this is bbc news. the headlines at 8... the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the uk rises to 39 — as the prime minister warns that it is likely to spread further across the country. the nhs prepares for a major outbreak as the goverment‘s cobra emergency committee meets — the government will publish plans to tackle the outbreak tomorrow... the cabinet office is to investigate allegations of bullying by the home secretary — following claims by a former senior civil servant. the rain may have eased but dozens of homes in east yorkshire are still underwater and likely to be so for days yet. the bargaining begins — trade talks get underway in brussels — between the uk and the european union.

the prime minister has warned "there could be a very significant expansion" in cases of coronavirus — and has pledged to give the nhs all it needs to handle the outbreak. another three cases have been confirmed in the uk — all of whom had recently travelled to italy. the patients from hertfordshire, devon and kent, bring the total number of people across the country known to have contracted to virus to 39. across the world nearly 90,000 people have been infected by the virus. the majority of the cases are in china, 3000 have died across 62 countries. in a moment we'll look at the nhs response, and how businesses and workers are being affected, but first, here's our political editor laura kuenssberg. the gates are locked at a school in south—west london. a pub in surrey closed its doors,

when a customer took ill. a business park in kent, where one worker has been diagnosed and is now at home in isolation. coronavirus is here and the government expects it to spread. the most important thing now is that we prepare against a possible, very significant expansion of coronavirus in the uk population. that's clearly on the cards. can you give us a sense of the kinds of numbers we might be looking at? at the moment, it is difficult to speculate about exactly how it may or may not progress, but what i think you can say with a fair degree of certainty is it is, in my view, much more likely than not that we will face a challenge in the weeks, months ahead. if you look at how this has been spreading, particularly outside china, we are clearly looking up thousands of cases. absolutely right. you have got to consider the realistic, the realistic possibility that there is now going to be a significant expansion in the number of cases. are we looking already

at closing lots of schools, cancelling big events? the public i've seen other parts of the world basically in lockdown, because of what has been going on, is that what people should expect? understood. what we've got is a range of calibrated responses. the measures that you have mentioned are on that list and the issue will be when and how and with what logic to deploy them. there is already some anecdotal evidence, it is taking a long time for people to get through to 111 on the nhs. there is some evidence and people can't get tested as quickly as they would like to. will you commit today to give the nhs exactly what it asks for, even if it runs into significant extra amounts of money? of course we will do everything we can to address the problem and to stop the spread of the disease. the government's emergency committee met today. expect more detailed plans tomorrow. wash your hands to

the national anthem. we do have wider concerns about whether the nhs can cope. we know it has suffered from ten years of cutbacks, we know it hasn't got enough beds, we know it hasn't got enough staff. with a0 cases now, in northern ireland, scotland, england and wales, people are making their own preparations, but... for the vast majority of people, they will make a full recovery and it is a relatively mild illness. children and healthy adults seem to be at much lower risk of getting into the serious complications you might get with this sort disease. dozens of brits who have been in tenerife in quarantine are tonight happy and healthy, flying back. hello, i'm violet and i am on the flight home after being in tenerife and stuck in the hotel. with other airlines cancelling hundreds of flights, what started with a problem far away is now very much close to home. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster.

the government will publish details of a uk—wide action plan tomorrow to try to tackle the spread of the infection. the chief executive of nhs providers, which represents nhs trusts, is warning the outbreak will place extra strain on the health service. 0ur health editor hugh pym has been taking a look at the nhs response to coronavirus. nhsiii. the place to call for those with symptoms recently back from the worst affected countries with the virus. advice is given on whether a test is needed. call volumes were up more than 50% at times last week and there were some reports by users of delays, though the number of calls has since fallen back to more normal levels. there have been some delays but our staff are working flat out, round the clock, right across the country, doing a fantasticjob and i would certainly like to place on record my personal thanks for their enormous efforts

and hard work. a new online nhs 111 service, for those wanting guidance on possible exposure to coronavirus, was launched last week. on one day, there were 25,000 users. health chiefs are urging people to go online if at all possible, rather than calling 111. more than 13,000 coronavirus tests have now been carried out, some at this drive—through centre in west london. a few people, who have self isolated waiting for a test, have reported delays. dave and his wife called 111 last wednesday, were tested on friday and are still waiting for the results. it is incredibly frustrating and i know there are a lot of people being tested at the moment and i know the nhs are stretched, but it is unbelievably frustrating, believe me. so, if there is a big jump in a number of cases, how will an already overstretched nhs cope? how will hospitals and their staff

manage to handle the extra patients, on top of their already heavy workload? the nhs may well free up beds, by stopping any nonurgent surgery, but some health organisations say future staffing has not been considered. in terms of staffing, we need to bring extra staff on board, bearing in mind that some staff themselves may be unwell. we also need to think about how we undertake prioritisation so it will be about treating the most serious cases first. the nhs advice to everyone, regardless of symptoms, is wash your hands regularly to reduce the infection risk. hugh pym, bbc news. the economic damage of the virus is being felt too. today, global growth forecasts were cut, and markets again fell. and there could be major implications for uk businesses and their employees — as our business editor simonjack explains. how's working at home? businesses are having to face up to the challenges of working around coronavirus. do you really need to come in? at this software company, there are some new office rules. we are doing a number of things in the office.

we are asking our staff to take their laptops home at the end of every day, in case they are not able to come to work the next morning. we are operating a very strict policy on sickness. if you don't feel good, please don't come in. we are asking all of our team to set up meetings with customers via video conference which reduces mobility. and general cleanliness in the office, including hand wipes and hand sanitiser. many employers are prepared to pay workers in full for short periods of illness, but they don't have to do. so what are your rights? employees are entitled by law to sick pay of £94.25 a week, but it only kicks in after three days' illness. many employers are prepared to pay workers in full for short periods of illness, but they don't have to do. so what are your rights? employees are entitled by law to sick pay of £94.25 a week, but it only kicks in after three days' illness. it is paid up to 28 weeks, plenty to cover a 14 day isolation period, but if you stay home and don't get sick, employers are not obliged

to pay you for taking the precaution. policies will no doubt vary from employer to employer. most will hopefully take a sensible approach. for office workers, it is arguably easier. you can work from home, be more flexible, but for some people, that is just not an option. if you don't show up, you don't get paid. taxi driver mohammed says he is taking as many precautions as he can. but not working is not one of them. i do sort of try not to pick up from airports, because people travel anywhere and you don't know how their hygiene is going to be and all that. so, you getjobs and you just do it, really and i can't see myself not working, i need to work. i need to pay bills. unless my wheels are turning, i'm not earning. the public sector, including the nhs, employs private firms to perform critical functions. unions are worried low—paid workers will be financially forced into work. 0ur workers are the lowest paid in the nhs, the cleaners, caterers, security guards and borders. they can't do theirjobs from home and are put in an impossible situation where they have to choose between paying the rent or coming into work ill. we need leadership and the government than to say everybody in the nhs will be

paid falsely pay from day one. for now, for most, it is business as usual but the impact of the virus is beginning to change how we live and work. simon jack, bbc news. our business correspondent simon gompertz is at heathrow tonight, earlier he said the impact on business is being clearly felt with the cancellation of dozens of flights. british airways is saying more than 200 flights will be cancelled between march 17 and march 28. now, 171 of those are two european destinations from here, heathrow, thatis destinations from here, heathrow, that is italy but also germany, france, switzerland, ireland, belgium as well. 12 other flights from here to jf belgium as well. 12 other flights from here tojf kennedy airport in new york are being cancelled and also flights from london city airport and some from gatwick as well. passengers are being told they

can rebook or get their money back. they might even be put on other carriers, and one other carrier, ryanair, has a 25% of its flights to italy are going to be cancelled in the second half of march and the first week of april. there is evidence that planes are going half empty, people are simply not turning up empty, people are simply not turning up flights. it is a measure of how worried they are and how that is affecting bookings. jeremy corbyn warned the government is going to have to do much more to compensate workers whose earnings are cut with attempts to contain new coronavirus. it's also about recognising the problems people face when they have to be isolated in order to prevent the spread of the iris because that is a very serious for those that are self—employed or employed on zero—hours contract, or an universal credit, all those things become very complicated. if somebody simply told they cannot go

out for up to two weeks, so the government is going to have to come up government is going to have to come up with a very big package that makes sure that where we do require people to be isolated from the rest of the community, they do get the support that is necessary. there is no evidence the government has started thinking about that. let's take a look at some of today's other news. the bbc has seen details of another complaint of bullying against the home secretary priti patel. it follows the resignation at the weekend of the top civil servant in the home office who also accused her, amongst other things, of bullying. the documents show a settlement of 25 thousand pounds was paid to a former staff member four years ago, after ms patel was accused during her time as employment minister. the home secretary's spokesperson denied she knew anything about the complaint. rianna croxford has the story. are you a workplace bully, home secretary? she is one of the government's most senior ministers. now, more allegations have emerged about her treatment of staff. on saturday, the most senior civil servant in the home office resigned and announced he was suing the government for constructive dismissal. in an extraordinary statement,

he said he was aware of a number of complaints against the home secretary. this afternoon, the minister for the cabinet office, michael gove, announced an investigation into claims she had broken the ministerial code. mr speaker, this government always takes any complaints relating to the ministerial code seriously and in line with the process set out in the ministerial code, the prime minister has asked the cabinet office establish the facts. now, bbc news has seen documents from when priti patel was employment minister, showing that a junior employee brought a formal complaint, alleging bullying and harassment, against the department for work and pensions. the grievance letter says the staff member had tried to take her own life at work the previous year, before ms patel worked in the department, after reporting allegations of being bullied. by october 2015, the employee, who was a member of her private office,

was told she was to be dismissed. the letter alleges her line manager told her it wasn't because of her performance but because ms patel "doesn't like your face". the formal complaint claims the woman had told her line manager she was feeling fragile because of a medical condition. the next day, it says ms patel shouted at her, saying to "get lost" and get out of her face. she was described as acting within unprovoked level of aggression. shortly after, the staff member took an overdose of prescription medication in the office and became unresponsive. the letter says that, after being taken home, the woman took another overdose in what is described as an attempt to kill herself, and was rushed to hospital, where she spent the night in resuscitation. a spokesman for ms patel had previously said she was not aware of the formal complaint. the bbc has seen documents that show the junior

staff member later received a £25,000 settlement, after bringing a claim of bullying and discrimination against the department. ms patel is named in the documents. on sunday, the prime minister defended ms patel, calling her a brilliant home secretary and praised the civil service. she has always strenuously denied all of the allegations. shocking new pictures have emerged of the greek coastguard shooting into the water and using their patrol boats to push away dinghies full of migrants trying to reach greece. thousands of migrants and refugees have gathered at turkey's border with greece after turkey announced it would no longer prevent them from leaving for the european union. turkey is trying to increase pressure on western countries for more help with the syrian conflict. our correspondent, jonah fisher, sent this report from 0restiada, near greece's border with turkey.

shouting in the eastern aegean, migrant lives are bargaining chips and cheap. this was filmed by the turkish coast card and shows greek boats trying to stop a packed dinghy of migrants reaching europe. —— coastguard. imagine the fear on board, unwanted by turkey or by greece. those are warning shots being fired at a flimsy, and inflatable, dinky. not everyone makes it. just this morning, a young migrant boy drowned when his, a difference dinky, capsized. one of the rising number who have with turkey's encouragement, tried to reach the greek islands over the last few days. the direct human consequence of ankara's demands that europe comes to its aid in syria. 0n land, things are no better. there have been riots at greece's border with turkey at a thousand migrants were mobilised to much break up to the fence and some have got through. —— to march right up to the fence.

greece has changed the rules so that if migrants get caught now, they don't get processed here, they get sent straight back. it means that some of them are hiding. so we have just seen what looks like a couple of migrants over here. they run off and we eventually find them hiding in some bushes. police. 0k. police. i'm not the police, 0k? they are syrians, from aleppo. tear gas? tired and still shell—shocked from crossing the border. moments later, we are disturbed and they move off once again. 0n the run, in a country that is increasingly hostile to their presence.

jonah fisher, bbc news, in northern greece. shh! an inquest has found that a series of gross failures by the home office and other agencies contributed to the death of a vulnerable ghanaian man in an immigration removal centre. 31 year old prince fosu died in his celljust six days after he arrived at the removal centre in harmondsworth in 2012. thank almighty god for taking us so far. it's been eight years now and what i saw was the shocking news but what i saw was the shocking news but what can i say? i'm very glad that everything is over and they have seen the truth in the matter. dozens of homes in east yorkshire are still under water after the river aire overflowed

following the recent unprecedented rainfall. in east cowick the water is still several feet deep in places and it's expected to be several days before people will be allowed back into the worst affected homes as our correspondent danny savage explained earlier. i thought i would come back to see people becoming a little bit more real blooming optimistic and an improved but that is not the way it looks. —— being a little bit more optimistic. you can see behind me though still a long way to go before all this water disappears. the rain which caused all this flooding is now a distant memory, but the problems it created go on and on. in the village of east cowick, 69 homes have been flooded. you need waders to reach many of them.

we've been watching every day and thinking, another foot, another foot, another foot, another foot, and thinking we were going to get away with it. and then when it actually goes in, you relax then, it's done, it's finished. you've nowt to fight. this is sodden, isn't it? and when you lose the battle, this is what is left. people's homes, their sanctuaries, destroyed. when my mum came yesterday, she saw the house and just floods of tears. it's horrible. yeah, it's... don't know where to start with it. across the road, it was much worse. mick let us into his bungalow, where the waters had forced his floor up. it's come up in a big hump. it isn'tjust the carpet, it's the floorboards. the whole floor. so, you've got like an island in your living room now. sandbags are ok for a little bit, but not to this extent, are they? we sort of keep it nice and, there you go, it's all done for, isn't it? as you can imagine, the water here isn't very clean, but what's making it worse is that kerosene has got into it — they use it here as heating oil —

and it's given the water a film, it stinks and it's getting into all these people's houses. down the road in snaith, another 2a houses are still flooded. the water level might be dropping, but it's not making much difference. pumps are moving water off the flood plain and into a nearby canal, butjust look at how much there is. it could take days for levels to drop off enough, so people can get in here and start assessing the damage. danny savage, bbc news, east cowick. negotiations about a post—brexit trade deal between the uk and the eu got under way today. the two sides have major differences on key issues. one of those is fishing. the uk says it's taking back control of waters that have been shared with eu countries, and that british boats should catch more fish. the eu says its own fishermen must not end up any worse off. damian grammaticas reports from denmark on why fish could prove such a difficult issue.

laden with more than £1 million with the fish. caught on just one trip. the boat is danish. the fish and you hold blue whiting were caught in irish waters. soon it will be the season irish waters. soon it will be the season to trawl uk seas. exactly the areas the uk says it alone will control at the brexit. for these big danish fishing boats, access to uk waters is crucial. 20% of their catches come from... but do your thing of the uk wants a trade deal, it has to allow this fishing. they say take back control, we don't know what that means. go back to what? in

the history, we've been able to be fishing. the area of sharing these rich fishing grounds, mapped by danish trawlers, the reason eu says it's not able to give up access to eu waters —— uk waters. you like it is important because the fishes linked to general market access and we have the trade agreement. of course, these things do belong together and we see that in that respect. and the eu has a weapon in this fight over fish. tariffs. this factory alone produces 800 million herring fillets a year. the uk could catch the herring but, if the eu puts a tax on imports, where will the uk sell all this fish? the bigger volumes of herring will be

consumed in europe and not that much in the uk. if the uk catches were herring, they have to sell it here. that's how i see it. or english people have to learn how to eat herring and a lot of it. right back in the uk, brexit has been painted asa in the uk, brexit has been painted as a chance to revive coastal towns. ince geoghegan, the fear is brexit might hollow the economy out. fishing support 3000 jobs here. it's what this community is built on, too. we have a fish because it is pa rt of too. we have a fish because it is part of our dna. dna that goes back to viking times. the mea says both sides need to avoid new hostilities. we have to find some sort of agreement where we can come and fish indices that are connecting us, and british can sell their fish and they

can do it. when it comes to trade, fishing is only a tiny part of all the exchanges between the uk and eu but it's an emotive one and failure to agree could scupper an overall dale glickman deal. it's being billed as the literary event of the year. after an eight year wait the third part of dame hilary mantel‘s trilogy about the life of thomas cromwell, the mirror and the light, is finally published this week. the previous two books in the series — set in the court of henry the eighth — have sold more than five million copies around the world. hilary mantel has been talking to our arts correspondent rebecca jones. 480 years ago, thomas cromwell was here at the tower of london, awaiting execution. what better place, then, to discuss the final novel in hillary mantel‘s turbulent tudor history? but at 900 pages, and with a vast cast of characters, she acknowledges it's a challenging read. i can't deny it's demanding, but i make no apologies for asking a lot of commitment from my reader.

the mirror and the light completes the story of henry viii's chief adviser, thomas cromwell, begun in wolf hall and bring up the bodies. our case is slender... both were prize—winning novels, adapted successfully for stage and screen. do not be a viper in my bosom... and hillary mantel says our relentless scrutiny of the monarchy — especially royal wives — spans the ages. i think there's still an intense concentration on the bodies of royal women. we only have to look at what happens when our royal ladies give birth. they are perceived as public property, in the same way that tudor women were perceived. it is simply turning the individual woman back into a breeder. i did wonder what you made of the treatment of the duchess of sussex.

do you think she's been a victim of racism? it brings me back to this question of the body. it does include the skin, so racism is a factor. i think it's more deeply embedded in people's consciousness than any of us are willing to admit. couldn't it have been managed with less bloodshed ? hillary mantel‘s already adapting her new book for the stage, and she says she'd now rather work in the theatre than at home, writing novels. i've spent enough time sitting in a room by myself and, you know, i'm not sure i want to die at my desk, so you've got to be, erm, sane about this. dame hilary mantel ending that

report by rebecca jones. in a moment on bbc news, we'll be bringing you a special programme. rachel burden and fergus walsh answer all your questions in "coronavirus: everything you need to know". but first, it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. it's been a day of sunshine and showers and we've got a lot more showers and we've got a lot more showers pushing in. from northern ireland coming to scotland, snow over the showers will turn heavier across the north west of england and wales later, too. timber does not hurry from freezing, particularly in the countryside. maybe some icy patches around. tomorrow, more sunshine and showers, where we've got the heavier ones, they will push their way into eastern england through the day, so more showers than we've seen today. further west, the showers to ease down in the afternoon, much of wales, western england will be dry in the afternoon. it is like today, 9—10dc. those showers still continue across a small part that make more northern

parts of the uk and you will see some rain and hills in from the south—west towards wales, the midlands and southern england but that weather could be further north and is one to watch full that this average are still 7—9dc. coronavirus, what is it, whereas at and what you need to know? tonight we are answering your questions on health, money and how it will affect you. i will be giving you the facts and cutting through the confusion. six weeks ago most of us had never heard of coronavirus. the first cases were reported in china in december. today, it's in more than 65 countries. that includes japan,

the us, italy, spain and here in the uk. right now, there are almost 90,000 cases around the world. and more than 3000 people have died. that sounds like a lot, but remember, the world's population is seven points alien alien. —— 7.7 billion. the only british person to have died is injapan. this coronavirus causes an infectious disease cause covid—i9. if the most common “— disease cause covid—i9. if the most common —— the most common symptoms, fear tiredness and a dry cough. for most, the symptoms are mild, but around one and six will become seriously ill. current estimates from the world health organisation suggest between one and 2% of people who have it have died. much more detail on all of this with our experts shortly, and please do send us experts shortly, and please do send us your questions on social media using the hashtag, bbc your

questions. this is your