a sharp rise in the uk death toll — 87 people died in the past 2a 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 to leave home for three weeks unless absolutely necessary.

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. keeping customers apart. supermarkets and other essential services introduce new measures to ensure people do have to leave home don't come into close contact. in eastern france, where intensive care units are becoming overwhelmed, desperately ill patients are airlifted to other hospitals. more than 1000 have now died there. 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 on this summer's tokyo 0lympics being postponed — something that's never happened and its 124 year history.

good evening. three young doctors working in the a&e department of a london hospital have issued a stark warning to britain on the day the death toll from coronavirus rose by 87 — the biggest daily rise so far. 422 people have now lost their lives. but the doctors warned that they are seeing people in their 20s and 30s who are very sick and they said that the surge of cases was onlyjust beginning. they urged everyone to take the government's new restrictions very seriously. today it was revealed that a new field hospital is being opened next week at a conference centre in east london that can take up to 4,000 patients. and the government has launched a volunteer scheme to recruit 250,000 people to help vulnerable people cope while their confined to their homes. with the latest this evening, here's our health editor, hugh pym. we are standing at the foot of the mountain and we're looking

up and we don't know where that summit is. we don't know what we're heading towards. three doctors at a london hospital tell me what they are now seeing daily on the front line. patients in their 205, patients in their 305, 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. london is ahead of the rest of the uk with the coronavirus. they are warning other areas what might happen. we have all of these people who are incredibly, critically unwell and people are dying alone. people have no company, they have no comfort, and that is incredibly difficult for health care providers to try to help people recover, or, in some cases, pass away with dignity and kindness. we are stretched as it is and that is incredibly hard. but they are ready for whatever comes next. there is a lot of training that is going on to prepare for this

onslaught that we are guaranteed to receive in the next few weeks and months. i think there is a positive, a tentative positive, that we are trying to prepare for that as best we can. in a hospital bed in durham, michelle had a plea to the public. be careful, and responsible. i'm begging you, 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 is quite terrifying to them. these are patients who were expecting to have surgery today and now they are facing uncertain dates, they are facing hospitals that are going to be full of patients with covid, and we are doing our best to deal with both the psychology

of the situation but also get them to timely care. it's a lot of pressure on everyone. . . masha 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 unsure if there will be enough nurses to be able to look after me, if i will even be able to get my treatment. it is all very scary because, you know, once you start chemotherapy, you need to carry on. and so, if i have to pause it, i won't know for how long i will have to pause it, i don't know then what it will do to my health. 0ne hospital trust has postponed 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—19 and we are seeing increasing numbers of admissions to hospitals. and we are very conscious that our cancer patients are at particular risk, particularly if they develop covid—19 and they can

become seriously ill. every hospital is preparing and the government announced there will be a temporary new one here, at the excel conference centre in london's docklands, with room for 4000 patients. more will be created at other locations. the planning is on a big scale but the nhs will need every bed it can find. hugh pym, bbc news. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh is here. the search has started is what those young doctors were telling us and young doctors were telling us and you see plans for the huge temporary hospital and it gives you a sense of what's coming. it does. we are at the very early stages still of what looks like being a very major epidemic here, with cases doubling every five days. most people will have a mild illness, about 80%, the numbers from the minority of cases who need hospital treatment, oxygen, for pneumonia, they really could

have a major impact on the nhs and a exhibition centre docklands is being set aside for 4000 beds and that gives you a sense of what the nhs is expecting. and the peak of cases might not be until sometime in may. europe is very much at the epicentre of this at the moment but what is the global situation? it's worth looking at the global spread of cases. it took 67 days to reach 100,000 confirmed cases but then it took another 11 days to reach 200,000 coronavirus cases. thenjust four days to reach 300,000, and two days to hit 400,000 cases. that was today. it shows the exponential growth of this virus globally, and it is still not stopping. and the

first cases of this work reported almost three months ago. what is the situation in china now? it's really worth looking at the daily reported cases in hubei province, home to 60 million people. they had theirfirst confirmed case in wuhan on the 31st of december and went into total lockdown, a far stricter than here, on the 23rd of january. but their cases carried on rising for a couple of weeks before the restrictions had an effect. they have been falling ever since then, with only one case in the past week. after two months, china is going to start lifting those restrictions in hubei province and the big question is, have they contained this virus, or will there bea contained this virus, or will there be a second wave? fergus walsh, thank you. strict new measures have come into force across the uk for the next three weeks, with people being told they can only leave their homes for "very limited purposes". you can go shopping for basic necessities, such as food and medicine.

these trips should be as infrequent as possible. you are allowed 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, apart from 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. i live with my husband and i've got three children. and also living with the coronavirus. after struggling with a chest infection, which she couldn't shift, lexi taylor from suffolk believes she has the virus and is coping with her three kids and is coping with her three kids and she says her husband is being forced to still go to work on the factory floor. i need him here to

support me and to stay indoors like the government have said. stay at home. don't go out for anything nonessential. what is essential? thousands packed the trains in the rush hour in london this morning, stretching the loopholes perhaps, crammed on tubes cheek byjowl on busy building site as well. is it really possible to keep our distance? scotland's first minister is not sure. we have been asked specifically about construction site in scotland and we expect them to be closed unless the building that is being worked on is essential, such asa being worked on is essential, such as a hospital. here is the dilemma. 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 pie was. that is black and white. but ministers do not want to have the country ground toa not want to have the country ground to a halt —— of the virus. if you can only do yourjob physically at

your place of work and stay safely more than two metres away from other people, then it's ok to go. there are shades of grey. ministers have changed how they work. this is not an arcade game but this morning's cabinet meeting. today for the first time, journalists were asked online to put questions to number 10. the health secretary began with a quickening pace of the disease. very sadly, overnight, 87 more people have died, bringing the total to 422, and our hearts go out to their 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 members of the public today who are being told they should go to work by their boss, even though they don't think their work is essential right now at this moment, and they don't feel they can

stay safely two metres apart from anyone else there. 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 that 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 or social care, you work in the nhs or social care, you should go to work. there was a rather unlikely because advice book couples who don't yet live together. te st couples who don't yet live together. test carefully your strength of feeling, stay with the household either together or apart but keep it that way while we go forward. lighter moment may be in a serious time when the limits on our lives are growing. police in plymouth politely asking drivers where they're going. so much change already, and this is really hardly at the start. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. police have been given the task

of making sure people stick to the new rules on social distancing. our home editor, mark easton, has been to watford in hertfordshire to find out whether people are adapting and complying to the more stringent regime. the virus patrols were policing the new rules in watford'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 seemed to want to do the right thing. so far, everybody has been really good, doing what they are being asked to do. because, as i say, it is for everybody‘s safety and everybody‘s well—being. people seem to be standing quite close together. they do, and that is why we are trying to move about. if they are two and they are family, that's fair enough, but any groups of three, four, five, we are speaking to them and we haven't had any issues and they are splitting up. but everybody should know by now, they have watched the news etc, they know what the situation is. most shops and businesses are closed, supermarket marshals encouraging customers to observe the etiquette of the epidemic.

fine, thanks. you're standing very close together. safe, strong, yeah. do you think it's clear what you're supposed to be doing? it is but i think a lot of people still aren't listening and paying attention to it. do you live in the same house? no. you shouldn't be standing that close together, you know that? yeah, i'm aware of that. we are being 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 of liberty has become a kingdom in captivity and not everyone agrees with it. i tell you what, they are all in parliament spreading it around all of their subsidised bloody bars, drinking up. 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. load of rubbish. scientists say disobeying the rules could endanger thousands of lives.

in greater manchester, the chief constable says self—isolation and illness means one in eight of his officers is currently unavailable, with a shortage of virus—protective clothing. 0ur front line officers have limited personal protection equipment at the moment, so they have got masks and gloves. we are, along with the nhs and other police services, we are waiting for further supplies. in the west midlands, local police tweeted... and in south london today, metropolitan police commissioner cressida dick was making it clear her officers would keep the public safe. we will only want to use enforcement if we absolutely have too, 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. supermarkets and those providing

other essential services, such as building societies, are bringing in new measures for customers and staff. many are aimed at encouraging people to follow the government's plea for social distancing and to keep at least two metres apart when shopping. our business correspondent emma simpson has more. the great high—street shutdown. in norwich, the shoppers have gone. leeds city centre — the streets quiet and the doors locked. right across the uk, we're only allowed out to buy necessities now. communities adapting to the new coronavirus retail rules. supermarkets have been overwhelmed, and now they have got to keep everyone safe, and fed. so, how will this work? all our main supermarkets will have to limit the number of customers going in, where necessary, so that 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. 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—metre thing and i've got my precautions. i am very mindful about it all. it's a lot calmer and 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 tills as a result. every retailer is doing more to protect staff, from simple gloves, to screens at the checkout, here with a green border at morrisons. 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. on this one, it's at least three weeks for a delivery. they are doing their best to try

and expand all the capacity and the technical 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, huge volume of people trying to get online deliveries now means it's impossible to meet all of that demand yet, although they are trying to expand their capacity. this industry is having to adjust to so much rapid change and we'll just have to get used to it, as well. emma simpson, bbc news. well, the government has issued a 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. and 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. not locking down, but clocking on.

these images show construction workers in london crowding together on shift this morning. and building has been continuing all over the country. it's the self employed people who are worrying more than anything. in salford, we found gary delivering concrete. i just go from site to site. i've been on a few sites this morning and it's just the same wherever you go. there's still people rubbing up against each other, they are working together, not taking any guidelines of what they have been told. we're trying our best, we carry gloves, masks but it's the other people we've got to keep educating all the time. but there has been huge inconsistency. in leeds, builders on their side downed tools first thing. but on a different site, others were continuing to work. the government has said it is fine for construction staff to work outside and at a safe distance. on this site in salford, they say

they're sticking to the rules. over the last couple of weeks, we've increased on hand sanitisers and those things and then we made it perfectly clear that we've got to be two metres apart. so the numbers are down anyway, there's a lot more room in the canteen area and they are having to separate tables have their lunch on so we are separate tables have their lunch on so we are maintaining the two metre role as we can. 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 shut and some construction companies have closed and projects including the crossrail scheme in london have halted. the unions say photographs of building workers crammed together show they're still at risk, but warn that as are many self employed, many have the stark choice of working orfacing hunger. judith moritz, bbc news.

in italy, a glimmer of hope tonight, with the number of new infections slowing for the third day in a row. the death toll is still very high — more than 740 people died in the past 24 hours. but, 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 becoming overwhelmed, with patients having to be transferred 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 mechanisms that we are putting in place are not enough. in the hospital car park, a military field camp has been set up, with 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 coronavirus —

many more are off sick. the government have ordered 250 million face masks amid concerns about protection of staff. 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. president trump has declared that coronavirus will kill fewer people than a "massive recession or depression," and he says he "would love to have america open up by easter." his comments came as the world health organisation warned that the united states could become the next epicenter of the pandemic. the death toll has now risen to 677, many of them in new york. nick bryant is there for us now.

nick. new york city really has become the centre of the american coronavirus outbreak. the number of cases just skyrocketed here today and so did the stock market. the dow saw its biggest gain in its history in anticipation of a $2 trillion stimulus package being passed on capitol hill. now the challenge of simultaneously facing a public health crisis and an economic crisis is causing tensions here and today we saw a row erupted between the democratic governor of new york and the republican president of the united states. this is ground zero, a phrase that for new yorkers revives such awful memories, now reapplied to this terrible present day. in what's fast become a quiet city, the case count is doubling every three days and the peak

could come in the next two weeks — far earlier than previously thought. the health system is already buckling under the pressure. here, the queue was for people waiting to be tested. but it's the desperate need for beds, ventilators, medical staff to treat the sick that poses such a grave danger. this manhattan exhibition centre is being converted into a field hospital. new york might need as many as 140,000 beds and, right now, just over 50,000 are available. so the news that donald trump wants to open up america by easter is being fiercely resisted by new york's democratic governor, who fears the cost in lives. yeah, my mother is not expendable and your mother is not expendable and our brothers and sisters, they're are not expendable. and we're not going to accept a premise that human life is disposable.

and we're not going to put a dollar figure on human life. the first order of business is save lives, period. likening the coronavirus again to the flu, president trump told fox news he was already looking to ease the restrictions on movement that have brought much of the us economy to a standstill — claiming america was not made to be shut down. you're going to have suicides by the thousands, you're going to have all sorts of things happen. you're going to have instability. you can'tjust come in and say let's close up the united states of america, the biggest, the most successful country in the world by far. i would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by easter. donald trump is clearly itching to open up the country, claiming it will save the us economy from recession and maybe even depression. but public health officials are pleading with him not to do that — warning it could result

in a devastating loss of life. rarely has a president faced such a fateful or potentially calamitous decision. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. )india — a nation of 1.3 billion people — has tonight gone into a complete lockdown lasting at least three weeks. the india has recorded over 500 positive cases, and reported 10 deaths to date. 0ur delhi correspondent arunoday mukharji has more. with uncertainty looming, india on tuesday prepared for the worst. in cities, hundreds of commuters looked to finish up last—minute errands, as state borders were sealed. many stranded struggling to get back home. 0nce bustling cities, slowly turning into ghost towns. the police patrolled the streets,

ensuring citizens followed orders, threatening action if they didn't comply. but india's measures were only going to get tougher. on tuesday night, india's prime minister ordered citizens to stay at home for the next three weeks. no sooner had he spoken, these were the scenes outside convenience stores. citizens jostled to stock up, preparing for the long haul. as anxiety peaked, the prime minister's office assured citizens that the supply of essential items will not be affected, that food and medicines will be available. this is an important message... in unprecedented circumstances, the uk high commission reached out to its citizens who may be stranded in india. if you require urgent consular assistance, please contact us on the numbers on screen. in a country of 1.3 billion people, the next three weeks will be crucial and could make or break the country's fight against coronavirus.

arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. the international olympic committee has announced that the tokyo games, which were due to begin injuly, are to be postponed by a year, because of the pandemic. it is the first time the games have ever been postponed in peacetime and comes after mounting international pressure for them to be delayed. 0ur sports editor dan roan has more. see you in tokyo! it's known as the greatest show on earth, but today we learn that even the olympics is not immune from this crisis. four years after the 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. the games could not go on. we came to the conclusion that in order to safeguard the health of the athletes and everybody involved in the olympic games,

that we have to postpone the olympic and paralympic games at tokyo 2020 to the year 2021, with the aim to have it there, at the latest, in summertime ‘21. 0rganisers wanted a month to consider delaying an event that's costjapan at least £10 billion, but with the pandemic playing havoc with qualifying events, canada withdrew amid mounting pressure for a postponement. the head of 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 from sport saying it has to be postponed this year. the one decision we have to make as soon as possible is that we postpone it in 2020 and put it back to 2021. so, my sense is relief. 0nce athletes‘ training facilities, like british cycling's national velodrome, were shutdown all across the world, tokyo 2020 effectively became untenable. we have to work together now, this is the better for notjust the nation but the world, humanity and

we wa nt nation but the world, humanity and we want to be