very much for the moment. there you very much for the moment. there have been many other developments through the course of the afternoon, both in this country and beyond, so let's bring you up on the very latest that has been emerging on the coronavirus. in that news conference at the prime minister stopped short of announcing new measures to ensure people observe social distancing, but he said the uk needed to heed the message. on social distancing and the further measures we may bring in, i don't think you need to use your imagination very much to see where we might have to go, and we will think about this very actively in the next 2a hours, we need to think about the kind of measures we have seen elsewhere. other countries have been forced to bring in restrictions on people's movement altogether. as i say, i don't want to do that because i have

tried to explain the public health benefits, the benefits to people's mental and health well—being, the fa ct mental and health well—being, the fact that you can go out. it is so important that that pleasure and that ability is preserved, but it can only be preserved if everybody a cts can only be preserved if everybody acts responsibly and conforms with those principles of staying apart from one another and social distancing. i know it is hard, but thatis distancing. i know it is hard, but that is the best way forward. if we cannot do that, we will have to bring forward tougher measures. let's go back to our chief political correspondent vicky young who was in that news conference and is now outside downing street. it sounded like a last chance to follow advice before we do something that is more forced? as he put it, you don't have to use your imagination to know what the next step will be, because we can see it happening in other

countries throughout europe. it is much more draconian, it is to stay in your house and not come out, and in some cases not at all, and in other cases to get food and medicine. borisjohnson other cases to get food and medicine. boris johnson does other cases to get food and medicine. borisjohnson does not wa nt to medicine. borisjohnson does not want to go down that route because the government feels they have already taken enormous steps. if you look at the difference in our lives in the past week from closing huge parts of the british economy, closing schools for most children from tomorrow, now asking the most vulnerable with underlying health conditions to stay indoors for 12 weeks, advising the elderly to take notice of social distancing, staying two metres away from people. they hope that should be enough and they are trying to balance that, the measures they are taking, with the impact that will have on the spread of the virus. from listening to the deputy chief medical officer, they think people going out and exercising, going out to parks and

staying two metres apart, for mental well—being and for physical well—being and for physical well—being that is incredibly valuable. but if people do not follow the rules and they gather together in large groups, if they have parties, that will work. coming down the track is something a lot more severe. that is what they are weighing up. boris johnson more severe. that is what they are weighing up. borisjohnson is saying they are considering this carefully in the next 2a hours, so we will have to see what tomorrow's press conference brings, but it sounded like a last warning. some london parks will be closing from this evening and we have heard from essex cou nty evening and we have heard from essex county council, which is going to close all of its country parks from atm. all sorts of measures are coming into place in different countries, which we will get to in a moment, but this is a real test of the nation, in many ways a logistics test. this idea of 1.5 million people in isolation, not all of them

will need supplies to their doorsteps, but some will, and the communities secretary making it clear that this will be a worrying time for people. yes, it is alarming toa time for people. yes, it is alarming to a lot of people, the idea that you will have to stay in your home for 12 weeks, do not see your loved ones. of course you will be worried about food and medicine and he is trying to reassure people by saying we have the best army logistics people getting involved. they will not be delivering the food necessarily, but they will be helping an army of volunteers to do that. straightaway you have to identify these people. gps will be doing that, sending letters out to people. pharmacists will deliver medicine. think about 1.5 million people in england alone, and trying to get this organised quickly is the kind of feat we will not have done before. all of this, with every aspect of this pandemic, whether it is the chancellor working out the

money to give to businesses to keep them afloat, the money to give to workers to try and make sure that they can survive, keep a roof over their heads, on every single front each government department is having to bring in the kind of measures they could never, ever have dreamt of. they will have to try and wear out in advance what kind of thing is going to be done, whether it is the nhs ramp it up things, getting more staff involved, all of these things will have to happen simultaneously and you got a real sense today of how difficult that will be. vicky young, chief political correspondent, thank you very much indeed. spain has doubled the current 15 day state of emergency as its debts rose by 400 in the last 24—hour is. it has also restricted arrivals at ports and airports. italy has reported another 651

deaths since yesterday. the total now stands at 5476, which is far higher than in china. in the last hour the german chancellor, angela merkel, has announced she will be going into quarantine after coming into co nta ct going into quarantine after coming into contact with a doctor who is infected with coronavirus. angela merkel also announced a ban on gatherings of more than two people in public outside work. this will be enforced for at least two weeks. she said it will not apply to people from the same household. the number of cases in germany has been climbing rapidly, although the number of deaths in the country remains nil. speaking about the ban, angela merkel warned there would be consequences for people who do not comply. translation: we have today agreed the following guidelines. firstly, citizens are asked to keep contact firstly, citizens are asked to keep co nta ct to firstly, citizens are asked to keep contact to people outside of their own household to an absolute

minimum. secondly, when in public people must, wherever possible, ensure a distance of at least 1.5 metres, preferably two metres, between themselves and anyone outside of the aforementioned group. thirdly, spending time in public is only permitted for people who are on their own with one other person from outside their household, i repeat one other person, or with people from their own household. angela merkel. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has announced 416 people have tested positive for the virus in scotland. ten people have now died. speaking during a press briefing, the first minister said she will not hesitate to implement emergency legislation to shut down pubs which are avoiding advice to close. it is with huge sadness i must confirm ten people have now died in scotland, an increase of 3 cents yesterday. my thoughts are very much with their loved ones. today we have also had to call on military help to

transport a patient from one of scotland's's islands to the mainland for treatment. this underlines the fa ct for treatment. this underlines the fact that no part of scotland will not be affected by this virus, no pa rt not be affected by this virus, no part of our country will not have people who either have it now or get it in the future. unfortunately, no corner of scotland is not at risk of seeing some of their residents die from it. let me say a word about pubs, clubs, from it. let me say a word about pu bs, clu bs, restau ra nts from it. let me say a word about pubs, clubs, restaurants and gyms. the vast majority have complied with the advice to close and i thank them for that. last night a tiny minority stayed open. let me be blunt, in doing so they put lives at risk. my message to them is close now. we will have emergency powers within days to force you to close and we will use these powers if we have to, but you should do the right thing now and help us save lives. these are now and help us save lives. these a re steps now and help us save lives. these are steps we all must take to protect scotland. police scotland

officers are visiting premises today in order to have them closed. you are watching bbc news.

the prime minister warns of tougher measures if social distancing advice isn't followed. borisjohnson said that if people stay at home, many lives would be saved. orange keep the indentation —— mega we will keep the indentation —— mega we will keep the indentation —— mega we will keep the information of these measures under constant review and we will bring forward further measures if we think that is necessary. 1.5 million of the most high—risk people will also be told to not leave home for 12 weeks, to shield them from coronavirus. also on the programme. spain's state of emergency is extended for another two weeks, while in italy, the death toll from the virus rises again. primark is the latest high street chain to close its doors until further notice.

and new ways of reaching parishoners on a sunday without church services as usual. good afternoon. the prime minister today urged the public again to follow the rules for social distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus. speaking in downing street in the past few minutes, he said the government would bring forward further measures if necessary if the two—metre rules isn't observed. it comes as 1.5 million people at greatest risk are being told they must self—isolate for 12 weeks. the government says it's drawing up plans to deliver food parcels to those without friends, family or neighbours to help them. the number of people who have died in the uk with coronavirus has risen to 281.

there have been 5,683 confirmed cases. here's our health editor hugh pym. right. at his daily press conference, the prime ministerfirst had at his daily press conference, the prime minister first had thanks for nhs staff and those who had followed official advice to limit social contact, cancelling mother's day visits, for example, or sacrificing business by closing pubs, restau ra nts a nd business by closing pubs, restaurants and gyms. but he hinted there could be more measures to come. we will keep the implementation of these measures under constant review and, yes, of course, we will bring forward further measures if we think that is necessary. so always remember, in following this advice, and i know how difficult it is, but always remember that each and every one of us, you, are doing your bit in following this advice. so how much

social distancing has there been today? in brighton, they were out and about. it was maybe quiet for a sunny spring sunday. meanwhile, this was richmond park in south—west london. this early morning train was crowded, some perhaps heading into work. and at the supermarket, aisles we re work. and at the supermarket, aisles were full as people with their trolleys focused on shopping. and in the yorkshire dales, families were out walking as usual, enjoying the sunshine. for almost all of us, there are no new rules which say we should stay at home. it is ok to go for a walk or have a run, especially ona for a walk or have a run, especially on a day like this. but there are clear new guidelines on what we should and shouldn't be doing if we do go out. the advice to the general public is to stay at least two metres apart, to avoid all gatherings, for example, groups of friends, and to avoid all nonessential travel. the over 70s and those with an underlying condition should be extra careful,

for example people with asthma and diabetes all who are pregnant. they are advised to significantly limit face—to—face interaction, including friends and family. there's different guidance for up to 1.5 million people with serious health conditions, including cystic fibrosis, specific cancers, and those needing dialysis. they have been told not to go out for 12 weeks. we will be setting out to them how we are going to help them. so they might be staying at home for a long time but they should not be alone. we are going to do this in a number of ways. medicines are going to be delivered through community pharmacies and food and supplies are going to be delivered through local councils with the support of supermarkets and the armed forces. as for the front line of the nhs, ministers say specialist protective equipment has been dispatched to doctors and nurses who could be treating patients with coronavirus. but some say it has not yet arrived. we have been hearing over the last few days and weeks from doctors

across the country, who are really particularly worried about the lack of personal protective equipment that they have been seeing on the front line. we have had doctors tell us that they feel like lambs to the slaughter, that they feel like cannon fodder. doctors and public health experts were out on the street of bradford today, stressing the key messages designed to help protect the most vulnerable. the aim is to look after them and do everything possible to reduce future pressure on the nhs. hugh pym, bbc news. our political correspondent vicki young is at downing street. we had more of the same advice on social distancing, from the prime minister, and yet with an added edge to it and a warning. yes, i think the language is becoming more blunt, isn't it? in newspaper articles, the prime minister said overnight that the uk was two or three weeks behind what is happening in italy, and we can all see what is going on there. these measures are all about stopping the nhs becoming overwhelmed and that in itself would save lives. what many of us wanted

to know was why they are not moving to know was why they are not moving to more severe to know was why they are not moving to more severe measures, to know was why they are not moving to more severe measures, why to know was why they are not moving to more severe measures, why not impose them rather than just advising people? it is clear from his answer that what he feels is that actually huge steps have been taken ready. think back a week. since then, large parts of the uk economy have been closed down. schools will be closed for most children from tomorrow and now 1.5 million people with underlying issues will be told to stay inside for 12 weeks. he clearly thinks that is taking huge steps which should help stop the problem is, though, it may not be enough. the clear message from people, it sounded like a last minute warning to people, a last chance, that is people don't go outside and behave responsibly by staying two metres apart and social distancing, actually, there could be further measures coming and he said very clearly they are going to actively consider this over the next 24 hours. vicki young, thank you. now to the latest from elsewhere in europe on the virus.

the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic engulfing europe has catapulted in several hotspots across the continent despite restrictions being ramped up. in italy, another 651 have died since yesterday. the total now stands at 5,476 since the outbreak began. in the worst—hit region, lombardy, all outside sport and physical activity has been banned. in spain, the state of emerency has been extended for two weeks and they‘ re restricting entry to foreigners. almost 400 people have died there in the last 24 hours, the country's worst daily figures so far. more on that in a moment from damian grammaticas in madrid but first, sima kotecha reports from rome. every day, it gets quieter here. now, even hotels are closing after the government ordered all nonessential businesses to shut down, another move that turns this tourist city into something like a ghost town. hotel proprietors are anxious

about what lies ahead. translation: on a financial level, let's hope the state helps us in some way. if they don't, it will definitely be very worrying. but on the other hand, she's keen to isolate. we don't know who is positive with coronavirus. even we could be infecting people who come to stay with us. thousands of doctors from across italy have applied to be part of a task force working in the worst—affected areas. here in rome, a moving tribute to all those working in hospitals and trying to save lives. it says, "we stand with you". planes with extra medical supplies have arrived from russia to help hospitals here cope with the rising death toll. in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, in some regions, people are no longer allowed to go more than a few hundred metres from their homes.

it seems as if europe has stopped and each day, with new death figures, it feels that little bit more still. streets drained of life, but out of sight, spain's fight against the virus is ceaseless. here, in a hotel, the first of many that are being requisitioned to serve as an overflow for ha rd—pressed hospitals, it's how spain is trying to contain the infection. so the prime minister has been forced to govern by teleconference. he announced the current state of emergency will last until mid april. restrictions on daily life getting even tighter. and this is what we found when we ventured beyond madrid. empty motorways. miles and miles of them. virtually no traffic. this is one of spain's main

north—south highways. the only things moving? trucks. filled with food. so apart from the bare essentials to keep this country functioning, spain really has come to a standstill. but despite these measures, there is no sign that the spread of the virus is being brought under control. the shutdown has left this entire country eerily emptied, public places abandoned. and this is the ancient city of cordoba, usually filled with tourists. not now. nothing. if the virus is a natural disaster, it is one that has left everything intact. just the people have vanished from view. manuela's family have run their gift shop here for 100 years. translation: it is like a nightmare. my main worry is nobody in my family gets the virus. back in madrid, lorry—loads

of oxygen for a new 1000—bed treatment centre the army is building in the city's convention centre, as all of spain's efforts are now directed at trying to save lives. damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid. the fashion chain primark is the latest in a string of high street retailers to temporarily shut up shop. it's cancelling all future orders and is expected to close all of its 189 uk stores from tonight. here's our business correspondent katy austin. there have been queues at wholesalers and a spike in online shopping. amazon has struggled to keep up with demand for household staples and medical supplies. but non—food shops which rely on walk—in customers have suffered badly. timpson's is closing its 2,000 sites after a 60% fall in sales. we have based our assumptions on the fact that we will be closing our shops for at least three months. we've got to cut costs as quickly

as we can but make sure we look after the colleagues who have been with us a long time and to make sure that it is viable for them as well. shops don't have to close but health concerns and lack of trade mean more and more are, from river island tojohn lewis, where shutters will fall across the country on monday night, although its online operation will remain open. now primark is expected to close all 189 of its uk stores tonight and it doesn't have an online offering to full back on. primark has weeks and weeks of stock already on its way to the uk by sea and more sitting in warehouses. so it has cancelled all future orders for now to avoid buying things it simply won't be able to sell. many struggling stores are asking already under—pressure landlords to defer rents. then there's the impact of cancelled orders on the vast retail supply chain. they may be planning two to three years ahead with manufacturers all over the world. and this isn'tjust about the uk,

retailers all over the world are having to withdraw from manufacturing commitments. so the knock—on effects on the global economy are going to be quite significant and will last for quite some time. emergency government measures such as scrapping business rates are designed to protect firms and jobs. shops hope when they are out of hibernation, customers will return. katy austin, bbc news. for many of us, aspects of daily life have changed in ways we might not have anticipated even a couple of weeks ago. mother's day get—togethers were advised against. church of england services didn't take place today. but some churches did find ways to reach their congregations, as phillip norton reports. on this mothering sunday, when many are far from family, friends or loved ones... church services like never before, on facebook, youtube, and this, broadcast on local radio stations. the temptation is to pull up the drawbridge and just

look after ourselves. that is the kind of thing that leads to panic buying, to growing fear and to spiritual and emotional, as well as physical, isolation. all faiths finding new ways to celebrate and support. 13—year—old yuval‘s bar mitzvah, broadcast to his family. glory be to the omniscient... here in east london, this was friday prayers. welcome to st albans cathedral. a scene repeated all across the country. we are keeping our social distancing. just weeks ago in flooded yorkshire, the church was a focal point. but there were no services for vicar eleanor robertshaw in snaith today. it almost feels like, what else can you throw at us? everybody‘s already really fatigued from dealing with the flooding and now, to move straight into this is just exhausting. but we have the advantage that community spirit was so built up then that itjust continues and that is brilliant. there are unsold mother's day flowers, the nation told

to keep away from mum. for many, this is how mother's day greetings had to be made. happy mother's day, mum. sorry i can't be there this year. that's ok, phillip. i quite understand. it's the same for everybody. and for these mothers in lockdown in a care home in prestwich, a message to their families. the point is to take each day as it comes, carry on regardless, be happy. it is a weekend when we have distanced ourselves from the ones we love, but it has seen people come together in new ways. philip norton, bbc news. and you can keep up with the latest developments about the coronavirus outbreak, on the bbc news app and on our website. that's all from us for now. goodbye.

welcome to bbc london. i'm alice bhandhukravi. good evening, it has felt chilly with that easterly breeze over the weekend but we will change our winter direction for the start of the week. we will pick up more of a south—westerly. however, we will still have frost by night even though we remain with a lot of dry weather with a high—pressure ion. however, in the north and west we will see the rain falling, a met office weather warning of over 100 millilitres of rain over monday, tuesday and wednesday, particularly for the islands and highlands of scotla nd for the islands and highlands of scotland and that weather front will be moving in as we go through the night time as well but, elsewhere, under the starry skies, temperatures will plummet, widespread frost, colder than last night for some and could be quite a sharp frost in some of the glans as well, we could even pick upa of the glans as well, we could even pick up a bit of mist and fog as well as losing the breeze. in the far north and west, that is where we will see the changes mostly through the day on monday, hazy sunshine, increasingly from northern ireland and parts of mainland scotland with the proximity of the weather front but the rain really for the western isles and northern ireland —— mac northern isles and northwest mainland. and a few showers potentially through the channel islands here, but for most of us as

we lose the breeze, we will realise 12 or 13 more widely and potentially double figures for the east coast. their wins remain light overnight, another widespread frost in southern areas with a bit of mist and fog as well but you notice towards the north that rain fall is putting closer in, the cloud thickening, gales potentially through monday and into tuesday across parts of north and west scotland. more cloud and potentially some spots of rain through mainland scotland, pushing close by to northern ireland, even a bit of high cloud elsewhere for england and wales, but, here, with light winds and plenty of sunshine we will see 15 or 16 degrees. two very different weather types really on tuesday. by the time we get into tuesday night and wednesday, we are starting to see that weather front drifting southwards and influencing the rest of scotland and northern ireland so some rainfall to come here, but again for the bulk of england and wales, a bit chilly first thing and possibly a bit of mist and fog but we still should see 13 or 14 degrees. thereafter, thursday and friday, the weather front will eventually reach southern parts across england and wales but by then we think weakening because it comes into the high pressure, behind it however, we have a cold went which will bring with it some wintry showers as well. as we head towards the end of the week and into next weekend. the warnings are on the website. good evening, it has felt chilly with that easterly breeze over the weekend but we will change our winter direction for the start of the week. we will pick up more

of a south—westerly. though we remain with a lot of dry weather with a high—pressure. however, in the north and west we will see the rain falling, a met office weather warning of over 100 millilitres of rain over monday, tuesday and wednesday, particularly for the islands and highlands of scotland and that weather front will be moving in as we go through the night time as well but, elsewhere, under the starry skies, temperatures will plummet, widespread frost, colder than last night for some and could be quite a sharp frost in some of the glens as well, we could even pick up a bit of mist and fog as well as losing the breeze. in the far north and west, that is where we will see the changes mostly through the day on monday, hazy sunshine, increasingly from northern ireland and parts of mainland scotland with the proximity of the weather front but the rain really for the western isles and northern isles and northwest mainland. and a few showers potentially through the channel islands here, but for most of us as we lose the breeze, we will realise 12 or 13 more widely and potentially double figures for the east coast. the winds remain light overnight, another widespread frost in southern areas with a bit of mist and fog as well as we head towards the end of the week and into next weekend.

the warnings are on the website. the prime minister warns of tougher measures if social distancing advice isn't followed. he says people who are acting irresponsibly are putting lives at risk. we will keep the implementation of these measures under constant review and yes, of course we will bring forward further measures if we think that is necessary. nhs england writes one and half million of the most high risk people, who are told to not leave home for 12 weeks — to shield them from the coronavirus. now on bbc news it's to get the latest sports news, here's katie sha na han. hello the international olympic hello committee has given itself

a deadline of four more weeks to decide whether they will postpone this year's olympics. at a executive board meeting this afternoon, they ruled out cancelling the games in tokyo, which are due to start at the end ofjuly. this comes after more athletes from the around the world, added their voices to calls for the olympics and paralympics to be postponed. global athlete, fronted by the british olympic cycling champion callum skinner says that the games should be pushed back. if they're not, he thinks that athletes could be forced into boycotting the olympics. i think they're concerned about having the decision rest on their judgment. i think what we'd prefer to see is for the ioc and the ipc to ta ke to see is for the ioc and the ipc to take leadership on this and say that they don't consider it to be safe. i don't know if you remove the 2016 games, there were concerns about the zika virus. that seems to pale in comparison with what we're seeing with covid—19 but we saw a number of

athletes choosing not to attend because of concerns that virus. this is also an issue which isn't totally in the control of the organisers, even in the control of the organisers, evenif in the control of the organisers, even if they plan to push ahead, which i would think would be ill—advised. you may see mass boycotts a nd ill—advised. you may see mass boycotts and that would do long—term damage to the olympic movement. southampton's chief executive has told the bbc that premier league matches could be televised every day while people are still confined to their homes due to the coronavirus outbreak. as things stand, all football is suspended until the end of april. but martin semmens believes that football returning to the country could be a "good thing," if it was safe to do so. adding that teams are hopeful of completing the league by the end ofjune, but doesn't yet know when play will resume. standing, having spent a reasonable amount of time with the government, is that in the right situation in the right time, when everyone is safe and we aren't using up

resources the government would like us to get back to playing because we are an entertainment and we would be are an entertainment and we would be a sign that the country is coming back to normal. if people are home for another month and there is a premier league football game on tv everyday that could be a good thing. meanwhile, the former manchester united midfielder, marouane fellaini has tested positive for coronavirus. the belgium international, who currently plays in the chinese premier league, is reportedly in isolation in hospital. according to his club, he is fit and well, and they believe he will get better soon. now the former england cricket captain michael vaughan says that be believes it was the right decision to completely suspend the season. in a few days' time, county cricket would have been getting underway, but instead it's been pushed back until the end of may at least. england's international summer is supposed to start injune with a three—test series against the west indies. cricket is like many sports, knowing

when they can play again. i think they've made the right decision. everyday we are getting terrible message “— everyday we are getting terrible message —— different messages about this terrible virus. we'll have to go on the later advice. if we can play and the international calendar can take place from june the 4th, that would be terrific but first and foremost, cricket, like everyone else, is hoping that everyone stays safe and sport becomes secondary after what the country and world are going through. worrying times for the sport but like everyone in society over here, we'll knuckle down and fight through it and i'm sure we'll be back later in the summer. that's all of the sport. we'll have more for you in the next hour. bye for now. thank you, katie. now on bbc news, with the latest information and health advice on coronavirus including what the symptoms are, and how to self—isolate here's a special guide, presented by victoria derbyshire.

hello and welcome to this special programme. i'm victoria derbyshire. 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 on 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 covid—19. most people will only be mildly affected by it but it can kill. tracts, 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? here is laura. 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 14 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 nhs111 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. back of the hands. between the fingers. 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. millions of us 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. from getting infected. 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. don't touch your face. 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, you're telling yourself to do something that is unnatural. 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—sympathetic nervous system, which is the thing that makes us calm ourselves down internally. we see the same response in dogs, cats, children often 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 easierfor them to land on yourface, 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 from this pandemic is people wearing masks. on 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 hand 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 on you, 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, and touching surfaces that so if you have been out in public places and touching surfaces 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 suspect 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 oliver, he is a clinical psychologist with an expertise in 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 practical 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. "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 nicola says, "i am a single parent, i lost my husband 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. 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 us, we are there to represent you and speak to different services and help you.

you are not alone, i understand you feel that you are. 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 ocd this is alarming. people with ocd 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. for those people who have been through treatment, their psychological treatment for ocd will be teaching them that the environment and the world is not the feared 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 ocd is if somebody feels that their 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 for 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 can cause some concern because it may make the person think that this is a serious situation and that they were right to fear this. it may bring some relief because for somebody who is anxious, they may find it difficult to leave the house anyway. but they may have avoided in the past going

out because they fear that they cannot control the environment outside their house. i think that some positive things people can do so they don't make their condition worse is staying in touch with people. if they are self isolating make sure there is phone contact, make sure there is contact by video messaging, so they stay connected to people. make sure that they do things that are distracting. things they might enjoy doing, jobs around the house that might distract them from these thoughts. that's another key message. the third thing is to make sure that they follow the advice, don't upscale and excessively hand wash and clean because that's going to make the situation worse. it would only usually be if someone had a predisposition to ocd. so, of

course there's the risk that in this outbreak, people may become very focused on something and could become very obsessed with hand washing, and that that repetition and temporary relief that it brings may set off a pattern of obsessive—compulsive symptoms. so, it is possible. it's not a high risk. it's not the case that the coronavirus is going to, you know, excessively increase the incidence of ocd in the country and the world. but it's possible that for some individuals it may lead to ocd symptoms and it may bring that diagnosis about. across the world medical researchers are racing to find a vaccine for the virus but it's thought that could be up to a year to 18 months away. 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 in a lab. it started on a computer. this is the dna of coronavirus? yes, it is. 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 have been using it to find out exactly what they're up it to find out exactly what they're up against. sequencing helps us to understand how the virus actually looks in terms of its physical properties and that's really important because the spike protein you see around the edge of the virus, that's what we need the antibodies to attach to to prevent the virus entering ourselves. that's 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 lad. they don't have the actual virus

here yet. their 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. we aren't allowed inside but we can talk tojonathan who is leading the research. we can use a bit off analogy to get hold of him. can hear me? hello, richard. you are collaborating with people around the world, they are experts like you, chatting online and sharing ideas about what to do next. absolutely, this is a huge global effort. with australia, i was in british columbia, i've been in the us and we are having teleconferences daily on the situation, the variability, the transmission dynamics. and really trying to get as much information from the epidemic to help us develop the best

vaccine as quickly as possible. have you ever known anything like this in your career in terms of the speed? no, this is really unique. it has spread globally very quickly. and it's caught everybody off guard. they've begun testing possible coronavirus vaccines on animals but to be sure it's safe and effective, it may be next summer before a human version is finally approved. richard wescott on the race to find a vaccine for the virus. 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. i didn't have anything, not even a sniffle or a cough, however on the 7th of

february, early in the morning, 3am, i woke february, early in the morning, 3am, iwoke up february, early in the morning, 3am, i woke up and the room was spinning. hello. isolation is basically four walls with a door. i got my food through a secure hatch. my medication, my change of clothing, my towel. yes, you have the phone, you can text someone, you may have a call, but being completely with no human interaction, almost felt like i could knock on the wall and talk to the patient next door to have a conversation with a human being. when i was going through the critical stage, one person i encountered was really, really... it was so laborious, getting from my bed to the bathroom which was five

metres away. just walking to the bathroom. it was challenging. around the world, despite the devastating impact the virus is having on tens of millions of us, many are coming together in acts of solidarity. here arejust many are coming together in acts of solidarity. here are just a few examples. dance music

that's it for now. a reminder that you can keep up—to—date with the latest on the bbc news website. i am victoria derbyshire. please contact me with your stories on twitter. thank you for watching. good evening. under the clear skies this evening and overnight, temperatures will fall away and we'll have a widespread and quite sharp frost once again. the only exception being the north and west, where this thick cloud is approaching. with the wind light as well we might see some mist and fog. heading into monday, some showers for the channel islands as well. quite a sharp frost as we approach monday morning. yes, a chilly start but we should lose the easterly wind we've seen through the weekend and so temperatures will lift more readily. we'll see increasingly hazy sunshine

for northern ireland and scotland with this weather front and some patchy rain coming to the highlands and the islands. here with the strengthening wind, touching gale force, it will temper our temperatures. but most will see 12 and 13 and on the east coast, where it's been so chilly, double figures. one or two showers for the channel islands. that rain will hang around for the north—west of scotland, and a met office warning is in force here. it will push south to scotland and northern ireland on wednesday.

this is bbc news. the headlines. the uk prime minister warns of tougher measures if social distancing advice isn't followed — he says people who are acting irresponsibly — are putting lives at risk. we will keep the implementation of these measures under constant review and yes, of course, we will bring forward further measures if we think thatis forward further measures if we think that is necessary. nhs england writes to one and half million of the most high risk people, who are told to not leave home for 12 weeks — to shield them from the coronavirus. spain's state of emergency is extended for another two weeks — while in italy the death toll from the virus rises again. primark is the latest uk high street chain to close its doors until further notice.