all english and scottish football matches are suspended because of the impact of coronavirus. still premier league champions, manchester city. no games will be played until april 3rd, as some players and staff are affected by the illness. gary lineker described the suspension as inevitable and unprecedented in our lifetime. we'll be asking why this drastic move has been taken, without the uk government cancelling mass gatherings. also this lunchtime. the latest official advice — self—isolate for seven days if you have a cough or fever. a top adviser says their tactic is to protect the nhs from overload. at the worst case scenario, the nhs could not cope with the number of ventilator beds that were required,

nor could any health care system. across europe, the outbreak curtails travel, shuts schools, museums and galleries. and a recovery in the global markets, after a torrid week that saw the biggest declines in a generation. and coming up on bbc news, more cancellations and postponements, as england's test series against sri lanka is abandoned with all players and staff returning to the uk. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. as sporting events around the world are suspended because of coronavirus, officials here have in a dramatic move stopped all english and scottish football matches, including the premier league.

no games will now be played until at least april 3rd. officials made the annnouncement after several clubs reported players and staff having to be isolated because of the illness. the westminster government hasn't banned large gatherings, but scotland is to cancel events with crowds of more than 500 from monday. with our first report, here is our sports correspondentjoe wilson. this all seems to matter so much and it all seems so routine. whatever else occurred, there would be champions, there would be football, there would be sport. well, today, england's football authorities announced a suspension of games until april the 3rd at the earliest. the statement read:.

to be clear, this goes through the professional game, the football league is off, the women's super league is off, the women's super league and championship is off. scottish football quickly followed suit, from the champions down to everywhere, all domestic professional and grassroots football under thejurisdiction professional and grassroots football under the jurisdiction of the scottish fa suspended until further notice. their reaction? well, gary lineker‘s tweet probably summed it up, inevitable and unprecedented in oui’ up, inevitable and unprecedented in our lifetime. he said it. and here are some examples that. the decision. arsenal's manager nicola tester tested positive for covid—19 and chelsea's callum hudson—odoi confirmed he had tested positive and spoke about it on a video posted on social media. hi, guys come as you may be aware, i had the virus for the last couple of days which i have recovered from. i followed the health guidelines and self isolated myself from everyone for the week.

hope to see everybody soon and hopefully be back on the pitch very soon. take care. around the world, sport is closing down. australia's formula i grand prix was cancelled with doubts growing over the whole season. with doubts growing over the whole season. in the usa, golf's immaculate fairways will see no play until april at the earliest. england's cricketers, meanwhile, are being sent home from sri lanka. the governing body says the well—being of players and support teams is paramount in what it calls com pletely paramount in what it calls completely unprecedented times. but at horse racing's cheltenham festival today, life continued. the horses arrived on gold update and everything that goes with them, including tens of thousands of spectators. i was pretty shocked that this was going ahead, being a big event forfour days, that this was going ahead, being a big event for four days, but that this was going ahead, being a big event forfour days, but i suppose we are all glad that it was not cancelled. any concerns about coming? absolutely none at all, we are in the open air and as long as people take precautions, which we will do, obviously, it should be fine. looking ahead, what of the

olympics and paralympics? tokyo presented a video of its mascots happily touring the world and japan's olympic minister insists there is no intention of cancelling or even postponing the sum of‘s games. well, one thing we have learned today is how quickly everything can change. joe wilson, bbc news. our sports correspondent laura scott is outside the premier league's offices in central london. no ban on mass gatherings but this outbreak has effectively wiped out football for the next few weeks. this is huge, isn't it? it really is. it has been quite an extraordinary morning across football and here at the premier league's offices in london, they made the really difficult decision, but probably the only decision that they could make, which was to suspend football for a few weeks. at the moment, that is three weeks. that is across the professional game in england, and all football in scotla nd in england, and all football in scotland and all football in wales.

it really does throw the calendar into huge uncertainty. quite when they will be able to reschedule those matches, we don't yet know. the intention at this stage is to try to have them on for the 4th of april onwards but there is absolutely no guarantee that we will be in absolutely no guarantee that we will beina absolutely no guarantee that we will be in a better position in terms of the coronavirus outbreak by then. indeed, it could be worse. uefa, obviously, in charge of the euro 2020 tournament, are due to meet on tuesday. that could have a big impact domestically, because they may decide to push the whole tournament back by a year. that would free up some time for these fixtures to be rescheduled later in kind ofjune time. but the financial ramifications of today's decision are ramifications of today's decision a re pretty ha rd ramifications of today's decision are pretty hard to quantify. it is not just are pretty hard to quantify. it is notjust in are pretty hard to quantify. it is not just in football are pretty hard to quantify. it is notjust in football but in wider society. and the emotional impact on the fans of today's decision is again huge but obviously it was made because of the health of everybody in the football community, that is

why the decision has been made but it really is an unprecedented one. laura, thank you. currently, over 600 people have tested positive for the virus in the uk. the official advice is that anyone with a persistent cough or high temperature should isolate themselves for a week. the government's chief scientific adviser has defended its strategy against criticism that more stringent measures haven't been imposed. catherine burns reports. this is the front line of the government's latest stage in the fight against coronavirus, staying at home. officials are clear — anyone with a temperature or a new and persistent cough needs to self—isolate for a week. and persistent cough needs to self-isolate for a week. this is such a big move because it is asking people to stay at home. some will have coronavirus, probably a minority at the moment. some will have the common cold. some may have something else. but this is the type of measure we need to make which is why it is quite a big change, in

order to try to reduce the speed of transmission. here is why that is so important. this is what the peak number of cases could look like without these new steps. instead, the idea is to spread the cases out, to help the nhs cope better. the government is planning for a reasonable worst—case scenario, where 80% of us get infected. they think and hope that the real level will be lower. but if it got to that point, the health service would come under extreme pressure. at the worst—case scenario, the nhs would not cope with the number of ventilator beds that were required, nor could any health care system. take some soap... washing our hands well and often is still the most useful thing most of us can do to slow down the spread. it might sound strange but the aim is not to stop it entirely. we need enough people to get it to build up herd immunity.

the point when it becomes difficult for the disease to carry on spreading. the government says there steps will do this, while protecting vulnerable people. the main strategy right now is that focus on people who have got a cough or temperature self isolating. that really means staying at home. if possible, sleep alone. if you live with other people, try to keep two metres away from them, that is about three steps away. and you don't need to tell medics you are doing this unless you become more ill or haven't recovered ina become more ill or haven't recovered in a week. other countries like italy have gone into lockdown. many others are closing schools or banning large gatherings. we are not doing any of that yet. banning large gatherings. we are not doing any of that yetlj banning large gatherings. we are not doing any of that yet. i think it is surprising and concerning that we are not doing any of it at all, when we have just four weeks before we get to the stage that italy is at. 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.

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 wilful on families and on communities. there has been precious little discussion about that. communities. there has been precious little discussion about thatm these videos of usually busy morning commutes are anything to go by, it seems that some people have already decided to stay at home. the government isn't ruling out stricter controls soon, but says it is starting with the measures that will have the biggest impact now. this illness can have serious consequences, but for most people, it will probably mean a week at home recovering. catherine burns, bbc news. our science correspondent pallab ghoshjoins me now. the uk in terms of the measures it is taking seems out of kilter with other countries. why is that? that is right, this week, we have seen many countries introduce more severe measures like travel restrictions, a ban on mass gatherings, that sort of

thing. school closures. but the uk government has decided to take a more nuanced approach. you heard sir patrick vallance in their report earlier, saying that at the moment, the computer models suggest that we are in the very early stages of the epidemic in the uk and the peak will be inio—ili epidemic in the uk and the peak will be in 10—14 weeks' time. now, if they introduce some of those drastic measures now, that is an awfully long time to keep people in their homes and stop them from gathering. the worry is that people won't stick to it, they will go out and about right at the wrong time when the epidemic is at its height. the main piece of advice as you heard in that report is still to wash your hands and also, if you have any of the symptoms of coronavirus, self—isolate. that in itself could reduce the mortality rate and the eventual epidemic by 20%. it might seem eventual epidemic by 20%. it might seem like a trivial thing to do but it has a big effect, much bigger than cancelling mass events, travel

restrictions and that kind of thing. those are likely to come later. and when is that advice likely to change? well, the government will watch events closely. the advice will change as the epidemic develops. but the next stage will be to advise people who get the virus that not only should they self—isolate but also their families. that is great. i love gauche, there. thank you forjoining us. “— gauche, there. thank you forjoining us. —— pal abu as we've heard, the government is advising schools in the uk to remain open for now. but some universities have stopped face—to—face teaching. our education correspondent caroline davies reports. the last day of school in france — one of more than 30 countries around the world to decide to close them. but today at the conference for the association of school and college leaders, the government said

again that schools in the uk will currently stay open. in the overwhelming majority of situations, there is absolutely no need to close a school or to send pupils or staff home. can you just flip over the sheets of paper you're reading, please? the government's chief scientific adviser defended not closing schools, saying that it would be inconceivable that children wouldn't socialise with each other anyway, and that there were more impactful measures to be put in place first. can you hear me all right? can you see the powerpoint 0k? some schools have already tried remote learning for pupils in self—isolation, like this school in devon. but some head teachers have pointed out this only works if all pupils have access to technology. 45% of our young people are pupil premium. so we have children who don't have access to the internet. so for them, that's not a goer. so for them, we've 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 learn well, those children will miss out on.

there are concerns that the coronavirus could reach its peak during the build—up to and during school exams. but students are being told to continue studying as normal and that, if needed, contingency plans will be put in place by the examination authority quual. i know from talking to quual, the regulator, is that that planning — even though it's on a bigger scale — is taking place. and i think students should be reassured that quual has got two duties here. one is to try and make sure exams run, and the second one is to make sure exams are fair and they have a very, very good track record in doing that. we've got all the lovely bubbles and suds. some have pointed out that during times of exceptional uncertainty, the rhythm of school life can create a sense of normality. caroline davies, bbc news. the czech government has said it would ban all foreign travellers from entering and all czechs from leaving the country from next monday. elsewhere, parts of germany, including the capital berlin, are to start closing schools. jenny hill is in berlin.

yes, the number of infections and the number of deaths across europe continues to rise. we havejust heard from the spanish authorities who say that well over 4000 people have now tested policy —— tested positive for the virus. in germany, angela merkel has urged people to keep their distance from one another. her government this morning promised unlimited financial assistance to businesses who may be affected, saying that they will do everything they can to mitigate the economic impact of the outbreak. the virus is spreading across europe. all countries, cities and towns can do is try to slow it down. in germany's french border, health checks for travellers. angela merkel has acknowledged that two thirds of the population could become infected. state—by—state, the country has started to shut its schools. france has already

announced the closure of all nurseries, schools and universities as of monday. translation: we have got to do something. there is a risk. we should have done it a few weeks ago, looking at other countries experiences. i think it's a bit too late now. the president emanuel machen has called for a coordinated response from europe, from the g7 countries, including america. translation: this epidemic, which has affected every continent, is the worst health crisis that france has faced in a hundred years. for the overwhelming majority, overt i9 faced in a hundred years. for the overwhelming majority, overt 19 is not serious. but the virus can have extremely serious consequences for those of our compatriots who are elderly or suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity or cancer. the czech republic has in effect sealed itself off. government says as of sunday, foreign nationals cannot come into the country and its

own cannot leave. translation: these measures mean greater restrictions for czech citizens. it affects eve ryo ne for czech citizens. it affects everyone and i would like to stress that these are preventative measures, in order to protect the life and health of our citizens. to the south, it is hardly the image spain wanted to project at the start of the tourist season. four towns are now in quarantine. the prime minister, fearfulfor the are now in quarantine. the prime minister, fearful for the economy, has promised businesses financial aid. in italy last night, help arrived from china. the country where the outbreak first began is now offering expertise, supplies, relief to europe. translation: now offering expertise, supplies, relief to europe. translatiosz this moment of great stress and difficulty, we are very relieved to have the supplies. yes, it will only help temporarily stop but it is still important. we have a real need for masks right now and we really

need the respirators that have been donated. italy remains the focus of concern. the virus has killed more than 1000 people here and led to the closure of every catholic church in rome. one by one, the countries of europe are feeling the effects. in denmark on the shelves have emptied as the number of confirmed infections has risen. for most in europe, daily life has either already changed significantly, or it's about two. we have just heard the austrian chancellor announced that as of monday every shop in austria will be closed and restaurants and cafe is will have to operate under a limited opening hours, a little like the situation in italy. a moving situation. jenny, thank you.

in a moment, we'll speak to chris page in dublin and tomos morgan in cardiff, but first let's talk to lorna gordon who is in edinburgh. what's the latest? the scottish government taking a different position from westminster and have decided from monday they will advise that mass gatherings of more than 500 people should be cancelled. it is not about stemming the spread of the virus, it is not about easing the virus, it is not about easing the pressure on the front line nhs staff, ambulance crews and paramedics. the last couple of hours we have heard that the scottish football season has been postponed indefinitely so no old firm game in glasgow this weekend. that is in the interests of public health and health and safety of players, match officials and staff, but the effects officials and staff, but the effects of this virus spreading into other areas. some universities are moving exams online, some court cases have been postponed and postponed and

disrupted and perhaps crucially some boards are postponing on elective procedures to free up capacity on the system. in dublin there is a strange sense of quiet as the first day of new restrictions takes hold. schools, colleges, child facilities closed, as art museums and art galleries, endure gatherings of 100 or more people, outdoor gatherings of 500 or more have been called off. it is also hitting social occasions like weddings for example. at the headquarters of the irish police force the head of the force has announced a number of measures, for example he is bringing 300 trainee officers onto front line duties and deploying officers to supermarkets and near pharmacies although he does not think there is going to be looting or civil disturbances. in northern ireland restrictions are

not in place. schools are still open. arlene foster says she expects schools will close at some stage in the future and the situation is being kept under review on a daily basis. with the premier league being called off and other major sporting events across the world, one fixture is going ahead on the weekend which is going ahead on the weekend which is wales against scotland, the only six nations fixture happening. the largest gathering of people across the uk and potentially across the world. there is room for 70,000 in the stadium behind me and tens of thousands descend upon the city of cardiff when there is a six nations game. the welsh government have come underfire for game. the welsh government have come under fire for keeping the game on. the wru say they have followed the medical guidance and the welsh government has said they are considering cancelling large gatherings but they have not done so yet following the guidance they have been given, although some welsh mps says they will not be coming to the

game because they do not want to ta ke game because they do not want to take the risk. the number of cases in wales has doubled in the last 36 hours to 38.1000 in wales has doubled in the last 36 hours to 38. 1000 have been tested. there have been no deaths so far. thank you. our top story this lunchtime: all english and scottish football matches are suspended — because of the impact of coronavirus. gary lineker described the suspension as inevitable and unprecedented in our lifetime. coming up on bbc news, the show must go on. we will bring you the latest from cheltenham ahead of this afternoon's gold cup, where al boum photo looks to defend his title.

italy has faced one of the the worst coronavirus outbreaks — with around 15,000 cases and 1,000 deaths so far. in the uk, the government's chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, has said the country is four weeks behind italy "in terms of the scale of the outbreak" if not "in terms of the response". are we then four weeks away from similar scenes? i'm joined now by the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe. there are three reasons to think the uk's on a different path to italy. the first is the spread of cases. as you can see here, italy's have consistently been concentrated up in the north of the country. it's like they have two different epidemics. one that's been going for a while in the north and another less advanced one down south. by contrast, the uk's cases are more evenly spread. concentrating demand in one place puts more pressure on health services. why those patterns? well, here's the second big difference. the number of cases in both countries may be moving in parallel now, but look at this sudden spike

in the middle of feburary. this suggests the virus had been spreading undetected in the community. that gave less chance for a "contain" phase to slow the spread in the north. the third difference is in the death rates among confirmed cases. just under 1.5% in the uk and just under 7% in italy. this could mean that more of their cases are very sick, which itself adds to the pressure on services. or it could mean their hospitals, especially in the north, are overwhelmed and so death rates are climbing. and that's what the uk is trying to avoid by flattening the growth in infections, and spreading the load on the nhs. the government are planning for a significant epidemic, but that doesn't mean we're a month from the scenes we're seeing in northern italy. stock markets in europe have recovered ground after huge falls yesterday. they've been volatile since the outbreak has spread. our correspondent theo leggettjoins

us from the business unit. just update us on how the markets are doing? at the moment they are pretty positive in fact. the ftse100 has been up and down during the day but at the moment it is around 7% up and we are seeing similar things in germany and paris. what this suggests is that yesterday was very large and people are relaxing a little bit and thinking shares are cheap, maybe we can get back in. there is so much uncertainty around. investors are as clueless as anybody about where this is going. they do not know what restrictions are going to be in place next and what the economic impact is going to be and they are worried about where to put their money. there have been stark warnings from the tories aboutjobs. —— the tourism industry. warnings from the tories aboutjobs. -- the tourism industry. 15 million jobs worldwide could go. the

international air transport association said this whole affair could cost the airline industry £19 billion before it is all over and the reason is we are seeing more and more travel restrictions so people are not going on holiday and when they get there they are not using their hotels, not going on cruises, not going to restaurants, so businesses are going to suffer because if the customer is not the air it doesn't matter how good your product is, if people don't use it you are not making money. thank you. opposition parties have been meeting with government officials to express their concerns over the uk's response to the crisis. iain watson is at westminster what are they saying? labour and the snp, the lib dems and plaid cymru met the chief medical officer this morning. we do not want to play party politics with such an important issue but behind closed

doors i am told they raise concerns forcibly with government officials as to the approach they are taking, in particular they are questioning why we are so out of step with some other countries in that closing schools, calling of public events and so on, and fundamentally what they wanted to question was this issue which the government says look, if, for example, we ask to isolate soon people will get fatigued as we reach the peak of this virus, perhaps in 1014 weeks, what the opposition parties are pressing for was to see the evidence of this. —— ten or 14 weeks. they are worried not enough evidences they are. not enough evidence being shared with the public. they want guidance on what vulnerable people should do, notjust the elderly. one participant told the bbc i hope the government has better answers, that is when they next meet on monday.

thank you. in the us, all major sport and broadway performances in new york have been suspended — amid growing criticism of the testing regime for the virus. cbs news correspondent david begnaud is in new york. what's the impact of the state of emergency on the city? ican i can tell you starting from where i am standing, i am in front of the cbs news headquarters and other broadcast centre is closed. three people tested positive so staff are working remotely in the broadcasts are being directed and put on from our bureau in washington, dc. when you walk around the city it seems a little quieter. people are still going about their day. schools are still open, they are working, but it seems a little empty and as lonely and mean as new york city can be at times it also feels somewhat kinder, but there is real concern here about

the impact on the us economy and like you were talking about uk citizens wanting to know about testing, american citizens said that asking why is it taking you so long to get many more tests up and running and available to go? with less tha n running and available to go? with less than 10,000 tests have been taken in the us and then you have places like puerto rico where the government says this morning tests are sent to the cbc on monday and it is friday and the government of portugal has not got those test results back. in new york state you have the governor seeing we will not be able to reimburse businesses for lost wages because it would bankrupt the economy. the entire country of the economy. the entire country of the united states is affected by this, from sports to states like ohio, meadowland and misery that are closing schools state—wide. —— and

missouri. thank you. and you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect yourself on the bbc news app and on our website bbc.co.uk/news. we woke capture a lot of sunshine across the uk today and the weather is not looking bad for most of us this afternoon however the weekend is looking mixed and most of us will get at least a bit of rain fell from time to time. there will be some sunshine in the forecast as well. we are between weather systems but you can see low pressure is starting to approach our neighbourhood and to the south—west of us, the size of ireland and the south—west of england, clouds are starting to increase. also across other parts of the country but a few spots of rain. once again the vast majority of us this afternoon the weather