hello, this is bbc news. one day. it is the headlines. almost two seasons in one day. it is chilly and we have got this mister a senior british government minister low cloud but that should left hand has appealed for people to be responsible when shopping. with slightly less wind tomorrow and it's estimated £1 billion again an abundance of sunshine, worth of extra food should actually feel a little less has been stockpiled. chilly than today with temperatures realising the average for this time 00:00:15,697 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 of year. more beds, ventilators and thousands of extra staff will be made available from next week — after a deal between nhs england and the nation's independent hospitals. the uk department store — john lewis — is to temporarily close all of its fifty shops on monday, the first time in its 155—year history that's happened. the death toll from in the northern region of lombardy, which has borne the brunt of italy's contagion, has risen by 546 in a day to 3,095. in spain, more than 300 people have died in the last 2a hours from coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths there to 1,326.

now on bbc news. the latest information and health advice on coronavirus, including what the symptoms are, and how to self—isolate. presented by victoria derbyshire. hello and welcome to this special programme. over the next half an hour, we are going to try and tell you as much as we can about coronavirus to help you answer that you can share the information with others. for the latest the spread of the disease, you can always head to our website for information on how it is affecting people in your community and your country. first, here is the bbc health and science reporter laura foster on what coronavirus is. coronaviruses are a type of virus.

the one we are all talking about is new and it causes a disease called covidd 19. most people will only be mildly affected by it but it can kill. it starts by infecting the upper respiratory tract which the airways from your nose to just above your vocal cords. you may develop a fever as your immune system starts to fight the virus and a dry cough. that is one where you don't produce any phlegm. the virus can then spread to the lungs making it harder for people to breathe and it can cause pneumonia. in the most serious cases, people can die from the coronavirus. this is because the immune system can go into overdrive and that can lead to organ failure. so, we need to do what we can to stop the virus from spreading. as it gets into your body by breathing it in or through your eyes and mouth, the best thing to do is wash your hands regularly and properly for at least 20 seconds. catch your calls and sneezes in the tissue and avoid touching yourface.

we know the most common symptoms of coronavirus are a persistent cough and/or a fever, but what else is there to look out for? the two main symptoms of coronavirus to look out for are a continuous, dry cough and or a fever. if you are sneezing a lot, have a runny nose or a headache, you may be ill, but you probably don't have coronavirus. so, how high a fever is a coronavirus fever, and what is a continuous dry cough? well, it is when you cough and there is no mucus or phlegm. basically no gooey substance in the tissue. this is not the odd cough and there, it has to be coughing regularly for no other reason. such as clearing your throat or smoking. so, how high a fever is a coronavirus fever? well, if you have one you will know about it. technically, it is a body temperature above 37.8 celsius or 100 fahrenheit, but if you don't have a thermometer, basically you will feel hot and your chest and back would be hot if someone touched you.

if you have either of these symptoms then you need to stay at home for seven days and if you live with other people, they need to stay at home for at least 1a days. but, if your symptoms get worse or don't go away, if you live in the uk then you need to contact the online nhs one—on—one coronavirus service. if you live abroad, call your local health care provider. as you saw in laura's report, health authorities around the world have been saying from the start of the outbreak that washing your hands is key to preventing the virus from spreading. it sounds like an easy thing to do, but there is definitely a right way and a wrong way. washing your hands often and for at least 20 seconds is vital in stopping the spread of coronavirus. if you are not sure how to, here is how, watch until the end when we have a special treat for you. first, we create a lather. ends of the fingers. and again, the palms.

the wrists. the top of my hands again. rinse my hands. but, i am going to use a tissue to turn off the tap to stop cross contamination. so, that is how to wash your hands properly and now, here is your surprise. millions of others across the world are being told to self—isolate. that essentially means shutting yourself off from contact with anyone else. it has been recommended for anyone suffering with flu—like symptoms, as well as those who are classed as at risk, such as people over 70 and those with underlying conditions like asthma and type one diabetes. but, what does self isolation involved?

here is the bbc‘s medical correspondent fergus walsh. if you are told to self—isolate, that means staying at home. not going to work, school or other public places, you shouldn't have any visitors. if you develop symptoms, a fever or cough, then seek advice first by phone, don'tjust turn up at a medical centre or hospital. if you live with others, then you need to stay in a well ventilated bedroom, with the door shut. if you have to share a bathroom, then use it after everyone else. don't share towels and toiletries. your waste should be double bagged. if you test positive,

it will be separately disposed of. if you live on your own, you can order shopping online or get friends to help, but they should leave it on the doorstep. the coronavirus causes mild illness for four out of five people. self isolating would help protect older people and those with underlying health problems. one of the main ways to stop yourself from contracting coronavirus is to not touch your face. that can sometimes be pretty difficult, here is why. i haven't touched my face in weeks. we can't help it, it is part of our dna, we are hard—wired to do it.

we know this because humans as young as foetuses in utero touch their faces. every time you tell yourself, stop touching yourface, don't touch yourface, if i touch my face i will get ill, telling yourself to do something that is natural. when we touch our faces what we are doing is calming ourselves down. we touch certain areas of our faces, what we are really doing is activating certain pressure points, which then activate the para— synthetic nervous system, which is the thing that makes us calm ourselves down internally. we see the same response in dogs, cats, children model the same behaviour as their parents, so if our parents touch their faces when they are shocked or surprised or upset, we are more likely to do exactly the same thing. the irony is, at a time when it is more important than ever not to touch your face, unconsciously, your mind is constantly moving to a place where it can better protect

you by doing the things it knows will soothe you and so will your unconscious mind will prompt your hands to go straight to your face. whilst it is almost impossible to totally stop touching your face, a key way that you can go about making it easier would be to take out the habits which lead you to do it. that might mean wearing glasses instead of contact lenses, it might mean wearing less make—up so you don't have to top it up during the day. it might also mean creating habits around how you use your hands so, rather than if you are moving around and having your hands like this and making it easier to land on theirface, make an effort to cross your hands and put them on your lap. then when the urge comes to pick your hands up and touch your face, you will be more aware of what you are doing and quicker to catch yourself. i cleaned my hands before i touched my face. next, one of the common images of this pandemic is people wearing masks. 0n public transport,

to some of the worlds most famous places like st mark's square. but how effective are they in stopping the spread? one of the reasons that people wear masks is that they think it will protect them from the virus, but the virus isn't floating around in the air, so it is not protecting me against anything because it is not there, it is probably going to be on my hands because of shaking hands with someone who has the virus. i have transmitted it, i have carried the virus to my face. if you are in an environment where everybody else is wearing a face mask and you are not, then it may make you feel vulnerable because you feel like you don't have the protection that everyone else does, but logically,

if you are not close to people and you are not coughing and sneezing, a face mask isn't necessary. the virus enters the body through mucous membranes, the eyes, nose, mouth. it transmits from person to person, generally by us touching our eyes, nose, or mouth. or, if we are inhaling droplets directly from someone who is sneezing or coughing. the best way for the general public to protect itself against coronavirus and other respiratory viruses is really careful hand hygiene, washing your hands with either soap and water or alcohol gel if soap and water is not available, especially when you think that you have been exposed, so if you have been out in public places and touching services that other people might have touched, that really is the best way and bringing attention to, and i touch my face? one of the problems if lots of people who don't need facemasks are using facemasks or stockpiling

them, it means that there aren't enough facemasks available where they are really needed, for people like health care workers who are on the front line and dealing with suspects or confirmed coronavirus cases. the vast majority of people are not susceptible to getting a severe infection. for most people, it would be a mild illness, like having a cold or cough orflu. it is the older people with existing health conditions that are at risk so you don't need to panic buy facemasks. throughout the week on bbc news we have been trying to answer as many of your questions as possible and there are so many. in a moment, we will hear from doctor rebecca cooper, a public health consultant in the uk working on the coronavirus outbreak internationally. but first, here is doctorjeremy 0liver, he is a clinical psychologist with an expertise and well—being, explaining how people can manage their mental health during this crisis. anxiety is completely

understandable. what i would say is anxiety is generally felt both in the head and also in the body as well. so you are turning questions over and over in your mind wanted to get answers and that is exhausting. it is telling your body to be on alert all the time, so where possible, try to have a section of the day where you try to answer the questions that you have got, look online and watch programmes like this, but give yourself a break, recognise that there are some questions you won't be able to answer, like a key question might be, am i going to get a virus? no epidemiologist can tell you, you can watch red dots on a map, the questions you can answer, try and change it to a tactical question, what can i do to help stop myself getting it or other people getting it? there is plenty of information there about that. let's crack on to some of the questions. i run a large retail shop, two staff have been isolated for coronavirus, as have they have all the symptoms.

we had worked in—store with these people for two or three days, but not realising it was the start of the virus and before being isolated. should we now be isolating all staff and those who volunteered for 14 days? i think in terms of what you should do with the staff, if staff have demonstrated symptoms, if you've worked in close contact with those staff, you should now think about isolating. i understand about businesses, it is tricky, but for public health, we need to be really aware that actually we are trying to minimise the spread of infection now and that if staff have shown symptoms then we should think about isolating. nicola says, i am a single parent, i lost my parent 18 months ago to cancer, i have twin girls aged seven who are scared to death if i catch this virus, what will happen to them?

who will look after them if i am poorly? that is what they think. i already take two immunosuppressant drugs for arthritis and i have poor resistance to chest infections every year. how can i self—isolate and look after my kids as well if i get sick? the grandparents are in the at—risk age category and my mum just had a stroke a few weeks ago. i will really struggle if i get sick and have to going to hospital. what happens to the kids of so many people and self isolation? that is a message that is representative of quite a few messages that are coming through, single parents, single parents and health issues they are understandably stressed and worried. absolutely, as you say, that is something that will affect a lot of people, what we are doing locally is that we are setting up community groups so we are aware that there are vulnerable people in our community and we are starting to reach out and say, look, if you need help, contact us, as a local labour councillor i can speak to constituents and get in touch with the council and try to arrange or help

arrange appropriate help. so if there are community groups in yourarea, i would encourage you to get involved with them, look up who your local councillor is, get in touch with those, we are there to represent you and speak to different services and help you. you are not alone, at this time communities will step up and is a local councillor i can say that we are there to help and advocate for you as well. for somebody who has 0cd this is a lot. people with 0cd may have various different sorts of obsessions and fear of contamination is one of the main ones, but also, other in obsessions may be around order or counting. those people who have been through treatment, their psychological treatment for 0cd will be teaching them that the environment and the world is not the fearful place that they think it is so,

for some people, it will potentially undermine the treatment, it will make them think that they were right all along, that they were right to be fearful. a core feature of 0cd is if somebody feels that they compulsive act hasn't been done properly, they often then feel compelled to redo it to reassure themselves that they have done the compulsion properly, so the hand washing, that can sometimes be what motivates people to keep on washing their hands because they think, oh i'm not sure if i wash the base of my thumb properly, i will have to repeat that and then they may start to fixate on, oh i didn't count that time so maybe i didn't wash it first 20 seconds that time, and that may then lead to a repeated chain of hand washing. being told to self—isolate could

cause consent certain —— concern, they might think i was right to fear this, it may bring about some relief for somebody who is anxious, they might find it difficult to leave the house anyway, but they also may have avoided going out because they fear that they cannot control the environment outside the house. i think that some positive things that people can do it so that they don't make their condition worse is staying in touch with people, if they are self isolating, make sure that there are still phone calls, make sure there is contact via video messaging platforms, so that they stay connected to people. make sure that they do things that are distracting, things they might enjoy doing, jobs around the house which might distract them from these thoughts. that is another key message and the third thing is to make sure that they follow the

advice but don't upscale and excessively hand wash and clean because that is going to make the situation worse. it would only usually be if somebody had a predisposition to 0cd, so of course there's risk that in this outbreak, people could become very focused on something and they could become very obsessed with hand washing and that that repetition and that temporary relief that that brings may set off a pattern of obsessive—compulsive symptoms. 50, it is possible, it is not a high—risk, it is the case that coronavirus is going to excessively increase the incidence of 0cd in a country or in the world, but it is

possible for some individuals it may lead 0cd symptoms and it may bring that diagnosis about. across the world, medical researchers are racing to find a vaccine. but it is thought that could be a year to 18 months away. the bbc science correspondent richard wescott has been given special access to a team at cambridge university who are trying to find the key to beating the disease. the race to find a vaccine for coronavirus didn't start ina lab, vaccine for coronavirus didn't start in a lab, it started on a computer. so, this is the dna of coronavirus? yes. within weeks of the outbreak, the coronavirus dna had been read and put online for scientists across the world to access. like many others, the cambridge team has been using it to find out exactly what they are up against. the sequence helps us to understand how the virus actually looks in terms of its physical properties and that is

really important because the spike protein that you see around the edge of the virus, that is what we need the antibodies to attach to, to prevent the virus from entering ourselves. that is interesting, these letters give you a picture of what it looks like and how you can attack it. yes. things then move into a tightly sealed lab. they don't have the actual virus in there yet. the early tests are done on safer, man—made copies of parts of the virus. this is a highly restricted lab, very few people are allowed inside and we are not allowed inside and we are not allowed inside, but we are going to be able to talk tojonathan who is leading the research using innovative technology to get hold of him. jonathan, hi, innovative technology to get hold of him.jonathan, hi, can innovative technology to get hold of him. jonathan, hi, can you amy? nice to see you. are you collaborating with other people around the world, oui’ with other people around the world, our experts like you chatting online and sharing ideas about what to do next? absolutely, this is a global effort, i was in australia, i was in

british columbia, i have been in the us and we are having teleconferences daily about the state of the situation. the variability, the transmission dynamics and really, trying to get as much information from the epidemic that will help us develop a good vaccine as quickly as possible. have you ever known anything like this in your career, in terms of the speed it is happening? no, this is unique. it is spread globally very very quickly and it has caught everybody off guard. they have already begun testing possible coronavirus vaccines on animals, but to be sure it is safe and effective, it could be next summer before a human version is approved. richard wescott on the race to find a vaccine there. while the number of people who have died from the virus continues to rise, at the same time, tens of

thousands of people are recovering. including julie, from singapore, who told the bbc her story about her isolation and recovery. told the bbc her story about her isolation and recoverylj told the bbc her story about her isolation and recovery. i didn't have anything, not even a sniffle or calf, however, on the 7th of february really early in the morning, i woke up and the room was spinning. isolation, i got my food through a secure hatch, my medication, my change of clothing, my towel, yes you have a phone, you can text someone, you may you have a phone, you can text someone, you may have a video call, but just being completely

someone, you may have a video call, butjust being completely with no human interaction, i almost felt like i wanted to go knock on the wall and just talk to the other patient next doorjust to have some conversation with a human being when i was conversation with a human being when iwas in conversation with a human being when i was in the critical stage. 0ne conversation with a human being when i was in the critical stage. one of the things that i encountered was difficult to breathe in, it was so laborious trying to get from my bed to the bathroom which is about five metres away, just walking to the bathroom and it was just challenging. finally, around the world, despite the devastating impact the virus is having on tens of millions of others, many are coming together in a cts others, many are coming together in acts of solidarity. here are just a few exa m ples.

that is it for now. you can keep up—to—date with the latest on the bbc news website. i am victoria derbyshire, please contact me on twitter with your stories any time, thank you for watching. good afternoon, two dry days for

both its —— most of us. the rest of the weekend as most a dry, plenty of sunshine but the notable chilly wind coming in from the east, frosty nights will be with us as well despite the day is now longer than the night. the reason for the dry weather is the area of high pressure, it looks to be drifting away but it is still going to keep our weather front is largely at for the chill is the origin of the air is coming right the way across scandinavia, coming down from the arctic and across the shores so we have barely seen temperatures at average for the last day or two, tomorrow is the easterly wind eases, but it will pick up some more cloud in the east and west, we have had more clouds in the north—east of scotla nd more clouds in the north—east of scotland are more cloud for northern ireland as we have seen of late, despite the sunshine, it is notably chilly with temperatures below average. this weather frontier close to northern ireland has made the sunshine a little bit more milky but the rain should at least hold back to the west. just flirting with the west in the northern isles as we go

through the night, alleviating flossed issues here, more clouds... the clear night will provide the ingredients for a sharp frost in some of the glens of scotland and a frost quite widely. the high pressure with this tomorrow ensures more dry weatherfor pressure with this tomorrow ensures more dry weather for most of the uk, a good deal of sunshine, the risk of this low cloud, see har and sea fret on the east of scotland but it should lift away, there will be more cloud than the north western isles without weather front close by but it should be moving away from northern ireland so, hopefully we will have more sunshine returning here and temperatures will respond to that sunshine slightly less wind, roundabout average, but they will drop again under the clear sky so a widespread frost monday morning. a bit of a change then takes place early week, this would buy the front sta rts early week, this would buy the front starts to push and more rain to the north—west of the great glen, so here, we will potentially over the course of monday, tuesday and wednesday c 100 course of monday, tuesday and wednesday c100 millilitres of rain,

but for the vast majority, pleasant sunshine, feeling warm, the rangers make its way into most parts of scotla nd make its way into most parts of scotland by wednesday. goodbye. this is bbc news. the headlines: "be responsible when you shop." an appeal by a senior british government minister, who estimates that £1 billion worth of extra food has been stockpiled.

it is making life more difficult for those front line workers, such as our doctors and nurses and nhs support staff who were working so ha rd support staff who were working so hard in such difficult circumstances. more beds, ventilators and thousands of extra staff will be made available from next week after a deal between nhs england and the nation's independent hospitals. the uk department storejohn lewis is to temporarily close all of its 50 shops on monday —