a warm welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: italy's death toll overtakes china's. almost 3 and a half thousand have now died — we report from inside one of italy's hospitals — battling to keep patients alive. the us urges anyone outside of the country to return home. as japan comes under increasing pressure to postpone the olympics the flame arrives from greece applauding the health workers — solidarity across france for the medics on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak.

the death toll in italy is now higher than anywhere else in the world, including china, where the coronavirus outbreak began. another 427 people have died in italy the past 2a hours alone, bringing the death toll to more than 3a00. the bbc‘s mark lowen is in rome. in this theatre of war, the heroes hardly rest. brescia in northern italy is seeing one of the highest rises in daily cases. the hospital is overwhelmed but resilient. translation: there is a strong commitment from all doctors and nurses. sometimes they come in even when they are not on shift, or after they are on at night they come in the morning after to help us out. some of them have cried but i have never seen anyone complain. more than 8% of cases

in italy are medical staff, almost double that of china. the 13th doctor died today. one of the patients here is a doctor, she says, born in 1982. he was in the emergency room, fell ill and tested positive. now he has been incubated. thousands of medics have been recalled from retirement and rushed in from university to help, but still they are desperate. translation: i think our hospital is reaching breaking point. we don'tjust need more beds, but we need workers. we need equipment to protect our staff. we need ventilators. the spread of the virus is too fast for us to keep up. in this outbreak, not even the dead can rest. overnight, the military moved coffins from nearby bergamo to other areas to ease pressure on bursting crematoria. from one town that has cut cases to zero through mass testing and quarantine, a warning to britain over its lower response. i feel very, very sorry, because i have been living in england for over 25 years,

and i left my wife and my son there, so for me it is very sad to see they are doing exactly the same mistake as they did in italy. it will lead to an outbreak which will be the same size or even worse than the one we are seeing in lombardi. restrictions on movement here are now set to be extended, with most venues remaining closed and schools shut well into april. italy's lockdown is the model being adopted elsewhere. public transport and traffic are still running but people are only going out in urgent need, and it is orderly, with measured queues for the supermarket as people are allowed in one by one. the fruit and vegetables are stocked as normal. there is very little sense of panic buying here. and with the loo rolls, well, some brands are down, but with this level of outbreak, italians are behaving on the whole rationally. the virus has left this wounded, ageing population isolated, from each other

and from the outside world. the book she reads is called fear. mark lowen, bbc news, rome. the us has warned against all international travel and has urged its citizens who are abroad to return immediately. the state department said people who didn't come back must be prepared to stay overseas for an indefinite period. more than 11,000 people have been infected with the virus and at least 150 have died. laura trevelyan reports from washington. america's biggest city is rapidly closing down. theatres on broadway have dimmed their lights, and now 75% of workers in new york have been ordered to stay at home. i found the iconic brooklyn bridge to be deserted on thursday morning. the state's governor is battling more than just the virus. this is a health issue, it is a public health crisis, but more than that, i'm telling you, worse than if the virus is the fear that we're dealing with and the rumours

and how they spread. the number of workers filing for unemployment insurance in the us for the first time surged on thursday as the economy slams on the brakes. congress has passed the first stage of a $1 trillion stimulus package, including paid sick leave. after huge loses on wednesday, markets rallied a bit. the trump administration is working on giving $1,000 directly to americans who need the money most. money for people. from the middle class on down — period. as testing for the coronavirus expands in america, the president says red tape has slashed and existing drugs, including one used to treat malaria patients, could be used against the virus. we are going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately. and that's where the fda has been so great. they've gone through the approval process —

it's been approved and they did it, they took it down from many, many months to immediate, so we're going to be able to make that drug available. but the president caused confusion, with the food and drug administration commissioner being forced to clarify that existing drugs have not yet been approved for use on coronavirus patients. we want to do that in the setting of a clinical trial — a large, pragmatic clinical trial — to actually gather that information and answer the question that need to be asked and answered. the question that needs to be asked and answered. an analysis of coronavirus cases in the us shows it is notjust the elderly who ar at risk. it is notjust the elderly who are at risk. adults aged 20414 make up 20% of those sick enough to go to hospital, and 12% of intensive care cases. yet the young are enjoying their spring break from college, as this crowded beach in florida shows. they're ignoring the advice about social distancing. i think they're blowing it way out of proportion. i think it's doing way too much. if i get corona, i get corona. at the end of the day,

i am not going to let it stop me from partying. americans are adjusting to the bizarre new normal. in minnesota, fitness instructors are holding remote classes. while in massachusetts, a distillery is brewing up its own hand sanitiser using high—proof alcohol. and surely it won't be long before we're copying this trick from israel — dog walking by drone. these are strange and unsettling times, but human ingenuity is alive and well. the british prime minister is saying he is confident the uk can defeat the coronavirus, as long as everyone takes seriously the government's restrictions and instructions on how to live our lives for the next months. borisjohnson has suggested it will take at least 12 weeks to turn the tide on the virus in the uk. bbc political editor, laura kuenssberg, is at westminster. the royal standard lowered marking the queen's departure for windsor castle,

urging the nation at a time of great uncertainty to come together as one, leaving the quiet capital, where the government's frantically trying to manage an unknown future. what is now a regular routine, the prime minister talking to the public at 5pm, but no immediate sign of drastic new action today. we can turn the tide within the next 12 weeks, and i'm absolutely confident that we can send coronavirus packing in this country, but only if we take the steps, we all take the steps that we have outlined. you told the country yesterday you wouldn't hesitate to take extra measures. people are worried about what that might mean. yes. can you tell people what might be next? will you, within days, seek to shut pubs, cafes, clubs? as long as we think that people are actually staying away from places where they may transmit or pick up the disease, if we feel that that is working, then we just want to say

thank you to everybody for their extraordinary efforts and encourage everybody to do likewise. if we feel that it isn't working, as i said yesterday, we need to bring forward tougher measures, then of course, nothing is ruled out. there is no prospect of us wanting to stop public transport in london, or stop the tube or the buses. we're not going to be telling people that under no circumstances if they really need to go to work can they go to work. more limits on our lives would hit some firms hard. the law's been relaxed, though, to make it easier for supermarkets to work together. they say there's just no need for queues like this. the concerns are real. unless we give a guarantee of wages and income to everyone, particularly those that cannot work, then we're all at risk as a result of it, and i don't think the government has sufficiently addressed this. speaker: ministerjohn glenn. some form of that could come tomorrow, but it's not clear

exactly what will come on top of the treasury's plans. any business who needs cash to pay salaries will be able to access a government—backed loan on attractive terms. all grumble you can hear the disquiet. what about people losing jobs now? if the government does not act immediately, large numbers of people will be unemployed. and can i urge the government to say something today to give people an assurance that the help will come? where can they get answers? because they are so worried! ministers are putting forward this afternoon a long list of emergency laws, from giving the home secretary the power to close the borders if needs be, forcing business to share information about food supply, making it easier for retired doctors to get back to work. this, the coronavirus bill, is an encyclopaedia of emergency powers that ministers think they might need to manage the crisis in the coming months.

huge new powers the state hopes it might never need. but while our landmarks look the same tonight, much of the country does not. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. let's get some of the day's other news: in argentina, the president has announced a "preventive and compulsory" lockdown of the population from friday to at least the end of march. people will be able to leave their homes to shop for basic goods, such as food and medicine. argentina has recorded 128 cases of the virus, and three deaths. in china, the infection rate is slowing and there have been no new locally—transmitted cases for the second day in a row. but the daily tally for infections involving travellers arriving in the country has surged to a new record of 39. there are concerns that could mean a second wave of the outbreak in china. in canada, people have been lining up at marijuana shops and flooding online cannabis retailers‘

to "stock up" before heading into self—isolation or quarantine. canada legalised the drug in 2018. the government has told people arriving in canada to quarantine for 1h days. there are now 800 confirmed cases. at 9pm on friday, australia's strictest ever travel ban is set to kick in. it will ban the entry of all non residents, only allowing citizens, permanent residents and their families to enter. the country has now recorded its seventh death from the virus. i got the latest from our correspondent shaimaa khalil. well, this is the most wide—ranging travel restriction, mike, to date. this blanket ban on all people coming into australia with the exception, as you said, of citizens and of permanent residents, they're allowed to come back but they will have to quarantine for 1h days. prime minister scott morrison said this was done in co—ordination with new zealand, who have now put that total ban in place. new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern said

she realised how extraordinary this is, at an unprecedented time. here in australia this is an extension to travel restrictions put in place this week. earlier in the week, all travellers were required to quarantine for 1h days. that has significantly reduced the number of visitors here, about a third as what we see normally at this time of year. australians were told not to travel abroad to any country and for those overseas to come back as soon as possible, and are now in a few hours all travellers will be banned from coming into australia apart from citizens and permanent residents and their families. this, the prime minister says, is to limit the number of people coming in from overseas. he says 80% of the cases in australia, and we have now more than 700 confirmed cases, have either been from people who have contracted the virus overseas or who have been in contact with someone who is contracted the virus overseas, so this blanket travel ban will be in place

for the months to come. we don't know for how long and the authorities is that it will not be lifted until health officials have said that it's ok to do so. in india, four men sentenced to death in 2013 for the gang—rape and murder of a 23—year—old woman have been executed. the country's president and the supreme court had dismissed theirfinal appeals for clemency. the attack on the woman sparked widespread protests across the nation and put pressure on politicians and judges to enforce new laws against sexual violence. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: as japan comes under increasing pressure to respond the olympics, the flame at least has arrived from greece. 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 number of people killed by the coronavirus in italy has reached more than 3400, exceeding the total who have died in china where the outbreak began. the us has told its citizens to avoid any travel abroad and has urged those who are away to return home. you hear a lot of hopeful talk at the moment about the concept of ‘herd immunity‘, so does it apply to coronavirus and if so, how does it work? professor archie clements is pro vice—chancellor of the faculty of health sciences at curtin university in western australia. thank you very much indeed for your time. f thank you very much indeed for yourtime. fi thank you very much indeed for your time. f i understand this right, this is called a novel coronavirus because it is new to our species, we don't have natural immunity. looking at what you are seeing at the moment, what do you think the chances are that we can acquire

a herd immunity with yellow well, you are quite right that this is a new infection for humanity, and people do not currently have immunity to this virus. as the pandemic spreads across countries, what we will see happen is increasing numbers of people will be infected, they will recover, and then they will become immune. what is currently known as for how long, and to what extent that immunity protects them from other similar viruses. so the idea, and herd immunity is the kind of thing that we aim for with vaccination programmes, so for example when you hear about the aim with measles vaccination programmes to reach 90% of the population, the idea is that once you get to that level of herd immunity, there aren't enough susceptible people in the population for an epidemic to be sustained. is there a risk that if we really do

practice social distancing and lockdowns, there is less exposure to the virus the less chance of building up a herd immunity and when people are released from the lockdowns, more chance of another wave of the virus? currently, most countries are aiming for epidemic suppression, and the idea is that we can keep the levels of infection to a sufficiently low level that health systems can cope with the demand as people become infected, buying us time for a future when we may have a vaccine. of course, if we weren't able to roll out a vaccine, and epidemic suppression was effective, then of course the risk would be that in subsequent years that we may get new waves of the epidemic, but i think the current plan, which is the one thatis current plan, which is the one that is endorsed by the world health organization, is the right one, where countries are aiming to suppress the epidemic

to give us time to develop vaccines and other interventions that can prevent future epidemics. so humanity's best hope of beating this virus dressed either on herd immunity or on dressed either on herd immunity orona dressed either on herd immunity or on a vaccine. when you talk among your colleagues, how hopeful are you actually? hopeful to contain the epidemic or develop a vaccine strategy, iam quite or develop a vaccine strategy, i am quite hopeful. are you filled with the same sense of dread that most of us are? well, of course it is a very alarming epidemic, and it is not just alarming epidemic, and it is notjust alarming in terms of the health impact, and of course if you are an elderly person or someone with a significant underlying health condition that can be quite a dangerous infection, many of us have loved ones who are in those categories and of course for those reasons, i feel concerned, in fact my own mother has a significant illness and of course i am very

concerned if she became and that she would be at great risk, but from a public health perspective, i feel confident that in time, we will develop a strategy to prevent future epidemics, and that will probably be based around the rollout of a vaccine. but i guess the thing that i'm really concerned about is the massive economic and social impact that this epidemic is currently having and will continue to have. it is completely unprecedented in my lifetime, and really i don't think anyone could have predicted that it would have ended up as bad as it has in terms of social and economic impact. epidemiologists have been talking about the risks of global pandemics for a very long time, and i think that has really demonstrated that we need to take the very seriously and put resources into preparing for future pandemics. thank you so much for sharing all that with us. you're

welcome. it is nowjust over 4 months until the opening ceremony for the 2020 summer olympics in tokyo. but there's growing pressure to postpone the games. even if the pandemic peaks soon, athletes are asking how they are supposed to qualify, which must take place in the next two months. now the former governor of tokyo, who led much of the early planning for the games, has told the bbc he is almost certain the games will not take place as scheduled on july 24th. there may not be much surf for her to show off in today, but for now, every day in the water counts. this woman has her sights set on a middle, in the first ever olympic surfing contest. at least, that was the plan until the virus arrived. translation: right now, i'm afraid. i don't know what is going to happen.

the olympics is a dream for me, but we don't want to have a bad olympics, so maybe it's better to have the olympics when the fear has gone. here injapan, you could be forgiven for thinking that there is no global pandemic. schools are closed but apart from that, life is going on pretty much as normal, and it is the same with the olympic games. the japanese government insist it is full steam ahead for the opening ceremony onjuly the 24th. there are now some prominent voices saying that that reality. in central tokyo, the brand—new olympic stadium is ready. $30 billion has been spent preparing the city. but the former governor of tokyo says the chances of holding the olympics this year are now tiny. cancel or postpone.

90%. japan looks like it has the coronavirus under control. this was the popular district of tokyo today. there is no sign of social distancing or public panic that has been witnessed across europe. but experts say that does not mean that tokyo 2020 can be held safely. even if you could be successful in controlling the disease injapan, if other nations like europe and africa were really suffering from the infectious disease, nobody could come to japan because the risk of infection, so you have to have control injapan and you have to have control of the infectious disease worldwide. now, is it likely? i doubt. many athletes, both here injapan and around the world are asking for an end to the uncertainty.

they all desperately want the olympics to go ahead. if it can't, they need to be told soon. let's bring you some live pictures now from japan where the olympic flame arrives ahead of a 121 day trip across the country. it is nowjust over 4 months until the opening ceremony. as rupert was suggesting, pressure from athletes, pressure from athletes, pressure from athletes, pressure from sponsors and no doubt how the insurance situation plays out will decide if it really goes ahead but the former governor of tokyo who has led much of the early planning for the games has already told the bbc he is, as we said, almost certain games will not go ahead and scheduled onjuly the will not go ahead and scheduled on july the 24th. will not go ahead and scheduled onjuly the 24th. we are just scanning the skies there, the

air force team are doing a display there, we can't quite catch them at the moment but we will take you back when we can. living in isolation under a strict lockdown is taking its toll on people around the world, but every day we're reminded of the human spirit to carry on. our reporter freya cole takes a look at some of the latest heatwarming moments from paris. music filled the courtyard of the peruvian neighbourhood, and after a day of being cooped up inside, its a welcome delight. the neighbours have banded together to perform an evening concert. it has become a popular pastime to boost spirits and pay, large to —— pay almost two workers on the frontline. and at the end of

the show, a wave goodbye into tomorrow. that's it for now. thank you for watching. hello there, we had some pretty big contrasts weatherwise across the uk on thursday. it was the north of the country that had the best of the sunshine. this is how things look in the highlands of scotland, and across england and wales we had this weather front that has been with us for a number of days, bringing grey and gloomy weather. the mist and drizzle around here in hampshire and across the south wales sunny bridge, temperatures only got to five celsius, pretty chilly. over the next few hours, that weather front stays with us so expect to stay dull, damp, some mist and hillsnow patches around through the night but it is the cloud that stops that temperature from falling too far, so those around five or six celsius across the southern areas of england.

further northwards, with clear skies and light winds, it is a cold night, the first more widespread. the lowest temperatures in scotland —6 or —7 celsius. friday and this area of high pressure is going to strengthen, this area of low pressure is going to deepen. the winds are going to blow more strongly across england and wales, a cold wind for many of us developing, but particularly so across the headlands of south—west england, with gusts of a0 miles an hour. brisk winds for the coast and hills of wales, a noticeable chill in the air for the midlands. there could be an odd shower working into northeast england just for a time. not many of these, for most of the northern half of the uk, looking at great weather with plenty of sunshine. the weekend, our area of high pressure is still influencing our weather. notice we have some fairly tightly packed isoba rs so it is going to be quite a windy start to the weekend on saturday, noticeably so across eastern areas of england and eastern areas of scotland, around the coast

feeling quite chilly. looking quite cloudy through the day in northern ireland, but there may also be some areas of cloud coming in off the north sea to affect parts of eastern england and eastern scotland from time to time. these temperatures are nothing to write home about, highs of 8—11 celsius, a little bit cool for the time of year. similar weather conditions on sunday, there will be a lot of dry weather and some sunshine to go around, but again, the cloud received from place place will vary. and it could be that we see some thick cloud edging into the northern and western isles, maybe even thick enough to bring a spot of rain. for most, it is another dry day, so a dry weekend for most of us to look forward to. beyond that, the high—pressure still in the weather, maybe some thicker cloud for northern ireland and scotland threatening some light rain. and that's your weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines: italy has now surpassed china as the country with the highest number of deaths from the coronavirus. 3,405 people have now died. for the second day running more than 400 people died in a single day. the nationwide lockdown will be extended beyond the end of next week the us has warned against all international travel and has urged its citizens who are abroad to return immediately. the state department said people who didn't come back must be prepared to stay overseas for an indefinite period. it's reported more than 12,500 cases of the infection. the olympic flame has landed injapan, amid grave doubts as to whether the 2020 games will be able to go ahead in tokyo. the elborate torch relay that had been planned has already been cut back drastically because of the coronavirus.