Hello to you. The number of people who have died from covid 19 in the United States has now officially exceeded 100,000. The actual numbers are likely to be higher than that, but it is clear that in the past three months more americans have died from infection than during the korean war, the vietnam war and the conflict in iraq combined. Lets take a look at how the us got to this point. The first death in the country was reported on february the 29th. On march the 13th, President Trump declared a National Emergency as schools were closed. Stay at home orders were issued in california, new york and washington, dc. Within a month, the us surpassed italy with just over 20,000 now the highest death rate in the world. Then President Trump released his guidelines for reopening the country, as anti lockdown protests broke out. Into may, and the president said his task force would continue indefinitely, 2a hours after announcing it would close. The death toll then stood at 71,000. Nowjust three months on from the first death, 100,000 deaths, officially. 0ur north america correspondent, aleem maqbool, reports from washington. Happy birthday to you. Friends and relatives of more than 100,000 people in america can nowjust cling to the memories of happier times before the coronavirus. My father was a really caring person. He just wanted to help people and he was really outgoing. He thought he was really funny. Doug was one of the first confirmed deaths back on the first of march. As somebody who lost someone so close to them and was someone obviously very, very dear to you so early on, when you saw the way this was going in the country, how has it made you feel over the last couple months . Its scary. Its sad. I feel angry. We should have been listening to the doctors and the scientists. We should not have been listening to people talking about the stock market. Its natural that people are reaching for answers, for someone to be accountable after scenes like mass graves being dug in new york and refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full. Ill see you saturday. We now know that african americans, like rhoda hatch, are still dying in disproportionate numbers. I think 100,000 is an extraordinary number. It means that theres a lot of pain and grief. Some of us in the black community are very concerned that as the narrative became that african america ns were disproportionately impacted by the virus, that there was also a push to open up the country and made many of us think prematurely that suggested the devaluation of black lives. Those calls to reopen go on, even as the number of dead continues to mount and as the nation mourns. Well, flags have been lowered here after tragedies like mass shootings, and even then, its been difficult to grapple with the scale of loss after sometimes dozens of people have been killed. But how then does america even began to count the emotional cost of such a Staggering Number of deaths that have happened in fewer than 90 devastating days . To really do justice to the stories of those lost would take many lifetimes. For people left behind, the question lingers, could more have been done so these americans and tens of thousands of others might still be around . Aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. The bbcs david willis told me just now the latest figures could in fact be an underestimate. The United States now is firmly established as the epicentre of this global pandemic. And what this means is on average about 900 americans a day have been dying from the coronavirus and not a single state has been left unaffected by this. The situation has disproportionately affected african americans, we know, and also about a third of those deaths have been in nursing homes. Now unsurprisingly, perhaps, donald trump decided to go to florida today in search of a slightly better headline or a distractionary headline from this rather grim news. But that launch of the first nasa astronauts into orbit in nearly a decade was postponed. So, he was denied that headline and he has made no comment so far anyway on that rather grim milestone of 100,000 plus deaths here. And it does seem, to be blunt about it, that a lot of people have reached the conclusion this disease that disproportionately affects black people, elderly people, people who are obese or people who are poor. And if youre not in that bracket, people decided not to be too worried about it . Absolutely. And indeed there are some states, mike, that are saying they are still not able to fully test in the way they would like to. I mean, weve seen a decrease in some of the hardest hit states such as new york, but there are still 20 others or so that last week were reporting a rise in the number of coronavirus cases. All that at a time when every state in this nation is slowly but surely starting to reopen its economy in line with the president s wishes. And we were mentioning earlier on that anthony fauci, this countrys top Infectious Diseases expert and others have contended that if prudent measures such as a continuation of the social distancing, the wearing of face masks and so on are not adhered to, there could a another spike, come the autumn, wintertime. David willis for us there. And later we will hear the story from a social worker deployed toa from a social worker deployed to a hospital to help deal with the coronavirus. In other news, large protests and looting have taken place in minneapolis after the latest death of an unarmed black man in police custody. President trump has tweeted that hes asked the fbi and department of justice to investigate the incident. George floyd died in minneapolis hed been arrested and pinned down in the street, an officer kneeling for some time on his neck. Four officers, all of them white, have been sacked and George Floyds family have called for them to be charged with murder. I spoke just now to city councillor Jeremiah Ellison. He told me he was prompted to run for office by a similar incident in 2015, involving the death of jamar clark. Speaking from his doorstep, he called for murder charges over George Floyds death. Its a pretty tragic situation. I dont know if you have watched the video, if people are sparing themselves i think thats ok. Its a pretty horrific video, its hard to watch and he slowly dies over the course of those eight or nine minutes. So it feels senseless and infuriating. And chokeholds are in fact banned in minneapolis . But it is all right for officers to kneel on a suspects neck . Im not clear on whether we train our officers to use that manoeuvre. I was under the impression we didnt train officers to use that manoeuvre. But george floyd made it very clear he was in a tremendous amount of distress and the fact his life was not taken seriously by the officers is just unforgivable. And that phrase of course, that is so well known, i cant breathe. Was heard again many times. Yeah, yeah, it was. Jeremiah, people are protesting on the streets as you know. We have those shots, of course. What are you hearing from people on the streets . What are they hoping forfrom this . I think people are in disbelief of the manner of George Floyds death. I think people want to know that the police are not some especially protected class. That when the police participate in criminal actions, there are going to be criminal consequences. But i think there is doubt about that happening. I think our response to the community that is grieving and hurt and frightened by the police hasnt really helped matters either. I think we have taken the route of inciting the crowd. I know i have made calls for the city to develop a different strategy, but that has only fallen on deaf ears, to my frustration. And i think we can expect Community Members to continue to express themselves in this way, however unproductive we may deem it if we dont rapidly change our approach and our response. It looks like from the pictures there is quite a confrontation going on down there. What do you think of the way the police are dealing specifically with the protest . We always, as a city, even before my time here, have responded to protests this way. You know, look, if our goal was to prevent property damage, were not doing that. If our goal was to prevent the spread of an infectious disease, we have no way to know if we are doing that. If our goal was to make sure protesters are not harmed, we are not doing that, and if our goal was to make sure we are not putting officers in harms way, we arent really doing that either. So someone is going to have to answer to me and tell me what are we trying to accomplish aside from chaos . Because im not seeing it. That was city councillor, Jeremiah Ellison there. Lets get some of the days other news barbershops in russia, finally eased from restrictions. In the Biggest International sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 Million People have taken part in sponsored athletics events to aid famine relief in africa. The first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at 7 00am. Taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full scale riot, as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juve ntus enclosure. The Belgian Police had lost control. The whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. He was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. The Oprah Winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 4,500 episodes. The chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. Geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she has left the spice girls. Argh, i dont believe it. Shes the one with the bounce, the go, girl power. Not geri, why . This is bbc world news. The latest headlines the death toll in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic has now passed 100,000. President trump says hes asked the fbi and department ofjustice to investigate the death in minneapolis of george floyd, who died in police custody. During the pandemic, we have come across some extraordinary personal stories of key workers and volunteers. Earlier i spoke to one of them eric dungan a military social worker who has been deployed to a New York Hospital to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Yeah, its definitely a toughjob. The hospital staff and medical staff at Jacobi Medical Center in new york, where were currently helping out and integrated into the hospital, have been absolutely amazing to us. Theyve been very supportive. And then my unit, the 452, has been amazing. Iama new guy im seven months in. So its been tough, and weve seen a lot of things that are kind of like an overload on the brain. But its an honour to be wearing this uniform and to help this city thats been ravaged and the spirit of new york. Although definitely hit very hard, the city is amazing and the people are amazing here. A lot of people i think will have been touched by the story published recently about what your dealings with and what you did for the Second World War veteran, george crouch. Can you tell us more about that . Sergeant crouch is a world war ii veteran. He was in okinawa, where he was injured, and he also was then called up to go to the korean war. But he came to the hospital with his wife at the same time, they both were admitted at the same time, they shared a hospital room. Unfortunately, gail passed and succumbed to the disease. Mr crouch was definitely devastated by that news. And then i had gotten a Mental Health consult to him for the first time, i think it was may 1st. So i got to meet him to do a consult for Mental Health and we kind of built from there a relationship and a friendship really, and i admire him. To me, hes a National Treasure as a world war ii veteran, and he has proven that with hope, anything can happen. And i think he lost hope for a while. And i think the hospital staff and the military and all the visits he was getting helped him to get that hope back and he found a reason to go towards the positive. Hes in the rehab centre and im still in contact with him and hes doing great. Thats wonderful to hear. But i guess for people who dont pull through, even tougher job for you. Youre at the side of people who may well be dying, who may well be very lonely because their families cant get to them, may be very, very frightened. This is a grim, grim disease. It is, it is. Its a very grim disease and there are people and there have been many people that ive been with who have unfortunately passed. Up until that point, i do my best as a clinical social worker representing Jacobi Medical Center and the United States army, and the 452, to just be there for them. I hate to see people suffering or scared and sometimes coming in and holding my hand or trying to do something to help distract the imminent situation, or, you know, just the fight theyre going through, my goal is hopefully that it gets them on the other side with a positive and they can get through. Unfortunately, you cant say you win everything, but you try your best because of the human spirit. You just believe in it and you believe in people. People are, to me, just amazing and i enjoy and feel so blessed that i get to try to help anybody in any situation. Across europe, life for many is gradually returning to normal as countries ease restrictions on movement, which have been in place in some areas for almost three months. Rich preston has this look at a continent coming out of lockdown. In italy, a visit after an intense lockdown. This stands for so much. Translation i missed it a lot, especially from this ice cream shop. I think its one of the best you can find in rome. Just a few months ago, the words focus was on italy as the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. Now with its infection rate slowing by the day, the lives of italians are being allowed to return to normal. Translation we have been coming since day one of the reopening. We have been passing every day to check out if it was open. We have literally circled it. When coronavirus first hit switzerland, the countrys military reserves were called to action, supporting hospitals and Emergency Services to contain the pandemic. Now, a demobilisation ceremony. These soldiers are being stood down with the situation deemed under control, they can now return to civilian life. For many countries, the worry now is over the long term impact of the virus, particularly on essential tourism industries. Cyprus has taken a novel approach to try to win back businesses, it has promised to cover the costs of the holiday as well as the medical treatment of anyone who falls ill with the virus after visiting the island. A measure it hopes will reassure potential visitors a trip to cyprus is safe from both a health and financial point of view. On wednesday, the European Commission announced plans for an 825 billion fund to help countries whose economies have been hit by the pandemic. Not all Member States agree on the method of this kind of financial rescue, but few disagree with its motive. After asia, europe was the heart of the coronavirus pandemic. Now as other regions see their death tolls continue to rise, the sights of italians eating ice cream or the swiss Army Standing down may provide a glimmer of hope for the future. Though governments around the world are clear the fight against the virus is not over. Rich preston, bbc news. The uks Health Secretary matt hancock has stressed that its everyones civic duty to co operate with the new test and trace scheme set to rollout in england in the coming hours. The strategy will help Health Authorities find people who come into close contact with those infected. Anyone who tests positive will be contacted by the Health Service the nhs and asked to disclose where they have been and who they have been in contact with. The aim is to help facilitate a move from a nationwide lockdown, towards more targeted safety measures. Its a small thing but one of the worst things about lockdown, for many people no haircuts. Barber shops and hair dressers have been closed all around the world. In russia those restrictions are being eased not a moment too soon, for one barber in particular. As the bbcs tim allman reports. Vladislav demidovich man lives to cut hair. But thanks to the pandemic, his scissors and clippers remained unused. Once the lockdown was lifted, he decided to make up for lost time, taking part in a haircut marathon two days non stop chop chop. Translation everything went well. I was a little worried, thinking that something could happen given that hes not slept for 48 hours, but i sat down and everything was fine. The main thing is to keep talking to him so he doesnt fall asleep or anything. Safety measures remain in place. Every customer has their temperature taken when they arrive. Vladislav would devote 40 minutes to each haircut, getting by on muesli bars and energy drinks. Translation this guy gives great haircuts from the first till the last. People were joking that they wouldnt like to be the last client because hell cut an ear. They were worried he wouldnt be able to take it, but it turned out completely the opposite. Finally, after 48 hours, the final head had been shorn. Never has a haircut received such a rapturous welcome. Translation i didnt understand at all what was happening on the morning of the second day. I was just cutting and thats it, my hands were moving on their own and i was just watching. The salon manager says they plan to contact the guinness book of records. As for vladislav, with the lockdown over, hell have plenty more haircuts to look forward to. Tim allman, bbc news. The first private Sector Mission to the International Space station and the first launch with a crew from us soil in nine years has been postponed due to bad weather.