how long the coronavirus. how long should that last four to be effective? at this moment, we still do not know. we do know that social distancing is a way to slow down the spread of the disease, and that is the experience in china right now. like i said, potentially in italy. the first results seem quite promising there as well. in that way, social distancing will buy us time, buy us time to develop new treatment modalities for this infection, and may be in the long term to also develop vaccinations and other drugs. if the government were to follow your suggestions, what would that actually do, because we are listening about lowering the peak, learning more and more about this.

the aim of all countries right now is to lower the peak and spread out the number of cases over a longer period of time so a health care system will not be overwhelmed. so all governments in europe are trying to reach that goal. i do not doubt that the uk government is also trying to reach that. but like i said, there are concerns about the strategy the uk government is currently following to try and reach that goal. we now have a response to the letter put together by the group of scientists coming to us from downing street. a spokesperson has said ina downing street. a spokesperson has said in a statement, as confirmed by the scientific advisory group for emergencies today, as the epidemic progresses we will be instituting oui’ progresses we will be instituting our next planned interventions soon. we also we will publish the modelling and data considered by the

group. we continue to be guided by the advice of the chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser. that is the statement coming to us from downing street. we need to catch up the weather now and thomas has that. hello. some of us have already had a little bit of rain and there's more on the way tonight and into tomorrow, so this mixed bag this weekend continues. but sunshine in the forecast as well, in fact for many of us sunday is going to be quite similar. so here's the forecast as we go through the course of this evening. this is the next band of rain that moves into western and northern areas. scotland and northern ireland also getting some showers overnight and also increasing winds. in fact for some of us, sunday is going to be quite blustery. a very mild night, temperatures this coming night in the south will be no lower than around 10 degrees in some major cities. so here's that band of rain that moves across the south during the course of the afternoon but i promised you some sunshine and there will be plenty it during the course of sunday. you can see where the

clearer weather is. coldest of the weather in the north west, here temperatures of only 6 degrees. further south, around 11 or 12. then eventually sunday night will see the rain pushing a towards the east. bye— bye. hello this is bbc news with lu kwesa burak. the headlines: ten more patients have died in england after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths in the uk to 21. president trump is extending his ban on flights from europe to include the united kingdom and ireland. the president has made the decision to suspend all travel to the united kingdom and ireland, effective midnight monday night, eastern standard time. the spanish government confirms the country will be put under a 15—day nationwide lockdown in an attempt to control the virus. jet2 cancels all flights to spain,

the balearic islands and the canary islands — with immediate effect. some european union countries say they will close their borders to most, or all, foreigners. now a little earlier on bbc news, we took some of your questions on travel and health on coronavirus in your questions answered. with me is the gp, doctor sarah jarvis, whojoins us with me is the gp, doctor sarah jarvis, who joins us from west london. alsojoined by nick trent, the telegraph's deputy head of travel who is joining us the telegraph's deputy head of travel who isjoining us from norfolk. thank you very much for joining us here today. we are going to start with a medical question,

doctorjarvis and julie jones has got in touch. semi—questions regarding the symptoms. julie says, what is meant by a continuous cough? how will you is a new question yesterday, this week, before?m how will you is a new question yesterday, this week, before? it is a very good question and the issue really is it is difficult because different people will have different recommendations or different definitions of what it is. it is 37.8 or 38 degrees, but if it is over 37.8 degrees, it is worthwhile andi over 37.8 degrees, it is worthwhile and i would like to see people buying a thermometer so they can ta ke buying a thermometer so they can take their own temperature. a continuous cough is something that has been going on for half a day. other people who have copd or asthma, they will have a cough most of the time. but we are talking about a cough that is different for you, new or more than you normally

get and lasts for more than half a day. we have a question from linda martin in devon he says, we spent several thousand pounds on a walking holiday in india which has now banned all foreign travellers from entering and our insurance company says it cannot help and the company we booked it with has told us to contact our insurers. where do we go from here? it all depends on which company linda has booked it. if she has booked with the company in india and just booked the walking arrangements there, i am afraid she is in arrangements there, i am afraid she isina arrangements there, i am afraid she is in a tricky situation, because she has no leveraged to getting her money back. if she has booked with a uk tour operator, than they absolutely must refund and she should follow that up, possibly in the small claims court to get her money back. she should get the airfare back because all flights are cancelled. but it depends on how much this arrangement has been booked. few travel insurance

policies might cover you but only if it has a section called travel disruption and it doesn't sound as though linda's insurance covers that. i wash my hands for 20 seconds every time i come in from outside, how regularly do i need to wash my hands when i am inside if i am not going anywhere? don't forget a lot of things in the house will be coming in from the outside. it is not a question how long you wash them for, it is making sure you cover a ll them for, it is making sure you cover all areas, the palms of your hands, between your fingers and the backs of your hands on both sides, washing in between your palms and putting them together and then washing your thumbs because functionally, your thumbs are half of your hand. you should wash your hands very thoroughly when you go to the toilet. you should wash your hands when you come in contact with anything before you touch your eyes, your nose or your mouth. because other people, if they have been into your house and have touched a door

handle, we know that viruses, we think the virus can survive up to three days, depending on the temperature outside, and on hard surfaces, that is metal, glass and plastic and so on and up to a day or so plastic and so on and up to a day or so and cobbled. but air on the side of caution, try to touch our hands less often, wash your hands before you prepare any food, before you smoke but also before you took your eyes, your face and your nose and a lot of us do that without thinking. i would suggest regularly, even when you are at home. lisa beale says, i have asked numerous insurers if i can geta have asked numerous insurers if i can get a trip to cornwall covered u nless we can get a trip to cornwall covered unless we go into lockdown, but i'm not getting very far. in this scenario, with trip he not getting very far. in this scenario, with trip be covered?” don't think you will find many insurers who will insure you against this now. it would be a guaranteed way for them to lose money. i am afraid if you don't already have insurance, i don't think you will find anything which will cover you in these circumstances. 0k, linda

asks, please can you clarify the meaning of self isolation? some people seem to think it is ok to go for a walk in the country, but i cannot see how this fits the requirements? it absolutely doesn't include going for a walk in the country because you never know who might pop up from behind a tree and you would have to get there in the first place. if you have a garden, you are allowed in the garden but only if it is big enough that at all times you can stay at least two metres away from your garden fence and two metres away from anybody else. if you are living in shared accommodation, it is even harder. we expect you to stay in the same room pretty much all the time. if you go into a shared area such as a kitchen, do so when you know nobody else is going to be there. you must wash everything really carefully and ideally you should have a separate bathroom. i know that is not easy for everybody but if you go into the bathroom, you must wash everything

really carefully afterwards. ideally, choose the shower at the end of the evening when everybody else has left and then wash down everything with detergent. you must not share crockery, cutlery, clothes, bedding or towels with anybody else. we are going to head to cambridge and ow and caroline asks, i have booked ba flights to seattle next week, but after the news from the states i don't want to go. can i get a refund? i think what you will find it as you will get a message from british airways quite soon saying the flights are cancelled and refunding your money. that is almost certainly going to happen, sol that is almost certainly going to happen, so i wouldn't worry about it. ok, mrs byrne from market drayton says, can you get corona virus from a parcel delivered from china? no. 0k. nick, adrian atkin says, four had booked to go to spain

in march, including a trip to madrid, which is now in lockdown. my travel company has refunded my hotel but not the flight, because they say the flight was non—refundable. my insurance will not pay out either, i paid out on my credit card, is there anything i can do? as ijust said, if your insurance doesn't cover travel disruption, you won't have any luck with that. the credit card will not help you. but it depends on how you booked your holiday. if you put both these arrangements, the flights and the hotel with the same travel company, they are obliged to refund the flight element as well, because it sounds like a package holiday. it is covered specifically under regulations on packages and tour operators. so i would keep pushing for a refund of your flight. if you don't have any luck, then go directly to the airline. doctor

jarvis, a man is on his way from belgium ina jarvis, a man is on his way from belgium in a car coming back via eurotunnel tomorrow. he says i don't have any symptoms, do i have to self—isolate when i get home to northampton? no, he doesn't. the government's advice changed on thursday evening when we moved into the delay phase. basically, the guidance has now gone from, it was previously if he had been in contact with someone with a known case of coronavirus or if you had travelled from high—risk companies, depending on your symptoms, you had to self—isolate and from some places you had to self—isolate if you didn't have any symptoms. the guidance has changed, because we have reached the stage where we have recognised that the majority of cases are coming from the united kingdom. by friday there were 27 people in itu and 20 of them had contracted the virus locally. so the guidance is now, the only people who

have to self—isolate is anybody and everybody who develops a fever or a new cough and they must self—isolate straightaway. you can find out from their website how to do that, it evenif their website how to do that, it even if you are away from home at the time. nick, mark deacon says he is planning to go to budapest on april 17. the information is changing daily, are there any precautions i can take so i don't lose out? i think the main precaution is, probably not to book yet. it is five weeks away and it seems like a long time. we don't know if there will be flights operating, we don't know if you will be allowed into hungary. i would wait three or four weeks and i don't think you are at risk, if things are coming back to normal by then and i wonder if they will be, i don't think you will have any trouble finding a hotel room. i would hold fire and wait at least three or four

weeks and see how the lies. we will finish with a question from jeremy clark who is 60 and from tonbridge in kent. he says i have been unwell with a temperature of 37.8, a debilitating headache, which lasted 16 hours and a complete lack of energy and minor chest pain, but no car. after three days i am feeling better, but i am still unwell. could this be coronavirus? yes, i am afraid it could be and i would absolutely recommend you self—isolate. the people who have got symptoms and feel so unwell they can no longer do any of their normal activities, what we are recommended is you alone ring 111 and others continue to self—isolate for seven days. nobody is no longer allowed to book online appointments with their gp and go straight in so you need to be triage. we will see an increasing use of telephone and video triage, it might be worth getting in touch

with your gp to see if they have got it if they haven't got something related to coronavirus. i think we will be seeing a lot more people not going to see their gp. in your case, you may have coronavirus. at the end of seven days, you should know from when your symptoms started, you should know if you are feeling well and whether the fever has settled. if both of those things apply, you can stop self isolating and go about your normal business. but if you still feel unwell, you need to go back online and complete that tool again to see what to do next. thank you both very much forjoining us. hello and welcome to newswatch with me, rebecca jones,