This is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. As a vital shipment of 400,000 safety gowns from turkey is delayed, some hospitals in england warn theyre down to their last few days of supplies. The government says its doing all it can. We are doing absolutely everything we can to bring as much ppe in from right across the globe. We recognise its a big challenge. I cant give you a date the education secretary says schools wont reopen until the uk meets its five tests, but says there are no plans to have them open over the summer. While spain looks towards relaxing lockdown measures, by allowing children to go outside from next monday, italy is still considering its next move, and the number of daily fines for illegal Outdoor Activity is on the rise. India enters its fourth week of coronavirus lockdown. Doctors tell the bbc a lack of tests mean they dont yet knowjust how serious the situation is. From what i am hearing from hospitals here, some of them are getting full up and are having now to turn patients away. And coming up, well find about how high unemployment levels in the us could impact the Global Economy. Hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. Were covering all the latest coronavirus developments, both here and globally. The uk government says its doing all it can to get as much Personal Protective Equipment as possible from around the globe to Front Line Health Workers here. It comes as a further
596 people have died in the uk from coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths tojust over 16,000. Over 120,000 people have tested positive for the virus in the uk. A delivery of vital protective equipment for Health Care Workers to the uk has been delayed. The government said it was working to ensure the shipment from turkey, which includes 400,000 gowns, would reach front line staff in the coming days. The education secretary has said he cannot give a date for when schools in england might reopen, and argued that maintaining lockdown was the best way to save lives. And the government has defended the Prime Ministers leadership as focused and determined, following reports borisjohnson missed several emergency meetings on coronavirus in the build up to the crisis. Elsewhere, south korea has reported just eight new cases of coronavirus in 2a hours. The country had a major outbreak in february but has managed to control it with aggressive testing and tracing measures. Restrictions on social
gatherings will now be eased. Frontline workers in india have told the bbc that they dont know the trule scale of the coronavirus outbreak as the country is not carrying out sufficient testing. And, new yorks governor, andrew cuomo, says hell launch an aggressive Antibody TestingCampaign Next week, to see how many people have had the virus. He also said the coronavirus outbreak there is on the descent. Well have more on the stories in a moment, but, with the latest in the uk, heres our health editor, hugh pym. A vital consignment of masks and other Personal Protective Equipment arrives from china at Prestwick Airport near glasgow this weekend. It is ready for distribution to health and care workers around scotland, at a time when the kit known as ppe is in short supply in different parts of the uk. Some hospitals in england have warned theyre down to the last few days of supplies of the gowns used in intensive care. A planeload of equipment due in from turkey did not
arrive as expected today. Shortages of ppe have been reported by frontline staff for several weeks now. I raised the issue at the downing street media briefing. Can you comment on reports today that stocks of ppe were allowed to run down in the couple of years before the pandemic, and why was more not done to get hold of more ppe in march and early february, including using British Companies . It is important to remember that although there may be elements of distribution problems across the uk at different times and in different places, this is a huge pull on services which we have never seen before. And we have managed, actually, despite signalling many potential shortfalls, to continue to supply, going forward. We are doing absolutely everything we can to bring as much ppe in, right from across the globe. We recognise its a big challenge, we recognise we have got to be supporting the people who are supporting our nation in terms of the health service. But labour argues that the government should do more to find supplies in the uk. Every mps inbox, certainly mine, is awash with small firms across the country saying they have tried to help the government with ppe, they have tried to tell the government they can manufacture a ppe, and they hit a brick wall, they dont get anything back from them whatsoever. Stephen was a Mental Health nurse who had worked for the nhs for 30 years. He died with coronavirus last weekend. Other members of the family were infected. His daughter made this plea to the public. Please stay at home while you can. My dad couldnt, and he lost his life. So, if you can, i know its horrible, no one wants to be stuck at home 24 hours nearly every day, but it is what we need to do right now, and if it saves one life by staying in the house,
then its absolutely worth it. With social distancing in force and empty streets, speculation and debate about when the lockdown will be eased intensified. There have been reports today that some schools might reopen in the middle of may. The reporting in todays newspapers today regarding 11th may, that is not true, we have not made that decision. And the other inference in your question, which is that areas of hospitality will be among the last to exit the lockdown, yes, that is true, they will be among the last. And at the new Nightingale Hospital in londons docklands, their first patient to be successfully treated for covid i9 was moved to another hospital to recover continue his recovery. There was applause from the staff who had volunteered to move to work there. Hugh pym, bbc news. Spains Prime Minister says he hopes to relax some rules of the countrys
lockdown so that children can go outside. Weeks of stringent measures for the country are set to continue, despite a drop in daily deaths. Other parts of europe too are considering the way forward out of lockdown, as reged ahmad reports. Nurses at la paz hospital, in madrid. Paying tribute to their chief of surgery, who died from covid i9, after being infected at his own hospital. As heavily protected intensive care nurses give a thumbs up, its a stark reminder of the sacrifices made and the toll the coronavirus has taken on European Health systems. Its also why the decisions around how to reduce lockdown measures are so important and difficult. Although spain believes its over the peak of infections, the Prime Minister is seeking to extend the countrys lockdown for now, with an exception. Translation from the 27th of april, the Spanish Government will take measures to alleviate the lockdown if i can call it that of our children, so they can go out and benefit from those statistical improvements that we are seeing in the evolution of this pandemic. France, too, says its seeing a slow improvement in the number of serious cases, although the Health Crisis remains. Even so, the french president has already set a may date for the end of lockdown. Italy, though, is still considering its next move. Entering its seventh week of strict measures, with the highest death toll in europe, the country is seeing fines for illegal Outdoor Activity increasing, as people are wooed by the warmer weather. For some, though, the journey through this pandemic may bejust beginning. Russia has registered another sharp rise in infections. Officials say its due to an increase in testing. President putin said the situation was in hand. Translation all levels of government are working methodically, smoothly and responsibly. The situation is under complete control. Perhaps a sign of germanys improved situation as it prepares tentative steps out of lockdown, the country took some unaccompanied migrants from greece. 0verall, virus cases in greece remain relatively low, but some mainland refugee camps have had to be quarantined. And pope francis, too, showed a small sign of emerging from lockdown himself, delivering mass at an empty church away from the vatican for the first time in more than a month. His message was that selfish indifference was worse than the virus, warning that the recovery from covid i9 should not leave anyone behind words many may consider, as europe ponders its next steps. Reged ahmad, bbc news. In normal times, children would be about to go back to school at the end of the easter holidays, but the latest government briefing from downing street gave no timeframe on when that might be possible in england. 0ur education editor, bra nwen jeffreys, reports from staffordshire. The streets in stoke are empty. The schools are closed. But for how much longer . I want nothing more than to see schools back. Get them back to normal, make sure that children are sat around learning and experiencing the joy of being at school. But i cant give you a date. Carl ward runs four schools and a college he cant see them opening anytime soon, not least because of staffing. I had about 40 50 members of staff that had self isolated because theyre vulnerable themselves or theyve taken government advice and theyre
looking after vulnerable people. So, i anticipate when i open, that may well be the same. So, i think thats going to be a real difficulty to get over, but it will take some time to go through that process. Before schools can even think about reopening, ministers know that parents have to be convinced their children will be safe coming back to school, and teachers confident that they wouldnt be risking their lives by coming to work. For parents, it is challenging, with the worry that kids are missing out on learning. I think weve got to put the safety of the students and the safety of the teachers and other staff that are working in schools first. I think it would be very difficult to space the children out. Children dont space themselves out, theyre together, arent they . Yeah. If you select on it and open up the document. Co op schools were getting pupils ready to move online before lockdown. Now, theyre buying 1,000 laptops
to help vulnerable families. In england, ministers are now promising more devices and 4g to help. They will be targeted at year ten pupils from poorer families. Its a little bit funny, isnt it . Its the beginning of the summer term, and we arent all in our own schools. A new Online School is launching, backed by some big Academy Schools in england. But this new Digital World of learning risks leaving some of the poorest kids falling even further behind. Bra nwen jeffreys, bbc news, staffordshire. With me now is our chief political correspondent, vicki young. This mornings front pages were full of speculation from unnamed government sources suggesting schools might be back as early as may the 11th. The sultan and the education secretary said he couldnt give a so thats that . It was a
pretty blunt give a so thats that . It was a pretty blu nt a nswer. Give a so thats that . It was a pretty blunt answer. Its a question that parents, teachers and pupils will be asking, because i think the thinking is it could be one of the first steps on that road back to normality, opening schools, at least for some pupils. But that does seem further away now after today, and i think we got another clue about where the government is on all of this from another cabinet minister, who talked about the approach to lifting some of these lockdown measures being deliberately cautious. 0ther measures being deliberately cautious. Other countries are starting to take some action. It sounds like the uk is going to watch what is happening. And of course it will listen to the scientific advice. We got another clue that certainly pubs and restaurants will be at the very end of that chain, if you like, of what might happen, so not likely to reopen any time soon. If you look at the next review which is due to happen in the uk of the lockdown measures, its not until
may the 7th, and i think it might be likely we dont hear much from the government in public, because they dont want to dilute the message about staying at home and social distancing until they are very sure that the numbers and, crucially, the deaths from coronavirus, start to come down. Thank you, vicki young. More than 5 million americans filed for Unemployment Benefits last week, bringing the total of unemployment to 22 million, erasing a decades worth ofjob creation. Initially, Service Industries were hit the hardest, with bars, restau ra nts a nd Hotels Closing their doors. But more recently Office Workers in corporate sectors have been hit by lay offs or salary cuts. This means that many of those who had been furloughed and had taken out loans and credit cards to get by will now struggle to pay them back. To discuss what this will do to americas economy, and global trade, im joined by professor adam tooze at columbia university. I almost had to pause as i was
reading those figures because they we re reading those figures because they were ha rd to reading those figures because they were hard to comprehend. Is america equipped to deal with this kind of shock . You are right, we have never seen shock . You are right, we have never seen anything like this before in the economic history of the United States or any other western country. Its an open question, whether the american system can withstand the shock. Certainly, none of the Unemployment Insurance systems are built for this. On my systems have been crashing in many states. The two Big Questions are about the Unemployment Insurance system which, in many states, is built to deny people benefits rather than to provide a true safety net, and the other issue is health care, which is tied to employment for tens of millions of people, and there is a real risk of a crisis there. Is the us passed a stimulus package. Is that enough. It will not be enough. It was gigantic and historic, twice the size of the stimulus package passed in 2009, and it was passed very quickly, in a matter of days,
once lockdown began. But the scale of the crisis, we could be heading over 20 national unemployment. In many states, its already over 25 . That means they will need to be more spending to prop up local government finances, more spending to replace wages that have been lost. There will have to be further action. How will have to be further action. How will the hit to the American Economy affect the rest of the world . Its a devastating blow. Irregular heartbeat of the Global Economy is a global american consumer. The american trade deficit, a problem for american policymakers, is a benefit for every other exporter in the world. In the last quarter, we have seen a 13 full, 40 over a whole year. This sends shock waves across all the exporting countries in the world, in europe and asia. This is an Election Year and inevitably the economic rescue is going to get tied up with politics. How might that play out . It depends on the outcome of the election. Up to the election, Expert Consensus across all parties to spend in this moment. Its a crisis, americans need the money and there is nothing to be gained at this point through austerity. Should the democrats game the presidency, expect on the following day of the conservative media with fox news in the lead to pivot to a relentless emphasis on debt, deficits and the need to claw back that debt. That is what happened in 2008 in the face of what was then the worst crisis in america had suffered since world war ii, the Republican Party voted unanimously against stimulus and turned a deficit into a cross on which they attempted to nail the 0bama administration. That is what we should expect this time as well, we re should expect this time as well, werejoe biden to prevail in the election. We have seen some protesters in states like texas saying they dont want a lockdown, they want to go back to work. There has been consensus in other areas
say that lockdowns are needed to save lives, but what happens if not more people say, want to go back to work even if that puts people self that risk . In a system as fragile as the american one, there is a case that this is more like an emerging market, a developing economy. There are segments of American Society that cant sustain the lockdown. But this is rank populism. This is an anti Democratic Movement of essentially states with democratic governors, and its being cynically manipulated by the president himself, who is calling on the people of michigan to liberate themselves, quote unquote, and is tying the entire business to the right to bear arms, so an alarming thing about the demonstrations it is gun toting americans, largely burly american men, demonstrating their resista nce american men, demonstrating their resistance to the oppressive regulations that have been put in place by democratic governors, who are in the front line of the fight. In michigan, one of the great
mobilisations, the Unemployment Rate lea pt 25 in mobilisations, the Unemployment Rate leapt 25 in a single month. In the face of that, the president is encouraging this kind of totally irresponsible resistance. In the 18th century, the confederation decided it had to get together, that states simply couldnt run things without a central authority, the president ial system and constitution was created. What are we learning now about how america operates between its states and president . Now about how america operates between its states and president 7m depends who is in the white house with the sort of beggar we have there now, divisive and apparently bent on using the epidemic essentially is an Endless Campaign rally. His evening News Press Conferences rally. His evening News Press Co nfe re nces a re rally. His evening News Press Conferences a re utterly rally. His evening News Press Conferences are utterly partisan. He singles out democratic governors and people criticism of him for criticism. There was a widespread conviction that he was playing politics even with the allocation of the National Reserve ventilators. 0n the National Reserve ventilators. 0n the other side, we have seen major figures emerging in california and
new york as hopefuls in the democratic party, and in california they spoke of california as a modernising nation state of 40 million people, which left the rest of us in the rest of the country wondering what we were stuck in if it was not a modernising nation state. So we are seeing extraordinary centrifugal tendencies, which are being exacerbated by the partisan politics above all of the presidency. Congress has joined together relatively effectively to get the job of stimulus done and to back the fed, but its really the man in the white house driving this polarisation. Interesting, thank you so much. According tojohns hopkins university, the us coronavirus death toll now tops 40,000. That is by some distance the country in the world which has had the largest number of coronavirus deaths. Previous figures were around 37,000. Italy and spain were around 20,000. You can look at the red and the amount in the United States, the scale of the pandemic there. One of the first European Countries to adopt a policy of widespread testing for covid 19 was germany where although there have been high numbers of confirmed infections, there have been comparatively few deaths. The German Health minister has said the pandemic is now under control, and parts of the lockdown are set to lift next week. So how key is testing . Tobias welte is a member of the German National covid 19 task force and director of the department of pulmonary and Infectious Diseases at Hanover University school of medicine. Is the pandemic under control in germany . I would say we are in a sta ble germany . I would say we are in a stable condition, so we had a drop down of new infections during the last two weeks by 40 per week,
but still we have about 2500 new infections per day, so we are better, but we are far away from having solved the problem. The director of the world health 0rganisation said test, test, test. Thats what germany has done, i guess. We had a better Testing Capacity than other countries in the world. This is one of the reasons why the death rate is low in germany, because we identified more new infected patients than other countries, and i am sure this is the case in the uk. The number of patients infected but not symptomatic is much higher than in germany, and therefore the death rate is overestimated. However, there is a problem with coronavirus. If you are infected, the test will become positive earliest on the fourth or the fifth so, if a test is negative, you cannot be sure not to be ill. Why did germany have a better testing capability than other comparable countries . Were you ready for this . Did you act more quickly . Yes, i think this is true, so we had a very close look to italy and, when the pandemic was out of control in italy, it had not been started in germany, so we had about four to six weeks to prepare, and we used this time to be better prepared in all circumstances. I understand some parts of the lockdown will begin to ease in germany. Is that a good idea . Well,
this is between what is necessary in the economic and medical fields. Even in the lockdown, there are other Health Care Problems independent from corona, so patients not going to emergency surgeries, patients with myocardial infections or stroke who stay at home because they are afraid to go to the hospital, so there is a need to be a little bit more liberal. But only a little bit more liberal. But only a little bit, and have it under control. If it doesnt work, if we see there are increasing numbers again, we have to go back to the strict lockdown. Thank you so much. Indias coronavirus lockdown has been in place for nearly a month, and it wont be relaxed until at least early may. But the full extent of the outbreak
there has yet to be clarified due to limited testing, as Yogita Limaye reports. India has more than 16,0000 coronavirus cases so far and around 530 people have died of the infection. Were now in our fourth week of lockdown and it will continue until the 3rd of may. Doctors and Health Experts ive been speaking to have told me that the shutdown has reduced the burden on hospitals, to some extent. But some of these front line workers have also told us that its not possible to assess the real scale of the outbreak in the country because its not testing enough. From what im hearing on the ground, this is down to a shortage of testing kits but, also, the departments that are responsible for the testing really have their hands full. Indias government insists it has enough supplies of testing kits to last for a few more weeks, at least. Mumbai is a coronavirus hotspot in india. It has the highest number of cases and deaths so far. From what im hearing from hospitals here, some of them are getting full up and are having now to turn patients away. There is more on the website, and let me know what you are up to. Im on twitter at james bbc let me know what you are up to. Im on twitter atjames bbc news. More now on the problems around the distribution of Personal Protective Equipment in the uk. 0ur economics editor faisal islam explained the complexity of getting to the brunt of the problem. It can be both true to say, as the government is saying, that hundreds and millions of items of ppe have been distributed up and down the country, and it can also be true at the same time to say that some nhs trusts or gps or certainly care Home Settings havent got the ppe that they need, or they are assessed as needing, and there is a separate issue of what they want as well, because some individual doctors and nurses look at the guidelines and say, well, we want to be more protected than the guidelines are saying. So that starts to explain why you are getting, yes, on the one hand,
hundreds of millions of items being distributed, and on the other hand the regular through flow of medical professionals saying, we need more, or we need a slightly different type. And so, yes, there were also big stockpiles that emerged from pandemic flu planning and also no deal brexit planning, and the real question is how quickly are they being used day to day, and how much are they being replenished . So you can say that there are a billion items that have been released, but what is the rate, the flow of that into the system . I think the first thing to say is that this is not a flu pandemic, its a coronavirus pandemic, and coronavirus has been shown to be more contagious and potentially will be more long lasting than a flu pandemic would have been, so you need more. So we dont have that data on usage, except for the fact that a government ministerjust this afternoon has tweeted out one individual hospitals usage stats. I then tweeted out that. To give you a sense, this is the United Hospital trust of lincolnshire. It gives you an idea ofjust how much ppe is required in a setting, actually, where covid 19 is less spread than, say, the capital city or birmingham or wherever. You can see, if you tot it all up, its that middle column, usage per day, 72,000 items per day for a three hospital trust, and thats a lot of ppe. And you scale that up, you scale that up across the nhs, across the uk, and we are obviously talking about millions of items of ppe a day, and then suddenly hundreds of millions over 50, 60 days doesnt look quite as significant as it might otherwise do, so you need to know how much is being used. Weve only got scarce data for that, with the example ive just given you, but one also needs to take into account the fact that its difficult to replenish, so you have this demand, you have supply problems, because the whole world wants it, and that is where you get the problem of, yes, lots of distribution, but also the fact that the people on the ground are telling us incessantly that they cant get enough. Now its time for a look at the weather with nick. Hello. Much of the week ahead is looking dry and sunny, though an easterly breeze will at times make it feel cooler then youd think otherwise. And there is enough of the breeze around overnight to stop temperatures falling as low as they would. 0therwise, largely clear, a bit of cloud running in toward southern england. The Channel Islands may squeeze out an isolated shower, and temperatures will fall below freezing. The coldest parts of highland scotland getting down to 5, perhaps a touch of frost in the coldest parts of northern england, especially the further north you are. But for much of the uk,
a few degrees above freezing as we start the day tomorrow, any cloud, a chance of a shower towards the far south west will disappear, and then it isjust about across the uk a sunny day, but that brisk easterly breeze does make a difference. These are average speeds, gusts are going to be higher, particularly in england and wales around 30 40 mph, and that will hold temperatures back along some of these north sea coasts to 10 12d, whereas elsewhere, mid to high teens. Hello this is bbc news with james reynolds. The headlines. As a vital shipment of 400 thousand safety gowns from turkey is delayed some hospitals in england warn theyre down to their last few days of supplies. The government says its doing all it can. We are doing absolutely everything we can to bring as much ppe in from right across the globe. We recognise its a big challenge. I cant give you a date
the education secretary says schools