hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at ii:00pm... two more people have died in the uk because of coronavirus, taking the number of people killed now to 10. that announcement was made as the government's emergency committee was meeting, which looks set to move into a new phase of dealing with coronavirus which could force schools to close. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon announces precautionary measures to try and contain the outbreak — school trips will not go ahead and mass gatherings will be cancelled. the focus is very much on seeking to delay the spread, to reduce the peak impactand to delay the spread, to reduce the peak impact and to protect the most vulnerable. president trump suspends travel from 26 european countries into the us — but not the uk and ireland —

in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus. this is not a financial crisis. this is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world. that decision by president trump has caused global stock markets to plunge — the new york stock exchange was temporarily suspended after losses hit 7%. in other news... the pc harper murder trial jury hears the 999 call about a theft which led to his police car being sent to investigate, and to him being killed. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with katie shanahan. two senior formula one sources have told bbc sport that this weekend's australian grand prix has been postponed due to coronavirus concerns. this comes after a mclaren team member tested positive for the virus. and helen will be looking at the

weather for us. showers had a wintry flavour to them today and that will continue this evening and overnight but perhaps a window of dry weather on the way tomorrow. i will have more on the weekend just after half past. hello everyone — this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. two more people have died in the uk from coronavirus, bringing the total to ten. the patients — one aged 89, the other in her 60s — both had underlying health conditions. meanwhile, the scottish first minister, nicola sturgeon, has said she's been told that the uk is moving from the containment phase of the outbreak — to finding ways of delaying the spread of the illness. it comes as the government's emergency cobra committee met this afternoon, chaired by the prime minister. it's expected a new phase will be

officially signalled in the uk's strategy to tackle coronavirus. they're expected to back moving into the second stage — delay — involving restrictions on movement, with the aim of pushing back the peak of the outbreak to the summer. in other developments this afternoon, president trump has banned all travel to the us from much of mainland europe. trading on the new york stock exchange was temporarily suspended after stocks fell again. the czech republic is banning entry to citizens of 15 countries, including the uk, from midnight. ireland is shutting all schools, colleges and childcare facilities. and italy has closed nearly all its shops. here, 590 people have been infected, a rise of 134 cases, the largest daily increase since the outbreak began. in total ten people have died. more than 29,000 have been tested. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is in westminster. the cobra meeting has finished now.

that's right. it finished about an hour ago, it met for around two hours and was chaired by the prime minister himself. we are expecting he will give a press conference later this afternoon to set out some of the things that were discussed at the cobra meeting but as far as i am aware this is what it has decided. as you mentioned, there will be a move from the containment phase to the delay phase, in an attempt to try to put off the peak of the infection. it's expected in government that it will peak towards the end of may and the chief medical 0fficer the end of may and the chief medical officer in wales has said he expects it to peak in may as well. as for the measure is that it will take to combat this to make sure there is a significant delay, i am not expecting the government to follow suit and follow what ireland has been doing, and other countries like denmark. we are not expecting immediate school closures, although

thatis immediate school closures, although that is a power that could be taken next week in emergency legislation. i expect him to offer more advice to the elderly and vulnerable people who might have underlying medical conditions, on what they should be doing in the future and we also expect them to save people exhibit certain symptoms they should probably take a week off work. in addition to that, i would also expect them to give us more information on how they expect the virus to progress. i think the overarching message that we will hear later this afternoon is that this is a marathon, not a sprint. it will take a while, and as has been said for several days now, what they don't want to do is get people to ta ke don't want to do is get people to take some action now that cannot be sustained later on when more people are infected and more people would be at risk. but it looks like the scottish first minister nicola sturgeon is breaking ranks, if you like, by saying next week scotland, large gatherings of more than 500 people, including football and rugby

matches, should in effect be banned to free up emergency services to do other work as the number of cases is expected to rise. earlier downing street stressed a uk wide approach. the prime minister also under pressure as to what to do in northern ireland where they could have very different measures from the republic of ireland who have announced restrictions that take effect from 6pm this afternoon. iain watson, thank you. in the last half an hour the first minister of scotla nd an hour the first minister of scotland nicola sturgeon has been outlining the government therefore dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. this was a short ago. the decision has been taken that we have moved from a contained phase to the delay phase where the objective is to seek to slow down the spread of the virus, to reduce the numbers who will be infected at the peak, the numbers infected at any one time. that is clearly important in

terms of trying to alleviate the pressure at any one time that is placed on the national health service. later phases in the response to the virus will be to protect those groups in society that the early data tells us are more at risk of developing serious illness. i should reiterate that the vast majority of people who get this infection will suffer mild symptoms, that they will recover from quickly. that was nicola sturgeon talking in edinburgha that was nicola sturgeon talking in edinburgh a short time ago. john tomsett is the headteacher at huntington school in york. ahead of the cobra meeting his school had made a series of changes, including a german exchange cancellation. hejoins me now. tell us what some of those changes were. we have been working hard in the last couple of days to work out what to do for students if we have to close and what we can do online for them to continue learning. we are finding it really hard to make

some decisions because one of the things we are worried about is that we have a lot of young staff here who have their own children so if we close they will be working at home. how much can we ask of them when they have young people to look after, their own children to look after, their own children to look after, will be really hard. so we have made some changes around the online connectivity with students and staff. i havejust left online connectivity with students and staff. i have just left a meeting with my senior team and my subject leaders and they are planning how they can upload materials online so if we close next week for the week after, for a long easter holiday, then at least stu d e nts easter holiday, then at least students can keep learning, especially year 11 and years 12 and 13, who have gcse and a—level examinations coming up. you have had various exchanges with other countries and they have been cancelled? we have cancelled trips, yes. that is a real shame. we had to cancel a music festival we have next week, which is a shame because

people have been rehearsing really hard. but we understand these are extraordinary times. what happens if the government says schools have to close, how will that work?” the government says schools have to close, how will that work? i think it will be really hard. i think it will be really difficult for us to get meaningful material to students. asi get meaningful material to students. as i said, ijust left a meeting where we are planning what to do. we have online materials that students can continue to study ways and we have ha rd can continue to study ways and we have hard copies of materials for stu d e nts have hard copies of materials for students who haven't got connectivity at home. i think it's making sure that young people, and our most vulnerable people are supported. students who have free school meals, how do we support those in the next few weeks and however long they are off for? those are however long they are off for? those a re really however long they are off for? those are really gnarly difficulties. the priority is to make sure students are supported really well. is it your sense that in order to close schools is now inevitable?

your sense that in order to close schools is now inevitable ?|j your sense that in order to close schools is now inevitable? i don't know, actually. i can see what is happening across europe. it would be very odd not for us to close. we would be the odd country out across europe, i think. would be the odd country out across europe, ithink. when would be the odd country out across europe, i think. when we heard nicola sturgeon say meetings of more than 500 people will be banned, i oversee 1700 people meeting every day. three times the size of the meetings nicola sturgeon wants to be banned. imagine what that is like. we have soap everywhere, hand sanitiser. i think we have a european mountain of hand sanitiser around the place. it's about making sure we educate people in cleaning their hands properly and following government advice. but i don't know if it is inevitable. when you look at what is happening across the piece i think it probably is, but on the other hand, last night you saw the other hand, last night you saw the atletico madrid and liverpool match go ahead. that's two days

after madrid had a huge outbreak of coronavirus. you've had 3000, 4000 of theirfans in liverpool, and i'm sure some of them will have had to coronavirus. i don't know quite what the tactic is. if we are going to follow the same tactics as italy then i guess you can expect, and i am no scientist, but you could expect the same kind of infection spread. you will know better than anyone, for parents, this will change their daily lives if schools are forced to close. exactly. i was speaking to a police officer today and we were chatting about coronavirus. she said, if schools shut there are lots of people in the police force with children and they will have to take time off work to look after those children. it will fundamentally affect the whole way we live. there is a chance, who knows what borisjohnson and his tea m knows what borisjohnson and his team might decide, but there is a chance we become the biggest baby—sitting service you have ever

seenin baby—sitting service you have ever seen in this country. we are looking at big spaces where we can have up to seven classes at once if they insist we stay open. the other thing i have been thinking hard about is the fact that lots of us have elderly parents. so we can't selflessly all the time as teachers put our necks on the line because it has implications for all our lives. good to speak to you. perhaps we will talk again later. thank you very much. 0ur ireland correspondent keith doyle is in belfast. we can rejoin you now. the irish taoiseach this morning making that decision to shut schools. yes, he made a very dramatic decision before dawn in washington, addressing the media there. he is therefore st patrick's day celebrations which have all been cancelled. he started off by saying, i need to speak to

you about coronavirus. he said after acting on the advice of the public health emergency team, they had decided to implement these measures, that from 6pm today, schools, colleges and childcare facilities would be closed until march 29. any indoor gatherings of more than 100 people, or outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people should be cancelled. he said people should continue to go to work but if it is at all possible they should work from home. he said employers should stagger starting and ending times and breaks, do whatever they can to limit the social interaction between people. he said public transport would remain operational and ports and airports will remain open. shops will stay open and he said there we re will stay open and he said there were plans to ensure supply chains would not be interrupted. restau ra nts would not be interrupted. restaurants and presumably bars can stay open but they have been asked to implement what has been called social distancing, basically do whatever they can to keep distances

between customers. the difficulty is, we are talking about a virus that doesn't respect borders, and in northern ireland we are still awaiting a decision. we understand there might be a press conference coming from stormont late this afternoon. 43 confirmed cases in the republic of ireland and one death. 20 is the latest figure for northern ireland. this is an ireland, the virus does not respect any border and the border is very porous with people crossing it many times per day for work and shopping. lots of social interaction across the border. there are questions for politicians in northern ireland asking why do we have different precautions here to the more drastic precautions here to the more drastic precautions south of the border in the republic? health officials here have said we are not in the same place. there has been no community

cross infection here in northern ireland. keith, we will have to leave it there. thank you very much, keith doyle in belfast. good afternoon and welcome to viewers on bbc one. in the last half hour, scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has said that a decision has been taken to move from the contain phase to delay phase in the coronavirus outbreak to try to reduce the numbers of people infected at any one time. the aim of this she said was to try and protect the elderly and those with other health conditions as much as possible. her comments came as the government's emergency cobra committee met this afternoon to discuss coronavirus. we're still waiting to hear from them but we're expecting an update shortly. ten people have died in the uk so far after being tested for the virus and there are 590 cases, a rise of 134 on yesterday, the largest daily increase since the outbreak began.