the to stay closed. but these are the most extraordinary measures ever taken in peacetime. and all of our lives are going to fundamentally change in the weeks ahead. we are not just talking about change in the weeks ahead. we are notjust talking about protecting vulnerable groups, we are talking about all of us avoiding all unnecessary social contact, all unnecessary social contact, all unnecessary travel should stop and we should work from home, none of us should go to pubs, restaurants, theatres or social venues because if we do not, more lives will be lost. we need to comply with this to save lives. fergus walsh, thank you. that's all from the bbc news at six. so it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one, we nowjoin 00:00:38,999 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 the bbc‘s news teams where you are.

you're watching bbc news. in a few moments we will answer your questions on the coronavirus outbreak but first, let's read frap the government's latest advice. borisjohnson the government's latest advice. boris johnson says the government's latest advice. borisjohnson says everyone in the uk should now avoid nonessential travel in contact with others in the

fight against the virus. he said drastic action was needed and you —— as the uk approaches the fast growth parked in the upward curve of the number of cases. anyone who lives with someone who has a persistent cough or a temperature should stay at home for 14 days. people should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other social venues. those with underlying health conditions are being told to avoid unnecessary social contact. london is a few weeks ahead of other areas in terms of the virus curb, meaning transmission is happening more rapidly in the capital. the world health organisation says many governments are still not doing enough. the european union says it wa nts to enough. the european union says it wants to close its external borders

as it tries to maintain a unified approach to battling the virus. here's what the prime minister had to say. first we need to ask you to ensure that if you or anyone in your household has one of those two symptoms, then you should stay at home for 14 days. that means that if possible, you should not go out, even to buy food or essentials other than for exercise and in that case, ata than for exercise and in that case, at a safe distance from others. if necessary , at a safe distance from others. if necessary, you should ask for help from others for your daily necessities. if that is not possible, then you should do what you can to limit your social contact when you leave the house to get supplies. and even if you don't have symptoms, and if no one in your household has symptoms, there is

more that we need you to do now. so second, now is the time for everyone to stop nonessential contact with others. also to stop unnecessary travel. we need people to start working from home where they possibly can, and you should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues. the prime minister speaking about an hour and a half ago and what we understand what will be the first of a series of daily briefings keeping everyone up to date with the government's latest thinking on the spread of the coronavirus. you've been sending us your

questions about the coronavirus and the latest measures the government has unveiled to try and slow as it spread. with me as our health editor hugh pym. i'm alsojoined by doctor carmel, a gp who's in north london and doctor smith, a virologist of cambridge universally. welcome to all our guests. —— cambridge university. i'll start with you. this question is from julia. what is the uk not following the who's advice to taste every suspected case? -- test. up untiltoday, the impression given by the government was that they weren't going to carry on testing vary widely and that people who had symptoms, a persistent cough or fever, should just go home and isolate for a week. they wouldn't get tested. if you listen to the press conference, professor chris whitty, the treat

dome light chief medical adviser said they are increasing testing. they are trying to go further. a bit ofa they are trying to go further. a bit of a change of emphasis there, but sources tell me theyjust don't think they have the resources to test everybody. they want to focus particularly on nhs workers and those who are most important or most vulnerable, certainly. so i think they've changed here a bit on this, but they're not complying totalling with what who have suggested. some other countries but not all. it's a resource issue when it comes to testing. this question is from david, who's in nottingham. it says is it possible to have coronavirus without having a fever?” is it possible to have coronavirus without having a fever? i think it is. my understanding is the main two symptoms are a fever, and they said that fever to 37.8, and a call. the cough is persistent and it starts acutely and is ongoing. i guess

there are cases where people will have a cough it and they won't have a fever. many people don't actually have, so it's a very specific fever they set the criteria at. even more difficult. let's go to chris. how can you give of confirms number of cases when many of us showing symptoms are not qualifying for testing? if i may, i'd symptoms are not qualifying for testing? ifi may, i'd like to build on the answer that you gave about testing. —— few. testing is being delivered by public health england and there are just eight laboratories and for others and the other countries. they were delivering about 1500 tests a day. this is gonna scale, because other liberatory —— laboratories are joining and this will bring us up to 10,000 tests a day. you can see that

this is very easy to saturate quite quickly with the anticipated number of cases, so rather thanjust quickly with the anticipated number of cases, so rather than just a everyone across the country will be blanket tested, the testing is being focused at the moment at least, where it can change or affect the management of the basement or how up person is handled —— the patients. those symptoms could be any number of different infections, so it's important that we don't put the wrong person with the wrong infection and the wrong part of the hospital, because that's how they spread. by using the testing to guide how we manage people, it's really useful. in terms of how we work out confirms cases, those confirms cases have been reported. those are people with a positive test result. it automaticallyjust a subset of the real number of cases in the country. we know that this is like an iceberg, the tip of the iceberg is people being tested and testing positive, but below the

water, there is almost certainly a big numberof water, there is almost certainly a big number of cases which are either not having symptoms or having very mild symptoms or being confused with the common cold. that's why this has been quite easy to miss and it's been quite easy to miss and it's been hiding in plain sight. it's about targeting the resources that are available. back to hugh. why are we not closing schools and university? this is from norman. a lot of people are asking this question given that it's going on anywhere else in the world. some universities are closing early. in fa ct, universities are closing early. in fact, at least one i've heard of is saying to students "we can't even give you any exams in the summer and will not give you a degree mark based on your progress up until now." with school, the argument from the government, which is still being made, is that if you closed on a school for a long period, you end up

losing more people from the workforce because parents have to go and look after children. the children could then go and spend time with grandparents who are vulnerable because of their age and they will be carrying the virus even though they aren't particularly vulnerable themselves. they could spread it widely. that seems to be the government line. there are schools close in other european countries so this may be reviews. we've seen a big change in policy just in the last few days, so it's possible this might change again. as of now, the school closure issue is not on the table as one of the measures. the prime minister made clear the situation was fluid and it could change. this is a question from and. she says what is the advice to those who believe they have contracted the virus?” advice to those who believe they have contracted the virus? i think the advice seems to be changing every day. isolate for seven days, and look after yourself with the symptoms you have got. i think what

you don't know necessarily is whether it is actually coronavirus or it is actuallyjust another kind of infection. there are plenty of her infections —— of other infections that will present in a similar way. treat yourself as you would with any other infection, take ca re of would with any other infection, take care of your nutrition, treat any fever, and particularly with this, it's about self isolating and keeping away from other people. i think the advice has just changed about self isolation and family. indeed it has. you may be well within the household, but if there's one member who is showing symptoms of fever and so on, then the whole household has to self—isolate. does that make sense to you? well, i guess i would follow the advice that we've been given. we got some very good epidemiologists giving this advice. i'm not an expert in that area so advice. i'm not an expert in that area so i'm following that advice.

chris, let me turn to you. this is from sarah. if you personally have underlying health conditions, you have to self—isolate. does that mean the whole household should self—isolate. is that something that make sense to you to? in terms of the self isolation, just to build on the self isolation, just to build on the answer you've heard to the previous question, the rationale behind saying 14 days is that the average incubation for this new coronavirus is about five days. if you have a group of people who are living together, one personjoined the household and that person then infects everyone else in the household, if you allow 14 or 15 days, that should be more than enough time for all the people —— for the person who's got it. those people to become symptomatic and clear the infection. it would go as a 1—2 punch. that's so rationale for extending it to two weeks. in terms of what to do if you live with someone of what to do if you live with someone who's in a vulnerable state,

and obviously they are at high risk, one has to use common sense here. the best device to people living with people who might be at high risk or with underlying health disorders, which means they may, you just have to use your common sense. if it's possible to avoid infecting those people, you willjust have to do that by perhaps giving them their owfi do that by perhaps giving them their own bathroom or bedroom to go into all you're occupying the rest of the house and you've arranged to clean up house and you've arranged to clean up carefully after the person with symptoms, etc. thank you for that. here's another question for hugh. this is from esther. should we still attend local hospital appointments? the interesting thing is, will there be any patient appointments? the strong guidance has