this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. the headlines: the death toll in italy has seen another dramatic rise — nearly 800 people have died in the last 2a hours from coronavirus — the highest total anywhere in the world since the outbreak began. nobody was prepared for a tragedy of this magnitude. and in spain, there's been a big rise too — an increase of more than 300 people, bringing the total number of deaths there to more than 1,300. in the uk 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 total of dead is now 253 in the

uk. good evening. you're watching bbc news, broadcasting in the uk and around the world. we'll have the latest on the coronavirus pandemic as the number of people infected globally has risen to more than 300,000. in italy, nearly 800 people have died within the past 2a hours from the virus, by far the worst single—day total worldwide since the pandemic began. and it brings the total number of deaths in italy to 4,825. bbc world service europe editor danny aberhard reports. the figures are frightening. on average, one coronavirus patient is dying in italy every two minutes. that's despite nearly two weeks of lockdown in the worst affected regions.

the northern region of lombardy is especially hard hit, including one of its cities, bergamo. military lorries have had to help transport its dead to cemeteries and crematoria elsewhere. the head of the department of medicine at bergamo‘s main hospital, stefano fagiuoli, told the bbc there was no medical solution to the emergency. isolation is absolutely necessary to try to reduce the burden of this emergency. and there is no sanitary system able to face this situation. the issue is the compression in a very short time of a huge number of people having the same identical problem — that is the real challenge. italy has brought in new restrictions, including closing all parks and stopping people from going to holiday homes. its prime minister, giuseppe conte, has indicated he might tighten measures still further.

in the meantime, there's been one ray of light — the authorities put out an emergency appeal to recruit 300 doctors to help embattled regions. by the time the deadline expired, well over ten times that number had volunteered to help. mr conte described them as heroes in white coats. as we heard there, tougher measures have been introduced in italy, which stop people visiting parks, playgrounds or public gardens. let's go to the capital, rome, where our correspondent sima kotecha reports. birds chirping no children, just empty playgrounds in rome's largest park. even tougher rules that have come into force today say people cannot go into them to try to curb the outbreak. here, for several weeks, schools have already been closed. the only noises that you can hear are the bells, you know, the church bells, which is nice. but the other noise is the ambulances. that's the only two

noises that you hear. in lombardy, the worst—affected region, teachers say some children felt lost without social contact, but virtual lessons are helping. to begin with they were scared, i think. their reality had been taken away from them. being able to actually deliver reality through a computer, even if it's on a completely different scale, has been particularly important. from tomorrow, people in lombardy will no longer be able to exercise, even on their own in open spaces. as part of the message aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus, all vending machines will also be banned. 0relio, how do you feel about the coronavirus? thumbs down? yeah! thumbs down! one parent in rome tells us she's worried about the psychological impact the outbreak will have on the young. he's having nightmares.

he's having nightmares? yeah, i don't know if it is connected but he's having nightmares about spiders most nights. he said he's not worried because he's brave. well, that's fantastic. you seem very brave and you look very brave. nobody has lived through times like this before. the spaces may be smaller, but as ever, everybody is learning to adapt. sima kotecha, bbc news, rome. irene tinagli is an mep for northwest italy, representing the lombardy region, which has been worst hit by the coronavirus. she's been in quarantine for the past three weeks. here she is speaking to us earlier. nobody was prepared for a tragedy of this magnitude. people thought it would be a bad virus, obviously worse than the flu, but nobody expected this kind of death toll, so now many people are starting to get really scared.

the streets are completely deserted. of course there are people in line for groceries sometimes, but the situation is obviously very serious, although the towns who were quarantined first, in those areas, the contagion has stopped, so this is a good sign that may be in a week or so, even in the area that right now is most affected, it could be decreasing, so that is what we all hope. let's move from italy to spain now. in spain, the number of deaths from the virus has jumped by a third in a day, to more than 1,300 — behind only iran, china and italy. madrid has been particularly badly hit and hospitals there are struggling to cope. spain's prime minister, pedro sanchez, has praised the country's response to the crisis, one week into the state of emergency. but he underlined the importance of people continuing to stay

at home, warning that the coming days would be extremely challenging. translation: unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. 0ur days are ahead of us. we are yet to suffer the impact of the worst wave, the most harmful, that will push our material and moral capacities to the limits. also, our attitudes as a society. turkey has imposed a curfew for its senior citizens and banned restaurants from serving at tables as the death toll from coronavirus more than doubled from nine to 21 in just 2a hours. the number of confirmed cases is fast approaching 1,000 there. the french health minister has appealed to the public to hand over protective masks so they can be used by health workers as hospitals in the country face more and more cases of coronavirus. he said there's no need to wear masks while shopping. health workers in france have criticised supply shortages. brazil's largest state, sao paulo,

is closing down for two weeks from tuesday to help fight coronavirus. all non—essential businesses and services, including bars and restaurants, will shut. the state is home to around 46 million people and is brazil's business, industrial and financial powerhouse. there are more than 1,000 cases of the virus in the country. here in the uk, borisjohnson has issued a fresh warning tonight that coronavirus will overwhelm the nhs unless everyone starts to practise social distancing and that the uk was no more than three weeks behind italy when it comes to the spread of disease. he has urged everyone in the uk to follow official guidance to stay at home to save lives. it comes as the nhs struck an unprecedented deal with private hospitals across england to utilise nearly their entire hospital

capacity to help in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. the nhs says the deal will provide 8,000 additional hospital beds across england, nearly 1,200 more ventilators, and 700 doctors. news of the deal came hours before health officials announced that a further 56 people have died in the uk after testing positive bringing the total here to 233. with the latest, here's dominic hughes. tonight, a stark warning from the prime minister, the nhs is at real risk of being overwhelmed by the coronavirus. borisjohnson warns we are just two or three weeks behind italy and the virus is accelerating. but, some good news, too, in what looks like a really significant deal with private hospitals — 8,000 beds, 1,200 ventilators and thousands of staff will be made available at cost to the nhs. this is fantastic news. it will really help me and my colleagues on the front line to feel supported and to have the capacity in the hospital to admit the sickest patients to give them the care they need. my only concern about this is ppe,

visors, masks, gowns. we know we've had some shortages in the nhs recently and i would like to see assurances that the new staff who are coming on board are going to be protected and that there's going to be ppe, enough for everyone to use. medical staff are still extremely concerned over access to adequate protective clothing. the government says enough of the right kit is available. meanwhile, on the first day of what is meant to be something close to lockdown and strict social distancing, in the centre of newcastle, some people were still out and about. from the experts, though, a real sense that a moment of crisis is fast approaching. if you follow the advice you are saving somebody‘s life. this is the time in your lifetime whereby your action will save somebody‘s life. it's as simple and as stark as that. a picture of those who are being admitted to critical care units after falling ill to the virus is beginning to emerge. data was collected on 196 patients in england, wales and northern ireland. more than half of them were being

looked after by hospitals in london. there's a significant difference between women and men. more than two thirds were male. and 132 patients needed a ventilation machine to help them breathe. 16 patients sadly died. 17 were able to be discharged to regular hospital wards. the rest remained in intensive care. there is now real concern about the number of cases that are presenting in london, but also a small but significant cluster in birmingham and the west midlands. but the truth is, this virus is spreading throughout the country. here in salford, the deaths of two patients were announced yesterday. later this week 1.5 million vulnerable people, including some cancer patients and those with lung conditions, will receive a letter. it will strongly advise them to stay indoors for the next 12 weeks from monday, to shield themselves from the virus, all part of the effort to make sure that the nhs is not overwhelmed in the months ahead.

dominic hughes, bbc news. let's go to the us now. a number of states have ordered shutdowns — with one in five americans soon set to be under a "stay at home" order. the virus has claimed almost 280 lives there and infected more than 19,000 people. and president trump says the us has agreed new measures with the leaders of canada and mexico to control non—essential travel across its northern and southern borders. we've also reached agreements with canada and mexico on new travel rules at our northern and southern borders to halt the entry of the chinese virus while continuing trade and commerce, and we've had very good talks with prime minister trudeau and this morning, with president lopez 0brador. we talked aboutjoint measures that were taken to prevent the spread of the virus in our countries and to temporarily suspend

non—essential travel. we had a great conversation this morning with the president of mexico, and our close cooperation with mexico and canada will keep our people healthy, keep their people healthy, keep everybody safe. well, yesterday, president trump said he was barring all migrants illegally crossing the border with mexico from entering the us. he also said the border would be sealed off quote, "mostly, but even beyond, this global pandemic." the emergency measures have left migrants within the country's borders in an uncertain state. the immigration attorney, cesar vargas, spoke to me from new york and explained what impact the changes would have. the changes will be so detrimental to so many immigrants who are escaping violence, persecution, sexual assault and just violence that many people are travelling thousands of miles just to get the us. so we understand this is an emergency.

we understand the need to protect our people from this coronavirus, but we also need to respect our signing of international treaties to protect people. the us has international obligations to allow people who are fearing persecution to still make their case, and this is where we are at at this moment. the government knew about this way, way since january, and we could have been prepared. so instead of a wall and spending billions of dollars to create something that does nothing to protect the american people, we should have been really preparing to keep centres clean to ensure that we create more immigration courses and pay staff to process claims. at the very least, this is nothing more than the trump administration's effort to fulfil a restricted immigration policy and at best we will have people who will be put in places where they will be much more susceptible to this virus and other diseases. so that's what i want to drill down

on here, is the fear of people who are intercepted and the conditions they are kept in, or is this a case of you're worrying their legal protections will not be fulfilled? both. there are people whose rights to get a claim for asylum to make their case will be restricted, and second, let's remember how this disease is spreading. this is spreading because there are unsanitary conditions, people who are not maintaining social distancing, and when you leave people in a place, whether in mexico or their home country, these are people who will already be susceptible because of the dirty conditions, unsanitary conditions, and this is not about sanitary conditions, this is about immigration policy which is trying to again fulfil... the immigration advisor‘s view of the closing of the borders,

and this is another excuse, exploiting a biological crisis to seal our borders. but — sorry to interrupt. borders around the world are being closed off, flights are not flying, health authorities around the world are saying, do not travel, surely that is what president trump is implementing here? no question about that. they are limiting non—essential travel. but when someone is escaping violence, when someone is fearing death, that is essential for those rights to be protected. the headlines on bbc news: the death toll in italy has seen another dramatic rise — nearly 800 people have died in the last 2a hours from coronavirus, the highest total anywhere in the world since the outbreak began. in spain there's been a big rise too, an increase of more than 300 people, bringing the total number of deaths there to more than 1,300. another 56 people with coronavirus have died in the uk, bringing the total of deaths

in the country to 233. and elsewhere in the world, uganda has recorded its first case of coronavirus. all inbound passenger flights and cross—border travel have been suspended. eritrea and angola have also reported their first infections bolivia is postponing may's presidential elections because of a countrywide quarantine beginning on sunday. the electoral authorities said they would suspend the vote for two weeks to match the quarantine but did not set a new date. in peru, the government has ordered the main international airport in lima to close on sunday, frustrating plans by the spanish government to repatriate hundreds of spanish travellers. in australia, the authorities have

closed sydney's famous bondi beach. police took action after beach—goers exceeded the newly—imposed limit on outdoor mass gatherings. australia has just recorded its biggest dailyjump in confirmed coronavirus cases, with the total now above 1,000. shaun hassett has more. this was bondi beach on friday. it's the most popular strip of sand in sydney. two popular, in fact, for the current crisis. 0n sydney. two popular, in fact, for the current crisis. on saturday, the authorities closed it down. there's with a significant level of disappointment that we have to move today to not only remove people from bondi beach, but use this as an opportunity to remind everybody that the health act must be complied with. large crowds of people flouted the restrictions brought in earlier this week. the australian government has banned outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people. it's also

requested people to keep at least four square metres apart while out in public. what we saw this morning here in bondi beach was the most irresponsible behaviour of individuals that we've seen so far. some beach—goers admitted they were trying to squeeze in one last swim. i think this is a last hurrah, to be quite honest. i think from tomorrow this will definitely... i mean, we shouldn't be doing it now. officials say this closure will be temporary. when he beach reopens, police and lifesavers will work to make sure the 500 person limit is respected. the government has warned of long—term closures if people don't practice responsible social distancing stop and that applies to more thanjust distancing stop and that applies to more than just beaches. the distancing stop and that applies to more thanjust beaches. the prime minister has flagged the possibility of locking down virus hotspots as early as next week. shaun hassett, bbc news. sport now. holly hamilton has a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good evening. another federation urging the olympic organisers to take action — this time from athletics us governing body who want this

summer's games to be postponed. usa track and field chief executive max siegel has written a letter to the us olympic and paralympic committee saying: "we certainly understand the ramifications of this request. but the alternative of moving forward in light of the current global situation would not be in the best interest of our athletes as difficult as that decision might be." well, earlier i spoke 0lympic hopeful and usa track and field board member wallace spearmon who says this pandemic is bigger than sport. i had my first chance of making the 0lympic i had my first chance of making the olympic team in 200a. they made the tea m olympic team in 200a. they made the team in 2008, i got third and got disqualified at the limbic games. after finishing, disqualified at the limbic games. afterfinishing, lacazette, with the bronze medal, taken away. 2012 are finished fourth place, 2016 i got hurt. so this is my last chance to make 0lympic hurt. so this is my last chance to make olympic games. and still it doesn't change any thoughts i have. they would never look back on this

moment and say i was something else could have happened if we can save lives. and i don't get a chance to redeem as of the games, it's still worth it. but again. it's been about me. i had my chances. they should have done a betterjob. everything happens for a reason. i wouldn't change my mind at all. brazil, norway, and slovenia's 0lympic committees have also urged the ioc to take action, while usain bolt‘s former coach agrees. glen mills, who was head coach of the jamaican athletics team at six games, doesn't believe that athletes will be in the best shape for tokyo if it does go ahead this summer. i don't think that the olympics will be able to take place under this, self isolating. because there are brea kers self isolating. because there are breakers worldwide. and in some countries is just starting to accelerate. my recommendation would be to postpone the olympics until next year. this would be

unprecedented, so we are —— in unprecedented, so we are —— in unprecedented times. move everything one year and then everything will eventually fall back in place. former italy captain paolo maldini has tested positive for the virus. the club confirmed he and his son had both been diagnosed and said they are well. meanwhile, juventus and argentina forward paulo dybala tweeted this earlier — to say he and his girlfriend both have the virus but are in good health. dybala is the third juve player to be confirmed to have the virus. closer to home, four portsmouth players have tested positive for the virus. the league one club have notified public health england with andy cannon, sean raggett, haji mnoga, and james bolton, seen here scoring in the fa cup in january, all now self—isolating. all players and first team staff were tested earlier in the week and portsmouth said they are awaiting results of ten more tests.

with the announcement that domestic cricket in england has been postponed until at least may, cricket ireland have confirmed their seven match men series against bangladesh is to be put on hold. the two nations played each other last may in dublin, but after the coronavirus outbreak, this year's series has been postponed. it comes five days after ireland's tour of zimbabwe was called off. and finally some good news from the world of sport — worcester warriors forward michael fatialofa is making a miraculous recovery after a life—threatening injury he suffered at the start of the year. fatialofa was taken to intensive care with a neck injury he suffered against saracens onjanuary 5. the injury happened just a minute after he came on as a substitute. but after 11 weeks in hospital he's now managing to walk unaided. his wife tatiana posted this video on social media, saying, "you're witnessing a miracle that even medical professionals can't explain."

great news. that's all the sport news for now. bye from me. tributes have been paid to the country singer kenny rogers, who has died aged 81. best known for hits such as coward of the county and the gambler, he had 20 number ones in the us country charts. david silltoe has more. # baby when i met you, there was peace unknown. # i set out to get you with a fine tooth comb. # i was soft inside. # there was something... my mom said it very well one day. she said, "that boy never worked a day in his life. "all he ever did was sing." he'd grown up in houston, one of eight children in a poor family in the city's housing projects. # there are people leading people... he'd started out singing close harmony and then turned to jazz. this is him playing bass. after that came folk...

# i found my mind in a brown paper bag... but his breakthrough was ‘60s psychedelia in the band the first edition. # i tripped on a cloud... but the future was a country—tinged song of theirs about a korean veteran. when the band folded... # ruby... ..kenny rogers went solo. # don't take your love to town... # you've got to know when to hold them... ruby, lucille, coward of the county, the gambler — few country stars have crossed over with such success. # there'll be time enough for counting. # when the dealing's done... there were always those who doubted his country credentials, but who needs the purists when you've got the mansion? 0ffstage, he'd had five marriages, a serious tennis habit, an interior design firm... # it's kenny rogers' roasters! ..and a chain of

chicken restaurants. # islands in the stream. # that is what we are. # no—one in between. # how can we be wrong?...# but, really, it was all about the music. from jazz and folk to the country duet that topped them all. # from one lover to another, ah—ha # now it's time for a look at the weather. high there, how's it going? it is a chilly start to part two of the weekend. we have clear skies and a fairly brisk wind across southern and eastern areas. that's going to say quite brisk as we head on into the start of next week. high pressure dominates the scene so it should stay largely dry. but across the north—west we have got this weather front as we head on into

next week it could be fly in your meant to bring rainfall here and stronger force winds. meant to bring rainfall here and strongerforce winds. built meant to bring rainfall here and stronger force winds. built to be mainly dry through next week because of that area of high pressure. but a bit of sunshine around, but it will be quite chilly. certainly for the next three days, because it will turn a bit milder as we move through tuesday and wednesday. but tonight will be cold with some frost around. the cold air mass still with us for pa rt the cold air mass still with us for part two of the weekend, the breeze coming in from the south—east, could be quite strong at times. amy not quite as strong as we had today, it felt quite cold and raw. start thuney off with rain and cloud across the north—east coast of england, north—east scotland. it should tend to drift northwards and feed away. we should see more sunshine for scotland and for northern ireland through sunday afternoon. plenty of sunshine for england and wales. more so than for today. the windowsill of feature but not as strong. with more sunshine around the wind is not as strong —— the wind is still a feature. actually across southern and eastern coast. as we had through sunday

night it will be a cold one under clear skies. the weather front making a return to the north—west of scotland. temperature 6—7d compare that to a hard frost, medically out—of—town and cities. don't be surprised to wake up to things like this on monday morning, frost around, but this goes overhead, with plenty of sunshine in the morning. you can see through the day it will stay sunny for most areas. that weather front beginning to approach back into the north—west of scotland on the northern isles, was not, outbreaks of rain, strengthening winds. a bit of loud further into scotla nd winds. a bit of loud further into scotland and northern ireland. elsewhere widespread sunshine. the wind not as strong, 10— will be the high. tuesday, again, sunny for much of the country. the weather front minimal cloud, scotland, northern ireland. a lot of cloud piling in with strong winds. we change our air mass, a little bit milder with a southerly wind on tuesday. we could see 12 — 1a degrees. as pleasant across england and wales through the week, quite milder times across the south. a bit more cloud for scotland

and northern ireland. a few spots of rain initially but then it could turn drier the chillier towards the end of the week. that's how was looking. good night.

hello. this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment. first, the headlines. 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. another 56 people with coronavirus have died in the uk, bringing the total of deaths in the country to 233. the death toll in italy has seen another dramatic rise — the prime minister has ordered the closure of all businesses, not directly involved in the effort to suppress the coronavirus outbreak. and there's been a dramatic rise in the number of deaths in spain