it could do but it may not as well. in terms of the prevention measures we have seen put in place, are they enough? so, i think that the prevention measures that china have put in place are fairly dramatic and they do appear to be having an effect at the moment but time will tell as to whether the measures have been sufficient. i think what is in place here in the uk so far seems to be doing very well. we don't have any ongoing person—to—person transmission in the uk. we have had nine cases, eight of whom are now healthy and released from hospital and no longer a risk to the public. it is just a matter of us continuing to monitor anyone who travels into the uk or any cases or contacts of cases in the uk and making sure that we are able to isolate them promptly, test them, and treat them if they are unwell. that was dr nathalie macdermott. now it's time for a

look at the weather. we have seen significant disruption today thanks to storm dennis. the torrential rain lead to significant flooding and whistle have six severe flooding and whistle have six severe flood warnings in force, stretches of the river tapped, the river nene thin south—west and the town river tea m thin south—west and the town river team normal mac are all affected. other flood warnings in the uk. team normal mac are all affected. otherflood warnings in the uk. we could see the funny get worse for some before it gets betterfor some and storm dennis its final act is pushing close to the north of scotland, sway the powerful wind gusts here. gusts of around 75 mph, enough to cause disruption into monday morning's rush hour. for monday morning's rush hour. for monday itself we are working at a day of sunshine and bus reese showers. most of us will see a downpour to, showers frequent across north—western area where their have and thunder mixing and no one is immune from catching an nod down purpose of it will feel quite cool in the win, captures between 8—11

degrees. that's your latest weather. —— temperatures between. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: a major incident is declared by police in south wales, as flooding and landslides caused by storm dennis lead to a number of road closures. heavy rain and strong winds continue to lash large parts of the uk, with hundreds of flood alerts in place including five severe warnings. itv says tonight's episode

of love island won't be aired, out of respect for the family of former presenter caroline flack. the broadcaster says it's devastated by her death. thousands of passengers face major disruption at heathrow airport, after a systems failure affects all terminals. the airport says it's experiencing technical problems. now calling only those american desks from emerald deck. us citizens quarantined for days on a cruise ship injapan are leaving, after america sends two planes to take them home. next on bbc news, the travel show. coming up on this week's programme: electric tuk—tu ks. .. it is almost silent, the suspension is still the same though. fatphobia and the woman that beat it.

and, look away now if you don't like snakes. laughs. horns beeping. we are starting ourjourney in sri lanka's capital city colombo, where the two kings of the road are the tuk—tuks, also known as auto rickshaws or three—wheelers. horn honks. ahh! and where honking seems to be a national sport.

nothing like the great honking horn of a giant bus to put fear in you. there is actually over a million tuk—tuks here in sri lanka and it definitely shows, because these things are everywhere. that's a pretty high number for a country ofjust over 20 million people. the prospect of good money has prompted many young people to become a driver here. the number of tuk—tuks hasjumped eightfold in the last 15 years, causing a little bit of congestion on colombo‘s roads. and it is notjust the pros. driving a rented tuk—tuk is increasingly popular with tourists too. why are you renting a tuk—tuk today? what is it about a tuk—tuk that made you go, i will get in one of these today? well it's because of the convenience — i can stop it wherever i want and i can go wherever i want.

having that freedom is really important to you then? yes. how excited are you on a scale of one to ten? 0h,100. laughs. tourists need a local driving license to drive a tuk—tuk here, but also some practice. ok, this definitely is not as straightforward as i thought it would be. i think i need some assistance! 0k. thushari has been a tuk—tuk driver for four years. female drivers remain a rare sight in sri lanka, but times are slowly changing. stay in neutral, otherwise i'll jump forward, gotcha.

so the horn is my friend. friend, yes. right, so they are your top tips? i think i am ready for the road, thank you. you really feel that lack of suspension. and there are so many potholes here, oh! once you reach that level of comfort with driving, the best thing about driving a tuk—tuk is that you can just take in all the gorgeous scenery. and on my left is the beautiful ocean. but the gentle ocean breeze isn't enough to disperse the emissions produced by the millions of vehicles on sri lanka's roads. air pollution in its capital city regularly exceeds the levels recommended by the world health organization.

ten years ago the government banned the import of the most polluting rickshaws, the 2—stroke engines, but several hundreds of thousands remain on the roads. the pollution definitely isn't as bad as i thought it would be, but it is definitely palpable — in fact i think ijust ate some. as part of the global fight against climate change, sri lanka has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030. this man hopes his invention will help achieve his country's goals. so this is what you have been working on? yes, this is our electric tuk—tuk, this didn't really look like this earlier, it was a very old chassis that i used. we basically took the engine off here and fixed the motor to the old gearbox and then we have the battery pack that is placed under the seat. sasiranga de silva won a un award for creating a simple kit which converts petrol tuk—tuk

engines to electric. what inspired you to develop this electric technology, what was the inspiration behind it? as you can see sri lanka is a beautiful country, but since recently we noticed that the emission levels are higher, so the respiratory diseases, levels of disease are going high there, so i thought, you know, as an engineer, if i do my best, to contribute to bring the emissions down in sri lanka. what do you think it is going to take to get your conversion kit up and running, produced on a mass scale? because it is quite high, and a tuk—tuk is quite a low cost product, so the conversion cost has to be as low as possible for drivers to afford it. so i have been doing so many research so i can downsize the battery so i can reduce the cost. sasiranga hopes he can bring the cost of his conversion kit down by a quarter, to the equivalent

of about us$i700 or £1300. and here's another eye—catching innovation — an emission—free electric model. of course the litmus test will be whether electric tuk—tu ks are accepted by local drivers. this is where the magic happens. so i have asked this thushari to join me on a taster session. so this is it, yeah, a bit different to what we're used to. i am going in the back though. makes a change, to be driven around. it's so quiet, isn't it? compared to the four stroke engine, it's almost silent. laughs the suspension‘s still the same though, still getting rattled around in the back. we're pretty lucky though, we're among the first people to try this electric tuk—tuk.

excellent driving, excellent driving. so how was it, how did it feel? ifeel your pain. and would you one day like to own one of these? the issue of affordability will decide whether electric tuk—tu ks are ever developed on a mass scale. but here, the project's manager is bullish about the future. whether we like it or not, the future is electrification of the transportation system. so i think in the next five years or so, it is going to come into the streets, and even bikes and even scooters, so it is going to happen

in the nearfuture, yeah. five years is ambitious, but who knows — the spirit of innovation and a smattering of political will might be just enough to clear the air in colombo. stay with us, because still to come: the traveller who took on the fatphobes and won. and snakes in the rainforest — how this jungle paradise is about to quadruple in size. laughs. so don't go away. right in the heartland of sri lanka lies kandy, a bustling historical and religious town, set around a tranquil

artificial lake and surrounded by scenic hills. there are hundreds of hotels here to choose from in kandy, but there is one that beats all others for one thing — eccentricity. this hotel was built in the 1930s, and its current owner helga has filled it with a mishmash of art pieces adorned with antique furniture and wall—to—wall ceiling paintings and photographs. this quirky art was originally a form of therapy. i was going through a rather dark period myself, going through a bitter divorce. and my father said to just get out of your system, paint it out. at first it was all black and then came the gold monkeys, see no evil, speak and hear, you know. itjust progressed from there, and i thought this was fun.

this place is just completely covered in beautiful old photos. what you get is a real sense of pride in the family's history and heritage. they have had some really famous visitors here too — like gandhi. you have got quite an eccentric style. how would you define your style though? well, i don't think i am particularly eccentric. i mean, this is a minimalist‘s nightmare. as somebody said, this place doesn't have a theme — i said life doesn't have a theme. with the dark lighting and the cobwebs and the kind of dark artwork along this corridor, there is a real eerie, ghostly feel to this place. i kinda feel i am going to meet someone, or something at the end of it. there definitely was someone around. . . a couple freshly settled

in their room for the night. i kind of like this because the room is really nice, you can see it's all pink, thank god it's not black. for sure i'm not coming out of the room in the night, that's for sure. laughs. i don't want to get killed. art must be fun. i like art to make people smile, i like people to smile. chuckles. next this week, the latest part in our series about travelling differently. this time we met the woman who decided that bodyshamers would not stop doing what she loves most. i am such an explorer,

a naturally nomadic person. i want to see the world and so travel for me is my happy place. it's joy. but when i am in one place for too long, i feeljust not myself. like, i always want to be on the go. i'm kellie brown, i'm a youtuber, influencer and traveller. good morning. it is our first full day in lisbon. we got here yesterday. delirium, jetlag, checking in to the airbnb, all we did was take a walk around the neighbourhood. but today we are out and about and we will explore. so as much as travel excites me, there are things that can be intimidating. being a plus size person, you never know what levels of fat phobia you may be exposed to. different cultures are a little more outwardly fat phobic but it's not

something that would stop me from going where i want to be. just a couple of girls on their way to barcelona. we have a long flight and we're about to have a lot of fun, so come with us. come! when it comes to flights, i think it is something that i didn't realise how many larger people were really afraid of, until i would talk about travelling on my youtube channel. i want to talk to you about travelling while fat. aka, being a plus size person who loves to travel. and, you know, i would get comments like i am terrified of flying, not because i am afraid of the plane, but i am afraid of how people perceive me or my seatmate or if i have to ask for a seatbelt extender. i had someone roll their eyes one time, i was walking past their seat and they rolled their eyes like "you sitting with me?" and i wasn't. i ended up being lucky in having a whole row to myself, to which i was laid out and they were all crushed.

i'm like "that's what you get". i decided a long time ago to let go of caring or the flight attendant will pass it to you so discreetly, "here honey, here you go." and i'm like, "thank you!" click. just wandering down random alleys in a strange land. whether you're travelling in europe or asia, africa, throughout the us, in australia, you know, i think there are going to be people with an opinion about your weight no matter where you go. and so how that informs the places — the choices i make when it comes to travel is to not make that a thing. you know? the first thing i care about is safety and what's happening globally — like are they in crisis or war? these are the things you think about when you travelling because if you worry about how every single person in any given country or city is going to receive your largeness, you would not go anywhere.

i could go down the street to the grocery store and someone can have an opinion about me. but it's not prevented me from walking around the city in which i live. i can't let that stop me from exploring the world. and there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. your dance break. now, sri lanka is like heaven for nature lovers. almost half the people who come here do some sort of wildlife activity. beyond the big beasts like leopards and elephants, there's a trove of smaller critters — many that you will find nowhere else on the planet. and that's why we have come to the wet zone on the south—west of the island. now, i know you can't see much apart from really tall trees but mother nature's soundtrack is truly spectacular. birds chirping. this is the edge of sri lanka's

last primary rainforest, sinharaja. it's a hotspot for biodiversity — rare plants, unique bird species, amphibians and snakes all thrive here. it's so important ecologically, that there are plans to quadruple it in size. the only way to explore it is by foot. and for that you'll need some serious legwear. so the forest is also home to bloodthirsty leeches, so i picked up these attractive anti—leech socks in the hopes that i make it out without any of them attached to my skin. ridma used to hike and swim in the forest as a child. it's so dense. yeah. just a tiny amount of sunlight coming through. he now runs tours of the jungle around the island. it's slippery. the sinharaja forest covers more than 8,000 hectares but you do not need to walk very far

to spot some wildlife. here, look. it is a kangaroo lizard. it's tiny! it almost doesn't look real. some of it is after your blood. he's just moving until he can settle down and then he will suck blood from me. the way it moves is creeping me out at the moment and it's so small. i shouldn't be scared. when he sucks the blood he will grow three times the size. and now he is getting and i can feel it. really? what does he feel like? just a tiny little pinch. oh, you can see it getting bigger! now he is sucking blood. in truth, every inch of this rainforest is buzzing with life. there are plenty of spiders of course, but we're here for something a bit more slippery. see there. it's a green pit viper. under the leaf. oh, my gosh! almost the same colour as the leaf. it's tiny. it's a big one.

if this snake bites me what happens? it's quite painful. it gives you cramp. and like, it depends on your condition. stay away. ridma's expert eyes soon spotted another baby snake on our path. what's the name of this snake? it is an ahaetulla, eye catcher, eye catch snake. because they are used to — here on the trees at your eye level and with this... see? he tried to go for you! he is a little one. he has no venom but he does have teeth. he will bite you until blood comes out. oh, my god. wow! you weren'tjoking, weren't you, when you said it was worth it? every time i come into here it is notjust going into thejungle.

i come into a big living creature. the rainforest is alive. is it true that there are plans to quadruple the size of the rainforest? it's on the papers now but it is a big project and it takes time. and it's good because sinharaja gives us a lot of things, you know, like the rain to the whole other part of the country. this will be amazing for sri lanka. across the country. not only for sri lanka but for the world. yeah. we made it! there are 104 different types of snakes in sri lanka. only six are deadly to humans. but with about 80,000 bites a year, this country has one of the world's highest bite rates per capita. most victims are local farmers working in paddy fields. once they are treated in hospital

they often turn to people like pieris for the after—care. pieris has been an ayuverdic doctorfor over a0 years. he says he has treated more snake bites than he can remember. so this is how you make the treatment for your patients? oh, that looks painful! what happened ? this villager is lucky. a bite from a hump—nosed

viper can be fatal. this mixture of herbs will make the swelling disappear. so is this exactly what ayuverdic treatment is? using herbs to treat snake bites? 0k. i'm not going to touch this hand but i want to wish you all the luck with your healing process. it sounds like you are in good hands. it has been an honour to meet you. thank you so much and good luck with everything. i'm so glad i survived the crawling beasts. well, that's all we have time for you this week, but coming up next week,

mike is in rio ahead of the biggest party of the year and we find out just how much work goes into preparing the carnival each year. all the welding, the sewing, the machines, everybody is working on one show, your parade. yes. everything. for now from me, lucy hedges and the rest of the travel team here in sri lanka, it's goodbye. hello there. storm dennis has been bringing significant disruption to parts of the uk. again we have had strong winds bringing battering waves to the coast but it is the

rain that has been causing major problems. we have had hundred and 69 millimetres of the past couple of days and all of that rain over a months worth has been falling off the bracken is and into the valleys. we have a severe flood warning enforce near nice and we have several severe flood warnings between ludlow and a distant. —— neath full dot aside from those major warnings, we have well over 300 flood warnings in force elsewhere. some communities, the flooding could continue to get worse before it gets better even as the rain becomes less intense. storm dennis‘s final swansong as it passes close to the north of scotland is a swathe of powerful winds. it could see gusts in scotland of 75 mph or so and could see disruption as we head into monday morning across the

north of scotland but otherwise for the rest of the uk it is a blustery day, a day of sunshine and showers, some of those showers will have hail and thunder mixed in with them and certainly the strong winds will continue to make you feel a little bit on the cool side with temperatures between eight and 11 celsius. the week ahead, we are going to see low pressure moving in. miles days in space with cooler days so it will be quite changeable day by day. —— at mild days. there will be heavy showers for all of us at some point on tuesday, showers in the night could be heavier across england and wales was top of that traffic moves through, it turns colderfor traffic moves through, it turns colder for scotland, traffic moves through, it turns colderfor scotland, northern ireland and the north of england. that system is away and things quieten down for a time of night but then into wednesday we are looking at the next area of low pressure approaching from the west. that will bring a warm front. a band of rain that will put into northern ireland,

eventually reaching western scotland, western england. is that when the front pushes through, eventually the weather will turn milder late in the day across western areas. that is your weather.

this is bbc world news today. our top stories. only those american guests from emeralds attack... the us evacuates 400 americans from a quarantined cruise ship in japan. a0 us passengers have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. we speak to one american about why he's not leaving the diamond princess. they decided nonetheless to put all of the americans being evacuated together onto ten coaches. after talks with the afghan government, the us says it's hopeful of a truce with the taliban. hundreds of flood alerts remain in place across the uk, as the second major storm in a week batters britain.