today at five: up to a fifth of the uk workforce may be off sick during the peak of a coronavirus epidemic, according to the government. as the number of people infected in the uk rises to 51, the prime minister says it's "highly likely" we will see further infection and has unveiled the government's plan to tackle the virus. our plan means we are committed to doing everything possible based on the advice of our world leading scientific experts to prepare for all eventualities. about 90,000 people have been infected globally since the outbreak of covid—19, with cases in more than 50 countries and more than 3,000 deaths. we'll be talking to a professor in experimental medicine about how best to contain the outbreak.

the other main stories on bbc news at five: it's super tuesday in the united states — democrats in m states are voting on who they want to take on donald trump in november's presidential election. more than1 in 10 shops in uk town centres are lying empty, according to research for the bbc, as the high street continues to struggle in the battle against online shopping. as a study shows that almost a quarter of us feel climate change is the "most pressing issue facing the uk," we talk to one of the leading figures behind the un's paris agreement. the duke and duchess of cambridge lay a wreath in dublin's garden of remembrance as they arrive in ireland for their first official visit to the republic.

it's 5 o'clock. our main story. the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the uk has now risen to 51 — that's up 12 from the previous total of 39. as of yesterday, 12 patients had already been released. the government has set out its plans for dealing with a widespread outbreak of coronavirus in this country. the prime minister says it's "highly likely" the uk will see a growing number of cases. let's just take a look at the other main points from borisjohnson‘s briefing at number 10. up to a fifth of the workforce may be off sick during the peak of an epidemic in the uk. if needed, the military could provide support to emergency services. and, if the virus does spread more quickly, the police might respond to only

the most serious crimes and focus on maintaining public order. other possible measures would include school closures, reducing social gatherings and getting people to work from home. borisjohnson said the government will do "everything possible" to "prepare for all eventualities" with a priority on keeping the country safe. here's our health correspondent sophie hutchinson. preparations are afoot for the widespread transmission of the new coronavirus in the uk. the government stopped short of giving a figure for the number of people who might become infected, but today warned that one in five workers might be off sick at the peak of the virus. that is around 6 million people. let me be absolutely clear that, for the overwhelming majority of people who contract the virus, this will be a mild disease from which they will speedily and fully recover, as we have already seen. i fully understand public concern,

your concern, about the global spread of the virus, and it is highly likely that we will see a growing number of uk cases. that is why keeping the country safe is the government's overriding priority. the government's revealed its plan to tackle a pandemic could include asking the police to focus solely on dealing with serious crime and maintaining public order, and the military could also be called in to support the nhs. other possible measures in the coronavirus action plan include bringing retired doctors and nurses back to the nhs, delaying routine operations, working from home and cancelling large gatherings and events. the plan is based on a reasonable worst—case scenario where as much as 80% of the uk

population becomes infected. england's chief medical officer was keen to stress this is at the upper limit of what might happen. the proportion of the population who get infected is likely to be lower than that, and probably a lot lower than that, so putting an overall number is largely speculative. no one can know at this stage just how the infection might develop, but if there is widespread transmission in the uk, officials say it is unlikely to happen immediately. what we think, in terms of the profile of an epidemic, and this may change as we get numbers from europe and the uk, is you can think of it as roughly two to three months from an outbreak of sustained person—to—person transmission, up to the peak, and two to three months after the peak to decline again is the timeline we'd be thinking of. a range of measures to prevent the coronavirus spreading are being taken abroad, with politicians in switzerland

finding novel ways to greet each other. but the prime minister pointed out he is taking no such precautions. i can tell you, i am shaking hands. i was at a hospital the other night where i think there were coronavirus patients and i shook hands with everybody. questions were asked today about how seriously the government was taking the threat to the uk. the prime minister stressed they were well prepared and reiterated the main way for people to protect themselves was still through thorough and regular hand washing. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. we can speak to dr peter 0penshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at st mary's hospital in london. thank you for being with us. can we contain this coronavirus in this country, do you think? it seems extraordinarily infectious. it seems to spread despite the introduction of measures and i think it is certainly not too late to try and

slow down the peak. what are the characteristics's you have studied viruses for many decades, what are the characteristics, unique characteristics, of this one? we know about coronavirus, there are at least for that because common colds, this seems to cause more of a cough and make people feel a bit sweaty and make people feel a bit sweaty and feverish and usually only causes and feverish and usually only causes a few days of illness and then you recover. u nfortu nately, a few days of illness and then you recover. unfortunately, some people do get more severe disease and develop viral new meaning to their pneumonia and that can be nasty and thatis pneumonia and that can be nasty and that is what we are worried about. and those people tend to be the more vulnerable, older people and people with underlying health conditions? yes, so certainly if you are over 80 you are at a much higher risk but interestingly it is a bit different from flu so flu tends to affect people with asthma but this is more people with asthma but this is more people with asthma but this is more people with high blood pressure. we don't know why that is. what, from

your experience with working with viruses, what do you think might be the predicted pattern of this one? i know it is difficult to say and it isa know it is difficult to say and it is a new virus as you have been saying that we have been hearing from the government talking about how this could get worse before better, is there a kind of arc in terms of time we can predict for the coronavirus and how it will behave? yes, as you say, this is a new virus but we do know how viruses generally behave. 0ur guess is that it is going to build the two, maybe three months. it might remit a bit as the schools break up and there is warm weather, more ultra violet light, this is a virus that is damaged by ultraviolet light and more fresh air and then maybe it could come back in the autumn. those are just guesses really, we don't know how it is going to operate as yet. so, in a sense, if we can contain it for as long as possible and delay it i suppose into the summer months, that would be a good thing? certainly. it

is really the peak of the outbreak which causes the most strain on services and it is that peak, which is why it is worth taking every measure we can. when you talk about a peak, because at the moment we have 51 confirmed cases in the uk, are we talking about hundreds of cases thousands of cases? thousands of cases really. we can see how much this virus spreads in many parts of the world and we have no reason to think it is going to behave any differently once we have a lot of cases in the uk. we saw the government's plans unveiled this morning. are those at sensible precautions? 0bviously, they were preparing for the worst, battle plans, talking about possibly using the army or bringing in retired doctors and so on. yes, sensible plans, whether they will work out in practice, there are certain pubs we re practice, there are certain pubs were calling in retired doctors, how do you reregister? —— certain

problems with calling in retired doctors. generally, the plans that have been highlighted are those which would be worst scenarios and we are hoping we don't get to anything like that. as yet, we are in uncharted territory. very good to talk to you, thank you for your expert analysis. in italy, the number has written to 79. the total number of cases are now standing at 2502. that is an increase of almost 500 since just yesterday. most are in the lombardy and veneto areas of the north. italy is one of the worst affected countries outside china. the japanese government has suggested that this summer's tokyo 0lympics could be delayed until later in the year because of the coronavirus outbreak.

the olympics minister told parliament that a clause in the contract allowed some flexibility. but the international olympic committee has said that on current information, the games will go ahead as planned. questions are also being asked about football's european championships due to start injune. the euros are due to take place across 12 european cities. football's governing bodies, fifa and uefa, have both stressed the importance of, in their words, not over—reacting to the virus. the south korean president moonjae—in says he's declared war on coronavirus. he's ordered all government departments to operate 2a hours a day. south korea is the worst affected country after china, with more than 5,000 confirmed cases. more than 30 people have died there since the outbreak began. let's speak now to youngmi kim, senior lecturer in korean studies

at the university of edinburgh. thank you for being with us. it is a huge number of cases in south korea, isn't there? what you put that down to? south korea, as you can see the president declared war against the disease, obviously showing their will to fight against the virus spreading over the country. do you think declaring war against coronavirus, what exactly does that mean? they said there is a 24 hour government running office and that control of the president and the prime minister and also they provide the military with masks to the public and also offer premises to host patients with coronavirus so they can be separated in the state

provided places. also, they introduced policy to deduct tax if the landlord lowers the rent so that ordinary people on the high street don't suffer much economically. what are the characteristics in south korea which mean that we have seen such a rapid spread? it is quite, it has a large population i suppose for the area of the country? career is a collective society. —— south korea. it isa collective society. —— south korea. it is a large amount of people are gathering in a big church and actually one of the churches, a cult kind of church, they get a lot of people, about 9000 people over services and it spread rapidly over two weeks. now, most churches and temples are closed. they're not

going to have a service or public event for a while and also they shut down, they are not opening the public school until the end of march so this kind of effort will help. public school until the end of march so this kind of effort will helpm isa so this kind of effort will helpm is a huge economic impact, isn't there, in south korea? we have seen it in china, a massive economic impact but the same can be said of south korea? of course. people on a street side, lots of small business owners will be affected badly at the first stage but this is notjust a small business cases was up 25 countries just shut down. they are not allowing any flights coming from korea to air entering their countries. this will notjust affect tourism but also a lot of people are flying for business and if they cannot then it will affect the international economy as well. good to talk to you, thank you for your

time. and atjust after 5.30 we'll be examining the government's proposals in more detail and speaking to a former health chief who thinks the response has been to slow. the headlines on bbc news: as the number of people infected with coronavirus in the uk rises to 51, the prime minister sets out the government's action plan and reveals up to a fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the outbreak. about 90,000 people have been infected globally since the outbreak of covid—19, with cases in more than 50 countries and more than 3,000 deaths. it's super tuesday in the united states. democrats in 14 states are voting on who they want to take on donald trump in november's presidential election. and in sport, speaking at an ioc executive board meeting president thomas bach says

the olympic games will go ahead in tokyo as scheduled injuly despite the growing concerns over the coronavirus and japan's sports minister says there is a contingency for a postponement. england prop mako vunipola is likely to miss the rest of the six nations championship. he's in self—isolation after returning to the uk from tonga via hong kong, although he has displayed no symptoms of the virus. england women's t20 world cup semi—final against india on thursday is set to be a washout in australia, that would see india progress to the finalbecause of a better record in the tournament so far. i'll be back with more on those stories later. today is "super tuesday" in the us, where democrats across 14 states vote for the candidate they want to stand against donald trump in november's presidential election. the former vice presidentjoe biden has been given a boost overnight, as two former rivals have

declared their support for him. sophie long reports from los angeles. the polls have opened. people from the south—west coast of california to the north—east shores of maine are making their way to polling stations to have their say in what is the most important test for the candidates yet. winning the democratic nomination to be the person to take on president trump is about gathering delegates. 0n super tuesday, more than a third of them are up for grabs. that's more than on any other day in this long, gruelling campaign. it's big, and it's even bigger this time, because california, the most populous state with hundreds of delegates, is also taking part. about a quarter of those eligible to vote are hispanic. some are voting for the first time, after coming to citizenship classes like this. they are passionate about being part of this political process. it is good to become a citizen, because you can vote. you feel like people are going to hear your voice, so it is good to become a citizen,

because you can vote for the person you believe is going to change our world. issues that are important to them are immigration, of course, but also education, health care, and the economy. in more rural areas, farmers want to know who the candidate will be and what solutions they propose for the many issues affecting this huge and diverse country. right now, the focus is trying to narrow this field is down and getting a better picture of what that looks like. we know what trump's proposals are, particularly when it comes to water, which is so important to my farmers and ranchers here. that is a critical issue that he has been very supportive of for us here locally, so to see what the other candidate, or candidates, as it starts to narrow down, proposes will be a big interest to us. while no one can win the nomination on super tuesday, it can get them a long way towards it. senator bernie sanders has taken the lead both in the liberal lane and in the national polls. former vice presidentjoe biden had

been limping at the start of this marathon, but his big win in south carolina has put him back in contention atjust the right time. his performance could be helped by other moderates dropping out and endorsing him. but, enter the late starter. 0n the ballot for the first time is billionaire mike bloomberg and he has been converting his cash into campaign ads. also running still are senators elizabeth warren and tulsi gabbard. it is the day political pundits have been waiting for. it could make or break candidates' campaigns. but it might not. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. gary 0'donoghue is in north carolina. sophie was hedging her bets saying it could make or break the candidates but is it going to give usa candidates but is it going to give us a clearer idea of who is going to be taking on donald trump in november? i think the dynamics of

the last few days have started to give us that in any case with these people dropping out, these candidates which were the so—called middle lane moderate part of the party. amy klobuchar, all in throwing their weight behind joe biden so the choice is now crystallising much more clearly between joe crystallising much more clearly betweenjoe biden, crystallising much more clearly between joe biden, a crystallising much more clearly betweenjoe biden, a voice of the past if you like, the voice of the general middle of the road democrat versus general middle of the road democrat versus the new, younger progressive wing of the party as embodied by the 78—year—old bernie sanders. those are the choices really. into that mix you have michael bloomberg, the former republican mayor of new york. he staked $400 million on this one day alone and if he doesn't break through today and get a whole chunk of delegates then that will make his

path forward incredibly difficult. so these things can change very quickly, even though it is a long process we can get to the stage or could easily get to the stage in the coming days where we are down to the final two. 0k coming days where we are down to the finaltwo. 0k and of coming days where we are down to the final two. 0k and of all those people we have been talking about, who do you think poses the biggest threat to donald trump? it is interesting. when you look at the polls, and they do do polling here on matchup with donald trump against bernie sanders and joe biden, they are all over the place. you take them at times with a pinch of salt. it is difficult to ask people about such hypothetical situations like that but clearly the president has been testing political on several of the candidates will stop last night, when he talks about bernie he talks a socialist. practically an insult

toa a socialist. practically an insult to a large part of the population. an expletive if you like. when he is talking about joe an expletive if you like. when he is talking aboutjoe biden he talks about sleepy jo, the talking aboutjoe biden he talks about sleepyjo, the past, low energy. all these things he uses against the candidates back in 2016 foot i think you will fear running againstjoe biden more but they have againstjoe biden more but they have a lot of money on the ground and they will be a formidable force in november. it will be fascinating to see who emerges from super tuesday. thank you very much indeed. christian fraser and katty kay will be bringing you all the latest on the super tuesday race tonight at 7pm, that's on beyond 100 days on the bbc news channel and we'll be bringing you all the results here from midnight. diplomatic efforts are intensifying in turkey and syria to try to halt

the crisis in the region. eu officials are heading to the greece turkey border where thousands of migrants have gathered, after ankara said it would no longer stop people trying to reach europe. paul adams reports from turkey. the battle for idlib rages on, momentum changing almost by the day. around the town of kafr nabl, the russian backed syrian army once again pushing forward after several days of setbacks. turkey's intervention has been dramatic. dozens of syrian government targets hit in waves of turkish drone strikes. civilians are still on the move in huge numbers. for abu mohammed's family, the exodus began nine months ago, far to the south. the fighting has chased them from town to town and now, finally, to the forest. they've carried what they can, even bringing their precious animals. translation: we are living in these mountains, on these rocks, in the rain and cold.

where should we go now? we don't have anywhere else to go. except here. for the besieged, traumatised people of idlib, this was a first — a un team on the ground yesterday seeing for themselves the scale and severity of the crisis. the un wants to do this more often, but with fighting not far away, knows it'll be a challenge. what my colleagues found, these are professionally experienced people, was quite shocking. the level of need is very high. firstly, people are enormously frightened and traumatised, but secondly, they have very basic needs — food, water, latrines, medical services and so on — and we need to work out the best ways to scale all that up. and those needs begin at the beginning. in the midst of all this trauma, there are new lives here, but doctors say miscarriages and premature births are on the rise. 0utside, an alarm sounds, a sign that an air strike could be imminent.

there is no let—up in the fighting and there probably won't be before thursday when the two main players in the idlib conflict, turkey's president erdogan and russia's vladimir putin, meet in moscow. both have stakes and interest in idlib, and neither man will want to negotiate on the province's fate from a position of weakness. paul adams, bbc news, near the turkish—syrian border. at least 19 people have been killed after a series of tornadoes ripped through the us state of tennessee. in nashville, dozens of buildings have been flattened and rescue teams are going door—to—door looking for those who might be trapped. the tennessee governor, william lee, says the death toll is likely to rise, given the number of people who remain missing. the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, has claimed victory in the country's third general election in a year. but exit polls suggest his right—wing bloc will falljust short of being able

to form a coalition government. mr netanyahu has been seeking re—election while facing a corruption trial, which is due to begin later this month high streets across the uk are continuing to face challenges with the rise of online shopping. according to research commissioned for the bbc, more than 1 in 10 shops in town and city centres is vacant. over the next year, bbc news will be looking at the future of the high street through the experience of one town, bishop auckland in county durham. 0ur correspondent, danni hewson joins us now from bishop auckland. over to you. these teacakes are the product of breaking bread, one of the new businesses which have decided to set up businesses which have decided to set up shop in the high street here in bishop auckland despite the fact that they have been having a torrid time it is fair to say. here, about

one infour time it is fair to say. here, about one in four shops are currently vacant. some have been vacant for over a decade. it is almost twice the national average but they are hoping to turn things around. things are changing slowly, in part thanks toa are changing slowly, in part thanks to a millionaire benefactor who is putting in a huge chunk of cash to bring in tourists to really harness the history of the area. 900 years worth of history. let's chat to phil from breaking bread. you have been here for 11 months now but you started the business a couple of yea rs started the business a couple of years ago trading on the market. why invest in the high street? we needed a premises and we thought that the high street was a great place to be. we could sell to markets, to the customers. we noticed that in bishop auckland at the high street is quiet. we are at one end of the street so it does mean that we don't get all of the fitful but it does mean that we now can do markets,

wholesale and customers coming in. you have a cafe here as well, was that a conscious decision that you wa nted that a conscious decision that you wanted to dish up front? we wanted a shop front, not necessarily a cafe but the location right in front of the castle, everything that was going to open, it was too good an opportunity to miss it so we thought let's ta ke opportunity to miss it so we thought let's take this chance. there has been a bit of tension between locals and the millionaire that was talking about putting the money in because they want to bring in tourists and some people say if you bring the tourists what will that do to our high street? what do you think of the plans? high streets all over the country are dying so it is notjust here. i think the fact that we have now got this branch of tourism that we can depend on a little bit more income i think it is a great thing. i think people are a bit upset because of what has happened in the past. people have been let down three councils, governments and so there is a feeling of here we go again buti there is a feeling of here we go again but i think this time there is again but i think this time there is

a real sense of opportunity. thank you very much, phil. things are changing. a number of shops now have new retailers in them like this one here and we are going to be coming back to bishop auckland over the next year as part of bbc my high street. one of the first british soldiers to land in normandy on d—day has been at buckingham palace to receive an mbe from the queen. harry billinge, who's 94 and from cornwall, was given the honour for raising tens of thousands of pounds for a national memorial honouring his fallen comrades. it's in memory of every one of them fellas, 22,442 men killed in a day on that beach where i landed. i never thought i'd ever get... i never thought i'd ever get in with the royalty, but i'm deeply moved and i'm very thankful.

time for a look at the weather. here's darren bett. it's going to be quite cold for many of us overnight tonight. today has been a day of sunshine and showers. we have had some heavy ones here and there and some snow over the higher ground, particularly in scotland. there is in the showers of the past few hours, you can see how they have been migrating eastwards and over the next few hours we will see a lot of those showers are moving away and dying away and skies will tend to clear, allowing temperatures to drop with the light winds. head to the south, signs of change and cloud and some rain later on in the night so it would be a cold here but elsewhere with those clear skies, widespread frost and it is probably likely to be colder than it was last night. these areas are enjoying a bright and sunny start but we will see clouds coming in from the south—west bringing rain up towards wales, the south—east of england, the midlands, northern ireland and there may well be some snow over the hills of wales as well. for scotland we have some sunshine, showers

restricted towards the north—west. site limo showers in the south—west of england and wales later on and thatis of england and wales later on and that is where we will see the height of the temperatures. we could see some of that wet weather across northern england overnight before fading away and basically we are back into sunshine and showers towards the end of the week. this is bbc news. the headlines... as the number of people infected with coronavirus in the uk rises to 51, the prime minister sets out the government's action plan and reveals up to a fifth of the workforce could be off sick at the peak of the outbreak. about 90,000 people have been infected globally since the outbreak, with cases in more than 50 countries and more than 3,000 deaths. it's super tuesday in the united states. democrats in 14 states are voting on who they want to take on donald trump

in november's presidential election. good afternoon. the ioc president thomas bach says everything is business as usual for the olympic games in tokyo this summer and that those thousands of atheltes should continue to prepare for the scheduled start ofjuly 24th. he was speaking at an executive committee meeting in laussane today 12 people have died in japan with almost a thousand cases of the virus identified. japans 0lympics minister acknowledged today that the terms of their contract would allow for a postponement until later in the year but bach doesn't appear to be considering that. there is a task force in place since mid—february and following the regular information from this task

force which consists of the ioc, the organising committee, the host city of tokyo, the government ofjapan and in particular, the world health 0rganization. and in particular, the world health organization. of course, we will continue this regular consultation with thisjoint task continue this regular consultation with this joint task force. to be able to address any development which may occur. there”s another huge event across europe this summer, the european football championship injune. it will be staged in 12 different host cities for the first time in its history. the semi—finals and final are at wembley the uefa president says the virus is one of many challenges to contend with. you don't even know how many concerns we have when reorganising big competition and we organise a competition now in 12 countries. we have security concerns, we have political instability concerns.

especially in 12 countries and one of the concerns is also the virus. we are dealing with it and confident that we can deal with it. england prop mako vunipola is likely to miss the rest of the six nations championship. he is in self isolation, after travelling through hong kong on his return to the uk from tonga over the weekend. he'd beenvisiting a family member, he'd been visiting a family member, and was named in england's squad to for the wales game at twickenham on saturday but will play no part, despite showing no symptoms of the illness. england are due to face italy in rome the following weekend. staying with rugby union, sale say that a difference of opinion over playing styles was the reason behind chris ashton leaving club with immediate effect. they terminated the england wing's contract yesterday. we had a difference of opinion really. me and my coaching staff think we were on the right trajectory, doing things right and we had a disagreement about various things and we thought, you know, we did not want to fall out over it.

the best thing was to part company before the day where they can get another car before the end of the season and you would have thought that would be the best thing. —— and other club. there are three more fa cup ties tonight, the big one is at stamford bridge, chelsea against liverpool. is this a good time to be playing jurgen klopp's side after that surprise defeat at watford on saturday? theirfirst in the league this season they have become relatively human for one game. that can happen, in this premier league which is incredibly competitive and it shows how well they have done in the last year or so. particularly the season soi year or so. particularly the season so i cannot comment it will be any easier, this is a strong liverpool team. that match is on bbc1 kick off 7.45. you can watch west brom v newcastle on the red button. the other last 16 tie sees reading take on sheffield united. dillian whyte's heavyweight fight against alexander povetkin has been confirmed for may 2nd in manchester. whyte is the mandatory challenger for tyson fury‘s wbc belt, but with fury having a rematch against deontay wilder, whyte

will defend his interim heavyweight title against the russian. that's all the sport for now. you can keep up with the nations league draw, all matches taking place in september to november with the finals next summer. a complicated route to the next world cup. legal b sees the republic of ireland and wales together with finland and bulgaria. all the details in sports day at 6:30pm. looking forward to that liverpool and chelsea match. more now on the coronavirus outbreak and the government plans to tackle any epidemic. our health correspondent nick triggle has been looking at the detail of the plans.

as we've been hearing, the government has set out its response to coronavirus in its battle plan. there are four key stages they have set out set out. contain. delay. research and mitigate. containing, involves chasing up the close contacts of those who are infected and asking them to self—isolate. even if this does not work, it has benefiting of delaying major outbreaks. this means valuable research can be done in the meantime to help develop a vaccine. if cases are rising rapidly however, steps are taken to mitigate its impact. usually, for these types of viruses, for all respiratory viruses, the incidence of drops as we get into the spring in the summer. so, hope, in this country, is that we can keep this contained, even if the numbers do grow, they don't grow so enormously. and then, as we get to the spring and summer, there will be a natural drop—off. containment is still possible but what might happen next?

health officials and indeed the prime minister admitted yesterday that widespread transmission is now likely. normally it would take two or three months for the number of cases to peak. half of infected cases could then come in those peak weeks. but none of this is certain as we are not exactly sure how the virus will act. the government has several measures at its disposal if the problem gets worse. these include closing schools and banning public gatherings. health officials say those measures are most likely to be taken just before the peak, in an attempt to flatten it. we may be encouraged to social distance ourselves, avoiding unnecessary travel and working from home where necessary. when you have a new virus like this, there is no immunity. and no vaccine, the most it can infect is thought to be 80% but that is the worst case scenario for an epidemic.

for most it will be mild, close to half may not show any symptoms. today, england's chief medical 0fficer, professor chris whitty, said the predicted the death rate, given the evidence from china, could be 1% of those infected. in the peak weeks, a fifth of employees could be off work. but that is on the upper end of what could happen and the economic impact is unknown. the bank will take all necessary steps to support the uk economy and financial system, consistent with its statutory responsibilities. we are monitoring the situation closely, across all our functions and ensuring all necessary contingency plans are in place. so is the nhs ready? there are around 30 hospitals on standby to take patients. every patient infected has been admitted but if there is a surge in cases there is an acceptance this will have to change. those with mild illnesses may be asked to self—isolate at home and hospitals may be asked to cut back on routine work, so they can focus on those with the virus. recently retired doctors

and nurses may be asked back to help take the strain. we are still at the early stages of this outbreak and there are still some unknowns but the government does have a plan with measures for multiple scenarios. the medical director of public health england, paul cosford, said it was important to reassure the public that there was no need to panic, while asking them to take measures that could help contain the virus. it is about doing what we need to do to protect public safety, to make sure that the impact of the infection is as limited as we can possibly make it. whilst protecting the social fabric and the nature of the country and our community is carrying on, being successful and prosperous communities. doing all the things that all of us like to do. we do not want to stop things unnecessarily. a good example of that would be to say, you know,

if we do is stopped doing things now and started putting in place some of these measures, when we are not seeing widespread infection, then that will not be of benefit to us and it will only harm the social aspect of the measures we are talking about that could accrue. we need to wait and see how the infection develops and then we can make decisions on what the different actions that are needed will be at the time. but again, the reassurance point is that, for the vast majority of us, this will be able mild illness and they will make a full recovery. how long could this be with us for a problem? are we talking about months? yes, i think we are. the best projections are, and clearly we cannot be certain about anything here, but the best projections are that once we start to see that sustained transmission communities, we are probably about two months away from the peak of infection, so then it takes 2—3 months to get

to a peak and 2—3 months to come down again back to our normal rate of infection, the first wave of this has gone. it is possible that you can have more than one wave. it is uncertain, we will only be able to watch and see, but if there are one more than waves of any infection such as this, the second wave is usually less intense than the first. do you think we have gone on to this quickly enough? have we clamped down on this virus quickly enough? some people are suggesting that perhaps we haven't. yes, i do believe we have. at the moment, we are identifying every case as they come back into the country. we are very robustly managing all of the contacts, identifying them, isolating those where that's necessary, to avoid the spread of infection. and up until now, all of our efforts

on those issues seem to be working remarkably well. that is not to say we can completely avoid more widespread infection, and we have always that we may come to a point where we do see that, and as i said, with the increase in numbers we are beginning to see in the uk, particularly with one or two where it is more difficult to identify and trace the links back to some of the countries of concern, and with what is happening elsewhere in the world, it does make it much more likely that we will see more widespread infection. that is not a failure of what we have been trying to do. the issue for us now is how we can best act to damp that down as far as possible. well, someone who doesn't believe the government has been doing enough to contain the virus is professorjohn ashton. the former president of the uk faculty of public health. he joins us now from our salford newsroom. thank you for being with us. what do you think the government has not

been doing that it should have been doing? we have lost a month, basically. when the prime minister should have convened cobra and been having regular meetings of cobra with the chief medical officer and engaging with the public. the uttera nces engaging with the public. the utterances today are still very nhs centric, very department of health and whitehall centric and don't really speak to the public. the public want to know and very practical terms what is happening now. things have changed quite dramatically over the last few days. and the trajectory now is likely to continue upwards. need to live their lives, they need to plan their lives. we have the easter holidays coming up. people need to know what measures to take with their children, with their elderly relatives. and this all needs to be spelt out and made in terms where

people realise what kind of practical planning they can do for themselves. if we get to the point where there are thousands or tens of thousands of seriously el people and the thing about this virus is that it is very contagious, although chris what he is saying the mortality rate may only leave 1% it may be higher than that but if it is only 1%, because a lot of people are likely to get it, they may well be a lot of deaths. and that will cause a back—up of funerals, it will cost problems there. ft. staying at home more, not going out to restaurants, this is going to cause problems for those. the budget next week, there should be a plan for a fund to support these kind of small and medium—sized enterprises in particular. i am medium—sized enterprises in particular. iam not medium—sized enterprises in particular. i am not able to agree that this looks as if it is going to have a trajectory of 2—6 months. we

just know. flu can come in waves and go on for years. subsequent moves may be bigger than the first wave so it isa may be bigger than the first wave so it is a balance year between, we have to not panic people but what the government has managed to do so far as panic people without being fully open with them. when the message is quite, should be, quite measured. 80% of people may well not know they have had a virus or it could be quite male. but what we have to do is take measures to protect the vulnerable, protect our elderly relatives and people with long—standing conditions. elderly relatives and people with long-standing conditions. when you see the government has not been open with people, we saw the prime minister talking for a long time this morning about coronavirus, answering lots of journalists questions. he has been giving practical advice about how people need to wash hands, five times a

day. in hot water and soap and so on. they have also been outlining a lot of very detailed plans about what might happen if the outbreak gets worse. but only if it does get worse. i am delighted to hear that, if that is what he has been doing. isohunt yesterday and he just kept seeing your hands. nothing about the more environmental aspects of the keyboards of people and their computers and lavatory handles and other kinds of environmental measures that need to be taken. and no discussion about at what stage, with these cases that are occurring now around the country, it might be necessary to adopt a containment strategy. at a local area level. and say to people that we really need to regard your area , say to people that we really need to regard your area, your district as one where we need to encourage you not to do certain things. people need to know about that. as i say, easter is coming up in four weeks' time, people will have holidays

booked. if they cancel those, at the moment they will not get their money back but it is quite likely that some destinations will be out of bounds within a few weeks. good to talk to you, thank you for talking to us. in the last few minutes we have heard from the labour leader jeremy corbyn who hasn't talking about the coronavirus outbreak. he was stressing —— has been talking. the nhs must be given the resources and needs to respond effectively. they need to reflect on the problems they have any nhs where there is already an 84% bed occupancy. there are thousands of nasty can season in january we have... the nhs needs support in order to cope with what could be a very, very serious problem throughout health service. there is also the question of the funding of our public health services. as of now, public health officers do not know what their budgets are going to be for next

year. budgets are going to be for next yea r. clearly they budgets are going to be for next year. clearly they have a huge job on their hands in dealing with often local emergencies and recognising that there will be problems in care homes where the population are more vulnerable than younger people to contracting coronavirus and so there are some very big issues ahead. labour leader, jeremy corbyn speaking in the last few minutes. climate change has become an increasingly big concern. the uk government is committed to achieving that zero carbon emissions by 2050 as part of the paris agreement.

christiana figueres is the former executive secretary of the united nations framework convention on climate change and the woman behind the paris agreement. her new book, the future we choose: surviving the climate crisis, outlines the way both individuals and governments can change their actions to protect the environment and provide a better future for the next generation. thank you for being with us. what can we do? how do we save the planet? first of all, we are not saving the planet. it has been around for 4.5 billion years until continue to evolve and perhaps many unpredictable ways. what we are concerned is actually about the living species of the planet. all the living species, starting with one, the only species that can do something about climate change and thatis something about climate change and that is the only species that caused it. and the only ones that correctly do something about it are asked. the two of us sitting here representing

the human species. it is an important distinction. it is not down to just you and me. now, but we are representing humans here. and we have to wake up four to the fact that fact and that is what this book is about. it sounds alarming that we only have ten years to decide where we are going to go on this over the next ten years, collectively, you andi next ten years, collectively, you and i and everyone else on this planet will decide whether we are going to go to one half of our emissions by 2030 and thereby open the door to a much better world than we have right now, or whether we're going to condemn ourselves to the demand gloom that we hearfrom many people. we have to make a collective choice but it does not exclude individuals. it includes every single human being. when you see wa ke single human being. when you see wake up, a lot of people are waking up wake up, a lot of people are waking up to this —— say. but they tend to be younger people like greta

thunberg and perhaps some older people it is fair to say are not perhaps waking up to it in the same way? but we are very grateful because what they have done is i think they have woken us up out of a comfort area where we think that climate is out there but it is not going to affect us yet and not here and there as the exceptionalism. it is going to happen to other people, it will happen to other generations. the factors as the floods here have shown, climate change is upon us and we have to be able to move beyond denial, delusion and delay and begin to going to prevent the worst. and to going to prevent the worst. and to produce and prosper because we do have that option. the book is actually a very hopeful message that we have the option of creating so much better world. we haven't got long. some up if you can what governments need to do and what we

as individuals need to do. now. interestingly, it is the same thing. we all need to figure out what our responsibility for emissions are right now. whether you as an eventual or a family, as a company, the bbc or me as an individual, or a head of state or the ceo. it is the same thing. we all have the responsibility to figure out what our current carbon footprint is and personally but certainly for the level of influence that we have control over and then make a very serious plan to cut those emissions by 50%. interestingly enough, ijust the news. a very interesting piece of data that the uk has actually cut its emissions by 29% over the past decade. so we are not that far off and the fact is that over the past decade, the solution technologies have come down 80% on cost and the uk is have come down 80% on cost and the ukisa have come down 80% on cost and the uk is a leader in deploying those technologies of solutions so this is

totally doable. if we have done it over the past decade in this country, 29%, and where we have to get to as 50%, this is absolutely doable. it is great to talk to you. i could talk to you for hours about the subject. thank you very much. the duke and duchess of cambridge have been in dublin for theirfirst have begun a three day visit to the irish republic. this afternoon they laid a wreath at the garden of remembrance in dublin — in honour of those who rose up against british rule in 1916. they were following in the footsteps of the queen who paid a similar tribute nine years ago. 0ur royal correspondent, jonny dymond reports. a short flight into a country with a long history of often unhappy relations with britain. brexit has ruffled feathers this side of the irish sea. william and kate came to smooth things over, starting with her coat and his tie in irish green.

a meeting with the irish president was a formality but a friendly one. all smiles from the duke and duchess, the president and his wife. and then, to the garden of remembrance where the heroes of irish independence are commemorated. they bowed their heads just as the queen did when she visited nine years ago. 0n the wreath, they laid a message. may we never forget the lessons of history as we continue to build a brighter future together. the duke and duchess stood stock still during the ceremony, perhaps taken by the solemnity of the moment. again, senior members of the royal family paying tribute to the fallen of irish independence. those who gave their lives to fight against british rule, against british monarchs. they left the garden of remembrance but the impression they

made will linger on. a reminder of changed and better times. jonny dymond, bbc news, dublin. time for a look at the weather. here's darren bett. still no sign of any prolonged settled weather yet in the next couple of weeks or so. but at least it has not been as wet and windy as it has not been as wet and windy as it was when we had that record—breaking february last month. sunshine and showers again today. it was a good day for chasing rainbows. let me show you the extent of the showers. they have been drifting eastwards and you can see the has been some wintering essentials as well, especially in the hills in scotland. a lot of the showers will push away, some will stay around the coast of ireland and scotland but we will have clear skies. in the

south—west, cloud coming in and rain and drizzle by the end of the night so it won't be as cold but elsewhere, clear skies, cold with a widespread frost, probably colder than last night. a sunny start. 0nly for a while because this cloud is moving on from the south—west bringing with it some outbreaks of rain. pushing up into wales, the south—east of england and into northern ireland, snow over the hills of wales as well. further north and scotland, still sunshine, merely in the north west. some showers into north wales and the south—west of england after that rain cleared through where we will see the highest temperatures. that rain continues to move north into northern england during tomorrow evening, some snow over the pennines, no greater meant of snow or rain but some more rain and probably don't need any at all. that rain tending to ease off later in the night and clearing away on thursday. another area of low pressure where this one goes, not quite sure at the moment. but it is likely to be running some rain

through the english channel, threatening the south coast of england and an improving picture across northern england after that damn plate it should brighten up and for the most part back into sunshine and showers with the bulk in scotla nd and showers with the bulk in scotland and northern ireland and just about cold enough for them to be wintry over the hills and the heavy ones as well. that area of low pressure m oves heavy ones as well. that area of low pressure moves away, another weather front arriving on friday. this will bea front arriving on friday. this will be a very weak one, no big temperature contrast either side so it will be a narrow band of rain, some snow over the hills in the north as well. that will tend to peter out for some it is the showers coming behind that have a bit more about them and it could be heavy again wintry over the hills of northern england, temperatures still socket 7—9d. as we head into the weekend, now named storm but it will be turning when and there will be some more rain around on saturday, then we're back into sunshine and showers are probably quite a strong and chilly wind.

up to a fifth of the uk workforce could be infected by coronavirus, says the government as it lays out its action plan to deal with it. if the virus becomes widespread here schools could be closed, police would focus on just the most serious crime and sporting events could be cancelled. it's the elderly who are most at risk, says the government. for most people, the virus would just be a mild to moderate illness. in italy, almost 500 more cases in the past 24 hours as the world health organisation warns of a global shortage of medical equipment to tackle the virus. the number of people infected here has risen to 51 today. we'll have all the latest on the government's plans. super tuesday — a big night in america. can bernie sanders be beaten in his bid to take on trump