this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 12pm: an infant school in berkshire is the latest place to close, after one of its staff tests positive for coronavirus — bringing the number of confirmed cases in the uk to 23. the government insists it's prepared to do all it can to contain the virus. we don't take anything off the table at this stage, because you've got to make sure that you have all of the tools available, if that is what is necessary. labour calls for home secretary priti patel to attend the commons tomorrow — to explain allegations from her departing civil service chief that she bullied staff. in the us, democrat presidential candidate joe biden wins his first primary in south carolina — boosting his chances of being his party's candidate to take on donald trump in november's election. and click checks out microcomputer implants,

the new huawei foldable phone, and a keyboard that helps you to read music. that's in half an hour. hello, good afternoon. welcome, if you've just joined hello, good afternoon. welcome, if you'vejustjoined us, to bbc news. the health secretary matt hancock says the government "isn't taking anything off the table at this stage" in its preparations for dealing with coronavirus. speaking to the bbc‘s andrew marr he said in the worst case scenario the government would have to take some "quite significant actions" that would have "social and economic disruption". but he stressed the government wanted to minimise that disruption. ministers are considering bringing recently retired nhs employees back to work to help boost staffing levels, and relaxing limits on school class sizes if teachers are unable to work.

it's hoped advertising campaigns could also help people to reduce their risk of infection. andy moore reports. willow bank school at wokingham in berkshire, where about 180 children in infant classes have been told to stay at home for the next few days. the head teacher wrote to parents saying a member of staff had been diagnosed with coronavirus. the school, she said, would be closed for deep cleaning. the staff member is one of three new cases announced yesterday by the chief medical officer. they had been overseas in italy and asia. another case at haslemere in surrey is causing concern, because the person hadn't been abroad and it's not known how they contracted the virus. the government says it's ordered a so—called war room to be convened in the cabinet office to roll out a new public information campaign. it also says it's considering bringing retired health professionals back into the nhs.

longer term, home working may be encouraged and unnecessary travel discouraged. the total number of confirmed cases here in the uk is now 23. italy is the worst—hit country in europe, with over 1,000 people infected and 29 deaths. in the us, one person has died in the state of washington, on the west coast, and there are fears of an outbreak among 50 people who are ill at a nursing home. it's been confirmed that one carer has the virus and an elderly woman is seriously ill. additional cases in the united states are likely. but healthy individuals should be able to fully recover. and we think that will be a statement that we can make with great surety now that we've gotten familiar with this problem. outside of china, south korea

is suffering one of the worst outbreaks. the army has swapped camouflage for white suits to disinfect this train station. the country recorded over 800 new cases yesterday, almost twice as many as china. andy moore, bbc news. let's hear more of what the health secretary matt hancock has said on the government's approach to the coronavirus. he was speaking this morning to andrew marr. we don't take anything off the table at this stage, because you've got to make sure you have all the tools available, if that is what is necessary. under the worst—case scenario, we would have to take some quite significant actions that would have social and economic disruption. and you've already seen some other countries take some of these actions. what we don't have is enough ventilators, i think only nine or ten or ii beds across england at the moment vacant for people who might need ventilators, which is part of what you might need

if you're really seriously ill with coronavirus. well, i saw those figures published in the guardian and they are wrong and out of date. are they? so, how many do we have? we have 15 now, and we can ramp that up to 500, and then, if necessary to 5,000. 5,000 ventilator systems? well, 5,000 beds that are able to cope with the worst impact of this virus. but, of course, if the numbers get enormous, it doesn't matter what scale of a peacetime type nhs you have, the pressures on it, of course, are going to be very significant. we understand that, but we also have plans to rise to that challenge. 0k. we are putting a lot more resources into 111. in fact, that is one of the resources we're working on today. obviously, the response of 111 has been fantastic, thank goodness we've got it. it's only been there two or three years. but having that clarity of message to the public, that you should call 111 if you've got a problem is really important. of course, the number of calls going to 111 has risen very sharply, by more than 50% in the last week.

i understand that. we had a plan already to put more resources into 111 and that's happening. and this is a... but i would also say, andrew, on that, i hope that people will also bear with us. i haven't seen a story of anybody waiting four days. there was one case of somebody waiting four days trying get through. but i would say that people should also bear with the system. be patient. everybody has a part to play and people should be patient. of course more people are calling 111 than before, that's to be expected in the circumstances. sure. matt hancock talking to andrew marr on bbc one this morning. british tourists at a hotel in tenerife are being tested again today, after they received guidance from the foreign office saying they could fly home within 24hrs they could fly home within 2a hourrs from the foreign office saying they could fly home within 2a hours of testing negative for the virus.

0ur correspondent fiona trott gave me an update from there a little earlier. they cannot fly more than 2a hours after that test and let me explain why that is so important. companies like jet2 why that is so important. companies likejet2 said we cannot fly why that is so important. companies like jet2 said we cannot fly you back unless you have had a two—week quarantine or have tested negative. some of the guests are saying they expect results back today and some think it could be tomorrow. if they have a negative result and don't show symptoms at the airport, they can show symptoms at the airport, they ca n fly show symptoms at the airport, they can fly back to the uk if and when that plane is ready. they have to self—isolate until march ten. we are hearing that medical staff are keeping a close eye on the five

people who are confined to their rooms, they have been in their rooms since tuesday and came into closer contact with the infected italians, which prompted this shutdown and one of their fellow travellers tested positive for coronavirus. they are now being treated in hospital. a fifth case. fiona, what have people said to you reported to have said to you about conditions in the hotel. presumably this whole business of having to remain in the room, the practicalities of that, of trying to feed and never mind just getting bored and frustrated, have had to be managed by people over the last week or so. people had to stay in their room. then they reassessed the situation and they said they could go into communal areas if they wore a mask. we heard from guests inside the hotel that that

wasn't happening. that caused some anxiety, of course, understandably. some people refusing to leave their room at all, even though they were told it was safe to do so if they took these precautions. but i think really there was a real sort of change after public health england visited the island and looked at the situation. and the foreign office told guests here that all british guests, we knew that 232 were staying here, they were all low risk. that is when these conversations began about getting them home. yes, initially, after that shut down, there was some anxiety about the kind of quarantine measures that were not enforced inside the hotel. but, gradually, as the days have gone on, things have become more relaxed and we've seen guests leaving here each day. it appears on the ground there are different protocols for different countries. we've seen people from different nationalities already make their way home. but, of course, this is why

today, for the remaining british guests here who are having this second covid—i9 test, it is a crucial day, they are waiting to see if they can get on a flight. governments around the world have moved to limit some public events. 0ur correspondentjenny hill is injapan and spoke to us about the situation there. well, the numbers are continuing to grow. relatively slowly here in japan, but they are growing nevertheless. particularly in the north in hokido where the number of cases have almost doubled in the last few days. there are well over 60 people now infected there. you will perhaps recall that on friday that the authorities there declared a state of emergency and asked people to stay in their homes all weekend. reports from the scene suggest streets are all but deserted. speaking of streets, this road behind me should, this morning, have been hosting the tokyo marathon, or part of it. 38,000 runners should have been pounding along here watched by goodness knows how many spectators. the event organisers had to scale it right back. they stopped general competitors

from taking part in the event. actually, only 200 elite athletes ran the course, watched by very few people because the authorities specifically asked people to stay away, not to gather along the route to cheer those athletes on. another events in the sporting calendar are also being disrupted. we have just heard about one of the biggest events in japan's sporting calendar, the spring sumo wrestling tournament, which organisers were considering cancelling but they have decided it will go ahead as planned next weekend but no—one will watch it in the stadium. the wrestlers will compete in an empty arena. all of this, of course, raising questions over the tokyo 2020 summer olympics, just five months away. yesterday, we heard from the prime minister, shinzo abe, who insisted yet again that the games will go ahead as planned, but the torch relay, which is due to get under way in just a few weeks' time is being considered at the moment. because that torch is expected to travel all overjapan before it comes back here to tokyo.

the event organisers are saying they are considering scaling back some of those events and we are likely to hear an announcement about that in the coming week. let's look elsewhere in the region. what is the situation in china, the source of the coronavirus outbreak? there are still new infections and deaths being reported in china, but overall, the pattern seems to be one of improvement. the world health organization have said the rate at which new infections are being reported, the rate of new deaths, is slowing. that is giving rise to encouragement and they say the chinese authorities, with the measures they imposed, by locking down cities, some say draconian measures, appear to have worked in terms of starting to keep that outbreak under control. of course, a huge number of people have been infected and have died.

here, and in the rest of asia, a slightly different picture, because it is spreading. we are seeing some new cases in japan, more than 900 cases of them. more than 900 cases of them. the vast majority of them were people who were infected on board the diamond princess cruise ship. on top of that, well over 200 people have now been infected. there is a lot of concern about the people came off the diamond princess cruise ship and then travelled home. they have started testing positive in all parts of the world. but here injapan it is reckoned around six people may have travelled on public transport whilst they were hosting the infection. in south korea, nearly 9,000 members of a religious sect are said to be suffering from symptoms of the virus. the centre for disease control says it has interviewed all of the 239,000 members of the shincheonji church ofjesus, which is at the centre of the outbreak in the country. president moonjae—in has said the government is waging an all—out response to contain the virus as the number of confirmed cases continues to rise.

18 people have died there. and tomorrow evening on bbc one, we have a special programme on the outbreak — that's coronavirus: everything you need to know — at 7:30pm tomorrow. the home secretary, priti patel, is coming under pressure from labour to answer claims made by her departing permanent secretary that she bullied staff. ms patel has reissued denials in response to newspaper reports — but has not publicly commented on allegations made by sir philip rutnam. as he resigned yesterday. and today the bbc has learned another formal complaint was made against her in a previous job. our political correspondent, helen catt has been following the story. usually these back—office tensions in the civil service stay there, in the back office. if there is that sort of rift

it is settled quietly. pretty extraordinary for it to boil over in this public way with the senior civil servant in front of the cameras resigning saying they are going to sue the government for disruptive dismissal and accusing one of the most senior cabinet ministers, the home secretary, of lying and bullying. she has denied that claim had not responded publicly but we haven't had a huge amount of response publicly on either side. partly because that is in the context that sir philip rutten will take legal action, everyone has been careful but that was put to matt hancock, one of priti patel‘s cabinet colleagues and here is what he said. what i would say is that priti is a very determined home secretary. she's probably closer to where the public are on the issues of law and order than any home secretary in recent history. and i think that she is... she drives things forward. now, i also think she is extremely courteous. and every dealing i've ever had with her, she has been very courteous.

i can't get into the details of the case, not least because it looks like it might be going to court. and i'm not close to it. but what i would say is that the work between ministers and officials is vital. and if you look at coronavirus... ministers, officials, medics, the nhs, right across government, all pulling together and working together to deliver. i suppose the contrast, the difficulty here is that matt hancock is a colleague, not somebody working with her. relations between bosses and employees different. but on that point on policy, everybody thinks coronavirus is a bad thing that has to be tackled. presumably, some of these issues is because the home office is dealing with subjects where there might not be a consensus on where the policy is. what is interesting is the point he pointed it at the end. that for coronavirus, it is vital you have officials and ministers working together. the home office has a huge amount of work to do over the next year,

it has got to put in place an entirely new immigration system. if there has been a breakdown between ministers and officials, it sounds that is likely to make that a lot harder. that is, unwittingly, matt hancock flagged up one of the problems with this. that's kind of interesting. the other interesting thing is the phrase he used about saying that he believed priti patel was closer to where the public are on law and order issues than many a recent home secretary. that is interesting, if that sort of theme is what we start to hear out of the government. there has been this sense of a lot of the defences of priti patel, this idea that this is a government that's coming to ruffle feathers and it's the government against the machine, if you like. it is interesting that picks up on that a little bit. asi as i said just before we heard from helen catt... the bbc has been told that another complaint was made against priti patel, when she was employment minister at the department of work and pensions. our home affairs correspondent danny shawjoins me now. found out about this, what can you tell us? priti patel was employment

minister at the department for work and pensions between may 2015 and july 2016 and she went on to be promoted to department for international development secretary of before having to resign later. —— secretary of state. while she was at dwp, i have been told from official sources that a formal complaint was made against her, about her conduct at the department. we don't have any other details about the complaint or how it was handled. one of the problems is that there isn't a transparent process for dealing with complaints against government ministers. they have to abide by the ministerial code, which is a set of principles about behaviour and ethics and so on, one of which states there must be no bullying and you must treat people with respect. this is among civil servants working with her day today, the people who would see the most of her in the

department? yes. my understanding is that this is a complaint made by someone that this is a complaint made by someone in her private office, a tea m someone in her private office, a team of six to eight civil servants, some morejunior team of six to eight civil servants, some more junior in team of six to eight civil servants, some morejunior in rank who work very closely with an individual minister, absolutely every day. obviously, tempers can get frayed andi obviously, tempers can get frayed and i am sure there is a difference of opinion and demands and pressures and so on. but people had told me that priti patel, when she was in the dwp, created a really hostile environment for people working in her private office. she undermined them, undermined their performance, co nsta ntly them, undermined their performance, constantly criticised their lack of... apparent lack of capability and so on. and one person, who has great knowledge of her time there, said that she believes that people in the private office did feel bullied. i have to say that spokespeople for priti patel have strenuously denied any claims of bullying and said, yes, she is a demanding minister, she has high demands on people, and works in

high—pressure environments. someone else who has knowledge of her time at dwp said i wouldn't describe her asa at dwp said i wouldn't describe her as a bully. she could be difficult and when things didn't go her way, that could be a problem, but bullying, no. conflicting views of her behaviour but clearly a complaint was made. thanks very much. two teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 16—year—old boy was stabbed to death in coventry. this was last night. officers were called to reports of a young man found collapsed in the stoke area of the city, at about 10:30pm last night. the victim was taken to hospital but died a short time later. west midlands police say two 17—year—old boys are in custody. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's ben croucher. including the latest on england's cricketing performance. england have reached the last four of the women's t20 world cup after a confident performance to beat west indies in their final group game. batting first, they made 143 with nat sciver impressing again

with 57 from 56 balls. west indies were always behind in the chase, not helped when talismanic batter stephanie taylor was stretchered off with a groin injury. sophie ecclestone was the picked of england's bowlers — taking three wickets to bowl windies out for 97. south africa are the other team from england's group into the semi—finals after beating pakistan. they've won the efl cup for the last two years but manchester city are starving for another according to manager pep guardiola. they're taking on aston villa at wembley — who are hunting for theirfirst win in the competition since 1996. the final is today. they'll be fresher, too, after having the week to prepare whilst city were winning at real madrid in the champions league on wednesday. they had all week to prepare in that game. our mental and tough... ..game was the game against madrid. i know we are going to suffer from that over the next days because it's normal. it is notjust the game,

it's the days and weeks before, preparing for this difficult game. how difficult and demanding it is. a drop of adrenaline or something, in your mind and your body. it's an opportunity, because nine years ago, i was becoming the manager of walsall in league 1, looking to keep them up. if anyone had told me in nine years, i would be sat here as a premier league manager with aston villa leading them into a domestic cup trophy, i would have said that you were crackers. i see it as a massive opportunity. the lads have done ever so well to get to the final. we have always expressed, you know, the tradition of the cup for this football club. now we have an opportunity against one of the world's best teams. after 44 games and 422 days, liverpool's unbeaten premier league run is over. they fell just short of winning 19 straight games, too. that would have been a league record. it's after they were beaten 3—0

at watford yesterday evening. managerjurgen klopp is trying not to be too disheartened. i see it rather positive. because the closer you come to these records... i'm not bothered but i'm not sure how other people think about that. so, from now on, we can play free football again, we don't have to defend or try to get a record, we just cant try to win football games again and that is what we will try to do. —— we can just try. two games in the premier league this afternoon — manchester united travel to everton looking to close the gap on chelsea who are in fourth to just a point. and spurs — still without harry kane and son heung—min — face wolves. stjohnstone and celtic meet in the quarterfinals of the scottish cup. david beckham's new major league soccer side — inter miami — will finally play their first match today. beckham had a huge impact on the mls when he joined la galaxy as a player back in 2007, and was the catalyst for other big name european players to move to america. he now co—owns inter miami and they face los angeles fc later in their season opener — six years after the former england captain bought into the franchise.

for the first time since the summer of 2016, heather watson will be a top 50 player when the tennis rankings are confirmed tomorrow. it's after her three—set victory in the final of the mexican open against canada's leylah annie fernandez. it's her fourth career title. really happy. more relief, i think, after that match, as i had so many chances to close it out in the second set but it happens like that sometimes. and i'm really pleased just how i kept it together mentally and just kept fighting and got the job done, in the end. that's all the sport for now. you'll be able to keep up to date with all of this afternoon's action at bbc.co.uk/sport — i'll have more at around 1.30pm. great, look forward to it, thanks very much. a 23—year—old woman who is taking legal action against an nhs gender clinic says she should have been challenged more by medical staff over her decision

to transition to a male as a teenager. a judge gave the go—ahead this week for a full hearing of the case against the tavistock and portman nhs trust. our social affairs correspondent alison holt reports. keira bell is 23 years old, and her adult life so far has been defined by the decision she made when she was much younger. to gender variant and transgender youths... (os at 16, she was prescribed drugs to delay the signs of female puberty. she later took male hormones, so her voice deepened, and facial hair grew. hey. initially, i felt very relieved and very happy about things, but i think as the years go on, you start to feel less and less, er, enthusiastic or even happy about it. keira was treated here at the uk's only gender identity clinic, run by the tavistock trust. she's taking legal action against them because she believes when she started taking puberty blockers and cross sex hormones, she was too young to understand the implications. she says, as a child, she felt isolated and different, and as a teenager, she was desperate to change her gender.

but she now believes she should have been challenged more and had more psychological support. i feel angry that i was allowed to run with this idea that i had or, you know, almost like a fantasy, as a teenager, i was allowed to run with that and, um, it has affected me in the long run. i've onlyjust kind of stepped into adult hood and i have to, you know, deal with this kind of burden. what would you tell your 16—year—old self, now? that's kind of the point of this case, is that, you know, when you are that young, you don't really want to listen to anyone. and a lot of things won't get through. so, um, it's up to these, you know, institutions, like the tavistock, to step in and make children reconsider what they're saying. because it is, you know, a life altering path that you're going down. it's a difficult area and the head of the gender identity clinic says they are always cautious, working closely with children and families to help them make their decisions. this is a really complex area,

with strong feelings on all sides. and for young people, they come to us in, often, really great distress around their sense of themselves. we're talking about identity here. their identity and a feeling that their gender identity does not match that body. and what goes along with that is huge distress. the clinic says it welcomes keira's case as it will allow a considered review of the evidence about the most appropriate way to support young people. alison holt, bbc news. let's speak now to susie green. in leeds. she's the ceo of mermaids uk who offer support and guidance to gender variant and transgender youths. thank you very much for being with us thank you very much for being with us to talk about this today. this is obviously a case where there are a

lot of complicated subjects to be picked apart. some of our particular uses of individual treatments but more generally about the support and advice and process by which young people, who have concerns about the gender they were born in, whether it's the right gender for them, make decisions about their future. from the young people you deal with, what's your impression of what happens at the tavistock? to be fair, in the first instance, the waiting time is well over two years and when young people get into the service, there is then a process they go through that takes a minimum ofa they go through that takes a minimum of a year before any kind of medical intervention is even considered. what we see is actually lots of distress and very distressed young people and their families trying to support them whilst they are waiting to even access medical intervention. and when they go through that process , and when they go through that process, the process is very detailed, they get a lot of

information about both the benefits and pitfalls and projected outcomes of what any kind of medication would give them. so they make informed consent. that underpins the nhs service in terms that they make informed consent. i don't see how taking away that because of a very small number, and we do see this, we do see young people change their trajectory and decide this isn't for them any more, but to say thatjust because of that 1% of young people who decide this isn't for them, we then say that nobody has access to it, that's not... that not proportionate. is it not possible that there is some kind of middle way, which involves some kind of process where there is perhaps some kind of external involvement in that process of talking to young people? because the point that is being made by keira bell, the young woman we

saw in that film is that she was quoted, she was allowed to run with that idea she had, almost as a fa ntasy that idea she had, almost as a fantasy as a teenager and it affected her in the long run. she says she was very young then add the idea of informed consent is different, obviously, from when you are older and more mature and able to process some of these quite challenging issues about your identity. this goes across the cannot of young people's autonomy and ability to make decisions about their bodies. when you say you are very young and making decisions you have to realise a lot of this is with parental consent as well, so this is a reasoned decision that is made by these young people and we know that intervention with puberty blocker saves lives and the recent studies coming out of america of 20,000 people who had, trans people, who