welcome to bbc news — i'm james reynolds. our top stories: president trump confirms funding for three states worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic — but the senate fails to back a $1 trillion stimulus plan for the us economy. spain bars most foreigners from entry for the next month, as restrictions tighten even further across europe. the uk prime minister warns of tougher measures if social distancing advice isn't followed and lives are put at risk. the olympic flame is already injapan, but hopes the games will go ahead look set to be extinguished.

president trump has approved emergency medical help for the states of new york, california and washington — all hot spots of coronavirus infections in the united states. in a white house news briefing, mr trump said americans were enduring a "great national trial". the extra money he said would go to fund field hospitals offering thousands of extra beds and more more tests. a navy ship — being sent to los angeles — will provide additional medical services. in addition to large quantities of supplies, i've also directed fema to supply the following: four large federal medical stations with 1,000 beds for new york, eight large federal medical stations with 2,000 beds for california, and three large federal medical stations and four small medical stations with 1,000 beds for the state of washington. this action will give them maximum flexibility to safeguard against the virus without having to worry

about costs or liability and freeing up state resources to protect the health and safety of the people in their state. the federal government has deployed hundreds of tons of supplies from our national stockpile to locations with the greatest need in order to assist with those areas. i approve the state of new york's request for a major disaster declaration — something which governor cuomo has been asking for and i agree. and we had it done in very rapid fashion. the us congress has so far failed to agree on a $1 trillion stimulus package in response to the coronavirus. negotiations are continuing over a deal designed to help american workers and companies affected by the global pandemic but our north america correspondent peter bowes says the package is facing a lot of trouble. it's quite simply a problem of democrats and republicans agreeing on the detail of this bill and the sticking point appears to be the emphasis

of the aid, and whether it will help corporate america rather than the everyday worker who are suffering — many of whom have lost their jobs because of the effect of this virus. there was a vote a few hours ago that may have moved things forward significantly. it didn't reach the necessary threshold to move this bill forward, so negotiations continue. it is interesting that the president also talked about this and said that his main emphasis was on helping american workers and pointing out the fact that he is a republican, implying that he actually agrees, to some extent, more with the democrats on this than some of his republican colleagues in congress. and there have been complaints about medical supplies or the building of ventilators? this has been the big complaint from state governors, from mayors around the country, they felt as if they were not getting enough federal help, help from the trump administration, to provide those facilities, the ventilators, the masks, the medical gowns that are so urgently needed.

and bill de blasio, the mayor of new york city, had a very dire warning. he said within days people who could have been saved may well die because of the lack of those supplies. it was only a few hours that president trump came forward and said that those supplies were on the way. there was a truck heading to new york city, there was that medical ship heading to the port of la that would have 1,000 beds, and the mayor of los angeles in the last hour saying it would, in an instant, become the largest hospital in la and alleviate the pressure on other medical facilities on land. you are speaking to me from la, is there that this that that federal aid would make a huge difference or that many more supplies are needed 7 there is a sense it will make a huge difference. not only the ship coming but several structures. we don't know the details of these places or where

exactly they will be, but clearly many structures that will help treat people as well, and again, the mayor of los angeles speaking in the last few hours, sounding positive about the kind of aid that was coming from the federal government but still striking a very serious tone. and another thing we've been talking, you and i, a lot about over the last few days, this question of social distancing and people not necessarily abiding by the order to stay at home. we have seen it again in los angeles, people have been going to the beach and the mayor of los angeles implying that within a few days they might introduce some form of fine to discourage people from doing that. the pandemic is now affecting more than 160 countries and has claimed more than 13,700 lives. italy has seen 651 new virus deaths in the last 2a hours in comparison with almost 800 on saturday. the current death toll nears 5,500. a critical week lies ahead to see if the infection curve continues to flatten. sima kotecha reports from rome.

every day, it gets quieter here. now, even hotels are closing after the government ordered all non—essential 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. translation: we don't know who's 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, 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. sima kotecha, bbc news, rome. the spanish government has extended its state of emerency for two weeks until the 11th of april. spain's death toll from the virus has jumped to over 1,700, with more than 28,000 cases of infection. damian grammaticas reports.

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. with 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 1,000—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.

here the prime minister urged the public again to follow the rules for social distancing and help slow the spread of coronavirus. borisjohnson said if this didn't happen — further measures would be brought in. the number of people who have died in the uk rose to 281, with 5,683 confirmed cases. our health editor hugh pym has more. outside a fish and chip shop in scarborough today, people enjoying the sun, the local streets busy. it's fair to say social distancing has been variable. this was richmond park in south—west london and in recent days there may well have been confusion over the government's messages on what was and wasn't acceptable in the new world of limiting social contact. at his daily press conference the prime ministerfirst had thanks for nhs staff and those who had followed official advice to restrict their leisure plans, cancelling mother's day visits for example, or sacrificing business by closing pubs, restaurants and gyms. but he hinted there could yet

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, you are doing your bit in following this advice. with early morning trains like this full and some heading into work and aisles at supermarkets packed with shoppers and trolleys, the message isn't always getting through, so doctors and public health experts were out on the streets of bradford today, stressing the guidance to people on measures to limit the spread of the virus.

for almost all of us there are no new rules which say we should stay at home. it's ok to go 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 non—essential travel. the over 70s and those with an underlying condition should be extra careful, for example people with asthma and diabetes, or women who are pregnant. they are advised to significantly limit face—to—face interaction, including friends and family. there is 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 shouldn't feel alone. we are going to do this in a number of ways. medicines are going to be delivered through community pharmacists 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 hasn't 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. today doctors and other members of the respiratory team in belfast put out their own message on social media. we are facing our greatest challenge and we are frightened. help us. please stay at home. doctors and nurses have died.

we need to stay healthy so we can help you. hugh pym, bbc news. in germany chancellor angela merkel has announced a ban on gatherings of more than two people in public outside work. announcing the new restrictions, she made an emotional appeal to citizens to stick to the rules. translation: i'm very moved by how many people are adhering to these social distancing rules. it is how we show care for the older people and people with underlying health issues for whom this virus is most dangerous. in short, this is how we save lives. please all go along with this. do the right thing for our country, show reason and empathy. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: 0lympic doubts — why hopes the games will go ahead in japan this yearare diminishing.

the use let there be no more war or bloodshed between so proud of both of you. let there be no more war 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. 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: president trump announces funding for thousands more hospital beds for three states worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic. let's get more now on our top story: i'm joined by professor peter hotez from the baylor college of medicine's national school of tropical medicine in houston texas. let's talk about new york first. the city has 5% of the worlds covid—19 cases. first. the city has 5% of the worlds covid-19 cases. can it cope? that's the big question. it looks like new york city, who would have dreamt a month 01’ who would have dreamt a month or two ago would become one of the epicentres globally for this epidemic. we are hearing

stories of 500 or more patients in the major hospitals, the big teaching hospitals, columbia and cornell, at least 2000 hospitalised so far at around 500 in intensive care units. let's just the beginning. 500 in intensive care units. let'sjust the beginning. it's going to continue to go up. this is the big question. will all of the new york hospitals be able to handle this surge and at the same time, we are seeing healthcare workers get sick and infected and sick and either out of the workforce are in some cases, being hospitalised themselves. the tragedy of course, we knew this was coming and yet there was not enough done to stop it. we've seen governor andrew cuomo speaking often. is new york taking the right steps? they are doing the best they can. we've all heard the term

social distancing where we are asking individuals to stay indoors. not everyone is heeding that advice u nfortu nately. heeding that advice unfortunately. so the numbers will continue to climb and then the question is if the hospitals can't handle it, what's next? there is lots of discussions about bringing in the united states military building makeshift hospitals including one of our convention centres so we don't know where this is going to top off. as healthcare workers continue to get sick and the demoralisation of colleagues, taking care of collea g u es of colleagues, taking care of colleagues and hospitals and icus, this is what we hope to avoid. it looked ——it looks a lot like italy and many respect right here in new york city. what might america learn from other countries in particular, south korea, japan and singapore which seems to have had singapore which seems to have ha d su ccess singapore which seems to have had success with contact tracing and keeping the death rate lower. we knew what we had

to do, we couldn't as a nation get organised to do it. we could not organise ourselves to do all of the diagnostic testing that needed to be done. we did not ramp up as quickly as we needed. we didn't do the social distancing early enough. we are missing opportunities and now we are trying to rely on building new technologies such as convalescent serum, antibodies or prophylactic drugs. 0ur lab has developed a vaccine and moving that into clinical trials but vaccine clinical trials but vaccine clinical testing is a slow process , clinical testing is a slow process, it's at least a year, 18 months away at best so it's a matter of, we are trying to do the hardest thing you can do which is to accelerate new technologies parallel with fighting the epidemic and we don't have a lot of precedent for that. we did it a bit with ebola but we think this is the struggle our two nations face, the united states and england.

can we accelerate new technologies and meaningful technologies and meaningful technologies fast enough to make a difference or are we talking about, if this fire comes back the next time around. just looking globally, we talked about the developed world. what about the developing world, in particular india and latin america, there have been cases in gaza. these are places where healthcare systems do not have enough resources . systems do not have enough resources. you systems do not have enough resources. you are systems do not have enough resources. you are absolutely right and who knows what's going on there and who knows what's going on in the central african republic or malawi or anywhere else? we really have no idea so one of the things we are doing in our lab, right now, most of the vaccines to ologies that are being pursued by the various international bodies including the us, for vaccines, are bodies including the us, for vaccines, are very bodies including the us, for vaccines, are very hi—tech, pretty expensive biotechnologies and we don't necessarily feel that's necessary so we've developed a very low cost, we call it

cheapy very low cost, we call it chea py chea py vaccine very low cost, we call it cheapy cheapy vaccine that could be used in india or other low — and middle—income countries because this has been u nfortu nately countries because this has been unfortunately the history of vaccines, that we build it for the united states and canada and europe and australia and japan and in the developing countries are the ones who are left out and we are trying to change that paradigms. i spent my life, the last a0 years developing vaccines no—one else will make for low income countries and i hope we can be successful. thank you so much for joining successful. thank you so much forjoining us. pressure is going on the international olympic committee to postpone the games. the japanese prime minister shinzo abe has admitted that the summer

tokyo 0lympics may have to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. 0ur sports news correspondent 0lly foster has more on how the decision will be made. the last week or so we've been hearing the concerns, the fears of olympic athletes, their health and welfare, disruption to their training programmes, looking ahead to the summer games, looking for guidance from the ioc well, we heard from them today and they said they are going to be stepping up their scenario planning. that is looking at all the options. we know the olympic flame is injapan, 0lympic president says looking at that country, there have been significant improvements since the first outbreak there. he says he's not going to cancel the games in tokyo but a postponement is certainly on the table for a possible downsizing, scaling back of the games. the british olympic association so there were some rapid decision—making on this for the sake of their athletes. they want postponement, so to world athletics but the trouble is,

thomas barker says it could be up to four weeks with all these discussions taking place with stakeholders, over 200 participating nations, before he makes a decision one way or the other. he's written an open letter to athletes all around the world, he says that 0lympic blame is the light at the end of the tunnel but he writes in that letter that nobody knows how long the tunnel is now. 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 didn't happen and church of england services didn't take place. but faith communities — and others — are finding ways to worship — and come together — 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's 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 have had to be made. happy mother's day, mum. sorry i can't be there this year. oh, 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 theirfamilies. the point is to take each day as it comes, carry on regardless, be happy. it's a weekend when we have distanced ourselves from the ones we love, but it's seen people come together in new ways. philip norton, bbc news. how are you improvising your way through all this? what have

you come up with? if you've got something to say, you can reach me on twitter — i'm @jamesbbcnews. hello there. for this upcoming week, it looks like much of the country will be fine and settled with some sunshine thanks to high pressure over the baltic states, but we will have this weather front affecting the north—west corner of the country, bringing strong winds and some persistent and at times heavy rain to the north—west of scotland. eventually weakening and sinking southwards across the country on thursday and then introducing colder northerly winds to all areas by the end of the week but for much of this week, it will be dry thanks to that area of high pressure, certainly across england and nights will continue to be chilly as well. as we start monday, is going to be a cold one, thanks to clear skies and light winds, a widespread frost away from the north—west where

we'll see more of a breeze and cloud. that frost could be hard in places and we could see mist and fog as well as the winds will lighter. but it does mean it's a chilly start to this morning but there should be plenty of sunshine, certainly for england and wales. for the north—west of scotland, this weather front bringing up breaks of rain to the northern and western isles at the cloud pushing into scotland and northern ireland through the day. it will be windy here as well with local gales, a breezier day further south although you have all that sunshine which will tend to be a little bit hazy at times, it shouldn't feel too bad with temperatures reaching highs 12 or 13 degrees, but always cooler around some southern and eastern coasts. as we head through monday night, it stays cloudy, windy, outbreaks of rain across this north—west corner really piling up across the outer hebrides and the north—west highlands but here, it won't be a cold night like it will be further south for england and wales. so a bit of a repeat performance for tuesday. england and wales, largely dry, with some sunshine, albeit a little bit hazy at times. more cloud generally for scotland and northern ireland and it stays windy, with that

rain really starting to pile up across the northern and western isles in particular. we also import some slightly milder air from the south, so we could see temperatures reaching 1a—15 degrees in england and wales. the pressure pattern then for wednesday, little change. high pressure keeps things largely fine and settled for england and wales, that weather front bringing generally more cloud to scotland and northern ireland, will start to weaken as it sinks south—eastwards so there'll be spots of rain on it. further south, again, quite mild, those temperatures around 11—1a degrees. but the milder air doesn't last. it gets squeezed out as we see a new area of high pressure building over the atlantic. that will bring northerly winds right across the shores. down from the arctic. so it will be settling down towards the end of the week but turning colder for all. there will be some sunshine but also some wintry showers across the north of the uk on that northerly wind.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

the us government is to fund thousands of hospital beds for coronavirus patients in the hot spot states of new york, california and washington. meanwhile partisan disputes in the senate have been holding up the approval of a huge stimulus bill to help an economy hit hard by the pandemic. britons have been warned to take advice on social distancing seriously or stricter measures could be imposed. prime minister borisjohnson said a lockdown like those seen in other european countries was being considered and said people ignoring advice were putting lives at risk. the international olympic committee say this year's games in tokyo won't be cancelled but could be postponed in light of the outbreak. there's been mounting pressure from professional sporting bodies for organisers to take action. a decision's expected within four weeks. now on bbc news: the travel show.