this is bbc news. i'm geeta guru—murthy. the headlines at 11: the uk adjusts to the toughest restrictions on daily life in living memory to tackle coronavirus — people can only leave home to shop for basics, exercise and travel for medical attention or essential work. i hope that people will follow this advice. if for any reason they don't, the penalties are there. all mobile networks send out a government emergency text which tells people, you must stay at home. but as many people still head into the capital — the mayor of london says more workers need financial protection so they don't need to travel. it's really important for the chancellor and the prime minister to step up and give these people the support they need so they know they

have peace of mind and they will put food on the table and pay the rent. sports direct u—turn on keeping their stores open after all shops selling nonessential goods were ordered to close. ministers confirm that children under 18 can still travel between the homes of separated parents. spain says over 500 more people have died from the coronavirus in the past 2a hours with nearly 3,000 new cases. it comes as the world health 0rganisation says 85% of new cases reported in the past 2a hours were in europe and the us. hello and welcome to our audiences around the world. we're all going to have to adapt to a new way of living.

our top story today — here in the uk the prime minister declared a "national emergency" last night as he announced drastic restrictions on our daily life to combat the spread of coronavirus. he warned that without a huge national effort, the nhs will not be able to cope and more of us will die. you can now only leave your home for very specific reasons. they are to shop for basic necessities like food or medicine. you can go outside for one form of exercise a day alone or with members of your household. all gatherings of more than two people are banned. you can leave home for any medical need oi’ can leave home for any medical need or took over a vulnerable person. and finally you can travel to and from work but only if absolutely necessary and if you cannot work from home. this can be enforced by the police and they can fine us if we flout the rules. as of monday 335 people have died of the virus in the uk. addressing the nation last

night, boris johnson explained uk. addressing the nation last night, borisjohnson explained why these measures are so night, borisjohnson explained why these measures are so important. at present there are 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. day by day we are strengthening our amazing nhs with 7500 former clinicians no coming back to the service. with the time that you buy by simply staying at home, we are increasing our stocks of equipment, we are accelerating oui’ of equipment, we are accelerating our search for treatments, we are pioneering work on a vaccine. and we are buying millions of testing kits that will enable us to turn the tide on this invisible killer. this morning, there have been further updates in the uk. everyone in the uk will receive a text message form the government advising them that

new rules in force. it urges them to stay home, protect the nhs and save lives. government minister michael gove has confirmed that children under 18 are able to move between houses if their parents are separated. more on that in a moment. as the government confirms that construction sites will still operate, the mayor of london, sadiq khan, has asked that all nonessential travel should stop. despite the new strict restrictions in the uk, the roads and tubes coming intolondon were still busy at rush hour this morning. this was the centre of the capital earlier. that's despite all the government advice to stay indoors and only leave home if absolutely necessary. here's a few images of the london underground, as well. all of those deemed to be key workers are still allowed to travel to and from work. this morning, the government said that work on construction sites could still continue if workers maintain a safe distance from each other. but earlier, speaking to bbc breakfast, mayor of london, sadiq khan,

said there's a big grey area of what constitutes a key worker. there is a difference of opinion between myself and the government on this issue. i am quite clear, only if you really have to go to work must you be going to work. here is the problem, i know because i have spoken to people who are self—employed, people who are on zero hour contracts, people working in the gig economy, who, unless they work, can't get money to put food on the table. they face a real conundrum. although i welcome the package of measures announced by the chancellor so far, i am afraid he is not helping those people, the self—employed, the zero—hour contracts, the gig economy, many of them could work in construction or other fields who feel obliged to go to work because they have to put food on the table. that is why the point i made yesterday, when i spoke to the chancellor, was it is really important he announces, as a matter of urgency, a new package of measures which ensures that these people know there is going to be money

in their pockets and purses immediately, so they can pay their bills, the rent, the mortgage, but also get food on the table. you call it a difference of opinion, but how serious, in your view, is that difference of opinion then? well, i have been lobbying the government for some time about the measures they can and should be taking, i'm pleased we have got where we have got, but you have articulated one of the concerns people have is the lack of clarity — who should be working from home and who should be going to work? i am clear we face a public health emergency. of course we also face a social emergency, and an economic emergency, but it is crucial we all stay at home, we all stay at home unless there is one of four reasons. one is because we have to get essential needs from the shops, infrequently, no more than once a day, or because we are exercising, no more than once a day. it could be because we have got to go to the doctors, or we have to travel to and from work if, if, we can't do that work from home.

if it is the case that you have to travel to work, please, please, please, don't do it in the rush hour. the mayor of london. let's have a look at what's going on around the world. the world health organisation has said that 85% of coronavirus cases reported over the past 2a hours have been in europe and the united states. it said it was seeing a "very large acceleration" in coronavirus infections in the us, and that it had the potential to be the new epicentre. in wuhan in china, where the outbreak began, the coronavirus lockdown will be partially lifted on 8th april. all those in the city with a ‘green code' on a smartphone health app will be allowed to leave the city. in spain, soldiers have found elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned, and in some cases, dead in their beds. meanwhile, an ice rink in madrid is being used as a temporary mortuary for covid—i9 victims. with more on those new restrictions in the uk, i'mjoined now

by our assistant political editor, norman smith. he is working from home, like so many in the uk. norman, these restrictions are unlike anything the uk, certainly our generation can remember. how much will people listen to them? well, that is the key question because clearly the hopein key question because clearly the hope in the government is that people will almost enforce the restrictions themselves, then the government won't have to rely on the police either fining people or charging people under public order offences. they want this to be a self policing a lockdown where people take responsibility themselves, think through whether they should really be out. and if that doesn't work, the hope is that simple peer pressure will kick in, family, neighbours, relatives will say, what on earth are you doing? why are you going to work? why are you going out again? that will be a

necessary break on people going out. in the initial stages, yes, of course, it's a bit ragged, it's a bit uncertain in areas, particularly around the issue of work, where i think the government will have to look again frankly added some of the issues around construction workers, because clearly in london a lot of the traffic going in on the tube is construction workers. when you have fewer tubes, that means they are dangerously packed. certainly people can distance the way they want. also, some construction workers will be packed in vans travelling to their construction sites, clearly not distancing from each other. there is a chance they will have to think twice. we have already seen the mayor of london. the scottish first minister saying no construction work on less necessary for public safety. and we got a clear sense of how far the government is most having to make this up on the hoof from michael gove, when he was forced within half

an hourto gove, when he was forced within half an hour to correct himself after he initially said that split families, separated families, that the children would have to stay with the pa re nt children would have to stay with the parent they were with rather than possibly travel over to the other parent. that he then corrected half an hour later parent. that he then corrected half an hourlateron parent. that he then corrected half an hour later on the bbc. have a listen. the key thing here is that actually, if you want to ensure that children can see their parent, then they can be moved from one parent to another. on a previous broadcast, on good morning britain, i stressed that where ever possible, this should be kept to a minimum, but i want to absolutely clarify that i wasn't sufficiently clear earlier, it is the case that children under the age of 18 can see both parents. norman, there are inevitably complex grey areas that have to be worked out as we go. but one key question thatis out as we go. but one key question that is still going to affect whether this lockdown works is a self employed people, who say they have not been given any financial

support and therefore they are still going to work. is that going to change? i think it is and i think it's going to change quickly, because talking to ministers they are under no illusions that they have to provide a better package for the self employed comparable to that package which was provided last week by the chancellor for the employed. because as we know, and the self—employed have repeatedly protested about this, the only safety net if they have been offered is in effect sickness pay, although it is not sickness pay, it amounts to £94 per week. there is no real guarantee for these people for, i don't know, hairdressers, people running shops, that their businesses will receive any measures to ensure they cannot survive this. sol will receive any measures to ensure they cannot survive this. so i think we will see a package, maybe not today because there is a lot of other stuff to be bedded down today, possibly tomorrow, certainly i would think this week. the difficulty seems to be trying to come up with a

way of trying to compensate the self—employed because it is not like with the employed, where it is pretty easy through paye. the self—employed have different income levels. so how can you create a syste m levels. so how can you create a system which respects the different earnings of different self—employed people? i suspect that will be done one way or another through the tax system. think about it this way. normally in budget the combined brainpower of the treasury takes months and months to put together. you are talking about something that has never been done before having to be bolted and in place to safeguard 5 million people. a massive undertaking which is having to be made as secure as possible in days. that is an enormous task. so maybe it will happen in two days, three days. norman, a question on the safety of nhs front line workers, because the lack of protective gear for them, we're still hearing from doctors and nurses that they are not

protected. if those people go sake it affects the whole population safety. also testing. the government is still coming under pressure to test people. resources are a problem. what are they doing on those fronts? i have to say i'm slightly puzzled why the issue around ppe clothing has not been resolved because the chief medical officer last week said it was, i think the phrase was completely resolved. it clearly wasn't. speaking to the health secretary yesterday, he was adamant they were 110w yesterday, he was adamant they were now getting on top of it. indeed he said they had hotline for gps, for hospitals. we don't have a because it is an internal hotline. but if they do not have the necessary protective clothing then they can ring this hotline and they will be put on the list for a delivery, i presume, possibly even by the army. so it really should be sorted. and we know there are enough grounds because the government have said they have got enough. i can't see

that —— why that is continuing and it shouldn't continue beyond the day. on testing, that is much more complicated. ourtesting day. on testing, that is much more complicated. our testing levels are way off the pace compared to other countries. south korea last week tested 300,000 people. last week our testing was in the range of 2500 to 8000. the government is hoping to move to 10,000, 25,000. boris johnson expressed the aspiration of 250,000. we are in the foothills here. it is hard because everybody is competing for this test. everyone in the world once these tests. demand is exceeding supply. the one bit of better news is that within days mr hancock intimated it is likely hospitals will have a test which can be completed on site to determine whether people are suffering from a coronavirus. why this matters is because the present

tests have to be sent off to a laboratory, don't come back for several days, during which time the patient is in the hospital. one they have a chance of getting coronavirus if they don't have it. two, they are blocking a bed. if you carry at the oi'i blocking a bed. if you carry at the on you blocking a bed. if you carry at the 011 you can blocking a bed. if you carry at the on you can get people out, you can hear space and there is less pressure 011 hear space and there is less pressure on the hospitals, less pressure on the hospitals, less pressure 011 pressure on the hospitals, less pressure on intensive care. finally, as we get to grips with teaching our children at home, staying inside much more, can you give us a time frame? imperial college research said a vaccine is at least 18 months away. we are being told we are about two weeks behind italy, when this thing will peak. we don't know how long this will at last, do we? no, i think we have to be honest with ourselves and accept this is going to bea ourselves and accept this is going to be a long haul and do not be deluded by the prime minister's words last night saying we will review three weeks into suddenly thinking we will be able to throw open our front doors and go wandering around talking to neighbours. that is not going to

happen. we are beginning to get to rise in coronavirus cases. it will probably go on for another fortnight. there is no way you can withdraw the restrictions when the virus is at its peak. michael gove, when he was asked about this, suggested, i think more to encourage people rather than any sense this was going to happen, that he may be able to ease one or two of the restrictions. i frankly think that is likely. i know tim suggesting that if people did not observe the current restrictions they may have to introduce additional restrictions. and that is what we are seeing in other countries. for from an easing in the initial lockdown, it's become even tighter, with curfews, more punitive sanctions, biggerfines. with curfews, more punitive sanctions, bigger fines. what we have at the moment is a relatively light touch lockdown. if that doesn't work, if people float it, if the numberof doesn't work, if people float it, if the number of cases of coronavirus keep increasing, then the logic

suggests we could be in for a much harder lockdown in the weeks ahead. norman smith, many thanks indeed. as we've been hearing, one of the only reasons people living in the uk are now allowed to leave their homes is to exercise once a day only. joining me now is dr charlie foster, an expert in public health and physical activity from the university of bristol, who advises the chief medical officer on physical health. thanks forjoining us. does this mean we all have to go out once a day to do exercise, according to one tweet last night! many people will be desperate to get out. how safe is it if, for example, you are walking past people or running past people briefly? is that still a risk? well, we have got to make sure we keep our social distancing, that is the most important thing. the two metre gap between you and the people walking past you on the other side of the pavement is really important and

stops the virus spreading. we have a responsibility. we take our opportunity for our daily one form of exercise. i was out this morning walking the dog. we have to be responsible and make sure as much as we can to keep that a two metre distance. that is what matters. realistically, if you are on a pathway or just on realistically, if you are on a pathway orjust on the road, you can't always keep that in two metres. is it still dangerous to walk past people briefly if there is only a one metre space?” walk past people briefly if there is only a one metre space? i think they must not do is obviously touch other people. we are happy to make sure we don't have any of that kind of contact going on. just be pragmatic, do the best you can come a route perhaps where you are not going to be going through narrow gaps between houses or those sorts of things. use the opportunity to get outside, because we know from mental health benefits of the physical activity,

walking exercises really good and at the moment we need to take that opportunity to get ourselves outside. even if it is only for ten minutes. it will help and it will count. and of course you can still do some activity when you are back at home. for those of you stuck at home with young children, you know you don't have to keep them moving, and try to keep them active. there area and try to keep them active. there are a lot of opportunities online for people of all ages to keep fit, keep their strength going, keep their flexibility keep their strength going, keep theirflexibility and keep their strength going, keep their flexibility and their mobility going. lots of opportunities to do those two at home as well. and of course if you are older and isolating, as many of our parents are, they may be fearful about going outside at all. but it is important to keep their muscle strength going, isn't it, that they walk in off, that they lived in weights, otherwise they will run into other health problems? indeed. you are right about taking the opportunity to move more. perhaps one thing that folks can think about when they are

at home is, have i been sat down, have i been in the same position for a particular length of time? have i been still? can i break up that period of time of not moving by shifting? can i walk, can i do the dishes, cani shifting? can i walk, can i do the dishes, can i clean up that a draw? just break up with light activities to keep yourself moving. for anyone of any age reducing that amount of time you are still is really important. what would you say to families with very young children who were to say that just families with very young children who were to say thatjust going out once a day is going to be really ha rd once a day is going to be really hard with toddlers? how do you say people should make the most of that outdoor time? can you put a time amount at how much exercise people should do as a minimum. --? at the moment we should be taking the opportunity to go outside and use that time for parents of young children will always be desperate to

get outside and try to waste some energy. 20 minutes, half an hour. usually 60 minutes a day with your children. a things you can do online perhaps at home. think of it as a way of, you know, a bit here, a bit there. take the opportunity to have a little break outside. when the sun is shining at the moment, that is a good thing to do. when it is raining, as it inevitably will do at some stage, what would you say to older people if they don't have much space? what can they do to give —— get themselves fit and how much time should they devote to it?|j get themselves fit and how much time should they devote to it? i think if you can try to get yourself into a regular routine, ten to 15 minutes, whatever you feel you are most capable of doing, and there are a lot of really good online activities on nhs websites and supporting websites as well, and a micro—fitness industry has stepped up. iwant micro—fitness industry has stepped up. i want to say thank you very

much for all the folk but good things online for free. seated based activities. lots of things to do. share them with your friends. even joining if you can and if you can work the technology. what is to other do it. crack a smile. it could be amusing. we all need to do something to minimise the spread of the virus. if you are going outside, two metres matters. keep your distance. 0n two metres matters. keep your distance. on that point, i have been reading that we are still not sure about the transmission exactly. we know someone coughs or sneezes on us thatis know someone coughs or sneezes on us that is bad. if you are too close to someone they could easily cough on you. if you have to walk past anotherfamily you. if you have to walk past another family because you are on the path next to them, what do you do? if there is not a two metre gap available, what should you do? and how dangerous is that? well, there is or was the risk of transmission. be sensible. try to make as much of a gap as you can. when everybody gets on, regardless of how much

space you have between people, make sure you wash your hands and stop the infection. you can get hot and sweaty by doing a run. steam your clothes in a wash and make sure they are clean. many thanks for your time. we are getting some breaking news which is going to affect a professional sports people. it has been reported from japan that the prime minister is proposing a one—year delay for the olympics. there have been a lot of calls for a delay to the olympics. some countries like canada had already said they were not going to send teams to tokyo this summer. they felt it wasn't feasible. many people thought it wasn't initially going to be cancelled but it is being reported that there is going to be a delay of a year. we are expecting a news co nfe re nce delay of a year. we are expecting a news conference in the coming hours and we will bring that to you as soon as we get confirmation on that

line of a potential one—year delay to the olympics. let's talk more about china. the country plans to lift the lockdown in the city of wuhan, after the number of new cases there has come almost to a stop. people who have been cleared of the virus will be allowed to start travelling around the country again from 8th april — that's two weeks away. it comes as one new case was reported in the city, which was at the centre of the original outbreak, following a five—day run of no reported new infections there. normal life has slowly been resuming in wuhan, after the total lockdown was relaxed. these pictures from chinese state tv show some shops open and people moving around outside, although still subject to temperature checks. the worry now is curbing a second wave of the pandemic coming into the country. the chinese government gave this information at its daily briefing. translation: statistics has shown that there has been an increase of imported cases in cities, at ports of entries,

and transportation hubs. they are faced with pressure over prevention of imported cases. there has been great outcome in domestic control, and there has been an increasing pressure of imported risks. will there be a second wave of transmission because of imported cases? this is a question of public concern. let's put all of this into context now. here's robin brant in shanghai. soi so i think it looks like the beginning of the end for wuhan. 0n that day only one in the city, and this is a huge place, 11 million people will be allowed to leave and travel to the rest of china, not just the surrounding province but anywhere in mainland china if they have a green code on their phone. these health apps are being used widely across the country to prove essentially that people don't have a coronavirus. it is like a traffic

light system. if you have green, april the 8th you will be able to leave wuhan. we are getting anecdotal reports as well of people leaving the city and coming to work in places like shanghai if they have a green up and a letterfrom their employer. also interestingly, the government officials in weren will be allowed to return as well. so it is not just leaving. be allowed to return as well. so it is notjust leaving. robin brant. let's take a closer look now at the global picture of this pandemic because in the past hour, as we've heard, the world health organisation said the vast majority of virus cases reported in the past 24 hours have come from the united states and europe. the who said that in the past day, 85% of reported cases of the virus originate from either the united states or europe. with more than 46,000 cases and 125 deaths, the who says it is seeing a "very large acceleration" in the number of infected in the united states. it warns that the country has the potential to become the epicentre of the world's pandemic.

more on spain now, where soldiers have found elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned and, in some cases, dead in their beds. spanish health workers diagnosed with the virus represent almost 14% of cases in the country. that has just come in. 14% are health workers, which is obviously part of the key problem with the lack of protective gear. and of course the number of patients they are seeing, their exposure to the virus. and of course are still very high numbers we are seeing in spain. soldiers have found elderly patients in retirement homes abundant and in some cases dead in their beds. an enquiry has been launched. an inquiry has been launched. the death toll there has now risen by over 500 people to almost 2,700. a little while ago, guy hedgecoe, in madrid, told us more. members of the armed forces who were

helping the health care professionals to battle the virus we re professionals to battle the virus were checking a number of retirement homes. we don't know exactly where, in which parts of the country, but in some of them they found the dead bodies of residents. as well as survivors. in each case apparently they had been abandoned. we don't know for sure if those who died had died from the coronavirus. we don't know why they had been abandoned and under what circumstances. we know there's going to be an investigation there's going to be an investigation the state prosecutor. the defence minister has expressed a great deal of concern at this. she says she will get to the bottom of this. but it has highlighted a big problem in spain related to the death rate, as the virus has spread to a lot of retirement homes. that helps explain why spain has had such a high death rate. yesterday we heard there had

been 460 new deaths. we are still waiting for the latest figures today. many people are bracing themselves for a similarly high figure. guy hedger co. in the uk give the government have said that some but not all construction workers should continue to work and travel to building sites. union reps for the london underground have been unhappy with the amount of construction workers travelling on the tube. they wa nt workers travelling on the tube. they want all the site in london to be closed. there's also been some concern from unions that construction workers, many of whom are self—employed, have not been given adequate financial support by the government, forcing many of them to keep working to afford food and essential items. let's talk now to jerry swain from the unite uniion. he represents workers in the construction industry. we have heard from the london mayor

that construction should stop. do you agrees with that? it is easy to say that construction sites should stop. it is impossible to have social distancing on construction sites, there are always pinch points where you cannot maintain the distance between people that the government require. you're putting construction workers in a position where they have to choose between health, hardship and hunger. that is not acceptable. we need the government to extend their wage assistance package from beyond the paye employees to the cas workers, the construction industry scheme. it is then that people can take a real decision to close sites. i had a

conversation this morning with a project director from a major project director from a major project in london. he was at a loss of what to do. he openly pointed out that it of what to do. he openly pointed out thatitis of what to do. he openly pointed out that it is very difficult if not impossible to maintain social distancing, but he said if i close this site these people will have no income. that is not a choice the government can put on the construction industry. many people will understand that difficult choice, but i'm sure you will have heard from doctors, a doctor on the radio this morning was a lengthy stay at home because the peak is coming in two weeks. doctors are literally choosing now he is going to live or die. those people working on sites could be the next victims. i think that is absolutely right. you have made a good point about people choosing. there is another

choice that construction workers are making, and that is the choice whether i put food on the table for my family or we go hungry. these are weekly paid operatives who pay their tax on a weekly basis. they are not businesses, they are individuals who instead of paying the tax paye pay their tax under the construction industry scream. the indications are that the government are working on something for the self—employed, but i appreciate time is of the essence and people need the money now. the government has pointed out that people can claim for universal credit if they are in dire straits. universal credit is not sufficient to keep people. what we point out is these workers that we are talking about art the same as paye workers but are paying their tax under a

different scheme, a scheme approved by the government. the government need to step forward and support those people. we also accept that we cannot have social distancing on construction sites, it doesn't work and it does put the community at risk. sites will need to close, but with the appropriate support for those workers. we cannot condemn workers and their families to hardship and hunger. they deserve the protection that other workers in our society have been afforded. i'm sure many people will be sympathetic to that argument because people will understand it is difficult without a certain level of income. if you claim a certain amount of universal credit plus child benefit plus council tax support, that can up to quite a bit and it might bejust enough to get people through until perhaps the government can come up

with a better package. if private construction sites, public sites continue like this, we know what the outcome will be in terms of health, don't we? we do. and that is why we need to bid immediately place the measures that will allow construction sites to close. it is not a difficult thing. these people are taxed on a weekly basis, their tax returns are submitted. the government could make an announcement this afternoon that they would extended to cover cas workers and he would have construction sites closed, with the qb by the end of the day. finally, seeing those pictures from the tube, and digibox are saying they think there are too many construction workers on the trains, they are endangering health workers, what do you say to the nurse or doctor he says, you're putting my life at risk here? i'm not sure that the question

is posed in the right direction. the question should go to the government. why are you not supporting these people to stay at home? people take drastic measures when they will not have enough money to feed their families. construction workers don't want to go to work. the feedback i'm getting is extend the scheme to us and close the sites, that is what we are demanding. the government can do that. it is fine for other people to talk like that, but it is the government that we need to direct this too. take an immediate decision and get the sites closed, get people at home so they can be safe with theirfamily at home so they can be safe with their family and with just enough income to survive this horrendous time. i very clear message and i'm sure it is one that many people will sympathise with. thank you very much for your time today.

back now to that news that the world health organization has warned the spread of the virus seems to be "accelerating", with the number of confirmed cases globally approaching 400,000. to put that into context, take a look at this tweet from our health and science correspondent, james gallagher. he says it took 67 days from the first reported case for the total to reach 100,000. it then took 11 days to reach 200,000, and just four to reach 300,000. well, people in the uk are now being asked to remain at home, like many people around the world, up to a billion according to some estimates, because it stops the spread of the virus. here is how. a big problem with coronaviruses you can have it and not know about it. it means you can go about your day as you have always done, feel completely fine but actually affect around two to three people within a week. what happens then is those people you infected go on to infect another two to three people each. then those people will infect others and that is how the virus spreads.

but look at what happens when people stay at home and practice social distancing. for instance, if this person did not go around to their friends owes. if this present work from home. if this person didn't go to the corner shop. visit their mum. this is reduces the number of cases from a 406 to just 15. as the number of cases goes down, so does the pressure on doctors and nurses and on our health service. this will make the difference between people living and people dying. let's just remind you of those very stricter measures brought in by the british prime minister. you can now only leave your home in the uk for very specific reasons. they are to shop for basic neccessities, like food and medicine. you can go outside for one form of exercise a day, alone or with members of your household. all gatherings of more than two people are banned. you can leave home for any medical need or to care for a vulnerable person. finally, you can travel

to and from work, but only where absolutely necessary and if you cannot work from home. this can all be enforced by the police and they could fine us if we flout the measures. as the uk's partial lockdown begins, china is planning on easing its lockdown in the city of wuhan after the number of new cases there has come almost to a stop. people who have been cleared of the virus will be allowed to start travelling around the country again from 8th april — that's two weeks away. i'm joined now by christopher hill, a tutor living in wuhan. he and his four—year—old daughter have been in isolation for more than 50 days, while his wife, who is a paediatric nurse, has been leaving their house to work throughout the outbreak. thank you forjoining us. you are welcome. how has it been being in isolation for so long? it is like scraping the bottom of the barrel,

stopping yourself from going crazy. i have you stop yourself going crazy? i have you stop yourself going . i have you stop yourself going crazy? i've have been looking after and playing games with my daughter. the picture in wuhan has been very difficult. do you know what the level of fatalities are, have you beenin level of fatalities are, have you been in contact with people around you? we can get in contact with people around us through the social platform that is used in china. many of us keep in contact that way. even though we cannot go out and see them we can talk to them online. the number of deaths, it has been quite a lot, about 7,000 recorded, if not a lot, about 7,000 recorded, if not a little bit more. mainly, everybody is standing together and showing that if we all act as one and don't do anything which could infect other

people, it makes it a lot better. it has been proven that on the 8th of april wuhan will reopen for people to come in and out. how are you feeling about that? are people scared to suddenly start going out ain? scared to suddenly start going out again? yes, i wasjust speaking to a couple of my friends who live in the same area as me. they say that their neighbours are very worried because our communal area has been deemed as free of infection, but there may still be some people out there who still be some people out there who still have the virus and they are worried about going out and about it all happening again. your wife is in the medical profession. what is her experience been? she has been dealing mostly... she works in the icy you for very in need infants.

she has been doing a good job and has been seeing that her friends working in other hospitals have been working in other hospitals have been working around the clock to make sure that everybody team does in fa ct sure that everybody team does in fact it has been taken care off. they have been working miracles. everything is going back. for her, there are not that many cases of infection showing up. it does seem to be the case that children are not being so much affected. well, from what i have heard it is about one in 20, maybe. it is a very small amount. you must be looking forward to finally emerging. will it be a phased release? from what we have been told, it will not be a quick

open. it will be a slow, slow thing because you still have to be cautious. there is still a way that it could flare up again. if you open it could flare up again. if you open it stage by stage it is a lot more safe for the community and the city. best of luck to you and everyone there. let's cross to the house of commons where the chancellor is speaking. there are genuine practical and principled reasons why it is incredibly complicated to design our scheme to the one we have for employed workers, but he can rest assured that we understand the situation that many self—employed people face at the moment as a result of what is happening and are determined to find a way to support them. we need to be confident that

can be done in a way that is deliverable and fair to the vast majority of the british workforce. cani majority of the british workforce. can i thank the treasury for the support they put in place for employees and employers over the last few days, with this unprecedented series of events. can i follow the honourable unprecedented series of events. can ifollow the honourable member and ask about self—employment? i have a huge number of self—employed people in north cornwall and i knew the treasury are under huge amount of pressure, but could urge expediency on that so we can get a package of measures in place for them, too? we are looking at this in immense detail at that pace. as is acknowledged by many stakeholders in the industry, there are genuine questions about practicality, fairness and delivery of any such support scheme, which is why it requires careful thoughts. john

mcdonnell. we have an urgent question on self—employed after this, but can i add to the comments that had been made so far, there is a sense of urgency about this. there is no member of the size that hasn't been contacted by a constituent who is in been contacted by a constituent who isina been contacted by a constituent who is in a distressed state at the moment. 0ne is in a distressed state at the moment. one of the most effective ways of supporting businesses to make sure the whole workforce is supported. there is another group, 2 million workers on zero—hour contracts and part—time workers. they are still not eligible for statutory sick pay and they appear to be excluded, as well, from the job retention scheme, which is focused on the definition of employees, whilst a lot of these are defined as workers. i have written to the chancellor on this. will he bring forward an urgent statement which sets out how —— it sets out how these workers will be protected

in the same way that other workers we re in the same way that other workers were protected in the announcement on friday? it is not the case that those who are on zero hours are not eligible for the existing scheme. depending on the status they would be eligible for thejob depending on the status they would be eligible for the job retention scheme. it could be based on an average of earnings over a period. any worker who is on a paye scheme is eligible for thejob any worker who is on a paye scheme is eligible for the job retention scheme. that is really helpful and i welcome the statement from the chancellor and i welcome that as well and i chancellor and i welcome that as welland i am chancellor and i welcome that as well and i am gratefulfor the chancellor and i welcome that as well and i am grateful for the work he is doing because there was confusion and many of us had representations to that. there are some people who have been asked to work reduced hours in the interests of the company rather than being put on furlough. it appears these people may also be excluded from the scheme. there seems to be a lack of

clarity on that. could the chancellor confirm whether these workers will be included in the scheme. if not, can he bring forward an urgent reform to the scheme to make that happen? another category have had questions on, but if people have had questions on, but if people have work available but they can do it because of the shutdown of the childcare arrangements and as a result of that they have childcare responsibilities, are they eligible for the furlough support scheme as well? in common with schemes all around the world, these schemes are for furloughed workers. the check is that the company decides to put the employee into a furlough scheme rather than make them unemployed. it is not possible to design a scheme which deals with the flexible hours asa which deals with the flexible hours as a result that the state would be subsidising the wages of almost everybody in the workforce. it is something we looked at in detail and given the time we have available we went for a scheme that could be

delivered at is in common with nearly every scheme around the world. it is vital that we work across party lines at this time and is we welcome the chancellor? economic package for workers announced last friday. given that millions of small business of freelancers and self—employed are understandably concerned about their incomes, we welcome the fact that the chancellor is considering a response to that and understand it is important to get it right. why does he expect to be able to come back to the house and announce the detail of that? as i said, we are looking at these things. i will not commit toa looking at these things. i will not commit to a specific day until i know we can work to the details. of course there are people whose incomes have been impacted. there are millions of people who are

self—employed who might find their incomes increasing. that poses a significant challenge in terms of fairness and affordability. significant challenge in terms of fairness and affordabilitylj significant challenge in terms of fairness and affordability. i thank the chancellor for that answer. i just wander as part of his deliberations, in order to simplify the process of getting the money to where it needs to go, would he use the tax welfare system in order to rule out a universal basic income in these times? we are not in favour of universal basic income, although we have strengthened the safety net for the most vulnerable in our society with £7 billion invested into briefing our welfare system for this year, including improvements to universal credit, employment, support alliance and the local housing allowance. those payments are all available much quicker, much easier and more generously than they

we re easier and more generously than they were before. i know that will make an enormous difference to many vulnerable people. i have an issue you to my constituency. the isles of scilly has 28 miles off land's you to my constituency. the isles of scilly has 28 miles off lands end. all supplies travel through large and small private companies and they rely on their business because of the tourist trade in the summer. that has collapsed. every single one of those business is liable to colla pse u nless of those business is liable to collapse unless the government can move quickly. 2500 people rely on urgent action from the treasury to make sure that their transport infrastructure and system is sustained and retained. i'm happy to talk to my honourable friend further about his particular constituency issue, which does pose particular challenges. we will provide any

funding required, including local transport infrastructure in their community. on behalf of my constituents that will benefit from the measures the chancellor announced last week, can i thank him for the action that he has taken and for the action that he has taken and for the action that he has taken and for the responsibility he is carrying. we are all rooting for him to succeed in the task ahead. the challenges for those workers who don't benefit, the 5 million self—employed. their anxiety is increased because they have seen as ship sailing carrying others do not them. they will be reassured now that the chancellor has given a commitment to do something. can the chancellor say a bit more to be reassuring about how quickly he can implement the measures he is considering. i am very grateful to the honourable member for considering. i am very grateful to the honourable memberfor his warm words and i appreciate those. we are looking at piercing what support can

be provided. the fact is that 5 million people incorporate such a wide range of people. that is the challenge we have had in designing something that gets to people who need that help, while being affordable. we are hard at work on it. in terms of delivery, it is almost certainly going to be the case that we would have to build another brand—new system to deliver any support. i'm sure honourable members on both sides of the site would agree that in terms of prioritising system design, the scheme we have set up for 90% of the workforce that is employed should be delivered first and quickly and that is what we have committed to do, ideally by the end of april. we are looking at how we can do these things in sequence or parallel. take this point, are anxious, which is why we defer to self—assessment tax,

which will help with cash flow benefit. we are providing cash gra nts benefit. we are providing cash grants of £10,000 to over 700,000 small and medium—sized businesses across england and grants of up to £25,000 per property for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. we estimate that these combined measures will benefit up to a million businesses in england. local authorities will deliver these gra nts local authorities will deliver these grants over coming weeks and will have information then about the number of businesses that have benefited from this. can i thank the chancellor and treasury for coming forward a top speed with this business support package. can i also thank all the ha rd—working business support package. can i also thank all the hard—working staff of catherine borough council who will be delivering these grants to local businesses? will the minister sent out the message to capturing and the

country that when the economy comes roaring back once this pandemic is over, local authorities will have played a key role in ensuring that? i very much like my honourable friend for that very wise comment. we share his views. local authorities are crucial to delivery ofa authorities are crucial to delivery of a whole range of the support we are giving now and we will be very much acknowledging their role. we also have been supporting them through the business rates process and the hardship fund, as well. question number 11. rent and the hardship fund, as well. question number11. rent a room relief has been a feature of the income tax system since 1992. in 2016 the government raised the threshold to £7,500. this is designed to deliver the government does make objective of supporting individual living standards and freeing up space in the housing

market. it also simplifies the tax and administrative burden for those affected and has taken some taxpayers out of self—assessment entirely. given that some 3796 of homes in the country are under occupied, people realise that encouraging more owners to take on lodgers to provide affordable housing for thousands more people. we believe the house of commons there. rishi sunak not saying when he will give more help for the self—employed but he says they are working on it at pace. 1.5 million people in the uk have been contacted to make sure they stay home for the next few weeks. samantha, and have you had a text or a letter, why are you had a text or a letter, why are you in the vulnerable group? i'm in the vulnerable group because just under a year ago i had a kidney

transplant. my dads parted ways with one of his kidneys, very kindly to make sure i had a second chance at life and it is a life i have been living to the pool come up to this point where i am told to stay indoors as part of that 1.5 million group who are shielded from the threat of the coronavirus. i have only received two text messages, not my letter yet, but we haven't had any post yesterday or today. i'm sure it's on the way. how does it make you feel, reassured or more worried? i understand why i have to stay here. here i am in no great risk. my concern is for the friends and family who have to come here and provide shopping for me to enable me to stay here, i hope they are ok. samantha, thank you for your time.

many people in a serum —— a similar position. people are being asked to stay—at—home. now it's time for a look at the weather with carole. it will be another dry day across england and where is with a lot of sunshine, albeit hazy at times. we also have a fair bit of cloud across scotla nd also have a fair bit of cloud across scotland and northern ireland and thatis scotland and northern ireland and that is producing some rain. here, too, it will be windy, especially with exposure in the north—west. you can all the clwyd associated with the weather front that is producing that rain. further south we have clear skies and more sunshine. it will continue through the day. patchy rain across scotland a time. a lot of clwyd from northern ireland. here is the heavy and persistent rain. we have had it since yesterday. as we head further southin since yesterday. as we head further south in england and where is, it is

sunshine and again he is the at times, particularly in the west. top temperature up to 16 degrees but we could see 17 or 18. north wales, lancashire and merseyside, that kind of area. through this evening and overnight it will be windy in the north but the wind. to moderate. there will be some rain and cloud in northern england and wales. not quite as cold as last night, except for where we have a clearing in the sky in the south—eastern quarter of the country. here we could see some frost. under clear skies will start off with some sunshine, but still the weather front in the north—west producing some rain. tomorrow it will turn were patchy in nature and it will dry will turn were patchy in nature and it willdry up will turn were patchy in nature and it will dry up and brighten up in the outer hebrides where it has been so bad for the last couple of days. temperatures between eight and 16 degrees. moving into thursday, we do still have the weather front, the same one, and it is very slowly moving a little bit further south.

hardly an isobar into chart so it will not be windy anywhere. here is a weather front, still thick enough for the odd spot of drizzle. brighter skies on either side of it for northern scotland and much of england and wales. the sun chang will be hazy and temperature slipping, so we are losing 16, 17 and 18 and a top temperature is likely to be 14. on friday we do still have that weather front, just again moving a little bit further south, still thick enough for the odd spot, but with brighter skies behind and ahead, with highs of about 14.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 12: the uk adjusts to the toughest restrictions on daily life in living memory to tackle coronavirus. people can only leave home to shop for basics, exercise and travel for medical attention or essential work. i hope that people will follow this advice. if for any reason they don't, the penalties are there. but as many people still head into the capital, the mayor of london says more workers need financial protection so they don't need to travel. it's really important for the chancellor and the prime minister to step up and give these people the support they need so they know they have peace of mind and can put food on the table and pay the rent. sports direct u—turns on keeping its stores open amid confusion over closing shops which sell nonessential goods.

spain says over 500 more people have died from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours with around 6,500 new cases. china says it's lifting its lockdown in wuhan in two weeks — despite registering its first new case in five days. and reports suggest the japan will propose a one—year postponement for the olympic games. hello and welcome to our audiences around the world. we're all going to have to adapt to a new way of living. our top story today — here in the uk the prime minister declared a "national emergency" last night as he announced drastic restrictions on our daily life

to combat the spread of coronavirus. he warned that without a huge national effort, the nhs will not be able to cope and more of us will die. you can now only leave your home for very specific reasons. to shop for basic necessities like food and medicine. you can go outside for one form of exercise a day alone or with members of your household. but gatherings of more than two people are banned. you leave home for any medical need or to go for a vulnerable person. and finally, you can travel to and from work. if you cannot work from home. as of monday three of the 35 people have died of the virus in the uk. today there have been further updates here and everyone in the uk is going to be receiving a short text m essa g e is going to be receiving a short text message if they have and from the government, advising them of these new rules.

it urges them to stay home, protect the nhs and save lives. government minister michael gove has confirmed that children under 18 are able to move between houses if their parents are separated. more on that in a moment. and as the government confirms that construction sites will still operate, the mayor of london sadiq khan has asked that all non—essential travel should stop. let's have a look at what's going on around the world. in spain, the number of new coronavirus cases has nowjumped by 6,500 in a day to almost 40,000. health workers diagnosed with the virus represent 14% of all those cases. 2,700 people have now died. in wuhan in china — where the outbreak began — the coronavirus lockdown will be partially lifted on the 8th of april. all those in the city with a green code on a smartphone health app will be allowed to leave the city.

that is despite the city registering its first new case in five days. and the world health organization has said that 85% of coronavirus cases reported over the past 24 hours have been in europe and the united states. it said it was seeing a "very large acceleration" in coronavirus infections in america, and that the us has the potential to be the new epicentre of the outbreak. spain's daily death toll from the coronavirus is continuing to rise, despite ever stricter measures being brought in to contain the pandemic. in madrid, the coffins of some of the deceased are being taken to an ice rink for storage, as mortuaries are full. meanwhile, soldiers have found elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned, and in some cases, dead in their beds. so what are the latest figures of the country? over 500 people have died in the last 24 hours, the country's worst figures to date. the total death toll for the country has now reached almost 2,700 people. infections have also risen nearly 20%, according to the latest figures from the spanish ministry of health. there are now almost

40,000 confirmed cases across the county, although the bulk are in the capital madrid. in the daily press briefing held within the last hour, a general from the spanish civil guard called on people to remain hopeful. translation: i know you are aware that this wig is going to be very difficult. however, every day you must continue working with optimism, and responsibility. because believe me, we are one day closer to this all being over. a little while ago guy hedgecoe in madrid told us more. members of the armed forces who were helping the health care professionals to battle the virus were checking a number of retirement homes. we don't know exactly where, in which parts of the country, but in some of them they found the dead bodies of residents. as well as survivors.

in each case apparently they had been abandoned. we don't know for sure if those who died had died from the coronavirus. we don't know why they had been abandoned and under what circumstances. we know there's going to be an investigation by the state prosecutor. the defence minister has expressed a great deal of concern at this. she says she will get to the bottom of this. but it has highlighted a big problem in spain related to the death rate, as the virus has spread to a lot of retirement homes. that helps explain why spain has had such a high death rate. yesterday we heard there had been 460 new deaths. we are still waiting for the latest figures today. many people are bracing themselves for a similarly high figure. let's take a closer look now at the global picture of this pandemic because in the past hour, as we've heard, the world health organisation said

the vast majority of virus vases reported in the past 24 hours have come from the united states and europe. the who said that in the past day, 85% of reported cases of the virus originate from either the united states or europe. with more than 46,000 cases, and 125 deaths, the who says it is seeing a "very large acceleration" in the number of infected in the united states. and it warns that the country has the potential to become the epicentre of the world's pandemic. despite the new strict restrictions in the uk, the roads and tubes coming into london were still busy at rush hour this morning. this was the centre of the capital earlier, and that's despite all the government advice to stay indoors and only leave home if absolutely necessary. here's a few images of the london underground as well. all of those deemed to be key workers are still allowed

to travel to and from work. but earlier, speaking to bbc breakfast, mayor of london sadiq khan said there's a big grey area of what constitutes a key worker. 0ne one of the concerns people have is the lack of clarity. you should be working from home, who should be going to work? i am quite clear we face a public health emergency. 0f course we also face a social emergency. and an economic emergency. and an economic emergency. is crucial we all stay at home. unless there is one of the four reasons. one is because we have got to get essential needs from the shops, infrequently, no more than once a day. or because we are exercising no more than once a day. it could be because we have got to go to the doctor or we have got to travel to and from work if, if we can't do that work from home. if thatis can't do that work from home. if that is the case that you have to travel to work, please, please, please don't do it in the rush hour.

sadik khan, the mayor of london. with more on those new restrictions in the uk, i'm joined now by our assistant political editor norman smith. the chancellor is still on his feet in the commons. he did not give a timeframe as to when he is going to help people who are self—employed because we are still seeing so many people travelling and going to work? he didn't, but i think we are pretty clear there is going to be an announcement soon. i wouldn't be surprised if there is one in the next 48 hours. he said the treasury was looking in intense detail and at pace with coming forward with a package for the self—employed, which is clearly necessary because you have got around 5 million self—employed people. for many of them there will be a sort of perverse incentive to go into work. they will feel under pressure to go into work, maybe if you are a plumberor into work, maybe if you are a plumber or electrician, you will feel tempted to take up people with call 02 may be needed their central

heating looked at. unless they can be given some sort of financial safety net that removes the pressure, the danger is unnecessary large quantities of people will continue to go into work. the hard pa rt continue to go into work. the hard part is devising a mechanism to compensate the self—employed, because it's not like employed people. we had employees last week we re people. we had employees last week were givena people. we had employees last week were given a fairly extensive range of precautions through the paye system. he can't do that with the self—employed. but if you think about it, normally the treasury would have months and months to come up would have months and months to come up witha would have months and months to come up with a package. they are now having to put together a very complex, unprecedented set of measures for the self—employed on the hoof, in the middle of a crisis, probably within 48 hours. there is a sense that everything is almost not quite having to be sort of made up as the government goes a long, but really having to be hammered down incredibly quickly. we got a sign of

that earlier today when michael gove, the minister put out by the government to explain many of the details, to correct himself within the space of half an hour. he initially suggested on good morning britain that actually children in separated families would have to stay with the parents they were out. they couldn't expect to travel to the other parents. he appeared on the other parents. he appeared on the bbc a short time later and corrected himself. have a listen. the key thing here is that actually, if you want to ensure that children can see their parent, then they can be moved from one parent to another. on a previous broadcast, on good morning britain, i stressed that where ever possible, this should be kept to a minimum, but i want to absolutely clarify that i wasn't sufficiently clear earlier, it is the case that children under the age of 18 can see both parents. that was very complex. so many grey areas that the government is having to work at the exact detail of.

returning to how people can be compensated, 5 million people, are there not lessons the government could have learned from east asia in hong kong, singapore, or others such as europe where they have provisions for getting stuff out there, even if they have deployed back from people who are a purpose above an income threshold? we who are a purpose above an income threshold ? we keep who are a purpose above an income threshold? we keep hearing from doctors and nurses every hour practically that every day that we lose is critical? i mean, there is no doubt lessons could certainly have been learned from asian countries were of course they had the sars epidemic in 2002. that, i'm afraid, dave give them a learning curve which we are now having to go through. that has been seen in the response of countries in southeast asia like south korea, where they have been noticeably more successful in containing and almost eradicating the virus. the problem we know have, notjust with the

the virus. the problem we know have, not just with the self—employed but i suppose more acutely with hospital workers, is that in terms of getting tests, getting protective clothing, we are having to move as the crisis escalates. there is no time any longer to find during this. we are having to act in a crisis. does would fine tune this. on the testing we are quite a long way off the pace compared to other countries. that is an issue. we have the aspiration, according to the prime minister, raising the number of tests from around £10,000 —— 10,000 raising the number of tests from around £10,000 ——10,000 over 25000 and then to do 50,000. we are a long way off that. the one bit of slightly better news is we are slightly better news is we are slightly closer to developing a test for use silly hospitals which will enable medical staff to carry out a test for coronavirus. —— for use in the hospitals. it takes two to three days to determine whether a patient is infected at the moment. we are

closer to a more immediate test. i think it's almost unavoidable that when you have got a change on this scale in the middle of a crisis, then clearly there are going to be a lot of rough edges. norman, in terms of what is coming, we keep being told we are two weeks from the start of a peek here. what are the prices we are going to see on the nhs? we are already hearing from some doctors on the front would we? well, it's frightening, genuinely frightening. we have already seen no —— northwood park hospital in north london which temporarily, earlier last week, had to close because it had run out of intensive care beds. we are hearing very grim stories from a&e departments about the hard decisions medical staff are now having to make about who is going to receive ventilators. i mean, the only way we can minimise the pressure is to slow

the pace of this virus. that doesn't mean no trying to suppress it by getting people to self—isolate and stay indoors. and to hope by doing so that leads to a huge rush in cases. . . so that leads to a huge rush in cases... we are already hearing from hospitals having to clear out previous wards, use part of hospitals they haven't used before, trying to expand the capacity they have got for intensive care beds. we are also being told of the number of ventilators available is increasing. firms are coming forward with offers of the ability to make ventilators. not quite clear how many of them are actually finding their way into hospitals yet. it is a cliche that the prime minister and others have talked about it being on a warlike footing, but genuinely in many hospitals it is beginning to sound like that. thank you very much indeed. some

breaking news. it has been confirmed that japan is asking for breaking news. it has been confirmed thatjapan is asking for a one—year postponement of the olympic games to be held in tokyo this summer. shinzo abe had come under a lot of pressure to announce a postponement. that does look like it is going to be confirmed. many will ask whether a year is going to be enough given that we know it is potentially 18 months until a vaccine is found. but at least this gives some certainty for athletics and all those involved in the olympics to know that it is not going to be happening for sure this year. many countries around the world a re this year. many countries around the world are now looking at some sort of lockdown. here in the uk we are seeing a partial lockdown, announced by the prime minister last night. there are many questions about the role of the police in enforcing the new restrictions. let's speak now to martin hewitt, who's the chairman of

the national police chiefs' council and is leading the national policing response to the coronavirus. thank you for your time. how are you going to ensure that people stay at home if they should be?” going to ensure that people stay at home if they should be? i think the first important point to make is these measures have been brought in to protect the nhs and to save lives. and where appropriate and necessary we will enforce that. i think most people would want us to do so. the measures came out last night. in the first instance police staff are out there in communities. it will be about talking to people. it will be about talking to people. it will be about talking to people. it will be about explaining the new rules, making sure that people understand those new rules, checking whether they are owed for a legitimate reason, and if they are not, asking them to return to their homes. and really trying to get people to comply. the whole point of the model is that it is a compliance model to save lives. as we are working as we speak with government

under the guidance and then ultimately the legislation which will come out later in the week, and that legislation will give us the powers to enforce these rules. and once that has been passed, again we will continue with our traditional style of policing. but those few people who choose to flaunt the rules, we will have to take enforcement action. we have seen a lot of people travelling into central london even today and a dispute about the construction workers and whether they are going to be helped by the government in the next few days. what realistically can you do if you see a lot of people going to work if it isa a lot of people going to work if it is a grey area? i think that point around clarity is really important. there is huge amount of work going on in government and with other agencies do really provide that a clear message to people about what constitutes someone who needs to going into work and, as you already said, all the arrangements to support those people. that really is a matter for the government. support those people. that really is a matterfor the government. i think from a policing perspective it is

really about us, the officers and staff out on the street, engaging with people in the way that we do, explaining these new rules, explaining these new rules, explaining why they are so important, encouraging people to actually abide by those rules. and then as it becomes more familiar, and if there are people who are floating those rules, we will need to ta ke floating those rules, we will need to take enforcement action, because this is not only for their own protection, it is for the protection of the community and to present —— to prevent the nhs from being overwhelmed. how will you perhaps handle people who don't listen and are breaking the rules? will you be fining them, will you be arresting them? the fining them, will you be arresting them ? the police, fining them, will you be arresting them? the police, like every service, will be hit by this virus. your numbers will also be strained. 0ur numbers will be strained. we a lwa ys 0ur numbers will be strained. we always have to prioritise what we do. most of the things that we do in policing terms we are still doing and we will continue to do. but that profile is changing. the demand profile is changing. the demand

profile is changing as all of the changes that have happened in society. but as you say, the virus is indiscriminate. and our staff will be affected. we are monitoring that very closely and making sure we have got as many staff available for us to not only do our core job board to support this public health action. and then it really is about being out there. and as i say, using the way of policing that we have. it will be about engaging with people. it will be about warning people in the first instance to try to get compliance. the aim here is to get people to comply with these new rules so that we reduce the of level contamination. but is ultimately the aim. if people are not complying to after a warning there will be fines and potentially prosecutions. that is being worked through in the legislation that is going through parliament at the moment and will be enacted towards the end of the week. martin hewitt, chairman of the national police council, thank you.

let me quickly update you know and what is going on in spain. as we mentioned, the daily death toll from the coronavirus is continuing to rise. that is despite ever stricter measures being brought in to try to contain things. we heard a little earlierfrom our contain things. we heard a little earlier from our correspondent. contain things. we heard a little earlierfrom our correspondent. he is on the line now for us to speak to her life. these numbers are still going up? yes, it's a huge concern for the government, which had warned this week was going to be a very tough one in terms of the challenges presented by this virus and that we might seea presented by this virus and that we might see a continuation of the rather harrowing figures that we have seen in spain. today we have seen a have seen in spain. today we have seenajump of have seen in spain. today we have seen a jump of just have seen in spain. today we have seen a jump ofjust over 500 more deaths. that brings the total number of deaths caused by the virus to 2700. does that to rise the government is continuing to take drastic measures. we have seen a

conference centre here in madrid converted into a massive hospital. an ice rink has been turned into a makeshift morgue. but the government is saying that it hopes in the next few days, even though we are seeing these very dramatic figures, it hopes that we will start to see a light at the end of the tunnel and that those figures might start to flatten out. thank you very much indeed. legal action is being planned against the government over claims that it has failed to protect the wages and jobs of millions of workers, including those in the gig economy, during the covid—19 pandemic. the independent workers union of great britain wants the government to do more to support self—employed and gig economy workers through the crisis. there has been ongoing concern for delivery. let's talk now to greg howard, who is a delivery driver for deliveroo. greg, what is your situation at the

moment? are you still working? yeah, i'm still working. it is going to be pretty quiet. we are seeing restau ra nts pretty quiet. we are seeing restaurants tail off. we are moving towards grocery supermarket service now, i guess. that is still being set up. we have no idea along that is going to take and when the mind will start to pick up again. we are all really struggling. do you qualify for help from the government? no. i qualify for statutory sick pay, but we don't get that. that is why this case is pushing for that. universal credit is not enough. we had information this morning from deliver true, who are offering a hardship fund. that is only pay a paltry £100 a week, which isjust £5 is only pay a paltry £100 a week, which is just £5 above statutory sick pay. i can't support my family on that. we have been hearing from rishi sunak, the chancellor, so they're working on something but it is complicated. how many days do you

have left before your cash flow runs out? i it for your family? -- how urgent is it? it is urgent. i can't feed my family all the promises from the chancellor. i need certainty, need cash. the money will not last for longer. my partner is on statutory maternity pay. it is already tight. we need financial support no. the treasury is pointing out that if people are struggling and they can access some of the existing support is like universal credit or various tax reliefs and vat reliefs, is that something that you are considering? it is something iam going you are considering? it is something i am going to consider, yes. we only support. all the delivery drivers. it isa support. all the delivery drivers. it is a dire situation that we face now. how far would state benefits as they exist no go towards meeting what you need just to keep your family 0kfor what you need just to keep your family ok for the moment? not far

enough. it is going to be tight. it is going to be really tight. i have got three children. it is going to bea got three children. it is going to be a real struggle. very difficult times for many people and a real example of what we are all facing. greg howard, thank you indeed. a lot of pressure on the government to help people in that position and who need help as soon as possible. let's bring you some breaking news now from switzerland, outside the headquarters of the international olympic committee. in the past few minutes, japan has asked for the games to be postponed for a year. 0ur sports news reporter alex capstickjoins me now. alex, what has been said today? the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, had a meeting with the ioc president this morning about what to do with the olympic. you might remember on sunday the ioc said it would take a maximum of four weeks to make a final decision, to offer clarity. that caused a lot of complaints from athletes and international olympic committee is that it was taking too

long. they have heard of the meeting today under shinzo abe has asked for the games to be postponed until the summer of next year, 2021, the latest. given that the torch relay was due to start this week injapan, on thursday, it makes sense for this decision to be made sooner rather than later. is the delay long enough? we are hearing it could be 18 months at least before there is a vaccine. does this decision notjust kick it down the chain?” vaccine. does this decision notjust kick it down the chain? i think it is guesswork at the moment. we clearly don't know. they think it will be ok to stage the games in 2021. 0bviously of the virus is not contained they will have to make another decision further down the road. at the moment they want to stated in the summer of 2021. it is a huge logistical challenge to do that. it is not easy to baseball games. they have account of the. they always said they were going to cancel it. they were going to put it all at some stage. it hasn't been easy to make that work. i suspect there will be a lot of logistical challenges ahead. they were not

hosted this year. it will be in 2021. this is the first time an 0lympic 2021. this is the first time an olympic games has been postponed. it has been cancelled before a wartime body does never been postponed. has been cancelled before a wartime body does never been postponedm is very difficult for athletes. if summer next year doesn't feel feasible a lot of work will potentially be wasted in terms of organisation and sponsorship, and the athletes training programme? absolutely, it has been terrible for the athletes. a lot of them have spoken about her difficult it is, the uncertainty, they can't train. they can't compete. they talked about how it would make unfair competition at the other bits because in some parts of the world athletes can't train. they can't. if this goes on that would cause further problems down the road. they are obviously hoping that later this year into next year they will be able to train normally. but that is guesswork at the moment. thank you very much indeed. let's talk more about china.

the country plans to lift the lockdown in the city of wuhan, after the number of new cases there has come almost to a stop. people who have been cleared of the virus will be allowed to start travelling around the country again from the 8th of april — that's two weeks away. it comes as one new case was reported in the city, which was at the centre of the original outbreak, following a five—day run of no reported new infections there. normal life has slowly been resuming in wuhan, after the total lockdown was relaxed. these pictures from chinese state tv show some shops open, and people moving around outside, although still subject to temperature checks. the worry now is curbing a second wave of the pandemic coming into the country. the chinese government gave this information at its daily briefing. translation: statistics has shown that there has been an increase of imported cases in cities, at ports of entries, and transportation hubs. they are faced with pressure over prevention of imported cases.

there has been great outcome in domestic control, and there has been an increasing pressure of imported risks. will there be a second wave of transmission because of imported cases? this is a question of public concern. christopher hill is a british tutor living in wuhan. he and his four year old daughter have been in isolation for more than 50 days, while his wife who is a paediatric nurse has been leaving their house to work throughout the outbreak. he says people have been communicating on social media sites to help get through the lockdown. mainly, everybody is standing together and showing if we all act as one and don't do anything which could impact other people, it makes ita could impact other people, it makes it a lot better.

0n the 8th of april, wuhan will open for people to come and go whites. 0ur for people to come and go whites. our people scared to now start going out again? oh, yes. i wasjust speaking to a couple of my friends who live in the same area, and they say their neighbours are very worried because our communal area has been deemed as free of infection but there may still be some people out there who still have the virus and they are worried about going out and they are worried about going out and about it all happening again. your wife is in the medical profession. what is her experience been? she has been dealing mostly, she works and i see you for infants in need. she has been doing a good job and seeing that her friends who

work in other hospitals have been working nonstop —— nonstop around the clock to make sure people are being taken care of. they have been working miracles. everything is going back. for her, she has not seen that many cases of infection. it does seem to be the case that children are not being so much affected. from what i have heard it is about one in 20, maybe. it is small amount. you must be looking forward to finally emerging. will it bea forward to finally emerging. will it be a quick open release or still restricted? from what we have been told by the government, it will not bea told by the government, it will not be a quick, done and open. it will be a quick, done and open. it will bea be a quick, done and open. it will be a slow thing because you still have to be cautious. even though

they have it under control, there is still a way that it could flare up again. christopher hill, an english tutor in wuhan that is due to be opening up gradually in a couple of weeks. wuhan was the original centre of the outbreak. back to the us now and speaking before the news that the who fears the united states will become the next epicentre of the pandemic, president trump said he expects the us to reopen for business in weeks rather than month. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. the country is closing down. state after state, the restrictions on americans are getting tighter every day. from california to new york, thousands of people have been laid off and the health care system is in danger of being overwhelmed by the coronavirus. the number of cases continues to rise steeply. state officials in new york say there is a critical shortage of ventilators, masks and medical staff.

this is a national emergency. a bill to provide urgent financial help to american workers and businesses still has not passed the senate. after days of negotiations, the white house, democrats and republicans are at loggerheads over how nearly $2 trillion should be allocated. president trump has urged senators to put aside their political differences. my administration continues to work with democrats and republicans to reach an agreement on an urgent relief bill for the millions of american workers and small businesses and large businesses that were badly affected by the medical difficulty that we have had. mr trump added america would soon be open for business, and — without providing evidence — he said more people would die from a prolonged shutdown than as a result of the coronavirus. he compared the impact of the disease with other causes of death. we have a very active flu season,

more active than most. it's looking like it's heading to 50,000 or more deaths, deaths, not cases. 50,000 deaths, which is — that's a lot. and you look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers we're talking about, doesn't mean we're going to tell everybody no more driving of cars. the usjustice department is clamping down on people who are trying to cash in on the crisis through price gouging. the attorney general had a warning for anyone hoarding vital supplies to try to manipulate the market. if you have a big supply of toilet paper in your house, this is not something you have to worry about. but if you're sitting on a warehouse with masks, surgical masks, you'll be hearing a knock on your door. with growing concern among health officials that many americans are still ignoring the guidelines over social distancing,

the police are being brought in in several cities to break up groups of people in public parks and impose fines. let's just remind you of those very stricter measures brought in by the british prime minister. you can now only leave your home in the uk for very specific reasons. they are to shop for basic neccessities like food and medicine. you can go outside for one form of exercise a day, alone or with members of your household. all gatherings of more than two people are banned. you can leave home for any medical need or to care for a vulnerable person. finally, you can travel to and from work, but only where absolutely necessary and if you cannot work from home. this can all be enforced by the police and they could fine us if we flout the measures. as we've been hearing, many british tourists say they have been left stranded overseas as countries around the world continue to increase travel restrictions. the foreign office in the uk has urged all britons travelling abroad

to return home from australia while they still can, warning that even more flights could be cancelled within the next 48 hours, possibly without notice. 0ur sydney correspondent shaimaa khalil gave us this update. there have been people still out and about on the streets, fewer than we have seen before, reduced numbers, but the government, the leadership, state and federal level have been quite assertive about wanting fewer people still on the streets with that strong message of stay home, self—isolate if you are not feeling well. in new south wales, where i am, it is the worst affected state. 818 cases with the biggest spike in the last 24 hours, nearly 150 cases. the new south wales premier said that you measures will be put in place to make sure people comply. the victoria premier close to

schools and said there was a 500 police task force that will make sure that social distancing is run in the right way. the message here is to stay home. the problem is, people haven't been complying as strictly as the authorities want to. the message from the government, from the embassy here, has been to get on a plane if you can and get out of here as soon as possible and get back to the uk, or sit here and wait it out. for many of the people we have spoken to, these are just not options, one because many of them have booked flights, now with transit destinations like hong kong, dubai or doha, singapore, these places have stopped flights, so their flights have been cancelled. they are unable to get on the flight, they are unable to get on the flight, and those available are very expensive. the other thing is staying here is very difficult because many of those rely on casual jobs, they are here on working

holiday visas and with the businesses closing down, jobs have been drying up. they don't have enough money to stay here. they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, they are unable to go back home and their prospects to stay here are growing more difficult by the minute, really. here are growing more difficult by the minute, really. now on bbc news, it's time for your questions answered. we've been getting lots of questions sent to us about the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the new measures to combat it, as outlined by the prime minister last night. we're going to do our best now to answer some of them now. i'm joined by katrina lythgoe, an epidemiologist at the university of oxford. shejoins me from chesham. cani can i start with a couple of questions of my own? it is about

transmission, how we get this virus in terms of what we know. we are told that we have to keep two metres away and it can spread if someone coughs or sneezes on to us. if we are sitting in a room with people, cannot just be are sitting in a room with people, cannotjust be spread through the air droplets through normal breathing, even if nobody coughs or sneezes? yes, just through speaking with each other. droplets are going to go into the air. typically, they normally spread around a metre, a metre and a half. that is why we have this two metre distancing. the more enclosed spaces than were those droplets could circulate in the air before dropping on the ground. the advice would be, if you can, to open up advice would be, if you can, to open up the windows as much as you can and the room. that will dilate the amounts that will be circulating in the room. if you are an air—conditioned environment, for

those of us still working here, does that help or not? i don't know the data on that. i think the more arid you can get into the room the better. let me move to a question from peterjohnston, who says how many people in the uk have recovered from covid—19 and would it be possible to give a daily update on those figures? this is really hard to know. official figures those figures? this is really hard to know. officialfigures tell us that 135 people have recovered, but this is likely to be a vast, vast underestimates. the number is probably at least 100 times more than that is, if not more. we are talking about many tens of thousands of people have already recovered. that is because we are not testing, it is difficult to know. people queueing at supermarkets are not lining up with a two metre gap, is

this a risk to spreading the virus more? as i was saying before, when we breathe and speak, we expel the virus from our rights, so the closer you are the more likely infection is going to happen. i would really say that it going to happen. i would really say thatitis going to happen. i would really say that it is our collective responsibility to stay apart and to stay at home as much as we can. logically, that means if you have one key worker in your family tree is having to come and go, even if no one else sale it would make sense for everybody to be cautious, to keep a distance even within the home, if possible. yes, exactly. the issue with key workers as it is very difficult and if you are worried you wa nt to difficult and if you are worried you want to start may be thinking about cleaning surfaces very regularly to avoid transmission that way, as

well. john westernasks, can my gardener still come if we have no contact? this is a government decision, really. that gartner would have to travel to get to your home, and through that travelling it is putting that gardener at risk. it is difficult for people who are self—employed. we need to start thinking about how we can support people, like gardeners and cleaners, in ways that support them, but reduce our own and their risk of exposure. what if the gardener was just walking to your house, if they are staying outside all the time? then the risk could come into what the gardener is touching and if anybody else will touch those surfaces. we need to think about our

actions and think hard about how they could facilitate the spread. so it is not essential and it shouldn't happen. judy irwin asks, does "stay at home" mean stay inside the house or does "home" also include ones garden? if you are lucky enough to have a garden or open space, i don't see any reason why you shouldn't be using that. in fact, it may be better again because it is much more ventilated. so if you can get outside, then to go outside. another person asks, i'm wiping door handles and surfaces with a cloth soaked in a disinfectant solution. is that going to kill the virus? yes, as long as it is 70% alcohol or

bleach based, that will kill the virus. you can still be having some of that just by virus. you can still be having some of thatjust by cleaning the virus away. you may want to think about whether you are wearing gloves and keeping gloves for that purpose, or using disposable gloves. would it be better to use open water on dope —— on door handles, in that case? disinfectant is going to be the best, but we know that detergents break down the surface of the virus, so anything is helpful. one other question, i know we haven't prepared you for this, but we are seeing numbers coming in from around the world in the uk, and some verbal testimony about the age range not just seeing old people very acutely ill, but younger people also. do we

know for certain he is vulnerable here? we know that people in the vulnerable groups and the elderly are more vulnerable, but we are talking huge numbers of people being infected, so you don't need that many non—vulnerable people, a small percentage, if there are enough people infected you're still going to start seeing them arrive at the intensive care. this applies to all the age ranges. very good to speak to you. thank you for your time. 0ur breaking news this hour is that the international olympic committee have agreed to postpone the tokyo olympics by one year. we will get a formal announcement on that. the ioc

chief and the japanese prime minister had made that agreement after talking by phone in the last hour. it is not necessarily surprising, but it is a momentous one because we have been hearing that canada and australia have already said they would pull out of the games. britain said it would follow if the games were not moved. soa follow if the games were not moved. so a one—year delay is what has been agreed, the many details are still being worked out and presumably a big relief for lots of athletes who can't train or compete because of the pandemic. whether even a one—year delay would be enough remains to be seen. let us get more on what is going on here. lots of people are worried about how they are going to make a living in this pandemic.

with me is tom macinnes, chief analyst at citizens advice — hejoins me from east london. what is dominating the questions you're getting? that's right. last week on our website was the busiest week on our website was the busiest week we have ever had in terms of people looking at your content. it is, different faces. backa people looking at your content. it is, different faces. back a couple of weeks, people were worried about things like cancelling a holiday, getting money back for cancelled flights. then we saw a huge increase in people being worried about sick pay, reading about what their entitlement was to sick pay. last week we saw a growth in everything, so redundancies, people looking for advice on redundancy, as well as universal credit, things around self—employment. we saw a rise 27 fold in the number of people who are looking for advice on how to chop up their prepayment metres when they can get out of the house and can't

afford to. it is a broad range. as this goes on, the people working in the support surfaces that administer these, there will be a shortage of staff there. that's right. we are trying to make sure that our advice is as up—to—date as possible, so we have people working on improving and updating this all the time. if people need help from citizens advice they can come to our website, find what they need there, or give usa find what they need there, or give us a call, which is this huge range of different problems people need advice on. will universal credit be enough? we have seen so many complaints about it. also these in the employed bracket, it will be difficult to access that and it will ta ke difficult to access that and it will take a while. we have been campaigning on universal credit for a long time about making

improvements to it, in particular the weight that people have before they get their first payment. we are asking the government to look again at the aspects around the fight wait for payment, and think about the loa ns for payment, and think about the loans that are given lights at the start of that period, whether they can be converted into grams instead. we are also concerned about the self—employed because at the moment we don't see any concrete proposal for the self—employed. a great announcement last week for people who are in employed work, but we haven't seen the same for self—employed people and we are worried they will fall through the gaps. thank you very much indeed. back now to that news that the world health organization has warned the spread of the virus seems to be "accelerating", with the number of confirmed cases globally approaching 400,000. to put that into context, take a look at this tweet from our health and science correspondent james gallagher. he says it took 67 days from the first reported case for the total to reach 100,000.

it then took 11 days to reach 200,000 and just four to reach 300,000. well, some estimates say that there are now one billion people being asked to remain at home around the world, those in the uk now among them. it's all aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. here's how. a big problem with coronaviruses you can have it and not know about it. it means you can go about your day as you have always done, feel completely fine but actually affect around two to three people within a week. what happens then is those people you infected go on to infect another two to three people each. then those people will infect others and that is how the virus spreads. but look at what happens when people stay at home and practice social distancing. for instance, if this person did not

go around to their friends house. if this person wored from home. if this person didn't go to the corner shop. visit their mum. this is reduces the number of cases from a 406 to just 15. as the number of cases goes down, so does the pressure on doctors and nurses and our health service. this will make the difference between people living and people dying. while many countries are struggling to contain the coronavirus, the island of taiwan has had some success, despite being right next door to china where the outbreak began. it has done it without the lockdown measures being applied elsewhere. taiwan has so far had 215 confirmed cases and only two deaths. this could be thanks to a swift response from the taiwanese government. 0n the very last day of 2019, authorities began checking whether passengers arriving on direct flights from wuhan had any symptoms of fever and pneumonia. soon after, on 20th january,

the government activated the central epidemic command center to directly coordinate efforts by different government departments and other agencies. in the last two months, that organisation has overseen crucial measures, including border control, fighting misinformation and financial relief for businesses. my colleague sally bundock has been asking dr chan chang—chuan, from the school of public health at the national taiwan university, to explain the method. you know, in the beginning people predicted taiwan would be hard hit. 0n the top two list. affected by wuhan. we did not become that worse. the reason for that, as you just mentioned, we act fast. early and very decisively to ban tourists from china. that is very important. even though we only

have a very few cases, you have to act very quickly. this is the lesson we learned from the 2003 sars outbreak. you cannot expect correct data from china. once you have these kind of reports you have to act decisively. and our government did have the right thing to do it that way. the other one is we have to have an infrastructure to respond to emerging diseases. before sars we did not have that kind of scheme in our government. i think it is still the same in many countries, they don't have such a strong infrastructure to deal with this kind of a pandemic. and we did. we have good medical command centres. so this is good. the other one is our hospitals.

because of sars we have many doctors, nurses die from infections. so we reinforced a lot of infection controls. virtually, there are over 50 hospitals. they are ready for future use in peaceful time they are not used a lot. but during this time they are. so we can be more ready for moderate cases. if we are facing like italians or spain, not to mention of the wuhan cases, still we are not ready yet. now, a reminderof that statement from the uk prime minister,

on those toughter new measures. there is a clear way through. day by day we are strengthening our amazing nhs with 7500 former clinicians now coming back to the service. with the time to dubai by simply staying at home we are increasing our stocks of equipment, accelerating our search for treatments, we are pioneering work ina for treatments, we are pioneering work in a vaccine, and we are buying millions of testing kits that will enable us to turn the tide on this invisible killer. a reminder of the statement from the british prime minister, which was broadcast last night, as britain goes into lockdown

following the example of so many countries the world. we will say goodbye to our viewers on bbc world news and thanks to our audience globally. thanks for watching. now it's time for a look at the weather. it is like spring out there at the moment, so if you're heading out for some exercise or you just want to get out in the garden, the rest of the day will be dry for most of us. there will be sunny spells around. in the north—west we have to slow moving band of cloud. it is a weather front that is producing some outbreaks of rain in northern ireland and scotland, the heaviest rain to be found in the north—west of scotland, particularly in the western isles. the further south and east you are, more in the way of dry weather. through tonight, the skies

remain clear across much of england and wales with relatively light winds. across parts of east anglia, the midlands, turning to the south—east, temperatures will get down to freezing or a touch below. in the north and west it will be warmer, because of the cloud. the cloud will set over northern ireland and scotland tomorrow, bringing some outbreaks of rain. it will start to brighten up eventually in the far north and west of scotland. further south and east, anotherfine north and west of scotland. further south and east, another fine day with long spells of sunshine, and another relatively warm day, with temperatures getting as high as 16 or 17 degrees in parts of north and west wales. moving into thursday, to slow moving band of cloud is in no mood to move. that weather front will still be with us as we go on into thursday. not much rain left on it at this stage, but a stripe of cloud still affected —— expected to

affect northern ireland and scotland. further south, spells of sunshine, but the wind will move on from the east making it feel cooler. friday, the weather front still sitting around and this branch of cloud. temperatures across the board a little bit lower by this point. then we head into the weekend. finally, we will clear that frontal system away. high pressure will try to move on from the west, but this weather will just trap us to move on from the west, but this weather willjust trap us with cold northerly wind. it will feel more like winter at times. a significant wind chill. there will be sunny spells, but also some wintry showers.

well.

calls for more clarity after the prime minister declared a national emergency about coronavirus and brought in drastic new rules. people are urged to stay at home. the measures are the toughest restrictions on daily life in living memory. i hope that people will follow this advice. if for any reason they don't, penalties are there. we'll have all the details of the new measures, and later in the programme we'll answer some of the many questions you've been sending us. there's some confusion about which businesses are considered essential and can stay open. japan postpones the tokyo olympics and paralympics to next year after mounting international pressure.