welcome to this bbc news special on the coronavirus crisis. i'm greeted chakrabarti. the coronavirus crisis. i'm greeted chakra barti. the the coronavirus crisis. i'm greeted chakrabarti. the headlines: calls for more clarity after the government declares a national emergency over coronavirus and brings in drastic rules to keep people at home. these measures are not advice. they are rules and will be enforced, including by the police. with fines starting at £30 up police. with fines starting at £30 up to unlimited fines for noncompliance. we will hear more from the health secretary when he chairs the government because my daily press briefing at downing street. we will bring you that a little later in this programme. the government defends its decision to allow construction work to continue as concerns are raised about the difficulty of social distancing on

sites. the tokyo 0lympics difficulty of social distancing on sites. the tokyo olympics and paralympic south postponed for a year after mounting international pressure. pharmacies appeal to people not to stockpile medicines as they report a big increase in customers. and hundreds of thousands of british citizens travelling abroad are urged by the foreign 0ffice abroad are urged by the foreign office to come home before more air routes are closed. good afternoon. the government has sought to clarify the tough new restrictions introduced last night, to curb the spread of coronavirus. the prime minister declared a national emergency and ordered everyone to stay home, and to follow strict rules. you can only leave your home for very limited purposes, such as shopping for basic

neccessities like food and medicine. you can go outside for one form of exercise each day, either alone or with members of your household. you can leave home for any medical need or to care for a vulnerable person. and finally, you can travel to and from work, but only where absolutely necessary, and if you cannot work from home. and downing street say you could be fined £30 for breaching the measures, but that could rise significantly. 340 people have died in the uk of the virus, and the number of confirmed cases stands above 6,500. the overall number is expected to be much higher. here's lauren moss with our first report. britain is beginning a new life behind closed doors. sweeping new measures to stop people mixing with each other and spreading the coronavirus are now in place across the uk, banning gatherings of more than two people and asking us to only leave home when it's absolutely necessary. we want to make sure that the reinfection rate goes down,

that we slow the spread of the virus, because it's absolutely critical for making sure that our nhs is in the strongest position possible to restrict the spread, and that means restricting social contact and following the advice the government has put forward. what are the new rules, then? from today, no—one should go out unless it is to shop for essentials, as infrequently as possible, to exercise once a day — either a walk, run or bike ride. if there is a medical need or to help a vulnerable person, and to travel to and from work, but only if that work can't be done from home. police officers will be given powers to break up groups and fine anyone ignoring the advice. fines could be £30. the aim here is to get people to comply with these new rules so that we reduce the level

of contamination, and that's ultimately the aim. but if people are not compliant after a warning, then there will be fines and potentially prosecutions, and that is all being worked through in the legislation. weddings are cancelled, funerals can continue, but mourners must stay two metres apart. playgrounds are closed, but parks are staying open. no prime minister wants to enact measures like this, i know the damage that this disruption is doing and will do to people's lives, to their businesses and to theirjobs. and that's why we've produced a huge and unprecedented programme of support, both for workers and for business. and, i can assure you, that we will keep these restrictions under constant review. so how are people adjusting to their new routines? i can't say it is unexpected, we were expecting lockdown for a while, simply because people haven't been taking it seriously. my first reaction is genuinely relief. i think this is a measure that probably needed to be taken a week ago. three weeks — that's decent.

i mean, that's going to really disrupt some lives, but that's obviously what we need to do to try and beat this. i welcome the lockdown, but i think the lockdown is a reflection of a wanton disregard for the safety of other people. despite the strict steps we've all been told to take, some tube trains in london were still packed this morning, moving front line workers to make their own plea to the public. we will look after your relatives with care and love, but i do not want to be overwhelmed by tears in a loo at work because somebody sends me a picture today of people queueing unsafely. this is going to be hard enough as it is. what we need you to do is to make sure that every person in this country sits down this morning before they leave the house, reads the guidance. non—emergency operations are being cancelled to free up beds, and now one hospital's postponing chemotherapy and outpatient appointments for at least two weeks because of an increase in patients with covid—i9.

the health secretary says delivering protective equipment to medics is being ramped up and there are plans to get it out into care homes and workers in the community. the current plan is to have protective equipment to all social care settings by the end of this week. and then of course we will have to keep further going. we have put in place the hotline so that if you need ppe, call the hotline so that we know where the difficulties are in terms of getting it to the front line, so we can respond to those calls and so we can get it to you. soi calls and so we can get it to you. so i feel that very, very strongly. the new restrictions will be reviewed in three weeks' time. we are warned that more lives will be lost as we work our way through this national emergency. lauren moss, bbc news. with me is our chief political correspondent vicki young.

vicki, lots of information coming out all the time from the government. what's the latest? people are desperate for clarification, we had an address to the nation from borisjohnson last night which was effectively, stay at home, yet lots of people have questions about whether they have to go to work and other aspects of life. i think that's the point worth making here. that the state, the government, having to get involved in almost every aspect of our lives and that is taking time. there is confusion in some areas. all sorts of things they having to answer as the days go on. so today, the briefing from downing street given to politicaljournalists, some of the things they were talking about. this idea of how they police this. police will have the powers by thursday to issue fines starting at £30. people asking the question, hang ona £30. people asking the question, hang on a minute, how will they know if this is the first time i've gone out to walk the dog today or the second? they are saying the police

need to use their common sense. they will be really prioritise in breaking up any gatherings that they find, people getting together in large groups, because of course, that's more dangerous in the form of transmitting the virus. some of the other thing is happening today, prisons in england and wales have taken the immediate step to stop visits, while they ensure they can deal with this idea of social distancing rules, which means staying two metres apart. when it comes to ventilators, we are going to hear from matt hancock. comes to ventilators, we are going to hearfrom matt hancock. he comes to ventilators, we are going to hear from matt hancock. he was talking about there being 1000 ventilators on the front line with 5000 coming online. and then questions which will be very upsetting for people dumb about funerals. of course, a funeral will bea funerals. of course, a funeral will be a gathering of a large number of people. the question there we are being told immediate family only. what does that mean? again, they are saying to people, you need to use your discretion, particularly think about people attending who have underlying health conditions, or who are elderly. vicki, thank you for that. i'm just wanting to let viewers know that we have had new

figures for today on the number of people who have died. the uk government is saying that 422 people have now died in the uk and that there are 8077 confirmed cases stop although of course as we know the total is thought to be considerably larger than that because not everybody is being tested. vicki, i was wondering if i could ask you as well, a lot of controversy and difference of opinion as to whether or not construction workers are essential workers. what is interesting about this is that we know that there has not been agreement about this. now, in the sense that up until now pretty much scotland, wales, northern ireland, england, have been following the same advice, if you like. today nicola sturgeon, first minister in scotland, said she felt building sites should be closed unless they are absolutely essential, for example, if they are working in a hospital. now, that hasn't been the case in england, although sadiq khan, the mayor of london, also says

he doesn't agree with the government that construction workers should be going to building sites, partly because they are travelling on public transport. we have seen a couple of photos of very packed underground trains. so i think that is an issue and there is confusion about who should be going to work. today in the house of commons matt hancock said if you cannot work at home you may need to go to the workplace but in the workplace you must think about social distancing and staying two metres apart. that would be pretty difficult for some people and there will be concern. some companies are saying to their workers they have to come in when they are not comfortable with that. i think that's the area where there is most confusion, if you like, about people thinking, should i be going into work or not and is it safe for me to do so once i get there? 0k, vicki, thank you very much for that. i'm sure we will talk to you again after the press briefing after it happened shortly. i'm sure that will be one of the questions put to the health

secretary. for the time being, vicki young, our chief political correspondent. we can speak to the former chief constable for greater manchester police now. hejoins us from his home in staffordshire. thank you forjoining us. the police are to get new powers on thursday, banning gatherings of more than two people. how easy or difficult is that going to be to enforce ? difficult is that going to be to enforce? i think it is going to be very difficult to enforce unless we see further reduction in the number of people out. the government has closed down a number of business centre facilities. i think there will need to be another change in the public mood because we can then really reduce the number of people that are out there travelling on the road and foot, it gives the police some chance to intervene but fines

will be used certainly in the initial phase in very few cases. the m has got to be for the vast majority of the public to support this and change their behaviour and absolutely work with the police and cooperate with the police so that there is the least amount of enforcement required. are there in fa ct enforcement required. are there in fact police numbers available to enforce this? no. and that is really the case for all laws in our country, we have a lower level of policing, we have half the number of police officers compared to italy, per head of population so it has to be about public consent and a cce pta nce be about public consent and acceptance and other measures the government bring in which restrict movement and close businesses and different leisure facilities and things like that. but the police are already very stretched. we don't have a paramilitary police like the gendarmerie in france, or the carabinieri in italy. there is very

little surge capability and the police, even on good days, have to often help out the nhs on things like mental health cases, when the ambulance service is stretched and many police officers will be fearful that as the ambulance service gets even more stretched, if people cannot respond they will turn to the police. everybody in the public must understand the importance of this and want to support the nhs staff working at the front line and realised the priority here is saving lives so that there has to be the least police action and the least possible amount of enforcement so that we can get through this. possible amount of enforcement so that we can get through thislj suppose that we can get through this.” suppose in enforcing this new law the police are going to have to use their discretion, aren't they, as to who to approach and who not? yes and thatis who to approach and who not? yes and that is what happens day to day and police use their common sense in this country. on the other hand, there is a big shift in the culture. again, in continental countries, it is normal that if you are stopped by

an officer of the law you have to give an account of why you are there and you have to show your identity card. we don't have that culture. if you are stopped by a police officer you are stopped by a police officer you do not have to account for your movements but we are going to need a change in that and a change in the public mood. people carrying some form of identity if they are going toa form of identity if they are going to a medical appointment, carrying a letter, or having it on their phone, and can absolutely cooperating with the police and not making it difficult for them. these are things people will have to get used to, aren't they? we have to leave it there. sir peter fahy, thank you so much. ijust want i just want to bring you ijust want to bring you a bit more detail on those figures we had a moment ago. the latest figures for the uk of coronavirus patients. there are 8077 people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the uk, that's as of this morning. that is out of a total

of 90,436, sojust this morning. that is out of a total of 90,436, so just under 10% of those who have been tested have tested positive. and as of this lunchtime, as of 1pm, 422 patients who tested positive have sadly died. we've heard that essential businesses are allowed to remain open — including supermarkets, chemists and banks. but there are still questions aboutjust what does — or should — constitute essential work. one of britain's biggest builders, taylor wimpey, has said it's closing its sites. our business correspondent sarah corker reports. shopping centres and retail parks across the uk are now largely off—limits. at this site in north manchester, just four out of 35 stores providing vital supplies are allowed to stay open. i'm just asking people what essential things you've been buying today? milk.

food for my 87—year—old mother. potatoes. stuff that will be staple in the fridge, it is ok there, it is nice and calm and nobody is panic buying. last night, nonessential retailers were ordered to close. including clothing shops, hairdressers, hotels and electronics stores. the government will pay 80% of wages and today the chancellor has promised more support for the self—employed. but admitted there are difficulties. we absolutely understand the situation that many self—employed people face at the moment as a result of what's happening and are determined to find a way to support them. we just need to be confident that it is done in a way that is deliverable and fair to the vast majority of the british workforce. 0n the list of vital retailers allowed to remain open include supermarkets and food shops, pharmacies, petrol stations, newsagents, pet shops, home and hardware stores, post offices and banks. 0nline orders and deliveries will continue.

and construction work can carry on if workers stay two metres apart. i think it's important that when we have construction work that is going on, in a way that can be done safely, in the open air, on new sites that that does continue. but, transport for london has taken the decision to temporarily suspend work on crossrail and other sites. there has been some confusion among businesses. this morning, sports direct said it would remain open, as it's uniquely placed to keep the uk fit and healthy. but then the chain did a u—turn. it's clarifying with the government if it's deemed as an essential service. pa announcement: we are receiving new deliveries regularly. meanwhile, supermarkets continue to face huge demand and are asking the public to be considerate during these extraordinary times. 0ur consumer affairs correspondent sarah corker is in manchesterfor us now. how's it been today?

there have been a steady stream of shoppers throughout the day coming to get their essential supplies of food and medicine and as you are hired just four stores in this retail park are allowed to remain open so that is two food retailers as well as cannot boots and superdrug. people as well as cannot boots and superd rug. people have as well as cannot boots and superdrug. people have been behaving ina superdrug. people have been behaving in a sensible way. there has been no panic buying on the shelves in the food hall behind me are pretty well stocked. across the car park there area stocked. across the car park there are a few customers around. in the distance you can see greggs which is open for now and we have seen a lot of construction staff and key workers getting takeaway for dad. inside they have signs saying they are no longer taking cash. also posters asking customers to stay two metres apart. at the end of the all greggs 2000 outlets will shut. they

are the latest food retailer to take that decision very much to protect staff and customers. as you heard, the government has said it will pay 80% of wages for those affected by those closures but some teens are asking landlords to give them a rent holiday to try to ease the pressure at this very difficult time. what about supermarkets? we have seen so many reports about panic buying and empty shelves. what are they doing to cope with the demand? that is the real challenge ahead, how do our supermarkets cope with this huge surge in customers that they have been seeing? we have all seen on social media those energies of crowds of people and carers trying to get in on the morning and what retailers will be doing going forward is trying to learn it if they need to customers that are allowed and stored at any one time, certainly at busy periods. in europe

they have been using markers on the floor is to tell people, to force them to social distance, to stay those two metres apart, and albee have said they will be encouraging people to use contactless so they are going to try to stop people paying cash to stop the spread of the virus. and aldi. and they trial using plot plastic counters to try to protect staff and customers so plastic screens to create a bit of separation. all of these measures we can expect in the coming days and weeks. that is a good warning from you. thank you very much indeed, our correspondent in manchester. the foreign office has advised all british nationals travelling abroad to return to the united kingdom while they can. but — with huge numbers of flights cancelled — and many countries on lockdown — it can be difficult to get home. last week, the government said there could be as many as a million british citizens still abroad.

0ur sydney correspondent shaimaa khalil has been talking to travellers in australia. australia was supposed to be about excitement and adventure. but for ash and harry it's become a time of anxiety and despair. like many travellers trying to get back to britain, their flights have been cancelled. and they are racing against time. we feel very helpless. we tried contacting the airline and we have had no luck whatsoever. we can't get a refund, so we can't get our money back to book a new flight. a lot of people are saying, just book the next flight out, but we physically do not have the funds to do that. so, we are just stranded really, aren't we? yeah. it's just unsettling to know that we might be stuck here and not able to get home for the foreseeable future. australia is in the grips of the covid—19 pandemic. many travellers told us they want to leave but they need more support. the advice from the british embassy here is this — get on a plane and get

out if you can, or stay put and wait it out. but, with flight cancellations, no refunds, and those depending on casual work losing theirjobs and their income, many here cannot afford either of those options. and it's notjust young travellers stranded. sue callum is a cancer nurse from leeds. she's visiting her daughter in melbourne and is due back in work early next month. i'm an nhs worker in the uk, so whether i could volunteer in some way, shape or form, that would be something i would explore if i was anticipated being here for longer than the next two weeks, which is what they have initially predicted. neighbouring new zealand will enter a full lockdown on wednesday, with only essential services open and international travel all but stopped. at least 300 brits are trying to leave. among them anna and phil, who want to cut short their honeymoon. i'm still a junior doctor, but i'd be able to help out in a&e as much as i can. just doing day—to—day work, seeing as many patients as possible.

i'm getting lots of e—mails saying they are really in need of locums, so i do feel as a british doctor that i should be back to help them. with tighter borders and fewer flights, travellers are quickly running out of options. and many also running out of hope. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, sydney. a short time ago the foreign secretary — dominic raab — made a statement in the commons saying provisions are in place to help people get back to the uk. following last week's decision to advise against all but essential travel globally, last night i changed our travel advice again because of the rate of new border restrictions. we strongly advise those british people who are currently travelling abroad that live in the uk to return as soon as possible where they are still able to because commercial routes are still running.

where commercial options are limited or prevented by domestic restrictions, we are in close contact with the airlines and local authorities in those countries to overcome those barriers to enable people to return home. the foreign secretary speaking a little bit earlier. but some tourists in cambodia have told us that they've had no help and that they can only book a flight back if they get a negative result for coronavirus — but the difficulty is they can't get hold of a test. one of those people is susanne campbell — who is stuck in phnom penh. she was speaking to the bbc‘s jane hill earlier. i'vejust been here in cambodia for nearly two and a half weeks. approximately four or five days ago tried to start making progress in terms of trying to get back to the uk. we came from an island into the city because we thought we could get more advice and more support. since we've been here it's been absolute mayhem. we haven't been able to get any contact with our embassy.

multiple advice from hotels, from airlines, from anybody you try and seek support from — both in the uk and in cambodia. today we went to the only hospital in phnom penh who said they would give a coronavirus test. we got there at 6:30am when it opened at 8am. already the queue was probably 70 people long and by half eight they turned everybody away, saying it was our problem to get a flight home and they would no longer be issuing certificates for the test or informing anybody if they were negative, which doesn't help us with our situation in terms of the restrictions that thai air are putting on us. and so you flew with thai air. what have they said? anything? have you been able to talk to them? what's the position there?

no. been trying to get in contact with thai air for multiple days now. the phone lines are not ringing through. both in cambodia and friends and family trying from the uk. they have not responded to our emails and other people that have been staying in the hotel have gone to the airport and they have all been turned away. and when was your flight home booked for? when were you planning to come back? my flight is booked for tomorrow, but at the moment due to the restrictions i need a coronavirus test and medical certificate and also insurance. it is highly unlikely i can come home via bangkok so we have been have you met a lot of other either british travellers or travellers of other nationalities who were all in the same situation here? yeah, absolutely. a lot of europeans, including british. everybody is in the same situation, however our european friends seem to be getting a lot more support from their embassy.

we haven't really had any advice or support forthcoming from our embassy. and so when you hear dominic raab — the foreign secretary — saying help is being given, it sounds to me like that is not your experience. it hasn't been my experience in cambodia, no. have you got somewhere to stay? the hotel we are currently in closes tomorrow. there is only a handful of hotels open in phnom penh. we have managed to get a hotel for two nights but we don't know how long those handful of hotels are going to stay open. everybody listening to your story — their heart will break for you i am sure. the obvious question, what will you do if your hotel shuts up shop tomorrow? i wonder what you and the people you are travelling with and all these people you have met, where are they going to be sleeping, what are they going to be doing?

i really don't know. we might have to try to head maybe more into the country. as we head more into the country it means we are not near to the airports. going to try to look for other flights but they are really expensive. we don't understand the rules and the problem is if we understood the rules we might be able to work with them but we don't. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale joins us live now. give us some idea of the scale of this. how many britons to rethink our stuck abroad? the foreign office doesn't know how many britons are abroad. they do not keep a register. it is too difficult to know about the foreign secretary estimates between 300,000 up to about1 million people who are normally based in the uk who are travelling at the moment and they have been

advised to come home. that gives you advised to come home. that gives you a sense of the scale of the problem that the foreign office is facing. it is simply impossible to get support to every single one of those people. the vast majority are going to have to find their own way home and the foreign secretary made it clear how difficult that is because he said 80 countries in the last three days have imposed travel restrictions, shutting flights and borders and things like that, so it isa borders and things like that, so it is a hugely difficult problem. we have heard criticism of the uk government. howjustified is it? clearly, a lot of tourists are finding it frustrating. they are trying to get through to call centres and local embassies and having trouble doing that, they are being told to talk to the airlines and the airlines are seeing there are no flights are the flights are expensive, people are running out of money and finding it hard to find accommodation, but the british

government are saying we understand that but what you have to do is register, get your name on a list with the local embassy if you can. they are trying to sort out flights. there is a big problem in peru. 1000 people have registered with the embassy. the foreign secretary said the first fight is going to come out of lima tomorrow carrying 200 of the most vulnerable british nationals but that has taken a huge amount of diplomacy and effort and discussion over the last four or five days by the british government to persuade the british government to persuade the peruvians to open their airspace. these kind of negotiations are taking place all over the world. the foreign secretary spoke to the singaporean this morning to try to open that because that is a big help. the scale of this is hard to contemplate. james, we will have to leave it there. sorry about the break—up of the line. we are trying

to speak to as many of our correspondence down the line to minimise social contact and sometimes the system gets overloaded. the archbishops and bishops of the church of england have urged everyone to follow the instructions given by the prime minister — to stay in their homes in a national effort to limit the transmission of the coronavirus. the first national virtual service recorded in the crypt chapel of lambeth palace — and led by the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby — is estimated to have been seen or heard by around five million people. stephen cottrell, the bishop of chelmsford, joins me now. stephen cottrell, a very challenging time for everybody, but challenge too for the church to play its traditional role but not face—to—face. traditional role but not face-to-face. yes. all of us are having to get used to living life very differently and it is hard to underestimate how challenging that is for people, especially the old, the vulnerable, those having to

self—isolate, and all of us as we have to get used are not going out. but for the church, i think for a very long time we have been saying to ourselves and to our people that the church isn't a building. the churches us, the people of god serving our world. so discovering what that might really mean in some very what that might really mean in some very new what that might really mean in some very new ways. one of them has been, as you mention, live streaming services. i have heard some fa ntastically services. i have heard some fantastically encouraging stories about churches imaginatively reaching out to their communities and connecting with them. clergy who are on the phone to their parishioners sending messages. so we are doing all that we can to maintain ourcare forand are doing all that we can to maintain our care for and service to our local communities, though it is very different because our church buildings are closed. yes, indeed.

the church, for so many people, is there for the important rituals of life. so not just there for the important rituals of life. so notjust weekly church attendance, but weddings, baptisms and of course funerals. none of these things can now take place on church premises. no, but those things we can continue to do we are continuing to do, particularly funerals. we are having to stop weddings in church, they are being postponed, which leaves hugely sad and heartbreaking for the couples involved. baptisms in emergencies will still happen, though they of course will probably be in the hospital or in the home. funerals will continue, not in church, but funerals can continue at graveside, but we are having to make strict limitations on those who can attend. it will just the immediate family members. again, it's hard to imagine

how tough this is going to be for the families concerned. we have to do all that we can to slow down the spread of the coronavirus and also to sort out the health service and other essential jobs. i suppose to sort out the health service and other essentialjobs. i suppose the other essentialjobs. i suppose the other thing we are learning through this is how we are all connecting with one another. this virus doesn't respect our boundaries and our borders and that has been something to wa ke borders and that has been something to wake up to. but we realise that we are interconnected and we depend on each other and therefore we need to support each other. the church is still very much in the forefront of that at a local level. though, as i say, doing it in very different ways. all right, we have to leave it

there. stephen cottrell, the bishop of chelmsford, thank you so much joining us. and please be assured of the prayers of the church. thank you so much. many of you have contacted us so much. many of you have contacted us about the restrictions. here are the most commonly asked questions. our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford is with me. lots of questions, we are inundated with questions every day. let's run through some of them. will the police patrol the streets to stop gangs of youths roaming about? big simple answer is yes. the metropolitan police commissioner was talking recently about how her officers are going out, encouraging people gathering together in the sun to not do that and not breach the guidance which was given by the prime minister last night and that

they should be gatherings of no more than two people. this is where people are going against the guidance. they will be able to find those people, when they? when the regulations come in, the police were trying to win the argument by persuasion and encouraging people to split up but if they find people being recalcitrant they will be able to fine them. mike is asking, other military service is to be brought in to reinforce the government's plans at present and help with lockdown? the answer is the military are involved in all sorts of things already, delivering oxygen, equipment to hospitals, there is no plan in any way at the moment for the military to be involved in enforcing the lockdown. i can see a scenario a long way off if things

get really bad why they might be involved in things like guarding nuclear power stations and things like that to allow armed police to do police work but there is no suggestion at any point that the army will enforce any kind of lockdown. can we report socialising in the street and if so who do we co nta ct? in the street and if so who do we contact? at the moment, although it is not against the law, although it will be soon, it is difficult to deal with but if you feel people are flouting this guidance from the government you can call the police. it is not a 909 issue, you can contact the police through a nonemergency number and if the police have time there will come along and do what the police they

hope ear pressure will be enough, that the doesn't have to be enforcement, that they will just hope that by saying to people why are you doing this might help with enforcement. how will the beaches in cornwall and devon be policed as they are already so short—staffed? good question. tough decisions over the coming weeks. police officers may have to go down to the beaches and make sure people are not gathering in these ridiculous groups we saw over the weekend so that police can be dedicated to dealing with crime. my guess is they will be a mixture between now and then. expect a couple of police officers

will go down and maybe encourage people not to get too close to each other on the beach and maybe to go home. the advice is, stay home u nless home. the advice is, stay home unless there is a specific reason not to. my wife works in the nhs but doesn't drive, i and collector every time. cani doesn't drive, i and collector every time. can i continue? the answer is that although it isn't written in a government document, this sounds like like essential travel to work. a safe way of getting an nhs worker to work is to drive them on a personal car, not using public transport. you would find very few people that would argue against that. we are being asked, in regards to the rules of being able to go out and exercise or walk every day, i

like to drive to a park and then go for a walk in the park? i've wondered about that.” for a walk in the park? i've wondered about that. i answered this on the one o'clock news, there was a quy on the one o'clock news, there was a guy that would go half an hour where they wouldn't be people exercising there. it is absolutely 0k they wouldn't be people exercising there. it is absolutely ok because you are going summer to take daily exercise mother should be ok. lots of people have criticised my answer on the one o'clock news. the key thing is the government wants you to do —— not do lots of unnecessary things. if you can exercise as far away from people as possible, it might be driving to a park where they will not be many people to migrate. if you have driven to the park when everybody else has it will bea park when everybody else has it will be a disaster because it will be crowded and possible to keep distance. much better if there is no one. it is common sense, if it is crowded get back in the car?“ one. it is common sense, if it is crowded get back in the car? if you are moving between your home and a place to take exercise we are not at a were police officers will stop you ask why. the government want you to ta ke ask why. the government want you to take common sense decisions. in the end, by doing less you can save lives. 0ne accidental infection with one person that spreads to more people, there is a risk that a life can be lost by a small thing somebody does. another question about exercise. regarding the advice on exercising once a day, is there a time limit on this? good question. the pm said once a day, walk, run or

cycle, even with your household, there isn't a time limit. clearly, four hours of exercising in a place where there might be other people increases risk over 20 minutes of exercise. it is about people making sensible decisions. a long bit of exercise where there are other people will increase risk. quite like it is easier if you are in more remote areas, less populated areas, to stay out longer. clearly somebody living in a remote part of britain where they know they can walk for hours on the hills and will not encounter anyone, it is difficult to argue against that. but the first principle is stay home, only leave home if you have two. we have a question from mark. 0urfishing la kes question from mark. 0urfishing lakes included in the lockdown? because although there may be more than two on the lake at any one time, my leg has an acre each per person. isn't this the best way to stay isolated? that's difficult. if you go for the stay home principle, do as little as possible, clearly going out for a day of fishing

breaches that principle. i can see the sort of scientific common sense argument that actually if you are out fishing, then surely the risks are low. i guess there would be concerns about whether you are using a bench that somebody else had used and the virus can hang around for a long time and so on. so i think the idea of going and actively doing something is less good than the idea of actively doing nothing at home. difficult, some of these judgment calls, aren't they? they are judgment calls but i think what experts would say is don't think of things to do. think of things to do while at home. yes! kit asks, my car's mot while at home. yes! kit asks, my ca r‘s mot runs while at home. yes! kit asks, my car's mot runs out soon. if the garage closes, other police offering any flexibility? good question. at the moment there is no talk of that.

carefully with proper social distancing, being sensible and making sure the keys are clean and all the sensible things you can do, get the mot done. i'm not sure that's going to be an excuse. couldn't get my mot done. i think the police would say the garages are open. but maybe seek some advice. i think that's a hard one. it is not in any of the official guidance. but ido in any of the official guidance. but i do know that at the moment mot garages, many of them are open. tony is asking, could you please be clarified on the instructions to self—isolate by staying indoors, can those with gardens venture into them? i think there is no question about that. if you are in your garden and you are with your own family and you have not invited the neighbours around, absolutely fine. i think that would be encouraged. everyone would agree, vitamin d from the spring sunshine we are getting, that's great. there are of course a few little things in there, if you're making a cup of tea for your neighbour and passing a mug of tea over the garden fence, then suddenly

you are breaching all sorts of rules about social distancing. that i think if you are out in your garden and you are a good two metres from your neighbours, enjoy the sunshine. i'm not sure there is anything i have seen anywhere which would suggest that that is against any advice. in a sense, so long as you follow those rules, your garden is an extension of your house? follow those rules, your garden is an extension of your house7m follow those rules, your garden is an extension of your house? it is, absolutely. the only issue is that, of course, lots of people have lovely gardens, but lots of people really don't stop and i think we all have to be thinking at the moment about the people who don't have gardens, don't have outside space, maybe got kids at home. that's really, really tough for them at the moment, particularly with the spring sunshine. kids are agitating to go outside, they want to play with their mates and it's really difficult. that is perhaps the people who have the hardest task at the moment, parents at home with kids with no outside space. yes, absolutely. robert has written in asking, can you please help with an explanation of what shopping for basic necessities involves? are

people, for example, allow to shop for wine, beer, tobacco products, afters have for wine, beer, tobacco products, aftershave lotions and perfumes etc? the simple answer is is what the government don't want you to do is to be going out of the shop all the time. they say, can you do it once a week? can you possibly use a delivery service? most people's experience is that all delivery services are booked up at the moment. if you are doing your weekly shop, being careful, queueing sensibly outside a good two metres distance, being sensible around the shop, and then if you add in some wine, some tobacco, some toiletries, i think that's fine. i think it's definitely not a great idea to do an extra trip to a shop just to buy a glass of wine or to smoke a bit more because you are bored at home. that just doesn't feel to be within the spirit of what we are being asked to do. don't forget, most of this is not law, these are kind of instructions from the government as

to how, to use their kind of catchphrase, stay home, protect the nhs and save lives. that's what it's about. it's not about can i get away with this because is that within the law or not? that's not the point of this. yes, there is some enforcement behind this and they will be more enforcement behind this and police will be able to break up gatherings and sata shops you shouldn't be open. but in the end what the government are looking for is for people to understand the less we do, the less we encounter each other, the less we encounter each other, the more chance we have of getting through this with fewer deaths and less crisis in the nhs. thank you, dan. john asks, are you allowed to visit banks, building societies, and our post office is still open? at the moment that is all doable. it goes back to the principle do you have too? is it really important? if it is to get essential money that is pa rt it is to get essential money that is part of a pension or something they have to do then of course that

cou nts have to do then of course that counts as essential shopping, but do you have to do that? can you do it another way? can you do it on your smartphone? do you really need to go to the bank or the post office? it is starting from the position of i ought to be doing as little as possible and then saying i need to do this and then doing all the careful things, social distancing, making sure you wash your hands when you get back. clearly there are some things we are all going to have to do over the next few weeks. a final question is why are funerals exempt? surely this is a high risk area. the public—health answer to that as it would be better if they were not funerals but that is where the comes in. it feels impossible if someone dies in this period for there to be some kind of funeral with no

relatives present. that is why funerals have been exempted from this and other ceremonies —— compared to other ceremonies. it does make it high—risk and people do need to be careful about distancing and trying to avoid giving unnecessary hugs and so on but it is the hardest one of all. we are expecting there to be more funerals. much of the hard fact of the matter in the next few weeks. that is the sober truth of it all. daniel, our home affairs correspondent, thank you. we can go to westminster and our chief political correspondent. we are expecting to hear from the daily

press briefing at any moment now. we know it is going to be matt hancock, the health secretary. run us through the health secretary. run us through the main issues he is likely to be faced with. it is slightly different today. it is going to be done remotely so he will be there with the chief medical officer in a room in downing street with tv cameras in there to bring it to you live but there to bring it to you live but the questions will be coming remotely via a screen, so he will a nswer remotely via a screen, so he will answer questions from journalists but they will not be in the room. to show they are leading by example. we have already heard from matt hancock taking questions as he has done several times and a lot of questions about testing. the testing that has been taking place has been in hospitals, not in the general community, and there has been a lot of questions about that. the former health secretaryjeremy hunt saying when are you going to ramp up the

numbers of those being tested so you can numbers of those being tested so you ca n test numbers of those being tested so you can test more front line staff, those working in the nhs? so they know if they have had the illness they can come back to work rather than isolate all those who have got the virus can be taken away from hospitals. there has clearly been an issue with a number of tests. he has said today they are on their way and they are increasing the numbers but it is not going up as much as some mps would have liked. ventilators, he talked about there being over 1000 ventilators on the front line as he with another 5000 coming but again people will want to know how quickly that is happening so he will be asked an awful lot about what is going on in hospitals, but i think questions as well about the guidance we have heard, particularly as you have been alluding to, confusion over who should be going to work and who should be staying at home. the message was stark from the prime

minister, stay at home to save lives and stop the nhs becoming overwhelmed and unable to treat not just coronavirus patients but also other patients who need life—saving treatment. their aim is to make sure that doesn't happen early on in this pandemic. the advice about going to work has been slightly confusing, particularly around construction workers. that has been a big topic particularly in london but in other cities dig building projects going on and workers travelling on public transport under government advice seems to be a few have to go to work you can go to work in order to keep the country moving if you like but you should still be thinking about social distancing. that is the stated metres apart. whether that is remotely feasible on building sites or more confined areas is another matter and that is likely to be one of the questions matt hancock will be asked about because the advice in

scotla nd be asked about because the advice in scotland has been different. nicola sturgeon saying she thinks construction sites should be set down completely unless they are crucial, for example working on a hospital or something similar. sadiq khan the mayor of london expressing concern about the seeing the main advice should be to stay home and not to have thousands of construction workers travelling to work. another burning issue will may not hear about at the press conference because it is a very difficult issue, is how to help more generously people who are freelancers and self—employed. we had from the chancellor earlier. yes, he has promising help on the spot for those people who are self—employed or find themselves not getting any income at all, any delay is of huge concern to them. the treasury are insisting they really are trying to work on this, they are not dragging their heels for any other reason other than it is

incredibly complicated, so around 5 million self—employed people in the country but identifying who they are and how much they have earned and how much they should be given an compensation if you like is proving pretty difficult to do as well as getting the money to them. they are promising this is going to come soon. we hope in the next day orfew days, that is what they have said. it is much more difficult than those who are salaried on the paye scheme which means they are known to hmrc for example ina which means they are known to hmrc for example in a way that not all the self—employed are. concerns again raised by mps today, seeing you do not want to overcompensate people. some people who are self—employed will not need us. a press co nfe re nce self—employed will not need us. a press conference is now starting. let's have a listen. good afternoon.

the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow. very sadly overnight 87 more people died, bringing the total to 422. our hearts go out to their families and their friends. yesterday the prime minister announced the most radical steps yet to slow the spread of this virus. these steps are not requests. they are rules. you should stay at home. except to shop for food, for medical reasons, for exercise or for work. including caring and volunteering in the coronavirus national effort. we understand how significant these steps are. we ask for your forbearance, but i think the public knows this is important. and they knows this is important. and they know how vital a task it is that we

get a know how vital a task it is that we geta grip know how vital a task it is that we get a grip on the spread of this virus. and slow it down. the more we follow the rules the sooner we will stop the spread and so everybody has a responsibility to follow those rules and where possible to stay at home. i know how worried people are. and while this is a great time of turbulence it is a moment to that the country can come together in that national effort. the next step in that effort, today we launch nhs volunteers. we are seeking a quarter ofa volunteers. we are seeking a quarter of a million volunteers, people in good health, to help the nhs for shopping and delivery of medicines and to support those who are shielded to protect their own health. the nhs volunteer responders

isa health. the nhs volunteer responders is a new scheme set up so that people can come and help and to make sure that the nhs and the local services that are needed get all the support that they can. i can also announce that the call be made at the weekend for people to return to the weekend for people to return to the nhs has been incredibly successful so far. so far, 11,788 people have answered that call. 2660 doctors, over 2500 other health professionals and pharmacists and 6147 nurses, and i pay tribute to each and every one of those who is returning to the nhs at its hour of need. in addition, from next week,

5500 final year medics and 18,700 final year student nurses will move to the front line to make sure we have the people we need in our nhs to respond to this crisis. in total, thatis to respond to this crisis. in total, that is over 35,000 more staff coming to the nhs when the country needs the nhs most. finally, i can announce today that we will next week open a new hospital, a temporary hospital, the nhs nightingale hospital, at the excel centre in london. the nhs nightingale hospital will comprise two words, each of 2000 people, with the help of the military and with nhs clinicians we will make sure that we have the capacity that we need so that everyone can get the support they need, but no matter how

big we grow the nhs, unless we slow the spread of this virus then as we have seen those numbers will continue to rise, and that is why it is so important that everybody follows the advice and stays at home. the final point i want to make is one of thanks. as health secretary and as a citizen and on behalf of the whole country, i want to thank the staff of the nhs, those who work in social care, all of you, not just the doctors who work in social care, all of you, notjust the doctors and nurses who normally get mentioned, but the pharmacists, paramedics, managers and all staff across the board, you are the front line in this war against this virus and we'll pay to you. you are going to give your all over the next few weeks and i wanted to know that salute you and i will do everything to get what you need

to keep you safe so you can do your job keeping all of us safe. we are now going to go to questions. the first question is from the bbc. thank you very much. we have heard from many members of the public today who are being told that they should go to work by their boss, though they do not think their work is essential right now at this moment and they do not feel they can stay safely two metres apart from eve ryo ne stay safely two metres apart from everyone else there. the message to many people has not been that clear from the government. who are they meant to listen to, they are both or the advice from the government? can i ask the medics, if people feel they are not safe at work, what should they do, should they stay at home? i will give the first part of the answer and then i will hand over tojenny as the answer and then i will hand over to jenny as deputy the answer and then i will hand over

tojenny as deputy chief medical 0fficer tojenny as deputy chief medical officer to give the medical view. the advice is crystal clear, which is you should stay at home unless you have one of the four reasons, which is exercise, shopping as little as you have two, for medical reasons, or to go to work, where that work cannot be done at home, and if you are a key worker, for insta nce and if you are a key worker, for instance if you work in the nhs and social care, then you should go to work because that work is vital in the effort to tackle coronavirus. jenny. we have to go right back to the first principles of why we have asked for these interventions, to prevent transmission of disease and the rule about two metres is to ensure that we are consciously keeping apart from each other so that we do not inadvertently passed

on disease if we had quit. i think when you are talking about working environments, as the secretary of state has said, there are numerous occupations where you do not need to be at work. some of them we have two. but many do not need to be. we are encouraging employers to think carefully about how they can innovate in the way their staff are working. if they do need to be in the office, just to spread people around. i know, for example, that having to be in environments, there isa having to be in environments, there is a lot of space between us so you can practice safe to distancing at work, and we all need to apply it, both employers and employees.

people that want to stay at home can't and risk the sack if they do d efy can't and risk the sack if they do defy their employers' instructions. the question to the deputy chief medical officer, just a practical one. imagine you have got a two—year—old who is ill and both pa rents, two—year—old who is ill and both parents, or the only parent, sorry, a two—year—old who is healthy and both parents or an only parent gets ill, what is meant to happen to the child? these are excellent questions. i think they are essentially questions on which people want to hear the medical advice so i will askjenny to answer. but we have been incredibly clear about the rules and one of the reasons that we strengthen the rules yesterday and essentially flipped the basis of the rules so its not do whatever you like so long as you don't do the following. it is a stay at home unless you've got a good reason. and we will also enforce

against those rules. but i will ask jenny to answer the point on people who are asked to go to work. if you are ina who are asked to go to work. if you are in a workplace that we have said will close, then we are going to enforce against those closures as well. sign at the same principles apply. 0bviously well. sign at the same principles apply. obviously if people don't feel safe in their working environment they should always raise those concerns and i think by far the majority of employers are being sensible and supportive. there has been huge support for staff and the population in general. but for some environments, so the obvious one is our health care environment, we are ensuring that staff understand what the risks of working are and how we are supporting them to do their work safely. you raised an issue particularly about specific environments. we cannot individually

cover every single scenario, whether it be in the workplace or in the family, so again it is back to applying the principles. if individuals can work safely they can keepa individuals can work safely they can keep a distance apart, and also the other thing that is important to remember, the fundamentals of our early campaign, round hand washing, maintaining that frequently, so if there are facilities there to do that they should be using them. if they don't feel safe it is reasonable to highlight that firmly with their employer. you raised a particular issue about a young child. clearly, all the way through this we have been very careful to ensure that as individual steps, increasing steps, and put in place to try and manage this outbreak, that we manage both the impact on the disease itself but also recognising there are other risks, either putting in interventions to quickly were not thinking through some of the parameters about how we handle some of these issues. the obvious ones yesterday were around

the elderly, particularly, and vulnerable adults command a small child is a vulnerable individual. so in this case, although we are encouraging everybody to stay in their own households, that's the unit with the same risk exposure, clearly if you have adults who are unable to look after a small child, thatis unable to look after a small child, that is an exceptional circumstance, and if the individuals do not have access to care support, formal care support, or to family, access to care support, formal care support, orto family, they access to care support, formal care support, or to family, they will be able to work through their local authority hubs. next question. tom newton—dunn at the sun newspaper. newton-dunn at the sun secretary authority hubs. next question. tom newton-dunn at the sun secretary of state, question to you and then went to the deputy cmo. why are you adamant that non—key workers must go to work as much as possible if they can't work at home in the fields of manufacturing, construction? is it

because you share donald trump's concerns that the cure could be more dangerous than the problem? a sentiment he expressed this morning. deputy cmo, could you clear up questions coming from boyfriends and girlfriends who are not cohabiting? are they allowed to meet in public places? you haven't banned meetings of two people and when they do meet are they allowed to be affectionate? are they allowed to meet at each of's houses? i will take the first andi of's houses? i will take the first and i will definitely leave the second two jenny. and i will definitely leave the second twojenny. the answer to the first is that the judgment that we have made is that in work in many, many instances the two metre rule can be applied. in my workplace in the house of commons you can see it every day. and where possible people should work from home. and employers have a duty to ensure that people are more than two metres apart. because as jenny says it's about going back to the principles of what we are trying to achieve, which is

to keep people apart so that we slow the spread. the more people follow the spread. the more people follow the rules the faster we will all get through this. thank you. i am clearly going to start a new career here in relationship counselling, so i will tread carefully as i work through this answer. the principle is that we want people to stay in their household units primarily. the reason for that is because if you have an infection, you are very close with your family members, so your risk of exposure to the virus is pretty similar usually across a family. we almost expect another memberof the family family. we almost expect another member of the family to get that, unless they are applying very, very stringent precautions. so if you are two individuals, two halves of the couple, are currently in two separate households, ideally they should stay in those households. the alternative might be that for quite alternative might be that for quite a significant period going forward they should just test the strength of their relationship and decide

whether one wishes to be permanently resident in another household. in which case, all of the decisions about exercising, if you are in you should be on your own or within your household units, would apply. so again, the issue here is what we do not want is people switching in and out of households. it defeats the purpose of the reduction in social interactions and will allow transmission of disease. so perhaps test really carefully your strength of feeling, stay with the household, either together or apart, but keep it that way while we go forward, because otherwise we will not all be working towards achieving our outcome. there you go, make your choice and stick with it. very good. anything you wanted to add on that. jenny gave a perfect answer.“ anything you wanted to add on that. jenny gave a perfect answer. if i go to paul waugh from the health post. secretary of state, can you explain

to nhs staff who have had to travel on crammed and overcrowded tube trains this morning just wide private house— building and trains this morning just wide private house—building and office building is deemed essential work? are you considering restricting construction work to just those projects where health and safety is needed? and not to be too cynical about it, just the fact housing developers contributed more than £1 million tory election campaign have anything to do with the different view taken in england as opposed to scotland where the first minister has said building site work should be restricted and stopped immediately? and could i ask, could i ask professor paris, in the us president trump talked about using over—the—counter antimalarial drugs to beat coronavirus. the uk imposed an export ban on chloroquine last month. was that because we are looking at similar treatments here and what advice have you got in terms of those trials being done here? all the decisions that we are taking, paul, are taken in the

national interest. this is a largely cross— party national interest. this is a largely cross—party effort. we are making judgments, difficult and cross—party effort. we are making judgments, difficultand big judgments, difficultand big judgments every day about how best to tackle this virus. that's the only thing that matters. and how we minimise the overall number of deaths from the virus and get the spread down so that we can get through this as fast as we can. and that's the only thing that we consider based on the science and the medical advice, of course. when it comes to the tube, the best a nswer it comes to the tube, the best answer is that transport for london should have the tube running in full so that people travelling on the tube are spaced out and can be further apart, obeying the two metre rule wherever possible. and there is no good reason in the information that i've seen that the current

levels of tube provision should be as low as they are. we should have more tube trains running. when it comes to construction, there is many countries that have made the same judgment. that construction can carry on with people two metres apart from each other. and of course, people need to get to work. but the best way to do that is to metres apart from others with more tube trains running. when it comes to nhs staff, there is another reason why we need tube services up and running, preferably in full, so that we can get nhs staff to their posts and doing the work that they are doing. shalli hand posts and doing the work that they are doing. shall i hand over, steve, the medical question? thank you, paul. as you know, this is a new virus so we do not have a tried and tested specific drug treatment that can act against the virus. but there

are a numberof can act against the virus. but there are a number of drugs where there is are a number of drugs where there is a lot of interest that they may potentially have an effect in the treatment of the virus. the ones that you mentioned which are chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, those are drugs that have been used in malaria, are on that list. there isa in malaria, are on that list. there is a lot of interest both internationally and also in the uk to learn how those drugs might be used. here in the uk, we want to do as much as we possibly can within the context of clinical trials. we have excellent networks already set up have excellent networks already set up to be able to do clinical trials and it's important that we do that to absolutely learn where the drug potentially work and where they don't. we have already recruited the first person in the uk into one of those clinical trials. so yes, this is an area of intense interest. we will come of course, be working with our colleagues around the world as they look at these drugs. but in the uk we will also be looking at drugs such as this so that we can see whether there is a specific

treatment that we can use. ok, great. thank you, paul. final question from the guardian. secretary of state, can about testing? you mentioned that you ordered millions of tests that will come in the days and weeks ahead. is that the antibody test you have talked about, and if so how soon might those be available and can use them to test nhs staff so that they can go back to work if they have had coronavirus? and can i ask your overarching question? you talked about the increase in the death toll. is it possible or even probable that some of those deaths might have been avoided had we implement in very stringent lockdown sooner? do you have any qualms about that at all? thank you. if i answer and then i will also askjenny to go into more detail. i understand why

nhs staff and others across public service are so keen to get the testing ramp up that we need to see and that we are undertaking. of course, it really matters for getting people back to work. so we have now bought 3.5 million antibody tests that will allow people to see whether they have had the virus and are immune to it, and then can get back to work. you might have seen in the commons earlier i was sat next to nadine dorries because she now has had coronavirus and she is for the time being immune to it because we expect the people not to be able to catch it, except in very exceptional circumstances for a second time. on testing we are ramping up. those will come online very ramping up. those will come online very soon. ramping up. those will come online very soon. in fact, our new testing facility in milton keynes opens today and we, therefore, are on the mmp today and we, therefore, are on the ramp up of the testing numbers. the

other thing i want to mention in that space is, of course, many, many people across the nhs are asking for more personal protective equipment andi more personal protective equipment and i can tell you that over the last 24 hours we have shipped 7.5 million pieces of protective equipment, especially the masks, so—called ffp three masks which are very important to get out. there is now a hotline so that if you are in the nhs, orsocial care, including in a pharmacy, if you call that line and don't have the ppe you need then we will get it to you. that is literally a military effort to get these millions of pieces of kit out to people. if people are working on the front line to look after us, it is vital that we look after them. jenny. yes, i wasjust going to add a little bit more on the testing. testing that the secretary of state

described will give us an insight into the population demographics of testing so we will be able to learn far more about how the disease has spread across the population and that may be one of the tools we have when we get towards the end of the epidemic in the uk as well. we will be able to understand much more about how it transmits and therefore be able to close it down more tightly. the other testing is the here and now and we are also working really ha rd here and now and we are also working really hard to ramp that up, partly on the nhs, but separately as well. this goes back to the point about nurses, medics, our care staff, knowing when they do or do not have the illness so that they can actually take their families or themselves out of isolation safely and be on the front line. we are not there at the moment but we have that very much coming through and a lot of activity on it and i think that is really important. 0n the point of

the deaths, it is inevitable, any death we would want to prevent, it is really difficult as there is a tendency at the moment to start comparing individual countries, but the death rate has been, how many deaths there have been about the impacts of various lock tents have been, andl impacts of various lock tents have been, and i think the word lockdown is very difficult because what we have done in this country are systematically putting steps using the science, looking at the data, to have the greatest impact at the right time, and that is the policy which we are following now and obviously the interventions which are changing the way people live their lives that went in yesterday to continue to do that. it is not at all clear that in many of the countries where they have applied different lockdown principles, and obviously we need to be really clear what they are and when they were put m, what they are and when they were put in, italy has had a lockdown for some time and very sadly the death

rate the a staggeringly high, and so i think we would have expected this numberof i think we would have expected this number of deaths, we are looking very much as we number of deaths, we are looking very much as we go number of deaths, we are looking very much as we go forward if everybody does what we have asked them to do yesterday, which is stay at home whenever they can, look after our elderly, we are hoping that rates will stay low and we will be able to push the epidemic forwards and flatter. testing is hugely important in fighting coronavirus and as the secretary of state has said we have been ramping up state has said we have been ramping up and are working with all the different manufacturers who are developing new tests and bringing them to market and as they ramp up we will ramp up. it is right that our sick patients in hospital should be tested first but after that we have to be able to test our staff. for a number of reasons to if they are isolating at home with their families and it turns out they do

not have coronavirus they can come back to work and secondly as we know they have heard it through the test that tells you you have it immediately or the antibody test you talk about then they will no coming back to what they have immunity to the disease. we are absolutely determined to ramp up testing and to make it available to staff. i would echo whatjenny said, the nhs is pulling out all the stops at present. an easing staff doing amazing things and as you have heard from the secretary of state the nhs nightingale hospital is really an extraordinary feat. from a standing start a day or two ago a hospital will be built that will be able to ta ke will be built that will be able to take its first patients at the start of next week. that is a remarkable achievement of our staff working with the military. we are expanding capacity all the time because we can see the additional cases coming

towards the nhs but it is everybody‘s responsibility, as i said at the weekend, to take the action that we have asked them to take, to follow the instructions, because this is your chance to save somebody else's life. this is your chance by doing what we have asked you to do to ensure that those deaths are as low as possible and the nhs is put under as little stress as possible. thank you. that ends the first electronic press conference that we know well from downing street. thank you for the questions. thank you to all of the it people who nature that the kit worked and then it demonstrates that we can all be indifferent rooms and more than two metres apart and we can still answer the questions that people have got, so thank you very much indeed. the health secretary matt hancock

ending the latest daily briefing from downing street, he called that their first electronic briefing and thatis their first electronic briefing and that is because journalists were not in the room and they were answering questions that were posed through a conference call. details of a new hospital and a new volunteer scheme for the nhs and also about people coming back into the nhs having been retired. we will look at that in a moment with our political correspondent, but first i want to break in our science correspondent. some very interesting discussion right at the end with a question from one of the journalists about whether we should have started to lock down sooner in the uk. water science is saying about the sort of restrictions the government has broken? there is overwhelmingly strong support for the prime minister's measures. some have suggested they should have been brought in two weeks ago. there was a great deal surprised back then

when you saw the prime minister flanked by the chief medical 0fficer, flanked by the chief medical officer, the chief scientific adviser, and the measures were essentially to wash your hands and also if you felt ill to stay indoors for seven days. the thinking was, and he explained it at the time, that there was no need to impose draconian measures until the situation got much worse. and that is exactly what they have done. i phoned the number of epidemiologists and at the time they said they were surprised and disappointed and one said he thought that they were going to regret that decision. there is a view that if these measures had been imposed earlier than they would not be that sharp increase we are seeing now. the latest figures show that there have been 1427 new cases, 87 new deaths. it just there have been 1427 new cases, 87 new deaths. itjust keeps expanding, increasing at the next potential rate, so tougher measures were introduced last week because models

show the nhs simply would not be able to cope with that rising cases. we also saw that a lot of people we re we also saw that a lot of people were not paying attention and indeed are still not paying attention so we will have to wait and see perhaps in two weeks whether these measures have started stemming the tide and if they haven't then there could be further measures. do scientists feel, the people you have been talking to, but the restrictions in place now are adequate? they feel that that is what you can do at the moment. it is hard to think what more could be done other than making it compulsory for people to stay at home. you cannot ban people from getting essential supplies or medicines. i suppose you could stop people going out for exercises. there is not much more headroom. what we heard from the health secretary was a battle being fought on two fronts. 0ne secretary was a battle being fought on two fronts. one is to try to reduce the spread of the disease, which seems to spread far more

quickly than flu. what they are trying to do is reduce the exposure so they can reduce the rate of increase in cases and at the same time through volunteers, to the hospital is having more ventilators and so forth, increase the capacity of the nhs to be able to deal with these situations, so it is a battle being fought on two fronts. our science correspondent, many thanks. we can go to our chief political correspondent. she is in westminster. picking up on the big announcements from matt hancock, the health secretary, they were about increasing nhs capacity and staffing. yes, and it is an important point. if you think back to the chief scientific officer last week or week before he set for every death there was run coronavirus they we re death there was run coronavirus they were estimating around 1000 cases so if you work out the numbers they are thatis if you work out the numbers they are that is a huge number of people who

are suffering from coronavirus. what we do not know is how many are being hospitalised and how many are needing intensive care in particular but that is what they are trying to do. they need the ventilators and equipment on the staff and the announcements on that, calling first of all for those who have left the health service previously to come back, a huge response he said that from former doctors and nurses and other clinicians. more than 11,000 seeing they were willing to return to the nhs in its hour of need as the put it. also student nurses, 18,000 willing to come back and be in hospitals, the on the front line. alongside that we know about the millions of people, 1.5 million in england, who has been told to stay at home for next week —— told to stay at home for 12 weeks. they will need help some of them and so he is calling for 250,000 nhs volunteers,

he is calling them, healthy, fit people to come forward delivering food and that kind of thing and news ofa food and that kind of thing and news of a temporary hospital in london to be set up next week at the excel centre, and again i think people will think it is good that measures are being taken, things are being done here, but it is also a sign i think of what is to come, particularly the difficulties first of all in the capital where they know this virus is spreading very quickly. yes. many thanks. our chief political correspondent. breaking news from the markets. the ftse 100 the ftse100 index the ftse 100 index jumped the ftse100 indexjumped 9% today which is its biggest percentage rise and highest ever points gain. the first significant rise of the close of the market since the coronavirus outbreak. the markets have been very

volatile recently but some good news today, jumping by 9%. reacting to the prime minister's announcement yesterday of stricter measures, especially regarding public gatherings, the chief constable of west midlands police has announced today what action the police would take to enforce these measures — urging the public to follow the prime minister's guidance. well, i think the prime minister gave a very clear direction to the public at a very dangerous time of advice they need to follow. most people are doing exactly as they have been told and we should be very, very pleased that they are. it is small minorities. i urge them to follow the advice. we will use the powers and target areas where we think there are larger gatherings. there will be specific legislation that we see overnight where we can use this but at the moment we have powers around dispersal, we have powers around the breach of the peace. we have a number of different legislations to deal with anti—social or dangerous gatherings and we will look to interpret that legislation widely if we have to today.

what we are saying is it is time for the public to police themselves first and foremost. this is advice and guidance. this won't work if we just rely upon the police to go round chasing people and stopping it. we all have a role to play. we have learned to discourage drink—driving or smoking in pubs and bars. we need to learn to discourage this sort of behaviour today really quickly. so, we will enforce when we see gatherings and groups. yes, of course, there are challenges with this, but we are going to act responsibly to make sure the public follow this advice. the main pressure at the moment is on our nhs and it is on the work that local government and the nhs are doing to support the most vulnerable. that's the big priority. policing at the moment is functioning well and effectively. we will continue to be here to protect the public throughout. the main job at the moment is supporting our nhs and protecting the most vulnerable in society. that was the chief constable of west midlands police. national trading standards is warning people to remain

vigilant following a rise in coronavirus—related scams that seek to benefit from the public‘s concern and uncertainty over covid—19. louise baxter is the head of the national trading standards scams team. shejoins me now. this crisis, people would say, is bringing out the best and the worst in people, and this will be very grim news to hear that there are some who are trying to profit from this. water sort of examples of scams are you coming across?‘ this. water sort of examples of scams are you coming across? a huge spike in all sorts of different scams. a huge increase in people being called called on the doorstep and offered things like driveway cleansing services, fake shopping services and home testing kits. these criminals are unfortunately preying on the most socially isolated and vulnerable people in our communities and using that fear factor to extort money from them.

what should people do? how can they protect themselves against people like this? it is notjust the doorstep. we are seeing an increase in telephone scams from criminals pretending to be from people's banks, holiday refund scams, so we are asking people to be vigilant and asking people to do some very basic training on the scams website and to learn about scams and pass those m essa g es learn about scams and pass those messages onto the most vulnerable in our society via text or phone calls to make sure we are preventing those people being targeted by these criminals. it is a huge range of scams. there is doorstep crime, online scans, refund scams, companies offering fake holiday refu nd companies offering fake holiday refund for individuals who have been forced to cancel their trips. these must be people who somehow know you have a holiday you are trying to get out of. the criminals are very

clever and the data they manage to receive at the database share from criminalgroup to receive at the database share from criminal group to criminal group and sometimes they are just doing a hit and hope and targeting a lot of people and hoping they will be able to receive some money or scan some very socially isolated people. we are all currently vulnerable because everybody is very stressed which means people might be reacting in a different way than normally so we are asking people to stop and think and take five but also if they think they have been scammed or received a scan email to report that. so that we can get those prevention messages out there. if you feel at all uneasy about a transaction, you should refuse. it is ok to refuse or ignore orsay refuse. it is ok to refuse or ignore or say no. absolutely 0k to say no. and also 0k

to check with a trusted friend or trusted neighbour if you are unsure. always that pause and reflect, take five and check with someone else. we are also asking people and we have done quite a lot of information on social media around the messages and types of scams,

we are asking people to and then prevent. we need to build resilience from scams from the bottom in our community and we know people in our communities are vulnerable and they need to be protected from these criminals. just to be clear, there isa criminals. just to be clear, there is a website that is wrens against scams dot org dot uk, something you recommend people go to dirigiste any fears they have. head of national let's remind ourselves of those announcements which have just been made by the health secretary, matt hancock — they include an appeal for a quarter of a million

volunteers to help the nhs no, infact no, in fact we are going to get reaction. i beg your pardon, we are having a little trouble working out where we are going to next. we are going to be speaking to a counsellor who is chairman of the local government association. i am being told that maybe he is coming. we are going to matt hancock the health secretary. i know how worried people are. and while this is a great time of turbulence it is a moment to that the country can come together in that national effort. as the next step in that effort, today we launch nhs volunteers. we are seeking 250,000 volunteers, people in good health, to help the nhs for shopping and delivery of medicines and to support those who are shielded to protect their own health.

the nhs volunteer responders is a new scheme set up so that people can come and help and to make sure that the nhs and the local services that are needed get all the support that they can. i can also announce that the call we made at the weekend for people to return to the nhs has been incredibly successful so far. so far, 11,788 people have answered that call. 2,660 doctors, over 2,500 other health professionals and pharmacists and 6,147 nurses, and i pay tribute to each and every one of those who is returning to the nhs at its hour of need.

in addition, from next week, 5,500 final year medics and 18,700 final—year student nurses will move to the front line to make sure we have the people we need in our nhs to respond to this crisis. in total, that's over 35,000 more staff coming to the nhs when the country needs the nhs the most. finally, i can announce today that we will, next week, open a new hospital, a temporary hospital, the nhs nightingale hospital, at the excel centre in london. the nhs nightingale hospital will comprise two wards, each of 2,000 people. with the help of the military and with nhs clinicians we will make sure that we have the capacity that we need so that everyone can get the support they need.

that was the health secretary matt hancock speaking a few moments ago in downing street as part of the daily press briefing. the coronavirus pandemic is affecting communities around the world. here are some of the latest global developments today. the indian prime minister, narendra modi, has announced that the whole population of one point three billion will be under lockdown for 21 days, from midnight, local time, tonight. the virus has already infected more than 500 people across india and ten people have died. the number of people succumbing daily to the pandemic continues to rise in spain, despite ever stricter measures brought in to fight the contagion. 514 people have died in the last 24 hours, the country's worst figures. the world health organization says it's seeing a "very large acceleration" in coronavirus infections in the united states, which doubled its case load

on monday, with more than 16,000 infections. new figures show that america accounted for 40% of new cases worldwide. gary 0'donoghue joins me now from washington. very troubling figures, those from the united states, and the world health organization pointing to the united states as possibly being the next flashpoint. thatis that is hit in new york city and new york state very hard indeed. the governor is predicting they will end up governor is predicting they will end up with 140,000 cases. he has asked every single hospital in the state of new york to increase its bed numbers. he has not asked them, he has told them to increase their bed numbers by 50%, and if possible by 100%. he wants to double the number of beds in new york, entirely because he expects this week to be

the moment were things really ramp up the moment were things really ramp up in new york. it's the proximity, of course, the way in which people live cheek by jowl, of course, the way in which people live cheek byjowl, the population density in new york is 28,000 people per square mile. that is 10,000 above the nearest city in the united states, san francisco. so people are on top of one another and that is why the transmission is happening there and it is widespread in the community. that's a big concern. the other development here is that the president is also being a little ambivalent and a little ambiguous, if you like, but when he thinks this lockdown will end. suggesting that perhaps people ought to be returning to work quite soon. asking the question out loud whether the problem... whether the cure is worse than the problem itself. making comparisons with road deaths and how many people die from influenza each year. really sending some quite

mixed messages which will be concerning some of the scientists. and meanwhile, congress here is also about, we think, to sign off on a $2 trillion stimulus package that looks like it will go through the senate and will then have to go through the house in a bipartisan way. just to give you the scale of that, that is 10% of the united states' gdp in one stimulus package. it is a huge, eye watering number that legislators do believe is necessary to stop this economy from absolutely crashing. gary, where is public opinion on this? do they accept the need for all these restrictions?” this? do they accept the need for all these restrictions? i think it depends where you live. it's a very big country, as you know. it is very much divided between its coasts and its centre. so there are a number of

states, if you think about places like idaho and some of the states in the south, alabama and georgia, where governors haven't really imposed anything like the kind of restrictive measures they have in places like where i am in washington or maryland, or indeed new york and the other eastern seaboard, and also the other eastern seaboard, and also the west coast states. it does very much depend where you are. some places haven't really been touched by it at all, some places have been hit very hard, so there is a complicated picture here. but in the main population centres we do have coronavirus, it is there in the big population centres. and i think what's happening here is while you have seen the president standing up each day at that press conference taking, quitea each day at that press conference taking, quite a lot of the decisions are being taken by governors at a local level and indeed mayo is in

their own city, and that's the nature of the united states, of course, that those individuals do have significant power in their own jurisdictions. —— mayors. have significant power in their own jurisdictions. -- mayors. gary 0'donoghue, thank you for that update from the us. back to the uk, and as we have been saying it's the first full day of the official shutdown of non—food retail shops across the country. 0ur consumer affairs correspondent sarah corker is in manchesterfor us now. how has manchester been looking today? there has been a steady strea m today? there has been a steady stream of shoppers coming to this retail park picking up those vital supplies, so food and medicine. we heard matt hancock reiterate that people should only come out for essential purposes for these vital supplies, and on this retail park there are four stores still open, so two food retailers, as well as boots and superdrug. everywhere else is

closed and these areas are essentially off—limits now. people seem to be heeding the message. there has been no panic here, no bulk buying. the shelves in the food hall behind me there seem to be pretty well stocked. people seem to be listening to this new message from the government. some of the key thing is i took from the press conference where the messages from the chief medical officer that we need to innovate the way that we work, use technology to help us, spread people around the office and keep that social distancing. so, two metres apart. and in her words, she said a principle needs to be applied by both employers and employees. and if people, if staff do not feel safe, then they should raise it with their employers. she said most employers are acting sensibly. we have seen so much about the run on

supermarket produce, empty shelves, panic buying. how other supermarkets doing and what are they doing to cope with that demand?” doing and what are they doing to cope with that demand? i think that's the big going ahead. how do supermarkets cope with the increased demand? the number of people coming through those doors throughout the day. there are a number of measures that i think we will see retailers putting into practice going forward. so that could be limiting the numbers of people allowed to go in if necessary at certain times. in europe there have also been markers put on the floor forcing people to social distance, reminding them of what a two metre gap looks like. audi have said today that they will be putting up some plastic screens to help protect customers and staff to help protect customers and staff to keep that distance. —— aldi. i was in greggs earlier getting my lunch and i saw signs up there getting dumbing asking people to stay two metres apart and if

possible to use card payments. they are trying to restrict the use of cash to try and restrict the spread of the virus. —— signs up there asking people. trying to do a lot to protect their customers and staff. thank you very much, sarah corker. lets get reaction to the latest government news conference and hear about how local authorities are dealing with the new restrictions. i'm joined by telephone by councillorjames jamieson, the chairman of the local government association. juan first of all, what are local authorities doing in this crisis? how has it changed their role? very much so because we are now preparing for, unfortunately, an increase in the number of cases and that means we have to work closely with the nhs to provide capacity in the system. so people leaving hospital. so we are needing to find places for them to go, whether that's a care home, whether that's providing a care

package for them in the community. so we have those hospital beds available, the 30,000 that boris johnson mentioned. but we have also got to be looking at those 1.5 million people who have been isolated. so again, working with government and working with our local resilience forum to look at how we can ensure that those people who are supported, some of whom don't have family or friends or neighbours who can provide them with food or other essentials. so we need to do that. again, also looking at the business community, because when we come out of this we want businesses to still be there. so, getting the council tax rebates, or not billing people for... sorry, business rates, this year, and the grand scheme of the £10,000 and £15,000, getting those out. —— the grant scheme. we have to get on with our everyday business, we look after

millions of old people, children, we empty bins, fix your streets and we will have to do that in the of additional pressures, and like eve ryo ne additional pressures, and like everyone else, proportion of our workforce is off with isolation.” was going to ask you, what proportion of the workforce is having to self—isolate? proportion of the workforce is having to self— isolate ?” proportion of the workforce is having to self-isolate? i have to say that this is sort of more than a ha rd say that this is sort of more than a hard figure but as i talk to fellow leaders around the country it is in the sort of 10—20% at the moment, which is obviously having an impact. i have to thank all of our workforce who are showing extreme devotion to their duties in terms of working longer hours, being more flexible about what they do and going that extra mile. that is what the local government sector is good at. and also our contractors, those people who work in care homes and work in the community, they are also being very flexible and going that extra mile. so thank you very much to

them. let's hope they are listening to that. what is the biggest concern for you at the moment? do you feel you are getting enough information to be able to adapt to these changes all the time? well, it is a very fast changing environment and i think the biggest disappointment for me is actually, it is very clear about social distancing, not going out unnecessarily and not panic buying. that has caused a series out of harm for the majority of people who are obeying the rules. that is a concern for me. then obviously, the impact of the virus itself and how do we deal with it as more and more people get it? ok, we will have to leave it there. james jamieson, the chairman of the local government association. thank you forjoining us. dame tanni—grey thompson — the paralympian and disability rights campaigner — has today warned

that the emergency coronavirus legislation being debated in the house of lords is a "health and social care obliteration bill by any other name". this follows growing alarm by the disabled peer baroness jane campbell and nine charities that many people with disabilities — some of whom are in self—isolation — will be left without help — if their concerns aren't addressed. 0ur disability news correspondent nikki fox — who is also in self—isolation — reports. hi, i'ma hi, i'm a martin sibley and i'm self—isolating at home... hi, i'm a martin sibley and i'm self-isolating at home... like many disabled people, martin has decided he wants to do all he can to avoid unnecessary contact with others. but he still needs help. every day i do need a lot of care support with getting out of bed, getting dressed, having a bath and all sorts of daily living tasks around the house. martin employs a team of assistants directly, and with that comes its own concerns. another risk that i'm

a bit unsettled by is if any of the ca re tea m a bit unsettled by is if any of the care team were to fall ill with the virus, particularly in my overnight support, what that would mean for me. it is this question baroness campbell put to the department of social care 11 days ago. what are your concerns? the problem is that we are not attached to any agencies so basically we are on our own. we are employers and we have to implement ourown are employers and we have to implement our own safety measures. there is months of training that have gone into that kind of relationship and building that relationship. so it really isn't as simple asjust relationship. so it really isn't as simple as just getting another army of volunteers. if you are on a ventilator, using masks, or using a breathing aid that takes months of training. there is concern about a new bill going through parliament which they feel would jeopardise safeguards that would protect disabled people. draconian measures

outlined made it a personal suck necessity for me to be here today. this is a health and social care obliteration bill by a different name or stop —— made it a necessity. this would remove any legal obligation councils have to provide social care for all who need it. why is this so concerning for so many disabled people? what is critical is obviously what is life—saving, but for many people there are all sorts of other needs, what might be considered minor or moderate needs right now might not be in the future and there is nothing in this bill which allows for any sort of assessment of that. in a statement, the department of health and social ca re the department of health and social care said that it recognises the concern among personal assistants and those receiving support. it said... and it adds that the emergency provisions in the bill for people like martin are time—limited. nikki fox, bbc news.

breaking news from the ministry of justice which says that all prison visits are cancelled as a result of the covid—19 pandemic. this is to ensure prisons are complying with social distancing grills and to protect staff and prisoners. the ministry ofjustice says it will allow prisoners to keep in touch with family members by other means, giving them secure phone handsets which will have logged seven cards. there will be strict measures to ensure that the phones are not misused and the phone calls monitored closely. prison visits being cancelled, news just monitored closely. prison visits being cancelled, newsjust in monitored closely. prison visits being cancelled, news just in from the ministry ofjustice. labour has described the prime minister's strengthening of restrictions as the right response — but has criticised the government over a lack of financial support for the self—employed. and, for those workers in regular employment, the party has called for greater clarity on who can and cannot go to work. i'm joined now by the shadow

attorney general, shami chakrabarti. no relation, i hasten to add! your criticism of the lack of financial support for the self—employed and for freelance, this is support for the self—employed and forfreelance, this is a support for the self—employed and for freelance, this is a very difficult situation, as the government has acknowledged, difficult to sort out. it is difficult, perhaps, but it is essential because as you will have seen with all of your reports and those of your colleagues if you force people to choose between doing the right thing by their own health and by the public health or the basic means of existence you are undermining any measures that you take, however draconian, to get people to stay at home, and so we are seeking from the government much greater clarity in all its communications and in its policies, for example who is an essential worker? which businesses should be closing down? and the duties that

they owe to their employees in the light of the government's support package for them. and we are looking for more support for people at home, in particular the self—employed, those at the edges of society, asylu m those at the edges of society, asylum seekers, vulnerable people, carers, people in the gig economy you get to have the comfort that the government will help them through this crisis. to remind people, the government has guaranteed people who are employees that they will get 80% of their salary. how can it go about doing that with people who are self—employed or freelancer do not have a regular income or stable income or paye tax code? it becomes much more complicated. it might be complicated or it might be simple. it might mean that they simply have to guarantee a certain level of

income to everyone or that they have to do an assessment based on what people were earning before, but one way or another these means and mechanisms must be found i'd chosen and fast, because otherwise the virus will continue to spread because of noncompliance with social distancing because of noncompliance with the injunction that people should self—isolate if they feel sick. governments come forward with a big package for business but not enough yet for these people at the margins of society. the worry is that some people are self identifying as a social worker because it is essential for them to go to work. —— as an essential worker. exactly. the mayor of london, the shadow business secretary has said yesterday and

today this is nonessential activity, construction, in this particular moment of crisis. we have had reports in the party over of construction workers still working in very unsafe circumstances, we have had reports of nonessential retail, unscrupulous employers telling people they must still work or they will not be paid. you have still got lots and lots of employers laying people off because they do not want to wait for there of salary grant that is going to come at some point down the track, so we need much more clarity from the government and much more comfort and support for people at this moment of enormous crisis. we will have to leave it there. thank you very much.

many of you have contacted us about the restrictions now in place — and we've been answering some of the most commonly asked questions. our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford is with me. lots of questions, we are inundated with questions every day. let's run through some of them. will the police patrol the streets to stop gangs of youths roaming about? the simple answer is yes. the metropolitan police commissioner was talking recently about how her officers are going out, encouraging people gathering together in the sun to not do that and not breach the guidance which was given by the prime minister last night that there should be gatherings of no more than two people. this is where people are going against the guidance. they will be able to find those people, won't they?

when the regulations come in, the police will try to win the argument by persuasion and encouraging people to split up but if they find people being recalcitrant they will be able to fine them. mike is asking, are the military services to be brought in to reinforce the government's plans at present and help with lockdown? the answer is the military are involved in all sorts of things already, delivering oxygen, equipment to hospitals, there is no plan in any way at the moment for the military to be involved in enforcing the lockdown. i can see a scenario a long way off if things get really bad why they might be involved in things like guarding nuclear power stations and things like that to allow armed police to do police work but there is no suggestion at any point that the army will enforce any kind of lockdown. can we report socialising in the street and if so who do we contact? at the moment, it is not

against the law, although it will be soon, it is difficult to deal with but if you feel people are flouting this guidance from the government you can call the police. it is not a 999 issue, you can contact the police through a nonemergency number and if the police have time they will come along and do... what the police hope is peer pressure will be enough, that there doesn't have to be enforcement, that they will just hope that by saying to people why are you doing this might help with enforcement. how will the beaches in cornwall and devon be policed as they are already so short—staffed? good question. tough decisions over the coming weeks. police officers may have to go down to the beaches and make sure people are not gathering in these ridiculous groups we saw over

the weekend or do you dedicate police to dealing with crime? my guess is there will be a mixture between now and then. expect a couple of police officers will go down and maybe encourage people not to get too close to each other on the beach and maybe to go home. the advice is, stay home unless there is a specific reason not to. my wife works in the nhs but doesn't drive, i drop and collect her every time. can i continue? the answer is that although it isn't written in a government document, this sounds like essential travel to work. a safe way of getting an nhs worker to work is to drive them in a personal car, not using public transport. you would find very few people that would argue against that. we are being asked, in regards to the rules of being able to go out and exercise or walk every day, can i drive to a park and then go for a walk in the park? i've wondered about that.

i answered this on the one o'clock news, there was a guy that would go half an hour where there wouldn't be people exercising there. it is absolutely ok because you are going somewhere to take daily exercise mother should be ok. lots of people have criticised my answer on the one o'clock news. the key thing is the government wants you to not do lots of unnecessary things. they understand you want to take exercise once a day. if you can exercise as far away from people as possible, it might be driving to a park where there will not be many people. if you have driven to the park when everybody else has it will be a disaster because it will be crowded and possible to keep distance. much better if there is no—one. it is common sense, if it is crowded get back in the car? at the moment, if you are moving between your home

and a place to take exercise we are not at the stage where police officers will stop you to ask why. the government want you to take common sense decisions. in the end, by doing less you can save lives. 0ne accidental infection of one person that spreads to more people, there is a risk that a life can be lost by a small thing somebody does. another question about exercise. regarding the advice on exercising once a day, is there a time limit on this? good question. the pm said once a day, walk, run or cycle, even with your household, there isn't a time limit. clearly, four hours of exercising in a place where there might be other people increases risk over 20 minutes of exercise. it is about people making sensible decisions. a long bit of exercise where there are other people will increase risk.

it is easier if you are in more remote areas, less populated areas, to stay out longer. clearly somebody living in a remote part of britain where they know they can walk for hours on the hills and will not encounter anyone, it is difficult to argue against that. but the first principle is stay home, only leave home if you have to. we have a question from mark. are fishing lakes included in the lockdown? because, although there may be more than two on the lake at any one time, my lake has an acre each per person. isn't this the best way to stay isolated? that's difficult. if you go for the stay—home principle, do as little as possible, clearly going out for a day's fishing breaches that principle. i can see the sort of scientific common sense argument that actually if you are out fishing, then surely the risks are low.

but i guess there would be concerns about whether you are using a bench that somebody else had used and the virus can hang around for a long time and so on. so i think the idea of going and actively doing something is less good than the idea of actively doing nothing at home. difficult, some of these judgment calls, aren't they? they are judgment calls but i think what the experts would say is don't think of things to do. think of things to do while at home. yes! kit asks, my car's mot runs out soon. if the garage closes, are the police offering any flexibility? good question. at the moment there is no suggestion mot garages will close. i think the encouragement would be probably carefully with proper social distancing, being sensible and making sure the keys are clean and all the various things you can do, get your mot done.

i'm not sure that's going to be an excuse. couldn't get my mot done. i think the police would say the garages are open. but maybe seek some advice. i think that's a hard one. it is not in any of the official guidance. but i do know that at the moment mot garages, many of them are open. 0k. tony is asking, could it please be clarified on the instructions to self—isolate by staying indoors, can those with gardens venture into them? i think there is no question about that. if you are in your garden and you are with your own family and you have not invited the neighbours round, absolutely fine. i think that would be encouraged. everyone would agree, vitamin d from the spring sunshine we are getting at the moment, that's great. there are of course a few little things in there, if you're making a cup of tea for your neighbour and passing a mug of tea over the garden fence, then suddenly you are breaching all sorts of rules about social distancing. i think if you are out

in your garden and you are a good two metres from your neighbours, enjoying the sunshine, i'm not sure there is anything i have seen anywhere which would suggest that that is against any advice. in a sense, so long as you follow those rules, your garden is an extension of your house? it is, absolutely. the only issue is that, of course, lots of people have lovely gardens, but lots of people really don't, and i think we all have to be thinking at the moment about the people who don't have gardens, don't have outside space, who have maybe got kids at home. that's really, really tough for them at the moment, particularly with the spring sunshine. kids are agitating to go outside, they want to play with their mates and it's really difficult. that is perhaps the people who have the hardest task at the moment, parents at home with kids with no outside space. yes, absolutely. robert has written in asking, can you please help with an explanation of what shopping for basic necessities involves? are people, for example, allowed to shop for wine, beer, tobacco products, aftershave lotions and perfumes etc?

the simple answer is that what the government don't want you to do is to be going out to the shop all the time. they're saying, can you do it once a week? can you possibly use a delivery service? most people's experience is that all delivery services are booked up at the moment. if you are doing your weekly shop, being careful, queueing sensibly outside a good two metres distance, being sensible around the shop, and then if you add in some wine, some tobacco, some toiletries, i think that's fine. i think it's definitely not a great idea to do an extra trip to a shop just to buy a glass of wine or to smoke a bit more because you are bored at home. that just doesn't feel to be within the spirit of what we are all being asked to do. don't forget, most of this is not law, these are kind of instructions from the government as to how, to use their kind of catchphrase, stay home, to protect the nhs and save lives. that's what it's about. it's not about can i get away

with this because is that within the law or not? that's not the point of this. yes, there is some enforcement behind this and there will be more enforcement behind this and police will be able to break up gatherings and say to shops you shouldn't be open. but in the end what the government are looking for is for people to understand the less we do, the less we encounter each other, the more chance we have of getting through this with fewer deaths and less crisis in the nhs. thank you, dan. john asks, are you allowed to visit banks, building societies, and are post offices still open? at the moment it goes back to the principle, do you have to, do you need to is it important? if somebody is going to get some money that is pa rt is going to get some money that is part of the pension, or something they absolutely have to do, that cou nts they absolutely have to do, that counts within that essential shopping category. but do you have to do it? can you do it another way?

can you do it on your smartphone? do you really need to go to the bank? do you really need to go to the post office? starting from the position i ought to be doing as little as possible and actually i really need to do this and then doing all the careful things, social distancing, make sure you wash your hands when you get that, all of that. clearly there are some things we are all going to have to do over the next few weeks. and another question, why a funerals exempt? there are sometimes large gatherings and people crying and upset, this is a high risk area. from a public health point of view it would be better if they went to funerals but this is where compassion comes in and it wouldn't be possible if somebody dies in this period, for there to be a funeral where there are no relatives present, so i think that is why funerals have been exempted from these other sorts of ceremonies

in the passages of life. it is straightforward compassion. of course, it does make it high—risk and people need to be ever so careful about distancing and trying to avoid giving unnecessary hugs and so on. that's the hardest one of all, isn't it? and, you know, we are expecting there to be more funerals. that's the hard fact of the matter in the next few weeks. that is the sobering truth of it all. daniel, many thanks. daniel sandford, our home affairs correspondence, thank you. this evening there is a glimmer of hope in italy. the worst affected country in europe according to the world health organization. the rate of new infections has fallen for two consecutive days — from more than 6,500 to under 5,000. the number of deaths has also declined — but the who warns it is still very

early days for the country. you can find out much more on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic on our website, including information on how to protect yourself and your loved ones against it on the bbc news app and on our website. ina in a moment it will be time for the six o'clock news with sophie raworth, but for now it is time for a look at the weather and we can go over to ben rich. temperatures in north wales got up to 19 degrees today and don that because of a southerly flow of air and plenty of spring sunshine as you can see from the satellite. it wasn't like that everywhere, across the far north—west we had rain and up the far north—west we had rain and up to the north, eventually heading our way over the next few days.

going through the evening and tonight we will see rain over parts of north—west scotland, some of it getting into northern ireland, the rain band trying to sing south—eastwards, not making a lot of progress and wales will hold on to clear spells. misty and murky for coasts in the west but we will see some frost across the midlands, southern and eastern england and perhaps wales, temperatures down to freezing or a touch below. here across the bulk of england and wales, once again there will be lots of sunshine through the day tomorrow. for northern ireland and scotland, we have a slow—moving band of cloud, some outbreaks of mostly fairly patchy rain. temperature wise once again up to 16, may be 18 degrees for parts of north wales and merseyside. not quite as warm or as mild as that where we have a cloud further north. going through wednesday night into thursday, the band of cloud and patchy rain associated with this frontal system drags its heels, to stock across scotla nd

drags its heels, to stock across scotland and northern ireland, the far north of england as well. they be still the odd spot of rain are wrong weather front. to the north of that we had cold are starting to work in to the north of scotland and a bit cooler in the south across england and wales by this stage because the winds will come in from the east and north—east, and will keep that east or north—east to be flow going into friday. despite some sunshine in the south, slightly cooler. further north, the old weather front still bringing a lot of cloud. those are a temperatures for friday afternoon between 9—13d. 0ver for friday afternoon between 9—13d. over the weekend we lose the frontal system pushing away southwards. high pressure building in behind. with the wind is flowing around high pressure in the clockwise direction, that will leave us with a brisk northerly wind. that wind bringing some really cold air across the uk. so we will see a cold wind through the weekend, some sunny spells, wintry showers. they could even be some snow for some.

the death toll in britain from the coronavirus rises sharply — as strict new measures come into force — 87 people have died in the past 24 hours alone. a huge new temporary hospital will open next week at london's excel conference centre to deal with coronavirus patients. the nhs nightingale hospital will comprise two wards, each of 2,000 people. with the help of the military and with nhs clinicians, we will make sure that we have the capacity that we need. with tight new measures now in force across the uk — deserted streets and shops are shut as people are told not to leave home unless absolutely necessary. but after scenes like this

in london during this