this is bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: britain imposes strict new measures — now people can only leave their homes for very limited reasons. without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope. because there won't be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses. no national lockdown for the us. president trump says he wants to open up the country fairly soon. and we'll have the lastest from australia, where the premier of new south wales says the state is at a critical moment in its fight against the virus.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the prime minister has announced the most drastic limits to our lives that the uk has ever seen. borisjohnson said the aim is to save lives in this time of national emergency. without a huge national effort, mrjohnson made it clear there will come a moment when the nhs will not be able to cope and more people will die. political editor laura kuenssberg has more details. the clock starts on a new phase, big ben keeping time on an era none of us could have imagined. inside at a desk in downing street, an admission to every one of us outside. without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service

in the world could possibly cope because there won't be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses. and as we have seen elsewhere in other countries that also have fantastic health care systems, that is the moment of real danger. to put it simply, if too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the nhs will be unable to handle it. meaning more people are likely to die notjust from coronavirus, but from other illnesses as well. so it's vital to slow the spread of the disease. no longerjust advice on how to battle the virus, but a demand from number 10. from this evening, i must give the british people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home. because the critical thing we must do is stop the disease spreading between households. that is why people will only be

allowed to leave their home for the following very limited purposes — shopping for basic necessities as infrequently as possible. one form of exercise a day. for example, a run, walk or cycle, alone or with members of your household. any medical need to provide care or to help a vulnerable person. and travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home. that's all. these are the only reasons you should leave your home. if you don't follow the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispensing gatherings. this isn't only an emergency for our hospital wards, but for the country, so all shops must shut unless they sell necessities. all gatherings of more than two people are banned.

the measures will be reviewed in three weeks, but... no prime minister wants to enact measures like this but, at present, there are just no easy options. the way ahead is hard and it is still true that many lives will sadly be lost. and yet it is also true that there is a clear way through. in this fight, we can be in no doubt that each and every one of us is directly enlisted. each and every one of us is now obliged tojoin together to halt the spread of this disease, to protect our nhs and to save many, many thousands of lives. and i know that, as they have in the past so many times, the people of this country will rise to that challenge and we will come through it stronger than ever. we will beat the coronavirus, and we will beat it together. and therefore, i urge you,

at this moment of national emergency, to stay at home, protect our nhs and save lives. labour had been calling from today for a firmer hand. we do need to understand how they'll be enforced, we do need to understand the details of who can actually travel to work and who can't travel to work. people are frightened, people are concerned. people just want certainty and clarity. so we welcome what the prime minister has said tonight, it's what we were calling for, but we hope the government can quickly follow it up with the details that families tonight deserve to hear. the demand in every corner of the uk tonight — close the doors. let me be blunt, the stringent restrictions on our normal day—to—day lives that i'm about to set out are difficult and they are unprecedented. they amount, effectively, to what has been described as a lockdown. i know how difficult

all of that is, and i am not going to seek to sugarcoat it in any way. but these measures are essential for the protection of all of us. our politicians can't hide from the scale of this. now, neither can we. after effort and pain, this will pass, but the country may look different on the other side. with me is bbc reporter rich preston. rich, reporter rich preston. so much to talk about, an unprecedented rich, so much to talk about, an unprecedented announcement today from the prime minister but a lot of people think it's the right one? very strict measures brought in by the government, up until now the government, up until now the government has been encouraging people to stay at and self—isolate and now prime minister borisjohnson telling people they have to stay at with the exception of these very few circumstances, travelling to an attentional job, looking after a vulnerable person, exercising once a day, getting food or medical supplies, and this is after a weekend where we saw people at

parks and beaches ignoring government advice. what is key is this comes with police powers. up until now police have been powerless to separate people and move them on but now they can involves these rules. getting more serious. why has the government taken this step? the death rate is on the up, 335 deaths and it is following a pattern we've seen elsewhere. looking at this graph, the death rate in italy is over 6000, and the uk is following in the footsteps. 0n the seventh of march, italy had 233 deaths and britain had 233 deaths and britain had 233 deaths 16 days after that, so we are following in the footsteps of the death rate we've seen in italy. so these measures being introduced now are all about trying to curtail this and stop uk death rate in the footsteps we've seen in italy. this is all to do with

self—isolation and social distancing. if we look at this, each person infects 2.5 people, which means that after 30 days have passed, you've infected over 400 people. if you cut the number of people that first person meets in half tojust 1.25 people, after 30 days, that figure is down to just 15 people infected. that's a reduction of 95%, which is really what we need at the moment to cut the fatality rate from coronavirus. is it basic enough to say the government was trying to advise people to do this before, that wasn't working and the death rate has gone up to such an x date where they think the police need to get involved? they didn't want to mandate this in the way they have done and elsewhere in france, italy and elsewhere in france, italy and spain, the government has encouraged people to stay at and in many cases the advice has been ignored the point where police powers have had to

be brought in. it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to this and whether the tough new measures will be listened to more than the advice. rich preston, thanks for the time. president trump has called on republicans and democrats in the senate to pass a new stimulus bill to fight the economic impact of the coronavirus. speaking at a white house briefing, mist trump said both parties should avoid playing political games at a time when thousands of american lives were at risk. now congress must demonstrate the same bipartisanship again and join together to pass the senate bill as written and avoid playing any more partisan games. they have to get together and just stop with the partisan politics. i got a call a little while ago, i guess they're getting closer, it should go quickly and it must go quickly. it's not really a choice, we don't have a choice, we have to make the deal. this should not be a time for political agendas,

but rather one for focusing solely and squarely on the needs of the american people. north america correspondent peter bowesjoins me now. peter, donald trump confident normal life may return soon, does he have any basis for that? the president gave no evidence to back up his claim this will be over... 0r evidence to back up his claim this will be over... or the war will be one sooner rather than later, as he put it, and he talked about weeks or three or four months that he referred to saying some people are talking about that and he went further than that, he suggested if business isn't allowed to open sooner business isn't allowed to open sooner rather than later, it could result in more deaths than the coronavirus itself. at the same time, the number of deaths in the united states is continuing to rise. that graph exponentially still rising. it's been the worst 24 hours,

100 deaths over this past day, bringing the total number of deaths to 500 and health experts here warning if people don't continue with these very stringent interventions that have come in in the key states like california, washington and new york, social distancing, that kind of thing, that the health system here will be overwhelmed. it's always hard i think to tow the party line when you've got president trump with no real line, but there's some criticism mixed messages have been coming out from the white house on this topic? yes, there does seem to be a gap between what the president is saying and his relative optimism about the situation, and what the health experts are saying. indeed, some of his scientific advisers have had to just check and balance some of the words of the president, especially when he's been talking about possible treatments and drugs going on trial over the next 24 hours actually, starting in new

york, but you've got to stress these are just trials, there nothing proven about the drug being used successfully in the past to treat malaria. it is of interest in terms of treating coronavirus but there's a long way to go in terms of proving it value in terms of helping to combat this situation. peter bowes, live in los angeles, with the latest there. thank you very much for watching us. ——joining you very much for watching us. —— joining us. the australian state of new south wales says it is going to use harsh penalties to enforce self—isolation against the coronavirus. the number of cases in the state has jumped to 818. shaimaa khaliljoins us from sydney. thanks forjoining us on. a lot of anger surrounding this cruiseship, the ruby princess, and how it was allowed to unload so many who have now got the virus. tell us about that. that happened late last week. three people initially tested positive for the coronavirus

when the ruby princess locked in sydney harbour, not very far from where i am. by the time these tests came back positive, around 2700 were able to get off the ship and into the syd ney off the ship and into the sydney city centre. more positive cases were reported after that, with the local government and the government scattering for their people to identify themselves but mainly to quarantine as soon as possible. it was seen as a huge blunder as to why people were allowed to disembark, why they we re allowed to disembark, why they were able to get into the most populous city in the country and also whether or not the health officials, the officials in general, have a handle on the cases coming out of that ship. a really problematic issue there on the control over the numbers and why the ship... people off this ship were

allowed to disembark at that time. that in itself at a time where the leadership at both a state and government level are telling people to self—isolate, stay indoors and abide by the rules. it's really interesting, isn't it? and new south wales ata isn't it? and new south wales at a critical stage according to the premier. that's all we've got time for, i'm afraid, shaimaa, but thank you very much. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the news, still to come: crucialfight against the news, still to come: crucial fight against the virus the crucial fight against the virus in spain as the death toll rises above 2000, and the health system appears close to breaking. the two main symptoms of coronavirus to look out for are a continuous dry

cough and/or a fever. if you have a runny nose and a headache, you may be ill but don't have coronavirus. so how high a fever is a coronavirus one and what is the dry cough? it's when you cough and there is no mucus or phlegm, basically no green substance in your tissue. and this is not the odd cough here and there, you have to be coughing regularly for no other reason, such as clearing your throat or smoking. so how high a fever is a coronavirus fever? if you have one, you'll know about it. technically, it's a body temperature of more than 37.8 degrees celsius, or 100 degrees fahrenheit, but if you've not got a thermometer, basically you will feel hot and your chest and back would be hot. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has imposed strict new measures with immediate effect to try to suppress

the coronavirus pandemic. president trump said he is considering how to reopen us economy despite a rising coronavirus infections. we get more on the situation in the us. joining me now from florida is dr michael mina, a professor of epidemiology and immunology at harvard school of public health and medicine. thank you forjoining us. the world health organization says this virus pandemic is accelerating. that is not too optimistic, not a great outlook. what does that mean? dr michael mina, outlook. what does that mean? drmichaelmina, can outlook. what does that mean? dr michael mina, can you hear us? it looks like the line might bea us? it looks like the line might be a little bit dodgy there. i can here you now, yes. thank you. the world health organization calling the pandemic, they are saying it is

exhilarating, which doesn't sound too great, what exactly does that mean? yes, so this pandemic, it is accelerating in many places and this is why we are putting on these very strict measures of social isolation and trying to separate people so they cannot infect each other. but it has certainly picked up steam and this is really happening really across the globe and some places are starting to get it under control. we are seeing it really ta ke under control. we are seeing it really take off emphatically in places like the united states right now. it's really starting to infect really very many people. you mention the united states, what exactly is happening across america, it is a massive country different states are taking different precautions, but give us a general thing. you are in boston, how bad is it there? yes, certainly, it is a little bit difficult to see it if you are not involved. it is very

quiet outside in boston. when you walk around the city you don't see much. we are starting to see the hospitals fill up. what we anticipated is u nfortu nately what we anticipated is unfortunately happening where we are seeing icu beds getting full, the protective equipment that physicians and nurses have to wait to give themselves and their patients safe is running low. so it is becoming a fairly dire situation and we anticipate it is going to continue, unfortunately, getting a bit worse for another couple of weeks and potentially much worse before it starts to get better because of the distancing that is now taking place. how would you say the american authorities have handled this? there is criticism of the trump administration for not taking this seriously enough. there certainly has. my personal feeling is the early response was very poor by the white house. i think there was a lack

of recognition of the real gravity of the situation and despite the many experts and epidemiologists who were fairly certain that this was going to happen. and, unfortunately, it was really a delayed response at the federal level to start tackling this. and within the united states, despite being individual states, eye would say that each state still looks to the federal government for guidance. and when the president is saying that it is not necessarily a big problem then people won't really acting quite quickly enough. yeah, 20 seconds, dr michael mina, we are looking for some hope, there is doom and gloom around. south korea is saying they have the least case —— number of cases in quite a while now. then we can look at places like south korea and see the impact of what we're doing now. i think three weeks from now we will see the benefits of all of these massive social distancing effo rts these massive social distancing efforts taking place currently.

dr michael mina, thank you for ending ona dr michael mina, thank you for ending on a positive note. thank you for bringing us up—to—date on the status in america. absolutely. when italy first quarantined 11 northern towns over fears of a potential coronavirus outbreak in mid—february, it was a small part of a global story that still largely centred on china. today, one month on, europe finds itself at the heart of the world's coronavirus pandemic, ramping up restrictions on its citizens while straining to cope with the explosion in infections. thousands of army reservists have been called up in switzerland to relieve hospitals under pressure as the number of people testing positive for coronavirus jumped by 15% in 24 hours — it is now more than 8,500. spain has again registered its highest daily, death toll, of people from the virus, 462 have died in the past day. the deputy prime minister, carmen calvo, is being tested in hospital. in italy, there is some good news, the rate of infection has dropped for the second day in a row but it's still europe's worst affected country. 6,077 people have now died, with 601 deaths in the last day.in a moment we'll hear from mark lowen in italy, but first damian

grammaticas in madrid. coughing listen to the coughing from virus patients sprawled in the corridors of a madrid hospital. this is a health service starting to be swamped. inside another hospital. spain's capital is the epicentre of this country's outbreak. medical staff say this isjust the beginning. cases are expected to keep rising for days yet. so they're making desperate appeals. translation: we don't have beds, ventilators, staff, protective equipment. i am just finishing a ten hour shift. look at me. look at my tears. please, stay at home.

we watched today a constant flow of new arrivals. ambulance after ambulance. every time, it means hospital staff are being exposed themselves. and healthcare professionals really are making extraordinary sacrifices here. more than one in ten of all confirmed infections in spain are amongst doctors, nurses and other health workers. maria is an anaesthetist in isolation after testing positive. her symptoms have been mild, but also infected have been her boyfriend and baby. things are so dire, maria is waiting for a new test and the all clear — her hospital needs her. if i'm negative, i will want to work, yeah. so, straight back into the hospital? straight back to the war, because now, things are dramatic here in madrid. so dramatic, she says, doctors are now having to prioritise. the young get ventilators before the old.

first you need to take care of the young people, of course. very old people who are not going to recover from this case of disease, well, you help them not to suffer, but probably, they won't go to the critical care unit. in one of those units, doctors removed a breathing tube and the patient recovering takes their first breaths unaided. applause a moment of triumph. the reward for all the risks the medics are taking. damian grammaticas, bbc news, madrid. tightening the screw on people and the virus. two weeks into a nationwide lockdown, the measures are toughening again. italians now banned from leaving their town and travelling across the country. not since wartime curfews have these scenes played out. well, the limits on movement are being stepped up, with ever—more police spot checks to see if people can justify why they're out.

and yet, polls suggest that most italians would support even tighter restrictions. there is virtually no sense of rebellion or complacency here. with streets deserted, all nonessential companies will now be shut down too. italy is running out of things to close. still open is this laboratory, where they're working on a coronavirus vaccine. dna injections — to produce an immune system response. they're aiming for clinical trials by the end of the year. we are going to use a genetic vaccination that is a fragment of dna that is injected into the muscle. we are really confident this technology will work, since we have been using this technology to generate anti—cancer vaccines. it can't come fast enough for hospitals in the worst—hit region of lombardy, where all 800 intensive care beds are now taken. 24 doctors have died. latest figures show a slowdown in new cases, but experts warn caution.

we have to wait more days to evaluate if this decrease is continuing, or it isjust the good news of a day? but i trust in these containment providers. at crematoria, the backlogs are piling up. needless to say, manufacturers of coffins are allowed to stay open. mark lowen, bbc news, rome. with countries across europe banning public gatherings to fight the coronavirus outbreak, an orchestra in the netherlands decided to stage a very unique performance, while staying at home. these are musicians from the rotterdam philharmonic orchestra, playing the finale to beethoven's 9th symphony, using webcams in their homes.

that is just about it from us for now. do stay tuned. good morning. very little weather change to the next 24—36 hours and that means for england and wales, many of you, blue skies will continue to dominate, a bit of warmth from that spring sunshine, the rest of scotland and northern ireland, cloudy skies. some, particularly wet. especially close to this weatherfront, throughout, and it will take a while but to gradually shift. further south, high pressure remains dominant and to take this into the start of today, the chilli ‘s conditions sprinkle frost across england and wales and temperatures close to freezing. sunshine dominating here once again. further north, we can't rule out sunshine to the east and north of higher ground but rain will come and go, particularly across

the highlands and the hebrides, later into skye, orkney and shetland and it's across the far north—west. gale force winds. there is the chance of some minorflooding. the odd splash of rain elsewhere. a bit more cloud to the far west fringes of england and wales but for blue skies overhead once again that it will be an even warmer day than we saw on monday. temperature is around 17 degrees in north—east wales and merseyside. a great day to get those windows open. temperatures in scotland, northern ireland, 10—12 degrees. the cloud, the breeze will be in place. away from that, a bit more cloud, northern england and north wales, temperatures not dropping as much. it's across the midlands, southern england, where we like to see foster start wednesday. lots of sunshine again.

barely cloudy for scotland and northern ireland. there will still be splashes of rain elsewhere. temperatures close to 16—17 degrees. take us thursday, a bit more mist and fog around. plenty of sunshine for most across england and wales. most places will be dry by this stage. it will change towards the end of the week. as owner cloud that's when we start to see the wind switch around to a northerly direction. it will be offset by the strength of the march sunshine for the but either way, flavour, damages drop back into single figures. one or two flurries of snow are possible.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has imposed strict new measures with immediate effect to try suppress coronavirus. everyone in the uk will have to stay at home, only leaving it to shop for basic needs or take exercise. mrjohnson said the rules would be reviewed in three weeks. president trump has called on republicans and democrats in the senate to pass a new stimulus bill to fight the economic impact of the coronavirus. speaking at a white house briefing, mr trump said both parties should avoid playing political games at a time when american lives were at risk. more than 2,000 people have now died from the virus in spain, most of them in the capital, madrid. spain is the second worst affected country in europe after italy, where it appears that the number of daily deaths and infections is finally starting to fall. you're up—to—date with the headlines. now on bbc news,

monday in parliament.