this is bbc news. the headlines... two more people have died from coronavirus here in the uk, as the world health organization declares the outbreak a global pandemic, urging action to contain it. we have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. we have ring the alarm bell loud and clear. but man hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. the world health organisation declares the corona virus outbreak — a pandemic. -- matt alarm bell loud and clear. but man —— matt hancock says there needs new the virus is now in 118 countries — legislation to combat transmission. with more than 4,300 deaths. saying he expects cases to peak we are deeply concerned, both by the in a couple of months.

in italy, the death tolljumps alarming levels of spread and to more than 200 as the government severity and by the alarming levels announces even stricter travel restrictions, to halt the spread. it comes after huge spending pledges ofan severity and by the alarming levels in the chancellors budget, including 12 billion of an action. we will focus on the to fight coronavirus. whether it is millions of clowns or billions of pounds, whatever it situation and italy where doctors are telling as it is desperate and needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our nhs. —— millions of some of the hospitals where they are working. the uk government injects billions pounds or billions of pounds. of pounds into the british economy and in new york, relief to help businesses affected for the women who took on hollywood by the spread of the virus. mogul harvey weinstein, whether it is millions of pounds or as he's jailed for 23 years. billions of good evening. nhs england has said that a further two people have died after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total of uk deaths to eight. in geneva, the world health organization has declared that the virus outbreak is a pandemic — spreading from person to person globally. but it says the new definition did nothing to change its approach. however the head of the who says

they are "deeply concerned" by the "alarming levels of inaction". the announcement came as the chancellor of the exchequer rishi sunak unveiled a raft of new budget measures designed to help both the nhs, business and its workers get through the emergency. today another 83 people in the uk have been diagnosed, the biggest daily increase so far. there are now a56 people confirmed to have the virus here in the uk. that's out of the more than 27,000 people who have been tested. the government plans to increase the number of people being tested from 1,500 a day to 10,000. health secretary matt hancock gave this update to the house of commons this evening. it is clear that we will need legislation to ensure the best possible response. i can tell the house i invited the official opposition to meet with me first thing tomorrow to discuss the proposed emergency bill that will set out before

the house next week. in addition to the measures my right honourable friend the chancellor set out in the budget earlier, the bill will include measures to help in the national effort to keep vital public service running, to support businesses and to help everyone to play their part. social care will be at the front line of our response with social care providers looking after many of the most vulnerable in society. we are working closely with the sector to make sure it is ready. as we've been hearing, more that 27,000 people have now been tested for the virus in the uk. the government says it plans to increase the number of people being tested from 1,500 a day to 10,000. our health editor, hugh pym, has been to visit one of the centres processing the samples. coronavirus testing is already under way at this laboratory, run by north west london pathology services, part of a major expansion of testing in hospital labs to help

cope with an expected rise in the caseload. there was one more added to the number, with news the health minister nadine dorries had tested positive, the first mp to contract the virus. she says she's self—isolated at home. it's not clear when nadine dorries was infected. she was at a downing street reception, hosted by the prime minister, on thursday evening. on friday, she began feeling unwell, but continued meeting constituents, including a surgery at this local club. over the weekend, she had no public events. she tested positive for the virus on tuesday. at the club in her mid—bedfordshire constituency, they've carried out a deep clean of the building. i think they are shocked that something like that has come with it, especially from the health part of the government. but i think people generally seem to accept that it's something that we have to live with now, and deal with. there will be a significant increase in testing capacity, using hospital labs like this.

public health officials say the tests are not for anyone who might feel they're ill, they're specifically targeted at those seen to be most at risk, and only after decisions made by nhs 111 or doctors. so, how does contact tracing work? if a person tests positive for the virus, public health officials identify their close contacts in recent days. they're looking for people who spent at least 15 minutes at a distance of less than two metres. then they decide who is low risk and who is high risk, depending partly on age and underlying health. the low—risk individuals take no action, while those at high risk self—isolate for 1h days. it's often family members, because obviously you're living very closely together. so family members will be contact traced. in different situations it will be people that you've been very close to, that you maybe had a close conversation with, that is when you are most likely to have been infected. tonight, the first premiership football match has been called off because of the virus.

manchester city versus arsenal. some of the arsenal players had met another club's owner, who later tested positive. hugh pym, bbc news. i'm joined by oksana pyzik, who leads the outbreak educational programme on infectious disease and global citizenship at university college london. thank you forjoining us. world health organisation has now finally declared this as a pandemic, what does that mean? said the terminology pandemic should not be taken lightly and the whl has done this taking into consideration the form of transmission that is currently occurring. there are over 114 countries i currently have cases like coronavirus, with four of those being in china, south korea, iran... when people hear this news what does that mean for them? the advice does not change and it is a pandemic now

because people are bringing it and 01’ because people are bringing it and ora because people are bringing it and or a local transmission within the community. we knew that, didn't we? the word is so potent, people who hear it become quite panicked and there is a lot of fear. we have already seen that it read topic and markets. does the declaration change any governance behaviour is around the world is yellow the current advice stands around containment and self isolation occurs. but the advice comes because some countries are not following the advice. is the uk government doing everything they can? they are spending huge amounts of money and lots of support for people but do you think on a scientific, medicalfund people but do you think on a scientific, medical fund we are doing enough? absolutely the first steps a re doing enough? absolutely the first steps are there and ensuring we have

emergency reserves to deal with this crisis. as we have more information, new testing that is coming through, we expect to see the cases peaked by about easter and we will be able to decide. and a couple of weeks or four weeks? the expectation is for cases to rise in that time. what many scientists and epidemiologists are concerned about, it is not clear because we have not seen a pandemic of coronavirus before i sell part of the best response is because of its novelty, as a new virus. we have seen novelty, as a new virus. we have seenin novelty, as a new virus. we have seen in china that they had issued mass containment measures, and it seems as though they may be coming down the other side. is it inevitable that the pay will be in that position? i would not say it is inevitable but it is a possibility we need to consider. if we look at

some of the measures taken, at least in the usa, where employees from google have been sent home, harvard and yell have also moved their classes online, something everyone was preparing for. —— harvard and yale. let's say we get to this in the next two or three months, it is still possible is in it with a few cases around the world that people still happiness that we can see another outbreak return? it depends on how the virus behaves as well so it could return, some experts say and november when we see temperatures drop again. there is some expectation weather could affect how long this peak lasts in april but it has yet to see, it is new. in terms of what people are doing now, we have not had school closures, is your expectation that is going to change and when people can choose whether to go to a

concert or restaurant or go on holiday, do you think people should be so carrying on? i think certainly if everyone is vulnerable and immunocompromised, the elderly should take the extra precaution to avoid crowded places and if there is that ability for people who are immunocompromised or already have a pre—existing respiratory condition, if they can work from home that is the best. is it inevitable it will become endemic? the world health organisation thinks he can still become contained by... that is why there has been such wet one people consider extreme measures according to closures in italy and to prevent it becoming endemic. it means it is there in the population of her time. if you are elderly or worried about

your health, and at any time i use to getting this? if it is endemic it is pride to getting this? if it is endemic it is part of the permanent landscape, meaning every season it could come back around and wipe out the vulnerable. the help as we can find a treatment or vaccine and time in the next 18 months or so but we will see. many thanks indeed for joining us. obviously things are still changing all the time on this in the new information coming to us all the time. we touched on measures and italy there. europe's worst affected country — prime minister gisueppe conte has ramped up spending to help the economy cope with the impact of coronavirus. he also warned that the already tough restrictions on movement might be tightened further. twelve and a half thousand people in italy now have the virus — and the death toll has jumped by nearly 200 in the last day to 827. mark lowen reports. connecting the epicentres.

a doctor in wuhan and those in europe's equivalent, northern italy. colleagues in crisis. sharing the know—how. we reached that italian doctor on the right in his hospital. the first to diagnose coronavirus here. it hit like a bomb that has kept on exploding. the first few hours, we received ten, 50, 60, 70, until 200 patients in our emergency department and we had some hours where the oxygen supplies sockets were insufficient to give oxygen to all the patients. so we were in a sort of let me say war scenario. but, in his town, it may have peaked. with no cases there, in the past day, it could be a sign of containment working. i think that what we did in this area has demonstrated that we are on the right pathway.

so i am quite optimistic, i am quite confident that this could be the right way to go. but the rest of italy is days behind, and the virus is still surging. rome is quiet. restrictions on movement mean many are staying at home, and gatherings are banned. for now, it seems most are respecting the rules. we can see here how the measures are affecting daily life. pharmacies are only allowing customers in one at a time. at the next—door cafes, tables be one metre apart. they will close at 6pm. if you come over here, you can see a children's playground over there is closed, as are schools, universities, cinemas, theatres and so many other venues. it's still scheduled. several airlines have stopped flights in or out, a concern for brenda and andrew samuels bookedto travel to manchester tomorrow. the hotel here is shutting on friday for lack of customers.

i am not worried about the disease, we are taking all precautions that we can, but we are worried about going home. whether our flight will still get us home. police have a new target, traffickers of hand gel and facemasks, cracking a ring that tried to make a huge profit, like prized drugs, in these dystopian times. mark lowen, bbc news, rome. a very big day on the political frontier. the chancellor rishi sunak called it a budget a for new era, delivered in challenging times. he was referring, of course, to the coronavirus outbreak and there were a raft of measures designed to help both the nhs, business and its workers get through the emergency. he's set aside 12 billion pounds to tackle the disease and it's effect on our lives and the economy — there are changes to sick pay

rules and access to benefits for the self—employed. he said the nhs would get "whatever it needs, whatever it costs". this is the first budget since britain left the eu, and the chancellor outlined a five year public spending boost for infrastructure on a scale not seen for nearly thirty years. hundreds of billions will be spent on roads, rail, broadband and housing. the budget followed an emergency cut in interest rates this morning. the bank of england took the rate from 0.75 percent down to 0.25 percent, taking borrowing costs back down to the lowest level in history. tonight we will look at the where the money is coming from and how it's going to be spent. our political editor laura kuennsberg has been following the first budget of the johnson government from westminster. this is a very significant day, the first budget since we left the european union, the first budget since the general election that changed out landscape. but

coronavirus, it is not with the budget anyone would have predicted a few short weeks ago and it is not the budget that any conservative would have expected a few short yea rs would have expected a few short years ago. barely a month into the job, and the new chancellor promised to spend big and borrow bake as well. what he put forward today represents a very big change for us all. what might be an emergency for our health, and could be an emergency for the economy. an economic shock that could grow large and sharp. ministers want to slow the spread of the virus. and limit the ill effects of how the country makes its living. the new man at number 11, clutching what felt like an emergency budget. a job that has become more daunting. every single one of the 27 days that he has been in charge. but with 450 people with coronavirus now, even a couple in westminster...

chancellor of the exchequer... number one on the chancellor's list was clear. we will get through this together. the british people may be worried, but they are not daunted. we will protect our country and our people. we will rise to this challenge. for a period, it is going to be tough. but i am confident that our economic performance will recover. to get to the other side, £12 billion to start with for public services and private business, spending on a scale worth listening to. first, first, whatever extra resources the nhs needs to cope with coronavirus, it will get stop whether it is millions of pounds or billions of pounds, whatever it needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our nhs. he promised cash, grants,

even suspending business taxes for some small companies. if people fall ill or cannot work, we must support their finances. we will make sure that our safety net remains strong enough to fall back on, for businesses with fewer than 250 employees, i have decided that the cost of providing statutory sick pay to any employee off work due to coronavirus will, for up to 14 days, be refunded by the government, in full. beyond the immediate emergency... the task was also to keep the promises of the tory manifesto, to build, to restore public bricks and mortar around the country. huge spending on roads, rail and housing. we need to build the infrastructure that will lay the foundations for a new century of prosperity. we need to grab the opportunity to upgrade, to improve, to enhance, to level up. that starts today with the next part of our plan,

as we get britain building. a record splash paid for by running up huge national overdraft. a government that gets things done. creating jobs... impossible to imagine tories achieving a budget like this a few years ago. a people's budget from a people's government, and i commend it to the house. cheering. new chancellorfixing his place alongside the prime minister. a new era, too. would there be any response from labour? the chancellor shows some, a lot of brass neck, when he burst that measures to deal coronavirus are only possible because of his party's management of the economy. this is a budget which is an admission of failure, an admission that austerity has been a failed experiment. it didn't solve our economic problems but made them worse,

held back our recovery and failed, even in its own terms. opposition reminders that the tories have been in charge for nearly a decade. this tory government has failed to level off or anyone anywhere, and they cannot be allowed to hide from these facts, just as they cannot be allowed to hide from their legacy. and a note of caution from a familiar face. prudent management of the public finances is one of the esps of the conservative party. we owe it to them to only take as much as we need and to spend it wisely. but conventional tory wisdom shifted here, today. big spending and big borrowing, now the direction but the government may be forced to change much further, to cope with a virus, well beyond its control. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. so, the chancellor dubbed today's budget as the biggest spending boost to the economy in a generation. but the money — hundreds

of billions in all — has to come from somewhere and that might mean much higher borrowing. our economics correspondent andy verity explains. today's budget is a financial giveaway from the government to the rest of the economy, on a scale unseen since 1992. £30 billion in higher spending and tax changes this year, nearly a third of it anticipated in november's spending review. over the next five years, an extra £175 billion, and an emergency interest rate cut of 0.5%. all to tackle an economic shock that policymakers fear could be large and sharp, and stop it turning into something worse. there is no reason for this shock to turn into the experience of 2008, a virtual lost decade in a number of economies, if we handle it well. because the effects of the coronavirus — keeping people away from work and disrupting supplies — will be temporary, so are many of the emergency measures, such as suspending business

rates for struggling retailers and hotel owners. but others are more permanent, such as cutting national insurance for lowest paid. as previous conservative chancellors kept saying, there is no magic money tree. rishi sunak is now proposing to spend way more than his income, so he has to borrow. these bars show you how much the government was expected to borrowjust three months ago, but then look at these bars. they show what he'd now have to borrow, and that's before the coronavirus measures. then take a look at this one. this yellow line indicates that borrowing was expected to fall soon. the red line shows that it is expected to go much higher, before later falling back. again, that's before taking into account the coronavirus measures. the official independent forecaster says all the extra government borrowing and spending will stimulate the economy, boosting productivity and growth, at least in the near future. when the government is pumping more spending power into the economy, you would expect activity to pick up.

but that's only likely to be a temporary effect. over the medium term, we think that policy measures announced in this budget, if anything, would mean that economic activity would be slightly weaker, but there would be a boost in the short term. what's implicit in the budget is the view that it's fine to borrow to invest or to tackle an emergency, even if it means a much bigger budget deficit in the short term. a point made many times by economists on the left is now accepted by a conservative chancellor. andy verity, bbc news. let's take a look at some of today's other budget announcements. the chancellor announced 120 million pounds of emergency funding for places affected by this winter's flooding, plus £200 million for longer term measures. total investment in flood defences will double to £52 billion over the next six years. a new1 billion pound fund is being pledged to remove unsafe combustible cladding from all public and private housing blocks higher than 18 metres.

the move's been welcomed by the group representing victims of the grenfell tower fire. further education colleges will get an extra £1.8 billion over five years to be invested in refurbishment. fuel duty‘s been frozen for another year, the rate remains at 58p a litre for petrol and diesel. £2.5 billion has also been freed up to fix potholes, and resurface roads, in england over the next five years. there'll be no hike on duty to alcoholic drinks, with tax rises on beer and spirits scrapped. but smoking is about to get more expensive, with 27p added to a packet of 20 cigarettes and the cost of a pack of hand—rolling tobacco up by 67p. and vat on digital publications, including newspapers, books and academicjournals are to be scrapped from december. authors and writers have welcomed the announcement. stay with us on bbc news because after half past 8 we'll be answering your questions on the budget with martin lewis from money saving expert, and claer barrett from the financial

times. and you can find out how the budget will affect you with our budget calculator. it's on our website: bbc.co.uk/budget and on the bbcnews app. the disgraced hollywood film producer, harvey weinstein, has been sentenced to twenty three years in prison, for rape and sexual assault. weinstein — who was long considered one of hollywood's most powerfulfigures — was found guilty in a trial in new york last month. our north america correspondent nick bryant is in new york and had this analysis. there were gasps in court as best sentence was delivered, 23 years for a 67—year—old convicted rapist, most legal analysts expected it to be 10—15 years. now ahead of his sentencing harvey weinstein delivered a rambling statement from his wheelchair, some of which addressed female victims. "we may have different truths," he said, "but i have remorse for all of you" but then he added, "and for all of the men

going through this crisis." it was the voices of the women that mattered today. the victims had described how he had ruined their lives. the victims had left court with joy and relief on their faces, knowing he will spend so much time behind bars, possibly the rest of his life. this really is a milestone moment. it says powerful men you can be successfully prosecuted for preying on women. it says for the victims of sexual violence, your voices will be heard, you have an ally in the criminaljustice system. a miscarriage ofjustice may have occurred in the conviction of the so—called lockerbie bomber, the scottish criminal cases review commission has said. the high court in edinburgh has been asked to look again at the conviction of abdelbaset al—megrahi for the lockerbie bombing. the libyan was found guilty in 2001 of the terrorist attack which claimed the lives of 270 people in 1988. he died in 2012 but it could pave

the way for a posthumous appeal. a senior scottish government official, has told the trial of the former first minister alex salmond, that he kissed her on the mouth and touched her bottom. the woman, known as woman a, said she was employed by the snp at the time, and was humiliated by mr salmond's behaviour. he denies all the charges against him. here's our scotland editor, sarah smith. alex salmond is facing accusations of sexual assault from ten women. he heard three of them give evidence today. one of the women told the court she was groped by mr salmond on several occasions, whilst he was campaigning in glasgow, in 2008. she claimed he also repeatedly kissed her on the lips. "it was very sloppy and unpleasant", she said. the prosecutor asked, why didn't you just say, "first minister, don't do this." the woman replied, "i liked myjob, i didn't know him very well and he was the most powerful man in the country.

i didn't know what would happen if i said ‘no', or ‘get off‘. i didn't think of complaining because i didn't know how. who do you complain to about the first minister?" another woman, an snp politician, described a car journey, during which she says mr salmond had his hand on her leg. she said she thought it was entirely inappropriate and wrong, but she didn't complain because, she says, it's hard to explain how much he meant to our party and anyway, who on earth was she going to complain to, and what on earth were they going to do about it? the former first minister denies all 14 charges of sexual assault. the case will continue tomorrow. sarah smith, bbc news, edinburgh. two russian pranksters claim they've managed to speak to prince harry in hoax calls. they pretended to be the climate change activist, greta thunberg and her father. the youtubers, known as vovan and lexus, say they managed to make two calls to the prince in canada. buckingham palace has declined to comment on the claim. coming up in a few minutes...

now it's time for a look at the weather. hello, strong south—westerly winds will continue to be quite blustery throughout the rest of the day and overnight and brought with it mild weather for this time of year but we will change our wind direction and it remains likely wind but it starts to come down from the north and west of what we will find through the night showers will turn progressively into snow at lower levels. we a re progressively into snow at lower levels. we are expecting a frost so snow showers combined with the risk of ice, leading to treacherous conditions through the night and into thursday morning. it looks like a day at sunday cells and showers because we at the northwesterly wind and low pressure close by so all of us and low pressure close by so all of us having a cold air started to our morning and there will be some frost to scrape off as well. particularly across northern and western areas, later in the day we escalate to

severe gales for some areas so feeling a bit colder for most of us. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. two more people have died from coronavirus here in the uk, as the world health organisation declares the outbreak a global pandemic, urging action to contain it. we have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. we have rung the alarm bell loud and clear. tonight, the health secretary matt hancock says there will need to be new legislation to combat transmission, saying he expects cases to peak in a couple of months. in italy, the death tolljumps to more than 200 as the government

announces even stricter travel restrictions to control the spread. a new era of spending announced in the chancellor's budget, including 12 billion to fight coronavirus. and in new york, relief for the women who took on hollywood mogul harvey weinstein, as he's jailed for twenty three years. back to the budget now, and there were a number of measures announced today to help businesses deal with the economic consequences of the coronavirus. in a couple of minutes, we'll be speaking to two experts and asking them your questions on how the budget might affect the money in your pocket. but first, alex forsyth has been speaking to business owners in and around wolverhampton. it might look like business as usual, but behind the scenes, there's serious worry at this engineering firm. with just 15 staff, if sickness spreads, it could stop production. so there was a close eye on today's budget

to see what might help them through. for manager geoff, loans and help with sick pay is welcome, but this firm won't benefit from a cut in business rates. quite disappointed in that. you know, the manufacturing side of things, no business rate relief for us. i think it would be a relatively simple thing to put in, fairly quickly, that would help a lot, actually. overall, were you reassured? no. there seem to be a very limited amount specifically for manufacturing. nearby, this tearoom though does stand to benefit. and here, the chancellor's measures were welcome news, as they've already seen a drop in trade. i think it's fantastic that he's addressed this. it definitely needed addressing. business rates relief is very helpful. but even with support, manager katie is worried about the long—term for businesses like hers. 40% down on the last two days. that's a big drop in takings. when you lose the high street, you lose your local places where you can go and have a cup of tea.

then you lose your community. wolverhampton is the kind of place the government has promised investment and attention, an area where two out of three local constituencies turned from labour to the tories last year. this budget was meant to focus on election promises, and there was talk of money, spending on road, rail, housing and broadband in places like this. but the chancellor was forced to confront the economic threat of coronavirus. and for many, that is the crucial test for this government. hello, lighthouse, can i help you? for this independent cinema and arts venue, the response is vital. as a charity, they've struggled with funding and can't afford visitors to stay away. they are hoping they can apply for loans and support with sick pay announced today. they need cash flow. support has to come through very quickly. it can'tjust be, oh, well, let's see how it goes and we will see if you are eligible and we can support you down the line.

we need action now. what are your biggest worries about what might happen in the next weeks and months? my biggest worry is that it will be a terminal situation for organisations like us. for now, the show goes on, and the hope there'll be enough continued support to keep it that way. alex forsyth, bbc news, wolverhampton. now time for your questions answered on the uk budget. we've been asking you to send in any questions you have about the budget and concerns you may have. so here to answer your questions is claer barrett, the personal finance editor at the financial times and jasmine birtles from consumer website moneymagpie, which focuses on making and saving money. thanks both of you for coming in this evening. just one to start with on tax from tom matthews. will my tax threshold rise with this budget?

there are very few tax trades in this budget. normally we are very busy working out the nitty—gritty, so we are busy working out the nitty—gritty, so we are basically told the person allowa nce so we are basically told the person allowance before you pay tax stays the same. 12 a half thousand pounds. the only change is not really a big change. the threshold that pays national insurance payments will increase to nine and a half thousand. that means you get to keep a little bit more of your take—home pay at, and the government said today the average worker will be better off £100 per year. not loads and loads of money, but it will bell if it -- and loads of money, but it will bell if it —— benefit the wealthy workers more. where is the poorest 10% of workers will only see a £30 of increase. not very much. other than the big increase in the amount that you can

the big increase in the amount that you can save, you can have a the big increase in the amount that you can save, you can have a saving account for your children which is doubled to £9,000. who has that? not many have that currently. £9,000 just seems crazy to me. the amount you can just seems crazy to me. the amount you can save over a just seems crazy to me. the amount you can save over a lifetime in pensions has gone up very slightly. most people don't have more than 100,000, so it does seem like a budget for the wealthy. there's a slight rise in the cgt, corporate gains tax, that's going to be good for the wealthy. but very little for those on universal credit for example, very little for families, nothing really for them. we have lots of questions, let's move six a. simone tyler's ask what benefits have been put in place for the workforce if they contract the virus

orare workforce if they contract the virus or are told to self—isolate? —— sick pgy- or are told to self—isolate? —— sick pay. not a huge amount but it's a start. for example, there is the support allowing esa, which is £73 tena week. support allowing esa, which is £73 ten a week. that's something you can apply for if you need to, so that's one of the elements. if you are on very low income and on zero—hours contract, then you can also apply for extra benefits. so there are extra benefits and they are going to come earlier than they were, but they're not particularly huge. and they're not particularly huge. and they're not particularly huge. and they're not always that easy to access if you don't have benefits already. know, particularly not if you're sick. it's not ideal. there area you're sick. it's not ideal. there are a lot of support measures out lied that can help the self—employed

and small business owners that the british banks have been providing, which really is forbearance on money that you owe them. for example, a free month for payment holiday on your mortgage which means banks have said they signed up to, which real health. —— real help. also you will need to contact your mortgage lender to say that you want to do that and have your request approve. if you just don't pay the mortgage, that'll be double... they said it would in most cases it affect your credit score, but if it was me i would want to do a bit more research into applying —— before applying. what about renters? there are 5 million renters in the country and as faras are 5 million renters in the country and as far as i can see, there's nothing for them. the chancellor

said he's worked closely with the bank of england, we have a half percent rate cut today which is great if you have a mortgage that's paid to the interest rate. not good for savers. not good, they will be hammered again. i'm assuming that having said he's worked with the bank of england, they also work closely with the high street banks. they've also helped with savings, you can take money out of savings without a penalty. there more leniency with loans as well. so far as farasi leniency with loans as well. so far as far as i know, we haven't heard from the utility companies. that's another one. if you're on a zero—hours contract and doing a job where you cannot work from home, you have to be on site, paying the gas bill is going to be an issue. toni atkins asks is there no increase to the race of —— rate of staff sick

pay? no tony, but you are right to raise this. the trade unions have been saying today that it would be all but impossible to survive on £94 all but impossible to survive on £94 a week. for all of the points in the budget speech about raising the living wage, there is nothing about raising the level or indeed the scope of the number of people be able to access statutory sick pay. the average wage is 554 a week, you're not going to manage on that. tim says the chancellor announced a boost for self—employed losing worth asa boost for self—employed losing worth as a result of of —— work as a result of a virus. it will be

dispensed via local authorities in your area, dispensed via local authorities in yourarea, and dispensed via local authorities in your area, and there is a couple of lines in the full report which i've been reading through saying it could been reading through saying it could be used may be council tax benefits because that is another big problem. if you don't pay your counsel tack, they can demand the whole year upfront. it can be one of the worst debts that people will deal with. it could be the councils will prioritise people paying their counsel tax. a place to start would be the government's website. i've looked on that and again, there are no actual details on how to apply for any of this, but there are help lines and links to other websites, etc. i would start there. if you're already claiming benefits or if that is going to be enough to get you

through, you might, you have some access to health, what about all those people in the middle who are self—employed and was possible for a family? —— responsible for a family and they will be able to claim for more in order to get them through two or three months of hardship. no. the household saving ratio in this country is pretty much the lowest it's been since 1965. people in that situation can defer tax that they owe, so they've announced that there will be 2000 extra workers into special hmrc coronavirus help lines. you can't just not special hmrc coronavirus help lines. you can'tjust not pay your tax bill, you have to phone them and tell them that you want to be in the special mothers and generally, you

will be charged interest. —— special measures. it will buy you time with bills and it could prevent a crisis. on small businesses, how do we claim for the small business rate relief grant? i would go to go for .uk because as the business helpline there where you can ask them and tell them your experience. how many employees you have, the certain situation that you have, and they will be able to point you in the direction of the right pages, the right forms to fill in and how to ask. with the business interruption scheme, that's like a bank loan guarantee. it will be delivered by the british business bank, but they will underwrite loans are offered by all of the high street banks. if you're a business and you want a loa n you're a business and you want a loan from that, you have to go through these people who actually make with now. is it possible to get a loan from that scheme? you know,

let's face it, they're more likely to go bust though and this climate. the government guarantee works to underwrite 80% of that loan. if your business where to go bus, the bank would get 80% of the money from the government. it's not the government given the money to you, it is giving a guarantee or lending money for interest to you. i have a very small business of berries —— under five employees, what can i claim? you can ask for the statue a story six pay. the government says it will pay 14 days, which is better than usual. usually it's the actual company that has to pay it. as she pointed out, if you need some extra funding to keep you going, then go to your bank and ask for it. but also, if you're

having problems, this is not helpful time. to get in touch. always remember with the tax office that phoning isn't going to put some big bell over your head and them say, oh, this is dodgy. they want to speak to you, they want to know that you are there and you might need to pay, but you just need extra help. the earlier you can contact them the better. let's move on to pensions. have pensions changed? only for the wealthiest! we have the nhs to think or blame for this very strange set of affairs —— thank or blame. certainly being discussed, but today they've actually made pensions savings better for the wealthiest, those learning up to 200 —— £200,000

a year. this was affecting a lot of doctors working in the national health services getting unexpected tax bills because of these allowa nces. tax bills because of these allowances. the government was just hoisted up to the level, 90% of doctors will no longer be bothered by it. lots and lots of wealthy where there's —— workers will also have their tax affairs and be able to pay up to £40,000. people will expect a lot from them in the next few days. this was really causing problems in the nhs. although it is a lot of money, they deserve it. how are pensions being looked after? there is nothing particularly in the

budget and in particular, i was very sorry to yet again, not hear anything about later life care. this is something that constantly kicked down the road. it's something that we have to deal with now. apart from the fact that what needs to be done would be very unpopular, i really don't see why successive governments keep ignoring it and just handing it over to the councils. it's getting worse all the time. we got some more questions here. anything else such change on those fronts? we still have your very change on those fronts? we still have your very generous change on those fronts? we still have your very generous allowance of £20,000 per year. that hasn't changed. that went up a couple of yea rs changed. that went up a couple of years ago. precursor to fiddling around in pensions tax regime, which we have not seen. that makes me think that was good to be, you can

save more money for your children. don't forget you have until the 5th of april to use up your current allowa nce of april to use up your current allowance if you are lucky enough to be able to put 20,000 for adults and nearly 300,000 for children. everyone is going to be looking at their finances everyone is going to be looking at theirfinances in everyone is going to be looking at their finances in the coming day. has any extra funding and social care? i think this is a really annoying... it's a huge gap. frankly, i'm wondering if we will have another budget at the end of the year. i don't know what you thought that this... i think that quite a lot was pushed out because of having to do with coronavirus. so i think we need another budget towards the end of the year that's

going to take a medium to long—term view and acute things like education and social care. —— include things. buy schools and colleges might have to state open for longer. there was a little bit money for the education project. one thing that wasn't mentioned at all is what will happen if the uk follows the lead of other countries who have closed schools. if you got both parents working in household with young children, try working from home with a couple of four—year—old twins. that's all i can say. they might have to open further, and that involves staffing costs. finance ramifications. levels of destruction to young people being tested exam after exam. there was so much in the budget about the

coronavirus. they still don't know the full effects. companies are doing tests. it boosted flexible working in a way, which is usually helpful to many working parents, but there were so many questions about there were so many questions about the impact of this virus that we still don't know. what is being done to tackle the climate emergency?” would say not really enough. the green party were very unhappy about that. i was pleased to hear that there will be extra tax on goods coming in that have more than 30% non—recyclable packaging, coming in that have more than 30% non— recyclable packaging, so coming in that have more than 30% non—recyclable packaging, so that's a good thing. however, there's a whole big boots for roads and no duty on petrol, which is handy in many ways but not great for the green environment. he wants to boost electric cars, and then read diesel which is the name for the diesels

that are agricultural construction workers use. he's protected the farmers. very quickly, where is this money coming from? if the growth numbers in the country aren't that big, lots of borrowing. not for quite a while i would say. this is one that's going to run for a while because we're not going to be able to have the tax rises because there's going to have to be more and more stimulus over the next few years. this is another canned that's going to be kicked down the street, i think going to be kicked down the street, ithink and going to be kicked down the street, i think and it's gotta be future generations that will be paying this back. it was all about putting money back. it was all about putting money backin back. it was all about putting money back in those pockets today. very much the message. but i think it's going to be expensive. we are going to expectancy fixable moves —— physical moves at the next budget.

thank you both very much indeed. it's been fascinating to go through some of those questions for you. i bought lots of questions of my own. tomorrow the bbc news channel will be running a series at eleven thirty in the morning you can put your questions to the deputy chief medical officer for england, jenny harries at twelve thirty our transport correspondent tom burridge will answer your queries about the effect of the outbreak on transport. and at three thirty tomorrow afternoon you can ask questions of the world health organisation's so send in you questions to yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or use the twitter hashtag #bbcyourquestions. thanks very much for watching this addition. could mass testing be the secret

to lowering coronavirus death rates? bbc news has gained exclusive access to one of south korea's super labs where they're testing thousands of coronavirus swabs a day. the country set up a network of nearly 100 laboratories in its first week of dealing with the outbreak. south korea has tested more people per capita than anywhere else in the world. scientists believe this approach is saving lives. here's laura bicker. getting critical patients to hospital is race against time. they have to be tracked and tested quickly. so in this battle to contain the contagion, these labs have become the front line. so because of the safety, we are not going to go into this room, because this is where the samples are being opened and prepared. they're testing up to 20,000 people a day, more than any other country in the world. a lesson learned from bitter experience with previous infectious diseases. so is this the busiest you've ever been? yes, this is my busiest day.

the computer programme can tell whether the sample is positive or negative for the virus. how long does the process take? the whole process takes about five to six hours, so it's quite quick. i think it's quite quick. yeah. scientists believe early testing and early treatment could be why fewer people are dying here. makeshift clinics such as this one are set up to combat mass infections. nearly 100 staff at this building in seoul contracted covid—19. now everyone who works here will be tested. there is no shortage of kits. they were mass—produced to prepare for this outbreak. the blood of recovered patients like mr lee is also being monitored in hope of finding antibodies, and potentially, a vaccine. his mother cried when she found out he had covid—19, but she needn't have worried. lee told me he had almost no symptoms, just a little cough.

translation: it's really important to be cautious and safe, but i wish people would have less fear of the virus itself. but i also know those who are older need to be careful. life is slowly returning to south korea's capital after millions were urged to stay at home. this is exactly what some health officials fear. while they appear to be containing this outbreak for now, they know that with coronavirus, there is no room for complacency. laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. here's a summary of 5 of new developments today relating to the coronavirus outbreak. the world health organisation has declared that the outbreak is now a pandemic. the director general said he was "deeply concerned" by "alarming levels of inaction" over the virus. the german chancellor, angela merkel, has warned that as things stand, up to seventy

per cent of the german population could become infected. the health secretary matt hancock told the commons he would meet the opposition to discuss proposed emergency legislation, which will be set out before parliament next week. today another 83 people in the uk tested positive for the disease, which is the biggest daily increase so far. and today nhs england advised gps to replace face—to—face appointments with phone or video consultations, although few practices use video at the moment. donald trump is due to be doing an address from the oval office at 9pm eastern time. we will of course be bringing you that. the italian prime minister has said that they are going to close all shops except food shops and chemists. he says the effects of lockdown measures will ta ke effects of lockdown measures will take a couple of weeks to see. a number of countries announcing changes in how their country

operates and schools opening, transport systems and what they're doing to limit the spread. everyone taking slightly different approaches, but of course everyone also being warned by the world health organisation that they want more action on containment. much more action on containment. much more ahead on bbc. hello there. real contrasts in the weather again today. yesterday had 17 celsius with that warm, south—westerly flow across the uk. it flow across the uk. starts to come in from the nor! and it starts to come in from the north and west. we will find her the night, the showers will turn progressively to snow at lower levels, particularly across scotland and over the hills of northern ireland in northern ealing. we are expecting a frost. both showers combined with the risk of ice, meaning some treacherous condition through the night and into our thursday morning rush. there they look like a day of sunny spells. all

of us! look like a day of sunny spells. all of us i think having a colder start to our thursday morning with some frost on the cars to scrape off as well. the showers rush through but particularly across northern and western area, so to low levels. later today we escalate to severe gales for some northern areas. 00:58:21,475 --> 2147483052:05:57,422 feeling a bit colour for most of us. 2147483052:05:57,422 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 —— colder.