this is bbc news, te headlines at 11. the death toll from the coronavirus in china rises to 56 — officials warn the spread of the virus is accelerating and the country faces a grave situation. translation: it seems that the contagious or the spreading ability of the virus is getting stronger. as the united states announces plans to fly some of its citizens home, the foreign office is urging british citizens to leave and advising against further travel to the hubei province. a member of the grenfell tower inquiry panel resigns over links with the firm that supplied the tower block's deadly cladding. 31 people are dead after a powerful earthquake in eastern turkey. more than 1,600 are injured.

three million brexit coins go into circulation on friday to commemorate the day britain leaves the european union. and foreign correspondence based in london gave us their take on china's handling of the coronavirus outbreak in dateline in half an hour. the president of china has said his country is facing a "grave situation" after the number of cases of coronavirus rose sharply to nearly 2000. chinese officials say the virus is infectious in its incubation period, before symptoms show, making it harder to contain. chinese state media say

56 people have now died. chinese president xijinping held a special goverment meeting on the lunar new year public holiday, where he warned where he warned that the spread of the virus is accelerating. a nationwide ban on the sale of wildlife has been imposed. it's believed the outbreak stemmed from the illegal sale of animals at a wuhan fish market. elsewhere, the us has announced that staff at its wuhan consulate will be evacuated on a special flight on tuesday. and here the foreign office has warned against travel to hubei province, where the virus began, and urged britons there to leave if they can. simonjones has this report. this is the reality of life around hubei province, where coronavirus was first detected. checkpoints with warnings that if you enter, you may not be allowed to leave. in wuhan, not one but two new hospitals are to be built. the first will be ready within days to house 1,000 patients.

private vehicles are to be banned from parts of the city centre to curb the movement of people. 0ne visiting academic from cardiff says she is stranded with no idea of what to do. i am disappointed at the absolute silence on the issue of how stranded people are going to get home. it seems that maybe the british government at the moment has either a lack of concern or a lack of planning. i am not sure. here in london, the foreign office now advises against all travel to hubei province. it says british nationals should follow the advice of chinese authorities and leave if they are able to do so. it insists the safety and security of british nationals is always its top priority. in the uk, 31 people have been given the all—clear after being tested for the virus. the risk to the public is still classed as low.

but in china, the president could offer little reassurance to his people. the spread is accelerating, he warned, at a specially convened government meeting. translation: and it seems the spreading ability of the virus is getting stronger. of course, we will need more clinical data and materials to reach a conclusion. in response to the prevention and control of the disease, the park is temporarily closed. many tourist sites have been shut and lunar new year celebrations restricted. in wuhan, extra medical staff are being brought into work and both residents and visitors alike have no idea how long the lockdown will last, adding to a sense of concern.

let's get more now on the acceleration of this virus and warnings that it could continue spreading. joining me live from east london is professor peter piot who is the director of the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. of the london school tell of the london school us more about the coronaviru and tell us more about the coronavirus and how it spreads. it is a family of viruses, and there are ttwo diseases caused by members of that coronavirus family, sars, which caused a major outbreak in 2003, and mers, which is still causing infections, particularly in the middle east, in the gulf states and so middle east, in the gulf states and so on, particularly with people who have been in touch with camels. in this case, they are causing respiratory syndrome is, so in other words some kind of pneumonia, but it is more like a flulike disease, and in the beginning it is hard to

distinguish it from the classic flue, and let's not forget we are also in the influenza season. and it all originated in animals, that is where these sources. and tell me why it is so contagious, it is infectious in its incubation period? that is the latest information, but there are so many unknowns about this new virus, it is a completely new virus and it is remarkable that, less tha n new virus and it is remarkable that, less than 2 weeks after the ist cases occurred on the 29th of december, on the 9th of january already it was isolated, and i of the big questions is how infectious is it, can you contaminate someone when you are still in the incubation period, and if that is the case, then we will probably go for a major, major epidemic, if not a pandemic. and how dangerous do you

think it is compared to other viruses that you have mentioned, like the sars? at 1st sight, it looks like mortality is a bit lower than sars, looks like mortality is a bit lower than sa rs, but looks like mortality is a bit lower than sars, but it is increasing, and it can go either way. it can be that more people will die, you know, as more people will die, you know, as more people will die, you know, as more people advance in the disease, 01’ more people advance in the disease, or it can be that we have not yet discovered thousands of perhaps asymptomatic people. but what is also worrisome is that there are more and more health care workers, people who take care of patients in hospitals, doctors, nurses, who are infected, 1 has even died, so i am very concerned. and it is remarkable that the standing committee of the politburo of the communist party had a special meeting on what is the equivalent of their christmas, chinese new year, that is an indication of how serious the situation is in china at the moment.

and from what you are saying, it sounds like we still don't know that much about this virus. it is true that we are at the very early stages, let's not forget that it was isolated only a few weeks ago, and it is very new, but we can't take any risk. what is clear is that the virus is spreading much faster than we anticipated in the beginning, all over china. we have got now cases in a growing number of countries, although no secondary cases have been documented in countries like thailand or france or singapore, and thatis thailand or france or singapore, and that is a big unknown as well. but we can't take any risks, and we need to make some really serious contingency planning in case there isa contingency planning in case there is a major spread of this new coronavirus. what kind of contingency planning do you mean? well, 1st of all, there is a hierarchy of risks, someone who has been to china, certainly to hubei

province, should be closely monitoring their health and allowed theirgp, monitoring their health and allowed their gp, best buy phone, if a cold 01’ their gp, best buy phone, if a cold or respiratory symptoms occur. but secondly we need to see that hospitals are ready to come at you know, accept an abnormal number of people with pneumonia. the nhs has issued guidelines to gps that if there is someone who is suspicious of having this coronavirus infection, to isolate the person. it also any business, any organisation, any school should think through and should have, actually, such a plan what to do in case of pandemic influenza or an epidemic where people are massively ill and stay

home, how do you ensure business continuity and what to do to protect not only the business but the community and employees. what are the chances of finding a vaccine to deal with this virus any time soon? well come up with modern technology, we could start doing the research and the testing of a vaccine probably within a couple of months, and actually the coalition of epidemic preparedness coalition has this week issued contracts to start development of such a vaccine, but i would not count on a vaccine to stop this outbreak now because it takes months and months in the best case to have 1. what is starting now also oui’ to have 1. what is starting now also our trials to test certain treatments to say whether they work, and that is being done in wuhan now.

so we are moving much faster now in his international response, as china is much better prepared and more transparent than it used to be, particularly when it had sars, you know, where actually, in the beginning, the epidemic was played down. should authorities be doing more to stop the spreading, do you think, may be stopping our travel from china and so on? no, i think that would be an overreaction, but they travel from and within and to wuhan province has basically been stopped, and we will see whether it works, because putting a city of 11,000,000 people, bigger than london, in quarantine, no—1 can come in and out, that is really something that probably is only possible in china. but also, before the lockdown, already thousands of people had started travelling because this is the busiest travel

week in china, actually in the world, where over 100 million people are travelling, so they may have left wu ha n are travelling, so they may have left wuhan already, and the chance will be in the next week or so whether there will be a peak of cases 01’ whether there will be a peak of cases or not. very good to talk to you, professor pete, thank you for your time. with me now is the traveljournalist and broadcaster, simon calder. of course, it is the lunar new year, lots of chinese people travelling to meet relatives, what are they travel implications? it is very wide—ranging, and there is a huge amount of concern, particularly from british travellers who have been contacted me in extraordinary numbers with plans to travel to china. now, the foreign office has overnight changed its advice, advising against any travel to hubei

province in central china, with wuhan at its centre. that is, in a sense, academic, because nobody can get in or out. if you did somehow get in or out. if you did somehow get in, your papers would be invalidated and conversely, if you can't get out, your travel insurance will still cover you while you are there. but the people who have been contacting may have been, 1st of all, planning to go to places like beijing, shanghai, hong kong in the near future, and they say, well, beijing, shanghai, hong kong in the nearfuture, and they say, well, we wa nt to nearfuture, and they say, well, we want to cancel and get our money back. i am afraid you are not going to. normal terms and conditions are applying. the only differences are the number of cruises have been cancelled, particularly departing from shanghai in the next few days, costa, mse and royal caribbean have cancelled cruises. if your cruise does not go, you will get a refund dash—macro they are obviously concerned that people would bring the disease on board. some hotel

groups are allowing postponement of reservations and refunds in the next 10 days or so, but because, as we we re 10 days or so, but because, as we were hearing from the professor, nobody quite knows what is happening, normal rules are applying, and the best thing that anybody travelling to that part of the world will do is practice the scrupulous personal hygiene regime which you should have anyway. so keep washing your hands, at airports for plastic trays that go through security, so many germs of all kinds, so as soon as you have gone to security, wash your hands, pay with contactless to security, wash your hands, pay with co nta ctless to to security, wash your hands, pay with contactless to avoid cash, and if you see someone who is ill, keep away from them. that is difficult to do if you are on a plane. simon, good advice, thank you very much indeed. simon calder, travel journalist. families affected by the grenfell tower disaster have welcomed the resignation of a member of the enquiry panel appointed by boris johnson last month. the engineer but mayra stood down after being linked to the charitable arm of the company

which supplied the tower block's cladding. campaigners had been threatening to boycott the enquiry which starts this week. 72 people died in the disaster. engineer benita merritt was only appointed to the panel last month. since then, victims families have raised questions about her membership of a company which received funding from the charitable arm of arconic, which supplied the cladding to grenfell tower. survivors have been threatening to boycott the next phase of the enquiry into the 2017 fire. ina phase of the enquiry into the 2017 fire. in a letter, she said she had hopes to use her experience of the construction industry to help the enquiry find out how and why the devastating fire happened.

g re nfell grenfell united, the group representing survivors and the breach, said the resignation had helped to lift growing anxiety ahead of the phase 2 but that the government should never have put families in this situation and must urgently find a new panellist to replace her. the report following the 1st phase of the enquiry into the 1st phase of the enquiry into the fire found the cladding was the main reason for the fire's rapid spread and that it didn't comply with building regulations. arconic said it was a series of consequences, not just said it was a series of consequences, notjust the presence of the panels, that caused the spread of the fire. tomorrow the 2nd pa rt spread of the fire. tomorrow the 2nd part of the enquiry will begin, hoping to answer questions about what led to the blouse. a cabinet secretary has said it is his gut feeling that hs2 should go

ahead. ministers are mulling over whether to go ahead with a high—speed right line with a decision that is expected in the coming weeks. the latest now from political correspondent pete sall, is stephen barclay giving the game away, indicating that the government might go ahead with hs2? we have spoken about the hugely contentious issue of brexit, but the next thing coming down the line, to coina next thing coming down the line, to coin a phrase, is hs2. it is all over the front pages this morning, lots of speculation about how much it would cost to go ahead with it, how much it would cost to cancel it, and it is the main topic of conversation among mps in westminster at the moment, a huge project, the biggest infrastructure project, the biggest infrastructure project in europe, and stephen barclay, the brexit secretary, not the transport secretary, not the chancellor of the exchequer, but someone chancellor of the exchequer, but someone who sits around the cabinet table anyway, this is what he had to say on andrew marr this morning.

we have a clear commitment to this in the north. gut feeling, yes or no? yes. so i think that is actually the furthest any cabinet minister has gone in recent months about actually whether the line will be given the go—ahead by the prime minister in the coming weeks. now, stephen barclay is possibly not going to be in thisjob for too much longer, we will be leaving the european union at the end of the week, so there will be no need for a brexit secretary, and he may feel that he can speak more freely now that he can speak more freely now thatis that he can speak more freely now that is the case. his constituency in north—east cambridge it is not really affected by the planned route either, so maybe he feels it is something he needs to speak out about more. he talks about the levelling up agenda, a huge part of

what this government says it wants to achieve, so how does the prime minister square that agenda with cancelling what is the biggest infrastructure project in europe? it isa infrastructure project in europe? it is a hugely tricky decision for him, but there are several newly elected conservative mps in the midlands and the north of england to a deeply sceptical about it, increasingly worried about the spiralling costs. we will wait and see what the review into this actually finds. we have seen into this actually finds. we have seen a into this actually finds. we have seen a couple of leaked versions of the 0gilvy report, that is due out, again, in the coming weeks, but also some of the advises that boris johnson has in downing street are very sceptical about the project too, so he will be mulling this over in the next few days. we understand he will have a meeting with the chancellor and the transport secretary to make a final decision on it. downing street says the prime minister will make that decision shortly. stephen barclay has also been talking about brexit itself, the commemorations on brexit day,

this coming friday. yes, and we have the 1st images of the commemorative coin with the simple act — a simple inscription on it, peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations, along with the date of the 31st of january, no mention of the b word on it, a positive message about britain's changing place in the world. if few loose ends to tie up over the course of the next week, there will be a vote in the european parliament to approve the brexit withdrawal agreement, the final hurdle in the way of it actually coming into effect at 11 o'clock on friday night, and i will be events to commemorate it, including on downing street, the prime minister will address the nation, and there isa will address the nation, and there is a party planned on parliament square led by leading brexiteers. so an historic moment, really, coming up an historic moment, really, coming upfor our an historic moment, really, coming up for our country, although not a lot will change overnight because we will still be signed up to eu rules

until the end of this year while the next, you know, ourfuture relationship with the european union is negotiated, and that really is the next part of the story, and that is what steve barclay was talking about today on andrew marr, and he said that there would be a document coming out in the coming weeks so that businesses have a better idea of what the government is hoping to achieve. we're going to publish our objectives for the negotiation, and we will set that out. now the key issue... when abouts will that happen? in due course, after the 31st. so there will be a speech from the prime minister after the 31st setting that out. but the key issue is that we will have control of our rules. we will not be a rule taker, we will not diverge for the sake of diverging, we start from a position of alignment. but the key opportunity is we will be able to set our standards, high standards on workers' rights, on the environment rights, on the environment, on state aid, as part of that trade policy. so we have talked about hs2 and

brexit, we are also talking about the labour leadership, where are we with that? we heard from the united general secretary, len mccluskey, a very powerfulfigure general secretary, len mccluskey, a very powerful figure within the labour movement, labour's largest financial backer, and on friday they officially endorsed rebecca long—bailey to be the successor to jeremy corbyn. she is seen in some circles as the continuity coffee candidate, they carry on coffee candidate, they carry on coffee candidate, but len mccluskey denied that was the case, saying she was very much her own thousand. — the carry on corbyn candidate. rebecca long— bailey is absolutely brilliant. she was brilliant on the day, very, very good. i think she is brave, courageous, her capabilities are beyond doubt, and i think she's the one that can actually unite the party and take a message to, not only our heartlands, which we need to win back, but to the rest of our nation. she's somebody who believes in lots of the radical policies that have been developed over the years, but she has something else as well.

she wants to talk to the aspirational views of ordinary people. the backing of unite effectively means rebecca long—bailey will be on the final ballot that is sent to members, joining lisa nandy and sir keir starmer, who have already reached that threshold. emily thornberry, the outcome still struggling to get enough support, we will see if she manages to do that. — the will see if she manages to do that. - the 4th will see if she manages to do that. — the 11th candidate in the race, still struggling to get enough support. sport and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. good morning. days 7 at the australian open is almost at an end, wins for novak

djkovic and ashleigh barty, john watson has been following it all, a slow start for roger federer? yes, that seems to have been the case so farfor roger federer, that seems to have been the case so far for roger federer, but he that seems to have been the case so farfor roger federer, but he is on top at the moment in the 3rd set with an early break, 1 of the great occasions in tennis, the night session out on the rod laver arena. early on we saw ash barty progress, she beat home favourite alison riske, many are predicting that she could go all the way to the final to add to her1 solitary grand slam title, an impressive performance from ash barty, although she made ha rd from ash barty, although she made hard work of it, coming through in 3 sets as alison riske fought back. wins for novak djkovic and petra kvitova, who will face ash barty in the next round. we wait to see if roger federer can get there, then all eyes on the big match tomorrow, nick kyrgios against rafa nadal.

england are 18 without loss in their 2nd innings after captain joe england are 18 without loss in their 2nd innings after captainjoe root decided against enforcing the follow—on in the final test against south africa. the home side were dismissed for 183 and a 1st innings, and resuming on 83— 6, quinton de kock resisted for most of the morning, making 76. but he fell to mark wood, who ended up with 5 wickets in the innings. 3 more fa cup 4th—round ties involving premier league teams against lower league opposition. neither manager is going to use the pitch as an excuse, they say. ttwo games on bbc 1, not long to wait for the 1st, manchester city against fulham at 12:16. and that, ben, is all the spot for now. emergency teams in turkey are

continuing to search for survivors of friday's earthquake. at least 29 people are known to have been killed and more than 11100 have been injured after the quake in the east of the country. world affairs correspondent richard galpin has this report. she is just five years old, and covered in blood, but this girl is now safe. the rescue team pulling her out from under the smashed blocks of concrete and other debris brought down by the earthquake. for the rescue teams, speed is now essential to save lives in freezing temperatures. this emergency worker using a mobile phone to speak to a family trapped underneath the debris, telling them they must keep awake. in the light of morning, the extent of damage was revealed. this, just one of 30 buildings to have been brought down. and hundreds of aftershocks over the past 2a hours

have added to the fear in this earthquake—prone region. some of the homeless have now found shelter, as the temperature at night drops to minus ten degrees. 0thers, though, are out on the streets. richard galpin, bbc news. jordan sinnott, who played for matlock town, was found unconscious after a night out. a 27 —year—old man has been arrested and is in police custody. the baby food manufacturer cow and gate is recalling 15 of its project sold in tesco stores because of concerns that some of them could have been tampered with. customers who bought 200 gjars of food for babies aged over 7 months are being told not to use them as they may pose a safety

risk. the products sold in other supermarkets are not affected. let's ta ke supermarkets are not affected. let's take a look at the weather prospects for you with tomasz schafernaker. we had a spell of settled weather that has lasted a week or so, but rain spreading across the country, only lasting for so long, a few hours in any1 place then after that bit of sunshine, to western parts of the uk are already, in fact, in the clear, certainly in northern ireland, andi clear, certainly in northern ireland, and i train at lunchtime in the 2nd half of the afternoon will be across central england and east anglia and the south—east, the last place to see the rain today. elsewhere it will clear up for a time, and then this evening and tonight another weather front moves through bringing a spell of wintry weather to the north, so 1st thing in the morning there could be some

wintry weather, particularly around higher roots in the hills, so take it steady if you are travelling early in the morning in the north. tomorrow is a mixture of sunshine and showers, pretty chilly in the north, around 5d. bye—bye. you watching bbc news. our latest headlines: the death toll rises to 56 in china. officials warn the spread of the violence is accelerating in the country is facing a grave situation. it seems that the spreading ability of the virus is getting stronger. as the united states announces plans to fly some of its citizens home the foreign office is urging british people to leave the province where the outbreak began and advising

against further travel there. a member of the grenfell tower panel enquiry resigns over links to the firm that supplied the tower block's debbie cladding. 31 people are dead after the powerful earthquake in eastern turkey. more than 1600 have been injured. 3,000,000 brexit coins go into circulation this friday to commemorate the day britain leaves the european union. those are our latest headlines and now it is time for dateline london. hello, and welcome to dateline london. i'm carrie gracie. this week, coronavirus makes for an unhappy lunar new year for millions in china.