouble, the rest of us. Is my head really that big . Reporter celebrities, including Anne Hathaway joined elmo and pals for a virtual singsong. As sesame stree evolves to the need of kids in this era of coronavirus. Whats your . Favorite wo supercalifragilisticexpialidoci ous. Reporter i got to hang out with the crew earlier, but now we cant do it. In person so no cuddling. But cookies are a substitute. The only thing is that me ate theeecipe so m not know what ingredients to use. Reporter sesame street is rolling with the times, showing kids that friendships can be maintained from distance. Ura the muppet does their bit. Before get, in paris, the great bell of note are a dame has rung out in notre dame has rung out in honor of care workers on tin front. [bell tolling] laura it marks one year since fire ripped through the cathedral, destroying its ancient roof and its famous speier. Parisian prisonians parians applauded from their balconies and winuws. Thank o much for joining us and watching bbc world news america. Take care. Have a good eveng. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Language specialists teaching spanish, french and more. Raymond james. The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected nes. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Narrator yo re watching pbs. Mr. Rogers its a beautiful girl we are the curious. Woman 1 wow us man 1 the adventuro. Man 2 oh daniel tiger grrr woman 2 those venturing out for the first time. All blast off [rocket explosion] man 3 and tse who have never lost our sense of wonder. Man 4 whoa is man 5 are you seein . [quacking] vo we are the hungry. Cookie monster cookie man 6 the strong. Muhammad ali i must be the greatest vo the joyful. Bob ross a ay little cloud. Man 3 we believe there is always more we can uncover. Girl more we can explor. Woman 3 we believe. Man 6 . In the capacity for goodness. Vo and the potential for greatness. Man 7 the torch has been passed to a new generation of americans. Man 1 pbs. Man 3 pbs. Girl pbs. Bs. Ioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening. Im judy woodruff. Sh on the newr tonight the death toll in the u. S. From covid19 nearly doubles in a concedes that the power to e social distancing lies with thee ors. Then, when to reopen. Se as the white hushes an aggressiveestart of the economy, what will it take to get americans back to work safely . And, o nurses in the intensive care unit, amid mounting stress from treating the sick, and fears over the potential for coagion. Plus, answering your questions about covid19 the risks ofan trission, and how to stay healthy while ca f