as schools nationwide prepare to shut their doors because of coronavirus, there's uncertainty over the government's education plans. pupils, teachers and universities say they need to know what will happen to gcses and a levels. ministers promise answers tomorrow. our aim will be to issue pupils gcses and a—level examinations in august as we usually do, but it will be under a different process and a different system as to how we've done it always in the past with traditional examinations. the list of "key workers" — whose children can still go to school — is due to be released later. also this lunchtime... the risks and benefits of further drastic actions to contain the coronavirus need to be weighed up — say the uk's top scientists. the priority at the moment is to make absolutely sure

we are dealing with a brand—new virus, we are dealing with learning as we go along, and i think now to put absolute timelines on things is not possible, and we can see that in other countries, where people are now beginning to experiment with releasing some of the measure is a bit to see what happens. people are urged to use public transport in london only for essential journeys — to free up the network for critical workers. a glimmer of relief in china — which records no new domestic cases of coronavirus for the first time since the pandemic began last year. # heads, shoulders, knees and toes. and keeping the kids amused — one playgroup‘s efforts to keep going — online. coming up on bbc news, the premier league and its clubs meet to plan a way forward in the coronavirus pandemic, with football already having been suspended until april.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. from tomorrow at around 3.30pm all schools in the uk will shut their doors — indefinitely — in an unprecedented nationwide shutdown. but there are continuing urgent questions about the closures, and exactly how they will affect pupils, and parents. a list of the "key workers" — whose children can still go to school — is due to be released later today. there are ongoing discussions about how to award older pupils grades — after gcse and a—level exams in england and wales were cancelled yesterday. ministers are also coming under increasing pressure to announce a package of financial help for people who are losing income because of workplace closures. and 20,000 troops are on standby to help with essential services to help the police and the nhs.

in london, there's been a partial shutdown of the tube network, although downing street has played down speculation of a wider restriction of movement in the capital. in europe, both italy and france are looking to extend lockdowns put in place to try to stem the outbreak. with our first report this lunchtime, here's our correspondent charlotte rose. the rush of the school run in the midlands, but not for much longer for many families. when schools close their gates tomorrow, they are shutting indefinitely, except to the children of key workers and vulnerable children, who make up around 10% of pupils. many parents seem supportive of the move, but worried about the impact. a bit anxious, to be honest, because i work at the hospital, so i need to sort out to see what i can do with him and my younger one. i think it's the right decision, we have to look out for bigger problems across the society, so yeah, it's a good idea. i hope that they're not off until september, because that is a considerably long

time, but for the foreseeable, it has to be done. not happy. what are you going to do for the next few weeks? we have to do school homework on laptops and tablets. and it's a challenge for schools, too. we are looking at sending packs of work out to our families, because not all of them have internet access or access to laptops, and also we are mindful of children spending all their days in front of a screen. the cabinet office will later publish a definitive list of people doing key roles, but the education secretary has been clear, it's not business as usual for schools. it's going to be a safe place for those children to be, it's not going to be an educational setting, they are not going to be teaching the national curriculum, but it's going to be a safe place for people who are key to combating this virus and keeping the country moving forward. the hard question for many students who have been revising for exams — what happens now? the scottish parliament will announce later whether nqs and highers will go ahead.

in england and wales, all exams have been scrapped. the government says all students will be given grades, but hasn't set out how that will be done. a number of qualifications already have online examinations, that's something we could consider for a broader range of subjects. they could be done remotely via social distance. we can use predicted grades, absolutely, but one of the things we are considering is perhaps running some students through some more papers. and how to protect vulnerable children. those with special educational needs or who have an assigned social worker will stay in school, but there are fears some could still fall through the cracks. charlotte rose, bbc news. the chief medical officer for england, professor chris whitty, says the risks and benefits of all actions to do with the coronavirus need to be weighed up before asking people to take further drastic measures. he also said the virus appeared to be behaving as the scientists expect it to. 0ur health correspondent

lauren moss reports. another daily briefing for the uk's top science and medical experts. as cases climb into the thousands here, tactics to tackle and manage the coronavirus eye changing every day, with social distancing, working from home and school closures, all with consequences. so home and school closures, all with consequences. so stop doing things which actually increase people's social distancing sounds fine until you realise that might also increase loneliness, it might if you're not careful increase people's inability to get exercise. there are a whole variety of negative consequentials from some of the interventions, and if you do them too early, you get all the negatives but you get a relatively small or almost non—measurable effect on the epidemic. supermarkets are imposing limits on the number of items shoppers can buy, and setting aside an hour especially for older and more vulnerable customers. still,

though, some are queueing to be the first inside when the doors open. we came to sainsbury‘s yesterday, couldn't even get milk or butter. and where you are able to get what you needed? we were able to get what we needed, and i'm not stockpiling, just getting basics, because i don't believe in it. things like hand wash, you know, everybody seems like they want toilet roll but i don't know why. people are panicking now, aren't they? they didn't panic, we wouldn't have all this, you know, we wouldn't have all this, you know, we would be able to get what we wanted. restricting the number of people allowed in a supermarket has been ruled out. we are told there is enough food but getting it out on the shelves quickly enough is a challenge. that is why we have taken steps, including setting aside delivery curfews, so that lorries can run around the clock, relaxing drive hours to ensure that deliveries can take place more frequently, and we are in discussion with other government colleagues in mhc lg around other support that we will deliver locally to get food to

those who are self isolating. 40 tube stations in london have now closed, and a reduced rail service will be running from tomorrow. more than a third of the uk's confirmed coronavirus cases, over 900, are in the capital. 20,000 army troops have been put on standby to support public services if required. some will begin training next week to drive oxygen tanks. the emergency legislation to give the government more powers if needed during the outbreak will go before parliament for the first time this afternoon. measures may include recalling retired nhs staff, shutting airports oi’ retired nhs staff, shutting airports or quarantining anyone retired nhs staff, shutting airports or quara ntining anyone suspected retired nhs staff, shutting airports or quarantining anyone suspected of having the virus, and could last for up having the virus, and could last for up to two years. we are dealing with a brand—new virus. we are dealing with learning as we go along, and i think now to put absolute timelines on things is not possible, and we can see that in other countries, where people are now beginning to experiment with releasing some of the measures a bit to see what

happens. the welsh government has announced all front line nhs staff are to be tested for the virus, and yesterday the prime minister said work was progressing on an antibody test to detect whether people had already tracked a and become immune. the queen has now left buckingham palace for windsor castle, where she is expected to stay beyond easter. as people follow health advice, towns and cities are only likely to become quieter, with further measures are yet to come. lauren moss, bbc news. let's speak to our assistant political editor norman smith who is in westminster. further measures to combat downing street playing down speculation of a lockdown in london. let's be honest, people are nervous, apprehensive, uncertain so the last thing downing street wa nted uncertain so the last thing downing street wanted was reports of a so—called london lockdown to further stoke people because ‘s and ease, because obviously that very phrase

carries with it connotations of troops on the street, people being herded into their homes, and so this morning we saw number ten very firmly seeking to quash the idea, chiding reporters for even using the phrase, saying there is not going to be any closure of the transport system in the capital, there is no question of people not being able to get in and out of london, and no question of troops being used to maintain public order. but it gives you a sense ofjust how few brow of the atmosphere really is at the moment, and in a way it was slightly stoked overnight, after the prime minister did leave open the door to further curbs on the capital, amid concern about how fast the virus is spreading here, and also concerned that too many people are not sticking to official advice not to travel. and we have seen overnight the closure or the announcement of the closure or the announcement of the closure or the announcement of the closure of quite a large part of the closure of quite a large part of the tube and bus service, and then on top of that, the government has

really co m e on top of that, the government has really come under pressure to come forward quickly with some measures to provide people with certainty over the sort of pay and income they can expect still to receive through this crisis, and you just have the sense that the government is really being battered here, and is scrambling to stay on top of this crisis. norman, many thanks. our assistant political editor norman smith. in a moment we'll speak to our correspondent gavin lee in brussels, and to sima kotecha in rome, but first to stephen mcdonell in beijing. stephen, there've been no new domestic transmission for the first day in china, so relief there — but there's now concern about new imported infections? well, what a day, symbolically at least, in china. to go from more than 80,000 infected people to a 24—hour period when, according to official figures, not 24—hour period when, according to officialfigures, not one 24—hour period when, according to official figures, not one extra home—grown case has been added. this

comes as in the wuhan city of the government has said that people have been cooped up for six weeks, a month and a half, can finally go outside, have a walk, breathe in some fresh air, but the emphasis now is on overseas arrivals, because that's where the new infections are coming into the chinese system, so the emphasis is on airports, and it is why this country is maintaining a very strict quarantine regime for anybody entering, coming off an international flight. and gavin in brussels, news that the eu's chief brexit negotiator michel barnier has himself tested positive for coronavirus? yes, he has full stop he recorded a video message at home where he says he feels well and he is in good spirits, but that he will self—isolate, listen to doctors advice and be at home for the next two weeks. the chief negotiator on

brexit is one of 1800 people now in belgium who have tested positive for coronavirus. 600 are in hospital, 21 people have died, this time two weeks ago belgium got its first case of corona, so you get a sense of how fa st of corona, so you get a sense of how fast that has moved, but also this is the second day of the lockdown where people cannot leave their homes unless it is for work, food, medical reasons, to go out for a walk or two cycle, but not in groups, and there are police patrols to make sure that doesn't happen, and it seems to be largely observed but there have been this morning instances in parks in brussels where they have been police breaking up groups of people who are playing foot ball groups of people who are playing football or picnicking, and what the interior ministry is saying is they will be big fights here. the first time it is a warning, —— big finds here, the first time it is a one income of the second time a 400 euros fine. the third time prison sentences. sima, italy has borne the brunt of this crisis in europe so far — how do things stand now? almost 3000 people have died here so

farand all almost 3000 people have died here so far and all eyes are on the daily figures that come out at six o'clock local time this evening, because if the figures continue to rise and they go up by a few hundred, as they have been doing every day this week, then italy will overtake china as having the highest death toll from this virus. so potentially and incredibly dark day here. the prime minister saying the stringent measures which are in place, preventing people from moving around freely, well, those measures could be made even more strict, so you might not even be allowed to go outside and walk your dog or go to the grocery store, and some really disturbing images coming out from italy. today we have seen the military moving coffins in the north from a crematorium, because the crematorium simply can't cope with the rate of death there. many thanks. sima kotecha in rome. the government is under increasing pressure to step in and pay businesses' wage bills for as long as the shutdown lasts. mps from all parties have criticised the government's response and called

on ministers to act swiftly — among them, the former conservative business secretary greg clark. as each day goes by, businesses are making decisions that will be irreversible. if the government does not act immediately, large numbers of people will be unemployed, registering them will put huge pressure on the welfare system. vital skills will be lost and good businesses will cease trading, who themselves will be the customers and suppliers of other businesses. with me now is our economics correspondent andy verity. what are the government's options here and why are they delaying? what the mps are saying is this is now not just a what the mps are saying is this is now notjust a health emergency, this is an economic emergency, and even though the government announced the largest package of peacetime measures to help businesses the other day, it's not enough. £20 billion is not enough. this is mps from across the political spectrum saying that the emergency loans offered by the government are not going to work because businesses are

facing drops in revenues of 90, even 100%. that's quite unprecedented, possibly the worst recession in 100 yea rs. possibly the worst recession in 100 years. much worse than the global financial crisis and a business in that predicament has to think very ha rd that predicament has to think very hard about taking on a loan even from the government. they don't know when trading is going to get back to normal, they don't know when they are going to be able to pay it back and also, if they are going to have to pay it back, that's a cost loaded onto businesses in the future which will depress productivity and deflect money from more productive uses. so, what they are saying is the government has to step in and make it almost an economy on a wartime footing, pay businesses' wages for them on condition that they don't let anybody go, then businesses might be able to respond more positively and you might trim what could otherwise be a big jump in mass unemployment. 0k, andy, many thanks. the measures imposed by the government are designed to slow down further infection and to ease the pressure on an already stretched nhs.

so, how ready is our health service? 0ur health correspondent, nick triggle, has the details. all across the uk, people are reducing their social contact with each other to suppress the spread of coronavirus. but behind the scenes, the health service is getting prepared for a surge in cases. so is it ready? the first thing to say is that most people will only get a mild illness with symptoms passing in a few days. but a minority end up severely ill. just over 4% need hospital treatment. a third of those end up in intensive care, needing ventilation to support their failing lungs. to help with its planning, researchers have been looking at how long patients need hospital treatment for. evidence from places such as china and italy shows that, on average, people will spend eight days in hospital. if they end up on a ventilator that doubles to 16 days. another challenge is that the number of cases can come quickly. if the steps being taken do not manage to suppress the virus, as many as half can come in two

or three weeks so the nhs is trying to free up beds. in england, there are around 100,000 hospital beds. currently nine in ten are occupied. but nhs bosses are attempting to free up another 30,000 by cancelling routine ops and discharging patients quickly. this will also benefit intensive care units that will be crucial in saving lives. england has 3,700 critical care beds. add in the rest of the uk and there are well over 4,000. eight in ten are occupied, but perhaps a quarter will be freed up if they're no longer needed for patients who've undergone surgery. you can open more by using the ventilators that would've been used in operating theatres, as well as sourcing others from old stocks, the ministry of defence and the private sector. but if you did that, you could possibly get close to 12,000 ventilated beds. staff, though, would then have to be redeployed and retrained to help care for patients.

whatever happens, it promises to be a huge challenge for the health service. nick triggle reporting there. you can keep up with the latest developments about the coronavirus outbreak, the symptoms to watch out for, how to guard against the virus, and what it means for you, on the bbc news app and on our website. our top story this lunchtime. questions over the government's education plans — particularly over cancelled exams — as schools and colleges across the uk prepare to shut their doors tomorrow. and coming up — the plight of hundreds of thousands of british people stranded abroad due to the coronavirus, and why they may not get home for a considerable time. coming up on bbc news, one of britain's greatest 0lympians says proceeding with the attempts to get

tokyo 2020 on as planned our folly. sir matthew pinsent says the games should not go ahead injuly. 0ne positive side effect of the huge changes to our lives from coronavirus has been the impact on the environment. levels of air pollutants and gases over some cities and regions are showing significant drops, as people travel much less and work from home. researchers in new york say carbon monoxide levels, mainly from cars, has almost halved — and emissions of carbon dioxide have also fallen sharply. but scientists are worried about what will happen when countries try to recover from the pandemic. 0ur environment correspondent matt mcgrath reports. new york city in a time of virus, deserted by tourists and workers alike. this buzzing metropolis is normally clogged with cars and vans, and with 24 power plants mainly burning fossil fuels, new york has some of the dirtiest air in the us. but this week, as people have responded to the coronavirus by working from home,

traffic across new york has fallen dramatically, and scientists are seeing a similar drop in levels of air pollutants. last weekend was the cleanest i have ever seen the air around new york. now some of that is driven by meteorology, so the weather, how still the air is, has a big effect, but it is still the cleanest we have ever seen the city. the latest information from new york is an echo from what researchers have also found in china and northern italy, as the virus has tightened its grip. satellite images track falling levels of nitrogen dioxide. mostly produced from car engines, this chemical threatens our health, and is also a powerful greenhouse gas. these rapid declines will likely continue for the duration of the pandemic, with scientists predicting that 2020 could see the smallest growth in carbon in the atmosphere since the global financial crash in 2009. but the big concern is that when governments splurge cash to revive their economies, the money will be spent on fossilfuel dependent

industries, such as aviation. scientists say it could be a golden opportunity to put the world on a greener, more sustainable footing. electric card charges could be installed, and homes insulated for relatively small investments. they argue that if the spending boosts oil, coal and gas, it would be a disastrous move in the battle against climate change. matt mcgrath, bbc news. now, in other news — a highly critical report into the government's behaviour towards the windrush generation has found the home office showed "ignorance and thoughtlessness" on the issue of race, leading to a "profound institutional failure". the scandal, which emerged two years ago, affected people of caribbean origin, who were wrongly detained, threatened with deportation, or even deported. adina campbell reports. ijust feel like i'm not even living. ifeel like i've died, i'm looking down at myself. it's dragged on too long.

it's caused a lot of stress. 0ur lives have been turned upside down. but, anthony, you were detained, wrongfully detained? yeah, twice. i decided to go to jamaica just to get out of that place. just three of the many devastating personal stories caused by the windrush scandal. every time i talk about it, it hurts me so deeply. i'm hurting so badly. today, a delayed independent report, two years since the scale of the scandal was exposed, has finally been released. in the 275—page review, the report writer, wendy williams, an inspector of constabulary, said race clearly played a part in what occurred and that some failures by the home office could be indicators of indirect discrimination dating back

as early as the 1960s. the report also says there was an institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the history of the windrush generation. speaking in the commons today, the home secretary apologised. there is nothing that i can say today which will undo the pain, the suffering and the misery inflicted upon the windrush generation. what i can do is say that on behalf of this and successive governments, i am truly sorry. this has been a painful and long, drawn—out experience for the many people caught up in the windrush scandal. jobs lost, eye watering levels of debt, and families torn apart because of mistakes made by the home 0ffice. for some, today's independent review is welcome, but the profound mistreatment will never be forgotten. someone needs to tell me why this happened, how on earth was so many

lives made miserable? adina campbell, bbc news. as large parts of the global transport system shut down, it's thought thousands of britons may be stranded abroad. the foreign secretary dominic raab says many won't be able to return for a considerable time. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge is here.— there seem to be britain's stranded all over and some are having real difficulty is? the point is no one knows, not even the government, exactly how many brits are stuck in parts of the world because of this and one of the highest concentrations is in peru. around 400 richest nationals there. that country is effectively shut its borders, there is no way in and out as things stand. the government is lobbying the peruvian authorities to try to get that changed. people in peru feel abandoned and let down but dominic raab the foreign secretary saying his officials are doing

everything they can, it's very dynamic and fast—moving. but at the moment you've got airlines running rescue flights, empty planes going out from the uk to places like marrakesh, chaotic scenes there in recent days, bringing people bit by bit test bringing people back bit by bit. as the government going to step in and a more concrete way, a state funded repatriation mission going forward ? funded repatriation mission going forward? the funded repatriation mission going forward ? the reality funded repatriation mission going forward? the reality is for a lot of brits in far—flung parts of the world, like honduras of the maldives who are stuck, it might take them some time to get home. tom burridge, thank you. with sports events around the world being cancelled, this morning premier league clubs met to discuss when the football season might resume. earlier this week, uefa postponed the euro 2020 tournament for a year. it comes as speculation mounts over whether this summer's tokyo 0lympics can go ahead. let's get more from our sports correspondent laura scott. what has come out of the premier league meeting? well, in the last

few moments we've had a statement, a collective statement from the premier league, the fa, the efl and the women's game, saying that they won't resume football until the 30th of april at the earliest. they've also collectively agreed that they wa nt to also collectively agreed that they want to finish the season. they've committed trying to do that if at all possible. crucial to that is an agreement by the fa board to relax a rule that stated that the season should finish no later than the 1st ofjune, and they said they'll extend that indefinitely, which will vastly increase the probability of the fixtures being fulfilled. so thatis the fixtures being fulfilled. so that is all unity among professional football in this country and this was the second meeting in a week off the top flight clubs with the premier league's executive leadership team. these are unprecedented times, of course, and these are decisions that are being made at this meeting today. what are

the chances of the olympics going ahead this summer? well, the international olympic committee's position remains unchanged, that it will go ahead. they've met with stakeholders via teleconference this week, they met with olympic committees and athletes, and their official stance is that it will still go ahead on the 24th ofjuly in tokyo, but what we are hearing is a lot of athletes rein raising concerns about whether that's feasible and indeed fair on the athletes, many of whom can't train athletes, many of whom can't train at the moment so we'll have to wait and see, big decisions by the 0lympic and see, big decisions by the olympic committee and the next coming weeks. many thanks, laura scott, our sports correspondent. self—isolation is going to be a challenge for all ages in the coming weeks, so people are coming up with ever more inventive ideas for coping. 0ne music and rhyme group for toddlers has started streaming free videos to help parents of young children. 0ur reporterjo black has more. # heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes # heads, shoulders, knees and toes #

how do you run a toddlers‘ play session when you can't even be in the same room as them? # heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes # heads, shoulders, knees and toes...# ragdolly annas is a school business which usually operates in church halls and child ren's centres. tap, tap, tap. point up! but, for now, this is how they are coping — offering families online sessions free of charge. we have had to call it a day on our day—to—day sessions that we are running. obviously we can't take any risks. little people, we've got lots of little people, lots of pregnant mums come to session with their toddlers. we've got grandparents who are in the risk age, the over 70s who come along to our sessions. the biggest priority for us is the safety of everyone and everyone's health. # with your smiling face #. amazing, all right guys. and thousands have already tuned

in — and notjust locally. some have watched from countries like denmark and italy. # skip little pony, skip, skip, skip...# dancing in your living room though can bring its own challenges! 0h! we just want to share a little bit of fun, share a little bit of enjoyment and hopefully break up their day and change what could be a really negative, stressful time in their isolation into a little bit of fun. social distancing, it seems, doesn't have to mean children miss out on fun. jo black, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather, with louise lear. well, if you are thinking of spending a little time in your garden or going out for a quick walk through the weekend i can offer you something like this, a dryer, settled story for many others across the country. we have seen this nuisance where the front that's been with us all week. that's going to

drift away and high