that is a into hospital at all. that is a medical advance. but i think what we are moving now to is a phase when we will be having to ask members of the public to do different things than they would normally do. but i would repeat the point that the prime ministerand repeat the point that the prime minister and patrick have just said, it is important on this, it is not just a matter of what you do, it is also a matter of when you do it because anything we do we have got to be able to sustain. once we have started these things you will have to continue them through the peak and that is for a period of time and there is a risk we go too early, people will understandably get fatigued and it will be difficult to sustain this over time. getting the timing right is absolutely critical to making this work. at the moment, the things we are doing which are appropriate are also appropriate for

the very small number of coronavirus cases we have in the uk, those would include washing your hands with soap and water, covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze and disposing of tissues, as everybody knows. it also would include what anybody would get advice from their gp, if you have got serious respiratory tract infection, you have five high fever and and runny nose, if you phone up yourgp, they and and runny nose, if you phone up your gp, they would say, stay at home and do not infect your workmates or elderly people. this is i'io workmates or elderly people. this is no different from anything else we would normally advise at this time of year and would normally advise at this time of yearand remember would normally advise at this time of year and remember in terms of perspective on an average year 8000 people a year die of flu. it is very important we do this for all respiratory tract infections and with the coronavirus those who are older and with pre—existing health conditions are at greater risk. but we will now move into a position

where at the moment, as patrick said, the ratio between people who have got coronavirus in the uk and other significant respiratory tract infections is very low. that will shift over time for two reasons, one of which is the modelling shows that the amount of coronavirus will steadily increase, and we are expecting numbers to increase slowly but fast after a while, and you have to catch it before the upswing begins, and secondly the other causes of coughs and colds which are seasonal at the tail end of their period of maximum activity in the uk, so the ratios will sit shift significantly. we are now very close to the time probably within the next 10-14 to the time probably within the next 10—14 days when the modelling would imply we should move to a situation where we say everybody who has even minor respiratory tract infections ora minor respiratory tract infections or a fever should be self isolating the seven days afterwards, and this will be the next step. we have not

yet reached that step that we will reach that step in the near future. and this is what we want to lay out as the first step on a path towards trying to reduce firstly the delay of the epidemic as part of the overall strategy, and then to pull down the peak of this epidemic so that it down the peak of this epidemic so thatitis down the peak of this epidemic so that it is smaller than it would have been if we do not take these interventions. thank you very much, chris, and patrick. i hope that has given some clarity about where we are, but let's please have some questions, vicky? you touched on it, you talked about public concern, and some of the public are beginning to question why you are not taking more aggressive approaches we are seeing in other countries. people are wondering why that has not comp —— happening. you confident you are doing enough to keep people safe?

lots of people ask about flights from italy, they have not been stopped, and people are not being tested coming off those flights, can you explain why? i go back to the advice i gave earlier on and to repeat what the adviser and chief medical officer have said, it is really vital as we take these steps to protect ourselves and encourage everybody to protect everybody else that we do it at the right time. it's not what you do but when you do it. what is happening, as patrick said, in other countries does not necessarily mirror what is happening here in the uk, and that is why we are following scientific advice on the way that we are. so, it's important to look and see what works and make those measures. lots of

things seem intuitive but they turn out to have very little if any effect, and one of those is airport screening, so temperature screening does not have much effect. those countries that instituted the early, some of the first cases came to that screening. and some of those have stopped doing that now, so that is not an effective measure. and other measures that people look at, mass gatherings and so on, do not make much difference. so there is not the first things you would go for, they are not the things that help contain. and that is why what we're looking at other things that make a and making sure those other things we concentrate on right time. it's important to remember that italy, and our hearts go out to italy, they we re and our hearts go out to italy, they were the first country in europe to ban flights from china, and they

also look to airport screening, and as you can see, this is not cause—and—effect but that has not beena cause—and—effect but that has not been a reason to slow down the epidemic in that country. just pick up epidemic in that country. just pick up on the key young's question, other governments across europe are taking more drastic steps now, are you suggesting that is due to political pressure rather than scientific advice, and are you sure that you should not be doing the same thing? and a question to all of you, is it still meaningful to say we are in the contain phase when the virus is not been contained and it is spreading within the uk? the best a nswer to is spreading within the uk? the best answer to that is just that the phenomenon, the epidemiology, may be different from one country to the next, and it's very important that we in the uk are guided by the best and latest advice, that's what we

are doing. and you're on your second point on containment and delay, as and when we may move into the delay phase, it's obvious we are not abandoning contain, because we will wa nt to abandoning contain, because we will want to contain as well as delay the outbreak. just because you move from one face to the other does not mean the ambition of containing the outbreak has been abandoned. when you start off in delay, most of the things you do are exactly the same as you were doing contain, so it's all about case finding and isolation. as you move through beyond a certain point, that ceases to be an effective strategy but at the moment it is still useful to identify people based on geography, identifying any cases and isolating them. thanks. prime minister, a

question for you, then the chief medical officer. two weeks ago in italy, there were 153 cases of coronavirus injust italy, there were 153 cases of coronavirus in just three italy, there were 153 cases of coronavirus injust three deaths, now 16 million people have been quarantined, a reflection of the public health challenge we are all facing globally. is there a risk that in trying not to alarm and panic people, you are actually going to slow in taking these measures. and to the chief medical officer, ural scottish counterpart said 4% of the population in scotland might have to be hospitalised. if you extrapolate that they get across to england, that is over 2 million people. do you accept that figure? obviously, you are right in the sense that there is no question that this will become a significant

outbreak than it currently is. that is obvious to everyone. but it is vital that we take the steps that we think are necessary at the right time and we follow the science. that's what the public would expect us to do, given the latest information. over the course of this week, obviously, we will look more at the detail of the steps that we could take as we ask the public to join us in a national effort to delay the spread of the virus, but we will set out that detail in due course. we do not think this is the right moment, we still think that the best thing we can do is contain the best thing we can do is contain the virus. do it systematically, moving from one to the next, getting the right combinations, not ending

up the right combinations, not ending up witha the right combinations, not ending up with a series of individual actions in response to things, should be in control of where you are in the epidemic, not in reaction mode, and that's what we are trying to do, making sure that when we do do things, we get that right constellation of things done to make sure we have the biggest impact. on theissue sure we have the biggest impact. on the issue about 4%, what the doctor said was the worst case scenario planning tool, and that is rightly aiming at the absolute top of the range. there are two points to make on this, the first of which is the great majority of people who have this infection will have a mild or moderate infection that will be managed at home and indeed will not be needing to be tested. we want them to self— isolate be needing to be tested. we want them to self—isolate for seven days, then they will get better, and they will not touch the health service at all. the minority will need hospital

care. the percentages are largely speculative, and it will depend on how the epidemic progresses, which we are in the early days of, and how doctors who see people and nurses who see people as they come in will make decisions about whether someone actually needs to come into hospital or not because if you do not need to be in hospital you shouldn't be in hospital, it would be about choosing the people who will benefit most from hospitals, and the percentages are largely speculative. we also footage of the weekend of people squabbling over toilet rolls and empty shelves and so on. is itjust prudent for people to be stocking up on the kinds of things they would need if they would have to stay at home for a week, and are you confident that as the outbreak escalates here and in other countries you can keep shelves stocked? we are certainly confident

that we have fantastic supply chains. matt hancock has spoken to supermarkets, making sure we keep things moving. in terms of preparations, it's very important that everybody should behave responsibly and think about others. we will set out over the course of the next few days what further measures we think may be necessary. i stress may be necessary, we think it is probable that we will go to a delay phase but we will spell out what is useful and appropriate for the public to do over the next few days so there will be a meeting of the scientific advisory tomorrow, and then a further cobra on wednesday to consider the next

steps. a lot of people at home watching this now will probably be elderly and in the over 80s category, they will be a high—risk group. as the advice for those people stilljust to wash your hands more regularly and nothing else, or are there other steps that you are suggesting they should take to protect themselves, and can you give any reassurance that if we do get to any reassurance that if we do get to a stage where people with any kind of respiratory illnesses need to self—isolate the of respiratory illnesses need to self— isolate the seven of respiratory illnesses need to self—isolate the seven days, you will be able to get through to elderly people who are not used to ordering shopping online like other people might be able to? on the medical advice, perhaps i can go to you, chris. one of the key things that we will come forward with its

advice for older people and also those who are vulnerable for other reasons, so pre—existing health conditions, people who are vulnerable from infections in general, for example people who are pregnant. there are other areas we will look at and we will say we want to protect these people particularly during this epidemic, and we will give advice based on their degree of clinical need, that will be different for different people and sometimes that will have to be tailored to particular individuals, but that advice will be the next stage, and i think we will move onto is very much asking people who have got symptoms, mild, to stay at home for seven days afterwards because thatis for seven days afterwards because that is a way of protecting the public, including older people. as i said in my answerjust now, we will

make sure we do everything we can to keep supermarkets stocked and the economy working. we will hear more on wednesday about measures to support the economy against coronavirus. lots of people will be very worried about it, some people will be less worried about it. how many lives might be saved by pushing back that peak, and will the overall number be smaller? last week, you told us he was still shaking hands with everybody, you looked like you are not shaking eve ryone's everybody, you looked like you are not shaking everyone's hands at the commonwealth day service, are you in or out of that? we were all given an instruction not to shake hands. and there is a good reason for not

shaking hands, which is that the behavioural psychologists say, if you do not shake somebody‘s hands, it sends a message to them about the importance of washing your hands, so there is a subliminal queue there to everybody to wash your hands, which is still far more important... the handshaking issue is a matterfor individual choice, but it is much less important in tackling the spread of the disease than washing your hands. and on your point about... the measures we are looking at to reduce the peak numbers up to 50% and to try to reduce the mortality rate as far as we can in the at risk

group by 20—30%. other people are doing that as well. and those are the numbers we want to go for. what you cannot do is suppress this thing completely, and what you should not do is suppress it completely because all that happens then is it pops up again later in the year when the nhs is more vulnerable stage in the winter and you end up with another problem, so it is to manage that and the most appropriate way terms of the most appropriate way terms of the peak and make sure we protect those people who are most vulnerable. a world health organization envoy suggested that small gatherings are risky areas, such as churches, pubs. is that something you can see the government making some kind of restriction on in the future,

suggesting people should not go to church or the pub, suggesting people should not go to church orthe pub, and suggesting people should not go to church or the pub, and should elderly people already avoid such small areas of social gatherings?|j will small areas of social gatherings?” will ask patrick and then chris. the large gatherings are what people go for, but as an individual you either have a high probability of infecting a small number of people in a small space or a very low probability of infecting a large number of people ina big infecting a large number of people in a big place, and there are only a certain numberof in a big place, and there are only a certain number of people you can infect, so one person in the stadium will not infect the stadium, they will not infect the stadium, they will potentially infect a few people, and that is true in any setting, in the house, in church, in a restaurant. so the chances of being infected to do with the proximity to the person you are with all the people you are with. that does mean you should stop that because the measures that come before that in terms of their effect

on things like making sure that the elderly have the right advice to look after themselves and other measures before you get to things like that, and nobody are going to the sorts of measures of stopping those things, and when you do that you are saying stop all interaction which you can not and should not do. so it's safe to go to church or the pub? at the moment, we have very low numbers in this country so the probability of coming across somebody in the church is very low. but as the epidemic progresses, that probability becomes higher and therefore elderly people in that situation may take other measures. the only thing to add to that is the point about sustaining it, once we start down that path we need to carry on to the peak of the epidemic, and it is important we have things that are sustainable. but if people take the advice that

if you have symptoms used stay out of circulation, whether it is work, church or anything else, that is a very major protection for other people around in society, so that's why we are going for this early on. the measures that will be recommended, some are about protecting all of us, so it's about us being good citizens to protect each other and some are about as protecting ourselves and it's important we do both.” protecting ourselves and it's important we do both. i thank you very much. we have covered all the essential points that we feel we need to make to you. i hope that has given at least some clarity and people understand the logic of the advice we are getting and transmitting to you about the range of options we have, in particular about the counterintuitive advice about the counterintuitive advice about large gatherings, sporting

events, schools. i hope that is coming across. we will set up more in the course of this week about what measures people and families can take as we move into the delay face as and when we move into the delay face. what we are asking to do now is to ensure that if they have a serious flu like symptoms, as happens every year, they should do what they do every year and stay at home and not risk infection of their colleagues, and that is normal and commonsensical. the most important thing to get over is that whatever is happening in other countries, whatever measures are being urged upon us, be in no doubt that we are considering absolutely all of them and they may of course become necessary , and they may of course become necessary, but the clear advice from our scientists, the csa and the cmo

is that timing is crucial in tackling any kind of outbreak or epidemic, the timing of your measures is crucial. so, this will clearly continue to be a big national challenge, and it will grow and become even bigger. that's pretty obvious from where we are today. but i think it is also obvious to me that we know how to defeat it and, with a great national effort, we will be able to pull together and dojust effort, we will be able to pull together and do just that, effort, we will be able to pull together and dojust that, but effort, we will be able to pull together and do just that, but one thing is for certain, we will keep you fully informed. the best thing we can do is be as transparent with you as possible, to share our thinking, show our working as we progress, and as i say wash your hands. it can never be repeated too

often. thank you very much indeed. that is the scene at number 10 st with the prime minister flanked that is the scene at number 10 st with the prime ministerflanked by the chief medical officer for england and the chief scientific adviser for the government, and they have all held that news conference to update everyone on the government's strategy in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. there we re with the coronavirus outbreak. there were several interesting lines in the news conference itself, but let's just dwell on possibly the most important one, which was professor whitty, the chief medical officer, saying that probably within the next 10—14 days, there will be a situation in the uk where we say eve ryo ne situation in the uk where we say everyone who has even a minor respiratory tract infection or fever should be isolating themselves for seven days afterwards. that would be the next step. the government at this point is still sticking to the

policy of trying to contain things. the delay face, where events are cancelled, has not been enacted yet, they are still in the containment face, but a clear signal there from professor whitty, and i will quote the words again because they will affect millions of people within two weeks or so, probably within the next 10—14 days, there will be a situation where everybody with even a minor respiratory tract infection ora a minor respiratory tract infection or a fever should be self isolating for seven days afterwards, so that is what they are for seeing. our political correspondent, jessica parker, is in downing street. there were several interesting lines there. what did you make of the three contributions? it was interesting listening to the government and the chief scientifical —— scientific officer and chief medical officer stressing

that they are in the contain phase, this effort to stop the virus spreading, but extremely unlikely that containing it will work alone and hence as you were outlining their moving to delay measures, which seem to be looking at these methods of social distancing, so people who may be unwell staying at home. the more drastic measures of the delay strategy we have heard before, things like cancelling sporting events on school closures, seems to me that downing street is keen not to suggest those measures are imminent. the point they repeatedly were trying to make is that in their view going to early on some of those drastic steps can actually not work, so they pointed to the example of italy, who banned flights early on from china, saying, look at the situation in italy. 50 to some extent defending their

strategy after some people have suggested that maybe the government needs to be more aggressive in the way it tackles this coronavirus. but borisjohnson of way it tackles this coronavirus. but boris johnson of the way it tackles this coronavirus. but borisjohnson of the view, advised by the experts there, that the more cautious approach they have taken is the one that is justified by the evidence so far, and yet it is worth underlining that if the medical officer is saying that within two weeks anyone with some kind of minor respiratory tract thing should be self isolating, that could well affect millions of people. it could well affect millions of people, so in terms of their day—to—day, for example, how will it affect businesses if a large number of the workforce do not turn up to work because they have been instructed to self—isolate? that is something we can expect to hear more about in the budget on wednesday. it seems clear now that wednesday's budget, there

will be a lot of focus on the kind of support available to businesses who may struggle over the coming weeks and months as there is this effect on the workforce. we have seen markets tumbling as well. and what support will be available to the nhs should there be an increasing strain on the nhs? one of the other things that the chief medical officer talked about as more people in hospital will be screened for the coronavirus. they are stepping up there's efforts as well. we will talk again later possibly, thank you for now. the head of the world health organization says there is a very real threat of a pandemic when a disease spreads in multiple countries around the world at the same time. so how possible is it to keep the outbreak under control, and what should the uk be doing next?

one of the world health organisation's six special envoys is dr david nabarro, and hejoins me now from geneva on webcam. thank you so much for waiting patiently to talk to us. the government in downing street is saying we are not moving on to the delay face yet, we are still in containment. what is your take on the uk government response?” containment. what is your take on the uk government response? i was impressed to hear the words of the prime minister as well as the chief medical advisors. it all makes sense. what we are seeing around the world is that different countries are recognising the severity of the different outbreaks that are taking place and are all moving forward with strategies, and it was particularly relevant that the chief medical officer said we may well need to enhance what we do and have

more robust action within the next ten days, and i noted the prime minister kept on slipping and maybe we will have to do that, and my only comment would be that most other countries are finding that they have to be ready to enhance the action they are taking to take the sting out of these outbreaks and to limit them and delay them in the way that has been described. 50 pretty good, i'm rather impressed and look forward to going into some of the issues with more detail with you now. do you think people have any kind of justification in now. do you think people have any kind ofjustification in suggesting that the british government should bea that the british government should be a little more urgent and robust in its response at this stage, or do you think the pace of the responses the correct one? this is the difficult part. in fact, i don't like to second—guess decisions made in government, but what i can do is

describe what is happening around the world. as we look at different places to which the outbreaks have reached, we are seeing it is necessary to be robust in confronting the outbreak at the earliest possible stage, to contain them, to limit them, delay them. it's not worth getting fussed about but what matters is keeping on top of it. the disease we are seeing now is telling us the transmission that occurred ten days ago some days ago, because it takes some time for the virus to then present as disease. and what i keep encouraging everybody to do is to really be on the front foot and to be ready to be active. 50 the kind of measures suggested that we need to be introduced in coming days, these are things everybody should get ready for, they should discuss with their

workmates, family, people they are friendly with, just how will we get ready for when we have to move to this delay face that has been talked about, where we will need to self—isolate? and self isolating a very vigorous way? if two or three people break out of self isolation, that can cause a big problem, so it has got to be all of us working together to try and make certain that we get on top of this outbreak. we are looking with alarm at what is happening in italy where so many people are affected, and you will know the situation very well. when people draw parallels between the way italy has responded and the way the uk has responded, how can you help us understand the difference in response and what might have worked and what hasn't worked? it depends on when transmission starts in a particular location. it seems this

outbreak in terms of size doubles every three or four days at the moment, and when you have got something doubling that quickly, it becomes a huge problem, almost an explosive problem, very fast. in the italian case, as we heard, it was in two weeks. we need to project ourselves two weeks ahead in the uk, might we be in the same situation? remember, there is also quite major outbreaks in other european countries, in germany and france, and coming up in other parts of europe. there is also outbreaks in north america, it is quite likely that in two weeks' time or so, there will be growing and potentially major outbreaks any number of different locations. what i am suggesting is that we all need to be working according to the same basic principles of trying to reduce the extent of transmission and to ensure

that people who are sick can get access to health care. it means prioritising health services, giving a lot of attention to the needs of health workers, we are going to depend on them an awful lot and it also means making sure that every single one of us has thought through what we are going to do, how are we —— how we are going to behave and keep ourselves safe, but also avoid endangering other people. we need to do it together, because if you get groups of people saying we are not going to bother, that can weaken defences. it will be the next two weeks that really matter in europe. lam going weeks that really matter in europe. i am going to be looking forward to talking to different governments in my role as envoy to try and make sure they work in harmony as much as possible so that we are all approaching it the same way, we are making sense of the supplies available, we are ensuring people everywhere knows what is expected of them and we do it together as a

human family. that is how we will ride through this one. very good to talk to you, thank you forjoining us today. thank you very much. for more information visit the website and the news app. there is all kinds of ad advice, backgrounds on the stories themselves, where the virus is affecting people the most and the latest preparations announced by the uk government this afternoon, all of that on the website and on the news app. the time is 5:34pm. let's have the weather. it has been a promising start to the day but it deteriorated as the rain sta rts day but it deteriorated as the rain starts to move in from the west and the winds strengthen. some of the rain will be heavy and persistent.

the met office has issued an amber warning for mid wales. over the hills we could see as much as 100 millimetres, the risk of flooding likely. that rain gives coming but it works eastwards over night, the main band clearing but we will see more rain work its way into parts of wales, north—west and south—west england. we keep the winds, there will be some clear spells in north—east england and scotland, but temperatures will not drop a too far. it is going to be a mild start to the day but that rain keeps coming, it gradually starts to ease and a more showery for parts of wales and north—west england. further showers for scotland, we keep quite a bit of cloud towards the south of england and wales, a bit drizzly in places. it will be a windy day across the board but that south—westerly wind is drawing up milderairso we south—westerly wind is drawing up milder air so we get to see some brea ks milder air so we get to see some breaks in the cloud, we could see temperatures reach highs of 17 celsius in east anglia.

this is bbc news. the headlines... a fourth person in the uk has died from coronavirus , as the number of cases rises to 319 overall — the prime minister, borisjohnson, has said the uk remains in the "containment" stage of its response for now. in italy, 16 million people in the north of the country, including venice and milan, are facing the toughest restrictions on movement since the war. stock markets around the world have fallen sharply, because of concerns about the economic impact of coronavirus, and the future of the price of oil. in edinburgh, the trial begins of alex salmond, the former first minister of scotland — on charges of sexual assault, and attempted rape, charges he denies. the future of thousands of steelworkers in the north—east of england, is expected to be secured, as the chinese firm jingye completes its takeover of british steel. and, harry and meghan have made theirfinal appearance, as working members

of the royal family, at a commonwealth day service, at westminster abbey. it is 5:37pm. it is a good time to remind ourselves of the main developments in the coronavirus outbreak, the fact another person in the uk has died, a fourth person, as the government warns the outbreak will spread any significant way. the patient, the fourth person to lose their lives is a man in his 70s, he was being treated at the royal wolverhampton hospital. at an emergency cobra meeting to date ministers and government health experts decided to keep the current strategy, which is known as the containment phase, instead of moving on to the next phase known as the delay face, which has more restrictions involved. the latest

figures show there are 319 people currently infected in the uk and the health secretary matt hancock has confirmed that four people have died, that is the latest tally of loss of life. the government says it remains focused on containing the outbreak rather than moving on to other things like cancelling lots of big public events. cobra, that meeting of the cabinet committee, they will meet again on wednesday. the prime minister confirmed that, but warned it expects the virus to spread in a significant way. as i mentioned in the headlines, stock markets around the world have fallen sharply, with the ftse 100 more than 8% down this morning as fears of the virus combined with a shortfall in oil. shortfalls led to an automatic stop in the selling and buying of stocks. a number of major sporting events have now been postponed,

france, for example, has called off its six nations rugby match against ireland in paris and italy has postponed its game against england in rome. some big sporting events being cancelled. the prime minister borisjohnson outlining the preparations the government is making to tackle the outbreak. talking in that news conference in downing street, let's listen. first, we are doing everything we can to combat this outbreak, based on the very latest scientific and medical advice. second, we have a truly brilliant nhs where staff have responded with all the determination, compassion and skill that makes their service so revered across the world. they will continue to have this government's. or, my support, in tackling this virus on the front line. third, we will set out further steps in the days and weeks ahead to help people protect

themselves, their family and themselves, theirfamily and in particular, the elderly and vulnerable. finally, while it is absolutely critical, absolutely critical, in managing the spread of this virus, that we take the right decisions at the right time, based on the latest and best evidence. we mustn't do things which have no or limited medical benefit, nor things which could turn out actually to be counter—productive. which could turn out actually to be counter-productive. the prime minister speaking just a short while ago and flanking the prime minister there was the chief medical officer for england and the chief government adviser on science. professor chris whitty is the chief medical officer, he said the number of cases in the uk will continue to rise in the coming days. the ratio between people who have got coronavirus in the uk and other significant

respiratory tract infections is very, very low, that is going to shift over time for two reasons. one is the modelling shows the amount of coronavirus is going to steadily increase and we are expecting the numbers to increase, initially slowly but really quite fast after a while, and we have to catch it before the upswing begins. secondly, the other causes of coughs and colds that are seasonal at this time of year are at the tail end of their period of maximum activity. the ratios are going to shift very significantly. we are now very close to the time, probably within the next 10—14 days when they modelling would imply we should move to a situation where we say everybody who has even minor respiratory tract infections or a fever, should be self isolating for seven days afterwards. this is going to be the next step. we have not yet reached that step but we are going to be reaching that step in the near future. professor chris whitty

speaking in number ten, the chief medical officer for england. the foreign office is warning against all but essential travel to northern italy with more than 360 deaths confirmed, italy is the worst affected country in the world after china. the italian prime minister has called the outbreak his country's darkest hour. up to 60 million people in the north of the country including venice and milan are facing the toughest restrictions on individual movement since the second world war. our correspondent bethany bell has sent this report from bologna, near the restricted zone. sirens large areas of northern italy are in quarantine. the italian government has taken tough measures to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. milan, italy's financial capital, is under partial lockdown. people have been told they can only leave or enter the area for essential work orfamily emergencies. venice, one of italy's top tourist destinations, is also affected.

british visitors can travel home. planes and trains are still running. but the uk government has said anyone returning from the red zones in northern italy should self—isolate for two weeks. for the locals, this is a very uncertain time. translation: my thoughts are for my children — another week at home and i'm afraid they're bored. but these are the restrictions and we must respect them. translation: it's all rubbish. keep calm. we're absolutely fine. i'm leaving anyway. this is having a dramatic effect both inside and outside the quarantine zones. people here say they don't know whether to be more worried about their health or the economy. the italian government has promised to increase spending. a step they're calling massive financial shock therapy. northern italy has a well—developed health care system, but it's under increasing strain.

in some places, people are being treated in hospital corridors. the virus is particularly dangerous for the elderly, and italy has one of the world's oldest populations. the average age of people dying from the disease here is 81 years old. riots have broken out in some italian prisons against restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus. reports on the italian media say at least six people died in a prison in modena in the north. bethany bell, bbc news in northern italy. let's update the latest figures from italy, they have just come in from our staff in rome. this is what we have, confirmed cases first of all in italy, they are up from 7375 on

sunday, the latest figure is 9106 —— 1972, a sharp rise in the number of confirmed cases. in terms of loss of life, another rise. on sunday it was 366 deaths from coronavirus, it is now 463, so it has jumped by about 100 or so since sunday. what i would like to do now is talk to someone who can tell us about the conditions for individuals in northern italy. there are 16 million people who are affected by what is going on there. let's go now to lake garda in italy, one of the regions in italy's ‘red zone' affected by the lockdown, and speak to local resident ginny bevan, who runs a wedding planning service in the region. thanks for talking to us, what is life like? how are you being affected in practical terms? life like? how are you being affected in practicalterms? in practical terms, we havejust pretty

much carried on as normal until sunday, sunday was obviously a change there, but the previous two weeks, aside from the fact the children have been home from school, we could go shopping, the first few days there were a lot less people out and about, i'm going back two weeks ago now, and then slowly nobody seemed to get sick, nobody that you know got sick, we are not any really built up area so that definitely helps. slowly people were going back out and getting a bit more adventurous and then of course, we heard on saturday night about this close between the regions stopping work travel. in terms of, i suppose i would say a sense of concern, or alarm, or suppose i would say a sense of concern, oralarm, or being u nsettled, concern, oralarm, or being unsettled, all of which people would understand, how would you describe

people's feelings or emotions?” understand, how would you describe people's feelings or emotions? i am not much for panicking, that is not something i really do, but even so, with constant coverage of the media of numbers, it is hard to keep a calm head. not to ignore the danger of it, obviously, but equally, not to panic. that doesn't ever help. what about supplies, food and all the rest of it? i am assuming lots of people have stocked up on things, are you one of those? no, i went into the butchers, the local butchers in my village, a couple of days, after the announced closing the school, and they said it had gone mad, there were people queueing up gone mad, there were people queueing up yesterday. i noticed they had less stock and they said they were not able to keep up with the demand

that day, but quickly it settles down. i have been shopping, we are a family of four, a number of times, and you can still get everything that you need to. i haven't seen that, but there is the odd story. there are so many stories, i am beyond knowing what to believe any longer. lots of people who will sympathise with that, i will tell you. we are thinking of you, and wishing you well. thank you so much, goodbye. it is 12 minutes to six. sure training was briefly suspended earlier in the us after it has

fallen. what kind of day has it been? i have not seen anything like this in decades, it has been an extraordinary day from start to finish. we often say, why should we worry? even seeing hundreds of billions of pounds wiped off our shares, why should we care? frankly, if we have a pension fund or icer, that value of that fund might be 25% less than it was at the start of the year. that is how bad things have got. it is spears about the virus, we will take a look at the numbers because they tell the story for itself. you can see the ftse 100 closing down by over seven and a half percent, similar story in europe. injapan, i can tell you shares in new york still trading, down very sharply. it is about the fears of the virus and its financial impact been deeper, wider, longer lasting than previously assumed. there was something new to add to

the mix, it was all about the oil price. over the weekend we had saudi arabia triggering a price war, it is not happy with russia's actions so it said it is going to drop the price of its oil exports, expand production at a time where there is too much oil on the international markets. the price of that oil slide bya—— markets. the price of that oil slide by a —— fell by over 20 5%. the likes of bp losing almost a fifth of its value which has dragged down everything else. we were hearing about stockpiling and buy more things, you would i thought supermarkets would be doing well but their share prices are suffering. investors want their share prices are suffering. investors wa nt signs their share prices are suffering. investors want signs of reassurance, a sign we are going to have clarity on the how long the impact of the virus, how great it is going to be. the good news is analysts are saying once we do get that, the cover could be synthetic as the declines we're right now. thank you very much.

the former first minister of scotland — alex salmond — has gone on trial in edinburgh accused of 11; sexual offences against women, including one attempted rape. mr salmond denies all the charges. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon is at the high court. we heard from the first witness in this trial this afternoon, it is a woman who has alleged alex salmond sexually assaulted and attempted to rape. she gave evidence behind the screen, at the time of the offence she was a scottish government official. both incidences it is claimed took place in the run—up to the scottish referendum in 2014 and both were alleged to have happened in bute house, his official residence in england. in the first incident, she said they were doing a wrap of the day in the living room, it was late in the evening, they had

both been drinking and in her words, mr salmond was half cut when he started groping her, touching her legs, touching herface and chest. the prosecution said, did you want this to happen? no, she said. did you agree to any of this happening, he asked? no, she replied. the woman said she was embarrassed, she didn't speak to anybody, she felt she had done nothing wrong. in her words, she said she didn't want anybody to know because she did not want to be another one of alex salmond to's women. the second alleged incident, mr salmond followed her into a bedroom, took her clothes off and pushed her onto a bed lay naked and on top of her. she said she managed to push him away and locked herself ina to push him away and locked herself in a bathroom. she said she did not wa nt in a bathroom. she said she did not want any of this to happen, she felt she was being hunted. tomorrow, the defence team get a chance to cross—examine this witness. the

defence team has lodged special defences defence team has lodged special d efe nces of defence team has lodged special defences of alibi and consent on his behalf and alex salmond strenuously denies all the charges. thank you very much again for all the latest from the high court in edinburgh. the duchess of sussex have made their final the duchess of sussex have made theirfinal appearances their final appearances as senior working members of the family. they have been at the commonwealth service at westminster abbey. our royal correspondent, daniela relph joins us. this was the final formal royal engagement for harry and meghan, the duke and duchess of sussex, for now at least. their new roles will be reviewed in a year's time but for now this is the last time we will see them carrying out any kind of formal engagement. it was interesting this final engagement put them at the heart of the royal family alongside the queen, the

prince of wales and the duke and duchess of cambridge. it was a very formal ceremony, full of all the traditional royal elements, that they are now going to be leaving behind. during the actual service, the address was given by the boxer anthonyjoshua, the address was given by the boxer anthony joshua, he described anthonyjoshua, he described himself asa anthonyjoshua, he described himself as a child of the commonwealth and said he was both a proud britain and a proud nigerian. these days we hear so much about division and difference that some might be tempted to see that as a bad thing. on the contrary, it's a beautiful thing. a thing to be celebrated and cherished and a great source of peace and stability. in this world in connectivity, who better to connect us and shape our common features than the children of the commonwealth, who have a foot in two camps and justly want to see both sides succeed. there was obviously a

sharp focus, looking at the body language of the royal family to see if there was any tension or difficulty that was obvious. it is probably hard to tell, looking at them all, they did chat, there was a wave and a hello between william and kate and harry and meghan, but who knows what they are thinking behind the scenes. this is a difficult day for the royal family, especially for the royalfamily, especially for the queen and prince of wales. the queen made it clear she did not want harry and meghan to leave the royal fold in this way, she wanted to find a way to accommodate them but that hasn't been possible. today is the final engagement, on the 31st of march, that is officially the final day as senior working members of the royal family. after that they are effectively left to their own devices to try and forge this new financially independent life for themselves, away from the royal family. we will still see them, they will not be carrying out official duties, but perhaps we will see him

launch the london marathon, he will be at the invictus games. there will be at the invictus games. there will be events they will still take part on, but they will not be classed as official duties and they will no longer receive any public money. many thanks, once again. the latest on the service and goings on there at westminster abbey. the chinese company, jingye, has completed its takeover of british steel this afternoon, securing the future of more than 3000 workers in scunthorpe and teesside. our correspondent, sarah corker, is in scunthorpe and gave us this update. jingye has described this deal as the start of a new illustrious chapter for the uk steel industry. the business secretary said it is a vote of confidence in the sector and here in scunthorpe they have been making are in and stealfor more than hundred 50 years. it is part of the town's identity and vital for the town's identity and vital for the local economy. after many

negotiations, the takeover got over the line, securing 3200 jobs here. this plan supports another 20,000 jobs in the wider supply chain across this area. jingye has said it plans over the next decade to invest a huge £1.2 billion upgrading and modernising this business, eventually planning to increase production. but in the short—term, there will be some pain, 400 redundancies have been announced. this is the end of a long and difficult process, it was back in may that british steel was put into compulsory liquidation, it ran out of money and the government have been bankrolling it ever since. workers to date have expressed huge relief that this deal has finally been agreed, but there is some caution as well. over the decades this plant has had a string of

owners, they have all tried and failed to transform this business. workers will be looking closely to see whatjingye can and will do differently in this difficult global trading conditions. we have some breaking news, the breaking news is there is a fifth fatality from coronavirus in the uk. this is to do with a patient in their 70s who was very u nwell with a patient in their 70s who was very unwell with a number of significant and long—term health conditions, who has passed away at a hospital in surrey. that is a patient in their 70s, the fifth fatality from coronavirus here in the uk. more details at six. here is the weather. it was a promising start to the day,

we saw some sunshine but it deteriorated as the rain moved in on the wind is strengthened. the met office has an amber warning in force for mid wales, especially over the hills we could see over hundred millimetres of rainfall, the risk of flooding there. the arena is fairly widespread, gradually works its way eastwards overnight, but more rain sta rts eastwards overnight, but more rain starts to pile into parts of wales, north—west england, south—west england to somehow the pulses within this area. it remains windy overnight and largely cloudy, but some clear spells for north—east england and scotland, but because it is windy, to be just one drop away too far. we start on a murky note down toward the south—west and that rain keeps coming from wales and author single, but it will ease as the day goes on. showers for scotland, quite murky down to the south, but we have still got that south—westerly wind, it is a widespread strengthening wind but many areas, where we get to see some brea ks many areas, where we get to see some breaks in the cloud will notice a difference in the temperatures. we can seat 17 celsius in east anglia.

the next stage of tackling coronavirus: within the next fortnight, it's likely anyone with a cold or temperature will need to self—isolate. the government's chief medical advisor says preparations are underway to move from containing the virus to the next phase. probably within the next 10—14 days, we should move to a situation where we say everybody who has even minor respiratory tract infections or a fever, should be self—isolating for seven days afterwards. bell rings. the stockmarkets are hit by dramatic falls around the world. police in italy enforce the quarantine in the north of the country of a quarter of the population. here for now, big public events will go ahead as planned and schools will remain open. also tonight...