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 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 in one day, bringing the total there, to well over 1,400. 0ur correspondent, sima kotecha, has sent us this report from rome. through a health crisis, italy turns to song. stringent movements have led to this, from north to south but behind the music, more than a thousand have died. at a hospital in

rome, doctors from china are visiting to advise and support. we believe that our colleagues in italy have done a very good job. may believe early detection is key and medics hearsay their experiences are invaluable. it's obviously important exchanges from doctors who are on the front line from the very beginning, in epicentre one, so they developed protocols, a lot of experience and especially about the severe cases, understood they have made important changes about the protocols. they have made important changes about the protocolsm 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 centre with those who

think they might be infected i checked. some hospitals in the north where most of the cases are continued to struggle to cope. like in italy, some parts of spain are already under strict measures. as the government prepares to enter a 15- government prepares to enter a 15— day state of emergency. transmack it 15— day state of emergency. tra nsmack it is 15— day state of emergency. transmack it is not comfortable for anyone but it's the best we can do, go out only when necessary , can do, go out only when necessary, perhaps get disposable gloves and not touching doors in keys when we enter, that kind of thing and just stay quiet at home. it's all very worrying. let's hope it lasts not only 15 days but a month or two. 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 well well shortly after the government announced

the national lockdown in response to the corona virus there was this response from people in madrid. 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, restraura nts cinemas and most shops have been ordered to remain shut. the number of cases there has reached just under four —— 11,500 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 this to be quarantined for 1h 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.

let's look at some other stories in brief 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. in israel, restaurants, shopping centres, gyms and hotels will be shut down from sunday morning in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. gatherings of over ten people have also been banned. in the west bank, the palestinian authority has asked worshippers to avoid mosques and churches and pray at home instead. the state news agency in kuwait is reporting that all malls, except for those selling food, are being closed. there's is of course more

on the global pandemic on our website, and much more. including this guide put together by our data visualisation team, giving you all the latest facts and figures to the outbreak across the globe. here in the uk, more than two hundred 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 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 have been reviewing the latest data and said the epidemic is it suppressed —— extended such an extent they need new measures to be brought in. this is described as shielding the vulnerable household isolation. in terms of shielding the vulnerable, they are people who are elderly and have underlying health conditions, quite the shielding looks like, we don't know but it may well be reducing that exposure to other people to a minimum. so for example, having shopping delivered, if you like. it may involve other things as well about staying at home. household isolation is all about whole families perhaps being isolated at home, evenif perhaps being isolated at home, even if only one person is

unwell, in order to reduce down infection rates. we are expecting the government to follow the recommendations. it said all along that is what it's doing. this goes some way towards some of the measures that many scientists are clamouring for. the uk airline industry, already reeling from mass cancellations due to the corona—virus 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. this is bbc news. the headlines: spaniards are ordered to stay at home unless its for essential shopping or work, as it's also confirmed the wife of the country's prime minister has caught the coronavirus.

ten more people die after testing positive for coronavirus in england, the largest daily total since the outbreak began. more now on the spanish government's decision to impose a national lockdown to try to control the spread of the coronavirus. that development coincided with news that the prime minister's wife and two female cabinet ministers tested positive for the virus after taking part in an international women's day march in madrid last weekend. miguel murado is a freelance journalist in madrid and he told me more about how the country is responding to the crisis. in the last 48 hours there has been talk of people understanding the wrong way. as if it is a holiday. spreading disease, unfortunately. ithink this is going very quickly and

people are beginning to understand, think a majority of people understand now the seriousness of the threat. and the fact that the numbers are going up and the decisions made by the government are so harsh i think will convince whoever is not convinced yet that they have to take care of themselves. and of course the wife of the spanish prime minister has tested positive for coronavirus, having been on a huge demonstration last sunday. i mean, that's pretty big news, isn't it? yes, this is going to be controversial, because that huge demonstration on sunday because of women's day was seen by many voices who we re day was seen by many voices who were warning that this was a mistake, that those demonstrations are typically very big in spain and there may be people could get infected. the government allowed it to go ahead and even encouraged people tojoin in ahead and even encouraged people to join in the demonstrations and even sent all the female cabinet ministers to the head of the demonstration and now, as it

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

small children, that is a little bit more difficult. i have a four—year—old who doesn't understand what is going on, he wants to play the street. and of course they tell him he can't. i've been reporting from war zones, so i'm nota reporting from war zones, so i'm not a stranger to curfews, but this is completely different. there is an eerie feeling. of course, curfews in war zones are a very terrible thing, but in this case the fa ct thing, but in this case the fact that you don't see the danger, that the danger is anywhere, that the people, you are crossing the street and ca i’s are crossing the street and cars for example could give you the virus, anything you touch could get you infected, this is a very, very strange feeling and one that i hadn't experienced. i'm not worried about myself, i'm worried about my family, i'm worried about my mother who was an elderly person. these are the people i think we should be most worried about because, for most of us, hopefully, it will be the male version company mild symptoms of the disease that we will suffer, but for some people it's really dangerous and we

have to take care of them. 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 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 told us what the latest developments are in the region. 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 3, 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 one 64 years old, she had died on thursday. well, the report came back from the medical examiner this afternoon that it was, indeed, of 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's been done so far and is there a sense amongst people that that it is enough? yeah, well, no. they definitely don't feel that way. there's a lot of anxiety, there is a lot of panic buying at the supermarkets. and that's a whole other issue in itself, because they're making a big point about social distancing, which is very important, they're making a big point about not having gatherings of more than 500 people in new york state, of more than 250 people in connecticut, but you have people cramming into the supermarkets, bumping into one another, and i 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 really needs to be managed.

what the big issue was was a lack of testing. now, finally, they're 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, are now being 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 county and new rochelle, immediately north of new york city, due to community spread covid—19. so the big thing right now is they just 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 so you don;t have to 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 new rochelle, 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, and long island. and what about president trump and how he has been dealing with this crisis? of course, he's changed very much the way he has spoken about covid—19 over the last couple of weeks. how are people on the streets feeling about him and how he is dealing 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 later i didn't mean the virus, in the media coverage of it. and then vice president pence, who 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. and the stock market, as you know, went down dramatically right after that address. but, honestly, there's so much going on right now. i know from new york and connecticut, working very closely, the focus is really on the governor, governor cuomo in new york has a daily briefing at 12 noon. i think one of the main things is to be out there and communicate. he 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. i mean, new rochelle is as bad as anywhere in the country, probably worse than anywhere in the united states. and so i think folks really are looking for the governors and their community leaders, supervisors, to really take charge. that was joe lombardi, managing director of

dailyvoice.com, an online news platform in new york state. now let's take a look at 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. though this is bbc news, the headlines:

spain's prime minister, pedro sanchez, has banned people from leaving home unless they need to buy essential supplies and medicines or to go to work. it comes as his wife maria tests positive for covid—19. the country is europe's worst hit state after italy. france has brought in strict measures after seeing a sharp rise in infections. prime minister edouard philippe has ordered bars, clubs, cafes a nd restau ra nts, cinemas and most shops to close. as many people as possible are being asked to work from home while schools will close from monday until further notice. the united states has added britain and ireland to its flight ban on european countries as it tries to limit the spread of covid 19. vice president mike pence says internal travel restrictions are being considered. president trump has tested negative for the virus. to climate change now, and a warning that efforts to tackle