for escape. the trip become a search for escape. the trip ofa become a search for escape. the trip of a lifetime we plan following our retirement. we can't come home because there aren't any flights. so it doesn't feel like we are getting the support that we need. hundreds of thousands of other brits face the same plight and it has been made more difficult as 80 countries around the world have now closed their borders and international transit hubs have shut. flights are extortionate prices, they are profiteering. this man is from rochdale but is in pakistan visiting his elderly grandmother. the airlines when they suddenly said, six hours, we are closing. saudi airlines have close, emirates have closed. all we're asking, people need to get back to their loved ones. yesterday, the foreign secretary told staff in 168 countries are working around the clock, but it still isn't enough. we doubled our capacity, we are

doubling it again to deal with the search and demand. in peru alone, 1000 brits are tonight, good news. a government backed british airways flight government backed british airways flight will leave this evening. 200 passengers paid £250 a seat, with priority given to the most vulnerable. if they couldn't pay, they have signed an iou but the government. and now as airports are full of grounded planes, questions are being asked if more of these flights should happen? as london city becomes the first uk airport to suspend flights, the race is on to get home. simon browning, bbc news. if you have more questions and about the coronavirus. tune in to a bbc special prgramme at 7:30 tonight on bbc one for ‘your essential update' presented by rachel burden. it will also be on the iplayer later if you want to catch up. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. split fortunes in our weather across the uk. as you can see from the

satellite picture, plenty of sunshine across england and wales but this cloud has made for a different day in scotland and northern ireland. some outbreaks of rain. watch this cloud, it is not going to move very much over the next couple of days. it stays cloudy over central and eastern parts of scotla nd over central and eastern parts of scotland and northern ireland tonight. underneath a band of cloud, not a cold night. to the north of scotland, a colder night as the sky is clear and for much of england and wales, there will be a touch of frost. one or two places down to minus fouror5 frost. one or two places down to minus four or 5 degrees. generally speaking tomorrow across england and wales, another sunny day. sunshine across the north of scotland and quite cold here. but still the band of rain across eastern and central parts of scotland and a good part of northern ireland as well. temperature is generally a bit down on where they have been over the last couple of days. as we get into friday, here we are with this band of cloud, not producing much more than the odd spot of rain or drizzle by the state was still sitting across the same parts of scotland and northern ireland. best of the

sunshine further south. not quite as springlike as it has been. and then we as we had it and the band of cloud associated with the frontal system, finally gets moving and pushes southwards but as the front clear southwards, it opens the door toa clear southwards, it opens the door to a plunge of cold air. you really are going to feel that as we go through the weekend. not only will the ebby cole, but it will be windy there will be a significant wind chill. patchy cloud and sunny spells on saturday. one or two wintry showers for northern and eastern coasts and temperatures for many in single digits. as we look ahead to sunday, i suspect it is going to feel colder. eight or 9 degrees at best. a brisk north—easterly wind andi best. a brisk north—easterly wind and i have to say, it doesn't look like turning much warmer as we go through next week. that's all from the bbc news at six.

hello, i'm gavin ramjaun. thanks very much indeed forjoining us. the international olympics committee president thomas bach has indicated that the postponed tokyo olympics could be held in the spring of 2021, as a special task force looks at all options. some visitors took the opportunity to watch a small ceremony in iwaki, north—east of tokyo. with plenty of precautions, the flame was displayed after its journey from greece, and an olympic cauldron was lit. bach says yesterday's decision to postpone the games was a tough one. it was very hard to take because, first of all, we had to consider the dreams of the olympic athletes, which we wanted to make coming true. given the latest worldwide dramatic developments in the spreading of the virus, we did not see the opportunity any

more to organise an olympic games which safeguard the health of every participant. with that postponement in mind, amir khan believes the boxers thinking of turning professional instead of waiting another year should reconsider. con one silver at the athens game in 200a. i think the best move i ever made was to win amateur, it gives you a head start in a way. when i turned professional the picked games, people knew about who amir khan was. —— after the olympic games. sports men and women should hold tight and wait for the olympics, because that gives them a great platform. so i just feel it is another year, another year of training, preparing. just stay strong because having that background from the olympics will give them a head start going into their professional ranks. amir khan

there. some of the premier league's biggest stars have today launched #footballunited, a new initiative with the aim of raising £100,000 to help local communities through the coronavirus pandemic. arsenal's hector bellerin, manchester united's aaron wan—bissaka and chelsea's reece james are among those backing the project. proceeds will be collected by the national emergencies trust and used to support elderly and vulnerable people. the footballers already signed up are using the hashtag #footballunited to try to get other professionals involved with the campaign. the national league clubs are understood to have told the football association they want their season brought to an immediate halt, following a conference call on tuesday. it means all levels of the non—league game are united in their desire to end the season, given there is no realistic possibility of starting again in the foreseeable future. barrow would be in line for promotion, with notts county one of five sides that could challenge them for that spot. this halt would allow clubs to cut costs at a time when many are facing financial hardship.

there's plenty more reaction and analysis on the olympics —— there's plenty more support on the bbc sport website. we will be back later on. this is bbc news. a quarter of the world is now in some form of lockdown in the battle against coronavirus, and that of course is stirring up a multitude of questions people want answered. let's answer some of them on bbc your questions answered. i'm joined via webcam by oksana pyzik, who is a senior teaching fellow and public health specialist at university college london. i'm alsojoined by the news editor of the new scientist magazine, penny sarchet. thanks both of you for being with us. straight to the questions. ox anna, first to you. i like to

volunteer, says rachel, to support the nhs. how will launchers be protected from the risk of contracting covid—19? —— volunteers be protected? this is a very good question. i think it is amazing that afforded 5000 people have volunteered. the way people can volunteered, some of these options are volunteered, some of these options a re less volunteered, some of these options are less contact oriented. there is are less contact oriented. there is a chat volunteer for people who are lonely and in isolation as well as to support transporting patients, as well as essential supplies, so in terms of the question itself. even with all of these environments, pharmacies, or some of this support work is going to take place, every possible protocol around safety will

be supported. so in terms of ensuring where it is possible, social distancing, frequent access to handwashing feel at ease —— facilities to minimise the risk of transmitting or spreading the virus which is of more concern. absolutely crucial. they bring in penny. we have another question, this time from kate in norfolk, if my child contract that iris, is it safe to go with them? it is difficult to make that call and say that is safe, but if you are looking after your child, it is likely you may be infected yourself. it is not definite yet, but it does not seem that likely children to end up in hospital.

they're still data coming in about that, but that's not that common as faras we can that, but that's not that common as far as we can tell, but also if you we re far as we can tell, but also if you were making that call, you would need to take into account whether you are particularly vulnerable or high—risk. if you're someone with severe lung disease or other kinds of conditions, that could really put you in trouble, you would have to balance that as well. oksana, another question. i am a vulnerable person and social interaction is required by my camera. missy allowed to visit me? so... there are your high—risk groups and a further category people recently have had, for instance, organ transplants or immuno suppressants, particular types of chemotherapy. if they are surely vulnerable, the advice is not

only should the surely vulnerable person self—isolate and not leave at all for 12 weeks, even for essentials, but also that their members of their household should also, as best as they can, self—isolate even within their own home, to protect the vulnerable person. penny, i got a question here from west london, if i drink frequent hot drinks, will that kill or wash away the virus? this one has been spreading like wildfire on whatsapp and other messaging groups. there's not really any basis to it. this is every spiritual reviver is, we read that into our airways —— a respiratory virus. separate from our food and drink ending up in our stomach for some you cannot wash this virus out of your airways when it is there and there is also this idea that temperature might kill it

or destroy it, but you have to rememberour body or destroy it, but you have to remember our body temperature is already pretty warm. it is 37 degrees. the likelihood of a hot drink there, there is not really a scientific basis for that. there are so many myths flying around. let me into a from liz clark from manchester, who said, i lost my sense of taste and smell over a week ago. is that a symptom was —— a symptom? -- a symptom? there have been some anecdotal reports from ent specialist this could present as an early symptom. the dell uh ho specialist this could present as an early symptom. the dell uh h0 is collecting data on this, but at this stage, it is really too early to say for certain that it could be —— the who is collecting. if one is experiencing this, it could be related to any type of viral infection where it causes inflammation in the nasal passage, it can affect smell, but if anyone is experiencing this, it would be a goodidea is experiencing this, it would be a good idea to monitor if you have any other symptoms or not. the who

currently is collecting further evidence to really try and have a better understanding for what these ent specialists are seeing in practice and find an evidence—based approach towards any recommendations going forward. penny, what have you heard on that particular one? i have seen it mentioned more and more over the last few days. i think it all turns back to one particular group putting out a press release suggesting that should be considered asa suggesting that should be considered as a diagnostic symptom, but it is worth bearing in mind we still don't know that yet, or to the extent to which it is a sign of covid—19. there is also a wide range of symptoms with this. we keep hearing about temperatures and a persistent cough, but some people might have just a runny nose, a sore throat, may be a bit of fatigue. some people and may not even know they have symptoms, so suddenly i think people are talking about this lack of smell

because that is suddenly caught attention, but this is a disease that actually causes all sorts of sort of cult—like symptoms in people. penny, your talk about symptoms, it brings into a question. the question is, how do symptoms generally develop? and how long do they actually last? like i said, in a lot of people come but we don't know how many yet, it might be so mild that you don't really even notice it or that you know you are ill but it is not particularly matching this fever, or the cough, so matching this fever, or the cough, so those cases, we know a lot less about because we are not testing or monitoring those people. in the more typical cases that we have been paying more attention to, with testing and because they match those really more distinctive symptoms, what we tend to hear is that maybe it comes on as a bit of fatigue, you

develop this persistent nonproductive cough, fever, that might then progress to something like a breathing difficulty, then if it gets really severe, it just gets worse and you get some really horrible things like organ failure, possibly pneumonia, and thus the point when people really need critical care. and that seems to happen overa critical care. and that seems to happen over a course of weeks. when people do sadly die from covid—19, it seems to be somewhere in the region of about three weeks between the onset of symptoms and death. let me go back to oksana. a question from norfolk, i have had the virus, cana from norfolk, i have had the virus, can a friend visit me by a private car? if they have the virus and it is, they have symptoms, even for essential reasons, they should not be going outside because that's within the 1a days. as we have heard

the prime minister, over the last several days, really, we should not be engaging in socialising. we need to only go outside it is to get essential supplies or medicines and if you are a symptomatically some otherwise, these need to be arranged through other support groups, which the government is helping people who cannot get those supplies and they are ill. no, in this instance, they should not be travelling for socialisation to visit friends and taking private cars, because that is how the virus will then travel. we know that people, even who are a symptomatically, are carriers. we need to take the advice seriously. penny, back to you. is it any clearer if you can actually catch this more than once? we are still actually awaiting to hear on that

missive there is some sort of promising evidence in monkeys that suggest they become immune to the virus but we don't actually know how long that lasts, and so one thing thatis long that lasts, and so one thing that is slightly worrying is that there are other types of corona that because common colds in people and they tend to induce immunity for a little bit but not for forever. we don't yet delma know yet. let me stay with you for another question from wendy and the deals in derbyshire. my son is in university. he selfishly for nine days after a friend had a constant cough last week. will he be allowed to travel home? —— he self isolated?

week. will he be allowed to travel home? -- he self isolated? it really should be 14 days of someone you live with our are in close contact with develops symptoms, and also guidelines that we now have in place about social distancing is that we really should not be travelling around the country to visit relatives or move to second residences. that was quite clear in the statement last night. all unnecessary travel is definitely advised against. oksana, this is an interesting one because barbara from oak campton in devon, candy harris be carried on dogs and infect other people who struck them —— candy virus be carried ? people who struck them —— candy virus be carried? as we know, the virus be carried? as we know, the virus can last on services, and on ha rd virus can last on services, and on hard services... it may have a little bit of a harder time to adhere to cat fur, but it is possible. if we think again about

the advice that has been given towards social distancing, really, if you're coming up to approach our pets, they're not really respecting the two metre rule, so i would strongly advise against allowing others to interact with your pets during this... i think the advice that would be similar to the advice for anyone if you develop covid—19. try their hardest... the advice there is that if someone you live with develops symptoms, and this is

really difficult. the advice is, if you can, use different bathrooms, eat up different times, use different crockery. you would sleep in different bedrooms. if that's possible. the sick person canjust stay mostly in one room that the pregnant person does not ever go to. that would be ideal. ithink realistically, obviously many people don't live in situations where that is going to work, but it is worth bearing in mind that while it is a very good idea to be cautious while pregnant, there is not much evidence yet to suggest that it is a huge danger. this is mostly a precaution at this stage just because we don't know that much about the virus and pregnancy yet. penny sarchet and o ksa na pregnancy yet. penny sarchet and oksa na pyzik, pregnancy yet. penny sarchet and oksana pyzik, thank you so much to both of you going through of the questions and providing 70 answers. of course, there are a multitude of questions that people are asking from right around the world. head to the bbc website, a lot of those

questions being answered there. thanks so much for watching so far. now, let's move on. self—isolation, just like social distancing, has become something everyone is talking about. and how do you keep your mental wellbeing when you're minimizing contact with other people? it is so natural, isn't it? perhaps one of the best people to talk to about this is the astronaut chris hadfield — who has spent more than 160 days in space. as you can see, he is waiting to talk to me now. thank you so much for being here with me on the programme. give me an idea of what it was like generally and how you cope with those long periods there in space. haj, matthew. ithink there were two big parallels between there were two big parallels between the type of experience the astronauts up on the space station had and what a lot of people are

expressing around the world. number one is, there is this threat, this omnipresent danger that is always around you, and that weighs on your mind and you need to find a way to cope with it. and the other is that you are now, unusually, physically isolated from everybody else. a spaceship, he could not be more exaggerated. the world is in your window and then it was no way that you can go visit anybody else. we as astronauts need to find a way to stay not just astronauts need to find a way to stay notjust coping but to stay productive and motivated and happy and content to live in those environments, and so we work really ha rd environments, and so we work really hard at it, understanding the danger but also finding a way to deal with. i will come to a way you dealt with that but i suppose you had to cope with two of the things that run around the world is in lockdown coping with, isolation, but then living in very close confinement with others. in your case, the other

astronauts on board the space station. i think there is may be an interesting way to look at it. the first astronaut to fly in space and live on space stations, they had initially difficult time with it because there was not any sort of electronic way to communicate with other people. the first people on skyla b other people. the first people on skylab on the russian and american stations. now on the international space station, much like everybody in the uk and everybody watching, you can tell your phone and basically talk to anyone in the world, or like you and i right now, talking halfway across the world effortlessly to each other, even video. that helps a lot. you have the entire world because of technology, recently developed technology, recently developed technology, right in front of your eyes, and that's a huge boon. i don't there ever been a better time to have to deal with this type of

pandemic and the isolation. you're absolutely right in terms of families and people keeping in contact with loved ones for the one about structuring a day. how important was that? i think i don't wa nt to important was that? i think i don't want to miss the very first step, don't forget to stay in touch with the actual danger. it reflected the unease of people, get right into the details. go to an authoritative source, don't go to somebody else's opinion or rumour but go to the authoritative medical sources, and they all available on the internet, and find the actual causes, the rules, the symptoms and what we are as close to be doing now. be of comfort in that. you're notjust afraid of the unknown. once you have that, as you say, mathieu, it's really important to build yourself a schedule under these new set of circumstances. your life is disrupted. ok, get overthat. know what you need to do is, given these constraints and understanding the risks, this is what i want to get

donein risks, this is what i want to get done in the next hour, or the next six hours or today. and if you look at how this floated in china, we are looking at a bet don't act six weeks —— a six—week stint of doing this full time you've got six weeks. it does not have to reflect what you normally do, it is an opportunity, but don't let it overpower you and crush you. wrecking as this is just a new sort of chance to try some things, learn to play stairway to heaven or paint, or phoney relative, or bakea heaven or paint, or phoney relative, or bake a cake together... as you we re or bake a cake together... as you were giving me that answer, we are broadcasting the pictures from the space station of earth and it underlines we are all in the same boat on this particular one, and

there are so sometimes you can actually say that. in terms of your training as an astronaut, were you specifically trained on how to cope with the isolation? or were you just thrown into its in a way all of us have been? we trained for it, both from a theoretical point of view, talking to psychologists and behavioural psychologists... anyway. psychiatrists and psychologists ultimate also we do practical training. we go out and live in the wild, we actually lived under the ocean for couple of weeks, with a crew, where i was a commander of the crew, where i was a commander of the crew living in a habitat at the bottom of the sea where you cannot return to the surface because of the physical danger. talking to the experts and then try to put those into practice, and then trying different techniques to cope with it, and maybe one other thing to remember is, if you are with this group of people specifically, they

are your crew. so try and go out of your way to do something nice for each one of them every day, and also notice that if everybody is behaving like a jerk, it might be you that is the jerk. taking the time away yourself and recognise that you might be part of the problem. it is just going to take a shift of behaviour. we are almost out of time. what were the best bits of the respites, of being up there? i suppose you're the scientific worst tasks of the day but you also had downtime. over the sort of things you did in downtime? now more than ever, it is really important have a hobby. or start a new one. i had instructions for everybody on my crew to have a hobby. on board a spaceship, it is all most all magnificent. you get to see the whole world as one place, so i never

really had downtime for stub there was always this huge list of things that i wanted to get done in the play music, write about it, experience, take photograph, try not to miss this experience, so it doesn't have to be as bad as eve ryo ne doesn't have to be as bad as everyone would think and it takes just a shift of personal behaviour and perspective. chris hadfield, it has been fantastic talking to you and fascinating. thank you so much for joining and fascinating. thank you so much forjoining us here on bbc news. just a quick pointer before you go. and you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect yourself. hearing from chris about the need to understand this. thanks so much for watching. see you next time. it's been a split weather day across the uk. many parts of scotland and northern ireland by this loud to

contend with. increasing lead and patchy rain willjust continue to sit around as we go through tonight but if you are underneath it, from aberdeen to edinburgh, belfast, your temperatures are knock—on you drop too far. clearing skies. further south across england and wales, quite a widespread frost. some spots may be down to —4 or minus five degrees. the odd mist patch as possible. some spots of rain affecting northern ireland. for the north of scotland, brighter, but colder. even further south, those to purchase even for the down than they have been. —— those temperatures for even have been. —— those temperatures for even further down. it is going to turn increasingly chilly and increasingly windy as well.

this is bbc world news with me,. a quarter of the role's population is now quarter of the role's population is now in lockdown as the death toll from coronavirus goes past 20,000. another dramatic rise in the number of coronavirus deaths in spain has now of coronavirus deaths in spain has now overtaken china, second only to italy. in the uk, a warning that front—line doctors need more masks, visors, and surgical gowns to protect them from coronavirus. prince charles tests positive, saying he has mild symptoms. india shuts down as a three week lockdown begins. 1.3 billion people are told to stay at home. plus, how a couple whose dream wedding