This is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today, as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Scientists say its not a magic bullet but government ministers hope it will allow lockdowns restrictions to be eased across the uk. If we all participate in this system when asked, then well be able to more safely lift the lockdown measures and lift the sort of the aggregate National Lockdown by having this more targeted approach. Beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong. Translation this is a major move
to practice one country, two systems and is also in line with chinas constitution and the basic law of hong kong. The number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100,000. South korea is re imposing some social restrictions in its main cities, to combat a small spike in coronavirus cases. Nissan has announced the closure of its factory in barcelona with the loss of almost 3,000 jobs however, its sunderland production plant in the uk will remain open. Hello and welcome if youre
watching in the uk or around the world. We are covering the latest coronavirus stories here and globally. First. New coronavirus test and trace systems have gone live in england and scotland this morning. In an attempt to keep infection outbreaks contained, anyone whos been in close contact with someone who has tested positive will now be contacted and asked to self isolate. The uk government has said the english the system will change peoples lives scientists think it could prevent between 5 15 of cases. Northern ireland has its own version of the programme already up and running and in wales, their scheme is due to start in earlyjune. In the United States, more than 100,000 people have now died from covid i9. Apologies, that should say 100,000. That is the figure there. Thats more than the combined total of american fatalities
from the korean, vietnam and iraq wars. South korea is re introducing tougher social distancing measures after officials there recorded a fresh spike in coronavirus infections. 79 new cases were identified on thursday the highest daily figure for nearly two months. First, with this report on the test and trace system being rolled out in parts of the uk, heres charlotte rose. Weve all got used to the slogans and rules for tackling covid 19, but, from today, theres a further change, as parts of the uk move into the test and trace phase. The aim is to start to ease the nationwide lockdown and only bring it back in places where theres an outbreak. So, how will test and trace work in england . If you get symptoms a high fever, persistent cough or loss of taste and smell you must self isolate and order a test. If you test positive, the contact tracer will identify
people who youve been close enough to pass the virus to. Those contacts will be either classed as low or high risk. Contact tracers will then get in touch with people who might be at risk. Theyll be asked to isolate for 1h days, or get tested themselves if they develop symptoms. You might remember an app which was being trialled on the isle of wight. Thats not yet ready to be launched across england, so its not part of government plans. The new system will be dependent on people following the rules around self isolation. If you are contacted by nhs test and trace, instructing you to isolate, you must. It is your civic duty. So you avoid unknowingly spreading the virus and you help to break the chain of transmission. But some remain cautious about how well the new system will cope. You absolutely need rapid test turnaround. The International Standard is you should get the test results back within 24 hours. There are far too many places,
in terms of our trusts, the trusts that we represent, but also care homes who are saying they cant get results back any quicker than, for example, an average of 3 5 days. Later today, scotlands first minister Nicola Sturgeon is set to announce plans for an easing in lockdown measures. The first ministers already announced plans for a scottish test and protect system. Northern ireland has already launched its tracing system and wales is set to follow next week. It comes as a further 412 people died with coronavirus yesterday, taking the total number of deaths to 37,460. 117,013 tests were done yesterday, with 2,013 people testing positive. Those People Living in england will be the first to be contacted today as the new system launches. The government hopes these new measures will help to start to allow the economic and social recovery from the virus. Charlotte rose, bbc news. 0ur Health Correspondent, catherine burns, is here with me now. Hello to you, catherine. The test entries getting under way today but news of some teething problems . Weve heard from a tracer who has tried to log on and cant but there are 35,000 trying to logon and maybe thatis are 35,000 trying to logon and maybe that is it. Many traces are starting to make those calls, texts and e mails to around a dozen people who tested positive yesterday. 0k, e mails to around a dozen people who tested positive yesterday. Ok, that is how it works, they will essentially be trying to deal on a given day with the cases of people who have tested positive the previous day, get lots of information from them. It depends, of course, as we have already been discussing so far today, on people being open and being honest about where they have been, what they have been doing, even if that wasnt
keeping to a social distance. We are trying to break the chains of transmission here but every chain relies on its weakest link. Theres a few things. The tests need to come through quickly. The new target is 24 hour is. I had blood on monday i didnt get it to last night, so thats one thing, the tests need to come through quickly. The second thing is people need to be honest. They need to say what they have done, who they have seen and then, those further contacts need to all agreed to self isolate. 0ne those further contacts need to all agreed to self isolate. One way to see this is this is a waiter or open up see this is this is a waiter or open up the country for most people, for the many, but at the same time it will be toughening things for the few who seem to be at risk here. 0k, so some few who seem to be at risk here. 0k, so some people will be asked to take further measures, further steps to lock themselves down for the greater good. So say you get a call and you are told that you have been in contact with someone who does have the virus. The assay, actually, i had the virus weeks ago, im fine. Is that the case . Tough luck hancock has been on today talking about this, at this stage, is someone about this, at this stage, is someone who has had it, it doesnt matter. If you get the call, because we dont know how long immunity lasts for, if you get a call saying you have been in contact with someone, you have you have been in contact with someone, you have to go into isolation for two weeks. What about the members of your household, the same . Know, unless you or someone in the house develop symptoms. This isnt just staying at the house develop symptoms. This isntjust staying at home, it is isolating at home. Not lockdown as we know it but a step up from that. 0k, important to emphasise, isolate, not just stay at home. 0k, important to emphasise, isolate, notjust stay at home. You need to behave as if you have the virus. Let say you are perfectly well and you get the call and someone says, go into isolation. You may feel perfectly well but you have to behave as if you have it. That is staying away from your family. If you then feel ill, you can get
tested and have a certain answer but until you know otherwise, you behave as if you have it. Catherine, thank you for that. Ministers will meet their scientific advisers today to finalise plans for the next phase of easing the lockdown in england. The measures are reviewed every three weeks. An announcement is expected at todays downing street news conference. 0ur assistant Political Editor, norman smith, is at westminster. Norman, first of all, as catherine was saying, this test and trace system depends on a few things. It depends on people being absolutely open and honest with the contact tracers and those tests getting turned around really quickly. What is the government saying about its capacity to get in touch with people and, indeed, to get those test results turned around really quickly . At the moment, they are talking a good game on the test and trace system. They say they have around 25,000 people ready to trace people and that is more than enough,
they believe, to make the system operate, in terms of the tests. Yes, there is still quite a lot of tests that take longer than 2a hours. They havent set a date for getting 224 hours but that is their aspiration. In terms of people complying with these new rules, they remain hopeful. For getting it down to 24 hours. By and large, people have been a good deal more compliant than ministers had hoped for. Added to which, i think significantly, the new system will be relatively light touch to start with. There will be no fines, no checking up, you wont have placement knocking on the door demanding to know if you are cell self isolating. And crucially it will be fronted by the nhs. It wont be the government ordering you to do things, it will be clinicians asking you to do things. So there is a hope that that softly softly approach will land better with the public and people will be more ready to go
along with that. Before moving to the next stage, when the app is rolled out in the middle ofjune. But it is, as matt hancock was saying this morning, going to depend on people doing, as he puts it, their civil duty. All of this is about doing the very best that we can, not only my team, the people who are working in nhs test and trace, but also all of us who are participating those who test positive and those who are contacts and so get the communication from nhs test and trace that they need to self isolate. If everybody does our best, then we will get that rate of transmission down and well break the chain of transmission from the virus more often. I suppose in the real world, the hope is that for many people, reporting on who they have come into contact with will also be, to some extent, in the interests of their
family and friends because by and large, the people you come into closest contact with are your nearest and dearest. So there is a hope that people, because they will wa nt to hope that people, because they will want to protect their family and friends, will be quite determined to make sure those people do self isolate and do look after themselves. So, at the moment, i think they are broadly optimistic that people, even though these are entirely new restrictions, will be ready to go along with them. 0k, norman, thank you. Norman smith at westminster. Members of the Chinese Legislature the National Peoples congress have overhelmingly endorsed sweeping and controversial new security laws for hong kong. The bill, which now passes to chinas senior leadership, has caused deep concern among those who say it could end hong kongs unique status. Heres a look at what the law will do. Firstly, it will criminalise conduct in hong kong that Harms National Security a measure pro democracy campaigners fear could be used to target them. It permits chinas National Intelligence agencies to set up offices in hong kong, to oversee its enforcement. Beijing will also be able to place the measure into the basic law thats the mini constitution on how hong kong is run effectively bypassing the territories own lawmakers. Li zhanshu a member of the Chinese Communist partys Standing Committee welcomed the law at the closing ceremony of the National Peoples congress. Translation this meeting deliberates and approves a draft decision of the National Peoples congress for establishing a legal system and enforcement mechanism for hong kong, to safeguard National Security. This is a major move to practice one country, two systems and is also in line with chinas constitution and the basic law of hong kong. It also aligns with the fundamental interests of people in Mainland China, as well as hong kong residents. 0ur correspondent Stephen Mcdonell said that it was no suprise the National PeoplesCongress Overwhelmingly approved the legislation. Look, its a rubber stamp session. There was never going to be any resisting this at the National Peoples congress, but even so, 2787 in favour and only one against, with six abstentions, it is quite something however, what it means, though, is that this bill will now go to the next stage, which is that the Standing Committee of the National PeoplesCongress Works out the details of the law and writes it up and it could actually come into effect before the end of the year. Whats not clear is exactly what types of speech or exactly what actions might constitute treason under this new law. There are some concerns that even calling for hong kong independence
could be seen as secession. So, these crimes, like treason or secession, they are serious and, at the moment, people are being charged, activists, with rioting and assembly charges and, to tell the truth, not that many people have actually been punished under that process. Although, 7000, more than 7000 have been charged over the last year. Under this new law, well, these crimes like treason, that can mean decades in prison and so this is why theres been a lot of concern in hong kong amongst the pro democracy camp that it could be eroding the citys freedoms. Of course, those who defend the bill, though, would say that they protest have gone too far, theyve been too destructive and something had to be done to try and rein in this movement. Lets cross live to hong kong and speak to our correspondent martin yip. Tell us more about the reaction of those pro democracy protesters at what has been happening at the National Peoples congress, do they feel now that their efforts over the last year or so have been in vain, to some extent . Do they feel hong kongs status is changing permanently . Well, the answer to this question would actually be something that we still have to wait to see. The reason im saying so is that weve seen reason im saying so is that weve seen rather violent clashes in the past couple of days and over the last week, literally after this deal in beijing was announced in the previous weekend. But then, dave been venting their anger already. Theyve been talking about what you just mentioned, the demise of
prosperity in hong kong as well as one country, two systems. The game changer would be developments in the United States as well. You have the secretary of state, mike pompeo, reporting to the congress that they are not seeing hong kong as having autonomy any more and that might trigger some sort of response, at least from washington, dc. There would be more diplomatic conversations between beijing and washington, and there is some speculation at this stage. But that doesnt mean they are not angry at all and that is why we saw what we saw yesterday, the clashes on the street between the protesters and riot police. While also at the same time, we have other groupsjust after this law has been passed, im just reading a report from the local broadcaster, people from the arts
industry raising concerns about this law to be imposed by beijing. They are raising scenarios like if someone goes are raising scenarios like if someone goes to are raising scenarios like if someone goes to a are raising scenarios like if someone goes to a concert and someone sang a song someone goes to a concert and someone sang a song that there is lyrics that are seen as subversive, would those audience members end up being charged with the same charge . So there are so many questions to be a nswered so there are so many questions to be answered from beijing, from the Hong Kong Government to satisfy peoples worries. Thank you very much. Martin yip in hong kong. The headlines on bbc news. Test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong. The number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100 thousand. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 100,000 lives in america over the last four months. Its the highest total of any country in the world. 0ur north america correspondent, aleem maqbool, has been speaking to some of the families who have lost loved ones. Happy birthday to you. Friends and relatives of more than 100,000 people in america can nowjust cling to the memories of happier times before the coronavirus. My father was a really caring person and he just wanted to help people and he was really outgoing. He thought he was really funny Doug Lambrecht was one of the first confirmed deaths, back on the 1st march. As somebody who lost someone so close to them, and who was obviously very, very dear to you, so early on, when you saw the way this
was going in the country, how has it made you feel over the last couple of months . Its scary, its sad. I feel angry. We should have been listening to the doctors and the scientists. We should not have been listening to people talking about the stock market. Its natural that people are reaching for answers, for someone to be accountable, after scenes like mass graves being dug in new york and refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full. If the lord says so, ill see you saturday. We now know that African Americans, like rhoda hatch, are still dying in disproportionate numbers. I think 100,000 is an extraordinary number. It means that theres a lot of pain and grief. But some of us in the black community are very concerned that as the narrative became that African Americans were
disproportionately impacted by the virus, that there was also then a push to open up the country, that many of us think prematurely, that, again, suggested the evaluation of black lives. Those calls to reopen go on, even as the number of dead continues to mount and as the nation mourns. Well, flags have most recently been lowered here after tragedies like mass shootings, and even then, its been difficult to grapple with the scale of loss after sometimes dozens of people have been killed. But how, then, does america even begin to count the emotional cost of such a Staggering Number of deaths . To really do justice to the stories of those lost would take many lifetimes. For people left behind, the question lingers could more have been done so these americans and tens of thousands of others might still be around . Aleem maqbool, bbc
news, in washington. Frank langfitt, correspondent at npr Us National Public radio joins me now from weybridge. Thank you forjoining us. And incredibly grim tally to be talking about, 100,000 deaths. 0ne incredibly grim tally to be talking about, 100,000 deaths. One report has the virus infection rate still going up in approximately 20 states. What has been a public reaction to news of this figure being past . |j think its a huge milestone for the country and i think it has a big impact. The United States, before this happened, people in the United States thought the country was prepared for this sort of thing and clearly its not. To be not only the country that has suffered the most deaths but has crossed this incredible threshold, i think it has people reassessing the countrys
effectiveness in dealing with the sorts of things. The United States is normally good at dealing with these disasters and problems. I think it has shaken people all over the country. This is clearly a Public Health emergency, its also a political emergency in some countries, depending on how the public view a particular government, a particular leader has handled the situation. Clearly, its a pressing one for donald trump, up for re election, he hopes, in november. He himself has been talking about this pandemic in terms of his election, he has created that narrative. How do you think his handling of the pandemic and this death toll, and its still on the rise, affect his chances for a second term . I think it will be front and centre of the final five months of this election race. As unusual as it is because joe election race. As unusual as it is becausejoe biden election race. As unusual as it is because joe biden has election race. As unusual as it is becausejoe biden has hardly been able to go out and the president hasnt gone out much. I think as we get closer to november, the big question for people will be what you
heard an earlier report, what more could have been done . There are reports out of the United States that say even if the country had locked down a bit earlier, a week or two earlier, could have maybe saved tens of thousands of lives. I think President Trump will have to content with that. The other question will be, where is the economy, as we move into 0ctober be, where is the economy, as we move into october or november . How on an individual level do people experience this, did they know people who have died, are they out of work . That will be crucial as they go to the ballot box for President Trumps chances of being re elected. President trumps chances of being reelected. President trump says we cannot allow the cure to be worsen the problem itself. Hes clearly focused on the economy. If you look back a few weeks, he was talking about the economy opening up at easter again, clearly that didnt happen. It was much, much too early. So do you think in the remaining months between now and november that we are going to see perhaps more so than ever before a really bitterly
fought campaign, with lots of blame being flung around . Fought campaign, with lots of blame being flung around . |j fought campaign, with lots of blame being flung around . I think so. I think if you are on the democratic side, you know the sort of commercials you are going to run because donald trump, because he is out there so much, since january. For a long time downplaying this. Now its 100,000 for a long time downplaying this. Now its100,000 dead, 40 million americans out of work. You can just imagine what kind of Campaign Democrats will run against him. He will push to get the economy into recovery as soon as will push to get the economy into recovery as soon as possible. That could help him. On the other hand, even though weve seen good things out of the stock market, the stock market is not the American Economy and it takes a long time the job market is not the American Economy and it takes a long time thejob is to come back after a deep recession like this. So i think anybody else, any other candidate, incumbent, it would be very hard to imagine they could win the election. 0n the other hand, donald trump, as hes proved over and over again, is a unique president in modern american history. Clearly some of his supporters are utterly devoted to
him. Absolutely. They believe in the make America Great again slogan. But with the economy in trouble, as economies around the world are in the wake of this pandemic and during this pandemic, for those voters who might be persuaded to change their minds, how much is this pandemic going to shift thinking away from donald trump and towardsjoe biden . I think thats a great question. I think there are very few people that these two men to fight over. Most americans know donald trump very well and i think it is going to come down to the economy and to personal experience with this pandemic. If joe biden is going to win people over it will be because people have lost faith, his supporters have lost faith in him, donald trump, bringing back the economy or because they know people who have lost their lives and they feel the president deserves some responsibility for that. 0k, frank, good to talk to. Frank langfitt at National Public radio, thank you very much. Easyjet says it plans to cut 4,500 jobs, and shrink its fleet, as a result of the coronavirus. The airline says the reductions will fit the smaller market it expects to emerge from the collapse in air travel due to covid 19. Easyjet employs more than 15,000 people in eight countries across europe. Other airlines have already announced job cuts and restructuring programmes as they fight to stay in business. These include british airways, which is set to cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 42,000 strong workforce the airlines parent company, iag, said it needed to impose a restructuring and redundancy programme. Also ryanair, which is set to cut 3000 jobs 15 of its workforce. Boss michael 0leary saying the move
was the minimum needed just to survive the next 12 months. And Virgin Atlantic announced plans to cut more than 3000 jobs in the uk out of a total of 10,000 and to end its operation at gatwick airport. The japanese car firm nissan has announced the closure of its factory in barcelona, with a loss of almost 3000 jobs. The Spanish Government said the move was part of a new worldwide three year restructuring plan. Nissan says its plant in sunderland will remain open as a Production Base. Here to talk about all that is our Business Correspondent ben thompson. Easyj et festival, easyjet festival, looking at the other airlines, its no surprise we we re other airlines, its no surprise we were going to hear about restructuring from easyjet as well, tell us more. Yes, you are absolutely right, no huge surprise but may be the scale of thejob huge surprise but may be the scale of the job cuts announced this morning will worry many. We have had reaction, as you would expect, from the unions, the pilots union calling
itan the unions, the pilots union calling it an unnecessary knee jerk reaction. They say demand will pick back up and easyjet is acting too quickly first we heard from unite which says it is unnecessarily hasty. But if you look at the detail we have had from easyjet today, they talk about demand not getting back to levels of before this crisis until at least 2023. So for airlines that have a lot of costs associated with just keeping their planes on the ground, they are having to come up the ground, they are having to come up with ways to keep their costs down. A large proportion of that will be labour costs, of course, their staff. They have said they we re their staff. They have said they were cut 30 of the workforce and given it employs about 15,000 people, we expect that to be about 4500 roles. You talked about all other airlines right around the world having to think about new ways of doing business because Airlines Operate with very small Profit Margins in many cases. They rely on seats being full to keep those
planes profitable. 0f seats being full to keep those planes profitable. Of course, with concern about things like social distancing, even when restrictions are lifted, i think there is a fear people will not return to the travel habits they had before. That could have a longer term impact on airlines and the ability of airlines to make money when those planes do finally start flying again. Remember, easyjet, like many others, has grounded its entire fleet since march. So now it is starting to look at how it can resume flights but quite crucially, how it can make some money from the flights it does operate. Lets talk about nissan. They were also using the restructuring word, what is the thinking behind the decision to close the barcelona plant and what is the news of sunderland here in the uk . An expected update from nissan today talking about their three year turnaround plan because there are so many factors at play as far as nissan is concerned, not least that sales were falling sharply even
before the coronavirus outbreak. Sales were down about 14 and they we re sales were down about 14 and they were on track to make their first loss in 11 years, so the boss has been outlining plans for how they will return to profitability and remember this is a global car giant, so remember this is a global car giant, so clearly based injapan with big operations in china but also europe, north america and latin america and what we have heard from nissan this morning is that it will have to close the barcelona factory with the loss of 2800 jobs, it says, to shift some production elsewhere because at the moment it has the capacity around the world to make 7 million vehicles when actually it only needs the capacity to make 5 million vehicles so it will cut production by 20 , cut the number of models it makes, car models, van models, by 20 and we expect from about 69 down to 55 to streamline production and interestingly nissan says the focus will be on japan, interestingly nissan says the focus will be onjapan, china and the us with europe not getting a look in as far as that is concerned that this
is when it gets interesting because nissan has a tie up with the french cargiant nissan has a tie up with the french car giant renault and we expect to hear more details when we hear from renault next week about where they will focus their production and it could emerge that nissan is more dominant in china and japan and north america and renault will take the lead in europe and that is where the lead in europe and that is where the sunderland plant comes into it. Currently one of its biggest sites there is a suggestion that the production lost in barcelona might move to the sunderland plant, so at the moment its employing 2800 people with 350,000 vehicles that it makes at that site every year so we could see an increase in production if some of that is moved from a plant in barcelona but clearly no details yet about what role renault will play in that and crucially aboutjobs. There will play in that and crucially about jobs. There is will play in that and crucially aboutjobs. There is speculation the site will move from three shifts down to two but we might get further
details when we hear from renault a little later. But the glimmer of hope for those workers at the sunderland plant in the north east of england is that they have committed to that site of being a Production Base that they were maintaining sunderland as a Production Base for the company, so some hope there despite the job cuts announced in barcelona. Then, thank you very much. Lets take a look at the latest headlines. Test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Scientists say its not a magic bullet but government ministers hope it will allow lockdowns restrictions to be eased across the uk. Applause beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong. This is a major move to practice one country, two systems and is also in line with chinas constitution and the basic law of hong kong. The number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100,000. South korea is re imposing some social restrictions in its main cities, to combat a small spike in coronavirus cases. Nissan has announced the closure of its factory in barcelona with the loss of almost 3,000 jobs. However its sunderland production plant in the uk will remain open. Large protests have broken out in america after the death of an unarmed black man in police custody. President trump says hes asked the fbi and the department ofjustice to investigate the incident. George floyd died in minneapolis. Hed been arrested and pinned down in the street, with an officer kneeling on his neck. Four officers have been sacked. A warning there are some images you may find distressing in this report from david willis. Racial fault lines laid bare once again in a nation at the epicentre of the covid pandemic. Protesters clashed with police in the city of minneapolis and looting broke out as calls grew forjustice following the death of another unarmed black man at the hands of white Police Officers. Cellphone video of the arrest of george floyd shows him handcuffed and pleading forair. I cannot breathe . As an officer presses his knee on the back of mr floyds neck. He eventually loses consciousness and was then taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police originally said he was resisting arrest, but Security Camera footage provided no evidence of that. During a visit to nasas Kennedy Space center, President Trump gave his reaction to george floyd was s death. Very, very sad, sad event. Reporter should the Police Officers be prosecuted, sir . Well, were going to look at it and were going to get a report tomorrow when we get back. And were going to get a very full report. But a very sad day. 46 year old george floyd was arrested on suspicion of trying to part of a counterfeit cheque, four of the Police Officers involved in his arrest have since been fired, but there are now growing calls for them to face criminal charges. Im calling on Hennepin County attorney mike freeman to act on the evidence before him. Im calling on him to charge the arresting officer in this case. A demonstration in support of george floyd in los angeles also turned Violent Police cars were attacked and one of the citys main freeways was blocked for a time by protesters. In minneapolis, a city with a police force has long been criticised for tolerating racism, feelings are running high. George floyds death has prompted comparison with previous killings in other parts of the country involving black suspects and white Police Officers. The problem this country cannot seem to shake off. David willis, bbc news, los angeles. Most children across the uk havent stepped foot in a school for more than two months. For some of them, its been a welcome break, but for others the pandemic has affected their confidence and their mental wellbeing. With some pupils in england due to return to the classroom as early as next week, the childrens commissioner is now calling for a Mental Health counsellor in every school. Sima kotecha reports. Sunshine and cricket. The lockdown hasnt always been like this. For ten year old aman, the youngest of three brothers, its led to anxiety and distress. On one occasion he had what felt like a panic attack. I was very tense inside. It was very hard because i was thinking about what was going to happen next, like, is anything going to happen
between the family . I couldnt do it any more so ijust wanted to go out and just let it all out but i couldnt. His mum is worried about the impact it will have on his long term Mental Health. Trying to support him now, and in the future we dont know how this is going to impact him. The constant question of when will it end . What if it comes back . What if one of us gets it . What if we die . Its quite a lot for a ten year old. A survey by one charity suggests 67 of parents and carers are also concerned about the Mental Health impact the coronavirus outbreak will have on their children with many noticing an increase in depression and anxiety. The childrens commissioner for england wants schools to be at the forefront of providing Mental Health support. So, what im calling for is a mental
health counsellor in every school to help children recover from the covid emergency and help them gain the confidence and resilience they need to move forward and make the most of their education and their childhood which has been on hold for so many weeks. But, at a time when the country is facing a recession and there is likely to be tighter budgets, there is doubt over whether this idea is financially viable. The government says it recognises the importance of Mental Health during this time. In a statement it says. That is why we have published guidance for schools and families about how to support their childrens mental well being and education at home. It says. Coronavirus has affected the lives of all of us. Its impact on the minds of the youngest in Society Might only be properly understood
in years to come. Sima kotecha, bbc news. South korea is re introducing tougher social distancing measures after officials there recorded a fresh spike in coronavirus infections. 79 new cases were identified on thursday the highest daily figure for nearly two months. Hundreds of schools have switched back to online classes in response. The bbcs seoul correspondent laura bicker explains what has led to the current situation. The eyes of the world have been on south korea as a role model to test, trace and track every case when it comes to the pandemic and they have so comes to the pandemic and they have so far been successful and remain so. So far been successful and remain so. However, however hard they try, these cases keep cropping up around these cases keep cropping up around the country. The latest is at a distribution warehouse, a huge company that sends out basically
e commerce right across the country. So far 79 cases, as you said, the highest number of cases in two months. So today, Health Ministers in the last hour have made an urgent plea to try to maintain some kind of distancing measures. They say they will not step up the social distancing measures but what they are asking people to do is stay away from mass gatherings, to look at Wearing Masks where possible and also they are closing public parks, museums and they are urging businesses to maintain working from home orFlexible Working businesses to maintain working from home or Flexible Working hours. Businesses to maintain working from home orFlexible Working hours. It is not, they say, a step backwards in social distancing measures. They are calling for a concerted effort for two weeks to try to get schools to maintain opening times, so basically they have had a phased reopening. Yesterday 2. 5 million children went back. Next week, more are due to go back. They want the Education System to remain open if
possible and that is the plea that is going out to the people, stay apart where possible, maintain these measures and allow the children to go back to school. The real worry here is these cases are close to metropolitan areas like here in sale, which have so far avoided mass outbreaks of kobe of karma nirvana and they are worried it could spread quickly if it takes hold in the city and that is why the concern is so high right now. Its not a step backwards, they are saying, but they are trying to push people to maintain some kind of vigilance. A British Charity dealing with forced marriages says its seen an increase in the number of young people asking for help since lockdown began in march. Karma nirvana which provides support for people who are facing physical and Emotional Abuse from relatives has told Bbc Asian Network its currently dealing with 116 new cases where women are being threatened with forced marriage or are trying to escape one. Sheetal parmar reports. The hidden victims of lockdown, young people not going to school, college or work are now at risk of a forced marriage. One of them is jasmine, who is in her early 20s and who fled her family home after threats were made to her life. Since the beginning of lockdown ive had all my human rights taken away from me by my family members, my mother, my father and my siblings. Jasmine, whose name we have changed, left her home early one morning fearing for her safety. My mother had threatened to burn my skin, burn my body, if i neglected the prayer and she said to my face, wait till lockdown is over, you are getting married. During the lockdown we have had an increase of up to 200 to the helpline. The Charity Karma
nirvana says they are dealing with 116 people who have been asked to go into a forced marriage in the last two months of lockdown. What we need to understand about this abuse is its one of britains worst kept secrets, it is not a cultural issue, its abuse and victims need to be empowered to come forward and likewise, professionals need to be empowered to recognise the issues so they respond appropriately when victims do come forward. Forced marriage has been illegal since 2014 but there have only been two convictions in that time and very few prosecutions. While the problem is suppressed during lockdown, authorities fear there could be a spike in cases when restrictions are lifted. While lockdown permits this sort of behaviour and enables it, young people are isolated in the homes with their families without their usual support mechanisms, and families who are intent in arranging orforcing marriages, particularly with family who are living abroad can easily do so online. Zara, which isnt her real name, is a teenager who wrote to me about her lockdown ordeal while schools are closed. They are on whatsapp to my family in pakistan, looking at pictures of men for me to marry. My brother sticks with my dad and my mum is just too scared to say anything. Charities and some experts who worked on the original forced marriage law are calling for Specialist Services to have a ring fenced funding during the lockdown if they are going to help with multiple victims in the months to come, but that may not come easily. The headlines on bbc news. Test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong. The number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100,000. More than 100,000 people have now died from covid 19 in the United States by some distance the highest number in the world. Of the more than 5. 6 million confirmed cases of the virus around the world, 1. 7 million have been in the us. Well lets take a look at how the us got to this point. The first death was reported on february the 29th. On march the 13th, President Trump declared a National Emergency as schools were closed. Stay at home orders were issued in california, new york and washington. By then, 40 people had died. Within a month, the us passed italys death toll withjust over 20,000
making it the highest number of deaths recorded just four days later the death toll was above 30,000. President trump released his guidelines for reopening the country, as anti lockdown protests broke out. Into may, and the president said his Coronavirus Task force would continue indefinitely, 24 hours after announcing it would close. The death toll stood at 71,000. And now, just three months on from the first death, 100,000 deaths, officially. Dr peter drobac is a Global Health physician and an expert in Infectious Diseases, and Jan Halper Hayes is a republican commentator. Theyjoin me now. Thank you for your time today. 0bviously theyjoin me now. Thank you for your time today. Obviously there are different measures by which we can compare various countries and their response to this pandemic. But how
do you assess the death rate in the us and the response of the Us Government . Well yesterday, of course, was a grim milestone in the us with 100,000 deaths in the country has 4 of the World Population but nearly 30 of the covid 19 deaths worldwide occurred in the us and this is nothing short ofa in the us and this is nothing short of a tragedy. There are a number of reasons why things have got where they got to. Earlier on there was a slow response so once we they got to. Earlier on there was a slow response so once we learned about the virus and the virus was sequenced, we began to see how quickly was spreading in the countries that did well started preparing as early as january and the us lost time in those early months through a sense of complacency and overconfidence and didnt doa complacency and overconfidence and didnt do a lot of planning and there were also technical mishaps with testing that set things back. But as things continued to spread, they were slow to act in terms of
more extreme social distancing and what is really has continued to be an issue has been the lack of a really coordinated National Plan for how to address the pandemic in a coordinated response and this approach of letting states go it alone. Lets put what you are saying tojam. Atragic alone. Lets put what you are saying to jam. A tragic death toll, 100,000 and according to some estimates cases of the virus still going up in as many as 20 states. In the early days of this President Trump said the coronavirus was very much under control in the usa when clearly it wasnt. I think by any reasonable estimate one can say that the us was slow to act, wasnt it, hence the death toll . You know, im not willing to criticise whether it is borisjohnson or donald willing to criticise whether it is Boris Johnson or donald trump because this was something that not a single country, not a single
medical person, not a single expert in Infectious Diseases had ever dealt with. And i think when you compare the us to other countries it is unrealistic. The uk fits in to the us 40 times, france is smaller than the state of texas. Why when italy is about the size of california but california had less than 3000 deaths but yet they have a population that is two thirds of new york and new york had basically almost the same amount of deaths as italy. Put on the point of the speed of reaction, if you look at the response times and this was some work the bbc did. If you look at the response times of countries in terms of introducing lockdown is after they had reached the point of one death per million residents because of covert 19. Germany and france locked down in a couple of days and italy had a higher death toll within
six days and the us still hasnt got a nationwide lockdown, has it . So clearly that is a factor, isnt it . Well, how can you compare 50 different states to those small countries, and i just different states to those small countries, and ijust cannot agree with you on that. The fact remains that you have to look at how each of the governors are making decisions. You have to look at how the chief medical adviser has gone back and forth, seesawing on advice. Donald trump closed the country at the end of january. Why trump closed the country at the end ofjanuary. Why dont we look at how the World Health Organization told us the World Health Organization told us in february that it could not be transferred human to human. Us in february that it could not be transferred humantohuman. Lets talk about the Public Health message on the importance of setting the tone, which is something we have been talking about the uk a lot in the last few days. Peter, how much do you think the tone set by trump
has been key to the response in the us, the reaction of the public in the us and ultimately, i suppose, the us and ultimately, i suppose, the death toll . The measures that need to be taken to control a pandemic, things like social distancing are acts of sacrifice that individuals have to make on behalf of the greater good, so those who really acts of solidarity so one of the most important parts of leadership in a pandemic is to develop that sense of shared mission and purpose and to communicate clearly a nd and purpose and to communicate clearly and with an evidence base, and a scientific way and to bring people together and unfortunately some of the messaging we have seen has been confused and sometimes in contrast with the evidence and u nfortu nately we have contrast with the evidence and unfortunately we have seen some evidence of the Pandemic Response become politicised in the us which isa become politicised in the us which is a dangerous place because we really need to be coming together to
beat this thing. Thats a really good point to come back to you on, jana. The message has become highly politicised in the us at a time when arguably we should be taking politics out of this and judging this not on whether you support the republicans or democrats, but purely on how the president has handled this unprecedented challenge for the whole of the usa. He talked about, infamously, drinking bleach and that he hoped people would be back in churches at easter not because of any data, because he thought it would be a beautiful timeline. Many people will be asking, when is the president going to get a grip of this crisis and that it is too late already, in fact . Well why do you focus on some of the things that he said and you dont focus on the things that he did. Also new york, of the 100,000, new york had 20 of those deaths so, again, the fact
that you blanket to the us against other countries, i understand that there was great criticism one trump said, look, part of my role is to be a cheerleader and sometimes he doesnt actually communicate as well as he could but if we are really going to look at this, do we want to condemn any of them . How about fauci . The two medical advisers did not tell us to wear masks and now they are telling us to wear masks. You have to look at all of the inconsistencies, or another way to look at it is, what was done initially, what didnt work, what changes were made, what then worked and what do we need to do to create and what do we need to do to create a benchmark to prepare for the future . To a benchmark to prepare for the future . To criticise a benchmark to prepare for the future . To criticise is ridiculous. Its not intelligent. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts
today. Thank you for your time. Bad weather has delayed the launch of the first privately funded mission to the International Space station. The space x falcon 9 rocket, funded by tesla owner elon musk, was halted 17 minutes before take off because of thunderstorms. The next available window for a new attempt is on saturday. A perfectly preserved ancient roman mosaic floor has been discovered under an italian vineya rd. After decades of searching experts in verona finally unearthed the well preserved tiles buried under tonnes of earth. Apparently, Scholars First found evidence of a roman villa there more than a century ago. Archaeologists are still excavating the site to see the full extent of the ancient building. Decades in the making but absolutely beautiful there in verona. We will now say goodbye to viewers on bbc world news. Thanks for watching. You are watching bbc news. Now its time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. Hello there. If your garden is desperate for rain at the moment, none in the forecast for the rest of this month and certainly out there today, a day of blue skies from dawn till dusk in many parts. The early cloud, though, we did see across Eastern England will have gone through the afternoon. A bit more cloud to the north of scotland. That will limit temperatures here to between 11 14 degrees where it lingers, orkney and shetland. Mainland scotland, though, warming up, 22 25 degrees, potentially. Around the coast, where the breeze is off the sea, a little bit cooler. Temperatures only around 9 10 degrees across the north, 10 14 further south. Western parts of Northern Ireland warm at 24. Western parts of england and wales highs of 25, 26, maybe 27 degrees. And thats why its a bit cooler
towards the east is that weve got more of an easterly breeze here compared to the past few days. But even here, the sun every bit as strong, very high uv levels across the south through today. Into tonight, well, mostly dry and clear. Low cloud lingers in shetland, some misty low cloud returns to the eastern parts of england. Tomorrow morning, a good morning after the heat of today. Open the windows, let some fresh air in. Temperatures will be down to single figures in one or two spots. It will quickly warm up, though, and whilst well have some low cloud to begin with in eastern counties of england, that will break up. Maybe just one or two spots lingering near the coast. Even the low cloud in shetland will be a little less dominant. A better chance of some sunshine. For most, another sunny day, a little bit more breeze, though, coming infrom the east or south east. So where the wind is off the sea, temperatures will be in the teens. Most, though, widely into the 20s. 25 27 degrees in the west, could hit 26 celsius in the north west of scotland. A good 10 12 celsius above where we should be for the time of year. With High Pressure remaining across scandinavia, the flow of dry air off the new continent keeping weather fronts and clouds at bay out in the atlantic this weekend,
so its going to be a sunny weekend. That will certainly be the case on saturday. Strong sunshine across the board. What you will notice on saturday, though, a bit more breeze blowing across the country and where that breeze is off the sea, those eastern coastal counties of england and eastern Northern Ireland in particular, temperatures generally in the teens. Most, though, into the 20s again, 27 or 28 degrees possible towards the west. Sunday, maybe a little bit cooler across scotland and some other eastern areas again with that breeze coming in off the sea, but warmest of all still towards western parts of england and wales, where 26 or 27 celsius is possible. And the dry story continues into the start of next week at least. This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today, as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Scientists say its not a magic bullet but government ministers hope it will allow lockdown restrictions to be eased across the uk. If we all participate in this system when asked, then well be able to more safely lift the lockdown measures and lift the sort of the aggregate National Lockdown by having this more targeted approach. Beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong. Translation this is a major move to practice one country,
two systems, and is also in line with chinas constitution and the basic law of hong kong. The number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100,000. South korea is re imposing some social restrictions in its main cities, to combat a small spike in coronavirus cases. Nissan has announced the closure of its factory in barcelona with the loss of almost 3000 jobs however, its sunderland production plant in the uk will remain open. Hello, and welcome if youre watching in the uk or around the world, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. New coronavirus test and trace systems have gone live in england and scotland this morning. In an attempt to keep infection outbreaks contained, anyone whos been in close contact with someone who has tested positive will now be contacted and asked to self isolate. The uk government has said the english system will change peoples lives scientists think it could prevent between five and 15 of cases. Northern ireland has its own version of the programme already up and running and in wales their scheme is due to start in earlyjune. In the United States, more than 100,000 people have now died from covid 19. Thats more than the combined total of american fatalities from the korean, vietnam and iraq wars. South korea is re introducing tougher social distancing measures after officials there recorded a fresh spike in coronavirus infections. 79 new cases were identified on thursday the highest daily figure for nearly two months. First with this report
on the test and trace system being rolled out in parts of the uk, heres charlotte rose. Weve all got used to the slogans and rules for tackling covid 19, but from today, theres a further change, as parts of the uk move into the test and trace phase. The aim is to start to ease the nationwide lockdown and only bring it back in places where theres an outbreak. So, how will test and trace work in england . If you get symptoms a high fever, persistent cough or loss of taste and smell you must self isolate and order a test. If you test positive, the contact tracer will identify people who youve been close enough to pass the virus to. Those contacts will be either classed as low or high risk. Contact tracers will then get in touch with people who might be at risk. Theyll be asked to isolate for 14 days, or get tested themselves if they develop symptoms. You might remember an app which was being trialled on the isle of wight. Thats not yet ready to be launched
across england, so its not part of government plans. The new system will be dependent on people following the rules around self isolation. If you are contacted by nhs test and trace, instructing you to isolate, you must. It is your civic duty. So you avoid unknowingly spreading the virus and you help to break the chain of transmission. But some remain cautious about how well the new system will cope. You absolutely need rapid test turnaround. The International Standard is you should get the test results back within 24 hours. There are far too many places, in terms of our trusts, the trusts that we represent, but also care homes, who are saying they cant get results back any quicker than, for example, an average of 3 5 days. Later today, scotlands first minister Nicola Sturgeon is set to announce plans for an easing in lockdown measures. The first ministers already announced plans for a scottish test and protect system. Northern ireland has already launched its tracing system and wales is set to follow next week. It comes as a further 412 people died with coronavirus yesterday, taking the total number of deaths to 37,460. 117,013 tests were done yesterday, with 2,013 people testing positive. Those People Living in england will be the first to be contacted today as the new system launches. The government hopes these new measures will help to start to allow the economic and social recovery from the virus. Charlotte rose, bbc news. Our assistant Political Editor norman smith is at westminster. How central a policy and plank is this test and trace system going to beat for the government . Its huge
for all of us because this is the key to easing the lockdown, but it does involve an almighty big ask of many people who may be asked to self isolate for up to 14 days while feeling perfectly well, having no symptoms of coronavirus but who have come into contact with someone who does have it and there will be no exceptions. It doesnt matter whether you have had coronavirus before it yourself or credit you get a test which proves you dont have it. Once you have been asked to self isolate, you will be expected to do that. The big question is will people comply, and ministers seem pretty hopeful that they will, in pa rt pretty hopeful that they will, in part because of the experience of the lockdown so far when people have been remarkably compliant and been willing to go along with fairly unprecedented restrictions, added to which the weight this is being
pitched, its being done in a light handed way at least to start with so there will not be any fines or punishment or police banging on the door demanding to know if you are self isolating, its entirely volu nta ry self isolating, its entirely voluntary and i hope is that will make people more comfortable with the system, but it will be fronted by the nhs, not the government telling you what to do. It will be initially clinicians having a discussion about who you have been in contact with and who they need to send to racers after to get in touch with and get them to self isolate and that is pivotal, making this almost a request by the health service, Health Advice rather than government instruction, but as matt hancock was dressing this morning, it will come down to what he calls people observing their civic duty. All of this is about doing the very best that we can, not only my team, the people who are working in nhs
test and trace, but also all of us who are participating those who test positive and those who are contacts and so get the communication from nhs test and trace that they need to self isolate. If everybody does our best, then we will get that rate of transmission down and well break the chain of transmission from the virus more often. One of the reasons why people might be more willing to go along with this system is because those people who you come into contact with most of our friends and family, your nearest and dearest so you will know who they are but also, you may want them to be safe so you may feel it would be better if the date self isolate, so that too may help bed in Public Acceptance of this new system, certainly before we moved to
the next stage, probably later in the next stage, probably later in the month, the roll out of the app. This morning matt hancock said they havent rolled it out not because there is a technical problem but they are a little wary in case people have concerns about privacy and about Data Retention so they are starting with this more basic human tracing system first before later rolling out the app. Norman, thank you. Norman smith at a sunny westminster. And with the launch of testing and tracing systems in england and scotland today, wed like you to send in your questions to us about how the system is going to work get in touch by emailing yourquestions bbc. Co. Uk or you can use the hashtag bbcyourquestions and we will answer your questions at 12 15pm this afternoon. Members of the Chinese Legislature the National Peoples congress have overhelmingly endorsed sweeping and controversial new security
laws for hong kong. The bill, which now passes to chinas senior leadership, has caused deep concern among those who say it could end hong kongs unique status. Heres a look at what the law will do. Firstly, it will criminalise conduct in hong kong that Harms National Security a measure pro democracy campaigners fear could be used to target them. It permits chinas National Intelligence agencies to set up offices in hong kong, to oversee its enforcement. Beijing will also be able to place the measure into the basic law thats the mini constitution on how hong kong is run effectively bypassing the territories own lawmakers. The chinese premiere li keqiang welcomed the new law at a press conference today. Translation the decision adopted at the ncp session is designed for steady implementation of one country, two systems, and hong kongs long term
prosperity and stability. Our correspondent Stephen Mcdonell said that it was no suprise the National PeoplesCongress Overwhelmingly approved the legislation. Look, its a rubber stamp session. There was never going to be any resisting this at the National Peoples congress, but even so, 2787 in favour and only one against, with six abstentions, it is quite something however, what it means, though, is that this bill will now go to the next stage, which is that the Standing Committee of the National PeoplesCongress Works out the details of the law and writes it up and it could actually come into effect before the end of the year. Whats not clear is exactly what types of speech or exactly what actions might constitute treason under this new law. There are some concerns that even calling for hong kong independence could be seen as secession. So, these crimes, like treason or secession, they are serious and, at the moment, people are being charged, activists, with rioting and assembly charges and, to tell the truth, not that many people have actually been punished under that process. Although, 7000, more than 7000 have been charged over the last year. Under this new law, well, these crimes like treason, that can mean decades in prison and so this is why theres been a lot of concern in hong kong amongst the pro democracy camp that it could be eroding the citys freedoms. Lo kin hei is vice chairperson of the pro democracy Democratic Party in hong kong and spoke to my colleague david eades a short while ago. The decision is very clearly something that we have no doubt it will be passed so i think hong kong
people, it is just like a usual day for us because we know it will be passed and our protest and our resilience will notjust stop there. Will there be any protest today . I am not sure but in the coming days, months and years i am sure hong kong people will keep on fighting. Your message and many others has been if this comes into play, it is effectively the death of hong kong as you know it and we know it, so what does that do for your future . What does it do for the territory . I think it is a very looming situation for hong kong right now. When the United States, secretary pompeo, they have a statement saying hong kong is no longer autonomous and there are rumours that they would stop the special treatment for hong kong, the trade status for hong kong for one year and then they will see if the situation is better
and if there is no better situation they will altogether cancel the Hong Kong Policy act so i think it is a very looming situation but this is also what some hong kong people have expected because when the beijing government chose to violate the one country, two systems, and to crush hong kong into a place that is no other than any more chinese city, this is the destiny of Hong Kong Society but hong kong people are still fighting because we believe that our rights, human rights and freedoms should not be just stopped there, we should have our freedom. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 100,000 lives in america over the last four months. Its the highest total of any country in the world. Lets take a look at how
the us got to this point. The first death in the United States was reported on february the 29th. On march the 13th, President Trump declared a National Emergency as schools were closed. Stay at home orders were issued in california, new york and washington. By then, 40 people had died. Within a month, the us passed italys death toll withjust over 20,000 making it the highest number of deaths recorded just four days later the deathtoll was above 30,000. President trump released his guidelines for reopening the country, as anti lockdown protests broke out. Into may, and the president said his Coronavirus Task force would continue indefinitely, 24 hours after announcing it would close. The death toll stood at 71,000. And now, just three months on from the first death, 100,000 deaths, officially. Our north america correspondent, aleem maqbool, reports from washington. Happy birthday to you. Friends and relatives of more than 100,000 people in america can nowjust cling to the memories of happier times
before the coronavirus. My father was a really caring person and he just wanted to help people and he was really outgoing. He thought he was really funny. Doug lambrecht was one of the first confirmed deaths, back on the 1st march. As somebody who lost someone so close to them, and who was obviously very, very dear to you, so early on, when you saw the way this was going in the country, how has it made you feel over the last couple of months . Its scary, its sad. I feel angry. We should have been listening to the doctors and the scientists. We should not have been listening to people talking about the stock market. Its natural that people are reaching for answers, for someone to be accountable, after scenes like mass graves being dug in new york and refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full. If the lord say so, ill see you saturday. We now know that African Americans, like rhoda hatch, are still dying in disproportionate numbers. I think 100,000 is an extraordinary number. It means that theres a lot of pain and grief. But some of us in the black community are very concerned that as the narrative became that African Americans were disproportionately impacted by the virus, that there was also then a push to open up the country, that many of us think prematurely, that, again, suggested the evaluation of black lives. Those calls to reopen go on, even as the number of dead continues to mount and as the nation mourns. Well, flags have most recently been lowered here after tragedies like mass shootings, and even then, its been difficult to grapple with the scale of loss after sometimes dozens of people
have been killed. But how, then, does america even begin to count the emotional cost of such a Staggering Number of deaths . To really do justice to the stories of those lost would take many lifetimes. For people left behind, the question lingers could more have been done so these americans and tens of thousands of others might still be around . Aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. Lets get more now on the uk governments track and trace scheme for england that went live this morning. The bbc has received several reports that some of those meant to start work today are struggling to access the government website. We can talk to harold who wants to remain anonymous so thats not his real name. He is a locum a e doctor. Hes also a track and Trace Team Leader but has been unable to access the website to start work today. Harold, thank you forjoining us. Tell us what your day has consisted of so far. Mostlyjust tell us what your day has consisted of so far. Mostly just clicking tell us what your day has consisted of so far. Mostlyjust clicking and waiting and saying it cannot be reached from about 8am. We had a statement from the department of health and social care saying the system hasnt crashed, anyone in the country can put a test if they have symptoms and we have tracers to do their vital work, as with all large scale operations and some staff initially encountered issues logging on and these are rapidly being resolved. How does that answer your concerns you are experiencing . I would agree with some of it, we we re i would agree with some of it, we were meant to start nearly two weeks ago on the 18th and we have been waiting, doing a bit of training but not really doing anything. I didnt know we were starting today until i found out on the news last night at 7pm, we didnt get e mails from
Public Health people until 9 50pm last night with logins which didnt work last night or this morning, then a happy e mail saying good news, we are going live tomorrow but thatis news, we are going live tomorrow but that is all i heard about it even though i had a webinar yesterday, they didnt make any mention so it may have been rushed through. They didnt make any mention so it may have been rushed throughlj believe may have been rushed through. believe everyone taking part in this has received an e mail saying we are grateful for your time and expertise, thank you. How well organised has it been so far . You have gone to the lack of communication. Thats the main thing, i spent most of the last two weeks trying to Contact People and was put on hold for an hour and a half, didnt receive any information about when we were starting. We were often told we would start on the 18th, until the 17th, then on sunday i was told we are not starting tomorrow. The training has been 0k
and nhs professionals have been great but the Overarching Organisation seems to be a shambles. How is it meant to work . At the moment because there isnt an app, people will be notified they are positive and then can log in and put in their data so that it might be going at the moment, i dont know but searching online i cannot find anywhere you can put that in, but then we contact if they are high risk or if they are too complex for them to put in themselves or in nurseries etc, we will then do it, or if they dont want to fill out the form themselves, we will ring and fill it out for them, but i dont have any access at the moment so dont have any access at the moment soi dont have any access at the moment so i dont know how that is going. We said you are ordinarily a locum
accident and emergency doctor so i assume you think this is an important project if you are giving up important project if you are giving up working in a e. I was working a lot at the start of the pandemic but then as it got a bit quieter and they started bringing regular staff back into hospitals there wasnt as much work for me and im starting a proper training job in august but i was filling in the gaps so i thought i would do this full time but for two weeks i have just been twiddling my thumbs and sitting by a laptop in case anything changes but it hasnt until today, when it should have changed but it hasnt. How helpful are you that this system will make a difference because it seems the scientists are more cautious than the politicians . I think where we have seen in other countries track and trace has been amazing but that was at the start when there were a few cases and it is easier to hurt a few cases and it is easier to hurt a
few cases and it is easier to hurt a few cases then when you have of thousands of like we have. Its better than nothing but is it too late . We could have done it three months ago or even when we new coronavirus was coming back in january, but its better than nothing and in theory it can work but with Peoples Trust in the government not looking good at the moment, whether people will listen to the advice when we have heard it is only advice, they are considering fines but they havent said yet, we will have two seat but at the moment im not hugely optimistic. We are told its our civic duty to self isolate if we are found to be positive. How unhelpful it has all the focus on Dominic Cummings decision been in conveying that message more firmly to people who are positive . I think its difficult when you see people breaking rules and not following everything and the
continued messaging we have had from the beginning. We had our Prime Minister boasting he was shaking hands with people so everyone is very confused about the messages, some people more scared than they need to be and some people are nowhere near as scared as they need to be. We have some legislation and some guidelines and its difficult to tell the difference. Especially when it changes on a weekly basis. It sounded like from what man can concoct saying it is not a legal thing to do, they are not sticking to self isolation then what do we do . In the nicest possible way, harold, i hope you get started very soon. Harold, i hope you get started very soon. Thank you for talking to us. No worries, thanks. Easyjet says it plans to cut 4,500 jobs, and shrink its fleet, as a result of the coronavirus. The airline says the reductions will fit the smaller market it expects to emerge from the collapse
in air travel due to covid 19. Easyjet employs more than 15,000 people in eight countries across europe. The japanese car firm nissan has announced the closure of its factory in barcelona, with a loss of almost 3000 jobs. The Spanish Government said the move was part of a new worldwide three year restructuring plan. Nissan says its plant in sunderland will remain open as a Production Base. Lets talk now to our Business Correspondent, ben thompson. Barcelona loses out, sunderland is the winner here. Yes, potentially. We dont have a huge amount of detail about what will happen at sunderland except that nissan has recommitted to its future. You may remember lots of questions over nissans presence in the uk as brexit negotiations continued and whether it would still be viable to operate here if it was subject to
ta riffs operate here if it was subject to tariffs and import charges on parts or equipment it would need to make those cars, but what we heard today, as part of a restructuring plan, nissan will focus the nissan part of its business on china, japan and north america and its partner, ran out, may end up taking some of the priority in europe and that includes sunderland, and we will get an update from renault about what it means to do and maybe some of the production that was based at barcelona could shift to sunderland, sunderland employing about 7000 staff making 350 cars every year so a big presence in the north east of england and there will be some relief that its future is assured so lets talk about this in more detail, we will speak to amory basson, who was head of what bmi research. Give us your sense of what
you have heard this morning because nissan are in a difficult position, facing falling car sales even before the outbreak of coronavirus. What does this announcement tell us about its plans . It gives us an idea of what their priorities will be Going Forward for the next two or three years and its a pivot from the previous strategy that was based around expansion and hitting volume targets, now its more about doing things profitably and if you look at the language, results, its about sta ble the language, results, its about stable market share and sustainable market share and Financial Stability so market share and Financial Stability so its about doing these things profitably which is where things like sharing capacity between the brands will come in. And nissan told us brands will come in. And nissan told us this morning it has the capacity to make 7 million vehicles. It now says it needs the capacity to make 5
million so quite a significant reduction, it will reduce the number of models it makes, reduce output and may beat showing some of those resources between plants so not great news for those 2800 staff in barcelona but potentially good news for sunderland. Yes, and it makes sense because that cash chi and that duke that are made in sunderland already share chassis from to soak from a business perspective it makes sense, they share parts, the barcelona plant was operating well below capacity so while its unfortunate for the people in barcelona, it makes sense in terms of sharing to get more profitable. And give us a sense about the brexit issue, because nissan was pretty vocal at the time, they said it was unviable to operate that plant in
sunderland if they were subject to wto rules on things like tariffs, so they have either changed their mind where they are more reassured by what they have heard from the brexit negotiations about the future of that plant. Yes, this was always a risk at the fact the uk industry as a whole, there is a lot of trade between the uk and the eu especially in terms of parts and you would think that would be an issue, producing a model that is currently based in europe, so we would expect, as you say, they have heard something in the negotiations that has reassured them or you would imagine it having got this far into coming up with the plan, to bring renault model is over, they have some kind of contingency plan for various scenarios. We will watch and wait to see what happens. Anne marie, good to talk to you. That idea about the brexit issue, one that will be front and centre of Older Workers mines because their future could depend on that. When nissan were talking about the future of the sunderland plant they said their business in the uk and europe is not sustainable in the event of wto ta riffs is not sustainable in the event of wto tariffs so we should get an indication tomorrow from renault about its plans for sunderland and whether it will bring those models over from barcelona but whether it will bring those models overfrom barcelona but some assurance for those workers there, nissan confirming the future of that plant, the detail of which we may get in the next couple of days. Hello, this is bbc news. The headlines. Test and trace systems go live in england and scotland as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Scientists say its not a magic bullet but government ministers hope it will allow lockdowns restrictions
to be eased across the uk. Applause. Beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong the number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100,000. South korea is reimposing some social restrictions in its main cities, to combat a small spike in coronavirus cases. Nissan has announced the closure of its factory in barcelona with the loss of almost 3,000 jobs however its sunderland production plant in the uk will remain open. Chinas parliament has rubber stamped a new National Security law for hong kong despite mass protests against it in the territory. The legislation will allow chinese intelligence agencies to operate in hong kong for the first time. Last year, protests over an extradition law turned violent and evolved into a broader anti china and pro democracy movement. China is keen to avoid a repeat of that unrest. The uks Opposition Labour Party is calling on the goverment here for an urgent inquiry into Police Brutality in hong kong. Lisa nandy is the shadow foreign secretary. Shejoint is now. Welcome. What other concerns that you have looking at what is happening. Shejoins us. At what is happening. Shejoins us. This is the latest in a series of atte m pts us. This is the latest in a series of attempts by china to erode the joint declaration which britain co signed with the Chinese Government when we handed over hong kong and protected its special status. That is the basis for the right that people in hong kong enjoyed, the freedoms, the human rights, democracy and the rule of
law that has lasted since then. Last year we had the extradition bill which attempted to encroach on those rights and freedoms, and since then were seen a rights and freedoms, and since then were seen a series rights and freedoms, and since then were seen a series of attempts to continue to do that, the latest and most serious being of this bill that has just been passed. Most serious being of this bill that hasjust been passed. We most serious being of this bill that has just been passed. We want to see the uk government stepped up now, it is very welcome that dominic rob the foreign secretary issued a statement on friday, jointly with australia and canada, which is very important, but we want to see the uk calling for concrete measures to restart to push back on this very aggressive approach by the Chinese Government or there could be very serious implications for the people in hong kong. Concrete measures by whom . Well, the first we want is independent investigation into Police Brutality. Even related yesterday thereby right please on
the streets. Many young protesters protesting for democracy subject to a tear gas, they have been hit by pellets. There has been serious amounts of violence over the last few weeks, and there was an enquiry into Police Brutality but it is largely seen by the people of hong kong is a whitewash. We want the government to call for an independent enquiry to be established. Most importantly, in the end the only way that this will be resolved is by universal suffrage, and thats why i have asked dominic raab to come to the house of commons on tuesday and make a statement about theirs, calling on the hong kong authorities to start implementing the democratic reforms that were promised and to give universal suffrage to the people of hong kong. I understand why you think britain has some particular duty, because it was a british territory for so long until 1997, but how much sway does britain really have in hong kong these days,
let alone Mainland China . That was the importance of the statement that dominic raab made on friday in conjunction with its australian and canadian counterparts. There has to be pressure coming from an alliance of countries around the world. The right to say that britain alone trying to stand up to chinese aggression will not be enough, but it is symbolically important that britain does that add early. The governments response has been slow, it is not just governments response has been slow, it is notjust a moral question about our obligations to the people of all hong kong, although that is the case, but it is in britains interest. We have seen with covid 19 that they will of law, democracy, these are the basis for alliances around the world and those alliances matter deeply when we are thinking about trying to get a Global Response to a global pandemic. The rule of law. Rebuilding after
the rule of law. Rebuilding after the health crisis, these will require cooperation. We cannot have bought two sealy world turn away from defending those values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Thank you for your time. Now, back to our top story new coronavirus test and trace systems went live in england and scotland at 9am today. In an attempt to keep infection outbreaks contained, anyone whos been in close contact with someone who has tested positive will now be contacted and asked to self isolate. But as we have been hearing, there have been some teething problems. Allyson pollock is professor of Public Health at newcastle university. Shejoins has now. We have spoken before and you have advocated for this sort of system. What are you hearing about its launch . It is about short on detail, the way the system should be working is through a local outbreak teams liaising very
closely with general practitioners and Public Health in local authorities. We still dont have a sense that is happening. The problem is that circo has recruited many of the call handlers, and this is through a centralised system, and then we had regional epidemiologists, but we dont know how patients are icily going to report their symptoms and how they will be tested and whether the test welcome back to gps and how this will all work on the ground. What i have had as a lot of e mails from people who are call handlers at the higher level of the case control managers saying that their training has been poor, a few hours at most, it has been rather chaotic and there is no clear sense of what they are doing. This is very important if we are going to roll out a system
across the country that people have great confidence and trust in the system, add that it is going to work and that the government is going to support them. If they are isolating out in quarantine. Is it not true that the government cannot really win on this . They criticised for being too slow and for ringing it too quickly. There is always a system bedding down, and we have to accept that. We have been doing this for decades, but the problem is that the government has ripped out the systems that wear their local authorities to do Contact Tracing, and how it should work is very simple. A patient with symptoms will report to their gp, the gp orders a test, the test comes back and at the same time the general practitioner lets the local Public Health
department no the contact. This is not the reality of what is happening. We already have a very good established notification system, and a good legal basis for Contact Tracing. It is a real puzzle as to why the government did not simply restore all the lost capacity and make this happen locally with central funding and central coordination. Instead it has stolen a lot of money at the private sector and Companies Like serco and the commercial testing schemes, but it really hasnt built up a local capacity that is needed for testing and Contact Tracing. We have a very confused picture at the moment, add that means urgent clarification. Needs clarification. Non essential shops have been given the go ahead to open their doors again in england from 15june. This includes shops selling clothes, toys, books and electronics, as well as auction houses, photography studios, and indoor markets. Many Department Stores are also preparing to reopen withjohn lewis, next and primark all announcing plans for a gradual reopening. We can speak now to chris wooton, who is the chief Financial Officer for Frasers Group which includes some of the high streets biggest brands. Including Sports Direct the uks Largest Sporting goods retailer. Welcome to bbc news. How does the 15th of june suit welcome to bbc news. How does the 15th ofjune suit you and your company . I think it has been reported that we are not particularly happy with the mixed m essa g es particularly happy with the mixed messages that come out of government. Ourselves and others we re government. Ourselves and others were expecting the messaging to be the opening date, that is what the government led us to believe. They said it would be a phased reopening
from the 1st of june said it would be a phased reopening from the 1st ofjune if the signs allowed them. As i said the other day and as i have had confirmed, it seems Dominic Cummings fiasco has made the government much more cautious in taking Decisive Action i did has been pushed back to the 15th. Is it caution a good idea when lives are a state . Isnt caution. I understand this is a difficult crisis that we are in, but i think our sales, other retailers and indeed just generally people need more clear guidance, the government guidance on most things including retail opening has been vague. have seen some correspondence that you have sent to the business department. What response did you get, because you were asked for better engagement with them, so you could ask them pertinent deadly
questions. Very limited, frankly. We have written a number of letters to them. The only real engagement we got was when mr gove went on as morgan in the morning after this crisis started and lockdown started and responded to the media rather than picking up the phone, which we didnt think woodford very clever. We have written, got a brief response to the from the bias to a letter we sent, be gone back to them asking whether the government think it would be a good idea if we opened Sports Direct for the nhs for a day before the 15thjune and gave them 50 of display price. We have not had a response. How damaging has a lockdown be for your company . cannot go into specific details as a listed business but clearly the bricks and mortar retailer, having our main source of revenue shot down
for a number of months, has clearly cost us money. What measures are you putting in place to make sure your stores are safe and customers will feel confident enough to come in . We have put a lot of work in our teams, they have done a sterling job of putting health and safety procedures. Screens on their tails, ppe falstaff, safety signs hanging from the roofs, stickers on the floor. We have had a big pack that has gone out to all applicable staff independently verified by an expert, we have actually, just an example, on local guidelines, opened in jersey as well this week, and we have had great feedback from local consumers who have said they feel very safe at the service was very friendly. Well done, ourjersey team. We appreciate you talking to us. Team. We appreciate you talking to us. Thank you for your time. South korea is reintroducing tougher social distancing measures after officials there recorded a fresh spike in coronavirus infections. 79 new cases were identified on thursday the highest daily figure for nearly two months. The bbcs seoul correspondent laura bicker explains why south korea is taking action once again. The eyes of the world have been on south korea as a role model to test, trace and track every case when it comes to the pandemic and they have so far been successful and remain so. However, however hard they try, these cases keep cropping up around the country. The latest is at a distribution warehouse, a huge company that sends out basically e commerce right across the country. So far 79 cases, as you said, the highest number of cases in two months. So today, Health Ministers in the last hour have made an urgent plea to try to maintain some kind of distancing measures. They say they will not
step up the social distancing measures but what they are asking people to do is stay away from mass gatherings, to look at Wearing Masks where possible and also they are closing public parks, museums and they are urging businesses to maintain working from home orFlexible Working hours. It is not, they say, a step backwards in social distancing measures. They are calling for a concerted effort for two weeks to try to get schools to maintain opening times, so basically they have had a phased reopening. Yesterday 2. 5 million children went back. Next week, more are due to go back. They want the Education System to remain open if possible and that is the plea that is going out to the people, stay apart where possible, maintain these measures and allow the children to go back to school. The real worry here is these cases are close to metropolitan areas like here in
sale, which have so far avoided mass outbreaks. Its not a step backwards, they are saying, but they are trying to push people to maintain some kind of vigilance. The headlines on bbc news. Test and trace systems get underway in england and scotland today as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong. The number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100 thousand. Works across europe, life for many is gradually returning to normal as countries ease restrictions on movement, which have been in place in some areas for almost three months. Rich preston has this
look at a continent coming out of lockdown stay in italy, a visit to a nice cream parlour after almost three months under an intense date of lockdown, this stands for so much. Translation of lockdown, this stands for so much. Translation i missed it from this ice cream shop, one of the best you can find in rome. Just a few mods ago, the worlds focus was on italy is the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. Now with its infection rate slowing by the day, the lives of italians are being allowed to return to normal. Translation we have been coming today one of the reopening. We have been passing everyday to check out if it was open. We have literally circled it. When coronavirus first hit switzerland, the companys military routers were called to action, supporting Emergency Services to contain a pandemic. Now
a demobilisation ceremony. These soldiers are being stood down. With the situation deemed under control, they have been told they can return to civilian life. For many countries, the worry is over the long term impact of the virus, particularly on essential tourism industries. Cyprus has taken a novel approach to try and win back business. It has promised to cover the cost of the holiday as well as the cost of the holiday as well as the medical treatment of anyone who falls ill after visiting the island. A measure it hopes will reassure potential visitors that a trip to cyprus is safe from both a health and financial point of view. On wednesday, the European Commission announced plans for an 825 billion fund to help countries whose economies had been hit by the pandemic. Not all Member States agree on the method of this kind of financial rescue, but few disagree with its motor. After asia, europe was the heart of the coronavirus pandemic, now, as other regions see
the death tolls continue to rise acrobatic rates, the sights of italians eating ice cream or the swiss army being stood down may provide a glimmer of hope for the future. Though governments around the world are clear, the fight against the virus are still not over. Most children across the uk havent stepped foot in a school for more than two months. For some of them, its been a welcome break, but for others the pandemic has affected their confidence and their mental wellbeing. With some pupils in england due to return to the classroom as early as next week, the childrens commissioner is now calling for a Mental Health counsellor in every school. Sima kotecha reports. Sunshine and cricket. The lockdown hasnt always been like this. For ten year old aman, the youngest of three brothers, its led to anxiety and distress. On one occasion he had what felt like a panic attack. I was very tense inside. It was very hard because i was thinking about what was going to happen next, like, is anything going to happen
between the family . I couldnt do it any more so ijust wanted to go out and just let it all out but i couldnt. His mum is worried about the impact it will have on his long term Mental Health. Trying to support him now, and in the future we dont know how this is going to impact him. The constant question of when will it end . What if it comes back . What if one of us gets it . What if we die . Its quite a lot for a ten year old. A survey by one charity suggests 67 of parents and carers are also concerned about the Mental Health impact the coronavirus outbreak will have on their children with many noticing an increase in depression and anxiety. The childrens commissioner for england wants schools to be at the forefront of providing Mental Health support. So, what im calling for is a Mental Health counsellor in every school
to help children recover from the covid emergency and help them gain the confidence and resilience they need to move forward and make the most of their education and their childhood which has been on hold for so many weeks. But, at a time when the country is facing a recession and there is likely to be tighter budgets, there is doubt over whether this idea is financially viable. The government says it recognises the importance of Mental Health during this time. In a statement it says. That is why we have published guidance for schools and families about how to support their childrens mental well being and education at home. It says. We have also placed significance on Mental Health and well being in our planning framework for the wider opening of schools. Coronavirus has affected the lives of all of us. Its impact on the minds of the youngest in Society Might only be properly understood
in years to come. Sima kotecha, bbc news. A British Charity dealing with forced marriages says its seen an increase in the number of young people asking for help since lockdown began in march. Karma nirvana which provides support for people who are facing physical and Emotional Abuse from relatives has told Bbc Asian Network its currently dealing with 116 new cases where women are being threatened with forced marriage or are trying to escape one. Sheetal parmar reports. The hidden victims of lockdown, young people not going to school, college or work are now at risk of a forced marriage. One of them is jasmine, who is in her early 20s and he fled her family home after threats were made to her life. Since the beginning of lockdown ive had all my human rights taken away from me by my family members, my mother, my father and my siblings. Jasmine, whose name we have changed, left her home early one morning fearing for her safety. My mother had threatened to burn my skin, bone my body, if i neglected the prayer and she said to my face, wait till lockdown is over, you are getting married. Burn my body. During the lockdown we have had an increase of up to 200 in the healthline. To our helpline. The Charity Karma nirvana says they are dealing with 116 people who have been asked to go into a forced marriage in the last two months of lockdown. What we need to understand about this abuse is its one of britains worst kept secrets, it is not a cultural issue, its Abuse Victims need to be empowered to come forward and likewise, professionals need to be empowered to recognise the issues so they respond appropriately when victims do come forward. Forced marriage has been illegal since 2014 but there have only been two convictions in that
time and very few prosecutions. While the problem is suppressed during lockdown, authorities fear there could be a spike in cases when restrictions are lifted. While lockdown permits this sort of behaviour and enables it, young people are isolated in the homes with their families without their usual support mechanisms, and families who are intent in arranging orforcing marriages, particularly with family who are living abroad can easily do so online. Zara, which isnt her real name, is a teenager who wrote to me about her lockdown ordeal while schools are closed. They are on to my family in pakistan, looking at pictures of men for me to marry. My brother sticks with
my dad and my mum is just too scared to say anything. Charities and some experts who worked on the original forced marriage law are calling for Specialist Services to have a ring fenced funding during the lockdown if they are going to help with multiple victims in the months to come, but that may not come easily. Bad weather has delayed the launch of the first privately funded mission to the International Space station. The space x falcon 9 rocket, funded by tesla owner elon musk, was halted 17 minutes before take off because of thunderstorms. The next available window for a new attempt is on saturday. If youve ever thought the prospect of finding treasure hidden in the garden was exciting, imagine how one group of surveyors felt about coming across a roman mosaic floor, concealed under an italian vineyard. After decades of searching, experts in verona finally unearthed the well preserved tiles buried under tonnes of earth. Apparently, Scholars First found evidence of a roman villa there more than a century ago. Archaeologists are still excavating the site to see the full extent of the ancient building. Now its time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. Hello there. If your garden is desperate for rain at the moment, none in the forecast for the rest of this month and certainly out there today, a day of blue skies from dawn till dusk in many parts. The early cloud, though, we did see across Eastern England will have gone through the afternoon. A bit more cloud to the north of scotland. That will limit temperatures here to between 11 14 degrees where it lingers, orkney and shetland. Mainland scotland, though, warming up, 22 25 degrees, potentially. Around the coast, where the breeze is off the sea, a little bit cooler. Sea temperatures only around 9 10 degrees across the north, 10 14 further south. 1214. Western parts of Northern Ireland warm at 24. Western parts of england and wales highs of 25, 26, maybe 27 degrees. And thats why its a bit cooler
towards the east is that weve got more of an easterly breeze here compared to the past few days. But even here, the sun every bit as strong, very high uv levels across the south through today. Into tonight, well, mostly dry and clear. Low cloud lingers in shetland, some misty low cloud returns to the eastern parts of england. Tomorrow morning, a good morning after the heat of today. Open the windows, let some fresh air in. Temperatures will be down to single figures in one or two spots. It will quickly warm up, though, and whilst well have some low cloud to begin with in eastern counties of england, that will break up. Maybe just one or two spots lingering near the coast. Even the low cloud in shetland will be a little less dominant. A better chance of some sunshine. For most, another sunny day, a little bit more breeze, though, coming infrom the east or south east. So where the wind is off the sea, temperatures will be in the teens. Most, though, widely into the 20s. 25 27 degrees in the west, could hit 26 celsius in the north west of scotland. A good 10 12 celsius above where we should be for the time of year. With High Pressure remaining across scandinavia, the flow of dry air off the new continent keeping weather fronts and clouds at bay out in the atlantic this weekend, so its going to be a sunny weekend. That will certainly be the case on saturday. Strong sunshine across the board. What you will notice on saturday, though, a bit more breeze blowing across the country and where that breeze is off the sea, those eastern coastal counties of england and eastern Northern Ireland in particular, temperatures generally in the teens. Most, though, into the 20s again, 27 or 28 degrees possible towards the west. Sunday, maybe a little bit cooler across scotland and some other eastern areas again with that breeze coming in off the sea, but warmest of all still towards western parts of england and wales, where 26 or 27 celsius is possible. And the dry story continues into the start of next week at least. This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Test and trace systems go live in england and scotland, as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Scientists say its not a Silver Bullet but government ministers hope it will allow lockdown restrictions to be eased across the uk. If we all participate in this system when asked, then well be able to more safely lift the lockdown measures and lift the sort of the aggregate National Lockdown by having this more targeted approach. Beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill, that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong. Translation this is a major move to practise one country, two systems, and is also in line with chinas constitution and the basic law of hong kong. The number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100,000. South korea is re imposing some social restrictions in its main cities, to combat a small spike in coronavirus cases. Nissan has announced the closure of its factory in barcelona with the loss of almost 3000 jobs however, its sunderland production plant in the uk will remain open. Hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. Were covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. First, new coronavirus test and trace systems have gone live in england and scotland this morning. In an attempt to keep infection
outbreaks contained, anyone whos been in close contact with someone who has tested positive will now be contacted and asked to self isolate. The uk government has said the english system will change peoples lives. Scientists think it could prevent between 5 and 15 of cases. Northern ireland has its own version of the programme already up and running and in wales their scheme is due to start in earlyjune. In the United States, more than 100,000 people have now died from covid 19. Thats more than the combined total of american fatalities from the korean, vietnam and iraq wars. South korea is re introducing tougher social distancing measures after officials there recorded a small spike in coronavirus infections. 79 new cases were identified on thursday the highest daily figure for nearly two months. First, with this report on the test and trace system being rolled out in parts of the uk, heres charlotte rose. Weve all got used to the slogans and rules for tackling covid 19, but from today, theres a further change, as parts of the uk move into the test and trace phase. The aim is to start to ease the nationwide lockdown and only bring it back in places where theres an outbreak. So, how will test and trace work in england . If you get symptoms a high fever, persistent cough or loss of taste and smell you must self isolate and order a test. If you test positive, the contact tracer will identify people who youve been close enough to pass the virus to. Those contacts will be either classed as low or high risk. Contact tracers will then get in touch with people who might be at risk. Theyll be asked to isolate for 14 days, or get tested themselves if they develop symptoms. You might remember an app which was being trialled on the isle of wight. Thats not yet ready to be launched across england, so its not part of government plans. The new system will be dependent on people following the rules
around self isolation. If you are contacted by nhs test and trace, instructing you to isolate, you must. It is your civic duty. So you avoid unknowingly spreading the virus and you help to break the chain of transmission. But some remain cautious about how well the new system will cope. You absolutely need rapid test turnaround. The International Standard is you should get the test results back within 24 hours. There are far too many places, in terms of our trusts, the trusts that we represent, but also care homes, who are saying they cant get results back any quicker than, for example, an average of 3 5 days. Later today, scotlands first minister Nicola Sturgeon is set to announce plans for an easing in lockdown measures. The first ministers already announced plans for a scottish test and protect system. Northern ireland has already launched its tracing system
and wales is set to follow next week. It comes as a further 412 people died with coronavirus yesterday, taking the total number of deaths to 37,460. 117,013 tests were done yesterday, with 2,013 people testing positive. Those People Living in england will be the first to be contacted today as the new system launches. The government hopes these new measures will help to start to allow the economic and social recovery from the virus. Charlotte rose, bbc news. Our assistant Political Editor norman smith explained how the new track and trace system would work. The way this is being pitched, its being done in a light handed way at least to start with so there will not be any fines or punishment or police banging on the door demanding to know if you are self isolating, its entirely voluntary and the hope is that will make people more comfortable with the system. Interestingly, it will be fronted by the nhs, not the government telling you what to do. It will be initially clinicians having a discussion about who you have been in contact with and who they need to send tracers after to get in touch with and get them to self isolate and that is pivotal, making this almost a request by the health service, Health Advice rather than government instruction, but as matt hancock was stressing this morning, it will come down to what he calls people observing their civic duty. All of this is about doing the very best that we can, not only my team, the people who are working in nhs test and trace, but also all of us who are participating those who test positive and those who are contacts and so get the communication from nhs test and trace that they need to self isolate. If everybody does our best,
then we will get that rate of transmission down and well break the chain of transmission from the virus more often. One of the reasons why people might be more willing to go along with this system is because those people who you come into contact with most are friends and family, your nearest and dearest so you will know who they are but also, you may want them to be safe so you may feel it would be better if they self isolate, so that too may help bed in Public Acceptance of this new system, certainly before we move to the next stage, probably later members of the Chinese Legislature the National Peoples congress have overhelmingly endorsed a sweeping and controversial new security law for hong kong. The bill, which now passes to chinas senior leadership, has caused deep concern among those
who say it could end hong kongs unique status. Heres a look at what the law will do. Firstly, it will criminalise conduct in hong kong that Harms National Security a measure pro democracy campaigners fear could be used to target them. It permits chinas National Intelligence agencies to set up offices in hong kong, to oversee its enforcement. Beijing will also be able to place the measure into the basic law thats the mini constitution on how hong kong is run effectively bypassing the territories own lawmakers. The chinese premiere li keqiang welcomed the new law at a press conference today. Translation the decision adopted at the npc session is designed for steady implementation of one country, two systems, and hong kongs long term prosperity and stability. Our correspondent Stephen Mcdonell said that it was no surprise the National PeoplesCongress Overwhelmingly approved the legislation. Look, its a rubber stamp session. There was never going to be any resisting this at the National Peoples congress, but even so, 2787 in favour and only one against, with six abstentions, it is quite something however, what it means, though, is that this bill will now go to the next stage, which is that the Standing Committee of the National PeoplesCongress Works out the details of the law and writes it up and it could actually come into effect before the end of the year. Whats not clear is exactly what types of speech or exactly what actions might constitute treason under this new law. There are some concerns that even calling for hong kong independence could be seen as secession. So, these crimes, like treason or secession, they are serious and, at the moment, people are being charged, activists, with rioting and assembly charges
and, to tell the truth, not that many people have actually been punished under that process. Although, 7000, more than 7000 have been charged over the last year. Under this new law, well, these crimes like treason, that can mean decades in prison and so this is why theres been a lot of concern in hong kong amongst the pro democracy camp that it could be eroding the citys freedoms. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 100,000 lives in america over the last four months. Its the highest total of any country in the world, although as a percentage of the population the us death rate is lower than in the uk, italy, spain and france. Well, lets take a look at how the us got to this point. The first death in the United States was reported on february the 29th. On march the 13th, President Trump declared a National Emergency as schools were closed. Stay at home orders were issued in california, new york and washington. By then, 40 people had died. Within a month, the us passed italys death toll withjust over 20,000 making it the highest number of deaths recorded in the world. Just four days later the death toll was above 30,000. President trump released his guidelines for reopening the country, as anti lockdown protests broke out. Into may, and the president said his Coronavirus Task force would continue indefinitely, 24 hours after announcing it would close. The death toll stood at 71,000. And now, just three months on from the first death, 100,000 deaths, officially. Our north america correspondent, aleem maqbool, reports from washington. Happy birthday to you. Friends and relatives of more than 100,000 people in america can nowjust cling to the memories of happier times before the coronavirus. My father was a really caring person and he just wanted to help people and he was really outgoing. He thought he was really funny. Doug lambrecht was one of the first confirmed deaths, back on the 1st march. As somebody who lost someone so close to them, and who was obviously very, very dear to you, so early on, when you saw the way this was going in the country, how has it made you feel over the last couple of months . Its scary, its sad. I feel angry. We should have been listening to the doctors and the scientists. We should not have been listening to people talking about the stock market. Its natural that people are reaching for answers, for someone to be accountable, after scenes like mass graves being dug in new york and refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full. If the lord say so, ill see you saturday. We now know that African Americans, like rhoda hatch, are still dying in disproportionate numbers. I think 100,000 is an extraordinary number. It means that theres a lot of pain and grief. But some of us in the black community are very concerned that as the narrative became that African Americans were disproportionately impacted by the virus, that there was also then a push to open up the country, many of us think prematurely, that, again, suggested devaluation of black lives. Those calls to reopen go on, even as the number of dead continues to mount and as the nation mourns. Well, flags have most recently been lowered here after tragedies like mass shootings, and even then, its been difficult to grapple with the scale of loss after sometimes dozens of people have been killed. But how, then, does america even begin to count the emotional cost of such a Staggering Number of deaths . To really do justice to the stories of those lost would take many lifetimes. For people left behind, the question lingers could more have been done so these americans and tens of thousands of others might still be around . Aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. The headlines on bbc news test and trace systems go live in england and scotland as part of a more targeted approach to tackling coronavirus. Beijing overwhelmingly endorses a hugely controversial bill that paves the way for a tough new security law in hong kong. The number of people whove died with covid 19 in the United States has now passed 100,000. Now on bbc news its time for your questions answered. And today well be talking about the govenrments new test and trace scheme. With me in the studio is our Health Correspondent catherine burns, and also im joined by guy harling, hes a Infectious Disease researcher at University College london and co authored a report for the Royal Society about the effectiveness of test and trace programmes. Welcome to you both. Lots of good questions and still a lot of doubt about how it will all work but lets have a go. Guy, tracy asks, how will this work . I work in a shop, my customers dont keep two metres apart at the checkout so how can you trace them . Those are good questions. I think the key issue will be to understand exactly what we mean by tracing and when we talk about that i believe the
governments standing is you need to be within those distances for quite some time so ten or 15 minutes and if thats the case, people you are passing by within two metres may not fall within that so we are talking about reasonably intense contact. So about reasonably intense contact. So a period of time it needs to be met before it is triggered. Catherine, eva says, i work in a care home, if i get tested and positive, does that mean the whole Staffing Team needs to self isolate because you are working together for many hours, i could be in contact with them all during a week. Ijust got the answer to that from the department of health, they say if someone works in or has recently visited at social health and care setting, their case will be escalated to a local Public Health experts who will decide the course of action so if they have been wearing ppe they will probably
been wearing ppe they will probably be ok but if someone in that setting gets identified outside of work, normal rules will apply. Breaking news there. John asked, the government websites is the contact ofa government websites is the contact of a positive person needs to arrange for Vulnerable People to leave their household. Why . The simple answer is that you want to protect that Vulnerable Person so if you are a contact of someone who is positive, there is a possibility if you become infectious you will pass it to them so everything they can do to keep a gap between you as a possibly infected person and the Vulnerable Person you were living with you would want to take account of. But thats hard to do for a lot of. But thats hard to do for a lot of people. It assumes you have an option. The tide are asks, what happens if you struggle to use a mobile phone or dont have one, a lot of people still dont, choose
not to or cannot afford one, this is the case with me and what if you are till ill the case with me and what if you are till ill too ill to use one . The case with me and what if you are till ill too ill to use one . They will be looking at mobile phones and e mail, they may possibly have your landline. If you are too ill to talk, by that level you would be in hospital anyway so in the system. There are other ways, its not like we are relying on an app. There is talk of an app launching next month but we are not at that stage, this is people getting a call and e mail. Die, do you want to add something . One of the key things in a report was that the app would be an adjunct to the broader system this new nhs trace and test system, the human involvement will be crucial even if we have an app available. Ealing asks, will traitors track those
people who tested positive before wednesday and if not, thats a lot of potential positives that wont be tracked. I dont have that information at my fingertips, i dont know how it would work but in essence they are starting from somewhere and they will work forward , somewhere and they will work forward, i dont know when. They can only trace you if you tested positive, there will be people around who have coronavirus and dont know it. Absolutely, either because you dont have symptoms yet or you never had symptoms and one of the key messages about the system is its part of a larger infrastructure, a wider set of policies the government have put in place to fight the coronavirus and we need to treat it as part of a broader system. Its a multipronged approach, at the risk of sounding like a press release. Sarah asks, i will Contact Tracing a fact that thousands of Community Based nhs
staff going in and out of patients houses who will have been in contact with quite a few people who might test positive, will be all be expected to self isolate and will just apply every time we are in contact with another person who tests positive . The answer to this is it will be escalated up to a local level and they will judge is it will be escalated up to a local level and they willjudge it ona local level and they willjudge it on a case by case basis but you are right, there is a risk of people being asked to isolate again and again. The point is that in theory if people are sticking to lockdown that risk should be low because they shouldnt be within two metres. James asked, i am concerned the system will be abused by fraudsters. How will we know the difference between a genuine contact tracer calling and texting us or someone who was coming . Thats an operational question and one i dont have the answers to, i hope there is
a system in place but i dont know enough about it. I guess you have to satisfy yourself. Ijust enough about it. I guess you have to satisfy yourself. I just spoke to a contact tracer and asked them that so contact tracer and asked them that so this person is poised by the phone waiting for a job, they dont have many yet and they said if people ask those details, we say there is a number you people ask those details, we say there is a numberyou can people ask those details, we say there is a number you can ring to verify this is us or we can send you an e mail. Verify this is us or we can send you an email. This is why we have you both here because we have a panel of talent, journalists and scientists. Helen asked, will people who recently tested positive and have already self isolated be required to self isolate again if they are contacted self isolate again if they are co nta cted by self isolate again if they are contacted by track and trace . Helen might not like the answer, yes. Matt hancock was asked about this as someone hancock was asked about this as someone who has tested positive and he said he would be in that position because we dont yet know what kind of immunity levels we are looking at
after this so they would be in the same boat as everyone else, they could have done there two weeks and be back again. We dont know whether there is immunity or you can still spread it, as we have said if you area spread it, as we have said if you are a symptomatic you could still pass it on. Victoria says, if we have to tell him why is it safe for me to leave my house and drive to a testing site . These sites have been setup to minimise the potential risk, i was talking to a friend you had to go a couple of weeks ago and he said he would walk over and get a test and i said no, you must come in a car in test and i said no, you must come in a carina test and i said no, you must come in a car in a way that you minimise contact at the testing site so it is very much around how you do that, you would not be encouraged to get onto Public Transport to this. Catherine, you did the test so can tell us what its like. I was ill at the weekend and thought i would take the weekend and thought i would take the test, you drive in, you cannot
ta ke the test, you drive in, you cannot take Public Transport, a sign says do not open your window and a test at says plea called this number, you ring them to get instructions, its really well thought out, it didnt feel that anyone was at risk in that chain of events. A question about saying somebody has been at a party, which we are not meant to have, but if someone has been to a party and test positive, there could be a tonne of other people who have come into co nta ct tonne of other people who have come into contact with you, it might flag up into contact with you, it might flag up that there is 30 people here, do you get into trouble . This was one of my first crush and so the department of health has said the information is there solely to contain the virus and i asked to contact tracer who said we are keen to stress this is not about blame but getting the information, we will not do anything with that so if you test positive and got a call from
these tracers and said you had been toa these tracers and said you had been to a party, its about getting the information and stopping the virus rather than getting anyone in trouble. But please dont have parties what if someone is contacted and wont cooperate and they say i dont want to take part in this . I would have to look at the regulations but essentially this is not an optional involvement, this is a requirement. Its written into various regulations and i imagine in the end it will be something you have to comply with come if you dont then there are fines and potentially beyond that there may be other forms of requirement. This is the difficulty because some is legislation and guidance and some is our civic duty, to quote matt hancock. At this stage this is volu nta ry. Hancock. At this stage this is voluntary. I asked the wrong person. It is all moving quickly so its understandable but the contact tracer, i asked what you do if you get a patient who says i dont want to be part of this and they say you can escalate up to a manager but you cannot force them, it just ends as a non traceable call. Yesterday matt hancock said at this stage it was volu nta ry hancock said at this stage it was voluntary but they could quickly make it compulsory. Were it mandatory it would need parliamentary oversight. So far they are very much making it front and by the nhs, clinicians getting in touch with you, not the government, you are being asked to cooperate with the nhs and if it doesnt work there isa the nhs and if it doesnt work there is a threat it could become mandatory. Great questions, and its perfectly 0k mandatory. Great questions, and its perfectly ok for us not to know all the answers because its terribly new. Guy harling and catherine
burns, thank you both very much and thank you to you for sending us such fantastic questions. We will do more of those here on bbc news. Lets date with the new test and trace lets date with the new test and tra ce syste m lets date with the new test and trace system that has gone live today. In an attempt to keep infection outbreaks contained, anyone whos been in close contact with someone who has tested positive will now be contacted and asked to self isolate. But how can we be sure our data and information will stay safe . Tom chivers is from the website proprivacy. Com, experts in digital security. Thank you forjoining us. What concerns do you have about the purpose each side of things, the security of the system . purpose each side of things, the security of the system . I think this process of Data Collection come if we ta ke process of Data Collection come if we take number one, all it takes is
one person with an agenda to spread this data at far and wide so any of those track and tracers with an agenda, and i saw a story if few weeks back where in south korea there was a spike in cases in lgbt areas, lgbt there was a spike in cases in lgbt areas, lg bt bars there was a spike in cases in lgbt areas, lgbt bars and the story was lea ked areas, lgbt bars and the story was leaked to the media which then led toa leaked to the media which then led to a rise in homophobia, so stuff like that is troubling. But people who sign up to beat the track and tracers, surely they will have to sign agreements like we do in lots ofjobs sign agreements like we do in lots of jobs that they will treat the data they receive sensitively and in confidence. They will definitely have to sign those agreements but whether they stick to them is another kettle of fish. They could literally send something to a Whatsapp Group chat and then that goes viral and cannot be traced back to them so there are a lot of ways they can undermine that while still having signed the document. How
securely stored will the data be . couldnt site myself but what i can say is i dont think we can definitively Say Something can never be hacked because if we go as far back as 2017, the nhs suffered a massive ra nsomwa re back as 2017, the nhs suffered a massive Ransomware Attack and im not sure they would beat such a thing because i imagine there is a lot of security about this and it will be quite sophisticated but it is possible. We were just asked this question, i will put to you, how do you satisfy yourself if you were contacted you satisfy yourself if you were co nta cted by you satisfy yourself if you were contacted by somebody who claims to be at track and tracer that they really are who they say they are . Thats an issue i have with it, because there is no way in my mind they can really verify themselves,
because the app hasnt gone live yet so because the app hasnt gone live yet so if someone calls you and says they are a track and tracer, you pretty much have to take them on their word which is problematic because this is something scammers could then potentially take and run with because all they need to do is for a with because all they need to do is fora up, ask with because all they need to do is for a up, ask for your e mail address and site we will send you a form, then you click on a document and your computer is infected with malware so its quite complicated. Tom chivers, thank you for your time. Thank you. Time for a look at the weather melt with matt. Sunshine from dawn to dusk in many areas and starting to get warmer with a few exceptions. We started with a few exceptions. We started with a few exceptions. We started with a mist and low cloud in the east, that has gone but we will see more cloud in the afternoon across northern scotland, elsewhere 24 or
25 degrees in western scotland, 27 to the west of england and wales, cooler in the south east but strong sunshine especially in the south, tonight low cloud lingers in shetland and returns to eastern counties of england but temperatures still dropping back into single figures for one or two so a fresh start to friday morning, a bit more breeze tomorrow especially in the west, a better chance of sunshine in shetland but for most another day of sunshine but with a bit more braze where you have that coming in off the east or south east, some coastal areas seeing temperatures in the teens but most well into the 20s. Forjoining us. Today, as you are probably anticipating, i will confirm some careful and cautious changes to the current lockdown regulations. I will set out what the changes are shortly. Firstly, i would like to begin with a simple,
but really important point. The only reason we can make any changes today is that we have made progress in suppressing this virus. And that is entirely down to the sacrifices that all of you have made. More than ever today, i want to say thank you to each and every one of you. I will come to the changes themselves in a moment and because there is a lot to cover my updates will be longer than normal. Firstly, iwill cover my updates will be longer than normal. Firstly, i will provide the usual statistical update. 9am this morning, there have been 15,288 positive cases confirmed, that is an increase of 48 cents yesterday. A total of 1000 hundred and 38 patients are in hospital with confirmed or suspected covid 19 that represents a decrease of nine overall from yesterday, including a decrease of 13 and the number of confirmed cases. A total of 37
people last night were in intensive ca re people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected covid 19. That is a decrease of1 cent yesterday. I am also able to confirm today that since the 5th of march a total of 3635 patients who had tested positive for the virus have now been able to leave hospital. Unfortunately, in the past 24 hours, 12 deaths have been registered patients who had been confirmed in a test as to having the virus which takes the total number of deaths in scotland under that measurement to 2316. I feel very strongly, as i am sure you do, particularly today as we talk about the first steps out of lockdown, that we must never become glued to the statistics and must never forget that behind each one as a person who is loved and is deeply missed. In the future, we will collectively wa nt the future, we will collectively want as a nation to remember and
mourn that loss. Let me send my condolences to every family who has lost a loved one to this virus. Let me also express my deep gratitude to our health and care workers for the incredible work you have done and continue to do in such extraordinary difficult circumstances. The figures i have just given difficult circumstances. The figures i havejust given remind as difficult circumstances. The figures i have just given remind as that the progress we have made so far is real, but these figures also remind us real, but these figures also remind us of the toll that this virus is taken and us of the toll that this virus is ta ken and that us of the toll that this virus is taken and that ever progress remains fragile. The virus is still proving fatal for too many, hundreds fragile. The virus is still proving fatalfor too many, hundreds of people are still in hospital, and new infections are being identified in most health board areas. As i said before, that means that we must proceed with the utmost care and caution. Nevertheless, the downward trend in covid 19 cases is now sustained and unmistakable. The law requires us to formally review the
lockdown regulations at least every three weeks and to keep them in place only for as long as it is necessary. The latest review period ends today. I can confirm that we have considered the latest evidence of the spread of the virus and i can report as follows. The r number, the transition rate of the virus, remains ina the transition rate of the virus, remains in a range of 0. 72 1 . We cannot be certain how far below 1 it is and that confirms and underlines that we must continue to exercise caution. However, we have reasonable confidence that the r number has been below one for a period of more than 31 three weeks. The modelling also shows the prevalence of the virus is reducing. Last week you might recall i reported an estimated 25,000 infectious cases across the country. Our latest estimate is that as of last friday, the 22nd of may, there we re last friday, the 22nd of may, there were 19,000 infectious cases in
scotland. In addition, the number of patients in intensive care has fallen by 80 since the peak, and a number of new hospital admissions has fallen by more than 80 . As we saw yesterday in the National Records of scotland report. The deaths associated with covid 19 overall and in care homes, have now declined for four consecutive weeks. This evidence has allowed the Scottish Government therefore to conclude that we can now move into the first phase of our four phase route map out of lockdown. My confidence in that conclusion is bolstered by the launch today of test and protect, our system of test, trace and isolate. We are asking any person who has symptoms of covid 19, that is a cough, a temperature or loss or change of taste or smell, to take immediate steps to book a test. If this applies to you, please go straight to nhs inform to get a test, or if
you cannot go online, call nhs 24 on oh 800 028 2816. Dont wait to feel better before booking a test and apart from going for a test, you and other people in your household should self isolate. If you are contacted should self isolate. If you are co nta cted by should self isolate. If you are contacted by test and protect to say that you have been in contact with someone that you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, please follow the advice to self isolate for 14 days. But remember, and this is a really important point, that you can minimise the chances of that happening by taking care not to be a close contact of someone outside of your own household, and that means staying at least two metres distant from anyone who is not part of your household. Test and protect will be a crucial part of our efforts to control this virus in the weeks ahead, but it will not to do it and cannot do it alone. The decisions all of us make about staying two metres apart, washing your hands, wearing face coverings with enclosed spaces matter just
wearing face coverings with enclosed spaces matterjust as much. In many ways, in fact, they will matter even more as we start to slowly relax these lockdown rules. If we do not pay close attention and follow physical distancing and hygiene rules, those are 19,000 estimated cases i mentioned earlier will quickly rise again. However, all of that said, we are now any position to make careful changes and i would like to set out now what those changes will be. Many of these changes will be. Many of these changes come into effect tomorrow. We are publishing on the Scottish Government website specific guidance to help you understand the changes and also the rules that we are still asking you to follow. So, please ta ke asking you to follow. So, please take the time to read that. The focus of our first phase of changes is on outdoor activity. The reason for that is that as long as people from different households remained two metres apart and do not touch the same surfaces, and wash hands and surfaces regularly, the risk of
the virus spreading is lower in an outdoor environment than it is indoors. Even so, in making changes at this stage, we have limited room for manoeuvre. So, we need to get the balance right. Of course, we wa nt to the balance right. Of course, we want to restart the economy as quickly as possible, but we have also kept a very firmly in mind the things that matter most to our quality of life, family, friendship, love. I therefore spend most of my time today talking about the changes and what they will mean for your ability to interact with friends and family. Firstly, let me cover what they mean for business and public services. From tomorrow, most outdoor work that has been put on hold can resume, and the Construction Industry will be able to restart site preparation. That is the first phase of its restart plan. It will require to consult further with government before moving on to the second stage of that plan. From tomorrow, Garden Centres and plant
nurseries can reopen some of their services and we will no longer be discouraging drive through food outlets from the opening as well. Nonessential shops, restaurants and pubs in cafes except for takeaways must however remain closed at this stage. Household Waste Recycling centres stage. Household Waste Recycling ce ntres ca n stage. Household Waste Recycling centres can be open from monday and guidance on this was issued yesterday. We continue to ask other Business Premises to remain closed at this stage unless providing essential goods and services, and we ask all businesses to let staff work from home wherever possible. From monday onwards, the 1st ofjune, teachers and other staff will be able to enter schools for the purpose of preparing for a reopening of all schools on the 11th of august, for a blended in school at home model of learning. And from next wednesday onwards, the 3rd of june, child care will be available toa june, child care will be available to a larger number of children who most need it, for example, Vulnerable Children and children of essential workers. Childminding
services and fully outdoor nursery provision will start to reopen from next wednesday as well, however, they will continue to be limits on they will continue to be limits on the number of children that can be cared for and guidance for childminders will be issued on monday. During the first phase, some key public services, for example, some respite care, childrens hearings and some key Health Programmes will also begin to restart their work and further announcements on timing will be made in due course. In terms of sport and recreation, some noncontact outdoor leisure activities will be allowed to restart, again, from tomorrow. This applies to activities where you can this applies to activities where you ca n safely this applies to activities where you can safely keep a two metre distance from others at all times, and follow strict hygiene practices. For example, golf, tennis, bowls and fishing. You will also be able from tomorrow to sit or sunbathe in parks and open areas. I am sure that will be welcomed by many, particularly in
this weather, but it will be a special welcome i suspect by those who do not have gardens. And you will be able to travel, preferably by walking or cycling, to a location near to your local community for recreation. However, we are asking you for now to please stay within or close to your own local area, and do not use Public Transport unless it is absolutely necessary. Now, were not setting a fixed distance limit in law, but our strong advice is do not travel further than around about five miles for or recreation. And it remains the case that you should not go to our island communities except for essential reasons. We simply do not want, in this phase, to see large numbers of people at tourist hotspots or local beauty spots. Crowds of people, even if they are trying to socially distance, brings more risk than we judge is a cce pta ble more risk than we judge is acceptable and safe at this point. So, if you do go somewhere and you
find it is crowded, please use your judgment, change your plans and go somewhere else. The final area i wa nt to somewhere else. The final area i want to discuss is social interaction. Before i do that, i wa nt to interaction. Before i do that, i want to Say Something specifically and directly to people who are shielding. The people most vulnerable to this virus. You are now well into your third month of being advised not to leave home at all, and i know that listening to the changes today which do not yet bring a change to your own circumstances will be particularly ha rd circumstances will be particularly hard for you. So i want to assure you that we will be providing you with more information and guidance in the next couple of weeks. And we will be trying, as far as possible, and as faras will be trying, as far as possible, and as far as safe, to move to less ofa and as far as safe, to move to less of a blanket approach, one which requires all of you to stay at home all of the time, to one that more reflects your individual circumstances. We know the impact that our advice is having on you and on your loved ones is significant, and we are doing everything we can
to get that advice right so that you can to get that advice right so that you ca n safely to get that advice right so that you can safely albeit gradually, start to lead a less restricted life. And i want you to know that today you have not been forgotten and you are an essential part of our thinking as we consider how we move forward. More generally, though, we can today confirm changes to the rules on meeting socially, and i know this is something that everyone has been eagerly anticipating. From tomorrow, the regulations on a meeting other people will change. You and your household will be able to meet with another household outdoors, for example, ina another household outdoors, for example, in a park or in a private garden. We said last week this should be in small groups, and to give you greater guidance on that, we are asking that the total number of people between the two households meeting up should be a maximum of eight people. Please keep it to rest and that if you can. Now, we are not suggesting that you must pick one
household and only meet the same one during the first phase, but we are saying you should only meet you should not meet with more than one household at one time. Whilst this is not the law, we do recommend that you dont meet with more than one other household per day. This change will allow us to meet with more people than we can right now, but please remember that we should still be meeting far fewer people outside of our own household than we would in normal times. Now, of our own household than we would in normaltimes. Now, i know of our own household than we would in normal times. Now, i know how much all of you will be looking forward , much all of you will be looking forward, all of us, well be looking forward, all of us, well be looking forward to seeing family and friends forward to seeing family and friends for the first time in a while, but how we do this is going to be really vital. Before you meet up from people from another household, you should stop, think, read the guidance and make sure you are protecting yourself and others. In particular, you must stay outdoors and remain two metres away from people from the other household. That is crucial. You should also avoid touching the same hard surfaces that they do. Let me give you a specific example of that. I suspect many of you will be planning a picnic or a barbecue this weekend. If you are, not only should you remain two metres apart from those in the other household, but each household should bring its own food, cutlery, plates or cuts. Do not share these things. And please, do not go indoors. Being in someone elses house should still be avoided unless, of course, you are providing support to someone who is vulnerable. And that means linking ina very vulnerable. And that means linking in a very practical terms. We are not putting a legal limit on how far you can travel to meet another household, but please use your good judgment. If the distance so far that you would have to use someone elses bathroom, perhaps you should not be doing that. The reason for this is simple but it is worth repeating, because i am not putting all of these restrictions or asking you to put these restrictions
on your activity for no reason. The reason is this, if you go inside a house or you share an item and touch the same services as another house or come within two metres of each other, that is when you are creating an opportunity, a bridge, if you like, for the virus to spread from one household to another. That is what all of us must still do, everything we can to avoid the information i give out these briefings must sometimes be hard to absorb. But todays information is really vital, so, please watch this back later to make sure youve caught all of it and please read the guidance you will find at gov. Scot. What i have announced today it is important first steps back to some kind of normality but they are by necessity cautious. I said before that no changes are and there are no
in any of this. But ive also said i wa nted in any of this. But ive also said i wanted to ensure with every step we do takea wanted to ensure with every step we do take a muddy ground beneath our feet is as solid as possible and thatis feet is as solid as possible and that is what we are taking to ensure every step we do take is on solid ground. I dont admire admitting to you that i feel a bit nervous as we ta ke you that i feel a bit nervous as we take these first steps. I worry that the limited changes we are making to these rules, the very careful changes, might lead to much greater changes, might lead to much greater change in reality. And so i really need your help to make sure that is not the case. I am sure there are going to be lots of emotional reunions this weekend. Youll be planning to see family and friends you havent seen for weeks. Based on the current forecast, the sun will be shining, too. Weve all waited a long time for this, so i hope you all really enjoy it. But, please, please, respect the parameters we are setting out. Be respectful of each others space and to make sure
things still feel different to normal, because they should still feel different to normal. Above all, remember that each individual decision we will take will affect the safety and the well being of everyone. Make sure that love, kindness and solidarity continue to be ourguiding kindness and solidarity continue to be our guiding principles. To recap, still stay at home as much as possible, the virus has not gone away. Lockdown is being modified slightly. It is not over. Make sure youre still seeing far fewer people than you might normally do. Dont meet up with more than one other household at a time. Dont meet more than one a day and keep to a maximum of eight people in a group. Stay two metres apart when you do meet. I know that will be really difficult, perhaps the most difficult part of all. The instinct to hug somebody you love is a really strong one. Especially when you havent seen that person for quite some time. I
know that for some couples who live apart, for example, for them, this is even more difficult. I want to assure you that we are considering that point very carefully. For now, whether its grandparents, aunties and siblings from other household, dont put your loved ones or yourself at risk. Also, wash your hands regularly and thoroughly, avoid Hard Services and clean any that you are touching. If you have symptoms, get tested and follow the advice on isolation. To end where i started, we are only able to take these careful steps towards a less restricted to lifestyle for all of us restricted to lifestyle for all of us now, because all that you have overwhelmingly stuck to the rules so far. And the truth is, we will be able to take more steps more quickly in the future if we all continue to do the right thing, stick to the rules and most importantly of all now, exercise good judgment at all
times. I want to thank you again for all you have done so far but thank you in advance for continuing, as i know you will, for doing the right thing and remember, this is notjust about protecting ourselves but protecting each other. I know these changes are small at this stage. They make a positive difference and leave all of us positive difference and leave all of us with a real sense of hope that we are on the right track, the track towards greater normality, where we continue to beat this virus along the way. Thank you very much for listening. That was longer than normal, but it had important ground to cover. In the interest of time, we will go straight to questions from journalists, although as he will have seen, i am joined by the chief medical officer and the health secretary, who of course will be answering questions with me. I will go to the first question today, which is from Glen Campbell at bbc scotland. First minister, it still says stay at home in front of you. Do you really mean that when there
are so many new reasons to do you really mean that when there are so many new reasons to get out and about that you have given us . Yes, right now, that is the fundamental foundational message. I know, as we go along this gets more complicated and we have to make sure our messaging keeps up with that. But as i said in my remarks, i am still asking you to stay at home as much as possible. There has always been exceptions to that, going out forfood been exceptions to that, going out for food and medicine, been exceptions to that, going out forfood and medicine, going to essential work you cant do at home, and exercise. What we are doing todayis and exercise. What we are doing today is adding some more exceptions today is adding some more exceptions to that, the ones i have covered. When you are not doing any of that, the advice is still to stay at home as much as possible. That will undoubtedly evolve in the weeks ahead, but it is really important we dont get ahead of ourselves and we ta ke dont get ahead of ourselves and we take these steps hopefully with a sense of optimism and hope and positivity, but we dont forget to ta ke positivity, but we dont forget to take them carefully and cautiously. This virus is still out there and we cannot forget that. If we do forget that, the danger is that it will run
out of control again. Please read the guidance on the website and pay close attention to the parameters of what we have set out as changes today. Gordon cree from stv. Throughout this whole process, supermarkets, which exist to sell food have been able to sell clothes. Now, Garden Centres, which exist to sell plants, are able to sell clothes, but people who run independent retail shops that sell clothes have to remain closed. They tell us thats unfair. What can you say to them . I appreciate that for lots of people, individuals as well as businesses, there will be all sorts of aspects of this that feel unfair, that feel as if there are anomalous. The situation we have been in, and perhaps some of that is and unavoidable and inevitable. We
are trying to be a deadly virus right now. Therefore, that has to be our priority. We have had to have supermarkets open because people have to have food. It is not as essential to go to a clothes shop when you can still shop online. These are distinctions we are making right now to try to keep the overall interaction of people and the footfall out in retail as low and as minimised as possible. Now, we will gradually start to increase that. I wa nt gradually start to increase that. I want people to focus on the phase one changes today, i wont get drawn into future phases, but you can look at the route map we published a week ago today, which shows that gradually we want to see nonessential retail open. But if we dont do this carefully, if we dont dont do this carefully, if we dont do this with small steps to start with, the danger is all that this will end up being closed again because we will have allowed the virus to run out of control. I ask for people tos forbearance and patience. I know it is frustrating and it gets more frustrating, not
less, as we go on butjust as people have done so far, to this advice, and abide by it, act responsibly and in the right way for the right reasons, continue to do that listen to this advice. I want to see the economy operating again as pretty as possible but im not prepared to put peoples lives at risk unnecessarily. We got to continue as we have been doing, taking careful, cautious steps with confidence that, as we do that, we are absolutely going in the right direction. Well, were leaving the press conference there as its coming up to the one oclock news, but our live coverage continues on the bbc scotland channel. The first minister Nicola Sturgeon has Just Announced what she called ona day on a day when we have been asked to trust the system, we carried an interview yesterday with the officer who fitted up to ten delegates. She describes it as an up close and personal process measuring and so on, taking more than one hour. She
subsequently had flu symptoms, travels across to portugal, was among Vulnerable People, went to a retirement do which she said she would not have done. My question is not about patient confidentiality or the non publicising of the outbreak full question is about. In the city, she had previously probably the longest contact with delegates who may have had coronavirus. She wasnt contacted traced. Is that an endorsement of the Contact Tracing system or a failure of it . I am not a co nta ct system or a failure of it . I am not a contact traitor, and not a Public Health expert. But i trust the people who do this work for us. The tea m people who do this work for us. The team that work on Health Protection scotla nd team that work on Health Protection scotland as local Health Protection schemes across the country, it is theirjob based on expertise and judgment to trace and attract people that they define as being our close contact situation. I am not going to
get drawn into individual circumstances because it is the people we trust to make these judgments that we should enable to make them. That will be really important Going Forward and will continue to be important. One other thing. That is where we were leave the first minister of scotland answering questions from reporters. She was talking about cautious changes being brought in because of a production rate of the virus has dropped over the last few weeks. They really relate to how many people you could meet, where you can travel to, the kind of shops that will be opened by tomorrow or the middle of next week. In a moment its the bbc news at one with jane hill, but first its time for a look at the weather with darren bett. Hello there. Another warm sunny day, and foremost a completely dry again. This was the weather watcher picture taken in the south east of england earlier, editors across the south east, when pa rt editors across the south east, when part of the country that is expecting to have the driest may on record. In general about four
millilitres of rainfall in south east england, 7 of average. By south east england, 7 of average. By contrast we looked was highland scotland, the weather improving today. This is one part of the country that has above average rainfall, 150 of expected rainfall, most of it fail a week ago. We have had rain earlier in northern scotland, that has pushed away out into the north sea, and sunny skies pinning much across the board. That is the weight will stay for the next few days. Things evening out in the highlands with lots of sunshine and temperatures around 23 celsius. The reason it has been so dry all month up reason it has been so dry all month up assisted areas of High Pressure, and we have one of those dominating the weather is a moment. Around the top of that area of High Pressure, still more clout, this evening out overnight, up to was the Northern Isles some of the cloud putting down was the nowthey, heading into eastern part of england later. Otherwise clear skies, lowest temperatures around east anglia, 7 degrees or so,
temperatures around east anglia, 7 degrees or so, many temperatures around east anglia, 7 degrees or so, many ten which is remain in double figures. Friday, more of the same, probably get a bit more of the same, probably get a bit more sunshine pushing its way to the Northern Isles, clad across Eastern England will fade, there will be blue skies across the board. Probably a breeze noticeable, easterly or south easterly, onshore and some coastal areas will be cooler. Plenty of heat around, and thatis cooler. Plenty of heat around, and that is pushing its way northwards. Cabbage is rising in scotland, even into the mid 20s. The weekend, that area of High Pressure still in charge, centred over scandinavia. We keep those weather front at bay and we draw only one from continental europe, and more importantly it will stay dry. This sums it up for the weekend, sunny and warm and no sign of any weekend, sunny and warm and no sign ofany rain, weekend, sunny and warm and no sign of any rain, the uv levels will be high, perhaps even very high in some areas. City forecasts for the weekend, patchy cloud for the weekend, patchy cloud for the weekend, plenty of sunshine around,
temperatures peak at 26 or 27. A coronavirus Contact Tracing programme has got under way in england and scotland. People whove been in close contact with someone who has the virus will be asked to self isolate. The government says the system is voluntary for now. The overwhelming majority of people, when instructed to self isolate by the nhs, will do so. But, of course, we have the legal powers to make this mandatory if we need to. Well assess the scale of the task with our health editor, and from westminster. Also this lunchtime scotlands first minister has confirmed its lockdown restrictions are to be eased slightly, from tomorrow. From tomorrow, the regulations on meeting other people will change. You and your household will be able to meet with another