in a moment, it will be time for your questions answered, but first let's remind ourselves of the announcements made today by the health secretary, matt hancock. 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. 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 that the public knows that this is important. and they 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, too, that the country can come together in that national effort. as the next step in that effort, today, we launch nhs volunteers. we're seeking a quarter

of a million volunteers, people in good health, to help the nhs for shopping and for the 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. 2660 doctors, over 2500 other health professionals and pharmacists and 6147 nurses.

and i pay tribute to each and every one of those who's 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, that's 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 wards, 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've seen, those numbers will continue to rise. and that's why it's 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 and nurses who normally get but the pharmacists, the paramedics, the managers and all staff across the board. you are the front line in this war against this virus,

and we all pay tribute to you. you're going to give your all over the next few weeks, and i want you to know that we salute you and i will strain every sinew to get you everything you need to keep you safe so that you can do yourjob keeping all of us safe. hello, this is bbc news. as a number of coronavirus cases passes 400,000 globally, let's been elected a little while answering some of your questions about this pandemic as well as the new measures to combat it which of an alum of the prime minister last night on bbc‘s your questions answered. i'm joint on the set by daniel sanford and we hope in the next wild to be joined via webcam by doctor catherine glass agp and clinical director at doctor care

anywhere, which links up doctor patients for appointments by video. we are alsojoined patients for appointments by video. we are also joined by doctor chris smith, he consulted virologist at cambridge university and host of the naked scientist podcast. let's get to it. the first question to daniel. a question from sarah. can divorced pa rents a question from sarah. can divorced parents keep seeing their kids even if they live in different houses? this is the bible. the full guidance on staying at home and away from others. that is in the end the key to this guidance, staying at home and staying away from others. this is the question that michael go but struggle with this morning because he was exceedingly thinking you should not mix households so the kids should not go between households where there is a specific exception in the guidance. it says where parents do not live in the same household, children under 18 can be moved between their parents homes. this is one of those things where the public health rule would

obviously be it is better not to mix households but in the end, are you really going to say to some kids you will not see one of your parents for three orfour weeks, will not see one of your parents for three or four weeks, two will not see one of your parents for three orfour weeks, two months, three orfour weeks, two months, three months, we do know how long this will go on. i they bring in chris in the first question to you. a question from lou in west london i need to wash food items that are delivered to my house? the items miserably will come packaged and he will not eat the packaging i hope unless the food inside is really bad. so therefore if you just adopt a normal practice of opening the packet and taking the food out and using your normal routine hygiene practices which is washing your hands after doing that anyway with handling any kind of packaging and there is no risk at all. if you were to open the bag and then touch your eyes, nose or mouth with hands that we re eyes, nose or mouth with hands that were 011 eyes, nose or mouth with hands that were on the bag, then there is a theoretical risk but let's recall that these viruses don't last forever on the services of a maximum ofa

forever on the services of a maximum of a matter of hours to days depending on what these substance is made of and the risk of there being an infectious dose on there is really very trivial so that you can be reassured that wash your hands him normal routine household hygiene and you will be fine. he said they're in your first answer how ministers of a grappling with so many of the practicalities when they ask questions of how this actually gets worked through. construction workers was another area where there was a certain amount of confusion to the course of the day would if people say different things. we live ina very people say different things. we live in a very complex society. so it is incredibly difficult for everyone to understand how every little bit of the society works. the basic rules are if you can work from home, you should. essential workers, nhs, transport, should go to work. and then other people the government wa nts then other people the government wants the economy as much as possible to keep going so they want people who have to go to a place of work to go to that place of work, keep this two metre distance and

they have said so far that it is ok for construction workers to go those of the problem is that way then immediately see pictures on the country up it workers on building sites all next to each other working cheek byji which preaches all of those rules. that is one they will be grappling with. can i make it to the rules on contrition sites which do have lots of health and city rules really are strict. you cannot runa rules really are strict. you cannot run a site unless everyone is well over two metres apart and you have to think about sharing tools and so on. i think it is in the balance of the uploads don't think sites should be open. inside construction sites are be open. inside construction sites a re pretty be open. inside construction sites are pretty much should not operating. so many questions coming in. in terms of individual decision people and households are having to make. another question to you, dana, which comes from christchurch, how do you not a vehicle if the garage is close? and the point of that is

if you don't moc your vehicle, you essentially cannot drive it. the government thought of this. very straightforward, mot garages are regarded as essential. they want ca i’s regarded as essential. they want cars to stay on the rough people to get to essential work. they don't mull nhs workers to not be able to get to that work because they cannot get to that work because they cannot get their car mot. so you can go a mot her car and you will need to because you have to get to the supermarket or whatever but how will igo supermarket or whatever but how will i go about that? how will i make sure that when i get to the garage we do everything safely? keep a distance from the mechanic and what are the keys so think about those moments of risk and how you deal with at risk. so, yes, you can get your car mot but does not mean you should wander into behave normally. and runa should wander into behave normally. and run a risk by doing so. think about things you have never thought about things you have never thought about before. it is fascinating as i saidi about before. it is fascinating as i said i hope to bring in doctor glass. she hasjoined us now. thank

you for being here with us. have a few questions already under way but a question to you from martin and wales, he asks is it safe for me and others if i work in the garden? thank you for having me on. yes, it is safe. and glorious to be in the guard with this weather at the moment. so it is safe in assuming that it moment. so it is safe in assuming thatitis moment. so it is safe in assuming that it isjust you and your household that can access your garden. assuming you are not in the close contact with any neighbours and so fine and lucky to be allowed to work from your garden. i would just say this sunshine, make sure you wear some factor cream to prevent sunburn. let me turn to chris and another question from tonya and langford. what if i had to ta ke tonya and langford. what if i had to take my pet to the vet? best advice is ring the vet first full because if the vet is not operating you will not take the pet to the vet at all. but the bottom line is is an essential visit? if it is, then that

animal posit welfare is important in the vet will acknowledge that and almost certainly want to see it. if it is not essential, or perhaps a medication or regular prescription, that could perhaps be done remotely without their having to be an appointment. i would without their having to be an appointment. iwould phone without their having to be an appointment. i would phone ahead and see if a plan is appointment. i would phone ahead and see ifa plan is in appointment. i would phone ahead and see if a plan is in place. most vets will thought of this and will have one. that sounds pretty sensible. a lot of questions about key workers in of questions about vulnerable groups and we have got one question here from ingrid. i am a key worker, how do i protect my 86—year—old mother who lives with me? thank you, so mother who lives with me? thank you, sol mother who lives with me? thank you, so i want to do a big shout out to all our key workers that are keeping us all safe from these very strange times. this is a tricky one. essentially i was suggest if you can, can find mum which sounds terrible to confine her to a certain area of the house and or a room and

minimise contact with her, that will be great. potentially take food to her room and leave outside that sort of thing and make sure that you and the rest of your household do carry out those hygiene measures and recommended by the government. alternatively, because you are key worker and you are having to go out and about given that you are more at risk and what i wonder whether they may be any possibility of one of your relatives to take mum potentially to have her in a safe environment. daniel, let's get back to the range of questions here, if you moved house on friday, can i go ahead to? that is james. you moved house on friday, can i go ahead to? that is james. been through all the official god is looking for house moving because as i was coming in this morning, i walked past —— official guidance. i saw people moving this morning and i went with the rules were. i cannot see the rules. these moves are very complicated chains. probably the

disruption that would be caused by not moving house mightjust be too overwhelming to people might have to move house. but it does create an enormous number of public health risks which may be something the professionals to talk about. but essentially you would need to be pretty ha p py essentially you would need to be pretty happy the plates are moving into was really properly cleaned. and everything have to be cleaned with detergent for 20 seconds, that is pretty tough and then you have to be worrying about the gassy removing your furniture and so on. what it means for you and for them. very difficult but i guess in the end if you are in the middle of a house move, you might have to do it. lot of problems there. chris, for you from catherine, i sell online and post my goods so can i still go to the post office? yes was that there is no problem with this. if you are feeling well and there is nothing you will put into that post i hope thatis you will put into that post i hope that is not going to be fine to send

an safe. if you are welcome to take the post and in don't have multiple trips, perhaps you could bash the mailup so you trips, perhaps you could bash the mail up so you take one journey to the post office once and then that is one set of interactions between you and people you might be at the post office or the postmaster themselves. returning to the question about house moves, this is such a tiny number of people as her portion of the whole country that i think that is what people have decided that that should just go ahead because of the end of the day came with a point about this is to break the chain of transmission by on average everyone discussing themselves from other people so there will be exceptions and that is why they are made for certain offe nces why they are made for certain offences like children who live with one parent but want to go and visit another in the case of couples who have parted. there are going to be exceptions and it is all about common sense and shifting the average here. waiting the dice in our favour and at the virus's favour. we've also the graphics would show what happens to the

status of transmission. that is if you observe the distancing. it is quite marked when you see it played out in terms of the number of infections. catherine, a really important question coming from david williams who says can you please clarify the danger of it covid—19 for asthma sufferers? yes, i feel for asthma sufferers? yes, i feel for anyone with any underlying health problems of the moment i met with asthma your airways and lungs are susceptible to picking up and less good at fighting off infection. severe asthmatics are a different category so they should follow a government advice on monday to stay at home and not have any face—to—face contact with anyone for the next 12 weeks. if you are not severe, then i would just make sure that you have a reasonable supply of inhalers at hand and againjust stay at home whenever possible and avoid

any nonessential travel carrying out the hygiene techniques as adjusted by the government. but any greater restrictions do you think of that particular group? i don't think so, no, assuming it is not severe asthma. but anyone with an underlying health condition is more at risk slightly so they are suggested to stay at home and conduct distancing measures. daniel, you said you had a question on twitter about a puppy. another question here from linda from weymouth saying he must‘ve allowed to ca re weymouth saying he must‘ve allowed to care for my horse? caring for the horse can be very straightforward if it is somebody who has a horse that is living in a field and is not stabled where it is mixed in with other human interaction for them i don't think anyone argue that you allow a horse to starve in the field allow a horse to starve in the field all remain completely unkempt in a field. so i think that is fine. i think he gets more complicated if

your horse is stabled and there are people working at the stables so they are already looking after the horse. maybe you don't then have to go in because then it does get complicated in terms of interactions but i think certainly the idea that you should just leave the horse to go wild would not be right. 0n the puppy, go wild would not be right. 0n the puppy: i go wild would not be right. 0n the punpy. liust go wild would not be right. 0n the puppy, i just don't go wild would not be right. 0n the puppy, ijust don't know the answer to the family are picking up a puppy next weekend. i think in the end, i think that is not essential travel but i think it is too heartbreaking probably not to go pick up a puppy. 0ne compassionate reality is yet to go into that but have to leave the puppy go into that but have to leave the puppy outside and pick it up from the breeder was no interaction and then wash down the carrier properly when you get home and there are ways of dealing with that. i don't know that will be at the official government guidance but also b cells should go ahead. another when not in the manual. four minutes to get through five or six less lives through five or six less lives through them. chris, for you from

grimsby, i returned from spain with no symptoms. when can i go out and shop forfood? no symptoms. when can i go out and shop for food? historically we were saying to people if you have come back from a high risk area, you should put yourself into quarantine for a while but this was while there we re for a while but this was while there were large numbers of cases and other countries and a few cases here. we now know that we have very large numbers of cases so really the emphasis is on just large numbers of cases so really the emphasis is onjust observing the current set of rules. there's not much to be gained by slitting yourself if you have no symptoms because who knows with my e—mail picked it up in this country so the current set of rules crumpled the other ones will be to get sentence him to isolate yourself and your family but until you get symptoms, regardless of his fine. pretty straightforward one from debbie who says i have two hospital appointments in april, can i go to them? so high, suggesting that anyone needs medical assistance and access that remotely where possible.

it may be possible if your hospital needs to cancel or postpone your clinical appointments so it is worth contacting the hospital directly and you may even be able to speak to the specialistjust to see you may even be able to speak to the specialist just to see the session is happy to have that postpone. some specialists are offering remote consultations phone so it is worth liaising with the hospital on that one. dana, one from andy who says who should and should going to work? again there is a controversial one because the government answer to this is obviously the key workers that they want to go to work, critically the nhs and emergency services that they want people working in the food supply chain to go to work. they want everyone else who can work from home to work from home they don't want to destroy the economy completely so while they are obviously shop workers and nonfood and pharmacies are not working coming giving workers in public is not working, they want others to go

to work. this is probably the most difficult area. we thought about construction workers already, how much other work has to happen? that is going to go on being something thatis is going to go on being something that is debated i think. in the weeks ahead, especially if this death toll goes on climbing as it is the moment. chris, a question for you from nathan in st albans. he says can i still go for a drive? actually. you will not encumber any more risk in your car assuming you are sucking your car people you live with her go on your own. to consider is if you have to go and fill your carup with is if you have to go and fill your car up with fuel, take more drives and use more fuel and had to fill out more often, you are taking more risk if you do that. take that into the equation if you have an electric car can the equation if you have an electric carcan be can the equation if you have an electric car can be can charge at home and should be fine. one final one for catherine from david who says should train will still be working in my

house? the traceable are not considered key workers. —— trade people. i think it is worth speaking to the builders and a project manager on this and any people coming in and out of the house is increasing the risk of you and your family and to the builders and potentially their families. so my advice would be actually less it is essential building work to postpone that building work until this period passes. a final one for daniel because i heard you looking at this a little earlier in the day and terms people using their car are going to exercise and keep for, they are now allowed out in the uk once per day but it is only a restriction on how far they can go for that because i know in france it is limited to around about a kilometre ora mile limited to around about a kilometre or a mile from your home? there is not a restriction is the answer in the question i was asked on the 1pm

news which caused quite a bit of controversial reaction was could somebody drive for about half an hour to go somebody drive for about half an hourto go and somebody drive for about half an hour to go and take exercise where there would be fewer people and they knew they would not be people. and i said that sounded like something that nobody would disagree with. people did disagree with that saying that it people did disagree with that saying thatitis people did disagree with that saying that it is a necessary carjourney and we've already discussed that a bit and actually the number of risk amount of car journeys bit and actually the number of risk amount of carjourneys are not that great but people say you might go to places where there are people more than there are which is happening in the beaches and national parks at the beaches and national parks at the weekend. you should not be doing that clearly and not going somewhere to ta ke that clearly and not going somewhere to take exercise where you are going to take exercise where you are going to encounter more people. but i think if you can go somewhere that there are fewer people, that is still something that you could do but in the end hymn of the rule simply is due as little as possible. if you can stay home and do nothing, do that. if you are going crazy, go for a walk. time is up. thank you for a walk. time is up. thank you for your time and thanks to chris

and catherine for joining for your time and thanks to chris and catherine forjoining us. answering so many questions and we got there more than i thought we would and there are more questions and answers critically on the bbc website and the apples of thank you very much for watching. hello there. over the coming days, there is going to be quite a big change in the feel of the weather. during tuesday, parts of north wales get up to 19 degrees with some spring sunshine. fast forward to the coming weekend, on sunday, lucky to get as high as 9 degrees. and some spots could even see a little bit of snow. it is going to feel more like the winter. the cold air is currently sitting to the west and to the north of this weather front. and this front is very slow—moving, bringing outbreaks of rain and will continue to do so across parts of northern ireland and particularly western scotland as we go on through wednesday. to the far north of scotland and the western isles, things perhaps turning a little

brighter, but colder into the afternoon. through england and wales, some good spells of sunshine and it will be another warm one with temperatures up to 16, maybe 17 or 18 degrees in one or two places. as we go through wednesday night, our very slow—moving weather front just continues to sit in place across parts of scotland and northern ireland and much of the rain fizzling away underneath. it won't be particularly cold, but thursday morning starting with the frost across central and southern and southeastern parts of england and some parts of wales as well. also quite cold across the north of scotland, and as we get into thursday, our weather front still will be lingering, still sitting in place. a stripe of cloud, not much more than that by that day. to the north of it into that cold air, so chilly but fairly bright across the far north of scotland. and even further south across england and wales, a bit cooler by this stage

because the winds will start to come back in from the east or the north—east. and we keep that band of wind from the east and the north—east across parts on friday so despite some sunshine, a cooler feel, and the front still sitting in place by this stage. temperatures on friday afternoon between 9—13 across the uk. as we move into friday and saturday, that frontal system will finally get a move on and clear away southeastward. high—pressure building in behind and as that high builds in, it will squeeze a strong northerly wind down across the uk. it is going to bring some much colder air in our direction. so, on saturday, i think there will be a lot of dry weather around, but we'll start to see wintry showers particularly for eastern and northern coasts and the temperatures will be heading downward. 9—11 degrees, but it will feel colder than that given the strength of the wind. then on sunday, signs are that we could see a few wintry showers starting to develop and they could pop up about anywhere, and even at low levels, they could temporarily see just a little bit of snow. and single—digit temperatures at that stage. and with the strength of the wind,

it will feel not much better than freezing in quite a few spots. then into the start of next week, the area of high pressure will be generally sitting out to the west. uncertainty about just how far the high will build in across the uk. if it builds in properly across the uk, it would cut off the feed of cold air, but it looks most likely that as we go through next week that it will drift away westwards again, opening up the door to a return of another plunge of cold. and with that cold northerly air, there is always the potential for some wintry showers even to quite low levels. as we go into next week, it will generally speaking be rather chilly. there will be some spells of sunshine, but also the potential for some wintry showers. a big change in the feel of the weather over the coming days.

a sharp rise in the uk death toll — 87 people died in the past 24 hours, as hospitals prepare for a surge in coronavirus cases. this conference centre in london will open as a temporary hospital next week, for up to 4,000 patients. tonight, a stark warning from a&e doctors. we are seeing patients in their 20s, patients in their 30s. we don't know what the outcome for some of these patients will be. they will go to intensive care. they may be in intensive care for some weeks and some of them will die and it's completely heartbreaking and harrowing. with tight new measures now in force across the uk, deserted streets today and shops were shut as people were told not