welcome to bbc news — i'm mike embley. our top stories: a trillion—dollar shot against coronavirus. congress and the white house discuss a huge stimulus to try to save the economy falling victim to the outbreak. with this invisible enemy we do not want airlines going out of business or people losing their jobs on that having muggy to live when they were doing very well just four weeks live when they were doing very welljust four weeks ago. the british government calls an economic emergency and also throws a lifeline of billions of pounds, to bolster businesses. life under lockdown. the french are now banned from leaving their homes, even to visit family and friends. a boost for biden‘s bid to take on trump. the former vice president looks to be the big winner again, with results still coming

in from three more states. the trump administration is trying to agree with congress a massive economic stimulus, to help the us economy withstand the coronavirus pandemic. the aid package, reported to be worth about a trillion dollars, would include sending cheques to individual americans, and $50 billion for airlines, hard hit by travel restrictions and a dropoff in demand. the news seems to have lifted spirits on wall street, the dow jones closing up more than 5%. this from the bbc‘s rich preston. there are more coronavirus cases being announced in the us every day and more states encouraging businesses to close and people to stay at home. the government wants to reassure families and industry. american

has cash now and the president wa nts has cash now and the president wants is now in the next two weeks. as well as personal checks, businesses and individuals will be able to delay paying tax for 90 days. we are now working with the senate to pass this legislation very quickly and these will be payments to small businesses. we have talked about loan guarantees to critical industries such as airlines and hotels and we have also talked about a stimulus package to the american worker. you can think of this is something like this in this interruption payments for the american workers. a state of emergency has been imposed in at least a0 states. the governor of ohio suspended plans to hold its election primary is after washington warned americans that make americans to avoid groups of more than ten people. 0fficials have urged families to live strea m have urged families to live stream funerals rather than invite people to attend in

person. america is steadily intensifying its response to the virus, a virus that president trump previously described as a low risk to americans and in late february predicted it would soon be close to zero cases in the us. there are now more than 6000 confirmed cases in america with over 100 deaths. and here in the uk, finance minister rishi sunak unveiled his support plan to try to keep businesses afloat. he said the country is in an economic emergency and now is ‘the time to be bold'. the number of confirmed uk cases has risen to nearly 2000, with 71 deaths. 0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg, is in westminster. everything seems different now. you can be on your own in the busiest parts of our biggest city. but quiet doesn't mask the worry. millions are concerned about their health, and loved ones too. but instead of shutdown, behind closed doors, the centre of government is in overdrive.

they‘ re grappling with the biggestjob in generations — to save lives first, but to protect how we make a living, too. we must act like any wartime government, and do whatever it takes to support our economy. you can't blame the new chancellor for looking serious. just 33 days into hisjob, here he is announcing a bailout of historic proportions. this national effort will be underpinned by government interventions in the economy on a scale unimaginable only a few weeks ago. this is not a time for ideology and orthodoxy. today, i am making available an initial £330 billion of guarantees, equivalent to 15% of our gdp. that means any business who needs access to cash to pay their rent, their salaries, suppliers, or purchase stock will be able to access a government—backed loan or credit on attractive terms.

can you guarantee to firms who need to pay wages now, and families who worry about paying the rent now, that they will not lose out while you work through the details of what comes next? be in no doubt, the state is asking people to do something, to make very considerable changes to their lives. and it is only right, therefore, that the state should stand behind people as they make those changes. business big and small might not have the luxury of time. the office of this brighton travel company is already practically empty. i don't think borisjohnson realises that people are losing theirjobs right now. we've had to put staff on unpaid sabbatical, with no certainty of what's going to happen over the next few months. reporter: are you doing enough to stop the virus? ministers have been scrambling to find a response big and fast enough. it might sound astonishing, but even more than £300 billion

might be just the start. by the government's own admission, this is now an economic emergency. so they've just promised to take vast steps to try to stop that turning into individual hardship for millions in the coming months, taking on long—term costs for the country to try to stop a heavy and painful cost being paid by families in the coming months. the need for help for the country's health and the country's wealth is acute. reassurance is not a currency in itself. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. tough new restrictions have come into force in france. no—one can now leave home without a government form — that they must print out — to justify their reason for being outside. for the next two weeks, people are only allowed out to go to work, to buy essential food or medical supplies, for a family emergency, or to exercise or walk a dog. but they must be on their own

and face a fine if these conditions aren't met. 0ur paris correspondent, lucy williamson reports. before the quarantine, the fever. as france inched towards lockdown, supermarkets became ba rometers of the nation's fear. the government had complained that people were ignoring the threat of coronavirus. but attitudes here are changing. translation: i'm scared. i've got three kids, i'm here to buy the basics. i'm afraid for myself and for my children. last night, president macron announced a general confinement of france's population, from midday today. translation: for at least the next 15 days, our movements will be seriously reduced. it means that outside gatherings or meeting friends and family won't be permitted. going for a walk, meeting friends in the park or in the street, won't be possible. all infractions to these

rules will be punished. it's just gone midday here, the new rules have come into force and there are still a few people out on the champs—elysees. a8 hours ago, the government was telling people to come out to vote. now it's saying, stay in your homes unless it's essential, or face a fine. within minutes of the deadline, extra police were out questioning people still on the streets. 100,000 officers have been deployed to enforce the new rules. today's deadline sparked a last—minute rush to leave the capital. polls suggest a sudden jump in anxiety here. normality, no longer a barrier to this crisis, is disappearing. and france instead is learning to manage its fear. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. the european union has banned non—eu citizens from entering for 30 days, as major european countries try and stop the spread of the virus. here's the latest from our correspondents in spain, germany and italy, starting

with mark lowen in rome. today, italy's prime minister said this country had overcome fascism and world wars but never more than now was there such a need for italians to be united. he said that 10,000 medical students would have their final year medical students would have theirfinal year exams medical students would have their final year exams scrapped so their final year exams scrapped so they could move more quickly into the healthcare system and support doctors and nurses. cases here are still soaring but the rate of increase is the smallest now since the outbreak began so, possibly, the containment measures are beginning to work and, if so, that puts the pressure on other countries to copy the italian approach more closely. from today, this is the updated form you have to fill in for all movement around the country to certify that we are not in quarantine because of the virus 01’ quarantine because of the virus or that we have tested that we are negative. in addition to the blanket closure of all venues across the country.

italy has taken the most extreme approach in europe but look at how one by one so many other countries are following suit. spain, about a week ago, was pretty much where the uk is today so just a couple of,000 cases and in seven days that has soared sevenfold so what we saw out on the streets today, similar. police out there ordering people to return home, stopping cars and checking them. this is the biggest train station in madrid behind me and it is virtually deserted. spain is equally assigned that if you do not take measures quickly you get a huge rising cases. restrictions here were only brought in the day. we now have 2000 more cases in the last day, 500 people in intensive care. the spanish prime minister promises a massive economic stimulus to try and

keep things going and nobody here complaining that any of this is excessive. today, germany raised its official risk level from medium to high as the numberof risk level from medium to high as the number of newly confirmed cases continues to accelerate. the health authorities up and down the country are bracing themselves. here in berlin today they announced they are to turn a big exhibition centre into an extra hospital with 1000 beds. the authorities have pretty much shutdown every aspect of normal german daily life now affecting religion, business and leisure, people are being told they should stay at home and they should not go on holiday either within the country or abroad. the government is hoping that it can avoid following spain france and italy into imposing a complete lockdown. they hope the current measures will be enough but people here are looking at what is happening in those countries and looking at

the daily rising cases here and they are starting to fear that for germany it really isjust they are starting to fear that for germany it really is just a question of time. let's get some of the news on the coronavirus from around the world. australia's prime minister has announced an indefinite ban on all overseas travel, in an unprecedented move to try to choke off the spread of the virus. scott morrison said "the biggest risk and incidence of cases has come from australians returning from overseas," adding "if we slow the spread, we do save lives." the government has now also banned gatherings of 100 people 01’ more banned gatherings of 100 people or more but schools are still open. brazil has announced the partial closure of its land border with venezuela, banning venezuelans and other foreigners from crossing. at least 30 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in venezuela. in brazil, there are about 300 confirmed cases and one person has died. the tunisian government is imposing a curfew from 6pm—6am every day starting tomorrow. the army will be deployed to carry out the control measures in the north african country, where there have been 2a confirmed cases, and no fatalities stay with us on bbc news. still to come: predicting

the peak of a pandemic. how scientists help governments decide their strategies by mapping out when they think infections will take place. 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. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us and the uk bring in massive stimulus packages to bolster their economies in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. joe biden's bid to take on donald trump gets a boost as results come in from democratic party primaries in three us states. let's have more on that. three more american states have been holding primary votes to decide the democratic party's nominee to fight donald trump for the presidency. they went ahead as scheduled in florida, arizona and illinois, despite concerns about the coronavirus. there are only two serious contenders left, the vermont senator bernie sanders and former vice

presidentjoe biden, who has won 16 of the 21 states who have already voted. speaking from his home in delaware, mr biden spoke of the challenges the coronavirus posed to today's vote. americans in three states went to the polls today. i want to thank all the public officials and the poll workers who worked closely with the public health authorities to ensure safe opportunities for voting, to clea n opportunities for voting, to clean and disinfect voting booths, and to make sure the voters can cast their ballots while maintaining the distance from one another which is safe. you know, it's important for us to get through this crisis, protecting both the public health and our democracy. let's speak to the bbc‘s north america correspondent david willis. david, just first of all, are these actual results or are they projections? and if they are projections, do you think

they are reliable? those are all very good questions, actually, mike. i can tell you with absolute certainty that the polls close just a short while ago in arizona, and a few hours before that in florida and illinois. and all the american networks are pretty being thatjoe biden has co mforta bly being thatjoe biden has comfortably won florida, with its delicate rich — delicate rich as it is, and they are also project in, and this includes our north american partner network, cbs, that the former vice president has swept to victory in illinois. it may be some while before we know how he has done in arizona, but certainly going into the contest today, joe biden was leading in the opinion polls there, in the state of arizona. and it's another good night for him, presumably, and all of this would put his democratic pa rty‘s this would put his democratic party's residential nomination even closer within reach. david, it surely means that

bernie sanders and his supporters have some big decisions to make. they do, mike. and bernie sanders — actually, both candidates said in the debate that was held on sunday that they would support the other, were it to come to that. and there will be pressure, i think, that. and there will be pressure, ithink, on that. and there will be pressure, i think, on bernie sanders if it has been another very good night forjoe biden to drop out of the race. there we re to drop out of the race. there were those who blamed his lingering presence against hillary clinton last time round for having an impact on the outcome, as far as she was concerned, and they would not wa nt to concerned, and they would not want to see that happen again. joe biden, of course, his consistency tends to be older voters, african—american voters, african—american voters, —— constituency. and bernie sanders could help to bring him the younger vote, at least that's what democrats are hoping. and what impact, david, is the pandemic having on all

of this? considerable, mike. there have been no get out the vote rallies, no rallies really of any vote rallies, no rallies really ofany kind, vote rallies, no rallies really of any kind, just an occasional teleconference from the two candidates over the course of the last week, at a time when you expect them to be out there glad handing left, right and centre. bernie sanders particularly loves the big crowd, and he has of course been forced to cancel such gatherings. at the polls today, we saw a couple of polling— more than a couple of polling booths having to be shifted because the locations didn't work under the current climate. a lot of poll workers actually not turning up at the last minute because of concerns about the virus. and indeed, in 0hio, they cancelled the primary there altogether. that is now going to take place early injune, is now going to take place early in june, because is now going to take place early injune, because of concerns about the coronavirus. david, thank you very much for that. the dramatic escalation in restrictions introduced here in the uk were partly prompted by research from a team at imperial college london, who said this was the worst respiratory virus since the spanish flu

pandemic in 1918. they warned that britain was on course for a catastrophic epidemic, and the number of deaths in the uk could reach 250,000 unless there was a new approach to the pandemic. here is our science editor david shukman. from the start of the outbreak in wuhan, there has been a huge research effort behind the scenes, scientists using every detail to develop a computer simulation of the disease. what's called a model, and it is what the british government's initial response was based on. but then came northern italy, where more people need intensive care than anyone expected. so the forecasts have had to be adjusted. what the scientists realised was that as many as 250,000 people could die of the virus in the uk, unless policies here changed. they now hope that will fall to 20,000 with the new measures announced yesterday. there's new data emerging

from italy, and now from our intensive care units here in london, to suggest that the level of treatment that's required for a small fraction of these cases is more intense than we thought. we keep hearing about the modelling of the outbreak, but what does that actually mean? well, it is basically maths, calculations about different factors that influence the disease. this model was for wuhan, to work out the rate of infection. it is how scientists quickly found out that, on average, every person who gets the virus can pass it on to at least two others. so, over a month, one case can lead to more than 200. china has responded by closing off entire cities. other countries have done the same. but, until now, the uk has kept the most drastic measures in reserve. so critics have questioned the modelling of the outbreak in britain. but the scientists doing the work say it is better than nothing. models are not crystal balls.

they're better than just guessing, which is, you know, what you would otherwise have to do. but they're reliant on the data we feed into them, and there's lots we don't know about this virus, and also lots we don't know about what the effectiveness of these interventions really will be. so how effective are these computer models of the outbreak? well, they have to rely on a lot of assumptions about things that aren't known, such as, if people have the virus but do not show symptoms, how easily can they pass it on? and then, a really critical question — if someone has been infected with the virus and then gets better, with a full recovery, is it then possible for them to get it again? chinese television, reporting on research into a possible vaccine. that won't come soon, but it is part of a frantic search around the world to understand the virus and to minimise its impact.

david shukman, bbc news. lets get more on the story now. michael mina is assistant professor at the centre for communicable disease dynamics at harvard school of public health. thank you very much for your time. ican thank you very much for your time. i can only imagine how busy you are. the president is sounding a very different note on the pandemic these days. what do you make of the current situation? well, i think it is becoming readily apparent that the current situation was starting to get out of hand in the united states. we saw this begin on the west coast, in seattle, and it has swept across the united states in a predictable fashion. and i think, finally, we are starting to see the president begin to really ta ke to see the president begin to really take it seriously, and personally understand the gravity of this situation. and i think that that type of leadership is really what's going to get us through this. we hear a lot about herd immunity. just put me right on this, if you would. as i understand it, it is called a novel coronavirus because it is new to us. we don't have a

natural immunity to it. so the hope is that people will build—up an immunity, perhaps by getting it. but there is a concern, isn't there, about that. we don't really know whether it will happen, and we have to know how many people will get it, and we don't seem to have enough testing kits, so it is very difficult to get that crucial information, isn't it? that's absolutely true. so we do eventually want herd immunity to occur in the population, and that's through hopefully, ideally that will be eventually once a vaccine comes around, and we will have enough immunity through vaccination. until that point, though, any sort of herd immunity will come, unfortunately, through natural exposures. and the only way to really know where we are in the process of developing herd immunity and developing population protection is to test people who have actually been exposed to this virus. and thatis been exposed to this virus. and that is a place where at least in the united states and in many countries the testing has remained fairly inadequate. and so we are really a bit flying

blind here, trying to figure out where we are. do you think it is possible to catch up, in terms of testing, in terms of getting the data ? terms of testing, in terms of getting the data? i do, i think it's possible at least to get toa it's possible at least to get to a point where we start to recognise what exactly is going on with this epidemic, and what proportion of the population has actually been exposed. and that will actually potentially require a new type of test called an antibody test, where it allows us to know if somebody in their past has actually been exposed to this virus, rather than presently. and that's probably where we will have to end up, to truly understand where the population is in terms of population immunity. what do you make of the drive for social distancing, as it's called? i guess there is a worry, isn't there, that if people don't really see the cases surfacing around them, they might start to relax on that, kick against it, and try to resume life as normal, and then we have a whole other problem. yes, that

is certainly a strong consideration, and i think our effo rts consideration, and i think our efforts to improve social distancing has essentially started to take place within the uk, and —— united states, and that's going to impact our ability to control this virus. but what we are also seeing, or what we worry that we might see, is that people will become too relaxed about it as social distancing works. the more that it works, hopefully, the less virus and the less number of infections people will see around them, and then the concern is to have the proper messaging, to let people know that it messaging, to let people know thatitis messaging, to let people know that it is not that the virus wouldn't be there either way, but to let them know that their actions are actually playing a pa rt actions are actually playing a part in keeping it down, and that that is what is really occurring. professor, thank you so much for talking to us. absolutely, thank you. thanks to you for being with

us. thanks to you for being with us. there is much more anytime on the bbc website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. hello. wednesday's weather brings us a bit of a mixed picture across the uk. a day of mixed fortune, certainly. we've got colder air moving in from the north, still mild in the south, and across england and wales, the cloudy, mild theme continues through the day, with some outbreaks of rain. for scotland and northern ireland, a different story. a cold and frosty start to the morning, with a mix of sunshine and a few showers around. the dividing line between the two weather types is this weather front which is slowly sinking south across parts of wales and northern england as well through wednesday morning.

to the north of that, we've got a chilly north—westerly flow, so after a frosty start for scotland and northern ireland we see showers working in and they will fall as sleet in snow over the highest ground in scotland. further south, we have a band of rain pushing across northern england, towards the midlands into wales, and much of southern england should stay dry for a good part of the day, but fairly cloudy and grey. light winds in the south but it could be quite breezy across the north—west of the uk with those blustery showers continuing to pack in across the north—west of scotland. fewer showers for northern ireland, but temperatures around about nine or 10 degrees at best in the north. we could see 11—13 further south. moving through wednesday night on into thursday we still have a weather front that will linger over the next few days, not moving anywhere too quickly. it's keeping that mild air across parts of southern england as we head into thursday. but elsewhere the blue colour on the map, the colder feel to the weather as the wind comes from a north—westerly direction. for much of the uk, crisp to start with frost here and there but a lot of sunshine. some wintry showers again working towards the north—west, further south a band of cloud

and outbreaks of rain across the south—west of england and a few showers getting into the south—east as well. temperatures for most of us between seven and 10 degrees so it could feel mild. looking towards the end of the working week now, thursday into friday, we've got high pressure building in towards the north. still we're keeping this stubborn but weak weather front in the south. some uncertainty about its positioning but there is likely to be some rain for the channel isles and the south—west of england. for the rest of the uk mostly dry, variable amounts of cloud. quite cool where we've got this breeze coming off the north sea for places like east anglia, eastern scotland and parts of east england. many of us, single figures through the day on friday but mostly dry with some sunshine. further ahead, into the weekend and beyond, we're looking at a mix, a few showers in the north and the west on saturday. drier conditions more widely from sunday onwards. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

the trump administration is trying to agree with congress a massive stimulus package to help the economy withstand the coronavirus pandemic. it's reported to be worth about a trillion dollars, and could include sending cheques to individual americans, and $50 billion for airlines, hard hit by travel bans. here in the uk the government said they were on a war—time footing and announced unprecented measures with more than 300 billion pounds to help businesses struggling with a drop in trade. there was also help for homeowners who may struggle to make mortgage payments. the former us vice presidentjoe biden has won the democratic party primary in florida and illinois and prepares to take on donald trump in the november election. he is also expected to defeat his main rival, bernie sanders, in arizona. more on our web site

bbc.co.uk/news and the news app.