Transcripts For BBCNEWS Breakfast 20200415

The biggest economic downturn for 300 years. The bleak predictions on the impact of coronavirus on our finances, and the hopes of bouncing back. Frustrated Newcastle United fans will be pleased to hear that mike ashley is on the brink of selling the club. The controversial owner has reportedly agreed a £300 million deal. He set out to raise £1,000 for the nhs, now hes on £4 million war vet captain tom earns praise from around the world for his fund raising efforts. Good morning, patrick mist and fog and a pocket of frost but for most of us try and find. Patchy. More cloud, windier with some spots of rain. More details later. Its wednesday, the 15th of april. Our top story all care home residents and staff in england who show symptoms of coronavirus are to be offered a test by the government. It comes after outbreaks were confirmed in more than 2,000 care homes. Providers say 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. Reads well be there with you. With no family allowed to visit their care home, its care workers that read the last messages from loved ones. Reads for now, grandma, this is goodbye, but i know that you will always be with us in our hearts. Weve 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. Its also said all new residents discharged from hospital into care homes 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 number of deaths of people with covid i9 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 byjune 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 its critical that the government gets the measures right, but mps believe its struggling to get some of them in place. Ive no doubt the government is being bold. It has come forward with the right basic approach, but because its 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. Lets get the latest from our Political Correspondent, nick eardley, whos in westminster. Nick, the government had been under pressure about its plans for the care sector, and the right changes coming . Absolutely. This issue of testing is another one we seem to be speaking about most days and that is because there is big pressure on government to do more and make sure we know exactly who has coronavirus so you can stop the spread of it. As you say, increasing warnings about what is going on in social care settings and that is why the government is trying to address with this new address meaning anyone going back to address meaning anyone going back to a social care home from hospital will definitely get a test to make sure they are not going back and spreading it. Likewise anyone in a ca re spreading it. Likewise anyone in a care home who is showing symptoms will have a test. Is it the capacity has a priest, the idea is you can limit the spread. Has increased. People want to see the results before they believe they provide the a nswe is. Before they believe they provide the answers. The government is under a bit of pressure today on how it all ends, the idea that somehow we need to lift this lockdown. We know the government does not think we have reached the peak yet but labour are calling again, then you leader keir starmer calling for details about how that decision will be made and about how the government will do it, whether they will prioritise some areas like schools to get things back up and running. At the moment the government is not budging on that. Government staying overnight, they are talking about ending the lockdown would confuse the message of staying at home but loads of questions being asked and the a nswe is a re questions being asked and the answers are not always easy. We will try to get to some of those here on bbc breakfast. Sir keir starmer will be speaking to us at 7 10am. President trump says hell withhold funding for the World Health Organization, claiming it failed in its basic duty when responding to the pandemic. Mr trump accused the organisation of failing to investigate the outbreak in the chinese city of wuhan, where the virus emerged. Our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. The president of the United States. Addressing reporters in the rose garden at the white house, President Trump 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 im instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organizations role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows whats gone on there. Mr trump said the who have promoted what he called chinas disinformation, leading to a wider outbreak of the virus than 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 should have spurred the who to investigate and investigate immediately. Responding to the president s announcement, the United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres said 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. Peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. One of the first countries in europe to impose a lockdown is easing restrictions from today. Children in denmark will return to primary and nursery schools, four weeks after they were closed. Other restrictions on borders, leisure venues, and gatherings of more than ten people, will remain in place. The number of hospital admissions there has fallen since the beginning of the month. German chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss possible ways to ease the lockdown with regional leaders today. Our correspondent jenny hill is in berlin. Jenny, what are the chances of restrictions there being relaxed . I think they are high although it may be some weeks before we start to see any real movement. Jeopardys strategy is mass testing combined with lockdown, with people staying home for around a month, seem to have paid off. The infection rate has slowed. There have been relatively few deaths although the number is rising. And there is still spare hospital capacity, crucially. A leading group of german scientists have recommended those restrictions be gradually eased started with a phase reopening of schools. All the way through this, Angela Merkel who grew up behind the iron curtain, says how much she dislikes these restrictions but has considered the necessary but actually it is in the power of the leaders of the 16 german states to decide how and when those measures are lifted. This meeting will happen this afternoon. Leaders have different ideas, conscious of local economies and local infection rates. Broadly speaking, most here expect a similar picture to what we are seeing in places like denmark, austria and even italy, that schools will at first start to reopen and then perhaps shops. People asked to wear face masks when on public transport and went shopping. It will be treated very cautiously and is still to be decided. The danish minister say it is like walking a tightrope trying to get this right, gradually allowing society and economy is to return to normal while keeping the infection rate down. There is a bit ofa infection rate down. There is a bit of a focus in germany about how it will affect Greater Society with Angela Merkel saying that younger people should not just Angela Merkel saying that younger people should notjust be allowed to return to life as normal if that means that older and more vulnerable parts of society have to remain in lockdown. Criminals are preying on fears around coronavirus to defraud the most vulnerable members of society thats a warning from the National Crime agency. It says scammers are selling uncertified home testing kits for covid 19, which is illegal, and setting up fake charity appeals. Theyre warning us to be on our guard. To one of our favourite guests of the last few days. An update on captain tom a sponsored walk by the 99 Year Old Army veteran, captain tom moore, has now raised more than £4. 1 million. I expect most of you were watching his fundraising yesterday. As youll know if youve been watching breakfast over the last few days, tom is aiming to walk 100 laps of his garden, in bedfordshire, before his 100th birthday, at the end of the month. Hes raising money for the nhs after a hip operation. He has raised a Staggering Amount and it was particularly after he had had a hip replacement. Fans of captain tom have been leaving messages of support for him on social media. You are fantastic, the work you are doing for the nhs is completely inspirational as are they. We all wa nt inspirational as are they. We all want to thank them and thank you for showing how much we all care. Good luck with everything that you do. You are going to get to the end of that garden it is generally inspiring and it is has been amazing to follow your progress and i wanted to follow your progress and i wanted to wish you a very happy birthday. It to wish you a very happy birthday. It is genuinely inspiring. I hope to meet up with the one day and it is great to hear you are a rugby fan and hopefully we can watch a game together soon. All the best. And hopefully we can watch a game together soon. All the bestm and hopefully we can watch a game together soon. All the best. It is not often i am speechless but i kept refreshing the page yesterday, looking at it, looking at it and it is staggering the amount of money you have given. All the messages, a lot of them were anonymous. People do not want thanks, theyjust lot of them were anonymous. People do not want thanks, they just want to give the money and give it to the nhs. It was crazy. Absolutely wonderful news in a difficult times and thanks for being part of it. We will be speaking to the person who iu ns will be speaking to the person who runs the post office where all the birthday cards for captain toms 100th birthday are being sent. The oldest bell of Notre Dame Cathedral in paris will ring out tonight, in honour of care workers on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic but it will also mark a year since its ancient spire and roof were destroyed by fire. With france in lockdown, restoration work has been stalled. Our paris correspondent, lucy williamson, has been looking at whats next for notre dame. 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, construction workers gone. And the cathedral is waiting out this confinement, as it has every epidemic since the plague. Translation notredame is an 850 year old lady, an endured old lady, and for all all the other ladies endured, those in isolation and in retirement homes, she is a symbolic link. There is no one around notre dame now. She has been left alone but not abandoned. A year ago, paris watched in horror as fire ripped through notre dames mediaeval roof. Firefighters warned president macron that night to expect the worst. Reconstruction has been delayed, not just by coronavirus but lead contamination and bad weather also. There are two sets of scaffolding up around notre dame at the moment, one new set to stabilise the building and one old, burnt mangled set in place at the time of the fire, it got fused together in the heat of the flames and badly needs to be dismantled and taken down. Only then will notre dame be 100 safe. Researchers are creating a digital model of every stone and rafter to help with the restoration Work Technology from the 12th and 21st century 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 produce within 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 glass specialist says windows like this one have not been cleaned for 100 years. We just have to remove 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 for how the new spire and roof may look mirrors, solar panels, a vast expanse of stained glass. A changing face for an old identity. Notre dame, our lady for centuries, for many, the first lady of france. Lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. It will be amazing when it is all finished, wont it . I am sure. Lets take a look at todays papers. The daily mail is leading on the number of coronavirus related deaths in care homes. We have been talking about that as well. It says a lack of testing means up to 4,000 deaths in homes across the uk may have been caused by covid 19, but have not been included in the daily figure. The telegraph reports the predicted Economic Impact of the virus, detailed by the office for budget responsibility. The headline warns of the biggest economic shock in 300 years. In more positive news, the metro features a man we have come to know well on breakfast captain tom moore and his incredible fundraising total. Iam not i am not going to give totals, it goes up all the time. That is old already. He is half a million ahead of that. Online, the new itv drama quiz has been trending on twitter. It tells the story of the cheating scandal on who wants to be a millionaire . In 2001. Did you see last night as well that michael sheen, who is in that, itv announced. Who stars in it. He plays chris tarrant. He said how can he get my name wrong . He has changed his name to martin sheen rather than michael sheen. Inside pages. This is a nurse, isabel smithson, she is 2a, she was in the supermarket and she has used her nhs card as she is allowed to do so, and rightly so, to get ina allowed to do so, and rightly so, to get in a queue and behind her somebody was standing there and actually when she was trying to pay will he insisted on paying it for her. She had a bill of £56. And he refused to let her give it back to him. A lovely gesture as well. There she is, on duty with a little baby. It is nice. Those of the back pages talk about this story sally was mentioning in her sport headlines, all about Newcastle United. They have agreed in principle to sell 300 million to saudi arabia backed consortium. I think it is the best headline i have seen so far. That is something sally will talk about later today. Shall be talk about blossom a little later on . We live in very strange times. Things are still happening, spring in very strange times. Things are still happening, spring is still springing and there is some beautiful blossom. We both have pictures of blossom on our phones. It is so stunning. I think we are thinking about Different Things that we will talk about blossom a little later. This is a speciality maker, invited into an orchard in northumberland to half as some of the beautiful blossoms. Isnt that wonderful . Pretty. One last little one. A little garden treat. This board mum has found a queen worth £2500 queen coin. She found the coin. She had done the lawn and dug it up. It was a henry vii fine gold angel. It is 20 past six. One of the hallmarks of this pandemic has been the startling and often frightening statistics that help to illustrate it. Yesterday, we saw the department of healths daily death toll for covid 19 cases in uk hospitals, which passed 12,000 in total, but we also some extra data from the office for national statistics. The ons said that in the week ending april 3, there were more than 16,300 deaths in england and wales. Thats an extra 6,000 than would normally be recorded at this time of year. And coronavirus was linked to just over half of all those deaths. Lets try to make some more sense of those numbers with bbc news head of statistics, robert cuffe, whos in west london. Good morning to you. Thank you so much forjoining us. So, lets be really clear, these are the figures for one week and they are quite unusual, why . Normally what we would expect to see at this time of year is about 10,000 deaths a week. And also that figure kind of decline throughout the year. We get a peek at the start of the year and then as you move out of the flu season it comes down and down and out into the summer. And were seeing something very different. Instead of 10000 and going down, the figure is 16000 and going down, the figure is 16000 and going up. You always get some bumping us in these figures. They often go up or down by a thousand, maybe a little bit more, but this extra 6000 is really a massive number. And if we compare it back to a prickly bad flu season in 2015, we see it as an even higher number of weekly recorded deaths compared to the flu season of 2015. It is the highest they have recorded in a week for two decades. It is really, you know, there are not many ways to say it isa know, there are not many ways to say it is a big number. There have been so many deaths announced since then we can expect to see a climb higher next week. Apart from being shocked by that number, actually, what can we read into it . Not all of those extras are actually attributed to coronavirus, are they . No, theyre not. As dan said, just over half of them are directly attributed, it is written on the death certificate, and that is what the ons are analysing and why it takes longer them to come out with the numbers stop the other extra part of the 6000 we can speculate about what is causing them, it could be covid 19 deaths directly that is not captured on the death certificate, or it could be the other effects of it, people may be not seeking care, not going to when they needed au getting access to care or maybe the effects of the lockdown itself and people being kind of stuck in their homes or losing theirjobs and some of the effects that might have. It doesnt tell us which of those is driving it. But it does give us a better picture of the true impact of covid on all of us. I think it is a reminder as well that we cant stop checking our phones every day when the daily death numbers come out, but they dont really give us a true sense of the epidemic or how were doing in the uk versus france or somewhere else so was going to ask that point. With those figures can you start comparing how we are doing to other countries . I think once we start to get this kind of mortality, overall mortality stats coming out, it gives us a better picture. Because the daily numbers we are hearing about from the department of health they are really the death they are told about, where people have explicitly mentioned covid and thatis have explicitly mentioned covid and that is not the full story. And in the uk, it in hospitals, and france its not. So theyre looking at different populations of people as well. They can tell us about the trent but they dont tell us the true level of the epidemic and the cost not just of the true level of the epidemic and the cost notjust of the virus, but as we we re cost notjust of the virus, but as we were saying a second ago, the other effects of the virus, stresses it puts only health service, the cost the cure, the lock down were doing to try to prevent it. That is a number everyone is trying to minimise and when we see that weekly or probably later on this year, that as we get true sense of the cost, the numbers of years of Life Expectancy that have been lost to the virus. That is what ive wanted to ask you, it is probably early days to start extrapolating and looking at what this is really going to mean. It is going to take a long time for that to come through. We did see up until, you know, the effects of the virus became really apparent, the uk was actually having apparent, the uk was actually having a good year in terms of the number of deaths we have seen. We had a mild flu season and were doing better than the five year average. That is over now. We are doing a little bit worse. But it is never clear based on quick analyses the full picture of exactly who is dying and full picture of exactly who is dying a nd exa ctly full picture of exactly who is dying and exactly how early peoples deaths are happening. There is a discussion of people may be dying later in life, people who are frail and how it affects them, but we know there are cases of people in middle age or young people who have been affected by the virus and it is not until you do these full kind of Life Expectancy calculations and put them all together that you get a real picture of the total cost. We know anecdotally it is affecting a wide range of people. You have to put it all together to get that kind of overall picture. That is when you can do the International Comparisons ina can do the International Comparisons in a sensible way, and that is months away. Well, listen, i know you will be going through those figures and when you have got more analysis it would be great to talk to you. Rather, greatertalking. Robert cuffe who was bbc head of statistics. Louise, you are talking about blossom in the papers. Carol has the weather for us this morning. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. If youre looking at a window at the moment you may see some fog, in Northern Ireland some mist in wales as well. That will lift quite readily. Many parts of the uk today it will be another dry one and also a sunny one and warmer than it was yesterday. Some parts of the southey temperature is around freezing or just below. Locally there are some pockets of frost. High pressure still firmly in charge of our weather. If you look at the high suppose as we push further north, they are closer together. Here it will be windy. With the weather front were looking at a fair bit of cloud across the northern isles, the far north of Scotland Company north west, and that could produce the odd spot of rain or into some drizzle. For the rest of the uk, away from the weather front, it will be another dry day, another sunny one at times with high cloud. The sunshine will be hazy, but it will still be dry and the temperature range, under that cloud, still be dry and the temperature range, underthat cloud, 9 11, generally we are looking at 14 18 degrees. Damages generally up on yesterday. As we had on through the evening and overnight we still have our weather front across the north, slowly slipping south. Eventually by the end of the night getting into Northern Ireland, for example northumberland and durham and maybe a little bit of rain, not much though, and some drizzle. Move south under clear skies, well, we are looking at those guys of in towns and cities, locally and some of the frost follows in the south we could see some pockets of frost and there will be some patchy mist and fog to watch out for in some southern counties as well. By the end of the night, it will be clouding over across the Channel Islands and also we will start to see some showers coming in across the south west. Now, temperatures on thursday, well, look at this amber colour coming up from the south, it is going to get warmer. As our weather front sinks south, it is a cold front that is happening in the north of the country, it is turning cooler for you. If we start off with our weather front, here it you. If we start off with our weatherfront, here it is producing the cloud across parts of scotland, Northern Ireland, Northern England, brighter behind it. And then in front of that weather front a lot of dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine. She was coming up in the south west, through the Channel Islands, getting in across South West England and south wales, possibly one or two of those heading into the midlands as well. Some of them will be sharp, one or two may have the odd rumble of thunder in them. Temperatures getting up to 2122, but them. Temperatures getting up to 21 22, but cooler as here saw on the chart in the north as our cold front sinks further south. As we move into friday, you can see the progress of this front. This is what we think at the moment. This is still open to question. Bringing in some showers. With High Pressure in the north things are more settled. We have a bit of a reversal of fortunes, depending on your point of view. Some parts of england and wales havent seen rain for a month. If you are a farmer or a grower this could well be some good news for you coming in from the south west, pushing slowly northwards. Temperatures down a touch, 17 in london. Looking at only eight in aberdeen. Just before i go, if you have an allergy to tree pollen and england and wales today and tomorrow, the levels are high. Hello, this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. Well bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning he honoured his nhs heroes now its our chance to salute captain tom moore. As his sponsored walk smashes the £4 million mark, well meet the girl who wants everyone to thank tom by sending a card for his 100th birthday. Five month old amelia is one of the youngest survivors of covid 19. Well talk to her mum, emily, who hopes their story will encourage more of us to follow the social distancing rules. Also on breakfast wholl walk your dog if youre not allowed to leave the house . Well hear from the volunteers who are happy to take the lead. Good morning, a summary of the main news. All care home residents and staff in england who show symptoms of coronavirus are to be offered a test by the government. It comes after outbreaks were confirmed in more than 2,000 care homes. Providers say more testing is vital to control the spread of the virus and to enable staff who are self isolating to return to work. President trump says hell withhold funding for the World Health Organisation, claiming it failed in its basic duty when responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr trump accused the organisation of failing to investigate the outbreak in the chinese city of wuhan, where the virus emerged. Un secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said now was not the time to reduce the organisations resources. Criminals are preying on fears around coronavirus to defraud the most vulnerable members of society thats a warning from the National Crime agency. It says scammers are selling uncertified home testing kits for covid 19, which is illegal, and setting up fake charity appeals. Theyre warning us to be on our guard. A sponsored walk by the 99 Year Old Army veteran, captain tom moore, has now raised more than £4. 1 million. As youll know if youve been watching breakfast over the last few days, tom is aiming to walk 100 laps of his garden in bedfordshire, before his 100th birthday at the end of the month. Hes raising money for the nhs after a hip operation. He calls them heroes, everyone who works for the nhs. It was wonderful to speak to him yesterday. We spoke to speak to him yesterday. We spoke to him just before he broke through the £1 million mark. Now it is 4,189,000. The interesting thing i love about this is 2008000 different people have given money. So that gives you an idea of how many people he is reaching. Lots of them watched a bbc brea kfast. Lots of them watched a bbc breakfast. So just a thank you, thank you for being part of that. It made my day yesterday was not i was really emotional every time i looked at it, it kept going up. We thought we had a good day yesterday but to come in today and for it to be over £4 million is just staggering. Remarkable. Lets try to get some answers to some of your coronavirus questions now, as we speak with another of our team of gps. Thank you for the questions you have been sending in for today. Doctor zoe norris joins us from her home in east yorkshire. Good morning. Im sure you are inspired by captain tom, but we would like to talk to you first of all about life and work in your gp practice. What is it like at the moment . I work across six practices in east yorkshire, and it is different, largely because we have made that move very quickly from seeing 80 of our patients face to face to now probably seeing less than 10 face to face. Rob lee doing the rest by video and phone call. That has been surprisingly straightforward. It is something that the nhs has struggled with from a Technology Point of view for a long time and patience have not a lwa ys long time and patience have not always particularly enjoyed that. They have normally gone for face to face. There we have not had that option, it is working quite well. The challenge is when we need to do something face to face, that is when it can get tricky at the moment. My third be a blueprint for the future, being able to use technology in that way . Absolutely. For most of us, it has been fairly straightforward. The frustration in the past has been the lack of it solutions from the nhs, a lack of basic things like webcams or internet speeds that meant we could do video calls. But now some of the Information Governance has been relaxed because of covid 19, options around using personal mobile devices which makes it quicker and easier. Loads of questions for you this morning, lots of people asking about non coronavirus related issues. If they still need to visit a gp, if they still need to visit a gp, if they still need to visit a gp, if they still need to speak to somebody or see somebody, can they still do that . Whats the best way of doing that . Whats the best way of doing that . Absolutely. General practice is still open for business, but it is still open for business, but it is slightly different from normal. You would still contact your gp surgery to make an appointment, you would then have an initial phone or video consultation with a gp. During that they will see whether you will have something that can be dealt with without coming in. Now we have the luxury of video, that can be some quite complex issues. If you need to be seen, depending on the arrangements at your surgery, you will be asked to come up at a time when nobody else is there, you may well find yourself being asked to wait in yourcaruntilyou well find yourself being asked to wait in your car until you are called, you might go into a different entrance to normal, and the doctor or nurse you will see will be wearing ppe if they have a supply of it. They will try to keep the consultation as short as possible, they will keep at as big a distance as possible. They will then ask you to leave and call you again to discuss what needs to be done. We know how easy it is to transfer covid 19 from patient to doctor and more particularly from doctor to patient, even without symptoms. So trying to keep that face to face contact trying to keep that face to face co nta ct to trying to keep that face to face contact to a minimum, but we still wa nt contact to a minimum, but we still want patients to be in touch if they are concerned. Shirley has said in a question, thank you. She has a compromised immune system, told to self isolate because of 12 weeks. Because of her normal condition, her temperature is about 36 degrees. They are told to get help if they reach 38. They probably need to talk to their gp if their temper goes up. What is normal for surely is not normal for other people. If you has a complex medical history, getting that advice will be helpful. It is not always about one particular measure and sometimes temperatures go up, but we are more concerned about how quickly people are breathing, or the oxygen levels in their bloodstream, and that can be more sensitive than just the temperature. If she is feeling unwell, perhaps a conversation with hergp unwell, perhaps a conversation with her gp surgery. Ray says, if hand washing removes the virus and we are told to wash hands regularly, why cant ppe be sterilised and used again if there is a shortage . The reason that hand washing works to get rid of the virus is that the soap and water combination disrupts the virus enough to break down the barriers in it to break down the bonds between it and get rid of it. So you cant wash ppe in the same way you would wash your hands because a lot of it isnt designed to get wet in the same way, and also if you use that amount of detergent ata if you use that amount of detergent at a sufficiently high temperature, then that can be a problem as well. The virus survives differently on different surfaces and how it survives on your hands and how easy it is to remove is not the same as it is to remove is not the same as it is to remove is not the same as it is with ppe. John perhaps speaking on behalf of other hay fever sufferers, it is a time for hay fever, people are worried about touching their eyes and nose. He says he cannot wear a mask because of the sneezing. What advice is therefore is therefore hay fever sufferers . It is difficult for them, it is really challenging. The best advice i can give is to do what you usually do in terms of treatment and remember that there are three different options for treating hay fever, eye drops, nasalspray different options for treating hay fever, eye drops, nasal spray and there are tablets. Some people normally manage with just one, they might want to consider adding the other two in in order to better control their symptoms. You can get all of those over the counter, you dont need to see your gp, or you can get them in a pharmacy, but many supermarkets will sell those. Trying that triple combination may well help. A couple more if we can. Im sure you have seen the latest figures suggesting one in five deaths in england and wales are linked to coronavirus, im sure youve read and seen all of the information about care homes at the moment. A lot of people interested in whether youre seeing a lot more gp contact with care homes and residents since the crisis started . Its really variable. It depends a little bit on where you are and it depends a lot on the individual care homes. They are run by different businesses and each one has taken their own decision about the contact they are having with Health Care Workers at the moment. There are some care homes that are not particularly letting care workers m, particularly letting care workers in, or only letting them in if they have full ppe, which is a challenge. There are some which are happy to do phone and video calls and lots of gps around the country are doing the usual weekly visits as a virtual visit via video link. I think what we are seeing is there is generally a lack of support for the social ca re a lack of support for the social care sector from central government, that they are being left to get on with it, left to do their own thing, and there is minimal coordination between the social care sector and primary care. You set a few times this morning, if you can get enough ppe, if you have that ppe that you require, is your entire family involved in making sure that you and your practices have got the required ppe at the moment . Yes, because we cannot get it. I have linked into a wonderful project on the platform slack which is doing 3d printed templates for visors for the nhs. A local volunteer called andy has been 3d printing 20 47 over the last few days and we bring those tablets home, put on the elastic and we put on the film and they can go out to ourgp on the film and they can go out to our gp practices because nobody else is doing it. Are your own children building your ppe . Yes. They are seven and nine. I know you have got a lovely big smile on your face, seven and nine. I know you have got a lovely big smile on yourface, but thatis a lovely big smile on yourface, but that is a point we need to put to the care minister when we speak to her at 7 30am this morning. I will ask where you and others are having to do that at the moment when there is such a struggle and such a need for that across the country. Thank you very much. That is something, isnt it . Nine and making ppe for their mum. Sally has got. Is it news . There is talk about newcastle but we have been here before, havent we . How very true that is this is edging closer, i would say. Newcastle united fans wanting to see the back of owner mike ashley may well soon get their wish. He has reportedly agreed a deal to sell the club for £300 million to a consortium of saudi investors, led by the english businesswoman amanda staveley. She previously tried to buy newcastle in 2017. At the time, she he said she was a time waster. She has come back with a different deal. Newcastle still have non playing staff on furlough, along with norwich city, but bournemouth have become the Third Premier League club to reverse their decision to use the scheme. Liverpool and tottenham had already taken similar action, after heavy criticism. Englands women have made a donation to the players together foundation, set up by premier League Players last week to support the nhs during the Coronavirus Crisis. Captain Steph Houghton said the squad had been discussing the best way to help for a few weeks, and decided the fund was the best way to do it. The players together project has linked up with nhs charities. One side effect of delaying the Tokyo Olympics until next year is the return of up to 40 athletes currently suspended due to doping violations. They would have missed out on the games this year, but their bans will have ended by next summer. The man leading sports fight against doping says theyre not giving up, even if testing is more of a challenge at the moment. Our focus and what we are really concerned about is protecting the integrity of tokyo, and we will continue to do our best to make sure those games have integrity. And any athletes who cheat in the lead up to those games we can catch. If athletes who are caught in the lead up to tokyo face a normal four year ban, they will miss two olympics, so there a significant deterrent for cheats leading up to the tokyo games. British sailing have confirmed theyre sticking with the 15 strong squad for the olympics, despite the postponement. There was uncertainty over whether athletes would have to qualify again, but the line up will still include hannah mills, even though shed planned to retire this year. Shes delayed that, so she can go for a third olympic medal alongside new partner eilidh mcintrye. You know how much eilidh, my sailing partner, has put into this its going to be her first olympics i know how incredibly driven but also excited she is about this opportunity. So, i mean, 100 there was never going to be any doubt, really, that we were going to do it together. And, yeah, im just really excited to kind of share that journey with her. With Mass Gatherings in france now banned until mid july, it looks as though the Tour De France will be postponed. Geraint thomas, the winner two years ago, will be keeping in shape at home, cycling for 12 hours a day on a virtual trainer for the next three days, to mirror a typical nhs hospital shift. Hes raising money for charity, and hes going to be speaking to us at around 7 40am. Sol soiam so i am really looking forward to talking to him as he starts on his epic shift. I know lots of kids have wa nted epic shift. I know lots of kids have wanted to get involved. There is some concern because he cycles quite fast. He has promised is that there will be two points in every day that he will slow down a little bit, so if kids want to join him he will slow down a little bit, so if kids want tojoin him on he will slow down a little bit, so if kids want to join him on that virtual right, they can do so. I need to know when they ask that, but ido need to know when they ask that, but i do not cycle at his pace and i would like tojoin him. I heard them on the radio on saturday and said he has a tough job but he said on the radio on saturday and said he has a toughjob but he said his on the radio on saturday and said he has a tough job but he said his wife and his family will be even tougher, because they will have to supply him with food. Did you say he had a chocolate pizza. Where do we get one . I know it is 6 46am, but i could do with a chocolate pizza right now. As weve been hearing one of the most troubling elements of the covid 19 pandemic is the number of deaths happening outside of hospitals, particularly those in care homes. The government has now announced it will test residents and staff that show symptoms but campaigners say that some of our oldest and most vulnerable citizens have been airbrushed out of the picture. Breakfasts Graham Satchell has been speaking to workers at a care home where 16 residents have died with the virus. These pictures were taken for us by care home staff. It looks normal. But what has happened here at oak springs in liverpool is truly awful. I cant tell you how hard it is to lose 16 residents. 16 residents in the space of three weeks is just completely devastating and you dont have time to grieve for one, then youre losing another one and then another and another one. Its. Its horrendous. It is absolutely heart rendering and horrendous. Staff have been doing everything they can here to protect the residents but there is a growing anger in the care sector, a feeling that they have been forgotten, from the supply of protective clothing to testing, to counting the number of dead. Age uk are saying the current figures are airbrushing older people out like they dont matter, do you think that is right . Yes. I think what they are saying is right. We was very much bottom of the list, i feel, when the government was first aware of the coronavirus and the impact it would have on the country. I think care homes, and the care sector was very much at the bottom of the list. The government says residents in care homes have not been forgotten, that protective clothing is being delivered. And today they have announced all residents and staff in care homes who need a test will be given one, but is it too late . We have not been tested at all, nobody in this care home has been tested. And i do feel cross about that. And i think we should be tested. You have not been tested, you dont know, do you, whether you are bringing it in, whether you are taking out . No, you dont. But i took time off to protect the residents from catching whatever i had. So if you are not tested, youre kind of flying blind, arent you . Yeah, you are. Yeah. At one stage, 54 of the 72 staff here were self isolating, including the manager andrea. This is her first day back at work after having the virus herself. When i was looking after my residents i knew full well that, you know, it wont be long before i will be presenting with symptoms of covid 19. So does it stop me holding that residents hand when theyre passing away, no, it doesnt. Because that is the nature of the job and that is what i do because, i care for people. So you care for people no matter what. We now know more than 2000 care homes in england have an outbreak of the virus. Here, there is no doubt lives could have been saved if action had been taken earlier. Well, the government should have said, right, ok we are going to lock these care door homes down. We are going to protect them. We are going to test the staff, we are going to test the residents. We are going to minimise this risk before it hits them. We are going to protect these people who have fought a war for us. We are going to protect these Vulnerable People because, you know what, thats the reason that me and you are here, because these people fought for our country. So lets look after them. Yes, you think they were let down . Yeah, ido. I do. I think they were let down by the government. We will be speaking with the care minister, Helen Whately, at 7 30am. And we have the new labour leader later on this morning as well, sir keir starmer will be here as well. Weve been talking for the past few weeks about the potential impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on the countrys finances. Now weve had some of the first actual forecasts and the numbers are pretty shocking. Good morning. Yes. You only have to look out of your window this morning or go on your allocated walk or trip to the shop and seeing how eerily quiet things are and realise obviously theres going to be an impact on the economy. But the newspapers today showjust how bad these latest predictions are. The sun goes with lockdown meltdown. The middle marker is recovery from the wall street crash in the 20s you can see there hasnt been a negative impact of this scale since 1709 more than 300 years. Yesterday the chancellor rishi sunak was quick to point out that there are a series of ifs in reaching this conclusion this isjust one scenario, not a forecast or prediction. The office for budget responsibility an independent group of economists that keeps an eye on government figures said that if the current lockdown style measures go on for three months, our economic output so the combined value of what we make and do would fall by more than a third in the space of three months. They made it clear that this is one scenario which will be affected by how long restrictions remain in place, but overall for this year they predicted the economy so how much everything is worth would shrink by 12. 8 . Have a look at this. This will give us some have a look at this. This will give us some Historical Context. The middle circle is when there was the Great Depression in the 1930s. You have to go back to 1709, more than 300 years ago, when europe was hit bya 300 years ago, when europe was hit by a big freeze, to see that economy got that far and that quickly. Yesterday the chancellor rishi sunak was quick to point out that there are a series of ifs in reaching this conclusion this isjust one scenario, not a forecast or prediction. It seems extraordinary to have to look back that far. How long, is the difficult question to answer, will it last . Some good news the obr did say that measures are in place to help the economy successfully bounce back next year. And the chancellor said measures taken, for example paying 80 of employees salaries so that companies can essentially go in to hibernation, means that the bounce back will be strong. So a quick bounce back would be good but still painful. The measures we have put in place could mitigate that impact, in particular the jobs retention scheme, the furlough scheme we have put in place, aims to do exactly that, to make sure you are people remain employed. And as the old br says, the reason why it is a good thing, when we get through this we can bounce back as quickly as possible. But he did concede even with that in mind, things will be painful for lots of family. Unemployment peaking at 10 this year. Now that drops down to just over 7 by the end of the year but it does not return to current levels until the year 2023. Then there is the uks debt. The prediction is that that chancellors Job Retention and loan schemes will increase National Debt to more than 100 of gdp thats like having a 100 mortgage on the entire economy. And that leaves difficult decisions ahead for the government long after the healthcare crisis is over. Institute for fiscal studies says we will need a complete reappraisal of economic policy. What does that mean . In simple terms that either means back to austerity, tax rises or more debt. The chancellor was a lot less keen to be drawn on that yesterday focusing instead on what the government is doing here and now. How has business reacted . Very few people dispute how bad things could get this year, but some are questioning the bounce back. Some Small Business owners weve spoken to are less optimistic that things will simply come out of hibernation and return to normal after a few months. The confederation of british industry or cbi says that unless the government extends its Job Retention or furlough scheme this week then companies will be forced to permanently lay off staff. That is the problem. The forecast i mentioned at the beginning sees the economy bouncing back after three months but only if the governments economic measures work. Right now businesses are saying they dont think they are going to be enough. So many unknowns. Thanks very much for going through all those figures there, thank you. It is five minutes to seven. There are plenty of people helping us to keep fit and active during self isolation and weve enjoyed featuring a few of them here on breakfast. We had skipping yesterday. But the queen of the home workout is diana moran, better known as the green goddess. Here she is with another routine. Good morning everybody. Well, we are going to think about those legs again today, but in particular because we are sitting around so much, ways to avoid dvt, deep vein thrombosis. So even while we are sitting down, we can move and get the circulation going. So, here we go. Very simple movements this morning. Start with a march. Thats it use those feet. Hold onto the chair if you really want to and then add the arms. Go on pump away. And get the circulation going. Very, very simple exercises this morning. This warms us up, improves the circulation, makes the heart and lung more efficient. Lowering the risk of dvt while we are sitting around without doing too much activity. Now, lets get the blood flowing in our legs with what i call rock and roll. Literally bring the toes up, and now the heels. Toes, heels. You will feel the pumping movement that is going on in the back of your legs, simple little movements. Do 20 of those. And then just put one leg out and literallyjust circle around. Thats it, very, very simple these this morning. And then anticlockwise. Good. And 20 of those. Point the other toe, thats it. Anticlockwise. And then clockwise. Thats pretty simple, isnt it . And thenjust bring one knee up. Bring it up, hug it, and lift and lower. I call this flip flap. Flip. Flap. And, once again, you can feel those muscles going and helping the circulation in your legs. This is lowering the risk of dvt when you are sitting around without too much activity. Just remember, keep fit and carry on we will take her advice and your absolute best. We will do that again before nine oclock. Prepare yourselves, you can do round to later on. It has been chilly out this morning. Heres carol with a look at this mornings weather. For some others it has been a chilly start, colder than yesterday with some pockets of frost. Some others have been watching some lovely sunrises. Todays weather will be dry, there will be some sunshine around albeit hazy at times but we have a weather front in the north west of scotland. That is producing patchy rain and gusty winds as well. First thing this morning there is patchy fog in Northern Ireland, mist in wales, that will lift. For most of england, wales, Northern Ireland and eastern and southern scotland, some sunshine. Hazy with a high cloud but we have all that other cloud but we have all that other cloud with that weather front in scotland. Breezy at the English Channel, but dry with sunny skies. Todays pollen levels will be high, although to moderate in scotland and Northern Ireland. Temperature wise, nine in lerwick and 18 in the east coast in the sunshine. Through this evening and overnight, a weather front in the north slips further south with patchy light rain or drizzle, heading in through Northern Ireland, and northumberland and durham by the end of the night. We have showers heading up through the west and some patchy mist and fog in southern counties. These temperatures indicate towns and cities, in some hollows in the south we could see pockets of frost but that would be the exception rather than the rule. Tomorrow, here is a weather front in northern areas, brighter skies in the outer hebrides and the far north of scotland but we have the showers coming in and one or two of those could be sharp, possibly some thunder and lightning embedded in them as well. Friday, more organised showers on friday, moving north. Still uncertainty on how far north they travel and again there could be the odd rumble of thunder in them. Some parts of england and wales have not seen any rainfora england and wales have not seen any rain for a month, england and wales have not seen any rainfora month, so england and wales have not seen any rain for a month, so if you have been planting and growing, if you area been planting and growing, if you are a farmer, this could be good news for you. There is no further north for an area of High Pressure, that means danes will be settled. As we move south, it will be 16. We have, weather in half an hour and the headlines are coming up next. 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. You dont have time to grieve for one, youre losing another one and another one and another one. Its. Its horrendous. Labour leader sir keir starmer urges ministers to publish their exit strategy from the coronavirus lockdown. President trump suspends funding for the World Health Organisation saying its failed in its basic duty during the coronavirus pandemic. 3. 4 million britons out of work. The biggest economic downturn for 300 years. The bleak predictions on the impact of coronavirus on our finances, and the hopes of bouncing back. Off the road but still pedalling former Tour De France champion Geraint Thomas has a new challenge, and hes really putting in a shift. Hell tell us all about it later. He set out to collect £1,000 for the nhs now hes on £4 million. War veteran captain tom earns praise from around the world for his fund raising efforts. Its wednesday the 15th of april. All care home residents and staff in england who show symptoms of coronavirus are to be offered a test by the government. It comes after outbreaks were confirmed in more than 2,000 care homes. Providers say 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. Reads well be there with you. With no family allowed to visit their care home, its care workers that read the last messages from loved ones. Reads for now, grandma, this is goodbye, but i know that you will always be with us in our hearts. Weve 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. Its also said all new residents discharged from hospital into care homes 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 number 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 byjune 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 its critical that the government gets the measures right, but mps believe its struggling to get some of them in place. Ive no doubt the government is being bold. It has come forward with the right basic approach, but because its 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. Lets get the latest from our Political Correspondent nick eardley, whos in westminster. Nick, the government had been under pressure about its plans for the care sector, and also for how it intends to exit the lockdown. There absolutely is. We have seen this over the last few days, some ca re this over the last few days, some care homes saying that they dont think they can get their protective equipment that they need, and also raising concerns about that testing issue. Testing has been one of those things weve heard repeated questions asked about. The government wants to ramp up how many people it can test, 100,000 by the end of the month, and this Initiative Announced today is part of that, making sure that everybody who is leaving hospital to go back toa who is leaving hospital to go back to a care home is tested so that if they are positive, they will go back to the care home and they can stop the spread. Everyone with symptoms ina care the spread. Everyone with symptoms in a care home is entitled to attest to again stop that spread. People in the industry will want to see that happening and some results before they celebrate this latest plan. O nto they celebrate this latest plan. Onto keir starmer as well, it is worth pointing out that he is trying to put pressure on the government on something else. To give us more details on how eventually the lockdown might be lifted. We know that will not happen imminently, the government has been pretty clear that they dont think we have reached the peak yet, so to talk about ending restrictions would be a bad idea. But the labour leader is saying they need to provide more detail on how they will base the decision, and what areas might see instructions lifted first. Some countries are allowing schools to go back before opening pubs or restau ra nts. Back before opening pubs or restaurants. He back before opening pubs or restau ra nts. He wa nts back before opening pubs or restaurants. He wants more details of that. I suspect the government does want to do that but at the moment itjust doesnt feel it is in that place. It is saying it thinks it would confuse the message by talking about lifting restrictions now when it is trying to say to everybody still to remain at home. Well be talking to the labour leader sir keir starmer at 7 10am, and to the care minister Helen Whately at 7 30am. President trump says hell withhold funding for the World Health Organisation, claiming it failed in its basic duty when responding to the pandemic. Mr trump accused the organisation of failing to investigate the outbreak in the chinese city of wuhan, where the virus emerged. Our north america correspondent, peter bowes, reports. The president of the United States. Addressing reporters in the rose garden at the white house, President Trump 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 im instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organizations role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows whats gone on there. Mr trump said the who have promoted what he called chinas disinformation, leading to a wider outbreak of the virus than 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 should have spurred the who to investigate and investigate immediately. Responding to the president s announcement, the United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres said critics 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. Peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. One of the first countries in europe to impose a lockdown is easing restrictions from today. Children in denmark will return to primary and nursery schools, four weeks after they were closed. Other restrictions on borders, leisure venues and gatherings of more than ten people will remain in place. The number of hospital admissions there has fallen since the beginning of the month. German chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss possible ways to ease the lockdown with regional leaders today. Our correspondent, jenny hill, is in berlin. Jenny, what are the chances of restrictions there being relaxed . I think the chances are high, but it may take a little time. Germanys strategy appears at this stage to have broadly speaking works. Mass testing, combined with an effective lockdown that has been in place for around a month. Infection rates have now slowed and, crucially, capacity in hospitals is still there. A group of leading german scientists have now recommended that restrictions be gradually relaxed, beginning with the phased reopening of schools. Angela merkel has said in the last few weeks several times that as someone who grew up few weeks several times that as someone who grew up behind the iron curtain, she doesnt like the imposition of these restrictions, although she has deemed them necessary. It is not actually her decision to make, that power lies in the hands of the Prime Ministers of the hands of the Prime Ministers of the 16 states. She will meet with them this afternoon. They disagree broadly on the timetable of any kind relaxation, but broadly speaking we do expect to see perhaps schools opening first, maybe then shops. We have seen something similar in austria where people have to wear facemasks to go shopping. A gradual return to normal. One point to make, mrs merkel and some of the scientists advising her i keen to stress that they think it is important that younger people should not be allowed to go back to life as normal if it means that elderly and Vulnerable People have to remain the lockdown. Thank you. A sponsored walk by the 99 Year Old Army veteran, captain tom moore, has now raised more than £4. 1 million. He wanted to raise £1000 with 100 la ps he wanted to raise £1000 with 100 laps of his garden. Keep talking, i will find it as youll know if youve been watching breakfast over the last few days, tom is aiming to walk 100 laps of his garden in bedfordshire, before his 100th birthday at the end of the month. Hes raising money for the nhs after a hip operation fans of captain tom have been leaving messages of support for him on social media. You are fantastic. The work that you are doing for the nhs is completely inspirational, as are they. We all want to thank them and thank you for showing how much we all care. Good luck with everything that you do. You are going to get to the end of that garden 100 laps of your garden before you turn 100 is genuinely inspiring and it has been amazing to follow your progress. So, yeah, ijust wanted to wish you a very happy birthday. Many happy years to come but also i would love to meet up with you one day. It is great to hear that you are a big rugby fan so hopefully i will be able to catch you at a game are we can watch a game together soon. Cheers and all the best. Brilliant, and the total is changing all the time so i am having to refresh. He is currently at 4,289,000. We can tell you later in the programme how to help them celebrate by sending a card. Thank you to everybody he was supporting and watching him. It is a best news i have heard in ages. The new labour leader, sir keir starmer, is urging the government to publish a detailed strategy within a week on how it plans to exit the current lockdown. He joins us now from north london to tell us more. Very good morning to you. Thank you for joining very good morning to you. Thank you forjoining as today and congratulations on your new appointment. First of all, you are asking for details on the exit strategy. What is it you want to know . I think it is obvious that lockdown is to be continued. We accept that and the labour party will support the government with that, it is important that we will see the numbers come down and we will support the government with what it needs to do there. That we feel it is time for the exit strategy to be published, for the government to publish what they intend to do next and ease this in due course. We are not asking for timings, because that is not realistic. We are asking for the principles and criteria, to make sure we have the trust of the public. We have to bring the public with as on this journey, they are complying with the orders of the lockdown, and thank you for that. They need to know there is light at the end of the tunnel. The second reason is that in order to have an exit plan that can be executed, planning needs to be put in now. To ta ke planning needs to be put in now. To take an obvious example, if part of the exit plan is to have mass testing, Community Testing and then tracing. That tells you that you need to ramp up your testing hugely now if you are going to be ready in weeks and months to execute a plan. So the trust of the public is really important here but also planning and i think some of the planning so far has not been when it should be but we wa nt has not been when it should be but we want to challenge the government here to get it right so when we get to that stage, in weeks and so when it may be, that we are able to ease the lot then, we are in a position to actually move forward at speed. Specifically on testing, matt hancock said it would be 100,000 a day by the end of april. What are you saying about that . Matt hancock said, ithink you saying about that . Matt hancock said, i think you said that there would be 25,000 by mid april. We are currently under 15,000 as of yesterday. We are missing that target. We said like he said 100,000 by the end of april. I am worried that we are behind, but if we are going for mass Community Testing, we are talking about testing, we are talking about testing beyond 100,000, wei na in excess of that. What im saying if thatis excess of that. What im saying if that is part of the exit plan, that the planning needs to go and now and soiam the planning needs to go and now and so i am setting like seeing set out the criteria. I am aware that the timings cannot be pinned out. Sta rt the timings cannot be pinned out. Start setting out the circumstances so that people know and can trust and understand what is going to happen and we can be assured that the planning is being done. We are happy to engage constructively with the government on this to help wherever we can. We support the lockdown, and i make that clear in my letter today. We support the government and that, we want to support an exit strategy but that can only happen if there is transparency about what it is. That there is testing and a strategy is put in place and the public need the trust to know what will happen next. Talk of an exit strategy before we have reached the peak could risk confusing the critical message that people need to stay at home in order to protect our nhs and save lives, so they say you could confuse that important message. So they say you could confuse that important messagelj so they say you could confuse that important message. I disagree on that, i am afraid. I think the government is wrong on that. I do not say that in a negative way, i understand the government is doing a difficultjob but we do need to take the public with us, we need the public to comply and they need to know that the government as a strategy for what comes next and they need to know the governments planning for that. I think it is transparency and openness, you get the trust of the public and if you get the trust of the public, the minus levels will go down. We should support that. I want to talk to you about other people because we know other countries are lifting restrictions, for example we talked about germany, talking about skilful stop what are your ideas, where do you think things could be lifted first . The schools is a very good example. This is why repressing we are pressing the government. There is concern, but the longer the schools are closed, the bigger the inequality gap will be between those children that have very supportive households and very easily sell skilled, and those children who dont, perhaps they are living in very over crowded conditions. And the longer the schools are shut, the greater the likely gap between the two sets of children. And for young children, that will make a massive difference going forward. What i would like the government to set out is is that our priority, is that a political fight that comes in here to make sure that there is not the inequality and skill in going forward. That could be debated and people have different views on it. I am concerned about it and i do not think there is a problem debating that no so we can come to a consensus where all Political Parties and the public can support what is happening. But you can only get that if you have a discussion and have a strategy so people can be assured of what it is. People watching us this morning who have children at home, concerned with what is going on at school. Should they be going back in the summer term . Putting timing around it is wrong, until we are sure the canvas lightning, then i am afraid we have to stay in the conditions that we are in. I desperately hope it is, i eve ryo ne are in. I desperately hope it is, i everyone watching across the country hopes that curve will flatten and the number of cases and deaths go down. Because every death has a family that is devastated behind it. Iam family that is devastated behind it. I am concerned about the inequality of schools and i think that will be an important factor for an exit strategy. In what way can we ensure that our schools can get back as soon as possible, as soon as it is right to do so. Because the inequality that will otherwise grow i think is unavoidable. It is a fine line between what everybody is trying to do here, which is look after people, make them safe as well. It is fluid. Are you in danger of playing Party Politics with this . No, i dont think so. I have been very clear since i was elected labour leader that the approach i would take would be constructive with the government and to support the National Interest in saving lives and safeguarding our country. But we will challenge where we thought there was a mistake or something was not happening quickly enough and i made clear, i spoke to the Prime Minister about it, not challenging to score Party Political point back to point out mistakes that can be put right to get them speeded up. That is why we challenged on protective equipment at the front line because something has obviously gone wrong. That is why we have challenged on testing because the testing has not ramped up because the testing has not ramped up quickly enough. Not to point score, but to point out the mistake, put the pressure on the government to hopefully get it fixed. Because in that way we can actually share a common purpose with the government and the whole country which is to save lives and protect our country. You have spoken about challenges, lets talk about what has been going on in care homes. Do you think m ista kes on in care homes. Do you think mistakes have been made . on in care homes. Do you think mistakes have been made . I do. I do not think those who work in care homes have the protective equipment they need. I have spoken with many in the sector and it is clear they do not have the protection they need. It is Getting Better but it is not there. Only today we are talking about testing in the care sector. People working in the care sector are putting their lives on the line every day working there. It is a very fragmented sector and the fact that testing is only being really talked about today seems to me to be weeks after the start of what shouldve happened. So there are criticisms there of the government. And we will push them on that. Again with the purpose of ensuring a possible that that testing is ramped up possible that that testing is ramped up as quickly as possible. Do you think you have pushed in their early enough . We have been pushing for weeks on testing and equipment so the answer to that question is yes. We try to get the tone right, this is important. It is a strong challenge to the government to say you are making mistakes, you need to put it right. I need to accept and i do accept it is difficult for a government. It does not relieve us of the obligation to point out mistakes, point out where needs to speed up and if they do speed up and the government is able to provide the government is able to provide the support it needs to the front line, then it is my duty to support the government in that. We challenge strongly where we think the government has got it wrong, that is the right thing to do. But we have got to have the courage to support the government where things are going in the right direction. Everyone will hear me introduce you as sir keir starmer. I do not know if you have seen sir thomas more who is going to be 100, doing 100 laps of his gun my garden. Raising money for the nhs. Do you think he should be given an honourfor that . There are so many people who should be given an honour in this. He should, but also what about those on the front line . They need equipment no end testing now and they need recognition at the end of this because they are literally going out keeping our country going. They need more than an honour, they need a rebalancing of how we value people and how we pay people. Because we all clap their workers on a thursday and it is an emotional moment for the nation, but we are clapping people who have been too often undervalued and underpaid. We cannot go back to business as usual at the end of this. Thank you very much for your time here on breakfast this morning. We saw an interesting suggestion yesterday, it should be key workers. It should be key workers and we can celebrate and support them for this version of strictly come dancing, who knows that kids were kept. It is 25 minutes past seven. We know that covid 19 poses a greater threat to patients with underlying conditions than it does to those who were otherwise in good health. However, one woman who survived the virus despite having asthma and diabetes is keen to share her story to give hope to others in the same boat. Her name is kirsty fielder and shejoins us from her home in great yarmouth. Kirsty, thank you very much for coming on and spending some time with us this morning. Take us back to the start, what was your sort of journey like if i can use that word with coronavirus. When did you first think you were in trouble . It started feeling poorly for a few days and self isolated at home as recommended thinking it was just a chest infection will stop also due to my asthma. After day four, i started feeling really poorly and deteriorated quite quickly so then i spoke to my brother who is a paramedic and he called an ambulance for me and sent me to the hospital. It was at the point when the ambulance turned up in masks and aprons and put a mask on me that i realised that it probably wasnt and i had got coronavirus. That must have been frightening, tell us what that was like. Yes, it was terrifying. I think the worst of it was not being able to have anyone going into hospital with me, being my own through it. We are seeing pictures of you are in hospital. It is quite something, not only have you got all that equipment on as well, presumably all the doctors and nurses have to be in ppe. What effect does that have you on you as a patient . It is quite lonely and surreal. Because everybody had asks and protective equipment, hats, so you could literally only see their eyes and they had protective goggles over the most of the time. So it was quite a lonely experience. When you we re quite a lonely experience. When you were in intensive care, how concerned were you where you about those underlying conditions, the fa ct those underlying conditions, the fact that you are asthmatic and diabetic as well. How much was that on your mind . Completely. Having more than one of the high risk conditions makes it even more terrifying. There were times when i did not complain but i will never stop fighting because i thought i had to do my best to beat it and i did. Well done you. Tell us about. When did you realise that things might be ok . I think the day i came out of intensive care. And i went back onto the ward, that was a very emotional day. And notjust for back onto the ward, that was a very emotional day. And not just for you, but all the people that were treating you as well. You could see that they were so happy to be transferring me on to award because ididnt transferring me on to award because i didnt need the same level of care any more. They were all brilliant, i cannot fault them at all. What about that moment, kirsty, being able to leave hospital being in the kitchen that you are in. What was that like . Like the condition. It was amazing. When they said i could come home and earlier than expected as well, that was just a brilliant moment and i was quite keen to get home and be able to clap on the thursday night with the rest of the nation to thank the doctors in a little way that i could. Absolutely. Thank you so much. It is lovely to see you back at home and on the mend. Thank you forjoining as. It is important to remember that many people are able to get through it with expert care and come out on the other side. It is lovely to know you can get out of hospital, it is nice to know she could take part of the cla p to know she could take part of the clap for carers as well. It is cold outside, but we are also looking out for signs of spring. Heres carol with a look at this mornings weather. It isa it is a chilly start, we have pockets. For many we are looking at sunny spells today and mostly dry. Mostly because we have a weather front moving south across the north of scotland, producing a fair amount of scotland, producing a fair amount of cloud and spots of rain and here you have some gusty winds. For england, wales, where there are mists and fog patches, they will move quickly. We are looking at a lot of sunshine, albeit hazy because we have high cloud. Easy on the eastern side of the English Channel. Temperatures getting up to 17 or 18 degrees. If you are stepping out for your assigned walk today, then it will not feel too bad at all. Northern ireland, southern scotland and Northern England, hazy sunshine and Northern England, hazy sunshine and splash of rain. High pollen levels in england and wales, at low to moderate in scotland and Northern Ireland. Tonight the weather front sinks with some patchy rain. The head of it, patchy mist and fog across southern england with some showers coming up from the English Channel. Here and there we will see one or two pockets of frost. Through the course of tomorrow, still cloud in the north, showers coming up from the south west but a lot of dry weather nonetheless. Youre watching breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. All care home residents and staff in england are to be offered a test for coronavirus if they display symptoms. The promise comes days after the government confirmed outbreaks in more than 2,000 care homes across the country. Lets find out more details from the care minister, Helen Whately, who joins us from kent. Thank you very much for being with us this morning. Lets start with ca re us this morning. Lets start with care homes if we can, because there are staff struggling this morning in difficult situations, there are families who are worried and concerned about their loved ones, who cannot see them face to face. There are Vulnerable People across the uk. What is your message to them this morning . My message to them is that we are doing and we have been doing everything that we can to protect those really Vulnerable People who are living in care homes or receiving care at home. We know those are some of the most vulnerable in our society. From the moment it looked like a coronavirus was coming our way, for my part and working with the Health Department and hose and social care providers, we have been working really hard to do whatever we can to protect those receiving care from this truly awful, horrible illness. It is sitting the whole world and bringing the whole world to a standstill. On the whole world to a standstill. On the side of care workers, i also think really hard about our care workers. People talk a lot about the nhs workforce and less often about those working in the care sector, but they too were on the front line and fighting coronavirus. They are going to work day in, day out. Where others are working from home, they cant. They have shown the commitment and courage to go to work every day, including looking after people with coronavirus, and im hugely grateful to those care workers for doing that. You say they are on the front line. Understandably many care workers watching this would save that prioritising the nhs is understandable, but is it not a front line you have ignored for too long . As it come to light . There are 2000 care homes in england alone that have cases of the virus. It has not been ignored at all. It has been harder to talk about it in interviews like this because i have found in recent weeks when i have been interviewed, everyone has focused their questions on the nhs andi focused their questions on the nhs and i have tried to talk about what were doing for the care sector and it is harder to get hurt. But we been working really hard night and day to make sure were doing what we can for the care sector. That is one reason why we can for the care sector. That is one reason why we are can for the care sector. That is one reason why we are able to make the announcement today on testing and offering more testing both to people working in the care sector and also residents in care homes. As our testing numbers are going up, that isa testing numbers are going up, that is a priority, going right to the front of the queue for tests, because we recognise it is so important to look after Vulnerable People and also the workforce who are looking after them. Can i give you an example. One person got in contact with us, they work in a care home and have absolutely no ppe. They have put in massive orders in february but it got understandably diverted to hospitals. Now it is april, they still have nothing from any source, either nhs or private manufacturers. They say, at what point will the government realise that these people are on the front line . They have nothing to protect themselves. Firstly, can i ask to get in touch, because we have taken huge steps to get ppe out to the ca re huge steps to get ppe out to the care sector. This is working from a position that usually the care sector, care providers get their ppe directly from commercial suppliers, thatis directly from commercial suppliers, that is the way their supply chain usually works, and there are nhs supply chains. What we saw was a few weeks ago the usual suppliers were not surprisingly unable to meet the huge demand for ppe from the care sector. That is when we started stepping in and working with the nhs to get ppe out to care homes. Every single cqc registered care home received a drop of 300 facemasks, they dont usually have facemasks. It does not sound like a huge number, but that is over 7 million across the country. There is an emergency number for care homes to get emergency deliveries. There were also deliveries to local resilience forums, who have been distributing ppe to social care providers. There are several routes by which they can get the ppe they need. Any supplier who has not got it should go through those channels to make sure they have got what they need. It is vital for protecting staff and residents will stop with respect, there are many people contacting us who were doing that, going through those legitimate channels. There is an appreciation that you as a government have an unprecedented job to do at the moment, but let me give you two more examples. The leader of Newcastle City Council says they are exposing a delivery of ppe, half of what they got last week, last week it was 40 of what they needed. They are having to ration provisions. We spoke to eight gp in bridlington and ourago, spoke to eight gp in bridlington and our ago, her children, spoke to eight gp in bridlington and ourago, her children, she has spoke to eight gp in bridlington and our ago, her children, she has got two children, seven and nine years old, they are making ppe for their mum and the staff she works with to use other gp practice because they dont have enough. How is this possible . There is a global scramble for ppe at the moment. Across the world, countries are all trying to increase their stocks and supplies of personal protective equipment. We in the uk have been boosting our supply, in the uk have been boosting our supply, looking to increase the amount that is made within the uk, and doing this hugejob of distributing from the ppe and pandemic flu stocks that we have. The logistics of just pandemic flu stocks that we have. The logistics ofjust repeating that across the logistics ofjust repeating that a cross over the logistics ofjust repeating that across over 25,000 care providers and also to thousands of gp practices and pharmacies, over 50,000 organisations, has been a massive logistical effort. We have given clear guidance on when to use ppe. It is a precious resource. Countries are all trying to get their hands on it. We have to make sure it is used when we need it to protect a member of a workforce or to protect a patient or somebody you are caring for. It is important that it is used when it is needed. People have been wanting to use ppe all the time for everything and that is not the best way. We have to use it when it is necessary, and we are working really ha rd to it is necessary, and we are working really hard to make sure those supplies get where they are needed. There are a lot of people contacting us who dont have the ppe they need. There are other things i want to talk about this morning because you have mentioned testing. The government says testing will be available for all social care staff who need it. Who makes those decisions about how long they will have to wait for testing and who will need it . The cqc is contacting all registered care providers, almost 30,000 care providers to talk to them about their need for testing, to understand the staff absence rates. When you have high absence rates. When you have high absence rates, you are looking to test staff because if they test negative for coronavirus, then they can come back to work and that will help us keep our Care Services up and running. That process is already begun. The cqc has already contacted around 6000 care providers and already we have had around 1000 care workers coming to be tested. Another 1000 have been referred for tests already. That will happen at pace in the next few days so that we can give people who need tests access to those tests. Your picture has frozen at the moment, hopefully itlljump back in. We can still hear you, so i will continue to ask you questions if possible. On that issue of testing, it was under 15,000 people who were tested yesterday. We were spoken to keir starmer about 20 minutes ago, he was talking about the fact it was meant to be 25,000 people tested per day at this point. It is meant to be 100,000 per day in two weeks time. Is there any chance the government will get to that target . You are right, we have set an ambitious target because we want to ramp up testing. This week we are expecting more testing centres to come online or stop it is happening at real pace, so across the country there are organisations that are operated by commercial partners who are helping us increase our Testing Capacity. We are determined to reach that 100,000 target because, as we say, it is so important that we are able to test both patients, residents, those receiving care and more of the front line care workers across the nhs and social care will stop so you think 100,000 is achievable . That is what we are working towards, what we want to achieve, yes. We are running out of time. I know you only had ten minutes with us, but we wanted to talk about somebody we have featured a lot in the last few days, captain tom moore, who started trying to raise £1000 for the nhs. Through the support of so many viewers and others who are getting on board with his campaign, he has raised over 4. 2 million. Lots of viewers are saying that he should be so tom moore. Should he get a knighthood . That he should be so tom moore. Should he get a knighthood7m that he should be so tom moore. Should he get a knighthood . It is com pletely should he get a knighthood . It is completely brilliant, what he is doing. I cant talk about the honours process. I will be straight with you, im spinning my time focusing on what we can do to make sure we are responding best was to be can to the coronavirus pandemic we are facing. It is truly fantastic what he is doing, it is fantastic to see the support for the nhs and the donations that are coming in. I am encouraging those who are making donations to think about social care as well, and care worker charities, because that is also really important at the moment. We appreciate your time. Thank you. That is the care minister live this morning. We were talking about captain tom raising money for charities, and somebody else really well known is getting on their bike to help raise money as well. Sally, good morning. The World Champion cyclist Geraint Thomas is doing what he does best to support our frontline nhs workers getting on his bike. Hes just started the first of three gruelling 12 hour rides on a stationary machine, to mirror the long shifts put in by doctors, nurses and carers, and hopefully raise £100,000 for them. We can speak to geraint now in cardiff. Good morning. You are peddling already. Hows it going . It is all right at the minute, i have only been going for ten minutes. 11 hours and 50 minutes to go. Tell us, what made you decide to do this . Where did the idea come from . The team are doing their hand sanitiser project where they are supplying hand sanitiser to hospitals in the uk, germany and france was not i am part of the team but didnt have a real active role in that. I wanted to do something myself. Ithought, why active role in that. I wanted to do something myself. I thought, why not do some sort of challenge to try to race a money . Obviously it had to be a challenge, so i thought i would try to mirroran a challenge, so i thought i would try to mirror an nhs workers shift and do three back to back 12 hour stints here my garage. That is how it all came about. How does it compare to writing stages of the Tour De France . In these three days, i will do 36 hours, which is roughly eight or nine stages, really. Obviously the intensity is a lot less, iam obviously the intensity is a lot less, i am just sort of going to get through it. But mentallyjust sat here in my garage for that amount of time would be tough going anyway. Obviously, it is a lot more rigid, it is not like riding on the road. It will be a challenge for sure, but we are raising quite a good bit of money, so it is all good. |j we are raising quite a good bit of money, so it is all good. I believe you have a special reason to be raising money for the nhs. And my right in thinking that your mum worked for many years in the nhs . Yeah, she worked for a hospital in cardiff. She has just yeah, she worked for a hospital in cardiff. She hasjust gone back now, she retired about three times already my best mate, my best man isagp already my best mate, my best man isa gp as already my best mate, my best man is a gp as well. I have heard so many stories about what people are doing and it just many stories about what people are doing and itjust made me really wa nt to doing and itjust made me really want to try and play a tiny part, but try and help out in some small way. You say you are feeling. You on your own, way. You say you are feeling. You on yourown, in way. You say you are feeling. You on your own, in isolation. But people canjoin on your own, in isolation. But people can join you and ride with you. How do they do that . Basically, i will show you. I dont know if you can see that. But basically it is an online game and you can sign up. They have split the day into 62 hour rides, so people canjoin me into our intervals. You sign up, login and you can follow me. People can jump sign up, login and you can follow me. People canjump in, and there almost 2000 people on this ride. |j believe you will make it possible for kids tojoin believe you will make it possible for kids to join as well, is that right . Yeah, i had quite a few pa rents right . Yeah, i had quite a few parents messaging me about their children wanting to join. At parents messaging me about their children wanting tojoin. At 11 30am and 3 30pm, we are doing half in our nice and steady, so anybody can come along and join me. How much do you wa nt to along and join me. How much do you want to raise . What we have raised already as amazing. When you compare to captain tom, it is nothing, but i think we are close to 50,000 already, which is unbelievable. The target was set at 100,000. Its all just going to a great cause anyway, so no matter what it is it is all great. Keep pedalling. I mightjoin you later. Billiard. Brilliant. The start of a 12 hour cycling shift. I will do a deal with you, sally. He looked very comfortable there that he was doing a right old pace. I think he will get a lot who go on their end sake i want to take on a Tour De France champion. It was great to see him there. Weve been talking for the past few weeks about the potential impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on the countrys finances. Now weve had some of the first actual forecasts and the numbers are pretty shocking. Ninas got more on this for us. Yes. It is not surprising in some ways. You might be working from home, stopped working to look after dependents, put your business on a break it doesnt take an economist to work out that yes obviously the economy is going to take a significant hit. But the newspapers today showjust how bad these latest predictions are. The times goes with 2 million could lose theirjobs in the lockdown. The daily mirror says there are dark, dark days ahead. Thats because yesterday we got one scenario of what the next year could look like. The office for budget responsibility an independent group of economists that keeps an eye on government figures said that if the current lockdown style measures go on for three months, our economic output so the combined value of what we make and do would fall by more than a third in the space of three months. They made it clear that this is one scenario which will be affected by how long restrictions remain in place, but overall for this year they predicted the economy so how much everything is worth would shrink by 12. 8 . They are in some ways abstract numbers. Just have a look at this for Historical Context. You can see on the right the predicted drop. The middle marker is recovery from the wall street crash in the 20s you can see there hasnt been a negative impact of this scale since 1709 more than 300 years. When europe was hit by a massive freeze, to see things go so badly, so quickly. The answer we want is how long will this last . Some good news the obr did say that measures the government are in place will help limit long Term Economic damage. The chancellor said we went in to this in a good position, and that measures put in place for example paying 80 of employees salaries so that companies can essentially go in to hibernation, means that the bounce back will be swift and strong this plan he said is the right plan. It can significantly mitigate that impact, in particular the jobs retention scheme we have put in place aims to do exactly that, ensure that your people are unemployed but it attached to their company through the furlough scheme and then as has been said, the reason that is a good thing, when we get through this, we can bounce back as quickly as possible. So a quick bounce back would be good but still painful. The obr sees unemployment peaking at 10 this year so 1 out of 10 adults of working age out of work. Not returning to current levels until the year 2023. Then theres debt. The prediction is that that chancellors Job Retention and loan schemes will increase National Debt to more than 100 of gdp thats like having a 100 mortgage on the entire economy. And that leaves difficult decisions ahead for the government long term in how they pay that money back, more austerity . Higher taxes . More debt . The road to recovery will be long. It is an interesting road ahead of us. How has business reacted . Very few dispute how bad things could get this year, but some are questioning the swift return to the old world. We spoke to a wedding photographer and a brewery owner who questioned how quickly people are going to be spending on big and small events. So many Small Businesses reliant on Consumer Spend are similarly fretful. Overall recovery is heavily reliant on governments rescue policies working but the British Chamber of commerce has warned that so many businesses are struggling to access loans that 59 of their members say they dont have enough cash to keep going for the next three months. So yes the obr scenario is based on ifs and buts so things could be better but the warning from business is that things could be more painful and for longer. It is nine minutes to eight oclock. Being stuck at home because of covid 19 can bring plenty of worries about your health, finances and job. But for dog owners it also poses a more immediate concern who will walk my dog . Well, help is at hand. Not all heroes wear capes, but it turns out that some of them carry pooper scoopers. David sillito reports. I like the way you said that. Dogs are just amazing. They are that rock that often people need. The daily walk has, for many, come to an end, but thankfully help is at hand. Volunteers signing up with a charity that has now become a dog walking service. During the covid 19 crisis, we have redeployed our services to allow volunteers that usually take on lots of different tasks, to help people that are in vulnerable situations. So were really delighted by how people have come out to help in this time of need. Dogs like leo here. Each underdog volunteer is vetted, handovers are done at a safe distance, leads are cleaned and the current understanding is that dogs dont spread the virus. But thats not everything. Because there is no shortage of dogs needing a walk, and there is no shortage of volunteers who want to give them a walk. The issue though. Do you like strawberry . These are strawberry. Its bringing them together. We will be back soon, back soon. That is why the Charity Wants to get the word out, to reach people like stephanie and leo. Ifound myself feeling extremely unwell for about two or three weeks and i thought, gosh, how do i call to take my dog leo for a walk . And i found this Wonderful Charity online. And for me its been an absolute life saver. So we may be limited to just one walk a day, but hundreds of us are keen for a bit of canine company and a chance to help those who cant get out. David sillito, bbc news. Lets speak to Nadine Kayser the founder of underdog, which is organising the volunteers. She joins us from her home in north london along with her two dogs sammie and ivy. What a great idea and how are people responding . They are clearly happy with what you are doing. We have had a note hearing people who want to volunteer and we are getting people who need our help, so we are really happy that we can help people and particularly dogs. Presumably there area particularly dogs. Presumably there are a lot of safety issues, notjust the dogs, your volunteers. How does it work . We have a vetting process so we need to make sure that the people that are supporting, so the volu nteers people that are supporting, so the volunteers which are uk wide, are all vetted by our team. They receive all vetted by our team. They receive a handbook and then they have a 40 minute call where we just check their understanding of the role and responsibilities. Then we take identification in the time of passport, driving licence and we do the same for the people in need, just to make sure that everything is above board. Do they work with other dogs, how does it normally walk what it is alwaysjust a dog or their dogs that come from that person in need. It is important that hygiene and best practice codes are followed. We do not encourage to be like at mass dog walker anything like at mass dog walker anything like that, it is specifically for the dogs that they people in need need walking. Tell us about. Dogs presumably get used to this and we can see some of them are excited when the volunteers arrived. Absolutely, they are building a bond quite quickly because the dogs need exercising. Even though we are encouraging the volunteers not to be. Having physical contact with the dogs, so they should not be kissing and cuddling, all the lovely things we like to do with our dogs, they really just have things we like to do with our dogs, they reallyjust have to take them for what, lots of verbal communication and mental stimulation by walking them, letting them sniff and all the usual things when we ta ke and all the usual things when we take dogs for a walk. Us tell about your two dogs, are they enjoying the strange period we are going . Many dogs are loving having their owners around 100 . We have to make sure that when we transition back to work that when we transition back to work that we do not let them this is too much to stop sammy here is loving it, ivy, ido much to stop sammy here is loving it, ivy, i do not know if you can see her, she is here. I loving having is here all the time. He is. Thank you so much, lovely to speak to you. Our dog is getting a bit fed up, she looked as as yesterday like, not another what customer walk . Tomorrow we will be. Tomorrow well be devoting another 30 minutes of breakfast to our regular hero half hour. Its your chance to say thank you to the nhs workers, posties, bin collectors, supermarket staff, teachers, nursery workers, and anyone else who you feel deserves a mention. Wed love you to send a short video to us via whatsapp the number is on the screen now explaining who youd like to thank and why. You can also use that number if youd like to send a video message to captain tom moore. Who is now at 4. 2 million. Salmon worked out yesterday, there was. I spent most of the day yesterday and refreshing. Time to look at the weather. Heres carol with a look at this mornings weather. That is an amazing total. This picture shows a mist in wigan this morning. Any mist and fog will lift readily now and to day we are looking at sunny spells, warmer later. It has been a cold start to the day for many others and some of us had some frost. We have a weather front moving south across scotland and that is producing more cloud. We have gusty winds and clouds they can offer some patchy light rain or drizzle. For much of eastern and southern scotland, Northern Ireland england and wales, it will be dry with sunshine, albeit hazy with icloud. In the sunshine we could see highs of up to 18 degrees. It is cooler if youre stuck under the cloud. As we head through the evening and overnight, the weather front sink south. Into Northern Ireland and Northern England, patchy rain in it and we see some showers coming up from the near continent, tripping the south west by the end of the night with a risk of patchy mist and fog farming. Not a cold night but these are temperatures in towns and cities. In rural areas it will be lower than that but temperatures will rise tomorrow as we pull in this warmer air. At the same time as i weather front six south, a cooler air falls same time as i weather front six south, a cooler airfalls on behind into the highlands. Here it is here, continuing its descent south. Behind it some brighter skies, variable amounts of cloud, a lot of dry weather through england, wales, Dumfries And Galloway and Northern Ireland. Then we have the showers coming in from the south west and sam could be heavy, there could be a chance as thunder and lightning and temperatures up to 21, 22 degrees. As we move from thursday to friday, and weather fronts still wet as still bringing in some of those showers, submerging to give longer spells of rain and High Pressure in charge means things here will be more settled, more dry weather and sunshine. You can see the plethora of showers coming in, not all of us will catch one and some of those could be heavy and thundery. They could be heavy and thundery. They could be heavy and thundery. They could be welcome because some parts of england and wales have not seen rainfora man. Of england and wales have not seen rain for a man. If you are a farmer or grower, some good news for you. Temperatures on friday, eight in aberdeen, highs of 17 or 18. Into the weekend, for saturday, still a chance of some showers of rain in the south, drier and brighter in the north but mostly dry on sunday. The headlines are next. 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. You dont have time to grieve for one. Then youre losing another one, and another one, and another one. Its horrendous. President trump suspends funding for the World Health Organization, saying its failed in its basic duty during the coronavirus pandemic. 3. 4 million britons out of work. The biggest economic downturn for 300 years. The bleak predictions on the impact of coronavirus on our finances, and the hopes of bouncing back. Frustrated Newcastle United fans will be pleased to hear that mike ashley is on the brink of selling the club. The controversial owner has reportedly agreed a £300 million deal. He honoured his nhs heroes. Now its our chance to salute captain tom moore, as his sponsored walk smashes the £4 million mark. Its wednesday the 15th of april. Our top story all care home residents and staff in england who show symptoms of coronavirus are to be offered a test by the government. It comes after outbreaks were confirmed in more than 2,000 care homes. Providers say 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. Well be there with you. With no family allowed to visit their care home, its care 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. Weve 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. Its also said all new residents discharged from hospital into care homes 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. People talk a lot about the nhs workforce and less about those working in the care sector, but they, too, are at the front line in fighting coronavirus. As our testing numbers are going up, that is an absolute priority, going right to the front of the queue for tests. Deaths in care homes are not included in the official government figures. The latest number 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 byjune, 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 its critical that the government gets the measures right, but mps believe its struggling to get some of them in place. 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. And they are huge challenges, arent they . Lets get the latest from our Political Correspondent nick eardley, whos in westminster. Nick, the government has been under pressure about its plans for the care sector and also for how it intends to exit the lockdown. Lots of questions for them to answer at the moment. Absolutely, it is a huge challenge for government but there are a huge amount of questions. Testing is something we have been speaking about for days. There really is a lot of pressure on the government to ramp up the level, and part of that is going to be this new plan to give more Testing Capacity to care homes, to allow everybody who is leaving hospital to go back to a care home to be tested, and anyone showing symptoms in a ca re and anyone showing symptoms in a care home to be tested. The thing is, and care home to be tested. The thing is, and i suspect many people in the industry will be saying, that is all fine and well but we want to see it happen before we celebrate this as a big win. One of the reasons we hear a lot about testing is that some people think it could be one of the ways eventually to get out of this crisis, to start to develop and exit strategy, to lift some of the restrictions on our daily lives. The labour party is talking about that today, about publishing a strategy today, about publishing a strategy to try and eventually lift the lockdown. Have a listen to keir starmer talking about why he thinks testing is important. Is part of the exit plan is to have mass testing, Community Testing and then tracing, that tells you that you need to ramp up that tells you that you need to ramp up the testing hugely now if you are going to be ready in weeks or months to execute a plan. So the trust of the public is really important here but also planning and i think some of the planning so far has not been where it should be. Keir starmer is asking the government to publish a lot more details today about its exit strategy. I think the government does want to get to that point but it is reluctant to do too much at the moment. A government source said overnight that they think that talking too much now about an exit strategy would potentially confuse the main message which is the one we hear everyday about staying at home and saving lives. Nick, thank you for that. President trump says hell withhold funding for the World Health Organization, claiming it failed in its basic duty when responding to the pandemic. Mr trump accused the organisation of failing to investigate the outbreak in the chinese city of wuhan, where the virus emerged. Our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. The president of the United States. Addressing reporters in the rose garden at the white house, President Trump 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, im instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization, while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organizations role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows whats gone on there. Mr trump said the who have promoted what he called chinas disinformation, leading to a wider outbreak of the virus than 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 should have spurred the who to investigate and investigate immediately. Responding to the president s announcement, the United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres said critics 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 lack of early testing for the virus and for playing down the threat of covid 19. Peter bowes, news, los angeles. Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss a possible timetable for the relaxation of germanys coronavirus restrictions with leaders of the countrys states today. Shell speak to them through video conference. Germany has seen around 3,000 deaths, and a group of the countrys leading scientists has recommended the lockdown should be eased as soon as possible with the phased reopening of schools. Criminals are preying on fears around coronavirus to defraud the most vulnerable members of society. Thats a warning from the National Crime agency. It says scammers are selling uncertified home testing kits for covid 19, which is illegal, and setting up fake charity appeals. Theyre warning us to be on our guard. It is 8am. Ten past eight. One of the most troubling elements of the covid 19 pandemic is the number of deaths happening outside of hospitals, particularly those in care homes, which arent captured in the governments official daily figures. The government has now announced it will test residents and staff that show symptoms, but campaigners say that some of our oldest and most vulnerable citizens have been airbrushed out of the picture. Breakfasts Graham Satchell has been speaking to workers at a care home where 16 residents have died with the virus. These pictures were taken for us by care home staff. It looks normal but what has happened here at oak springs in liverpool is truly awful. I cant tell you how hard it is to lose 16 residents. 16 residents in the space of three weeks is just completely devastating, and you dont have time to grieve the one, that youre losing another one and another one and another one. Its. Its horrendous. Its absolutely heart rendering and horrendous. Staff have been doing absolutely everything they can here to protect their residents but there is a growing anger in the care sector, a feeling that they have been forgotten, from the supply of protective clothing to testing to counting the number of dead. Age uk are saying the current figures are airbrushing older people out, like they dont matter. Do you think thats right . Yes. I think what they are saying is right. We was very much bottom of the list, i feel, when the government was first aware of the coronavirus and the impact it would have on the country. I think care homes and the care sector was very much at the bottom of the list. The government says residents in care homes have not been forgotten, that protective clothing is being delivered, and today they have announced all residents and staff in care homes who need a test will be given one. But is it too late . Weve not been tested at all, nobody in this care home has been tested. And i do feel cross about that because i think we should be tested. If youre not tested, you dont know, do you, whether you are bringing it in. No. Whether you are taking it out . No, you dont. I took time off as a precaution to protect the residents from catching whatever i had. But if you are not tested, you are kind of flying blind, arent you . Yeah, you are, yeah. At one stage, 54 of the 72 staff there were self isolating, including the manager, andrea. This is herfirst day back at work after having the virus herself. When i was looking after my residents, i knew full well that, you know, it wont be long before i will be presenting with symptoms of covid 19. Does it stop me holding that residents hand while they are passing away . No, it doesnt, because that is the nature of the job and what i do, i care for people. You care for people no matter what. We now know more than 2000 care homes in england have an outbreak of the virus. Here, theres no doubt, lives could have been saved if action had been taken earlier. The government should have said, right, ok, were going to lock these care homes down, we are going to protect them. We are going to test the staff, we are going to test the residents. We are going to minimise this risk before it hits them. We are going to protect these people who fought a war for us. We are going to protect these Vulnerable People because, you know what . That is the reason that me and you are here because these people fought for our country. So lets look after them. Yes, you think they were let down . Yeah, ido. I do. I think they were let down by the government. Pretty powerful and hard to watch, that. Were joined now by anita astle, a director of the National Care association. Shes in nottingham. Thank you forjoining us. Just watching that, i wanted to start by asking you, what is it like to work ina care asking you, what is it like to work in a care home at the moment . What kind of impact is it having on people . It is emotionally and physically draining. People are frightened. They are leaving their own families to care for others and. There is also a lack of information. So we dont know what is the right thing to do, what is not the right thing to do. Information is slow in coming out. It is very different information to what we have had in the past. But there again, we have never had a virus where isolation periods have had to be up to 14 days. So we are dealing with something we have never had to deal with before, and the information has been sparse and therefore, we feel ill equipped to be able to respond appropriately. How do you respond this morning to the governments announcement that staff and residents who are showing symptoms of the virus will now be tested . Symptoms of the virus will now be tested . I welcome it. However, the reality is, in my own home, we had four people tested, three tested negative and one tested positive. So how reliable is the test, when everybody was showing the same symptoms . And what about your supply of ppe at the moment . We are speaking to that Health Minister and she is talking about the scale of thejob the government she is talking about the scale of the job the government has at the moment but we are getting so many m essa g es moment but we are getting so many messages from people this morning saying they just messages from people this morning saying theyjust dont have the ppe they need. I think it is extremely difficult to get ppe. We have never needed masks before in the care home sector, and home care as well. So suddenly, we need equipment we have never needed before, in quantities that we have never needed before. Our suppliers have never stopped this equipment and certainly never stocked it in these volumes. Have never stocked this equipment. And then theres the added complication of the cost of it, we are playing the paying vat on the equipment and it is just escalating the cost of being able to care for people and provide them with what they need the right time. Given what you have just said, then, do you have sympathy when you hear that government ministers talking about answering questions about the lack of ppe in the system, because as you understand it, there has never been a demand for personal protective equipment as there is at the moment . Um. I equipment as there is at the moment . Um. Isuppose. Equipment as there is at the moment . Um. I suppose. There hasnt been the demand, but we. In our sector, we have had to have Business Continuity plans, and we have had to have those for all eventualities, for many years. So surely the government had a Business Continuity plan . And if it was not going to be a virus, i am sure there would be Chemical Warfare or something. So the provision of ppe surely was in that plan . And if it wasnt, why wasnt it . So, yes, our sector, that plan . And if it wasnt, why wasnt it . So, yes, oursector, even though we have these Business Continuity plans, we didnt know that we needed the masks. We. Even when government knew, when all of us knew that the virus was coming our way, we were being told, dont stockpile and like idiots. Well, i was an idiot, i listened to that guidance and i shouldnt have. I should have stockpiled and then i wouldnt be in this situation. And just to be clear, that was government guidance not to stockpiled to protect the front line nhs workers at the time, is that right . That is exactly right, yes. Listening to you this morning, anita, it is interesting to see you sort of processing and thinking about what the government has done and is now doing. Just give us an idea, an indication of how much of your brain space is taken up at the moment by concerns about the job that you are trying to do to the best of your ability, concerns about your staff members, and concerns about some of those people who are in the care home as well. |j about some of those people who are in the care home as well. I think every ca re in the care home as well. I think every care provider, be it whether they are in care homes, home care, or even in the nhs, you know, every second, day and night, we are thinking about, are we doing enough . What else can we do . Where do we source equipment . How do we support our staff . How do we support the loved ones of those that we are caring for . Are we doing enough for those in our care . What more can we do . And the other thing, we dont know how long this is going to go on for. So how do we pace ourselves so that we get to the finish line . It is draining. Its. If we allowed it to break us, um, we are hurting emotionally, because every person that either gets the virus or dies from the virus is a personal loss. You know, sometimes people talk about older people as if they are dispensable. They are not. They are a person, a mother, father, brother, sister, auntie, uncle, a grandma, a grandad. And they are loved for who they are. And when you recognise that, the loss isjust they are. And when you recognise that, the loss is just tremendous. It is really powerful and honest insight, and neater. Just one more question, if i could, i dont know if you saw the report beforehand but the bit that was so heartbreaking was to see somebody working in a ca re was to see somebody working in a care home reading a letterfrom a Family Member saying goodbye to their relative who was in the bed because they werent able to see them face to face. That must have such an emotional impact on everyone involved. Yes, it does. Um. We tried to get their families and if we can. We try to use skype. We are printing off pictures. I mean, staff are going to immense measures to do what they are doing, and lets not forget, you know, recently, we have had in the media about people being low skilled working in our sector, they are anything but low skilled. They are amazing individuals that are giving their all. They are highly skilled. They are low paid. We should be appalled about that. Myself as a care provider, im appalled that i cant pay my staff more. They are great people and as i say, they are leaving their own families to care for others. We cant underestimate what that takes. Anita, we really appreciate your time this morning and thank you for thejob time this morning and thank you for the job that you and others are doing. Thank you. Lets pick up on that thought about people leaving their own families. Senior care assistants katie wright and kirsty scott decided to move into the bridgedale care home in sheffield to continue looking after the residents while minimising the risk of spreading covid 19. We can say hello to them now. Good morning, how are you doing . Good morning, how are you doing . Good morning we are very well, thank you, how are you. Im good, thank you, how are you. Im good, thank you, how are you. Im good, thank you very much for asking, i feel i should be asking you. We have talked to you on breakfast before but when you made the decision, it is an incredible decision to move into the care home. Why did you want to do that . I thought long and hard about it but at the end of the day, the risk was too high. I was travelling to and from work. The numbers in sheffield were rising and it was much safer for my family at home and my family here as well, so ididnt home and my family here as well, so i didnt bring anything in or take anything. And how was it for you, katie . Exactly the same as kirsty, i we nt katie . Exactly the same as kirsty, i went home and spoke to my partner and my daughter and we both said it would be safer for us all for me to stay at work and take care of the residents and make sure that we keep the virus away from home and also away from here. And it seems that it is working because you have not had a case there, have you . No. That is absolutely brilliant. How much, this isa absolutely brilliant. How much, this is a silly question but how much are you missing your family . Oh, terribly. But im doing it for the right reasons. We are on the fourth week now. So far, we have set out what we achieved to do, keeping the virus away from the residents that we are looking after. It is hard being away from the family but we are doing it because we care and because of the right reasons. And you have got two children at home, havent you . How are they doing . They are doing great, my kids are pretty resilient and im very proud of how they are dealing with all of this and me being away from home as well. It cant be easy on them but they are so good. I ring them up everyday and it is lovely to see the faces divide why dont you give them away . Are they watching this hello they are probably asleep. You are probably right. Briefly, we know they will hopefully be able to have testing, how much difference will that make . Will it mean you can go home, for example . It would make such a massive difference. Testing in the care sector is needed. Theres a lot of people who dont have symptoms who could be carrying it. So i think everybody across the ca re it. So i think everybody across the care sector should be tested. And when you go home, what is the first thing you want to do . Hold my kids well, i know you cant do that right now so lets send them a virtual hug and you are absolutely incredible for doing what you have chosen to do. Thank you very much on behalf of everybody and who you are working with particularly as well. Thank you both, goodbye goodbye if you wa nted both, goodbye goodbye if you wanted two people to in spite of get out there and do the clap for carers this week. We should go and clap them now. There are some amazing people doing incredible work out there. It isjust. It is people doing incredible work out there. It isjust. It is very emotional, isnt it . Yes. We will get the weather in a couple of minutes but first, i have been trying to celebrate the signs of spring and thank you so much to the weather watchers, who has been taking pictures of the breaking government guidelines for going outside for too long or too far from home but here are the pictures they have sent in. Taking pictures without breaking the government guidelines. And this shot of Melton Mowbray was sent in by pete. Sue from ryhill took this. This is the basingstoke blossom. And david in stourbridge sent this. I put one on my social media of a pink tree and a white tree right next to each other which ijust adore. We are talking about that. Theres a app, we are talking about one that you can tell which trees are in yourgarden, one that you can tell which trees are in your garden, why Cherry Blossom is important and those kind of thing. My fatherinlaw loves to compare the weather over the years, a p pa re ntly compare the weather over the years, apparently not this bank of the day weekend but the weekend before last, it was snowing last year. Was it . Carroll would know all about that, and shes got blossom and one of our favourite things, a dog in the picture. Good morning. You can get snow even in june picture. Good morning. You can get snow even injune in some of the hills but hopefully not this year. A cute little dog, this is from stourbridge, sent in by anna, lovely blossom and blue sky. The forecast todayis blossom and blue sky. The forecast today is dry and sunny spells. I say all of us, but most of us will probably be a better turn of phrase because we have a weather front crossing the north of scotland, introducing a bit more cloud and also some patchy light rain and drizzle. High pressure firmly in charge of the weather elsewhere. It has been a cold start for some with even a touch of frost. For england, wales and Northern Ireland, southern and eastern scotland, some sunshine, albeit hazy, with high cloud as we go through the day. This afternoon, a bit ofa go through the day. This afternoon, a bit of a breeze across the western side of the English Channel. You will notice that in the Channel Islands. Temperatures getting up to 18 degrees. Pollen levels in england and wales today high, it is tree pollen but for Northern Ireland and scotland, moderate or low and we hang onto that cloud as we go through the afternoon. Into the evening and overnight, the cloud stays with us. Temperatures raining from nine in lowick to highs of 18 in london and cardiff. Ranging from. This evening, the weather front from. This evening, the weather fro nt m oves from. This evening, the weather front moves slowly southwards, taking its cloud and patchy rain and drizzle eventually into Northern England. And also Northern Ireland. At the same time, we start to see some showers coming up towards the south west. We could also see some patchy mist and fog forming across southern counties tonight. We have got lows in southern england, and locally, we could see a touch of frost there, temperatures indicating what you can expect in towns and cities. Tomorrow we start off on a bright note across england and wales, much of Northern Ireland, but dont forget, cloud coming in from the north of Northern Ireland, crossing scotland into Northern England. Through the day, we will see a few more showers developed, coming in from the south west. They are showers, hit and missed, two or three of them could be sharp and may be the odd rumble of thunder. Temperatures tomorrow, up to 21 or 22, but cooler as we push up towards aberdeen, where it is only going to be ten. On friday, still showers with us, coming up from the near continent again come across the Channel Islands, the English Channel, southern parts of england and wales and some of those could prove to be heavy and thundery. Parts of england and wales have not had any rain for a month. This could be welcome news if you are a farmer ora be welcome news if you are a farmer or a growler. As we move further north, we are into drier conditions and that is because we are closer to and that is because we are closer to an area of a High Pressure which is anchored just off the coast of scandinavia. Temperature wise, all of us coming down, looking at about seven in lowick and highs of about 17 in the south. On saturday, it looks like we have more rain coming in across the Channel Islands, the English Channel and southern counties. Moving northwards, again, not quite sure at this stage how far north it is going to get. Ahead of it, some showers and a bit more cloud across Northern England and wales. Northern ireland scotland once again seeing the lions share of the sunshine. Temperatures eight to about 16 degrees. Thank you for that and lovely to hear from you this morning. Thank you for that and lovely to hearfrom you this morning. A bit of necessary rain on the way. Hearfrom you this morning. A bit of necessary rain on the waylj hearfrom you this morning. A bit of necessary rain on the way. I lost my. White mike rozier telling us she lost her sound but because she is super clever and she cant hear me now, she timed the weather to perfection without even knowing. We we re perfection without even knowing. We were just telling you how brilliant you were thank you i know that feeling, that is my excuse, losing sound. You are watching breakfast with dan and louise. Youre watching breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. Heres a summary of todays main news stories all care home residents and staff in england who show symptoms of coronavirus are to be offered a test by the government. It comes after outbreaks were confirmed in more than 2,000 care homes. Providers say more testing is vital to control the spread of the virus and to enable staff who are self isolating President Trump says hell withhold funding for the World Health Organisation, claiming it failed in its basic duty when responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr trump accused the organisation of failing to investigate the outbreak in the chinese city of wuhan, where the virus emerged. Un secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said now was not the time to reduce the organisations resources. Coronavirus has already closed shops and businesses up and down the country for several weeks. Now weve had the first forecasts of the impact that could have on the whole economy. Ninas looking at this for us. Yes, bleak forecast indeed. These are bleak predictions indeed. The office for budget responsibility a group of independent economists predicts an almost 13 shrink in the size of our economy the value of what we make and do by the end of the year. Have a look at the Historical Context of that. On the right the obrs prediction for 2020 that middle circle the dip of the Great Depression doesnt come close in fact you have to go back 300 years to 1706 when all of europe was hit by a catastrophic freeze to see things going so badly so quickly. In terms of the impact on our daily lives that could mean peak of unemployment at 10 . And potentially years of more austerity, higher taxes. The obr did say the chancellors measures for example paying 80 of the salaries of workers will put us in a good position for a swift and strong bounce back. The obr agreed the measures could help, but the British Chamber of commerce has this morning warned that businesses are struggling to access loans and 59 of their members say they dont have enough cash to keep going for the next three months. One separate bit of news which might be wrlcome for businesses working in construction this morning the government has given hs2 permission to move in to its next phase so they can begin hiring subcontractors which they say will create 400,000 jobs across the supply chain. Sally is here with news of a potential new owner for Newcastle United. Yes, potential news. Newcastle united fans wanting to see the back of owner mike ashley may well soon get their wish. He has reportedly agreed a deal to sell the club for £300 Million Pounds to a consortium of saudi investors, led by the english businesswoman amanda staveley. She previously tried to buy newcastle in 2017 at the time ashley described her as a time waster but shes come back with a new deal. I can tell you the premier league has also been informed and are understood to have begun the process of carrying out checks under its owners and directors test. So there is progress. So what will the fans have to say about this . Long suffering Newcastle Supporters will probably think they have been here before and they are a bit weary and wary with what is going on at newcastle with mike ashley. They are probably a bit disappointed with the way the club has been handling the coronavirus pandemic. The club has charged fans for next seasons season tickets. They also have placed their nonplaying staff on furlough, so sale would be welcomed by many fans but i can also understand why they are not celebrating it just yet, understand why they are not celebrating itjust yet, because we have been here before and we know from people involved in the negotiations that any sale is incredibly complex. Also mike ashley previously valued the business at around 340 350,000,000, and we believe the current value is lower, around £300 million, so their way be may be some way to go. Interesting. Sally, thank you very much. Good morning. If you havejust joined then you are watching brea kfast joined then you are watching breakfast on the bbc. 35 minutes past eight. Weve heard a lot today about the number of coronavirus deaths across the uk. But there are fears the pandemic is also affecting patients with other conditions. Katie horne died last week, aged just 21, of liverfailure. Her family believe she was an indirect victim of coronavirus, as it stopped her going on a transplant list which could have saved her life. Katies sister emma joins us now from sussex. Emma, thank you very much for being with us this morning on what i am sure is a very difficult time for you and your family. Your sister first went into hospital back in february. Tell us a little about what was happening at the time. She first started to show signs of jaundice with yellow eyes and yellow skin so we took her to a e where we had to keep taking her back for regular blood tests until she was admitted on the 11th of march. Kings College Hospital then got involved and they wanted her transferred there on the 24th of march as they were worried about the condition of her leather, and they then diagnosed her with autoimmune hepatitis, which destroyed her liver because she didnt respond to the steroid treatment they were worried about the condition of her liver. What conversations where you then having with medical staff . When she was. Well, you feel the coronavirus had a big impact on her potentially getting that transplant . She needed an emergency transplant to survive but because she then contracted coronavirus she wasnt able to go on the transplant risk until she was clear. But the thing is you need your liver to fight viruses and infections but they d macs was too damaged to do so, so we ran out of time. Tell us a bit about your sister. What was she like, she was studying child care . Yes, she was doing a Foundation Degree in early years child education. She loved herjob working with children in a nursery. We have received so many messages from pa rents of received so many messages from parents of children she looked after saying how theyd come home, singing the silly song she had taught them. You know, she was so popular and so many people loved her. She isjust going to be missed by so many people. I know it is in an incredibly difficult time for you and the rest of the family as well. She sadlyjust passed away over the weekend, didnt she . I know it is important to you you are not here this morning to criticise any of the ca re this morning to criticise any of the care she received. You think she received excellent care while she was there . Yes, that i see you department at kings College Hospital, we cant fault them or thank them enough. They went above and beyond, even in the last days of her life. The icu at kings college. The treatment they were giving her was second to none. College. The treatment they were giving her was second to nonelj suppose the story of your sister and her sad loss, it highlights once again, do you think the fact that that government guidance about staying at home and trying to protect the nhs, it is so important . Yes, people need to stay at home. I think people might. I know they mightfind it think people might. I know they might find it hard now, but once you have lost a loved one, we are struggling trying to arrange the funeral, we can only have certain numbers of people, we are not able to see the rest of their family for support. The nhs are risking their lives but the coronavirus isntjust directly killing people now. There are people out there with illnesses that have had, you know, been impacted by coronavirus because they are not getting the treatment they need. And how are you doing, emma, and how is the family doing . At the moment it is still so raw. It is hard. We arejust moment it is still so raw. It is hard. We are just taking every day as it comes, but it feels like a day isa as it comes, but it feels like a day is a week. It is just unbearable at the moment. Well, thank you for coming on this morning. Great to talk to your bbc breakfast. Thanks for sharing a little about what katie was like an about how you and the rest of the family will miss her. Thanks, emma. Thank you. We know the vast majority of covid 19 victims are elderly, we know it can also kill very young children. So when Amelia Woodger tested positive for the virus atjust five months old and spent three days in hospital, her parents were understandably worried. Thankfully shes now on the mend at home in suffolk. We can speak to her mum emily now. With the very gorgeous amelia gosh, emily, you have been through it, havent you . She is clearly much better now but tell us what happened when she first got l. We went for a walk on saturday morning, the fourth, and she was very sleepy, not like her because she is normally quite a lot. We came home and i took her temperature and it was really high, sol her temperature and it was really high, so i called 111, and they said, dont worry, possibly the start of chickenpox and if you get consent call back in the evening. By the evening she was freezing cold and sweating so we called again and ended up in a e and that is where it began. You must have been really worried about her, because it is worrying when temperatures are high, though, and obviously she cant tell you what is going on . It was horrible. You know she is not well but you dont know what it is and obviously she cant tell us. But you dont know what it is and obviously she cant tell uslj but you dont know what it is and obviously she cant tell us. I love her so you went into a e, and when did you know it actually might be coronavirus . We were on the ward and they did some tests and said it could take up to three days to come back so we had to wait three days. I knew it was coronavirus before the doctor walked in, knew it was coronavirus before the doctorwalked in, because knew it was coronavirus before the doctor walked in, because he started wearing all his gear and the told me they would wear that if it was coronavirus. He said, ive got something to tell you, and i said i already know what you are going to tell me. Could you still stay with her in hospital even though she had coronavirus . Yes, i got to stay with her for the whole three days but we werent allowed to see anybody else so it wasjust me and her. Presumably in an isolation room . Yes, room with a bed for me and her. Gosh. Could you contact family while going through that . Yes, thank goodness for facetime, or i would have been a right mess. Clearly she isa have been a right mess. Clearly she is a very active little thing, isnt she . And its not long since they started. She fine now . She is absolutely fine now. She has a bit ofa absolutely fine now. She has a bit of a cough but she has had that on and off since christmas, so we didnt even think that was a sign. She had had a cold the week before but i guess she has had that on and off since christmas so we just dismissed it was coronavirus, we just thought it was a regular cold. How is everybody else . Have you had symptoms . Do you know if you have had it . I had symptoms while in hospital, ive had a really bad cough and weve just felt really rubbish. The doctor said you probably do have coronavirus but they wouldnt test unless i needed treatment, which i didnt. Presumably, that means you now have to isolate your whole family for quite a bit . Yes, we are on day eight. We have another week to go, nearly. What is your message to other mums and dads . We talk continually on breakfast, if youre worried about your baby you must still call the gp or 111 at least. Mothers know their babies so well, sojust go with mothers know their babies so well, so just go with your instinct, that if you know something is wrong just call them if you know something is wrong just callthem up, and if you know something is wrong just call them up, and just stay at home because it is not worth going out and seeing your baby ill because you dont ever think it is going to be them. It is absolutely lovely to see her. I think you will have a busy few weeks and months with amelia, what a gorgeous little girl so cute thank you. Goodbye laughter what a little beauty she is isnt she cute . I havent had little children for ages but you forget just how busy they are, constantly. You need about four my arms, dont you . Laughter 0k. Just a few minutes after breakfast came off air yesterday, we saw that captain tom moores fundraising tally had passed the massive one Million Pound mark. Dont say anything, but we thought he might hit the £2,000,000 mac during the day. Well, he did, and then some more. He has now raised. Over £4 million. As i woke up this morning, i thought, over £4 million. As i woke up this morning, ithought, do over £4 million. As i woke up this morning, i thought, do you think it will get 5 million . I i think so. When i told you it was 1. 5 million, you thought, no way, but it has just accelerated. As you might expect, messages of support and thanks for the 99 year old have been flooding in. Some superstars as well. Dame kelly holmes tweeted, tom, you are our hero happy 100th birthday, we salute you sir. The actor luke evans gave his reaction saying tom you are a hero many times over. Singer michael ball tweeted thank you for being such an important focal point when we all needed it. Radio 2 dj zoe ball wrote incredible work by dear tom moore. And the golferjustin rose described toms achievement as absolutely brilliant it is brilliant. Joining us now is eight year old reegan, who wants everyone to thank tom by sending him a card for his 100th birthday at the end of the month. Shes with her mum lisa. Were also joined by toms local postmaster bill chandi, who is bracing himself for a deluge of extra mail. First of all, reegan, thanks so much for joining. First of all, reegan, thanks so much forjoining. When were you inspired by tom, when you wanted to start these birthday cards . My mum was going through twitter, then suddenly i saw 100 year old tom and i said, i never saw 100 year old before, didnti never saw 100 year old before, didnt i say that you . Then i had an idea, why didnt we make a card . Then my mum got all my friends involved, and suddenly it got viral on the intranet, then people we didnt even know started doing it. And we have goals as well. If we get to 1500, that is our goal of how many cards to give. How many have you got so far . Do you know . Nearly 200. Wow. Somebody has to look after these. Have you thought about that . There is a way you can do it. If you are in isolation, which most of us are, you can post them on any social media with the hashtag make tom a card. It is that it . Yeah. You know exactly whats going on, reegan. I think when you grow up you could probably be a postmaster like bill, looking after all these cards turning up for looking after all these cards turning upfor captain looking after all these cards turning up for captain tom. What are you expecting in the next few days, bill, in the build up to his birthday . Good morning to you guys, first. Hopefully we will have a lot of mail. At the post office we have a very dedicated team of post persons a very dedicated team of post persons and obviously a very dedicated team of post persons and obviously they will see to it all for captain tom. Sir tom. You might be sir tom eventually, but only captain tom at the moment but you can call him sir tom if you like. What is he like . I know that you know him in the family quite well . Yes, i have known them all 50 years now and he has been an inspiration and a role model for everybody inspiration and a role model for everybody 15 inspiration and a role model for everybody 15 years. The old saying goes, they dont make models like tom any more. If you have you seen him outdoing his lapse . We know he is going to try to do 100. His know he is going to try to do 100. His laps. Know he is going to try to do 100. His laps. I have seen him on youtube, but havent seen him re ce ntly youtube, but havent seen him recently because social distancing is very important for tom at his age at the moment. The chances are he has raised nearly. £4. 6 million. And the chances are he will get thousands of cards. How are you going to cope with them all . Well, we are lucky in our village. We have a post office, and we are kitted out. We have the right people behind the depot. If you see the postmark of port talbot you know most of those have come from reegans campaign. I wanted to ask you as well, lisa, have you had any response from the family themselves . Do they know you are doing all this . Yes. We have been in touch with the family direct, by e mail, and we askedif family direct, by e mail, and we asked if reegan and her friends could make a video with all the virtual cards that we will play on his birthday, and he actually tweeted reegan yesterday saying she was one of his first supporters, so that made us very proud and happy and, yeah, they really are supportive. They sent the message out again this morning to thank reegan, and we just hope everyone big and small can get involved and make tom a card. What has been really clear about all of this, lisa, theres Something Special about him and what hes doing and the connection with the nhs that has really sort of touch the hearts of so many people. Yes,. London, wales, all around the so many people. Yes,. London, wales, allaround the uk, we made a video for the nhs to say thank you, and thats when we found tom as well. Fight yes, he shared the video, and i think it has brought the whole uk together, really, as one, he has. And yes. Allthe children reaching out, make a card tom, and hopefully he will see thousand. I dont imagine for a moment that you and reegan are bored during this time. You have such an active imagination what else are you up to during this time, not at school etc . I play outside in my garden. There is this app called zoom and me and my friends are doing a virtual dance class, which is fun. We also do my acting class, so thats on as well. You get all your friends together once a day and they all take it in turns to exercise together. Michael on monday, fun. It is your go on monday . You are a mini motivator. I love you. Should oh, it is your go on monday . Is it just you should oh, it is your go on monday . Is itjust you looking after these cards, bill . You will need some extra staff to prepare yourself for the inundation . No, obviously. We have a good Staff Network behind us and they will do a fantasticjob. We have been here 32 years now in the village of marston moretaine, and we are looking forward to it. It is something we never expected, and it isa something we never expected, and it is a privilege to have such a fantastic person in the village. Is a privilege to have such a fantastic person in the villagem is lovely to talk to you, bill, and lisa and reegan as well, all the best with your campaign, and im sure we will keep up to date with how it is going. Enjoy your acting, singing and dancing. Oh, yes. Can i ask, do we clap further nhs at five past eight. And we want eve ryo ne five past eight. And we want everyone to clap and sing happy birthday to tom. Fight back we want the nation to sing happy birthday to tom on april 30 at five past eight in the evening, ok tom on april 30 at five past eight in the evening, ok ok, you want the nation. Thank you, brilliant, we need people like this. Thanks for that, big wave. And if you want to send a card to cap my captain tom, you know, im kind of wide about where they will put them but i know they will be so delighted to get them. You can use the address via them. You can use the address via the post office there, all going to the post office there, all going to the post office, not directly to his house. And it is all in our social media as well. Yes, we will put it out. And you canjoin reegan on april the 30th in wishing tom a happy birthday. I want in on that is in class i want in on that zoom class. There are plenty of people helping us to keep fit and active during self isolation, and weve enjoyed featuring a few of them here on breakfast. But the queen of the home work out is diana moran, better known as the green goddess. Here she is with another routine. Good morning, everybody well, were going to think about those legs again today, but in particular because we are sitting around so much, ways to avoid dvt deep vein thrombosis. So even while we are sitting down we can move and get the circulation going. So here we go, very simple this morning. Start with a march. Thats it. Use those feet. Hold onto there, if you really want to. Then add the arms. Come on, pump away, and get the circulation going very, very simple exercises this morning. This warms us up, improves the circulation, makes the heart and lung more efficient. Lowering the risk of dvt, while we are sitting round without doing too much activity. Now lets get the blood flowing in our legs with what i call rock and roll. Literally bring the toes up, now heels and toes. Heels, toes, heels. Youll feel the pumping movement going on in the back of your legs. Simple little movements. The 20 of those. Do 20 of those. And then just put one leg out and literallyjust circle around. Thats it. Very, very simple, these, this morning. Then anticlockwise. Good. And 20 of those point the other toe. Thats it. Anticlockwise. And then clockwise. Thats really simple, isnt it . Thenjust bring one knee up, bring it up, hug it, and lift and lower. I call this flip flap. Flip flap, flap flap. And, once again, you can feel those muscles going and helping the circulation in your legs. And this is lowering the risk of dvt while youre sitting around without too much activity. Just remember, keep fit and carry on fightback one of the things ive been enjoying about that is also looking at diana morans garden as well. We have all been having to look at nature in a different way at the moment. Lets speak now to andy beer, from the National Trust, and ruth hyde, from the woodland trust, to find out more. Weve been talking about blossom on the programme, and you have a blossom whats going on . Yes, it is the National Trust birthday and we thought we would invite people to celebrate by taking part in simple things, and in the last couple of weeks we have been inviting people to share pictures of blossom, taking delight in the simple beauty around them. We hope it has been good for peoples well being and we have had an incredible response. Ruth, the important thing, i suppose it is important thing, i suppose it is important to joy what is around us in nature while sticking to the government guidelines . Absolutely. There are things you can even do in your garden. I think it is really important to notice what isjust on your doorstep. Street trees, even when you mow the lawn. All the things around you, you become so much more aware of that now. I think the chances of going out are a little more minimal, so instead people are looking at what is on the doorstep, what can i do here . Lots of people love to go and look at the bluebells at this time of year. What can we do if we cant get out to see them . There are actually loads of images. We have amazing images on our website of bluebells so if youre really desperate to look at them, have a look on the website. But alsojust look them, have a look on the website. But also just look at the other wild flowers coming out at the moment. Actually, bluebells are quite sensitive so maybe this will give them a little bit of a rest. They are very slow growing, they get trampled on a lot because people are so excited when they see them, so maybe this isjust so excited when they see them, so maybe this is just a so excited when they see them, so maybe this isjust a chance for them to have a little rest for once. Talking about bluebells, you mentioned blossom, andy, and we have been getting quite a lot of our viewers are sending in pictures of their blossoms in various trees this morning. Why is that so important this time of year . It is hugely important for all the early insects coming out and of course the blossom later in the year turns into fantastic fruit, much of it, or hedgerow fruits, really important for birds and also fantastic for us to eat and enjoy. We get very inspired by the japanese tradition where they make a real fuss of Cherry Blossom and take delight in it every year, and this year we are seeing the same thing in this country and i think it is wonderful for us tojust country and i think it is wonderful for us to just take a delight in simple things, as well as appreciating what they bring to wildlife around us. Just really briefly, ruth as well, i dont know which of you has that amazing song bird we can hear singing, absolutely wonderful, and are you noticing because we are not on the roads, not so many aeroplanes, a difference in nature . I definitely am. Im sure it is my songbird here. Laughter going for walks in the evening, sometimes, you know, it is so loud, andl sometimes, you know, it is so loud, and i never noticed it before. There is something really positive about that. I think i will miss it when the cars come back again, but we can really get close to nature at this point in time. I think when you have it around you all the time you dont notice it, and now with people in lockdown there is so much more around, and they really want. Thank you so much. Ruth hyde, andy beer, and i dont know whose bird it was. Andy laughed. Ithink beer, and i dont know whose bird it was. Andy laughed. I think it probably was ruths songbird. Thanks for watching and thanks for all of your comments and questions as well. Yes, tomorrow we will bring you of course coverage of captain tom moore completing his garden walk challenge. Go on, tom, have a great day. Goodbye. Hi, good morning. Its wednesday, Victoria Derbyshire with you until 11. Welcome to bbc news. Here are the headlines. All care home residents and staff who have coronavirus symptoms will now be tested, as the government tries to tackle the rising number of infections and deaths in care homes. We have been working really hard to do whatever we can to protect those receiving care from this truly awful, horrible illness. Labour leader sir keir starmer urges the government to show the public there is a plan and publish its strategy for ending the coronavirus lockdown. We do need to take the public with us. We need the public to comply, and therefore they need to know that the government has a strategy for what comes next, and they need to know the governments planning for that