and that's all i can say, because they were just so, so special. the lockdown has led to the biggest drop in retail sales on record — they fell more than 5% last month. the rohingya refugees rescued after being stranded at sea for many weeks — virus fears meant they were repeatedly turned away from shore. and going down the drain — how pubs are having to pour away their booze, amid fears they could remain closed until the end of the year. and in sport on bbc news... no cricket before the ist ofjuly — the ecb extends its postponement. but could county cricket move overseas in order to see some play? good evening. the new government website for up to 10 million key workers and their families to book coronavirus tests online had to close for a while today after it was inundated with requests. almost 50,000 people in england tried to book a testjust hours after the website launched. 16,000 did manage to book a drive—through appointment or get home testing kits. the government says the site — for key workers with symptoms — will be taking more bookings tomorrow. it comes as the coronavirus death toll climbed again. 768 more people are reported to have died with coronavirus, mostly in hospitals across the uk. the total death toll has risen to 19,506. it doesn't include deaths in the community in england and north ireland. hugh pym's report contains some flashing images. say ah. pop—up units run by the army, part of the new push in england to boost virus testing. the number of drive—through centres is being expanded, and more home test kits will be sent out. all to handle possible demand from up to 10 million key workers and their families. but by mid—morning, all slots bookable online for today had been taken by 11,000 people, and 5000 more ordered home test kits. the department of health apologised for any inconvenience, and said booking would restart tomorrow, with capacity expanded. mike, who is a teacher, had symptoms and wants to know if it's safe to go to work. he managed to get a test slot. the whole process was very seamless, and i was able to register, and then ijust had to wait for the e—mail to come through, and once i'd got that e—mail, i quickly logged onto the site and selected the testing centre for me, and it has been really easy. mike later drove to the testing centre in peterborough. he showed the e—mail he received. it was scanned by a member of staff, and the test went ahead. he is hoping for the result by monday. at another drive—through centre, essential workers who'd had their nasal and throat swabs taken told us about the process. it was the most painless, easy thing to have been done, and i'm actually amazed that there's not more people here. i must say that all the stations were empty except mine. there two cars in front of me, and there was no one behind me. so they've got the infrastructure in place. theyjust need the people now. but some weren't so lucky. one said he logged on and been told to expect a text within an hour, but it never came. i would have appreciated it if after the hour then i'd got the message to say, it's not happening today, can you do it again tomorrow. but waiting the whole day, it's like waiting for a parcel that never turned up. the scottish government said it was ready to go live with a similar system to england, with laboratories like this one in glasgow analysing the tests. at the downing street media briefing, i asked how much more testing capacity would be provided. obviously you don't want people's expectations to be disappointed. are you pretty confident that you can to meet the demand that is out there, certainly in the next week or so? we'll see how it settles down. but we're encouraged by the 16,000 bookings online, indeed 116,000 people went to the portal first thing today. there are some more slots opening up right now as i'm speaking, and there will be more slots tomorrow and the days after. the nhs has a spare critical care beds even with the covid—19 patient numbers, and the head of nhs england said there might now be scope to restart some more routine work which had been cancelled. it looks as if we are now coming through the peak of the coronavirus inpatients, and so we have got spare capacity in hospitals across the country, and that means that as well as other critical and urgent services, we will be able to restart some of those more routine services that the nhs is also here to provide. the welsh government is also looking ahead, publishing a strategy for the exit from lockdown, which could involve a traffic light system, moving from red with some restrictions lifted, possibly as soon as next month, to a green phase, with very few left in place. and hugh is with me now. another very big death toll today, almost 800 more deaths in 2a hours, but some good news from the intensive care units. that's right, hospitals around the country readily increased their critical care beds capacity, intensive care beds with ventilators, converting other wards and bring them onstream, and we've got those big temporary hospitals as well for covid—19 patients, but one slide show today at media briefing was interesting, showing a fall in the numbers. if we look at that, this is the overall number of critical care beds. the percentage occupied by covid—19 patients. you can see it's come down in every part of the uk below 50%. actually, there has been a fall of 13% over the last week in the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care. so certainly heading in the right direction, and we heard earlierfrom sir simon stevens, head of nhs england, that soon, because of this full in the number of covid—19 patients, more routine work could start up again, and knee replacements, cataracts and so on, possibly in a matter of weeks, i understand. but there is a big backlog to clear from all of the cancelled procedures for the last couple of months, never mind the existing very large waiting list. so it will take some considerable time to get to grips with that. almost 20,000 people have now died in hospitals in the uk from coronavirus — among them this week identical twin sisters. katy and emma davis were 37 years old and died within days of each other. katy was a children's nurse in southampton. her twin emma — who had also worked as a nurse — died in the early hours of this morning. duncan kennedy reports. katy and emma davis were twin sisters who dedicated themselves to life, to nursing and to each other. emma had helped care for sick adults. katy had devoted her life to poorly children. both contracted coronavirus. katy died on tuesday. emma died last night. their younger sister zoe asked to speak to us to convey the family's pain. they were angels on earth, and now they're angels in heaven. we were all really close as a family, and just, yeah. best friends. they were my best friends as well. and even though they've left us here, i think they‘ re never really going to leave us. applause. they had both worked at southampton‘s university hospital. emma had since left, last night colleagues clapped for the loss of katy, not knowing that emma was to die as well a few hours later. it doesn't feel that any of this is real. i'm going to wake up in a minute. um... but they always said that they came in the world together, so they'll go out together, so that's what they've done. both women had underlying health problems, but the death of twins within three days of each other from covid—19 underscores its merciless, relentless power to shock. i can't be with my mum and dad, who i loved with all my heart. i can't hold anyone, because you're so petrified you're going to get it yourself. and you can't grieve properly because you can't be with the people that you love. katy and emma davis, a story of doubled life and dual loss. duncan kennedy, bbc news. that was duncan kennedy talking to katy and emma's sister zoe. retail sales have suffered the biggest drop since records began, falling by more than 5 percent last month. the figures from the office for national statistics show that clothing has been particularly hard hit — it's down by 35%. the one sector that is booming, not surprisingly, is food and alcohol. our business editor simonjack reports. there was nothing spiffy about today's figures from the high street. owners of the self—styled happiness store saw commercial misery, as retail sales dropped at their fastest rate since records began 3a years ago. in the two weeks in the run—up to lockdown, we were down 24% on last year, and then obviously since we've closed the doors, we've had nothing coming in as a result of the shop being closed. whether you have one store or 100, and have an online presence, like this maker of mother and baby clothes, there's been no escaping the deadly economic consequences of a virus that has emptied our high streets. the reality is, overnight, we lost all our retail sales, and our retail overheads continue. yes, of course, we've had some help from the government. we've had a rates holiday, and we're negotiating with our landlords, but that's not the full picture in retail. we have shops which have become sarcophaguses for stock which is time—sensitive. so is the entire economy. the longer the lockdown goes on, the greater the economic damage. this is one of the uk's busiest shopping venues. right now, it is the scene of an unfolding economic disaster. today is the first time that statistics have caught up with what is blindingly obvious to see — and, remember, these numbers only capture two weeks of the lockdown period, just a foretaste of the grim news ahead. so it heaps further pressure on the government to supply even more assistance to struggling businesses. the government has already offered an 80% guarantee to those who lend money to virus—hit businesses. it's been under pressure to increase that. this was the chancellor on monday. i'm not persuaded that moving to a 100% guarantee is the right thing to do. well, that could change. the government is considering fully backing loans of up to £25,000 for the smallest businesses — a good move, say business groups. although many of them don't want to take on loans, they haven't taken on loans before, they know theyjust need to be able to pay their bills, to cover their overheads. many of them have furloughed workers but have other bills to pay. it will keep them afloat, and everyjob that is saved now will enable our economy to recover more quickly in the future. debenhams has said it will permanently close its major stores in wales if the government there doesn't reverse the decision to withhold business rates relief for biggerfirms. in better news, b&q has reopened half its doors, but we are a very, very long way from business as usual. simon jack, bbc news. the metropolitan police says it has made more than 4,000 arrests for domestic abuse in recent weeks. the force, which is the country's largest, says phone calls reporting domestic abuse have risen bya third. police around the uk, and domestic abuse charities, have urged victims to seek help during the lockdown. the technology firm dyson says the medical ventilator it has been developing to help treat patients with covid—19 is no longer required in the uk. dyson says it had received an order for 10,000 ventilators last month and which has yet to be approved by regulators. but the government has now said its services are no longer required. three quarters of a million people applied to become nhs volunteer responders when the scheme opened a month ago. since then 600,000 have been accepted — but so far only 50,000 "tasks" have been carried out. it's caused frustration among would—be volunteers, as well as confusion among some vulnerable people who want access to the service. now organisers have apologised for the delays, and opened a helpline where people can register for support. judith moritz reports. my name is rebecca and i volunteered for the role of checking and chat. rebecca applied to be an nhs volunteer four weeks ago. it was a fortnight before she was approved and, as of now, she's still to receive a single request to help someone in need. i've been on the app, and you mark yourself as on duty. since then — mainly in the evenings and weekends — nothing. i've not had anything. so, there's total of 75 hours i've been online, ready to volunteer and either make or take calls, and i've heard nothing. rebecca says she feels doubly frustrated on behalf of her parents, who don't live near her. herfather, peter, has a lung disease and is entitled to help from the scheme. but they didn't know how to get it. in the shielding letter, it actually tells you to get friends or family to collect your prescriptions, and that's from the government. so you personally haven't phoned up or tried to access the nhs scheme? no. i wasn't aware of it, to be honest. could you do with extra help? i think we're all right now, because the community has kicked in. going from door to door, local schemes, like this one in liverpool, were quick to get going — many communities helping to look after themselves. we're almost done. we've seen roy and tony. we are doing a lot of sort of courtesy calls to keep people company, things like that. we've started to deliver hot meals, really anything we can put our mind to, because, as i say, the experience within our community is quite significant and, if you organise that, it can be quite a powerful thing. there's a whole range of organisations offering help, some of which overlap. local councils are delivering government food boxes. charities and community groups have sprung into action, and the nhs volunteers can help with jobs like delivering groceries and medicine, amongst other things. not everybody who's eligible for the help knows where to go for it. that might be why there are many more nhs volunteers than jobs for them to do so far. the organisers have now opened a hotline to make it easier for vulnerable people to request help. there are volunteers who are frustrated that they're not being used. the numbers of tasks being done isn't huge. is this working? the key is that we give everybody the opportunity to get themselves into the system. anybody who feels that they're at risk or vulnerable, who feels that they can get support from a shopping role or prescription pick—ups or maybe a call, please do give us a ring. you can find our number on the royal voluntary service website, and we'll be able to get you some support. every project, big and small, has a part to play. the work of volunteers is proving notjust valuable but vital during this crisis. judith moritz, bbc news. the former watchdog presenter, lynn faulds wood has died suddenly at the age of 72. she had a stroke last night and died in hospital at lunchtime. her husband and son were with her. lynn presented watchdog with her husband john stapleton in the 19805 and early 905. she was a passionate and pioneering consumer journalist and also a cancer campaigner after surviving bowel cancer 30 years ago. just before she fell ill last night, she had been outside with her husband and all her neighbours leading the applause to nhs workers and carers, as she's been doing every week. lynn faulds wood, who's died at the age of 72. the united nations has issued an urgent appeal to save hundreds of rohingya refugees who are thought to be stranded out at sea on people—smuggling boats. the refugees had been living in vast camps in bangladesh for three years after fleeing persecution in myanmar. it's thought dozens have already died on board one boat which had been trying to reach malaysia but was repeatedly turned away from shore because of virus fears. 0ur south asia correspondent rajini vaidya nathan's report contains some distressing images. staggering to safety. scared, starving and stateless = after months stranded at sea. rohingya refugees, including unaccompanied children, back onshore after the boat they'd boarded to malaysia was turned away for fear they'd bring coronavirus to the country. rescued by the bangladesh coast guard, the hundreds who survived tell the tale of the dozens who didn't. forced to drink sea water to stay alive. eyewitnesses say the bodies of those who didn't make were thrown into the sea. mohammed made the perilous journey after borrowing money to pay a smuggler. i couldn't find work in the refugee camps, he said. the boat was cramped. we were hungry and i felt sick. when we got to malaysia, we were turned away twice. now i feel unlucky and sad. it's believed hundreds more refugees are trapped on boats which were also turned away from malaysia. i asked the bangladeshi foreign minister whether they could return. will you turn the boats away, then? yell it is difficult, because we don't want to see people who are dying. it's not the responsibility of bangladesh alone to take care of all the stateless people of the planet earth. ask the global leaders, like you were saying, uk, european union. who will help the now? as the world shuts its borders because of coronavirus, the rohingya refugees hope that the world doesn't close its eyes to their plight. rajini vaidyanathan, its eyes to their plight. rajini vaidya nathan, bbc its eyes to their plight. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. more than 50,000 people have now died in america with coronavius. it comes as one of the world's biggest manufacturers of disinfectants warned people not to follow president trump's suggestion that injecting themselves with it could treat coronavirus. 0ne leading company said "under no circumstance" should its products be put into human bodies. the president today said his remarks had been sarcastic. 0ur north american editor, jon sopel, has more. controversially, some of florida's beaches reopened last week. but maybe it was a smart thing to do. according to new research conducted by us government scientists, sunlight, heat and humidity dramatically reduce the life of coronavirus in the air and on hard surfaces. the scientists said it acted as a powerful disinfectant. and that led the president to muse on whether disinfectant could be used inside the human body to kill the virus. and then i see the disinfectant, that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. and it is there a way we can do something like that? by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? because you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. so it would be interesting to check that. the president's chief medical adviser looked as though she'd have liked harry potter's cloak of invisibility. in a minute, one minute. new lysol spray disinfectant... for over a century, lysol has been one of america's top—selling brands of bleach, but today, in 2020, the manufacturers felt forced to issue a statement saying under no circumstances should people ingest disinfectant. doctors, health professionals and politicians are similarly disbelieving. very clearly, disinfectants are not intended for ingestion, either by mouth, by ears, by breathing them in in any way, shape or form. but today, the president has sought to explain away the controversy by asserting that he wasn't actually being serious. but i was asking a sarcastic, a very sarcastic question, to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside. but it does kill it, and it would kill it on the hands, and that would make things much better. that was done in the form of a sarcastic question to the reporters. another question being asked forcibly is whether now is the right time to reopen the us economy. in georgia today, hairdressers, nail salons, tattoo parlours were able to resume business, even though coronavirus is still a serious problem in the state. now, leave to one side the question of whether sarcasm is quite appropriate from the presidential podium in the midst of a pandemic, donald trump's account is not exactly what happened. i was at last night's briefing, and his remarks we re night's briefing, and his remarks were addressed entirely not to the reporters but to his chief medical adviser and an official from the department of homeland security. and he seemed deadly serious. now, the white house has been scrambling all day to come up with an explanation that will withstand scrutiny. it's not entirely clear that this is it. jon sopel, thank you. turkey is in lockdown with restrictions in place affecting most of the population. the country has the seventh highest number of confirmed cases in the world, but fewer deaths than other countries with a similar number of cases. the authorities say the outbreak is under control, but medical sources have told the bbc the real number of deaths is not being reported, as our international correspondent 0rla guerin reports. the new landscape of covid—19. istanbul under lockdown this weekend — like much of turkey, trying to shut out an invisible killer. the official death toll here is relatively low, around 2,300, but medical sources say the real picture could be a lot worse because turkey only counts those who tested positive for the virus. this intensive care doctor tells me he has treated about 100 covid patients. we cannot reveal his identity, but an actor is voicing his words. not all patients test positive. when we try to register patients who test negative in the system, we cannot do it. how many deaths of covid—19 do you think are not actually being recorded in the statistics? only half of our patients who died from covid—19 have that listed as the cause of death. we have to multiply the official number of deaths by two playing with the real statistics creates a perception that the process is being handled very well. turkey has more intensive care beds than many european countries and a much lower fatality rate from the virus. it denies deaths have been underreported. the health minister, fahrettin koca, says the country has given the world health organisation the information it wants in a transparent manner and will continue to do so. but the who recommends probable cases, like torhan kaya, should be counted. the turkish actor died last month. his son theo told us he had all the symptoms of covid—19 but tested negative, so it wasn't on the death certificate. theo is bereft without them. he was charming. he was a real gentleman and he was an incredible dad, a really best friend. he had a lot of people who loved him because of that. he'd give you everything and not ask anything in return. no, he was incredible, truly. obviously you have spoken out, and i know you spoke out before on twitter. i wonder, do you feel like this is something you have to do in memory of your father? i do it for my father, but i do it for a lot of people who haven't lost their father yet and i hope that they never will. but i do it for my dad, but i do it because i know that my dad would've done the same. this is a holiday weekend here, but like no other. the turkish medical association says shedding more light on the number of deaths will help the country emerge from this crisis. 0rla guerin, bbc news, istanbul. a ban on religious and social gatherings because of the pandemic has had a huge effect on the first day of islam's holy month of ramadan. changes include this at mecca in saudi arabia. usually the iconic grand mosque is packed with worshippers from across the globe, but access for foreign muslim pilgrims has been suspended. around a million people work in the uk's pub and breweries sector, which has been hard hit by the lockdown. with pubs told they'll be among the last places to re—open when restrictions lift, some have adapted to provide takeaways and home deliveries. but others are having to pour their stocks of lager and ale away, as our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. there are thousands of gallons of lovingly—brewed beer right now going to waste. the landlord of the gardener's arms in norwich disposed of his ten real ales to the hymn played as the titanic sank. we have a cellar full of beer, which is probably all going to be out of date within the next two or three weeks. a lot of the brewers who brew with the products, they love what they do. it's really sad to think that all that beer and all that hard work is being wasted and thrown away. i drank a little bit, but i can't drink loads of it, so i think, all in all, we're up to nearly 6,000 gallons of beer that we're due to throw away. in cool rooms and cellars across the uk, its estimated there are some 50 million pints that will suffer the same fate, while off—licence sales of alcohol have jumped by nearly a third. so this bar in belfast came up with an idea. while the rules have been relaxed to allow pubs to operate as takeaways, the hatfield now looks more like a call centre, taking orders forfood and drinks, and they added an extra service — delivering fresh pints of guinness. we decided to kit out a wee van, put a keg in the back of it, pull up at your house and pour you an absolutely perfect, fresh pint of stout. it sparked a big demand... you've got the nice perfect head on it... ..and worldwide attention, but after drivers were stopped by police, they were forced to put the deliveries on hold. stopped me and told me it was illegal, but couldn't tell me under what section of the liquor licensing act it was illegal. so where will you go with this? we do believe we were operating within the law. this is about keeping people in employment. police say prosecutors are now considering whether any action should be taken for a breach of licensing laws. but the pub‘s mounting its own legal challenge, saying they were within the rules and that they need to adapt to survive. a typical friday in belfast‘s cathedral quarter, pre—pandemic. it's a ghost town here now, and the government says that pubs and bars will be some of the last places that can reopen. we have nearly 80% of our staff on furlough at the moment, so we are being very clear and direct with the government and saying, "if you want our pubs to survive this, you must support us throughout the period of closure and also throughout the period of reopening." but with some forms of social distancing possibly lasting up to the end of the year, that won't happen quickly. meanwhile there are questions over the extent to which a pub is allowed to bring the bar to you. emma vardy, bbc news. throughout the coronavirus outbreak, we've been hearing from front line health workers about the challenges they face. 0ur health correspondent catherine burns is keeping in touch with a range of staff, and has asked them to keep video diaries. this evening we hear from physiotherapist

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