this is bbc news. i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at 11pm: as hundreds of britons wait to be flown home to face a period in quarantine, some of those affected complained of a chaotic process. i think it's been an absolute shambles to be honest with you. i don't think the government have really known what they've been doing. tonight, it's understood a planned flight to bring britons in wuhan back to the uk will not leave tomorrow as previously expected. our other main stories this evening: it's the end of the line for northern. the troubled rail operator is losing its franchise and being taken back into public hands at the beginning of march. it was like, you know, either you don't get on, it is too busy, and

i've had to wait for the next train and sometimes even the train after that. at one point we have had a game with the northern royal twitter account which is how many people can you fit in your toilet, which is eight if you want to know. a lawyer representing the victims of the grenfell tower fire has criticised a request by companies involved in the building's revamp to be guaranteed protection when they give evidence. 999 under pressure. every week thousands of seriously ill patients are waiting more than an hourfor an ambulance. it's farewell, as the european parliament gives its final approval to the brexit deal, sealing the uk's exit from the eu. and at 11:30pm, we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers — the daily mirror political editor, pippa crerar, and the spectator‘s deputy political editor katy balls. stay with us for that.

very good evening and welcome to bbc news. hundreds of british citizens waiting to be flown home from the worst—affected region will be put in quarantine for two weeks on their return to the uk. passengers will be asked to sign a contract, agreeing to commit to what's called supported isolation, though the location is not yet known. british airways has suspended all direct flights to and from mainland china because of the outbreak. meanwhile, the foreign office insists it is doing everything it can to bring british people back from wuhan, the city where the virus first emerged, although a flight planned for tomorrow has been delayed.

the virus has caused more than 130 deaths, spreading from china and to at least 15 other countries. in a moment, we'll have more from our medical correspondent, fergus walsh, but first, this report from our china correspondent, john sudworth. safely out of wuhan, a plane arriving at a california air base with 200 americans on board. earlier, japan got a flight full of its citizens out, touching down in tokyo. the night before the great escape... but the brits are still only preparing to leave. kharn lambert‘s grandmother, vera, stuck here on holiday, is running low on her medications. how do you feel about going home? delightful. there's frustration with the uk government. i think it's been an absolute shambles, to be honest with you. i don't think the government have really known what they've been doing. i don't think they've had as much contact with the chinese

authorities as they say, because, if they had, i would assume that they'd be getting the same information that the americans have got, the japanese have got, and they'd have been able to put plans in place sooner. despite the lockdown, infections in wuhan are still rising rapidly, and anyone flown home from here faces two weeks in uk quarantine. maeve clarke, a lecturer from birmingham, stuck in wuhan, says she understands why. i think it's a good precautionary measure and it's in line with what other governments are doing as well, and i think it gives reassurance to people back home, in the uk, that the right steps are being taken. much is still not known about the virus but, across china, few are taking any chances. villagers are putting up roadblocks and shutting out the world with great barriers of earth.

no outsiders are allowed in at all, this man tells me. beyond the human cost, for china there is another impact to all of this — fear. with countries beginning to advise against travel, with airlines cancelling flights, and with whole villages cutting themselves off from the outside world, the economic cost is likely to be severe. my my name is nick... this is... for some uk nationals, escape is not an option. nick house is british but his wife's from indonesia. she's been told she can't get a place on the plane. my mum and dad are worried, my sister is worried. theyjust want us home, really. they face more long weeks of uncertainty in a ghost city. jon sudworth, bbc news, beijing. earlier this evening, health secretary matt hancock chaired a meeting of cobra, the government's emergency committee, to discuss the british response

to the outbreak of coronavirus. the world health organization says the whole world needs to take action to stop the spread of the new virus. our medical correspondent, fergus walsh, has the latest. this was the last british airways flight from mainland china, arriving at heathrow this afternoon from shanghai. another flew in from beijing. it follows the foreign office advising against all but essential travel there. the suspension of ba flights to and from mainland china is until friday, but may be extended. my worry was, i thought that i, if i get it and i go into hospital, i'd rather go into hospital over here than over there, where you'd just be a number, wouldn't you? the health secretary, matt hancock, said anyone returning from wuhan on a repatriation flight would be safely isolated for 14 days, but where? health officials suggested a military base, but the ministry

of defence wouldn't confirm this, and britons waiting in china say they have not been told. so is quarantine sensible? i think that this is a pretty balanced response, actually, given the circumstances. on the one hand, you have individuals who are marooned in china at the moment and there is a responsibility to british subjects to look after their interests, against that of protecting the british public and making sure that we don't bring back people and actually cause an outbreak of this coronavirus in the uk. the new virus, which emerged in china, is a variety of coronavirus. they take their name from the surface proteins, which look like the tips of a crown. now, a lot of common colds are caused by coronaviruses but in the past 20 years, three dangerous new strains have jumped from animals to humans. the sars virus emerged in 2002 in china, and killed nearly 800 people worldwide,

about one in ten of those infected. mers originated in saudi arabia in 2012. it has since killed around 850 people, one in three of those infected. the new china coronavirus seems to be far less dangerous. it is unclear what the death rate is because thousands of infected patients are still in hospital. but it does seem much less lethal than sars and mers. now, it is worth pointing out that seasonal influenza, flu, causes up to 650,000 deaths globally each year. as with flu, there is mounting evidence that the china coronavirus is contagious before people develop symptoms. it is passed through the air in coughs or by people touching droplets on surfaces. the virus infects the lungs, causing a fever, cough and in some cases, breathing difficulties and pneumonia.

the incubation period is generally 3—7 days, but may be up to 14 days. the next two weeks will be crucial in seeing whether this outbreak peaks in wuhan, and how much it spreads in and beyond china. fergus walsh, bbc news. the troubled trains franchise northern is to be nationalised. the transport secretary has said it will come under government control from the ist of march after years of major problems. grant shapps has given the new bosses 100 days to come up with a plan to improve the service for passengers. our transport correspondent, tom burridge, has travelled across the north of england and has been hearing how an unreliable train service has affected people's lives. i've had to move house to be closer to uni because the trains are cancelled or late, and i really struggle to get in in time for lectures and stuff, so it's been really hard. you've moved house because of

an unreliable train service? yeah, i've moved towns completely. quite a lot of people, including myself, end up spending an extra £100, £150 a week sometimes on taxis, because the train hasn't come and i need to be in work. i'm a head chef at the moment. if i don't get in, people don't eat. i've lived in the south—east. there, they have fantastic trains, millions and millions of pounds spent. in the north, the north—west particularly, they've never had any investment. it's an absolute disgrace. it's all over. this franchise has failed. i've not been on time once to work in four months. it can't get worse, so i am just... any change is good change, in my eyes! but nationalising this vast network, which runs from the humber in the east to places like blackburn further west, linking communities to cities like leeds, won't change things overnight.

the branding might change, but old problems will persist — ancient infrastructure on a crowded network. there is no one party that the blame is attributable to. number one, department for transport, successive governments, because they have failed to invest in the railways in the north for the last 30, 40, 50 years. northern's parent company said it did what it could. we have been trying to put more services on the network, but the network hasn't kept up, and that has meant the services have become far too unreliable, and rightly a new plan is now needed. this isn'tjust about northern. this train company, transpennine express, has also been losing money and failing its passengers. in parts of the country, the rail franchising system that we've had since the days of privatisation is on its way out. the government wants performance—based contracts instead. so, rather than this franchise system, which i think has now run its course, have a system of service contracts for passengers, perhaps over a longer period of time and, most of all, they get paid when they actually do theirjob, when trains turn up on time.

at the moment, that is not the system on our network. whatever the system, whoever is in charge, passengers want basic things. i am late for everything i do. i'm not going to lie, one time ijust cried because my train was cancelled. but it's horrible, because itjust affects all your plans. when you just want to get home from work... it's the little things like that, when you want to go home and spend time with your family and you can't even do that. it's a massive impact. tannoy: the northern service to leeds... there won't be an immediate change for long—suffering passengers on northern. what's coming to britain's railways isn't a nationalised model but one in which government has greater control. tom burridge, bbc news, in leeds. earlier, nigel harris, the managing editor of rail magazine, explained that the service wouldn't improve under government control unless drastic changes were made to rail infrastructure

and the franchise system. whoever runs that franchise can't magic infrastructure improvements out of midair, nor trains, nor solve working issues. what grant shapps has actually nationalised today is the blame, and his going to find out about it pretty soon. so what happens next then? if this isn't the magic bullet to solve everything, surely these decisions will catch up with ministers if what you're saying is true? it is true and it's absolutely the case that these decisions will catch up case that these decisions will catch up with them, because you cannot magic those solutions, those problems, out of thin air and they will continue. there will be some tinkering around the edges, more of the new crowns, trains, which are a year late, will arrive, and dou btless year late, will arrive, and doubtless they will say because of its involvement, but undoubtedly most of this is about government meddling in interference or simply greed in the franchises in the way they set them up with either impossible timetables or squeezing

too much money out of them and it's all coming home to roost. am i not right, though, that northam took home £83 million in dividends over the last four years? it may well have done, but the profitability on train operating companies is about 2%, which is a slither. that sounds like a lot of money but over four years that is a pittance. let's put it another way round, if the government kept that £83 million, or whatever the sum was, could it have run the passenger network in the north for that money? and the answer is no way. government—controlled will cost more. we hear trans express is failing as well, is it a matter of time in your view that this is going to happen to another rail franchise in the immediate future? absolutely it will stop me there's a number of franchises all sharing the bed nearest the door. southwest is in

trouble, tra ns— nearest the door. southwest is in trouble, trans— pen is in trouble, greater anglia have got issues, this isa greater anglia have got issues, this is a common problem because of the way the dft is squeezed at the railway for money and produced deals and timetables which are impossible to deliver. let's not forget, although northern is not without fault, it's the government that cancelled the infrastructure improvements around manchester which is at the heart of most of the problems here. you've got an undeliverable timetable specified by government over a railway where they've cancelled the infrastructure investment, that is government. it is impossible to run a railway under those circumstances. nigel harris, the managing editor of rail magazine. meanwhile, bbc news understands that the chancellor has given his support to hs2 ahead of a meeting about the project with the prime minister boris johnson and the transport secretary, grant shapps, tomorrow. mrjavid apparently made the decision after reviewing

grant shapps, tomorrow. mrjavid apparently made the decision after reviewing treasury analysis of the project. we can now cross to our political correspondent jonathan blake, who is in westminster. the chancellor has indicated he would be supportive of hs2 and it's not quite decision day yet, not officially for the future of the controversial high—speed rail link but tomorrow, the chancellor sajid javid will meet the prime minister borisjohnson javid will meet the prime minister boris johnson and the javid will meet the prime minister borisjohnson and the transport secretary grant shapps port is clearly a very important meeting. for what is —— for what is. they will be arriving at a final decision on the future of hs2, whether to go ahead with it or scrap it or to somehow limit its capacity. downing street has been very clear that no final decision will be taken tomorrow. but if you look at what is clearly the chancellor's position as we understand it tonight, first reported in the financial times that

he is ready to support the project as it stands in the transport secretary grant shapps saying the decision has to be based on facts and the prime minister ‘s general view and general enthusiasm for big infrastructure projects then it appears at this stage perhaps a bit more likely that the government will go ahead with hs2 as planned and not but i must stress we don't have a final decision, that's not going to come tomorrow but it will come we are told by the prime minister as he said in the house of commons earlier today very shortly. jonathan blake in westminster, thank you. the headlines on bbc news: as the authorities in china fight to contain the coronavirus, we understand tonight that a flight to evacuate britons from wuhan will not happen as planned tomorrow. it's the end of the line for northern. the troubled rail operator is losing its franchise and being taken back into public hands at the beginning of march.

a lawyer representing the victims of the grenfell tower fire has criticised a request by companies involved to be guaranteed protection when they give evidence. some of the firms involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower have asked for assurances their evidence will not be used in future criminal prosecutions before appearing at the second phase of the public inquiry which began this week. the request was met with disbelief by bereaved families and survivors. today, the hearing also heard an unreserved apology from kensington and chelsea council for a number of failings" tom symonds reports. right from the start, grenfell tower was a crime scene. the met has made it clear it's looking at potential corporate manslaughter and beaches of health and safety. that led a

series of companies to make a request today at the enquiry. good morning, everybody. that the chairman asked the government's most senior lawyer to confirm that what they say here won't be used to prosecute them. the chairman wasn't pleased. it's very disappointing. i might even use a stronger word, that the application is being made so close to the date for calling witnesses. the point is, this is an enquiry, not a court in any witness is legally allowed not to answer a question which would incriminate them but people living near the tower, people with friends who lost relatives are furious the question is even being asked. would you like to hear the truth or would you like to hear the truth or would you like to prosecute us? which would you prefer, because frankly, if you are saying that you will speak only with immunity, what sort of question is that to ask people who have lost theirfamilies? that to ask people who have lost their families? it's a situation

which is often arisen in public inquiries. the stephen lawrence enquiry for example, the labral grove train crash, the rodney shooting, there are all potential for perimeter prosecution. the g re nfell for perimeter prosecution. the grenfell families will hear the enquiries decision next week but what they did here today was this. on behalf of the council, but it apologises unreservedly for those failings. a small yay from the enquiry room. the failings he's talking about go back to the point when council building expect is signed off on the work to vet the cladding. that was supposed to be the last check that it was safe but they failed to recognise some barriers to stop the fire spreading hadn't been installed, failed to identify combustible installation had been used and failed to even ask what cladding was planned. we have to stop there. at least these are some of the failings the enquiry won't have to uncover itself. tom

symons, bbc london news, at the grand ——at the grenfeel tower enquiry. an update on the coronavirus, from the afp newsagency. the death toll in china has now risen to 169. we we re in china has now risen to 169. we were reporting it had caused more than 130 deaths but that digger appears to have risen to 169 and af p the newsagency is reporting there have been more than 1000 new cases. we will bring you more detail on that as we get it. more than 4,000 calls a week for ambulances in england involve waits of more than an hour for a crew to arrive. emergencies that aren't immediately life—threatening, but can include heart attacks and strokes, should require an ambulance to arrive within 18 minutes. nhs bosses say there's rising demand and delays handing over patients at a&e.

our health editor hugh pym reports. on the trolley, while you were a bit unconscious at the time. dave relives his lengthy ordeal after suffering a heart attack. he was stuck on a trolley in the hospital but, before that, there was a 2—hour delay waiting for an ambulance to arrive. i thought i was going to die. i had massive chest pain and then i got a dreadful pain right across my left shoulder, right to the spine. this is when she explained to me the difficulties they were having to have ambulances free to send out. my daughter and i were both getting very worried. he could have sat there and just died in the chair. we didn't know. the most urgent category 1 calls in england — for example, when a patient isn't breathing — require an ambulance to arrive within 7 minutes, on average. category 2 calls, classed as emergencies that are not immediately life—threatening, including strokes and some heart

attacks, have an average response—time target of 18 minutes. but the bbc‘s figures reveal that 1 in 16 people across england were waiting over triple that target, more than an hour. it's certainly not easy to reach everyone as quickly as we would all like, but let's be very clear, all of our staff are working flat out, first and foremost, to keep all of our patients and everybody as safe as possible and to respond to as many patients within the response time targets. categories are slightly different in wales. there are 1,000 calls per week with waits longer than an hour. there are no comparable figures for scotland and northern ireland. he was a genuine, kind person. mark remembers his partner, darren. he died alone from internal bleeding, waiting for an ambulance. it took nearly an hour and a half, including a delay mark understands was caused by incorrect categorisation of the call. the fact is they told somebody who was dying that no ambulance was available.

i don't think, but i don't know, that darren knew he was dying, but the fact is that is the result of what they did. dave and ruth think they were let down by an under—resourced system. the situation, for our personal level, was a nightmare, but it wasn't the people's fault. it wasn't the staff's fault. long waits like that are often symptoms of wider problems, when ambulances are delayed handing over patients at crowded hospitals, so crews can't get quickly back on the road. hugh pym, bbc news. bbc news is planning to cut around a50 jobs — under ongoing plans to save £80 million by 2022. bbc two's newsnight, and bbc radio 5 live are among the outlets that will be affected and as previously announced, the victoria derbyshire programme will end. the bbc is also carrying out a major

restructuring of its news operation. the uk's departure from the european union passed another political milestone this afternoon when the eu's parliament voted through the withdrawal agreement, which sets the terms for brexit on friday. it also marked the final time that britain's meps will take part in lawmaking in brussels. our europe editor katya adler watched today's historic proceedings. with a resounding yes, the many here with a heavy heart, meps from every eu country gave the green light the brexit divorce deal. that's it, it's all over, finished. there is no stopping brexit now and the uk's most well—known european parliamentarian was never going to go quietly stop i know you want to bad our nationalflags but go quietly stop i know you want to bad our national flags but we are going to waive you good by and we

look forward in the future to working with you as sovereign. a controversial figure to the last, nigel farage's microphone was cut. could you please remove the flags. it's been an emotional day. mindful of mutual relations with the uk after brexit, the european commission president held out an olive branch, using the words of british poet george eliot. only in the agony of parting do we look into the agony of parting do we look into the depth of love. we will always love you and we will never be far. long live europe. but every single eu leader agrees the block will be wea ker eu leader agrees the block will be weaker without the uk. it's a terribly sad day. we are losing some fantastic uk colleagues but we have coarse respect the uk voters. anyway, it's not a goodbye, it's a see you again. there is something

slightly surreal about this day, this week of goodbyes here in brussels and that's because the days after brexit day we enter the transition. so yes, legally we've left the european union but while we are sorting out a new trade deal, practically things stay the same. paying into the eu budget, excepting laws made here in the european parliament but we will no longer have a ct at the decision—making table. that is a lot of voices to lose. for some uk meps today, even emptying their postbox at the european parliament was a symbolic event. it is a disaster, it's a huge disaster. europe is not going to go away. we are going to have to trade with them, we will come on holiday, we will move around, we will drive around. the regulations will be made here in this house but there will be no british voice standing up for the uk when those regulations are made. but we are not quite there yet. the union flag has two more days to

flutter outside eu buildings here before it's lowered on brexit night. after approving the brexit deal this evening, meps marked the end of the uk's eu membership with song. old acquaintances certainly won't be forgotten here but the eu—uk trade talks ahead, is to be tough. katya adler, bbc news, brussels. the rapid melting of thwaites glacier in antarctica, a mass of ice the size of great britain, is set to cause a radical rise in sea levels, according to experts. our chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt who reported last night on the major 5—year survey that's being conducted on the glacier takes a look at the challenges the scientists have been facing. antarctica is the stormiest continent on earth, and west antarctica is the most remote and stormy part of it all, which makes it

an exceptionally tough place to do scientific research. so we've been filming out here for, like, i don't know, an hour and a half, and this is the result, and it gives you an idea of why it's so hard to operate here. all the planes are grounded. they're saying we won't fly anywhere for three days. it has taken years of preparation to get the scientists out here. ships brought hundreds of tonnes of fuel and cargo to a remote ice shelf. then specialist snow vehicles dragged it 1000 miles over land, across some of the toughest terrain and toughest weather imaginable. six people can do a huge amount, but we just truck along day from day. nobody really knows where we are, and then we just suddenly turn up! delivering bounty! the us provided air muscle, flying in the scientists

and their equipment and ferrying everything down to the camps at the front of the glacier. then, the really hard work began. digging snow, and lots of it. the scientists need 10 tonnes of the stuff to fill what they call the "flubber" — a water container the size of a small swimming pool. this will be the most southerly jacuzzi in the world, i think! a bank of boilers heats the water to just below boiling and then it's sprayed down onto the ice, to melt a hole almost half a mile down to where the ocean water meets the glacier. only now can the scientists deploy their instruments. only by taking measurements here can we hope to get accurate predictions of how sea—level is going to rise in the future. even if it means arousing the curiosity of some of the creatures that live here. in terms of the answers that we can produce over the next six years, and the savings that that represents to people who are trying to predict sea level and build sea defences, this is a drop in the ocean and a really good investment.