Good afternoon. The government has changed its guidance for Care Homes in england. From tuesday, residents can Go Out for walks, or visit relatives� gardens, without having to self isolate on their Return Home for two weeks. The Innoculation Programme and the falling rate of infection has led to the change. Campaigners had threatened legal action, arguing that residents� Human Rights were being breached. . Heres our health correspondentjim reed. John Kemps Mother sheila has lived in a Care Home in eastbourne for the last two years. The 92 year old has seen her family recently, but sitting two metres apart, wearing ppe. From tuesday, they can walk together on the seafront again. When mother makes it, she can actually Go Out, get into the fresh air, be able to go on the seafront, see people. Have a cup of coffee, a cup of tea somewhere. Obviously spending quality time rather than time with ppe in between us, and again just spending time together and reflecting on the past and the future as well. Its exactly three months since all Care Home residents should have been offered a first dose of the Covid Vaccine in england. With infections now down to levels seen last summer, the government says its time to relax the strict rules around trips outside the home. The majority of Care Home residents not only have had their first dose, but also their second dose, so we can taKe These sort of cautious steps forward, and, as i say, another step back towards normal. We look forward to being able to do more opening up in the weeks ahead. From tuesday, residents who leave a Care Home in england for low Risk Visits will not have to self isolate for m days on their return. They can visit a relatives garden, a park, or another outdoor space, and they can go indoors to vote. They will need to be accompanied by a Visitor Or Care worker and those who leave for medical appointments will still have to self isolate. The change comes after a legal challenge from campaigners who called the existing restrictions barbaric. They welcomed the move but said its come far too late. I think this guidance was always so bizarre, so cruel and so discriminatory. And it was illegally imprisoning people in Care Homes. It was depriving them of their liberty, it was doing incalculable harms. Residents of scottish and welsh Care Homes are already able to meet outside without needing to self isolate. While in northern ireland, Outdoor Visiting is allowed in homes that do not have a covid outbreak. Jim reed, Bbc News. People from a South Asian background experienced greater levels of covid infection, severe Disease And Death during the second wave of the pandemic compared to other ethnic groups, says a new study in the lancet. Nearly all ethnic minority groups in england were disproportionally affected in the first wave. But the disparity widened among South Asian groups in the second, with Health Factors and Household Size being highlighted by scientists as possible explanations. The Covid Situation in india continues to worsen as it becomes the first country to record more than 400,000 Coronavirus Infections in a single day. The countrys hospitals are still struggling with shortages of oxygen and beds and the Vaccination Programme is being hampered by a lack of supplies. Australia has now banned its own citizens from returning from india. Devina gupta is in delhi for us. In spite of the global aid we have seen come in the past week in india we have seen extreme shortages of hospital beds, oxygen and essential medical supplies. Today it lives were lost in a tragic incident when a private hospital run out of Oxygen Supply for 18 minutes, despite sending Distress Signals for additional supplies. That is when we have seen the indian Prime Minister expanding the Vaccination Programme to those over 18 from today. We have seen a lot of vaccination centres turning people away because not enough doses are available. In such a scenario we have seen countries closing their border to india including australia which in this controversial policy which has been much debated on Social Media as well its citizens will not be able to return if they have been in the country for over 1a days, potentially impacting over 9000 australians in the country right now. ~ australians in the country right now. ~ ,. , nighclubbing Returned To LiverpoolLast Night only a trial but the first time people have been allowed on to the dancefloor since the pandemic began. And tomorrow its the turn of live music as a festival will be held in the city with an audience of 5,000. New research suggests a quarter of festivals with a similar capacity have already been cancelled. Our Business Correspondent Katy austin reports. Boomtown In Hampshire has just been called off for the second year running, blaming lack of insurance for covid related cancellation. The sheer volume of money, were talking millions of outlay, that we have to commit to, all these costs ahead of the event, itjust became very evident that we were just in an impossible position without being able to have the backing of insurance to mitigate the risks. 0ne Trade Body says around a quarter of larger festivals have already decided to cancel for this year, and most of those still scheduled to go ahead are due to happen injuly and august. But it says for many of those theres still a huge amount of uncertainty. It says a government backed Insurance Scheme is needed, similar to what other countries have done. And our own government has invested in a scheme for Film And Tv production, which we understand has been very successful. There are models, there are ways of doing it. Nozstock in herefordshire is sold out for late july. How certain are you, as we stand here today, that it will go ahead . Sadly, we cant be certain. We are desperate to get on with it but the issue of insurance makes it an incredibly risky venture. They say late may is the Cut Off for making a final call. A Government Spokesperson told us it had supported festivals through the Culture Recovery Fund and is exploring what further support it may provide. Katy austin, Bbc News. A campaign has been launched to raise money to build a memorial in St Pauls cathedral to those whove died as a result of coronavirus. Costing £2. 3 Million, it would be the first new structure of its kind inside St Pauls for 150 years. Charlotte wright reports. For centuries, St Pauls cathedral has been a place to reflect on significant international events, which is why campaigners say its a Fitting Site for this, a covid memorial. Designed by an architect who himself lost his mother during the pandemic. There are now over 100,000 other families who will have gone through that same sense of dislocating anguish. And, for us, i think a memorial could not be more important. The plan is to build the memorial here at the north door, the site of a porch that was bombed during World War ii. And visitors will walk through to an area of reflection, where there will be a digital book of condolence and they can call up entries, Including Photos and epitaphs. More than 7,300 names have already been uploaded to the online book. Its a different way of doing memorials, but its having a physical and an online memorial together, which is a really. Its a new thing for us, but we think it means that thousands and thousands of people can be remembered. 0rganisers are hoping to raise £2. 3 Million to pay for the structure and install it next year. They say this would be a monument for all, regardless of faith or background. Charlotte wright, Bbc News. With all the sport now, heres Chetan Pathak At The Bbc Sport centre. Good afternoon. Manchester city could be crowned Premier League champions this weekend, as long as they win at Crystal Palace Today and liverpool Beat Second placed Manchester United tomorrow. It could be a monumental few days for guardiola and city, who can reach the Champions League final on tuesday. Eight Changes Today to the team, with Sterling And Aguero starting. With around a0 minutes played at Selhurst Park its 0 0. At the World Snooker Championship in sheffield, Shaun Murphy has cut Kyren Wilsons lead in their semi final. Wilson led 10 6 overnight but murphy won five of the opening seven frames this morning, including this one on the final black, to make it 12 11. The first to 17 frames will go through to tomorrows final. And 2a swimmers were added to the Team Gb 0lympic squad this week as they aim to beat the total of six medals won at rio 2016. But topics out of the pool including precautions around the Pandemic And Athlete protests continue to dominate the Build Up to tokyo, as Nick Hope reports. We are in an era of Athlete Activism with sports stars taking a stand by taking the knee. And even Social Media boycotts. Despite pleasure of the International Olympic Committee insists protests will still be banned at the games. 0ne 0lympic banned at the games. 0ne Olympic Champion says there has to be greater understanding on both sides. You have an athlete trying to protest for corruption in their home nation, racism, sexism, oranything liKe That, they have a right to protest, they are people, but when it gets to the point of overshadowing the athletes and their performance, for example a Gold Medallist protesting might take away from the Silver And Bronze medallists but some people have to use that platform and you should never taKe That away from them. Protests will only be a problem if the games go ahead and there was in tokyo are becoming increasingly agitated by that prospect during the pandemic back britains best are confident and believe they will be kept safe. I confident and believe they will be Ke T safe. ,. , kept safe. I trust they have everything kept safe. I trust they have everything in kept safe. I trust they have everything in place. Kept safe. I trust they have everything in place. I kept safe. I trust they have everything in place. I am i kept safe. I trust they have i everything in place. I am sure kept safe. I trust they have everything in place. I am sure there is so much hard work going on behind the scenes to make sure everyone is safe. I have trust that it will go smoothly. It will go smoothly. These are troubled times it will go smoothly. These are troubled times but it will go smoothly. These are troubled times but those it will go smoothly. These are troubled times but those associated with the games Hope Tokyo will be a Beacon Of Hope after an unprecedented 18 months, a Triumph Of Human Spirit and scientific endeavour. Thats all the sport for now. You can see more on all of todays stories on the Bbc News channel. The next news on Bbc One is at 5 10pm. Bye for now. More now on our top story thats the change in Government Guidance for Care Homes in england. From tuesday, residents can Go Out for walks or visit relatives gardens without having to self isolate on their Return Home for two weeks. Earlier i spoKe Tojulia jones, co founder ofjohn� s campaign, which campaigns for the rights of people living in Care Homes. She gave me her reaction to the changes. There is not this subhuman class of residents. There are lots of people of different ages with different problems living in Care Homes. So, yes, i would liKe To carry on from a little bit of what you said. This word, allowed when were people with full mental capacity not allowed to step out of their home . And now they are allowed to do this, why must they be accompanied . It is very interesting, isnt it . You are right, and it would be interesting to see if anyone had tested this, because most people are in a residential home and are conscious of the other residents, they would not want to provoke a response, but if they were to all walk out, could they really be stopped from going back to their rooms . In a letter from the government, they said it wasnt depriving people of that liberty because people were permanently free to leave their Care Homes, so if they did Go Out, they couldnt come back. Is that not awful . These are people who have voluntarily gone to live in the Care Home, perhaps they were lonely or needed the extra help, perhaps they had been widowed or something liKe That, and suddenly they find that they can no longer step outside without leaving it all behind them. I am not exaggerating, i have heard this. If you want to leave, you cannot come back. I taKe The point you are making. There is another aspect of this, the other people in the home. It arises because they are living in their own home. Because it is a home they share with others and therefore the risks are for the others they share their facilities with, not just them. And so you wonder how staff could go freely in and out and from room to Room Day after day, several shifts a day, living their regular life, as they should, with their families. It seems odd that they should be able to do this without putting anyone at risk, whereas those who pay the wages and live there, for whom this is all for, may not do this. You got this announcement, liKe The rest of us, presumably from the newspapers, people in the Care Industry do not seem to be aware this was coming this weekend and it is a Bank Holiday weekend. Presumably there is a lot of uncertainty. 0ne Uncertainty for you is the legal case, where does it leave it . It leaves us waiting for what guidance is because our legal case was that this was unlawful. I am not actually sure they have dealt with the lawfulness issue. We also thought it was not fit for purpose and unworkable, so we will wait to see if it is fit for purpose. I am glad you mentioned young people because there is nothing in there for them. They need to be out there with other young people of their own age having the same rights and way of life that other people of their own age who are not disabled can have. The headlines on Bbc News new freedoms for Care Home residents in england from tuesday, they will be able to visit relatives without having to self isolate when they return. India becomes the first country to record 400,000 Coronavirus Infections in a single day. New research finds that around A Thousand rivers are the source of the majority of Plastic Waste in the ocean. He was so good the first time, by popular demand, he is back he was so good the first time, by popular demand, he is back more Sport News now, lets go the bbc sport centre, heres chetan. What have you been up to in the five minutes since we last spoke . There has been so minutes since we last spoke . There has been so much. Good afternoon. Manchester city could be crowned Premier League champions this weekend as long as they beat Crystal Palace Today and liverpool Beat Second placed Manchester United tomorrow. It could be a monumental few days for guardiola and city, who can reach the Champions League final on tuesday. Eight Changes Today to the team, with sterling aguero starting. Half time at Selhurst Park, its currently goalless. Chelsea are playing and looking to secure a top four place. Meanwhile in the championship, Sheffield Wednesday could be relegated to League One today if they lose at home to Nottingham Forest or dont better derbys result at swansea. The score At Hillsborough is currently 0 0, they kicked off at half 12. Tottenham are in no rush to appoint a successor as manager to jose mourinho. He was sacked by spurs under two weeks ago. Since then, Julian Nagelsmann was linked with the job but has agreed tojoin bayern munich, while erik ten Hag And Brendan rodgers have pledged their futures to ajax and leicester respectively. Bbc sports been told no discussions have been held and Tottenham Chairman Daniel levy is yet to identify a favoured candidate. Ryan mason is likely to continue as interim boss for the rest of the season. Max verstappen has shown hell taKe The fight to mercedes when they battle it out for Pole Position in portugal later. The dutchman blew Lewis Hamilton away in the windy conditions at portimao. He was almost a quarter of a second quicker than the World Champion as he topped the time sheets for Red Bull in final practice. Valtteri bottas was third. Shaun murphy has closed the gap on Kyren Wilson in their semifinal at the World Snooker Championships in sheffield. Murphy trailled 10 6 overnight but has won five of the seven frames today, including one with this century break. Wilson currently leads 12 11. The first to 17 frames will go through to tomorrows final. Tom daley and Matty Lee have marked their return to competition with a synchronised ten Metre Gold at the Fina World Cup injapan. Its an official Test Event for the Tokyo Olympics and its the first competition for 1h months for the pair, who had already qualified for the games. They achieved a total of 453. 60 from their six routines to finish clear of mexico and canada. And tonight sees one of the most eagerly anticipated fights in womens boxing. Irelands katie taylor, the undisputed World Champion at lightweight, defends herfour belts against Englands Natasha jonas at manchester arena. The pair have history they fought nine years ago as amateurs at the london olympics. Taylor beatjonas on her way to winning gold. Jonas quit boxing in 2015, but, after having a baby, she returned to the ring two years later. Taylor doesnt believe their previous fight will have much bearing on this one. We are better boxes and it is a completely different ball to Amateur Boxing and i feel like completely different ball to amateur Boxing And Ifeel like my completely different ball to Amateur Boxing and i feel like my style completely different ball to amateur Boxing And Ifeel like my style has developed over the last few years and ifeel developed over the last few years and i feel her style developed over the last few years and ifeel her style has developed over the last few years and i feel her style has developed as well. We have both transformed into tough professional fighters and the fight on Saturday Night will be completely different to what people have seen before. The french Rugby Federation says its waiting for an explanation from a Stadium Operator after the floodlights failed during Englands Test Match against france Last Night. England were leading 17 15 knowing victory would keep them as the number one team, but, with 18 minutes remaining, the floodlights went off in Villeneuve Dascq and play was suspended and then later abandoned. England were subsequently awarded the win. French rugby says it regrets the unexpected outcome. Thats all the sport for now. Still goalless At Hillsborough between sheffiled wednesday and Nottingham Forest, but forestjust missed a penalty. Its half time there. You can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. Thats bbc. Co. Uk sport we will be back later in the afternoon, not in five minutes its good job our lights dont do that it suddenly went from fully lit and then they taKe The floodlights out and you could not see a thing. Extraordinary way to end a match were less than a week away from the local elections, with multiple different polls opening depending on where you live. 0ur correpsondent Lewis Goodall has been taking a look at what the main issues are. We have got a mammoth set of elections coming up on may the 6th. Lucky us. Possibly the biggest set of elections actually we have ever had. Two sets of local English Council elections one held over as a result of the first year of the Pandemic Elections in the scottish and welsh parliaments and a whole suite of mayoral contests across england. And, really, it is going to be the first big electoral test we have seen for Keir Starmer, and only the second time voters have had a chance to cast their verdict on borisjohnson since the General Election of 2019. Seems a long time ago, doesnt it . Lets have a quick look and think about the some of issues that might be at play in those elections. Of course, conservatives have been pointing out and saying that issues of sleaze that have been dominating westminster over the last two weeks really arent making much of an impact on voters on the doorstep, and some of the polling that we have seen would seem to bear that out. You wont be surprised to see coronavirus at the very top of Voters Priority List at the moment. Though of course some of this polling will have been done since some of those issues have come to the fore. But if we think about Keir Starmer in particular, this is the first time that he has been put in front of the voters for theirjudgment and how can we think about how well or badly he might be doing . Well, one way we could look at it is to compare the performance of previous leaders of the opposition in the local council elections in their first years in office. So you can see there, tony blair, in his first year as leader of the opposition back in 1995, he increased the number of his seat in that for his party in that electoral cycle by 32 . Even william hague, actually, someone not considered to be a particularly effective leader of the opposition considering he only won one extra seat in the 2001 General Election, got a 23. 5 increase in his first year. In fact, most leaders of the opposition do all right. Jeremy corbyn doing by far the worst, actually, with a Reduction Of 1. 4 . Where Keir Starmerfits in that table will be, to some extent, considered something of an arbiter as to how well he has done. But of course these things are, indeed, not only or solely popularity contests for those in westminster. Local council elections are not enormously important in their own right in terms of what councils do, controlling a whole suite of different functions in your local area, and of course the issue of Council Finance will be principal among them. Potential Council Tax rises across lots and lots of councils on their way as a result of the collapse in revenues that many have seen in the pandemic, but also through many years, a decade or so, really, of spending cuts. Lets Leave England behind now and look at scotland. Of course, central to the scottish campaign has been the perennial narrative of Scottish Independence and whether or not the snp will get a majority on their own. Why do they want a majority on their own . Well, that is the 2011 precedent, if you like. The 2011 holyrood elections they get majority on their own against all Expectation And David cameron thinks that is a mandate, accepts that as a mandate for Independence Referendum which is held in 2014. They want to repeat that all over again. The problem is, it is tricky, very difficult in the holyrood section system, a semi proportional system, for any one party to get a majority on their own. It didnt happen in 2016 and they might fall short, but that is not the end of the story because you also have the scottish greens, who have also pledged in favour of another referendum themselves. They are pro independence, so the snp could argue quite easily that although they may not get a majority on their own, they still might by the way, but if they dont, then they have a mandate because there is an overall mandate within the scottish parliament to have another referendum. The conservatives, labour and so on are trying to re gear the campaign onto domestic issues, and what they say is a poor snp domestic record. They of course have been in power in scotland for a long time now, for 14 years, since 2007. But that is as to nothing, in terms of longevity, in office of course, as welsh labour, who have been in office in wales in cardiff since 1999. Voters there thinking about the welsh Governments Response to the pandemic. General polling has shown mark drakefords, the first minister, response has been very popular, but there the issues are also gearing towards constitutional issues. Wales and politics are becoming quite unpredictable, as it is for the rest of the uk. More on the elections and results on Bbc News throughout Thursday Night and all of the weekend as well as some of the results will not be with us until next sunday afternoon. The family of a teenaged girl with learning difficulties, who was struck 30 times by a metropolitan police officer, have called for the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider its decision not to charge him. Pc Benjamin Kemp was sacked yesterday for using excessive force on the youngster, whod become distressed after running away from a guided walk. The independent office for Police Conduct said there was no indication racial discrimination had been a factor, something disputed by the familys solicitors. Scientists investigating the Plastic Waste drifting in the worlds oceans say theyve discovered more about where it comes from. Theyve calculated that A Thousand rivers are responsible for the vast majority of the pollution. Heres our Science Editor David shukman. The shocking sight of Plastic Waste polluting the oceans. It is one of the most visible ways that Human Activity is damaging the natural world. So where has it all come from . Well, most of it is carried by rivers from cities to the sea. I saw this for myself in indonesia a few years ago. The waterways were choked with plastic. It used to be thought that only the ten biggest rivers in the world where to blame, but now a study finds that many more are involved. At least 1000, according to an organisation that is trying to tackle the problem the Ocean Cleanup. On one hand, it shows that the problem is actually much more vast than we used to think it is not ten rivers, it is 1000. But on the other hand, it is Stilljust1 of all the rivers in the world, so i do think it is a manageable problem. The Ocean Cleanup has started to collect Plastic Waste from several rivers, to catch it before it gets to the sea and the hope is to have many more systems liKe This. It has also been deploying a giant Collection Device in the pacific ocean, but the challenge is huge. Turning this Plastic Tide will take a massive effort. Staying with the sewage. Water workers in birmingham have begun clearing a 300 Tonne Fatberg which is blocking a sewer in the Hodge Hill area of the city. The company Severn Trent has said it could take untiljune to break up the mass of oil, Grease And Fat which has combined with nappies and wet wipes. Its estimated to be a metre high and A Thousand metres long. A Man Surveying A Forest for his Orienteering Club in Western Sweden has made an astonishing discovery a trove of Bronze Age Treasure believed to be some 2,500 years old. The haul, discovered on the forest floor, includes about 50 items such as necklaces, bracelets and clothing pins. Its believed to have been left as an offering by an ancient tribe. It is thought that one or more animals had disturbed the earth, leaving some of the items semi exposed. Translation it is by far the greatest experience i have had as an archaeologist. So far, we can say that this find we are now looking at represents not only Western Swedens, but swedens largest Bronze Age Deposit during this period, which is about 700 to 500 Bc what we call period six of the bronze age. The find here is a total of about 30 bronzes, all of them decorative objects. Now its time for a look at the weather with ben rich hello. Well, it took a while, but showers did eventually develop at the Tail End of april and we have brought them with us into the start of may as well. Sunshine and showers for most of the weekend. The continued risk of cold and frosty nights as well. Through the rest of today, then, showers becoming quite widespread into the afternoon. Some heavy, possibly thundery and very slow moving as well, because the winds will be light. But as always in these scenarios, there will be places that avoid all the showers and stay completely dry. Temperatures will struggle eight to 14 degrees at best. And those temperatures will drop quickly as we head into the evening. The showers will fade as we move into the night and the early hours of sunday will be largely clear, quite chilly, some Mist And Fog patches around and temperatures down around freezing, so a frost again to take us into tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is another sunshine and showers day. Some of the showers again will be heavy, possibly thundery, but Bank Holiday monday, some Heavy Rain Sweeping in from the west and some brisk winds as well