Hello. The United States has recorded 200,000 coronavirus deaths. The latest figures, compiled byjohns hopkins university, also show that almost 6,900,000 people in the us are confirmed to have been infected by the virus. This was President Trumps reaction to the latest death toll. I think its a shame. I think if we didnt do it properly and do it right, youd have 2. 5 Million Deaths if you take a look at alternatives, you could have 2. 5 Million Deaths, or something there about. You could have a number that would be substantially more. With all of that being said, we shouldnt have had anybody and you saw my United Nations speech, china shouldve stopped it at their border. They shouldve never let this spread all over the world. And its a terrible thing. But had we not closed our country down and reopened and now were doing well in reopening, the stock markets up, all of those things but i think its a horrible thing. But if we had not done it right, you could have two million, 2. 5 million and three million. The numbers of deaths in the us are high, and there is a growing concern that infections will continue to rise during the winter months. They equate to just below 62 deaths per 100,000 people. This is the sixth highest rate of mortality from covid worldwide. Thats six times higher than germany, a country lauded for tackling the pandemic well, which has a rate of 11. 32 per 100,000. And if we look at china where the virus started, they have a rate of 0. 34 deaths per 100,000. As with any country, the rate of death across the us varies widely. New york has been the hardest hit, with 33,000 deaths and close to 500,000 cases. Heres what nancy pelosi, the democratic speaker of the house of representatives, had to say about the the handling of the outbreak. About the president s handling of the outbreak. But this was preventable not all of it, but much of it. And what could be lost in the future is preventable, too, if we embrace science. Science instead of politics. At the centers for disease control, great scientists are there, demoralised by the political overturning of recommendations to save lives. Dr ashwin vasan is a Columbia University Public Health professor. He gave us his assessment to the us response. I think what we know is that our response from the beginning in the us has been politicised and fragmented and patchworked in the worst ways, in part because we havent had the centralised co ordination, leadership and coherent messaging and support of science that we need when were responding to epidemics, and particularly massive pandemics like this. Your opening package was incredibly powerful. 200,000 deaths isjust a tragedy and every single one a mother, father, a son, a daughter, a sibling that we have to mourn and we have to honour, and i worry that the politicisation of our response has left us inure and somewhat immune to this very, very human and painful toll and the long term effects of this were certainly not out of the pandemic now, but the long term effects on trauma, on depression, anxiety, on Mental Health are going to be sewn for years and years to come. A recent survey from the cdc reported nearly half of people reported increasing substance use, reporting trauma or seriously considering suicide as a result of the pandemic and so, we have to deal with this, we have to recover from this, we have to continue to respond by investing in Public Health and our president needs to stop downplaying the impact of this and celebrating what has truly been a failed response from his part. You know, of course, people will argue about how we got here, but we are where we are. Is the implication of what youre saying that, actually, its going to get much worse from here on in, not better . Well, it certainly has the potential to get worse in the fall and in the winter, as viruses like coronaviruses and the flu begin to find a greater footing, and we expect there to be an increase in cases. And so, what this means is we must finally invest ina sound Public Health response that includes testing, tracing, support for isolation and Economic Relief and if we choose to remain in the patchwork response that we have, we will continue to see some states, some areas, do well because their states and local leaders have chosen to invest in Public Health, which is the only roadmap to returning to normalcy. And you will see some states, much as we have now, not respond effectively, have significant outbreaks and put significant strain on our Healthcare Resources and, you know, the tragedy will be in more preventable deaths, more preventable suffering that could have been avoided. Nancy pelosi is right much of it was preventable. Not all of it, but much of it was, and certainly, our response and the poor quality of it was preventable. Dr ashwin vasan. The United Kingdom has reached a perilous turning point in its struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic thats according to Prime Minister borisjohnson, who has set out a series of new restrictions for england. He stressed that significa ntly greater restrictions will be brought in if new cases continue to rise sharply. Mrjohnson had addressed Parliament Earlier in the day before explaining his decisions in a televised address to the nation a few hours later. Im deeply, spiritually reluctant to make any of these impositions or infringe anyones freedom but unless we take action, the risk is that we will have to go for tougher measures later when the deaths have already mounted and we have a huge caseload of infection such as we had in the spring. So will the latest measures introduced across the uk be so will the latest measures to be introduced across the uk be enough to suppress the virus . 0ur medical editor fergus walsh looks at the challenges ahead. How do you strike a balance between bearing down on coronavirus while keeping the economy moving . Thats the challenge facing ministers. Closing bars and restaurants at 10pm should reduce the amount of alcohol people drink in public, and so perhaps may make behaviour less risky. People will be a little bit more sober when they go home, which means they are less likely to engage in risky behaviours. Theyre perhaps more likely to put a Face Covering theyre perhaps more likely to remember to put on a Face Covering on when they get onto the bus and the tube. They may go home with friends, but the chances are its not going to be in as large a group as they would be in the bar with. The latest reproduction or r numberfor the uk is between 1. 1 and 1. 4, which means that for every ten infected people, theyll be passing the people on to between 11 and 1a others. And the Prime Minister made clear that unless r falls below one, then further restrictions are likely. Its thought that coronavirus cases are doubling roughly every seven days and are increasing among all age groups. Hospital admissions are rising, too. Yesterday, government scientists said that, left unchecked, we could see 50,000 cases a day by mid 0ctober, and perhaps 200 deaths a day a month later. Though they stressed this wasnt a prediction, but that would still be a fifth of the 1,000 daily deaths at the peak in early april. Encouraging people to work from home again should mean fewer chances for the virus to spread on public transport and in offices. Then there is scotlands decision to ban most people visiting other households indoors, aimed at tackling a key driver of infection. We can expect this to have a Significant Impact because we know that this disease is spread from person to person, particularly in indoor environments where there isnt so much ventilation and there may be multiple people close to each other. But on the other hand, there will be impacts on well being, particularly amongst the most vulnerable, from not being able to see friends and family as much. One thing that has not been tried here is a night time curfew. That was imposed in antwerp, in belgium in latejuly and helped reduce an outbreak there, though cases across belgium are now higher than in the uk. Fergus walsh, bbc news. The United Nations General Assembly got off to a fiery start in new york, despite the fact that none of the World Leaders had turned up in person due to the coronavirus. Instead, the heads of state are delivering pre recorded messages. President trump used his speech to ask the un to hold china accountable for how it has handled the coronavirus pandemic. Nada tawfik reports. Normally, new york would be heaving with people for the start of the un General Assembly. Instead, because of covid, the crowds have stayed away and the speeches have moved online. Half of humanity is bearing the brunt. The secretary general Antonio Guterres was one of the few to speak from the mostly empty General Assembly hall. At a time when International Cooperation is most needed, he called for a global ceasefire and said efforts should be made to avoid a new cold war one between the us and china. We are moving in a very dangerous direction. Our world cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a great fracture, each with its own trade and financial rules and internet and Artificial Intelligence capacities. President trumps pre recorded speech aired just as the us was nearing 200,000 deaths from the virus by far the highest toll of any nation. With a re election nearing, his speech was aimed at a domestic audience. We will distribute a vaccine, we will defeat the virus, we will end the pandemic, and we will enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity, cooperation and peace. As we pursue this bright future, we must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world, china. The Chinese Ambassador to the un reacted in real time to the president. Translation china resolutely rejects the baseless accusation against china. His remarks introduced a rare speech from chinas president , xijinping. While washington has reduced its influence at the un and plans to leave the World Health Organization, china has been eager to fill the void in the leadership. Translation we should follow the guidance of science, give full play to the leading role of the World Health Organization and launch a joint International Response to beat this pandemic. Any attempt of politicising the issue or stigmatisation must be rejected. Speeches by china and us laid bare the competing visions that have hindered progress here at the United Nations, and with no in person meetings and behind the scenes negotiations, its doubtful this high level week of the General Assembly will contribute much to confronting the global consequences of the coronavirus, let alone other key issues. Nada tawfik, bbc news, at the United Nations in new york. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come we meet the female tea pickers whove become the first on their plantation to go to university. Ben johnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. All the athletes should be clean going into the games. Im just happy that justice is served. It is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. Tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. All the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. Its no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world, and so, the British Government has no option but to continue this action, even after any adverse judgement in australia. Concorde have crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. This is bbc news. The latest headlines in the United States, the death toll reaches 200,000. Millions more are confirmed to have been infected. New covid restrictions in the uk. More masks, less socialising and bigger fines for those who dont adhere to the rules. The authorities in australia say a futher 200 whales have become stranded off tasmania, taking the total number to 470. The discovery makes it australias biggest beaching in modern times. Lets cross over to sydney and speak to our correspondent, shaimaa khalil. Sad to say, this is not unusual but the numbers, that is rare, isnt it . That is right. Beached whales is not uncommon but this part of 200 whales makes it the largest in tasmania and we know they were spotted through aerial surveying. Most of the new 200 whales have already died and we already know that some rescue teams are sending a boat to assess the situation to see if any can be saved. They were spotted ten kilometres or six miles from the original part of 270, one third of that group had already died. A0 rescue members have been working for two days now, managing to save 25 and hoping to push more out into the sea but it is challenging because they are facing really strong tides but they are working with really big animals in a very tight space in a large number and also in shallow waters. The Scientists Say that this will ta ke Scientists Say that this will take days and they simply do not know why this happens. We know that in areas around australia and new zealand that big, big large groups of whales make seasonal migrations of up to 1000 animals per pod actually and the scientists we re actually and the scientists were not able to say what drew the animals to the shore in that manner. Thank you for the update. We will come back to that story, of course. Perhaps no single industry has been as hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic than airlines. Traveller numbers have plummeted, so has revenue snd as countries introduce quarantine measures, the numbers wanting to fly are reduced further. Now, the body that represents Airline Companies is calling for all passengers to be tested before flying. The bbcs tim allman reports. This has been called the worst year financially in the history of aviation. An entire industry effectively brought to a halt. Planes grounded all around the world. Quarantine may help combat the virus but it deters passengers. So, could there be an alternative . Systematic testing of all passengers at departure would guarantee that you fly people who are not infected by the virus or with the risk of being infected which is very, very limited limited by the sensitivity of the test. The scale of the problem is immense. According to the International Air transport association, Airline Revenues for 2020 are predicted to be 419 billion a 50 drop on previous year. Losses for all airlines are estimated to be more than 8a billion. Theyre expecting 2. 25 billion passengers this year, down around 50 , the lowest number since 2006. Some airports, like here in rome, have already piloted a scheme where they test all departing passengers. It might make travelling a little more complicated but the airlines are convinced itll work. Its clear that it will introduce another step in the passenger journey and at the airport but we think first of all its manageable, we have successfully managed a Security Check in which we control every passenger. The first step is agreeing a standard test that is relatively cheap, effective and can be approved by regulators and all destination countries. Airlines hoping this will get their industry back on its feet and passengers back in the air. Tim allman, bbc news. In 1969, it was a small step for man. In 202a, will it be a giant step for women . Nasa has outlined plans to send the first female astronaut to the moon in the next four years. The mission would be the first landing with humans in around 50 years. Laura forczyk is the founder of the space analysis and Consulting Group astralytica. She gave me her reaction to the news. Oh, its fantastic, this a long time coming. Weve been wanting to get back to the moon for decades now and, in a way, its a perfect time because were not only going as the United States of america, were going as an International Collaboration, and were going with a more representation of the human body so it will be men and women this time. Laura, why has it taken so long to get back . A lot of politics, a lot of deciding which priorities to spend our money on, so in previous president ial administrations, there have been plans to go back to go back to the moon, however theyve all been cancelled, theyve been too expensive or congress has decided it wasnt worth the money and so this time around, there is a new initiative, and its going with International Collaboration and with commercial partners which hopefully makes it more sustainable for the future. So its not like apollo, where we planted a flag and we left. This time, its going to be a sustained lunar base that we can learn from so that we can go on to mars and the rest of the solar system. What are your thoughts on the plan to do it by 202a, is that realistic . Its a very optimistic plan. I think it will depend on how much Funding Congress allocates to nasas plan and it is technically feasible however money wise, politically, its probably going to slip a little bit, welljust have to see. Presumably, or at least there may well be a political angle to the choice of date, mightnt there . Yes, thats the speculation is that 202a was chosen as the date because that would be the end of a Second Trump Administration if he is elected. The original date that was planned prior to the announcement of 202a was 2028, landing humans on the moon by 2028, and i wouldnt be surprised, ifjoe biden is elected, there is a biden administration, that we would see a slip in the day, maybe 2028 or some other date in between. What do you think is the possible significance of there being women on board, and possibly the first woman landing on the moon . What does it mean in a wider sense . Its very much more representative of not only the human body but the astronaut corps. Back in the 1960s and ,70s, nasa did not allow women to become astronauts, and that changed with the first nasa class in 1978 when sally ride became the First American woman to fly in space so its been decades in the making that we should send, women make up half the human body and women are just as much interested in science and engineering as men and boys are. So it would be an impact when young women and girls can see a woman stepping foot on the moon and knowing they can do that as well. In sri lanka, tea is picked by women who live and work on isolated plantations, often in poor conditions. Their children are given limited access to Higher Education but in a remote hillside plantation in central sri lanka, a group of girls has become the first in the estate to go to university. And possibly astronauts. Why not . Tesla says its slashing battery costs to speed a global shift to renewable energy. During his battery day presentation and annual general meeting, chief executive elon musk said the company was finding new ways to manufacture batteries with the aim of producing a 25,000 electric car in three years time. He described the meeting as insane with shareholders parked in tesla cars, honking horns in a car park. A reminder of our top story President Trump has said it is horrible that the number of covid deaths in the us has exceeded 200,000, but claimed his intervention had reduced the toll. Medics and democratic critics of the white house have highlighted what they say is mr trumps ineffectual response to the pandemic. More anytime on the bbc website and any time on the twitter feed. Thank you for watching. Hello there. Tuesday marked the autumn equinox, and also the last of these very warm and sunny days. We saw 26 degrees in Santon Downham in suffolk on tuesday afternoon. By friday, it looks like temperatures in suffolk will only manage to make around 12 or 13 degrees. So, noticeably colder as we end the week. And the change comes behind this cold front, which is slowly spreading its way southwards and eastwards early on wednesday. Ahead of it, there will be a lot of cloud around. Some showers too, longer spells of rain, some of which could be on the heavy, maybe thundery side. But for scotland and northern ireland, skies will be clearing behind the weather front. So we start wednesday off on a chilly note here. But again, for england and wales, where we have the weather fronts, the cloud and rain, its going to be quite mild, 12 15 degrees to begin the day. But a lot more cloud on wednesday for england and wales. Outbreaks of rain tending to become more persistent as it pushes eastwards. Some heavier bursts again across the south east, and winds will pick up as well probably the best of the sunshine through the day will be scotland and northern ireland, but it will be chillier here, low teens celsius, 1a to maybe 19 across the south east. But it looks like it could be quite went across the south east of england into the evening. Persistent rain here, winds also picking up across the north sea coast, across the south east and across the south coast as well. Thats because area of low pressure will eventually push off towards scandinavia, and a new area of pressure will arrive just in time for thursday. Now, this ones going to bring some windy weather too. Showers or longer spells of rain, some of which could be quite heavy. There will be some sunshine around, probably the best of it across the northern part of scotland, but the winds will become a feature across south wales and south west england, a0, 50mph. And its going to be cool, 11 1a celsius across the country. As we move out of thursday into friday, that area of low pressure continues to push over towards the north sea and the near continent. Then were in the run of pretty cool, brisk northerly winds. Looks like most showers will be packing into northern and eastern areas closer to that area of low pressure. The further south nd west you are, the better chance of seeing some sunshine, actually. Not feeling too bad in the sunshine, but in some shade in that northerly wind, it will feel cool. Things look like theyll settle down a little bit thanks to a ridge of High Pressure into the weekend but its still going to remain on the cool side, both by day and by night. This is bbc news the headlines President Trump has said its horrible that the number of deaths from coronavirus in the United States has exceeded 200,000. But mr trump said his intervention had helped reduce the toll. Democratic critics have highlighted what they say is mr trumps ineffectual response to the pandemic. The british Prime Minister, borisjohnson, has used a National Television address to call for a spirit of togetherness urging people to observe the new rules hes bringing in to combat the rapid rise in coronavirus infections. He said the country faced an unquestionably difficult winter ahead. The body that represents the Airline Industry is calling for all passengers to be tested for coronavirus before they travel. The International Air transport Association Says it would be a better alternative than putting people in quarantine. The industry is facing huge losses as a result of the pandemic. The labour leader, sir keir starmer, has urged
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