welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: italy is preparing emergency measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak which could stop people entering or leaving the worst affected regions. passengers stuck on board a huge cruise ship moored off the californian coast, are being tested for the coronavirus. hello and welcome to bbc news. the italian government says it will adopt emergency measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. it comes after over 1,200 new cases were reported in italy in the last 2a hours —

the biggest daily rise in cases since the outbreak started. officials say 36 more people have died in the last 2a hours. the authorities are preparing a major escalation of controls, blocking all but emergency travel to and from the entire region of lombardy, including the city of milan. the decree being prepared this evening would also extend to 11 northern and eastern provinces, as well as the cities of parma and venice. the measures will see schools closed for several weeks along with all museums, swimming pools, and ski resorts. the number of cases in lombardy is already causing problems for hospitals. some are running out of spare beds, according to the head of the civil protection agency. translation: lombardy, as you know, is facing a tense situation in its hospitals. we expect that we will be asked to transfer patients to intensive care services in other regions. we will win this battle, this war, if our fellow

citizens adopt responsible behaviour. we have to change our way of life, especially those persons who are in the fragile category, and at risk. in the united states, the number of deaths from coronavirus is now 19. passengers on board a cruise ship stranded off the coast of california say the process of testing everyone on board has started. they're preparing for a number of days, or even weeks in isolation. from san francisco, sophie long reports. a large, empty berth. this is where the grand princess should have docked today. instead, it remains stranded off the coast of california. the lives of those on board left in limbo. 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 with this one. something good will come out of this. we don't know what it is, and i'm going to test negative anger to go home have some treatment. testing kits lowered onto the cruise ship revealed 21 people on board have coronavirus. confirmation came from news channels, not the ship's captain. you may have heard this on the news by the media already, and we apologise, but we we re already, and we apologise, but we were not given advance notice of this announcement by the us federal government. it would have been a 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. michelle's motherjackie is a board with her friend margaret. both women are in their 70s. michelle wants the government to act quickly and bring them home.

when they were told that there were 21 cases of the coronavirus on the ship, and most of them were staff, that is when reality hit last night and she was very, very tearful on the phone. the ships medical crew so they are working to address urgent health needs and one person may have to be airlifted to hospital. they have come closer to sure to make it easier to get supplies on board, but, ultimately, thousands of people still have no idea where they are going or when they will get there. sophie long, bbc news, san francisco. the us vice president mike pence has held talks with leaders of the cruise line industry. he said they were tracking another ship that had shared crew with the grand princess. mr pence also announced there would be strict measures in place for dealing with cruise ships. today we reached an agreement with the cruise line industry to further enhance entry and exit screening. and also to establish shipboard testing for the coronavirus. new quara ntining standards will be co—ordinated with the cdc for all ships, and we also will be working with the industry, as they develop a plan to move any patients that contract the coronavirus, or otherwise become seriously ill,

to land—based facilities. let's get some of the day's other news. lebanon's government has voted to default on a foreign currency debt for the first time in the country's history. the country will no longer pay a $1.2 billion eurobond that matures this monday. —— the country will no longer pay a 1.2 billion eurobond that matures this monday. the prime minister, hassan diab, said lebanon's debt had become more than it could bear and the decision had been made to protect the country's interests. 38 workers at venezuela's state oil company have been arrested on allegations of trafficking fuel. those detained include the president of a shipping firm and the crew of a tanker accused of illegally selling its consignment of oil. venezuela's interior minister, nestor reverol, described the alleged acts as "treason". a reminder that you can find more on all our stories plus all the latest information

about the coronavirus — including what you can do to avoid it — on our website. this guide on how to stay safe goes through the basic steps like washing your hands and also how to spot the symptoms of the disease. the number of coronavirus cases in the uk has passed 200. two people have died, each was elderly with underlying health issues. the family of one of the two victims has spoken of its pain in not being able to grieve, as its members are now in isolation. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes reports. the second person to die in the uk after being infected by coronavirus is a man in his 80s, who was being treated in hospital in milton keynes. we know he had underlying health problems but there is still some uncertainty over exactly how he fell ill. we don't know yet how the individual patient caught coronavirus. we do know that the individual had been travelling. however, he didn't meet any of the criteria for isolation when he arrived at the hospital.

this evening, the family of the patient issued a statement. they said: so far, 21,460 people have been tested for coronavirus. 209 of those tested were positive. in england, 184 cases have been confirmed. in scotland, there are 16, seven in northern ireland and two in wales. these are still quite small numbers, compared with other countries. in europe, for example, italy, i think it is now up to 4,000 but, nevertheless, it is progressing. and i think as professor whitty said to the health select committee last week that, really, the chances of the uk missing an epidemic now are slim to nil.

there are a few anecdotal reports of panic buying. certainly, sales of hand sanitiser seem to have gone up, but retail experts say there is absolutely no need. stock will only run down if people start to unnecessarily buy in bulk. it now seems that, one way or another, coronavirus is likely to have an impact on the lives of all of us. it's worth pointing out that, for the vast majority of those who are unlucky enough to be infected, most of them will experience very mild symptoms and will make a full recovery. so, how is all of this affecting the behaviour of shoppers here in manchester on a saturday afternoon? has it changed the way i live? yes, the way you go about things? not really, no. we've got some extra hand gel and soap and stuff, so we're washing our hands a bit more. you're washing your hands a bit more, aren't you? i don't like to touch the door handles and everything, so i touch everything with a tissue. and maybe this is a sign of things to come — a big day of sporting action disrupted. at twickenham, warnings were clear outside the ground as england took on wales

in the six nations. and the scotland women's six nations rugby match with france, cancelled because a player has tested positive for the virus. sport's governing bodies and broadcasters are to meet government officials on monday to discuss plans to stage events behind closed doors if the outbreak worsens. and officials warn these are still early days. it's just too early to be able to assess the full impact of coronavirus. dominic hughes, bbc news, manchester. after the wettest february on record, the association of british insurers says the total value of pay—outs to people hit by recent flooding will be around 360 million. meanwhile, some affected businesses are starting to trade again. here's our business correspondent katie prescott. the long process of rebuilding begins. communities like these in ironbridge are helping businesses get back on their feet after devastating winter floods. if it wasn't for the people

in this community, the people of ironbridge, coalbrookdale, further on into telford, even as far as far away as australia, we wouldn't be in this situation we are in now. we started trading this morning. we've been busy all day and it's all local people, it's all the people that came out to support us and we are genuinely humbled, by everything everybody‘s done. but there's still a long and expensive journey ahead. the insurance industry is also counting the cost. more than 3,000 households have made flood claims, for an average of £32,000. the cost of clearing up and dealing with the aftermath of ciara and dennis is £360 million. that's more than triple the damage from floods which hit the midlands and south yorkshire last november, but still relatively small compared to the cost of three successive storms, desmond, eva and frank, which hit in december 2015. they cost £1.3 billion.

insurers expect storms like this to result in millions of pounds‘ worth of damage. it's what they're used to, it's what they plan for and, actually, the true cost is not going to be down for many months, as those badly flooded properties get a chance to dry out and we can assess the full extent of the damage. several large insurers have recently said how winter flood claims are hitting their businesses. and with climate change expected to increase the number of floods in the uk, managing this risk is only going to become more expensive. katie prescott, bbc news. the turkish president, recep tayyip erdogan, has ordered his country's coastguard to prevent migrants crossing the aegean to greek islands. the coastguard said this was because of the dangers they faced. but pressure continues at turkey's land border with greece, where thousands of young men — some from syria but most from elsewhere — are attempting to get to europe. david campa nale reports.

the land route into europe is block. as they approach tu rkey‘s block. as they approach turkey‘s border fence with greece, hopeful migrants are met with volleys of tear—gas by police. frustrated by desperate to get across, groups of young men, predominantly from afghanistan, pakistan, and iran, try forcing away through to better life. water cannon, though, is used to drive them back. the message from the european union's foreign policy chief is to avoid moving to a closed door. and greece is enforcing that with every means they can. they are going to the metropole station and they are giving us tickets. no—one is telling us anything. it is no problem now. so we had tojust

wait. if they open the door then we have to cross the border. if not we have to go back to istanbul. the stand-off at the great turkish border reflects a deeper impasse between the two countries. last week ancor announced it would no longer event migrants crossing into europe, greece vowed not to let the migrants in —— ankara. it is now moving to tightened security along the 140 kilometre border, saying turkey has orchestrated the crisis, using the migrants as geopolitical pawns. turkey, in turn, accuses greece of endangering lives and violating its own and international laws on asylum. in between the two positions, and caught in a no man's zone, migrants cannot move forwards into greece, and turkey says they won't be letting them back. david campanale, bbc news. this is bbc news. the headlines: the italian government's preparing emergency measures against coronavirus, which it's reported, will prevent

people entering or leaving the entire northern region of lombardy. passengers stranded on a cruise ship moored off california have started being tested for the virus. let's return to the response to the virus outbreak in the americas. dr saskia popescu is a senior infection prevention epidemiologist with honorhealth in arizona. shejoins me now from phoenix. you have one of the longestjob titles i have seen. could you please describe to our viewers what exactly your role involves. yes. i work to help prepare hospitals for infectious disease events are covid-19, but infectious disease events are covid—19, but also when we are not dealing with outbreaks, make sure that patients don't apply infections, nor do healthcare workers. we try to keep them out of hospital. how are you and healthcare workers coping up the moment? we are very busy. it is something that

we never like to see an outbreak, but realistic we know these things happen. since we saw the first cases in early january we have been working ha rd to january we have been working hard to prepare a healthcare system, educate staff and really prepare basically the united states for this. u nfortu nately united states for this. unfortunately it has been increasingly hard as we have had capacity issues and more cases in the community. are you able to remedy those shortages 01’ able to remedy those shortages or those lack of preparations? i know right now the us is working hard, cdc has been pushing out lab test kit across the united states and we have been ramping up efforts, which is very important and very needed because we can't identify needs if we don't have capacity. that being said, we are still dealing with shortages of personal protective equipment like masks and surgical masks, which is difficult for healthcare response. you difficult for healthcare response. you are difficult for healthcare response. you are in the us, but i would like to address latin america if i may. there area number of latin america if i may. there are a number of scattered cases

there. that region, according to your knowledge, have the kind of healthcare infrastructure it would need in order to cope with a bigger outbreak? i think it really depends on the country. any healthcare depends on the country. any healthca re system depends on the country. any healthcare system or public healthcare system or public health system that is not particularly robust is going to be challenged in a situation, and unfortunately there are some countries in latin america that are suffering, and as well isa that are suffering, and as well is a good example, they are dealing with a large outbreak, containment would be an issue because you have to have the critical issue to test and do surveillance and contact and isolation and all of these things that are critical during an outbreak. so it really depends on the country, how robust the public health and systems are. from what we can tell in this outbreak, the elderly appear to be most at risk, as they might often are in outbreaks. what special measures might be taken to protect them? what we are seeing right now, especially in the us, elderly patients and those with chronic lung and heart conditions are more likely to suffer from more

severe forms of the illness. when they do get the disease, it is more severe, requiring hospitalisation and they have a higher risk for death. what the cdc recommends if you fall into those categories, to be mindful, practice social distancing, hand hygiene, those basic prevention measures, but if you have an outbreak in your community, they encourage people to stay home if possible if you fall into those two categories. doctor, thank you very much forjoining us. thank you. rescue efforts are continuing through the night. —— rescue efforts are continuing through the night in china's eastern city of quanzhou after a 5—storey hotel collapsed, trapping dozens of people. the hotel was being used as a quarantine facility for people who'd come in to contact with confirmed cases of coronavirus. rich preston has this report. a lucky survivor being pulled alive from the rubble. after this five story hoteljust gave way. emergency crews rushed to the scene as a crowd looked on

in disbelief. reports started coming through around 7:30pm saturday night local time in the province. about 70 people we re the province. about 70 people were staying in the hotel, which was being used as a coronavirus quarantine facility. monitoring those who had had close contact with confirmed cases of covid—19. like many across china, they we re like many across china, they were waiting to get the all clear before being allowed to leave. more than 10,000 people across the country have been put under observation since the coronavirus outbreak. it is still not clear why the building collapsed. the central government in beijing has sent a specialist team to the region to help with the rescue operation. richard preston, bbc news. italy is set to ban people from entering or leaving lombardy, its wealthiest and most populous region, to control the coronavirus outbreak. lombardy, which houses italy's financial capital, milan, and over10 million people, has been particularly affected by the outbreak.

the lockdown is part of tough new measures, which once approved, could also see public spaces, such as theatres and gyms, shut for several weeks. one of the people who will be affected is peggy johnson, a british expatriate currently living in the village of montevecchio. i spoke to her about how her day—to—day life will change. all we know at the moment is that it all we know at the moment is thatitis all we know at the moment is that it is a draft proposal and we are still waiting for the government to sign off on it. it is quite detailed. it is telling the citizens what we presume will happen, but we don't know yet. there isn't any personal information yet. but if it happens, it is going to change our lives a lot. in what way? in every way? in every way! basically you are allowed to go out of your home only to go to work or to go food shopping. there is no social interaction, they don't want

any big gatherings of people, all the sports facilities, you can't go to the gym, the swimming pools are closed down, all those kids are at home from school probably until the end of april, restaurants and bars are allowed open if they can guarantee that the clients keep one metre from each other. cannot see how that will work. how will the way to serve? even now, going for a how will the way to serve? even now, going fora nice how will the way to serve? even now, going for a nice quiet country walk, it is not safe because everybody is at home because everybody is at home because a lot of people working in offices are working at home. if it is a nice day, everybody does a country walk. today was like trafalgar square. did you stay one metre away from everyone? i tried my best but it wasn't easy. lombardy is one of the most connected places in europe. how does itjust get cut off? do you expect people to follow instructions given you are so to follow instructions given you are so connected with the rest of europe? well, in the

d raft rest of europe? well, in the draft proposal, they haven't talked about transport, they haven't talked about closing down airports for example. if you can't leave lombardy, presumably you can't fly. there was nothing in the proposal about that. and they are talking about bringing in extra, even the military to make sure that the borders are kept safe. it is crazy! it is absolutely crazy. when you speak to people, your neighbours, yourfriends, speak to people, your neighbours, your friends, is there any resentment about these potential instructions, people shrugging their shoulders and getting on with it? initially there were, initially, but now people are starting to take it more seriously, luckily, because i have to defend italy in this. italy has been slandered as the worst place, the place that sprinted all over the world. but italy was the place did most test. of course i found more victims because they were doing the tests, and they put into place a lot of measures before any of the european country. i think they have handled it very well. they really have tried their best to

contain it, and they are still trying. even the world health 0rganization awarded them a couple of days ago. are you psychologically and practically ready to live this new form of life or potentially weeks and weeks on end? it would be until at least the third of april. practically, yes, because the supermarkets, even though there was a bit of panic buying at the beginning, the supermarkets are more or less pretty stopped at the moment. there are not many people in them. just today my local supermarket said that it will deliver groceries free of charge to anybody over 65, so of charge to anybody over 65, so that is good because people who don't want to move who can't move, at they can the groceries. psychologically... i have lots of books to read a lot of things to do on the computer stop i'm getting used to the idea. already i have been more cautious than most people because i have an underlying condition so i am a

little bit more at risk so i have been using my mask and watching my fans are not touching my face. i have not been out much the last couple of weeks, so it willjust be an extension of that for me. i wish i asked her which novels she was planning on reading. we will no doubt speak to her again. all around the world, health authorities are trying to spread messages of good hygiene to slow down the spread of the new coronavirus. but how can they persuade everyone to properly wash their hands? in vietnam, they've produced a music video, along with a dance challenge. the tune has taken the country by storm and has since gone global.

it takes every fibre i have not tojoin in with it takes every fibre i have not to join in with that dance. and finally, let's bring you some good news from china where a baby who was diagnosed with coronavirus has been discharged from a hospital in henan province. it's unusual for young children to contract coronavirus. the baby, who was diagnosed with covid—19 just five days after birth, had been receiving treatment for the last month, and has now been returned to his parents. they have also recovered from the virus and were discharged themselves two weeks earlier, along with another four members of the same family who had also tested positive for the virus. now, time for a look at the weather with phil avery.

hello. saturday brought contrasting with the forgings across the british isles. the south and east. dry the most part, further north and west. it turned out to be a pretty wet and windy sort of day. notjust on the coast either. much of that brought about by this weather front, which through sunday takes relatively mild air over towards the continent, leaves us with something slightly fresher. the isobars begin to open up a touch, but there's still a fair few of them, so it's a brighter today, yes, but there will be a scattering of showers. no great organisation about them, i suspect, the heaviest of them perhaps out towards the west and a few more of them as well. byt the temperatures just falling back a degree or two from the lofty heights of saturday. and we get into a showery regime to finish of the week, but at the monday and tuesday, they look to be mild and wet and windy. and for all of that, you have to look quite a way out into the atlantic, but with time, so that system

works its way towards the western side of the british isles. monday starts off dry enough, don't be fooled. northern ireland, you cloud up in the morning and here comes that wind and rain and that pushes into the west of scotland widely across the west of england, through wales and it's really quite heavy rain in there. and it's driest for longest yet again further towards the east, especially in the north—east of scotland and eastern side of england. you get to see the wind and rain there later on in the day on monday and just when you hope the frontal system would move away, itjust kinks a wee bit there, so we keep the cloud and the rain for the greater part of england and wales. for scotland and northern ireland, something a little bit brighter, but there are plenty of showers to be had across the north and west of scotland on what is going to be a blustery day right across the piste, but that front really a difference, because across central and southern areas, look at this, 15, 16, possibly 17 degrees. it's not overly cold further north, but you are closer to 8 to about 12 degrees or so because the air is coming

in from just south of west and we keep it coming from that sort of direction through wednesday. but the weather front will have moved away, taking the very mildest of the air with it. brighter skies, therefore, for many of us on wednesday, but still with a packet of showers across many northern much drier, brighter across the east but notjust as mild as was the case was for some of you during the course of tuesday. the second half of the week, as i say, the temperatures just begin to dribble away. no more than 17, not bad for the time of year.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the italian government is preparing to introduce radical new restrictions in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus. in a draft decree published in the italian press — the restrictions could include preventing all but emergency travel in and out of the worst affected region, lombardy.

all 3,500 people on board the grand princess cruise ship, lying off the coast of san francisco, are being tested for coronavirus. 21 passengers and crew earlier tested positive for the disease. the authorities will bring the ship to a non—commercial port and quarantine people there. the turkish president, recep tayyip erdogan, has ordered his country's coastguard to prevent migrants crossing the aegean to greek islands. pressure continues at turkey's land border, where thousands of young men, some from syria but most from elsewhere, are attempting to get to europe. the new chancellor, rishi sunak, will deliver his first budget this week, with all eyes on what measures he will announce to help people though the coronavirus outbreak. 0ne separate, expected move, is the scrapping of the so—called "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 a pack of 20 tampons, seven pence cheaper, with five pence coming off the cost of 12 sanitary pads. since 2015,

women in the uk have paid around £62