the whole world needs to be on alert — the official warning as the number of infections from the coronavirus in china reaches more than 7,000. as the death toll continues to rise, some families face an agonising decision over who can leave and who must stay. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go to safety? it's a very hard... it's a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four years old. 7,000 passengers and crew are trapped on a cruise ship in italy amid fears two chinese holiday—makers are carrying the

coronavirus. we will have the latest on the evacuations and on attempts to find a vaccine. also this lunchtime: chancellor sajid javid throws his support behind hsz, as a number of tory mps consider rebelling against the government. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. tributes to one of the last of the few... former battle of britain pilot wing commander paul farnes has died at the age of 101. and coming up in the sport: novak djokovic reaches the australian open final, beating roger federer in straight sets in their semi in melbourne.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. there's a warning that the "whole world needs to be on alert" as the world health organisation reconsiders whether to declare a global health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak. the death toll in china passed 170 today. infections rose to 7,711. the government is still in talks with chinese authorities over a flight to evacuate british nationals from wuhan, the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. when they get here they'll be sent to an nhs facility in the north of england, where they will face two weeks‘ quarantine. robin brant sent this report from shanghai. today was supposed to be the day they got out and away from this. the death toll and the number infected continues to rise here in china. the city of wuhan is the epicentre

of the outbreak, but britons are still stuck there because of bureaucracy. we were really worried about the reports of younger and younger children becoming sick. and at the time they said it was fine, but when i received a call the next day they said that only i could go and my son would have to stay, which obviously was very devastating to hear. english teacher natalie‘s son can't go because he has a chinese passport. chris hill has a similar problem. his wife and daughter have dual nationality. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go to safety? it's a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four years old, so it's a very hard choice to make. other countries have

got their people out. japan and the us were the first of several planned flights. india and australia are among those planning others. the foreign office said it is working urgently to resolve the problem for british citizens, with talks at very senior levels. quarantine on a military base or an nhs facility back in the uk awaits. fear about the virus spreading has caused scenes like this across all of china. even in hong kong, which has now all but cut itself off from the mainland. translation: i queued for an hour and ten minutes and bought two boxes of masks. we were running out of them at home. hong kong should act like taiwan to stop exporting masks and keep them for the locals, so that we don't have to queue for hours. more cases are being reported around the world. in italy, passengers on a cruise ship are being held on board because of two suspected cases among them. but the head of the world health organization had nothing but praise for china's efforts.

i will praise china again and again, because its actions actually helped in reducing the spread of coronavirus to other countries. still, though, drastic measures are being taken here, far away from the worst affected area, to try to halt the spread. office workers in buildings over 1,000 kilometres away are having their temperatures checked daily. and we can speak to robin now. in terms of that evacuation flight, what is the latest? the latest is they are still waiting. there's preparations on the uk side including military medics to assess the condition of the people, and preparations here on the diplomatic side at the highest level from ministers in the uk we are told to try to get british nationals out and their partners no matter which country they are from. the foreign 0ffice country they are from. the foreign office says it is optimistic it can

get those people home. it hopes as well those bureaucratic hurdles will be overcome, and any partners, whether they are british, dual nationals or not british will be on board as well. the japanese have had the first of what they hope to be three flights to go, but we understand every person on board that initial flight was japanese so they are not encountering similar problems. australians are likely to come up against similar issues, so we will have to wait and see. robin, thank you. i'm joined now by our health editor hugh pym... when this flight gets here, what will happen? it will land at a military base, then the passengers will be taken to an nhs facility from the military base. i have put together a few more details, my understanding is it would be raf brize norton, then put into buses and driven to a facility in the north west of england, which i

understand will be former nhs accommodation for staff, flats, that kind of thing. they will be kept there for two weeks, that's the quarantine period, never mind if they are not showing symptoms. i'm told they will be well looked after and will be able to contact people outside, family and so on. public health officials there will have to wear protective clothing, as will the crew on the flight and there will be mod medics on the flight as well to give any help that may be required, and look out for people with symptoms so if they arrive they can be taken away and tested. thank you. a vaccine for the new coronavirus could be ready for use in china before the end of the year. us pharmaceutical company inovio is one of a number of research facilities urgently trying to develop a vaccine, as cases in china continue to soar. the bbc‘s global health correpsondent tulip mazumdar reports from their labs in san diego. we are on day 21 and unfortunately, as we wake up this morning,

we're at over 6,000 confirmed cases. they may be more than 10,000 miles away from the centre of the outbreak, but these scientists are in emergency mode. do we know what the mortality rate is? they are working day and night to come up with a vaccine that could save lives in china and beyond. scientists were able to spring into action within just a couple of days of the new virus being identified, after china posted details of the virus's genetic code online. we received the sequence from the chinese government. we worked overnight and the next day we had designed a vaccine. we immediately put that vaccine into manufacture, which is the stage that it's currently in, and we hope that that will be entering into human clinical trials by early summer. that timeline is absolutely unprecedented in vaccine development. scientists here are already

developing a vaccine for another coronavirus called middle east respiratory syndrome. they're using the same dna technology for this new virus from china too. swirling around in these fermenters is a very musty—smelling solution of bacteria from which the main ingredient for this vaccine, a string of dna, which it's hoped will trigger a strong immune response against this virus will be extracted. traditionally, this process can take months. but here, using these new technologies, it's been taking scientists days. the work here and in two other research facilities in the us and australia is being funded by an organisation called cepi. it's a coalition of governments and philanthropic organisations that invest in developing new vaccines for emerging diseases as quickly as possible. doing this is exciting work, but this is a very dangerous time. this is a real viral threat and we know these viruses do not respect borders so this virus could be on our doorstep very

quickly. no one knows how the outbreak in china is going to unfold and whether a vaccine will be ready in time. it's still very early days for the vaccine being developed here, but this crucial work to help save lives is under way. tulip mazumdar, bbc news, san diego. the transport secretary grant shapps has defended the right of tory mps to oppose hs2, following growing criticism of the project from a number of conservative mps. the government appears poised to give the scheme the go—ahead after the chancellor, sajid javid, signalled his support despite the mounting cost. let's get more from our assistant political editor norman smith, who's in westminster. norman, some tory mps considering rebelling? and that surely tells you all you need to know about how divisive and controversial hs2 is, that just a few

weeks after boris johnson's resounding election victory, seemingly winning the undying gratitude of tory mps, a clutch of them are now preparing as it were to rush to the barricades to rebel against him over hs2 if, as 110w rebel against him over hs2 if, as now seems likely, he gives it the go—ahead. some because they think it isa go—ahead. some because they think it is a colossal waste of cash, the bill has gone from 50 billion to nearer 100 billion. 0thers bill has gone from 50 billion to nearer 100 billion. others in southern seats resent the damage being caused by the building of a line through their constituencies, and some in the north take the view it is better to spend the money on improving existing lines rather than building a spanking new line to london, which northern voters might only take who knows once in a month, if ever. will they be able to stop the line? no, because borisjohnson has a huge majority. the main opposition parties are also in favour of it. but it does suggest boris johnson's

favour of it. but it does suggest borisjohnson‘s post—election parliamentary honeymoon is about to come to a clunking end. with brexit, if you like, in the bag, more and more politics is about to resume, revolts a nd more politics is about to resume, revolts and all. norman smith, thank you. the widow of basketball star kobe bryant has made herfirst comments since her husband and their daughter were killed in a helicopter crash on sunday, alongside seven others. vanessa bryant posted a photo of the family on instagram and said they were completely devastated by the sudden loss of kobe and their 13—year—old daughter gianna. she wrote, "thank you for all the prayers — we definitely need them." the editor of the today programme, sarah sands, is to stand down in september after three years in charge. the former editor of the evening standard said it had been a privilege and that she was proud to have championed "intelligent journalism and political independence". the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again, whilst the number of suspects being charged has increased slightly. our home affairs correspondent

june kelly is with me now. what are the figures show? there has been massive concern about this because while there has been a big increase in the number of people making rape allegations in recent yea rs, making rape allegations in recent years, the number of prosecutions has gone down. the figures show that in england and wales prosecutions we re in england and wales prosecutions were down by 691, and there was a slight increase, only 25, in the number of people being charged. some of these charges might not get to a full prosecution. in addition we learned the police are referring fewer cases to the crown prosecution service, that figure was down by 485. this morning, the head of the crown prosecution service, the director of public prosecutions, he said that while the number of prosecutions had gone down, his teams are actually prosecuting a higher percentage of the cases being referred to them by

the police. hoping that makes sense. so although the prosecutions are lower, they are bringing more cases, the cases coming to them from police. nevertheless, obviously this is another difficult day for cbs. at the heart of this is the issue of confidence in the system. yes and he acknowledges that, saying the key thing is they are constantly telling people to come forward if they think they have been a victim of rape, and these figures don't help. campaigners have accused the cps of adopting what they call a bookmakers approach, and only prosecuting cases where they think they have a good chance of getting a conviction in court. the cps have always rejected this, saying that is not what they do, and they were supported last year by a review from the inspectorate that said there was no evidence they were going for this bookmakers approach. campaigners believe this is the case, and in a new twist this morning they have written to the attorney general, and when i say campaign groups, amongst

them also linked with them as the victims commissioner, and they are writing to the attorney general saying they do not accept this review and they are calling for it to be rejected. june, thank you very much. companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower prior to the fire knew their materials were dangerous, but promoted them in pursuit of money. that's the claim from a barrister who's been speaking at the inquiry‘s second phase. tom symonds is there. tom, it is a pretty wide—ranging attack on the companies involved. yes, a volley of evidential fire against the companies involved in that refurbishment. starting with a body, the tenant management organisation, which ran grenfell tower and plans the refurbishment. stephanie by wise, a barristerfor about 300 of the victims of this fire, said the decision to refurbish g re nfell fire, said the decision to refurbish grenfell was a product of knee jerk reactions rather than carefully thought out decisions and plans. she

went on to contact the manufacturers of insulation and cladding used in the refurbishment. 0n the insulation the refurbishment. 0n the insulation the manufacturer was a company called selatex and she said they had regarded this project as a flagship project for one of its insulation products, despite the fact it knew its rssooo products, despite the fact it knew its rs5000 product was flammable. and there was evidence against the big multinational that makes the cladding involved in this fire, which has been blamed pretty much for it spreading. that was e—mailed in 2014 from a sales manager about a list of products that iconic wanted to produce or cell for use on these kind of projects. including a major development in manchester and g re nfell tower. development in manchester and grenfell

tower. 3000 metres squared of the arconic product. they also said the government had plenty of opportunities to change the guidance it gives to builders when they need to comply with fire safety regulations, but didn't. and it said that could even be a breach of human rights. the government breaching human rights by not being clear about the guidance and not allowing the builders to be guided by what they should do in these situations. this is just the start, just the hearings, the submissions. the evidence is next week. the time is 1.15. our top story this lunchtime... the number of infections from the coronavirus in china reaches more than 7000 — the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home will take off tomorrow morning. also today, the brexit property boost in france,

with uk buyers racing find a home there before britain leaves the eu. and in the sport on bbc news... a couple of surprises in the women's singles semifinals at the australian open, as world number one ash barty and wimbledon champion simona halep are both beaten. there's been a significant rise in the number of prison officers in england and wales taking time off because of pressures at work. figures given to the bbc under freedom of information laws show that 1,800 prison officers took time off last year because of stress, anxiety or depression. it comes as latest figures show the number of attacks on staff remain at record levels and — as danny shaw reports — at a time of renewed focus on the issues surrounding mental health. just a foreboding inside your belly, like you haven't done your homework as a child, but amplified a hundred times as you're getting in to go in through those doors. the fear of a prison officer.

for 13 years bob worked at some of the most challenging jails in the country, dealing with outbreaks of violence and disorder and having to help prisoners who'd harmed themselves. this former soldier, who doesn't want his real name to be known, eventually cracked under the pressure. i started to be on occasions sick on the way to work, virtually physically vomiting. my sleep was disordered. my personal relationships were strained and certainly i lost one relationship through that period, and i started to shrink back socially as well. i was seeing less and less of a circle of friends. and you put that down to the stress at work? stress at work, absolutely. the stressful nature of prison work is seldom talked about and the impact on staff even less so. but figures obtained by bbc news suggest increasing numbers of prison officers in state runjails are suffering from mental health

problems — 1,900 last year. 0ver1,000 were off work with stress, and more than 800 had anxiety or depression — seven times the number reported two years earlier. although some conditions may be due to problems outside work, researchers believe prison officers are vulnerable because of what they encounter every day. if you're constantly aware that you are likely to be in danger it's part of almost like post—traumatic stress. so when you come home, you're still hyper vigilant. you're having problems calming down. the anxiety levels are high and you can have trouble sleeping. alanjones became depressed after a prisoner hit him with a chair. he sustained serious injuries to his arm. a metal plate had to be inserted. the former prison officer sued the ministry ofjustice for failing to handle the incident properly and won. but he says his mental health

suffered due to a lack of support. i'd always thought i'd be covered. you know, that if anything happened, the prison service would have something in place to look after me, to say everything will be fine, there's this in place, that's in place. and ijust felt so alone. the prison service says staff have access to trauma support, occupational health advice and counselling 24 hours a day. but bob, who was medically retired three years ago, says people considering a career as a prison officer must ask themselves if they're suited to the rigours of the role. think carefully. are are they robust enough? some people may to cope with it a lot better than i did. i couldn't. danny shaw, bbc news. the bank of england has left interest rates unchanged at 0.75%. at his final press conference, the outgoing bank of england governor mark carney gave this assessment of the uk. in the uk, entrenched brexit related

uncertainties added to the global drag on domestic activity. last year the uk economy grew at its weakest pace since 2010, as business investment remained subdued despite having grown barely at all in the prior few years, and households began to rebuild savings and cut back on durable spending despite the resilient labour market. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity is here now. so rates stay unchanged, but... there are positives and negatives. the lack of business investment has meant there hasn't been much improvement in productivity, the amount each of us can produce, therefore the capacity of firms to play as inflation beating pay rises. you had economic growth actually shrinkage in the economy of not .3 cents according to the estimates in november and it's anticipated that when we get the official figures anticipated that when we get the officialfigures for anticipated that when we get the official figures for the last quarter of last year they will show growth was just flat, so a

very weak yearfor growth was just flat, so a very weak year for growth last year. there are things like lack of business investment, things like retail sales falling in december, and also the global slowdown which they say has a soft end but it still there, it's not growing like it used to in the past. and some positives. and positives on the other hand and they are more recent, that's the key. we may have a slightly picture in the round in the long term, for example they will predict the economy can only grow by 1.1% a year. there is indications business confidence is up, but will order books are growing and we are going to invest more in what the bank of england is saying is we will wait to see how that pans out. for the moment we are not going to cut rates but we may have to next time. thank you very much. electricity customers in the uk have been paying too much for their bills — that's according to the national audit office. it's blamed the regulator 0fgem for allowing the network operators, which run the wires and pylons, to make bigger profits

than they're allowed to. according to the nao, a total of £800 million has been overpaid over the past seven years. the number of cars made in the uk has fallen to its lowest level since 2010 — with a further decline expected this year. the society of motor manufacturers and traders says says 1.3 million vehicles were produced last year — a fall ofjust over 14%. it blames weak confidence at home and slower demand in overseas markets, as well as factory shutdowns related to brexit. the number of british people who own property in france has the british motorcycle company norton has gone into administration after failing to pay a tax ill. it's best known for its involvement in motorsport and employs around 100 people at castle donington in leicestershire. the number of british people who own property in france has fallen since the brexit referendum in 2016, but in some pockets of the country, estate agents have reported a "brexit boost", with uk buyers

in a race to find a home there before britain leaves the eu. 0ur paris correspondent lucy williamson reports from the dordogne in south west france. karen and her husband came to europe to find a lifestyle they say britain has lost. the kennels they run in the dordogne have been home for the family since april. now, they say they will stay here no matter what brexit brings, even if it means becoming french. quite a change for a couple who, back in 2016, voted to leave the eu. if i had crystal ball and like you say, three years time... 0h! suddenly we're in france. you know, it's like, and now brexit‘s going to happen it's like, you know. for our own personal thing now, if you are voting just for myself, it would be stay. but, forthe uk, i stillthink leave is...could be beneficial for the uk. the family live near the pretty town of eymet in the dordogne, where17% of the population is british. there's even a weekly

fish and chip van. terrie simpson owns nine estate agents in the region. after an initial dip in interest, she says brexit has been good for business. as time has gone on, i think people have become either used to it or frustrated with it or they have actually bought despite it. a lot of people have tried to work to the deadlines around brexit, so last year was the busiest year we have ever had. now, i have got a big picture that will go... frieda has just moved here from scotland at the age of 80 to be close to her daughter, joanne. planning where to hang her paintings is the easy part. planning for her health care and residency rights after brexit is much harder. though little will change until the transition period ends. there is no way that we would go home. if france didn't want us, we would look for another european country to go to. i voted to remain, i love free travel and i feel sorry that

that has been taken away. but we will make the best of it. uncertainty over brexit has become part of daily life here. the weak pound has made everything more expensive, but in this british heartland of france, panic over brexit has largely faded into stoicism, denial and determination to stay. frieda is already a regular at the weekly market where local goods mix with favourites froom back home. president macron is fond of saying the british will always be neighbours. here in eymet, anglo—french relations don't span the channel, but the width of a garden wall. lucy williamson, bbc news, eymet. winston churchill praised them as "the few" — the second world war pilots who protected the skies over britain in 1940. one of the last surviving battle of britain pilots, wing commander paul farnes, has died at the age of 101.

there are now only two who remain. mr farnes, who flew hurricanes during the war, joined the raf as a volunteer in 1938. richard galpin has been looking back at his life. the summer of 1940 and the battle of britain is under way. the spitfire and hurricane pilots fighting the german air force to stop the nazis invading the country. paul farnes, who flew a hurricane, became a fighter ace in the first month of the battle, after shooting down five german planes and damaging another. and he remembered no fear. i felt completely confident the whole time. i neverfelt...| was never afraid. i never became apprehensive, really. slightly apprehensive, occasionally, but never much. he often attended the annual battle of britain commemorations.

he was known as a very modest man, who'd been acutely aware of the constant losses of fellow pilots. one thing he said was that you couldn't make friends, because people didn't last very long. people were killed on their first day in action. but yes, they were a great group together nonetheless. i was at a commemoratives lunch, 20 years ago, where the few were spread around the different tables. number 501 squadron, paul's squadron, they all insisted they had to have their own table. that was the particular camaraderie that they had. wing commander paul farnes, who'd been awarded the distinguished flying medal in 1940, was the last of the wartime fighter aces. and there are nowjust two surviving battle of britain pilots. never in the field of human conflict was so much owed, by so many, to so few. winston churchill recognised

the extraordinary achievement of these pilots, without whom the second world war could have turned out very differently. and paul farnes was one of the elite. paul farnes, who's died at the age of 101. new images of the surface of the sun have been released. they were taken by a telescope based on hawaii — and reveal unprecedented detail. these cell—like structures, roughly the size of the state of texas, are superheated plasma reaching the surface. the darker areas show where it's cooling and sinking back into the body of the star. scientists say they hope it will help them establish how changes in the sun can affect weather conditions here on earth. they are not the only ones looking. nick miller is here with the weather. we have had our sunshine for the week, it's been bright and cold and there's been a weather

transformation that not everybody will appreciate because now it looks a bit like this, it's cloudy, misty, murky, but it's much milder out there. the uk is under there somewhere, the white is the cloud, the blue is where we have the rain. we have seen a spell of rain pushing across parts of southern england so far today, and it's raining across western scotland. this area of rain it's spreading east. still some rain in northern scotland to end the day. elsewhere it turns a bit brighter. we keep a good deal of cloud elsewhere. there is a lot of hill fog particularly through wales and south—west england but it is much milder, 14 celsius in south—east england, but it's very blustery out there. for scotland and northern england winds are going to strengthen further going into this evening so these are wind gusts we are seeing here, 50—60 miles per hour and the higher parts of the pennines, north yorkshire and durham, is could see gusts approaching 70 miles an hour into this evening so there could be some disruption as a result of that,

so be aware for this