This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Im Sally Bundock. President trump suspends American Funding for the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The reality is that who failed to adequately obtain information in a timely and transparent fashion. More than one in five deaths in england and wales is linked to coronavirus. Figures show 6,000 more people died than expected at the start of april. An election like no other polling is under way in south korea. Voters Must Wear Masks and gloves and maintain social distancing. One year after fire
ripped through notre dame, the cathedrals oldest bell will ring out to honour coronavirus care workers. A warm welcome to the programme. In his Evening Press briefing in the rose garden of the white house, President Trump has announced he is suspending American Funding for the World Health Organization. Hes alleged that the who, the United Nations health agency, has failed to show accountability in its response to the coronavirus outbreak. Also, new York Health Officials have revised the citys death toll to over 10,000. The figure includes people presumed to have died from the virus, but who hadnt been tested. Total deaths in the us
has now reached 28,000. 28,300. Meanwhile, a limited number of shops and businesses have reopened in italy, spain and austria. In england and wales, the office for National Statistics says that more than one in five deaths are now linked to coronavirus. Total deaths in the uk are now more than 12,000. That doesnt include deaths in care homes or in the community. Peter bowes has this report from the us on President Trumps suspension of funding for the World Health Organization. The president of the United States. Addressing reporters in the rose garden at the white house, resident from said the United States was making substantial progress against the coronavirus. He could see light at the end of the tunnel. But it was time to call an end to americas support for the World Health Organization. Today i am instructing my administration to hold funding
of the World Health Organization while a review is conduct to assess the World Health Organizations role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows what is going on there. Mr trump said that who had promoted what he called chinas disinformation, leading to a wide outbreak of the virus that would otherwise have occurred. He claimed the disease could have been contained at its source with very little death if the un agency had objectively assessed the situation on the ground. There was credible information to suspect human to human transmission in december 2019, which have spurred the who to investigate and investigate immediately. Through the middle of january, publicly endorse the idea that there was not human to human transition happening despite reports and
clear evidence to the contrary. The delays the who experienced in declaring a Public Health emergency cost valuable time, tremendous amounts of time. He accused the who of severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. All over the world, tremendous death and economic devastation because those tasked with protecting us by being truthful and transparent failed to do so. And transparent failed to do so. It would have been so easy to be truthful. And so much death has been caused by their mistakes. We will continue to engage with the who to see if it can make meaningful reforms. For the time being we will redirect Global Health and directly work with others. Responding to the president s announcement, the united
nations secretary said. While some experts agree that the un agencies response to the pandemic had shortcomings, the president s decision to withhold funding has been widely condemned. By cutting funding, this is going to cut the doors of the world to fight coronavirus once it ramps up already Resource Limited settings. It means more death, more disease everywhere, and we in the us will never be safe until the whole world is safe from coronavirus. Medics in washington say the president is trying to deflect blame for the spread of the pandemic in the us. The Trump Administration has been criticised for a lack of early testing for the virus and for playing down the threat
of covid 19. Lets get another view. Angela rasmussen is a virologist and associate Research Scientist at the Columbia University school of Public Health. Shejoins me now from seattle. Welcome to the programme, angela. What do you make of this move on the part of the president to cut funding to the who, and criticise it for mismanagement . I think that this move is absolutely reprehensible. As one of the previous statements that you featured noted, the who predominantly helps out in these types of epidemics in Resource Limited countries and low and middle Income Countries that need those extra resources to respond to epidemic disease and pandemics such as the coronavirus. Currently the World Health Organization is dealing with 30 different Public Health emergencies across the world, so the us are the largest funder of the World Health Organization. This will
substantially harm those effo rts substantially harm those efforts and substantially harm global Public Health. In terms of what it gave the who last year, we have an estimate of 400 million in funding, and actually, the who is not well funded anyway, is it . To lose this huge donation from the United States is big, isnt it . It is huge, and it is going to substantially harm us here in the us as a rail is around the world. What i think President Trump doesnt really understand is that this is not an every country for themselves type situation. Global Public Health requires the involvement and engagement of people across the globe, and is deliberately directly harms that. What do you make of how the who has handled this particular pandemic from the outset, from the beginning of this year when of course it was really mainly focus on china . I think the who is generally in a difficult situation because the who actually, as you pointed out, is not very well funded compared to all the different
Public Health crises that it has to deal with. Part of its role is to co operate with countries in order to get access to them to respond to these Public Health emergencies. I am these Public Health emergencies. Iam not these Public Health emergencies. I am not a these Public Health emergencies. Iam not a policy expert, i cant really comment on what the who did right or wrong in terms of its collaboration with china, and it is possible that the who could have been more transparent about how some of the data they were collecting was distributed to the rest of the world. However, it is worth noting the who did, early in january and mid january, noted that this virus was transmitted human to human, they were relatively transparent, giving daily updates, whereas President Trump until early march was saying the coronavirus was a hoax and it was similar to the flu and wasnt a very big deal. It is com pletely wasnt a very big deal. It is completely revisionist to say the who was wrong and President Trumps response was transparent and correct. Also as well it is worth pointing out that in january around that time, President Trump tweeted
he felt the chinese authorities we re he felt the chinese authorities were being transparent in terms of their information they were putting out there with regard to the spread of covid 19 in wuhan and other parts of china. So obviously, his commentary is changing a lot all the time, isnt it . It is, and President Trump has a very different attitude towards the travel ban for example, which he also criticised the who for opposing. We have had up to almost 26,000 deaths from coronavirus here in the United States, so i object to his assessment that the travel ban even actually worked. Much less worry about what the who is saying or not saying. All right. Angela, thank you for your time. We appreciated. Angela there from Columbia University school of Public Health. Here in the uk, the government has promised to test all care home residents and staff in england who show symptoms of coronavirus. It comes days after ministers confirmed outbreaks in more than 2,000 care homes. Care providers have said more testing is vital to control
the spread of the virus and to enable staff who are self isolating to return to work. Keith doyle reports. We will be there with you. With no family allowed to visit their care home, it is care workers that read the last m essa 9 es workers that read the last messages from loved ones. For now, grandma, this is goodbye, but i know that you will always be with us in our hearts. We have all got on with it and done what we can, and i can sleep well at night knowing that i did give them all the love and care that i could in their last moments. The exact number of deaths of care home residents due to coronavirus is unclear. There has not been routine testing, something care homes have been calling for. The government has now said it will test all care home residents and staff with
symptoms. It is also said all new residents discharge from hospital into care homes will be tested. Further details will be tested. Further details will be in the social care action plan to be revealed later this week with 30,000 care providers expected to be contacted by the end of the week according to the government. Deaths in care homes are not included in the official government figures. The latest numbers of deaths of people with covid 19 in hospital has risen by 778, bringing the total to 12,107. The Economic Cost of the virus has also been laid bare. The economy could shrink by 35 by june according to the independent office of budget responsibility. With the effects felt by everyone. These are tough times, and there will be more to come. As ive said before, we cant protect every business and every household. Labour says it is critical that the government gets the measures right, but mps believe it is struggling to get some of them in place. I have no doubt them in place. I have no doubt the government is being bold. It has come forward with the right basic approach, but because it is having to happen at pace and a great scope, it is clearly struggling in some areas. Getting businesses back open, getting people back to work, getting care workers tested. Getting through this pandemic. These are the challenges facing the government and the country in the weeks ahead. Keith doyle, bbc news. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, polling is under way for the parliamentary elections in south korea. Hand sanitisers and plastic gloves are being provided to voters, who are also required to wear masks and maintain social distancing. It has involved a lot of preparation to get polling stations ready, but the government is trying to reassure its 44 million eligible voters that its safe to leave their homes. From seoul,
laura bicker reports. This is an election like no other. Voters Must Wear Masks, stand at least a metre apart. Their temperature is taken, they disinfect their hands and wear plastic gloves. These two days of early voting have seen a record turnout. Despite the ongoing pandemic, people are still coming here in the thousands to cast their vote. They are going into these little booths here with their plastic gloves, they mark their ballot, and then put it in the box. Translation i thought maybe the election should be postponed because people wouldnt turn up. But now that im here and see so many others,
im not worried. Translation i dont think we should be worried. This is about our right to vote. Patients with coronavirus are also able to vote. Special polling booths have been set up outside treatment centres. This woman told us she was thankful for the opportunity. Campaigning during a pandemic requires some thought. Gone are the mass rallies, replaced by mostly masked encounters. Candidates whose main concern was once a slowing economy and stalled peace talks with north korea have now had to show theyre doing their bit to fight covid 19. South korea controlled the spiralling number of cases quickly and effectively, aggressively tracing and testing infected patients. The widely praised response has given president moons once embattled
democratic party a boost. The opposition, however, credit the thousands of Health Professionals on the front lines. There are fears that holding an election could trigger a second wave of infections. But, for now, south korea is determined to prove what is possible during this pandemic. Laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. Lets get more on this from june park. Shes a political economist at the National Research foundation of korea. As my colleague was saying in that report, there are fears that report, there are fears that this election could cause a second wave of coronavirus and it spread in the country. Why do you think this election was not postponed 7 why do you think this election was not postponed . First and foremost, i do not think that south korea has had a postponed election in its history and,
secondly, i think, election in its history and, secondly, ithink, compared election in its history and, secondly, i think, compared to any other countries that have had to postpone election schedules, i think south korea, under the k cdc believes that many of these things are under control in terms of tracking. So, postponing was not really an option and furthermore have caused manipulative tactics in the process as well. This was just scheduled and it was done. Although the death rate in south korea from coronavirus is pretty low, compared to many other countries around the world, it is still very precarious there, isnt it . To what extent is that playing into the election . So, the current reference that entrance outside into the south korean border are a massive source of new infections and cluster infections. More or less,
things are becoming a little bit called down in terms of new cases per se but there are precarious conditions as well. How are people voting today, to what extent is management of the virus in south korea in, thinking in terms of why they are voting or is it about other issues such as the economy and those other issues . Well, as long as the elections are to be held, i think what people mostly in general had in mind was what can i do to better my situation . So, for the most part, the current government is hauling out a stimulus package, for individuals and for lifting certain conditions for companies, so in this regard, i think, ordinary people are willing to get out of trouble,
financial trouble, they would vote for securing positions first. So Economic Conditions are first and foremost, primary conditions for these people at the polls. At the same time, we have seen the testing by north korea yesterday, i think, some people on the conservative side would want to defend National Security interests. Briefly, june, what do you think the outcome may be as laura said in that report, there is a high turnout, isnt there . Relatively, compared to previous years, up until now i think we could even shoot for maybe 70 of voter turnout overall. We will have to see at the end of the day and into the night but that is probably what we will be seeing. 0k, thank you,june, we will be seeing. 0k, thank you, june, for your time and we will keep a close eye on what the outcome is of what this
election vote is, under way in south korea. You are watching bbc news. These are the headlines this hour President Trump suspends American Funding for the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. More than one in five deaths in england and wales is linked to coronavirus figures show 6,000 more people died than expected at the start of april. The oldest bell of notre dame will ring out later today in honour of care workers on the frontline of the coronavirus epidemic. It will also mark one year since fire ripped through the cathedral, destroying its ancient roof and iconic spite and threatening to bring down the building itself. With france under strict confinement, restoration work has been stalled. Our paris correspondent, lucy williamson, has been looking at how notre dame is faring. The broken silhouette of
notre dame is now an icon in itself, a symbol of endurance and survivor. A month into the coronavirus lockdown, its tourists have vanished and construction workers gone. The cathedral is waiting out the confinement, as it has every epidemic since the black plague. Translation notredame is an 850 year old lady, and for all all of the things it has gone through, and she is an old lady and like those in retirement and isolation, it is a symbolic link. She has been left alone but is not alone. A year ago, paris watched in horror as fire ripped through the roof of the mediaeval notre dame. Reconstruction has been delayed, not just notre dame. Reconstruction has been delayed, notjust by coronavirus but by lead contamination and bad weather also. There are two sets of
scaffold holding up on notre dame at the moment, one use that to stabilise the building and notre dame earned old mangled set in place at the time of the fire, fused together in the heat of the fla mes together in the heat of the flames and badly needs to be dismantled and ta ken flames and badly needs to be dismantled and taken down. Only then will notre dame be 100 safe researchers a re then will notre dame be 100 safe researchers are recreating a model of every stone and rafter to help with the restoration work, technology for the 12th and 21st century is coming together. This is amazing because within this project we are able to use the most advanced technologies but at the same time, we are evolving into a human adventure. The data we will produced in this project will be analysed by the next generation. And scientists say
some of the buildings best features may have been saved by dirt, this class specialist says windows like this one have not been clean for 100 years. We just have to move all the deposit to clean these windows from the 19th century. The thick layer of dust acts like a kind of protection, she says, against lead contamination spread by the fire. Ideas are emerging how the new spire and roof may look. Mirrors, solar power learners, a vast expanse of stained glass. The changing face for an old identity. Notre dame, al lady, for centuries, for many, the first lady of france. Our lady. The chinese owned social media platform tiktok has experienced a surge in first time users since lockdown measures were introduced around the world. For the most part, its a bit of light hearted fun with a lot of dancing videos
and, a warning, the end of this report involves our own attempt at a tiktok video well let you be the judge of how it goes pop song. It is a dance challenge and if you are one of the 800 million users of the social media platform tiktok. You will see it again. And again. And again. Pop song. Since much of the world is under stay at home orders, these 15 second video have proved to be a distraction from the realities of the outside world. In the last two months, the Chinese Owned Company has gained more than 200 million
new users. Countries like the us, mexico and the uk have seen the number of new users spark by more than half. During the lockdown, obviously consumers are looking for a way to keep themselves entertained, away to stay in touch with people, a way to basically have some fun. Daily challenge Family Friendly content has been a big hit. According to tiktok data, the stay at home has been viewed more than 8 billion times. Felicity and her two boys, harrison and finlay, like to play pranks on each other and since they are living in lockdown they sometimes upload three videos a day. I opened up a banana and then i filled the ba na na a banana and then i filled the banana with fake spiders left over from halloween. Here we go. And their reaction is priceless. Felicity started
tiktok long before the lockdown but she says now, more than ever, it is providing some comic relief. At the moment especially, i think videos filled with joy, i find a lot of people just filled with joy, i find a lot of peoplejust doing filled with joy, i find a lot of people just doing a lot of videos which, they are just, Family Friendly fun. The bbc Nightshift Team wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Pop song. But, perhaps, it is best left to the professionals. Pop song. So now you know what we get up
to here in the wee hours of the morning, tell me what you think. You can reach me on twitter im Sally Bundock bbc. Hello there. Well, theres another fine and sunny day on tuesday. Not quite as chilly but there was a bit more high cloud in the sky in scotland. Then it was picked up by the setting sun in stirling, with a fine end to the day here. Now, some of the high cloud is pushing southwards now, which means it could well be quite a nice sunrise across some eastern areas as we start off wednesday morning. Other than that, its going to be a chilly start to the day. You can see the skies for many, apart from the high cloud, staying clear. And that will allow temperatures to dip down, close to orjust below freezing in the countryside, to give some patches of frost up and down the country. An area of High Pressure firmly with us then as we get on into wednesday, centred close
to the uk it means theres going to be more fine and dry weather for the vast majority. Remember though, there will be a little bit more in the way of high cloud in the sky, which at times will make the sunshine a little on the hazy side. Also thicker cloud working in across the northern and western isles. It could bring an odd, light shower and some cloudy weather seeping its way southwards across western scotland. Just knocking the edge off the temperatures here. Otherwise, its a warmer day. Temperatures reaching a high of 18 degrees. Now, on into thursday, were going to see some colder air arriving to the far north of the uk but some warmer air arriving across england and wales. So thursday is a day of increasing contrasts. Again, there will be some areas of high cloud around, which will make the sunshine rather hazy at times. We could see some showers arriving towards the south west of england late in the day, although there is some uncertainty about exactly how many of those are likely to make it down to the ground. And across the north east of scotland, thats where weve got some cloudy weather, an odd spot of rain, and much cooler conditions but, otherwise, england and wales seeing temperatures into the low 20s. It will feel increasingly warm. For fridays forecast, there is a rather greater threat of seeing some
showery bursts of rain, particularly across parts of southern england, perhaps the midlands and wales as well. Turning increasingly heavy perhaps later on in the day but, away from that south west quarter, its largely dry but still quite a bit of cloud in scotland and well start to see those temperatures cooling off around some of the north sea coasts of england as well. Come inland, 17 degrees still not bad for birmingham and for london. Now, the weekend, quite cloudy for england and wales. There is the prospect of seeing a little bit of rain for some of us. The driest weather probably in scotland, where it will stay dry and bright. This is bbc news for viewers in the uk and around the world. Im Sally Bundock with the top business stories. A stark warning from the imf, which warns the Global Economy is facing its biggest crisis since the Great Depression. We talk to its chief economist. And the worlds 20 most powerful economies are set to hold a Virtual Meeting to discuss the actions needed to tackle the pandemic. Lets start with a stark warning from the International Monetary fund, which says
the Global Economy is facing its biggest crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The body predicts the Global Economy will contract by 3 this year as countries around the world shrink at their fastest pace in decades due to covid 19. The imf also believes the pandemic may wipe off as much as 9 trillion off global gdp over the next two years. Its chief economist, gita gopinath, spoke to samira hussain, saying this is the biggest challenge the financial world had faced for a generation. This is something that we havent seen in any of our lifetimes. The last crisis was the major crisis was a Global Financial crisis. At that time, the Global Economy shrunk by
0. 1 , and right now in our baseline we are talking about growth at 3 . This is the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s. When you look at 2021, the imf is pretty thing meant predicting the Global Economy wants to grow again. That is correct. We have growth at 5. 8 at 2021 again under the baseline, and a is significantly above the pre virus growth we had projected for 2021. That said, that does not mean that it is back to the same level of activity in 2021 as before. It will be a partial recovery, which means that there will still be some loss to global output even in 2021. Is that an optimistic projection . I think what we can call these highly uncertain projections, which is projections, which is projections based on information that we have right now. But to deal with crises where the shock is a pandemic,
it is not a drop in housing prices bursting the financial bubble, things that we know about, but the path of this crisis is going to depend a lot on signs, things Economic Policy are not going to exactly be able to control. What is it like for you to see these kinds of projections . These are really astounding numbers, which also tells us a lot of pause for what the recovery would look like, how policies are going to help, how much they would be needed. The number one thing for everybody to keep in mind is everybody has to just recalibrate in this environment, and that is not just us who are making forecasts, but policymakers making policies as well. That was the chief economist at the International Monetary fund. Today, we have the g20 finance ministers and central bank
governors holding a Virtual Meeting later today to discuss the actions needed to address the coronavirus pandemic. Last month, the g20 said it would inject more than 5 trillion into the Global Economy to try and limit the impact in terms ofjob and income losses. It is huge. Dan kemp is the chief Investment Officer from morningstar investment management. Good morning to you. All these reports coming through from the imf recently most recently but also the world bank. Our own chancellor yesterday talking about the uk economy. So gloomy. What were the finance ministers of the g20 come up with, do you think . Well, that is the possibly 4 trillion question, isnt it . The meeting this morning i think is going to be incredibly important, and an opportunity really for the g20 to show leadership. What we need in this environment clearly is for
the wealthy is a very important meeting from the economic perspective, evenif from the economic perspective, even if it doesnt make much difference maybe to market or investors immediately. And for the uk, the office for budget possibility gave its projection for the very short term to the end ofjune, a massive fall in the economy, a big hit for the uk. You like to give us your response to that. These are certainly grim projections, and i think really reflect the hardship that we are seeing people go through in the uk. But it is also important to say
that all forecasts are uncertain, and these forecast have a particularly wide range of potential outcomes as the chancellor said last night, just heard again that we are forecasting something that we have never seen before, and so in that situation, we need to be very careful about not becoming too attached to one particular forecast. So for example, i have seen forecasts from economists ranging from a decline in growth of 12 over the course of this year to growth actually of 0. 8 . So there is a wide range of possible outcomes. The danger for investors for businesspeople and consumers is that we get anchored on most vivid one, which might be the sharpest fall, that we change our behaviour and our views reflect that most vivid decline, and it becomes that. The thing we have to remember, particularly as investors, is that there is that broad range
of outcomes, think about the situation. And finally, that we need to take a long term view. The economists that i am speaking to think that this is going to have relatively little effect over the very long term. Well, lets hope you are right. Thank you very much for your time this morning. Lets take a look at china now, because the countrys central bank has once again made another Interest Rate cut, this time on its medium term loans for financial firms. The peoples bank of china also said it was also injecting a further 14 billion into the countrys economy. Lets now cross to asian business hub in singapore where shara njit leyl has more on this story for us. Good to see you. In china, once again taking action to help the world public second biggest economy. You said, sally. Another attempt by china to try and help its economy out of a slump caused by the
coronavirus, like just about every other Major Central Bank trying to cut rates to help the situation. This particular to public medium term funding ta kes public medium term funding takes it with lowest on record and the move should pave the way for the reduction in the countrys benchmark prime rate as well and it will help Companies Hit by the pandemic. The Chinese Central Bank injected 100 billion, just over 14 billion, and just lowering the rate should incentivise commercial banks to reduce their lending benchmarks. We know of course global Central Banks have been rolling out the unprecedented stimulus measures in the last few weeks that we have all been telling you about, cut rates sharply, injected trillions of dollars to help their economies, many of which are in lockdown due to the pandemic stop some analysts are suggesting the central bank chose to cut rate and inject liquidity earlier rather than later this week as it may alarm markets if they save for friday
and which of course is when that very important gdp number for the First Quarter is released, it will provide very clear clues on the world public second largest economy has been reacting to the pandemic and a lockdown there. All right. Thank you. Lets get some of the days other business news. The us has agreed a 25 billion rescue package for 10 of the countrys Biggest Airlines as the aviation sector struggles with the coronavirus. American airlines, united, delta and southwest are among the carriers that will receive funds. The money will be used to pay staff salaries. Two of the worlds biggest pharmaceutical giants glaxosmithklein and sanofi are joining forces to create a vaccine to stop the spread of covid 19. But it wont be ready until the second half of next year. Gsks chief executive Emma Walmsley told the bbc that vaccines usually take a decade to develop and test. She added that a plan to make a vaccine available injust 18 months was a huge acceleration
of the normal process. Over to india, where the country has decided to extend its nationwide lockdown. According to one estimate, this protracted curfew is expected to cost the country a staggering 234 billion. Our India Business reporter in mumbai, nikhil inamdar, looks at the impact it could have on asias Third Largest economy. Indias decision to extend its nationwide lockdown to third has led to some grim projections on the economy, forecasting zero growth for the calendar year as opposed to the previous forecast of 2. 5 expansion. This assumption is based on india being in a full down hill may three and a partial one to the end of may. In an address to the nation, the Prime Minister said they would be stricter monitoring of the lockdown from april 20 after which some relaxation is may be happening but there was
high compliance of social distancing. Detailed guidelines are affected to come out on wednesday. We will get a hint of what activities might or might not be permitted. This is a huge setback, particularly in indias small and medium sized industries. Like every other company, we will also be badly impacted, but how we hope and we wish the lockdown does not extend above may, which the government has announced today. My government has announced today. My humble request to the government is to please facilitate all the migrant labourers to come back to work once our factories start. The government of dynastyjudgement india has another relief package amounting to 0. 8 of gdp, but it is much smaller than many other countries in the world have done. There are now the world have done. There are now expectations that a second stimulus should be announced, particularly directed at small and medium sized enterprises, and sectors such as aviation, retail and tourism which have been most badly affected by the
lockdown. As of now, the number of cases tested positive for covid 19 in india is over 10,000 and steadily going up. As the covid 19 crisis intensified in australia, supermarkets were hit by waves of panic buying as worried shoppers stockpiled food and other essentials. There were even brawls over toilet paper and the police were called in as tensions mounted. The bbcs phil mercer reports from sydney on how australians have reacted to violence in the shopping aisles. U nfortu nately, yes, unfortunately, yes, the panic will get worse. We all have to get through it, dont we . There is enough for all australians. Stop it stop the panic buying, stop the fighting. We produce 85 of our own food so i dont really understand why of all countries, we are actually safer in lots of ways. Our food supply is secured. Shopping
should never be a contact sport. Panic buying and those antics in the aisles of supermarket have been described by the Prime Minister, scott morrison, has ridiculous and un australian. They are, though, symptoms of deep rooted fear and anxiety as australia, like many other countries, heads into the unknown. Their shelves are fuelling what Marketing Experts call a herd mentality for the once the hoarding starts, other shoppers feel they have to join in. When they walked down to the supermarket aisles or log onto social media, all they see as herds of people that are crowding around, trying to purchase product. That increases fear, that increases anxiety, and of course at the same time, increases the behaviour. Stockpiling is left charities in australia struggling to feed the vulnerable. Donations of canned food have been down. For some, panic buying is a sign of a
materialistic society in real trouble. It was the saddest thing to see, people panicking so much. Like, we live in such a world of number one, and all of those people are kind of forgotten, the world doesnt revolve around them. In the end times, it is not going to be stuff that saves us. It is going to be our loving relationships. Across the country, supermarkets can now open for 24 hours. That should ease some of the anxiety. But there are calls for the government to do more to reassure the population about the security of food supplies. You are watching bbc news. These are the headlines this hour. President trump suspends American Funding for the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. More than one in five deaths in england and wales is linked to coronavirus. Figures show 6,000 more people died than expected at the start of april. An election like no other, polling is under way in south korea, voters Must Wear Masks and keep social distancing. Time now for coronavirus explained, where we look more in depth at a particular issue arising from the pandemic. Heres more from my colleague yalda hakim. One of the most burning questions for governments around the world right now is how and when to relax their imposed lockdowns. The rationale for people staying home is the reduction in deaths and contractions, reducing stress on hospital. The lockdowns are having impacts on freedoms and the who are urging caution to countries urging lifting of restrictions. The secretary general said the
following factors are crucial to controlling outbreak and preventing a second wave, including case finding and Contact Tracing, testing and isolating. The doctor also added that while covid 19 accelerates very fast, it accelerates very fast, it accelerates much slower, in other words, the way down is slower than the way up. The European Commission s urging eu countries to co ordinate their plans to ease restrictions and an internal document seen by the bbc states that while extraordinary the working to slow down the spread, but it comes at a dramatic cost for the economy and society. It comes as the imf predicts the Global Economy will shrink by 3 this year due to the pandemic. So the question we are asking experts todayis question we are asking experts today is what is the safest way for societies to exit lockdowns and help their economies back on the road to recovery . Joining me now is a professor of behavioural science at
warwick Business School and a professor of Infectious Diseases at the National University of singapore. Thank you both forjoining us on the programme. The big question really is when is the ideal scenario for lifting of the lockdown, professor, i begin with you . I think were too early, especially in the uk, what were proposing is for the future and not for now but of course there will come time when lockdown will no longer be official so when that time comes and we propose first that we release first 20 30 year old, not living with pa rents 30 year old, not living with parents in the first stage and then we can do this in a staggered way where those people have antibodies can be released afterwards. Professor fisher, we are talking, it is premature to even be talking about this but people want to
have a sense of when and how. What are the stages that the who is looking at . Thank you, so who is looking at . Thank you, so you know it talks three months in china it took and they have a level of and systems in place probably superior to most others. There are three things that i lockdown provides. You definitely and travel and reduce transmission because people are not interacting and people are not interacting and people cannot transmit the virus. You should never be happy that the transmissions are reducing because that is expected. The next thing is that the Health System can re cover that the Health System can recover so that the Health System can recover so that people, the beds can be emptied, the ventilators can be freed up and it probably takes around two months. You will notice on the epic curves the debts are still going on in a month or two after the transmissions have
started to fall. That is evident on the cruise ships and on the china curve. The third thing that has to be done which ido thing that has to be done which i do not hear enough talk about, is all these things that other countries have in place. Like china and singapore and korea and hong kong and taiwan, vietnam. It is aggressive testing philosophy with isolation of positive cases. Not to send them home on a trust system. It is Contact Tracing and it is quarantining those contacts and doing it, they can go home perhaps otherwise a government quarantine facility but it really has to be strictly enforced. Now, if you do those things and you are in a good position to loosen your social restrictions. But i think if those other things are weak in any way, then you will have to have tighter social
restrictions, so i think there is no reason to not go all out in those other things so you can get the society functioning again. Nick, i will bring can get the society functioning again. Nick, iwill bring you in again, because even though these waves we have spoken about, even china, we have seen about, even china, we have seen a second wave, last week it declared zero cases and yesterday it said it had over 100. This is why we do not want to ta ke 100. This is why we do not want to take appear logical and economic concerns in our proposal because the idea of releasing is based on two fa cts , releasing is based on two facts, the first act is based on statistical matter, the young are substantially safer than most of us and the young as the editor of physical studies have found, are the ha rd est studies have found, are the hardest hit financially by the lockdown. Do enough to know about it . We were told initially that this is something that does hit mostly older people and as he said the
statistics support that but we have seen young people with no Underlying Health issues impacted as well . We need to ta ke impacted as well . We need to take a look at the bigger picture. I know that in any case, any loss of life is tragic but if you look at the statistics, i think they are basing it on one of the estimates. Three in 10,000 fatalities rate is associated with coronavirus, death to the young. In the over 60s, 75 times over that. Unless a vaccine is suddenly found in the next few weeks or months, any decision will be tough. There is no painless or riskless way forward because either you weigh up between the short term fatality rate all the long term fertility rate in terms of employment and inactivity. We are offering one solution, which could be useful in conjunction with other
proposals. Dale, the point that nick is making is that the vaccine, frankly, should we be assuming that these lockdowns will more or less be in place until there is a vaccine that emerges because we could have the second wave, like some of these other societies . So, that is the main strategy. Is that we are basically hanging on until there is a vaccine, trying to have as little transmission and few deaths as possible but somewhere along the line you have to balance some sort of relationship between how much transmission and inevitable deaths you can tolerate for the trade off being the economy. I dont think anyone needs to shut down completely indefinitely but obviously when you have got italy and new york type scenarios, there is no choice. You really do have to. Dale, i want to pick up on that
point, because sometimes the economic burden on a society, could it be more than the actual unleashing of the virus . It is not all or nothing is the point im making. There needs to bea point im making. There needs to be a balance of tolerating some transmission and trying to get your economy back and running. That is my whole point. You can minimise the social restrictions if you have Everything Else like the isolation and quarantining and testing as good as it can possibly be. Nick, we have a short time on the programme left, it is a fine balance but every society is approaching this differently. Sweden is taking a different approach completely . I agree, many countries are taking different approaches. It is the time we come together on this and find a way. I am sure a proposal can be worked with track and tracing and targeting populations better so hopefully
we will find a way altogether. Dale, you know, it is a waiting game now and finding that balance as you say. Societies do not have to totally shut down, just find the right balance . Yeah, that is what i think and the balance or swing in your favour if you are doing Everything Else from a Public Health point of view. That is todays coronavirus explained. Now we have a real treat because you loved our report earlier on tiktok, set back by popular demand, the bbc nightshift dancers. Pop song. I absolutely agree
with you, they are superb thank you for your time company and have a lovely day hello there. Well, theres another fine and sunny day on tuesday. Not quite as chilly but there was a bit more high cloud in the sky in scotland. Then it was picked up by the setting sun in stirling, with a fine end to the day here. Now, some of the high cloud is pushing southwards now, which means it could well be quite a nice sunrise across some eastern areas as we start off wednesday morning. Other than that, its going to be a chilly start to the day. You can see the skies for many, apart from the high cloud, staying clear. And that will allow temperatures to dip down, close to orjust below freezing in the countryside, to give some patches of frost up and down the country. An area of High Pressure firmly with us then as we get on into wednesday, centred close to the uk it means theres going to be more fine and dry weather for the vast majority. Remember though, there will be a little bit more in the way of high cloud in the sky, which at times will make the sunshine a little on the hazy side. Also thicker cloud working in across the northern and western isles. It could bring an odd light shower and some cloudy weather seeping its way southwards across western scotland. Just knocking the edge off the temperatures here. Otherwise, its a warmer day. Temperatures reaching a high of 18 degrees. Now, on into thursday, were going to see some colder air arriving to the far north of the uk but some warmer air arriving across england and wales. So thursday is a day of increasing contrasts. Again, there will be some areas of high cloud around, which will make the sunshine rather hazy at times. We could see some showers arriving towards the south west of england late in the day, although there is some uncertainty about exactly how many of those are likely to make it down to the ground. And across the north east of scotland, thats where weve got some cloudy weather, an odd spot of rain, and much cooler conditions but, otherwise, england and wales seeing temperatures into the low 20s. It will feel increasingly warm. For fridays forecast, there is a rather greater
threat of seeing some showery bursts of rain, particularly across parts of southern england, perhaps the midlands and wales as well. Turning increasingly heavy perhaps later on in the day but, away from that south west quarter, its largely dry but still quite a bit of cloud in scotland and well start to see those temperatures cooling off around some of the north sea coasts of england as well. Come inland, 17 degrees still not bad for birmingham and for london. Now, the weekend, quite cloudy for england and wales. There is the prospect of seeing a little bit of rain for some of us. The driest weather probably in scotland, where it will stay dry and bright. Good morning, welcome to breakfast, with dan walker and louise minchin. Our headlines today coronavirus tests will be offered to care home staff and residents, as the government moves to tackle the mounting number of deaths in care homes. But the manager of one home with 16 deaths tells us she feels let down by the authorities. You do not have time to grieve. Then you are losing another one and another one. It is horrendous. President trump suspends funding for the world health organisation, saying its failed in its basic duty during the conronavirus pandemic. 3. 4 million britons out of work