hello, it's friday, it's ten o'clock, i'm chloe tilley. and we're live from new broadcasting house. new health measures come in force across the uk today to try and slow the spread of coronavirus. this is about trying to reduce the speed of transmission. and we know households and individuals and small groups are often the weight these things are spread so the advice is that anyone who has a raised temperature or a cough should self—isolate for seven days. we'll be talking to teachers, parents and students about what precautions schools should be taking and whether it's the right decision not to close them. the head of the association of school and college leaders says it is. if you're a healthy child, a healthy adult, a school is a really good

environment to be in, and the more we can keep children there, it's good for them but also for pa rents who aren't having to take time off work which would have a knock—on effect to wider society. and we'll be talking about what care homes should be doing to protect the elderly people who live there, who are most at risk from the virus. also on the programme today, a 27 percent rise in the number of people dying from drug misuse in scotland last year led it to being declared a public health emergency. this former addict wants to open an illegal drug consumption room — in the back of a van. he's risking arrest because he says the authorities aren't doing enough to tackle the drug crisis. hi. welcome to the programme. we're live until 11 this morning. today we're talking about whether the measures announced by the government to tackle

coronavirus go far enough. are you worried about your gran or grandad in a care home? should visitors be banned? are you — or your kids — taking exams this summer and worried about whether they'll go ahead 7 let us know what you're thinking. use the hashtag victoria live. email victoria@bbc.co.uk ; text 61124 — it'll cost the standard network rate. some of you have got in touch already. jane on text: the instruction to self isolate if you have respiratory symptoms is not getting through. my parents think its 0k to pop to tescos despite coughing and my husband has gone to take the car for its service despite having a fever and cough. my stepsons employer thinks a new persistent cough means someone has to be coughing non stop and insisted he went in rather than worked from home. what chance do we have? and carl on email: i

live in wales, wages are low and rent is £116 a week. i can't afford to take any time off work. to get in touch with all your thoughts. first, carrie gracie has the news. good morning. the government is facing questions over whether its latest health measures will do enough to slow the spread of coronavirus. from today, people with a new persistent cough or high temperature are being told to self—isolate for seven days. unlike many countries, the uk hasn't closed schools or banned large gatherings of people. the former health secretary jeremy hunt, is one of those to suggest more stringent measures may be needed to tackle the crisis. i don't want to second—guess what the precise social distancing measures are that we might adopt, because i think, you know, we have to look at the evidence as to what works. but i think it is surprising and concerning that we're not doing any of it at all, when we have just four weeks before

we get to the stage that italy is at, and you would have thought that every single thing we do in that four weeks would be designed to slow the spread of people catching the virus. the premier league will hold an emergency meeting this morning to decide if this weekend's fixtures should go ahead. the arsenal manager mikel arteta has tested positive for the coronavirus. the gunners have closed their training ground. chelsea forward callum hudson—odoi also has the virus. in canada, the wife of the prime minister, justin trudeau, has tested positive for coronavirus. officials say sophie gregoire trudeau has mild symptoms and is feeling well. mr trudeau will self—isolate with his wife for the next 14 days. in other news ajudge in the us has ordered that the former intelligence analyst, chelsea manning, should be immediately released from prison. she's been detained since last may, after refusing to appear at an inquiry

into the wikileaks website. mps are considering whether to back proposals to cut the cost of school uniforms in england. if passed, the legislation would force schools to keep compulsory branded items, like blazers, to a minimum. a survey by the charity, the children's society, has found that parents are paying an average of £337 a year on secondary school uniforms. those are the top stories this morning. chloe, back to you for the rest of the programme. carrie, thank you. new health measures come in force across the uk today to try and slow the spread of coronavirus. at a news conference in downing street the prime minister said that from today — people with a ‘new, continuous cough' or a high temperature, should self—isolate for at least seven days. testing for coronavirus will only focus on identifying people with the virus in hospital. schools are being advised to cancel trips abroad and people over 70 and those with pre—existing health conditions are being told not to go on cruises.

i've got to be clear, we've got to be clear, this is the worst public health crisis for a generation. some people compare it to seasonal flu, alas, that is not right. owing to the lack of immunity, this disease is more dangerous and it's going to spread further and i must level with you, level with the british public. more families, many more families, are going to lose loved ones before their time. the former health secretary, jeremy hunt, says the government's decision not to cancel public events because of the coronavirus outbreak is "concerning". he told bbc newsnight that the uk was in a "national emergency" and suggested the government's new approach did not go far enough. i don't want to second—guess what the precise social distancing measures are that we might adopt, because i think, you know, we have to look at the evidence as to what works. but i think it is surprising and concerning that we're not doing any of it at all,

when we have just four weeks before we get to the stage that italy is at, and you would have thought that every single thing we do in that four weeks would be designed to slow the spread of people catching the virus. the government's chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance said the response to coronavirus needed to be a long—term plan and speaking to bbc breakfast this morning — he defended the decision not to immediately close schools in england. this is not a short—term thing, this is going to go on for weeks. so there are things that will come in due course at the right time. and of those, just to deal with the school one, schools, closing schools is a very effective way actually of dealing with pandemic flu, it's often an effective way to deal with it but in this disease, the role of children is less clear in terms of spreading the disease and you would have to close the schools for a very

prolonged period, so months. four a month or so in orderfor this to be effective. it is inconceivable that those children are not going to mix anyway. and of course, many of them may also be sent to be looked after by their grandparents during that period. the consequences of those have other impacts, of course, on this illness so although school closures may be something that needs to be done at some point, we need to get these other, bigger, more impactful measures in place first. meanwhile in canada, the wife of the prime minister, justin trudeau, has tested positive for coronavirus. officials say sophie gregoire trudeau has mild symptoms and is feeling well. mr trudeau is self—isolating with his wife for the next 14 days. and this morning within the next half hour — the premier league is holding an emergency meeting following the arsenal manager and a chelsea player testing positive for the virus. it's thought they'll discuss the future of the league and whether matches will go ahead this weekend. as ever, we'll bring

you the latest developments. let's talk to professorjohn ashton, who is the former regional director of public health for north west england. professor susan michie from university college london who is advising the government on strategies for reducing transmission of coronavirus. thank you both so much forjoining us thank you both so much forjoining us today. professor ashton, your reaction first of all to the press conference last night from the prime minister, outlining the latest advice we should all be following. minister, outlining the latest advice we should all be followinglj am advice we should all be following.” am with jeremy hunt advice we should all be following.” am withjeremy hunt on this, i don't think you're doing enough, we know from other parts of the world what seems to make a difference and put the lid on this. we sought from hong kong early on that they decided to move to home—schooling. they've moved their education and mainland china had done the same, the kids

are being educated at home, online, they've made all public servants work from home unless they have to be in the office. they've encouraged flexible working, they've reduced mixing, various measures to reduce social mixing and closed events down. they've had an impact on the situation. so i think we are doing too little too late. but the other big thing is that this is basically a community emergency. and the brunt of this will fall on families and on communities. there's been precious little discussion about that. this argument about the schools, nobody is arguing that all the schools should close. what should happen is that the public should be totally in the picture so that at a local level and a regional level, they can make decisions about school closures, some places will not need to do that, may not need to do it at all but this argument that who's going to look after the kids? what's begun to look after the kids? what's begun

to happen is communities are organising themselves, in west yorkshire, manchester, communities are organising themselves to support each other. but it's not always practical, for working parents, if you have a family for both parents are working, a community for lots of people work, as we heard this morning there is a real danger that either the workforce, potentially people who work in the nhs can't go to work for the grandparents, people who are in the at—risk group will look after the children. people can help each other out, this is not just about the nuclear family. it's about neighbourhoods, church groups, women ‘s groups, people helping each other out. pulling childcare and that kind of thing, it's beginning to happen. it would have been really helpful if the government had that on its agenda from the outside. professor michie, respond to what we are hearing there. on the last point i absolutely agree. i think we need to do much more community mobilisation and in some areas that's happening. in some areas it's

not happening and i think we need resources and i think we need leadership to ensure that all communities are mobilised. especially those with the most disadvantaged people and the most disadvantaged people and the most disadvantaged communities. but isn't the point we are trying to make sure, if you want to close schools you don't want children to be near each other so if 30 of them gather in the local community centre looked after by a couple of parents they might as well still be a school because they could infect one another? every single social distancing measure that's taken will have a number of different consequences. have a number of different consequences. so have a number of different consequences. so they are complex decisions all of these need to be talked through and thought through. one thing that's very important is to keep the trust in the health and scientific people who are making the decisions and i should add i'm not a government adviser, i'm on a behavioural advisory group and i'm speaking here is an independent expert but i think where there are concerns, expert but i think where there are concerns, where people are looking to other countries who are doing

more, it's really important that full explanations are given about how the different kinds of scientific advice and other economic and other types of advice are brought together to make the decisions. and also, what's likely to be happening down the line, when are next going to hear about new decisions that are taken? because at the moment we are having some people saying we are not going far enough, we should take many more social distancing types of measures now. other people are also saying you know, we are making too much fuss, it's business as usual. we need to ta ke it's business as usual. we need to take the whole population along with us, get real public support but that requires really regular, clear communication, lots of explanation. i wanted to pick up on that because i read at the top of the programme, i don't know if you are, the problem is we have a text from a woman saying my parents have got a call but they are going down to tesco because they think that's ok, they are not taking self isolation

seriously. another person saying my son andi seriously. another person saying my son and i was being forced to go to work because he is not coffee continuously. there is the advice clear enough? no, the communications from public health england have been poor and not consistent and they need to get much better. i totally agree with what you are saying. the thing to remember is the chief scientist, i've worked closely with him over the grenfell tower situation, actually, the chief scientist comes from a particular field of science and we need social science, we need environmental science, we need environmental science, we need the lived experience of members of the public stop how do people live their lives? because we are talking about culture change and to achieve culture change, you have to get insight how people live their lives, you've got to listen to them. it was very interesting on question time last night, that whole audience, almost entire audience felt that the minister was not listening to them. and it's quite clear this is the problem we've got. it's time to start listening to people. you know,

we've got this nudge theory being packaged as a science. but it says on the label, it is a theory, you know, this nudge thing and it's a sort of paternalistic thing, the government has decided what needs to happen and they are going to nudge people in that direction. what you have to do is give the public, the community, the full information and enable them to make decisions that affect them. if this really takes off women, because the burden will fall on women, will be having to nurse seriously sick people at home, there will not be enough beds in hospital, medical and nursing staff 20%, sickness absence, we haven't started to have a conversation. professor michie, this is the scenario i am painting for you but it's a conversation is people are having in the office, at the school gates. we are told that if one person tested positive within a household, the whole household should self—isolate. however we now know people are only going to be

tested if they are in hospital so if for example there is a child in a house whose got a cough and fever, you'd keep them off school but would you'd keep them off school but would you keep a sibling of school, should the parents not be going to work? is it clear what we should be doing and when, in that scenario, what should people do? i think the general point that there needs to be more clarity is well made. and i think communication needs to be really, really specific about what is a cough, when people need to keep everybody at home. but knowing what a cough is or knowing what should happen in terms of who should be ke pt happen in terms of who should be kept at home, it's only one of the factors. the other factor is motivation. and i should say there's a difference between what's called nudge and behavioural science, maybe that's a different conversation. motivation is key to this. we need to ensure that everybody is motivated to follow the advice in order to follow the advice, they

need to be persuaded by it. which means they need the explanation as to why it is. and i think one of the most powerful explanations is what we do now will make a difference in a few weeks' time to deaths. because what we are trying to do is delete the peak of this epidemic, flatten the peak of this epidemic, flatten the peak of the epidemic so there are not thousands and thousands of really people overwhelming the health service. and so, that's what the current strategy is aimed at but it does mean we need to get across population buy into doing simple behaviours we have talked about, not touching bits of your face, using tissues, keeping your hands well disinfected etc. but changing those behaviours across all of society in a consistent weight now will delay and that can really save lives later so it's a difficult message to get across. sure, the buy in is the important thing. the argument from

the chief medical officer, professor chris whitty, and borisjohnson yesterday was saying if you move to suit you can't get people to buy in for long periods of time. they will start to say, it will be all right, i will pop to the shops or whatever. what do you make of the pie minister ‘s performance? what do you make of the pie minister 's performance? i think he's been asleep on thejob, 's performance? i think he's been asleep on the job, poor, 's performance? i think he's been asleep on thejob, poor, he 's performance? i think he's been asleep on the job, poor, he should have convene cobra at the outset when he knew something was taking place, he should have been having those cobra meetings with the chief medical officer and with other scientists, social scientists. you know, in sierra leone in 2014 we lost four months because they didn't have any anthropology in the team. it was only when they got the anthropology they discovered people they needed to talk to about burial practices work the women ‘s committee is not the village chiefs who were men and this is a very male thing so far in this country. it's interesting, i think we are much more on the same page, your guest here and that she is a woman, there

isa here and that she is a woman, there is a very maleness about this, if you tell people to do things they will do it, they don't, it's more complicated than that. one of the things the pie minister has failed to do is get a grip on testing, the places that have really put the lid on this have done extensive testing. we allowed all those people to come back from italy and just disappear into their communities without knowing whether they had the virus. we allowed 3000 people to come from madrid and go to anfield on wednesday night and spent the night drinking in bars without knowing whether they have the virus. we don't know where the viruses because when you haven't put the capacity in place to do extensive testing. thank you ever so much for your time, both of you. i'm grateful. interesting you spoke about football, we will speak about that in a moment. when boris johnson announced the government's change of stance on the coronavirus outbreak yesterday, he said there was not yet any need to cancel sporting fixtures. but — this morning, the premier league is holding an emergency meeting about what to do, after the arsenal

manager mikel arteta and the chelsea player callum hudson—odoi tested positive for the virus — meaning both clu bs‘ entire first—team squads are now in self—isolation. the league's bosses will now have to consider postponing matches and possibly even suspending the whole season. our sports reporter laura scott is outside the premier league hq in london for us now. but first, in the last few minutes, u efa but first, in the last few minutes, uefa said all club competition matches scheduled next week have been postponed. now, we can go to laura. bring us right up to date, if you would. this looks like it's moving pretty fast? yes, this situation seems to be developing by the minute. we onlyjust heard that the minute. we onlyjust heard that the french top two leaks have been suspended and then we got that announcement from uefa regarding all champions league and europa league matches next week. postponed. we hadn't actually expected another update from uefa until all the members have a conference call on tuesday. but clearly uefa thinks the

situation is developing at such a pace that they felt it was necessary to make the decision about next week ‘s champions league and european europa league matches. what does this mean and a practical level because even if, i mean, would they think about holding these matches behind closed doors, there is a danger people watch them in pubs or is this the end of the premier league season now? yes, some really big decisions to be made here at the premier league today. with the club so we understand, most of whom will be joining so we understand, most of whom will bejoining on a conference call but we've just seen the aston villa chief executive arriving at the meeting. it's going to be a big decision on whether they suspend or whether they play behind closed doors but with now a quarter of premier league clubs affected in some way by the coronavirus, either with players having tested positive or self isolating because of

symptoms, it seems almost inevitable that there will be some form of a suspension of fixtures. but quite when those would be played, wejust don't know and it's having a big impact now on english football. laura, thank you ever so much for that update. we will of course keep you updated on any outcome from that premier league meeting. should schools be closing in the uk? ireland, france, portugal and belgium have become the latest european countries to close their schools in a bid to stop the spread of infection. here school trips abroad have been cancelled — but schools will stay open. the prime minister said closing them "could do more harm than good". head teachers are meeting today at the association of school and college leaders' conference to discuss the current response. this morning, the organisation's general secretary geoff barton said heads would be privately preparing contingency plans like switching their students to online learning. so how do students, parents and teachers feel about it all? i think it will be happening visibly

in the school is heads and other staff will be using the schools rhythms and routines to give a sense of normality and punch are some of the dram of the drama the children are seeing beyond in terms of the headlines but behind the scenes, i think what leaders will be doing is looking at contingency plans. i'm joined by a panel of guests. jane girt is the head of carlton bolling school in bradford — she's worried that some children will be at a disadvantage if schools close. aisling hughes only has four weeks left on her clinical psychology course at the university of lancashire — and says the uncertainty is making her anxious. shejoins us on she joins us on the line. jane, thanks forjoining us. it must be a really difficult time as a head teacher at the moment to try and plan but also keep a school running. keep us up—to—date with fur you are and what plants you have in place?

good morning. we are very much of the keep calm and carry on ethos. we wa nt the keep calm and carry on ethos. we want children to have the normal experience at school, the best place for them to learn is school and the best people to support them in that learning is teachers and school staff in schools that we are in but however we are mindful of the need to act on government and public health england information. asjeff burton mentioned earlier, we have lots of things in place. in terms of ensuring that students, if schools are closed will get the very best learning they can do in those very limited situations when they haven't got a teacher in front of them but i think for us, the most important thing has been clear communication. clear communication with parents about what we are doing. clear communication with staff about what we are doing and communication with students. so the students are just coming on as if it's normal, i think is for them that are making it difficult is all the hype around it. so all the sort of things that people are saying about whether the

exams will happen, who will be there for them, don't worry about exam results because people will put in extra amounts so if you don't work very ha rd extra amounts so if you don't work very hard those sorts of things don't help. i want to bring in aisling. as i said you've got four weeks left of your clinical psychology course. what is your university telling you right now? my university telling you right now? my university is basically saying they are unsure at the moment. precautionary measure to try and slow down the transmission. we are basically being told we cannot meet in groups of more than 30. as far as i know we will be in uni for the next week or so but i don't know how long this will last. on a practical level and this is to both of you, maybe aisling can respond first, is the idea of online teaching even

practicalfor you? the idea of online teaching even practical for you? to some degree. it would be difficult but ultimately i feel if this is what is needed, deemed necessary for the more vulnerable students that could be at risk then jane, is not practical, i don't even know how a teacher would try and do online teaching, i guess you send things online, would you ? teaching, i guess you send things online, would you? actually there are various platforms that can be interactive. for staff can put on exa m interactive. for staff can put on exam papers, the students answer them, you can mark them and give that feedback so it's like the normal professional behaviours of the teacher. you get the students work and your feedback and feed forward. that's absolutely forward, it's not as good as being in the classroom for you get personalisation but it's dependent upon the families of young people having access to the internet and ta blets having access to the internet and tablets or computers and we have 45% of young people, pupil premium. we

have children who don't have access to the internet, that is not a go. for then we have come up with schemes of learning whereby they can have paper—based learning but that feedback from a teacher which is so important to ensure you continue to progress and well, those children will miss out on because we won't be in school and it could be 4—6 weeks. and as the lady you've just talked about his at university, time is of the essence, especially for year 11. this is the pressure, isn't it, aisling, exactly the same for you, four weeks of your course at university left, within touching distance of finishing. are people feeling quite worried, conversations amongst yourfriends, feeling quite worried, conversations amongst your friends, students, colleagues, is there a sense of worry or are people staying quite calm? i think there's a sense of uncertainty. at a time like this is quite stressful anyway. it would be good to know what's happening. the university, my course, it's been really responsive. they will post

lectures online. will they make themselves and they will make themselves and they will make themselves available if possible. it's important to stay as calm as possible. they will do what's right. jane, tell me, our parents coming to you with concerns about the possibility of schools closing, not least on a practical level, for them? not particularly at the moment, they are well informed, they know we are staying open, the government has told us to carry on which is fine. but i do think the issue of certain schools and schools like ours, you're in a very socially deprived area, parents may not have been to school in the uk. their ability to support the students is not as it would be if you are in an affluent not as it would be if you are in an afflu e nt area not as it would be if you are in an affluent area for yourself have been to university or you had an experience of school. so we are meeting with all our year 11 pa rents, meeting with all our year 11 parents, or as many as will come in on thursday next week. we can ask them to buy in supporters but a lot

of them don't have the skills or the ability to be able to add that sort of finesse to learning that lots of otherfamilies will of finesse to learning that lots of other families will be able to do across the country. it's like a double whammy for them. so yes the pa rents double whammy for them. so yes the pa re nts wa nt double whammy for them. so yes the parents want them to be in school because they know with the best place for them. ok, aisling, for you, do you think there is a possibility that your course might be delayed, suspended, what information are you getting from the university at the moment about what's going to happen? i'm not sure how it's going to work in terms of, we've got assignments, face to person next month, i'm not sure how that will be affected. as far as i know were not expecting delays, or the course to finish anything like that. i am just hoping they are

going to keep normal as much as possible. jane, do you think you're getting enough information as a head teacher. i see you shaking your head and smiling as i ask that question but we heard criticism, people are confused about the advice. do you feel that confusion is a head very much so, in the previous interviews it was mentioned, cough, high temperature, persistent cough, what does that look like and it's very difficult for us to make those decisions. about our staff and our young people. we have to depend upon the families to do that and they are very confused so they are ringing up and we cannot say you've got to come to school and yet, what we are encouraging them to do is the more they come to school the better it is for them. they feel like we do, very much, these very generalised terms are not helpful, at least previously they ran 111 and we got advice from 111 and they could give us that advice and we could act on it. with this general don't go to your doctor, stay at home for a week, and self—isolate, and does that mean the

whole family? we've made our own risk assessment and we got the conversations with families on the phone but it's very difficult to make accurate judgments. it's a conversation so many people are having, thank you so much to both of you for taking the time out to speak to us today. we asked the department of education what the government's position is on closing schools. this was what they had to say: "as the chief medical officer has said, the impact of closing schools on both children's education and on the workforce will be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. decisions on future advice to schools will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group. the advice from public health england continues to be for schools to remain open, unless advised otherwise." as the government moves to the "delay" phase in its effort to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, we're looking at what this means for those being looked after in care homes. boris johnson said yesterday that implementing more "draconian"

measures could do more harm than it does good. so how should care homes respond to the virus? should people be prevented from visiting? or would this leave those in care isolated? mario kreft is the chairman of care forum wales. he also runs a number of care homes, and he's warning people against visiting them. joyce pinfield is the director of the national care association. she also runs the worcester lodge care home in clevedon, and is restricting the number of people visiting the home. prema fairnburn is the director of primary home care, which gives personal and medical support to people across ipswich. she says she's worried about those who need care out in the community. julie harris is an agency nurse from dumfries. she wants to see tests upon entry to care homes, and is calling for clearer guidelines on how to safeguard their residents.

mario, you are saying that you don't think people should visit care homes? what we actually said was that people should only visit when these visits are essential. we certainly don't think people should be stopped from visiting if it is going to affect the health of a resident, so it could be a specialist medical practitioner. but forfamilies specialist medical practitioner. but for families and friends, they need to understand the seriousness of this. we do risk assess. we haven't said that people shouldn't visit, but we need to make sure that people understand how serious the situation is. it is a situation of life and death. joyce, would you agree? i agree that it is a situation of life and death. i think there should be restriction on visitors to the care homes, in particular screening them as they come in. how would you do

that practically? the same as we have today here, asking them if they have today here, asking them if they have been abroad, if they have a fever or a cough, have been abroad, if they have a feverora cough, and have been abroad, if they have a fever or a cough, and alsojust restricting to the closest relatives. we are looking after the most vulnerable people in society and they are the most high—risk, so we need to take extra care. we also need to have care of our staff, because even some of those have high health risks. julie, the challenge here is that there has to be a balance between protecting staff and protecting patients, but also the mental well—being of people in care homes. that has to be protected as well, doesn't it? yes, it does. the lady was correct in what she was saying about people coming into the ca re saying about people coming into the care home. some people are very knowledgeable and others are not.

you also have elderly people visiting loved ones in the care home who may have dementia and they may not understand about hand washing and this type of thing and the precautions that are necessary. obviously, we don't want to completely restrict visitation because it can be detrimental to the residents. however, if managed properly, it can be very safe. for instance, offering people a face mask. although the government say you don't need to have a face mask as it won't stop you getting the virus, there are people out there who don't even know that they have the virus. so if a visitor comes in to see someone, it might be an idea to see someone, it might be an idea to offer them a face mask to wear to protect the person they are seeing.

but would that then be potentially frightening for somebody who is living with dementia and maybe has confusion, if they are then presented with somebody wearing a face mask? prema? that could actually be quite frightening because they are not expecting to see somebody with a strange covering over their face. see somebody with a strange covering over theirface. i see somebody with a strange covering over their face. i am see somebody with a strange covering over theirface. iam not see somebody with a strange covering over theirface. i am not sure how useful face masks would over theirface. i am not sure how usefulface masks would be. as a nurse, i know that they don't offer much protection. it's a difficult one. you have to consider each resident and take into account their condition and whether they would be afraid when somebody appears with a face mask, especially if they can't understand. prema, your work is more community work, which is another issue that needs to be considered, isn't it? i think our community side

isn't it? i think our community side is in isn't it? i think our community side isina isn't it? i think our community side is in a difficult position because we have to protect our staff and clients. our staff are going from home to home and at the moment, we have given them strict guidance on what they should do if they detect signs of fever, cough etc. they have to call the office and call 111 and self—isolated. but when it comes to the clients, it is difficult. there is no guidance for us as to what to do. so i have taken it upon myself to provide thermometers for all the clients and i have instructed my staff to take their temperature before they start to do anything else. so you are saying you are not getting any guidance whatsoever on what to do. mario, are you getting guidance from public health england orfrom the government guidance from public health england or from the government about what

you should be doing? we know the people you are looking after our at the highest risk. obviously, we have a devolved administration here in wales. but our chief medical officers are working closely together. there has almost been too much guidance and it is confused. we are getting information from everywhere. we deal in wales with 22 local authorities. if we have people in different authorities, they are sending different information. there isa sending different information. there is a huge amount of confusion. we have to address how we can channel the communication of what is essential. people who work or live in care homes and visit care homes and the wider community need this. it has to be a community response. the conversations we are having are really muddled because they are not clear. even from the prime minister yesterday, there is a degree of confusion about this. we need to

tackle what is important and focus on that and do it quickly. joyce, you were nodding when mario was saying there is almost too much information. on a daily basis, we are getting more and more information. yesterday a lot came out from the department of health and social care, together with public health england. i believe there will be more announcements later today on guidelines. there is a tremendous amount of information coming out every day. we are trying to inform everybody involved in the services that we have. i also agree that different local authorities are also putting out their guidance, so we are inundated with guidance but it isn't until the point that you think you have somebody with the virus that you may even panic to know where to go. but i think the guidance is very good. it is clear and it is also telling people how to

behave at home, to self—isolate at home. so if any of our staff of theirfamily home. so if any of our staff of their family get the virus, that is where if we do mitigate and restrict visitors to the homes, we still have the problem where staff can bring it in. julie is an agency nurse. you are on the front line, working with people. do you have concerns about your own health? yeah. obviously you can take other precautions that available, protective equipment and hand washing and you have a lot of support from their work on it of nursing, which i am a member of. you have got your public health and your 111 and the nhs and line managers. everyone has ta ken 111 and the nhs and line managers. everyone has taken an active role and we are all very autonomous in what we do. we are trying to be responsible and careful, but we also have to think about our families and

ourselves. if you are caring for someone who may have the coronavirus, even if you are the most stringent, careful nurse on the ward orunit, most stringent, careful nurse on the ward or unit, there is a risk. so when you come home to your family, if you have got someone who is elderly in your family, you could potentially pass that on. so apart from caring for your patient oil resident, you have to have concern for your own safety too. thank you all for coming in for your own safety too. thank you allfor coming in and for your own safety too. thank you all for coming in and talking to us about this today. now, a british teenagerfound guilty of lying about being gang—raped in cyprus has moved a step closed in the appeal against her conviction. the 19—year—old had denied causing public mischief and last week lawyers had the first hearing in her appeal case. the young woman is now back in the uk after receiving a suspended jail term. her mum has told this programme she's doing well

and that they will be "relentless in their pursuit ofjustice". her case sparked outrage amongst human rights and feminist groups after the teenager said she was raped by up to 12 israeli tourists in a hotel room in ayia napa injuly last year. she was then charged herself after she says she was forced to retract her statement. we spoke to her mum in december in her first tv interview and she told us about the moment her daughter says she was forced to change her account. she was absolutely terrified while she was going through that whole process. they said that they would arrest her, they said that they would get an international arrest warrant for her friend if she didn't sign the confession, and if she did sign the confession, that they would let her go. and she just wanted to get out of there. earlier i spoke to lewis power, the qc representing the woman. i started by asking him about the momentum behind the case and how the teenager is coping

this young lady, who is now back safely in the uk, realises that this case isn'tjust about herself, it's for the global wider community and she hopes that by continuing her plight before the courts, pursuing justice, that it is notjust for her, but for all those other unfortunate victims of sexual assault around the world. more importantly, tell us now how this young woman is coping. you say she has been back in the uk for a while. how are she and her family coping? she is doing really well at the moment. she has become integrated back into society. she is taking a bit of time out. i spoke to her and her mother yesterday. she has aspirations to attend a fairly prominent uk university. she wishes to do a degree in the autumn in business studies and she is doing really well. she is a remarkable young lady.

herfortitude isjust her fortitude is just amazing. her fortitude isjust amazing. let me give you the response from cypriot police. cypriot police officials denied claims that they acted improperly in this case as well as claims made by the teenager's family that they bullied her into reca nting her statement. what do you say in response to that? i think one only needs to look at the facts of the specific case. this is a young girl we all remember who was taken in the early hours of the morning in a police car to a police station. she was interrogated without a solicitor being present. nothing was recorded in terms of that interview. remarkably, she was able to have her mobile phone on her at the time and she was actually texting her mother at the time that pressure had been born upon her to make this confession statement and that she had been threatened that notjust her mother, but her friends would have serious difficulties within the judicial

system and she was forced to sign this confession. before i let you go, you are a qc working in the court system all of the time and what many people are talking about is of course the effect of coronavirus on different aspects of life in britain today. what is the situation with the court system? many people are wondering, could this affect court cases, could it affect juries? give us your insight if you would. it's a very worrying situation at the moment. i am a criminal qc. i am engaged at the moment in a jury trial locally in sussex. and of course, it is worrying and these are challenging times. do you think we could see courts closing or trials collapsing if a juror or severaljurors get ill from coronavirus? that is the real problem. as we know, there are 12 people in a jury. if one person gets ill, in ordinary circumstances it may well be that a jury could be discharged and the jury could continue with ten or 11 jurors. but of course, we have the contamination aspect which has to be seriously considered. so if onejuror gets ill, that would affect the whole proceedings.

so we are basically on a cliff edge in this one and it's a very scary scenario forjustice at the moment. and our actionline website is bbc.co.uk/actionline — if you need help there are loads of organisations listed there who can do that. or you can call the number on your screen right now — 0800 077 077. lots of you are getting in touch about coronavirus this morning, of course. margaret on text says, i'm a mum ofa course. margaret on text says, i'm a mum of a student in sixth form. yesterday we had a meeting in school because they have a trip next week to berlin. i am so concerned about this virus, i asked the head teacher to postpone the trip, but i think it is not the right and safe time to travel. our head teacher said the government let them go and it is up to us. i think the government advice is actually to cancel all trips abroad for students. margaret, you

probably don't need to worry about that although she does say even if the school does it, she will not let her daughter travel. tracy says i don't know whether to be concerned or not. my cell is due to take gcses this year. he has worked so hard —— my son has worked hard and the exams might get pushed back. everything is a bit wait with no transparent guidance from anyone. until said, i ama guidance from anyone. until said, i am a schoolteacher. i don't think the government is doing enough. schools are hotbeds of infection and it seems that children may carry the virus without any symptoms. they could be super spreaders. they were ta ke could be super spreaders. they were take it home and to the elderly. i have asthma, i am awaiting surgery and my mum is 81. ifeel vulnerable and my mum is 81. ifeel vulnerable and yet i still have to go to work. i want schools to be closed. i can teach remotely and it is all set to go. to can teach you to send your experiences, your concerns and your worries to us this morning. now, facebook needs to do much more to clamp down on dangerous misinformation about the coronavirus

appearing on its site, campaigners have told this programme. they say fake news posts in facebook groups, in particular, are a threat to both human safety and national security. our reporterjim reed is here now. what are the campaigners saying? so this call has come after a meeting earlier this week in london between facebook executives and people from the campaign group the centre for countering digital hate. and in particular, there are concerns as you say about the information that is being posted in facebook groups. many of these are closed groups — so you have to be invited to join. some, though, are not. we had a look last night at some of the material in there. this from one british group with 5,000 members. and it includes suggestions that the coronavirus is part of a conspiracy linked to large drug companies, that this outbreak is being funded by billionaires like bill gates and so on. a lot of these posts are appearing in groups already linked to the anti—vaccination movement. and then there is the health advice

— or so called health advice in these groups? yes, so there is a lot of specific misinformation out there. this post here, for example, talks about getting rid of the virus by gargling with warm salt and water, which is clearly untrue. and this one here in another closed group clearly recommends snorting vitamin c powder. again, that is definitely not something any doctor would recommend and in fact could be dangerous. just a small example. campaigns say they have also seen links through to other websites selling fake cures for coronavirus, on these groups as well which is another serous concern. what are facebook doing about all this? facebook say they did take a look at that group in question and have now removed material which they say violated their rules and policies. they say they are also removing or blocking hashtags on instagram

used to spread misinformation about the virus. yellow facebook does of course and instagram. a spokesman told us: "facebook has partnered with the nhs to connect people to the latest official nhs guidance around coronavirus — both directly in their news feeds and when people search on the topic. we're also discussing with the nhs further initiatives to support public health efforts around coronavirus." but there is also more useful information online? of course. we don't want to characterise everything you read online as bad. on the bbc news website, there are pages of useful information about the virus, the symptoms and what to do. also, it's worth pointing you to the nhs website as well on this. finally, i wanted to leave you on a positive note, this video from none other than gloria gaynor posted on tiktok, twitter and facebook yesterday, already viewed now by millions of people across those sites.

# did you think i'd crumble, did you think i'd lay down and die? # oh, no, not i. # i will survive! # as long as i know how to love, i know i'll stay alive. # i've got all my life to live... that takes me back to my 16—year—old self, i love it! thank you for that update. our sports reporter laura scott is outside the premier league hq in london for us now, where a meeting is being held to discuss the future of the league — what can you tell us? we are hearing that the premier league and the afl are set to announce that both will be suspended until at least the 4th of april. and then the situation will be reviewed.

the premier league meeting is still going on, but the efl had a board meeting this morning and it was unanimously agreed that they would suspend until the 4th of april. we have yet to get that officially confirmed, but that is what we are hearing. laura, thank you. so the premier league is to be suspended until the 4th of april. more information on that as we get it. by the time my next guest — peter krykant — was 15 — he found himself taking lsd, acid, amphetamines, and ecstasy three to four times a week. two years later, peter first began injecting heroin, which spiralled into years of addiction that left him homeless, begging and shoplifting. now he risks arrest in a bid to set up an unofficial drug consumption room in glasgow — where addicts usually have access to clean needles and medical staff supervision — all from the back of a van. last year a 27% rise in the number of people dying from drug misuse

in scotland led it to being declared a public health emergency — more than 1,100 people died. we can speak now to peter. let's talk about your experiences with drugs. you were 11 when you started dabbling. how quickly did things get out of control? for me, things got out of control? for me, things got out of control pretty quickly to spiral into daily cannabis use by the age of 12, than alcohol, lsd, amphetamines and ecstasy by 13, 14 and 15. and then intravenous drug use by the age of 17. that is quite a quick spiral. and as soon as heroine came along, that was such a chaotic lifestyle for me that it led to street homelessness, begging for spare change. so it grew quickly for

me. how did you pull yourself out? the support that i was offered u nfortu nately the support that i was offered unfortunately is not available in the uk any more. i was begging for spare change in birmingham city and i was living rough on a street worker engaged with me. i was on a high amount of methadone and street drugs. i was basically bought a train ticket and sent to a residential rehabilitation centre 20 yea rs residential rehabilitation centre 20 years ago. it changed my life and i haven't looked back since. that is presumably your thinking behind this. this conception is illegal and you would carry it out from the back of the van. what would you provide? i was of the van. what would you provide? iwas in of the van. what would you provide? i was in copenhagen last weekend and they have safe consumption facilities there and there are similar sites worldwide. we are

proposing to run an internationally recognised, evidence—based way to reduce harm. when people are using in glasgowjust now, they are at the highest risk of hiv in 30 years, with the biggest outbreak in the last 30 years currently ongoing, thatis last 30 years currently ongoing, that is condensed within glasgow city centre among people who take drugs and homeless people. if they are in an alleyway or under a bridge, there is no way to engage with these people. they are just left to die, basically. we are finding dead bodies in our streets. over 15 people a day are dying in the uk from a drug—related death. we invite them into a safe environment, we give them clean equipment to use and then we can talk to them about the underlying reasons why they are injecting drugs anyway, their traumatic childhood experiences that lead to drug use. but this is illegal. many will say it is not yourjob to do this, it is the scottish government's job to

introduce these because you don't have that medical training. introduce these because you don't have that medical trainingm introduce these because you don't have that medical training. it is the scottish government's opinion that we should have a safe consumption facility in glasgow. they support this and have been campaigning for it for the last however many years. in 2016 it looked as though we were going to have a safe consumption facility. glasgow city council and the nhs in scotla nd glasgow city council and the nhs in scotland are ready to go with a safe consumption facility. all we need is the legal framework to do so. if we look at experiences from canada and denmark, this is what drove change. somebody needs to step forward. people are dying every day. we talk about pandemics a lot. 15 people a day where the figures from 2018, and it is getting worse. a uk government spokesperson said, we have no plans to introduce drug consumption means in the uk. illegal drugs devastate lives and communities and dealers should face the full consequences of

the law. the scottish government came to us this long quote "we heard at the scottish deaths conference from clinicians that introducing overdose prevention abilities is pa rt overdose prevention abilities is part of efforts to reduce drug deaths and drug—related harm. the uk government's own advisory group supports their introduction and in recent months two separate parliament committee have recommended that these facilities should be introduced. we recognise the frustration people are feeling about this". the problem is, if someone dies in the back of your van, how are you going to feel about that morally? that is a fear tactic, chloe. we have evidence from across the world, there are over 150 sites and there has not been one reported death. but it could happen. we have no locks on —— a drug that will

reverse a ny no locks on —— a drug that will reverse any overdose. there have been no reported deaths in over 150 sites worldwide. this is how it started in other countries. we need to push for changes. we cannot see people continue to die from a preve nta ble people continue to die from a preventable cause of death. there have been over 170 cases of hiv in five years now. thank you for coming bbc newsroom live is coming up next. thank you for your company today. have a good day. we will be back on monday. we have sunny spells across many parts of the uk at the moment and while we have a few showers around, for most of us it will stay dry into the afternoon. that is the scene in cumbria at the moment, blue skies and sunshine. we will see some rain

moving and eventually towards the far south—west. a few showers are p°ppin9 far south—west. a few showers are p°pping up far south—west. a few showers are popping up across north wales into the midlands. if you showers towards the midlands. if you showers towards the east of england but for most, it is dry. lighter winds compared to yesterday. it will feel more pleasant. tonight we see the rain moving further north and eastwards. there will be snow over the high ground in scotland. temperatures generally staying up. we start the weekend with a bit of rain. there will be brighter skies later on saturday. a similar story for sunday as well. but really quite mixed. rain at times and also quite breezy. bye for now.

you're watching bbc newsroom live — it's11am and these are the main stories this morning. the english football league will suspend all matches until the 3rd of april. the premier league look set to follow suit, and all uefa matches have also been suspended. the government defends its approach to slowing the spread of the coronavirus, as new official measures come into place. although school closures may be something that needs to be done at some point, we need to get these other bigger, more impactful measures in place first. the former health secretary is among those questioning whether more needs to be done to tackle the virus — and says the decision not to cancel public events is a concern.