welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: stranded at sea, the cruise ship passengers infected with coronavirus. the us government reveals its plan of action. of passengers and crew will be tested for the coronavirus. those that need to be quarantined will be quarantine, those that require additional medical attention will receive it. italy announces 50 more deaths from covid—19, the country's biggest daily increase. a special report from china, the country where the outbreak began, and the fight to continue with life and business as usual. and in other news: why a publisher in new york is abandoning a memoir by filmmaker woody allen after its staff protest.

us vice president mike pence has announced plans to deal with a cruise ship that's moored off san francisco with passengers infected with coronavirus. mr pence said 21 passengers and crew have tested positive on board the grand princess and says the vessel will be brought into a non—commercial port where all 3,500 people will be tested and treated if necessary. we are taking all measures necessary to see to the health of the americans and those involved on the grand princess, and just as importantly, to protect the health of the american public and prevent the spread of the disease through communities in this country. we are instituting

the strongest testing protocols to ensure that not only those on board receive the treatment that they need, but that the american people can be confident that there will be no erosion in our preventative measures and efforts to keep the coronavirus from spreading throughout our country. north america correspondent peter bowes has more on what mike pence had to say. well, he really confirmed the worst fears of a lot of people on that ship, that almost half of those tested indeed tested positive for the virus. and there is a lot of uncertainty moving forward over the next few days as to exactly what is going to happen. he explained that those people would be put into quarantine, those tested positive, and that everyone on the vessel, some 3500 people, about 1100 of them being crewmembers, will be tested and those found positive will be

put into quarantine. the crewmembers will stay onboard the ship and at this stage it is uncertain where those passengers will be taken and once the vessel is brought into a non—commercial port. there is talk of people possibly going to some sort of military establishment, but it is very clear these details are still being worked out right now. what else did he say? well, here's land as far as the us administration is concerned, the risk across the country to americans remains low —— he has set as far as the us is concerned. he did one the most at risk groups, that is elderly people, should be extra vigilant. peter bowes. kari and paul kolstoe are two passengers on the grand princess cruise ship. they think docking at a non—commercial port is the right decision, but are worried about how long it will be before they can disembark. well, i think that's positive news. i mean, acknowledges i was good and sitting here with the lack of decision has not

been helpful. so now we know 21 u nfortu nate been helpful. so now we know 21 unfortunate people have the virus and we now have a plan for that. there is a rush to get off the ship. i have stage four and get off the ship. i have stage fourand a get off the ship. i have stage four and a neural cancer and my tumours are growing. we are most income and the trip but because of a delay and insurance insights we have been looking forward to go. we were really looking forward to it and really wanted to go. so they got everything done while we we re they got everything done while we were on, insurance approved and got old called on friday to have appointments soon. it's not going to be easy to offload the ship with 2500 passengers and all of their luggage and special conditions that exist. we are dealing with more elderly populations, even more elderly populations, even more elderly than us, we like to think we are one of the younger

groups here. i'm joined now from seattle by carl bergstrom, professor of biology at the university of washington. professor, first of all, seattle and washington, how are you and your colleagues adjusting to the situation there? it isn't too big of a challenge. so far personally, we are trying to adjust in ways that allow us to reduce the spread for the most part. right now it isn't like we have a crisis situation going on here in seattle where people are panicked or afraid to take to the streets are anything like that, but we're definitely thinking hard about what can do asa thinking hard about what can do as a community to mitigate the effects of this epidemic as it spreads, presumably now throughout our community and across the country. and using your expertise as a scientist, what are we learning that the progression of the virus, not just in america but across the world 7 just in america but across the world? i think that we found is, clearly this is a virus that has been able to escape

oui’ that has been able to escape our containment efforts in china. it's an effort that is spreading fairly effectively through the community, u nfortu nately, through the community, unfortunately, because it can be transmitted prior to anyone showing symptoms and have a relatively long incubation time. that makes it hard to control compared to previous academics like sars which we we re academics like sars which we were able to stamp out before it could take off. one criticism levelled at the united states as it is taking far too long to engage in testing. is that a fair criticism? testing. is that a fair criticism 7 yeah testing. is that a fair criticism? yeah i'm afraid it isafair criticism? yeah i'm afraid it is a fair criticism. it was really a big missed opportunity on our part here in the united states to catch the spread early, to do the contact tracing we could have done and stamp out a lot of the transmission chains and simply start preparing infrastructure better. it is concerning to see the white house is still treating this essentially as a public relations crisis rather than a public health crisis, which is a mistake. professor, i understand you may have done

some rudimentary calculation is of your own on a board, do you have them with you? i wanted to point out to people there is a lot of concern about — a lot of people are going to get this anyway, why should we bother to ta ke anyway, why should we bother to take precautions now? why should we cancel things? the university of washington today has online classes, why do that? the answer is... higher i that? the answer is... higher an that? the answer is... higher i can you that? the answer is... higher up! can you hold it there and continue? what we want to do is try to minimise the degree to which our healthcare infrastructure is overtaxed. if we put out the number of cases is the epidemic is, we may be somewhere like this right now, if we don't do control measures, that is going to take up measures, that is going to take up and we will have huge numbers of infected people and eventually that will come back down. with time as the epidemic wanes. but we will have this period where we have a lot more infected people than the healthcare infected people than the healthca re system infected people than the healthcare system can manage, we won't have the beds or

capacity to handle all those people. if we can take measures now as a community to slow down the spread of transmission and the spread of transmission and the disease, even by closing schools all working from home when possible, that kind of thing, we can spread out that epidemic curve and even if we don't dramatically change the number of people that get the disease, we can keep the total number of people at any given time below the capacity of our healthcare time below the capacity of our healthca re system to accommodate that. so i think that's an extremely important lesson and the reason seattle are lesson and the reason seattle a re really lesson and the reason seattle are really trying to think about what can we do in terms of counselling events and in terms of working from home. because we are responsible, ultimately, we have a chance to affect the trajectory of this epidemic as it sweeps across the country and around the world. anything we can do to smooth it out like this will be of great benefit to the world. professor carl bergstrom, thank you very much and please send

us you very much and please send usa you very much and please send us a copy of the chart. thank you. i will do so. thank you. wait to talk to you. —— great to talk to you. elsewhere, it's been confirmed that a second person has died from coronavirus in the uk. he was an elderly man with underlying health conditions. the number of people here now infected with coronavirus has risen again to 164, up from 116 — the biggest increase in a single day so far. italy has announced its largest daily increase in deaths. they've risen by 49 tojust under 200. medical correspondent fergus walsh has the latest. science is fighting back against the new coronavirus. this lab but imperial college london is developing a vaccine. the aim is to protect people from getting infected. they know the world is waiting. absolute sense of urgency and wanting to deliver and stepping up wanting to deliver and stepping up to this challenge. and so

everybody‘s working as fast as they can. there is also a degree of kind ofjust innovation to make things happen really, really much quicker than they have done before. the first doses several hundred of them, i kept in this freezer. but it is far from ready yet. this is one of several prototype vaccines against coronavirus which are being developed by teams across the world. almost goes through animaland human the world. almost goes through animal and human trials before they can be declared safe and effective —— all must go through. and that takes time. things have progressed much more quickly than they would have done in the past, and it isn't unreasonable to assume that we will end up with a vaccine and we may do so in a year or 18 months, which is remarkable when you consider just a few years ago it would have taken 20 years to do that. be quite forceful. quite forceful? the prime minister visiting a lab in bedfordshire

announced £46 million of government funding to help find a vaccine and developed a rapid test for the disease as cases in the uk saw their biggest daily increase. we will certainly have a substantial period of disruption when we have to deal with this outbreak was not public that will be, how long that will be, i think thatis how long that will be, i think that is still an open question. at milton keynes hospital, a second death in the uk from coronavirus has just been confirmed. the patient was a man in his early 80s who had underlying health conditions. the number of confirmed cases in the uk is now 164, but that is still way behind italy — my other was a break in europe. the vatican, the tiny citystate in rome has announced its first case of coronavirus. the pope, who has had a bad cold, as

already reported testing negative. across italy, mostly in the north, there were nearly 800 new cases today, ringing the total to more than four and a half thousand with 197 deaths. but for most, it is proving a mild illness and more than 500 of those infected have already fully recovered. fergus walsh, bbc news. the former brazilian football star and his brother grunted in your eye being held in paraguay, accused of using false passports. they we re of using false passports. they were discovered in a police raid in the capital, since aeon. he had been staying there while promoting a book. both men deny any wrongdoing. more with me is candace piette with the bbc news world service. what we know about this very, very unusual story? it is very surprising. lawyers have been trying to argue and try to get one of the inyo a light a

sentence of punishment as possible. they say he has been collaborating with authorities and he didn't really know why this has happened to him. -- ronaldinho. he denied he went in with a fake passport? he said this was a courtesy justice since he was entering paraguay on a charitable visit —— gesture. he thought this was a courtesy to be handed these passports. thejudge has refused to endorse the proposal he should have an alternative punishment because he has been collaborating and has gone ahead and said both him and his brother would be arrested while the case continues to be investigated. remind us how iconic the star ronaldinho is in latin america and in world football as well. if you have seen the world cup, there was

ronaldinho, he is one of those stars that was really much and iconic brazilian player —— and iconic brazilian player —— and iconic brazilian player —— and iconic brazilian player. his blade in europe and is a gifted footballer. this will come to a shock of many of his fans. thank you for keeping us up—to—date. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: why a memoir by oscar—winning film—maker, woody allen won't now be published after protests in new york. the numbers of dead and wounded defied billy. it's the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 24 hours then, the soviet union lost an elderly, sick leader and replace them with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots

and we heard fire. we were all petrified. james alleway, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years, travelled to nashville state prison in an eight car convoy. what does it feel like to be married at last rest and i fine, thank you. is it going to change your life, much, do you think? i don't know. i've never been married before. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: us vice president mike pence says 21 people stranded on a cruise ship off california have tested positive for coronavirus. more now on the outbreak. we can speak tojoel clement, a former policy director at the us department of interior who left government after the trump administration reassigned him from his

climate—focused role. joel is also a senior fellow with the center for science and democracy at the union of concerned scientists. drawl, you said that the trump administration has politicised its response to the coronavirus, what do you mean by that? a couple of different things, obviously the president when confronted with mistakes will always lie and try and cover his tracks, it's become his m. he's using it as a way to... he's trying to bring this into the presidential election campaign by saying this is clearly a ploy in behalf of the mainstream media and democrats to try to bring him down, so his fragile ego is taking some blows but of course it putting a lot of people at risk not to be putting resources where they need to be right now. but there are still widely respected scientists within the federal government, including doctor and foundry, the vastly experienced director of the

national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, surely those voices within the federal government are still being heard? thankfully those people are still in place because there's a lot of empty chairs right now within the federal science enterprise and it's great they're still there but they're being great they're still there but they‘ re being shunted great they're still there but they're being shunted aside by lyrical appointees, so it's become noticeable to americans that the people who know what's going on are not being allowed to speak to them, and that's adding a lot more distrust to the situation right now with the situation right now with the federal government, particularly with the trump administration. do you get a sense those experts in perdition are able to speak to, for example, vice president mike pence, who is leading the coronavirus response? it's unclear to what extent they're able to speak to them, certainly their words are being filtered before they get to the public and that's a big problem. i don't know if you've been able to study the global response, is there any particular country you can point to to say that is how we should be responding?”

don't... i'm no expert on global pandemics, but it's clear that a lot of energy has been going into co—ordination and communication, and that's the hub of any national emergency, right? those things. in there three in the us to hobble and undercut the federal government and make it less of a presence, they've cut into our ability to co—ordinate and... around national emergencies. no matter where it's happening, you do see and you read all the stories about all the co—ordination and now we've got states operating independently because there is no means to co—ordinate because there's nobody home in the federal government and the apparatus right now. joel clement, thanks for joining apparatus right now. joel clement, thanks forjoining us. you bet, thanks, james. after more than six weeks of quarantine and shutdown, the

pressure on chinese society and chinese economy is starting to tell. as other countries consider how best to work out how best to cover an outbreak, john sudworth has been looking at chinese efforts to deal with the disease across health, education and business. it's a karate class with something missing — students. they are all online instead. in the fight against the virus, every school and college in china has now been shut for more than two weeks. i think most of us have confidence for our country to get through all of this because i think in this very time we found out we are very united, because we just do whatever we can to help the country. we do this by staying at home, which is quite important. the university's internet control centre handles almost 4,000 virtual courses a week.

it's a sign of china's strengths. discipline, mass mobilisation, high—tech. but the virus has exposed china's weaknesses too, with cover up and delay helping it to spiral out of control. everyone's felt the effects. here, a woman needing urgent chemotherapy for her cancer waits at a checkpoint while her mother pleads to be allowed through. juaping was eventually taken to a hospital less inundated with the virus to the relief of her fiance. some patients in this region cannot get treated. she was the lucky one who found a hospital prepared to treat her. the wider impact on china's economy offers a warning to other countries. china now faces two huge conflicting challenges — on the one hand, the control

measures are necessary to contain the virus, but on the other, by blockading villages, closing down transport networks and keeping tens of millions of workers in quarantine, it risks choking off its economy. look what's happened to car sales, for example. falling by 20% injanuary and more than 80% in february. air travel statistics are just as stark, with the number of departures from china's busiest airports massively reduced. with the infection rate falling, business and transport links are being eased back into life. but this giant economy is still a long way from normality. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. a french publisher has cancelled plans to publish a memoir by oscar—winning filmmaker woody allen after dozens filmmaker woody allen after d oze ns of filmmaker woody allen after

dozens of employees of its new york subsidiary in a walkout ‘s. york subsidiary in a walkout 's. -- york subsidiary in a walkout 's. —— walkout. the director of annie hall and manhattan has long been accused of molesting his adoptive daughter in the '90s, when she was seven. lengthy investigations have cleared woody allen who has always denied the abuse. lauren wolfe is a journalist and director of the women under siege project at the women's media center and shejoins us from new york. hi, lauren. woody allen hasn't been convicted of a crime, so why do staff at the publishers in new york find it unacceptable in new york find it u na cce pta ble to in new york find it unacceptable to publish his memoirs? they are the same publisher as ronan farrow, far and away one of the bestselling authors recently, and he writes about the supposedly is in his book and to him, allowing his... i guess his father to publish a book as well refuting that account in some way without even talking to his sister, he finds it quite appalling and in this era of #metoo, i think a lot of other people did as

well. the author stephen king has tweeted, i'm going to read into quoted, "the decision to drop the woody allen book is making me uneasy, it's not him, it is who gets muddled next is what worries me stop" is that a fair point? it is, it is a bad thing to stop censoring. in this situation it was a sneaky move, apparently it was secret from ronan farrow when he was finalising his book. i think it's a bit of a publicity stunt to do both though i don't want to do both though i don't want to see this book not published, andi to see this book not published, and i think it's awkward to habitat the same company. could it be either financial decision by the publisher if they have to choose between ronan farrow, a young up—and—coming author with decades ahead of him, and woody allen, the choice is simple, to keep ronan farrow, is that right? absolutely, and i think last year there were no new york times reported four publishing companies rejected woody allen's potential bug, so

it's not like his book is necessarily going to sell the ronan farrow‘s does and they already have a winner in farrow, so financial motives are certainly a part of this. many authors have had questionable and even worse private lives but their works are still published, is there a danger of a precedent being set here? i think yes. as stephen king said and as pan—american said, when we start censoring where it stops... in some ways i think this is a moment in particular where victims disperse voices are really still coming out of the woodwork and it's a little bit... it's more than a little bit... it's more than a little bit insensitive and clearly money and publicity motivated —— victims‘ voices. money and publicity motivated -- victims' voices. thank you for talking to us. president donald trump has appointed a new chief of staff, his fourth since taking office in 2017. on friday mr trump said mick mulvaney is leaving thejob to become

said mick mulvaney is leaving the job to become the us special envoy to northern ireland. he will be replaced by a republican member of the house of representatives, mark meadows. there's been no official explanation for the change. lettuce grown entirely in space is as nutritious and safe to eat as lettuce grown here on earth, that's according to a nasa report. astronauts at the international space station succeeded in growing the salad samples while orbiting 400 kilometres above the earth 's surface. nasa researcher found the space grown lettuce was similar in composition to as grown samples with some even containing more nutrients. the ability to successfully grow food in space could be crucial for long—term duration space missions. in other words, for long—term duration space missions. in otherwords, eat your greens and no matter where your greens and no matter where you are. a reminder of our top story, us vice president mike pence says 21 people stranded ona pence says 21 people stranded on a cruise ship off california

have tested positive for coronavirus. more on that story, please stay with us. hello. 0n the plus side, the weather's not going to be as bad as it's been over recent weekends but it will be windy and wet at times. this area of low pressure will feed in these weather fronts over the weekend, especially during saturday, saturday night, and then behind this cold front on sunday, it will feel a bit colder, they will be some sunshine again but there will also be some heavy showers. so, for the weekend, it will be wet at times. certainly not all the time. blustery throughout, but we also get to some sunshine, more especially by sunday. temperatures are on the up after a early frost by the time we get to saturday morning, particularly where we got cloud to the north and west of the uk and outbreaks of rain with the

weather fronts i showed you a second ago. any early sunshine in east anglia and the south—east will be short—lived. the eastern parts could be patchy at times but the afternoons days largely dry, there will be outbreaks of rain in wales and western areas of england but heavier and more persistent in northern ireland and especially across southern and especially across southern and western parts of scotland through the afternoon. it is going to be windy, gales rac and some close but see up to 50 mph gusts. these are your wind gusts. we are going to see misty and murky conditions developing with poor visibility around coasts and hills, especially in the west, on what will be a milder day. then again, it is cloudier, windier and for some, wetter. 0vernight saturday into sunday, the rain does move south. before it clears from southern and western scotland, there could be problems from high rainfall totals in higher ground to 70 millimetres, coupled with snow, so that could bring flooding in places. a much milder start on

sunday but with cloud and outbreaks of rain around, clearing the south—east early on sunday morning, and behind that, lots of showers moving through. not a washout of a day because there will be some sunshine. catch a shower on sunday, could be heavy, thundery, some hail some snow over higher hills in scotland and still gusty winds as well and still gusty winds as well and it is going to feel colder on sunday because remember there's been a cold front moving on through. just to give you a flavour of things into the start of next week of the detail not yet set in stone, but it does look like an area of low pressure, get another one, coming to the uk and that does mean more wind and rain. a few locations into next week to give you a flavour of things. at starts wet and then it turns showery after that. in most places, it will turn a bit cooler as well as the week goes on. that your forecast. cooler as well as the week goes on. that yourforecast. —— that's your forecast.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

the us vice—president mike pence says 21 people aboard a cruise ship denied entry to san francisco have tested positive for coronavirus. the ship will be brought to a non—commercial port this weekend. italy has announced its largest daily increase in fatalities from covid—19. they've risen by 49 to 197. it's the second highest number of deaths after china. in other news: there's been a sharp rise in the number of premature babies born in syria's war—torn province of idlib. a million people have fled their homes over the past three months to escape the government offensive. the french publisher hachette has decided not to publish a memoir by oscar—winning filmmaker woody allen after protests from employees of its new york subsidiary. mr allen faced allegations of molesting his adoptive daughter in the 90s, which he's always denied. now on bbc news, it's time for the week in parliament.