this is bbc news. the headlines. the government promises the nhs whatever it needs to tackle the coronavirus as the uk sees the biggest one—day jump and coronavirus as the uk sees the biggest one—dayjump and confirmed cases. 273 people have tested positive here. 16 million people in northern italy are placed in quarantine because of the virus. the number of people to have died in italy has shot up to 366, the highest figures outside china. a, there we go. in other news, the prime minister meets victims of flooding, announces he's doubling flooding, announces he's doubling flood defences funding, come into fa ns flood defences funding, come into fans not turning up when viewed lee

was underwater. it's all too easy for prime minister to come to a place in the middle of an emergency. it's not so easy, frankly, for the emergency services, because what they have to do is then break off. she really is beautiful, isn't she? qv a schoolboy who brought the house down with his view of megan. and he gets a hug from the duchess. slips out wide, mikel and for the drive! second try! scotland caused a big upset in the six nations rugby, as they beat france at murray field. and in the wake of the worst flooding to hit parts of wales in a0 yea rs, flooding to hit parts of wales in a0 years, flooded out of my home takes a look at families struggling to get their lives back together. that's in half an hour here on bbc news.

good evening. the chancellor says the nhs will be given whatever it needs to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. rishi sunak, who delivers his first budget on wednesday, was speaking as the uk saw it's biggest one day increase in confirmed cases so far. the department of health now says more than 270 people have been diagnosed with covid 19, the disease caused by the virus, and two people have died. more than 23 thousand others have tested negative. borisjohnson has urged the public to stay calm and not panic buy, as supermarkets including tesco, begin rationing food and household items because some people are begin rationing food and household items, because some people are stockpiling.

this despite widespread assurances they don't need to. here's chris mason. how do we, as a society, take on this coronavirus? what is a rational response to a new threat? doctors say this latest increase in cases is not surprising. i think they are going to continue to rise and we have to be realistic about that. we are moving on from the containment phase to the delay phase and it is really important that people adhere to the hygienic measures that the government are putting out there. the country's biggest supermarket, tesco, has put limits on the quantity of some items that an individual shopper can buy after some shelves were left bare. the prime minister insists there is absolutely no need to panic buy. 0n the people's responses to the news and buying in shops and so on, we have had no advice from the scientific advisers or the medical officer

that there is any need for people to buy stuff. what about food, briefly? how do supermarkets cope in a situation like this? and ultimately... are we going to have food shortages? again, if people are panic buying, you are going to see some short—term shortages come through onto the shelves. it all depends upon how quickly the retailers pick up on this and, like i say, their systems are good and they will have detected it already. again, different foods have different time they get to the shelves but give it a few days, the system will have adjusted to the new type of demand and you will start to see things improve, i'm pretty sure on that. in the midst of all this, the new chancellor will deliver his first budget on wednesday. 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

that we can help businesses get through what could be an impact on their businesses which could be significant but for a temporary period of time. labour say that was already a crisis in health and social care before this coronavirus arrived. for the government, for society, for each of us, covid—19 is posing big questions. chris mason, bbc news. chris masonjoins me now. chris, we were hearing in your report about richie's new neck announcing that the nhs would have whatever it needs, what else is the government doing that we know of to prepare? what they are now doing is preparing for what they anticipate to be the next stage, in other words a significant ramping up of the cases in the uk, and therefore, lots of questions about how you handle that. so one of those central themes is this idea of social distancing, basically people keeping a distance from one another, potentially sports fixtures, if things got worse,

taking place, so without crowds in the stadium, so tomorrow, some of the stadium, so tomorrow, some of the sports governing bodies are going to whitehall to meet officials at the department for digital culture media inspired to talk about the ramifications around that and the ramifications around that and the implications around broadcasting those kinds of sporting fixtures and rates. that kind of stuff. that will bea rates. that kind of stuff. that will be a big thing tomorrow. we are also hearing about plans around the practicality of society functioning as normally as possible in a situation where there was an epidemic here, and lots of people we re epidemic here, and lots of people were confined to their homes. 0ne epidemic here, and lots of people were confined to their homes. one of the ideas, in terms of keeping the justice system going is ramping up the amount of interactions that take place via the courts, either on the phone or on video links. the aim being that both defendants and witnesses could potentially come in that situation, still take part to what amounted to a court case. either in civil or criminal setting. but do so without that many people having to be in the same room at the same time. so, clearly, thought

being given to some of these issues, one of the other things that you and i were chatting about earlier was a boat and rates, tell us a little bit about that. again it gives you a sense of a kind of nitty—gritty conversations going on around practicalities. so, a couple of things, pension rights, we reported a couple of days ago on bbc news this idea that's retired nhs staff could be encouraged to come back to work they reregister. there's clearly been some concern made around what that might mean for people's pension entitlements. the government says it will do what it can to ensure there are no consequences of that. the other thing is around volunteers in the health and social care system. about 3 million in the country, quite a large number, working for organisations like the red cross and stjohn ambulance. the idea they in this legislation this will be playing later this month is to change a lot to ensure that people who do that kind of voluntary work can do so without the fear that they lose their dayjob. so they can

volunteer for up to four weeks and still go back to their dayjob without having lost it. now, ministers know they need to speak to businesses about that, because it would obviously have economic consequences for individual businesses, and they are not saying they would pay these volunteers for their voluntary work, so it would come with a financial cost of the volunteer as well. so what you can see now, in private, and then visibly now in public as the government showing it's working about what it's doing, conscious as it is, that in the short term, this looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better. and therefore, we know that cobra is meeting again tomorrow. remind people what that is end of the kinds of things they will be looking at. it stands for cabinet office briefing room, which is the room where it takes place, rather than a kind of snakelike reference or be a reference that it might sound like. it's the civil contingency committee for the government. the people who turn up depends on the issue that they are addressing. tomorrow, the prime minister will chair the meeting. i think it's absolutely essential to that discussion will be

this whole business about whether or not we have technically moved on from the first phase of containing the virus to the second phase of delaying it. delaying the scale of the spread. aspiration being that you delay that into the summer when the virus won't be able to pass from person to person as easily, but crucially, the nhs won't be dealing with the pressures that come as a result of the winter. so, we have already been told by the chief medical officer that we have been heading towards that second stage for a while. it may be tomorrow or it may not be, but the cobra meeting in consultation with the senior officials conclude that we are now definitely into that second stage.|j know you and your colleagues at westminster will be keeping us abreast of all of these and any changes. chris, thank you very much indeed. in italy, there's been a sharp rise in the number of deaths from coronavirus. more than 360 people have lost their lives there. this evening the foreign office has advised against all but essential travel to a number of areas in northern italy. the italian government has imposed sweeping restrictions on around

a quarter of the population, to try to halt infections, with around 16 million people affected by the quarantine, in the country's wealthiest region, lombardy, and 1a other northern provinces. 0ur correspondent, mark lowen reports. italy's second city — bare. milan, the financial capital, now under the most drastic restrictions italy has seen since the second world war, virtually locked down along with 1a provinces — a quarter of the country's population quarantined in a scramble to contain the coronavirus outbreak. this city, usually teeming with life, is hushed as residents are told to stay put and access in or out is severely limited. schools and universities are shut until april, cinemas, pools and nightclubs too. the prime minister talked of a crisis. translation: we are facing

an emergency, a national emergency, taking exceptional precautionary measures, and we are facing it with great awareness. venice is part of the restricted area, one of italy's tourism jewels deserted by a mixture of quarantine and fear. as we drove north from rome, we expected tighter controls. but there are none. we're coming into the start of modena now, part of the new exclusion zone. and you can see there's no total lockdown. there are no police roadblocks, for example — it's too big an area to control in that way — but people are being asked not to leave or enter. and we're going to turn around now because, otherwise, there's a risk of entering the new quarantine zone. and this is the urgency — cases are still soaring here. this nurse talks of exhaustion in dealing with the numbers, doctors themselves at risk. 0ther medics say corridors are being used for intensive care units. one of europe's top health systems is at breaking point.

at the vatican, decades of tradition were broken as the pope made his sunday blessing by video stream rather than at the window to a st peter's square is usually filled with thousands. faith that this will pass is sorely lacking. mark lowen, bbc news, northern italy. we can now speak to greg foster who owns an english language school laura fleming in italy —— laura fleming, next to... laura travelled to italy this morning from the uk with a others. laura, were you intending to go skiing, tell us what you've discovered on arriving there. might yes, so we travelled this morning, ourflight might yes, so we travelled this morning, our flight was from birmingham at half past six this morning, so we birmingham at half past six this morning, so we came birmingham at half past six this morning, so we came over and it at every thing was fine, great snow, great weather, he was really raving about it, obviously, everyone is talking about coronavirus at the moment, so we asked questions about

that and he said in research, you wouldn't know, it's just like that and he said in research, you wouldn't know, it'sjust like it's not even happening here, because this is a place i think only a couple of days ago, there was may be two cases, but for a long time, when everything was happening in lombardi, there were no cases in the valley, so we thought there was nothing to worry about, and when we got here, we went to pick up our skis, because we had our skis and snowboards and things and when we went to pick them up, they turned us away and said we think that the lifts will be closing, we don't thank you will be able to ski, we are not sure, we will let you know. so we were sort of scent away not really knowing what was going on. we where told to wait, so we've been hitting in the hotel all day waiting to hear something, and then we have just had a text from a travel rep, basically saying that there is no skiing, basically, all of the ski lifts are closed. so we are not really sure, they haven't given a definitive reason, so we don't really know now. they are going to

try to get us back to england, but obviously we don't know when that will be or what it's going to be like, it will be tomorrow, or if it's at the end of the week, we have no way to get. so hugely disappointing. i wonder what people in the hotel there, with the staff are saying to you, whether they are surprised as well. to be honest with you, surprised as well. to be honest with you , none surprised as well. to be honest with you, none of the staff have even mentioned it. it's really weird. i think if i was watching this and i heard some who say that i be like what? but nobody has really approached it. i don't even know if the staff necessarily know yet, because we went and sat down for our teeth thinking that we are going to ski in the morning, hence why i look like i haven't put any makeup on, i didn't expect any... sorry. what make you look great to me, you look great, laura. we sat down for our meal, and we had a text come through from the representative, so we don't make that was the first that we knew. i honestly don't know whether the hotel knows or not, they haven't mentioned it. i don't think they would really want to bring it up, in

case they have got angry customers. imean we case they have got angry customers. i mean we are not angry about it, like, we obviously want to be safe more than anything else. but it's frustrating that i just more than anything else. but it's frustrating that ijust don't feel that this sort of thing is just decided in an instant. ifeel that, surely, they would've known that before we flew out this morning or before we flew out this morning or before we flew out this morning or before we got on the coach, you know, there are so many times. we got all the way here, i almost feel that we have been through, really, all of the places where we would be most exposed to it, like airports and aeroplanes and coaches, being of the mountains was the place that we we re the mountains was the place that we were the least worried about coming to be honest, because we would've been spread out. we feel that now, all they are really doing is kind of forcing everybody to just congregate in the pubs and in the hotel reception, because they've not told us reception, because they've not told us to go to our rooms and stay in our rooms or anything. really, we feel no more at risk then we would haveif feel no more at risk then we would have if we had been out skiing all week. absolutely. that makes sense. laura, i'm impressed that you are still smiling. well done for that. to keep in touch with us and let us know what else you are told. i hope

you hear from your holiday company soon you hear from your holiday company soon about how they are going to get you home. good of you to speak to us. you home. good of you to speak to us. thank you very much. laura fleming there, as you can see, has had her skiing trip with eight friends rather scuppered by coronavirus. meanwhile, in the past few minutes france's health minister has announced that the country is banning gatherings of more than 1,000 people. earlier today, the french government announced that 19 people died of coronavirus in the country, with 1126 confirmed cases. let's take you around the world as it were, because there is better news on coronavirus from china. the country has reported its lowest number of new infections since january. an indication the virus's spread is slowing. the national health commission said there were 8a new cases on saturday. and there were a further 27 deaths all of them concentrated in wuhan where the outbreak began.

it's worth me reminding you that you can keep up to date with all the developments around the coronavirus outbreak online. you can find out about the symptoms to watch out for and what it means for you on the bbc news app and on our website. that's bbc.co.uk/news. no doubt, coronavirus will be on many of the front pages tomorrow. dojoin us be on many of the front pages tomorrow. do join us for the be on many of the front pages tomorrow. dojoin us for the papers at10:30pm and 11:30pm tomorrow. dojoin us for the papers at 10:30pm and 11:30pm this evening. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are rachel cunliffe from city am and miatta fahnbulleh from the new economics foundation, and former labour adviser. the headlines on bbc news... 273 people in the uk have tested positive for coronavirus that's up from 209 yesterday, according to latest figures. the foreign office is advising against all but essential travel to a number of areas in northern italy, 16 million people there are being placed in quarantine

for a month because of the virus. the prime minister has received a mixed reaction during a visit france bans gatherings of more than 1000 people in order to try to contain the virus. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's katie. good evening, rachel. this six nations weekend ended with a bang as scotland fought off france in a dramatic match at murrayfield. they won by 28 points to 17 moving them up to third, but for france their grand slam hopes are over. it does though move england even closer to the six nations title. joe wilson has the details. bravery, that is expected at murrayfield, wherever you are standing. just a gentle breeze. but rugby requires control. france began with it, from the boot of dupont to the wing, perfect. penaud for the try!

so to the brawl. if you are a match official, you see everything with replays. they don't mind grabbing, overlook pushing, but a punch? that is different. that is mohamed haouas and that is a first—half red card. with one man missing, there were gaps in the french defence, if scotland could find them. like this. johnson is there, and wide he goes! try for scotland! and now the wise heads were smiling, they were watching a confident scotland, a rampant scotland, a winning scotland. the second half brought two more scottish tries to seal the victory. remember, france had arrived in edinburgh unbeaten. who knows how or when this six nations will end. but scotland have their performance to remember. joe wilson, bbc news. manchester is red after united beat their rivals city in the premier league for the second time this season. two cracking goals from anthony martial and scott mctominay move 0le gunnar solskjear‘s side up to fifth,

leaving jurgen klopp's liverpool knowing that they only need two more wins to clinch their first league title in 30 years. adam wild reports. there may only be a few short miles between them but these neighbours remain anything but friendly. a derby that for one day divides a city, this is manchester and this will always matter. manchester city on hostile ground the first to try their luck. they could not find any, not yet. instead it was united crafting their own fortune, a clever free kick, and anthony martial did the rest. in truth, it perhaps should not have got through. united ahead but before half time feeling aggrieved. fred was booked for diving — replays suggested it could have been a penalty, finally some plug for city but going forward they were having none. —— lock. phil foden went close. united had the final word and again

the city keeper played his part, this time and misplaced throw and scott mctominay took his chance to write himself into manchester legend. it is that passion that matters on occasions like this and this one belongs to united. adam wilde, bbc news. in the day's early kick off chelsea boosted their hopes of finishing in the top four after thrashing everton four nil. a day to forget though for everton manager, carlo ancelotti on his first return to chelsea nine years after being sacked by the club. pedro and 0livier giroud were among the goal—scorers with 18—year—old billy gilmour once again in the headlines after impressing on his first premier league start. rangers have ended their recent run of poor form with a 1—0 win at ross county. before today, steven gerrard's side had gone three domestic games without a win. but ryan kent's deflected late winner earned them the victory and move them to within 13 points of leaders celtic with a game in hand. england are looking to get

their she believes cup campaign back on track in newjersey. they're1—0 up againstjapan thanks to ellen white with the winner. a much needed boost for england, after being beaten by the usa —— manchester city's ellen white scored the only goal of the game with just six minutes to go. australia have thrashed india by 85 runs in the women's t20 world cup final in melbourne. it was set to be the biggest event in women's sporting history and katy perry was there to begin proceedings. it was an extremely one sided final australia were ruthless, posting an score of 18a for four from their 20 overs with half centuries for alissa healy and beth mooney. india were bowled out for 99. the final attendance of 86,000 just fell short of the biggest crowd at a women's sporting event. look at what it means to australia. and, tyrell hatton is closing

in on a first win on the pga tour. the englishman is on six under par mid way through his final round in the arnold palmer invitational at bay hill. he's got a three shot lead over sung jae i'm from korea. world number one rory mcilroy was in contention at the start of the day, but he's had a poor final round so far. mcilroy‘s six shots off the pace. that's all of the sport. bye for now. in other news now. boris johnson has been visiting the town of bewdley in worcestershire, which was badly hit by recent flooding. but while much of the crowd was good humoured, some said he should have come sooner. here's robert hall. in a town at risk of flooding for generations, any message of reassurance from westminster is welcome. residents still counting the cost of the winter storms finally had a chance to put their case.

the highest river levels since 19a7 saw over 1,000 homes and businesses flooded in the severn valley, a continuing threat whilst the water table remains saturated. mrjohnson was criticised for his failure to appear at the time. today at a residents' meeting, he brought news of increased investment and a promise that things would change. i want to see some work done, so i think we're at the beginning. this visit did give the prime minister a chance to inspect the temporary flood barriers that sprung up here and in all those areas most at risk. they were largely successful, but he acknowledged that. with any increase in spending should come a change in tactics. the thing we have to look at is the rules which currently say that you can't put in permanent defences when you've only got a small number of households potentially affected.

edward is still living in chaos after filthy river water and sewage poured through his home. he said mrjohnson's visit had lifted spirits. it's really positive today to see the local mp and borisjohnson, which was a real surprise, and it does feel positive. and the overriding slogan by the end was "get bewdley done." get bewdley done. mrjohnson's short stay in bewdley was accompanied by smiles and blue skies. but along the banks of the uk's rivers, communities know full well that long—term plans can't protect them from the next spell of bad weather. robert hall, bbc news, bewdley. a woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a baby was found in woodland. the newborn boy was found in hythe, near southampton, on thursday. hampshire constabulary said a 36—year—old woman was in police custody, calling the investigation into the baby's death

"difficult and complex". it's 25 past eight, you are watching bbc news. it's international women's day today, 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. the bbc‘s charlotte gallagher has been at whitehall where growds gethered to mark the day. thousands of people are at parliament square today to mark gender equality around the world. this year feminists have teamed up with climate change activists because organisers say they want women and girls to have more say in the plans to tackle global warming in different countries across the world. they say at the moment that just isn't happening. there are lots of celebrities here today as you would expect, bianca jagger, the game of thrones actress natalie dormer,

ricky wilson from the kaiser chiefs and george mackay from 1917. also people from across the uk that have come down here. i spoke to a family from ireland and they have made the journey over because they wanted to show their two young daughters the feeling that you get at these events and they have made signs saying the future is female, so there is a real strong feeling here that there is still a lot to be done. i was speaking to helen pankhurst, of course the great granddaughter and granddaughter of two key leaders in the suffragette movement. she says she thought her ancestors would say, yes there is a lot to celebrate, but isn't there still more to be done especially political representation of women around the world ? there have been events across the world. we have seen some where there have been abuse of women, in kurdistan today, dozens of women were arrested when their march we have seen some where there have been abuse of women, in kurdistan today, dozens of women were arrested when their march

was attacked by men, so still a lot to be done in different parts of the world and in the uk. that is what organisers are saying. charlotte gallagher reporting there. the duchess of sussex and her last formal royal engagements has urged men to do more to respect women. she was speaking during a surprise visit toa was speaking during a surprise visit to a school in east london ahead of international winded —— women's day. this report from nicholas witchel contains 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? cheering 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. let's get a look at the weather now, here is phil avery. hello, as expected, it turned out to be a day of sunny spells and some blustery showers, and some really quite heavy i had rumbles of thunder thrown in, and some hail as well, they are going to gradually fade away for the most pa rt going to gradually fade away for the most part during the course of the night. 1—2just most part during the course of the night. 1—2 just lingering on. most part during the course of the night. 1—2just lingering on. skies clearing out towards the east, and there will be a touch of frost, particularly so to the eastern side of scotla nd particularly so to the eastern side of scotland and across the sandy soils of eastern england as well. 0ut soils of eastern england as well. out west, i think you've got more in the way of breeze, just hoping to keep the temperatures up. eventually, more cloud ahead of this weather system, which will eventually spread cloudy and wind and rain. —— across western parts of the british isles. it will take a time. there will be early brightness evenin time. there will be early brightness even in the west, but it will link a very long. by lunch time, there will

be moderate bursts of rain by mid afternoon, the rain