the patient who died in reading was a woman in her 705 who'd been in and out of hospital with underlying health problems — she hadn't been abroad. obviously our sympathies are very much with the victim and their family, but the situation is pretty much as it has been. the uk's chief medical adviser warns that the nhs could face intense pressure on its critical care service. the government says it will "accelerate work on preparations for the delay phase" of its plan to tackle coronavirus. also tonight... a report from inside syria's idlib province, as a ceasefire is agreed after months of heavy bombardment. grounded — the collapse of flybe leaves passengers in the lurch and thousands of staff facing

a bleak future. i'm not sure what i'm going to do now. quite a shock? yeah, yeah, i thought that we'd be saved, but not this time. and the duke and duchess of sussex return to the uk for one of their last official engagements before they step back as senior royals at the end of the month. coming up on sportsday later in the hour on bbc news, we'll have the goals from the last of the fifth round ties this week, as manchester united make a strong start at derby in the fa cup. good evening. a woman in her 70s has become the first person with coronavirus to die in the uk. the royal berkshire hospital in reading said she had underlying health issues but she had not been abroad. the number of people infected in the uk hasjumped again to 116 — among them some children. almost half of those

who have the virus don't need hospital treatment. the uk's chief medical adviser, professor chris whitty, says authorities across the country are now mainly trying to delay — rather than contain — the spread of coronavirus. globally there are now more than 97,000 cases of coronavirus. of those, more than half, over 53,000, have recovered. the number of people who have died now stands at almost 3,500. with the latest, here's our health editor, hugh pym. according to the royal berkshire trust, the patient had been in and out of hospital. she tested positive for the coronavirus last night. condolences have been expressed to her family by the trust, health leaders and the prime minister. 0bviously our sympathies are very much with the victim and their family, but the situation is pretty much as it has been in the sense that we are still in the contained phase, though now our scientists

and medical advisers are making preparations for the delay phase. the first british fatality with the coronavirus, though outside the uk, was a tourist who'd been on the diamond princess cruise ship, which had been quarantined injapan. more details of cases in the uk have emerged today. there are 45 people being treated in isolation at home. so far, 18 out of the overall total have fully recovered, but the source of infection in ten cases remains unexplained. the nhs and other global health systems are struggling to contain the virus, according to the government's chief medical adviser. delaying its spread is the next phase. he said half the cases could occur over a three—week peak of the epidemic, his comments coming in front of a committee of mps. there will be a period, there will be a beginning, a middle and end to this. before it people will see no major impact on the nhs, some reconfiguration,

and after it the nhs will be back to its normal state. but there will be a period in the middle, if this goes to the top end of the range — and it may well not — but if it does, where the nhs has huge pressure on it for a relatively short period of time. the chief medical adviser outlined what he believed the benefits of the delay phase would be. first, it would push back the peak number of cases from winter, when pressure on the nhs is greatest. it would buy time for scientists to improve their understanding of the virus and develop countermeasures, such as drugs. and the virus would possibly be less infectious in the summer. depending on when the peak comes and how many cases there are, intensive care beds will be in great demand. concerns have been raised about whether the nhs can provide what's needed and whether too much pressure will be put on staff. i'm unbelievably proud to be a critical—ca re nurse, and i work with some fantastic staff, but we are human beings at the end of the day, and all of us have a tipping point,

so it is really, really important that we look after those staff, to allow us to be able to look after patients. 0ne senior doctor told me his hospital has plans to convert other facilities into intensive—care units. it's going to be tough, but we have well rehearsed plans, and we are working together across our system and across all our staff to make sure that we do have those robust systems in place to cope with that increased demand. the warnings today have been on the basis of a worst—case scenario. case numbers may be less than expected, but health leaders feel they need to prepare hospitals, their staff and patients, for a potentially very tough time ahead. hugh pym, bbc news. the government has said it will accelerate work on preparations for the next phase — the delay phase of its plan to tackle coronavirus. that's when it will introduce further measures to try to stop its spread. once the strategy is decided, it will be down to local authorities and communities to implement it. our special correspondent,

lucy manning, reports from brighton on how they're readying themselves. brighton's already been hit by coronavirus. it contained the outbreak well, but like everyone else in the uk, it must now tackle delaying any further spread. those living here have questions about how moving to this mainly delay phase will affect them. are they going to impose us to all work from home? is that going to be something that employers have to make decisions themselves? we've had lots of big events that have been cancelled. it would be good to know how long this sort of thing would be going on for. it was a very simple message about washing your hands... for those in charge of health, the elderly, the schools, this is now a growing challenge. it's up to each and every employer to make sure that if people are ringing in sick, saying, "i'm not sure if i've got the coronavirus or not," to make sure that they're staying at home. people are wanting to know how long this is going to last for. we may expect a three—month period, with a peak in that, but one of the things we want to do,

obviously, is to push that as far into the future as possible through the delay phase, so that could come later in the year. my biggest concern is over my son, who's doing his gcses, so it's obvious we need to know, for him, if he's going to be able to go to school and take his exams. all schools in brighton and hove are open, there's no plans for any of our schools to close. are you trying to stop people getting together in any public space? are you going to look at cinemas, restaurants, shopping centres? at the moment, ourfull programme of events is going ahead, and obviously this is a really busy city. we'd ask everyone to keep repeating the message about washing your hands. we're taking it seriously, but we're also trying to get on with life and, you know, life has to go on. in the delay phase, the authorities will eventually have to make a decision about sporting events, like football matches. in italy, all sports are being played behind closed doors. at brighton and hove albion, players are already restricted from shaking hands, doing high fives or posing for selfies with supporters.

but one of the calculations is if fans aren't in stadiums, will they just be passing on the virus watching in pubs instead? the government is likely to save the most severe measures for when the virus hits its peak, and its message at the moment is there are no benefits to cancelling large events if people keep following the health advice. lucy manning, bbc news, brighton. the number of people who've died from coronavirus in italy hasjumped by 41 today to 148 — the second highest death toll after china. all schools and universities across italy have been closed for at least a week to try to stop the spread of the virus, which has now infected more than 4000 people. france has announced three more deaths, taking the total to seven, with over 400 cases of coronavirus reported. president emmanuel macron said today, an epidemic was inevitable. the united states government has approved emergency assistance of $8.3 billion to combat the spread

of the virus across the country. and california has declared a state of emergency, after announcing its first coronavirus death, bringing the us death toll to 11. 0ur health editor hugh pym is outside the department of health. the first death from coronavirus here in the uk, but the government's message still very much, keep calm. yes, it's clearly been a very difficult day off course for the family of the first patient in the uk to die with coronavirus. 0fficials uk to die with coronavirus. officials at the department of health extending their sympathies feel sadly this was going to happen at some stage. the messages, don't expect any big new policy interventions soon. they are all being weighed up the options like closing schools, and both matt hancock the health secretary and professor chris whitty, the chief medical adviser, says there is a

social cost without a lot of medical evidence that helps stop the spread of the virus. they may be guidance to older people, for example avoiding crowded public spaces. 0ne new bit of guidance is to those coming back from italy. until now the advice was if you are in northern italy and have symptoms you should self—isolate and call 111 and go online, now that x has been extended for those coming back from everywhere in italy to the uk. and you can find out plenty more information as well as the latest development around the world on the bbc news website — that's bbc.co.uk/news or on the bbc news app. dozens of routes serving the uk's regions could be left without services after the collapse of flybe — europe's largest regional operator. it went into administration today, after a bid forfresh financial support failed. flybe employs about 2000 people — theirjobs are now at risk. the airline flies eight million passengers a year. many of them setting off from the uk's smaller airports —

places like southampton, where last year flybe accounted for 95% of all flights. our business editor simonjack reports. there will be no onward journey for these planes — grounded for good, europe's largest regional airline collapsed, leaving passengers frustrated and staff distressed. yeah, i thought that we'd be saved, but not this time. sorry. there's no other airlines from here that will fly to jersey, so, you know, we floated options like ferries or, essentially, a different airport. our flight was meant to be at 6:45 this morning to paris, for disneyland, and then i got a text at 2:03 this morning saying that all flights had been suspended, cancelled, and not to bother going to the airport. but we came anyway. i promised to get them there, so i'm going to get them there. will not be great for southampton airport...

last night, in southampton, this pilot parked his plane up for the last time. we're the only real regional airline, so anybody that wants to get from southampton to manchester, they've now got to take the train, basically, and that's three times the price and takes twice as long. flybe operates 40% of all uk domestic flights, but it leased too many planes at too high a cost, flying too many unprofitable routes, leaving the airline in financial distress, finished off by an industrywide slump in bookings thanks to coronavirus. southampton airport relies on flybe for 95% of its traffic. it employs 200 people directly and has created many more jobs across the region. southampton airport is very heavily dependent on flybe, it has been for years, so government may need to step in to give the airport some support to keep it going. regional connectivity really matters. that's not often understood by london politicians. the collapse of flybe is obviously upsetting for staff, it's confusing for passengers, and economically damaging to airports like this and surrounding areas,

notjust here in southampton, but around the uk. the government insists that propping up failing businesses with £100 million of taxpayers‘ money is not the way to deliver better regional connectivity, but there is little doubt the collapse of flybe has seen that ambition take a massive step backwards. flybe accounted for a quarter of all traffic at cardiff and 80% out of belfast city airport. the government today said it remained committed to the future of regional airports, but there was little detail. we are undertaking a review of regional connectivity to ensure the uk has a domestic transport connections local communities rely on, including regionalairports. other airlines, like scotland's loganair, have said they're prepared to take on some routes, but at a time when bookings are slumping around the world, most airlines are focused on survival, not being saviours. simonjack, bbc news, southampton.

well, with less than a week until the budget, there's news tonight of delay to a key government economic strategy. 0ur economics editor editor faisal islam joins me. faisal, what have you learnt? the budget is next week and one of the centrepieces that was promised of those budget plans were something called the national infrastructure strategy, especially because of boris johnson's strategy, especially because of borisjohnson‘s priorities of strategy, especially because of boris johnson's priorities of what he calls a levelling up infrastructure investment in the regions we expected details in the queen's speech just three weeks ago but now it will not happen next week, delayed by a month or so, and i understand that government sources say this does not show any lessening of ambition, and they are just looking to refocus plans to help meet the climate change objective of net zero by 2050. the opposition sources say this is not right and they need to be publishing these plans and they are already well delayed. two years ago the national infrastructure commission published

its ideas. another thing is going on here, there is a focus on the coronavirus and some sort of short—term plan to deal with the economic problems there. thanks for joining us. a ceasefire in syria's idlib province has just come into effect after months of heavy bombardment by syrian government forces and their russian allies. the truce was agreed by the presidents of turkey and russia. idlib is the last region still controlled by thejihadists and rebels — backed by turkey — who have been trying to overthrow the syrian president bashar al—assad since 2011. the un estimates almost a million people have fled their homes since december due to the fighting. in the early hours of this morning russian air strikes killed 16 civilians sheltering in a farm in maarat misrin. 0ur international correspondent 0rla guerin was there. her report — which was filmed by goktay koraltan — contains some upsetting images.

working by flashlight, to reclaim the living from the rubble. the target here, inexplicably, a poultry farm which became a refuge for some of idlib's displaced. by day, a refuge no more. just hours before ceasefire talks began in moscow, this devastation was russia's handiwork. last night while i slept, i slept here, here. this is my home. here. when the russian aircraft bombed... this is from the bomb? yes. civilians, civilians, we are civilians. and they were killed as they slept, though the syrian regime and its russian backers say they are targeting terrorists. when you take a look around

here amongst the scattered belongings you can see that this was a home, a place where parents were trying to keep their children safe. some of the toys are still here and the dishes are smashed at my feet. what possible justification could there be for bombing a place like this full of civilians? but in idlib this has been happening day in, day out, and there's the sound now of more explosions, we have been hearing bombings in the distance since we arrived. ahmed tells me it's fine if he dies but he's worried for his children who by chance were not here last night. where do you think you and the children will sleep tonight? "i don't know", he says, wondering if any where in his broken homeland is safe. not the local hospital — it's a target, like all

medicalfacilities. here, we found victims of the air strikes, like this boy, who is nine, as old as syria's war. i want to be a doctor, he says, to treat patients, so they get better and no one dies in syria or the rest of the world. willa ceasefire bring an end to the agony here? or will this merciless multilayered war keep doing its very worst? 0rla guerin, bbc news, idlib. almost a million people have been displaced by the fighting in syria and it has been putting further pressure on turkey which already has almost 4 million syrian refugees. turkey opened its border to greece last week — accusing the european union of inaction on refugees. since then thousands

of migrants have been trying to cross into the eu — as our middle east editor jeremy bowen reports. syrian refugees have learnt to be sceptical about ceasefires, and in western turkey thousands who escaped the battles before idlib and other middle eastern wars, followed a fence to the greek border, and they went because turkey's president finally came through with his threat to pressurise the eu by creating a new refugee crisis. greece kept its gates closed. for a generation that grew up with death and war, stealing their chances of education, it was yet another blow. translation: my future has gone, that is why i think more about the future of my children. i want to have a house for them, give them a good life, where they don't need to rely on me or

anybody else to support them. this family with six children had made it to greece where they said the police stole all their money and burnt their id papers before they were sent back. trying to salvage some dignity. translation: there are women here and we don't have to i lets, women here and we don't have toilets, what should they do? we have girls ten and 11 years old, they can't go in the open in front of people. if you look at the leaders in the countries who have interfered and been involved with the war in syria, can you look at somebody and think, they are to blame? translation: the main person responsible for us is basher al—assad, as president it is a pity that you kill a child or harm a human being just to stay in power. these people are pawns in a much bigger game, and it is roots lie in

the catastrophic international failure to stop the war in syria and the players in the game are the big military powers who have intervened in the syrian war in their own interests with little or no regard for the safety of millions of people. a local turkish man gave out food, let europe see this, he said, i hope you are ashamed. it was cold, they at defy out of plastic rubbish to heat milk for his baby son —— they made a fire out of plastic rubbish. three sisters were under these blankets. no tents, no tarpaulin, no hope. jeremy bowen, bbc news, turkey. an official review into how joseph mccann was able to commit a series of rapes and sexual assaults when he should have been in prison has blamed failures by the probation service. mccann was given 33 life sentences

last december for the attacks on women and children. our home affairs correspondent june kelly has been speaking to some of his victims — you may find their stories distressing. the end of a manhunt. joseph mccann is finally cornered, hiding up in a tree in cheshire, wanted for multiple rapes and kidnappings in the north and south of england. he was taken into custody, which is where he should have been when he was committing his crimes. mccann, a career criminal with a history of violence, had been wrongly released from prison, and today we learned of the failings which meant a man described by the trialjudge as a classic psychopath was free to roam around the country, raping women and children. we brought together three of his victims aged from 17 to 71 after they had read today's report. his eldest victim, a grandmother,

was punched in the face, kidnapped and raped. i knew it was avoidable. we have all suffered the consequences of that, horrifically. he raped this 17—year—old girl and her 11—year—old brother, mccann's youngest victim. i thought the law was meant to protect the public. i used to be an independent person, but now i can't do anything on my own, i can't even sleep in my own bed. it's awful, it's absolutely awful. a hug of support from one victim to another, and on her other side, her mum, tied up in her own home by mccann as he attacked her children. if he'd been in prison, none of this would have happened. the family has just been torn apart. i lost my family home. i couldn't go back to the house. we lost everything. our life has been torn apart.

it was awful. it's just been really bad emotionally. the report shows that, as far back as 2003, joseph mccann was considered a possible sexual risk to teenage girls. there was repeated failure to recall mccann to prison. on eight occasions recall was considered and rejected. today, thejustice secretary announced a further lesson—learning review. the system he heads exposed mccann's victims to completely unnecessary danger and has left some lives damaged forever. june kelly, bbc news. the controversial cull of badgers in parts of england is to be phased out over the next few years. the government says killing the animals to protect cattle from bovine tuberculosis has reduced cases of the disease — but it will now be replaced by a scheme to vaccinate badgers and cows. the high court has found that the ruler of dubai, sheikh mohammed al—maktoum, abducted two of his daughters,

and subjected his former wife to a campaign of intimidation. in a series ofjudgments, the court also said allegations of physical abuse could be relied upon, and overruled the sheikh‘s efforts to keep the findings secret. here's our security correspondent, frank gardner. extraordinary and damning allegations of abduction and intimidation committed by the by‘s ruler sheikh mohammed al—maktoum, published today by the high court in britain, and the details have emerged during a lengthy custody battle between the sheikh and his former wife princess haya ofjordan. here at the royal courts ofjustice, princess haya, seen here in white, is alleging intimidation by the sheikh, after discovering the alleged fate of two of his daughters. this court case is lifting the lid on what is alleged to have been going on in one of the more secretive ruling families in the middle east. allegations that include the forced return of two princesses, one of whom was allegedly seized right here in

britain. one sister, latifa, was reca ptu red britain. one sister, latifa, was recaptured at sea off the coast of india before trying to escape, she recorded this video her earlier treatment by her father's agents, a testa m e nt treatment by her father's agents, a testament need the court ruled as credible. it was constant torture, co nsta nt credible. it was constant torture, constant torture, and even when they weren't physically beating me up they were torturing me. they would switch off the lights, i was in solitary confinement totally and there are no windows and lights on when they switch off the lights it is pitch black. dubai is sensitive about its reputation, it is a global destination and sheikh mohammed al—maktoum is a huge figure in the horse racing world internationally and the queen paid a royal visit to the uae in 2010. his legal team has rejected many of the claims, a statement issued after referred to...

the court also heard that princess haya, a former olympic equestrian, had begun an adulterous affair with her bodyguard. she had been subjected to a campaign of intimidation and she had been told she would never been safe in england. —— be safe. frank gardner, bbc news, in central london. football, and there was to be no victory against his old club for wayne rooney tonight. his derby county team were beaten 3—0 by manchester united in the fa cup fifth round at pride park. rooney also picked up a booking for his troubles. the duke and duchess of sussex have attended one of their last official engagements together — before they step back as senior royals at the end of the month. they attended awards in london to celebrate the sporting achievements of wounded, sick and injured service personnel. this report from our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, contains flashing images. lights, lots of them. cameras, lots of them.

but when it comes to action of the formal royal variety, there won't be much more of it from these two. this was the first public appearance by meghan in this country for two months since she and harry announced their new direction, and one of the last by the couple before they begin their new life in north america. they were at the mansion house in london for the endeavour awards for service personnel and looking, by all accounts, very relaxed. it's the kind of royal duty — recognising achievement over adversity — that's expected of the royal family, the kind of thing for which harry, with his own military background, has a natural affinity. both appeared on stage, meghan to present one award. good evening, everybody. it's very nice to be back. and harry to speak about the experience of serving. for some, the military community represents a brotherhood or sisterhood that no other

organisation can provide, and for others it's a way of life which you never want to leave. for a lot of us it's both. being able to serve queen and country is something that we all rightly proud of and it never leaves us. it was a powerful speech. harry sounded motivated and fulfilled. puzzling that in a few days he and meghan will step away to return to canada. nicholas witchell, bbc news. that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello. you're watching bbc news.

time is almost exactly 10.30 p:m.. i'm only foster. here's what coming up i'm only foster. here's what coming up on sportsday tonight. at the double, as manchester united reached the fa cup quarterfinals. the six nations is hit by another coronavirus postponement. england's final game in italy is off. and the storm that caused the storm at the t20 world cup england. not doubt by the weather. evening, the fa cup quarterfinal line up is complete, manchester united the last team through after a fairly routine 3—nil win over derby county, odion ighalo scored his second and third goals for the club.