this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: in italy, coronavirus kills nearly 800 people in a single day — 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. as the death toll rises in the uk, a plea from the prime ministerfor everyone to stay at home — to protect health services — and lives. and deserted streets in south america as brazil's largest state, sao paulo, announces a two—week shut down.

the coronavirus pandemic has now infected more than 300,000 around the world. 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. no children, just empty playgrounds, in rome's largest park. even tougher rules that have come into force today say people can't go into them to try and 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 all, 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, of their reality being 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 allowed to exercise, even on their own in open spaces, as part of the measures aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus. all vending machines will also be banned. aurelio, how do you feel about the coronavirus? thumbs down? yeah! thumbs down. one parent in rome tells us she is worried about the psychological impact the outbreak will have on the young. he is having a little bit

of nightmares, though. he's having nightmares? yeah, yeah. i don't know if it's connected, but he's having nightmares about spiders most nights. he said he's not worried because he's brave. you're 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. in spain, the number of deaths from the virus has jumped by a third in a day, to more than 1,300, that's 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. hard days are ahead of us. we're yet to suffer the impact of the worst wave, the most

harmful, that will push our material and moral capacities to the limit, also our attitudes as a society. here in the uk, borisjohnson has issued a fresh warning 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. the death toll has now risen in the uk to 233. 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 that we've had some shortages in the nhs recently, and i would like to see some 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 all of us 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 has begun 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 is 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 ensure the nhs is not overwhelmed in the months ahead. dominic hughes, bbc news. the prime minister has urged people to follow the advice on social distancing. 0ur correspondent nick eardley says that the government wants people to take the warning seriously. the message from number ten tonight is still stark, the prime minister telling the country that the uk at the moment is just two or three weeks behind italy, urging everyone to follow that advice, saying without a huge national effort to try and stop the spread of this virus, the nhs here could well be overwhelmed. in the next few days, the government will urge 1.5 million people in england alone to stay at home for 12 weeks, to protect themselves

from the virus. the list of who they think is the most vulnerable will be published soon. it has, as i say, been a really extraordinary period in british political history, the prime minister saying tonight that people should stay at home, and help save literally thousands of lives. let's get some of the day's other news. india has launched a 14—hour—long curfew to limit the coronavirus epidemic in the country, where 315 people have so far been found to have contracted the disease. prime minister narendra modi urged citizens to stay indoors — a move that he said would be a crucial test for a country to assess its abilities to fight the pandemic. 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. 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 injust 2a hours. the number of confirmed cases is fast approaching 1,000 in total. in the us, 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. meanwhile 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. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes is in los angeles. he told me more about the lock down and why the vice president mike pence has taken a test for the virus. mike pence really has become the face of america's response to coronavirus, leading the task force. you've probably seen more of mike pence on the television in the past couple of weeks than we have in the past 3.5 years of the trump presidency. so he is a key figure involved in this. it was revealed on friday that

someone in his office had tested positive for the virus, and even though his doctor didn't believe it was necessary for mike pence to have the test, he went ahead anyway, along with his wife. and we've just heard in the last hour or so that he has tested negative. and, of course, president trump a few days ago had the test as well, and he was also negative. you're in los angeles, where there is a stay—at—home order. does "stay—at—home" actually mean stay at home, have you been able to tell? well, it means stay at home unless you're involved in one of the essential businesses, involved in healthcare, unless you have to go out and buy groceries, and clearly that means most people. you are allowed to go out and buy food. there have been queues outside a number of shops. i was out and about earlier today in los angeles, in some of the suburbs, and indeed, that is the situation — that people are being made to queue into stores, not because of the crowding, but actually to keep people a safe distance apart. and people are generally using a lot of common sense in that respect, and trying to stay apart, as they've been advised to do. but what i also noticed was that a number of businesses

— and all businesses in california, unless they're essential, should have closed down. a number are still open. i passed a few garages today with people getting tyres fitted on their cars, and that kind of thing, and those... it may be essential to get around, but there are certain aspects of work that is being done that i think falls out of the ban on people moving around. so i think most people are adhering to it. some are kind of bending the rules a little bit. that the rules a little bit. was peter bowes in los angeles. well, 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 a number of governments to repatriate hundreds of travellers. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the traditional italian song about peace and freedom being played around the world as a show of solidarity for that country's coronavirus victims. very good. applause i'm so proud of both of you. applause let there be no more wars or bloodshed between arabs and israelis.

with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa should be excluded from the 1970 competition. chants streaking across the sky, the white—hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji. onlooker: wow! this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the death toll in italy has seen another dramatic rise. nearly 800 people have died in a 24—hour period from coronavirus — the highest total anywhere in the world since the outbreak began. in spain, there's also been a big rise in the death toll — an increase of more than 300 people — bringing the total number of deaths there to more than 1,300. brazil's largest state sao paulo is closing down

for two weeks from tuesday to help fight the virus. 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. the bbc‘s katy watson has the latest from sao paulo. the city's on lockdown already. the big shopping centres have been closed. 0nly supermarkets, pharmacies are open. restaurants — some restaurants are just doing delivery only. you go out onto the streets and people — there are very few people out on the streets. the parks around the city are all closed — you can't get access to those. so it feels like sao paulo is taking this very seriously. sao paulo has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, being the biggest city, and 15 deaths so far.

so it is taking this, yes, very seriously, especially looking at what is happening in europe. i was speaking to one doctor who said that he does not want to make the same mistakes that have happened in europe, so they are trying their best. especially with the public health system, a public health system that many people feel will not support the level of cases that they are concerned about getting. what about travel, given the fact that sao paulo has one of the busiest airports in the entire region? so far, the airports are still working. some, certainly, foreign citizens are not allowed into the country. the land borders have closed as well, apart from with uruguay. so it's still kind of half—functioning, in that sense, certainly, compared to other parts of the region. you've got argentina, which is on total lockdown. you've got peru, some

of these big countries, you've got venezuela. so i think — i mean, the feeling is, of course you have got bolsonaro the president, who has made light of coronavirus in the past. he's very concerned about the economy. so he's trying to not take it too seriously perhaps as some of the state authorities, certainly, so there's a bit of a divide going on in brazil. you talked about the economy there. has the government put in place any measures to protect people who might now be losing their jobs if businesses are told to stay shut? there have been lots of announcements. there have been — i mean, one of the big concerns is that the informal economy, informal workers, account for about 40% of the economy by some estimates. so that's a huge worry, people who are nowjobless have been let go. independent workers, so we're talking street vendors,

they have been given about $40 a month to help them. so we're still talking still very low numbers compared to other parts of the world like the uk. so, and that is one of the biggest concerns — how long will this go on? i mean, the quarantine here is starting, this sort of semi—lockdown has already started but the numbers we are seeing in europe certainly are not here yet. so how long will people be happy to be in lockdown if they're not seeing any changes or if they are not seeing any big concerns? there's an argument that being in quarantine for a long time will also frustrate a lot of people, and that is also a concern here. katie watson in sao paulo. —— katy watson in sao paulo. right now, millions of people are being told to stay at home with an obvious effect on anxiety and stress levels. i've been speaking to andrea chronis—tuscano who is a clinical psychologist and professor at the university of maryland in washington. i asked her about how people cope. these are uncertain times where everyone has all of these questions running through their heads, like have i been exposed? how long is this

going to go on? what's going to happen to the economy? and so i think that everyone is feeling a sense of anxiety right now, but i think that individuals who are prone to depression and anxiety might be having an even more difficult time. they have a hard time controlling that worry that's running through their heads and all these questions. people who are prone to depression are more likely to feel the mood effects of social distancing and staying inside, and so i think that this is a time when everyone's feeling anxiety but that there are some people experiencing it even more strongly. what can parents tell their children who might be old enough to see that something strange is going on, without frightening them ? right. i think this is the real challenge. it's how do we get our kids to take this very seriously without causing a lot of anxiety and panic?

i think it's really important to consider that parents set the emotional tone for their children, and when something's stressful like this pandemic, children look to their parents for cues about how to respond. so i think that in a time when there is so much that we can't control, we need to look and see what it is that is in our control. what can we do? how can we kind of keep some semblance of structure, some semblance of a schedule? how can we make sure that we and our kids are sticking to their sleep routine? of course, we know that sleep affects mood, et cetera. it does — sorry, andrea. in normal times, it's really frustrating, looking at people's perfect social media feeds. and we see the same thing starting now — that some parents are getting really frustrated seeing other parents putting up tent parties, showing how magical isolation is, when some parents

are really struggling at home trying to work and juggle. that is so true. i think that facebook has been plastered with these home school schedules that i take one look at and think, "wow, that's not realistic for me — i'm trying to work from home" and i think that when we set these unrealistic expectations for ourselves, largely based on social comparison with other people, we're going to look at that and say, "wow, i'm so inferior. why is it that they can do this and i can't?" and i think we need to keep in mind that, first of all, i'm sure that is one snapshot in a chaotic day for them as well, but that we really need to be kind to ourselves and realise that this is a tough time for us, we need to be doing our best and not trying to look at what other people are doing or how other kids seem to be so happy with their parents on facebook, and my child is really struggling with this. you know, how can we be kind

to ourselves and not to set these unrealistic expectations? i think that's really important. andrea chronis—tuscano. it's tulip season in the netherlands but this year, growers are destroying millions of flowers a day as the coronavirus cuts demand. mountains of blooms that might normally have been destined for a mother's day gift are ending up in skips instead. anna holligan reports from the hague. inside the world's largest flower auction. the demand for fresh possums has been decimated. by the pandemic. leaving horticulturalists the undesirablejob leaving horticulturalists the undesirable job of wrecking the source of their own livelihoods. at the moment, the growers a re livelihoods. at the moment, the growers are destroying the flowers at their own nurseries. maybe 70%, 80% of total

production is being demolished. the combination of rock bottom prices and high quality roses and tulips left on the shelf is, they say, unrivalled in the last century. the dutch option already exists for more than 100 years and this is the first time that we are in such a crisis -- time that we are in such a crisis —— auction. time that we are in such a crisis -- auction. growers are now asking the dutch government to rescue them with an emergency financial package or face ruin within weeks. a lot of companies, growers and trade companies will go bankrupt and that will be devastating. for some, it is already too late. this mother's day, the best way for most of us to show our love is by keeping a distance, to protect those and their 60s,

70s and beyond who appeared to be more likely to die if they catch the coronavirus. anna holligan, bbc news, in the hague. the traditional italian song bella ciao is being played around the world as a show of solidarity for everyone living in italy. 0ur reporter freya cole takes a look at some of the videos which are being shared on social media to lift spirits in a time of need. the virtual curtains open and, guided by their conductor in the middle screen, the serbian national theatre performs for their virtual audience from the safety of their own homes. it's hoped the video will remind people of the great tragedy in italy and encourage people to stay indoors. the traditional italian folk song bella ciao is being played from rooftops across

italy to boost morale. the tune dates back to the late 19th century and was sung to protest harsh working conditions and rice paddies in northern italy. today, the hardships are of a different kind. # bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao... another rendition of bella ciao, but this time from a small community in germany. the group took to their balconies as a show of support for italians, knowing they too could be forced to live under more restrictions. all play bella ciao. it's the first time the neighbours have performed together but, given the amount of fun, perhaps not the last. freya cole, bbc news. ingenious what people can do in isolation. if you have been performing music and putting together a 20 piece orchestra in isolation and you want to tell me about it, please send

mea tell me about it, please send me a message. i'm on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews. and there is more on our website. please stay with us. hello there. there is a lot of fine and settled weather in the forecast right across the country. but we will see subtle changes in the north—west. as high pressure holds on for most of us, this weather front will encroach in to bring more cloud, outbreaks of rain to the north—west, and also fairly strong winds. the rainfall amounts really could mount up here as we move into next week. but for most of us, it's going to be settled, thanks to that area of high pressure, so dry for most with a good deal of sunshine around. we'll continue to have a chilly wind. certainly, over the next few days and nights will be cold with some frost around. now, as we head into the early part of sunday, looks like we could see some low cloud just rolling in off the north sea into the north—east of england and into eastern scotland. a bit more cloud for the west of scotland as well. further south, though, clear skies. it's going to be a chilly one

and we will see a touch of frost in places, particularly through central northern areas. now, the cooler air mass is still with us as we head through sunday, being brought in on an east—south—easterly wind, so there will be a bit of a chill to the air again. it's going to be a chilly start generally across the board, but bright with lots of sunshine. we should see that low cloud across the east coast drift northwards and clear away and then we should see more sunshine, infact, through the day for northern ireland and for much of scotland. but by the afternoon, most are seeing some sunshine with fewer clouds around. the winds still a feature but not as strong as they were on saturday. so i think with the sunshine and slightly lighter winds, then, it shouldn't feel too bad. if you are out of that breeze, the top temperatures 11—12 degrees, but cool across southern and eastern coasts. now, as we head through sunday night, there's another cold one under clear skies. that weather front starts to close in to the north—west of scotland, so here, less cold that it will be further south. it could be quite a cold night, in fact, through sunday night. and for monday, we start off with quite a bit of frost

around, at least clear skies with plenty of sunshine, too, so that will compensate for the cold starts. winds a little bit later as well, coming —— winds a little bit lighter as well, coming in from the south—east. for the north—west, though, it turns cloudy. outbreaks of rain for the hebrides and into the northern isles as that weather front loiters there. but elsewhere, in the sunshine, not feeling too bad with light winds,10,11, maybe 12 degrees. tuesday, again, a sunny day for most of us. that weather front introducing a bit more cloud to scotland and northern ireland generally and the rainfall starting to mount up in the north—west corner, some of it heavy at times. notice the temperature's a little bit higher as well — we could see 13, maybe 14 degrees through tuesday. so feeling that little bit milder as we lose the colder air from the east. so it stays generally fine and dry through the week across england and wales. a bit more cloud further north and west.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the death toll in italy has seen another dramatic rise due to coronavirus. nearly 800 people died in a 24—hour period, by far the worst single—day total worldwide since the pandemic began. the covid—19 pandemic has now infected more than 300,000 around the world. there's been a steep rise in the number of deaths in spain too, an increase of more than 300, bringing the total to more than 1,300. spain's prime minister has underlined the importance of people continuing to confine themselves to their homes. here in the uk, the prime minister has urged everyone to follow the guidance to stay at home to protect the nhs and save lives. he also warned that the coronavirus outbreak is accelerating. the uk death toll has risen by 56, bringing the total number of dead to 233.