today at 5pm, 3 patient in scotland dies from coronavirus. they're described as an older person with underlying health conditions. nearly 800 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the uk. the world health organization says more than 5,000 people have now lost their lives worldwide. europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic. with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from china. all professional football in the uk is suspended — a number of premier league teams are in self—isolation. and tomorrow's six nations match between wales and scotland is postponed. buckingham palace says the queen has postponed some public engagements for next week.

the local and mayoral elections in england, due to be held in may, have been postponed for one year. the latest official advice — self—isolate for seven days if you have a cough or high temperature. a top adviser says the tactic is to protect the nhs from overload. at the worst case scenario, the nhs would not cope with the number of ventilator beds that are required, fioi’ ventilator beds that are required, nor could any health care system. and, keira knightley stars in the true story of the women's rights protests that disrupted the 1970 miss world contest. find out what mark kermode thinks of misbehaviour, and the rest of the week's top cinema releases, in the film review at 5:45pm.

good evening and welcome to the bbc news at 5, i'm jane hill. it's been afternoon of fast moving developments in the spread of coronavirus. the number of people testing positive here in the uk hasjumped again, and sporting fixtures across the world are being postponed and cancelled. let's bring you right up to date. there are now 798 confirmed cases of the virus in the uk. and 11 deaths, including the first in scotland. the queen has postponed two of her upcoming visits, to cheshire and camden, with other events to be reviewed mayoral and local elections in england — which were due to be held in may — have been postponed for a year. in the world of sport, all uk football matches have been cancelled in a dramatic move, including the premier england's cricket tour of sri lanka has also been suspended, with players travelling

and wales' six nations match against scotland in cardiff tomorrow has been postponed. 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 and championship is off.

scottish football quickly followed suit, from the champions down to everywhere, all domestic professional and grassroots football under thejurisdiction of the scottish fa suspended until further notice. the reaction? well, gary lineker‘s tweet probably summed it up, inevitable and unprecedented in our lifetime. he said it. and here are some examples that forced the decision. arsenal's manager mikel arteta positive for covid—19 and chelsea's callum hudson—0doi confirmed he had tested positive and spoke about it on a video posted on social media. hi, guys, 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 1 grand prix was cancelled 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 completely unprecedented times. but at horse racing's cheltenham festival today, life continued. the horses arrived on gold cup day 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, 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 0lympic minister insists there is no intention of cancelling or even postponing the summer games. well, one thing we have learned today is how quickly everything can change. joe wilson, bbc news. our sports news reporter laura scott, is here. laura, what could go next? literally come in the last few moments, we hear about the london marathon a. that is a really big decision, they've decided to move that until october the 4th. it's not entirely unexpected. we have been waiting for news of that today, because the boston marathon was moved to september, so we thought that it might have an impact on london, but the london marathon is one of the biggest mass participation events in the world. it attracts 750,000 spectators, 40,000 runners, and it raises in an extraordinary amount of money for charity, 60 66.4 million last year.

grand national on the 4th of april, one of the biggest sporting events of the year, and then euro 2020 as well, which is due to be held across 12 cities this summer, and ua for have said they are going to hold a meeting on tuesday, and one of the contingency plans in place is moving about the whole year —— uefa, and that would be quite some decision. but on what has been a remarkable date and sporting developments, we have seen sports like the premier league actually taking decisions for themselves above and beyond the current government advice, which hasn't changed. that presents a real dilemma for other sporting events. do they follow the advice of the biggest and wealthiest support in this country? 0r biggest and wealthiest support in this country? or do they continue to follow the government advice? let's see whether there is more to come, but laura, for now, thank you very much indeed. that's the very latest. that's the very latest from the world of sports, and that's just announced, the london marathon moved to october the 4th. currently, nearly 800 people have tested positive

for the virus in the uk, and there have been 11 deaths. 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 that 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. 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 their 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 do 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 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. 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 will fall

on families and on communities. there has been precious little discussion about that. if 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 health correspondent — laura foster is with me. the announcement this afternoon, laura, of the first person to lose their life in scotland. yes. within their life in scotland. yes. within the last hour that scotland's chief medical officer announced that someone medical officer announced that someone had died after being tested positive for the coronavirus. now, there have been 85 cases of coronavirus in scotland so far, but this is the first person who sadly

died. the health board, they cover patients from edinburgh and the surrounding counties, so you slowly and from a west lothian, the patient was being treated by them and was an older person who had underlying health conditions, so similar to the deaths we've seen in england. the plan, there was no plan to release any further information in order to protect that patient‘s confidentiality. worth talking about theissue confidentiality. worth talking about the issue of social care, because this is hugely intertwined with everything, and in the last hour or so, there has been new guidance issued for how the social care sector deals with this in england. yes. and it builds on the advice that's been given to everyone. so, if you have a new persistent dry cough, or you have a temperature of over 37.8 degrees, then you should not visit anyone in a care home, because it could be that you have covid—i9. now, it's also saying that people receiving care, if it's

thought that they might have the virus, then they should be isolated within the care home, and anyone who is suspected of having the coronavirus will still get care, and that will be because more protective equipment is being made available to ca re equipment is being made available to care staff, so they can go in and still give the treatment that is needed to people who need it most. laura, thank you very much for now. just while we were talking to our health correspondent, some news coming through from italy. just hearing on the afp news agency that italy has recorded its highest one day death toll yet from coronavirus. so in the last 24 hours in italy, 250 deaths we are hearing, that ta kes 250 deaths we are hearing, that takes the total to more than 1200. so 250 deaths in a 24 hour period in italy. 0f so 250 deaths in a 24 hour period in italy. of course, the country worst affected in europe by, in terms of numbers, we should say, just to

remind you, if you would like more clarification about the measures we should all be taking to try to protect ourselves against the virus, we'll be joined by professor nick phin of public health england at around quarter past five. so he will be with me with all of the latest guidance around about 5:15pm. now let's talk about one other of the spread of coronavirus. because, again in the last couple of hours, we have been told that the queen has postponed some of her upcoming engagements because of the virus. 0ur royal correspondent, sarah campbell is here. perhaps not too much, bearing in mind the queen is 93 years old, so potentially at more risk from the virus. so what we know that in check share next thursday, that engagement will now be rescheduled. it's a read through the know what she was going to do, and you can work out why. there were lots of meetings and members of staff at the motor

factory with apprentices and members of the restoration team. they were to go on to the observatory where she was due to meet school children as well as planting a couple of trees, a part of the usual makeup of rail engagements which involved meeting a lot of people. so at the moment it was deemed sensible to reschedule that one and also when later this month, which was due to happen in camden. i gather you have some news about prince charles as well. indeed. with all of these, comments been made known that the queen is in good health, camilla and charles also in good health, but it was announced today that prince cha rles‘ to was announced today that prince charles' to her to bosnia and cyprus and jordan has been postponed. that was due to start on tuesday, but at the request of the british government, the decision was taken to postpone, looking at these pictures here of prince charles not shaking people's hands, using the namaste sign, the royalfamily shaking people's hands, using the namaste sign, the royal family sort of very much taking these guidelines to hearts, because, of course, what they do when they go out, the idea is to meet as many people as

possible, and of course, that carries with it risks at the moment. all right, thank you very much for now. sarah campbell, royal correspondent. well, in terms of politics, we heard that yhe government announced earlier today that it is bringing forward legislation to postpone may's local and mayoral elections in england for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak. so there will be a postponement again because of coronavirus. 0ur chief political correspondent vicki young has more. well, the government's saying that because they think that the peak of this virus outbreak will be in a couple of months‘ time. we heard yesterday from the chief medical officer that they thought that would be in about 10—14 weeks. that means that these elections would actually be really in the run up to that very difficult time, so they say it's just simply not practical to do that. so they're postponing the elections for a year, and it's important to say what these are. these are council elections in england.

that involves 2,700 counsellors, the mayor of london, the london assembly, the four combined authority mayors in greater manchester, liverpool, tees valley, and west midlands. and then there are single authority mayors in bristol, liverpool and salford, and police and crime commissioners in england and wales. now, earlier today, the electoral commission wrote to the government saying they had massive concerns about holding these elections. and that's for various reasons. in a democracy, voters need to hear what the candidates have to say, and in the current climate, that would be extremely difficult. large meetings, for example, maybe people would be reluctant to go to those. people knocking on doors. again, maybe something that's not practical. and, also, they expect that local authorities will be very much focused on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in the coming weeks. so having to think about elections where you have to staff polling stations, get all the paperwork there. even if you do postal votes, that simply won't be enough. as well as the fact that you probably think that lots of people will be at that point, either isolating

themselves because they think they have the virus or they have it. so, for all those reasons, the government has decided to postpone this for a year. vicki young, our chief political correspondent. us and european markets have recovered some ground amid signs authorities are implementing measures aimed at easing the economic pain caused by the coronavirus outbreak. the main us indexes gained more than 3% in early trade, while london's ftse 100 and other exchanges made similar moves. the rally comes a day after wall street suffered its biggest losses since 1987. well, here's how london and frankfurt are ending the day. and in the the united states this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on.

0na on a fast moving day, let's try and give you a sense of the picture in various countries around the world. we've mentioned italy already this hour, because, as i say, the death toll is up in italy, 250 deaths in italy in a 24 hour period. let's have a quick recap of some of the other coronavirus developments around the world. president trump is due to give a press conference in a couple of hours' time on measures to control the spread of the virus in the united states. he's likely to face questions over what critics say has been a chaotic public health response. more on that in a couple of hours. the spanish prime minister says he's declaring a state of emergency that will come into effect on saturday for two weeks. the number of infections there, at 4,200

has nearly doubled injust a couple of days belgium announced sweeping measures including the closure of schools, cafes a nd restau ra nts, and cancellation of cultural and recreational events. in paris, the world's most visited museum, the louvre, has closed until further notice iran has announced another 85 deaths, the country's highest toll in a 24—hour period, bringing the total number of dead there to 514. the security forces have been ordered to clear city streets across the country within the next 24 hours so all citizens can be checked for virus. and this afternoon, the world health organisation gave this update. more than 132,000 cases of covid—19 have now been reported to who from 123 countries and territories. 5,000 people have lost their lives. a tragic milestone.

europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined apart from china. more cases are now being reported every day than were reported in china at the height of its epidemic. we are encouraged that many countries are now acting on the eight pillars of who's strategy preparedness and response plan. most countries now have a national plan. so that's the picture they are from the world health organisation. just trying to bring you some news from wales as well regarding the health situation. we are hearing that the welsh government is suspending all

non—urgent outpatient appointments and routine operations. so that's a statement through in the last few moments. all nonurgent outpatients and routine operations are being suspended. that's just threw in the last few moments. if we can get any more details on that, any more specifics, it tells a lot of its own story, but we will try to get some more information on that for you from cardiff as well. let's turn our attentions to public health england as well, because it's released new guidance following the cobra meeting yesterday for those staying at home because they have symptoms of the virus — a cough or a temperature of 37.8c or more. professor nick phin is deputy director of the national infection service at public health.

thanks so much for your time and exceptionally busy time for you. your assessment as the figures keep rising, your assessment of where we are tonight as we go into a weekend of what people should be doing, of the extent to which you feel people are responding to the information? 0k, we have turned containment into delay, and what that indicates is that we believe and have evidence that we believe and have evidence that there is sustained transmission in the community. in other words, the virus is circulating in the community, and not simply being brought into the country from other places. so, in light of that, the move that we have taken is to move away from contact tracing, where we are looking for every single contact for case, and moving into a stage where we are trying to stop the spread, and we believe the best way of doing that at the moment is to ask people to stay at home if they develop the symptoms, and you have

just described them very nicely. persistent cough, dry cough, and a fever or a temperature over 37.8. the cancellations, for example, that we have been talking about so much this afternoon, so many sporting events, events were tens of thousands of people could be gathered together, you are presumably pleased under the circumstances that those are being cancelled, are you ? circumstances that those are being cancelled, are you? well, i think we need to look at the impact of cancelling such mass gatherings will have, and we need to make sure that the timing is right. the behavioural scientist that we have indicated that if you move on some of these issues too soon, people don't... they are unable to maintain their interest, and therefore, they can be ineffective. so the timing is critical. that would go for things like school closures, which come at the moment, we don't believe is warranted. this is going to be kept under observation, and should things

change, that may be a measure that we should consider. so this is measured, what's come on in almost daily basis? how do people like yourself reach those decisions? well, we rely on a number of things. up well, we rely on a number of things. up until now, we have been relying on all the information from the tests that are done on people presenting both in hospital and in communities, these are people who have either been in contact with cases, or have travel to countries affected. now we are moving into a new phase, where we are going to be using the information we have to make estimates of the people at the severe end of the spectrum, and then try and work that back and say how many people with that equate to in the community? at the same time, we are going to supplement that by specific schemes in the community, and looking very closely at the possibility of self sampling, whereby we would get groups of people and may have been diagnosed

on the basis of their symptoms. ask them to take some swabs, and then get them sent in, and we can look at that. by monitoring on other daily basis you can get an idea of the trend. we also provide that information to our modelers who will use that along with data from other countries to say where about in the curve we are. the two critical points of when we reach the top, when we reach the peak? and when is it over? these are the sorts of schemes we will use to try and guide people to give them the information on those issues. professor nick finn from public health england, we appreciate your time at a period thatis appreciate your time at a period that is so exceptionally busy for you. thank you very much indeed for now, thank you. just to tell you some more news that's come through from france in the last few moments. we hear from paris from france in the last few moments. we hearfrom paris that from france in the last few moments. we hear from paris that the eiffel tower is going to close at nine o'clock this evening until further notice. so, again, just another

sense of the measures that are being taken, and we have reflected as well, of course, that the lure of, the busiest museum in the world has already been shuts, and there are many areas of france that have been shot, and we are seeing that reflected here with the postponement if not cancellation of a large number of sporting events as we have reflected. —— lourve. well, we've heard in the last hour that scotland has had its first death confirmed this afternoon. 0ur correspondent lorna gordon is there. lorna, again, as we have seen reg retta bly lorna, again, as we have seen regrettably in other cases, we are talking, we understand, about someone talking, we understand, about someone with underlying health conditions? yes, we are damaging. the chief medical officer has offered her deepest timothy to the family and friends of the person who died. we are told they were being treated in a hospital in the lothian area, there described as older and with underlying health conditions.

this is the first person to die of the disease in scotland. 85 people here have tested positive, that's more than the 3000 tests that have been carried out. also moves here as well to try to delay the spread of the virus. we see the football season off, rugby being cancelled, the scottish government saying they are advising a defence of more than 500 people to be cancelled or postponed to try and ease pressure on paramedics and ambulance crews as this epidemic unfolds. some indication as well, perhaps, of the strain that business is going to be undergoing with quite frankly stark statement from edinburgh airport who is warning that it's facing the potential for close to zero passengers in the next three months because of coronavirus. a spokesperson for the airport described the situation as unprecedented and said that the pandemic is having an immediate and direct impact on the business. more than 100 jobs at the airport are said to be address, that's over that

1000 people employed there, the airport and others across gotland could be on the brink of collapse without support and stabilising measures from the government. thank you for now, our scotland correspondent, lorna gordon. we have been talking about the huge number of sporting events that have been cancelled, postponed, the whole premier league is affected. football affected up and down the uk, let's talk to carol shanahan, the co—owner of port vale football club. she joins me via webcam, like so many of my guests, for very obvious reasons. thank you so much as well for your time tonight. what is the picture, first of all, for you, for your matches, for your fans, what does it mean? well, we have the letter from the efl this morning to say that all of our matches were off until the 3rd of april at least. there is no guarantee that they will be back on, even then. and that then affected not just our

even then. and that then affected notjust our games, but also things like player appearances, anything to do with the community, that has all had to stop, but training, we were allowed to make our own arrangements as to individual coaches, whether they would like to carry on training or not. we decided that the players staying at home, but they have a training regime which doesn't include gyms, it's keeping them safe. but also keeping them fed dish — — fete safe. but also keeping them fed dish —— fete —— fit. safe. but also keeping them fed dish -- fete -- fit. so they will do as much as they can at home, by the sounds of it. as well as being obviously and extremely disappointing time for all football fans, whoever they support, i'm assuming the impact for you economically is enormous. it is, because like many of the lower league clubs, we rely on people coming through our gates. we are an entertainment business that brings people in, whereas the top leagues rely on advertising and tv

deals, at the bottom, we rely very much on gate revenue. it is going to be very devastating for some of the lower league clubs in the next few weeks. as always, it is local suppliers as well and people who come in on the day and sell their produce and products, so the knock on in the entire area is huge, isn't it? yes, and we have had to speak to all of our casual staff that only come in on a match day to say that we won't be needing them until april, and everybody relies on it. we have all got... 0ur april, and everybody relies on it. we have all got... our last game of the season is at plymouth, and people have booked hotels to be there, so they are asking for some certainty which we can't give them, and it is a really sad day for football. i understand it and i don't think it was the wrong decision, i think it was the right decision, i think it was the right decision, but it is still very sad

that all of football has stopped. it is going to be a very strange day tomorrow when there is no football on the telly and there is nobody going to the matches, notjust for port vale but all across the country. yes, very strange indeed. you have been told until the 3rd of april at the earliest. my goodness, i guess your april at the earliest. my goodness, i guess your concern april at the earliest. my goodness, i guess your concern is it is the uncertainty. i don't know how you are meant to plan for anything. what more would you like to hear from the authorities? there is nothing they can tell us, because the situation. i have been listening to your programme while i was waiting to come on, and you can tell from that it is changing hour by hour across europe and the world, so there is nothing certain that we can say to ourfans or that nothing certain that we can say to our fans or that the authorities can say to us. we all have to take this day by day and do what we can. i think for us, it is going to have an effect on our cash flow, so we are going to have to be very careful on

what else we spend money on to make sure that we can cover the costs of our salaries, because obviously the players still need to be paid even though they can't play. it's not theirfault though they can't play. it's not their fault they can't play. well, thank you very much for your time. carol shanahan, co—owner of port vale. we wish you and the fans all the best. it is affecting people up and down the country as you said. thank you for your time. just to bring you up—to—date if you are joining us, just to tell you some key lines even since five o'clock this evening and since we have been on air, we have had a nose through from wales saying that all routine surgery from wales saying that all routine surgery is being cancelled in wales as the nhs there gears up to tackle the coronavirus, so a huge impact on what is deemed nonurgent treatment. first minister said this is about

making the right decisions at the right time, so that has come through in the last ten minutes or so. routine surgery being cancelled in wales. from berlin, we are hearing that all bars, clubs and pubs in berlin will be closed from the middle of next week. the city authorities have just announced that. again, every minute that goes by, there is a cancellation, a postponement, egg closure of some kind in countries across europe and more. in terms of the states, we are expecting a news conference from president trump in a couple of hours, all because of coronavirus of course. huge economic impacts really are becoming clear now. it's been afternoon of fast moving developments in the spread of coronavirus. the number of deaths in italy has risen by 250 in the last 24 hours. in the uk, the number of people testing positive hasjumped again and sporting fixtures across the world have been suspended.

a surge of fatalities in italy — 250 in a single day, the country's worst total so far. it brings the number of deaths there to 1226. meanwhile, in the uk, there are now 798 confirmed cases of the virus and 11 deaths, including the first in scotland. the queen has postponed two of her upcoming visits, to cheshire and camden, with other events to be reviewed mayoral and local elections in england — which were due to be held in may — have been postponed for a year. the government said it is bringing forward legislation to post bone them for one year. we have talked a lot about sport today.

in the world of sport, all uk football matches have been cancelled in a dramatic move, including the premier the league. london marathon has been postponed until the fourth 0ctober. it isa it is a huge event that raises so much for charity, and it is postponed until the 4th of october. rugby is affected as well. and wales' six nations match against scotland in cardiff tomorrow has been postponed. in the united states, president trump is due to declate a national emergency over the spread of the virus. 0ur correspondent in washington is gary 0'donoghue. bring us up to date with what is happening where you are. in terms of the numbers, we have 42 deaths here as far as we can tell up until now.

more than 1700 people have contracted the virus. that is a figure that i think a lot of people are sceptical about in the sense there has been so little testing here. it is very difficult to tell what the real scale of it is. we have only had around 11,000 tests conducted altogether in the united states. when you think some countries are doing that in a day. we, like the rest of the world, have had a number of sporting events cancelled. the masters at augusta, the first major of the season, that has been postponed. i think called march madness which is only known inside the united states but is massive here. it is college basketball, and it takes place in march. everyone gets involved and has a grid where they try to chip off the teams that they want to win. a big, big deal here, and that has been postponed. major league baseball —— basketball season has been postponed as well. along with

the nba, national basketball association, that has been postponed. the hockey league has been suspended as well. you can see a huge impact on the sporting arena. in terms of education, we have six states at the moment who have closed their schools. that is around 5 million students. 0n their schools. that is around 5 million students. on top of that, we have also heard that los angeles is closing its public schools. not sure how many children that involves, and a lot of universities are shutting after the spring break. they are on spring break at the moment. universities are telling their stu d e nts universities are telling their students not to come back after that, doing some remote teaching was up that, doing some remote teaching was up later this afternoon, we are expecting the president to announce a national emergency and take powers and money to the federal government to coordinate the response. thank you very much for now. gary 0'donoghue and more from gary later on this evening when that news conference takes place. that will ta ke conference takes place. that will take place at the white house. it is interesting gary talking about the number of schools and colleges being

closed in the states. we have seen similar moves in a lot of european countries but not here, and there has been a lot of comment about the fa ct has been a lot of comment about the fact that schools are not being advised to close in this country even though we have spent so much of the last hour talking about the cancellation of sporting events, but schools remain open, and the chief scientific adviser saying it is hoped that the government approach, the uk government approach, will provide herd immunity. that is part of the thinking behind it. let us discuss that. andrew pollard is a professor of infection and immunisation at the university of oxford. do you think that is the right approach? is it going to provide herd immunity? so what if you do make herd immunity first of all. it means that we end up with a lot of people in the —— in of people in the population that has the virus immunity that it stopped spreading. that will happen sooner or later,

and if it happens, it means that... if we are to stop transmission of the virus to have everybody stay at home, at some point, we are going to have to come out again and the virus will continue to transmit at that point. the answer is that there is a balance when we don't have any other way of controlling the virus so far. the balance is between having some transmission that allows immunity to build up, so eventually the virus goes away, but not completely stopping it so that we just have a bigger wave later in the year. so the balance that has been taken by the balance that has been taken by the government at the moment is around trying to find what was described as the sweet spot which is where we have some transmission going on. we are able to still maintaina going on. we are able to still maintain a reasonable level of pressure in the national health service and maintain the economy,

keep everything running, and not just completely stop everything, because we are going to get that transmission happen at some point, whatever we do. sorry to interrupt, but that is the thinking behind it, and you have explained that extremely clearly. people watching might think, 0k, extremely clearly. people watching might think, ok, i understand that and the principal. are there any risks associated with trying this policy, they might think, because clearly a lot of european countries have taken a different view.|j clearly a lot of european countries have taken a different view. i think if we understand the nature of this infection which is a virus which is able to transmit extremely efficiently, and actually in most people it causes a mild illness, but it will cause severe illness in a small portion of people, and that is not going to be different whether that transmission happens today or in six months‘ time, and for that reason, it seems wise to try and work out how best to manage it, and

thatis work out how best to manage it, and that is the type of advice which the chief science officer and chief medical officer will be receiving which comes from the experts in modelling epidemics who can accurately, or relatively accurately, or relatively accurately, predict what is going to happen. all the time, those models are being adjusted, because we get new data. every day, there is no information to help advise when the right time is to make these changes, including information that comes from other countries and the impact of measures that they take. professor andrew pollard, thanks for your time. i‘m sorry we cannot speak longer, but thank you for your expertise from oxford university. we will pause for a moment or two to catch up on the sport even though we have spent a lot of time talking about how much is being cancelled, but let us get the very latest. as you‘ve been hearing the premier league, the efl, the scottish premiership and elite

football in wales and northern ireland is on hold for now. the first major of the golf season — the masters is off, as is england‘s cricket tour of sri lanka and the formula 1 season is suspended until may at the earliest. and in the last 40 minutes the london marathon — due to take place on april the 26th — has been reaaranged for the 4th of october. it‘s the first time it‘s been postponed since its launch in 1981. 0rganisers say the world is in an unprecedented situation, grappling with a global pandemic and public health is everyone‘s priority. it‘s been confirmed that wales against scotland in the six nations, which was supposed to played at the principality stadium, in front of 75,000 tomorrow is also off. 0lly foster is in cardiff for us. the wru — welsh rugby union — have given a press conference, you were there, what have they been saying? gareth davies, the wru chairmanjust pitch side said in the last 40

minutes said the reasons why it was called off, and it was a real turnaround because this morning around half past nine or ten o‘clock, the wru but as a statement saying that on medical advice there is no reason why we can‘t have a large public gathering, and this match goes ahead. a little over four hours later, the statement came out saying that whilst medical advice remains consistent, we have decided it is in the best interest of supporters, players and staff to fall in line with recent measures taken across the uk and global sports industries to fall in line with football, because after they released that statement in the morning, we had, as you are mentioning, the premier league, afl and scotland as well all shutting down for a number of weeks, and this place was going to be the last major eventin place was going to be the last major event in the world to be played out in front of spectators, and there was just the feeling that they didn‘t want to be the last ones standing. they were very aware of the disbelief from the public. they

didn‘t want that backlash that they we re didn‘t want that backlash that they were going to be going ahead in spite of all the other sports taking the lead, so you just feel the sense that the wru are taking stock and saying, look, we cannot go ahead because of how quickly moving this situation is. perhaps on monday, gareth davies told us, that government health advice could be very different, so this match is off. the final round of six nations fixtures are a complete write—off. everybody seems to be falling into line. thank you. in the midst of all these cancellations and postponements, there is some sport to bring you,the cheltenham festival has gone ahead this week. today was gold cup day. lizzie greenwood hughes is there and it‘s safe to say there was a popular winner. i feel honoured to bring you a result. willie mullins and al boum photo,