In his care. Here, criticism of the way the government uses data on coronavirus test numbers by the head of the uks statistics watchdog. People from ethnic minorities are much more likely to die from covid 19, according to a review from Public Health england. The Health Secretary promises to take action. Holiday firms call on the government to consider air bridges, and scrap quarantine plans for people arriving in the uk. In the last few minutes, mps vote not to allow remote voting in the house of commons amid a row over how commons business can take place safely. And in the next half an hour well be heading to downing street for todays government coronavirus briefing, this afternoon led by the Health Secretary matt hancock. Good afternoon and welcome to this special programme from bbc news. Well bring you all the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic, and the downing street briefing, which will be led today by the Health Secretary, matt hancock. That will start at around five oclock. But first, President Trump has provoked anger for suggesting he will use federal troops to end rioting over the death of an unarmed black man, george floyd, in police custody. Demonstrations have taken place for a seventh night, despite curfews. His democratic challenger, joe biden, accused mr trump of using the military against the american people. And the president has also come under attack for posing outside a Church Holding a bible after the area was cleared using teargas. Our Diplomatic CorrespondentJames Robbins reports. Chanting no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa more protesters, more cities. This is philadelphia, its name promising brotherly love, and the place which is home to the liberty bell. But now, a week after the Police Killing of an unarmed black man in minneapolis, its the scale and depth of americas racial divide which is most obvious. You are here trying to defend the civilians, and its against your code, bro like so many other protests, this one ended in confrontation with police, with tear gas and pepper spray. Screaming, explosions. A wash with milk is one way to ease the burning sensation, and a warning from police to stay away. Its notjust a single thing that brought me out, its really all the years of oppression, all the years of police brutality. I dont know, if i had to pick one word, its injustice. People need to realise that its not something we are making up, its something we live with, have to prepare with, from the day that were born. In washington, the focus of the protest is the president himself. His demand, that Security Forces must get tougher, must dominate, has infuriated many. His threat to deploy heavily armed soldiers to cities where he thinks Law Enforcement is too lax risks drawing sharper lines in a divided country. Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming Law Enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled. If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then i will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them. Then the president walked out of the white house, past the Security Forces, to the historic church, stjohns, which was damaged by fire in sunday nights protests. Donald trump held up a bible to the cameras. Black lives matter in minneapolis, where this all began, with the Police Killing of george floyd, they gathered again. At the site of a memorial and mural to honour him. His brother terence urged people to use their vote, not violence, to change america. New york has become a critical flashpoint in this increasingly polarised political conflict. Large crowds rallied peacefully in times square and in brooklyn. The city is moving from locked down to boarded up, as some use the end of demonstrations to follow up with attempts to steal and to loot. The United States looks like a nation in turmoil and torment. Its unresolved racial inequalities and discrimination pushed back to the centre stage in a critical election year. When americans will be looking at their president , as well as themselves, before deciding in which direction they want their nation to head next. James robbins, bbc news. This afternoon, the Us Democratic president ial contender, joe biden, has strongly criticised presdient trump saying that america lacks a leader who can unite the country which is currently divided by racial tensions. Our country is crying out for leadership. Leadership that can unite us, leadership that brings us together. Leadership that can recognise pain and deep grief of communities that have had a knee on their neck for a long time. There is no place for violence, no place for looting or destroying property or burning churches or destroying businesses. Many of them built by the very people of colour who, for the first time in their lives, were beginning to realise their dreams and build wealth for their families. Nor is it acceptable for our police, sworn to protect and serve all people, to escalate tension, resort to excessive violence. We need to distinguish between legitimate, peaceful protest and opportunistic, violent destruction. We have to be vigilant about the violence that is being done by this incumbent president to our economy and to the pursuit of justice. When peaceful protesters, dispersed in orderfor a president. A president , from the doorstep of the peoples house, the white house, using tear gas and flash grenades in order to stage a photo op, a photo op at one of the most Historic Churches in the country, or at least in washington, dc. We can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle. More interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care. For that is what the presidency is. The duty to care. To care for all of us notjust those who vote for us, but all of us. Notjust our donors, but all of us. The president held up the bible at stjohns church yesterday. Ijust wish hed open it once in a while instead of brandishing it. If he opened it, he could have learned something. The call to love one another as we love ourselves. Its really hard work but its the work of america. Donald trump isnt interested in doing that work. Instead, he is preening and sweeping away all the guardrails that have long protected our democracy, guardrails that have helped make possible this nations path to a more perfect union, a union that constantly requires reform and rededication. And, yes, protest from voices that are mistreated, ignored, left out or left behind. Joe biden speaking in the last couple of hours. Lets turn to coronavirus now and todays main developments. Figures show the numbers of people dying each week whose deaths are linked to covid i9 has dropped to its lowest levels in england and wales since late march. The office for National Statistics review of death certificates showed 2,589 cases where the virus was mentioned in the week ending 22nd may. The uks statistics watchdog has criticised the government today over its handling of coronaVirus Testing data. The chairman of the Uk Statistics Authority says presentation of figures appeared to be aimed at showing the largest possible number of tests, even at the expense of understanding. Public Health England has released its report looking at why people from ethnic minority backgrounds are disproportionately dying with coronavirus. It shows once age and sex are stripped out, people of bangladeshi ethnicity have twice the risk of death than people of White British ethnicity. The risk is higherfor other asian, caribbean and black ethnicities too. And mps have voted down an amendment to restore remote voting in the house of commons amid a row over how mps can work safely. In the last few seconds we have had the latest figures from the department of health on covid i9 deaths. The department of health saying 39,369 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the Wider Community after testing positive, up by 32a. 324 community after testing positive, up by 324. 324 additional deaths in the uk as of five oclock on monday. In a 24 hour period up to nine oclock on tuesday morning, 135,643 tests we re on tuesday morning, 135,643 tests were carried out or dispatched with 4. 5 million tests carried out overall. So, the Health Secretary matt hancock has been been criticised by the head of the uk statisitcs authority over the presentation of coronavirus test numbers. Sir David Norgrove described the figures as inadequate and said they fall well short of expectations. He warned statistics were being presented in a way that aims to show the largest possible number of tests. Our Health CorrespondentRichard Galpin is here. Talk us through a bit more about this criticism from sir david. Statistics is normally quite a dry subject but in this case, this amounts to an attack on the way the government is handling statistical data. Yes, it is withering criticism, quite a bombshell from him, and he is really questioning the figures the government has put out, indicating he doesnt believe many of them are actually correct. For example he says the government figures on testing are far from com plete figures on testing are far from complete and comprehensible. They are of limited value in determining how many people have been affected. That is a crucial stat. He is saying the aim seems to be to show the largest possible number of tests even at the expense of understanding. Some very strong criticism. He comes up with examples saying that the government headline total of tests carried out includes the test kits sent to peoples homes, but the problem with that is there is no data on how many people actually implemented those tests, have they done them themselves so that can really skew the figures. Something like 43,000 home test kits have been sent out, a big number that could skew the figures, which could be completely wrong. The background is that Health Secretary matt hancock set himself a target of 100,000 daily tests by the end of april. The Prime Minister then set another target of 200,000 by the end of may. Thats right. And at the moment, they put out more than 200,000, thats what borisjohnson said. At the moment than about tests being carried out is around 128,000, so being carried out is around 128,000, so you being carried out is around 128,000, so you can see being carried out is around 128,000, so you can see the gap. What have the government said . Inevitably there has been a response from the government, a statement from Health Secretary matt hancock, who has said the department of health is continuing to work with the Uk Statistics Authority to address their concerns. 0ne Statistics Authority to address their concerns. One point is that recently the government has stopped reporting the number of people who have been tested saying it is a temporary measure to ensure consistent reporting, but it is kind of convenient it has happened recently. Richard galpin, Health Correspondent, thank you. Mps have defeated an amendment to restore remote voting in the house of commons. 0ur Political Correspondent nick eardleyjoins me now. We saw them voting in rather strange circumstances, it has to be said. In the end its a victory for the government. Yes, for anyone not familiar with how parliament works, mps normally have to walk up to a table and tell one of the staff in the house of commons how they want to vote when it comes to a particular motion. For the last few weeks they have been able to vote remotely online because of the coronavirus pandemic. The government wa nts to coronavirus pandemic. The government wants to get back to what it calls a physical parliament because it argues that is the best way to hold ministers to account, to make sure legislation is being done properly. But just like everyone legislation is being done properly. Butjust like everyone else, they have to maintain social distancing, so we have to maintain social distancing, so we have had this extraordinary spectacle over the last hour or so of mps queueing up throughout the parliamentary estate, two metres away from each other, to queue up and going to the Commons Chamber to vote. Look at this tweet from one of my colleagues in the lobby, john stephen of the daily mail, thats mps queueing outside parliament waiting to get into a building where they then queue to get into a corridor to go through to the house of commons where they dont have to queue a wee bit longer to make sure they are all two metres apart before voting. The amendment they have just voted against would have kept the Virtual Parliament, so the Virtual Parliament is going and that has caused no end of controversy because there are some mps who are shielding, not allowed to leave the house asking what are they supposed to do, they cant vote in the next few weeks and potentially the next few weeks and potentially the next few months. Mps from different parts of the uk, scotland, wales and Northern Ireland, are saying they dont want to be a super spreader. If they catch coronavirus in london they dont want to take it back to their constituency so real concern there. At the moment mps are voting again, it is a lengthy process, the first one took around 45 minutes and this might be slightly quicker because i think fewer are voting because i think fewer are voting because they think it is a foregone conclusion this time. This one basically means things go back to normal apart from some mps who have a medical reason who will be able to contribute remotely through zoom over the next few weeks. The parliamentary arrangements we have seen over parliamentary arrangements we have seen over the last few weeks are coming to an end out the big question is whether that sight of mps queueing for what could be over a kilometre if everybody turns up and could take more than an hour, will continue and if they are outside, what happens if it starts to rain . Nick eardley at westminster. Public Health England has published a review which has confirmed that black, asian and minority ethnic people are more likely to die from covid 19. Researchers found that people of bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death than people of White British ethnicity. 0ur Health Correspondent nick triggle is here. This has long been discussed since the crisis began but it is confirmation. Yes, we have been anticipating this report for a while. They looked at a variety of different risk factors like age and gender and also ethnicity point of the biggest risk factor was age. People over 80 were 70 times more likely to die than those under 40 if they were infected. The risk of dying is also higher in men and higher amongst those who lived in more deprived areas. As you say, also high in black, asian and minority ethnic groups, people of bangladesh the ethnicity twice as likely to die if infected and people of chinese, pakistani, otherasian, caribbean and other black ethnicity had between eight ten and 50 higher risk. But this analysis did not take into account comorbidities, whether people had pre existing Health Conditions like Heart Disease and we know that these are a big factor for developing complications. It seems clear that more work is needed to unpick this and find out why some people are at greater risk of dying. We have had new figures suggesting there may have been Something Like 60,000 extra deaths in the uk since the start of the pandemic. There are all sorts of statistics on this so explain what were talking about. The uk statistics agencies have been looking at where coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate. There are basically three ways of counting the number of deaths. The governments daily figures, which rely on positive infections being identified through testing, they show that 39,000 people have died during the pandemic. If you look at death certificates at the uk statistics agencies have done, you can see that 48,000 people have died. And then, if we look at the total number of people dying and whether they are above what would normally be expected to happen, this is called excess deaths and many believe this is a better way of measuring the true impact of the pandemic because it takes into account those dying from that virus and also the indirect deaths related to maybe lock down because people cannot get health care, or through Mental Health problems. They show nearly 62,000 extra people have died during the pandemic. Nick, many thanks. A total of 2,375 patients have died in scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by 12 from monday. Scotlands first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the figures at her Daily Briefing. She also spoke about plans to give care workers more money for those looking after coronavirus patients. One of the ways in which the Scottish Government has already acted to support carers is by establishing a carers allowance supplement. That is worth £460 a year. The supplement is paid to around 83,000 people across the country who receive carers allowance. People who are on low incomes and who p