this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at four... the first case of coronavirus contracted in the uk confirmed in surrey, and this afternoon, three more positive tests, bringing the total to 23. and in tenerife, a fifth case has been confirmed at the hotel that's been on lock down since tuesday morning. an emergency meeting in france, where the government has banned all events with more than 5,000 people after detecting 16 new cases. the most senior civil servant in the home office, sir phillip rutnam, resigns and says he'll sue the government for constructive dismissal after a public dispute with home secretary priti patel. i have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. it has been alleged that i have briefed the media against the home secretary.

this, along with many other claims, is completely false. a historic moment for afghanistan — in the last half hour, the us and the taliban sign a deal that will see the withdrawal of thousands of american troops. it's been revealed by the department of health that three more people in england have tested positive for coronavirus. they had all recently returned from abroad — two from italy, and one from asia. that brings the total number of cases to 23. meanwhile, public health officials are trying to establish how a man from surrey become the first and so far only known person to contract coronavirus within the uk. that patient is being treated

at a specialist nhs infection centre in london. helena wilkinson reports. this is what health officials were potentially worried about, the first transmission of the virus within the uk. we know the man went into this health centre in surrey after feeling unwell to see a doctor. he tested positive for the virus. the surgery has now reopened after being deep cleaned. i think they're doing what they can, really. i mean, obviously, it was a bit unusual to think that haslemere could be the first place it's been transmitted without an obvious cause. my husband has got a poor immune system and respiratory problems. so perhaps i'm a bit more concerned than others might be, but just be sensible. today, efforts have been made to try and find out who infected the man from surrey and, also, has that person infected others? any responsible government, and this is a responsible government that plans for all eventualities

does that, consider all eventualities and have contingency planning for them. but we are very, very clear. at the moment, we are entirely focused on making containment work, as it has done, and that is the clinical advice we are taking from the chief medical officer and his team. abroad in tenerife, at the coronavirus—hit hotel, more tourists have been able to leave. after days of being stuck, british guests got this letter from the foreign office. it says plans have been made to test them for the virus. if the result is negative, and they can reassure their carrier, they should be able to fly home. in south korea, they've brought in the army to disinfect areas. it's got the highest number of cases outside china, with nearly 3,000 people having been infected. the world health organization has upgraded the global risk of the outbreak to its highest level and, as more cases are confirmed, there is uncertainty about the future scale of this outbreak. helena wilkinson, bbc news.

0ur correspondent, helena wilkinson, is here. these three cases, what we know? we understand or know for a fact they had returned from abroad. two of them had come back recently we are told from italy, one of them from asia. in terms of where they are in england, one of the case is in gloucestershire, another in hertfordshire and another in berkshire, and what they are doing is they are being investigated, and health officials are trying to determine who exactly these two confirmed —— three confirmed cases have been in contact with, and also if we look back at the man in surrey, there is a difference. he was confirmed yesterday, and is the first person to have contracted coronavirus within the uk. that is much trickier to find out exactly who he has been in contact with. that is the thing that will not

alarm, because it is an natural development, there will be these kind of cases, some may not even know they have it, but once you get to that stage, it becomes much more difficult to control, because you can't just isolate people difficult to control, because you can'tjust isolate people if it is already out more generally. they haven't brought it from abroad with them. it is a huge challenge for health officials who are trying to work out exactly who this man has beenin work out exactly who this man has been in contact with, and of course whether that person who infected the man in surrey, who he potentially has infected as well, so it is a huge challenge for officials, but what the uk has been very good at so far is containing this, spotting the cases very quickly. people are self isolating, having treatment where necessary , isolating, having treatment where necessary, and they have been very quick at identifying the source. big numbers in terms of how many people

have been tested so far. more than 10,000 people in the uk have been tested, but that figure at the moment, as you mentioned there, 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus in this country, and we get updates. we can expect another updates at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon, if there are more cases. thank you very much. just an update, this is from the prince of wales in haslemere, a pub which is thought to be connected with the patient who has been identified, the sorry man referred to there by helen. the safety and well—being of our team members are paramount. we have decided to close for a deep clean as a precautionary measure. we will reopen as soon as we can. that is the prince of wales in haslemere if you happen to be in the area and wanting to pop in for a drink, don't, because it is shut for

a deep clean and they will get it open as soon as possible. we can draw from that that this is one of the locations which the patient helen nat was referring to have visited and therefore a reason for shutting the pub and trying to find out more about the circumstances, and just ensuring that all those services have been disinfected as far as possible, because what we do know is that often these viruses can hang around on hard surfaces. they can hang around on the skin, but the issue as we were being told in the last hour is water droplets in the air that last hour is water droplets in the airthat can be last hour is water droplets in the air that can be ingested, and that can bea air that can be ingested, and that can be a problem for this respiratory illness, but if you have a pre—existing condition like problems with your breathing, problems with your breathing, problems with your breathing, problems with pneumonia and so on, it can exacerbate those, and that is why it is more of an issue with the elderly than it has been for younger people who have contracted it, however unpleasant it is for the days that they have it. in the last half hour,

health officials in tenerife have confirmed that a fifth man has been tested positive for coronavirus at the costa adeje palace hotel. there has been testing going on all morning. this brings the total number in the canary islands to six. let's go straight to our correspondent, fiona trott, who is in tenerife. you mentioned when we spoke a few hours ago, the ambulances behind you had testing going on. is this positive test result of what happened today? they have always kept a very close eye on the person you are talking about, because we knew that since monday, six people who had been in closer contact with the infected italians had been confined to their rooms, so what we are hearing now is one of those people, this man, has now tested positive for coronavirus. how does that affect the rest of the guests here? because he stayed in his room, very little. as you say, what is continuing inside the hotel now is that british guests are queueing

outside our room, they are being taken in for outside our room, they are being taken infora outside our room, they are being taken in for a nasal swab. some of them have been told they will get them have been told they will get the result within 2a hours or 48 hours, the result within 24 hours or 48 hours, and this is a real development, because that test for covid—19 appeared to be the main barrierfor covid—19 appeared to be the main barrier for them covid—19 appeared to be the main barrierfor them getting home before the two—week quarantine period here ended, because you will remember one company, jet2, said that despite officials here saying people could leave, it could not accept them on a flight leave, it could not accept them on a flight unless they had completed a two—week quarantine here or had that test will stop the foreign office has told guests, if the result is negative and you remain well and don't show any symptoms at the airport, you will be able to fly home. on your return, you are asked to self—isolate, even if you do not have symptoms, until the 10th of march. in the past five or ten minutes, we have watched about six 01’ minutes, we have watched about six or seven hotel guests leave with

their suitcases. i saw an irish family leave about half an hour ago, so family leave about half an hour ago, so this is gradually happening throughout the day. people leaving the hotel to go back to their home country, having one final health check and being told to self—isolate. check and being told to self-isolate. thank you very much. european governments are taking action to try to contain the epidemic. in italy, schools and universities will stay closed for a second consecutive week. meanwhile, the french government has ordered the cancellation of any gatherings of more than 5,000 people, including the paris half—marathon, which was scheduled for this sunday. let's talk now with someone who has travelled to paris to take part in the marathon, michele moore dunhenjoins me. thank you very much forjoining us. it is to hand. forgive me. you must be very despondent. when did you find out? i think literally about two hours ago. how did you find out?

via my in—laws, who live here in paris. we had seen them for lunch, my husband and i were planning on running the half marathon on tomorrow, and they sent a message saying they had heard on the news that the paris path marathon had been cancelled. frustrating use, but i suppose in their circumstances, you can understand why they took this decision. absolutely. i com pletely this decision. absolutely. i completely respect the decision, taking precautions and keeping participants safe. i think they are expecting over 40,000 people to run the half marathon, so i respect them taking the concern of our health and safety into consideration. it is disappointing. what are you going to do now? now that we have no race to do now? now that we have no race to do tomorrow morning, my husband and iare going do tomorrow morning, my husband and i are going to go out, maybe have a lovely dinner and i drink to

celebrate, but the plan is to get up tomorrow morning and run a half marathon. we just want to have a finishers medal when it is done. so you are both determined to do the half marathon even if you are on your own. exactly. for us, this was a lwa ys your own. exactly. for us, this was always a training run as part of our bigger marathon plans, so we are still going to go out and run 21 kilometres tomorrow. at least you will have all the sites to enjoy it, maybe without some of the pressure. have you encountered others who were planning on being there? are you pa rt planning on being there? are you part of a group or people who you have run into? know, so we were going to run with some of our local pressie and friends. some of my husband's childhood friends. 0bviously, husband's childhood friends. obviously, we will not be able to run with them, but we will still meet up and have lunch with them before we head back to london. so you are back to london. there was a regulation about the london

marathon. where you due to be part of that? i'm not, but my husband is running london, so we remain optimistic because there are many weeks left before to get a better sense of understanding, so we stay optimistic on that one. thank you very much for talking to us this afternoon. i am sorry about that is appointed for you and your husband, but it is good you are taking it in such a good way, and i hope you enjoy all the sites and most important of all, do not worry as much about the second glass of wine. that is exactly what we are going to do. that is great. every cloud has a silver lining. and on monday on bbc one in the evening, we have a special programme on the outbreak — that's coronavirus: everything you need to know at 7.30 on monday. the headlines on bbc news... the first case of coronavirus contracted in the uk confirmed in surrey and this afternoon, three more positive tests,

bringing the total to 23. the most senior civil servant in the home office — sir philip rutnam — resigns and says he'll sue the government for constructive dismissal after a public dispute with home secretary priti patel, accusing her of not telling the truth. a historic moment for afghanistan — as the us and the taliban sign a deal that will see the withdrawal of thousands of american troops. and in sport... crystal palace move a step closer to safety after beating brighton 10. in the day's other premier league relegation battle, west ham are beating southampton 3—1 in the second half and chelsea are a goal up at bournemouth. leeds thrash hull 4—0 to move to within a point of the championship leaders west brom. captain chaos wins a gruelling handicap chase at doncaster with the traditional grand national trial, the big race of the day after the

meeting was abandoned due to wet ground. i'll be back with more on those stories. the most senior civil servant at the home office, sir philip rutnam, has resigned, saying it's because of what he describes as a vicious, orchestrated campaign against him. sir philip says he intends to sue the government for constructive dismissal. his decision follows reports of tensions between him and the home secretary priti patel, over allegations she mistreated officials. she's denied those claims. sir philip explained his decision to reporters in london this morning. i have this morning resigned as permanent secretary of the home office. i take this decision with great regret after a career of 33 years. i am making this statement now because i will be issuing a claim against the home office

for constructive dismissal. in the last ten days, i have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. it has been alleged that i briefed the media against the home secretary. this, along with many other claims, is completely false. the home secretary categorically denied any involvement in this campaign to the cabinet office. i regret i do not believe her. she has not made the efforts i would expect to dissociate herself from the comments. even despite this campaign, i was willing to effect a reconciliation with the home secretary, as requested by the cabinet secretary on behalf of the prime minister. but despite my efforts to engage with her, priti patel has made no effort to engage with me

to discuss this. i believe that these events give me very strong grounds to claim constructive, unfair dismissal, and i will be pursuing that claim in the courts. that is sir philip rutnam who was, until this morning, the permanent secretary at the home office. let's speak to the spectator‘s political reporter, cindy yu. by by any measure, this is a remarkable statement, and to make it so publicly. absolutely. it is unprecedented. when permanent secretaries have disagreements with the secretary of state, it is done behind closed doors and sort it out there, but so philip rutnam made reference to the cabinet secretaries and said that in a normal times, they should have made the problem go away by moving philip rutnam to a different department or giving him a financial payoff. retin—a said he

rejected that payoff, and that shows that he has a depth of feeling against what has happened to him. what i was struck by, and we didn't play it in that clip, but what he went on to say about her behaviour as home secretary, and the implication is it goes far beyond a breakdown in trust between two individuals. he talks about encouraging her to change her behaviour. i have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands, behaviour that created fear and needed that some bravery to call out. the all of which could end up being aired in an employment tribunal. it is notjust a temporary embarrassment for the government here today. when this case goes to court, it will be sustained embarrassment, and if priti patel really has done these things and they are original records or

evidence, herjob may very well be at risk here. it really is very serious. at the same time, we do not know what has happened exactly, obviously the home office is a very highly pressured department, especially this year in the run—up to leaving the european union properly by the end of this year. it has to create a new immigration system, provide for the eu nationals already here, issue out new passports, so there is a lot of different priorities competing at the moment in the home office, and priti patel is a favoured minister of borisjohnson, priti patel is a favoured minister of boris johnson, so priti patel is a favoured minister of borisjohnson, so she will be really pushing very hard to get the government's agenda done is not in the process of that, she might have cracked a few eggs to make an omelette, but sir philip rutnam, for him to have done something like this is quite extraordinary. in terms of she is very close to the prime minister, equally, as we saw with the resignation of sajid javid a few

weeks ago, this prime minister is not afraid to lose the sort of ministers who are in the past, losing them would have been considered disabling the government. presumably she is safe until she becomes a liability. i think that is true. she is quite different to sajid javid. she is one of the original brexiteers, she has always been on vote leave, she has been incredibly loyal and charismatic as politicians go. sajid javid is different as it goes, because he has been seen as a feat drag when it comes to brexit, and even when it came to the negotiations last year, he was reluctantly on—board, not really doing it because he really wa nted really doing it because he really wanted to, that was the perception number ten had of him. priti patel is something different. she was put into the home office because she is known for her draconian views on social issues, such as crime, and thatis social issues, such as crime, and that is the attitude of the government wants out there, so for

them to lose her would be very unlikely for them to push her, so the tribunal would have to go very badly for her to have a risk to herself. thank you very much. the us and the taliban have signed an historic deal which could see all american troops withdraw from afghanistan in the next 14 months, provided the militants uphold their commitments. the deal was signed in the qatari capital doha by us special envoy zalmay khalilzad and taliban political chief mullah abdul ghani baradar. as part of the accord, the taliban have promised to prevent afghanistan from again becoming a haven for extremist groups. they have also committed to attend future talks with the government in kabul. the us secretary of state mike pompeo was in doha to witness the signing of the deal. he said the us would closely monitor the taliban's commitment to its terms. the agreement that we will sign today is the true test of this effort.

we will closely watch the taliban's compliance with the commitments and calibrate the pace of our withdrawal to their actions. this is how we will ensure that afghanistan never again serves as a base for international terrorists. the negotiation process in doha, with all of its twists and turns, has shown it is possible for us to take this step together. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet is in doha, and says the significance of today's meeting is enormous. the symbol of today's ceremony here in doha is absolutely extraordinary, to see senior us officials and senior members of the taliban movement on the same stage, both talking about the same deal, then signing this agreement in front of dozens of envoys and foreign ministers from around the world, these same sides fought each other on the battlefield

for nearly two decades. it is very significant. truly history. but the significance of it will only be judged in the months to come and afghans are watching this so closely. many of them with real fear about what kind of taliban are looking to come back to kabul, what do they mean when they talk about a government which is acceptable to the majority of afg ha ns ? what about the speech by the head of the taliban delegation here which talked about an islamic system, islamic values, which got cheers, and islamic chanting from the room? is this the kind of islamic system which is acceptable to afghanistan in 2020? there is still a lot of big questions being asked and no answers yet. 0ne absentee, or at least not mentioned in the coverage, the afghan government itself. it's spent years trying to establish its authority around the country, backed by the united states and other allies, like the uk. what is its view of this agreement?

it is interesting how today's events were carefully choreographed. there was this moment here in doha which of course the taliban are publicising for all its worth to boost their legitimacy. but, at the same time, the americans made sure there was a ceremony in kabul, attended by the us secretary of defence with a law agreement signed with the afghan government. for the united states to send a very strong message as well as the rest of nato forces that they are still working hand—in—hand with the afghan government to protect the security of afghanistan and to ensure the details of this agreement are kept by the taliban. but the taliban have always said first we will talk to what they described as the foreign occupiers of afghanistan, and then we will meet with an afghan delegation. we repeatedly asked taliban leaders today before and after the ceremony will you now

talk to the afghan government? they don't mention the word, but they do say everyone should be heard, we will talk to all afghans. one of those guests at the ceremony in kabul isjens stoltenberg, the nato secretary general. he has just told troops there that the reason it has been possible to get to this stage is because of you, because of the international presence. there might be those watching who will wonder what that international presence has achieved because it was about initially getting 0sama bin laden, then it was about getting rid of the taliban, then it was about democracy, and education for girls, and all kinds of other things. where does all that stand if the international presence goes? yes, i think if you go back over a year after year since the fall of the taliban in 2001, the international community kept shifting the goalposts, shifting the goals and just remember

what the mantra was in 2001 when the then prime minister, tony blair, stood next to the then afghan leader, hamid karzai, in addition to other leaders, and said we are standing shoulder to shoulder, we are with you for the long run. and afghans questioned then, what is the long run? well, remember, at the height of the foreign troop presence, it was more than 100,000. now it's about 16,000. mainly us but also nato forces, with nato forces they will also draw down as the us forces draw down. jens stoltenberg may be seeing in kabul that this is your victory. here in doha, the taliban have been making it absolutely clear that they won the war and this is the only reason why all of this is happening. let me bring you just a little update on coronavirus, but more

about the official response. it has been confirmed that the prime minister and the chief meeting, at between boris johnson minister and the chief meeting, at between borisjohnson and the chief medical officer, and secretary of state for health, that has taken place and there will be another one tomorrow involving the three of them, and also the government's chief scientist, an important addition. you may remember at the time of the fit and mouth outbreak that makes suit and mouth outbreak, there were cancellations and delays, burning of cattle caucuses, and the chief scientist was critical during that. the chief scientists kind of came in and gave a rational assessment on what had to be done,

and the involvement of the chief scientist will be an important addition to the chief medical 0fficer. downing street says everything possible is being done to limit the spread and make sure government departments are prepared. the prime minister is receiving regular updates and will chair a meeting of cobra, the emergency cabinet meeting, of those who cover emergency events of this kind, and resilience. public health falls into that. the met office has declared this month has been the wettest february on record. new data shows an average of 202.1 mm of rain fell in the uk — beating the current record of 193.4 mm in february 1990. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller hello. storm jorge is bringing some very windy weather across parts of the uk at the moment, especially southern scotland, northern england,

northern ireland, north wales. here are some of the gusts as we go through the next few hours and into the evening, but we are likely to see some may be close to 70 mph around some exposed coasts and lots of wet weather running across northern ireland, northern england and scotland through the evening and overnight. rain and hill snow around, showers could be thundery with hail in places. temperatures hold up above freezing because it is so windy out there. tomorrow, further rain and hill snow in scotland giving some significant accumulation in places. it is sunshine and showers out there on another blustery day, but the gales slowly easing as we go deeper on into the day, so the wind is not as gusty by the end of the day, and it will feel quite chilly out there, as will much of the week ahead with sunshine and showers and frosty nights. bye— bye.

weekend, low pressure with wind and rain could be coming back to us. hello this is bbc news. the government says that everything possible is being done to limit the spread of coronavirus, after the first case contracted in the uk was confirmed in surrey. the total number of cases in the uk stands at 23. an emergency meeting in france, where the government has banned all events with more than 5,000 people after detecting 16 new cases.