it's the most drastic response so far to the outbreak of coronavirus. as the number of cases and deaths continues to rise sharply, italy's prime minister says the extreme measures are now necessary, throughout the whole country. translation: the right decision is to stay home. ourfuture is in our hands. we must responsible. the world's financial markets have taken fright, at the possible economic impact of coronavirus, with sharp falls during the day. in downing street, borisjohnson and the government's main health advisers, warn that the uk will soon need more robust measures. 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. we'll have the latest from northern italy, where the policy of putting millions in quarantine, was introduced at the weekend. also tonight — in edinburgh, the former first minister alex salmond goes on trial. he denies carrying out a series of sexual assaults on ten women. a chinese firm has completed its takeover of british steel, safeguarding more than 3,000 jobs in the north—east of england. and, 50 years after the protests against the miss world competition, we report on the new film that tells the women's story. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news. leicester city take on aston villa as they look to consolidate third place in the premier league.

good evening. within the past couple of hours the italian prime minister has announced restrictions on movement across the entire country in the most drastic response yet to the spread of coronavirus. the measures include a ban on all public gatherings and all schools and universities will be closed. giuseppe conte said the measures were necessary to defend the most fragile members of the community and declared that the best thing for italians to do was to stay at home. in italy, the death toll has risen by nearly 100 in the past 2a hours. there are more than 9,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. 0ur correspondent mark lowen has the latest from bologna. tonight, italy, a founding member of the eu and one of the world's most visited countries is facing the most dramatic restrictions it has faced

in peacetime. two days since much of the north was quarantined, coronavirus cases continue to soar and now the restrictions have been extended to cover the whole of the country, covering cities like here ina long country, covering cities like here in a long year that thought they had escaped the worst of it. —— bologna. the virus is outpacing attempts to control it. bologna, was today out of the red zone. no longer, italy, all of it, is now under the most severe restrictions since the second world war. public transport will still run, but the prime minister has told people to stay at home, except for urgent need. translation: the right decision is to stay home. 0urfuture is in our hands. we must be responsible. there will be no more red zones, no more zones one and two. the entire italy will be under protection. we will avoid movements across the entire country.

applying for false permits to move around will be a criminal offence. schools and universities are closed until early april. all sports matches are cancelled. italy is now a laboratory for how to stop this virus and ease the pressure on doctors like eleanor. translation: it's an emergency situation. i may be asked to work in a department where there's more need. we've never faced anything like this and we're not ready. one of europe's best health systems is creaking under the weight, seriously short of space in intensive care. all medical staff leave has been cancelled. we got through to a doctor in quarantined milan. it is very difficult to forecast when we will see the peak of the epidemic. we are near to the collapse in the most organised part of the country.

new measures to limit visiting rights caused riots in prisons today. several inmates escaped, seven died. a microcosm of the drastic pressure italy is now under. the virus surging, an economy battered and now nationwide quarantines. it's a combustible mix. it is still unclear how these restrictions will actually be enforced. 0ver restrictions will actually be enforced. over the past couple of days as we have travelled around the perimeter of the previous restriction zone we haven't seen police checkpoints, flights have operated in and out of the country, so we wait to see tonightjust how much of a shutdown this is and whether it really can begin to contain the coronavirus outbreak. many thanks again, mark lowen, with the latest in the city of bologna. stock markets around the world have fallen sharply, with share values marking the worst day since the financial crisis of 2008.

trading was briefly suspended in the united states because of the turbulence. it followed a drop in oil prices, which compounded the growing economic concerns around coronavirus. 0ur economics editor faisal islam reports. bell rings the opening bell at the new york stock exchange. the smiles didn't last. trading having to be halted after just four minutes, in which time the dowjones index tumbled 7%, or nearly 2,000 points. a market that's full of anxiety about the potential economic global slowdown, due to the virus, which i don't even think we've seen yet and you end up with a perfect storm. that's what we have in there today. it was part of the knock—on effect of the global spread of coronavirus to 100 countries around the world. global falls started in asia, spreading to europe where italian markets slumped 11% today, german markets were down 8% and in the uk the ftse 100 also tumbled 8%, the sharpest fall since the financial crisis a decade ago. these extraordinary moves in global

stock markets matter notjust because of the impact on your pensions and investments. there are impacts on government budgets and business spending too. there were also historic moves in connected markets such as oil and in government borrowing too. and all this matters because of what it reveals right now. understandable uncertainty about the actual outbreak of the virus. but unpredicted consequences of how nations respond economically and diplomatically. today's moves were triggered by a collapse in oil prices after top oil producers saudi arabia and russia fell out over the impact of the virus leading to slumping demand for oil, both are now pumping crude into the market. president trump blamed that spat and the fake news for the sharp drops, adding it was good news for consumers filling up their cars. but today's fall does suggest a scepticism that world leaders have

got a grip of the crisis. markets don't have much confidence that governments and central banks are going to be able to support the economy through this coronavirus epidemic. i think there is a worry that central banks don't have too much scope to cut interest rates, and there is a concern that governments will be too slow to stimulate the economy. this is notjust a trading panic. the market's asking big questions about not only the speed and effectiveness of efforts to contain the virus and its economic impact, but also uncomfortable trade—offs between the two. faisal islam, bbc news. earlier this evening, israel announced that all travellers entering the country would be required to quarantine themselves for two weeks, to try to limit the spread of coronavirus. the israeli leader benjamin netanyahu said that it was a difficult decision, but the measure was essential to safeguard public health. the decision will apply to foreign citizens from thursday. here in the uk, a fifth person has

died of coronavirus, on the day the government outlined the latest stage of its response to the crisis. the chief medical adviser for england warned that anyone showing even minor signs of respiratory tract infections or a fever, will soon be told to isolate themselves for seven days. it's the next stage of tackling the outbreak, which is set to spread "in a significant way" within the coming fortnight. as of today, there were 319 confirmed cases in the uk. almost 25,000 people have been tested. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, has the latest. tonight's message from downing street, events may be moving fast but they're taking their time working out the right types of intervention to be used to try to stem the tide of the coronavirus. while it is absolutely critical, it is absolutely critical in managing the spread of this virus that we ta ke the spread of this virus that we take the right decisions at the right time based on the latest and

best evidence, so we mustn't do things which have no, or a limited, medical benefit, nor things which could turn out actually to be counter—productive. could turn out actually to be counter-productive. but officials announced one significant change to advise likely in the near future. we are now very close 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, or a fever, should be self—isolating for seven days afterwards. two more patients in the uk have died with the coronavirus, one in their 70s at new cross hospital, part of the royal wolverhampton trust, the other an individual at the epsom and st helier trust, both had underlying health problems. elsewhere in europe, italy faces a huge challenge with the whole country now

effectively under quarantine. but other countries have seen a surge in case numbers, in france there have been more than 1200 with 19 deaths. there is now a ban on all gatherings of more than 1000 people. in germany, case numbers are above 1102 have died. the government is also considering stopping large public events. spain has seen nearly 980 cases and 25 deaths. madrid's authorities have closed schools and universities for two weeks. 0ne expert told me she thought the uk's response without any such bands or closures was well judged response without any such bands or closures was welljudged so far but the european figures could be a sign of troubled times ahead. these are countries that we would anticipate as being able to contain a virus like this, or at least this kind of spread of infection, so it is concerning that they have struggled to do it. i think it suggests that once there is the development of ongoing person to person transmission within a country it becomes much harder to stem the tide

of this infection. off the californian coast, a cruise ship carrying some people who have tested positive for the virus, headed for port. the mood of more than 140 british passengers and crew was much improved. they have been told they will be tested and if there are no symptoms will be allowed to board a special flight set to get them back to the uk on wednesday. hugh pym, abc news. —— bbc news. a number of major sporting events have now been postponed, because of the virus. france has called off its six nations rugby match against ireland in paris, and italy has postponed its game against england in rome. but most sporting events here in the uk are still on for now, including one of the highlights of the racing calendar, the cheltenham festival, which starts tomorrow. 0ur sports editor dan roan is there. what is the latest thinking there? 60,000 race fans are expected to come through these gates for the first day of the festival tomorrow and as many as almost 250,000 across

the next four days. cheltenham is on and that's because the government has made clear today that according to their medical advice there is still no reason why a large—scale sports events should be closed or cancelled. but of course, elsewhere, sport is being badly affected. in the us and major tennis tournament was cancelled overnight, the third six nations match of this season's tournament was today postponed, and across italy, all sport has been suspended this evening. and of course, inevitably, that has raised questions as to whether it is right here in britain for sport to continue as normal. today, sports bodies and broadcasters were summoned to a meeting and told to ready themselves for sport to be ordered to go behind closed doors but i think it's fair to say the government is concerned on two levels. 0ne, government is concerned on two levels. one, that it may cause financial ruin for many sports clu bs, financial ruin for many sports clubs, especially in the football league and also in rugby as well, and secondly that it could be

counter—productive if all it does is drive fans to enclosed spaces like pubs where the virus could spread just as bad if not worse. this is a difficult decision but there is a senseit difficult decision but there is a sense it is coming out is not a matter of if now but when. dan, many thanks, in cheltenham, dan roan, a sports editor. hugh is here. we heard from him in the report there. can we talk about the advice and the changing advice and change of tone really? how significant was that? potentially significant. right now the position is only if you have come back from one of the worst affected countries on the list and developed symptoms, that you then self—isolate and contact 111. chris whitty, chief medical adviser, said within a couple of weeks it is very probable we will move to a different set of guidelines for anybody with the symptoms, no matter where they have been, for example, a dry cough, cold, temperature, to go and self—isolate. that change, i think, is significant because it is saying

they expect coronavirus cases to carry on rising, seasonalflu they expect coronavirus cases to carry on rising, seasonal flu to fall away, so you might as well get eve ryo ne fall away, so you might as well get everyone to self—isolate for seven days after the first appearance of these symptoms. tonight we have been talking about italy and the drastic measures announced their by the prime minister earlier this evening. borisjohnson was asked very pointedly earlier today, there are countries taking very, very rigorous measures. why aren't we? what is the a nswer measures. why aren't we? what is the answer they are giving you to that? a dramatic move in italy, the british government position is there are far fewer cases here so far, is that different countries will do this in different ways. right now they are weighing up the social cost of big interventions and the timing. there is no point going to early with bands, you can't then take it off the table, if doesn't work to begin with and you lose public confidence. they are weighing all of that up but i sense we are not that far off from some sort of announcements of interventions to try to stem the growth of this virus. hugh pym, thanks very much, hugh pym, our health editor. as the international community

struggles to contain the spread of coronavirus, the world health organization has praised china for its response, suggesting it offers a model for others to follow. but inside china, there's anger over the way the authorities have handled the outbreak, with censorship being stepped up, the very approach that experts say helped to accelerate the spread in the first place, as our correspondent john sudworth reports. in this message, a medic complains about the quality of protective equipment. the video's now been blocked on the chinese internet. this one's been taken down too. a daughter crying out for her dead mother. ever since china silenced doctor li wenliang, who tried to warn about the dangers of the virus and later died from it, the censorship has been increasing. but the world health 0rganization insists it is not its place to criticise. we are epidemiologists,

not litigators. we know that the country has identified that there were shortcomings. it is not the who's role at this stage. 0ur role is to really help with the positive lessons of moving forward. in china, focusing on anything other than the positive, can be dangerous. this reporter records a few final words before opening the door to the police. li zehua was detained, it seems, for trying to report independently about the virus. but now efforts are under way to capture and save some of the censored information. china is repeating itself back to what happened during sars... one of the anonymous researchers tells me china keeps making the same mistakes. during the sars virus in 2002, censorship was also rife. they were trying to find the information and that's

why people lost lives. china wants the world to focus, not on how censorship may have cost lives, but on the strengths of a system that has now brought the epidemic under control and the who seems to agree. what do you think the criticism that china's political and economic clout makes it very difficult for the who to criticise? there is a large epidemic happening. we have seen how through a concerted national effort at the top level of government has flattened that epidemic and gained the time for other countries to learn those lessons and not to have to face that same issue. some chinese citizens are unconvinced that anyone should feel grateful for the efforts of the party. a point being made by the professor in this video. it has been blocked. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing.

and you can keep up to date with all the developments concerning the coronavirus, including the symptoms to watch out for, that's on the bbc news app, and on our website. in edinburgh, alex salmond, the former first minister of scotland, has gone on trial, accused of sexually assaulting ten women while he was in office. mr salmond faces a total of 14 charges, including one of attempted rape, at the first minister's official residence. mr salmond has entered pleas of not guilty to all of the charges, and has said he'll defend himself vigorously, as our scotland editor sarah smith reports. alex salmond arrived at court today determined to prove his innocence. he is, thejudge told thejury, a very well—known public figure. but they must reach a verdict on the evidence and nothing else. politics, they were told, is irrelevant.

mr salmond is facing 14 charges of sexual assault, including one of attempted rape. his lawyer told the court he will claim that four of these incidents were consensual, including the charge of assaulting a woman with intent to rape. on one charge of sexual assault against another woman, mr salmond will say he has an alibi for the time of the alleged assault. the court room has been cleared of most of the press and all of the public as the first of the woman complainers has started giving evidence. she's speaking from behind a screen that obscures herfrom mr salmond, who's sat in the dock. the jury can see her, but she can't be identified in public and will refer to her as woman h. the former scottish government official described being in the first minister's official residence in edinburgh one evening in may 2014, when she says he started groping her and touching her breasts. 0n the 13th ofjune 2014, mr salmond visited a factory as part of the independence referendum campaign.

that evening, woman h says he pounced on her. she told the court that after trying to kiss her, he pulled her clothes off and, naked himself, pushed her down onto a bed. she said... alex salmond has pleaded not guilty and denies all the charges. the trial is expected to last around four weeks. sarah smith, bbc news, edinburgh. the trial of three russians and a ukrainian charged with the murder of the passengers and crew of malaysia airlines flight mh—17 has opened in the netherlands. the trial opened with the names of the 298 people aboard malaysia airlines flight mh17 which was shot down over ukraine in 2014, being read out. the four defendants were not

present in the courtroom. the chinese company, jingye, has bought british steel, securing the future of more than three thousand workers in the north—east of england. but the extra investment will nonetheless come at a cost of up to 500 jobs, a price unions say is worth paying, to secure the future, as our business editor simonjack reports. this plant has been on government life support since last may when british steel faced closure again. today, the future looked secure for most but not all of the nearly 4,000 workers and thousands more in the supply chain. there are 500 jobs that have gone, so some people are a bit upset about that, but, on the whole, it's positive for the town. yeah, i think it's fantastic. it will be good. it'll be good for all the contractors as well because we've got so many thousand, but the contractors as well, you've got another 15—20,000 people. i am pleased to announce that day jingye group has completed the acquisition of british steel's assets.

british steel's new chinese owners today promised a bright future, supported by over £1 billion of new investment. at the grange lane cafe in the shadow of the plant, feelings are mixed. emma hudson's son—in—law lost his job, but she hopes some certainty will help others. at least people can carry on now. they know that their life is set at the steelworks and, hopefully, business will pick up for all the small businesses in the town. mike scott is a truck driver. he's been down this road before. it will only be short—term, and then these lads will be back in the same situation they've been for the last again, i think. a couple of years ago, greybull capital promised them everything. a couple of years before that, tata steel promised them everything. it'll come round again, unfortunately. there's obviously relief here today that, after ten months of anxiety, most, not alljobs, will be secured, but there's also scepticism. remember, jingye is just the latest in a long line of would—be rescuers.

can they succeed where others have failed? business secretary alok sharma unsurprisingly said the government welcomed the news. most importantly, it secures thousands ofjobs in british steel, and i want to pay tribute to everyone who's been involved in making this happen, particularly the workforce who are incredibly passionate, incredibly skilled, and i'm delighted that this brings the uncertainty to an end. it's been painful process to get here, but tonight it's hoped this is a new dawn for british steel. simonjack, bbc news, scunthorpe. in yemen, aid agencies are warning of an escalating crisis, in what is already considered the world's worst humanitarian disaster. the red cross says a recent upsurge in fighting in northern yemen has displaced tens of thousands of people, leaving them without food, shelter, and access to medical care. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet, cameraman dave bull and producer tony brown have been to hospitals

at aslam in northern yemen, which is controlled by the houthi rebels — and aden in the south of the country, where a saudi—led coalition, backed by the uk and us, is supporting the yemeni government. lyse's report contains some distressing images. this is ghadir, nine months of age, three kilos in weight. a third of the weight she should be, says dr makkiyah. but ghadir was born here in aslam where so many babies are just skin and bones. dr makkiyah cares for them as if they were her own. and the mothers here are malnourished too.

and fathers have little work in this poor northern pocket of yemen. not enough to buy enough food, medicine, even bus fares to get here. a battle to grow up. and a real front line lies close by along the saudi border. where does a doctor begin here and when does this war end? every time the fighting flares in yemen the plight of its people plunges. especially for its youngest

and most vulnerable. we travelled from the north, controlled by the houthis, to the south in government hands. a country split. this is al sadaqah hospital, the biggest and best in the south in aden. this is from 1st january. they are dealing with all the diseases which thrive here. these are all diphtheria? yes. including deadly diphtheria. a morning round with dr nahla arishi. doctors are braced for the worst. this man struck by malaria. and a bigger menace looms, cholera. since this war started, yemen has seen the world's worst ever outbreaks. the cycle starts from the infrastructure, from our sanitation network, and also from our water supply network. if donors help us in drugs and iv

lines without improving our infrastructure, no benefit. it will be recurring again and again. this is salah, nine months old, like ghadir we met in the north. also malnourished. sick with pneumonia. his mother's sick with worry. her only child after ten years of trying. in the hall outside, his anxious father. another family on the front line of life. fighting for breath, child caught like so many between life and death. the health of a nation held hostage by war. lyse doucet, bbc news, aden.

the duke and duchess of sussex have made their last official appearance as senior working royals. harry and meghan joined the queen and other senior royals, at the commonwealth day service at westminster abbey. the pair sat a row behind the duke and duchess of cambridge. 0n the 31st march, they will formally step down as senior members of the royal family. half a century ago, in 1970, the protests against the staging alison shows whether other patients have serious infections. the research could have tracked the spread of the disease throughout the uk and explain why some patients with covid—19 get ill but the vast majority do not. fergus walsh has

this exclusive report. this is how coronavirus samples arrive at liverpool university. bio—security is paramount. the samples, from throat swabs are contagious so this part of the process was a demonstration, otherwise we could not have filmed inside the containment lab. the scientists are tracking how the virus is spreading from person to person in the uk. we have some patience and we have no doubt idea how they got infected. looking at their genetic material and comparing it with others, we can fill in the missing link. it is like a detective story. with that information we may be able to understand the spread of the disease better, which may help us control the outbreak in the long run. and this lab is where that detective work happens. the genetic analysis is so precise, scientists can work out the chain of infection from one person to the