Explore new york city from sunrise to sunset to find out what its really like under lockdown. And im sure the sports the most successful players in mens tennis history want to set up a fund to help lower ranked players financially doing the kimono virus crisis. Welcome to the new british leaders are defending themselves against damning criticism that theyve mishandled a coronavirus pandemic the sunday Times Newspaper points the finger directly at Prime Minister johnson it accuses him of wasting precious time in stopping the spread now the paper usually supports Johnsons Conservative Party but it says he ignored scientists warnings failed to replenish stocks of protective medical equipment and didnt attend of 5 initial emergency meetings about the outbreak or since then more than 15000. 00 britons have died in hospitals across the country thats the worlds 5th highest National Death toll and the true total could be much higher because official statistics dont include the deaths of people in care homes for the elderly for example and that totals estimated to be around 7 and a half 1000. Well the u. K. Government has just because a briefing on the virus will bring you some of that later in the program but 1st lets speak to our correspondent paul brennan hes waiting forces outside the house of parliament to mean what has the government had to say about the times report because it is damning. It is critical the times the sunday times apologies basically gone back to early january and kind of looked at the governments response in those early weeks particularly the 5 weeks from the end of january to the very start of march where there were 5 cobra meetings this is the National Crisis committee of the government where Security Advisors scientific advisors and political bodies political people get together and work out what the Government Strategy should be the cobra code was the acronym then what we have is the Prime Minister not attending the 1st 5 of the sunday times is gone and spoken to senior downing Street Advisors people from within various Government Departments and the quotes that they put forward in todays report spread over 4 pages as you say pretty damning you know one quote is from a department of Health Person the pandemic was always top of the National Risk register always when it came to it we just slowly watched the government there was putting up a defense of it saying Boris Johnson doesnt actually have to attend those cobra briefings those cobra meetings not until it really gets critical and they put out a Cabinet Office minister michael gove on the Early Morning sunday political programs to defend the governments strategy. The idea that the Prime Minister skipped meetings that were vital to our response to the throwing of us i think is protests and the truth is that the other meetings across government some chaired by the Health Secretary some chaired by other ministers but the Prime Minister took all the major decisions and i think anyone who considerable happen to the point is just a little while ago if you can say that the press some throwing heart and soul into fighting this virus. A bone of contention really other statistics about those dying in care homes which the government to still finding it very difficult to justify. It in the statistical record of the government hasnt been great on the coronavirus mainly because theyre not testing as widely as other countries a switch was made mid march to decide not to test them isolate people who are showing coronavirus symptoms and so what we have now is a situation where people are dying in care homes in the care home providers are coming up with these estimates which are stark and big and we had one from care england couple of days ago which said 7 and a half 1000 effectively out of season deaths you know theres 700000. 00 more deaths than the should be at this time of year perhaps not all of them from coronavirus but without testing we simply dont know and now the National Care forum which represents a body of the nonprofit making care homes is saying that around 4000 people in their estimation have died in care homes as a result of coronavirus but the not make me into the official statistics because theyre not being tested for coronavirus so it casts a shadow over how accurate a picture the government has on the spot on the scale of the pandemic here here in the u. K. And in london but so much for the update. Lets cross over to jim bell hes a professor of politics that Queen Marys University in london joins me now via skype from east born on the english south coast good to have you with us on the program tim i mean there have been many british political scandals over the years that have seen ministers resign and the country as a whole baying for political heads to roll are we near with these revelations are not so sure we are near actually at the moment i think there is a lot of public sympathy out there for Boris Johnson personally because obviously his brush. Coronavirus crisis and certain polling suggests that all of the government is losing a little bit of support it still has a great deal of sympathy from the british electorate i suspect then it will go Boris Johnson will probably lose some of that Political Capital over the next few weeks it wont be until months possibly years down the line when we have a proper inquiry this storys going to a very big difference to the governments popularity i mean the accusation made is one of them is that the Prime Minister was not chairing the meetings of cobra of the National Security sort of Emergency Group is it a prerequisite of the position as Prime Minister that he must attend or you must chair these meetings. No its not actually a number of those meetings are often shared by other ministers depending on what the particular topic is so it wouldnt of been completely unusual for the Prime Minister not to be there i think whats worrying in some ways about the sunday times article however is that there was a period. In which thats why mr affectively went missing people were wondering where he was he was called part time by minister by the then leader of the opposition and it seems from the article anyway and from things that other people have said that he was maybe sorting out things in his private life before getting back to government at a time when possibly he shouldve been paying a little bit more attention to whats going on in the rest of the world with the coronavirus what do you make then of Michael Goves statement well it was interesting michael gove didnt completely did not like everything that was damaging for Boris Johnson in the article he used this phrase off beam which is not one to use our i mean i think he put up a spirited defense of the Prime Minister but then nevertheless our questions to be arts in particular because as your correspondent said we have got problems with testing we have got problems with personal protective equipment and i think one of the very damning things in that sunday times article was the suggestion that we and the u. K. Actually sent hundreds of thousands of items of personal protective equipment to china which then of course became unavailable to us when perhaps we needed them and the reasons for why that was and im sure i was they will come when there is an inquiry but one of the startling aspects perhaps for the public at large in the u. K. Was that this story was written by the times and their Investigative Unit theyve done startling work over the decades this is a right leaning conservative supporting newspaper but they were taking no prisoners with the story you surprised that they came out with it so soon. No i think the sunday times and indeed the times are less the lines of the government perhaps some people think certain compared to what we telegraph for example which you seem very much as Boris Johnsons mouthpiece i think the sunday times does keep more of a distance and its also very interesting that the sunday times today in. Its oracle has come out for britain extending the transition period in leaving the e. U. I think actually the times on the sunday times are necessarily newspapers that the government can absolutely guarantee to support it coordinate does interesting will be interesting in the coming days as to what the fallout of this will be for the moment to bail joining us from east born thanks very much. Also under increasing scrutiny for its handling of the pandemic is the United States now the question of when to ease the lock down restrictions is dividing the country president old trunk keeps pushing a positive message but he says there are signs that covert 1000 has passed its peak but experts warn moving too fast could be disastrous and to gallop reports from florida. After weeks of stay at home odors hundreds flocked to the reopened beaches in Jacksonville Florida the medical of this controversial move as essential activity even as the state hit more than 27000 coronavirus cases its what authorities call a pathway back to normal life. But in other parts of the u. S. The scenes a very different across the country a small but growing protest movement is calling for restrictions to be eased from utah to wisconsin in both republican and democratic led states people are taking to the streets urging a return to normal life we are still a free country at least for now and people have to make a decision and thats their personal decision if they dont want to be 6 feet apart or 7 peter peter parker i cant i cant dictate to that to them despite declaring that individual governors are in charge President Donald Trump seemed to encourage the protests in a series of tweets on friday all 3 states have democratic governors his tacit support is seen as deeply political in a time of crisis and you know this there are a lot of protests out there and i just think that some of the governors have gotten carried away you know we have a lot of people that dont have to be told to do what theyre doing theyve been really. Doing everything weve asked them in new york the epicenter of the pandemic measures to ease restrictions still far off the states governor says this is no time to play politics how does the situation get worse. It get worse quickly if you politicize all that emotion we can not go there. Thats where i work so hard when anyone raises any political agenda to me i work so hard to distance myself from it. Some states are beginning to ease restrictions many are still battling the coronavirus and testing is in short supply the desire to get back to some kind of normal is clear the careful approach to doing so vital thank you very much a nation divided it was perhaps inevitable the politics would play a part no matter what challenges lay ahead throughout this crisis the mantra has been were in it together but any sense of unity now seems to be falling apart conservatives believe the cure is worse than the disease others and has to be a more science based approach the fact remains many states a yet to peek in their coronavirus cases the decisions governors make now will be crucial but that hasnt stopped some trying to score political points at the gallacher aljazeera miami florida. Trump is accused of stoking islamophobia as well after raising questions about social distancing in mosques during the holy month of ramadan a White House Correspondent can be held at his mall. There are increasing questions about a retreat by u. S. President trump on saturday accusations he may be stoking islamophobia in the United States the reach we reads lets see if authorities enforce the social distancing orders for mosques during ramadan like they did churches during easter i asked the president about this retreat heres what he had to say didnt put him back on the list that the moms didnt follow so i think i just had a call with her mom so i just had a call with ministers rabbis we had a tremendous call with the faith leaders no i dont think that at all i am somebody that believes in faith and it matters not what your faith is but our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently and they seem to think and i dont know what happened with their country but. The Christian Faith is treated much differently than it was and i think its treated very unfairly now when it comes to enforcing social distancing the department of justice did take on the case of at least one church in mississippi where worshipers attended in their automobiles with the car windows rolled up the department of justice said that these worshippers were simply exercising their right under the 1st amendment of the u. S. Constitution now many in the United States watching very carefully to see if this same effort will be applied when it comes to those who may want to celebrate during ramadan which begins in the u. S. On thursday. Now turkey has overtaken iran as the country with the highest recorded number of covert 1000 cases in the middle east the latest figures put it up to 8 highest in the world just after china coronavirus and turkey has also killed nearly 1900 people more than 82000 infections have been confirmed and that is 3800 of those cases were diagnosed in the past 24 ounce a lockdown has been extended for 15 days prohibiting travel between 30 of turkeys largest cities but michel a kid is the managing editor of the daily subba a progovernment english language newspaper in turkey he says residents are complying with lock down measures and theyre happy with the governments handling of the crisis majority of the people regardless of what car what party they come from even if they do have some sort of criticism they support the way the the way the government has handled this issue in fact the trust for it for the for the Health Minister for example has been like skyrocketing like no other ministers before how he has handle the information sharing the transparency with regards to that has been largely supported by the public and in fact the reason why. You know of course the numbers are rising in turkey but and this has a lot to do of course with our population with the numbers of testing and you know it has passed in iran our neighbor but if you look at the testing numbers we have done turkey has done double the tests in iran so far and the measures prior to the 1st case in turkey are significant post 1st case and 3 when it comes to treatment for example the situation of the Health Care System in turkey is not comparable to its neighbors. You know in the neighboring region. So yes there is of course there is there will be some criticism regardless of how the government is acting and there may be some role for a bridge in india but i think overall if you look at the big picture 2 years handled this. In a successful way. Heavy flooding in kenya has killed 3 people and left 20 missing including Police Officers who were on a rescue mission in west pokot the current has been Strong Enough to uproot trees and sweep them along a fast moving tide schools homes on the market are under water. Now voters in mali her casting their ballots in the 2nd round of legislative elections despite threats of violence and the pandemic hand washing facilities have been set up outside polling booths and guards are warning people about social distancing in the capital bamako the government went ahead with the vote despite the kidnapping of an Opposition Leader and threats from fighters linked to al qaida there are 147. 00 seats up for grabs in the National Assembly on the close hacketts following developments for us from dakar in neighboring senegal and there are still a few hours left before the polling booths close nicholas what are you hearing about the way the vote is going. Well according to the Prime Minister he congratulated the people of mali him for coming out and taking part in this election while the Election Commission has come out with official numbers of the number of people that have come out and voted saying only 8 per cent sorry and were just going to. Go straight to london where governor williamson the education secretary is taking questions from of stress lets listen to him says an enormous effort is a National Effort but its also an interNational Effort to secure p p right around the globe but weve seen so many brilliant british businesses repurpose themselves in order to be able to providers and weve seen many educational settings also been able to do it but you know the government from the 1st moment that we have were in a situation where the scientific advice was highlighting to us that we were facing a real challenge in terms of the corona virus and this could potentially evolve into a pandemic every resource of government has been to poit to not just expanding what we need in terms of p. P. But also ventilators and weve seen the massive growth in the number of ventilators that we have available in the hospitals and keep adding and built into the stock of what weve got im not sure jenny if theres anything extra that you wanted to add happy to and so i think we