good afternoon. the government is planning to ban mass events across the uk from next weekend, as part of its efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus with the prime minister meeting advisers this morning. there are currently 798 confirmed cases of the illness in the uk, and 11 people have died. today the airlinejet2 has cancelled all flights to spain, the country second worst hit by the virus in europe. the firm says it's working to fly people back to the uk. our correspondent kathryn stanczyszyn has more.

on your marks, get set, go! it's business as usual for these park runners in richmond, many across the country are still going about their weekend is normal. but the uk has moved into the next phase in its fight against covid—19 and attempt to display prevent of the disc spread of the virus. now the bbc understands the government is drawing up emergency legislation to ta ke drawing up emergency legislation to take a more robust measures from as early as next weekend. the evidence tells us that stopping mass gatherings doesn't have a huge impact on the spread of the virus, but for example, the decision has been taken in some countries because of the impact on public services and because when you have a mass gathering that draws on the police and the ambulance service to support it. many sporting events are being affected, most football matches have been suspended and this weekend is a six nations rugby is cancelled. the

world health organization says europe is now the upper centre, there have been more than 1200 deaths in italy, which is still in lockdown, spain has declared a state of emergency, and this morning, airlinerjet2 announced it was suspending flights to the mainland, the blaring islands and the canary islands. holiday company tumi has cancelled holidays to spain and a flight cancelled holidays to spain and a flight leaving between now and monday. a ban on non—americans travelling to the usa from european countries has also begun with president trump suggesting the uk could be included very soon. here the advice remains anyone with a new persistent cough or fever must stay at home. and experts aren't immune from catching this virus.” at home. and experts aren't immune from catching this virus. i thought when i became ill in the middle of this week, last week, this must be coronavirus because i'm very, very rarely ill, and i had as many people with coronavirus listening,

terribly, terrible sore throat, dry cough and a very high temperature. if you are ill, self isolation of the best way to protect others. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. joining me now is our political correspondent matt cole. this policy on mass gatherings seems a bit ofa this policy on mass gatherings seems a bit of a change in the last 2a hours. critics have highlighted the timing coming so soon after sports organisations took their own decision to suspend activities, but government sources have pointed to the fact that this has always been an option and a repeat of their mantra how and when action is taken is driven by scientific advice. we understand this isn't about stopping the virus spreading but is supposedly to free up emergency services. it begs the as yet u na nswered services. it begs the as yet unanswered question, what will constitute a large public event? the scottish government has banned gatherings of over 500 people. westminster sources told me a definition is still being crafted, but it seems likely that events

usually requiring police or ambulance support would be those affected by a ban, sports events for example, rather than just gatherings involving a large number of people, so involving a large number of people, so schools or the house of commons. we are expecting the plans to merge this week, potentially in place by next weekend, and borisjohnson has beenin next weekend, and borisjohnson has been in meetings this morning. we wait to see if anything emerges from that to update us, but meanwhile, in northern ireland, ministers are meeting with counterparts from the republic to discuss cross—border measures for tackling the spread of the virus. in the republic of schools, colleges and universities to have been shut down, and there is a debate as to whether northern ireland should follow suit. thanks very much. as we've heard, professional football matches across the uk are among dozens of sporting events that have been postponed because of the outbreak. our sports correspondent mike bushell is at tranmere rovers. what has happened there is having a huge impact on sports fans and the industry, isn't it, mike? yes,

absolutely, tranmere rovers were due to play lincoln city here this afternoon in what would have been a crucial match for them as they try to fight and avoid relegation from league 1. but, like all other elite british football match is now around the country, they are all off until april the 11th at the earliest and this action was taken after we started to hear about managers and players being directly affected by the coronavirus. the premier league will hold a further meeting this afternoon and after that more details should emerge but it will prove costly to clubs especially lower down the division, like tranmere rovers, who has to make just one cancelled home game will cost them over £35,000. it's really what happens next to it is also very concerning for them. what if the suspension is extended into the late summer, what if the season doesn't end at all? that's also a concern for the club up the road from here, liverpool. they were due to take a giant stride towards their first premier league title in 30 years on

monday, with a merseyside derby against everton. 25 points clear at the top of the table. the liverpool manager has been trying to put things into context with a letter to the fans and this is what he said. of course we don't want to play in front of an empty stadium, we don't wa nt front of an empty stadium, we don't want competition suspended but if doing so helps just one want competition suspended but if doing so helpsjust one individual stay healthy, just one, we will do it no questions asked. if it a choice between football and the good of wider society is no contest. it's not just football affected, formula 1 bosses have now confirmed the first four formula 1 races of the season are now cancelled, and rugby union surviving six nations match, scotla nd union surviving six nations match, scotland taking place in cardiff, was also called off late last night. this is unprecedented in sport. mike bushell, thanks very much. italy remains the worst country in europe affected by the coronavirus outbreak. much of the country remains in lockdown with over 17,000 cases and more than 1,200 deaths. rome's second airport ciampino has now closed, and the streets of affected cities including venice are being sanitised

in a bid to protect citizens from the outbreak. our news correspondent sima kotecha joins me from rome. we've been hearing of the extreme pressure on medical services across italy in recent days. what's the latest? well, i'm outside a hospital where they are treating people who have coronavirus. the preference for media working on site is to wear a mask, hence i'm wearing one today. today we heard from doctors from wuhan province who have come over from china, they were working there during the outbreak, and they are here giving advice to medics and doctors. they say the italians are doing very well, but there are two points they want to hammer home, early detection and early quarantine. they say if you can do those two things, this illness will be defeated. now, in the meantime, strict measures are in place across italy preventing people from moving

around freely, the government hopes they will start to make an impact soon, but every figures are rising and as! soon, but every figures are rising and as i said, these measures are affecting the way people live here ona affecting the way people live here on a daily basis. thanks very much. in central and eastern africa, rwanda, kenya, ethiopia and sudan are among the countries to have confirmed their first cases of coronavirus. in the north of the continent, morocco has suspended air and sea links with france and spain, and banned any public gatherings of more than 50 people. tech giant apple has announced it is closing all its retail stores outside of china for two weeks in response to the coronavirus outbreak. the firm, which has dozens of outlets around the uk, said they would "do all we can to prevent the spread". the trade body representing uk hotels, restaurants and the hospitality industry has warned that large businesses are at real risk of collapse because of the coronavirus outbreak. uk hospitality has written to the chancellor asking for more support for what it called

an "existential threat". our business correspondent katy austin reports. in eastbourne, on the sussex coast, businesses are worried. many depend on visitors coming to state or local is eating and drinking out. but amid coronavirus fears, customers are staying away. after a string of cancellations, takings at this guesthouse are down £12,000 on last year. i'm very worried about what's happening at the moment. we live here, as well, so if we can't pay our bills, which is a stark reality going forward, what happens to our home? it's not just going forward, what happens to our home? it's notjust a business but our home as well. next door, there the larger york house hotel, one of a group of three in the south—east and bookings we are down 60%. we've got the money to carry on for maybe two or three months, and then we are out of money. and then what do we do? paying staff? paying the vat?

paying the vegetable man and the butcher, you know, we will run out of money. wednesdays budget promised billions to support the economy through the crisis, but in a letter to the chancellor i have seen, the uk is hospitality trade body warned that support for small businesses with things like business rates and sick pay is welcome, but there is little for larger firms who employ the most people and it warns of the pandemic threatens their very existence without more government help. uk hospitality says the situation for well—known high street cafe is in restaurants and major hotel chains is increasingly serious. if nothing is done, put simply these businesses will run out of cash in six weeks, they simply won't be able to trade because the bills are coming through the door and they remain there and are so substantial and differ got no income coming in they can't sustain that drop in football and income. the

treasury insists help will be on offer for those in need, treasury insists help will be on offerfor those in need, but businesses who rely on people physically turning up to spend money fearfor physically turning up to spend money fear for their survival. katie austin, bbc news. climate change now and a warning that efforts to tackle the issue by simply planting trees may not be the answer. scientist are warning that the rush by governments and businesses to create new forests could easily go wrong. our science editor david shukman investigates. a forest in staffordshire transformed into a high—tech laboratory. researchers here are investigating how the trees use carbon and it's difficult to find out. in an unusual experiment, extra carbon dioxide is piped to the trees to create the kind of atmospheric conditions expected in the middle of the century and instruments measure how the forest reacts. we need to be very, very careful about what the effect of co2 is. the scientist in charge says there's still a lot to learn. and he worries governments and companies are rushing to plant

trees as an easy answer to climate change. if you try and use trees to tidy up the mess that we're making through emissions, you are putting those trees into a very rapidly changing climate and they will struggle to adapt. this device tracks the movement of carbon dioxide. in a healthy forest, the gas is not only absorbed by the trees but some is released as well. what scientists here are finding out is that the way carbon flows into a forest and out of it is a lot more complicated than you might think, so if mass tree—planting is meant to be a solution to tackling climate change, trees are going to have to be monitored and cared for over notjust decades but maybe centuries as well. of all the challenges, the task of planting is the simplest. shelby barberfrom canada can do an amazing 4000 trees in a day. people talking about planting millions, billions of

trees around the world — is it possible, do you think, physically? it is definitely possible with the right amount of people, the right group of people. i have personally in three years planted just over half a million trees. you can see where we have the open gaps. once planted, the trees need to survive and experts are mixing different types to minimise the risks of disease. it's a bit like making sure you don't put all your eggs in one basket, you are spreading out your risk and then if one part of that woodland fails for whatever reason, it gets a disease or it cannot tolerate future climatic conditions, there are other parts of the forest that are healthy and able to fill in those gaps. suddenly there is momentum to plant trees on a scale never seen before, so what matters is doing it in a way that ensures the forests thrive so they really do help with climate change. david shukman, bbc news. that's it from us. bye for now.

hello there. a hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. let's go back to the news that the bbc understands that the government could be banning mass gatherings as early as next week. this morning bbc breakfast spoke to the care minister, helen whately, and asked her about the suggestions that government policy has changed. well, we're following the evidence and what i will say is that as the chief medical officer said and i have been advised, that the evidence tells us that stopping mass gatherings does not have a huge impact on the spread of the virus, but, for example, the decision has been taken in some countries because of the impact on public services and because when you have a mass gathering, that draws on the police and the ambulance service who need to support it. but the important thing is that all the way through,

we are taking the right steps at the right time to best protect the population, drawing on the scientific advice and the guidance of experts. so, to be clear, we can expect an announcement on mass gatherings within days? i don't think i should... i have given you my response on the question of mass gatherings, but i just want to say, one of the things we have seen is that in general, you try to give people advance notice, so if we look at last week, there were some conversations that ran up to the decisions on the shift from containment to delay so that people knew what was coming down the track. all the time, we are considering what is going to be the right decision to take at the right time to best protect people. the uk airlinerjet2 has cancelled all flights to spain amid the coronavirus outbreak. planes from the uk to spain were said to have turned around in mid—air when the announcement was made. spain declared a two week state of emergency after the death toll in the country rose to 120.

jet2 has cancelled all flights to mainland spain, the balearic islands and the canary islands with immediate effect. earlier, i spoke to christine jones from rochdale. she and her husband were due to fly to out on a jet2 plane this afternoon from manchester to tenerife, but she's still at home after her flight was cancelled. she explained how she found out. via my son—in—law. he actually sent me a message on facebook that all the flights were cancelled. i didn't believe him, so i went on the website. there was no news on there. i tried to phone the airport, nobody answered. i tried on facebook, and the airport website to have a look. the flight did not come up so i knew it was possibly gone. when were you supposed to be flying exactly and where to? my flight was for 20 past two this afternoon and i still haven't... you still haven't what, sorry? i still haven't heard from jet2.

right. when did you book this? was it before the whole crisis started? sound issues we were going for 11 days. sorry, how long ago did you book it? months ago and we were going for 11 days in a hotel. how are you feeling now? very disappointed. we were really looking forward to it. i mean, we were a bit concerned about the virus, but we decided that we were still going to go. i had looked on the uk government website and tenerife wasn't mentioned. spain was, but not tenerife. i put on alert on to be informed about would it be cancelled and i had nothing from that. the only thing i had from jet2 was last night when it was saying 15 hours before

you are going on yourflight and, like i say, up to now, i have not heard from them. i know they will be busy and i do understand, but i do think that if i hadn't, we would have set off for the airport and then had to come back because my daughter was taking us, so we would have had to form my daughter to come and pick us up again. are you covered by travel insurance? we have travel insurance, yes. i did look at it last week, so i think we are still covered. but i am just hoping that everything will be, you know, re—compensed. travelling anywhere looks like it is getting incredibly difficult now. are you content now to wait at home before you book another trip? definitely! ijust mentioned about going down south for a couple of weeks. stay in the uk, yes.

we arejust we are just hearing some news from spain that the government is going to put the country under lockdown as pa rt to put the country under lockdown as part of its state of emergency measures. this is being reported at the moment by the news agencies and el mundo. we are expecting a news conference at tpm. reports coming out that to combat the coronavirus, all spaniards must stay at home expected by —— except to buy food or drugs or to go to work. it has been reported that the interior ministry will control all police forces including local and regional ones as pa rt including local and regional ones as part of the state of emergency, so we will obviously confirm that and a news co nfe re nce we will obviously confirm that and a news conference is expected in the next half an hour or so, a0 minutes, but obviously spain's numbers have

been going up and it is obviously concerned in the way that other nations have been. europe has been declared the new epicentre of the pandemic with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world apart from china. italians — hardest hit so far on the continent — are doing what they can to boost spirits. freya cole reports. singing. they may be confined to their homes, but italians haven't lost their fighting spirit. singing. music and singing fills the streets, a rallying of community spirit from the safety of windows and balconies. operatic singing. life in italy under the grip of covid—19 is grim. emergency medical tents have been set up to cope with the influx of patients and the death toll has surpassed a thousand people.

translation: the first test we do to our patients, the most immediate test is a chest x—ray that shows us if there's pneumonia or lung thickening. italy's neighbours are in a race to avoid a similar fate. almost all schools across the continent are closed. many countries have shut their borders. austria, switzerland and slovenia have closed some with italy. while the czech republic has barred people from 15 countries, including the uk. our message to countries continues to be you must take a comprehensive approach. not testing alone, not contact tracing alone, not quarantine alone, not social distancing alone. do it all. spain has now declared a state of emergency after becoming the second worst hit country in europe. france, however, is resisting a lockdown.

cafes will remain open until further notice. coronavirus is also making its way into eastern europe. these pictures show empty supermarket shelves in bulgaria, where case numbers are still low but will likely rise. the world health organization has warned not to let this fire burn, putting pressure on all governments to do more before it's too late. president trump has declared a national emergency in america after more than 1700 confirmed coronavirus cases and a7 deaths. it means the government can access up to £a0 billion in emergency funding. our north america correspondent, david willis, has the story. president trump has gone from playing down this pandemic and branding concerns about the virus a hoax to approving billions of dollars in government funds to fight it. i am officially declaring a national emergency.

two very big words. never mind that the optics of his address offered something of a contrast to the social distancing government agencies here recommend. not to mention their suggested avoidance of handshaking. declaring a national emergency frees up to $50 billion in federal government funding to combat the coronavirus. central to the trump administration's response will be a network of drive—through test sites run by the private sector. in south korea, they played a key role in getting a handle on the crisis. a shortage of test kits has meant that only around 15,000 people in the us have been tested for the virus, but the president said that by next month millions of kits would be available. pressed on why the uk had been exempted from the ban on european travellers entering the us at a time when coronavirus cases there are growing, mr trump indicated that decision was now under review.

we are looking at it based on the new numbers that are coming out and we may have to include them in the list of countries that we will, you could say ban, or whatever it is during this period of time. but, yeah, the numbers have gone up fairly precipitously over the last 2a hours so we may be adding that. wall street reacted favourably to the president's announcements, gains on the dowjones doubled in the last half hour of trading on friday. and later it was announced that congressional democrats had reached agreement with the white house on a series of financial measures, including paid sick leave for workers affected by the coronavirus. but such is the partisan nature of politics here, even at times like these, that both sides claimed credit for the legislation. our correspondent, gavin lee, is at schipol airport in amsterdam where many passengers are concerned about how they will get home, since president trump put

the travel ban in place. well, here at amsterdam's schipol airport, it has been just a few hours now since president trump put that travel ban in place from 26 european countries that share the open border schengen agreement and those countries, it doesn't matter where you are from, if you have a british passport for example or any passport other than a us passport, if you have been in these european countries for the last two weeks, you cannot travel to the states. this queue we are seeing here are all people with questions for their airline suddenly thrown into chaos and notjust for the us. there's also many other countries, in the space of the last a8 hours, have suddenly shut their borders to foreigners coming into those countries, ten in europe, elsewhere around the world, india, for example, russia, any country that has had more than 1000 cases and people are suddenly struggling to get home. given trump's travel ban, i'm trying to get back as fast as possible.

i am not a us citizen, i have dutch—german citizenship. but i am a permanent resident, so i am just trying to see if i can enter. now i am trying to get to suriname, but i do not know what will happen. i do not have any information yet, i do not know if they will send us or not. i have no idea what will happen, but i hope that my government will do something about it because the gates are closed there and not in europe. translation: they have cancelled the flight to italy, but the airline did not tell me. i only booked the ticket yesterday to get home and it cost quite a lot, but it seems there will not be any flights for days and i will be stuck here alone in amsterdam. the other big factor is the fear factor. people do not want to travel because of the risk of the spread of coronavirus on top of the fact that many countries have bans in place. in terms of the industry, the world travel and tourism council say that 850,000 europeans will not

be flying to the us or other countries in the next month. we are looking at £a billion of lost revenue around the world industry analysts say potentially £100 billion. this is an unprecedented crisis for the aviation industry. covid—19 has spread to a number of high profile people including the hollywood actor tom hanks. he is one among a number of celebrities using their own social media platforms to spread the right message. donna larsen has the story. a 1970s smash hit with a powerful message for the world today. and to take it one step further, gloria gaynor has channelled her

words of wisdom into a social media challenge that's going global. # did you think i'd lie down and die? # oh, no, not i # i will survive #. people are mimicking her hand washing techniques to lower the risk of catching the virus. who knew washing your hands could be so much fun? # i will survive # 0h, as long as i know how to love, i know i'll stay alive # i've got all my life to live #. other celebrities are doing their bit to spread the right message. tom hanks and his wife rita wilson have both been diagnosed with coronavirus and have told fans they're in isolation and taking one day at a time. high profile government figures have also fallen ill. canada's prime ministerjustin trudeau is running his country from isolation after his wife sophie was diagnosed with coronavirus. brazil's far right leader jair bolsonaro has announced his test results came back negative, even though one of his close staff members has the virus. in such uncertain times one thing is sure, that this virus is indiscriminate and who it targets. donna larsen, bbc news.

now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello. a bit of a mixture far as this weekend. some sunshine as you can see behind me but on the whole, a lot of cloud. some areas of rain, this was the first area of light rain and drizzle moving into the north sea and we have seen some brighter skies. so with one or two showers. another area of cloud is bringing some rain into northern ireland which will push into wales, north—west england in the west of scotland. ahead of it, 12 to 1a degrees when we still have brighter skies and eastern areas of england that may be here not completely dry. wet and windy weather moving northwards across scotland this evening and then the same rain band moves down into england and wales, some heavy rain over the hills quite like the here are skies following a discount northern ireland away from the showers with temperatures between five and 6 degrees, milder in england or wales at between seven and nine. this band of rain pushed down into the midlands and then rests between east anglia and the south—east of england. the wind

direction then changes tomorrow north—westerly. it will start to cool off a bit, some sunshine, a few showers especially in scotland with those temperatures back down to around eight or 10 celsius.