good afternoon. the deputy chief medical officer for england says the uk remains in the "containment" phase in dealing with coronavirus. but drjenny harries warned that the chances of the uk missing an epidemic now are "slim to nil." 164 people have now been infected in the uk — with a second person known to have

died after testing positive for the virus at milton keynes hospital. globally there are more than 100,000 cases — nearly 3,500 people have died, but many have now recovered. here'sjon donnison. the hospital says the man died here on thursday, shortly after he tested positive for covid—19. he was in his early 80s and was being treated for underlying health problems. the hospital says it remains open as normal and doctors are following nhs guidelines to try to stop the virus spreading. as in many places, a tent to test people has been set up in the car park outside. doctors here say they are trying to trace and isolate not only staff who were in contact with this man but also fellow patients. these are the current numbers, 20,338 people have

been tested for coronavirus, 164 positive. there are 147 cases in england, where cases have been confirmed. in scotland there are 11, fourin confirmed. in scotland there are 11, four in northern ireland and two in wales. they are quite small numbers compared with other countries, in europe, for example, italy is up to around 4000. but nevertheless it is progressing, and i think as professor witty said to the health committee last week, the chances of the uk missing an epidemic are slim to nil. there are already empty shelves and some supermarkets, they we re shelves and some supermarkets, they were out of toilet roll and hand sanitiser at the sainsbury‘s in london this morning. the government is urging people not to panic buy. this afternoon's women six nations match between scotland and france, due to take place in glasgow, has been postponed after an unnamed

scottish player tested positive for the virus, and there is evidence tourism in the uk is beginning to be affected. cancellations from people coming into the country, conferences, large events, four restau ra nts, conferences, large events, four restaurants, some cancellations around the cities, but for the main pa rt around the cities, but for the main part we are in the leisure business, 70% of the trade in scotland in tourism comes from britain. doctors are warning the number of cases in britain is expected to double every five or six days. things are carrying on pretty much as normal at the hospital this afternoon. we expect a statement from officials later this afternoon. there are questions to be answered. where did this man catch the virus? how long was he in hospital before he died? if he were showing symptoms for coronavirus, should he have been put into isolation from other patients sooner? meanwhile, doctors

continue to stress that unless you are elderly or have underlying health problems, the risk from coronavirus remains relatively low. studio: thank you, jon donnison in milton keynes. british passengers stuck on board a cruise ship off the coast of california are preparing themselves for a number of days, or even weeks in isolation. 21 people on board the grand princess have tested positive for coronavirus — 19 of them crew. caroline davies reports. coronavirus test kits, lowered by helicopter onto the grand princess, after 21 people on board the ship were found to have the virus — 19 of them crew. the test results were revealed by the us vice president, mike pence. he said the crew may have been exposed to the virus during a previous voyage to mexico. 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. the press conference was the first many passengers knew of the confirmed cases on board — something the ship's captain apologised for over the tannoy system. you may have heard this on the news by the media already, and we apologise, but we were not given advance notice of this announcement by the us federal government. it would have been our preference to be the first to make this news available to you. these individuals will be notified of their test results as quickly as possible. plans are under way to dock the line at a noncommercial port. each of the cruise liner‘s 3500 passengers and crew will be tested, and those who need to will be quarantined. among the passengers is kari kolstoe. she is due to receive cancer treatment on monday but is worried she won't be allowed off the ship in time. when we get moved to this facility, we will all be tested.

and those that don't test positive may be able to leave. we are trusting in god that something good will come out of this. we don't know what it is, and i'm going to test negative and be able to go home and get some treatment. for now, the grand princess remains at sea with passengers waiting to find out what will happen to them next. caroline davies, bbc news. and you can keep up to date with all the developments the vatican has announced the pope will stream his sunday blessing from inside and not from st peter's square because of coronavirus. the measures have been put in. to stop people gathering at large events. the pope has been suffering from a cold recently. and you can keep up to date with all the developments concerning the coronavirus outbreak — including the symptoms to watch out for — that's on the bbc news app and on our website. the government has confirmed it will scrap the so—called tampon tax

in next week's budget. vat of 5% is currently added to sanitary products under eu rules, which will no longer apply in the uk once the brexit transition period ends in december. the treasury estimates the change will save women around £40 over a lifetime. tensions have flared again between greek police and migrants as they try to get into the european union. tear gas was fired at the greek—turkish border. thousands of migrants have been attempting to get into greece since turkey said it would no longer keep them in its territory. turkey claims the eu has reneged on promises of aid. three senior members of saudi arabia's royal family have —— after the wettest february on record, the association of british insurers says the total value of pay—outs to people hit by flooding will be around £360 million. the cost covers damage from storms ciara and dennis. here's our business correspondent katie prescott. the long clean—up operation continues. when storms ciara and dennis spread through the uk, they left devastation in their wake — homes, businesses and transport underwater.

now the insurance industry is counting the cost. more than 3000 households have made flood claims for an average of £32,000. our initial estimates are that storm ciara and storm dennis are going to cost around £363 million, that's how much insurers are paying out to help customers recover from these devastating incidents. to put this into context, at £360 million, the cost of clearing up after storms ciara and dennis is triple that of the floods in the midlands and south yorkshire last november, which cost £110 million, but below the three successive storms desmond, eva then frank in december 2015, which cost £1.3 billion. several large insurers have recently said how winterflood claims are hitting their businesses. direct line's profits were down 10%, while aviva says it's paying out £70 million because of floods

and wind damage claims. and these costs are still just estimates. they could yet rise as more damage emerges. katie prescott, bbc news. with all the sport now, here's mike bushell at the bbc sport centre. thank you and good afternoon. with england's women six nations match in glasgow between scotland and france postponed, as you heard, because of a scotland player contracting the coronavirus, the only games in the competition this afternoon are involving england in london. england's swimmingly by welsh opponents 26—0 at half—time, england's men are hoping to avenge last yea r‘s defeat to england's men are hoping to avenge last year's defeat to the welsh last year. our correspondent is there. i guess coronavirus will be on the minds of the 82,000 fans arriving? nominally this was the penultimate weekend of this year's six nations,

but such is the competition it is mired in uncertainty. there were 92 games in the men's tournament this afternoon but ireland against italy has been postponed, as has england's gain in rome next weekend, all over concerns and precautions over the spread of coronavirus. fans arriving at twickenham in the next few hours, they will be greeted by extra health officials and extra hand sanitiser is and warnings around the stadium this afternoon. crucially england against wales will go ahead and despite all the uncertainty around the tournament it remains one of the standout fixtures in the international rugby calendar. wales arrive at six nations champions, but they know they will not retain their championship this year. but they will not want for motivation. they have only won once here in the last six nations, in the last decade, and

how they would love to put a dent in england's hopes. england can still win but they will need a victory against wales this afternoon. it remains one of the standout fixtures ina six remains one of the standout fixtures in a six nations that is turning into a competition quite unlike any other. thank you, adam wild at twickenham. football, and in the premier league early kick—off leaders liverpool play bournemouth at anfield. confidence in the liverpool camp might be low after three defeats in four, earlier they we re three defeats in four, earlier they were behind again, this time to struggling bournemouth, callum wilson with the early goal, but the home side's nerves have been can't buy a mo salah equaliser and sadio mane has put them ahead. there are doubts that tiger woods will be able to defend his masters title next month after pulling out of next because my players due to ongoing back problems. he missed the arnold palmer invitational this week, complaining of back stiffness. the masters begins in just

complaining of back stiffness. the masters begins injust over a month. tiger woods won it for a fifth time last year. british number onejo konta is safely through to the semifinals of the monterey open in mexico, going really well. she saved two match points before beating the russian opponent, anastasia potapova, and will play a czech player in the last four. studio: thank you, mike. the next news on bbc one is at 5:40pm. bye for now.

you're watching the bbc news channel. the new chancellor rishi sunak is due to hold his first budget this week with all eyes on what measures he will announce to help people through the coronavirus outbreak. 0ne separate expected move is the scrapping of the so—called tampon tax from january next year. 596 tampon tax from january next year. 5% vat is currently added to female sanitary products under eu rules. the treasury says removing the levy will make it a pack of 20 tampons 7p cheaper with 5p coming off the cost of 12 sanitary pads. since 2015 women in the uk have paid around £62 million on sanitary products in tax most of which is passed on by the government to charities. early i

spoke to our political correspondent jonathan blake about the implications of the tax cut. it is only a saving of a few pence on each but campaigners argue that so many women suffer what they call period poverty and can't afford to buy these products, and adding that tax is simply making it more difficult for them. so this is a long planned move. it was there because an eu rule meant member states, and the uk was one of those, until we left the eu, of course, couldn't reduce vat on sanitary products below 5%. so 110w on sanitary products below 5%. so now that we are leaving and come the end of the transition period at the end of the transition period at the end of the transition period at the end of december this year the chancellor has confirmed that that tax will go in january. chancellor has confirmed that that tax will go injanuary. he will confirm that in the budget on wednesday. interestingly, though, you mentioned the figure of £60 million which has gone to the charities helping women who cannot afford these products. they are saying that that funding needs to be made up somehow gone because while they welcomed the move to get rid of they welcomed the move to get rid of the vat, they say that those charities are going to lose out on that funding, so they might well be

watching the chancellor on monday to see if he goes further than scrapping the tax. the chancellor might have been thinking, although he is new to hisjob, that this is going to be a brexit focused budget but of course all eyes on what he's going to do on the virus. 0ne question we keep seeing is, are people going to be compensated for loss of earnings if they have to self—isolate or look after family members command over what period? that is potentially a very expensive move for the government, isn't it?|j think we will see some form of measures aimed at businesses to help mitigate what is going to be an economic hit they are going to take command of the country as a whole is going to take as a result of the coronavirus. we have seen the projections and forecasts and predictions that mean that up to a fifth of the uk's workforce could be off sick at any one time. it will not necessarily be that bad but the government is planning for that scenario. we will hear more detail about that tomorrow perhaps and in the budget itself of course, but businesses will be watching closely to see what can be done. sick pay is

paid by employers who have to meet that cost and if you are self—employed you don't get statutory sick pay, you have to look to universal credit or other benefits to tide you over. so yes, there will be measures of some kind, but i don't think we can expect to see the government suddenly deciding to foot the bill for everyone's sick pay during the coronavirus period. now, three saudi princes including king salman as my brother and nephew are reported to have been arrested and the detentions are said to be linked by the country's to factor real at mohammed bin salman. while no reason has been given it is seen asa no reason has been given it is seen as a move to consolidate his power and remove any threat to his authority. here is our security correspondent frank gardner. if confirmed this would be a significant move by saudi arabia's crown chris mohammed been someone to consolidate his position. 0ne crown chris mohammed been someone to consolidate his position. one of the senior princes reportedly detained was one of the last surviving sons

of the country's founder king abdulaziz, and widely respected amongst older members of the ruling family. the other senior prince detained, mohammed mohammed din may have was next in line before he was replaced three years ago. there's been immediate come permission or denial of the story but palace affairs in saudi arabia are often shrouded in secrecy. frank gardner mud bbc news. —— muhammad bin nayef. it is time to get a nswe rs —— muhammad bin nayef. it is time to get answers to some of your questions on the coronavirus and joining me to answer them is professor sally bloomfield from the london school of hygiene & tropical medicine in our bristol newsroom. thank you forjoining us. we have quite a few questions to get through. let me start with the first one from james who asks: at what point after exposure to coronavirus can you transmit the virus to someone else? the problem is that we

don't know when we are exposed. we only know when we are showing symptoms. so i think the answer to thatis symptoms. so i think the answer to that is we all have to assume. it is unlikely. but we all need to assume now that we are infected, and that's why it is so important we all practice respiratory hygiene so that if you do cough or sneeze, that you follow respiratory hygiene, you either cough or sneeze into a tissue, you cough or sneeze into the crook of your hand if you can't do that, you make sure any tissues are disposed of safely and you either wash your hands or use a hand sanitiser. so it really is important, whether you think you are infected or not, that all of us carry out that measure. that's not to get people to panic. the government would dearly love to have a vaccine right now to vaccinate everybody. they haven't. what they are saying to us is we the public have a huge role to play now in preventing the spread of this infection, and that means making sure that we don't spread it, even

though we may not know that we are infected. but as i say it is still unlikely, but we really should all be behaving as if we might be infected. that's a very important point. another question from mel, if you have suffered from coronavirus does your body develop immunity to catch it again? yes, it does. there has been a report of somebody becoming reinfected but it's difficult to know what exactly that meant, but that's what our immune system is built to do. as soon as we are exposed to a new strain of an infectious virus the body immediately recognises that and produces what we call antibodies to fight that infection so that if we are exposed for a second time it remembers and this time it can mount a very efficient defence. remembers and this time it can mount a very efficient defencelj remembers and this time it can mount a very efficient defence. i have been reports of another strain emerging, haven't they? would you have immunity to that? unfortunately

no. it's like influenza virus. every year we have to try and predict what strains of influenza virus are going to be transmitted into this country and we produce a vaccine accordingly. sometimes we get it better right than others, but i'm afraid, no, we will need to follow up afraid, no, we will need to follow up with another vaccine. just to check, has it been confirmed that this virus has mutated yet or is that still being checked?” this virus has mutated yet or is that still being checked? i think it is early days. i think they are looking to see, but i don't think i could comment usefully on it at the moment. let's move on to a question from judith who asks, will the pneumonia vaccine combat the pneumonia vaccine combat the pneumonia caused by this virus? well, i think it could, because i think some of the really serious cases are where people become immune compromised. the virus attacks the cells of the lungs and stops it from

its usual mechanisms of clearing any pathogens. so that we are much more open. i sound as if i am a scaremongering here, and it really is for people who are immune compromised or have poor lung function. they are much more likely then to pick up a bacterial pneumonia infection. ithink particularly for the vulnerable groups, people with poor respiratory function, but having a pneumococcal vaccine could be advantageous. i would suspect a lot of people in that category will already have been vaccinated against pneumonia. professor, a question from kara. 0ur pregnant women and newborn babies more at risk of coronavirus? newborn babies are at greater risk. pregnant women, probably not so. there are certain things they need to avoid which they are particularly prone to but i don't think it is a question of panicking. because the hygiene advice that the government are

putting out is well enough to reduce the risk as far as possible. so it's just a question of saying to any pregnant women or people looking after babies, follow the hygiene guidelines but make sure you do follow them and carry out the hygiene rigorously. we know that the elderly are more at risk and terence says: i'm going to a large concert at the end of the month, i'm 76 and have heart disease. ifeel fine but is it wise to go? i'm afraid there has to be a personal decision for you. yes, you are in an at risk category. who knows what will happen by the end of this month. the government are obviously considering measures to, how do i say, enforce social distancing. we are advising people, please, if you can keep away from crowded places or away from close contact with people, and that's not easy for people who want

to carry on a normal daily life, please do so, but i think commenting on something which is, where are we, still about three weeks away, is very difficult. i think you need to make your own personal decisions. although the decision may be made for you in that a concert may be postponed. let me move on to jane who says: would the chemicals in a swimming pool be sufficient to kill the virus if an infected person had used the pool? i think that's a very difficult question to answer. i don't think so but i think one of the ways, when you wash your hands is what you are doing is to wash the virus away from your hands and down into the waste water system. you are dilating it. we need a certain infectious dose. it's not one virus, we don't know what the infectious dose is. but as soon as one person gets into a swimming pool that's infected, any virus that they emit

will be immediately diluted into the swimming pool, so i would say the risk is very low but i have no proof that the low levels of chlorine would kill the virus. maybe. probably will. but i can't tell you categorically. but you should be ok. that's interesting. 0bviously categorically. but you should be ok. that's interesting. obviously a lot of schoolchildren are swimming and having swimming lessons as well so that's one people will keep an eye out for. doug asks, do antibacterial soaps have the same effect as sanitiser gel? no, they don't. antibacterial soaps are what they say, antibacterials, so if the are used for hand washing, and remember that's hand washing where you are washing your hands with soap and water, rubbing the soap into your hands and then you rinse your hands. it is the rinsing that takes the virus of your hands. soap doesn't kill the virus. antibacterial soaps have an additional antibacterial added to them, but that will only

kill bacteria. i think it's confusing because what you need is a hand gel, something that has alcohol in itand hand gel, something that has alcohol in it and needs to be at 62% onwards. the hand gels that you buy in the shops won't say that but they should make a claim and if they make a claim you should be comfortable with it. it will say hand sanitiser, alcoholic hand gel, etc etc. but some of them are called antibacterial hand gel and i do criticise the industry for doing that because an antibacterial hand gel should kill the virus as well and antibacterial hand soap won't and antibacterial hand soap won't and antibacterial hand gel well and i think that's regrettable. i think it's confusing for all of us. so just to be clear, i've got some wet wipes here that we have in the bbc which are high in alcohol and kill viruses. that's the question, a lot

of us bought the antibacterial hand gels and actually we need ones that kill viruses and it doesn't always make it clear on the labelling, does it? and as i say i think that's reg retta ble, it? and as i say i think that's regrettable, i've been researching things and saying which do and which don't but i think it's now pretty well under control, if it makes a disinfectant claim then it should be that they have carried out tests to verify that and you should be able to be confident that if it makes a disinfectant claim then it will have at least 62% alcohol or more. i think most of the wipes are a 70% alcohol. and of course, they are useful for decontaminating things like mobile phones. they are really difficult because we all walk along through crowded places with a mobile phonein through crowded places with a mobile phone in our hand, we are touching something, touch the phone, touch something, touch the phone, touch something a touch the phone again, we go to our safe place, our office or whatever, we gel our hands and then pick up the phone again and forget that in the course of that we have contaminated the phone. so alcohol wipes are quite useful for

decontaminating the phone. i sound as if i'm being paranoid, but you will remember i'm always talking about and contact surfaces or the hands themselves and if you can focus on those then you are doing the maximum you can do to reduce the risk. just to be clear, the point about keeping your hands clean, it is not the virus willjump off you hand and infect you, it is because we all keep touching our faces and we all keep touching our faces and we eat and drink and that's the thing, isn't it? you can basically touch any surface as long as you then don't contaminate your head. yes, i'm sorry, i didn't make that point and that's a really good point. people are saying germs are breeding on the surfaces. these germs don't breed, they only breed inside the human body inside human cells. as soon as they leave our body, they can survive for a period of time, they are dying off all the time, so the longer time they are on a surface the less infectious they will be. but it's about us not picking it up and applying it to our mouth, nose or eyes, because the virus can infect through those

mechanisms. so if you don't have a chance to, if you are somewhere and you don't have a chance to use a gel, you can't be using it all the time, the other thing we should try and do, and it is very difficult, is to avoid touching our mouth, nose and eyes. apparently we do that probably up to 30 times an hour without even knowing we are doing it so it is a difficult thing to do. but just being aware so it is a difficult thing to do. butjust being aware that that is a mode of transmission, i think helps people to make rational decisions instead of panicking. professor sally bloomfield, we are really grateful for your time today in answering that raft of questions. it's really helpful to keep repeating these things. you can catch up with the latest online and your questions answered as well, i'm sure will be online later too. let's catch up with the weather today with stav danaos. it will be a windy afternoon, clouds building across the whole country, quite a bit of sunshine across

eastern areas before the wet and windy weather pushes right across the country as we head through tonight. the mild air gets replaced by colder air as we move through sunday so it's going to be a blustery day with showers and feeling chilly but this afternoon those temperatures pretty impressive for the time of year, 11—13d. adding on the wind, it might not feel that mild, it's going to be very windy, gusts of 40—50 mph around irish sea coast, the wet weather transfers to the eastern side of england by the end of the night and here it will be mild but further north and west turning chillier as the clear skies and the showers move in. so it could start quite wet and windy in the south—east, sunday morning. that clears away and then it is a blustery day with quite a bit of sunshine around but also lots of showers particularly in the north and west, some heavy with hail and thunder, some winteriness over the high ground in the north and it will feel chillier for high ground in the north and it will feel chillierfor most, high ground in the north and it will feel chillier for most, single figural values in the north and west and just about making double figures across the south—east. see you later.