this is bbc world news today. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: all non—essential services are to close in france in two hours‘ time, part of strict new measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus. spain's prime minister introduces a 15—day state of emergency. translation: our mission and determination is to protect all spaniards, and beat this virus. from now on, we are entering into a new phase, activating through the constitution is state of emergency. in the uk, hundreds of scientists write to the government calling for tougher measures. they say its current approach risks more lives. if you cut your number of contacts in half, you have cut in half the

numberof in half, you have cut in half the number of opportunities the virus has to transmit. if everybody were to do that, there would be a chance of slowing the infection to an extent you would not be overwhelming the nhs. as confirmed cases of coronavirus in the united states rise, president trump announces he has been tested. and coming up: the italian airforce puts on a special display to lift the nation's spirits. hello and welcome to world news today. sweeping restrictions to try and stem the spread of the coronavirus will come into force in france in two hours' time. from midnight local time, all cafes, restraura nts, cinemas and most shops will shut. the number of cases in france has

reached just under 4,500, with 91 deaths. the french prime minister said public transport will remain open, but asked people to reduce their travel, especially between towns. translation: i have therefore decided on new measures. from midnight, all public places accept essential services will be closed. that means cafe is, restaurants, cinemas and discos, and all shops isn't, except essential services, including food shops, pharmacies and banks, as well as petrol stations. public transport will remain open but i ask the public to reduce their movements, particularly between urban areas. i say with great seriousness that we must show more discipline in following these measures. our correspondent hugh schofield gave us this update from sancerre in central france. this is clearly a change of tack

from the government. on friday, we had the announcement of schools closing from monday, but life, otherwise was going to go ahead, but now clearly the government has decided the situation is accelerating more dramatically than they hoped. there has been a doubling of cases in the last three days, and we had the prime minister appear on television saying it is not working, what we are doing is not working, the restrictions on gatherings are not been properly applied, we need something more draconian. that draconian measure is the closure, from midnight tonight, of all nonessential places, i say all places where people meet for non—essential purposes. that means restaurants, cinemas, cafes, nonessential shops. food shops will be allowed to remain open from monday, and pharmacies and banks, petrol stations, tobacconists will be allowed to remain open,

but every other kind of shop is going to have to shut. on top of that, public transport will remain in operation for the time being, but i imagine it is going to be with a lower service, an adapted service is how he put it, and people are being urged all the time not to move. certainly not to move between towns, they want to restrict people to where they live and not move from town to town. in the last hour, spain has introduced sweeping, nationwide restrictions under the government's emergency powers, banning citizens from leaving home, except for buying essential supplies orfor work. it's also shutting museums, cultural centres and sports venues. this was spain's prime minister speaking a short time ago. translation: our mission and determination is to protect all spaniards and beat this virus. from

now on, we are entering into a new phase, activating through the constitution a state of emergency. in the united kingdom, hundreds of scientists have sent a letter to the government criticising its coronavirus strategy. there are over 1,100 confirmed cases here, and 21 deaths. but, prime minister borisjohnson hasn't closed schools or introduced travel restrictions. big public gatherings are still allowed and there is no advice to work from home. people with mild symptoms won't be tested but instead are being asked to stay at home. sophie hutchinson has more. on your marks, get set, go. a large group of runners out today, keeping fit, but the question is for how much longer? concerns about the coronavirus mean the government may ban mass gatherings. it is understood the measure could be brought in as early as next week in order to free up emergency services to deal with the virus.

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, it draws on the police and the ambulance service who need to support it. today, the death toll in the uk jumped, almost doubling from 11 to 21 patients. all those who lost their lives were in the at risk groups, aged over 60 with underlying conditions. there are now more than 1,100 confirmed cases in the uk. one of them is a newborn baby and its mother but officials believe the true figure could be as many as 10,000. the world health organization has raised serious concerns about the uk's handling of the outbreak and its aim to have enough people infected with the virus who then recover in order to build up so—called herd immunity. and other experts are worried about what they say is the uk's

lack of action to stop the spread. the uk government response has, in my view, placed the country at a considerable higher risk of becoming the next domino to fall in the series of outbreaks we have seen around the world. remember this, if you cut your number of contacts in half then you have cut in half the number of opportunities the virus has to transmit. if everybody were to do that there would be a chance of slowing the infection to the extent you would not be overwhelming the nhs. the government is keen to stress it is following scientific advice and it has underlined the importance of self—isolating if you have a cough or fever. willem vans hike is a professor of microbiology and infection at the university of birmingham — he's one of the signatories to the letter. he says the concept of ‘herd immunity‘ may not work in this case. the concept of herd immunity is mostly thought of in terms of vaccination, but we do not have a

vaccine against covid—19 right now, so the only way that we could potentially get immunity to the virus is by getting the infection ourselves. then, hopefully, once we have the infection, have had the infection and recovered, we will have long—lasting immunity. so, that is one concern, we do not actually know whether there is long—lasting immunity to the virus that causes covid—19, and the other concern is that there will be substantial morbidity and mortality associated with this disease. a downing street spokesperson gave us this statement in response... as confirmed by the scientific advisory group for emergencies, we will be instituting our next planned interventions soon. 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. as confirmed by the scientific advisory latvia and norway have become the latest european nations to block foreign nationals entering

the country — with norway announcing all ports and airports will be closed to non—norwegians. the two state‘s join poland, the czech republic, denmark, cyprus and slovakia who have all closed their borders. latvia‘s strict new measures will come into effect on monday at midnight with all international travel, by air, railway, sea and road, will be to be cancelled. latvians and foreigners with residentcy rights will be able to travel, and tourists will be allowed to leave the baltic country after the deadline. the us has confirmed 51 deaths linked to the pandemic and nearly 2,500 infections. president trump has confirmed he‘s also been tested. last week, you may remember, he appeared in public with a brazilian official who later tested positive for coronavirus. mr trump had this personal health update just a few hours ago. i had my temperature taken coming into the room. so did i. let's

compare. that means we are all looking good. i also took the test last night. did you? yes. i decided based on the press conference yesterday, people were asking. it ta kes a yesterday, people were asking. it takes a day, two days, whatever it is, they send it to a lab. jane 0‘brien has more from washington. we have an increase of more than 500 and know know that 50 people have 110w and know know that 50 people have now died from coronavirus. those are the latest figures that we have had from the top infectious disease expert in the us. also warnings again that things are likely to get much worse before they get better. he said that the disease has not yet peaked and that was one of the reasons why, of course the uk has 110w reasons why, of course the uk has now introduced a sweeping travel

restrictions, including the uk and ireland to that european travel ban ordered by the president on wednesday. as well as those travel restrictions, what else, then, are the government trying to do there? what else will they be bringing in? a couple of major things. congress, the house passed a sweeping legislation last night which was aimed at offsetting some of the economic impacts on people who are most vulnerable, including paid sick leave and help for parents who will have to stay at home to look after their children as schools across the country their children as schools across the cou ntry start their children as schools across the country start to close. they are also looking at improving testing. that of course is something the us has been heavily criticised for. they have been well behind other countries and getting people tested. a shortage of tests has made that problematic. they are now partnering with private laboratories, who are using their own tastes, and we are expecting to hear more details tomorrow about how those are being rolled out, where people will be

able to get tested, who can be tested and, of course, the financial implications. a concerted effort to mmp implications. a concerted effort to ramp that up. that is what led to the president himself saying that he 110w the president himself saying that he now has finally been tested himself, after being criticised for coming into co nta ct after being criticised for coming into contact with somebody and not following the advice. let‘s get to his leadership. he has been asked several questions about it, about a shaking hands with people, about obviously has previous remarks, referencing it as a hoax. what other questions about his leadership in this crisis? today‘s press conference, there he was asked specifically whether his own sense of urgency had evolved over the last few days. he said that he always thought that this was a very urgent situation, but confronted by criticism that he has not been following his own medical experts‘ advice, he said that he now felt that shaking hands was not a good idea, although as a politician

people are always trying to shake his hand. he now thinks people should not shake hands, himself included, and that as a result of the criticism about him not being tested, he had now got the test. that was after coming into contact with a brazilian official who subsequently tested positive for the virus. listening to him, listening to the briefing itself, one does get the impression that the magnitude of the impression that the magnitude of the crisis is now being felt in the white house. there is a real concerted effort to give a unified message. there has been less rare bipartisan bill passed in the house, which aims to get ahead of the curve. but for the last week, one has been getting the sense that america has been playing catch—up. clearly, now, there is a real effort to get ahead of this and to try to give a unified response across a very vast nation.

take a look at these pictures posted on social media by the italian airforce. it‘s attempting to lift the spirits of a country in lockdown. # tramontate stelle the soundtrack is fitting. luciano pavarotti singing vincero — which means, "i shall win." the air force says: "unity and teamwork are needed now more than ever. together we shall combine ourforces and do it!" stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: we‘ll be speaking to a pyschologist about how to deal with anxiety surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

more than 3000 subway passengers we re more than 3000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, bleeding and headaches and the dimming of vision, all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. the trophy itself was on the middle of the shells of the cabinet here. this was an international trophy and we understand the search for it has become an international search. above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats of the west, offering unification as quickly as possible, what the voters wanted.

this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: all non essential services are to close in france in two hours‘ time, as part of strict new measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus. and spain has introduced a 15—day state of emergency. let‘s turn now to the ways in which the coronavirus is affecting our mental health. with alarming news from around the world, and more and more people being forced to isolate, what are the impacts on our mental wellbeing, and what can we do? baruch fischof is a professor at carnegie mellon university and an expert on public perception of risk and decision—making. thank you for being with us. how do you think people are processing what is going on? i think people are doing the best they can under the

circumstances. we have had to come up circumstances. we have had to come up to speed very quickly on this new and threatening things. normally people would look to national leaders for guidance, but in our fractured politics, there are conflicting messages, people are forced to pick a side and hopefully pick the right one. people have relied on their own intuitions, and often that is not bad. thinking about seasonal flu is often that is not bad. thinking about seasonalflu is not often that is not bad. thinking about seasonal flu is not a often that is not bad. thinking about seasonalflu is not a bad place to start, as long as you get the message that is one is much more dangerous. i think that most people have. in terms of deciding what to do, ithink have. in terms of deciding what to do, i think that a turning point in this country, at least, has been looking to people... looking at scientific institutions and tech savvy firms that you think, well, they probably know what to do, so once mit and carnegie mellon and amazon and google started to cancel travel and send their markers home,

that sends a signal to many that they should take this seriously. —— send their workers. given that people are taking this seriously, how do you manage that anxiety that goes with that? i would recommend three things. one is to limit yourself to a very small number of trusted news sources, and absolutely ignore the rest so that you get a consistent message, you see what has changed. the second is to protect yourself from what we call outcome bias, which is... that happens when you judge your decision making —— make decision making by how well things turned out, rather than by how hard you tried. if things go badly and you have given it your best, do not add the insult of regret to the injuries that has happened. third thing is to avoid hindsight bias, which occurs when

you perceive that you could have predicted things that were really unpredictable. in this sort of highly uncertain situation. that is quite tough and self reflective to do, buti quite tough and self reflective to do, but i do that on board. what kind of things can we learn from an experience like this, about ourselves and society is and how we work? i think a lot of people are taking lessons about who are the helpers, the people who are pitching in to help one another, and who are the people taking commercial or political advantage here. i see an awful lot of self help from organisations, volunteers, people looking in at neighbours. we have yet to see the mobilisation of our national resources to support the most vulnerable in our society, and the institutions that are needed to help them. fascinating stuff. thank you very much for your time,

appreciate it. thank you. katie has all the sport. now as you know, normally on a saturday we round up all the twists and turns from the days football. they are in shutdown. the english premier league says it will hold an urgent meeting on thursday to decide what happens with the remainder of the season. there are plenty of u na nswered the season. there are plenty of unanswered questions, including what this means for leaders liverpool‘s hopes of winning their first title in 30 years. uefa meets on tuesday to discuss what will happen with the euros, meant to start injune. if they are called off, the domestic league season in europe could possibly be completed over the summer. there are also plenty of doubts over whether this year‘s 0lympics there are also plenty of doubts over whether this year‘s olympics and paralympics in tokyo will happen. the games are meant to start on the 24th ofjuly

and the prime minister ofjapan insists that his country will not postpone the event. japan has recorded more than 1,400 cases of the virus. translation: going forward, we will continue to coordinate well with the ioc and, of course, the ioc will coordinate with the world health organization. forjapan, we have to overcome the spread of the infection and we want to hold the olympics and paralympics as planned. men‘s golf is on hold until next month at the earliest. however, in cape town, the south african open has just finished, and what a week it has been for england‘s alice hewson, in herfirst event it has been for england‘s alice hewson, in her first event on the ladies‘ european tour. she one by one shot and my colleague caught up with her earlier. it feels absolutely incredible. it really is absolutely incredible. it really is a dream come true. growing up as a kid, all i could ever dream of was playing on the ladies' european tour and for my first event, to come and

win, the feeling is indescribable. you turned pro last year. has this happened quicker than you thought? it definitely has happened quicker thanl it definitely has happened quicker than i thought! i was hoping to get off to a nice steady start but this is definitely a good thing. golf has followed most major sports by being in shutdown now. what is your reaction to that? i think it is the right decision. the health of all of the players, over here and on the tour, that ultimately comes first and to try to contain coronavirus, i think, is also very important. it is unfortunate that we are not going to get to play for a few weeks but it is fine, we will come back firing again. you're the first english woman to play a competitive round at augusta national. what are your thoughts on the masters, the first major of the year, being deboned? it will not be going ahead from the 9th of april nine. for the masters, it is the spectators and the fact you

can hear the roars all over the golf course, can hear the roars all over the golf course , so can hear the roars all over the golf course, so it would not be the same without any of the spectators. the benefit of the players and the spectators, i do think it is beneficial that it is going to be postponed. and with the majority of footballs first point, it is there to say the head of the governing body has had some time in his hands and feet the's president has released this video on social media to remind people of how they should be washing their hands. taking part in the world health organization's safe hands challenge. wash your hands, keep out the virus and make sure that you spread this message but not the virus. that is all of the sport, goodbye for now. as coronavirus continues to spread around the world, face masks are in high demand as people look for ways to protect themselves.

dr shun may yeung from london school of hygiene and tropical medicine explains. 0ne one of the reason people wear masks as they think it is going to protect people from virus, but the virus is not floating around in the air, so it is not protecting me against anything, because it is not there. it is probably going to be on my hand, because of shaking hands with somebody who has got the virus, and i have transmitted it. i have carried the virus to my face. if you‘re in an environment where everybody else is wearing a face mask and you are not, it may make you feel vulnerable, because you feel like you do not have the protection everybody else does. but logically, if you are not close to people, they are not coughing and sneezing on you, people, they are not coughing and sneezing on you, a

people, they are not coughing and sneezing on you, a face mask is not necessary. the virus enters the body through mucous membranes, meaning the eyes, the nose, the mice, and it transmits from person to person generally by others touching our eyes, nose or mouth, or if we and droplets directly from somebody who isa droplets directly from somebody who is a sneezing or coughing. the best way for the general public to protect itself against coronavirus, and other respiratory viruses, is careful hand hygiene, so washing your hands with either soap and water or alcohol gel if soap and water or alcohol gel if soap and water is not available, especially when you think that you have been exposed. if you happen out in public places and touching surfaces that other people might have touched, that really is the best way, and bringing attention to my touching my face? 0ne bringing attention to my touching my face? one of the problem is, if lots of people who do not need facemasks are using facemasks, or stockpiling them, it means that there are not enough facemasks available where they are really needed.

that is just about it from me. this is bbc news, goodbye. hello there. the changeable weather will continue through the rest of the weekend. some rain in the forecast tonight and into tomorrow. monday, some great sunny, crisp weather on the way but a little bit of rain in the forecast in the short term. here is the satellite picture across the atlantic. you can see these worlds of cloud, this one just toward the north—west of our neighbourhood, just parking itself of western scotla nd just parking itself of western scotland and the north of northern ireland through the early hours of sunday morning. the areas of rain are crossing the country here, this weather front is curling all of the way across the north sea and back into scotland as well. around this area of low pressure, some quite strong winds blowing around. in the north, you can see they are coming

all of the way from the norwegian sea whereas in the sea, the winds are blowing out of the south—west. it will be quite a contrast in the temperature on sunday. also, the temperatures around 5 degrees for oui’ temperatures around 5 degrees for our rain in the northern isles, ten oi’ our rain in the northern isles, ten or 11 across the south. you can see that rain there in the south east monday, a different story. yes, still low pressure on the atlantic but it has pushed a little bit further north. this high pressure is trying to build on. for the vast majority of us, monday morning, the skies are going to be clear, they will probably be widespread frost as well, so you can see where the low pressure is, just above my head, this weather front approaching western scotland, so a different picture, very wet and windy with your first winds, but for much of the country, central and southern areas, is going to be a totally different picture. clear skies and temperatures hovering around 10 degrees. there will be a nippy start on monday, remember. monday night

into tuesday, this weather front sneaks in, trying to squeeze itself between the high and the south and the low in the north. that means an area of perhaps the cloud may be some that are closed but always, towards the east of the country, the weather dry and mild. 15 celsius widely, 16 in some areas. a different story in scotland. towards the second half of the week and into next weekend, things expected to really, really settle down. that is it, goodbye.

whether this is bbc news. the headlines. all museums and cultural centres and sports venues will also be close. all nonessential services are to close in france and midnight local time as part of strict measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus, as many people as possible are being asked to work from home. in the uk, hundreds of scientists have sent a letter to the government criticising its coronavirus strategy. ten more patients have died, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus in the uk to 21. president trump is extending a ban

on flights