this is the briefing, i'm sally bundock. our top stories: france bans people from leaving their homes unless it's essential, or face punishment. president macron addressed the nation with this solemn message. translation: we are at war. all government and parliamentary action must now be directed towards combating the epidemic. britain's prime minister boris johnson urges the public to stay at home as much as possible, warning the virus is spreading faster in london than anywhere else in the uk. don't go to the theatre, cinema or pub, the message. but how will businesses cope without their customers?

after us stock markets suffer their biggest one—day percentage fall since 1987, the trump administration is seeking a large stimulus package to prop up the american economy. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation, as countries across the world try to stem the spread of coronavirus, tell us what's happening where you are. if you are in lockdown, how are you finding the experience? get in touch, just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing

three more european governments have tightened restrictions to fight the coronavirus pandemic. the spanish military are on the streets helping in the fight against the virus while in germany residents have been told to cancel any travel plans both inside and outside the country. but rich preston's report starts in france where thousands of police officers are being deployed to make sure people abide by the lockdown measures. france was the first european country to a case of coronavirus and late january. since then, the number of cases and fatalities has climbed quicker than many would have expected stopping the country has intensified its response to the virus, measures introduced earlier, closing restaurants and cafe ‘s, have been deemed insufficient. now all movement

restricted unless it is absolutely necessary stopping the president says the country and a health more. translation: for at least 15 days, our movements will be highly reduced, gatherings and meeting family or friends will not be allowed anymore. this is about limiting as much as possible any contact outside of home. across france, people will be able to go out only for essential activities. we are at war, a health war. we are not fighting an army, nor another nation, but the enemy is here. invisible and making progress. thousands of police officers will be deployed to make sure that people abide by the lockdown measures. as of tuesday, france's land borders will be closed. so too will the entire external european union border. no travel into the eu from outside. european football officials are meeting today, it is expected

they will agree to postpone this year's european football championships, due to be held across 12 countries. in spain, an intense lockdown. day one of an intense lockdown. day one of a state of emergency. the military on the streets to fight the virus, telling people to go home. spain's hospital is struggling to cope with a rise in cases. the german chancellor angela merkel has added to her country's existing measures, banning religious services and telling people to cancel any travel plans, both within germany and abroad. translation: we will close bars, clubs, discos, theatres, concert halls and museums. fairs, exhibitions, cinemas, zoos, gambling venues and similar institutions will also be closed. these extreme measures highly restricting personal movement and shutting down businesses can scarcely have been imagined just seven weeks ago when europe had only a handful of

confirmed cases. now, with the infection spreading and fatalities rising, many are wondering what more can be done. so that's the picture across a lot of europe whilst here in the uk the prime minister borisjohnson set out new social distancing guidelines at the first of what will now become daily briefings for the nation. he said the whole of the population should avoid crowded places like pubs, clubs and cinemas to help stem the spread of infection but stopped short of telling them to close. charlotte gallagher reports everyone's way of life in the uk is now having to change because of coronavirus. things we ta ke because of coronavirus. things we take for granted like meeting friends, going out for a meal and the theatre, we are now being told to avoid. people being aware of the symptoms of the virus, a high temperature, cough, and breathing

difficulties is key. if you or anyone in your household has one of those 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, at a safe distance from others. london's west end deserted, major theatres closing their doors. the attem pts closing their doors. the atte m pts to closing their doors. the attempts to this slow the spread of coronavirus is affecting a of people's health and social life but people's incomes too stopping many people are angry that boris johnson told people to stay away from venues, while not forcing them to close, which could have given them financial protection. this central london restau ra nt protection. this central london restaurant was opened last night but many people stayed away. we want to support the staff, small community, with 18 people working here, making a

living out of the restaurant, so we living out of the restaurant, so we want to be here for our staff and for the local community as much as we can. for now, schools remain open but this could well change stopping the government says by next weekend, people with the most serious health conditions must be largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks. more guidance may well follow stopping drastic measures to tackle a growing threat here. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. and how businesses are coping and advice to people, we will be discussing that in business briefing and about 20 minutes time. now let's talk you through other developments. the new zealand government has announced a stimulus package worth more than usd$7 billion to help the country's economy in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. finance minister grant

robertson said the package, including wage subsidies and a boost to healthcare would cushion the impact of a likely recession in the country. a further stimulus will be announced in may. public buildings have been closed in namibia and retired and unemployed health professionals recruited in an effort to contain the outbreak. the president has ordered the suspension of all big public gatherings, meaning independence day celebrations have been cancelled. two coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the south—west african country. chinese officials sayjust one new case of the infection has been found in hubei province although a further 20 people who have traveled to the country have been struck down by the outbreak. an average of 20,000 people fly into china every day and from monday beijing required almost all new arrivals to go into a 1k day quarantine programme. universal pictures has announced it will make its movies available at home on the same day they're released in theatres worldwide. the first film universal will make available is ‘trolls world

tour'. usually films are seen exclusively in theatres for the first three months after release. recent films like emma, the hunt and the invisible man will also be available from friday on a variety of on—demand services. more american cities are closing down as the number of deaths in the us continues to rise. president trump has tightened guidelines on preventing the spread of covid—19. he's called on americans to avoid groups of more than ten people, avoid bars and restaurants and only make essentialjourneys. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, joins me now from los angeles. david, just describe what this means in practical terms where you are? just up the coast from us you are? just up the coast from us here, san francisco is the largest city in america to be imposing a curfew so far, it

will be putting basically 7 million people in the san francisco and surrounding counties area under a lockdown from tuesday, tomorrow night, for the next three weeks. they will be prevented, by law, from leaving their homes unless they have a very good reason to do so, for example, to see the doctor ought to buy groceries. fines will be imposed for those who break that curfew, and the tri—state area, new york, new jersey and connecticut, they have already got this ban in place on restaurants and bars, only carry out services there, casinos, nightclubs, gymnasiums even are being closed down and the mayor of new york, i'm sorry, the governor of the state of new york, i should say, not ruling out the possibility of more of a curfew there as well. and how are businesses coping with the sudden change in measures coming from the white house?”

think it has been very difficult and you know what, thatis difficult and you know what, that is one of the reasons why president trump is looking for stimulus funding for small and medium—sized businesses, and indeed, the senate is expected to vote in the next few days, probably as early as tomorrow on the house of representatives package which provides billions of dollars, or would do, or things such as sick pay, unemployment pay, and of course for free coronavirus testing. the president is under pressure to provide money to a variety of different industries, the airline industry among them. they of course have been clobbered by the slowdown in travel and they are seeking a bailout, of close to $60 billion, would you believe?” would believe! thank you david in los angeles.

the chief executive of hong kong, carrie lam, has set out stringent new measures to battle the spread of covid—19. she announced that from thursday all travellers entering hong kong will have to self quarantine for 1h days. this move is deemed crucial as in the previous two weeks, hong kong had over 50 new imported infections. zero hours, on the 19th of march, apart from people coming from the mainland, macau, and taiwan, all other travellers coming from other destinations have to be subject to a quarantine and medical surveillance, this is to make sure that the achievements made from our efforts in the past two months won't go to waste. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: 0ne

of the world's most famous horse—racing meets, the grand national, is the latest event to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. more in our sport briefing injust a moment. 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. you're watching the briefing. 0ur headlines: france's president warns anyone who violates a ban on non—essential travel will be punished as the country engages in what it describes as a "health war". the uk issues new guidelines also urging people to stay at home as much as possible, though schools will not be closed. let's stay with that now. italy, the worst hit country outside china is turning to new measures in its hospitals to try to save lives. davide sher is a 3d printing journalist and industry analyst from milan. hejoins me now. thanks for being on the

briefing. tell me why you think sd briefing. tell me why you think 3d printing is a game changer in this crisis? thank you for having me. well, in general, 3d printing — the main advantage of 3d printing at all levels is to kind of step in when the supply chains are broken. so when things cannot get from one place to another, you can bring them on location. —— print them. that is one of the biggest advantages of 3d printing. and in this kind of emergency we are going through it can become... inaudible davide sher, we are hoping to be able to hear you. you froze for a moment there was i'm sorry! can you hear me? you froze very few seconds. we hope the line remains intact because

we wa nt the line remains intact because we want to hear what you have to say. could you just explain why you think 3d printing is so important? hospitals could print the ventilators they could desperately need, is that what we're looking at? absolutely. i hope i made point before. the benefit of 3d printing is it can step in when the supply chains are broken. when things cannot get through place to another. what happened recently in a hospital was that there was a key component for a respirator that was broken and the company could not produce more. in this case they were able to reproduce the peace and —— piece... inaudible ...and inaudible and use it to help save patients' lives. so you just need the correct blueprints for the item you need to replicate? that is the essential fact,

isn't it? exactly. what happened in this case was the pa rt happened in this case was the part that ran out could not be supplied by the company. so a tea m supplied by the company. so a team of engineers and doctors, they work together and they redesigned the part and they basically brought a 3d printer to the hospital to test it, to print the part and test it and at this point the more industrial level 3d printer was used to produce parts that would actually be made from stronger materials and actually work better. but yes. and davide just tell us what life is like in milan right now. my

friends and my company, they work all over the world and i've been speaking with people. it's easy to realise from the outside, honestly the situation, i'm a very optimistic person usually, but the situation in milan, it became very dramatic very quickly. 0nce became very dramatic very quickly. once it became obvious that this was not a flu, there was really reason to worry and the health system is holding up but it's really, really under stress to. i can imagine. davide, we appreciate your time and keep in touch with us as we do continue the journey through this coronavirus outbreak. thank you for being on the briefing. it's exactly a week since stringent measures were put in place across italy to tackle the spread of coronavirus. more than 2,000 people there have now died, that's more than any other country after china.

sima kotecha reports on a very difficult week for italy. a display of resilience and solidarity. locals in rome feeling optimistic about what lies ahead as the country tackles the worst health crisis ina tackles the worst health crisis in a generation. how do you feel the government is doing? sorry? the prime minister, do you sorry? the prime minister, do you agree sorry? the prime minister, do you agree with what's happening? yes. why? because it's the right thing to do, i think. i never see rome in this situation. popular street, empty. no tourists, nothing open. 0rlando is a taxi driver. he tells us the soul has been ripped out of italy. i'm not busy because there are no people. 0nly busy because there are no people. only to the hospital,

some tourists, but very, very dull. the country has enforced rules preventing people from moving around. stay indoors, especially if you're older, they are told. but some are choosing to rebel. we try not to meet people, not the family, not friends, nothing. and the advice for people who are older is to stay indoors? yes, yes we know. we think we have to walk a little bit. every two days we ta ke a little bit. every two days we take a walk. the contrast is stark. we are in the centre of rome and usually these steps are packed with tourists. men are packed with tourists. men are selling roses but today... this. completely deserted. a week on from when the measures we re week on from when the measures were first announced, churches are providing a place of solace for worshippers. the pope

recently said he wanted clergymen to give those infected comfort. it's a place to have contact and comfort. not to be alone in a place in a room. the government has put 25 billion euros into the economy to give it a cash boost, as many businesses remain closed. but everyone has to eat. and on some corners in rome, takeaway places remain open. translation: it's in a special emergency situation. everyone has a responsibility to do our bit. you mustn't approach each other, everyone must stand at least one metre apart. the world is watching italy closely to see whether what it is doing succeeds in killing this virus. sima kotecha, bbc news, rome. now, more sporting cancellations seem to be happening all the time, so let's get the latest on them

from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm maz farookhi with tuesday's sport briefing. one of the most famous global horseracing meets of the calendar — the grand national at aintree in the north—west of england — is one of the latest sporting events to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. over $180 million us is bet on the race annually, which attracts an audience worldwide of 500 million. on monday, the uk prime minister borisjohnson advised against mass gatherings in the country — effectively cancelling all remaining sporting fixtures. the olympic european boxing qualifying event in london has also been suspended, with the ioc boxing task force saying "safeguarding the wellbeing of the athletes, officials and all other participants is a top priority". the event at the copper box arena took place without spectators from sunday, with great britain's peter mcgrail one of the last to secure his spot at tokyo

2020 with a unanimous points decision win. he admitted afterwards, though, that it was hard in the current climate to focus on his sport. ijust i just knew ours ijust knew ours had to get the job done no matter what was going on with this coronavirus. the way i see it in the ladc it is this is going to derail the schedule and the olympics is still going on —— the way i see it and the lads see it. so we just got to focus on the 0lympics just got to focus on the olympics in july now. well, the international olympic committee is expected to hold talks with international sports federations on tuesday, as is says it will take stock of the actions taken so far to respond to the crisis. a lot of the international sporting bodies — boxing amongst them of course — are struggling to hold their 0lympic qualifying events because of the disruption caused by coronavirus.

the ioc will also hold an executive board meeting — their second in a fortnight — with the tokyo games now four months away. also on tuesday, european football's member associations will meet with uefa — via video conference — and are expected to decide to postpone the men's european championship due to start injune. the euros were scheduled to be played across 12 different countries with the semifinals and the final to be played at wembley in london. other european competitions will also be discussed with the european champions league competitions still farfrom completion. 0k, finally, the worldwide postponement of sporting events may have left quite a few journalists and commentators with some time on their hands — but neverfear, marble racing is here as a welcome distraction. here we go — who needs the drama of the weekend's football with this? this is greg woods with the commentary here by the way. lots of people have been tuning in across social media — names of two of the marbles — "comet" and "pollo loco" —

have even been trending. a different way to pass the time, i guess. you can get all the latest sports news on our website, that's bbc.com/sport. but from me — maz farookhi — and the rest of the sport team, bye for now. 0ur our thanks to the team. it's been great to hear from you about our topics. 0ne been great to hear from you about our topics. one person says "i work as a plaster on my own, it hasn't affected my routine yet but it will eventually. i notice suffolk is quieter in the morning when i leave. " quieter in the morning when i leave." remi says he worked in holland, "i have do work in a supermarket and deal with the mad hoarders and managers who don't have a clue. every day is a challenge and i myself am afraid of getting a virus." none are in shanghai says "life is getting back to normal." a respondent in kenya says,

"everything is running as usual, only the schools have been closed." very interesting conversations there. stay with me on bbc news, i'll be back with the business briefing in just a few moments, we'll have more. hello. the week started gloriously across england and wales with clear, blue skies. it wasn't that way further north, however, because across scotla nd however, because across scotland and northern ireland there was not one where farther than this thanks to that weather front which is going to gradually push its way or try toa gradually push its way or try to a little bit further south. but you will notice them a westerly portion wants to come back further towards the north which has implications for northern ireland after a dry enough start, i think the rain will be in during the course of the morning and then onto the greater part of men in scotland into the north of england, too. further south, much cloudier day across much of england and wales, these moisture laden south—westerly is putting a lot of clouds of the welsh

mountains and was in the south—west, the odd spot of rain here. those winds get drier as they go to the eastern side of england, the cloud breaks, 13, 1a, 15 could well be yours. having been such a feature across northern and western parts of britain on tuesday, that front then becomes the weather feature for the southern half of britain as we get into wednesday. it gradually eases its way little bit further south, maybe the isobars tightening up a touch near that weather front, but nowhere near as much as they are going to tighten up later in the day across the north of scotland. a gale of wind here 50, 60 miles scotland. a gale of wind here 50,60 miles an hour. scotland. a gale of wind here 50, 60 miles an hour. northern england, northern ireland, scotland, the most part, passing shower for the northern isles closer to the low centre. and much closer to some very strong winds as well. come thursday, the remnants of that weather front just dribbling their way ever further towards their way ever further towards the south, so event of cloud, not much more than that, maybe some ran into this far

south—western quarter having a ha rd south—western quarter having a hard 13, 1a or 15 on wednesday in the south, look at that. that is going to be a bit of a shock! eight or nine degrees only. despite the sunshine further north and pretty much drierair, further north and pretty much drier air, you further north and pretty much drierair, you are further north and pretty much drier air, you are going to be stuck at eight or nine as well. thursday and friday, perhaps a bit more about that run to the channel and certainly more i suppose so it is windy, it is daily, there is cloud, there is some rain as well. so it could be one of those days. but for many parts of the bizarre is it right, it's dry, it's cool and the temperature is rock—solid for the most part in single figures. take care.

this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. don't go to the theatre, cinema or pub, the message from the british prime minister. but how will businesses cope? and, the city that never sleeps shuts down. we visit the empty streets of new york city. and this is the morning after the worst day for financial markets since the late 1980s. look at the close on wall street. shares across asia are mixed as investors begin to believe