well in the USA the price of oil has
collapsed to a record low as demand rise
up and storage runs out the price of a
barrel of West Texas Intermediate which
is the benchmark for US oil today traded
as low as minus $40 a barrel it's the
first time the price has turned negative
in history it led to a day of chaos in
the oil market so let's talk to our
business correspondent in New York
Michelle Fleury essentially producers
are paying to offload the oil Michelle
yeah I mean this is unprecedented what
you're seeing in the oil industry chaos
that hasn't existed as far back as
people have been recording the price of
oil now what has happened is that with
all of us staying home not driving
around not getting on planes demand has
essentially vanished the result around
the world there is too much crude oil
and so today what we saw is a drop in
the price of a key US benchmark West
Texas Intermediate to below zero again
this has never been seen before and what
it means is that traders are essentially
paying to get rid of this oil that there
is so much that is being stored because
people just aren't buying the oil that
refineries aren't taking this oil that
they are saying well we don't want any
new deliveries in the month of May now
we're not expecting to see any recovery
until there is a pickup in demand and of
course that will depend on how this
health crisis unfolds Michelle once
again thanks very much Michelle Fleury
for us there in New York around the
world some countries are confident that
they have reached their highest number
of infections and past the peak so
they're starting to ease restrictions
and move towards ending their lockdowns
New Zealand today announced that rules
on local travel would be relaxed and
this follows some easing in Germany and
in Denmark too what happens next is
likely to be keenly watched by
governments around the world as our
science editor David Chapman tells us
even when the worst seems to be over the
virus remains a threat in China the
authorities
still on there guy checking for fever a
common symptom of kovat 19 every
government is now trying to work out
what to do next New Zealand is held up
as an example of a country that's got it
right so far it cut itself off from the
rest of the world an extreme lockdown
was introduced rapidly and cases and
deaths have been kept unusually low so
the Prime Minister has announced the
first cautious moves to open up we
believed that decisive action going hard
and going early gave us the very best
chance of stamping out the virus and it
has we have done what very few countries
have been able to do we have stopped a
wave of devastation in Europe Germany is
seen as a model for how to handle the
virus it's leading the way in testing in
nunik this team is checking a thousand
people for antibodies to discover who's
been infected right from the start
masks tests were seen as vital and now
like in New Zealand there's a first step
to reopening juliek less runs a shop in
Heidelberg closed for weeks she's now
got permission to start again this time
from behind a protective screen and with
only one customer allowed in at a time
do you think it's the right time in
Germany to shops like yours to reopen
yes I think so because if we couldn't do
that it would be very very difficult to
exist it's maybe more important for the
small businesses what's happening in
Japan shows the risk of easing measures
too soon controls were introduced but
then relaxed only for cases to rise
sharply again and the World Health
Organization is warning countries
against moving before they're fully
prepared please make sure you've got the
defenses in place at the community level
please make sure that everybody knows
that what their responsibility is please
make sure that older people are given
special care and attention please make
sure that Hospital
got ready Japan's hospitals are now
struggling they're short of personal
protective equipment the government
there is accused of assuming they've got
the outbreak under control David Chapman
BBC news
well the Prime Minister is still at his
country residence checkers recovering
from the effects of coronavirus he is
said to be getting daily updates on the
government's response darling Surrey
said today that terms to Johnson Flores
he was to prevent a second peak of
coronavirus something he was just
talking about he said to be very wary of
relaxing the restrictions too early
let's go live to Westminster and our
political editor Laura Kunz Berg what's
your latest reading of the government's
response Laura well I think here as you
suggest is overriding caution across
government tonight of starting to tweak
or lift any of the restrictions too
early because at this stage it just
seems that that would be a risk that is
not worth taking a risk of a second
deadly spike that not just would have a
cause of a loss of life but also would
in time create more disruption for the
economy and of course for the country in
terms of being able to climb out of this
anytime soon and of course the
government is at the moment experiencing
a lot of pressure particularly on that
issue of protective kit for people in
hospitals and in care homes those caring
for the sick and insiders do acknowledge
well perhaps they should have grappled
and really tried to grip up this
particular issue earlier on but what
people in government absolutely are
adamant about is any suggestion that
they weren't taking this seriously until
recently they say they're now working
absolutely flat-out to try to make sure
that everything is in its place and
beyond concerns about protective
equipment or about the speed of testing
not being ramped up as ramped up quickly
and as many people would desire are on
the two big aims that the government set
out at the beginning all of this slowing
the spread of the disease where we know
from the recent flattening of the
numbers that seems to be happening and
stopping the NHS from being completely
overwhelmed that too seems like it has
been avoided and a few short weeks ago
it wasn't inevitable that either of
those things would
then Laura once again many thanks
origins book their quest mister now as
we've heard the price of US oil is
collapsed as demand Falls because of the
ongoing crisis and unemployment has
rocketed with more than 22 million
Americans filing for unemployment
benefits in the past month protesters
have taken to the streets in states
across the u.s. demanding an end to the
stay at home measures and the reopening
of the economy our North America editor
John sopl has the story
like wildfire a series of demonstrations
has erupted across the country to
protest at the stay at home order to
protest at the closure of the US economy
to protest at what these people see as
unacceptable government interference in
their lives and they don't seem much
interested in maintaining social
distancing this person carries that
placard give me liberty or give me Cove
it 19 he may end up with both now I
think it's time for the government to
allow US adults to make the decisions of
what businesses they want to open if
they want to open open up we should open
up yesterday it never should've closed
it's a hope it's the facts of life we
live and we die so to shut down the
economy because that is insane fuel for
these protests was provided in a series
of tweets by the president urging
citizens to liberate their states from
overzealous governance
the governors are aghast that in the
midst of coronavirus they're now having
to deal with protesters this is not the
time for protests this is not the time
for divisive 'no system for leadership
that will stand up and and provide
empathy that will will understand what's
going on in this country of ours please
but when i spoke to the president he was
unconcerned groups of people planning to
protest tomorrow okay it's the
government shutdown what would be your
advice you're allowed to protest I mean
think they feel that way i watch the
protests and they were all six feet
apart a bit it was a very orderly group
of people an hour but you know some
governors have gone too far some of the
things that happened or maybe not so
appropriate and I think in the end it's
not going to matter because we're
starting to open up our state's and I
think they're gonna open up very well as
far as protesters you know I see
protesters for all sorts of things and
I'm with everybody
I'm with everybody a twist though in
Denver Colorado health workers on the
front line of the fight against
coronavirus tried to stop the protesters
who see themselves as the vanguard for
individual liberty for weeks of lockdown
and tensions are building john so-called
BBC News Washington