# it's like a dream... ice in the midnight hour can feel your power, —— in the. well, tonight she threw another party — this time called queen vs george michael, and it proved extremely popular. just so you can do this at home with your own mates, let us show you a little bit. music plays.

we can speak to iona now. did you have fun? it was so much fun. a couple of so many people came online to dance with me. when you say that many, how many? we had 57 people. and how big can it go? we can get up to, i think 500 on soon. and we are planning a party on friday. we are hoping more and more people flood in. what is the theme on friday? we are going to do a general online party was several breakout rooms, so we will have several djs and then a pyjama party room, and a virtual bar where someone room, and a virtual bar where someone pretends to serve room, and a virtual bar where someone pretends to serve someone a drink at things like that. and what you think is getting people into this? are theyjust bored and lonely? well, i mean, obviously, i took the decision to self isolate last week. otto normally would do is go out dancing. i'm just trying to make my life what it would normally be like but at home on the internet.

and i feel that people are sort of stop. people are very worried, but they are physically stuck indoors. and to shake off that stuck energy by moving. and it'sjust fun. and dance together and feel like we're still connected even though though we are isolated. and queen versus george michael, which were you when? i was george michael, which were you when? iwas in george michael, which were you when? i was in the queen at camp. and was there some kind of trophy at the end or everyone dances and everybody is a winner? yeah, i was doing one george michael, one queen anne people were on the chat room as we we re people were on the chat room as we were dancing along saying do this one. aided with don't stop me now. so queen is the winner. —— a ended with. there was more energy with everybody dancing on the screen for queen. where did you get the

idea from? do you know what, actually, i went to bony man and there was a madonna party there once and it was the most amazing thing —— burning. my the most amazing thing —— burning. my friend set a group up that i am stuck at home and they would have fun and the book —— facebook group was a few friends and that we have 2000 people around the world joining it, everyone offering events and saying i want to do a pyjama party, i want to do a storytelling party, and everyone is just contributing ideas, whether it is fine all a healing thing like yoga classes, or someone healing thing like yoga classes, or someone to have a chat to or something. so it stemmed from the ability tojust something. so it stemmed from the ability to just do it. there are no barriers to entry. put it online and see who wants to come and join in. and were any of the people who join your party people you recognised or was it all strangers? no, some people i knew from parties and the new i was hosting because they promoted it on

facebook. but people in the chat room saying i am from berlin, i'm from barcelona, i'm from new zealand. and i was like oh my god, i'm having is global dance party, ami god, i'm having is global dance party, am i dreaming?! ah you going to do anyone else's get—together events online? —— are you? will you be watching 50 people on your screen or you will have theaux mot if you are not there kind of thing? —— phone no. i like to be around people and for others to experience joy. don't want to passively watch netflix. they want to bring the party. they will be doing more online dance parties. i'm thinking like abba, loads of things. we also had a 90s naughties party as well that my housemate did. it sounds great. you have brought the party. thanks for bringing it to us. good luck with your next one. thank you so luck with your next one. thank you so much. i

might see you there. cheers. here's our health editor, hugh pym. parts of the uk spent another day stuck underneath cloud with outbreaks of rain but looking ahead to the end of the weekend into the weekend are settling down, but where skies are clear there will be some frosty nights around. taking a look at the big picture, it's this weather front bringing the cloud and that breaks offering to parts of england and wales at the moment but by the end of the week, high pressure is becoming more dominant across the uk, but the flow of air around the high—pressure clockwise flow, it's coming in from the east and that is a chilly direction, the isobars are getting closer as well so isobars are getting closer as well so although the settling down for the weekend, it will feel quite chilly and particularly in the brisk easterly wind adding an extra chill to proceedings. looking ahead, let's see what thursday has to offer. frosty start across the northern half of the uk, some sunshine for

scotla nd half of the uk, some sunshine for scotland and northern ireland, increasing northern england and north wales. to add insult to injury, is feeling quite a bit colder than it did during wednesday. this weather front is still around thursday night into friday but then begins to basically die as the area of high pressure is becoming more dominant at this stage. more skies clear overnight, temperatures could drop as low as —7 in the highlands of scotla nd drop as low as —7 in the highlands of scotland and friday the spring equinox, the time many of us regard as the official start of spring. there will be a lot of dry weather around on friday, patchy weather around on friday, patchy weather around in south—east england, many of us with temperatures in single figures and again that is to north—easterly breeze is starting to pick up so it will feel colder in the wind. i have shower knew this already, going into the start of the weekend, high—pressure becoming more dominant, so it is settling things down. there will be a lot of

dry weather around, quite a lot of sunshine during saturday property south end with wk with these errors, thatis south end with wk with these errors, that is where we will have the strongest easterly wind, that is where it will particularly feel colder than these temperatures might suggest. looking into part two of the weekend, high—pressure centred over scandinavia but its influence will be felt across the uk, mayjust bea will be felt across the uk, mayjust be a bit more cloud towards the far north—west of the uk, the weather front may bring a bit of patchy rain towards the western isles whereas for many of us on sunday there will bea for many of us on sunday there will be a lot of sunshine around and perhaps that is deliveries willjust ease a little bit. temperatures for the most part from 7— ii celsius. there is a ridge of high pressure still poking out towards the uk sunday into monday, there are weather fronts trying to creep in from the north—west, so on monday, while many places will stay dry with some sunshine, cloud increases for some sunshine, cloud increases for some and northern ireland and scotla nd some and northern ireland and scotland and this weather front may start to push in. is an indication as we go into net we,

there is a north south of the developing across the uk stopping the further south you are and particularly for england and wales, the high—pressure should keep things mainly dry whereas for scotla nd keep things mainly dry whereas for scotland and northern ireland there is a greater chance of seeing weather fronts moving and occasionally bringing cloud and outbreaks of rain. a battle between low and high pressure but wherever high—pressure is holding on, actually it will start to warm up a little bit. the colours have changed by mid—week and if you are within the zone of woman looking colours, it might feel quite pleasant, even springlike for a time. hello. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment. first, the headlines: schools across britain will close as the death toll from coronavirus climbs to 104. all children, except those of key workers and the most vulnerable, will stay at home from next

week. after schools shut the gates on friday afternoon. they will remain closed for most people, so the vast majority of people, until further notice. a—level and gcse exams are cancelled in england and wales, a decision's yet to made in scotland and northern ireland. the prime minister also promised to protect private tenants who find themselves unable to work saying he would bring in legislation to stop them being evicted. and the pound plummets, it has fallen to its lowest level in 35 years against the dollar just a line of breaking news coming in from transport for london. as expected, it is announced that it will run a reduced service in london designed to allow critical workers to make essential journeys. designed to allow critical workers to make essentialjourneys. from friday there will be no waterloo

& city line. the night you will not run until further notice. from thursday, tomorrow, up to a0 london underground stations that don't interchange with other lines will be closed until further notice. interchange with other lines will be closed untilfurther notice. london buses will operate fewer services but will still run at night. everyone will be urged not to use public transport for anything other than essentialjourneys. public transport for anything other than essential journeys. so, restrictions or limitations to transport for london, some services off, some services restrict that. now, welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. i'm joined by ros altmann, the former pensions minister, and the writer

and journalist mihir bose. i'm joined virtually because we are all doing social distancing. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. they lead on the announcement made by government today that schools across england are to close from friday as a result of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. on the front page of the times, picture of workers arriving to clean a primary school in hertforshire. their headline reads ‘exams cancelled after virus forces schools to shut down'. it's the first nationwide closure in the country's history. the daily mirror calls it a ‘schools virus chaos'. it claims that the plan unveiled today to close schools left families and children ‘in the dark over details'. and on the front page of the guardian, an image of an empty trafalgar square. it follows government's advice on social distancing. it says ‘johnson is now forced to act on schools after virus

spreads faster than anticipated.‘ the daily mail's headline reads ‘schools out, exams axed' and questions whether ministers are now considering a total lockdown in london. the daily telegraph's cover shows borisjohnson during wednesday's pmqs. it reports the prime minister's warning to london that he could not rule out legal re—strictions on travel or public gatherings in the city. and the front page of the financial times says that the pound is taking a hit as london may be forced to go into lockdown. so let's hear what our paper reviewers have to say about that. mihir, why don't you start. schools closed as virus to shut down. teachers and students were voting with their feet.

absolutely, and we found that many teachers were not at school or pupils were staying away. i think the question here is, last thursday, if you remember, the prime minister was very clear that this is not the time to close schools because the problem was, who would look after the children? certainly the government wouldn't want grandparents, a burden on grandparents, a burden on grandparents, they are the generation considered to be most at risk and of course this does raise the question, who is going to look after these children? it will certainly put a great burden on pa rents. certainly put a great burden on parents. if they work from home, fairenough, parents. if they work from home, fair enough, they might be able to manage, but if they don't work at home, this will raise a very big issue as to how this is going to be managed and how this works out, because the way the government has raised it, it looked like schools will not reopen until maybe

the autumn. and ros, this move is a measure of the enormity of this crisis, we have never in our history, even the second world war, seen history, even the second world war, seen nationwide schools close down. it is completely unprecedented, but it is not that schools will be completely closed because what the government is saying is that some children will be able to go to school, if their parents are key workers, people who work in the delivery drivers, or in the nhs, or in the care sectors, then those children will actually go to some kind of schooling, so not all will be shut, but this is very unclear at the moment, and of course, the exams this summer, the gcses and the a—levels, the government today announced that they are expecting those are cancelled. but, the

students, the schoolchildren will still get marks for exams, even if they are not sitting them, and again, it is not clear how that will work, but a lot of children are terribly distressed about it. several that i have heard of this evening are in floods of tears because they have been gearing up for these exams and they really want to do well, and they may be feel that there mocks didn't reflect the final results that they were going to get. the government has also announced 20,000 troops will be mobilised to take over in case we need extra help for the police forces or in prisons, so this really is like a wartime footing. and turning, mihir, to the front page of the next paper, the financial times, talking about wartime footing and more catastrophic headlines coming m, more catastrophic headlines coming in, the pound has sunk to a 35 year

low. yes, and the last few days we have seen are how the stock markets, not just have seen are how the stock markets, notjust in london but around the world have collapsed, and we are facing probably the biggest recession we have seen certainly since 2008, but the sterling taking a hammering is very significant, it hasn't been since a time in the mid— 805, and one reason for that, a city expert is saying that the people dealing with the currency dealing in stirling found that the government had been slow to react to the emergency, to the crisis we are facing, and also of course there is a whole underlying problem here. the elephant in the room which is brexit and how that would affect, if you like, the overall economic situation. we have got quite a lot of stories to move through,

ro5, 5orry, did you want to come in? of stories to move through, ro5, sorry, did you want to come in?|j wasjust going to sorry, did you want to come in?|j was just going to say, sorry, did you want to come in?|j wasjust going to say, that sorry, did you want to come in?|j was just going to say, that currency markets are extremely volatile, the fa ct markets are extremely volatile, the fact that stirling is very weak one day, it could bounce back the next day, it could bounce back the next day, and of course it does help if we do return to some kind of normality. yes. ros, now, can you ta ke normality. yes. ros, now, can you take us to the front page of the telegraph, fair of bed 5hortage5 take us to the front page of the telegraph, fair of bed shortages in regional ho5pitals. we've been talking a lot about the fears of not enough personal protection equipment, worries about ventilator5, now it is regional hospital beds. the epicentre, if you like, of the crisis in the uk so far has been in london and there have been big fears about not in a hospital beds and london, but actually what this new report reported in the telegraph is saying is that regional

hospitals in rural areas, if they do see a sharp increase in numbers of people by the virus, that seems to be what the modelling is suggesting but of course that may or may not happen. it does, then many of these areas are not going to have, it seems, in are not going to have, it seems, in a hospital beds. some of the worst affected for not having enough beds are places like the midlands, and not enough acute care beds in places like the southwest, so clearly there are different is across the country, and areas with a much bigger proportion of its population who are elderly are more at risk of being pressured in terms of their health services, and that might be areas where hotels might have to be commandeered or beds may have to be moved around so that people can

find a way to treat those who are presenting. there is also this element in the story which is suggesting that some medical staff may be forced to choose who they can treat and who they might have to say, i'm sorry, we don't think you've got much chance and we can't treat you, and that is a terrible position to be in. thatis that is a question of the medical people playing god. and one thing to consider about bed 5hortage5 people playing god. and one thing to consider about bed shortages in regional ho5pital5 i5 consider about bed shortages in regional ho5pital5 is if the worst case scenario regional ho5pital5 is if the worst case scenario comes regional ho5pital5 is if the worst case scenario comes around, and hopefully it won't, we might have to have the type of field ho5pital5 italy has had. yes. but hopefully it won't get that bad. with all the measures that have been taken i really hope this virus won't increase in the way the current models are suggesting it could. we certainly have to fervently hope

that. now, something we are already living in —— with is a certain degree of stockpiling and some would 5ay degree of stockpiling and some would say panic buying. mihir, take us to the front photograph of the independent. yes, we have seen that. people obviously stocking up with food, blue role5, they are raiding loo roles and so. the supermarkets as far as grocery product are concerned, and my own supermarket down the road from where i live, made it clear that i can only buy two grocery items of any one product. no more than that. they are trying to limit. also the supermarkets, to their credit, are trying to ensure there is a particular time when the elderly and the more vulnerable people can come and shop. because the actual photograph the independentjoe's is of young people crowding in. they are supposed to be less vulnerable. so supermarkets are doing their

best. and clearly the message has to go around that there will be enough supplies. there will be enough stocks. and that if people stockpile they are not going to help themselves and they are not going to help the community at large. you are talking of the wartime spirit and we really need to show a bit of the wartime spirit of people collectively getting together on this score. it needs an all-round mindset. ros, picking up on mihir‘s theme about loo roles. such a great cartoon. # there will be loo roles over the white cliffs of dover... you've got a great voice!|j over the white cliffs of dover... you've got a great voice! i wouldn't go that far. you're very kind. that seems to be what has gone on. people have gone mad. stocking up on things you may not have expected. raby bay means, but loo roll roles you would not have expected. people have

been going out with trolleys full of toilet paper —— baked beans. the supermarkets keep getting more stocks in and they keep selling out. any one time we had rationing as well. rationing loo rolls. idon't know if they had rationing of loo rolls. they probably had newspaper and so on. laughter. you're not gazing across the channel unexpectedly looking for loo roll are you? not in the least. we are going to have to leave it there. it has been great to have you on. even if only saw you virtually. thank you ros and thank you mihir. that's it for the papers tonight. don't forget you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it's all there for you, 7 days a week at bbc.co.uk/papers, and if you miss the programme any evening, you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. thank you, ros altmann and mihir bose goodbye.

just got a line of breaking news to bring you before the weather. the military stands by its covert support force. the military is to put out an extra 10,000 military personnel, the minstry of defence, ata personnel, the minstry of defence, at a higher residence and put reserves o n at a higher residence and put reserves on standby to support public services. this is coming from the defence secretary, ben wallace. 10,000 personnel at higher readiness to be able to assist with supporting public services. that is on top of the 10,000 on high readiness. 150 military personnel to be trained to drive oxygen tankers in order to support the nhs, if required. they will begin training on monday. measures taken to enable the callout of reservist, should they

be required tojoin the of reservist, should they be required to join the response effort, and the defence secretary says from me down was the entirety of the minstry of defence and the armed forces are dedicated to getting the nation through this global pandemic. that coming to us from the minstry of defence. now, a sport update. this is your latest sports news. with sporting events cancelled around the country, clubs are in limbo when it comes to the end of the season and with their finances. the english football league have been meeting to discuss the situation was up in the last few hours they have discussed some measures, the efl is continuing regular dialogue with the government and relevant health authorities. as and relevant health authorities. as and when more information is known regarding the scale and extent of the coronavirus outbreak in this country, a decision will be taken on the resumption of the league's

fixtures. on the financial side, discussion centred on financial relief for clubs in the and while there is no—one single solution, measures are to be put in place to immediately assist with cash flow by a £50 million short—term relief package. the international olympic committee president says this year's games are on course to go ahead as planned, but insists preparations will be in line with protecting athletes from the coronavirus. the global pandemic has called into question the tokyo olympics but thomas bach held a conference call with more than 200 athlete representatives on wednesday — something he says was very "constructive". we have still more than four months to go. and we will address this action. we will keep acting in a responsible way in the interest of the athletes, but always respecting our two principles, the first priority being safeguarding the health of the

athletes and contributing to the containment of the virus and, secondly, then to protect the interests of the athletes and olympic sports. the organisers have faced criticism from athletes, who have seen their preparation hampered by coronavirus restrictions. claire taggart is hoping to be in tokyo as part of gb‘s boccia team and she admits, she having to find a different way to train. for me, myself, personally, i'm trying to do as much as they can in my house and not let the coronavirus or self isolation restrict me in any way. so, yeah, i'mjust trying or self isolation restrict me in any way. so, yeah, i'm just trying to keep going as normal, obviously restricted about not getting on court and stuff like that, by trying to simulate that environment at home as much as possible. meanwhile, a plane sporting tokyo 2020 logos departed from the japanese capital today bound for athens to collect

there was no delegation from the organisers on board though due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. the plane was waved off by staff at an almost empty airport. after yesterday's suspension of the french open, the wta and the atp have extended the ban on professional tennis until the 7th june. so this will wipe out the entire clay court season, including the french open which has been moved to september, although player rankings will be frozen throughout the period and both organisations will looking to return to the court as soon as possible. formula one bosses are meeting with team's tomorrow, as they attempt to work out a new calendarfor the rest of the season. it comes as the august shutdown is brought forward — and extended to 21 days, through march and april — as a result of the coronvirus outbreak. the 2020 race calendar has already been suspended — with last weekend's australian season opener in melbourne cancelled, and the next three races at least postponed. the sport has said it hopes to race again at the end of may. that's all

the sport for now. meanwhile, the le mans 2a—hour race has been postponed from june to september. organisers say moving the race is the most appropriate way forward in the current exceptional circumstances. that is all the sport. we will see you soon. hello there. quite a measure of weather coming up of the next few hours. quite windy stop across orkney and shetland. bringing showers, wintry ones as well. meanwhile, further we have an area of low cloud and rain. a weather front bringing mickey weather with hill fog patches and rain at times. a mild day, temperatures eight degrees or so. further north it is cold enough for some patches of frost with some clear weather. showers and brisk winds will ease as we go through the day in the northern isles, but still a few showers coming into the western isles. otherwise a largely dry picture for northern areas of the uk with some sunshine. further south we got cloud and

rain, oddly speaking, if you start off with rain chances are it will still be there into the afternoon and, for some, could be quite chilly, just on the northern edge of this rain. mid—wales, nor the midlands, temperatures in one or two spots around five degrees. dry weather for friday and the weekend. rain in the south on friday clearing off to give a fine weekend.

hello, this is bbc news. i'm kasia madera, our top stories: in italy a record rise in the number of deaths from coronavirus, a75 people die in one day, bringing the total to almost 3000. world markets continue to plunge, with analysts

warning the virus could send the world economy into recession. the us closes its border with canada and invokes a wartime law to increase supplies of vital equipment. we are going to defeat the invisible enemy, i think we're going to do it even faster than we thought, and it will be a com plete we thought, and it will be a complete victory, it will be a total very. —— a total victory. the world health organisation urges extra vigilance, as the number of reported cases climb throughout south east asia. don't assume your community won't be affected. prepare as if it will be. and finding musical comfort online. how virtual choirs are helping people sing away