i'm mariko oi in singapore, the headlines: us stock markets suffer their biggest one—day percentage fall since 1987 as the trump administration issues new guidance on avoiding public spaces and unnecessary travel. the french president bans people from leaving their homes except for essential reasons from tuesday, saying the country is engaged in a "health war". i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: work from home where possible and avoid non—essential contact with others: that's the message from britain's prime minister borisjohnson. the search for a vaccine is continuing, we'll be hearing

from the head of an international research team about their progress. good morning. it's 8:00am in singapore, and midnight in london. around the world, governments are introducing new measures and recommendations to fight the global coronavirus pandemic. on tuesday, the european union will discuss closing its borders to incoming travellers. in the uk, people are told to work from home and avoid congregating. in the us, president trump says a recession is possible. we've got more on all of that in a moment, but first here's the latest from the head

of the world health organisation. all countries must take a comprehensive approach, but the most effective way to prevent infections and save lives is breaking the chains of transmission. and to do that, you must test and isolate. you cannot fight a fire blindfolded, and we cannot stop this pandemic if we don't know who is infected. we have a simple message for all countries. test, test, test. test every suspected case. if they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have beenin them and find out who they have been in close contact with up to two days before they developed symptoms, and test those people too.

we'll bring you up to date about the situation in france, the uk and spain. but let's start in the us, where new york city is eerily quiet. schools, bars, and restaurants are shut, as drastic steps are taken to contain the virus. president trump said there may be a recession in america, and wall street plunged further, suffering the second biggest percentage drop ever. the government has announced strict guidelines for americans to follow over the next fifteen days, including working from home. nick bryant reports. foghorn. we live in a world right now where so much looks familiar, but almost everything feels different, and on the monday morning staten island ferry, these empty rows were a measure of community concern. these protective masks a global badge of fear. people are worried, and we don't know what to do, and that makes us worry more. i was just actually thinking this morning about how apocalyptic it felt. i was lying in bed and i was thinking, this is a movie.

it can't be real. unbelievable, unbelievable. never seen it like this in life, and i've been living here all my life. incredible. on the new york subway system, social distancing would usually be impossible in the middle of the rush—hour. but, this morning, it felt like a ghost train. this city of perpetual motion is shutting down, its bars, its restaurants, its school system. and it is frightening for new yorkers like liz sa nta na. oh, no, it's devastating, what's happening right now. it's a very emotional for a lot of service people, to lose theirjobs. sorry. times square is normally the pulsing heart of manhattan, bumper—to—bumper congested. but just about the only activity was on its dancing big screens, images from a chinese news channel, with scenes that are now playing out here. they call times square the ‘crossroads of the world,‘ but nobody wants to meet here anymore. the nation's capital looked like a scene

from some dystopian drama. and, at the white house, the physical barriers that protect the president are now being augmented by medical checks on people going inside. and it is notjust the health of the nation that is on donald trump's mind, but the economic fallout after another calamitous day on the markets, which took yet another hit after he had answered this question. is the us economy heading into a recession? well, it may be. we're not thinking in terms of recession. we're thinking in terms of the virus. once we stop it, i think there's a tremendous pent—up demand, both in terms of the stock market and in terms of the economy. and once this goes away, once it goes through, and we're done with it, i think you're going to see a tremendous, tremendous surge. us airlines are seeking a $50 billion government bailout, given so much of the world has been immobilised. but one sector of the american economy is experiencing a dramatic spike in sales. the queue here in los angeles was for guns. nick bryant,

bbc news, new york. let's get more on that dramatic fall on the us markets today, the second biggest fall in history. samira hussain is in new york. i think the problem is is that investors are i think the problem is is that investors a re really i think the problem is is that investors are really in uncharted territory. one person they were speaking with on the floor earlier today said, we have never seen anything like this, even compared to 2008, 2009, but at least then there was some idea of where this was going to hit in terms of the economy. but in this particular instance, absolutely every single part of the economy is being impacted, so there is no real area for investors to kind of hide or wait until this blows over, and that is the other issue, of course. we heard from the president that this could perhaps go on until at least august, and that also rattled investors because that

isa rattled investors because that is a long time to be dealing with that amount of uncertainty. let's take a look at what is happening in europe. the french president, emmanuel macron says france is in a state of war against the coronavirus. on sunday, hejoined people across france voting in municipal elections. but in a televised address on monday, he said too many people had not been respecting measures introduced to date. he said people should not leave home, except for essential reasons, from midday tuesday, orface punishment. translation: any and all infractions to these rules will be penalised. ea speak to you with much solemnity. listen to the medical advice which is, stay at home and avoid unnecessary contact. this is the most important. tonight i am imposing new regulations stopping there will be controls and limitations of the best rule is the one that you should

apply to yourself as citizens. a call on your solidarity. the external borders of the european union and the wider group of nations that belong to the schengen zone could be closed for up to 30 days. the head of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, proposed the plan, which has yet to be confirmed by member states. she said it would stop non—essential travel, but that returning eu citizens, workers who commute across borders and people delivering goods would be exempt. vauxhall‘s parent company will shut all of its european manufacturing plants this week until at least the 27th of march. in a statement, the psa group said it had seen a significant drop in demand and disruption to supply chains. other manufacturers such as ford, nissan and fiat chrysler have also suspended work at factories in spain and italy due to coronavirus. a man who stockpiled nearly eighteen thousand bottles of hand sanitiser has given it all to charity, according to reports. matt colvin, from tennessee, who was the subject of a new york times article,

is being investigated for price gouging after he tried selling the sanitiser of an inflated price on amazon. the actor idris elba has announced he's tested positive for covid—i9. the star, who's been isolated since he found out about his possible exposure, said on twitter that he doesn't have any symptoms, feels okay, and will keep people updated about how he's doing. the spanish government has announced sweeping measures allowing it to take over private healthcare. the number of cases there has risen to almost 9,500 and more than 300 people have died. spain has declared a state of emergency, placing the country on partial lockdown. damian grammaticas has more.

this is spain on a warfooting, the military mobilised for this fight against the virus. instructing people to go back to their homes. keep apart, police warned people in madrid. day one of a state of emergency. those who don't have masks improvise. you are only meant to get out if you are heading to work or buying food. like these italian students, stuck here in spain indefinitely as all flights to italy have been grounded, but they think the lockdown is justified. do you think this is necessary, all of these measures? absolutely necessary. it is the only way you can fight this situation. to stop the virus spreading? to stop the virus, yeah. so this is now a european

capital under extraordinary measures stopping the buses run, but they are empty. police began their mobiles for the latest information. madrid's main train station is still working. but the risk from the virus is all around. a doctor is trying to get back to her hospital urgently. she was studying in the usa but got a call saying they needed her back here. she arrived from new york this morning. i guess this is an emergency and anything we can do to help, it is what we have to do. and this is why — spain's hospitals, a health system under severe stress. there is a desperate need to slow the pace at which people are being infected. this hospital on the edge of madrid has set aside more than 100 beds for coronavirus patients in the past few days. they are not overwhelmed, but the problem they have, they say, is that they are already running low on stocks of safety equipment,

and that means the medical staff are being put at risk. alex, one of the nurses, tells me that the masks we are carrying out, are better than those the hospital staff are provided. translation: i think it is necessary that the government takes these measures. we are trying to stop a disease we don't understand. we see what some countries in asia did. we think this is the best thing to do. meanwhile, those forced to stay—at—home are trying to make the most of it. an aerobics session laid on free for everyone stuck in one group of apartments. followed by a game of communal flat—bound bingo, keeping spirits up even as the country shuts down. from this evening, spain is closing its borders, only residents and spanish citizens are allowed to enter the country. damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid.

here in the uk, the british prime minister boris johnson has introduced stricter measures, saying that everyone in the uk should avoid non—essential travel and contact with others. more than 1500 people have tested positive for the virus in the uk. but scientists advising the government estimate that the actual number of cases is between 35 and 50 thousand. here's the prime minister explaining why the new measures are coming in now. we are asking people to do something that is difficult and disruptive of their lives. and the right moment, as we have always said, is to do it when it is most effective, when we think it can make the biggest difference to slowing the spread of the disease, reducing the number of victims, reducing the number of fatalities. chris mason is our political correspondent in westminster. i asked him about this take on the government's new measures.

what has been quite striking today from a british perspective is the government here really cranking up the timeline it had set out for potential measures and fast forwarding measures that many people a matter of just forwarding measures that many people a matter ofjust a couple of days ago thought might bea couple of days ago thought might be a couple of weeks away, so the big change here in the uk today is this idea that if anyone in your household demonstrates symptoms such as a temperature or a persistent cough, then all of you have two self isolate for two weeks to give time for the person who is displaying the symptoms work through the virus, if indeed thatis through the virus, if indeed that is what they have, and for anyone else with them who is likely to catch it from them, to also demonstrate those symptoms and potentially see the virus through themselves. so that is a big change as is the expectation that those with underlying health conditions, and the government has published a list of them online, all those over 70

should go for significant social distancing. perhaps, not in all instances staying behind closed doors but certainly keeping away from any unnecessary social contact, and when you step back from it, the thing that really struck me today, for the second time in just a couple of days, is that i have just never seen a british prime minister in my lifetime, i'm the next month, say anything like the kind of thing we heard from boris johnson. anyone who wasn't around at the time of the second world war, they would have never heard a british prime minister setting out those kind of measures for how they expect british people to respond. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the best defence against covid—i9 is good old —fashioned soap. a chemistry professor will tell us why.

today, we have closed the book on apartheid and that chapter. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision — all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. the trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. now, this was an international trophy, and we understand now that the search for it has become an international search. above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible, and that's

what the voters wanted. welcome back. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko oi in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. it's good to have you with us. our top stories: us stock markets suffer their biggest one—day percentage fall since 1987, as the trump administration issues new advice about avoiding public gatherings. france's president macron has ordered people to stay at home from tuesday, unless they're going to work or to buy provisions, as the country engages in a "health war". let's take a look at some front pages from around the world where the coronavirus is front and centre. let's start with the financial times which is reporting on the continued market losses that we saw around the world because of the coronavirus. the paper also reports that uefa — that's the body governing european football —

is preparing to postpone the euro twenty20 championship. the japan times is also running a front page spread on the economic cost of the outbreak. the paper reports the country's central bank will aggressively buy risky assets and create a new one—year zero—rate loan programme to offset market losses. the nikkei didn't respond well to the announcement though, as investors were hoping for more drastic measures. and here in singapore, the business times has a report on measures taken in neighbouring malaysia. it writes that the country will be on lockdown for two weeks starting wednesday. schools and most shops will be shut, and only essential—service agencies will operate.

mariko, many thanks for those updates on the papers. the search for a vaccine for the latest coronavirus is taking off around the world. the coalition for epidemic preparedness innovations, sponsored by several philanthropic foundations and governments, is funding programmes at three centres. at one of them, the university of queensland in australia, researchers have already identified one possible candidate for a vaccine although research is at a very early stage. professor paul young, head of school, professor of virology is head of the school of chemistry at the university of queensland and is leading the vaccine team there. thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us. can you tell us where you are with this search with your team to find a possible vaccine? absolutely. and good morning, here. we began our programme of research or at least a vaccine search the day we received the

information from china of the sequence information from china of the sequence of the virus that was back on january 11. within three weeks we're going through about 250 different versions our particular approach to vaccine generation before we selected the lead candidate. that lead candidate which we are intending to take all the way through is now already in preclinical animal studies to determine what immunity it can actually elicit in animals. ultimately we will be testing that in other animal studies of disease and see whether we can protect those animals. with that we will be moving into human clinical studies, phase one studies, probably around the end ofjune. we know when it comes to regular influenza, flu vaccines, they are not 100% effective. it is difficult to get such a vaccine to work. explain to us the challenges that you and the team are under to develop something for something like coronavirus?” think we're probably not under

same sort of challenges that vaccine manufacturers had with influenza, which changes quite dramatically from year to year and that is why they need to make new vaccines each year. rotavirus is don't mutate as rapidly as influenza —— coronaviruses, so this vaccine would likely last for some time and remain effective. influenza has those problems as i mentioned, they have efficacy rates that are very high, around 80— 90% efficacy. so we have absolute confidence we would be able to generate a vaccine that provides strong protection to the majority of those receiving it. and i guess the 100, the $1 million question is by when, do you think? the rulebook has gone out with regards to this outbreak. people are trying to accelerate development as fast

as they can. i'm sure you've heard many people comment before the typical pathway for a vaccine can be anything like 10-15 a vaccine can be anything like 10—15 years. many people have been talking about accelerating that to 12 months — 18 months, but even now we are trying to accelerate that given the scale of the outbreak. you may have heard overnight that one of the other groups funded by cepi to advance a vaccine have already started their first clinical trial, their first human vaccinia has been vaccinated overnight was that that has been a clearly unheard—of to move that fast was that they have moved into preclinical work in animals and completed that, and that just work in animals and completed that, and thatjust shows the level of concern everyone has. from our own perspective, what we are considering doing is advancing manufacturing. what normally happens is you wait to determine whether your vaccine works effectively in clinical studies, and only then you begin to ramp up the manufacturing for dissemination

and appointment. we are starting to think about trying to get funding to advanced manufacturing at the same time as we are doing clinical and preclinical studies so we will have a vaccine ready at scale when we know it is passed those clinical studies. so everyone is thinking of new ways of accelerating that pipeline. professor young, i think i would be stating the obvious pacing there are an awful lot of people rooting for you and your team. of people rooting for you and yourteam. —— the of people rooting for you and your team. —— the obvious by saying. good luck. thank you. it may seem simple but the main defence we have right now against catching the coronavirus is good old —fashioned soap. touch our face as the main way of not catching the covid—19. but what is it about the humble bar of soap that makes the virus simply collapse and slide away? professor of chemistry, palli thordarson, is from the university of new south wales. he explained why soap

is so effective. viruses, like everything else, is just viruses, like everything else, isjust made of viruses, like everything else, is just made of chemicals. and in the case of this virus, is wrapped around proteins, the rna, it's fairly weak interaction, supramolecular interaction, supramolecular interaction, there is this greasy lipid layer around the virus. that is essential for the virus. when you hit the virus with the so, that's very similarto virus with the so, that's very similar to the lipid bilayer. they start to change and the soap molecules appears into the lipid layer and tear apart, into the virus, they're all the connections apart between the protein units and the soap also carries these things away in little bubbles we coal mycelles. so the virus essentially disintegrate and fall to pieces like a house of cards in the presence of soapy water —— micelles. cards in the presence of soapy water -- micelles. and some

people have been panic buying soap with some alcohol in it? those are equally good. if you look at the advice from the world health organization, they recommend using so by hand sanitiser. use whatever you can get your hands on and you are co mforta ble get your hands on and you are comfortable with. the hand sanitiser works differently, yes, the ethanol is the active agent. it causes the virus basically to collapse. but they both do thejob basically to collapse. but they both do the job and what is much more important is not what kind of soap use or what kind of hand sanitiser use if it ethanol —based, is how you apply on the hands. it doesn't matter if you have the fanciest, most expensive bacteria killing soap — and this isn't a bacterial problem, if they virus. —— if they virus. there is no need for us to get hospital grey dreams and chemicals, they need to deal with real bacteria and viruses, different viruses are much more

robust and you can't kill them with soap. you have been watching newsday on the bbc. i'm kasia madera in london. and i'm mariko oi in singapore. bye— bye. hello. the week started on the dry, fine, sunny note for many parts of england and wales. it really was a sparkler of a day finishing with glorious colours in the sunset across great yarmouth. there wasn't like that everywhere, for scotland and northern ireland after a decent start to monday, that weather and spread some cloud, some wind and rain quite widely. that front drags a little bit further south but you will notice there is a kink in itand you will notice there is a kink in it and it will be quite an important kink because it thickens the cloud after a bratta n thickens the cloud after a brattan of starting northern ireland and rinne soon in here. quite a bit of it, as well. and

it spreads across the good part of men in scotland into the afternoon, some of it getting across the border. further south we have brightness, the south—westerly breeze will usherin south—westerly breeze will usher in some really mild as. if you get a wee bit of sunshine to the eastern side of the pennines, east anglia, down towards the south—east, 13, 1a, 15 could well be yours. a more showery regime across the northern western isles throughout the course of the day and on into the evening. once that little wave is away on the weather front that will allow it to relax its way ever further south. slow progress, it has to be said, because it's running into an area of high pressure a cross running into an area of high pressure across biscay in the near continent. so it's around and about on wednesday across wales, southern counties of england, the midlands and east anglia and lincolnshire. further north, much brighter skies but that sunshine will do nothing for your temperatures. last tuesday's really mild air is trapped there, particularly in the south—east where we could have14— in the south—east where we could have 14— 15 degrees. on

wednesday into thursday that weather front, more a wednesday into thursday that weatherfront, more a band of cloud than anything else at this stage for many southern counties, may just have this stage for many southern counties, mayjust have enough about it for there to be a bit of rain damage to this far south—western quarter. but wales, north midlands, northwards, increasingly sunny as you drift that we bit further north. again, there is a chilly feel right across the piece. we are in single figures. the chains from thursday to friday, the overall setup is very little change other than we might see a little more activity on that weather front across the southern counties of england, chatters of rain here and a noticeable easterly wind. so that will make it feel fairly cool to say the least. further north, at least you got the benefit of the sunshine the midlands, much of wales, scotland, northern ireland and the north of england. but again, those temperatures are in single figures. we can brings us the prospect of many dry weather with them sunshine, feeling chilly, and some frosty nights, too.

i'm kasia madera

with bbc world news. our top story: us stock markets have suffered their biggest one—day percentage fall since 1987, as the trump administration issues new advice to try to curb the spread of the virus. the president has called on americans to avoid groups of more than ten people, avoid bars and restaurants and only make essential journeys, for the next 15 days. the french president has banned people from leaving their homes, except for essential reasons, from tuesday, saying the country is engaged in a "health war". and in the uk the message from prime minister borisjohnson is work from home where possible and avoid non—essential travel and contact with others. 55 britons are now confirmed to have died from the virus. that's all. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news we have a special

edition of hardtalk