good afternoon. italy has imposed sweeping restrictions on the movement and activities of more than a quarter of its population in areas of the north and east of the country. some 16 million people are affected by the virtual lockdown as the government tries to limit the spread of coronavirus. the restriction applies to the entire lombardy region, italy's wealthiest, and 1a other provinces. all travel not deemed essential is banned. jon donnison reports.

in central milan this morning, an uneasy quiet. a quarter of italy's population, some 16 million people, including those living in the country's second biggest city, now quarantine. translation: we are facing a national emergency. we have done so from the outside with exceptional precautionary measures, and we are facing it with great awareness, without underestimating the situation. but such a drastic measure is an admission that italy has so far failed to contain the virus, with around 6000 cases and more than 230 deaths. it is not a com plete more than 230 deaths. it is not a complete lockdown. trains and planes will still run, but many travellers are choosing to stay home and police will be able to restrict the movements of people. bars and cafe is can stay open but must ensure customers can sit one metre apart.

translation: -- this customers can sit one metre apart. translation: —— this man, a primary school teacher, has been making a video diary with his family. he has already been in quarantine for several weeks. he says people have to cooperate with the new measures are the problem will get worse, with hospitals already overloaded. venice, which ordinarily welcomes more than 20 million tourists a year is also now considered a red zone. rome is not part of the quarantine area but this morning, pope francis gave his weekly address by video link rather than from the traditional balcony overlooking worshippers in st peter's square. and all top—flight football matches across the country will be played behind closed doors until at least april, but as the number of cases continues to rise rapidly, the question some are asking is if this is all being done to late?.

our correspondent bethany bell is in bologna, which is outside the quarantine zone. yes, it is about 25 miles outside one of the quarantine areas. here, people are really coming to grips with what may be happening. no one is quite sure how these measures are going to be policed. the announcement was made by the prime minister in the middle of the night. we know that people are being encouraged not to move in or out of these areas, but at the same time, they will be allowed to travel if they will be allowed to travel if they have special permission, if there are a essential work reasons for them to move or if there are emergencies and it should be stressed that the airports are still open, planes and trains are running, so open, planes and trains are running, so holiday—makers should not be stranded, but people are not sure how this is going to impact their everyday lives or the economy, and how long it is going to go on for.

bethany bell in bologna, thank you very much. here, the chancellor has said the government is ready to deliver "whatever action is required" to deal with the coronavirus crisis. rishi sunak, who delivers his first budget on wednesday, said a range of options was being looked at to help businesses survive the impact of employees going sick. our political correspondent jonathan blake reports. the effects of the coronavirus outbreak are clear to see. a country taking steps to cope — unsure what the ultimate impact will be. and in the midst of the crisis, the chancellor is preparing a budget. the economy is strong, he claims, but there will be measures to ease the impact and some help for businesses feeling the strain. we are looking very hard at a range of scenarios and making sure that in each of those we can respond appropriately and that means providing support for public services, and we have already done that with regard to the nhs, making sure we can support vulnerable people and also making

sure we can help businesses get through what could be an impact on their businesses that could be significant but for a temporary period of time. under new emergency laws drawn up by the government volunteers will be able to work in the health service for up to four weeks without losing theirjobs. court cases could be held via video link to ensure the justice system can function and recently retired health workers will be able to return to work without an impact on their pension. moves welcomed by those working in the nhs already under strain. we have been very short—staffed in the nhs and in social care in particular for a long time and so the additional help will be very welcome indeed. part of the reason it is going to be so helpful is it is going to help us to be able to move people out of hospital who are well but cannot go home because they need additional help at home and that isn't available very easily at the moment in the social care system. there was relief this morning forformer passengers of the diamond princess cruise ship, kept in quarantine after being flown back from japan. we are looking forward to going home. what has it been like in there? 0k. lovely. they have looked after us.

empty shelves have prompted tesco to become the latest supermarket to limit the sales of some products as experts advise there is no need to panic buy. jonathan blake, bbc news. spending on flood defences in england is set to double in the budget. £5.2 billion has been allocated to build 2,000 new schemes over the next six years. northern ireland, scotland and wales will each receive the same percentage increase to fund their own flood defences. the government is promising money to help struggling high streets in order to help reduce regional inequalities. retailers say business rates are one of their biggest problems, especially what's called transitional relief, this slows down the speed with which their rates bills go up and down. they say it's cost the sector hundreds of millions of pounds. emma simpson reports from blackpool. this is one of the best retail streets in blackpool and this unit is one of the best units in the street. ten or 15 years ago we would have been fighting the retailers off,

the demand would have been strong. no longer. this used to be a top shop, but it has just handed back the keys. now paul moran's company is struggling to find somebody to fill the gap because the business rates bill is too big. the rates bill on this shop is dramatically higher than its rental value. it is the first thing they will look it, it is the first question they will ask, what is the rate bill? and it is deterring tenants from taking this unit. this town is feeling the impact of the huge upheaval in retail, driven by the rise in online shopping. the market is changing fast, but business rates are not keeping up. business rates are a tax based on how much a property is worth in rent. now, if rents fall, so should rates. if they go up, so will the rates bill. it sounds reasonable,

but changes to rates are gradually phased in to help businesses adjust. too gradually, though, for towns like this one where bills are not coming down fast enough. that's the problem. take this poundland store round the corner. rents fell dramatically in 2017 when the government last revalued property. its rates bill should have gone down by 46%, but by the end of next year, it will only have dropped in real terms by 13%. this one shop is effectively paying £167,000 in extra tax through the system known as transitional relief. i call it comic relief, in fairness. we are a business that is thriving, but transitional relief costs us millions of pounds. the boss of poundland says it needs to be scrapped. i could open more shops, i could employ more colleagues, i could create better products for existing customers. itjust holds the business back

from investing and driving growth. the government is promising a fundamental review of business rates and is halving them for small shops at the budget. but that will not be much help to the big chains which are trying to steer through turbulent times in the towns in need of the most support. emma simpson, bbc news, blackpool. cricket, and australia have beaten india to win the women's t20 world cup final in melbourne. the hosts scored 184 for 4 in their 20 overs. india were bowled out forjust 99. the game's organisers had been hoping for a record crowd for a women's sporting event, but the 86,000 figure fell 4,000 short. the duchess of sussex has used one of her final public appearances as a senior royal to urge men to do more to respect women. she was speaking during a surprise visit to a school in east london on friday. the details have been released this morning to mark

international women's day. last night, meghan appeared with her husband, prince harry, at an event in london. this report from our royal correspondent nicholas witchell contains extensive flash photography from the start. cheering. take a good look because we won't be seeing much more of this for a while. the duke and duchess of sussex, last night, at the royal albert hall, still introduced as "their royal highnesses" and still very much looking the part. harry was making a final appearance as captain general of the royal marines, complete with gold braid, medals and honours. for her part, meghan is leaving formal royal life with a strong endorsement of a cause about which she feels deeply, the rights of women. a couple of days ago, she visited a school in dagenham to make a speech timed for international women's day today. these were issues, she said, which were relevant every day and to every person, and she had a particular message for men. ijust encourage and empower each of you to really

stand in your truth, to stand for what is right, to continue to respect each other, for you young men, to continue to value and appreciate the women in your lives and also set the example for some men who are not seeing it that same way, right? you have your mothers, sisters, girlfriends, friends in your life, protect them, make sure they are feeling valued and safe. the speech went down well, the speaker was appreciated. she really is beautiful, innit? tomorrow, harry and meghan will make their final appearance for now, with the queen at westminster abbey. after that, the great experiment of their new supposedly non—royal life will begin in canada. nicholas witchell, bbc news. that is your lunchtime news. the next news on bbc one is at 6:30.

from all the fuss on the team, have a good afternoon. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel with shaun ley. let's continue with the news that the italian government has announced a massive lockdown, affecting millions of people, in northern italy. ski resorts, cinemas, gyms and nightclubs can't open in the region of lombardy. restaurants and cafes can, but customers must sit a metre apart. around 16 million people across the north and east of the country are now in quarantine as part of the stringent new measures being introduced to tackle the spread of covid—19. all but emergency travel is prohibited to and from the entire region of lombardy, including the city of milan. let's talk to dr claire standley, an assistant research professor at georgetown university who specialises in how public response to infectious disease. she's in heidelberg in germany.

thank you very much for speaking to us on thank you very much for speaking to us on bbc news. what are we seeing in terms of the pattern of infection? is it becoming clearer?” think we're getting an incredible amount data as countries share information with who and publicly. we are seeing there is a transmission occurring in communities which we have seen in many countries around the world and that will change how public health systems respond and we are seeing that in the uk as well as other places. i suppose the question is inevitably the length of this outbreak, something we can't possibly answer now but looking at what has happened in china with a couple of days where the number of new cases has not exceeded 100, is that an encouraging sign? or are scientists worried that that bias is in abeyance but has not been killed

off? —— the virus. in abeyance but has not been killed off? -- the virus. it has not been killed off yet as there are a new crisis. any decrease is an encouraging sign and china put in an extremely stringent control process starting in january. extremely stringent control process starting injanuary. we are hopefully seeing the impact of that but we are now in march so there is a time like and we know there is a relatively long incubation period for the virus so it's a bit early to say if we have seen the back of it 01’ say if we have seen the back of it or if cases will increase. and difficult for any government or local authority to plan the response when you don't know if you will get a cluster of cases, a significant number of cases that might have knock—on effects. some general measures are being taken, we have seen measures are being taken, we have seen the closure of schools is perhaps the most dramatic but is that the sort of thing we should be expecting here, eventually, those kinds of big institutions, the once webb him —— where people won't want to mix? yes, and one of the things about this outbreak that has been

unprecedented is the amount of data we are getting to. we have more scientific information about this virus than ever before in history so i hope public health authorities use the information when making decisions. for example, we know the people who are at most at risk of severe impact from this, the elderly, those with underlying health conditions so we have the plan or public health response is to protect them first and foremost. and another question is about resources. i was talking to a virology used from the university of leeds earlier and he was saying we have good testing facilities but the tests have to be evaluated so you do the testing but have to wait for the results. and that perhaps is where there is a delay and that can have an impact on knowing how quickly there are cases and how to respond to them. presumably this sort of practical question is a problem in a lot of countries? absolutely although i think what we're seeing is that some of the countries that had the most impact from sars in

2003 seem to be coping better particular with respect to testing and management of contact, tracing patients and seeing who they have come into contact with. it goes to show that experience and preparedness can improve the response of a country. claire standley, thank you very much for talking to us this afternoon. thank you for having me. one of the people who will be affected by the italian lockdown is peggy johnson, a british ex—patriate currently living in the village of montevecchio in lombardy. she spoke to us about how her daily life will change. there is no social interaction, they don't want any big gatherings of people. all of the sports facilities — i can't go to the gym, the swimming pools are closed down, all the kids are at home from school probably until the 3rd of april. restaurants and bars are allowed to open if they can guarantee that the clients keep one metre from each other. i don't see how that will work. people are starting

to take it more seriously. i have to defend italy in this. italy has been slandered as the worst place, the place that spread it over the world, but italy was the place that did most tests and of course they found more victims because they were doing the tests. they put into place a lot of measures before any other european country. i think they have handled it very well. they have tried their best to contain it. the supermarkets, even though there was a bit of panic buying at the beginning, they are more or less pretty well stocked at the moment. there are not many people in there. just today at my local supermarket, they said they would deliver groceries free of charge to anybody over 65 which is good because people who can't move, at least they can get their groceries. psychologically. .. i've got lots of books to read! lots of things to do on the computer. i'm getting used to the idea because already i have been more cautious than most people because i have an underlying lung condition so i'm a bit more at risk. i've been using my mask and washing my hands

and not touching my face and all those things. i've not been out much in the last couple of weeks, i have to admit, so it'll be an extension of that for me. that was peggyjohnson. for a second consecutive day in china, there have been fewer than 100 new cases of coronavirus in the whole country. the health authorities are reporting 44 new suspected cases in the past 2a hours. and there have been a further 27 deaths, all of them concentrated in hubei province, where the outbreak began. more patients quarantined after returing to the uk from the diamond princess cruise ship have been leaving arrowe park hospital near birkenhead this morning. our correspondent stuart flinders is there and speaking to me a little earlier, he explained how those people have been doing. it has been a pretty tough few weeks for them. they flew in as a group of 32 people who had been on board the diamond princess,

a cruise liner injapan, when coronavirus was found to be on board. they came back to the uk, two irish nationals and the rest are british, and immediately four were found to have coronavirus and were sent to specialist centres in liverpool, sheffield and newcastle. the remaining 28 have spent the past two weeks here and last night the first of them started to begin theirjourney home and back to their normal lives. they are described as guests here and not patients, and most left in large taxis with blackened windows this morning but a couple did stop to talk to me. how are you? i am fine, very well, thank you. what has it been like in there? very well looked after. the hospital were terrific, really terrific. but if i am on the box or anything, please, i want to say thank you to the government ofjapan. it was a very robust quarantine. without it, i think, thousands more would have been infected. that didn't happen. 2,000 to 3,000 now are testing negative, thanks to them.

they were correct. thanks to japan and thank you so much to the hospital. now i am going to go away and have a haircut — the first thing i am going to do. we are very looking forward to going home. looking forward to going home now. we are very looking forward to going home. thank you. it'a a relief. what's it been like in there? 0k. it's lovely. they have looked after us. where are you from? kent, sheerness. what are your names? elaine and john spencer. the whole experience, effectively you've had four weeks of this, haven't you? we have had four weeks. that's a month's isolation. that is a long time. thank you. thank you very much. the reason it has been four weeks is because before they began their two weeks here, they were in isolation for two weeks on board the diamond princess. that quarantine period turned out to be a complete waste of time when it turned out that one fifth of the passengers and crew and holiday—makers on board, 3700 people, all had coronavirus. they were brought to the uk and now have begun theirjourneys home all over the country

and there is one couple i know who were heading down south, one, the wife was going home but the husband has got to go to heathrow to collect a car which has been parked there since they began their holiday more than a month ago. and what about at arrowe park? how well—prepared are they if there is an increase in the rate of infection, and they have to provide these facilities for more people? of course this was not the first batch of coronavirus people being isolated. 83 people were brought here from china at the start of this scare. they came here and spent two weeks here and were very complimentary about the treatment they had here, treated as guests, as i said. they have gone and right now the hospital has brought in a team of cleaners who will deep clean the whole area where people were in here until this morning and then they are ready to go again if necessary.

stuart flinders talking to be from arrowe park hospital. here's a reminder now of some important information about the virus. this is what we all need to know about reducing our risk of catching 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 yourface with unwashed hands because this can spread disease. the first symptoms of coronavirus are a fever and a cough and you may experience shortness of breath. if you have a cough or high temperature, that does not necessarily mean you have coronavirus but if you think you might, don't go to hospital or your gp. stay at home and call nhs111, 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 developments about the coronavirus outbreak, how to guard against it, and what it means for you, on the bbc news app and on our website.

today is international women's day, a worldwide event which celebrates women's achievements while also calling for gender equality. this year's theme is each for equal which aims to challenge stereotypes, fight bias and broaden perceptions. i've been speaking to gender rights campaigner natasha mudhar from the organisation the world we want. she explained the importance of this year's theme. i think it draws attention to the fact that women make up half of the world's population, and if you want to see 100% progress for people and planet, we need to be ensuring that women's rights, women are part of that discussion and that conversation. in order to have a more balanced perspective, even when it comes to legislation, i was reading a report that it will take 95 years for women to be equally represented in the political arena.

even when you look at the business workplace, currently globally there is only 95% women who hold top—tier managerial positions. by including women in those senior decision—making conversations, we can ensure a more balanced, more fairer view in the world that we are living in. what was that statistic for the number of women in the highestjobs in business? 2596. 29%, sorry. so we are not even yet at a third. no, we are not. and the un goal on sustainable equality is that it should be equal by2030 equality is that it should be equal by 2030 so we have ten years to close the gap. only ten years. that's a good way to put it. what is not yet being done that it needs to be done to achieve the objective because some of it is about our approach, but there are tools that can be used ? approach, but there are tools that

can be used? absolutely. how long do we have? why do i begin?! if you look at this year's theme for international women's day, it is equal, each for equal and one particular notion in the theme is the idea of collective individualism. i'm a big believer that individually we can make a small very impactful changes but if we come together, talking about ci’oss we come together, talking about cross collaboration from countries and corporate, if we come together we can make a bigger difference. as i mentioned earlier, i think one area is ensuring we have more female role models, in every aspect of society, not just to role models, in every aspect of society, notjust to empower and inspire women and girls, so that they can believe they can unlock their potential and achieve those positions of power as well, but to ensure we have a fairerjudgment when it comes to those things. what are the dilemmas women talk about when they reach senior levels in the

professions ? when they reach senior levels in the professions? across a range of businesses. it is a real trade—off between wanting to be the engine of change and having to work in a way thatis change and having to work in a way that is accepted by the organisation i'm in. there are established patterns of behaviour where events are organised and meetings held, a lot of little things, because the blokes have always done this, the women feel they have to... unless they do that they don't feel they will be able to make the other changes so it is a huge dilemma? absolutely but if you look outside the workplace, i believe this starts in your formative years when you are a child. that is why we need to bring boys into the conversation. which meghan was making the point about. it is notjust about male bashing man a big believer that it's about special rights but equal rights and they are human rights. bringing boys and girls into the conversation in their formative yea rs conversation in their formative years and did magic institutions like family and education, that is where you pick up and inculcate the right values and behaviour and

attitudes and sensibilities so that there will never be changed without change. pita ahki and the sentiment around it —— pita ahki —— patriarchy. to pick up on what we we re patriarchy. to pick up on what we were talking about, we can take a look at paris where the demonstration is taking place today for international women's day. we have had some dancing and performances on the streets of paris with a great turnout for the parade at the front, we can't see it at the moment but we saw a few minutes ago the banner saying" we stopped all" which is the message to bring to halt everything going on today so people can stop and reflect on their attitudes to women, how they can be changed, both for women and men, attitudes to women, how they can be changed, both forwomen and men, in trying to get greater equality put france as always had equality in terms of formal political rights,

relatively early, but, as in a lot of countries, that does not translate into real social equality. and all sorts of issues, reproductive issues, about sexual relationships, property rights, they are still very much lived around the world and many countries, for example where women cannot inherit as the same way that men can come at least 20 countries where that is the case, and many countries where women face far greater hurdles than they do in others. put it in paris, a great city and a reminder of the fa ct great city and a reminder of the fact that this is not a problem just parts of the world but in europe as well. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's holly hamilton. good afternoon. we're talking about a coronavirus and how much impact is on sporting events. and today it's been announced that the bahrain grand prix will be the first ever formula 1 race to be staged behind closed doors. they say they know how disappointed many fans will be

but safety is their priority. here's our formula one reporterjennie gow. news overnight that the bahrain international circuit have announced there will be no spectators allowed at the grand prix happening in two weeks' time. this will be the first timea grand weeks' time. this will be the first time a grand prix race has been held behind closed doors and whilst teams and drivers and personnel and media and drivers and personnel and media and all the logistics staff will be there, it will be a very different feeling to the bahrain grand prix. this is a direct result of coronavirus and bahrain have been very quick to treat, and find and isolate cases and they want to continue with a proactive stance put at the f1 paddock is getting ready to go to australia, many of the garages are set up at the albert park circuit so it is very much a watching brief. the new regulations coming in from italy make it quite difficult for the likes of pirelli,

ferrari and alphatauri to address how they will move forward if they can't go in and out of the area where they are based. but for the time being, it is business as usual in formula 1, even if some events might have to look to follow the leader bahrain and do it behind closed doors. the coronavirus spread has also affected upcoming tennis tournaments. players will be asked not to hand out used towels and sweatbands to fans, while they'll also not accept pens or tennis balls for signing at upcoming atp and wta events — starting at next week's tournament in indian wells. there are two games in the premier league today. chelsea host everton at 2pm, then there's a huge game at old trafford as manchester united take on manchester city. 15 points seperate the two teams at the moment, with city in second and united in 7th. one match in the scottish premiership has already kicked off. rangers are at struggling ross county.