this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at four... another 12 people in the uk test positive for coronavirus — bringing the total number of cases in the country to 35. 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 got to make sure you have all the tools available if that is what is necessary. it comes as an infant school in berkshire closes, after one of its staff tests positive for coronavirus. another school in tetbury, gloucester, has also confirmed a member of staff has tested positive. 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.

at least 500 migrants have crossed from turkey to several greek islands on small boats, after greek authorities said they've stopped almost 10,000 others from entering the country. 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 in half an hour we'll be bringing you a special edition edition of witness history, as razia iqbal visits the british academy in london, to explore five extraordinary art stories that have shaped our world.

twelve more people have tested positive for coronavirus in the uk. the chief medical officer, chris whitty, gave an update on those cases. saying that, three of the patients were close contacts of a previously known case. one of the patients had no known contacts. and the others travelled from countries where the virus had been identified. that means the total number of cases in the uk stands at 35. this morning, the health secretary matt hancock said the government could take emergency powers to close schools and cancel public events, in its efforts to tackle the coronavirus but he added he wanted to mininise the social and economic impact of any measures. and this afternoon, it's been confirmed that a member of staff at st mary's school in tetbury has tested positive for the virus —

the school will close until at least wednesday. a school in reading is also closed after a teacher there was admitted to hospital with the virus. here's our health editor, hugh pym. parents with children at this infant school in berkshire have been told it won't open again, until local authority leaders are certain it's safe. a member of staff, understood to have recently returned from italy, has tested positive for the coronavirus. meanwhile, in tenerife, more than 200 britons at the hotel which has seen a virus outbreak have been told by the foreign office they can fly home within 2a hours of testing negative. but, when they get back, they should self—isolate for another week. the government is considering plans to bring retired doctors and nurses back into the nhs if cases spread. the health secretary said he hadn't ruled out significant restrictions on everyday life. 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's necessary. but, you know, i want to minimise the social and economic disruption. sure. and, at this stage, we still have the hope, although the numbers elsewhere are rising fast, we still have the hope that we might be able to avoid this outcome. possible measures being considered by ministers include some school closures, cancelling large public events, perhaps including sport, and encouraging people to work at home. for now, people are urged to call the nhs iii helpline if they have symptoms, having returned from any of the worst—affected countries. there was a 50% jump in call volume last week. in south korea, the army was on the streets, spraying disinfectant. local doctors say this virus is much harder to deal with than previous infectious diseases, like mers.

translation: isolating patients and then tracing their recent contacts, he says, isn't working any more. iran, meanwhile, has reported a steepjump in the number of cases to nearly 1,000, but authorities have dismissed media reports saying they're struggling to contain the outbreak. hugh pym, bbc news. and hugh explained more about the 12 new cases when i spoke to him earlier. we have been told, of the 12, eight of them have come from countries that have been affected. they are easily explained, they picked up the virus there, including italy. three more have contracted the virus from somebody else who tested positive in the uk. we don't know who that is but it shows that contact tracing, what public health england does, will bring in other people who have

beenin will bring in other people who have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, they are tested and they have shown a positive as well. there is one more in essex that cannot easily be explained because the individual has not travelled abroad recently. similar to the case in surrey which was reported on friday, no recent foreign travel. that is potentially a little more worrying because it suggests there isa worrying because it suggests there is a possibility there is transmission going on in the uk which is not linked immediately to foreign travels. in that case in essex, public health will be looking to see if it can be explained by someone to see if it can be explained by someone else who has recently come back from abroad. we have heard about some of the measures from matt hancock. what has he been saying? the health secretary thinks containment with a policy of isolating patients in hospital facilities and tracing contacts may be enough. he is clearly, as are

other health officials, looking to a scenario where you get many more cases. there is transmission going on around the uk and you need to go into a new phase of preparation. he said nothing is being ruled out, including school closures if appropriate and possibly large spectator events. france has banned indoor events in confined spaces for more than 5000 people. mr hancock said that was not being ruled out then i was nothing definite along these lines currently being planned. 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 2a hours of testing negative for the virus. 0ur correspondent fiona trott is there. what is happening? the latest i can

tell you is that some british guests from this hotel, he had been locked ina from this hotel, he had been locked in a hotel since tuesday, some of them will definitely be flying back to the uk tonight. that is what we hearing on the ground at the moment but there have been challenges for them this afternoon. as you mentioned just now, they were hopeful that if they tested for covid—i9 and it was negative and they went to the airport and did not show any symptoms, they could get on a flight back to the uk. it had to be within a 24—hour period. although it can be carried and detected it would not be passed on to others. the foreign office was explaining perflight the foreign office was explaining per flight was more than 2a hours after the test when they would have to be tested again and that would delay things even more. what we were hearing from two guests we have spoken to by telephone inside the hotel was that one of them had a test at four o'clock yesterday. they

got the result at two o'clock today was negative. another person told us they had his test at three o'clock today and where is due to get his result at one o'clock. he is still way this afternoon for the test result. 0nly way this afternoon for the test result. only two cases out of 200 british guests here at the hotel but it is an indication of how the process is working. it does not appear it is happening as quickly as tour operators and customers need to get on the flight and get back to the uk. 0ne get on the flight and get back to the uk. one of the guests here has described the situation as an bearable and they say people inside the hotel are beginning to lose their patience. we are hearing that some will be coming back to the uk tonight, we don't know how many but it has been very challenging for them. when i get back to the uk, they will have to self—isolate until march the 9th. thank you for the

update. professorjohn ashton is a former president of the faculty of public health. hejoins me now he joins me now from hejoins me now from liverpool. from what you are seeing as to how the outbreak is developing, as expected? well, i think it's the latest information is confirmed, it looks as though we have moved from containment to community spread, and thatis containment to community spread, and that is an escalation of the situation. i am afraid to show so farfor situation. i am afraid to show so far for the last two or three weeks has not been impressive. we had been playing catch up now. what i have been reading in the sunday papers, the plan that is going to be revealed this week is the sort of things we should have been sharing with the public two or three weeks ago. i think the big problem now, as we move into a more accelerated

scenario, is of building trust when the public is being kept largely in the public is being kept largely in the dark until now, so that is a problem. the reproductive rate of this virus, the number of people getting infected for each case, you know, seems to be about 1.4 or saying. if that is going to be the case with the community spread here, then we can look forward to quite a sharp increase over the next couple of weeks and so we will be needing to ta ke of weeks and so we will be needing to take the public along with some of the measures that are only now just going to be shared with the public. it would have been better had it been shared two or three weeks ago, which is what i have been calling for all along. we may be looking quite sane at restricting social gatherings and sports events and all of that. —— quite soon. it looks as though people should be thinking very hard about holidays at

easter. it would help if the government was to make an announcement on that because people are going to be stuck with regards to insurance claims if they have to cancel holidays. another thing that appears to be going on in the background, public health england has been virtually silent throughout all of this so far. it looks as though they have been marginalised by the department of health. it looks as though the chief medical 0fficer looks as though the chief medical officer has not had access to broaden public health advice, so the kind of statements we have been getting over the last couple of weeks or so, until very recently, had been narrowly clinical and medical and biological messages, rather than the broader social messages, which is what he really need if you have a rounded and comprehensive public health plan. if we now have diffused cases around the country, just looking at the

latest 12 that are in different parts of the country if we are going to have to be doing contact tracing for them, this is where local public health resource will start to get stretched. because of what has gone on the last six, seven years, the local public health system is now weak. there had been big cuts in budgets of local public health services since they went into local authorities. staffing levels are right down. public health departments don't have their own nurses, he can do contact tracing. links between local authority public health and nhs public health in hospitals is weak. my information tells me that local public health directors have not far been working with their local hospitals on the planning which really needs to be in place for dealing with large numbers of sick people. all in all, i am not very happy about the situation so far. they need to play catch up very

quickly. we need the prime minister to be sharing cobra regularly, which is what i have been calling for for the last two or so weeks, the chief medical officer needs to be more visible and the broader public health picture needs putting together. we need more commitment to transparency and openness. even with the latest news today, they are not telling us the detail of the new cases. i was working in bahrain last weekend and they are totally committed to transparency and openness. the crown prince, who is leading this on behalf of the country, as the first deputy prime minister, has committed then to openness and transparency from the word go. they have had a wall office for corona in place now for over two weeks. we are talking about setting

one up weeks. we are talking about setting one up now. weeks. we are talking about setting one up now. they are playing catch up. from what you are saying, you have already started listing lessons learned, where we have gone wrong, are we in trouble? i hope not. the british have a reputation for pulling all hands to the pump when necessary. i am pulling all hands to the pump when necessary. i am sure we pulling all hands to the pump when necessary. i am sure we will but it would have been so much better if we had had a relationship of trust between central government and the general public two or three weeks ago when there are very hard decisions to be taken and you have to ta ke decisions to be taken and you have to take the public with you. then you suddenly dump things and people and they feel as though they have been kept in the dark, that trust is problematic. so some serious just building needs to take place this week. when you compare what we are seeing now, i presume you have worked with influenza outbreaks in

the past, how do you strike a balance between stepping in and putting these containment measures, 01’ putting these containment measures, or other protection in place, or letting the virus just work its way through? these things tend to die out as the weather improves. how do you make that decision? you do try to contain it. in 2009 we had much stronger local and regional public health departments and we were really very fully engaged between public health and hospitals and general practice. i am worried about that now because it has been so weakened and local public health budgets have been cut by 30%. public health departments are half what they were ten years ago. it is difficult to do something about that in the short term. also environmental health. preventing the spread of this, the sort of hygiene we are talking about, gel dispensers and all of that. most restaurants do

not get inspected because we hardly had any environmental health officers. environmental health in this country is very weak. we need to strengthen environmental health to strengthen environmental health to prevent the spread. this is an emergency. the prime minister is preoccupied with his new relationship and has been invisible. public health england has been in somebody needs a kick up the backside. on that note, thank you very much. thank you very much. the louvre in paris has closed for the day, as france attempt to stop the spread of the virus. there were long lines outside the museum today as people stood in the rain because of a staff meeting about the coronavirus. 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. and you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect yourself against it on the bbc news app and on our website bbc.co.uk/news. the headlines on bbc news... 12 more people test positive coronavirus in the uk — bringing the total number of cases in the country to 35. the government insists it's prepared to do all it can to contain the virus. 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. at least 500 migrants have crossed

from turkey to several greek islands on small boats — after greek authorities said they've stopped almost 10,000 others from entering the country. sport, and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. britain have their first gold at the track cycling world cup. elinor barker was crowned world points race champion in berlin, the only rider to gain two laps, on her way to a winning total of 50 points. barker adds the gold to her silver from the team pursuit earlier in the championships. england are into the semi—finals of the women's t20 world cup. they thrashed west indies by 46 runs in their final group game in australia. jo currie reports from sydney. we now know three of the four semifinalists for this t20 world cup. india were already through

and of the two matches —— after two matches at the sydney showground, we can add england and south africa to the last four. in the later match, england came through against the west indies, winning the toss and put themselves into bat. danni wyatt made 29, amyjones made 23 but nat sciver once again it making another half—century. a third half—century in four matches. she is cementing her place as one of the in—form players at the tournament and that score makes her the top run scorer so far in this world cup. she helped england to a total of 143—5, not bad at all for a slow wicket. in response, england's bowlers were not to be outdone by their batters, the west indies. windies got off to a difficult start after losing taylor to an injury, stretchered off with what looked like a groin problem. the rest of the west indies batters didn't put up much resistance as england bowled them all out

for 97 to get through to the semifinals. the 2016 champions are now out, the 2018 runners—up, england, are through, largely thanks to a nat sciver innings. felt pretty good and confident. taking that into the game and making sure i am hitting straight and i've got the reward for it so far. waiting for a game where it doesn't come off but i will run with it whilst i can. england are through. earlier here, south africa completed a comfortable 17 run victory over pakistan to book their place in the semifinals. the last spot in the last four will come down to a winner takes all match between australia and new zealand which is happening in melbourne. manchester city will kick off against aston villa in around a quarter of an hour, bidding for the first piece of silverware this season — in the efl cup final. city are the huge favourites to win at wembley, aiming for a third successive win against a side struggling in the relegation zone. they had all week to prepare in that game. 0ur 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 mentally for this difficult game. how difficult and demanding it is. a drop of adrenaline or something, in your mind and your body. two games in the premier league today and a controversial draw at goodison park between everton and manchester united. it had been an entertaining game from the off after a david de gea blunder had gifted everton an early lead. united equalised but everton thought they'd won it in injury time, only to have it ruled off for offside by var, a decision not appreciated by the everton manager, carlo ancelotti, who was sent off for remonstrating with the referee. rauljimenez struck the winner for wolves as they came from behind twice to beat spurs 3—2 at tottenham hotspur stadium.

the win sends wolves sixth in the table and three points behind fourth—placed chelsea. celtic are playing at stjohnstone for a place in the semi—finals of the scottish cup. it's goalless with 25 minutes to go. celtic are still going for a fourth successive domestic treble. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. 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. and today the bbc has learned another formal complaint was made against her. i spoke to our political correspondent helen catt, who told us the claims mean tension between her and the civil service is unlikely to die down quickly.

there was a formal complaint made against priti patel when she was at the department for work and pensions. it is understood to have come from a member of her private office. we do not know what the substance of the complaint was or what happened to it — whether it was upheld or rejected. we do not know the answer to that. we have been told there are conflicting views of how she was when she was at the dwp. 0ne whitehall source said she created a hostile and unhappy environment for civil servants by undermining them. another source at the department for work and pensions said she was difficult and not afraid to say what she wanted but they would not call her a bully. the constant them of conflict — about what she was like to work for essentially. what it really tells us is it is unlikely to die

down in the coming days. the tensions, the briefings, the leaks, they are unlikely to be going anywhere. this is what the new allegation tells us. storm jorge is bringing heavy rain and strong winds to the uk today, causing yet more disruption to flood—hit areas. dozens of flood warnings are still in place across england, wales and scotland, meaning immediate action is required. this time the brunt of the severe weather is expected to be borne by the south west and yorkshire, as well as parts of wales. the bbc‘s 0livia richwald is in east yorkshire and has more on the unprecedented levels of water there. this village in east yorkshire, where residents tell me it has not flooded here since 1947. that is more than 70 years. this road this way is called back lane. earlier today we were on the other side, filming where several houses had been flooded. residents there had borrowed a canoe

to ferry people backwards and forwards to flooded homes to pick up valuables and treasured possessions. the problem is this floodwater is not receding. the longer it stays in people's houses, the more damage it does and the more things will not be able to be retrieved and used once again. meanwhile, more than 20 pumps are in operation, run by the environment agency over there. they are trying to take this flood water into the river don to clear it as it as fast as possible. at the ground is so saturated, no—one knows how long that will take. it is a very nervous time for here. residents are doing their best to help each other. the village hall is filled with volunteers making hot cups of tea and snacks and people bringing donations. it is an extremely nervous time here. greece says it's blocked almost

10,000 migrants from entering the country from turkey. crowds of refugees have gathered on the border hoping to enter europe since the government in ankara eased restrictions on their movement. groups have been seen crossing the evros river, which marks the border. and hundreds more have made it by boat to the greek island of lesbos. but speaking to journalists — including the bbc‘sjonah fisher — near the border, the greek defence minister said he considered any migrants arriving on greek soil to be doing so illegally. those that have entered greek territory have been arrested and detained. in my mind, this is an illegal way of entering one country. it is clearly possible to get through. people are getting through. whoever has got through, and there have been a few cases of people who have got through, have been arrested by greek authorities. and jonah has the latest now from the greece—turkey border on the numbers of migrants trying

to cross into europe. we drove around the border area late last night and came across about ten to 15 migrants in total. a mix of people from afghans to groups of west africans and a few syrians. we were also there while the authorities came and picked up some of the migrants who were walking along the road. certainly people are getting through the border fence. i think that is pretty clear. they talk about cutting through the barbed wire and walking through, not even having to go across the river which also acts as the border here between greece and turkey. people are getting through. the question is, whether once they get here, whether the greek authorities are picking everybody up. they said they have picked up 70 or so people, last night, about 60 the night before.

they are pretty clear they think the security measures are blocking the large number of people who are undoubtedly on the other side of the border trying to get in and that when people do manage to get through, they are being picked up. that is what the greek authorities are saying and it is very difficult for us to count the number of people who are getting through and past the authorities at this stage. the former us vice president, joe biden, has revived his campaign, to become the democratic party nominee to take on donald trump in this year's presidential election in the united states. mr biden won a resounding victory in the democratic primary in south carolina, after he performed poorly in three previous state ballots. barbara plett—usher reports. back in the game, this is the big win joe biden needed. for all of those of you who've been knocked down, counted out, left behind — this is your campaign. cheering. propelled to victory by an outpouring of support

from black voters — he always predicted they would revive his struggling campaign, and they came through. if democrats... ..nominate me... ..i believe we can beat donald trump. already, 0bama's vice president has had a surge in funding and political endorsements, building momentum as he heads into super tuesday, when 14 states hold primary votes. he's the first candidate to score a clear—cut victory against the frontrunner, bernie sanders, who came in a distant second. we did not win in south carolina. booing that will not be the only defeat, there are a lot of states in this country, nobody wins them all. i want to congratulate joe biden on his victory tonight. and, now, we enter super tuesday in virginia.