This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Theres a huge rise in the number of people claiming Unemployment Benefits in the uk an increase of almost 70 in april. The uks approach to coronavirus testing has been inadequate throughout the pandemic, according to a committee of mps. President trump says hes taking an anti malaria drug to ward off coronavirus despite Health Officials warning it is unsafe. What do you have to lose . 0k, what do you have to lose . I have been taking it for about a week and a half. Every day . At some point. Every day, i take the pill every day. The president also issues an ultimatum to the World Health Organisation reform within 30 days or lose all us funding. Deaths from coronavirus in uk care homes fall for the second week running, according to new data from the office for National Statistics. And the differences in lockdown regulations between the uks four nations continues to widen. From today, groups of six people can meet up when outdoors in Northern Ireland. Hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. Were covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. Theres been a steep increase in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the uk as the effects of the coronavirus lockdown start to impact the economy. Figures released by the office for National Statistics show
the number of people claiming the benefit has risen by 70 its now at 2. 1 million, and the total number of weekly hours worked showed its largest annual decrease for ten years, a drop of 25 in the final week of march, after lockdown was introduced. In the us, donald trump has said he is taking the anti malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus, despite Health Officials saying it is dangerous. And the president launched another attack on the World Health Organisation, threatening to pull us funding permanently over its response to covid 19. First lets get the latest on those breaking unemployment figures in the uk from our Business Correspondent ben thompson, ben, which paid out these figures for and what do they tell us . Yes, good morning. They do suggest what could be on the way, because that official figures, the
could be on the way, because that officialfigures, the headline figures, are rather unchanged. They relate to the first three months, january, february and march of this year, and remember in the uk the lockdown was only introduced in that last week of march, so the headline figure is not giving the real picture but if we start to look at some of the indicators they could suggest what is on the way and we get a more accurate picture may be of the challenge coronavirus will pose for the economy and jobs market. You touched on it there. The claimant count is one of the most pressing because thats the one giving an indicator of the number of people who have needed to seek universal credit, financial support, orjobseekers allowance because they are out of work, and as you said that jumping by they are out of work, and as you said thatjumping by nearly 70 coming in at a new high, said thatjumping by nearly 70 coming in ata new high, 850,000 new claimants for that, because people have been unable to go to work. Remember, the headline unemployment figures do not reflect people who have been so called for that, because people have been unable to go to work. Remember, the headline unemployment figures do not reflect people who have been so called
furloughed, those not working but having their salary paid for in large part by the government and still in work, and the figure suggests those figures will get worse if and when that for the scheme does expire. Looking towards jobs we can also see the number of vacancies available following at the sharpest rate for ten years, suggesting those who do get laid off could find it very difficult to get a newjob. Also, you touched on it, the number of hours worked as well falling by its greatest in ten yea rs, falling by its greatest in ten years, suggesting those who are working are not working as much as they were before. All of that painting a picture of the jobs market really struggling to deal with the impact of coronavirus. Currently, the headline rate of unemployment in the uk at 3. 9 , one of its lowest levels in a long time, but many of the economists weve spoken to this morning suggest that figure could rise by up to 10 by the end of the year. Of course, the big question is when, if and when that bounce back comes m, if and when that bounce back comes in, and many economists are expecting this to be a short lived decline before bouncing back, but
the big question, how long will that bounce back take . And when the economy does start to recover how many of the jobs lost between now and the end of the year can it create once again . Thats a big problem and many expecting the Unemployment Rate may stay elevated for quite a few years to come. Thanks, ben. President trump says hes taking an anti malaria drug as a precaution against the coronavirus, even though American Health authorities have warned against it. The us food and Drug Administration said several weeks ago that there was no proof hydroxychloroquine was effective against the virus, and that it could cause heart problems. Mr trump has also renewed his attack on the World Health Organisation over its response to the initial outbreak in china. In a letter, he said he might make the temporary freeze of us funding of the who, permanent, if it didnt reform. Peter bowes reports. Hydroxychloroquine, the pill President Trump has been promoting for weeks as a drug that may lessen the symptoms of the coronavirus. There is no medical evidence it helps patients recover from the disease. In fact, it could have fatal side effects. But mr trump says even though hes healthy, hes trying it anyway. The front line workers, many, many are taking it. I happen to be taking it. Hydroxychloroquine . I happen to be taking it, hydroxychloroquine. When . Right now, yeah. A couple of weeks ago i started taking it. Why . Because i think its good. Ive heard a lot of good stories. Last month the us food and Drug Administration said hydroxychloroquine had not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing covid i9. It issued a warning that some people could suffer serious heart problems as a result of taking it in combination with other drugs. Mr trump said hed heard anecdotal evidence that it had helped some coronavirus patients. This is a pill thats been used for a long time, for 30 40 years on the malaria, and on lupus too, and even on arthritis, from what i understand. So its been heavily tested in terms of. I was just waiting to see your eyes light up when i said this, when i announced this, but, yeah, ive taken it for about a week and a half now, and im still here. The president s doctor said President Trump received regular testing for covid i9, and that he was negative for the virus and free of symptoms. After numerous discussions he and i had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risk. But thats not how other doctors see it. The president has been roundly condemned for his use of the drug. Its a medication that has serious side effects, including cardiac arrhythmias, abnormal heart rhythms, that could be fatal. And so i really worry about other people listening to what President Trump is saying and potentially taking this medication that has no proven benefit but actually could have a lot of harm. With the us death toll from the virus now over 90,000 and the country gradually reopening, President Trump seems determined to defy his own experts and offer americans hope that the Coronavirus Crisis will soon be over. Mr trump has also given the World Health Organisation an ultimatum, threatening permanently to stop funding the who if it fails to to major steps substantive improvements within the next 30 days. Peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. President trumps renewed criticism of the who comes as the organisation holds a second day of an Online Meeting of its governing assembly. Our correspondent Imogen Foulkes is in bern for us i asked her what the response has been to those comments from mr trump. Well, the World Health Organisation in geneva are waking up this morning to that letter, and i think it has caused a certain amount of shock and
dismay, because as the who director genera dr tedros keep saying, we are in the middle of a pandemic, and our focus saying, we are in the middle of a pandemic, and ourfocus needs to be saving lives, controlling the virus, supporting countries to get to a point where they can get people back to work and return to some kind of normality. There are millions and millions of people facing difficulties all over the world because of this virus. So i think the move by donald trump to say if he doesnt do what he says you will cut theirfunding, he doesnt do what he says you will cut their funding, it he doesnt do what he says you will cut theirfunding, it is he doesnt do what he says you will cut their funding, it is really worrying, for the united stations as a whole United Nations as a whole, because it depends on states working together, unilaterally, and other countries taking part in the World Health Assembly have tried,
while approving an independent investigation into the handling of the pandemic, are trying to show their willingness to show solidarity and unity in the face of this pandemic. So its dismaying notjust to the who, but i think too many other Member States as well, this letter. Beijing has responded to mr trumps claims that it misled the World Health Organisation about the coronavirus outbreak, by saying that he is trying to mislead the public to smear china, and use the issue to bargain over its obligations to the who. The uks cross Party Science and Technology Committee has said Testing Capacity was not increased early or boldly enough when the outbreak began. It said a lack of capacity had driven the decision in mid march to scale back Contact Tracing, and largely restrict tests to hospital patients. Our assistant Political Editor norman smith is in westminsterfor us. Tell us more about what the Science Committee have said. It focused on this decision to stop Community Testing and focus all testing on hospitals, and the Committee Want to know who took that decision and why it was taken, because the consequences are as we know care homes were deprived of adequate testing, with devastating consequences for them. It made it much harder for the scientists to model what was going on in the community and how that infection was spreading, and it also pushed back the of test, track and trace, which is now our sort of way out the lockdown. The committee pretty much point the finger of blame at Public Health england, who they say were too secretive, too restrictive, tried to keep all the testing within their laps rather than encouraging others, universities, health laboratories, to get involved in roll out mass
testing. Public Health England have come overnight, hit back saying, not us, not ourjob to provide the logistics for mass testing, we simply test for new pandemics in our laboratories. They say the people who should have been rolling out mass testing where the department of health, in other words matt hancock. I think we are now seeing the shape of the blame game which will now u nfold of the blame game which will now unfold between some of westminster who clearly believe Public Officials and Public Health england dropped the ball, and others who take the view it was the government to drop the ball and should have been instructing Public Health england and other laboratories to roll out mass testing much, much earlier. What about the Contact Tracing app . This is crucial. We know it has been piloted in the isle of wight and there has been a fairly good take up of it. We know matt hancock has recruited Something Like 21,000 people to carry out the track and trace. We also know he doesnt think you need to get new infections down
much further, that we are pretty much further, that we are pretty much good to go. But we are not good to go because ministers are refusing to go because ministers are refusing to give any timeline beyond saying in the coming weeks. And this matters because teaching unions have said, well, we are not going back on during the first unless and until track and trace is up and ready, unless this app is functioning, and this morning the work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey was asked, well, does this therefore means schools are not going to go back on during the first . This is what she said. Im not aware that thats been set as a necessary condition for the phased reopening of Primary Schools and we should remember Primary Schools have actually been open throughout this time, for a very small number of pupils. And this is about seeing us take back reception yeari and 6, so people at the beginning and end
of their primary education, and the guidance has been written very carefully to help headteachers to open their schools safely, and i think it is better to get the app as good as we can make it rather than rush out and app then have to change it. So it is important that that trial, that pilot on the isle of wight, is allowed to run to its full length that is needed rather than perhaps the target deadline which the Health Secretary had set. Listening to Therese Coffey there, it sounds like there may be some glitches with the app. To have testing, tracing, all of that, we need the app and if there are doubts about that it puts the whole sort of scheme back, which means our route out of the lockdown becomes longer. So we really need some sort of solution if there are difficulties with the app, given we know there have already been rumblings about why the nhs has been developing its own app rather than using the one other countries are using devised by apple and google, that we could simply have gone with their app, but instead decided to have our own, and when we read some of the technical blog sites etc there do appear to be some difficulties with this model of app. Thank you very much, norman. That was norman smith at westminster. Figures from the office for National Statistics show that the numbers of deaths in care homes are falling for the second week in a row. In the week to may eighth, there were 1,666 covid 19 registered deaths in care homes in england and wales. This is down from 2423
the previous week. Lets go into those figures in more detail with me is robert cuffe the bbc head of statistics. Cya n cyan i think it can be confusing for people to hear the statistics versus the one we hear everyday from the government yes, i think. We need to go back to the 8th of may, because there is quite a delay with deaths being registered. Around that time, the uk government had announced just under 32,000 deaths, people who had tested positive for covid, and they are shown on the top bar of the covid, and they are shown on the top barof the graph covid, and they are shown on the top bar of the graph that viewers can see here on the screen in front of you. Looking at the death registrations, people notjust testing positive but we are a doctor thought covid contributed to their death, it is broader, just over 40,000 across the uk. Looking at the number statisticians prefer, and we here at the press conferences all the time, it is called excess mortality, just how many people more died compared to what we expect at this time of year, that total figure isjust under 55,000
this time of year, that total figure is just under 55,000 now, this time of year, that total figure isjust under 55,000 now, the total death tour of covid both directly from the virus and indirectly and that keeps going up, up and up and up that keeps going up, up and up and up and it is different from the numberwe are from up and it is different from the number we are from the government every day, but it is doing a different thing. And it is a shockingly big number. Tell us about the trends. This is cumulative, the total so far, and this tells us on a week by week basis what is happening in the news is good. The total numberof in the news is good. The total number of deaths are falling, the total number of deaths where people suspect covid is at the heart of it is falling as well, so that is good news we have been hearing for a while. The new stuff today is really about care home deaths, the second week ina about care home deaths, the second week in a row as you have said that ca re week in a row as you have said that care home deaths have been following andl care home deaths have been following and i think we can hopefully show that to the viewers as well, where you see the number of deaths we have seen across the uk in care homes is now down atjust seen across the uk in care homes is now down at