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emissions ever recorded. did you hear that? i can hear a duck. and archie turns one in california — harry and meghan release this video to mark their son's birthday. hello. good afternoon. borisjohnson has led his first prime minister's questions since recovering from coronavirus, where he faced criticism from the labour leader sir keir starmer over the government's response to the pandemic. speaking in the commons, mrjohnson said he bitterly regretted the epidemic which has swept through care homes, after labour accused him of failing to get to grips with the number of deaths there. the prime minister also said he hoped there would be an easing of lockdown measures from monday, although he did not give details on what those might be. and he set a new goal of doubling testing capacity to 200,000 by the end of the month. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley has the details. not much feels normaljust now, not at westminster, not around the country. here, though, scrutiny of the government's strategy goes on and questions are being asked, after the uk's death toll overtook italy's to become the highest in europe so far. after a six—week absence during which he had coronavirus, the prime minister heading back to parliament to face some of those questions, for the first time from new labour leader keir starmer. i'm looking forward to it and i'm glad to see he's back in parliament. i would like to welcome the prime minster back to his rightful place in the chamber. his government was accused of acting too slowly at the start of the crisis. at least 29,427 people in the uk have now lost their lives to this dreadful virus. that's now the highest number in europe. it's the second highest in the world. that is not success, or apparent success, so can the prime minister tell us how on earth did it come to this. to the government has argued it is too early for international comparisons, and defends its strategy. at every stage, as we took the decisions that we did, we were governed by one overriding principle and aim, and that was to save lives and to protect our nhs. mrjohnson also said he wanted testing increased again, up to 200,000 per day, but he faced pressure too on the situation in care homes. whilst happily in hospitals it looks as though deaths are falling, deaths in care homes continue to go up. he is absolutely right to say there is an epidemic going on in care homes, which is something i bitterly regret and we have been working very hard for weeks to get it down. the prime minister will reveal the next stage of the government strategy on sunday. it's possible there could be changes as soon as monday. but while there is pressure here to get the economy moving again, few think doing that will be quick or easy. as the lockdown continues, though, this man, neil ferguson, one of the most prominent scientists advising the government, resigned after the daily telegraph reported his married lover had visited his home against the government's own advice. when it comes, normal might look quite different, lifting restrictions is likely to be gradual. scenes like this won't disappear overnight. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. the health secretary has again defended the government's testing strategy. matt hancock has also denied that the government had left people in care homes more vulnerable to the virus by prioritising hospitals. our health correspondent anna collinson reports. 100,000 daily tests by the end of april was the promise. and last friday the government said the deadline had been met. i can announce we have met our goal. the number of tests yesterday, on the last day of april, was 122,310. but over the last three days, the government has failed to hit its target, most recently reaching around 85,000. testing capacity has increased in recent weeks with kits available to order online and testing sites popping up all over the uk. but the government and its advisers admit it should have happened sooner and faster. this morning the health secretary for england spoke to sky news. it would have been wonderful if we had gone into this crisis with a global—scale diagnostics industry, yes. but, you know, in the way that for instance germany did. but we went in more like other countries like france, which similarly have had to build testing capability almost from scratch. the health secretary also dismissed claims that the elderly had been sacrificed so the nhs wasn't overwhelmed. prime minister boris johnson says he bitterly regrets the epidemic in care homes. his ambition is now to reach 200,000 daily tests by the end of this month. the uk now has the highest number of coronavirus deaths in europe, a development described as a massive tragedy. as this graph shows, cases in italy were reported earlier in march, but the uk saw a steeper curve at the end of the month and has now surpassed italy, with more than 29,000 deaths reported. currently only the us has a higher number of recorded deaths and labour wants answers. why have we had so many more deaths than countries such as germany? why did we pulled out of our testing and tracing in march? why did we miss opportunities to upscale testing? these are the questions we need to be asking. but we are being warned to be careful when comparing countries. the uk and italy both use a similar definition for deaths, people who test positive for the virus before dying, but there are important differences which can influence the data. italy has so far conducted more tests. 0n the other hand, the uk has a larger population. when looking at covid deaths per capita, belgium has the highest number in the world. you have to take a lot of numbers into account. there are smaller countries which will naturally have a lower death rate. it is likely to be months, maybe years, before we can really know which country has the highest death toll. but that is little consolation for those grieving loved ones now. anna collinson, bbc news. meanwhile, nicola sturgeon will announce tomorrow whether lockdown measures in scotland are to continue for at least another three weeks. figures out today show there has been a fall in the number of coronavirus deaths. the data from the national records of scotland showed that last week 523 people had died with the virus, down from 658 the week before. the figures also showed that the majority of scottish deaths — nearly 60% — were in care homes. and as we mentioned in terms of lockdown, as we heard at prime minister's questions, boris johnson did suggest that they could possibly be some sort of easing of some of the measures, perhaps as early as monday. we will get a little bit more of a steer about that on this sunday as we have been reflecting here, and let's take a few minutes to talk a little bit about life after lockdown. a programme to widen pavements and introduce new cycle lanes has been introduced by transport for london and the city's mayor sadiq khan. the london streetspace programme is aimed at encouraging people to walk or cycle to work once lockdown restrictions are eased, so that pressure is relieved on the underground tube system. so let's find out how it might work. joining me now to talk about that is the mayor of london, sadiq khan. a very good afternoon for you. good afternoon, jane. that is a big project in a short period of time. how much can you really achieve? this is the biggest transformation on london's street ever, and it is the biggest transformation of any city of our size ever undertaken. and the reason why we have to do this is even if we provide 100% of tube and bus capacity, for us to adhere to social distancing rules, we can only afford to have between 13 and 20% of our normal passengers. what we don't want is our passengers to go from the tube and bus to driving their car, because even a slight increase in car usage can lead to london grinding to a halt. so what we need to do is be prepared for people to walk or cycle, and that's why what we are doing is widening pavements, we have already doubled the size of pavements in camden and stoke newington high street, working with the councils there. we have also widened pavements across london and will continue to do so. we are also doing things like making sure there are more temporary cycle lanes to make people feel confident and safe using their bike, and also for some roads, there should only be roads so that you can get your home rather than vehicles being able to use them, so we are trying to be as ready as we can be for lockdown first be modified or lifted. but boris johnson said at lunchtime that there might be some easing even next week. realistically, how much... you can't have everything in place by then? realistically, how much... you can't have everything in place by themm will be a real challenge if modification being eased means any more people using buses and tubes in rush—hour. it is really important that when the prime minister makes his announcement on sunday he makes it clear that construction sites or schools need to stagger their open and closed times to avoid that congestion in rush—hour. but we have already made really good progress in the last few days already across london. londoners who have to leave their home for good reasons will already seek out some construction taking place. this is easy, quick things like cones on our roads, not major construction. these are temporary bollards on our roads and the temporary widening of the pavements to make it safe. what we are not going to be doing is undertaking massive construction that can take some time. this is quick, fast track pieces of work that will lead to the amount of cycling potentially being increased tenfold and the amount of walking potentially increasing fivefold. i'm not a cyclist, but my friends in the capital who are say there are some parts of the capital still where it is very dangerous. some major roads that, with the best will in the world, once the economy is back up and running, those places are still dangerous. however fantastic your intentions, there is only so much that can be done, and if you add to the number of cyclist on the road, thatis the number of cyclist on the road, that is even more of a challenge for cyclists. it shouldn't be. in the last four years since i became mayor we have troubled the amount of cycleways we have that are segregated from vehicles. we have also undertaken a majorjunction improvements across london. those have had to pause for the reasons of covid—19, but what we are doing now is doing temporary measures, which we hope may become permanent if londoners want them to become permanent. it is really important we do this, because the alternative is london grinding to a halt because people return to their cars. what we can't afford to happen is essential deliveries or emergency services not being able to use our roads because they are clogged up by people using their cars, as we have seen in the far east when the lockdown has been lifted. and the people who don't know london, don't live and work in the capital, it's worth reminding people, you touched on it at the beginning but it is worth reminding people that in a normal rush hour, 325,000 people get on the tube in a 15 minute period. more than 300,000 people. very best case scenario, we could only have 50,000 people trying to do that. that is gridlocked, and i hear everything you say about wanting to make it better, wanting everybody to walk or cycle if they possibly can, but in reality, when businesses are up and running again, which is an economic necessity, what on earth is going to happen in the capital? what are you going to say to people? what we can't afford to happen is a resumption to business as usual. the new normal will be very different from what life was like before covid—19. those of us who can work from home should continue working from home. you only go to work if you really, really have to. i will give you an idea of the scale of the challenge. 0n have to. i will give you an idea of the scale of the challenge. on a normal day we have 4 million tube journeys, and north of 6 million bus journeys. we need to reduce that to between 30 and 20% ——13—20% if we are to carry on with social distancing, which is why i expect the prime minister not to introduce a total lift of lockdown, but a phasing. we can't have all schools we re phasing. we can't have all schools were turning straightaway. 0n phasing. we can't have all schools were turning straightaway. on a normal day we have 1.5 million bus journeys made by schoolchildren at 200,000 tubejourneys journeys made by schoolchildren at 200,000 tube journeys made journeys made by schoolchildren at 200,000 tubejourneys made by schoolchildren, that is why it is really important to phase the lifting of lockdown, if for no other reason, we can't afford to have a second wave with this pandemic which would be catastrophic to lives being lost but also catastrophic to our economy as well. this lockdown has come in mercifully good weather, so people can walk, they can cycle, it is more pleasurable, it is more possible. we get to november, it's pouring with rain, whatare get to november, it's pouring with rain, what are you going to say to people? are you literally going to have guards at the entrance to the end and tube station saying, sorry, this line is full, you can't come in? november is a long way off. but we are not going to have a vaccine by november, so we are going to have to think about what we do in the winter. in the short term what we are going to do is work with british transport police, our own staff and the met police service to make sure that we haven't got huge numbers of people going to the platforms. we are also concerned about those stations which are interchanges where you have got commuter trains coming in and decanting passengers. that is why we have already got major signs up around our station so that people know where two metres apartare. that people know where two metres apart are. but you are right to raise the challenge we have got in relation to what happens with stations and potential queues. in paris, for example, they are talking about the streets next to stations being closed off for potential long queues. these are the sorts of things we are working on, because we have to be cognisant that as soon as businesses start returning and working in their offices, it could lead to a bigger need for people to leave their homes. and that is why it is important to have ready alternatives like walking and cycling as well as being able to increase capacity in a safe way on public transport. thank you very much for now. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, thank you. the coronavirus lockdown has resulted in the fastest decline in carbon emissions ever recorded because of the falling global demand for transport and energy. now the government is being urged to ensure that progress in tackling climate change continues, once the epidemic is over. 0ur chief environment correspondent justin rowlatt reports. how about you, lauren, i know you are working on that announcement this morning. we are all getting used to new ways of working. kelly is a vice president of the credit card company mastercard. since lockdown she's been working from home with meetings moving online, there is no more three hour to work every day. though she now has other challenges to contend with. look, we've got some visitors. hello, guys. how are you doing? you'll be surprised to hear they want some food. i think lots of people used to work from home one day a week and it's hard to be good at something when you only do it once a week. i think we have all become experts at working from home so companies will now have more productive employees when they work from home and therefore you can enable them to do it more often. today boris johnson's advisers on climate change urged him to invest in making homeworking easier. they say any attempt to kick—start the economy has to help us all move towards lower carbon lifestyles. this is a moment to unfreeze what was previously a set of things that were set in stone. so we will have to re—examine priorities across the whole economy and the government will have to lead us through the recovery phase. let's make sure that we think about the climate priorities as we do that. these are sensible steps that will make the economy more resilient in the future and we should think about that right now. the committee on climate change says the government needs to invest to make homes more energy efficient, to decarbonise our transport and energy systems, and to retrain workers for a low carbon world. the government told the bbc today it is working to ensure there will be a green and resilient recovery from covid—19. finland has enshrined the right to flexible working in law. one of its advisers says we can change the way we live and work too. this situation forced us to change our behaviour. now i'm hoping people can somehow think about their lives more generally. if i was able to change my life this drastically. so in the future i might be able to keep some of the good sides of these behaviour changes. lockdown has given us a glimpse of a cleaner, greener world, but we do need to get the economy going again. the challenge will be doing that in a way that locks in some of the low—carbon habits we have all been learning. justin rowlatt, bbc news, london. well, can those clean skies persist because mac lets ask someone with huge experience in this field. professor sir david king was the uk's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, and the government's permanent special representative for climate change from 2013 to 2017. hejoins me now. a very good afternoon to you, sir david. good afternoon. these are very big questions. it is fantastic that there has been something positive emerging from lockdown, but how much optimism do you have that we can grasp this in a societal way, and that our ways might change for the better in relation to the climate? i think, jane, the two previous reports, both from the mayor of london and the report on the need for change, indicate that we are the need for change, indicate that we a re really the need for change, indicate that we are really fortunate in one sense in having this pandemic. we know that the world as a whole is faced with two global challenges. 0ne that the world as a whole is faced with two global challenges. one of theseis with two global challenges. one of these is an existential threat, that is climate change, to our global civilisation. the other one, there isa civilisation. the other one, there is a virus, has shut down global economies and is causing very significant fatalities. so as we move forward, we know these two are connected by several factors. move forward, we know these two are connected by severalfactors. there is of course a major difference. humanity will survive the pandemic. but they are both challenges which recognise no borders, and they are challenges where the scientific community over the past many decades has provided detailed, progressive a nalyses has provided detailed, progressive analyses warning governments of the risk, and setting out clear programmes. in both cases, the policies pursued by governments has mostly been inadequate, the british government has been one of the leaders in this area. but there is another overall driver for global paradigms change, which is what we are looking at, which is the growing world population. it is scheduled to rise to 10 billion, 11 billion by the end of the century, and this is coupled to a very welcome massive increase in the global middle class, from 1 billion in the year 2000, we are well over 3 billion today. it carries with it an enormous increase in the demand for natural resources such as land, minerals, food, including livestock, cotton, steel, and on public well—being and health. it also delivers an increased rate of greenhouse gas emissions, but also in addition to that, pollutants, waste, environmental pollution, loss of biodiversity. we are in the process of seeing our ecosystems unwinding, and we depend on them for our survival. i'm sorry to interrupt you, because you articulate the challenges and the scenario very clearly. but i'm interested in whether you feel, because you talked about some government responses being inadequate. i'm interested whether you feel this extraordinary drop in greenhouse gas emissions that we have seen can... where will that go? because by definition, once economies do start coming out of lockdown, 1'sjob economies do start coming out of lockdown, 1's job creation economies do start coming out of lockdown, 1'sjob creation begins again, we know the impact that that has on our climate. can we as a result of what we have been through in many countries find a balance after lockdown? i think we will. i have a sense of optimism about this. we are all learning just how well we can live, or many of us are learning how well we can live from our homes. we are learning how to use zoom and skype and all of these mechanisms for keeping in touch. i'm having conversations with people around the world in a way that previously i would have had to travel to those countries to have those conversations. all of that is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. i think the air industry will never recover to the levels it has been out recently. that does mean that we will see various areas of income generation, particularly around travel, being diminished. but in terms of the current lockdown, it affords us as has been suggested a glimpse ofan affords us as has been suggested a glimpse of an alternative paradigms, and that is focused on the well—being of all people and on the well—being of all people and on the well—being of all people and on the well—being of our ecosystems. well—being of all people and on the well-being of our ecosystems. and you mentioned aviation, which is interesting because we have talked about that so much, and we know that there are thousands ofjobs at sta ke, there are thousands ofjobs at stake, the economic impact of that is enormous, but of course the flip side being that has a positive impact for the environment. are you in the camp where you say we have to see this as an opportunity, the jobs that have been lost there have to be created in other ways, in green energy, for example? absolutely, so what we have been focusing on too slowly is the way we invest in infrastructure for the future. as mark carney has been saying frequently since 2015, we must cut back to zero on infrastructure for the future, building it today, which is high carbon. and focusing on all of those things also means reducing the amount of travel. we know that we can get to electric vehicles. we know we can produce electricity without using coal and gas or oil. we know that we can make that future happen. but we will be looking at this massive rise in global population, so we will never be able to return safely to the former mode of living. i think the previous century of living. i think the previous ce ntu ry got of living. i think the previous century got us into thinking around the business of every country focusing on military hardware, military expenditure. we are spending a lot of money on renewing nuclear weapons here in the united states as well. military power and economic dominance play no role in either climate change or in managing a pandemic. the new 21st—century approach has to be different. that is the full paradigms shift that i believe we may be setting in place right now. and that is fascinating from your perspective, and with your wealth of experience in that area. while you are with us, may i on coronavirus specifically ask you about testing, because you will know i'm sure that the health secretary has again today been defending the government's strategy. we heard borisjohnson in the commons talking about trying to increase the capacity again for testing. he was talking about lab capacity, but he was talking about 200,000 lab capacity by the end of may. what is your assessment of testing, where we are today? where we are today compared with where we should have been is in a very poor state. i don't think we can duck the issue, that we only got into this in any sort of serious weight late in march, and what did the government do to prepare ourselves for more testing back onjanuary do to prepare ourselves for more testing back on january the do to prepare ourselves for more testing back onjanuary the 23rd when we had all of the information about the new virus from china? what do we do to start preparing ourselves when we had run down our capacity in our national health service? we had months to do that. we are looking at the comparison with germany, but my best comparison in europe is with greece. the greek economy, nowhere near as strong as ours, the national health service and there, nowhere near as strong as ours, but nevertheless in greece, starting the 3rd of march, they began the lockdown process. greece's deaths per head of population, let me make that comparison absolute, per head of population is the only way to look at it, is a tiny fraction of ours, like 250, and they are now able from may the 11th to begin emerging from the lockdown process. what they did is everything right. they set up all the testing they had to do. they brought in all they had to do. they brought in all the ppe they knew they would need, and they brought in all the masks for the population as they go out of lockdown, they will be required to wear face marks as they go shopping. i think we have fared extremely badly. and is it too late? is it possible to catch up, or scientifically is it simply too late? is it worth while talking about having that capacity of 200,000 in labs by the end of may? it is of course worthwhile, but i wa nt to it is of course worthwhile, but i want to hear, what is the programme? testing is for what purpose? it is for two purposes. one is to tell us to what extent this epidemic has penetrated around the country, but it also serves a purpose of finding out every new case of somebody going down with the virus and tracing every contact that person had in the previous two weeks, getting hold of those contacts as they have been doing in greece since the 3rd of march, getting hold of those contacts and making sure they are isolated. now, if you do that, you can bring it all to a halt. i haven't heard a word about why we need such testing. if the alternative, which is of course they are worried, which is that we are heading towards herd immunity, and thatis heading towards herd immunity, and that is may be government policy, we haven't heard that clearly, then what the testing would be doing is testing to see what proportion of us have actually had that covid virus, and are therefore likely to be immune. that is an important number if you are hoping to achieve immunity amongst a big and a proportion of the population that the virus can't take hold again. and thatis the virus can't take hold again. and that is really interesting. do you think that herd immunity is a policy, but it is not being talked about? i'm afraid it does look as if it might be. i would seriously like to ask that question of government ministers. what is the policy? is it to manage the epidemic so the national health service can manage the number of people who need hospital beds, or is it to overwhelm the virus and drive us into a state where we no longer have the epidemic quickly? now, if i'm looking at economic recovery, the two things that match together, one is get out of the pandemic as quickly as possible, and the other is with the fewest possible deaths. and to a nswer fewest possible deaths. and to answer your question, we can introduce policy to take us down that road quickly today, but we have to really focus on every detail. and one aspect of having the mayor of london on is very important. to what extent is the government engaging with mayors around the country, with local authorities, using the knowledge of their authorities to make sure that as we emerge from this lockdown we don't see that second spike? and let mejust this lockdown we don't see that second spike? and let me just say, this lockdown we don't see that second spike? and let mejust say, a second spike? and let mejust say, a second spike? and let mejust say, a second spike is going to take us back to square one. it means we go into lockdown again, and we go into lockdown for longer, and that would be bad for our economy and also bad for the number of fatalities. just before i let you go, sir david, may i ask you your thoughts about niall ferguson's resignation. is it a big loss? i think niall ferguson isa a big loss? i think niall ferguson is a top epidemiologist. if i were in sir patrick ‘s position, i would replace him. there are other epidemiologists in his own team and in our university sector. we strong in that area. i think we also need to see what is going to happen, in terms of perhaps getting a bit of balance on the sage committee, by which i mean for example we don't see too many people from the engineering and manufacturing centre —— sector. going to make sure we have the ppe for the rest of the period, for the masks we need, and especially create the manufacturing capacity for vaccines for whenever they are developed anywhere in the world, so that we can have a sovereign vaccine development factory. very good of you to give us a much time, thank you for your insight. professor sir david king there, thank you for your time. let's just pause and take a look at the weather prospects now with helen willetts. very little change in the weather through the rest of today, so it is warm, dry, temperatures are up so it is warm, dry, temperatures are up on those yesterday by two or three degrees. still a little bit chilly near the north sea coast but warmer than it was yesterday. as we go through this evening and overnight, there is an outside chance of a shower for the isles of scilly, then that chance increases for northern ireland, and for the irish sea coasts of south—west england and wales, is that cloud makes its way northward. slightly more humid air here, not as chilly overnight, and even further east, although it will be quite chilly, it will not be as cold as it was this morning because we will have realised higher daytime temperatures. plenty of sunshine to come on thursday. yes, a bit more cloud for western fringes of england and wales and the outside, but more likely it could head a bit thundering into the afternoon and evening as well. if anything, temperatures a little up on those today once again. goodbye. hello this is bbc news. iamjane i amjane hill. the headlines... the prime minister says he bitterly regrets the coronavirus epidemic in care homes — after being challenged by the new labour leader — at their first meeting in prime minister's questions. i have to ask the prime minister, why hasn't the government got to grips with this already? there's an epidemic going on in care homes, which is something i, i bitterly regret. the prime minister also signalled that an easing of the lockdown could begin from monday — but that a final decision would depend on the latest scientific data. the health secretary matt hancock defends the government's testing strategy once again. good news on climate change — as lockdown results in the fastest decline in carbon emissions ever recorded. wait, listen, did you hearthat? i heard duck sounds. quack, quack. and archie turns one in california — harry and meghan release this video to mark their son's birthday. much more coming up in this half hour. right now, we will start with all the latest sports news. gavin jointly with that. hello. good afternoon. the premier league season could be cancelled if clubs do not agree to play in neutral venues, that's according to the league managers association chief executive richard bevan. the league has been suspended since the 13th of march because of the coronavirus pandemic. but a vote is set to take place on monday on proposals for a return to football behind closed doors in june. the proposal though needs 1a out of the 20 clubs to vote in favour for it to be adopted. brighton are one of the clubs "not in favour" of using neutral venues because it may affect the "integrity" of the competition. so what's it like for players who are back in training? arsenal were one of the first premier league teams to go back to their training ground. they've been working individually, and manager mikel arteta — who's recovered from the disease himself — says that their rules are very strict. the players have to arrive five minutes before the session in their own car, with their own clothes, with their own water, with their own ball, with their own boots, with their own protein bar for afterwards. they hit the pitch, it is one player per pitch, nothing else. they don't touch each other, they don't even look at each other. they don't have any fitness coaches, they have their programme. they hit the ground running, they finish after one hour. they have to go to their carand their house. we just want to look after our players and to be safe. medical experts and officials meet today, to discuss plans for when the sport can return, before a presentation to the pfa and league managers association. for many clubs not in training, they'll have to adapt to new practices when they come back, including possible use of protective equipment and social distancing. even before talking about masks, i think the structural organisation of the training ground is something that we need to be looked at at certain clubs. it may well be easier the higher up you are in terms of being a premier league club, but some other afl clubs, the basics will be a challenge. as for the football that we're going to see on tv first, get ready to become a fan of the german top flight. chancellor angela merkel‘s expected to approve the return of the bundesliga when she announces a relaxation of the lockdown rules in germany later today. the clubs have been back in training since early april, and could be back playing later this month. 0rganisers of the epsom derby and 0aks, are hoping to hold the classic races behind closed doors on the 11th ofjuly. jockey club racecourses, the track's owner, has submitted an application to epsom and ewell borough council — which also asks for all saturdays injuly and august to be approved for "flexibility". racing in britain is suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic and any resumption would depend on government approval. that's all the sport for now. thank you very much indeed, we will see you in the next hour. today, we've been focusing on the coronavirus pandemic impact on climate change. so much of that is because of lockdown in so many countries around the world, people not flying and travelling on the way we are used to, reduced demand generally for transport and energy, and that has seen a really dramatic fall. hailed as good news in terms of the climate change agenda. can it last? a question i was putting my last test. patricia espinosa is the executive secretary of united nations framework convention on climate change. shejoins me today she joins me today from germany. good afternoon. hello, jane. how are you? we are doing well here, thank you? we are doing well here, thank you very much, i hope you are as well in these unusual times and i'm interested to know from you whether you have optimism that the achievements, albeit for very peculiar reasons, that we have seen in the climate change agenda, can that continue once lockdown is eased around the world ? that continue once lockdown is eased around the world? i think the covered crisis has shown on the one side how much global prices can disrupt the lives of individuals around the world —— global crisis. at the same time it has shown the capacity of our society is to adapt to new reality, to adapt and respond ina very to new reality, to adapt and respond in a very determined manner to the challenge like this. so i am optimistic. i think we have a lot of good lessons to learn from the way that humanity has reacted in this pandemic, and the climate crisis was there before the covert crisis, so it is very clear this is no time to give up on climate, and no matter how much we need to really concentrate on help, we also need to address the climate crisis now. right, but when you say that to world leaders at the moment, i am wondering how many of them respond positively when you say i want to keep talking about our goals and emission targets when they are faced with a pandemic in their nation? so, look, leaders are now taking decisions regarding their recovery plans for after the crisis, so i think that what we need to really bring to their attention is the fact that already before the covert crisis, we knew that business as usual was not sustainable, so why would we want to invest all those resources in a recovery that will ta ke resources in a recovery that will take us back to that scenario? so this is not a division between the covert crisis recovery and the climate crisis recovery. we have to do it together. i appreciate you would say that, i'm just curious how much, how many people you speak to are on board with that as a strategy, because there will be leaders in countries who think goodness, people in my country have been living under lockdown for weeks and weeks and weeks, they have had a tough time, they are desperate to get out and travel and see the rest of their country and see the world again, it is human nature when you escape from this peculiar situation that we are certainly still in in this country, so how do you make that work, that natural human desire to wa nt that work, that natural human desire to want to get back out in the world, with trying to protect the planet? well, you knowl really have to say that even before this crisis, that plans for development, the strategies that countries were putting together were really based on sustainability, or were directed toward sustainability. if we take the example of the european union stop when the new leadership of the european union into office, just by the end of last year, the first thing they launched was this green new deal. now the discussions that are taking place in the european union have to do precisely with this. how do we make this green new deal compatible and bring the recovery from this covert crisis, which was completely unexpected, together with those plans that we have before? what is important is that we realise that going back to where we were is not going to take us where we were is not going to take us toa where we were is not going to take us to a better world, and now, as you have rightly mentioned, i think that societies have realised there isa that societies have realised there is a possibility to have a better situation. in some cities, people are looking at clearer skies. people are looking at clearer skies. people are also realising they do not need to consume as much in order to have a good standard of living, so i remain optimistic. 0f a good standard of living, so i remain optimistic. of course it is myjob but also i think as a mother, and within my family, i also feel this is the way we need to look at our way forward. well, no, we all wa nt our way forward. well, no, we all want some optimism at these times will stop thank you very much, patricia espinosa, very good to talk to you, executive secretary of the un framework convention on climate change. and we stay in germany. chancellor angela merkel has just met with germany's 16 state premiers to discuss how to further ease the country's coronavirus lockdown — our berlin correspondentjenny hill is there and explained to me a little earlier how the talks are progressing. now, we are expecting her to announce some fairly significant steps back to what passes for normality in these days of global pandemic. among the measures she is expected to announce, as i say, restaurants, hotels, shops are to reopen. children to go back to school before the summer holiday. all of that, of course, with strict social distancing measures. the bundesliga, germany's professional football league, we think may also be allowed to recommence, although games will be played behind closed doors. this all comes, of course, amid a background of falling infection rates here, good hospital capacity still, but, nevertheless, angela merkel is really concerned, i think, and actually she began that press conference really rather soberly. bear in mind, too, that all of these relaxations will come with some caveats, and there is still to be a ban on mass gatherings, there will still be a warning against international travel, and so we will wait to see what she has to say, she will be urging germans to exercise caution. jenny hill in berlin, an hour or so ago. a few lines are emerging from everything angela merkel has been saying since then. just to tell you that germany's chancellor has said "we can say we have reached the goal of slowing the virus and protecting germany's health care system". so those are just some of the comments that are emerging as we talked a little bit about some easing potentially of lockdown measures there in germany. one aspect of covid—19 that medics are trying to understand is why it affects people so differently. for many, the symptoms are mild, but for others the virus is much more serious. and some people struggle to shake off the symptoms for many weeks — leaving them exhausted and anxious. more details from our health correspondent dominic hughes. i have suspected coronavirus. what i was not prepared for wasjust excruciating leg pains. it's been seven weeks now. that feeling of being so diminished and so weak. seven weeks now. that feeling of being so diminished and so weakm came back on week four. in the fifth week of being ill, my partner had a call out a&e. week seven, i relapsed again and had my third way. for six weeks now, felicity aged 49 from london has been living with suspected coronavirus. david, 42, living in bristol, has also spent almost two months suffering relapses. this is where i have all my stuff, and make sure and keeping cutlery and bowls separate. david's world has shrunk to this room. self—isolating to protect his wife and baby daughter. self—isolating to protect his wife and baby daughterlj self—isolating to protect his wife and baby daughter. i am eating and sleeping here, separate from my wife the last seven weeks. it's hard work. but just the last seven weeks. it's hard work. butjust when he thought he was getting better, he would relapsed, and he's not alone. just knowing that people like me, i guess, who have experienced these waves of on and off, because when i first relapsed, when i first got worse, it was quite a scary experience, because i thought that, you know, you don't know whether that means you're going down, down, down, so it is quite scary to get worse, after you thought you were getting better. when i was really ill, i was going on my hands and knees up and down the stairs... felicity has also struggled to shake off covert type symptoms, and the weeks of illness have taken their toll. this entire experience of being sick and trying to recover has been mentally overwhelming. the hardest part was having got through the first ten days of being very sick and thinking i was getting better, things later getting much, much worse. i was experiencing such horrific abdominal pains that i was just calling out injust extreme agony. neither felicity nor david have been tested, but both were told by doctors they probably have the virus. they've also been reassured they are no longer infectious. but recovery has been slow. even the slightest uphill slope is a real struggle since being ill. so much about the coronavirus is unknown, including why some experience relatively mild symptoms lasting a few days, while otherwise healthy people are left struggling for weeks. in many patients with other diseases who are recovering from an acute bonus, you do tend to see this kind of waxing and waning effect as you are getting slowly better and have good days and bad days. there is some evidence to suggest that the prolonged features of the body's response to infection, rather than the infection itself assisting in their bodies. the first week i started to keep a diary of the symptoms i was experiencing. david and felicity hope they are now finally recovering. a return to normalfamily y. finally recovering. a return to normal family y. my wife would bring my daughter to the window. it was lovely. i'm going to give you squidgy as soon! dominic hughes, bbc news. we've been talking a lot today about coronavirus on the positive impact it has had on the environment, but of course we know, as we have been reflecting, that the economic impact is huge. the chief executive of heathrow airport has called on the government to provide more specific support to the aviation sector. john holland—kaye told a virtual session of the transport select committee that tens of thousands ofjobs would be lost because of the pandemic, if ministers didn't come up with a plan to get airlines flying safely again. we can speak now to the broadcaster and the independent‘s travel editor, simon calder — he was one of the witnesses at transport select committee's session on implications you were giving evidence. what were they interested in, what were you telling them? they were wanting to learn some lessons from the way that this terrible event has spread across the world, and in particular they wanted to know about why people whose holidays have been cancelled have not very simply been given their money back. quite straightforward, you are a consumer, you straightforward, you are a consumer, y°u pay straightforward, you are a consumer, you pay hundreds, thousands of pounds months in advance, the hollow doesn't happen, it is nobody‘s fault, but —— the holiday doesn't happen, they want to know where your money is. but also looking at the future of travel and also touching very much on the green agenda, and what travel is going to look like after the coronavirus pandemic, and whether we might actually have a gentler impact on the planet, rather than the very serious damage which travel has been doing for so long. and we have heard from airlines over the last few weeks. we are hearing today from the head of heathrow airport. we have heard the numbers, the potential job losses airport. we have heard the numbers, the potentialjob losses are enormous, aren't they? so the climate benefits, but people's livelihoods disappear. 0h, sure, and, look, it's notjust, according to the pilots union, 23,000 people so far in the airlines who have lost theirjobs in the uk so far. it is also the people who are working for insta nce also the people who are working for instance at gatwick airport, where clearly there is going to be a massive vacuum, when virgin and atla ntic massive vacuum, when virgin and atlantic —— virgin atlantic leaves, british airways possibly abandons the airport as well. going worldwide, tens of millions of people depend on tourism, and while nobody is flying, in the developing world there are terrible problems because of course they rely on tourism. so there has to be a way found to restore tourism for the sake of everybody, really, emotionally as well as economically it is important. but the hope is, i think, that there will be some kind of path back to not quite normal, but a new normal where perhaps we area bit but a new normal where perhaps we are a bit more gentle, perhaps we spend longer in places and we don't just keep flying hither and thither. i was quite embarrassed, i have just been looking at my last dozen flights in the olden days when we used to go to airports and get on planes. these bookings, all short—haulflights, planes. these bookings, all short—haul flights, i don't planes. these bookings, all short—haulflights, i don't think i paid more than about £30 for any of them, and to go frivolously to a city for just 48 hours or so them, and to go frivolously to a city forjust 48 hours or so because you can i think might not be so a cce pta ble you can i think might not be so acceptable when we are looking ahead. and certainly the soundings i am taking is that people will want to go for longer trips, particularly travelling around europe by train, which of course would be to everybody‘s benefit. but there are, i must say, jane, ways in which things might not turn out as we thought. are we talking presumably about a very slow return, because for very obvious reasons, we don't need to elaborate, we have talked about it so much. it is not going to come back quickly, whether you are talking about holidays or business travel. well, business travel is absolutely uncertain, and that is because very much the business travellers who over the past couple of months have learned, oh, its not too bad having an online meeting, is it, and it saves the company £5,000 flying you to new york and you don't feel lousy when you get back at heathrow at six o'clock in the morning. that's one big problem. but the main issue is confidence, reassuring passengers that they will be ok. and as news channels have been showing, a couple of days ago that flight from belfast to heathrow, where clearly it revealed just how fundamentally incompatible social distancing and aviation actually are. so that is why heathrow, whilejohn actually are. so that is why heathrow, while john holland actually are. so that is why heathrow, whilejohn holland kaye was speaking today, came out and said, ok, we are going to introduce temperature screening for people who arrive. that is not something the government has asked them to do, not something that has been internationally agreed but they just wa nt to internationally agreed but they just want to give the impression that people will be safer in air travel in the weeks and months to come, and all the airlines, all the airports are coming up with ways of saying let's have a temperature check before you go, let us all wear face coverings on the plane. it has to be said international health authorities don't think particularly much of either of those plans, but the aviation industry, desperate to get us back on board, will do anything it can, hopefully, to convince people it is safe, even though of course you can't ever eliminate all risk. simon, for now, thank you very much. a bbc investigation has found some hairdressers and barbers are flouting the lockdown rules. colin campbell has been speaking to some barber shops which have been offering appointments, despite the risk of breaching social distancing restrictions. babos, like many businesses, they have been banned from opening to stop the spread of covid—19 —— baba's. but we have discovered not all are adhering to the lockdown laws. hello, my friend. hi, i'm trying to find somewhere to get my haircut. five o'clock, is that 0k? five o'clock, to the shop, yeah? yes, we will have to sit down in the kitchen, because i don't want anybody to see you because it will bea anybody to see you because it will be a problem for me. i'm just phoning to see if you would be willing to cut my hair. today? please. i've got some customers, i am busy, i can do only sunday. i am busy today, tomorrow. sunday, i am busy, i can do only sunday. i am busy today, tomorrow. sunday, lam free. obviously they are seeing quite a few clients, that his interaction with quite a few different people who may also therefore have been interacting with other people, and this alljust gives any person who may be affected and asymptomatic, the opportunity to spread the virus quite rapidly full stop only a few of the barber's i spoke to showed concern for the dangers of the virus. do you want me to wear a mask? i don't care for me. i don't believe in this coronavirus or whatever. for me, i don't believe in this coronavirus orwhatever. for me, it i don't believe in this coronavirus or whatever. for me, it doesn't matter. responding to our investigation, celebrity hairdresser nicky clarke told me he was disappointed but not surprised.|j disappointed but not surprised.” think it is wrong. the fact of the matter is they are not putting into place anything that could even justify their behaviour. in total, i phoned 50 babos. 19 agreed to cut my hair. 12 declined. 19 didn't answer my call. but many who did admitted they had increased their prices, seemingly cashing in on the crisis. for those responsible barbers, abiding by the law, now financially suffering, there is understandable frustration. it just suffering, there is understandable frustration. itjust makes me angry to be honest, the fact that people are still profiting from this, yeah, it just makes me are still profiting from this, yeah, itjust makes me really angry. really angry. controlling the virus has taken the hard work and sacrifice of many. it is the irresponsible actions of a few that could jeopardise that. colin campbell, bbc news. now, in fact, now, infact, before now, in fact, before we turn to the weather, a quick look at some video footage that has been released by the duke and duchess of sussex. the duke and duchess of sussex have marked their son's first birthday by making a video of meghan reading to archie. wait, listen, did you hearthat? i heard duck sounds. quack, quack. they're quack, quack. it shows her telling the story of ‘duck! rabbit!'to while the family are in lockdown in los angeles. it was posted by save the children as part of the charity's campaign, to raise money for families struggling due to the pandemic. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. very little change on the weather. temperatures are upon those of yesterday by two or three degrees, still a little bit chilly near the north sea coast but even here warmer thanit north sea coast but even here warmer than it was yesterday. as we go through this evening and overnight, an outside chance of a shower for the isles of scilly this evening and that chance increases for northern ireland and for the irish sea coasts, south east england and wales, as the —— south—west and wales. slightly warmer, more humid, not as chilly overnight, even further east it won't be as cold as it was this morning, because we will have realised higher daytime temperatures. plenty of sunshine to come on thursday. yes, there will be a bit more cloud for western fringes of england and wales on the outside risk of a shower but that is more likely in northern ireland and scotland, and given the warmth, it could turn thundery into the afternoon and evening as well. if anything, temperatures a little up on today once again. this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines: the prime minister says he bitterly regrets the coronavirus epidemic in care homes — after being challenged by the new labour leader at their first meeting in prime minister's questions i have to ask the prime minister, why hasn't the government got to grips with this already? there's an epidemic going on in care homes, which is something i bitterly regret. the prime minister also signalled that an easing of the lockdown could begin from monday, but that a final decision would depend on the latest scientific data. the health secretary matt hancock defends the government's testing strategy once again. good news on climate change, as lockdown results in the fastest decline in carbon emissions ever recorded. hello, good afternoon. borisjohnson has led his first prime minister's questions since recovering from coronavirus, where he faced criticism from the labour leader sir keir starmer over the government's response to the pandemic. speaking in the commons, borisjohnson said he bitterly regretted the epidemic which has swept through care homes, after labour accused him of failing to get to grips with the number of deaths there. the prime minister also said he hoped there would be an easing of lockdown measures from monday, although he did not give details on what those might be. and he set a new goal of doubling testing capacity to 200,000 by the end of the month. this afternoon nhs england announced a further 331 people had died in hospitals in england after testing positive for covid—19. in wales, there were 21 deaths recorded, and another 14 people died in hospital in northern ireland. this report is from our political correspondent nick eardley. not much feels normaljust now, not at westminster, not around the country. here, though, scrutiny of the government's strategy goes on and questions are being asked, after the uk's death toll overtook italy's to become the highest in europe so far. after a six—week absence during which he had coronavirus, the prime minister heading back to parliament to face some of those questions, for the first time from new labour leader sir keir starmer. i'm looking forward to it and i'm glad to see he's back in parliament. i would like to welcome the prime minster back to his rightful place in the chamber. his government was accused of acting too slowly at the start of the crisis. at least 29,427 people in the uk have now lost their lives to this dreadful virus. that's now the highest number in europe. it's the second highest in the world. that is not success, or apparent success, so can the prime minister tell us how on earth did it come to this. the government has argued it is too early for international comparisons, and defends its strategy. at every stage, as we took the decisions that we did, we were governed by one overriding principle and aim, and that was to save lives and to protect our nhs. mrjohnson also said he wanted testing increased again, up to 200,000 per day, but he faced pressure too on the situation in care homes. whilst happily in hospitals it looks as though deaths are falling, deaths in care homes continue to go up. he is absolutely right to say there is an epidemic going on in care homes, which is something i bitterly regret and we have been working very hard for weeks to get it down. the prime minister will reveal the next stage of the government strategy on sunday. it's possible there could be changes as soon as monday. but while there is pressure here to get the economy moving again, few think doing that will be quick or easy. as the lockdown continues, though, this man, neil ferguson, one of the most prominent scientists advising the government, resigned after the daily telegraph reported his married lover had visited his home against the government's own advice. when it comes, normal might look quite different. lifting restrictions is likely to be gradual. scenes like this won't disappear overnight. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. the health secretary has again defended the government's testing strategy. matt hancock has also denied that the government had left people in care homes more vulnerable to the virus, by prioritising hospitals. our health correspondent anna collinson reports. 100,000 daily tests by the end of april was the promise. and last friday the government said the deadline had been met. i can announce we have met our goal. the number of tests yesterday, on the last day of april, was 122,347. but over the past three days, the government has failed to hit its target, most recently reaching around 85,000. testing capacity has increased in recent weeks with kits available to order online and testing sites popping up all over the uk. but the government and its advisers admit it should have happened sooner and faster. this morning the health secretary for england spoke to sky news. it would have been wonderful if we had gone into this crisis with a global—scale diagnostics industry, yes. but, you know, in the way that for instance germany did. but we went in more like other countries like france, which similarly have had to build testing capability almost from scratch. the health secretary also dismissed claims that the elderly had been sacrificed so the nhs wasn't overwhelmed. prime minister boris johnson says he bitterly regrets the epidemic in care homes. his ambition is now to reach 200,000 daily tests by the end of this month. the uk now has the highest number of coronavirus deaths in europe, a development described as a massive tragedy. as this graph shows, cases in italy were reported earlier in march, but the uk saw a steeper curve at the end of the month and has now surpassed italy. more than 29,000 deaths have now been reported. currently only the us has a higher number of recorded deaths and labour wants answers. why have we had so many more deaths than countries such as germany? why did we pull out of our testing and tracing in march? why did we miss opportunities to upscale testing? these are the questions we need to be asking. but we are being warned to be careful when comparing countries. the uk and italy both use a similar definition for deaths, people who test positive for the virus before dying, but there are important differences which can influence the data. italy has so far conducted more tests. 0n the other hand, the uk has a larger population. when looking at covid deaths per capita, belgium has reported the most fatalities in the world. but the country has a very broad way of recording data, which could explain the high numbers. you have to take a lot of numbers into account. firstly we are one of the biggest countries in europe, and that matters. there are smaller countries which will naturally have a lower death rate. it is likely to be months, maybe years, before we can really know which country has the highest death toll. but that is little consolation for those grieving loved ones now. anna collinson, bbc news. nicola sturgeon will announce tomorrow whether lockdown measures in scotland are to continue for at least another three weeks. figures out today showed there'd been a fall in the number of coronavirus deaths. the data from the national records of scotland showed that last week 523 people had died with the virus, down from 658 the week before. the figures also showed that the majority of scottish deaths — nearly 60% — were in care homes. earlier i spoke to the uk's former chief scientific advisor, professor sir david king, who said the uk is far behind where it should be in terms of testing and preparations to combat the virus. where we are today compared to where we should have been is in a very poor state. i don't think we can duck the issue. we only got into this in any sort of serious way late in march, and what did the government do to prepare ourselves for more testing back onjanuary the 23rd when we had all the information about the new virus from china? what did we do to start preparing ourselves when we had run down our capacity in our national health service? we had months to do that. we are looking at the comparison with germany, but my best comparison in europe is with greece. the greek economy nowhere near as strong as ours, the national health service are there no where near as strong as ours, but nevertheless, in greece, starting the 3rd of march, they began the lockdown process. grease av began the lockdown process. grease a's deaths per head of population, let me make that comparison absolute, per head of population is the only way to look at this, is a tiny fraction of ours, like 250, and they are now able from may the 4th to begin emerging from the lockdown process. what they did is everything right. they set up all the testing they had to do. they brought in all they had to do. they brought in all the ppe they knew they would need, and they brought in all the masks so the population, as they go out of lockdown, will be required as they go shopping and everything to wear face masks. so i think we have fared extremely badly. professor sir david king there, former chief scientific adviser, speaking to me in the last hour. the covid—19 crisis has disrupted all our lives but one possible silver lining relates to the environment. as road traffic and flights have declined, nature has come back in force in many parts of the world. for climate change, the lockdown is also likely to have big implications as emissions of the main warming gas carbon dioxide have fallen in almost every part of the world. 0ur environment correspondent matt mcgrath has been looking at the reasons behind the drop in co2 and what it might mean for global temperatures. right now we are living for the biggest carbon crash ever recorded. while war and oil crises have caused falls in c02 crises before, nothing has come close to the drop in fossil fuel use we are seeing at this moment. because of the coronavirus, the world will probably emit between two and 3 billion tonnes less c02 this year compared to 2019. that fall could be six times larger than during the last global recession in 2008. so what has happened? 0ur skies are a lot clearer as there has beena skies are a lot clearer as there has been a huge drop in the number of flights, with a 75% reduction compared to the same time last year. and while the falloff of emissions on the roads isn't as large in percentage terms, limiting journeys is having an even bigger impact on the amount of c02 going into the atmosphere. demand for electricity globally has also fallen by around 20% because of the shutdown. but not every city is having the same experience. paris has seen c02 drop by 72% in march as road traffic fell away, but in new york, carbon emissions have gone down by only 10%. the key reason is that fossil fuel home heating and not cars as the main source of c02 in new york, and demand has remained high during the crisis. many would hope the carbon cuts being forced on the world right now would at least help keep global temperatures from rising more than1.5 keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 celsius this century, a level that might limit the very worst climate impact such as heatwaves and floods, but getting them might require changes even greater in scale than what we are living through right now. to truly flatten the emissions curve, climate scientists say we need a pandemic style reduction of c02 emissions every year from now until 2050. well, we have been talking a lot aboutair well, we have been talking a lot about air travel for very obvious reasons. in the business news we have reported a lot in recent weeks aboutjob have reported a lot in recent weeks about job losses or have reported a lot in recent weeks aboutjob losses or potentialjob losses and problems within the aviation industry generally. let's discuss all of that and the environmental issues around that. michael gill is the executive director aviation environment for the international air transport association, which representes the world's airlines. good afternoon to you. good afternoon. this is a very tricky, strange conversation to have with you, in the sense that we hear so much about inevitably a decline in aviation, thousands of jobs much about inevitably a decline in aviation, thousands ofjobs at risk, and yet obviously the benefit to the environment that less flying brings. so what is your organisation's strategy given where we are right now? of course, as you say, the crisis has had a significant impact on our sector, and the knock—on result is a reduction in co2 emissions. but aviation is responsible for only around 2% of man—made carbon emissions across the globe, and so as a sector, our footprint is relatively small, but it is still a significant amount of c02, which we as an industry have been working to address. we have had a long—term strategy in place for the last ten years in fact, the first global sector to put in place goals and a serious strategy to get there, and we are continuing on that pathway. we believe that flying will come back, that we will return to pre—cove levels of flying, and in the run—up to that, we will continue to address the levels of climate footprint, and it is work we will continue our commitment to that is striking that you think it will be 2022 before things are back to where they were only a matter of months ago. so how does your work continue in that peculiar period where things are shrinking and people are losing theirjobs? it is a balancing act, but we believe our industry has taken this long term approach, we have an objective by 2050 around our c02 reductions, and the people in the industry who have been working on research into new aircraft technology, new engine technology, the investment in alternative sources of energy, whether that is alternative fuels or electric aircraft, we still need government support for that, we still need policy support for that, and we are continuing to make that message, because we believe that as a society and as an industry, we can rebuild ina more and as an industry, we can rebuild in a more sustainable way, and we believe that with the red —— mac support from governments we can be seen as an exemplar in rebuilding on sustainable growth. and in fact trying to convince governments and paying passengers that aeroplanes for example at the most basic level are putting out far fewer for example at the most basic level are putting out farfewer emissions than they did years ago, when we get to 2022, 2023, you can use that i suppose you hope as a selling point? even towards the end of this year as traffic begins to pick up again, i think many passengers are going to be asking themselves questions around the safety and health issues of flying. but i also think many passengers will be asking themselves now about the environmental footprint of their flight, as one of the elements they take into account in deciding whether or not to take a flight, in deciding whether or not to take a flight, and we as an industry believe that we have taken a very practical approach. our reduction in c02 practical approach. our reduction in co2 emissions if you look at the last ten years has been significant, and we are on a pathway to a long—term objective to reduce it even further, so we believe that the environmental issues are also one aspect of passenger confidence in our industry, and we believe that passengers should see us as an industry which is taking a genuinely long—term strategic responsible approach to this. interesting to talk to you, thank you very much for your time this afternoon. michael gill from the international air transport association, speaking from geneva. and just a reminder now of the headlines: the prime minister says he bitterly regrets the coronavirus epidemic in care homes after being challenged about it in prime ministers' questions. borisjohnson also signals that an easing of lockdown could begin from monday, but gave no further details. and lockdown results in the fastest decline in carbon emissions ever recorded. a major conservation charity has warned that the 30 years of progress they have made in africa could be "undone very quickly" by covid—19. the chief executive of tusk, an organisation supported by prince william, has told the bbc that the pandemic has seen a rise in animal poaching. here's our environment correspondent, claire marshall. scouring the vast plains of north west province, south africa. i think we're out on a call for a rhino that was poached. nico runs nonprofit organisation rhino 911. and we hope the calf is still alive so that we can rescue it and take it to the orphanage. the calf is two months old. her mother was found dead with her horn hacked off. she's sedated, her eyes bandaged to make the journey less traumatic. she's the fourth orphan they've rescued in the last month. the pressure on africa's wildlife is relentless and it's getting much worse. the tourism industry has collapsed. vast numbers of people are losing theirjobs and many are now starting to poach for food. people are desperate. people living on the breadline are battling to survive just with basics. you know, i've seen it go up, i would say tenfold on reserves, parks. it's an income and living for them. it's staying alive. in the foothills of mount kenya, field rangers head out on patrol. this footage was filmed exclusively for the bbc. it's lewa — a jewel in the crown of the tusk trust. they're protecting some of the world's most endangered species. prince william, a passionate supporter of the charity, proposed to kate middleton here. but the trust is now set lose almost £2 million this year. this is definitely the biggest threat that we've seen to the conservation world in the 30 years that i've been working in it. we've had the real pressure from the illegal wildlife trade, and that is ongoing. it's a constant battle. the pandemic hasn't stopped the international criminal gangs. they have a motive. rhino horn is more valuable than gold or heroin, tempting for someone now out of a job. the way that covid is making the situation worse is once these guys. i know they don't have a job, they want an income, then they want to try other things like maybe, poaching a rhino, poaching an elephant, and selling those trophies for their living. here in the uk, with fewer planes in the sky and cars on the roads, wildlife has been given a bit of a break. but the emerging situation around the world is a lot more bleak. it costs a lot of money to protect these creatures from humans. that money is now drying up. claire marshall, bbc news. one aspect of covid—19 that medics are trying to understand is why it affects people so differently. for many, the symptoms are mild, but for others the virus is much more serious. and some people struggle to shake off the symptoms for many weeks — leaving them exhausted and anxious. more details from our health correspondent dominic hughes. i have suspected coronavirus. what i was not prepared for wasjust excruciating leg pains. it has been seven weeks now. that feeling of being so diminished and so weak. it came back on week four. in the fifth week of being ill, my partner had to call out a&e. week seven i relapsed again and had my third wave. for six weeks now, felicity, aged 49 and from london, has been living with suspected coronavirus. david, 42, and living in bristol, has also spent almost two months suffering relapses. this is where i have all my stuff. i make sure i'm keeping cutlery and bowls separate. david's world has shrunk to this room, self isolating to protect his wife and baby daughter. eating and sleeping here, separate from my wife for the last seven weeks. it's hard work. butjust when he thought he was getting better, he'd relapse and he's not alone. just knowing that people like me, i guess, who have experienced these waves on and off, because when i first relapsed, when it first got worse, it was quite a scary experience, because i thought that you don't know whether that means you are going down, down, down, so it is quite scary to get worse after you thought you were getting better. when i was really ill, i was going on my hands and knees, up and down the stairs... felicity has also struggled to shake off covid—type symptons and the weeks of illness have taken their toll. this entire experience of being sick and trying to recover has been mentally overwhelming. the hardest part was, having got through the first ten days of being very sick and thinking i was getting better, things later getting much, much worse. i was experiencing such horrific abdominal pains that i wasjust calling out injust extreme agony. neither felicity nor david have been tested, but both were told by doctors they probably had the virus. they've also been reassured they are no longer infectious, but recovery has been slow. even the slightest uphill slope is a real struggle since being ill. so much about the coronavirus is unknown, including why some experience relatively mild symptoms, lasting a few days, while otherwise healthy people are left struggling for weeks. in many patients with other diseases who are recovering from an acute illness, you do tend to see this kind of waxing and waning effect as you are slowly getting better and you have good days and bad days. there's some evidence to suggest that the prolonged features are the body's response to infection rather than the infection itself persisting in their bodies. the first week i started to keep a diary of the symptoms i was experiencing. david and felicity hope they are now finally recovering. a return to normalfamily life. my wife would bring my daughter to the window. it was lovely. i'm going to give you squidgies soon! dominic hughes, bbc news. being confined to home during lockdown is difficult for many of us, and for people living in high rise flats the experience is even more restrictive. in march, fiona lamdin spoke to residents of a block of flats in bristol — seven weeks on, she's been back, to find out how they've been coping with lockdown. these children living on the 15th floor have been stuck inside for 50 days. i spoke to the family from the bottom of the tower block. there is no space to play on. sometimes they try to play on the sofa, on the bed, on the tables. so that's why they've broken some stuff. mohammed is worried his children will catch the virus if they go out. his daughter is five years old. i asked her what she misses the most. park! she misses the park. we've met samuel and his two boys, who live next door, before. they do go out but now, with one of the lifts broken, sometimes they are forced to take the stairs. step, step, step, step, step, turn. you can imagine going up. going down it's ok, but going up, that's a slog. i have to carry this one, carry the buggy, if i ever use the buggy, or i'll have him on the sling. it's a matter ofjust going for it. so i'll stop, a couple of flights, take a break. go again. up a couple of flights, that's the way i deal with it. and also if you've got shopping. and the shopping, yeah. definitely turned into our new playground. we've got to bring our own equipment. would be nice if there was equipment there. we tried the other parks, but they've really locked them down now. the gates are chained up. six weeks in, and samuel's neighbours are also finding things tough. these kids are getting frustrated. yeah, the government have to do something, man. even me, also. cannot go to work, cannot do nothing. so what can i do? how are you passing the time, all of you? it's bored. very bored. they may not be able to play with their friends, butjust seeing them makes the journey, and all those stairs down from the 15th floor, worth it. fiona lamdin, bbc news. captain tom moore captured many of our hearts when he raised more than £30 million for nhs charities. now, he's inspired a 97—year—old russian sergeant who served in the second world war fundraise for russian medics. 0ur moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has been speaking to her. a message to captain tom... ..from sergeant zina. when 97—year—old russian war veteran zina korneva saw these images of tom moore doing his sponsored walk for the nhs, she realised her country needed her. zina couldn't do 100 laps of her garden. last year, she broke her hip. instead, she has been sharing wartime memories online and asking for donations. it is to help the families of russian doctors who have died in the pandemic. zina is a real russian hero. she served in an anti—aircraft brigade and fought in the battle of stalingrad. these days, when she is not fundraising, she is knitting and she hasjust finished a pair of socks for captain tom. zina's socks are now winging their way to britain, express delivery. so if captain tom ever wants to do more charity walking, at least his feet will be warm. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. and there is a special programme on captain tom moore to mark his 100th birthday — that's captain tom: we salute you on bbc one tonight at 7.30. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. hello. very little change in the weather through the rest of today, so it is warm, dry, temperatures are up on those yesterday by two or three degrees. still a little bit chilly near the north sea coast but warmer than it was yesterday. as we go through this evening and overnight, there is an outside chance of a shower for the isles of scilly, then that chance increases for northern ireland, and for the irish sea coasts of south—west england and wales, is that cloud makes its way northward. slightly more humid air here, not as chilly overnight, and even further east, although it will be quite chilly, it will not be as cold as it was this morning because we will have realised higher daytime temperatures. plenty of sunshine to come on thursday. yes, a bit more cloud for western fringes of england and wales and the outside, but more likely it could head a bit thundering into the afternoon and evening as well. if anything, temperatures a little up on those today once again. goodbye. hello this is bbc news with jane hill. the headlines... the prime minister says he bitterly regrets the coronavirus epidemic in care homes — after being challenged by the new labour leader — at their first meeting in prime minister's questions. i have to ask the prime minister, why hasn't the government got to grips with this already? there's an epidemic going on in care homes, which is something i, i bitterly regret. the prime minister also signalled that an easing of the lockdown could begin from monday — but that a final decision would depend on the latest scientific data. the health secretary matt hancock defends the government's testing strategy once again. good news on climate change — as lockdown results in the fastest decline in carbon emissions ever recorded. wait, listen, did you hearthat? i heard duck sounds. quack, quack. and archie turns one in california — harry and meghan release this video to mark their son's birthday. we are going to be talking more about the environment and climate change and coronavirus, that is all coming up in the next few minutes, but right now we will take a look at the latest sports news with gavin. let's begin with news from football — the bundesliga will return later this month, after being given permission by german chancellor angela merkel. it means football in germany, will be allowed to resume, in the second half of may. we get more on these developments now, and what it means for top flight football here returning, with our sports news correspondent alex capstick. this would be the first major european league to return, what are the conditions around it? yes, it is the first major european league, as you say, and others will be watching very closely. it was expected. there was a meeting today between angela merkel, the chancellor of germany, and the leaders of the federal states. they have been presented with a blueprint of how football would work in this new norm the world is in right now. ina new norm the world is in right now. in a safe environment. they looked at that and then they decided that it could give the go—ahead for the bundesliga to resume. there will be regular testing of the players, of officials, of the media as well, and staff of the clubs. there will be no crowds of course, so all games will be behind closed doors. most teams have nine games left in the season, all bar two of them. in the league will have the final decision on when the actually restart. they players have to have a weak‘s quarantine, so the earliest that will be is may 15. so how much pressure will do is put on the premier league returning? well, you have to remember that germany, compared to other parts of europe, has done quite well, in terms of restricting the pandemic, the coronavirus pandemic. round about 7000 deaths in germany, which is quite low compared to the uk for example. but all the other leagues will be watching this very, very closely. they will be looking at the plan, the blueprint that had been put to the german politicians today for them to make this decision. they had to look at it and make sure it was safe enough for football to continue, and then they will have to see what happens when the football does resume. whether it is on may 15 or the following week. and then of course if there is a never spike in the disease, in the pandemic, then that could —— another spike, that could change anything. but germany hopes they have got on top of this, that the rate of infections, the rate of deaths is slowing down and not just football but rate of deaths is slowing down and notjust football but other walks of life and society can get back to some sort of normal in germany. 0f course, playing football behind closed doors with all the measures that are in place now to make it as safe as possible is far from that are in place now to make it as safe as possible is farfrom normal, but at least football fans will have something to look forward to at the weekend. absolutely, thank you very much. the premier league season could be cancelled if clubs do not agree to play in neutral venues, that's according to the league managers association chief executive richard bevan. the league has been suspended since the 13th of march because of the coronavirus pandemic. but a vote is set to take place on monday on proposals for a return to football behind closed doors in june. the proposal though needs 14 out of the 20 clubs to vote in favour for it to be adopted. brighton are one of the clubs "not in favour" of using neutral venues because it may affect the "integrity" of the competition. wearing protective masks during ring walks and a ban on using spit buckets could be the conditions for a return for boxing according to the british boxing board of control. the sport is gearing up for a behind—closed—doors return in the uk injuly, after being shut down in most countries across the world as a result of the pandemic. the next major fight scheduled to take place in the uk is dillian whyte's bout with alexander povetkin for the wbc interim heavyweight title at the manchester arena on the 4th ofjuly. referees and trainers in the fighters' corners will also be required to wear protective masks. 0rganisers of the epsom derby and 0aks, are hoping to hold the classic races behind closed doors on the 4th ofjuly. jockey club racecourses, the track's owner, has submitted an application to epsom and ewell borough council — which also asks for all saturdays injuly and august to be approved for "flexibility". racing in britain is suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic and any resumption would depend on government approval. mcc members won't receive refunds for subscriptions this year, despite the chance of seeing cricket at lord's being "increasingly remote" all cricket has been suspended until at least the 1st ofjuly, with the new hundred tournament delayed until next year. the 18,000 members have been told their annual fees were the "bedrock" of the club's finances. lords was due to host england's test matches with the west indies and pakistan and a day/night one—day game with australia. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. we've been focusing on the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on climate change. the global lockdown has resulted in the fastest decline in carbon emissions ever recorded — because of the falling demand for transport and energy. but what happens once the crisis is over? you've been sending in your questions about this, and joining me to answer them are michael grubb, who is a professor of energy and climate change at university college london. he has advised the government on climate change in the past — and also the bbc‘s environment analyst roger harrabin. a very good afternoon, gentlemen, to both of you. we start quite rightly with a question from a 14—year—old. a question from adam who is in london, who asks, do you think it is safe to assume that the uk could push forward the carbon net zero deadline? let's start with our guest from ucl first. because the uk push forward the net zero deadline? well, in principle, yes but it is set for 2050, so the covert crisis in itself isa 2050, so the covert crisis in itself is a fairly short run thing at the moment. i'm a little sceptical whether the government will take that as a view to bring forward a deadline, which, to be fair, is still pretty ambitious, in terms of getting to actually net zero. that is the big task with the amount we use at the moment. so, yes, it could ease things up, it certainly will show some new opportunities that may be hadn't thought about before, in terms of some aspects of technology and travel, but that's not going to i think radically change the government's view. roger, your thoughts? i am going to go with michael. i think it is very difficult for us to achieve net zero before 2050. certainly that is what the government because my own advisers, the committee on climate change say. i will put my house on the fact we will see people travelling less. now they understand they can use skype and zoom for all sorts of conferences, and they can even see the doctor using their webcams at home, so i think there will be a drop in emissions from travel, and that will be helpful, in terms of the uk's longer term trajectory. there are so many other parts of the economy involved, but really i think it would be very difficult. interesting to hear your perspectives. we go to a question from charles montgomery. it's around health and the health benefits of all of this. he is wondering, because the lockdown has effectively cleaned the environment, is it actually helping health issues, is it helping people with bad chests, hay fever, other allergies? it helping people with bad chests, hay fever, otherallergies? is it helping people with bad chests, hay fever, other allergies? is that one of the benefits, as well? roger, to you on that first. well, the change has been absolutely extraordinary. i live fairly close to central london, and we live close to central london, and we live close toa to central london, and we live close to a big hill on parliament hill, and walk up there regularly for our exercise, and the clarity of the air is absolutely extraordinary. it is a real joy. we can is absolutely extraordinary. it is a realjoy. we can see for miles and miles and miles. and onjust a very personal level, i am dreading the hayes coming back, because now i know what i'm missing, and i've never known those views before. and people are saying that sort of thing all the way from india to nepal to the rocky mountains, so there is a huge change in the chemistry of the atmosphere. that should, it seems logical that would lead to an improvement in bad chests, hay fever and other allergies, but ijust want to put a bit of a caveat on that. atmospheric chemistry is very complicated, and sometimes unexpected things happen, so not going to stick my house on this one. interesting. michael grubb, your thoughts. i was about to say, roger, you should try delie. —— you should try daily. allergies, a very complicated area, many things, but that said, it is unequivocal that serious air pollution is a major cause of illness and death in several parts of the world, and in fa ct i several parts of the world, and in fact i have seen incredible reports estimating that china may actually save more lives from it's cleaner air in the previous three months thanit air in the previous three months than it has lost to cobit. let's not go into the statistical debates around those stats, but they think everywhere there are people reacting on the way roger has just explained, which is, wow, this is what cleaner air really is like and we rather like it, and it is probably very likely better for our health. yes, that's interesting. you have both touched on this next question, but just a quick thought, john in glasgow got in touch to ask about the impact in other countries, because he had particularly been interested in the reports from india, which said you could see the himalayas from delhi. professor grubb, you both touched on that, but the impact has been all over the world. totally. we shouldn't confuse clea n world. totally. we shouldn't confuse clean airand even world. totally. we shouldn't confuse clean air and even seeing the himalayas with climate change itself, they are distinct, but they are linked through fossil fuels, and it is an example of how widespread ina way it is an example of how widespread in a way pollution has become an ubiquitous that people kind of forgot they could see the himalayas at those distances. but you look back at travelers tales, they talk about mountains that took two or three days solid walking to reach, and in some parts of the world we are seeing that again. it is remarkable, isn't it? we have had an awful lot of questions and queries about effectively policy and governments and how they will respond to all of this, given the extraordinary scenes you have both just described. so i'm going to try and put a number of questions together, but this one from lesley booth in bristol is quite representative of the sort of things that viewers are asking. she says now that we have seen this difference in the environment, do you think the government will make changes to how we live, in order to try to sustain that, i suppose, to try to sustain that, i suppose, to try to sustain that, i suppose, to try to protect the environment? roger, i will start with you. this is very live at the moment. if you wa nt is very live at the moment. if you want a bit more detail, have a look on the bbc's web page on the uk site or the science site. we have gone into this and much more detail, because the governments advisers, the committee on climate change, have actually written to the prime minister today, saying these are the lessons from cobit that we need to learn if we are not going to slip into an even bigger crisis with climate change. they include one that ijust climate change. they include one that i just mentioned, climate change. they include one that ijust mentioned, travel, trying to get people travelling less and staying at home more to do their work, ensuring that people have good, green space to get into. all sorts of other policies, particularly looking forward to when we try to stimulate the economy out of the recession caused by cobit that money, public money, should go to things that are going to help us tackle climate change, not to old industries, and that leaves a lot of questions unanswered about what should happen with the oil and gas industry, where some people think we shouldn't subsidise them at all because they are causing such a big problem, or the aviation industry, where some people think the same, and other people say there are tens of thousands of jobs and other people say there are tens of thousands ofjobs involved in these industries, if we are going to make the low carbon transition we need to make we need to do it in an orderly fashion, so maybe we should be propping up these firms for the time being, so long as they agreed to set themselves on a longer term, no carbon trajectory. so there is a massive debate about this and you will hear a lot more of it. it is a huge topic, but michael grubb, i wa nt to huge topic, but michael grubb, i want to hear your thoughts on that as well. yes, i think it comes at an interesting time, in the sense that just in january, i interesting time, in the sense that just injanuary, i believe, the government released a transcript paper which was pretty radical in its vision anyway, talking about the benefits of travelling less. so this may in the hardest possible way be falling on fertile ground. what i think we'll be really tricky is what exactly might the government consider doing. 0f exactly might the government consider doing. of course nobody wa nts to consider doing. of course nobody wants to remain locked up, or locked down, rather! forever. you could probably say either at the moment, it depends on your stance. yes! but it depends on your stance. yes! but it is certainly encouraging awareness of alternatives, and some of those alternatives really may not be so bad at a personal behavioural level, so i don't think the committee advice roger at first it will be looked at with interest. the government will tread with some caution, obviously, interfering with the way people run their lives and travel will be sensitive, but there is quite a bit government can do, in terms of encouragement guidance, and also big question marks over the funding of, for example new infrastructure, roads, we have not talked about airport expansion, and i suspect we may not. yeah! one other thing though, at the other end of the scale, roger touched on existing industry is facing a difficult time, one of the most difficult time, one of the most difficult times is going to be fazed by the north sea oil industry, which is already in decline, but the government also has pitched for a large expansion of offshore wind, so moving workers and facilitating the training of workers for a low carbon economy should definitely be part of the post cobit recovery. yes, that has come up a few times and that is a really interesting thought. can i just have a little bit of this question? there are a couple of other things that will touch people very directly, i think. 0ne other things that will touch people very directly, i think. one of the things the climate committee said todayis things the climate committee said today is that the government, which is planning a £28 billion road—building programme, would be better off spending that money instead on broadband, which could have a low carbon advantage and allow people to work without having to travel so much, so if they did go ahead with that, then that would be really quite a big deal. and the other thing i should mention as well is that there is a lot of talk about how our cities will operate. so, at the moment, a poll suggests 61% of people who normally use public transport will be nervous of using it again when lockdown ends because of fears of catching the virus. how are those people going to get to work? if they drive, even if a small proportion of them tries to drive into our major cities, we are going to have gridlock, hideous air pollution, more climate change emissions, impossible for emergency services to get round the cities. so one alternative would be for the government to encourage, maybe help finance, local councils to fence off areas of roads so they could be used for pedestrians and cyclists. we have seen that starting to happen, we've got a story on that coming tomorrow, but i think that is something that will touch on people's lives, and i suspect some cities will get reshaped temporarily, and then they may stay reshaped as part of a global trend. michael, i would just come back to you on that because i could see you nodding through some elements of that, and it is striking. it is something i was talking about earlier on today at the mayor of london, talking about widening the streets, again encouraging people to use bikes or to walk, precisely because of the pressures on public transport. so do you think this could be a longer term shift? yes, and again, i think it may accelerate some things that may seem to be happening anyway, in terms of moving way beyond the idea that all we needed to do was build more roads to get more cars into cities. we know that doesn't work any more. so they have been lots of experiments with different ways of trying to organise urban systems generally. i think i would just add, in terms of air pollution of course, electric systems would be a huge boon, and if one is throwing money at transport infrastructure i very much hope and expect that to be part of the equation. but finally let's not forget the sheer range of options available now because of modern technology, ranging right from staying at home and using zoom and other mechanisms of the broadband as they are, through to all varieties of bikes, electric scooters and those will also hinge a bit on how governments develop the infrastructure. ok, really interesting to hear both your perspectives on that. a quick final thought before i let you go, it is interesting, this, and it sort of comes into the world of plastics and all the ppe we have been talking about so much in recent weeks. beverly in peterborough says can items of ppe be sterilised and reused, and the reason she is asking is because in the fight against climate change, it seems unhelpful that we are discarding so much plastic. that is striking. we're already seeing masks just discarded in the street with rubbish, we didn't see that a weeks ago. yeah, i mean, from the start of the recent worry about plastics, it has been a growing problem over the years. i have always felt people have been rather over worried about small elements, like ppe being sterilised. you know, if i'm in a hospital and elements, like ppe being sterilised. you know, if i'm in a hospitaland i am ona you know, if i'm in a hospitaland i am on a drip, i want some throwaway plastic to be used from that trip, not to be sterilised from somebody who came before it, and the key with plastics is not really whether we use plastics or not, it's what we do with the waste. that is absolutely key, and i think probably debate has got rather blurred about that, frankly. certainly, in terms of climate change, ppe isjust the tiniest issue, really, really. a follow—up to that, only because mark was busily thinking along those lines, but he says i am concerned that rather a bigger problem than plastics is actually the fact that we are all now cleaning and disinfecting like mad. i am paraphrasing his question, but he says for example using lots more detergent when clothes washing, washing clothes more frequently, is anyone thinking about what this is doing to our marine life? i am worried this is more of a problem than plastics. there is that an issue, roger? again, ithink than plastics. there is that an issue, roger? again, i think we are looking at minor differences here. of course it is an issue if people are washing, and the effluent into the sea is a problem. and if you look around all of the major estuaries, we have a problem with efflue nt estuaries, we have a problem with effluent going into the seas and plants being over neutral fight, algae being over neutral five, creating algal blooms and killing the ocean, so it is like biologically dead. 0k, the ocean, so it is like biologically dead. ok, that is a huge problem. i don't think this pandemic is going to add greatly to that massive problem. really fascinating to hear both your perspectives, thank you very much indeed. lots of questions there and we will return to this i'm sure. roger harrabin, and professor michael grubb from university couege michael grubb from university college london. thank you. let's talk for a few more minutes about testing. it has been raised again in the world of politics. the government has now missed its target of carrying out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day — for three days in a row. the target, set by the health secretary matt hancock, is important for working out how many people are infected. 0ur reality check correspondent chris morris reports on how testing works and why it matters. to beat the coronavirus we have to know how many people are becoming infected. where? when? how? that's why testing for the virus is one of the most important things we can do. it can tell us who might be infected with the virus. who might have been infected in the past. and who might need to be in strict isolation to stop the virus spreading. there are two types of tests, the first type are usually a nasal swab tests for the presence of the virus. to find out if you are infected right now even if you're not displaying any symptoms, and you are feeling perfectly well. if you are infected, you can be isolated and treated if necessary. and people you have been in contact with can be traced and tested as well. that way we can stop covid—19 from spreading so fast. countries like south korea and germany tested lots of people early on in the pandemic and they seem to have been the most successful in keeping their death rates are relatively low. other countries including the uk are scrambling to catch up. but you need to be able to get hold of the right chemicals and the right expertise and make sure you have enough laboratories to be able to process tens of thousands of tests every day. the second type of test looks at whether you have been infected in the past and whether you might now have some immunity. it does this by searching for antibodies in the blood. they are used by your immune system to fight off bacteria and viruses. sadly, reliable antibody tests are not widely available. while they are being trialled in various places, and there are some pretty ineffective products on the market, scientists are cautious. not having a test is better than having a bad test, which gives false results. it will be a huge help if a reliable antibody test that can be mass produced can be developed soon. if we know someone has some immunity, it should be easier for them to get back to work. if we know that lots of people have some immunity, it should be easier for us to start lifting lockdowns in a safer and more sustainable ways, but there is a problem. the presence of antibodies may provide some immunity, but not necessarily complete immunity. and it is still unclear how long any immunity might last. so testing can help us put other data, like the number of confirmed cases or the number of deaths, into contest, but we are going to have to wait some time before a vaccine for covid—19 provides immunity. until scientists crack that, testing is key to help us deal with this pandemic. the duke and duchess of sussex have marked their son's first birthday by making a video of meghan reading to archie. weight, listen, did you hearthat? i heard the attack sounds. quack, quack. they're quack, quack. it shows her telling the story of ‘duck! rabbit!'to while the family are in lockdown in los angeles. it was posted by save the children as part of the charity's campaign, to raise money for families struggling due to the pandemic. now the weather prospects helen willetts. hello there. despite the chilly start, temperatures have reached about those of yesterday by two or three celsius. you can really feel the strength of the may sunshine now with just some strength of the may sunshine now withjust some fair strength of the may sunshine now with just some fair weather clouds, as you can see here in suffolk. because the weather is so static, there will be very little change for there will be very little change for the rest of the day it was not the main cloud areas across the northern isles, still mostly dry, and these clouds over devon and cornwall on the isle of scilly only giving an outside chance of a shower. that warming trend we have seen today will continue through tomorrow and friday. in fact, will continue through tomorrow and friday. infact, by will continue through tomorrow and friday. in fact, by that stage we may see temperatures into the low 20s, low to mid 20s potentially in the south and east where we think that it will peak, and it will still be around saturday in the south, but by the end of saturday, certainly by sunday, a much colderfield, a dramatic drop in our temperatures, as we change our wind direction to the north, a true arcticjet stream and they could even be some wintry showers. back to the here and now, though, and we keep the clear skies through much of the west. the cloud here with the chance of showers pushes northwards across western fringes of england and wales into northern ireland. so as a result it won't be as cold as last night, and it won't be quite as chilly further east, but certainly a cool start to our thursday morning. still under our thursday morning. still under our ridge of high pressure. but the weather fronts are trying to make inroads from the atlantic, and hence the chance that the showers will be a little bit more widespread during the course of thursday. not for central and eastern areas, much of scotland, a lot of dry weather, but the western fringes of aid in england and wales, more likely northern ireland, and the western side of scotland, there is a chance ofa side of scotland, there is a chance of a shower or two, and given that one from the may sunshine, that extra energy, it could turn a bit son “— extra energy, it could turn a bit son —— a bit thundery across the west of wales and northern ireland in particular. temperatures are notably higher for the north sea coast because it will have changed the wind direction. come friday, a similar story, though it does like claudia with a weather front across the north of scotland. elsewhere, an increase chance will see the arch our sparked again by that heat but they will be few and far between, a latter place places they driver some hazy sunshine, strong, hazy sunshine, so again a warm day, and warm, staying warm in the south come into saturday. but by that stage there is an increased risk of some showers and by sunday a much colder day all round. there is more, as ever, on the website. this is bbc news. the headlines at four: the prime minister says he bitterly regrets the coronavirus epidemic in care homes after being challenged by the new labour leader at their first meeting in prime minister's questions. i have to ask the prime minister, why hasn't the government got to grips with this already? there's an epidemic going on in care homes, which is something i bitterly regret. the prime minister also signalled that an easing of the lockdown could begin from monday, but that a final decision would depend on the latest scientific data. the health secretary matt hancock defends the government's testing strategy once again. good news on climate change — as lockdown results in the fastest decline in carbon emissions ever recorded. borisjohnson has led his first prime minister's questions since recovering from coronavirus, where he faced criticism from the labour leader sir keir starmer over the government's response to the pandemic. speaking in the commons, mrjohnson said he bitterly regretted the epidemic which has swept through care homes, after labour accused him of failing to get to grips with the number of deaths there. the prime minister also said he hoped there would be an easing of lockdown measures from monday, although he did not give details on what those might be. and he set a new goal of doubling testing capacity to 200,000 by the end of the month. this afternoon nhs england announced a further 331 people had died in hospitals in england after testing positive for covid—19. a further 83 have died in scotland. 21 in wales. and another 14 deaths have been recorded in northern ireland. this report is from our political correspondent nick eardley. not much feels normaljust now, not at westminster, not around the country. here, though, scrutiny of the government's strategy goes on and questions are being asked, after the uk's death toll overtook italy's to become the highest in europe so far. after a six—week absence during which he had coronavirus, the prime minister heading back to parliament to face some of those questions, for the first time from new labour leader sir keir starmer. i'm looking forward to it and i'm glad to see he's back in parliament. i would like to welcome the prime minster back to his rightful place in the chamber. his government was accused of acting too slowly at the start of the crisis. at least 29,427 people in the uk have now lost their lives to this dreadful virus. that's now the highest number in europe. it's the second highest in the world. that is not success, or apparent success, so can the prime minister tell us how on earth did it come to this. the government has argued it is too early for international comparisons, and defends its strategy. at every stage, as we took the decisions that we did, we were governed by one overriding principle and aim, and that was to save lives and to protect our nhs. mrjohnson also said he wanted testing increased again, up to 200,000 per day, but he faced pressure too on the situation in care homes. whilst happily in hospitals it looks as though deaths are falling, deaths in care homes continue to go up. he is absolutely right to say there is an epidemic going on in care homes, which is something i bitterly regret and we have been working very hard for weeks to get it down. the prime minister will reveal the next stage of the government strategy on sunday. it's possible there could be changes as soon as monday. but while there is pressure here to get the economy moving again, few think doing that will be quick or easy. as the lockdown continues, though, this man, neil ferguson, one of the most prominent scientists advising the government, resigned after the daily telegraph reported his married lover had visited his home against the government's own advice. when it comes, normal might look quite different. lifting restrictions is likely to be gradual. scenes like this won't disappear overnight. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. with me now is our political correspondent jonathan blake. of the lockdown, we will get more details on sunday, but a hint that measures could be eased as soon as monday? yes, the prime minister said during prime minister's questions in an explanation as to why he was making a statement to the public on sunday and not updating mps first, firstly the reason is that government is looking at data coming in everyday and wants to make sure it has the latest information available, and secondly, as you say, some of those measures the prime minister suggested could be brought in as soon as monday, so that will only increase the anticipation around what the prime minister is going to have to say to us all this coming sunday when he will give details of what the government wants to do next in terms of changing, relaxing, easing the restrictions that are in place on all of our movements, that we have grown used to, and it seems that things could change quickly, though i would stress that every ten ministers have been telling us not to expect things to go back to normal immediately or even slowly, and there won't necessarily be a timetable laid out by the prime minister for what we can expect in the coming days and weeks. but it does sound like there will be some changes as soon as next week. and meanwhile the labour leader and boris johnson meeting week. and meanwhile the labour leader and borisjohnson meeting for the first time at pmqs today, and particular pressure on the prime minister over the number of people in care homes who are dying of coronavirus? yes, boris johnson's first prime minister is questions for some six weeks, and his first against the new labour leader sir keir starmer, and it had a very different feel to the exchanges we have grown used to between boris johnson and jeremy corbyn. 0f have grown used to between boris johnson and jeremy corbyn. of course there are fewer mps in the chamber at the moment anyway, many of them asking their questions via video link. but sir keir starmer was blunt in his questions, probing boris johnson on several areas where the government has been under pressure, and its response to the coronavirus. so for example on personal protective equipment and the issue of care homes, and borisjohnson described as an epidemic the situation in care homes across the uk, and then on the death figures, which now stand at the highest among european countries. borisjohnson said that he was right to draw attention to those horrifying statistics. so the prime minister was under pressure on several counts, but defended the government's strategy and laid out that new ambition as he described it for testing, to have the capacity to test 200,000 people per coronavirus ina 24—hour test 200,000 people per coronavirus in a 24—hour period by the end of this month, and that is something that labour have said subsequently they will be holding the government to account on. and finally the daily briefing in downing street coming up at five o'clock this afternoon. what can we expect today? it is going to be community secretary robert jenrick who will lead today's news conference, and he will bejoined by professor yvonne doyle who is director of health protection and the medical directorfor director of health protection and the medical director for public health england, and a first appearance at these daily meetings by nickie aiken and it will be regional broadcaster newspapers who will ask the questions, so perhaps an opportunity to hear what the particular problems are and what the situation it in various parts of the uk. jonathan blake in west mr, thank you. the health secretary has again defended the government's testing strategy. matt hancock has also denied that the government had left people in care homes more vulnerable to the virus, by prioritising hospitals. our health correspondent anna collinson reports. 100,000 daily tests by the end of april was the promise. and last friday the government said the deadline had been met. i can announce we have met our goal. the number of tests yesterday, on the last day of april, was 122,347. but over the past three days, the government has failed to hit its target, most recently reaching around 85,000. testing capacity has increased in recent weeks with kits available to order online and testing sites popping up all over the uk. but the government and its advisers admit it should have happened sooner and faster. this morning the health secretary for england spoke to sky news. it would have been wonderful if we had gone into this crisis with a global—scale diagnostics industry, yes. but, you know, in the way that for instance germany did. but we went in more like other countries like france, which similarly have had to build testing capability almost from scratch. the health secretary also dismissed claims that the elderly had been sacrificed so the nhs wasn't overwhelmed. prime minister boris johnson says he bitterly regrets the epidemic in care homes. his ambition is now to reach 200,000 daily tests by the end of this month. although that refers to lab capacity rather than individual tests. the uk now has the highest number of coronavirus deaths in europe, a development described as a massive tragedy. as this graph shows, cases in italy were reported earlier in march, but the uk saw a steeper curve at the end of the month and has now surpassed italy. more than 29,000 deaths have now been reported. currently only the us has a higher number of recorded deaths and labour wants answers. why have we had so many more deaths than countries such as germany? why did we pull out of our testing and tracing in march? why did we miss opportunities to upscale testing? these are the questions we need to be asking. but we are being warned to be careful when comparing countries. the uk and italy both use a similar definition for deaths, people who test positive for the virus before dying, but there are important differences which can influence the data. italy has so far conducted more tests. 0n the other hand, the uk has a larger population. when looking at covid deaths per capita, belgium has reported the most fatalities in the world. but the country has a very broad way of recording data, which could explain the high numbers. you have to take a lot of things into account. firstly we are one of the biggest countries in europe, and that matters. there are smaller countries which will naturally have a lower death rate. it's likely to be months, maybe years, before we can really know which country has the highest death toll. but that is little consolation for those grieving loved ones now. anna collinson, bbc news. earlier the uk's former chief scientific advisor, professor sir david king, said the uk is far behind where it should be on testing. where we are today compared to where we should have been is in a very poor state. i don't think we can duck the issue. we only got into this in any sort of serious way late in march, and what did the government do to prepare ourselves for more testing back onjanuary the 23rd when we had all the information about the new virus from china? what did we do to start preparing ourselves when we had run down our capacity in our national health service? we had months to do that. we are looking at the comparison with germany, but my best comparison in europe is with greece. the greek economy nowhere near as strong as ours, the national health service are there no where near as strong as ours, but nevertheless, in greece, starting the 3rd of march, they began the lockdown process. greece's deaths per head of population, let me make that comparison absolute, per head of population is the only way to look at this, is a tiny fraction of ours, like 250, and they are now able from may the 4th to begin emerging from the lockdown process. what they did is everything right. they set up all the testing they had to do. they brought in all the ppe they knew they would need, and they brought in all the masks so the population, as they go out of lockdown, will be required as they go shopping and everything to wear face masks. so i think we have fared extremely badly. professor sir david king. nicola sturgeon will announce tomorrow whether lockdown measures in scotland are to continue for another three weeks. figures out today showed there'd been a fall in the number of coronavirus deaths. the data from the national records of scotland showed that last week 523 people had died with the virus, down from 658 the week before. the figures also showed that the majority of scottish deaths — nearly 60% — were in care homes. the spanish prime minister pedro sanchez has implored the country's parliament not to lift the state of emergency — he says doing so would be a big mistake. he wants it to be extended for another 15 days beyond this weekend, but opposition politicians have accused the government of distorting the facts. some people struggle to shake off the symptoms for many weeks, leaving them exhausted and anxious. dominic hughes reports. i have suspected coronavirus. what i was not prepared for wasjust excruciating leg pains. it has been seven weeks now. that feeling of being so diminished and so weak. it came back on week four. in the fifth week of being ill, my partner had to call out a&e. week seven i relapsed again and had my third wave. for six weeks now, felicity, aged 49 and from london, has been living with suspected coronavirus. david, 42, and living in bristol, has also spent almost two months suffering relapses. this is where i have all my stuff. i make sure i'm keeping cutlery and bowls separate. david's world has shrunk to this room, self isolating to protect his wife and baby daughter. eating and sleeping here, separate from my wife for the last seven weeks. it's hard work. butjust when he thought he was getting better, he'd relapse and he's not alone. just knowing that people like me, i guess, who have experienced these waves on and off, because when i first relapsed, when it first got worse, it was quite a scary experience, because i thought that you don't know whether that means you are going down, down, down, so it is quite scary to get worse after you thought you were getting better. when i was really ill, i was going on my hands and knees, up and down the stairs... felicity has also struggled to shake off covid—type symptons and the weeks of illness have taken their toll. this entire experience of being sick and trying to recover has been mentally overwhelming. the hardest part was, having got through the first ten days of being very sick and thinking i was getting better, things later getting much, much worse. i was experiencing such horrific abdominal pains that i wasjust calling out injust extreme agony. neither felicity nor david have been tested, but both were told by doctors they probably had the virus. they've also been reassured they are no longer infectious, but recovery has been slow. even the slightest uphill slope is a real struggle since being ill. so much about the coronavirus is unknown, including why some experience relatively mild symptoms, lasting a few days, while otherwise healthy people are left struggling for weeks. in many patients with other diseases who are recovering from an acute illness, you do tend to see this kind of waxing and waning effect as you are slowly getting better and you have good days and bad days. there's some evidence to suggest that the prolonged features are the body's response to infection rather than the infection itself persisting in their bodies. the first week i started to keep a diary of the symptoms i was experiencing. david and felicity hope they are now finally recovering. a return to normalfamily life. my wife would bring my daughter to the window. it was lovely. i'm going to give you squidgies soon! dominic hughes, bbc news. the covid—19 crisis has disrupted all our lives but one possible silver lining relates to the environment. as road traffic and flights have declined, nature has come back in force in many parts of the world. for climate change, the lockdown is also likely to have big implications as emissions of the main warming gas carbon dioxide have fallen in almost every part of the world. 0ur environment correspondent matt mcgrath has been looking at the reasons behind the drop in co2 and what it might mean for global temperatures. right now we are living through the biggest carbon crash ever recorded. for a century, emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas have risen dramatically. but while war and oil crises have caused falls in c02 before, nothing has come close to the drop in fossil fuel use we are seeing at this moment. because of the coronavirus, the world will probably emit between 2 and 3 billion tonnes less c02 this year compared to 2019. that fall could be six times larger than during the last global recession in 2008. so what's happened? well, our skies are a lot clearer as there has been a huge drop in the number of flights, with a 75% reduction compared to the same time last year. and while the falloff of emissions on the roads isn't as large in percentage terms, limiting journeys is having an even bigger impact on the amount of c02 going into the atmosphere. demand for electricity globally has also fallen by around 20% because of the shutdown. but not every city is having the same experience, though. paris has seen c02 drop by 72% in march as road traffic fell away. but in new york, carbon emissions have gone down by only 10%. the key reason is that fossil fuel home heating and not cars ias the main source of c02 in new york, and demand has remained high during the crisis. many would hope the carbon cuts being forced on the world right now would at least help keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 celsius this century, a level that might limit the very worst climate impacts such as heatwaves and floods. but getting there will require changes even greater in scale than what we are living through right now. to truly flatten the emissions curve, climate scientists say we'd need a pandemic—size reduction of c02 emissions every year from now until 2050. the committee on climate change provides independent advice to the government on building a low carbon economy. it has written to the prior minister warning that the company must avoid lurching from the pandemic into a deeper crisis over the environment. let's speak to the former environment secretary lord deben. he's now the chairman of that committee. good afternoon, thank you for joining us. what do you mean that the country must avoid lurching from the country must avoid lurching from the pandemic into a deeper crisis? we are faced with the crisis of climate change. that is getting worse every year. the way to get out of the effects of the lockdown is for us to use the resources we have to have a more resilient economy, to do all the things that we need to do for climate change which happened at the same time to provide the jobs and the opportunities and the resurgent opportunities which we need to get out of the effects of fighting covid—19. need to get out of the effects of fighting covid-19. a lot of people talking about this time as a reset, a rethinking of how we all live our lives, but given the economic situation, given the urgency of getting the economy started again, do you think people are really going to be able to do that? yes, because the alternative is much more expensive. the cost effective way of doing this is actually for example to make sure that we build the houses that we are building anyway, but build them in a way which uses less energy, which are more co mforta ble, less energy, which are more comfortable, which has proper insulation. if we think about the north sea oil, that is now rather expensive to sell, and there will be losses of jobs there expensive to sell, and there will be losses ofjobs there unless we do something. why not start our campaign which we've agreed to do to have carbon capture and storage which happens to be in precisely the same places where those jobs will be lost, or pretty near, so there are a whole range of things that we can do and do immediately that our other and do immediately that our other and ready which can get the economy moving. so this is not asking something extra. it is the opposite thing round. it is the most cost—effective way of delivering the jobs and the prosperity that we need. it is interesting, when we look back on this, we have been in lockdown for six, seven weeks now. it won't seem that much time when you look at it on a grand scale, but it has impacted on people's minds and attitudes enormously already, hasn't it? yes, i think the fact is that people have notjust heard about clean air, they have breathed it in the centre of our great cities, and i don't think they are going to be prepared to go back to dirty airwhich is going to be prepared to go back to dirty air which is poisoning them and their children. when they have been working at home, they realise that although they want to go and meet their friends and such like, working at home a couple of days a week instead of commuting five days a week looks a much better answer. and what we've got to do is to make that easier and more convenient. that means instead of expanding the road programme, we should be using that money to increase the broadband availability and fibre optics.” have been running to work every day since the lockdown, and i have really noticed in the centre of london the difference in the air quality. so many more people on bicycles as well. but i do wonder, already seeing more traffic on the roads, i do wonder how quickly we will return to some normality. people just get used to behaving as they did before. people will think that. you are not going to have an immediate change for ever. but what you do now have is the basis upon which the government can help that change to take place, so that we don't lose the good things about the lockdown when we have to fight the bad things. because don't let's kid ourselves, this has been a devastating period for the british economy, as it has four other economies, so nobody wants to stop the world. what we are concerned to do is that we started off in britain ina do is that we started off in britain in a better way, do is that we started off in britain in a betterway, in do is that we started off in britain in a better way, in a way that is better for our health, better for our lives and our mental health, and above all, which will lead to a resilient and sustainable economy and not one which we have to recast yet again because of climate change. lord deben, thank you very much for talking to us this afternoon. thank you very much. now. most of us are struggling with our lockdown hair, because hairdressers and barbers are closed. but a bbc investigation has found some are flouting the rules. colin campbell has found some barber shops which have been offering appointments, despite the risk of breaching social distancing restrictions. barbers, like many businesses, they have been banned from opening, to stop the spread of covid—19. but we have discovered not all are adhering to the lockdown laws. hi, i'm trying to find somewhere to get my hair cut. five o'clock, is that 0k? five o'clock, to the shop, yeah? yeah. we have to sit down in the kitchen because i want to be private, i don't want anybody to see you because it will be a problem for me. just phoning to see if you would be willing to cut my hair? what, today? yes, please. i've got a customer. i am busy till saturday, only sunday. i am busy today, tomorrow. sunday, i'm free. so, obviously they are seeing quite a few clients. that is interaction with quite a few different people who also may therefore have been interacting with other people, and this alljust gives any person who may be infected and asymptomatic the opportunity to spread the virus quite rapidly. only a few of the barbers i spoke to showed any real concern for the dangers posed by the virus. do you want me to wear a mask or take any other safety precautions? i don't care. for me, i don't believe in this coronavirus or whatever. for me, it doesn't matter. responding to our investigation, celebrity hairdresser nicky clarke told me he was disappointed but not surprised. well, i think it's wrong. the fact of the matter is that they are not putting into place anything that could even justify their behaviour. in total, i phoned 50 barbers. 19 agreed to cut my hair. 12 declined. 19 didn't answer my call, but many who did admitted they had increased their prices, seemingly cashing in on the crisis. for those responsible barbers abiding by the law, now financially suffering, there is understandable frustration. it just makes me angry, to be honest. the fact that people are still profiting from this... yeah, itjust makes me really angry. really angry. controlling the virus has taken the hard work and sacrifice of many. it is the irresponsible actions of a few that could jeopardise that. colin campbell, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. hello. very little change in the weather through the rest of today, so it is warm, dry, temperatures are up on those yesterday by two or three degrees. still a little bit chilly near the north sea coast but warmer than it was yesterday. as we go through this evening and overnight, there is an outside chance of a shower for the isles of scilly, then that chance increases for northern ireland, and for the irish sea coasts of south—west england and wales, is that cloud makes its way northward. slightly more humid air here, not as chilly overnight, and even further east, although it will be quite chilly, it will not be as cold as it was this morning because we will have realised higher daytime temperatures. plenty of sunshine to come on thursday. yes, a bit more cloud for western fringes of england and wales and the outside, but more likely it could head a bit thundering into the afternoon and evening as well. if anything, temperatures a little up on those today once again. goodbye. this is bbc news. the headlines at 4.30: the prime minister says he bitterly regrets the coronavirus epidemic in care homes after being challenged by the new labour leader at their first meeting in prime minister's questions. i have to ask the prime minister, why hasn't the government got to grips with this already? there's an epidemic going on in care homes, which is something i bitterly regret. the prime minister also signalled that an easing of the lockdown could begin from monday — but that a final decision would depend on the latest scientific data.

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