welcome to bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: spain introduces strict new emergency measures as it's announced the wife of the prime minister has the coronavirus. a partial lockdown has come into effect in france. restaurants, cafes, cinemas and nightclubs and all non—essential businesses have closed. hello and welcome to bbc news. european countries are continuing to take extraordinary steps to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus. measures on a scale not seen before in peace—time are coming into force.

in spain, it's been confirmed that the wife of spanish prime minister pedro sanchez has the coronavirus. the news came just hours after the prime minister announced a nationwide partial lockdown for 15 days, people can only leave their homes to go to work, buy food, or in an emergency. so far more than 190 people have died in spain, second only in europe to italy, where another 175 people died, bringing the total there, to well over 1,400. our correspondent, sima kotecha, has sent us this report from rome. sing italian national anthem through a health crisis, italy turns to song. stringent measures restricting movement has led to this, from north to south. but behind the music, more than 1,000 have died. at a hospital in rome, doctors who helped with the outbreak in china are visiting

to advise and support. translation: we believe that colleagues in italy have done a very good job. they believe early detection is key and medics here say their experiences are invaluable. it is always important to have exchanges. some of these medical doctors were on the front line since the very beginning of the epicentre in wuhan so they have developed protocols and they have treated lots of patients, especially about the severe cases. i have understood they have important exchanges about the protocols. it was preferred that media on site wore a mask. this is the main hospital in rome where people who have coronavirus are treated. behind the hospital is a triage where those who think they might be infected are checked.

some hospitals in the north, where most of the cases are, continue to struggle to cope. like in italy, some parts of spain are already under strict measures as the government prepares to enter a 15—day state of emergency. translation: it is not comfortable for anyone but it is the best we can do, go out only when necessary, perhaps get disposable gloves for not touching doors or keys when we enter, that kind of thing and, well, just stay quiet at home. translation: it is all very worrying. let's hope it lasts not only 15 days but a month or two, that we are careful at home and go out as little as possible. the famed latin vibrancy is fading as families cut themselves off and the outbreak continues. well, shortly after the government announced the national lockdown in response to the corona virus there was this response

from people in madrid. cheering and applause. thousands of residents took to their balconies to applaud workers in the health sector. the show of solidarity was called through social media and took place at 10 pm local time. in france, all cafes, restraurants, cinemas and most shops have been ordered to remain shut. the number of cases there 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. rich preston reports. governments across europe are under pressure to act now to limit the spread of covid—19. france has announced strict new rules severely limiting public movement and interactions, forcibly closing public places described as non—essential to the life of the country. translation: these include restaurants, cafes, cinemas and nightclubs.

places of worship will remain open, but ceremonies will be postponed. it also includes all businesses except essential shops. food shops, pharmacies, petrol stations, banks and tobacco shops. all public services essential to the life of our fellow citizens will remain open. urban transport will continue to operate, but i call on the french people to reduce their travel and to avoid inter—city travel. france has seen over 800 new cases of covid—19 since friday, bringing the total to just under 4,500. similar restrictions have been introduced in germany, europe's biggest economy. in the capital, berlin, a ban on all events, public or private, with more than 50 people, as well as the closure of bars, cinemas, clubs, gyms and brothels. translation: it's very clear that all cultural events must be limited. restaurants, food shops

and markets will for now be allowed to stay open. germany has more than 3,500 cases of coronavirus, and has had eight deaths. as poland records its third coronavirus death, foreigners have been banned from entering the country. polish citizens returning from abroad will have to be quarantined for 14 days. cafes, bars, restaurants and most shops accept food shops and pharmacies are closed. schools, universities, cinemas and museums are shut for two weeks. and in croatia, quarantine rules on anyone arriving from a lengthy list of countries, including italy, iran, south korea, the uk and germany. on friday, the world health 0rganization said europe was now the epicentre of covid—19, a virus which was first detected in china just over ten weeks ago, and in that short time has spread around the world, infecting more than 150,000 people and killing more than 5,800.

plenty more on the coronavirus on our website. more now on the news that the spanish prime minister's wife and the two female cabinet ministers who have tested positive for coronavirus. that development as the prime minister's wife and two cabinet ministers were announced to have been infected. miguel murado is a freelance journalist in madrid and he says there are likely to be political repercussions. in the last 48 hours, there has been talk of people understanding this in the wrong way, as if this was a holiday, going to coastal towns in spain, spreading the disease, u nfortu nately. spain, spreading the disease, unfortunately. but i think this is going very quickly and

people are beginning to understand, i think, people are beginning to understand, ithink, the majority of people beginning to understand the threat. the numbers are going up and the decisions made by the government are so decisions made by the government are so harsh that will convince whoever is not convinced they will have to ta ke convinced they will have to take care of themselves. the wife of the prime minister has tested positive to the coronavirus having been on a huge demonstration last week? this is going to be controversial because that huge demonstration on sunday because of women day was seen by many asa of women day was seen by many as a mistake. those are demonstrations are typically begin spain and maybe people could get infected. the government allowed it to go ahead and even encourage people tojoin in the ahead and even encourage people to join in the demonstration and even sent all the female cabinet ministers to the head

of the demonstration and now as it happens to female ministers have tested positive and now the wife of the prime minister, who was also at the head of the demonstration, tested positive. this is in a way a blow to the credibility of the government. also it means the prime minister will have to be quarantined. but i think more generally, and leaving aside all these debates and controversies, it shows how far the virus has gone and the fact that people you know, people that people you know, people that are famous are getting it in such huge numbers, it means it is already everywhere. how about you on a personal level, how worried you about what is in spain? i imagine the way of life is obviously so different, so life is obviously so different, so difficult for so many people? well, i am one of those convinced that it is important to stay at home. those of us

who have small children it is a little bit more difficult. i have a four—year—old who does not understand what is going on and he wants to play in the street and i tell him he cannot. i have been reporting from wars and so i am not a stranger to cu rfews that from wars and so i am not a stranger to curfews that this is completely different. it is every. it wasn't curfews are a terrible thing but in this case, the fact you do not see the danger, that the danger is anyway. the people crossing the street and coughing could give you the virus, anything in touch could get you infected, this is a very, very strange feeling and one i have not experienced. i am feeling and one i have not experienced. iam not feeling and one i have not experienced. i am not worried about myself, i am worried about myself, i am worried about myself, i am worried about my family, my mother who is an elderly person. these are the people we should be most worried about because for most of us hopefully it would be the milder version of the disease we will suffer but for some people it is extremely

dangerous so we have to take ca re of dangerous so we have to take care of them. spanishjournalist, miguel murado. let's get some of the day's other news: in central and eastern africa, rwanda, kenya, ethiopia and sudan, are among the countries to have confirmed their first cases. and morocco, has suspended air and sea links with france and spain, and banned any public gatherings of more than 50 people. poland is temporarily banning all foreigners from entering the country with international flights and rail connections to be suspended. road borders will also be closed. the british foreign office is advising against all but essential travel there. and the tech giant apple, has announced it's closing all its retail stores outside china for two weeks, in response to the outbreak. the firm, which has dozens of outlets around the uk, says it's willing to do what ever it takes, to prevent the spread of the virus. in the united kingdom, more than 200 scientists have sent a letter to the government criticising its coronavirus strategy. there are over 11 hundred confirmed cases here, and 21 deaths.

but, prime minister boris johnson 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 strategy to allow enough people to be infected with the virus who then recover, in order to build up so—called herd immunity. meanwhile, hundreds of scientists have risen to the government urging them to introduce tougher measures to stop the virus spreading, and warning of the risks of a lack of action, and other experts agree. 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 has announced it is developing plans for more new ventilators to be produced as quickly as possible, and said the nhs will buy a hudson private hospitals to boost capacity. it has insisted its approach is the best way to keep the public safe, and it stressed those with a dry cough and a fever should self isolate. and, sophie has been explaining more about the government's latest measures to help tackle the spread of coronavirus. they say the scientific advisory group for emergency has reviewed the latest data and said, as it expected, the epidemic is now progressing to such an extent that it is recommending new measures be brought in. these are described as shielding the vulnerable and

household isolation. in terms of shielding the vulnerable, they are people who are elderly and have underlying health conditions. quite what the shielding looks like we do not know but it may well be reducing exposure to other people to a minimum. for example having shopping delivered but it may involve other things as well about staying at home. household isolation is about whole families are being isolated at home, even if one person is unwell, in order to reduce down infection rates. so we are expecting that the government would follow the recommendations from its scientific advisors stop it said all along that is what it is doing and this goes some way towards some of the measures that many scientists are clamouring for and say are necessary to protecting the public. this is bbc news. the headlines: spain has introduced a 15—day state of emergency,

as it's also confirmed the wife of the spanish prime minister has tested positive with coronavirus. ten more people die after testing positive for coronavirus in england, the largest daily total since the outbreak began. the white house doctor says president trump has tested negative for coronavirus. mr trump underwent the check on saturday, days after hosting a meeting with the brazilian president, some of whose entourage have tested positive. meanwhile, as it tries to limit the spread of covid—19, a first death has been recorded in the southern state of louisiana, while georgia will move its presidential primaries from this month until may. 0ur washington correspondent, jane 0'brien, reports. a new sense of urgency in the us, as more than 500 additional cases are confirmed and the death toll rises to 50. testing is being ramped up, and for donald trump, it has become personal. facing criticism after being exposed to an infected person several days ago, he says

he is now being tested. i decided i should, based on the press conference yesterday, and people asking, did i take the test? after a slow and at times mixed response, americans are reeling from the disruption to their lives. many are stockpiling food and medicine and confronting social restrictions. museums has closed and gatherings are limited. there are few economic safety nets in the us, and millions of americans have no health insurance. lawmakers have passed emergency measures offering paid sick leave and free testing. most people without symptoms, or asymptomatic, aren't being tested, and could still be spreading the disease. until you really understand how many people are asymptomatic, and asymptomatically passing the virus on, we think it's better for the entire american public to know that the risk of serious illness may be low, but they could be potentially spreading the virus to others. the impact is perhaps being felt most in the cities, which are starting to empty.

the administration says there are no immediate plans to restrict domestic travel, but the president says it is being considered. in such a vast country, that would have been unthinkablejust a few days ago. but this is the new reality, as america shuts down. joe lombardi is managing director of dailyvoice.com, an online news platform in new york state. he joins us from connecticut. thank you forjoining us, joe lombardi. tell me, visible, what has been happening in new york state, what's the latest? thank you. it is good to be out with you this morning. u nfortu nately with you this morning. unfortunately today in new york state we had our first two fatalities related to the covid—19 outbreak. an 82—year—old woman in new york city, who had emphysema. she had been hospitalised on march three, and then she died on friday night, last night. and then this afternoon in the

hudson valley, about 40 miles north of new york city, another woman, this 164 years old, she had died on thursday. well the report came back from the medical examiner this afternoon that it was, indeed, covid—19. and the rockland county executive, the county in which the woman had died, has said it is time to take more severe local action. he is going to work through the weekend and make an announcement on monday at one o'clock. we don't know if it could involve quarantines or what it might involve, but he is taking this very seriously. so what has been done so far and is there a sense amongst people that that it is enough? yeah, well, no. they do not feel that way. there is a lot of anxiety, a lot of panic buying at the supermarkets. and that as a whole other issue in itself, because they are making a big point about social distancing,

which is very important, they are making a big point about not having gatherings of more than 500 people in new york state, more than 200 and people in connecticut, but you have people cramming into the supermarkets, bumping into one another, was talking to a town supervisor in westchester and he basically said a sneeze is a sneeze, whether it happens in a movie theatre, a broadway show, a supermarket, so that situation needs to be managed. what the big issue was was a lack of testing. now, finally, they are getting to the point where the people who needed to get tested, people who have symptoms, people who have been in contact with others who have tested positive, now been tested positive, now been tested and that's why we're seeing the numbers going up, up, and right now in new york state we are at about 600 and a majority of them are in westchester cou nty a nd immediately north of new york city, due to community spread covid—19. so the big thing right now is theyjust started

in new rochelle a mobile testing unit, basically a drive—through testing unit. you call, make an appointment, if they agree that you need to be tested you show up. you don't have to get out of your car or go to have to get out of your car or gotoa have to get out of your car or go to a doctor's offers if you have symptoms, and then they will get those results. and they were hoping to test 200 people the first day, which was yesterday in you resell, and ended up doing 300. they are going to roll out another mobile testing facility on long island. most of the cases in new york have been in the metro area, new york city, westchester, long island john white what about president trump and how he has been dealing with this crisis? he has james very much the way he has james very much the way he has spoken about covid—19 over the last couple of weeks. 0ur people on the streets feeling about him and how he has dealt with things? honestly, he has been very, to say the least, uneven, inconsistent, came out and called the virus a hoax. and then he said late i did not

meaning virus, in the media coverage of it. and then vice president pence has been charged with kind of leading a taskforce on covid—19. really convinced him that an oval office address, the first of his presidency, was necessary and there were a couple of times he went off the teleprompter and made some inaccurate statements they then had to clean up. in the stock market, as you know, went down dramatically right after that address. but, honestly, there is so much going on right now. they know from new york and connecticut, working very closely, the focus is really on the governor, governor como in new york has a daily briefing at 12 noon. i think one of the main things is to be out there and communicate. it takes dozens and communicate. it takes d oze ns of and communicate. it takes dozens of questions from reporters. now, nationally, they have caught up with that, vice president pence is having daily briefings. but, really, right now, people are looking within their own communities for leadership. and as you know, with an outbreak like this, every community is different. we really saw that

in new rochelle. new rochelle is as bad as anywhere in the country, probably worse than anywhere in the united states. soi anywhere in the united states. so i think folks really are looking for the governors and their community leaders, the supervisors, to really take charge. ok, joe lombardi, so good to have you on the programme. thank you very much indeed. thank you. the uk airline industry, already reeling from mass cancellations due to the coronavirus outbreak, is now having to contend with a travel ban from the united states. the white house has confirmed that the uk, as well as ireland, will be added to the list of european countries, from which travel to america will be suspended. 0ur transport correspondent, tom burridge reports flights to america are a huge part of british airways' operation. but the vast majority of transatlantic flight soon won't run, as us travel restrictions will affect us, too. the president has made a decision to suspend all travel to the united kingdom and ireland effective midnight monday night,

eastern standard time. norwegian air, in a more precarious financial position than other airlines, will also be hit hard. pay cuts and job losses, already announced at several airlines, now likely to be even worse. thousands ofjobs are now going to have to go, simply because the airlines won't be able to fly people to the us, one of the last great markets that was open. at glasgow airport, jet2‘s check—in empty this afternoon. the tour operator cancelled all of its flights and holidays to spain for at least a week. distraught this morning. it's a wee shame, because we are going with my daughter and one—year—old grandson, so it was a family holiday.

which is now not going to happen. jet2 flights which left early this morning were over southern france when they were turned back. places like barcelona's ramblas are empty. with shops, bars and restaurants closed, jet2 said its customers wouldn't get much of a holiday. it will run return flights from spain this week to get people home. for leslie, on holiday in the canaries, beyond that it is unclear. i have absolutely no idea. i don't know what to do, i really don't. if it was just me on my own, i would be fine, but like i said, my mum is partially disabled, my stepdad has a bad heart, and i really don't know. and brittany ferries is also suspending some of its routes to parts of france and spain. 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 has more. did you want to make a dinner reservation? many businesses here in eastbourne rely on tourists and locals eating and drinking out. they are doing that less. bookings at this hotel are down 60%. we have the money to carry on for maybe two or three months and then we are out of money. then what do we do, you know, with paying staff, paying vat? wednesday's budget promised billions to support the economy through the crisis, but in a letter to the chancellor that i have seen, the uk's hospitality trade body warns 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 the pandemic threatens their very existence without more government help. its demands include extending business rates suspension to all size of companies, government funding statutory sick pay for all hospitality

firms and allowing temporary staff redundancies, and it says high—street restaurant chains and major hotel groups are the ones who need it. if nothing is done, put simply, these businesses will run out of cash in 4—6 weeks, they simply will not be able to trade because the bills coming through the door remain there and are so substantial. if they have no income coming in, they cannot sustain that drop in footfall and the drop in income. it is a different picture for online delivery firms. demand's so high at 0cado, it's stopped taking new customers' orders. supermarket shoppers continue to stock up on cleaning products and long life foods. the treasury insists help will be on offer where it is needed but some businesses who rely on people physically turning up to spend money fear for their survival. katy austin, bbc news. coming up — the travel show. first the weather with tomas schafernaker. hello. well, the weather's going to be a little hit—and—miss early

on sunday morning. some of us will need our brollies, for sure. but it won't be long before the sun comes out, and actually, for many of us, sunday is going to end up being a pretty decent day, with at least some sunshine. now, currently a weather system is barrelling across the uk. it's brought rain to scotland and some other western parts of the uk, certainly through the early hours of sunday morning. you can see the rainfall here falling across parts of wales, the south—west of england, and scotland and northern ireland too. but two different wind directions. 0ne coming across the north across scotland, so here it's colder. also a little bit of wintriness across the highlands. here, the winds are blowing out of the south—west, so it's quite a bit milder. so i think a mild start to much of england and wales, but scotland and northern ireland will feel a little more chilly early on sunday. now, you can see the various areas of rain crossing the country, so this is a weather front that will bring some rain around lunchtime in the south—east and east anglia.

showers in scotland, but the vast majority of the uk sunday afternoon enjoying a fine day. it won't be clear blue skies, but at least the weather is looking dry and bright. now, monday, two things happening on the weather front. 0n the one hand, we've got high pressure building in from the south—west. 0n the other, there's a low pressure lurking close to iceland. but the high pressure will be more dominant across the uk on monday, and early scenes outside of town probably looking something like this, so some mist, some frost around. crisp, sunny, calm conditions on monday. certainly across england and wales, across much of eastern scotland too. but early in the morning, we'll start to see weather fronts affecting — or a weather front affecting western scotland and northern ireland here, and stronger winds. so very different weather here. but the vast majority of the uk, i think a fine day on monday, beautiful sunshine on the way. and then, monday night into tuesday, that weather front‘s going to slip a little bit further south. in fact, it's trailing out into the atlantic here, and there's another sort of pulse of rain running along it. so that does mean that we're

expecting some rainfall to reach, again, north—western areas during the course of tuesday. there's a bit more cloud overall across the uk on tuesday. i think the sunniest spots will be on the south and in the east, but look at these temperatures. these are south—westerly winds, 15—16 degrees tuesday for some of us. monday and tuesday will feel like spring. and then, towards the end of the week and into next week, it's not necessarily going to turn that warm, but the winds will die down, the sun will come out, and we will have a high pressure, with crisp weather on the way.