The number of people known to have died from the coronavirus Global Pandemic is now more than 150,000, according to the latest figures collated byjohns Hopkins University in the united states. 37,000 have died in the us itself. Italy, spain, france and the uk make up half of the worldwide toll. The World Health Organization has cast doubt on the usefulness of antibody tests for covid 19 which many countries had hoped to use to determine if people have developed immunity to the virus. Who officials in geneva said there was no evidence that having had the virus would guarantee immunity. 847 people have died in british hospitals in the past 2a hours. It brings the total number of deaths tojust over 1a,500. The uk government is setting up a new task force to back the development of a vaccine, but itll be many months before one is available. The demand for help from foodbanks has soared in some areas as a result of the pandemic with many people suddenly finding they have no income. In west london a hall at the 0lympia Exhibition Centre has been turned into a food parcelling centre. 0ur social Affairs CorrespondentMichael Buchanan reports. Each box in this makeshift production line represents a family in need. The hall today should have been showcasing country houses to wealthy londoners. Instead, an army of volunteers are supporting the citys poorest residents. 0lympia has donated the area to the local council, hammersmith and fulham, and the food bank to meet soaring demand. Its quadrupled over the last couple of weeks. So, an average week would be giving out about 110 parcels, feeding or benefiting about 250 people each week. Were now doing pretty much those numbers in a day. A small survey by the independent Food Aid Network suggests demand
for help has risen hugely, by almost 60 between february and march. Food banks say many of their new clients are the formerly self employed and the newly unemployed. Jeremy symons says he lost his job in the property sector as a consequence of the pandemic, and has turned to the food bank for short term help. Have you got any coffee here . Coffee . Yes, we do. Its a completely different way of life at the moment. No, i mean, you know, you work all your life and then something happens and you have to make drastic changes. At this food bank, theyve seen a 300 increase in demand. Here, families who need help to feed children, who would ordinarily be in school, are a key group needing help. Some may have been on free school meals, but theres an issue with the voucher system not working. Its limited where you can redeem them. Both the food banks and their new clients hope
and expect this surge will decline when the lockdown ends. The trouble, of course, is that no one knows when that will be. Michael buchanan, bbc news. Now on bbc news in the second part of a travel show specialfrom ethiopia, tony giles, a blind and almost deaf backpacker, visits the cradle of christian orthodox christianity in africa. My name is tony giles and im totally blind and severely deaf in both ears. Now were moving. I can feel the wind in my hair. Ive spent the last 21 years travelling. Ive visited over 120 countries. Every continent in the world, including antarctica. My mission is to visit every country in the world. I started off in december planning this recent trip and i decided to start in egypt because its
at the top of africa and work my way through several countries to get to ethiopia. 0k, ive got some fish. So im now feeding the birds. 0h its my passion, its what i do, it is what makes me happy. Its the biggest challenge i can get. I just want to be normal. Ive got to be strong all the time. Its the only way i can travel. The only way i can cope. Ive explored quite a bit of addis and i think its time to move on and explore a bit more of this wonderful, fascinating country that is ethiopia. I really want to try to get to the rift valley and try and visit some of the lakes, a bit more of the nature and natural ambience. Really get off the beaten track. Were going to the village and the lake. Its roughly two or three hours south of addis ababa. Its one of the fresh rift valley la kes. Apparently it has lots of birdlife and hippopotami. This way . Thank you. Whats your name . My name is arlo. Hi. My names tony. Im from england. Yeah. I can hear something. A tractor . A helicopter . A motorbike. Motorbike, yeah. Motorbike. The lake is in this direction . Yeah. The biggest problem for me is ive got no direction because its just an open field, theres nothing to follow. And the wind is giving me problems. Were trying to follow the sound of the cow but the wind is taking away from my hearing aids. This is one of the biggest problems for me when im travelling is the wind. Because if i cant follow something on the ground, ive got to try to follow sounds like traffic or other noises. Ive got the cows tail there he goes. I managed to grab his tail, but it decided to run off and drag me with it. So that was fun. I hear there are some local kids around, giving fish to the marabou stork. Ive got some fish, so im now im feeding the birds. Ohh one of the main reasons i come travelling is to get off the beaten
track, get away from the tourist crowd, and this lake is idealfor me because its peaceful, away from tourists, just locals, very natural. Its perfect. From some of the research id done about Haile Selassie and ethiopia and hearing a bit about the rastafarian culture, its the idea that Haile Selassie had designated a bit of land, so that former african slaves, descendants could come back to africa. That sounded interesting, so i thought id head to a town called shashamane, where its home to a rastafarian culture. Lots of people out, this feels very lively, very rural, traditional. I like it. Hello, salaam the driver and i are now looking for my accommodation, a rastafarian run lodge. Alex, i am alex. I am the owner of the place. Hello. Welcome come in. Wow, youre tall. Like a lot of western european tourists who think a rastafarian culture, lifestyle, i have my sort of stereotypical idea of dreadlocks and just laying about, listening to reggae all day. I do realise it was probably not all like that. But i still had some. When i got there, i met alex and his wife, and very quickly,
they changed that whole perception that i had. Welcome to our house, of ancient ethiopian people. Thank you. Wow. I became a rasta man as a teenager, you know, when i saw bob, bob marley, in france, i was so amazed. You know . By his performance on stage. Sure. He touched me, and changed my life. Touched you inside, in the heart . Yeah. I discovered who i was, you know . He gave me a sense of dignity. Whats a real rasta man . A real rasta man is a faithful servant of the almighty, jah. Jah, 0k. Someone who tries his best to live a righteous life. Jah is god, yeah . To love his next. His neighbour . To fulfil the will of god on earth. So, its not about smoking ganja and listening to bob marley . No, no. We are not a smoker, to tell you the truth. Its not all rasta will smoke ganja. You have rasta who dont smoke. Singing one of my biggest loves is music. Ive always loved music because i can connect with it. I dont need to see, i dont need to hear with music. I can connect with the rhythm. Musics beautiful because it crosses all boundaries. It doesnt matter what skin colour, what disability. It doesnt matter. I said, i play drums. He said, i play drums. He started playing and i started following. We just sat there, the two of us, drumming, jamming. No woman, no cry. Sharing energy and positive vibes and connecting. A really beautiful moment. Wooo ahh, that was awesome, amazing do you still feel excluded at times . We have no rights. Were not ethiopian citizens. Were foreigners. But we decided to live permanently and forever in ethiopia. But we dont really get reconditioned after so many years. We just got, the other day, a card to stay legally, you know, forfive years. A lot of conditions. Dont. Its not so easy to live as rasta people in ethiopia. So youre still considered as foreigners . Yeah. We are now in a bajaj,
a local tricycle. You have a Favourite Football Team . I like liverpool. Mo salah. Mo salah yeah cool are you 0k . My mum is pretty special. Very special, amazing. She is the most important person in my life. She supports my travels. She encourages me, she helps me with my maps, she helps me research. I can do most things on the internet with a speech software. The one thing i cant do is book flights. The websites are impossible for all air companies. So she books flights for me. Shes my rock that i stand on. Shes the reason i can do this. Without her, i would be nothing. We havejust landed in lalibela, one of the major cities tourist cities in the north of the dob. I knew that when i came to ethiopia that one of the places i had to visit was lalibela. Rock churches, you know what these mean to the people. I thought, ijust had to come here. When i landed in lalibela airport
it was a bit confusing. Normally i have the assistance, to take me through the airport. A guy who works there took me through the airport outside, handed me onto another guide. At first i thought he was a couch surfer. I started walking with him, he wasnt saying much. I started to get a little bit concerned. A couch surfer, yeah . And i started asking questions, like, are you my couch surfer . He took me to the bus and he said, get on. I take your luggage. Yeah, thats fine. I was going to ask the bus driver to call the number i had. And then abedi showed up. 0k, welcome, tony. Nice to see you, yes. It all got sort of cleared up. So it was a bit concerning. Almost kidnapped, not quite. Would have been a better story if i had been. We are almost near lalibela. Just minutes to arrive at my home. Its all rocky, really rocky. I like this, this is great. Really steep. Quite difficult to walk along. If this is what lalibela is all like, this is going to be great. Ok, this is my house. The place im staying tonight, for me, its perfect. Its as rough as you can get, as off the beaten track as you can get, as basic as you can get. It is real africa, for me. And it wakes up all my senses. Ok, this is the toilet . Yes. Bit of a walk, if you get caught short. It is nothing new for me. Just a bit more difficult with the steps. Ijust got to be a bit slower and take my time. If i get stuck ijust shout, there are people around here, they will come and help me. Its not a problem for me. I can smell it i love it. Part of the adventure. Im skyping my girlfriend. Happy birthday happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday darling beautiful lovely. Happy birthday to you. I miss you. All right, be good. Bye. If i want to visit places that are quite tricky i try and find a guide, a personal guide, to show me around. Hello. My names zamed. Hi zamed. Yeah, im a local guide in lalibela. 0k. Yeah, todays plan is we will explore the churches for you. 0k, thank you. Ii churches. The churches divided into three groups. The first group churches, there are six church. Yep. And the second group churches, there are four church. 0k. And the third group church there are only one churches. When were they made . What year . Sorry . How old are they . 1,000 years old. 0k. More than, yeah. The church is in front of me . Chanting in background. Its pretty rough, big steps. The guide was probably not guided a blind person before, so they didnt really tell me anything about the steps or the terrain, started telling me information when i sort of started asking her. I dont think she could really understand me, and i couldnt understand her at all. This church is one of the biggest in ethiopia. The biggest . The biggest. Outside, inside, total 72 pillars. Sorry . 72 pillars. Seven pillars . Yeah, 72. Yep. Outside, 3a, inside 38, total is 72 pillars. Is it this way . Yes. What does it look like . Just big doors, the main gate,
a little bit of windows to get in light on the priestess. And do the windows have glass . No glass. Theyre open . Rock. Just rock windows. Yeah, yeah, rock windows. So now where are we heading . Around there we get inside. Is this the entrance, yeah . Yeah. So we went in the first church and walked around it and could hear chanting. Chanting. I tried to explain, but it was very difficult to understand her. This all originally rocks. Sorry . This originally pillars. Right. Not collapsed. Soa column . Yeah, this very cold. 0k. Wheres your arm . This way. Tony sighs. Very frustrated, a bit upset. Unsure how handle it, how to extricate myself from the guide without being rude and also getting another guide to continue, i probably cant do this by myself. I could probably have a go and follow tourists, but, the terrains pretty, pretty rough. I just want to be normal. She is a nice person but, ah. Argh im not very good expressing my emotions. Ive got to be strong all the time. Its the only way i can travel. Its the only way i can cope. I am guiding you now. 0k. 0k . I will be on your left because the wall is on your right. And then, one step, tiny step, and then keep forward and then a big one. Yes. Well done. Another one, that is good. You can feel it either side if you stretch your hands. All right we got a different guide organised overnight and gently got out of the situation without offending. I felt more confident with him, ifelt more secure, i got the information i wanted. It was all explained in great detail, it was very personable with me, he gave me what i needed. This is a moment for you to take a picture, tony. Yep. Down there is bete giyorgis, it is a shape of a cross. Yep. It is made of one rock, completely detached from the surrounding rock. Its one monolith . Yes, one monolith. Inside there is a tunnel to get to the church. So its like a fortress, isnt it . Exactly. A few steps forward, we are literally in the centre of the church. So were at the transept . Yeah, exactly. The pillars are part of the structure, so it is supporting itself. Right, yep. But the space is very peaceful and very calming. 0k. Lots of echo because of the shape, obviously. Yeah. Chanting. A big step, like a big slope. Yeah. A few more steps and we will get there and we shall see the beautiful ceremony. Yep, ok. Ready . 0k. Lets go. So this morning in lalibela i went to this Amazing Service up at one of the rock churches. It was almost like being transported back in time. Keep coming. Always hundreds of thousands
of people around me, its quite calming, ifeel quite emotional. I didnt expect to feel that. The energy here is. Quite overwhelming. The last thing we sort of did was light a candle, thats when it hit me, really. A very spiritual saying just sort of got to me and i let the emotions go. I thought about the people i love and the people ive lost recently. I love you, brother. Just said goodbye to some people. Not leaving them behind, ijust sending them on their way, releasing all the pent up grief, i guess. That was good. Good, im glad. I had to give the impression that i was ok and it was good and, you know, i couldnt get my mum worried. You can show its ok to let it go, ok to show weakness. Its been an awesome week, an emotional week, i visited some amazing places. So ow become a better person. I think we made a heck
of a documentary, in it. I think it will show people that a disabled person, a blind or deaf person can do incredible things. And so can other people. And hopefully it will make them realise that i had to let them anything stop them from living their dreams. Hello once again. Friday was an absolute sparkler of a day. This was the scene late in the day across mallaig in the western side of scotland. And there was 13 hours of sunshine or so to be had in stornoway, just a wee bit further to the north and west. Come a good dealfurther to the south, though,
and it really was wet at times, thanks to an area of low pressure in biscay throwing these weather fronts up and across the southern half of the british isles. And it will continue to do that during the course of saturday. Theres no great rush to really change things, so a lot of cloud across the greater part of england and wales and some really quite heavy bursts of rain as well. A little bit of organisation about it. Theres a band of weather trying to move a little bit further north into the north of england. And then come the afternoon, the remnants of something just pushing those showers over towards wales. All the while, the very far north of england, scotland, northern ireland, variable amounts of cloud but a deal of sunshine. But an onshore breeze just pegging those temperatures back along the north sea facing coasts. Eight, nine or ten degrees yet again. This is sunday. Starts off pretty cloudy again for the greater part of england and wales butjust hopeful through the day that some of that cloud willjust drift a little bit further away towards the west, allowing better chances of sunshine to break out across many of those eastern counties. And again, scotland doing very well. Temperatures in a range of 11
to about 19, so feeling just that tad warmer right out across the piece. And we stay with the theme of a lot of dry weather with some decent spells of sunshine, although it will be really rather windy as we get on through the forthcoming week. As i take you from sunday on into monday, weve got a big area of High Pressure just to the north east of the british isles. Very disturbed weather across the southern parts of france and into eastern parts of spain. And its the squeeze between those features that give us the easterly wind, and the wind will be quite a noticeable feature of the day. Could be quite a chilly start for the northern glens of scotland. And the wind will be a feature wherever you happen to be stepping out of the door for that brief spell of exercise. Im showing you the mean speeds. On top of that, weve got the gusts could be around 30mph or so. Temperatures, though, not too bad 13 to about 18 or 19, particularly where you can tuck yourself away from that wind over towards the west. And its that same combination of high and low pressure that will keep us going with the dry
weather into the middle of the week. Good morning. Welcome to breakfast, with Charlie Stayt and naga munchetty. The headlines today new guidance for frontline nhs workers. Theyre told to re use special protective equipment in extreme circumstances. Some hospitals say theyre about to run out of special gowns used to treat coronavirus patients, according to nhs leaders in england. The football world pays tribute to norman hunter, the leeds united legend who died yesterday after being diagnosed with coronavirus. Good morning. There is a north south divide with our weather today. The best