this is bbc news. the headlines at one. 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 says the situation is under review. 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 coming up, the travel show heads to san sebastian, where some tourists are being overcharged for the local dish.

hello, good afternoon. 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 government meeting on the lunar new year public holiday, 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. warnings echo through wuhan, a city of 11 million almost deserted. only medical staff are free to travel. checkpoints ring the city. leaving the zone is not an option. hospitals stretched to capacity. foreign nationals unable to get home. the us and japanese governments plan to evacuate citizens, but some british travellers say they're getting no clear guidance. the government is saying that people should leave if they can, but then the uk government is aware now that all the transport links are closed. so i find it a little bit surprising that we are being told to leave if we can, when there is no possible route.

all the transport links have been closed down. the home secretary says all options are being considered. down. the home secretary says all options are being consideredm light of the urgency of the situation, and rightly so, we are working with the chinese authorities, the world health organization, public health england, to look at what is going on and to ensure that we are doing our utmost to stop the virus from coming to the united kingdom. and obviously becoming a widespread problem. chinese health officials revealed more about the virus which has killed over 50 people, spreading to humans from animals. it's contagious during incubation, with no symptoms. that incubation can last up to two weeks. as a result, all wildlife sales are being banned. but there is evidence the illness has already spread abroad. in france, three passengers from china are known to have been infected. in hong kong,

with five cases, as a precaution the authorities even closed disneyland. every pa rt authorities even closed disneyland. every part of daily life affected by the fear of a virus which knows no borders. angus crawford, bbc news. the authorities in hong kong have declared an emergency. rupert wingfield—hayes has the latest. their predictions as to what is happening in the coming days are quite frightening. we should remember that this virus appears to have a fairly low mortality rate, around 3%, so it is not as serious as the sars virus, but it can spread much more quickly. they are saying in china that there are 2000 cases so far discovered. a study done by scientists in britain has suggested there may actually be more than that, between 4000 and 9000 cases,

many of which have not been detected yet. but those same scientists in the uk at imperial college are predicting that by the end of next week, by the 4th of february, in wuhan alone, there could be 200,000 cases, so that gives you an idea of how fast this virus is now likely to spread. thatis wingfield—hayes reporting. earlier i discussed the virus with professor peter p out, professor at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. less than two weeks after the first cases occurred, already the virus was isolated, and one of the big questions is how infectious is it. can you contaminate someone when you are still in incubation period. and

if that's the case, then we will probably be looking at a 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 first sight, it 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 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, one 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 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 is a major spread of this new coronavirus. what kind of contingency planning do you mean? well, first 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 their gp, best by 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. families affected by the grenfell tower disaster have welcomed the resignation of a member of the inquiry panel appointed by boris johnson last month. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw reports. every year, people come to commemorate the grenfell tower fire.

now an engineer, benita mehra, has resigned. she was going to provide advice to the inquiry, but it is emerged she has a past link to the company which supplied the cladding to the block. the cladding did not comply with building regulations, and was the principal reason for the massive spread of the fire. benita mehra said herformer role massive spread of the fire. benita mehra said her former role as president of the women's engineering society, which had accepted a donation from the charity, cause can serious concern to the families. she said: the gren united group welcomed benita mehra's resignation, but accuse the government of failing to carry out basic checks before appointing her. it said a new panel member must be

found urgently. a cabinet secretary has said it is his gut feeling that hs2 should go ahead. brexit secretary steve barclay described as an important part of the future. a decision is expected soon. i have been talking to our political correspondent pete saw with the latest on the project. lots of speculation about how much it would cost to go ahead and how much it would cost to council, and it is the main topic of conversation in westminster at the moment. it is the biggest infrastructure project in europe, and steve barclay, who is the brexit secretary, not the transport secretary, not the chancellor of the exchequer, but someone who sits around the cabinet table, this is what he had to say on andrew marr this morning. we have a strong commitment to

levelling up hsz, full capacity as well as speed, and that is a commitment we have given the north. gut feeling, yes or no? yes. gut feeling yes? so i think thatis no? yes. gut feeling yes? so i think that is actually the furthest any cabinet minister has gone in recent months about whether the line will be given the go—ahead by the prime minister in the coming weeks. steve barclay is probably not going to be in thejob he in for barclay is probably not going to be in the job he in for too barclay is probably not going to be in thejob he in for too much longer, we are going to be leaving the european union at the end of the week, so they will be no need for a brexit secretary, and perhaps he feels he can speak more freely now thatis feels he can speak more freely now that is the case. his constituency in north east cambridgeshire is not really affected by the planned route either, so maybe he feels that this is something that he needs to speak up is something that he needs to speak up abouta is something that he needs to speak up about a little more, and he talks about the levelling up agenda, that isa about the levelling up agenda, that is a huge part of what this government is trying to achieve, to rebalance the economy in the midlands and the north of england, so how does the prime

minister square that are gender 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 some of those areas in the midlands and the north, who are sceptical about it, increasingly worried about the spiralling costs, and we will wait and see what the review into this actually finds. we have seen a couple of leaked versions of the report. that is due out again in the coming weeks. but also, some of the advises that borisjohnson has in downing street are sceptical about the project too, so he will be mulling this over in the coming days, we understand he will have a meeting with chancellor sajid javid and transport secretary grant shapps to make a final decision. downing street says the prime minister will make the decision shortly. stephen barclay has also been talking about brexit itself, and the commemorations on brexit day, which is this coming friday. yes, and today we have the first images of

the commemoratives coin, a 50p piece that has the simple inscription on it, peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations, along with the date of the 31st of january 2020, no mention of the b word itself, rather uncontroversial positive message about britain's changing place in the world. a few loose ends to tie up the world. a 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, and that is really the final hurdle in the way of it coming into effect, and there will be events to commemorate it, including on downing street, the prime minister will address the nation, and there is a party planned on parliament square led by leading brexiteers. a historic moment coming up brexiteers. a historic moment coming upfor our brexiteers. a historic moment 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 was what steve barclay was talking about today again on andrew marr, and he said that they would be a document coming out in the coming weeks so that businesses have a much better idea of what the government is hoping to achieve. we are going to publish our objectives for the negotiation, and we will set that out. in due course after the 31st. so they will be a speech from the prime minister after the 31st setting that out. but the keyissue the 31st setting that out. but the key issue is that we would have control of our rules. we will not diverge for the sake of diverging. we start from a position of alignment. but the key opportunity is that we will be able to set our standards, high standards, on workers' rights and the environment and state aid as part of that trade policy. so we have talked about h52 and brexit, and we are also going to talk about the labour leadership. where are we with that?

we heard this morning from the unite general secretary, len mccluskey, a powerful figure within labour, his union is labour's largest financial backer, and on friday they officially endorsed rebecca long bailey to be the successor to jeremy corbyn, endorsed rebecca long bailey to be the successor tojeremy corbyn, also endorsed richard birgen as their preferred choice to be deputy leader. she is seen in some circles as the continuity corbyn candidate, but len mccluskey denied that was the case, saying she has her own person, and he gave a staunch defence of rebecca long bailey this morning. rebecca long bailey is absolutely brilliant. she was brilliant on the day, she is brave, courageous, brilliant on the day, she is brave, courageous, her capabilities are beyond doubt, and i think she is the one that can actually unite the party and take a message not only to our heartlands, which we need to win back, but to the rest of our nation. she is 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. and the backing of unite remains effectively that rebecca long bailey will be on the final ballot that is sent out to members. she willjoin lisa nandy and sir keir starmer who have already reached the threshold needed to get there. emily thornberry, though, the fourth candidate left, still struggling to get enough support, we will see if she manages to do that in the coming days, but this is a pretty long process, the labour leadership contest, and we won't know who is going to take over from jeremy corbyn until early april. pete's all, our political correspondent. the latest headlines: 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". 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 the powerful earthquake in eastern turkey — more than 1,600 are injured. more now on the turkish earthquake. emergency teams are continuing to search for survivors. 35 people are known to have been killed, and hundreds injured. that quake is in the east of the country, and richard galpin has the latest on it. she isjust she is just five years old and covered in blood, but she is now safe. this block was 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 brought down. and hundreds of after—shocks over the past 24 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 —10 degrees. others, though, are out on the streets. richard galpin, bbc news. a murder investigation has been launched after the death of a non—league footballer in nottinghamshire. 25—year—old jordan sinnot,

who played for matlock town, was found unconscious in retford after a night out. a 27—year—old man has been arrested and remains in police custody. the baby food manufacturer cow and gate is recalling 15 of its products sold in tesco stores — because of concerns that some of them could have been tampered with. customers who bought 200—gram jars of food for babies aged over seven months are being told not to use them as they may pose a safety risk. cow and gate products sold in other supermarkets are unaffected. president trump's defence team have opened their case in the senate impeachment trial, accusing the democrats of seeking to overturn the result of the 2016 election. mr trump denies allegations that he abused his power and obstructed a congressional inquiry. from washington, our correspondent chris buckler reports. as the future of his presidency has been facing a congressional challenge, donald trump has been

to davos to meet world leaders, to florida to speak to supporters, and ignored other events in washington to attend a pro—life rally. thinking about drumming up votes for the november presidential election. inside congress, his legal team have been arguing that, in bringing this case, the democrats were not really concerned about his behaviour in office. instead they claim that they are trying to overturn the vote that put him there in the first place. they are asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country, on your own initiative, take that decision away from the american people. at the start of proceedings, democrats delivered a more than 28,000—page record of evidence and arguments that donald trump abused his power. the republican majority inside the senate makes it inconceivable that president trump be removed from office. what i have learned from all my

years in politics and life, if you are right and keep fighting for the truth, you will prevail. a couple of miles away in the white house, a confident mr trump is tweeting and encouraging his supporters to tune into televised proceedings. he also made some comments about the democrats his lawyers would not have got away with inside congress. they will continue making their case tomorrow and you can expect their arguments to become a little more pointed and a little more political and perhaps a little nastier. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. it's pretty tough for any teacher trying to keep a classroom full of primary school children fully engaged — so imagine how hard it must be for one who's profoundly deaf, relying on sign language and lip reading. but that's exactly the challenge for alysha allen at a school in north london, and she'sjust won an award for her achievements.

they were looking at my hand and already i had got them... this is a typical maths lesson for year twos in alicia's class. even though she is profoundly deaf, she teaches at a mainstream school using british sign language and lipreading. she has just received a national award for her outstanding teaching methods. itjust breaks it down for them visually. so today... it's notjust for maths, it helps the skills to grow. we have to say, good morning, look at each other during the register. their friends looked at them. saying good morning to each other, eye contact. alicia's is not the only class that uses british sign language at this school. every single

pupil learns it. we are going to have a little peek at the zebras, a year 5 class, and see what they are up to. it is very rare for all children in a uk school to learn british sign language. initially there were some reservations from some parents when she started. however, i think when they see how amazing she is and the progress of the children, and how quickly they pick up the different signs, and for a lot of the children now, they have learned sign language for a couple of years, so they have already got some of that knowledge as well. and then there are other adults in the classroom, supporting different children and supporting across the whole classroom, and they see that, actually, it's a team effort as well, and everybody is supporting and working together for the best of the children. it's my favourite thing to do at school! it makes me

feel happy. if you learn how to sign, you can communicate with deaf people. alicia started as a teaching assistant at a special needs school before training as a teacher. anybody thinking about becoming a teacher, think about it and do it. because children need more role models. and anybody thinking, you can't do it, you can. let's return to our main news now — the corona virus which emerged in china and has led to emergency measures being ta ken across the world. in the last hour, i've been speaking to two british citizens in the chinese city of wuhan, the city that's the source of the outbreak. sophie hunt and jason neal have been stuck in their flat for four days now without being allowed to go out. they explained what it's like for them in wuhan at the

moment. we have had to stock up on food and water, and if we do go out, we have to wear a mask, it is now the law to wear a mask outside. all transportation in wuhan has been stopped, so even if we wanted to go anywhere, we can't, there are no taxis, cars, trains, planes. we are in lockdown, pretty much. in lockdown, jason. if you could leave the city, would you leave at this stage? i think at this moment i do just want to get out. we have got a lot of friends who managed to get out before the lockdown, they have gone travelling at they are not allowed back in. they seem like they have got the better end of the deal at the moment. and sophie, you live quite near to the market where it's thought the outbreak of coronavirus began? yes, we are right where the seafood market was where it is suspected that it broke out, so that

was, we first heard about the outbreak on the 31st of december, so new year's eve, and since then it has gradually got worse. and jason, what are your feelings about it? how apprehensive are you? because it is obviously a virus that is pretty dangerous, it has killed 56 people we know in china. and it has now spread to other countries. it's getting more scary by the day, especially as we don't hear that much. i went to the hospital last week for a checkup, and everyone there is in full body suits, masks, it's like you see on the films, very surreal at the moment. so is your temptation just to stay in your apartment, because it is potentially dangerous to go outside, or do you wa nt to dangerous to go outside, or do you want to get out, are you getting cabin fever? we are getting cabin fever, but we know it is much safer to stay indoors whilst we can, so we

arejust to stay indoors whilst we can, so we are just staying put in playing the waiting game at the moment until we hear anything else. what do you think, jason, from what you've seen of the way that the chinese authorities have handled this? are they being quite open about it? we are finding out most of our information from friends and co—workers through messaging and a lot of rumours, so we get told to ignore most information and wait for official statements, but they are few and far between. is there much on the chinese state media about it, sophie, that you've seen, are you just getting information from people you know? there are news outlet reports about it, but i think we kind of just reports about it, but i think we kind ofjust go with what we hear from our friends and family as well, and just kind of trust that instinct of what to do. but we are just waiting on any information that we can get at the moment. and have you

had any contact from the british government, from the foreign office or anybody like that? we e-mailed the embassy today, but we haven't received an e—mail back. i would imagine they are very busy at the moment. we try to ring the home office, but they are closed at the weekend, so we are going to ring them again tomorrow to try and get in touch with the home office. and when you go out and about, what is it like? just describe what the city is like. so we went to walmart and it was manic because everyone was getting the same idea as us, of trying to stockpile food because they don't want to leave. we also went to the pharmacy to stock up on the masks to protect ourselves, and they were running out of stock quite quickly. so i think it is either one extreme of the other, it is in a state of chaos or it is a ghost town. so it is really sad because we both love the city, it is a great place to be, but it is sad to see it deteriorate over the past few weeks. that is sophie hunter and

jason neil, who have both been teaching english in the city of wuhan, and are now stranded there, stuck in that flat for several days now. 0k, we are going to pause now and ta ke 0k, we are going to pause now and take a look at the weather. we have had ben on the news, ben on the sport, and now it is ben rich with the weather! only ben s are allowed to work today! lots of showers, some of which will be wintry. we have is turning colder. this band of rain staggering its way eastwards. behind it more of us its way eastwards. behind it more of us getting into brighter skies. wintry have a high ground in scotla nd wintry have a high ground in scotland and there is temperatures actually coming down as the afternoon goes on. to this evening the rain pushes into the