this is bbc news. i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines... the prince of wales has tested positive for coronavirus. clarence house says charles has mild symptoms. his last public engagement was on march 12th. measures to help the 5 million self employed will be announced tomorrow. the prime minister says the government is working hard on a fair package. we have produced a quite incredible package to support the businesses and the workforce of this country. we do need to ensure that we protect the self employed as well and you'll be hearing more about that in the next couple of days. nearly half a million people have applied for universal credit in the past nine days with more than

100,000 applications made yesterday alone. empty streets in india — a quarter of the world's population is now in some form of lockdown. and hundreds of thousands of people sign up in a single day to volunteer with the nhs, helping the most vulnerable self—isolators. the call for 250,000 volunteers is looking to help people with their shopping, with transport, and also simply calling on isolated people. good afternoon. the prince of wales has tested positive for the coronavirus. clarence house says prince charles, who's 71, is displaying mild symptoms but is otherwise in good health. the duchess of cornwall has also been tested, but does not have the virus.

buckingham palace says the prince last saw the queen nearly two weeks ago and that her majesty is also in good health. in some of today's other developments, the chancellor is to unveil a package of measures tomorrow aimed at helping the 5 million self—employed people who have been affected by the coronavirus crisis. nearly half a million people have applied for universal credit in the last nine days, as people turn to the benefits system to keep families afloat during the outbreak. an appeal, launched yesterday, for a quarter of a million people to help the nhs through the crisis has already exceeded its target. the volunteers are needed for delivering food and medicines to people's homes, and driving patients to appointments. spain has registered 738 fatalities in the past 2a hours — the country's steepest increase since the outbreak. the country's death toll now stands at 3,434, surpassing the number of coronavirus fatalities in china.

our first report is from our correspondent, richard galpin. the 71—year—old prince, who has a busy schedule, had his last public engagement on march the 12th when a palace source said he also saw the queen. it is understood he became contagious the following day and after then, he had had a small number of meetings. he and the duchess of cornwall are currently in balmoral in scotland and are both self—isolating. he tested positive on monday after showing mild symptoms, but it is thought unlikely it will escalate into a more serious case. meanwhile, the nhs appeal yesterday afternoon for a volunteer army has been hugely successful. by 9:45am this morning, they had more than they had asked for — 252,000 people had joined up. in times like this, as the chief medical officer has already said, we see outbreaks of altruism, people wanting to help, so it is a wonderful response in the same way that all those

doctors coming back, nurses saying they will come back, i am bowled over by it. the volunteers‘ role is to help the most vulnerable people in the country who have to remain at home for 12 weeks to avoid being infected by coronavirus. the call for 250,000 volunteers is looking to help people with their shopping, with transport. if they have a dbs qualification they can help with patient transport. i understand the black cab drivers especially in london are hoping to be mobilised in that respect because their vehicles are more secure. also simply calling on isolated people, making a phone call and keeping in touch. proving less successful is that government's decision to allow construction workers to keep working to help the economy. but several firms say they are closing. it is extremely difficult to adhere to the government advice for workers

to keep two metres apart from each other. in scotland, construction is being halted. in westminster, there is still no change. in the construction industry in particular, a number of employers have concluded they cannot follow the public health england guidance and are choosing to close down their sites. in some cases they are doing so over a short period of time, so those sites remain safe, and that is the right thing to do. but if you or your employer believe you can continue to operate safely within those guidelines, then it is sensible for you to do so. but there are, of course, exceptions for critical buildings, like the one under way to transform this, the excel conference centre in london, into a hospital. it is due to be up and running by next week. two wards with 2000 beds in each. it is to be named the nightingale hospital.

this broad ranging series of initiatives in recent weeks leading some experts to be more hopeful the nhs will be able to cope as the infection rate surges and then peaks in two and a half weeks' time. in westminster today, this last question time before parliament, like so many other institutions, is expected to close its doors for several weeks. but before the mps here start working from home, it is thought they will pass a set of emergency laws to tackle the coronavirus crisis. and those laws include giving the police extra powers. can you all go home, please. it is not a holiday. the government believes keeping people inside their homes is one of the most effective ways of slowing the spread of the deadly virus. richard galpin, bbc news.

let's go back to the news that the prince of wales has tested positive for coronavirus. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell is here. what else do we know? mild symptoms, according to clarence house and the nhs in scotland is at pains to point out he qualified for a test purely on clinical grounds as somebody over 70 who exhibited symptoms. we know that he and the duchess of cornwall travelled to scotland on sunday, they flew up, i presume on an raf flight. they flew up, i presume on an raf flight. some symptoms must have been exhibiting by then but i think they we re exhibiting by then but i think they were indistinct, more pronounced on monday and they were both tested on monday and they were both tested on monday evening by the nhs put out the results came through late last night, his were positive, hers were negative. they are both now self—isolating at his house on balmoral estate, which is quite a large building with plenty of space for them to self—isolate. we are told he is continuing to work. he is in good spirits, so we are told, up

and about. importa ntly, in good spirits, so we are told, up and about. importantly, he last saw the queen on the 12th of march, the prince of wales was at buckingham palace that day for an investiture on they had a brief meeting. at the royalfamily had on they had a brief meeting. at the royal family had been together a couple of days before that at the commonwealth day service at westminster abbey when they were there en masse with the cambridge plural and the sussexes as well. buckingham palace is normally robert sperry in the information it gives about the health of the senior members of the royal family —— normally rather sparing. but they said the queen is in good health, she went to windsor a week earlier than planned and is there with the duke of edinburgh. in everyone's mines clearly is the fact that she is one months away from being 94 and he is 98. but we are told they are following all the appropriate governmental advice about staying well. nick, many thanks. and what

royal correspondent nicholas witchell. the chancellor is to unveil a package of measures tomorrow, to help the estimated 5 million people in the uk are self employed, after criticism that they have been left with no financial support to get them through the coronavirus crisis. as our consumer affairs correspondent sarah corker reports, the delay is already causing real hardship. i'm ronnie penicuik. i am a relatively small roofing contractor in edinburgh, for my sins. i'm a sole trader, self—employed. my name is selena and i work as a freelance consultant for fashion brands. from roofers to hairdressers, to taxi drivers, the uk's 5 million self—employed are anxiously waiting to see if the government can and will bail them out. this is my van at the moment. ronnie from edinburgh says his work as a roofer has disappeared overnight. he's now closed his business. the government really has to step

in and help in whatever way they can to speed things up. and truly forget about the economy for the moment and just get money at the front end and help these people who are struggling right now. this is an area that i've cleared out. like ronnie, the only financial help freelancer selena from london can get is £94 a week, if she claims through universal credit. i'd been taking a much, much... like, a massive hit on my income, if i was to go on to universal credit. it's not even going to hit, like, 40% of what i am normally earn in one month. that's in stark contrast to the help for direct employees, those affected by shop, pub and restaurant closures, who will see 80% of their wages covered by the government. but even those who can get financial support are finding it difficult to access.

damien shut his restaurant in cambridgeshire and is now doing a takeaway bread service, but says the lack of information is frustrating. i'm not going to call hm revenue and customs, or gov.uk, whatever. i just make bread. i'm going tojust supply the community and wait until i get some information and until someone got actually some clues. there's growing confusion over whether construction workers can safely go to work. photos of crowded building sites have angered many. the government is now under intense pressure to support the self—employed, many of whom are now facing financial ruin, but it's proving complicated to design a scheme that's fair and deliverable. we've produced a quite incredible package to support the businesses and the workforce of this country. we do need to ensure that we protect the self—employed as well, and he'll be hearing more about that in the next couple of days. a lot of our clients are now also

really struggling themselves, so they've become a lot less responsive, which makes us a bit anxious, because at the end of the day, when it comes to cutting costs, we're the easiest ones to cut. clarity is the key now — for who can and who can't work. and we need to get that sorted out uk—wide and not get so many mixed messages. but these workers were among the first to lose work, and say they're the last to get help. sarah corker, bbc news. our political correspondent helen catt is at westminster. helen, the real anxiety is very obvious that from people who are self employed and it will be there for freelancers as well but it has proved a genuinely difficult problem for the government to solve? proved a genuinely difficult problem for the government to solve7m proved a genuinely difficult problem for the government to solve? it has. what the government is saying is that there are some logistical difficulties to work out how best to help people who are self—employed.

pa rt help people who are self—employed. part of that is to do with how they get their bank details, for example. people who are employed in the pay as you own it system so the government already has their details and they have a regular wage and it is easier if not easy to sort that out but people who are self—employed attempt to file their tax returns in attempt to file their tax returns in a race so attempt to file their tax returns in a race so they don't have the same access and a system to logistically do it. —— in arrears. it's designing a new system from scratch. there is also the issue of fairness. what the government said is that while some self—employed people have seen their businesses take a huge hit, we heard from some of them and i have been speaking to a couple of mobile hairdressers who had to stop their business because they can't keep the safe distancing, but the government says that some other self—employed people might see their income go up. they don't want to just put in some blanket system. it is about trying to do that and the government says

the chancellor and treasury have been working hard to ensure that support is provided and careful consideration has been necessary to ensure it is well targeted, fair and deliverable. labour has called for something equivalent to the support offered to people who are employed. the lib dems also suggested that perhaps the 80% figure that is given to people who are employed, perhaps that could be based on the last three years of tax returns and they could claw back any overpayments put out the snp would like to see the existing scheme extended. there are a lot of calls and desire on all sides here at westminster to do something to help self—employed people but at the moment it is the logistics, but we are here that tomorrow we will get more on this. indeed. and the other burning controversy is the confusion about construction workers and if they can go to work or not and in what circumstances? absolutely, this is because the government has said we don't want the economy to grind to a

halt so if you can go to work safely and keep your distancing while you're there, you should put in construction, many firms say that is impossible to do and you have to share tools or you can't be that far apart. there is confusion still about what happens there. 0k, helen, many thanks, our political correspondent helen catt. and we will be broadcasting live the daily press c0 nfe re nce will be broadcasting live the daily press conference from downing street of course and bring you that in due course sometime in this programme. the family of a 21—year—old woman who has died after contracting coronavirus are warning people to be do their bit and protect others. chloe middleton is believed to the youngest person in the uk without any underlying health conditions to have died from the virus. the youngest was an 18—year—old boy with "significant underlying health issues" who died after testing positive for coronavirus in coventry.

in a statement posted on facebook, chloe's mum diane described her as her angel. she said... well, over a quarter of a million people are said to have signed up to volunteer to help people during coronavirus crisis. during joining me now is coronavirus crisis. during joining me now is someone coronavirus crisis. during joining me now is someone from the royal volu nta ry me now is someone from the royal voluntary service, which is going to match the volunteers with the needs of the nhs and local vulnerable people. thanks so much forjoining us people. thanks so much forjoining us here on bbc news. just talk us through the practicalities of doing this, because you have potentially a huge volunteer workforce here, we hear, a quarter of a million people have signed up, it isjust hear, a quarter of a million people have signed up, it is just great, but you are now going to have to match them with the right tasks, how

are you going to do that? yeah, so, we've had a phenomenal response and we've had a phenomenal response and we are we've had a phenomenal response and we a re really we've had a phenomenal response and we are really grateful to everyone who has stepped forward so far. practically, we've got a phenomenal system which is going to match those who need help in the community with people who step forward. whether or not you want to support somebody with shopping, or you want to offer a companion call or you want to support your nhs with transport, there is a role that can be done by you and we are encouraging everybody to think, if you are fit and healthy and it is safe for you to do so, to consider what support you can give by being an nhs volunteer responder. so, there are specific roles, how many roles are there? there are four, one of them is what we call a community responder, and that is where you can help somebody that is self—isolating to shield them from the virus, to enable them to stay in their home, and that is giving basing things like helping them with shopping, picking up prescriptions, things that help with their everyday

life. we have got a lovely role which is offering telephone companionship, so if you yourself are self—isolating and you want to reach out and volunteer, you can do it from your home and you can support others, stay connected, have a chat and be connected with the world during this time of self isolation for so many. and then we've got two really important roles which are there to help underpin the nhs, and that is supporting with transportation of equipment, so that we've got essential workers on the frontline maintaining the jobs that they need to do, and also some supporting patient care with transport. so, lots of roles, and we are encouraging people to see what is there for them, visit nhs england's website, or the royal volu nta ry england's website, or the royal voluntary service, and you can sign up. it sounds like a small civilian army being organised to do all of these tasks. it does run against, to a certain extent, what we are being

told, to stay at home as far as possible, so how are you going to ensure that these volunteers who have done this in good faith and good heart, that they stay safe? so, all of our volunteer roles are following government guidance, safe social distancing, safe drop—offs in terms of ensuring virus is not exchanged when you are dropping off shopping for vulnerable people. so, we have got a series of training and guidance that supports people to make sure they are safe, but equally a very strong message that we are looking for people that feel fit and able and safe to volunteer. and it's one of those things we are being asked by government to only shop once a week for ourselves, so it might be that when you're shopping for yourself on a weekday morning, that you think about somebody that might need some shopping in your local community. if you're signed up to this system, you can put yourself forward and pick up another shopping job for somebody who might need that support at the same time when you would be going out to do your normal

shopping. so, there's lots of options, all following the government guidance, and we are there to make sure that every volunteer is safe in what they deliver in the community. are you surprised by the numbers that have come forward to volunteer? so, i would say i feel incredibly humbled at the strength of conviction from people who are willing to step forward and give their time freely to help others. i'm not surprised because this nation is full of unbelievable acts of kindness that are given every single day and i see that continuously with volunteering. but i'm incredibly humbled because this is a moment in time when we'll all bejudged by this is a moment in time when we'll all be judged by the small acts of kindness that we give during this time andi kindness that we give during this time and i can see so many people stepping up to put themselves forward to do that. thank you so much forjoining us. and you can find out more about the symptoms of

coronavirus and how to protect yourself against it on the bbc news app and also on our website. in europe, spain continues to see a dramatic rise in the number of deaths, recording its biggest daily deaths, recording its biggest daily death toll yet. 738 people have died in the past 24 hours. total deaths in spain stand at 3400, greater than in mainland china, where the outbreak originated. the madrid government is now looking to the eu for help and to get protective equipment for its medical workers. our europe correspondent gavin lee says the catalonia region now also has rising numbers of infections. it is the highest number of deaths and also the highest number of cases, which gives us a sense of the speed of the spread across the

country. madrid, we know, where there are two thirds of the deaths, two thirds of the 3500 deaths, but also the catalonia region in the east, a big spread there, a huge concern of concentrated areas of spain where the authorities cannot cope. the mogs in madrid are full to capacity, the soldiers have come in and opened up an ice rink to bring bodies as a morgue. it is respot reported this morning that they have asked nato for official help. nato, we understand, actually they cannot provide the sort of medical equipment which spain needs. we are talking about 1.5 millions facemasks, half a million respirators, emergency testing kits, hundreds of ventilators, and this will have to go to eu countries and elsewhere, possibly china, to see what comes back. the eu are going through a procurement programme at the moment which is in its early stages. at the moment it looks like

countries combined could only provide about 10% of what is needed around eu so that is something that may take some time. worrying for spain today, going across to italy, where the figure is still the highest anywhere in terms of the death toll in the world, 70,000 cases, 7000 deaths, the prime minister there saying that they will look to increase now the penalties for people violating the strict lockdown there, up to 4000 euros, and if you are in quarantine, and you therefore breach that quarantine, you therefore breach that uarantine ou're you therefore breach that quarantine, you're looking at a possible five—year jail sentence. that is the severity in italy right now. that is our europe correspondent gavin lee. now, some very sobering figures to bring you from the united states. the governor of new york, andrew cuomo, has been speaking. we can see him, there he is alive at the moment. he has been telling people that new york state has had more than 5000 new cases in

the past 24 hours, and that that brings the total to above 30,000 cases. he says that the state has had ten times more coronavirus cases than the second worst—hit state, which is that of newjersey. and he is also proposing a pilot, given the crisis, to close new york city to traffic. so, very drastic measures being suggested by the governor of new york, andrew cuomo. india is in its first full day of a three—week lockdown. the prime minister, narendra modi, told the country's 1.3 billion citizens that the only way to save themselves from coronavirus is for no one to leave their home. our correspondent has sent this report. the message for all indian citizens, stay indoors and stay safe or else face not only health but legal consequences. once bustling cities turned

into ghost towns overnight as the country observes a complete lockdown. only those doing the most essential jobs allowed on the streets. we came across this family of four who failed to get home before the lockdown. translation: no one is helping us, people are scared to give us a ride because of the virus, the police are also asking for identity cards. desperate and worried for their children, they are having to cycle almost 15 miles to get home. these were the scenes in old delhi as hundreds of homeless gathered demanding food from authorities. some fear hunger will kill them before coronavirus. others who were out to buy medicines

and groceries told us the situation was challenging but agreed a complete lockdown was needed to beat the virus. there's no vegetables, nothing a baby needs, i didn't find milk or bread for the people at home. translation: this is good that the prime minister has enforced a lockdown, this is the only way forward. these are unprecedented scenes in a country of 1.3 billion people, unimaginable before the crisis. many observers say that only a politician like narendra modi could take and implement such a drastic step. while the lockdown comes at a massive cost, that alone cannot help battle the virus. translation: we need a good sanitary system with testing, testing will be the backbone of a good response strategy.

without knowing where the fire is you cannot tackle the fire. the reality is that india has tested fewer people than most other countries. the virus is already likely to spread in far greater number than officially recognised. for the second most populous country in the world, disaster could still be ahead. some breaking news to bring you from westminster, sweeping emergency powers to tackle the coronavirus crisis are going to become law now, because the coronavirus bill has clear the house of lords without amendment. mps had been debating that bill, which give the government new powers to help tackle the crisis. it has gone through the lords and it is now effectively about to become law. the united nations has launched a humanitarian response plan to fight the coronavirus. the un secretary—general, antonio guterres, said the developing world would need

more support to prevent a wider global outbreak. our main objective is to avoid the humanitarian support that we are already receiving for water sanitation, food, protection, shelter, in all those vulnerable situations in the world, from syria to yemen, from sudan to the drc, what we want is to make sure that now we have an additional support for this covid—19, and that the money doesn't come from the action that we are already having. this is a matter of enlightened self—interest. if this pandemic is controlled in the developed world, but if it is left are spreading like wildfire in the developing countries, we will have millions of cases, millions of people dying, but not only that, that will create the opportunity for mutations of the virus, and the virus can come back ina way virus, and the virus can come back in a way that even vaccines which are developed will not be effective evenin are developed will not be effective even in the developed world. so there is no way to fight this in half of humanity. the words of the

un secretary—general, antonio guterres. let's take a look at the situation in russia now. in a televised address, president putin has said that it is impossible to com pletely has said that it is impossible to completely stop the spread of the coronavirus because of the size of the country. the official infection figures in russia have been suspiciously low, 658 cases being reported, 410 of them in moscow. but a raft of new measures are now being introduced including bans on public gatherings. our correspondent steve rosenberg is in moscow with the latest. he announced several measures, declaring next week in russia a nonworking week, asking people to stay at home. key services will continue. shops will be open, banks, public transport will run, the russian authorities will be working but he said the safest place was at home and the idea is this nonworking

week, the hope is it will slow the spread of coronavirus in russia. the other thing he did was propose a whole string of measures, economic and financial measures, to try to ease the pressure on russian citizens and on russian companies. and the other thing he said was that he would postpone next month's planned national vote on changing the russian constitution. among the changes that vladimir putin is proposing to the constitution is one amendment that would come if supported by the public, allow him to stay in power, potentially until 2036 but he made it clear that in the current circumstances, because of the pandemic, this would not be possible at this time. he said the priority for him was the health and safety of the russian people. our correspondent steve rosenberg. shops have brought in a host of measures

here following the introduction of new government rules on social distancing that have applied since monday evening. some supermarkets are introducing marking on the floor to show where it is safe to stand when queueing as well as staff allowing a limited number of people into stores at a time. measures have also been introduced to protect staff including screens and visors for workers but there are still issues over stocks in some areas and over online ordering. joining me is the director of food and sustainability at the british retail consortium. those measures that shops are taking will be familiar to people watching, i see it all round london where i live, but the shops are rising to the challenge. but bring it up to date on the issue of stocks. are we seeing the scenes we saw a few days ago of empty shelves still or is that coming down a bit? it has definitely calmed down, probably since the weekend we have

seen a probably since the weekend we have seen a fall off on demand and that has given an opportunity to com pletely has given an opportunity to completely restock the shelves and get a lot of products on their. there is plenty of food in store at the moment. i have been in the supermarket this morning and seen it for myself and that's great and it's testa m e nt to for myself and that's great and it's testament to the really hard work of retail colleagues who have been working round the clock to get food through the supply chain and onto the shelves, and also some of the work from government which make it easierfor us to get work from government which make it easier for us to get deliveries through the chain and into the stores. that's good news. what about online ordering? we still have reports of people having to wait a long time for online deliveries, sometimes they are delivered, sometimes they are delivered, sometimes with not the product they have ordered and some cannot get a delivery within two weeks. two things to remember about online. the first is, actually quite a small fraction of the goods we sell in this country, about 7%, and you can imagine with a lot of people trying

to get online deliveries, and i have heard from retailers saying they had but owners are ten times as many requests for online deliveries than normalfor requests for online deliveries than normal for this requests for online deliveries than normalfor this time of requests for online deliveries than normal for this time of year, and they're struggling to keep up. they are putting on more capacity but it shows that for most of us, the main focus will still be the supermarket. that is where most of us by our food and where the vast majority of food is assault. as well as looking online, we should be thinking about community solutions —— food is sold. are we thinking about neighbours and elderly relatives who can go into the stores? can we shop for them? the supermarkets can increase online they want people to shop in the supermarket. they don't have the capacity to increase online deliveries that much? exactly, and if it is 7%, if we increased by 20% which is a massive increase in a short period of time, taking on extra drivers and more delivery slots, we would still only be about

8% of the food we sell in the country. why will do everything we can to meet the demand online, the focus is on in—store and that is why i talked about the community solutions. who can go shopping for who? there is food on the shelves and enough for everybody, the food we need, we just and enough for everybody, the food we need, wejust have and enough for everybody, the food we need, we just have to sort out how to get it from the supermarket to the homes that need it. one interesting bit of news this opinion is that off—licences have been added to the list of shops that can stay open so clearly the list has been revised and the priorities are changing as well? yes, off-licences have been added and we have had some clarification which is really important for both retailers and customers to know what is open. sticking with off—licences, we saw quite a big spike in sales of beer, wine and spirit in the last week or so. wine and spirit in the last week or so. that might take some of the pressure off the supermarket as

well. you can see why it has some logic. and that spike is partly because people can't go out any more and have to drink at home? yes, i think all the way round, not only drinking at home with the pubs shut but also the restaurants, it means people are thinking more about cooking more from scratch at home, even more pressure on the supermarkets than before but what we have seen in the last two weeks is an amazing effort by our retail collea g u es an amazing effort by our retail colleagues to rise to that challenge and get food on the shelves. colleagues to rise to that challenge and get food on the shelveslj wa nted and get food on the shelves.” wanted to ask you, you said the level of panic buying seems to be calming down. does that mean that the calls for supermarkets to perhaps russian products no longer need to be heeded —— ration products. we were talking about managing products to get them to as many people as possible and maybe prevent one person buying too much and it not being available for the nhs worker or the retired person who is only going in for the one—off

occasion. they were managing stocks available. that is different to rationing. there is plenty of food available in the country and it's coming through the chain. this was more about managing on an equity basis to make sure as many customers as possible would get the variety of food they wanted. and supermarkets are usually in competition but in this moment of crisis, are they sharing ideas? there has been incredible collaboration across the industry. i have been at the heart of it and had the privilege to speak to every one of the major retailers and convenience store chains and there is great exchange of best practice. you talked about social distancing. we have not seen all the official guidance from government but it did not stop retailers getting together to say, what will best for our customers to get a consistent message? what were talking about is changing our normal shopping behaviour and the more we can get that regularly across all supermarkets, the more we can all get used to what it will be like

shopping in the supermarkets over the next few months. ok, andrew opie, good to talk to you. andrew opie, good to talk to you. andrew opie from the british retail consortium. let's look now at the latest advice from the british government. the latest government restrictions mean you can now only leave your home for very specific reasons. they are to shop for basic necessities like food and medicine. you can go outside for one form of exercise a day, alone or with members of your household. all gatherings of more than two people are banned. 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. you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect yourself all on the bbc news app and on our website.

and for viewersjoining and for viewers joining us, and for viewersjoining us, we and for viewers joining us, we are waiting for the daily downing street briefing on coronavirus and we will go to it live as soon as it starts. nearly half a million people have applied for universal credit in the last nine days with more than 100,000 claims yesterday alone. the department for work and patient has admitted there had been problems with the system that verifies identities of applicants and at one point yesterday people were waiting in an online queue of more than 100,000 people. michael buchanan reports. as the economy slows down, people are being forced to turn to benefits. since monday, 477,000 claims have been made through universal credit, many believed to be from the self employed to it is creating huge pressure on the government. we are currently experiencing high call volumes. you

might prefer to call back later. jonathan's contract ended earlier this month and he has been calling the universal credit helpline for the universal credit helpline for the past few days. since friday i have tried about 80 to 100 times. hundred? yes, most of the time it drops instantly. sometimes it will drops instantly. sometimes it will drop after you choose the options on the system and the other few times when i've actually got through, i have been on hold for two hours and then my network will cut me off. about six or eight hours total on hold put credit is a new service... is designed to be claimed online but those who have done so have also experienced problems. queues to verify their identity have passed 100,000 with many simply giving up. very welcome. officials at the department for work and pensions told mps this morning there had been 105,000 applications for universal credit yesterday alone and little

wonder they admitted there had been problems. we have had capacity problems. we have had capacity problems with the verifying system, working closely with the government digital service and their providers to build capacity. there are things they are doing to build capacity and change the way the system works. i'm hoping that that system will see some changes and improvements over the coming hours. with job centre is now closed due to coronavirus, staff will be redeployed to deal with new claims, part of the 10,000 additional civil servants being moved to cope with the surge. for jonathan, trying to process his claim bya jonathan, trying to process his claim by a dwp imposed deadline of thursday, it is all very stressful. until this is sorted, i have no income. and i don't know what is going to happen after the time limit for organising the meeting has passed. whether my claim will be automatically entered or... whether they will make an allowance for it.

there has been no communication from anyone. ministers maintain welfare payments will be made in a timely manner but they are facing significant challenges. michael buchanan, bbc news. some newsjust come in from spain, the deputy prime minister has tested positive for coronavirus, that has just come from a government statement. spain has continued to see a dramatic rise in the number of cases and deaths and recorded its biggest daily death toll so far put up now we have at the deputy prime minister, carmen ca lvo, the deputy prime minister, carmen calvo, has the deputy prime minister, carmen ca lvo, has tested the deputy prime minister, carmen calvo, has tested positive for coronavirus. for hundreds of thousands of britons who have been away travelling, these are uncertain times with some borders are shut and many flights cancelled. our correspondent has been speaking to people who still don't know how or when they will get home. please, please, please, get us home to get back to work. my mum is nervous and wants to get

back to the uk because we know we have the medications there. trapped in far—flung corners around the world, normally dream destinations but now desperate for escape. hundreds of thousands of brits are struggling to get home after the government advised people to return as the pandemic spreads. 18—year—old will and his friend ben have been travelling in cambodia for month. i'm jane, will's mother, and we have done everything we can to get them out in the last ten days. so far we've had two flights cancelled and we're sick to death of being told to get our boys home when we just cannot do that. we are really concerned about advice coming from the foreign office, it is nonexistent. when they did reply it was just an automated response. since then they recommended some flights but they cost upwards of five grand. the atmosphere here now is starting to get quite hostile towards us with some restaurants banning certain nationalities for entering. lots of hotels and hostels are shutting around the city as well.

the challenge facing the foreign office is unprecedented. embassies that are closed and staff flown home days ago, doors shut to our travellers. dominic raab told parliament yesterday staff in 168 countries are working round the clock, but it is still not enough. we doubled our capacity and we are now doubling it again to deal with this surge in demand. the malaga team took 28,000 calls in one day and as foreign office staff we are abused and spat at when trying to help british nationals to come home and they are working in tough situations so i caution any member to suggest there is an easy solution to this. tens of thousands of brits have now returned from spain but as 80 countries place restrictions on their borders, the usual routes via international hubs are closed. it is thought 1000 brits have been stuck in peru, later today 200 people will leave lima on a government backed british airways flight. each passenger paid £250 to get home

and vulnerable passengers have been prioritised. but with airports around the uk now filled with grounded planes questions are being asked if the government should be stepping in to provide more of these rescue flights. ben and will have flights booked for next monday but as the situation changes day by day, brits are leaning on the foreign office who face demand for support like never seen before. simon browning, bbc news. one message of comfort has come in from an unlikely source, someone who is used to dealing with crises. dr who, also known as actressjodie whittaker, had this message of hope for the fans of the show and for planet earth. hi! this is an emergency transmission. if you're seeing this, the tardis much to have that an upsurge inside logical signals from space and time, basically someone might be a bit worried somewhere. i am just a self—isolating or as i like to call it, hiding from an army, but keep

that to yourself and here is what i do it the worrying situation. one, remember, you'll get through this. things will be all right. even if they look uncertain, even if you're worried, darkness never prevails. two, tell jokes, even worried, darkness never prevails. two, telljokes, even bad ones, especially bad ones, i am brilliant at bad ones! three, be kind, even kinder than you were yesterday and i know you were super kind yesterday. look out for each other. you won't be the only one worried. talking will help, sharing will help, look out for friends, neighbours, people you hardly know and family. in the end, we are all family. four, to science and listen to doctors. right? they've got your back. five, stay strong, stay positive, you've got this. and i will see you very soon.

you are watching bbc news. let's have a look at some of the main developments today. the prince of wales has tested positive for the coronavirus. clarence house says that prince charles, who is 71, is displaying mild symptoms but is in otherwise good health. the duchess of cornwall has also been tested but does not have the virus. buckingham palace says the prince last saw the queen nearly two weeks ago and that her majesty is also in good health. in some of today's other news... the chancellor is to unveil a package of measures tomorrow aimed at helping the 5 million self—employed people who have been affected by the coronavirus crisis. nearly half a million people have applied for universal credit in the last nine days, as people turn to the benefit system to keep families afloat during the outbreak. an appeal launched yesterday for a quarter of a million people to help the nhs to the crisis has already exceeded its target. the volunteers are needed for delivering food and medicines to people's homes and for driving

patients to appointments. spain has registered a 738 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the steepest increase since the outbreak started. the death toll in spain now stands at 3434, surpassing the number in china. a quarter of the world is now living under coronavirus lockdown. the addition overnight of more than a billion people in india. so, how are different countries doing things differently and is it clear which if any might be the best route out? our reality check correspondent chris morris is here with me. chris, first of all, europe is currently being called the epicentre of this crisis, how are different lockdown restrictions in other countries in europe different to what we now have in the uk? i think there is a perception that italy and spain in particular are being much tougher than we are, but if you look at what people can do in italy, what

exemptions there, they can leave to go out to work if they have to, they can go out for medical reasons or to buy food or to go to the family, so, not dissimilar to what we have here. the big difference i think is in the way the measures are being enforced. so, in italy, you to carry a piece of four paper which specifies why you are out, and police are stocking people regularly to look at those forms. —— a piece of paper. in spain as of last night there had been 926 arrests for disobeying the rules. as of last night there had been more than 80,000 fines, and in both of those countries, people are being told, if it is people who are supposed to be under quarantine, who are sick, who are found to have gone out, we could be talking about potential prison sentences. we know that the police here want to have a much more hands—off approach, so one of the key things in the next few days will be, is the message going out from the government, to take

pa rt out from the government, to take part in this national effort, having sufficient effect, so that we don't have to go into this more punitive regime of enforcing the rules? it's interesting because these are cultural differences? they are, and different countries do things differently. one of the interesting things i guess about europe is that overall, not just things i guess about europe is that overall, notjust in the uk, were things done too late? one question is, could we have learned more from asia? china is, could we have learned more from asia ? china obviously locked is, could we have learned more from asia? china obviously locked things down very vigourously and comprehensively in wuhan. it is much easier to do that in an authoritarian society. but in other countries close to china, places like singapore and taiwan and hong kong, they reacted very, very quickly. just three days after the first case was was reported in china, those places imposed the first step towards a lockdown, which was starting to secure borders, screening people arriving at borders. and they moved more quickly

to imposing lockdowns as well. the other thing that happened in asia, particularly in south korea, if you're looking for a way out of the lockdown, well, we need to know where the virus is, so, test, test, test, as the who has said. and south korea tested people much more quickly and effectively than probably any other country in the world. things like drive through testing centres, and i think that had an impact there. so, can you draw a comparison between what south korea has done and continues to do, and the united states, for example? yeah, there is an interesting comparison there. south korea tested very early and in large numbers. the united states has only really wrapped up its testing in the last week or so. in fact, the first reported case in south korea and the first reported case in the united states happened on the same day. so, the south koreans acted much more quickly. because the us has now really ramped things up, they've now done roughly the same amount of

tests, but of course the american population is more than six times as large, so, south korea and other countries essentially, we could learn a lesson from them, that maybe things could have been done more quickly. and i think one cause for concern globally is that if some of the richest countries in the world have struggled to test as quickly and as comprehensively as they would like, and we know the government here is determined to ram up testing, but if it's been difficult in these advanced health systems, what's it going to be like for much more thinly resourced healthcare systems in some of the poorest places in the world? we know india has now gone into lockdown, sub—saharan africa and other places, i think that is a real cause for concern. thank you very much, chris morris, our reality check correspondent. those who care for vulnerable people are on the list of critical workers who are allowed to come and go to work. but this comes with the risk for the carers and for those being cared for. fiona lamdin

went to film last week with some of the most vulnerable, before more stringent measures came in. for this interview, we kept our distance, staying in separate rooms. the fact we are staying two metres away from bob makes it much safer for him. bob has to communicate through a machine, but the couple wrote rely heavily on people visiting him twice a day in somerset. you are extremely vulnerable, are you scared at this time? iwas vulnerable, are you scared at this time? i was scared, but less so now that we have a plan. but for the plan to work, his wife sheila needs to stay well. so, i'm worried for me, giving it to him. if he gets any sort of chest infection, then he

would not survive it, basically. they've decided, if bob contracts coronavirus, he doesn't want to go to hospital. instead, he will stay at home with sheila, who will care for him during his final days. 100 miles away, in gloucester, jessica looks after young men like robert, who have severe non—verbal autism. jessica can't keep the two metre rule. robert communicates through touch. he needs 24-hour care, seven days a week, from the minute they get up to the minute they go to bed, and obviously throughout the night as well. already, she's self—isolating from her family so she can look after the men here. if they get coronavirus, she'll risk her own health to care for them. but i would stay here the whole time, i wouldn't leave, because somebody has

got to look after him, he can't be here on his own, especially with the other guys as well. but you would be putting yourself at huge risk of catching it? yeah. does that worry you? not catching it? yeah. does that worry you ? not really. catching it? yeah. does that worry you? not really. ijust in i would rather be here caring for them because nobody else can. nobody else can. so these carers well. fiona lamdin, bbc news. andjust can. so these carers well. fiona lamdin, bbc news. and just a reminder that that report from fiona was filmed last week before the tighter restrictions were put in place by the government. we are waiting for the daily news briefing, which we are expecting at around five o'clock, and it will be taken by the prime minister, boris johnson. he will be joined by the prime minister, boris johnson. he will bejoined by by the prime minister, boris johnson. he will be joined by the chief medical officer, chris whitty, and also the government's chief scientific officer, sir patrick vallance. we are expecting that at 5pm or thereabouts and we will be bringing it to you hero bbc news.

now, the crisis has affected every sector of society, among them, thousands of people who are homeless and sleeping rough in britain. in the year ending march 2019, the greater london authority reported almost 9000 rough sleepers in the capital. together with charities, the gla is now providing hotel accommodation for some. fergal keane has been on the street to see how they are coping with the coronavirus crisis. even from a social distance, the lens captures hard times. it reveals journeys of the past, and the pupils of the present. the homeless are citizens of an emptying city, left stranded by the lockdown. chris, from tyneside, has been homeless for ten years. he sells the big issue magazine to try and raise money. it's very, very lonely. it was

lonely to start with but due to the huge lack of people around, it's very sort of boring, it's depressing. you don't get people stopping and saying hello anymore. he can't sell magazines anymore so his income has vanished. london has nearly rough sleepers. keep away from me, i don't want to die yet. i'm a 74, i'm vulnerable. we kept our distance. lord bird, founder of the big issue, was once homeless himself. now he campaigns for them. what needs to be done now is, we need to be giving homeless papal places of the streets, three square meals, all the medical help, because these are the most dangerous times, probably the most difficult people to move away and get out of the crisis, the viral crisis. but there isa crisis, the viral crisis. but there is a plan for safety, that could ta ke is a plan for safety, that could take chris and others off the streets in the time of the virus. working with charities, the greater

london authority is offering 300 hotel beds for the homeless. i've got somewhere to go tonight, it could be anywhere in london, just a matter of waiting to find out. are you happy? i'm quite happy now knowing that i have got that. for some, going to a hotel means sending the pets who have been their companions for years into temporary shelters, and it's painful. without these dogs, they don't seem to have a purpose in life, like they say to us, it is the dog that has rescued them more than they have rescued the dog. it gives them a purpose to get up, a routine, it is their everything. these were the last few hours before the government's lockdown. under a railway bridge, the crowds were thinning. the bosco's takings were measly. the bedding of a 29—year—old homeless woman was across the way. blue is the deep suspicion of officialdom. accommodation, yeah, to house us,

that would be brilliant, i would love that, but not to get locked up and treated like criminals. come on, we're humanlike everyone else. there are no plans to lock up homeless people, but mistrust could complicate the task of accommodating some. over the last 24 hours, the homeless have gradually been disappearing from the streets, and for many, there is a great sense of relief at having been given somewhere warm and safe to stay. but these once bustling streets in the heart of the capital feel strange now. they are emblematic of a great sense of collective shocks, and it's felt acutely whether you're at home with yourfamily, felt acutely whether you're at home with your family, or whether you come from the world of the streets. and for those locked down at home, chris says years of unpredictable living on the street taught him a fundamental message of survival. you've just got to adapt, that's all it is, you've just got to adapt, you've got no choice in the matter.

they wait for doors to open, and the search for beds is gathering pace. in an hourof search for beds is gathering pace. in an hour of universal crisis, britain faces a test of care and compassion. we've had some very worrying figures this afternoon from the governor of new york, andrew cuomo. he was saying there have been more than 5000 new cases in new york state in the past 24 hours. that means that the past 24 hours. that means that the total number of new cases is now above 30,000. he also said that the state has ten times more coronavirus cases than new jersey. state has ten times more coronavirus cases than newjersey. newjersey being the second hardest—hit state. well, he also announced that the city is going to begin closing streets to traffic, and that it will ban streets to traffic, and that it will ba n co nta ct streets to traffic, and that it will ban contact in parks to help combat the coronavirus. in recent days,

governor andrew cuomo has clashed with president trump over the federal government's response to the virus and has called for thousands of new ventilators. here was andrew cuomo speaking at the news conference earlier. the ventilators that are coming in, the to be deployed from the stockpile as we need them. literally deploy on a need them. literally deploy on a need basis. so if one hospital because up and says, we're overwhelmed, this is what we need, we will be in a position to deploy. there are beds in this state, they are not hospital beds, and you have to figure out how to convert them to hospital beds and you have to figure out how to get access to them, but we do have beds. so, that is a logistical, operational challenge, how do you turn a dorm room into a hospital bed? how do we build a hospital? the ventilators are different. we don't have them. the federal government does not have

them. no one has a stockpile of these. the federal government has to acquire them the same way we have to acquire them the same way we have to acquire them. i'm working with the white house in creative ways, to acquire them, getting companies to mmp acquire them, getting companies to ramp up, getting companies to retrofit other machines, this rolling deployment methodology — but nobody has them. there is no medical stockpile in washington that magically can make them appear. that was the governor of new york, andrew cuomo, talking about the difficulties their. we can go now to a report by our correspondent who has advice about what you do if you begin to feel unwell. the most common symptoms of covid—19 area high

the most common symptoms of covid—19 are a high temperature and dry, repeating cough. if you feel unwell, stay at home for at least seven days until you have recovered. it should not leave at all, even to buy groceries. at first, don't call 111 is the helpline is busy but if you are not improving, use the online service instead. you feel you need a doctor, don't go in person. you can contact your gp and might be offered a video or telephone call. you will only be asked to visit if absolutely necessary. if you are so ill you can't do everyday things like watch tv or get out of bed, you should call 111 to speak to a nurse. if you're struggling to breathe, find it hard to say a few words and are not getting better, you should dial 999. for most, covid—19 is a mild disease and you can recover at home. amid all the gloom over self—isolation and quarantine and social distancing, a lighter side to

their virus measures. people around their virus measures. people around the world including celebrities are posting videos online to show ways to stay active and happy while remaining housebound.

it makes it look like one big house party! but of course it is all enforced measures. not such quite jollity at westminster where the government has real problems in its entry. let's go to our political correspondent helen catt who is there for us and remind us of the sort of issues the prime minister and his advisers are likely to be asked about at the briefing this afternoon which we expect at around five p m. and the main issue i suppose is what is going to happen in terms of helping the self—employed and freelancers? in terms of helping the self-employed and freelancers? yes, and bizarrely, that is the one thing we know we are probably not going to get more information on this afternoon. the government has said

that a package of measures will be sent out tomorrow on what is being done to help the self—employed. the chancellor announced that last week a wage scheme for people who are employed and the government will cover 80% of their wages. there was nothing in that announcement for self—employed people on the same scale, they were told they could defer the 80 build and have access to universal credit but there has been a growing sense in westminster thatis been a growing sense in westminster that is not enough and more needs to be done. however, there are some practical problems, the government says, with coming up with a scheme like that. partly that is because those who are employed are on the pay as you earn system and the government has access to detailed information about wages and bank accou nts information about wages and bank accounts and while it's not an easy system to set up, it will take a few weeks, but it is easier than for self—employed people who tend to file their tax returns in arrears and they do not hold the same sort of detailed information for them. also their earnings can go up and down, they are more volatile so the

government has said there are those logistical difficulties to start with. they said there was also a question of fairness. while undoubtedly a lot of self—employed people have already started to receive their earnings drop off dramatically, there will be others, the government says, that will have seen the government says, that will have seen their income increase because of the nature of the work they do. they don't want to just roll out some sort of blanket scheme. they say instead they have been working ha rd say instead they have been working hard on something that is deliverable, well targeted and fair but there are calls from mps on all sides, labour would like to see something that is at least equivalent to what is offered to those who are in employment, the snp would like to see the scheme extended and the lib dems say they could look at 80% of the last three yea rs of could look at 80% of the last three years of earnings and claw back at a later stage anybody you think you have overpaid. there is a recognition of the difficulties he inputting any sort of system in place but also a real recognition that it place but also a real recognition thatitis place but also a real recognition that it is a self employed people who are perhaps impacted fastest because they are seeing their work

dropped off already. a real sense that something needs to be done and we are told we will hear more tomorrow. helen, stay there because iamjoined in tomorrow. helen, stay there because i am joined in the studio by our health correspondent, and one of our colleagues, hugh pym, hasjust sent out some copy saying that government are sort of have clarified the position with virus blood testing kits and he says the 3.5 million kits and he says the 3.5 million kits announced yesterday to arrive within weeks are all intended for key public sector workers including the nhs. boots will probably be involved in providing them for these workers and not for the general public. this consignment does not include any for retail sale to the public, but that might be possible in the future but it's not part of the current plan. what are your thoughts about that information? the current plan. what are your thoughts about that information7m was last week the prime minister was talking about this antibody test being a game changer. the importance

of the test is it looks at whether you have had the virus already and therefore may have some immunity. why it is so important for health staff and other key workers is because if they know they have had the virus and have had contact with may be a member of their household who is showing symptoms or contact with people at work, there is no need necessarily for them to isolate and take themselves out of the workforce. that is one of the concerns we are hearing about, hospitals already short of staff because they are having to isolate. if we get that antibody testing, and if it works, because we are not yet sure if it will work, it will be very important but as hugh pym said, it will be for critical staff first. and that is because we simply don't have enough? yes. in the long term, the idea is you can then test large parts of the population, they would know if they have been infected and that would help them go about their everyday life and it would also help

not necessarily to test the whole population but a large subset, a 100,000 people, you would get an idea of how many people have been infected and not show symptoms point of the big unknown at the moment is how widespread it is in the community. that is important in terms of planning the way forward, in terms of the next steps we might ta ke in terms of the next steps we might take if there is widespread exposure in the community and people have not shown symptoms. again, we will have that sense there is some immunity in the wider population. and the measures we have taken, the lockdown and closure are pubs, theatres, schools, some of that might be lifted. interestingly, professor neil ferguson was addressing the science select committee this morning and he was talking about the next steps that could be taken and he thinks the peak is about two or three weeks away but he says the nhs, he believes, is reasonably competent it is it a good position to cope. he says in some areas they

will be problems, intensive care will be problems, intensive care will get full but overall he has been pleased with the amount of extra capacity they have been able to put in, extra beds and ventilators they have found and he says that measures the government has taken to suppress, get people to stay indoors, will help flatten that peak. he says when we get over that, we can start to look at how to perhaps manage a steady and a smaller number of cases and perhaps get back to normal life. he says the key to that will be testing and that is the testing we see for infected patients and also the antibody testing. and professor neil ferguson is part of the team at imperial couege is part of the team at imperial college which provided the research on which the government has based a lot of its strategy. we were talking earlier comparing the different responses of different countries to the coronavirus crisis. it was pointed out that south korea had taken a very aggressive stance

towards testing, testing as many people as it possibly could write from the outset and they will be people asking why we have not done that here. south korea also closed schools and reduced the social contact, did some social distancing but they were able to test over 40,000 people a day and that meant they could contain some of the outbreaks, not entirely, but they had that testing capability dating back to the sars outbreak some years ago. they had more testing facilities than we did in the uk. at the moment, we are testing around 5000 or 6000 people per day. that will be increased, i'm told, from next week to 10,000 and eventually in april, 25,000 point that we have recruited private testing labs, hospital pathology units have been turned into testing labs and there was a lot going on and when we get over the peak, if we can test more

patients, that will help us perhaps manage the outbreak a lot better. nick, stay where you are. i want to go back to helen catt who is listening in westminster. we are waiting for the start of that daily news briefing in downing street and expecting it at any moment, around five o'clock. it will be the prime minister with sir patrick balance and chris whitty, two senior adviser -- sir and chris whitty, two senior adviser —— sir patrick valance. i'm sure we are expecting questions about construction workers and what they can and can't do? there seems to be a lot of confusion about whether or not construction workers should be going to work or not and that is because there seems tad been a bit of mixed messaging. for example, in scotland, the first minister nicola sturgeon said building site should be closed for the period of the effo rts be closed for the period of the efforts to combat the virus. the government message in england is actually, we don't want the economy to grind to a halt so if you are able to go to work and able to keep

able to go to work and able to keep a safe distance, about six and a half feet, between you and fellow workers, you should be doing that. a lot of construction firms are saying thatis lot of construction firms are saying that is just not practical or possible on a building site and some have decided they will shut anyway, others are saying they will keep open. there has also been some conflicting messaging in the last 24 hours about what builders should do if they are working in peoples homes. yesterday we had a cabinet minister, michael gove, suggesting they should not be working inside peoples private homes but today another minister, robertjenrick, saint you can do that by you can keep that safe distancing. —— saying you can do that. that has been criticism of not having the clearest messaging on this for construction workers and i would expect that the prime minister will face some questioning on that this afternoon and calls to give much clearer guidance. and there is a sense that normal political hostilities have

been suspended given the crisis. today saw been suspended given the crisis. today saneremy corbyn at his last prime minister's questions. what sense do you have of the opposition's stance on the government's policy and strategy when it comes to this crisis? overall, the opposition are being largely supportive of government measures taken. i think perhaps what they see their role as is a kind of critical friend, they see their role as is a kind of criticalfriend, supporter they see their role as is a kind of critical friend, supporter of the government taking measures but questioning perhaps how long it is taking to get some measures in place, we saw questioning about how long it took for the government to decide to close pubs and clubs last week, for example. we are seeing questioning about a perhaps a planning, jeremy corbyn in his last pmqs, was raising the issue of testing and the importance of that and querying why the government has not been more ready to bring in more machines. there is that sense that while all opposition parties are on

the same page when it comes to trying to work together with the government to try to take measures to stop the spread of this virus, they are certainly trying to question on issues like testing which has been seen is so important and the supply also a personal protective equipment. in the nhs which has been a huge issue and expect that to come up at the press conference later as well. the government has said that they have issued 7.5 million pieces of kit in the last 24 hours but again the opposition is pushing on that and particularly in terms of trying to get equipment into care homes, not just hospitals and nhs settings. that is where we are with the parties. we are waiting for this press briefing by the prime minister and his two advisers. helen there was talking about equipment and criticism of not having enough, just talk us through how the nhs is coping with this enormous challenge?

well, the equipment is a massive issue. today, the british medical association have come out again to criticise the government, saying it is unacceptable that this valuable, vital equipment isn't yet there in every hospital. we hear that some of the problems are getting better, but ona the problems are getting better, but on a more positive front, there has been progress in terms of increasing the number of intensive care beds and ventilators available. we understand there is now...” and ventilators available. we understand there is now... i am going to stop you because here comes the prime minister, let's go over to downing street and listen to what he has to say. good afternoon. thank you forjoining us for today's daily briefing on coronavirus.” you forjoining us for today's daily briefing on coronavirus. i would like to update you all on the government's plan to defeat the virus and on the latest of elements. iamjoined virus and on the latest of elements. i am joined once again by our chief medical officer, professor chris

whitty, and the chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance. from the very beginning of this crisis, i have followed the advice of our world leading scientists, to defeat coronavirus by taking the right measures at the right time. what everybody needs to recognise is that our nhs, like any world—class health service, has only limited numbers of doctors, nurses and specialist equipment. so, the more people who become sick at any one time, the harder it is for the nhs to cope. and so, it's vital to delay the spread of the disease and reduce the number of people needing hospital treatment at any one time. that's why we've given the clear instruction that people must stay at home unless they have one of the reasons we've set out. and with your help, we will slow the spread of the

disease. i want to thank everyone who's been following the clear rules that we set out on monday, and i wa nt to that we set out on monday, and i want to thank everyone in the nhs, the frontline of the fight against coronavirus, and, of course, all our public services. our teachers and our school staff, transport workers, police officers, everyone who is keeping this country going. but i also want to offer a special thank you to everyone who is now volunteering to help the nhs. when we launched the appeal last night, we launched the appeal last night, we hoped to get 250,000 volunteers over a few days. but i can tell you that in just 24 hours, 405,000 people have responded to the call. they will be driving medicines from pharmacies to patients, they will be bringing patients home from hospital, very importantly, they

will be making regular phonecalls to check on and support people who are staying on their own at home. and they will be absolutely crucial in they will be absolutely crucial in the fight against this virus. that is already, in one day, as many volu nteers is already, in one day, as many volunteers as the population of coventry. and so, to all of you, and to all the former nhs staff who are coming back now into the service, i say thank you on behalf of the entire country. now, i want to take some questions, but finally, i want to remind everyone of our core policy — stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. thank you. i think we'll go straight to questions now, and we are going to hearfirst of all i think from laura kuenssberg of all i think from laura kuenssberg of the bbc. thank you, prime

minister. prime minister, can you honestly say that the government is coping? there aren't enough tests, people are struggling to make ends meet, and some people are being forced to go to work when they don't feel that they are safe. is that coping? and can i ask the medics as well, if we already have the kinds of numbers of tests that you would like to see, how much of a difference would it have made to your ability to fight the disease? well, first of all, laura, on the tests, a huge national programme of testing is being rolled out, but i will hand over to patrick and chris to say a bit more about testing and how we are going to do it. but on the national effort to protect those whose jobs, whose livelihoods, the national effort to protect those whosejobs, whose livelihoods, are threatened, i think everybody understands the challenge that the whole country now faces, but we have to get through this together, and we

are getting through it together, with an unprecedented programme of support, notjust with an unprecedented programme of support, not just for with an unprecedented programme of support, notjust for businesses but for workers of all kinds across the country. never in our history has the government put its arms around people in the way that we are doing now, to help them get through this difficult time. yes, it is absolutely true that the measures to support people in employment are exceptional and extraordinary, 80% of your salary up to £2500 per month, we're standing behind. and also in the next couple of days, we will be hearing more from the chancellor, rishi sunak, tomorrow, about what we are doing to help the self—employed. and i think people do understand that the complexity of their working arrangements has meant that it has been harder to come up with the right, tailored programme for the self—employed as well. but thatis for the self—employed as well. but that is coming forward tomorrow. and yes, ido that is coming forward tomorrow. and yes, i do think that when you look

at the sheer scale of what the government is doing to get this country through, we will, to answer your question directly, we will cope and we are coping very well indeed, under the most challenging possible circumstances. but the most important thing, to enable us to get through it well together, and to come out well together, as i think we can, in fact i know we can, is that we all follow the instructions that we all follow the instructions that the government has given — stay at home, protect the nhs, that's the way to save lives. but on testing, chris, would you like to say something? in terms of testing, there are a variety of different things you use a testing for, some of which we have tests available for, and have done throughout, some of which we do not. i will run through them because they are different answers depending on which we are talking about. starting with the antigen testing, which is testing for people who have

currently got a disease. initially we we re currently got a disease. initially we were using that to help screen people coming from high—risk countries. when that ceased to be a sensible policy, we moved on to testing people in intensive care and in hospitals, and we have sufficient tests for that at the moment, the system for that is working fine and is being scaled up. so, that side of testing is in place and is working well. if a patient gets as far as a hospital, we are confident on the testing. the thing we would like to do next, which would certainly make a difference less to the disease, but definitely to the nhs, is being able to test nhs and other critical workers who are self—isolating, who currently a re workers who are self—isolating, who currently are not being tested because we do not have sufficient testing, this is a global problem because basically every country is wanting this new test for a disease which wasn't actually being tested for everywhere three months ago, so, everybody wants this, so there is a global shortage, and that is a bottleneck for us, but the next

priority is to get critical workers back to work, or to say to them, you have got this. we would definitely like that not to fight the disease but to support the nhs. once we have more testing on that capacity, then we wa nt more testing on that capacity, then we want to go out and test a much wider range of people with mild symptoms. some people are already having it as part of our surveillance system but we would obviously like to go wider. and then separately, there are the tests which we will want to have, which are not yet absolutely evaluated but are not yet absolutely evaluated but are going to be critical once we've got them, which can tell someone whether they have had the virus, so, this is the antibody test. you can't do that in the first few days after someone do that in the first few days after someone has had a fever, but after a few weeks, possibly as short as one week, and that will allow us to be able to say to nhs workers and other workers, you've had this infection, at least for the short time, and possibly for quite a long time, we think it is likely you're protected against this and you can go back to work and you can be confident if you

get another cough and fever, it is not going to be coronavirus. but thatis not going to be coronavirus. but that is a technology which is quite close and is being evaluated this week, but it is not there. on the first one, l bottleneck is largely global shortages, which we are obviously doing our level best to free up, because it would make it a lot better for us to be able to test health workers for now, for sure.” think testing is crucial, absolutely crucial, and yes, we need more of it, as chris has said. the other thing which is going to be important with the antibody test is to be able to work out how many people have had the disease, a symptomatically. and thatis the disease, a symptomatically. and that is going to be important to understand what to do next. so these tests are crucially important, we need more of them and people are working very hard to get them in place. one thing i would add is that they want thing which is worse than no test is a bad test. telling someone no test is a bad test. telling someone inaccurately either they have had it or have not had it, could lead to dangerous mistakes being made, so we do not want to go

ahead with testing until we are confident with the technology. and thatis confident with the technology. and that is so important that if it means a delay to get there, that delay is worth having, because it is, as chris said, if you tell someone is, as chris said, if you tell someone it's ok, you haven't got it, and they have got it, that is not a good position to be in. if you tell somebody they're immune and they're not, it is not a good position. so we must make sure we get the quality of this absolutely right. on the numbers of people who have the disease a symptomatically, there was a study i saw quoted from some oxford academics saying that as many as 50% may have had it asymptomatically, how do you evaluate that? we simply don't know at the moment, and that is why the antibody test is so important. so, there are estimates that up to of or more of people in wuhan weren't

protected. there are estimates that those who are positive, so that is a small percentage of the population who tested positive, quite a number of them were asymptomatic, in a town in italy. but we don't know at a general population level, and that is why it is so important to get this test in place. beth rigby, sky news. thank you, prime minister, just a couple of questions. you said earlier you're not closing down the whole of the uk economy, but other countries, such as italy, a country you said we were two or three weeks behind, have now introduced a very strict lockdown. wouldn't you save more lives if you did keep all non—essential workers at home? and ifi non—essential workers at home? and if i may, a question on testing — public health england have said today, 3.5 million testing kits could be available, to show whether you have had coronavirus or not, as

early as next week. in practical terms, who will get those tests and how, and in broader terms, how transformational do you think this will be in terms of fighting coronavirus? thank you. well, thanks very much. in terms of the epidemiological value of what we're doing in asking people to stay at home, i think the most important thing i can say isjust home, i think the most important thing i can say is just to repeat the basic message, which is that if you can stay at home, then you overwhelmingly should stay at that's our most potent important advice. if it's absolutely necessary for you to go to work, to a place of work, then it's vital that your employer follows the rules as set out by public health england and ensures that you have the protection that you need and that proper rules on social distancing apply. but i wonder whether i could ask either of

our experts to comment on the value of what we are doing in terms of — beth rigby asks reasonably enough about not closing down the whole economy, which we are not doing, we are simply asking people to stay at home. i can certainly give an answer, patrick might want to add to this. the first thing is, the modelling, every country does this slightly differently, and every country has got a slightly different epidemic pattern at this point, so thatis epidemic pattern at this point, so that is entirely reasonable, and all of us, of course, are dealing with a new infection and are therefore having to take the science from quite a low base in terms of the advice we give. but the modelling we have done here, which patrick can talk about in more detail, was based on the idea that quite a lot of people would have to go to work, as pa rt people would have to go to work, as part of this, and that is the basis on which the modelling is done. but we absolutely need people to avoid anything that is in anyway

discretionary, where people can choose whether they do it or not. that's why or other social activity, or other mixing between households, has to stop, to allow these absolutely essential things to continue. so, that's the basis of doing this. there is an additional reason, which is, we have to remember that many of the things we have to do are going to have to be sustained for a reasonably long period of time, and broadly, the more difficult you make it four people, the less easy it is to sustain. so, there is some degree of trade—off between those two things. in terms of testing, i want to be really clear about what we can and cannot do. we have acquired for the uka lot cannot do. we have acquired for the uk a lot of tests but i go back to the previous answer, and patrick's, the previous answer, and patrick's, the key thing is to evaluate if these tests are accurate enough to be used by the general public. if the answer is they are all

incredibly accurate, we will work out the quickest and most effective way to release them. if it turns out none are accurate, we would not wish to release any because in accurate testing is something we should be avoiding. the thing we have to do fast is the evaluation and based on that, we will be able to decide what to do next. i don't know if you want to do next. i don't know if you want to add anything on the modelling site? the only thing i would reemphasise, is what we are trying to do is break the transmission of virus from one household to another, break the transmission of virus in society. to do that we need to keep separate. and the clearest way to keep separate is to stay in your house and that is why that is the co re house and that is why that is the core message. there are people who have to go to work in some jobs, who cannot stay in that house all day and the most obvious is in the nhs but there are others. then it is important to break the transmission, where possible to stay two metres apart, and that is what we have to

keep focusing on, trying to stop the transmission of this virus between people and households and break that chain. in terms of whether it is transformational, in the long run the answer it will completely transform what we can do but in the short run, the antibody test, which we re short run, the antibody test, which were talking about in big numbers, is less important than the other one i was talking about earlier in the previous answer. thank you and i should have said more clearly perhaps at the beginning that you should stay at home except for those very few exceptions and i will spell them out again if people have forgotten. unless you need to get essential supplies, unless you are ona essential supplies, unless you are on a specific medical mission or helping the vulnerable, or taking daily exercise and remember that thatis daily exercise and remember that that is very important provided you stay away from other people. prime

minister, the front line staff in the national health service and working in social care could not be clearer, they want the test on covid—19 that tells them whether they have got it and they want it now. in the house of commons again and again today you said they would get it out as soon as possible. people might have a little more confidence about where we are going asa confidence about where we are going as a country if you can answer this question. how did we come to be so woefully behind other countries that have checked, evaluated and deployed tests in much bigger numbers already? thank you, gary. i repeat the answer i gave earlier in the house of commons, we will do it as soon as house of commons, we will do it as soon as possible and we are massively ramping up our testing programmes, buying in huge numbers of tests to see if you have had it already. but also pushing forward a very fast on testing people to see if they currently have it, the

antibody or anti—gen tests that have been described. as matt hancock, the health secretary, has said, we are going up from 5000, to 10,000 per day, up to 25000 and so on and hopefully very soon up to 250,000 per day. to answer your question about the types of tests that we have, the difference that you see between the uk's provision for testing and other country's, it would be most helpful if i passed to chris and patrick to explain. in terms of the testing, first of all, why the delays in the uk system? there are multiple components to these tests including the chemicals that make them come at the swabs you use and there a shortage among many of these supply chains are essentially because every country in the world is simultaneously wanting this new thing. some components are old but the scale is something which is obviously occurring at an

extraordinary speed. that is a practical reality i think anyone who understands how supply chains work and the huge demand for this globally would understand that. comparing different countries is quite difficult, because different countries have different testing strategies but you are right that we need to look at those countries that have actually got more testing than us and work out how to do it as they are doing it as best we can in our own system, using our own testing systems and that is something we are doing very actively at the moment. clearly we are doing a lot of testing him. looking at the numbers, we have done so far 97,000 tests, and it's not that there was not testing going on but what we need is to be able to scale it up. nothing to be able to scale it up. nothing to add. i would add to that that we have done many more tests, not that this is a competition, but many more tests tha n this is a competition, but many more tests than most other european countries. and you are totally right, gary, that the priority

should be and will be getting those tests to our front line staff in the nhs and as i said, we are going to do that as fast as we possibly can. francis elliott of the times. hello. public health england this morning suggested that the antibody tests, if they work, could be available from online stores and boots. i understand they may not work but if they do how are you going to prioritise who gets those tests or will it be a scramble? and how do you verify the test results? presumably this will be critically important as to whether you can work with vulnerable people, even beginning to go back to normal work perhaps. and lastly, how do you collect the results so you can model what is happening elsewhere? it seems odd that you do self testing and this is a very important result.

chris. what we will do, when we are confident of which tests work and how many we have available to use, there is a hierarchy of things to do put it we need to start by answering that critical question that patrick talked about, what proportion of people get this without any symptoms because that has big implications for the way we manage it and that's an early priority. then we have to help make sure we have nhs workers are tested to make sure we can work out who is immune or almost certainly immune to the infection and who isn't and we will basically go out in a graded way from there. i don't think, and i want to be clear, that this is something you will be suddenly ordering on the internet next week. we have to go through the evaluation in the first critical uses and then spread out from that point and we have to do that in a systematic way. and you are right that the first thing to do is to

collect the information and understand this epidemic. it is not 3.5 million free floral with no data collected, we have to answer the critical questions and make sure the right people get tested first —— free for all. thank you very much. prime minister, your critics have suggested you have had to be dragged into taking the action you announced on monday and that you have allowed the virus to spread. do you regret not going further sooner? and also, you suggested in the commons earlier that you might introduce new laws to deal with profiteering. are you angry at retailers and individuals who are trying to exploit this crisis and how far are you prepared to go? would it include jail terms? thank you very much. on the first

very important question, as i said at the beginning and indeed at the beginning of the crisis, we were going to do the right measures at the right time, not according to political diktat but according to the best scientific and medical advice in the world. there are good reasons for wanting to tackle an epidemic strictly in accordance with the scientific advice and that's what we have done and i continue to believe that is the right approach for this country. we have the best scientific advice in the world and we will continue to follow it. on your other important question about profiteering, i disliked it very much. i do not want to see people profiteering, exploiting people's need at a critical time, a national emergency. we are indeed looking very carefully at what is going on, the competition and markets authority already has various powers

it can use but we are looking at the legislative framework to see what it may be necessary to do to prevent profiteering, just as has happened in wartime many years ago. anything you want to add on that? the most important measures were put in place first and that is the right thing to do. washing hands was critical, isolating, household isolation, get these things and now we have a very strong package in and the one thing i would say, it is incredibly important we stick to it. incredibly important we stick to it. incredibly important that people understand that this is about breaking the transmission of the virus and we can only do that if we all do it. that is absolutely right. thank you. last question? prime minister, by tomorrow it will already be too late for many self—employed people who find themselves in hardship and will

be forced to risk their health and that of others by continuing to work. what is your message to them and when you apologise for the delay in providing them the support employed workers have been given? and what is the current occupation rate of critical care beds in england and can you be confident that the measures announced in the past week will prevent that capacity being overwhelmed? thank you, david. i repeat what i said before, i think the government has moved with extraordinary speed to support and pf°p up extraordinary speed to support and prop up the whole of the economy of this country. putting our arms around workers of all kinds to the best extent that we possibly can. yes, of course it was easier to move furthest and fastest with employees

because their paye details are of course available. it has been more complex, as you can understand, to support the self—employed because there are many different arrangements that they have and it has been tricky to work out a package that will address the needs of as many people as possible but thatis of as many people as possible but that is being done with incredible speed. rishi sunak will announce a package tomorrow and i generally don't think there has been a time in our history in the last century certainly when the government of this country has put its arms around so this country has put its arms around so many people to get us through a very tough time. we will get through it and we will get through it together. on critical care, at this point in time, critical care, as of today, there is not enormous pressure on critical care compared toa pressure on critical care compared to a bad or even normal winter day, but we expect the demand for critical care beds to continue to rise over the next two weeks. that is entirely what we expect to happen and what will happen in that time. clearly the demand will go up from

the coronavirus. because of the actions that people are taking and provided everybody continues to keep the social distancing measures, which are very difficult in terms of staying within households, only doing essential things apart from exercise, that will help to pull down the demand very long way and thatis down the demand very long way and that is how people the general public, all of us, are helping to protect the nhs. at the same time, the nhs is increasing supply by either a combination of pushing out in time things which can be postponed, and increasing the critical care and particularly ventilated bed capacity over the next weeks. this is going to be a close run thing, we all know that, and anybody who looks around the world can see this is going to be difficult for every health system. but the measures that have been announced to the general public, which all of us have to do if the nhs is to get through this without

exceeding its capacity, and the work by the nhs, the fantastic work, and collea g u es by the nhs, the fantastic work, and colleagues to increase supply, that is how we will narrow this gap to the smallest possible over the next three weeks. we do think that if everybody, everybody sticks to the staying in your household unless absolutely essential, this gap will be probably manageable by the nhs but we cannot guarantee that and nobody who is a sensible would wish to guarantee that but we think that is what we are planning for and that is what we are planning for and that is what we intend to happen. right, thank you to everybody and thank you to our friends thank you to everybody and thank you to ourfriends in thank you to everybody and thank you to our friends in the thank you to everybody and thank you to ourfriends in the media thank you to everybody and thank you to our friends in the media for their questions. thank you to you all for tuning in their questions. thank you to you allfortuning in and their questions. thank you to you all for tuning in and watching this, i hope that it has been useful and we will be back tomorrow, or they will be another update from downing street on the fight against coronavirus but remember the essentials, we will beat this, we will beat it together and we will do

it by protecting our nhs, staying at home, and that is how we will save lives. the finest are bringing to an end the latest daily press briefing from downing street. let's remind ourselves of the main points. let's remind ourselves of the main points from that briefing. boris johnson says that 405,000 people have signed up to act as nhs volunteers. the government's chief medical adviser, chris whitty, says there is a global shortage of testing equipment, causing a bottleneck for the uk. he also said that the modelling of the lockdown is based on the idea that quite a lot of people would still have to go to work. our political correspondent

helen catt was listening to all of that, and she is at westminster for us. helen, ithink that, and she is at westminster for us. helen, i think watching the prime minister and his advisers there, it seemed to be a reinforcement of key messages, but the prime minister particularly did come under quite repeated questioning about the lack of testing kits. yes, he did, and as we've heard politicians and mps earlier querying the readiness and why things aren't moving faster, this question about whether the government strategy is going far enough and fast enough. well, we heard that again there, particularly around the issue of testing. the government has consistently said that it government has consistently said thatitis government has consistently said that it is doing the right things at the right time, and we saw the prime minister deferring to the scientific experts with him on this one. so, you heard from the chief medical officer, chris whitty, explaining that we currently have enough tests, he said, to be able to test people who are in hospital, but that the next phase is to roll them out to nhs staff and then more widely, that

there is a scientific strategy behind all of these. almost 3.5 million antibody tests, the ones which will tell you if you have had the virus, he says again, that is going to be firstly, they need to be checked out by public health england to check that they actually work. you heard them say that the worst thing would be to put out a test which gives the wrong result. and then he talked about the need to roll those out in a staged way and the thing which struck me was when he said, we shouldn't be thinking that suddenly they're going to be available to buy on the internet next week. this is something that is going to take longer than that. we also heard boris johnson going to take longer than that. we also heard borisjohnson deferring to the experts on some of the other questions about the government's strategy, particularly why he's not telling all non—essential workers not to go to work. and there again we heard chris whitty, the chief medical officer, saying that is because it is built into the modelling that they're using, that a

lot of people will stem the to go to work. and also he made the point that this is going to be around for the very long—term, or certainly for a long period, and therefore whatever measures are brought in new to be sustainable. we heard one thing from the prime minister on the idea of people who are profiteering from this, we heard him say that he would be looking at a legislative framework for any action that they might need to take on that. yes indeed, we've been hearing of various scams going on related to coronavirus, bringing out the worst in some people, as well as about the 400 and 405,000 volunteers that have come forward with this nhs volunteer service, a piece of good news? yes, of course, this was following matt hancock's at the downing street press co nfe re nce hancock's at the downing street press conference yesterday, for people to come forward and take on the volunteering role, to do things like delivering prescriptions and making calls to people who are in self—isolating. the target was 250000 and you heard the prime minister saying 405,000 people had up. he had a very striking

comparison for that, saying it was the population of coventry. and over these days, helen, we've watched the prime minister or senior ministers, and their advisers, obviously justifying the strategy that they have slowly unveiled, it has changed over the last ten days at quite some place, one would expect them to justify it, of course, but there are still questions about whether they should have moved further, faster, and more firmly? yes, there are and legitimate questions. should things have been put in place sooner? the government has said their strategy has always been about going on the best medical and scientific advice that they are being given about what is the most effective stage or measure to put in place at anyone time. but also, the uk's strategy has been different from other countries, which has raised questions about how the government here is choosing to deal with it.

this is a new virus, people don't really know what happens with it, so, it can only ever be a best guess. but of course it is up to the government to explain why their best guess is relating to certain actions that they are taking and certain other actions that they are not. many thanks, our political correspondent helen catt there. now, some sad news to bring you. a senior british diplomat has died, the foreign office has confirmed. he had been the deputy head of mission at the british embassy in budapest since december. the 37—year—old, who had previously held posts in saudi arabia and afghanistan, died in hungary on tuesday. i should add that he lost his life because of the coronavirus. joining me now is our health correspondent, and that very sad news, a reminder that this virus knows no age boundaries, it is thought to affect older people more,

and we don't know whether steven dick -- and we don't know whether steven dick —— steven dick had underlying health issues, that has not been released? absolutely. there is a lot of focus on older people, people over 80, but we know that it does affect younger age groups. very small numbers of people in their 20s and 30s can die, and it is something thatis and 30s can die, and it is something that is affecting every part of the world. we've got a little bit more information from our diplomatic correspondent james landale. there isa correspondent james landale. there is a foreign office statement about the death of steven dick, saying... we are deeply saddened that a member of our team we are deeply saddened that a member of ourteam in we are deeply saddened that a member of our team in budapest has died after contracting coronavirus. steven dick, 37, was serving as the

deputy head of mission. he died in hungary on tuesday 24th march. steven dick's parents paid tribute to their son, saying... steven dick's parents paid tribute to theirson, saying... he steven dick's parents paid tribute to their son, saying... he was a much loved son, grandson and nephew, he was kind, funny and generous. it was always his dream to work for the foreign office and commonwealth office and he was very happy representing our country overseas. we are devastated by his loss and we ask for privacy at this tragic time. very sad news indeed. nick, ijust wa nt to very sad news indeed. nick, ijust want to move on to some figures that we've had out this afternoon, we are still waiting for the daily update of uk figures of the number of cases andindeed of uk figures of the number of cases and indeed the number of deaths, but we have had an update from italy, can you talk us through this? yes, we have, they have confirmed there has been another 683 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in italy, the worst—affected country in the world, to over 7500. but there is a glimmer of hope in the figures today. the number of people

who are currently positive, currently have coronavirus, has gone up currently have coronavirus, has gone up by currently have coronavirus, has gone up by 6.5%, to 57,000, but that is the fourth day where we have seen the fourth day where we have seen the size of the increase actually get a bit smaller. and it suggests maybe they are just reaching the peak, may be just over the top of the peak. and this, of course, is of huge interest to the uk, we are said to be two or three weeks behind italy. we heard professor chris whitty, the chief medical officer, talking about the nhs gearing up, that critical care units were prepared for more cases to start coming in. so, what happens in italy we will be watching, because we believe, the experts here believe, we are two weeks away from the peak ourselves. and your thoughts on listening to that press briefing about how prepared the nhs is, as we approach that peak? what is interesting is that the officials, chris whitty, and professor neil

ferguson, earlier today, chris whitty, and professor neil ferguson, earliertoday, have talked about the nhs being in a good position to manage, particularly the intensive care units. a few weeks ago there were 4000 adult intensive ca re ago there were 4000 adult intensive care beds. we've managed to source ventilators from other parts of the private sector and other sources, andi private sector and other sources, and i think we're now up to around 8000 event to beds, we've heard about the albasini centre in london, and they believe that the services, the beds and facilities —— excel centre —— and the positivity of the volu nteers centre —— and the positivity of the volunteers coming forward, over 400,000, in 24 hours. these volu nteers 400,000, in 24 hours. these volunteers will be supporting those people specifically in the community, who have been shielded, asked to reduce all social contact because they are at the highest risk, they will be taking their

medication, maybe food, and checking in on them. so, some positive news amongst all the worrying stories. in on them. so, some positive news amongst all the worrying storiesm europe, spain continues to see a dramatic rise in the number of deaths, recording its biggest daily deaths, recording its biggest daily death toll yet. 738 people have died in the past 24 hours. total deaths in spain stand at 3400, now greater than in mainland china. the madrid government is now looking to the eu for help with protective equipment for help with protective equipment for its medical workers. our europe correspondent gavin lee says that the catalonia region now also has rising numbers of infections. there are two records, notjust the highest single number of deaths in 24 hours, but also the highest number of cases in 24 hours, 7973. it is the highest number of deaths

and also the highest number of cases, which gives us a sense of the speed of the spread across the country. madrid, we know, where there are two thirds of the deaths, two thirds of the 3500 deaths, but also the catalonia region in the east, a big spread there, a huge concern of concentrated areas of spain where the authorities cannot cope. the morgues in madrid are full to capacity, the soldiers have come in and opened up an ice rink to bring bodies as a temporary morgue. it is reported this morning that they have asked nato for official help. nato, we understand, actually, they cannot provide the sort of medical equipment which spain needs. we're talking about 1.5 millions facemasks, half a million respirators, half a million emergency testing kits, hundreds of ventilators, and this will have to go to eu countries and elsewhere, possibly china, to see what comes back. the eu are going through a procurement programme at the moment which is in its early stages. at the moment it looks

like countries combined could only provide about 10% of what is needed around the eu, so that is something that may take some time. worrying for spain today. going across to italy, where the figure is still the highest anywhere in terms of the death toll in the world, 70,000 cases, 7,000 deaths, the prime minister there saying that they will look to increase now the penalties for people violating the strict lockdown there, up to 4000 euros, and if you are in quarantine, and you therefore breach that quarantine, you're looking at a possible five—year jail sentence. that is the severity in italy right now. the governor of new york has announced that the city will begin closing streets to traffic and will ban close contact in parks to help combat the virus. in recent days, governor andrew cuomo has clashed with president trump over the federal government's response to the virus and has called for thousands of new ventilators. here he was

speaking at a news conference earlier. the ventilators that are coming in, they will be deployed from the stockpile as we need them. literally deploy on a need basis. so, if one hospital calls up and says, we're overwhelmed, this is what we need, we will be in a position to deploy. there are beds in this state, they are not hospital beds, and you have to figure out how to convert them to hospital beds to get access to them, but we do have beds. so, that is a logistical, operational challenge, how do you turn a dorm room into a hospital bed? how do we build a hospital? the ventilators are different. we don't have them. the federal government does not have them, either. no—one has a stockpile of these. the federal government has to acquire them the same way

we have to acquire them. i'm working with the white house in creative ways to acquire them, getting companies to ramp up, getting companies to retrofit other machines, this rolling deployment methodology — but nobody has them. there is no medical stockpile in washington that magically can make them appear. that's the government of —— governor of new york speaking earlier. the united nations has launched a humanitarian response plan to fight the coronavirus. the unc general said the developing world would need more support to prevent a wider global outbreak. our main objective with this appeal is to avoid that humanitarian support that we are already receiving for all other aspects — water and sanitation, food, protection, shelter, in all those vulnerable situations in the world, from syria to yemen, sudan to

the drc. what we want is to make sure that now we have an additional support for this covid—19, and that the money doesn't come from the humanitarian action that we are already having. this is a matter of enlightened self—interest. if this pandemic is controlled in the developed world, but if it is left spreading like wildfire in the developing countries, we will have millions of cases, millions of people dying, but not only that, that will create the opportunity for mutations of the virus, and the virus can come back in a way that even vaccines will not be developed even vaccines will not be developed evenin even vaccines will not be developed even in developed world. so there is no way to fight this in half of humanity. here at the chancellor will unveil a package of measures tomorrow to help the estimated 5 million people in the estimated 5 million people in the uk who are self employed after criticism that they have been left with no financial support to get them through the coronavirus crisis. as our consumer affairs correspondent reports, the delay is

already causing real hardship. i'm ronnie pennycook. i am a relatively small roofing contractor in edinburgh, for my sins. i'm a sole trader, self—employed. my name is selena and i work as a freelance consultant for fashion brands. from roofers to hairdressers, to taxi drivers, the uk's 5 million self—employed are anxiously waiting to see if the government can and will bail them out. this is my van at the moment. ronnie from edinburgh says his work as a roofer has disappeared overnight. the government really has to step in and help in whatever way they can to speed things up. and truly forget about the economy for the moment and just get money at the front end and help these people who are struggling right now. this is an area that i've cleared out. like ronnie, the only financial help

freelancer selena from london can get is £94 a week, if she claims through universal credit. i'd been taking a much, much... like, a massive hit on my income, if i was to go on to universal credit. it's not even going to hit, like, 40% of what i am normally earning in one month. that's in stark contrast to the help for direct employees, those affected by shop, pub and restaurant closures, who will see 80% of their wages covered by the government. but even those who can get financial support are finding it difficult to access. damien shut his restaurant in cambridgeshire and is now doing a takeaway bread service, but says the lack of information is frustrating. i'm not going to call hm revenue and customs, or gov.uk, whatever. i just make bread. i'm going tojust supply the community and wait until i get some information and until someone got actually some clues.

there's growing confusion over whether construction workers can safely go to work. photos of crowded building sites have angered many. the government is now under intense pressure to support the self—employed, many of whom are now facing financial ruin, but it's proving complicated to design a scheme that's fair and deliverable. we've produced a quite incredible package to support the businesses and the workforce of this country. we do need to ensure that we protect the self—employed as well, and he'll be hearing more about that in the next couple of days. a lot of our clients are now also really struggling themselves, so they've become a lot less responsive, which makes us a bit anxious, because at the end of the day, when it comes to cutting costs, we're the easiest ones to cut. clarity is the key now — for who can and who can't work. and we need to get that sorted out uk—wide and not get so many mixed messages. but these workers were among

the first to lose work, and say they're the last to get help. sarah corker, bbc news. the prime minister used his news conference to thank the people working in front line services during the coronavirus pandemic. we can listen to what he said. from the very beginning of this crisis i have followed the advice of our world leading scientists. to defeat coronavirus by taking the right measures at the right time. what everybody needs to recognise is that our nhs, like any world—class health service, has only limited numbers of doctors, nurses and specialist equipment. so, the more people who become sick at any one time, the harder it is for the nhs to cope. and so it is vital to delay the

spread of the disease and reduce the number of people needing hospital treatment at any one time. that is why we have given the clear instructions that people must stay at home unless they have one of the reasons we have set at home unless they have one of the reasons we have set out. and, with your help, we will slow the spread of the disease. i want to thank eve ryo ne of the disease. i want to thank everyone who has been following the clear rules we set out on monday and i want to thank everyone in the nhs, at the front line of the fight against coronavirus, and of course all our public services. our teachers and school staff, the transport workers, police officers, eve ryo ne transport workers, police officers, everyone who is keeping this country going. but i also want to offer a special thank you to everyone who has now volunteered to help the nhs. when we launched the appeal last night, we hoped to get 250,000

volu nteers night, we hoped to get 250,000 volunteers over a few days but i can tell you that in just 24 hours, 405,000 people have responded to the call. they will be driving medicines from pharmacies to patients, they will be bringing patients home from hospital, and very importantly they will be making regular phone calls to check on and support people who are staying on their own at home. and they will be absolutely crucial in the fight against this virus. that is already, in one day, as many volu nteers that is already, in one day, as many volunteers as the population of coventry. and so, to all of you and to all the former nhs staff who are coming back into the service, i say thank you on behalf of the entire country. as we just heard from the prime minister, more than 400,000 people are signed up to volunteer to

help people during the coronavirus crisis. earlier i spoke to someone from the royal voluntary service which is going to match the volu nteers which is going to match the volunteers with the needs of the nhs and local vulnerable people. volunteers with the needs of the nhs and localvulnerable people. we have had a phenomenal response and we are really grateful for everybody who has stepped forward so far. practically, we have a nominal system that is going to match those that need help in the community with people who stepped forward so whether or not you want to support somebody with your shopping or you wa nt to somebody with your shopping or you want to offer a companion call or support your nhs with transport, there is a role that can be done by you and we are encouraging everyone to think about, if you are fit and healthy and able to and it is safe for you to do so, to consider what support you can give through being an nhs volunteer responder. there are specific roles, how many? there are specific roles, how many? there are four specific roles. one is what we call a community responder role and that is where you can help

somebody that is self—isolating to shield them from the virus to enable them to stay in their home and that is giving basic things like helping them with shopping, picking up prescriptions, things that help with everyday life. we have a lovely role which is offering telephone companionship. if you yourself are self—isolating and actually you want to reach out and volunteer, you can do this role from your home and support others and stay connected, have chats and be connected with the world in this time of self—isolation for so many. then we have two really important roles that are there to help underpin our nhs and that is supporting with transportation of equipment, so we have essential workers on the front line maintaining thejobs workers on the front line maintaining the jobs they need to do, and also some supporting patient ca re do, and also some supporting patient care with a transport. a lot of roles and we are encouraging people to see what is there for them to visit the nhs england website or the royal volu nta ry visit the nhs england website or the royal voluntary service and you can

sign up. sounds like a small civilian army being organised to do all these tasks that need to be done. it doesn't run against, to a certain extent, what we are being told to do now, which is to stay at home as far as possible. how are you going to ensure that these volunteers, who have done this in good faith and good heart, that they stay safe ? good faith and good heart, that they stay safe? all of our volunteer roles are following government guidance. safe social distancing, safe drop—offs in terms of ensuring virus are not exchanged when you drop off shopping for vulnerable people. we have a series of training and guidance that supports people to make sure they are safe but equally, message very make sure they are safe but equally, message very strongly out there that we are looking for people that feel fit and able and safe to volunteer. it is one of those things, we are being asked to government to only shop once a week for ourselves so it might be that when you are shopping for yourself on a weekday morning that you think about somebody that

might need some shopping in your local community. if you are signed up local community. if you are signed up to this system, you can put yourself forward and pick up another shopping job for somebody who might need that support at the same time you would be going out to do your normal shopping. there are lots of options out there, all following safe government guidance, and we are there to make sure every volunteer is safe in the practice they deliver in the community. and are you surprised by the numbers that have come forward to volunteer?” surprised by the numbers that have come forward to volunteer? i would say they feel in readily humbled by the strength of conviction are people stepping forward to give their time for others. i'm not surprised because this nation is full of unbelievable acts of kindness that are given every single day and i see that continuously but with volunteering to. but i'm incredibly humbled because this is a moment in time where we will all be judged by the small acts of kindness we give in this time and i can see so we give in this time and i can see so many people stepping up to put

themselves forward to do that. that was early on, rebecca speaking before we heard from the prime minister, that over 400,000 people have volunteered to work in the force that will help the nhs. and thatis force that will help the nhs. and that is after a call for 250,000 people, so a great success. if you have more questions about the coronavirus, do tune in to a bbc special programme at 7:30pm on bbc one oryour special programme at 7:30pm on bbc one or your essential update which will also be on the iplayer later if you want to catch up under and you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect yourself against it on the bbc news app and our website. time for the weather now. good evening, it has been a day of the split weather fortunes across the split weather fortunes across the uk, sunny skies for some but very great for others. this is the satellite and you can see the stark difference, england and wales with

sunny skies put across a good part of scotla nd sunny skies put across a good part of scotland and northern ireland, the cloud has been sitting in place and will continue to do so in the next couple of days, producing the odd spot of rain as we go through this evening and tonight. underneath the cloud, temperatures will not drop too far so the likes of aberdeen and glasgow and belfast hold up around six or 7 degrees but colder in the far north of scotland with skies clearing and certainly colder further south. some with skies clearing and certainly colderfurther south. some places in the midlands, southern england, east wales could get down to —4 or minus five degrees. a chilly start tomorrow but bright with another sunny day in prospect for england and wales but still the cloud affecting northern ireland and a good part of scotland. but in northern scotland is likely to have quite a bright day rather cold with one or two showers. temperatures generally across the board a little lower than they have been over the last couple of days and also a

noticeable breeze for them north of the coasts. on friday, light winds for many, breezy on some eastern coast, a lot of sunshine for england and wales but again that cloud affecting northern ireland and scotland. the far north will see some sunshine. temperatures again a little lower than they have been put out the band of cloud will finally start to move south with this frontal system associated with it pushing southward at the start of the weekend and as it clears, it opens the door to some cold air which will plunge down from the north. are really chilly feeling this weekend, particularly when you consider the strength of the wind which will accentuate that cold feeling. saturday is largely dry with sunny spells, one or two wintry showers perhaps blowing into northern and eastern coastal districts, 6—11d. cold that still on sunday, patchy cloud and sunny spells again but more chance of a wintry shower coming in from the north—east later on. on the

thermometer, temperatures reading between six and 9 degrees, below par for this time of year but with the strength of the wind, this is what it'll feel like. for some it will be not much than freezing. the latest daily press briefing from downing street. let's £100,000.

frontline doctors need more masks, visors and surgical gowns to protect them from coronavirus, warns the doctor's union, otherwise some may die. they say there is growing evidence that thousands of gps and hospital staff still don't have the kit they need. one nurse pleads with the public to stay—at—home. need. one nurse pleads with the public to stay-at-home. guy's, you need to stay indoors. like, i petrified of going to work, i'm petrified, but i have to go to work. prince charles tests positive for the virus, dispalying mild symptoms. he's self isolating at balmoral with the duchess of cornwall who is not ill.