this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at three: the number of people diagnosed with coronavirus in the uk has increased 543 in one day, bringing the total to 206. 140 british people remain on board a cruise ship off san francisco, where 21 passengers have tested positive for coronavirus. there is a rush for me to get off the ship. i have stage four neuroendocrine cancer and my tumours are actively growing. it's not going to be easy to off—load the ship with 2500 passengers. it's been announced injapan that a former passenger of the diamond princess cruise ship who was infected with coronavirus has died. scotland women's six nations match with france has been postponed, after a home player contracted the virus.

in other news, £360 million will be paid by insurance companies to clean up the damage from storms dennis and ciara. and coming up, click asks if ai can help fight coronavirus misinformation. that is in half an hour here on bbc news. good afternoon. welcome to bbc news. in the past hour we have learned that the number of people diagnosed with coronavirus in the uk has risen once again. the deputy chief medical officerfor england once again. the deputy chief medical officer for england says the country remains in the containment phase in

dealing with coronavirus. but doctor jenny harries warned the chances of the uk now missing an epidemic are slim to nil. the number of cases in the uk has reached 206. more than 21,000 people here had —— have been tested. dominic hughes joins 21,000 people here had —— have been tested. dominic hughesjoins us now. can you just break these figures down for us, please? yeah, we are still waiting for the department of health and social care to give us a breakdown of the countries. we do know that 16 of the cases are now in scotland. i believe that is five new cases in scotland. but the breakdown between the rest of the countries is not quite clear yet. but we know that there are 206 positive cases. that of course includes the two people who sadly died. the latest death revealed last night, a man in his 80s who was being treated in

hospital at milton keynes. he had underlying health conditions but he sadly passed away. i think the key thing is that at this point we have had two deaths. there are 206 people who have been identified as having had this virus. so we are still in the very, very early stages of this virus. given that we have a population of in excess of 60 million people. but it is clearly 110w million people. but it is clearly now starting to circulate amongst communities across the uk. we are hearing about how we are still in containment faces, but what is the difference between a containment phase and a delay phase? containment basically means public health officials are still tracing, trying to make sure they know everybody who has been in contact, might have been exposed to the virus, they are tracing those people and they are trying to make sure that they know

all the contacts they have had in the period where they might have been infectious. the other phase that you mentioned or delay, that basically means then you are trying to prevent the spread of the virus any further. that might mean resorting to social isolation. it may mean more people working from home, it may mean big events like football matches being played behind closed doors, that sort of thing, to try and prevent the illness from spreading that way. but it doesn't mean that the containment phase ends. these things can run alongside each other so public health officials will still be trying to trace people who might have been exposed to the virus unwittingly. 0k, exposed to the virus unwittingly. ok, dominic hughes, thank you. 21 cases of coronavirus have been detected on a cruise ship barred from docking in san francisco. there are more than 140 british people on the grand princess, the sister ship of the diamond princess, which was hit by an outbreak of the virus

while moored injapan last month. peter bowes sent this report. moored off san francisco since wednesday, test kits were lowered onto the ship by the us coastguard. 46 people were swabbed for the coronavirus. 21 tested positive — 19 crew members and two passengers. the test results were revealed by the us vice president, mike pence, who's leading the country's response to the disease. 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. shortly afterwards the vice president's news conference, the ship's captain made an announcement over the public address system to confirm the findings and to apologise for the way those

affected found out. 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've 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 currently under way to bring the ship into a non—commercial port. all passengers and crew will now be testit and those that require it will be put into quarantine. crew members will stay on the ship. it's not known yet where the passengers will be taken. president trump appears to be at odds with his team dealing with the cruise liner. frankly, if it were up to me, i would be inclined to say leave everybody on the ship for a period of time and use the ship as your base, but a lot of people would rather do it a different way than rather quarantine people on land. when they do that, our numbers

are going to go up. either way, it means more days days of uncertainty for the passengers. there is a rush for me to get off the ship. i have stage four neuroendocrine cancer and my tumours are actively growing, so we almost didn't come on the trip but because of some delay in insurance and such, we were encouraged to go and we've been looking forward to it and really wanted to go. officials say the majority of passengers are in their 60s, 70s and 80s — the most vulnerable section of the population. the vice president said his advice to elderly americans planning a cruise was to use common—sense. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. leeann higgins and her daughter, kailee, are on the grand princess cruise ship. kailee explained how they found out that a case of coronavirus had been confirmed on board. the vice president decided on the news and it was so surprising to me.

iam not news and it was so surprising to me. i am not scared for myself because i am healthy and my mum is healthy. but it is definitely a very scary situation. obviously i want to take all the precautions necessary, but i do want to go back to school because iam in do want to go back to school because i am in high school and i don't want to miss more school. but i think it's definitely important for everybody has my safety to take proper precautions. a man who caught coronavirus in a quarantined ship of japan a man who caught coronavirus in a quarantined ship ofjapan has died, according to japanese media. the passenger has not yet been named. he was among more than 600 who became infected on the diamond princess line. his death brings the death toll from the ship to seven, including at least one british man. the cruise liner was put under quarantine in yokohama in early february after a man had disembarked

in hong kong and was found to have contracted the virus. 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. actually i will correct that because we have just had the update from public health england, and it is actually 206 infected in the uk. and we also know a second person has died. that was confirmed yesterday. he was a patient at milton keynes hospital. globally, there are more than 100,000 cases, nearly 3,500 people have died, but many have now recovered. jon donnison reports now from milton keynes. 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 now trying to trace and isolate not only staff who were in contact with this man but also fellow patients. these are still quite small numbers compared to other countries, but nevertheless it is progressing. and i think as professor witty said to the health select committee last week, really the chances of the uk missing an epidemic now are slim to nil. there are already empty 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's 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 foreign... people coming into the country, conferences, large events. but for restaurants, some cancellations 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. this doctors are warning the number of cases in britain is expected to double every five or six days. that was a report byjon donnison. a la john has more from those from outside the hospital in milton keynes. what we know is this man died on thursday. in his early 80s, according to the hospital. and with pre—existing medical conditions. we are expecting a statement from the hospital, and possibly the family, later this afternoon. but i think there will be some questions that

people will want answering. firstly, where did this man contracted the virus? secondly, how long was he in hospital before he died? and if he wasn't in isolation, and if he was showing symptoms, why wasn't he put in isolation sooner? the hospital is now having to not only trace and isolate staff who were in contact with this patient, they are also having to contact patients who might have been close on the same ward, we don't know. they will also be concerned and they will have to be tested and put into isolation. doctors are stressing though that u nless doctors are stressing though that unless you are elderly and have pre—existing conditions, the risk from coronavirus is still relatively low. that was jon donnison. the vatican has announced the pope will stream his sunday blessing from inside, and not in st peter's square, due to the coronavirus. the measures are being put in place to avoid people

gathering at large events. the pope has recently recovered from a cold and had himself been tested for covid—19. jane hill has got some important information for us about the virus. this is what we all need to know about reducing our risk of getting coronavirus. wash your hands regularly, rub the palm and back of your hands in between the fingers and not forgetting the thumbs. it should take 20 seconds, long enough to sing happy birthday twice. avoid touching your face with unwashed hands because this can spread disease. the first symptoms of coronavirus or a fever and a cough, and you may experience shortness of breath. if you have a cough or high temperature, that doesn't mean you have coronavirus. but if you think you might, don't go to hospital or yourgp. you might, don't go to hospital or your gp. stay at home and call nhs 111 , your gp. stay at home and call nhs 111, or use their online service.

they will be able to tell you what to do next. you can keep up—to—date with the latest development about the coronavirus outbreak, how to guard against it and what it means for you, on the bbc news app and on her website. 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 flood and wind damage claims. and these costs are still just estimates. they could yet rise as more damage emerges. katie prescott, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news:

the number of people diagnosed with coronavirus in the uk has increased by 43 in one day, bringing the new total to 206. 140 british people remain on board a cruise ship of san francisco, where 21 passengers have tested positive for the virus. and £360 million will be paid out by insurance companies to help in the clean—up following the damage from storm ciara and storm dennis. in sport, liverpool are three victories away from winning their first league title for 30 years. they beat bournemouth 2—1 to move 25 points clear at the top of the table. england women thrashed wales in the six nations to retain their hopes of winning the grand slam. they are within a win of his second successive grand slam and a record. british number one johanna konta successive grand slam and a record. british number onejohanna konta bid to reach the final of the monterey openin to reach the final of the monterey

open in mexico. she plays later. she has gone out in the first round of every tournament she has played so far this year. more sport in an hour. 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 though the voronovirus outbreak. one separate, expected move, is the scrapping of the so—called "tampon tax", from january next year. five percent vat is currently added to female sanitary products under eu rules. the treasury says removing the levy will make a pack of 20 tampons, 7 pence cheaper, with 5 pence coming off the cost of 12 sanitary pads. since 2015, women in the uk have paid around £62 million in tax on sanitary products, most of which is passed on by the government to charities.

a little earlier, 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 property and can't afford to buy these products. 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 that 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%. now that we are leaving, and come the end of the transition period at the end of december, the chancellor has confirmed the tax will go in january. chancellor has confirmed the tax will go injanuary. he will confirm it in the budget on wednesday. interestingly though, you mentioned the figure of £60 million which is going to charities helping women who can't afford these products. they say that funding needs to be made up somehow. while they welcomed the move to get rid of the vat, they say

those charities will lose out on that funding. they may well be watching the chancellor on wednesday to see if he goes any further than scrapping the tax. 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. the french publisher has cancelled plans to publish a memoir by woody allen after dozens of its employees in its new york subsidiaries staged a walk—out in protest at its plans. the director of annie hall and manhattan has long been accused of molesting his adoptive daughter in the 1990s when she was seven years old. investigations have cleared

woody allen, who has always denied the abuse. three saudi princes including king salman's brother and nephew are reported to have been arrested. the detentions are said to be linked to the country's de facto ruler, mohammad bin salman. while no reason has been given, it's being seen as a move to consolidate his power and remove any threat to his authority. here's our security correspondent, frank gardner. if confirmed, this would be a significant move by saudi arabia's powerful crown prince as to consolidate his position. one of the senior princess reportedly detained is one of the last surviving sons of the country's founder, and widely respected amongst older members of the ruling family. the other senior prince detained was next in line to the throne before he was suddenly

replaced three years ago. there has been no immediate official confirmation or denial of the story, but palace affairs in saudi arabia are but palace affairs in saudi arabia a re often but palace affairs in saudi arabia are often shrouded in secrecy. frank gardner, bbc news. when jade kilduff‘s brother, christian, was born, doctors said he may never walk, talk or even smile. so jade decided to learn sign language — so she would be able to communicate with him. the pair now teach others how to sign on their facebook page and have gained millions of supporters, including the singer, lewis capaldi. frankie mccamley went to meet them. what's this one? can we sign ‘love'? love! can you sign ‘friend'? yay! friend! two, three... go! both cheer. jade kilduff and christian record sign language lessons and sign along to pop songs on youtube and facebook.

their videos have been viewed by millions across the world. good — well done! bike! good job! bike! my little brother christian was actually stillborn. he didn't take his first breath for 24 minutes. his brain was starved of oxygen for that long, which has led to him having a type of brain injury called hia. we were told he would never be able to communicate, so i decided to learn sign language and teach him, and it's now enabled him to be able to talk and sign in over 250 words! talking a lot! and you're proving everyone wrong, aren't you? so many children and adults across, like, the country use signing. such a massive amount of the population use it. so everybody should be able to talk it. and what would that change mean to you, christian, yourfamily?

people will not feel isolated. they can go to the local brownie group and make friends, be able to talk to anybody. and it would honestly mean everything, wouldn't it, christian? jade started an online petition, calling for sign to be taught in primary schools across england. in less than two months, it has had more than 100,000 signatures. jade never expected her petition to go viral and get so much support. but now it's had more than 100,000 signatures, it's going to be leaving her home here... ..making its way here, to westminster, where jade's petition is going to be considered for a debate by mps. but how realistic is it? james wolfe primary school, which is in south—east london, already teach sign language as part of the curriculum. i do think that it would be a very big challenge. i think the benefits that we have

is not only deaf adults within our school but we have specialist, very, very experienced signers. you could easily do a smaller—scale version and i think you could have access to an expert who visits schools and trains the staff. it does take a while to feel confident enough in yourself to then teach something on, but as long as you have the right training, teachers are very adaptable. the department for education says schools can teach sign if they choose to. it's currently developing a sign language gcse with the hope of introducing it as soon as possible. frankie mccamley, bbc news. let's return to developments concerning the coronavirus, where in the past hour we have heard that there are now 206 cases in the uk. last night the death of a second patient with the infection was announced. the patient was on a ward with other patients for two days before he was eventually diagnosed with coronavirus. five of his fellow

patients have now been put into isolation whilst they are also tested for the virus, whilst the trust has asked nine members of staff to also self—isolate. the chief executive of milton keynes university hospital, nhs trust, said it was doing everything to protect the public. what we were doing was looking after that patient in a bay on one of our awards, and subsequent to that we have ensured that all of those patients have been followed up, as have the staff, to ensure they are tested and appropriately isolated. can you give us an idea of how many patients are now self isolated? we currently have five patients who are isolated and have been tested, and we are waiting for the results to come back. and we have asked nine staff to self—isolate. come back. and we have asked nine staff to self-isolate. there has been criticism that this patient was

not put into isolation earlier. could that do not have happened?m is impossible for any organisation, any hospital, to isolate every single patient that comes in who doesn't show coronavirus —like symptoms. we managed that patient appropriately. and we are also managing those patients who are attending our hospital, who are showing signs of coronavirus, appropriately and isolating those individuals. let's catch up with the weather. hello there. wet and windy in the north and west of the country. winds gusting 50 mph in places. the wet and windy weather associated with these weather front will spread east across england and wales this evening and overnight, eventually clearing through on sunday. in its wa ke clearing through on sunday. in its wake it will leave blustery showers, sunny spells and some colder air. the wind is quite a feature to end the day across irish sea coast,

gusting 40 to 50 mph, accompanied by the heavy rain which will be slicing into western parts of scotland and into western parts of scotland and into northern ireland. tending to stay dry further east. the first pa rt stay dry further east. the first part of the night of the rain and strong winds transfer east, reaching eastern england by the end of the night. behind it, clearspells and blustery showers. cooler by the end of the night. something milderfor the south and east where we have the wind and rain. to start sunday it will be quite unsettled for the south, wet and windy, fairly mild. the rain cleared through. for many a bright day, sunshine, blustery showers, most in the north and west, some hail and thunder, wintriness over the high ground of scotland, cooler here. the cooler air eventually reaching the south east as we reach sunday evening. as we move through sunday evening and overnight it stays blustery, clear spells, lots of showers piling into the north and west, some of them heavy, some snow over the scottish

hills, and a cooler night for all is the chilly air mass reaches all areas. cool enough for a touch of frost perhaps sheltered glens of eastern scotland. beyond sunday into monday, another area of low pressure will move in off the atlantic to bring another spell of wet and windy weather to our shores. it will be followed by more wet and windy weather on tuesday. monday starts of chile, dry, bright, plenty of sunshine. some showers ahead of the rain, which will push into north and west in britain through the afternoon. the rain will be heavy and persistent and there will be snow on the leading edge across northern england and into scotland, mainly over the hills. milder in the south, chile and the north, wet and windy on tuesday. very mild for a time in the south. stays unsettled for the rest of the week. sunshine and showers, feeling cool at times.