the death toll in britain from the coronavirus rises sharply — as strict new measures come into force — 87 people have died in the past 2a 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 morning's rushhour — warnings that restrictions could get even tighter — if the new rules are flouted. keeping customers apart — supermarkets and other essential services that can stay open — introduce new measures to ensure people don't come into close contact. and tokyo's olympic flame will have to keep burning for another year as the games are finally postponed until next summer. and in sport... we'll have more reaction as the olympics and paralympics are moved to 2021, making it the biggest sporting event to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the death toll in the uk

from the coronavirus has risen sharply in the past 2a hours. 87 people have died since yesterday bringing the total to 422 — the biggest one day rise here. next week a field hospital will be opened in east london — with the help of the military. the excel conference centre is being turned into the nightingale hopsital — with two wards for up to 4,000 people. the health secretary matt hancock says 35,000 more staff are being brought into the nhs — from final year medical students to retired doctors and nurses who are returning to help fight the virus. last night strict new measures came into force with people told they could only leave their homes for "very limited purposes". shopping for basic necessities such as food and medicine — these trips should be as infrequent as possible. one form of exercise a day such as a run, walk or cycle — alone or with people you live with. all gatherings of more than two people are banned, excluding your family. you can leave home for any medical need or to care for a vulnerable person.

travel to and from work is allowed but only where work absolutely cannot be done from home. but there was a warning that those restrictions would be tightened further if people flout the rules. here's our political editor, laura kuenssberg. was it meant more cases and more deaths there was more reason to take it seriously every day, and the instruction was clear, stay at home if you possibly can, but this morning workers in the rush hour in london, billed as crowded together ona building london, billed as crowded together on a building site, is it really possible to keep your distance? the first minister in scotland says not? we would expect them to be closed u nless we would expect them to be closed unless the building being worked on is essential, like a hospital. the london mayor in charge of the tube system has doubts as well. there has been a difference of opinion between

myself and the government on this issue and i'm quite clear that only go to work if you need to go to work. last night the prime minister was firm, as many of us must stay at home as possible, to get a grip on the spread of the virus, that is black—and—white, but ministers do not want the economy to grind to a halt, so if you can only do yourjob when you are physically at your place of work, and if you can stay safe and more than two metres away from people, it is ok to go, and there are shades of grey... ministers have changed how they work, this is not an arcade game, this morning's cabinet meeting, and today for the first time that journalists were asked online to put questions to number ten and the health secretary began with the quickening pace of the disease. very sadly overnight 87 more people have died bringing the total to 422 and oui’ died bringing the total to 422 and our hearts go out to families and friends. yesterday the prime

minister announced the most radical steps yet to slow the spread of this virus and these steps are not requests. they are rules. we have heard from many people who have been told that even though they think their work as essential right now, right now they don't think they can stay safely two metres apart from eve ryo ne stay safely two metres apart from everyone else there and the message to many people has not been that clear from the government, who are they meant to listen to, their boss or the advice? the advice is crystal clear, go to work where the work cannot be done at home, and if you area cannot be done at home, and if you are a key worker, for instance if you work in the nhs and social care, you work in the nhs and social care, you should go to work. there was rather unlikely public health

0ur our home editor reports from her future. the virus patrols were policing the new rules in waterford's high street today. they don't yet have powers to enforce people to keep their distance or stay—at—home but today at least most seem to want to do the right thing. so far everybody has

been doing really good doing what they're asked to do because it is for everybody‘s safety and well—being. for everybody‘s safety and well-being. people seem to be standing quite close together. if they're two and they're family, that's fair enough. but any groups, three, four, five, we are speaking to them. they are splitting up. everyone has watched the news so they know what the situation is. the police station is shuttered up like most shops and businesses. supermarket marshals encouraging customers to observe the etiquette of the epidemic. so far everyone has been really good, doing what they are being asked to do, because it is for everybody‘s

we've been forced to examine every aspect of our society and the way we live to answer a very difficult question, how much does this matter right now? the prime minister's beloved land and liberty has become a kingdom in captivity and not everyone agrees with it. i tell you what, they're all in parliament spreading it around all of their subsidised bloody bars, drinking, but we can't do nothing. flights coming in from china, italy and all that. so what are we, we are penalised? we can't do nothing. in the west midlands local police tweeted, "unbelievably we just had to deal with 20 plus people "having a barbecue." in south london today metropolitan police commissioner cressida dick was making clear that her police officers would keep the public safe. we only want to use enforcement if we absolutely have to but we won't hesitate if there are people who are flagrantly breaching the law. in watford, like everywhere, the authorities are trying to help people learn unfamiliar habits. none of this comes naturally. mark easton, bbc news, watford.

cancer charities are concerned that some patients' treatment is being postponed because of the coronavirus threat. that's because doctors don't want them exposed to the risk of infection if they come into hospitals and also a result of wards being cleared to be prepared for virus patients. 0ne hospital in essex has postponed chemotherapy for two weeks as our health editor hugh pym reports. edward won't be outside his front door again for a while. an nhs text has told him he's in the highest risk category because of his health and he will have to stay inside for 12 weeks. but he's not complaining. it's an opportunity now to come together and stay at home and stay safe. 0ne virus patient, michelle, had this plea to people, be careful and responsible with the new rules. please... please be careful.

be responsible. some patients receiving care for different conditions including cancer are worried about what will happen as hospitals postpone some treatments to focus on coronavirus cases. a bowel cancer surgeon told me some procedures were having to be rescheduled. it's quite terrifying to them. these are patients who were expecting to have surgery done and now they are facing uncertain dates and they are facing hospitals that are going to be full of patients with covid. we are doing our best to deal with both the psychology of the situation but also get them to timely care. there is pressure on everyone... marsha is having chemotherapy in a private ward at an nhs hospital. she has been told it is not certain it will continue there. i'm uncertain if there will be enough nurses there to look after me or if i will even be able to get my treatment. it's very scary because once you start chemotherapy you need to carry on,

and once i pause it i won't know for how long i've got to pause it. i won't know then what it will do to my health. 0ne hospital trust has postpone chemotherapy treatment along with other outpatient appointments for two weeks while they prepare their wards and staff for an influx of coronavirus patients. we are increasing our preparations for care of patients with covid—i9 and we are seeing increasing numbers of admissions to hospitals. we're very conscious that our cancer patients are at particular risk especially if they develop covid—i9, they can can become seriously ill. and the good news for the health minister nadine dorries is that she has made a full recovery from her coronavirus infection. she was welcomed back to the house of commons by the health secretary. hugh pym, bbc news. hugh joins me now. a big rise in the death toll in the uk and news of the big hospital

opening next week so you get a sense of the scale and urgency? 4000 patients will be treated at the giant temporary hospital at the excel centre the new antibody test is required or not, matt hancock said three and a

half million testing kits had been ordered by the government and would be available and would allow nhs staff to be sure when they've had the virus they are safe to return or continue working. well, yesterday we got the list of businesses that will allowed to continue — supermarkets, petrol stations, post offices, banks, hardware stores, pet shops and bike shops. but many others can't — leisure centres, beauty salons, car showrooms, betting shops, museums, among others. but there's been some confusion over whether people working in the construction industry, and on building sites, should carry on working. judith moritz reports from manchester. locking down, but clocking on. these construction workers in south london we re construction workers in south london were queueing to get on site this morning, crowding together to begin their shift. and building has been continuing all over the country. it's the self employed people who

are worrying. in salford, we found gary delivering concrete. i've been ona gary delivering concrete. i've been on a few sites this morning and it's just the same, wherever you go. there are still people rubbing up against each other, they are working together, not taking any guidelines of what they have been told. we are trying our best, we carry gloves, masks and it's the people we have to keep educating all the time. but there has been huge inconsistency. builders on this site downed tools, but on a different side, others were continuing to work. the government has said it is fine for construction staff to work outside and at a safe distance. 0n staff to work outside and at a safe distance. on this site in salford they are sticking to the rules. over they are sticking to the rules. over the last couple of weeks we've increased a hand sanitiser is on those things and then made it perfectly 0k and clear that we made it two metres apart. the numbers, we've got more in the canteen area and we are having tables service, so

we are maintaining the two metre rule. whilst work here continued, only half of the 150 construction workers normally here have turned up and they've told me they can see sites like this closing naturally in time anyway because it's becoming increasingly difficult to get supplies. builders merchants like this one in hampshire have shot and some construction companies have closed and projects including the crossrail scheme in london have halted. the union say photographs of building workers crammed together show they are still at risk, but for many self employed, they have the stark choice of working or facing hunger. judith morris, bbc news. supermarkets and those providing other essential services such as building societies are bringing in new measures for customers and staff during the coronovirus lockdown. many are aimed at encouraging people to follow the government's plea for social distancing and to keep at least two metres apart, when they are doing their shopping.

our business correspondent emma simpson has more the great high—street shutdown. in the shoppers have gone and leeds city centre saw the street is quiet on the doors locked. right across the uk, we are only allowed out to buy necessities now. communities are adapting to the new coronavirus retail rules. supermarkets have been overwhelmed, and now they have to keep everyone safe and fed. so how will this work? all of our main supermarkets will have to limit the number of customers going in, where necessary , number of customers going in, where necessary, so number of customers going in, where necessary, so social distancing rules can be followed. here at this waitrose store, it's already one out, one in. the queue is managed and good—natu red. out, one in. the queue is managed and good-natured. if you keep a two metre distance between you and the next person. i came to waitrose specifically because i know they are doing the two meet thing and i got my precautions. i am very mindful

about it all. it's a lot better and i think the government has done the right thing. it is so calm here compared to last week. here in the aisles, everyone is also going to have to keep their distance. you will see lots of signs and possibly fewer ti lls will see lots of signs and possibly fewer tills as a result. every retailer is doing things, from simple gloves, two screens at the checkout. here with the green border at morrisons, and customers are being encouraged to pay by card if they can instead of cash. we can still shop for everything online. grocery websites though are really struggling. 0n grocery websites though are really struggling. on this one, it's at least three weeks for a delivery. they are doing their best to expand the capacity and the technical stuff to increase the number of lorries and we've already seen them be allowed to deliver until later in the day, to allow longer hours for delivery drivers but the huge volume of people trying to get online

delivery now means it's impossible to meet all of that demand yet, although they are trying to expand capacity. this industry is having to adjust are so much rapid change is coming and we willjust have to get used to it as well. emma simpson, bbc news. this summer's 0lympic games in tokyo has been postponed until next year because of the pandemic. the biggest sporting casualty of the pandemic. the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, said a ‘complete' olympics and paralympics would be held by summer 2021, as proof of victory over the outbreak. the announcement followed mounting international pressure, with warnings of a boycott by some countries if the games went ahead this july. 0ur sports editor dan roan has more it's known as the greatest show on earth, but today we learned that even the olympics is not immune from this crisis. four years after the baton was passed to tokyo, the flame arrived in japan baton was passed to tokyo, the flame

arrived injapan this week with world sport shutdown, the biggest event of all had clung on, but today, finally, came confirmation that the games could not go on. cancelling the games is not an option, so there was an agreement about that. what is most important is to provide a safe and secure environment for athletes and spectators. with that in mind, and in light of the continuing global situation, the holding of the games injuly as situation, the holding of the games in july as planned situation, the holding of the games injuly as planned is impossible. 0rganisers wanted a month to consider delaying an event that has cost japan at least £10 billion but with the pandemic playing havoc with qualifying events, canada withdrew amid mounting pressure for postponement. the head of the british olympic association told me the right decision had been reached. i feel relieved because we were getting more and more feedback from athletes and sport saying it has to be postponed this year. the one decision we have to make as soon as possible is that we postpone in 2020 and put it back to 2021, so my sense is relieved, but two weeks ago i was

injapan and involved in detailed planning ahead ofjuly 2020, so a lot has happened in two weeks and i do feel a lot of empathy and sympathy for the japanese at the moment. last year in tokyo we spent time with the british canoeists as they visited the host city but the countries 0lympians and paralympian seem countries 0lympians and paralympian seem to understand. we have to work together now. this is for the benefit of not just the nation, but the world. and we want to be putting it on in 2021where we don't feel guilty. once athletes training facilities like the velodrome were shut down across the world, tokyo 2020 effectively became untenable. but organisers now face an unprecedented challenge to rearrange a hugely complicated mega event with questions over additional cost, commercial contracts —— contracts, and the availability of venues on the impact on the sporting calendar. from the threat of terrorism and boycotts, to the zika virus at the last rio games, the olympics has

been no stranger to crises. but in peacetime, not until now have they been delayed. the flame will stay in japan and hope it will act it was a beacon of light but when precisely the 2021 games will begin is uncertain. in italy, a glimmer of hope tonight with the number of new infections slowing for the third day in a row row and tonight the italian the death toll has risen sharply again to almost 7 thousand — with more than 740 deaths in the past 24 hours. tonight the italian prime minister said he hoped lockdown restrictions could be loosened soon. france meanwhile is struggling to keep up with the speed of the pandemic. intensive care units in eastern france are said to be overwhelmed with the army tranferring patients to other cities. 0ur paris correspondent lucy williamson reports. in places like mulhouse it's the very ill who are leaving hospital. intensive care units here are overflowing. and with dozens more critical cases admitted each day, patients are being sent to marseille, to brittany, even to germany and switzerland

in a neverending scramble for beds. 0ne senior doctor told me that he was permanently adapting to avoid catastrophe and that stocks of a key life—support drug have virtually run out. translation: our health system was not ready for this. i'm not sure there is a health system anywhere that is ready for it because the scale of the crisis is bigger than any system could face. the mechanism that we are putting in place are not enough. in the hospital car park, a military field camp has been set up, with an overspill of 30 intensive care beds. enough to last the hospital here about a day. the government this week tightened quarantine restrictions across the country and introduced a six—month jail sentence for those who regularly don't comply. the health ministry has said the epidemic could start to peak here this week. a doctor working in the heart of the crisis has described it as a huge wave moving west and warned it could saturate hospitals in paris within days.

five doctors have so far died from a coronavirus amid anger over a lack of protection for medical staff. the government said last week it had ordered 250 million facemasks but some doctors say that is only enough for a fortnight and that many are still working without proper masks. i protect myself or the stock we bought for bird flu which has expired but we use it because we have nothing else. gps are given surgical masks instead which don't protect against anything. it's totally useless. applause each night residents gather at their windows to applaud the courage of medical staff, recognition from a nation without immunity, that the eye of this epidemic is now travelling across france. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. india — a nation of 1.3 billion people — is about to go into what its prime minister is describing as a complete lockdown from midnight tonight. everyone will be required to stay

indoors for three weeks. the new restrictions which sparked a wave of panic buying in many neighbourhoods follows an increase in coronavirus cases in recent days. the country has 519 confirmed cases with ten reported deaths. there are growing concerns for many disabled people who rely on carers coming into their home for help. how will they cope if they have to self—isolate or if their carers become sick? 0ur disability news correspondent nikki fox, who herself is in self—isolation, reports. hello, i'm martin sibley and i'm self isolating at home at the moment. 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 support with getting out of bed and getting dressed and 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 i'm a bit unsettled by is that if any of the care team were to fall ill with the virus, especially my overnight support, and what that would mean for me at the moment. it is this question that was 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 have no employees and we have to use our own safety mechanisms. months of training have gone into that relationship, into building that relationship, so clearly it is not as simple as just getting an army of volunteers, is it? there are a lot of us. it takes weeks of training so what is going to happen? to add to the concerns, nine charities have written to the government about a new bill currently going through parliament which they fear it will jeopardise safeguards that

protect disabled people. the draconian measures outlined make it a necessity for me to be here today. this is a health and social care obliteration bill by a different name. this legislation will remove any 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, so what might be considered minor needs now might not be in the future, and there is nothing in this bill which allows for any of that. in a statement of the department of health and social care said that...

ministers insist that provisions in the bill will be time limited. nikki fox, bbc news. we've had thousands of questions about the government's new rules telling you to stay at home and only go out for specific reasons. 0ur health correspondent sophie hutchinson has been answering some of your questions. can tradespeople still come to my house? it is a bit of a grey area. the government has said you should only go to work if it is absolutely necessary but it has said that construction workers can continue with theirjobs so if you do have a painter or a decorator at home it is essential you keep up good hygiene and remain a safe distance of at least two metres apart. will divorced parents still both be able to keep seeing their kids even if they live in different houses from each other? it's a question that has caused great confusion and concern but the answer is yes. if

pa rents a re concern but the answer is yes. if parents are living apart, then children can travel between their different homes and maintain what is being considered as essential contact. can i walk a dog that needs exercise twice a day? well, it's tricky if you have a pet that needs walking several times a day. the rules are that you should only exercise once, but they don't say how far you should go over how long. what if i want to take my pet to the vet? vets say they are still waiting for clarification from the government but that have cancelled all routine appointments such as nail clipping or annual vaccinations. but for urgent and emergency care, that is still permitted. you can find lots more information about the virus you can find out more on the bbc news app.

sport may have come to a halt because of coronavirus, but many teams are trying to remain active in their community. stevenage football club probably have more challenges than any other — they're bottom of the football league in england. but they are trying to lead the way in switching their resources, as our sports correspondent joe wilson reports. professional football, north hertfordshire. in adversity, what else to do but adapt? and so, stevenage fc‘s captain and central defender becomes food deliverer. the football has stopped, but the community which surrounds the club is still there, waiting. there are people around the world that have got a lot of people they can rely on, but there are people, especially in this community, that don't have anyone to rely on, and it's good for the club to all come together and help towards the one cause. just a friendly voice at this time can be crucial. stevenage's foundation will continue to take calls, offer advice, even when staff start working from home. i have had a few people call up saying, i'm really sorry

that we are taking up your time, and i'm saying, no, that's not a problem, that's exactly what we are here to do, just talk to you. lots of football clubs are helping in various ways at the moment. but here, the perspective is unique. football was suspended with stevenage admittedly at the bottom, last place in league two. a couple of weeks ago, we might have even referred to that as a crisis. now we really know what a crisis is. 0ur league position is just out of the window. we're not worried about that. we're really worried about making sure the next time we kick a football here at the lamex stadium that as many of our staff, players and supporters and the volunteers are all in a healthy position to come back and support us. without money from matches, the future is, to say the least, a challenge. but clubs like stevenage are nothing without their communities. the support is mutual. right now, that may be measured in sandwiches. after all, the opponent is the same for everyone.