Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20200424

Injection . Scotlands first minister says its time to have a grown up conversation over when to relax rules on social distancing. Covid 19 creates uncertainty for expectant mothers over whether hospitals will allow partners to be present at the birth. And the bbcs big night in raises more than £27 million for those affected by the pandemic, with the return of some much loved comedy characters and a very familiar face. Have you seen anything good on tv . Eastenders. They tell me tiger king is rather good. Yes, i tend to avoid the show royalty. Good morning and welcome to bbc news. Im annita mcveigh. Teachers, supermarket workers and delivery drivers are among up to ten million essential workers and their households, who will be able to book a test from today, to tell them whether they have the coronavirus. From today, all key workers in england will be able to register for a test on the governments website, if they or a Family Member have virus symptoms. The tests will contribute to the governments target of adminstering 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. Yesterday, that figure wasjust over 23,500, although the capacity has increased to 51,000. Meanwhile, the Health Secretary said this morning that there is no date set for Boris Johnsons return to work, despite some newspaper reports that it could be as soon as monday. Speaking last night, President Trump said mrjohson sounded sharp and energetic when they had a phone call on tuesday. The president has also been lambasted by the medical community after he speculated during a news conference, whether coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body. And as well as the weekly clap for carers last night, £27 million was raised during the bbcs big night in, which saw children and need and comic relief teams join forces to raise money for nhs charities. Well have more on that later, but first this report from jon donnison. Applause. Its become a thursday night ritual, as britons once again came together to clap for their carers. From bin collectors to the royal family. For a fifth week a show of support for the nhs and other key workers. Its just a little tiny thing that i can do to, you know, make some noise just to say thank you. Every week. Every week . Yeah. Not missed one . Not yet. And we wont. And some of our carers have made the ultimate sacrifice. In st helens earlier, a funeral earlier for sadeq elhowsh, a 58 year old orthopaedic surgeon. A husband and a father of four who lost his life to covid i9 as he worked to save others. Its family to me. Its a big loss for me and a big loss for the trust. A big loss for his family. It will be very difficult for me as well, because in every corner of the hospital we have a memory. And the number of people grieving continues to grow. Latest figures show coronavirus related deaths in uk hospitals went up by 616 in 2a hours. But thats the lowest weekday increase in three weeks. It takes the total number of coronavirus hospital deaths to more than 18,700, though that figure is expected to be significantly higher as it does not include deaths in care homes and in the community. Meanwhile, the government has announced plans to expand testing for covid 19. All key workers, including supermarket staff, transport workers, and teachers, as well as their families, will be eligible for a test if theyre showing symptoms. Gov. Uk to get a test for any of their staff who need a test. And from tomorrow any essential workers who need a test will be able to book an appointment on gov. Uk themselves directly. But the government, still struggling to meet its target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month, says testing and tracing contacts will be key if the lockdown is to be eased in the months ahead. And some businesses are reopening, thank b q, which has already reopened 75 stores this week, will reopen a further 80 today, with social distancing measures in place. Car makers including Jaguar Land Rover and aston martin have also said they will reopen some of their plants. Jon donnison, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent, leila nathoo, is in westminster. Good morning. The government broadening out who can book a coronavirus test. Is there the capacity to get this done, and indeed the demand for this test for the government to get to that 100 tests the government to get to that 100 tests 100,000 the government to get to that 100 tests 100,000 tests a day tiger by the end of the month . There has beena by the end of the month . There has been a big drive to increase testing. That consists of both capacity and getting the number of people in. Capacity has been one issue. We know that stands about 50,000, have way to the 100,000 target. But the issue has been there have not been enough people taking up have not been enough people taking up those tests. Just about 20,000 tests have been carried out. And even that doesnt reflect the true numberof even that doesnt reflect the true number of people. Youve got people having multiple tests. The number of people being tested is lower. There has been a hierarchy of who is getting testing initially it was patients that nhs staff and co star. Now that is being expanded to try to the numbers of people being tested up the numbers of people being tested up to all key workers. They can apply online or their employers can do it on their behalf. The idea is that if people are isolating because they have got the symptoms, or their Family Members have got symptoms, they can get tested and get back to work. This is what the government hopes to get them to this 100,000 a day target. They are trying to open these drive through centres. Theyve got mobile testing unit set up to go out to care homes. They are going to increase the numbers so they will get to the target and make the tats more accessible and easier to process. Here is what the Health Secretary had to say about the target and the capacity earlier. Were ahead of the plans that weve got in terms of that capacity, and its going up by about 10,000 a day, which obviously brings it ahead of schedule to reach the goal. But as i was saying before, there have been fewer people coming forward for a test than wed expected, and thats why weve been able to expand the availability to all essential workers and just make it so much easier for them to get a test. President trump has been talking about Boris Johnson President Trump has been talking about borisjohnson plasma s health based on a phone call the two men had earlier this week. Do we have any had earlier this week. Do we have a ny clear had earlier this week. Do we have any clear idea of when borisjohnson is going to fully return to work . Well, not yet. But we have heard that a fungal to President Trump is one of the things that Boris Johnson has done this week. Phone call. He has had its weekly audience with the queen over the phone. He has been speaking to deputy dominic raab. He is not doing government work. He has made the phone call to President Trump. President trump was asked about that conversation he had earlier this week. He called me a few days ago. I will tell you he sounded incredible. I was actually surprised. I thought it would be like, oh, donald, how are you . He was ready to go. Im very surprised to tell you this. It was like the old boris. Tremendous energy, tremendous drive. I was very surprised because he told me almost, pretty close to when he got out of the hospital. I think it is doing great. I think hes doing great. He was so great. I think hes doing great. He was so sharp and energetic. Pretty incredible. An incredible guy. A friend of ours, a friend of mine. He loves our country, he loves his country a lot. He respects our country. They are looking to have him over there. We know that borisjohnson is still recuperating at chequers. He left hospital about 12 days ago. We havent seen anything of him beyond the video he released when he filmed himself when he was sent home from hospital, thanking the nhs staff. We know it takes some time to recover from this virus. Of course, he was in intensive care for a few nights. We have been getting updates that he is improving. We had matt hancock earlier this morning saying he was cheerful and on the mend in a big way. He has spoken to borisjohnson yesterday, he said. We can see signalled he is starting to do a bit of phone calls, we can see signalled he is clearly on the mend but no firm timetable from downing street as to when he is going to be back at work. Thank you very much, leila nathoo. President trump has been lambasted by the medical community after suggesting research into whether coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the human body. He also appeared to propose irradiating patients bodies with uv light an idea dismissed by a doctor at the briefing. Another of his officials had moments earlier said sunlight and disinfectant were known to kill the infection. Mr trumps own Public Health agencies warn against bleach as a medicine. This is what the us president said. Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether its ultraviolet orjust very powerful light, and, i think you said, that hasnt been checked but youre going to test it. And then i said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And i think you said youre going to test that too. Sounds interesting. Then i see the disinfectant knocks it out in a minute, one minute. Is there a way we can do Something Like that by injection inside, almost a cleaning . It gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous amount of damage. We are going to have to check that. But it sounds interesting to me. We will see. But the whole concept of the light, the wait goes on in one minute, that is pretty powerful. Doctors were quick to warn that the president s idea could have fatal results. And responding to donald trump at the briefing, dr deborah birx, the White House Coronavirus response co ordinator, seemed taken aback at his suggestion. Have you ever heard of that, the heat the light . Relevant to certain viruses, yes, but relative to this virus . Not as a treatment. I mean certainly fever is a good thing. When you have a fever, it helps your body respond, but not as. Ive not seen heat or light. I think its a great thing to look at. I mean, you know. Ministers have come under further pressure to set out the governments lockdown exit strategy, after scotlands first minister said the lifting of restrictions north of the border would be a phased process and that any decisions made would be based on how best to tackle the virus. Heres Nicola Sturgeon explaining her position this morning. Let me be very clear about this. I dont come at this from any kind of political or constitutional perspective. I want to do what is best to suppress this virus, while, as far as we can, allowing some kind of semblance of normality to come back into our lives. Now i dont start from the premise that we must do everything the same at the same time across the uk. Nor do i start from the premise weve got to do things differently in scotland. My decisions will be driven by what is best to tackle this virus and reduce its harms. Were working well on a four nations uk basis. The virus doesnt respect the border between scotland and england, or england and wales. So we must make sure that we try to align our Decision Making as much as possible. But where it makes sense, and there are good reasons to do things slightly differently, we announced the closure of schools in scotland, slightly, not much, but slightly ahead of the rest of the uk. So these are the kinds of decisions we have to take, but for good reasons. Not driven in any way, shape or form by political considerations. That is just not appropriate given the nature of what were dealing with. Nicola sturgeon on the situation in scotland. Wales is tightening some lockdown restrictions, including people using second homes and exercising outside of their local area. Wales first minister, mark drakeford, will unveil seven key questions which will be considered before any easing of restrictions can be made such as whether they bring a low risk of infection, or any economic benefit. He is not expected to give a date for when the changes could start. Retail sales dropped byjust over 5 last month the sharpest fall since records began more than 30 years ago. Figures from the office for National Statistics suggest sales of clothing saw a particularly big drop of 35 . Our business presenter ben thompson joins me. Good morning. Its not a surprise, but that doesnt mean that if these figures dont need to be really closely examined . Figures dont need to be really closely examined . Yeah, you are absolutely right. Good morning. This falls into the category of unsurprising but very important. Important because the Retail Industry makes up a huge proportion of our service sector. That makes up three quarters of our entire economy. Thousands of jobs three quarters of our entire economy. Thousands ofjobs dependent on that and the livelihoods of many businesses too. These figures suggesting, as you said, Clothing Sales down by 24 . As a result of are simply not being able to get out to the shops. Food sales though, perhaps unsurprisingly, if you have got kids at home you will know they are raiding the fridge, you are spending more time eating, and therefore is sales up by 10 . It is a question of winners and losers. She will sods also down significantly because we are simply not travelling. Fuel sales. 0nline doing well in these figures but because we simply cant get out. 2296 but because we simply cant get out. 22 of the sales last month were done online, suggesting the role of the internet and Online Shopping ever increasingly important. But one of the figures that really jumped out on me was a big rise in alcohol sales. Up by 32 . It could be one of the ways we are easing ourselves through the lockdown. Alcohol sales up through the lockdown. Alcohol sales up by through the lockdown. Alcohol sales up by 32 . Nonetheless the overall figures suggesting a 5 fall in sales, the biggest monthly fall on record. Ben what are retailers saying, particularly those in the small to medium sized categories, but government help, access to come and help and whether that is working . Yeah, it is really difficult because if you are a small to medium sized firm, those are the firms that are the backbone of our entire economy. Its very difficult to know what to do for because they are dealing with all sorts of issues in trying to look after their staff. Do they follow their staff . Can they pay some of them . Can they set up a Delivery Service . For a loan. They do have access to loans. The government offering loans. But they should not be at extortionate interest rates. And those firms should not have to put too many assets on the line to guarantee them. Nonetheless many firms finding it difficult to access that money and accepted quickly. Businesses have lots of overheads. They are paying rent, they are paying rates, all sorts of costs. 0vernight there is source of income dried up. They are struggling right now to work out which bills to pay first. The government says help is available. For some of those staff there is the furlough scheme, which will pay up to 80 of wages. Not everybody can access it on time. Payday coming around very quickly. Those firms will have had to have paid their staff and claimed that money back to cover the costs. It is not simple as maybe it seems at first glance for many businesses. They are simply trying to keep their heads above water. Right now its really difficult to do that. Ben thompson. A little later this hour i will be speaking to the owners of a couple of small businesses. 0ne owners of a couple of small businesses. One was already a purely Online Business. The otherfocusing Online Business. The otherfocusing ona Online Business. The otherfocusing on a bricks and mortar shop but having to transfer a lot of what they do online and hearing about their experiences of the pandemic. The headlines on bbc news millions of essential workers and theirfamilies in england can now book a test to see if they have coronavirus if they show symptoms. President trump suggests you can treat covid 19 by injecting disinfectant into the body doctors call his remarks dangerous. Scotlands first minister says its time to have a grown up conversation over when to relax rules on social distancing. Lets get more now on those coronavirus tests, which are now available to millions of essential workers in england if they have symptoms of covid 19. Teachers, supermarket staff and transport workers are among those eligible for testing. Dr andrew lee is an expert in global Public Health at the university of sheffield. Dr lee, very good to have you with us. Dr lee, very good to have you with us. I want to talk about the testing first of all but also about contact tracing, as we look to how we might be able to get out of this lockdown gradually. First and increasing testing for key workers, how useful is that going to be . I think its going to be pretty useful. For two reasons, really. The first is for a lot of essential workers who may be self isolating, they are unable to get to work, they are concerned about infecting staff or people they come into contact with, if they are home workers, for example. So having a knowledge of their status, that will certainly help them get back to work. And the second point is many of these people work in essential functions. If you think about the utilities, for example. So for them to be off work could be disruptive to be off work could be disruptive to those services. For them to be able to get back to work in a timely way ensures that those functions can continue. But we have to factor in shirley that some of these essential workers who test positive on one day could essentially pick up coronavirus a couple of days later. Do we need to factor that in . Im not quite sure about the line there. How useful is the testing . Clearly it has an impact. What is the impact is limited if we consider that a proportion of those who may test negative on any given date may then go on a few days later, potentially, to get coronavirus . 0h, i see. Yes, you are right. There result was the possibility that somebody who has tested negative may catch the disease some days later. But the tests that they are using is a pcr test, it is very sensitive. So i think actually our confidence in the test will be pretty high. I doubt we will be getting anything in the way of false negatives. You talk about a pcr test. Explain how this test works and how the whole process of going for testing might work in practice . 0k. Of going for testing might work in practice . Ok. So this test basically looks for viral genetic material, essentially. Dr lee, i think unfortunately our connection has frozen. Are we able to get him back . Not at the moment, u nfortu nately. To get him back . Not at the moment, unfortunately. Such a shame. That was doctor andrew lee from the university of sheffield. The captain of a Royal Navy Submarine has been sent home on leave, after allowing his crew to hold a dockside barbecue and party during the lockdown. This video has been posted on social media, which appears to show the crew of hms trenchant enjoying a gathering while being held in isolation. The Nuclear Powered submarine was undergoing repairs at the devonport base in plymouth. An investigation by the navy is ongoing. Women say uncertainty surrounding Maternity Services is making a stressful situation harder. The bbcs Found Services vary, with some nhs trusts no longer allowing home births or partners on a ward following a birth, while others can. Anna collinson has been talking to some new and expectant mothers about how covid 19 has disrupted their birth plans. Nadia is more than a week overdue. She is prepared that the coronavirus means her birthing plan is no longer possible and shes anxious her husband can only stay with her for a short time following the birth. I understand any decisions that any trusts are making are going to be for the benefit of my health and the midwives health. But its just quite sad that, you know, you kind of have this image in your mind of what youd like and then its not kind of working out. Evie budden was born on good friday. Her dad tom was allowed to be present for her birth but was soon asked to leave the ward. It was incredibly difficult saying goodbye to tom after our baby had just been born. The midwives on the ward were amazing and really, really supportive but its just not the same as having your husband there for you. The coronavirus has hit Maternity Services hard. Staff shortages mean hospitals are having to reduce services. Though some are having to do it more than others. The situation is constantly under review, though some women have told us the uncertainty is making a stressful situation even harder. Weve asked 16 nhs trusts and boards across the uk about their Maternity Services. All said one birth partner can be present during labour but only a quarter are allowing partners on the postnatal ward. Around a third of trusts and boards we spoke to are still allowing home births and in the weeks after a birth, and theres now an increased reliance on virtual support. Home visits are still happening but one trust only allows face to face contact if its deemed absolutely essential. Having a baby at any time can be an uncertain and sometimes difficult time for women, particularly now, though. What would be your advice to anyone watching who is feeling isolated and alone . We really want the women to continue to access their midwife and Maternity Care so that they are safe during this pandemic. Our advice to women is contact your local service. Contact your midwife and find out today, tomorrow and this week what is happening for you . Because it changes by the day. Due to social distancing, this is the closest kims family have got to meeting three week old william. Kim says she had a positive birth but wishes she could have more face to face contact with Health Workers now. Theyve all said they are at the end of the phone for whenever we need them, its just it is very bizarre that you cant just walk into your midwife unit and say, is everything 0k, is this normal . Its just really lonely that we cant interact with anyone else yet. Anna collison, bbc news. More than £27 million has been raised for people affected by the coronavirus pandemic, as part of the bbc charity special, the big night in. It was children in need and comic reliefs firstjoint fundraiser, and the government has promised to double the total. Lizo mzimba watched the three Hour Television special. Music plays. Like children in need night and red day the show followed the familiar formula of featuring many of entertainments most familiar names. But this time they were taking part from their homes. Who do they . Who are they . David walliams and matt lucas reunited to bring viewers the first new Little Britain material in years. Now, andy, ivejust been to the supermarket for you only took 11 hours and ive got all your favourites for your tea. The vicar of dibley herself, dawn french, recorded a special monologue. Those of you who are with me last sunday will know this room was crammed with easter eggs from the floor to the ceiling and now voila just the one left. While David Tennant attempted to help catherine tates lauren with her homeschooling. Youve got to stand two metres away otherwise you could infect me with the virus. Dont be ridiculous. Social distancing, sir. Stephen fry as blackadders lord melchett was joined by the duke of cambridge before they led the nations clap for carers. There was a performance from some of musics most famous faces of the song sing, written by gary barlow and andrew lloyd webber. The stars of strictly got the country involved in a dancing challenge. And the cast of eastenders took part in a queen vic virtual pub quiz. The money raised will go towards helping people in need during the current crisis. And its notjust celebrities doing their bit, peter kay recreated his famous amarillo video with clips sent in by key workers and members of the public from around the uk. Lizo mzimba, bbc news. What an amazing production that was, put together in such a short time as well. Time for a look at the Weather Forecast with matt taylor. Hi, matt. Hi, there. Good morning. Another sunny day for the vast majority of the uk. It started misty and foggy and eastern areas. That will take a little longer to shift. Some remains across the north east of scotla nd some remains across the north east of scotland through the day. More cloud developing towards the south west and more today for Northern Ireland. For most it is dry and sunny. Temperatures widely into the low 20s. Not quite as high as yesterday. Could finish the day in South West England and wales with isolated showers. They continue into the night. Mist and low cloud and developing widely in eastern part of the country into tomorrow morning. Temperatures generally in single figures. More chance of a frost in scotla nd figures. More chance of a frost in scotland and Northern Ireland. A grey and misty starred in many eastern areas to start saturday. The mist and fog will take a longer to move from the north coast. Some isolated showers in wales and the north west. Cool from the north on sunday. Hello, this is bbc news with annita mcveigh. The headlines millions of essential workers and theirfamilies in england can now book a test to see if they have coronavirus if they show symptoms. There have been fewer people coming forward for a test than wed expected and thats why weve been able to expand the availability to all essential workers and just make it so much easierfor them to be able to get a test. President trump suggests you can treat covid 19 by injecting disinfectant into the body doctors call his remarks dangerous. I see that disinfectant knocks it out in a minute, one minute. Is there a way we can do Something Like that, by injection . Scotlands first minister says its time to have a grown up conversation over when to relax rules on social distancing. And, the bbcs big night in raises more than £27 million for those affected by the pandemic, with the return of some much loved comedy characters. Now on bbc news its time for your questions answered. With me is chris hopson, chief executive of nhs providers which represents nhs trusts around the country. Also, imjoined by drAndrew Preston who is an expert on the origins and development of diseases. He is from the department of biology and biochemistry at university of bath. A very good morning to both of you, thank you for your time today. We have lots of questions on testing and on various aspects of the lockdown. Lets begin with some testing related questions. I will put this to chris, an important one today, ive tried every site and my employer about testing and have tried a government website to book a test and so far nothing. How do we book a test, it is not clear, she says . So the government advice is there are now a group of key workers who, if youve got symptoms, then you are now eligible for a test. You have slightly taking the wind out of my sails because i was going to say there is now a government website that you should be logging on to which will enable you to book that test. As i understand it, that website is due to be functioning today to stop yesterday, there was the opportunity for employers to book tests, today there is the ability for individual key workers to book them. If you go onto the uk government website, you should be able to book the test. So she should have a look again, if it wasnt there when she looked, she should hopefully be able to get on that site now. This is quite a straightforward a nswer to site now. This is quite a straightforward answer to this question i think from geoff, does key workers include supermarket collea g u es key workers include supermarket colleagues for the free testing that sta rts colleagues for the free testing that starts today . Yes, it does. There is a definition on the governments website of key workers. That does include those involved in the distribution and sale of food. Just a key qualification, which is its key workers who are showing symptoms. In other words, key workers who are showing symptoms. In otherwords, its key workers who are showing symptoms. In other words, its not just every supermarket worker or every key worker, its actually those who are showing symptoms. Again, the government website will give you the details of exactly what that classification is. Yes, very important to mention that again, if someone is showing symptoms. A big thank you to all the people in supermarkets keeping us supplied with food. A question now about the lockdown and this is for you, doctor preston, andrew. This from paul who says i keep hearing people referring to the peak being earlier in london. Surely if we all entered the lockdown together the transmission is cut everywhere at the same time, is there a delay to the same time, is there a delay to the peak in different regions of the country and at the impact of beyond restrictions . I think the delay for the rest of the country was if the pandemic was left unchecked. As paul points out, the lockdown would cut the transmission and therefore the supply of new cases should be halted simultaneously around the country of all regions are dear to the lockdown in the same way. I think we would be expecting a sort of trend of decreasing cases from around the peaktime, decreasing cases from around the peak time, which seems to be around now, and from here on in. I think the lockdown will help to sort of normalised the pandemic across all of the regions, more so than if wed left thingsjust to of the regions, more so than if wed left things just to run as they were. And obviously getting those levels, those transmission levels pretty much equal across the uk is going to be key to eventually getting out of the lockdown that we are in now . I think the key about easing lockdown measures is to get the amount of virus in the community as low as possible. Because of course as soon as we ease low as possible. Because of course as soon as we ease lockdown, we start to interact more which would be inevitable when we do start to return, thats going to reignite cases and transmission but there will be regional differences, according to all sorts of factors. For example, population density. So large cities where people are using public transport a lot will have higher transmission that may be be moreover all communities. So there still will be regional differences according to practices. 0k, another testing question for you, chris, on the logistics of testing. This one from ellen who asks how can front line workers in wales get tested when they dont have a car . At the moment, testing in my area is only done through drive through. I work at the doctors. Ellen said she was in self isolation or is in self isolation or is in self isolation for 12 weeks. She is not allowed to take public transport anywhere and was originally offered anywhere and was originally offered a tester she was showing symptoms but she doesnt have a car in her house. Im guessing ellen is getting out if she goes back to work and she wa nts to out if she goes back to work and she wants to go tested, how is she going to access that . The government said yesterday that it recognised that one of the problems has been, in terms of taking up testing volumes, the complexity of some people of getting to those drive through sites. It announced three Different Things it will do. First, it will expand the number of sites from 22 to 50. There will be more places to go to. The second is they announce that they are going to create mobile testing units. For example, we know thatis testing units. For example, we know that is already working on the isle of wight and in places like salford. The third thing they will do is they are going to develop home testing kits so effectively you can order those, they will come via the post and you can do them at home and send them off. The last two are still in development. So, as i said, the mobile testing has begun to start but the home testing isnt there yet. Again, you can find details if you go on to the government website. There is quite a useful full statement that was made yesterday on exactly how this is going to grow over time. So there should be options there for ellen, if not immediately then very soon. Ellen, if not immediately then very soon. Some questions, lots of questions about this, i will pick up ona questions about this, i will pick up on a couple with you, andrew. 0ne from Ian Sainsbury who says we have been on lockdown for a month, where our new cases coming from, from key workers and family . A similar one from rob who says now we have been lockdown in the uk for almost five weeks, why and how are we still getting a large number of new coronavirus cases each day . It is really intriguing. So, the incubation period, although its average is 55 and seven days, we know it can be as long as 14 days. You will always have the delay from the initiation of lockdown to when you finish seeing the initial batches come through. Even after lockdown, there is still potential for some transmissions, where people are still having contact and that resets the clock to 14 days. We are certainly seeing now the sort of timescale where we would expect to see the real effect of lockdown starting to come through. So if we do still see large numbers of new cases each day, they should be highly informative because it will tell us the types of interactions which are fuelling transmission. So i think the wider expansion of testing to cover a much wider section of different populations, so all of key workers and social care and then analysing those results and transmission data. We will need that information, the types of interactions which are fuelling transmission, we will need to understand that as we plan to ease the lockdown restrictions. That will be interesting if we can get as nuanced as that, that would be useful. Chris, an anonymous question, someone asks, i noticed since yesterday more and more shops are opening locally. A takeaway chip shop, florist and a hardware shop open yesterday which has caused more footfall. Has the government relaxed the lockdown without me knowing . Im worried people are beginning to do their own thing and we will never get on top of this. A similar question from clare arnold who talks about some diy stores being opened with social distancing measures in place. Hardly an essential shop, she says, but would certainly aid in dealing with the boredom. So clearly there are people who are concerned about things moving perhaps a little bit too quickly . Well, so, again. I can understand why people would be slightly confused. There are two things going on. First, the government when it went into the lockdown issued a list of businesses that had to close and some that could remain open if they wa nted some that could remain open if they wanted to remain open. We know that some of the businesses that were allowed to remain open while hardware shops and takeaways. Im not really quite clear about florists, to be frank. Lets concentrate on hardware shops and ta keaways. Concentrate on hardware shops and takeaways. Quite a few of those shops deliberately decided they wa nted shops deliberately decided they wanted to close even though they we re wanted to close even though they were allowed to open, partly because they may have wanted to protect their staff, partly because maybe they wanted some time to work out how they were going to put social distancing measures into place. So what is now happening in some of those stores that were always allowed to open have actually now made a decision, store by store, that they are going to open. That is why you saw yesterday, for example, bandq why you saw yesterday, for example, b and q announced a number of its stores were going to open, at Hardware Stores are available effectively, whats happening is those stores have made a decision to open. So no, the government hasnt started to ease lockdown without you knowing. What happened shops have decided to take advantage of the fa ct decided to take advantage of the fact they were able to open that had been closed. Andrew, the next couple of questions we have received lots of questions along these lines, im asking you to speculate a bit. They are about how long were going to be on lockdown in the uk. I guess what that exact lockdown might look like. Molly says im asking this because i like to socialise and i cant go and see my boyfriend because of this lockdown. Alistair, similarly doesnt live with his partner, says theyve been following government advice and not seeing each other but hes really quite worried, given that hes hearing there might be significant social disruption for much of this year. I think that is inevitable, unfortunately. Clearly, the easing of restrictions will be phased. We are all waiting to hear what the plans might be. I think we will be going through periods of easing of lockdown and then responding to new cases, particularly localised outbreaks by may be putting more pressure back onto restrictions. So it wont be a linear decrease. I think, as mentioned in the previous answer perhaps, we all need to start to understand once we ease lockdowns may be the picture in some of the countries that have already done so will be informative for this, as to exactly what type of interactions are those that contribute to the key transmission events. Then we will be ina much transmission events. Then we will be in a much better position to be able to give the advice as to what is low risk and what is high risk. But im afraid i think certainly that the first couple of months after lockdown, whilst we are exploring the effects of easing of restrictions, there will be social distancing involved with that return. Just as we speak about that, let me bring you a bit of breaking news from the welsh government. The first minister of Wales Mark Drakeford saying he hopes that the lockdown restrictions can begin to be eased at the end of the current three week period in may he said this would see only the most careful and control lifting of restrictions and only if wales had met the tests set out in the welsh governments framework for exiting the lockdown. I think we are due to hear more on that later. That is very interesting. It leads me onto a question from stuart chapman, who says if scotland are doing their own thing as far as lockdown is concerned, are own thing as far as lockdown is concerned , are we own thing as far as lockdown is concerned, are we going to close the border to stop two way traffic in and out of scotland . Shouldnt rules on lockdown be a National Issue . So whether its wales, scotland, england or Northern Ireland, we are talking very short distances. Surely this way, this path out of lockdown has to be a very, very coordinated one . Well, i think weve seen over the last few days that this has the potential to be quite a political question. If you dont mind, i will tread carefully. Of course the a nswer to tread carefully. Of course the answer to the question is you would expect and you would hope that there would be a coordinated strategy across scotland, wales, england and Northern Ireland. Yes, i think ideally what you would have it each of those nations marching in lockstep together to agree exactly how a lockdown does end. I thought Andrews Point was a really good one and he put it really well when he said this isnt going to be a linear coming out of lockdown, where gradually itjust gets easier and easier and easier. I think we are likely to see exactly as he suggested, a reaction to outbreaks of cases. Just to make a point, since i am from the nhs, its one of the key that nhs will be can take critically concerned about. Ensuring however we come out of lockdown, we do protect the nhss ability to treat the number of covid 19 patients that we see. Weve all been desperately keen to avoid what happened in italy with the overwhelm. I think that we can say with increasing confidence we will have done that for the first initial peak but the absolute thing we must do is create a second peak of demand. The absolute thing we mustnt do. I absolutely get the point that if you are not able to see your boyfriend, it really is painful. But i have to say that observing the rules on lockdown really is making. Its protecting the nhs and saving lives so had ever difficult it is, please stick with it. I think we have time to squeeze in one more question. Andrew, its about the issue of face masks. I saw one gp on twitter saying it would be good if we could talk about face coverings for the general public and then face masks the front line workers, which i thought was quite a good idea. Stephen asks, why not enforce good idea. Stephen asks, why not e nfo rce fa ce good idea. Stephen asks, why not enforce face masks of any description, home made if necessary, and restrict the buying of surgical masks only for front line nurses and doctors . Is it possible to be as nuanced as that, to make sure those surgical masks only go to front line staff . And other face surgical masks only go to front line staff . And otherface coverings, other forms of masks and face coverings could be made available to the general public . It should be possible, it certainly sounds so. I think the reluctance to sort of come down on one side or the other on this face mask issue has partly been driven by the concerns over ensuring what is already clearly a stretched supply of ppe to those who need it the most is quite clear, that those who will benefit the most from ppe, such as face masks, are those who have the highest exposure to the virus and thatis highest exposure to the virus and that is those clearly dealing with symptomatic patients and perhaps social care workers, in terms of their protection. We are all waiting for this sort of updated advice on face masks. Who are also making their own pronouncements. Its interesting in other countries, as we ease the lockdown is, they are recommending in some places the use of face masks. Face masks is a sort of face masks. Face masks is a sort of generic term. What we are really talking about is a barrier to those droplets that we all exhale when we breathe in and out and certainly when you cough and then breathing those in. So there are some nuances in terms of exactly how they are used. Again, one concern would be that people start to think that they are more protected than they are buying but wearing a face mask and that will affect the social distancing, physical distancing will still be really important as we ease lockdown. But i think clarity over this issue is absolutely required before we ease any restrictions, because if we are going to require people to wear some sort of covering, we need to get that in place now. 0k, some really interesting and useful answers from you both. Thank you both so much, doctor Andrew Preston from the department of biology and biochemistry at the university of bath and chris hopson, chief executive of nhs providers, thank you for your time. Thank you for your questions, as well. The headlines on bbc news millions of essential workers and theirfamilies in england can now book a test to see if they have coronavirus if they show symptoms. President trump suggests you can treat covid 19 by injecting disinfectant into the body doctors call his remarks dangerous. Scotlands first minister says its time to have a grown up conversation over when to relax rules on social distancing. Retail sales dropped byjust over 5 last month as we were telling you a little earlier. The sharpest fall on record, as many Stores Closed their doors in the face of coronavirus. The office for National Statistics said sales of clothing suffered a particularly big drop of almost 35 . And, not surprisingly. But food stores reported their strongest growth on record in march as shoppers stocked up on essential groceries ahead of the lockdown. Lets find out how some businesses are being affected. We can speak to paul young and sean potter who own a gift shop in carmarthen. And also steph douglas. The founder of an online gift Company Called dont buy her flowers. Which one of you is wearing the glasses . Sean. Tell us about your business, what is it called and how long have you been going for . We sell resources and gifts to do with Mental Health and helping people to look after their stress, anxiety and basically help them to live a happy and positive life. We have been going, where coming up in three years, we opened in september 2017. Sean, essentially the main focus of your shop is the bricks and mortar . Yes, the bricks and mortar shop opened first and then we slowly made the transition online, probably 2018. So weve got an online presence, weve got an online website which is going quite nicely. So we were prepared. But, yeah, certainly the volumes and things have kind of shifted. We will explore that a bit more in a moment. Let me speak to steph, hello. In contrast to paul and sean, youve a lwa ys contrast to paul and sean, youve always been an Online Business so has that been a big advantage during this pandemic . Yeah, it has. When the lockdown was announced i think all businesses were thinking what does this mean for us . Quite quickly we worked out it meant we couldnt stay open. We have had to put certain things in place that our offer is gift packages and care packages. So our sales have gone pretty nuts, which is a really weird time to be successful, having worked on this for six years. But it meant we had been prepared in dealing with greater volume and also making sure everyone is safe, make sure the warehouse is safe. I think your sales were up 300 in march compared to february. I believe you have had to february. I believe you have had to ta ke to february. I believe you have had to take on staff as well . Yeah, the pattern is normally coming first and then work the afternoon. We have had to split shifts and make sure everything is getting wiped down properly and everyone has time to wash their hands, all those things. Then we found where the warehouses in gloucestershire we have had people we know who are self employed and cant work who were desperate for work. So they have been able to pick up some of those shifts as well. So we have more hours for our team who are really happy to do that at the moment. Back to paul and sean, in contrast to steph, you have had to furlough your two employees. Tell us more about that and access to help and also about that transition from the physical shop to an Online Business, how is that going . We have had a few hiccups along the way. I suppose anyone who is involved with Online Retail knows its not always a straightforward process. We have two staff who work with us. We actually decided to stop them coming into the shop a few days before the schemes where an ounce because we felt we couldnt maintain social distancing. So we decided to send them home. So when the scheme was announced, that took a big pressure off us. We were looking ahead, we were looking at what the coming weeks are going to be alike and there was a huge amount of uncertainty. To know we were going to get a little bit of Financial Support definitely eased the pressure and know that we would be able to keep them as employees because we didnt want them to suffer coming out of this. We wanted them to know they had a reliable income as well, as much as ourselves, and for us to cover our overheads. Sean, we have been talking a lot about testing and Contract Tracing and when the lockdown we are in might eventually be eased and how that might look. Can you envisage reopening the shop, how that might work on whether you would be confident about adhering to some sort of social distancing measures for quite a long time, potentially . Hmm, things will have to change, obviously. You can see from the likes of the supermarkets that its possible to implement social distancing measures. We are fortunate, weve got quite a big sort of space in our shop so wed be able to do that. But theres definitely going to be a lot of careful consideration into how we do it, the numberof careful consideration into how we do it, the number of people coming in and out of the shop. The priority for us is the safety of our staff first and foremost, and our customers. But it is something you would be keen to reopen the shop as soon as safe to do so . Absolutely, as soon as it safe to do so. Sorry, i thought you had finished your thought, he wanted to Say Something else . I wasjust going to add, we are well aware of the importance of these measures. Both our sets of pa rents a re these measures. Both our sets of parents are in the high risk groups so we are parents are in the high risk groups so we are not going to do anything until we are 100 confident that we can minimise any social interaction and the spread of anything. Steph, your business is doing very well that they must be challenges for you in all of this as well. What advice would you give to other Business Owners about getting through this time based on your experience . I think we are taking it each week as it comes at the moment or even each day. Some of us quickly and some of us in our reopening. Some cant get hold of certain items of stock. So there is a real. There isjust an stock. So there is a real. There is just an uncertainty still. But i think its taking it really slowly. At times, weve had to turn off their website, essentially, to make sure we are not overwhelming the team. Sol sure we are not overwhelming the team. So i think thats really important. We are also looking at other products. Books are selling really well. Im really sorry, steph, to interrupt but we are out of time. Steph douglas, paul young and sean potter, thank you and good luck. Now its time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. Hello, their warmth and sunshine continue across many parts of the uk today yesterday, we saw temperatures away from eastern coasts quite widely in the low to mid 20s. Peaking at 24 celsius in herstmonceux. Butjust a bit of context on where we should be at this time of year, we should be actually in the mid teens. These are the sort of temperatures we are more likely to see as we go into next week. 0ut there, as i mentioned, warm and sunny again as we go into the afternoon. Early morning mist and fog clears. One or two low cloud patches very close to some north sea coast and a bit cloudy across Northern Ireland today compared with yesterday. Temperatures, though, as i said, away from those cooler eastern coasts widely into the 20s, even if in the south its down a degree or two on what we saw yesterday afternoon. Later on, there is a chance South West England and wales could just see one or two isolated sharp showers developed over the hills, very few, though. Most places staying dry. That will be the case tonight as well. But tonight, mist and fog in northern and eastern scotland and Eastern England become more of an issue. Where youve got some clear skies inland from that, theres a chance of a touch of frost but most frost free to take us into the start of the weekend. Its a weekend which will only slowly turn cooler from the north. The main difference will be in scotland and Northern Ireland by sunday. By this time, a greater chance ofjust one or two showers. But if your garden is desperate for a drink of water at the moment, no guarantees, and that is certainly the case on saturday. If you see airshow are isolated, most will be dry again. Miss, low cloud and murky conditions across eastern areas to be a myth, breaking up eastern areas to be a myth, breaking up to some sunny spells. Most will cease sunshine again on saturday. Temperatures down a few degrees in what we see today but still warm for the time of year in the sunshine we have. Saturday night into sunday, low pressure starts to develop to the north west of us and that means a greater chance of a few showers that also introduces the cooler air. The blue colours toward scotland and Northern Ireland. Turning cooler through the day and a bit breezy in scotla nd through the day and a bit breezy in scotland and Northern Ireland. A few showers, very much hit and miss. Some sharp ones could develop across england and wales into sunday afternoon but i cant guarantee anyone garden will get that welcome drop of rain for so many places will still stay dry. Staying warm in the south, temperatures 22 23, much cooler in scotland and Northern Ireland, temperatures in the low teens. The cooler air will do with us teens. The cooler air will do with us all is going to next week but with it, a greater chance of a few splashes of rain. Bye bye for now. This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Millions of essential workers and theirfamilies in england can now book a test to see if they have coronavirus if they show symptoms. There have been fewer people coming forward for a test than wed expected and thats why weve been able to expand the availability to all essential workers and just make it so much easierfor them to be able to get a test. President trump suggests you can treat covid 19 by injecting disinfectant into the body doctors call his remarks dangerous. The disinfectant knocks it out in a minute. A minute. Is there a way we can do Something Like that