are this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. self employed and freelance workers hit by the coronavirus downturn will be told later today how the government will help them. employees have been guaranteed up to 80% of their wages. will the chancellor offer the same deal to hairdressers, taxi drivers, it experts — more than five million people who work for themselves? the government has announced that all nhs staff working in hospitals will be given free car parking, during the coronavirus pandemic. vaccum cleaner maker dyson is given an order to make 10,000 ventilators for critically ill covid—19 patients.

in italy, the rate of new infections slows for four days running, but in the south of the country cases are on the rise. the virus is surging in the us — the country has almost 70,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,000 deaths. hello and welcome to viewers here in the uk and around the world. the uk government is expected to announce new measures to help self—employed and freelance workers struggling with the coronavirus downturn. the chancellor, rishi sunak, is expected to unveil a package of measures to help 5 million people,

including taxi drivers, hairdressers, and it consultants, who work for themselves. vaccum cleaner maker dyson is given an order to make 10,000 ventilators for critically ill covid—i9 patients in the nhs. and the government scraps parking charges for nhs staff after 400,000 sign petition. across the world, more than 21,000 people have now died. nearly half a million people are recorded as having contracted the virus. in the last few minutes spain has reported that the death toll has topped 4,000 in the country. italy remains the worst—hit country in europe, spain and china's death tolls nearly £2 trillion dollars will be pumped into the american economy in response to the pandemic, after an historic bill was unanimously passed

by the us senate. confirmed cases in america surged by more than 10,000 on wednesday. we'll have the latest reports from around the world, and answer some of your questions on coronavirus in about half an hour, but first, with the latest in the uk, here's our correspondent charlotte rose. for five million self—employed people in the uk, today is the day they finally expect to hear what the government will do to help them through the coronavirus outbreak. a very worrying time at the moment due to all the customers cancelling, not being able to get materials for the jobs that we do have, and it's also very unclear whether we should be carrying on working or not. yesterday, the prime minister suggested he wanted support for self—employed workers to be as generous as that offered to employees, but that it was a complex situation. there are particular complexities about the self—employed which do need to be addressed. they are not all in the same position, and all i can say is we're working as fast as we possibly can to get the appropriate package of support for

everybody in this country. it comes as the uk death toll reached 465, up by 43 in the past 24 hours. more than 9,500 people have been infected with the virus, whilst 97,000 people in the uk have now been tested. last week, the health secretary called for manufacturers to help produce much—needed ventilators and dyson has answered. the government ordered 10,000 machines from the vacuum maker, although the prototype will first have to pass strict medical tests. and even if it gets the green light, it will still take several weeks to scale up the manufacturing, meaning they won't be available to the nhs until mid—april. but some good news for the government. i'm volunteering so there will still be an nhs around for my children when they're all grown up. more than 500,000 people signed up to volunteer to help the nhs in the past 24 hours,

more than double the number asked for. they will be driving medicines from pharmacies to patients, they will be bringing patients home from hospital. very importantly, they'll be making regular phone calls to check on and support people who are staying on their own at home. one of those staying at home is her majesty the queen. pictures of her on the phone to the pm emerged last night as buckingham palace said the monarch was in good health after news prince charles had tested positive for the virus. tonight, the uk will follow the example of other countries by offering thanks to nhs and social care staff. the clap for carers campaign wants people to stand outside their homes at 8pm to applaud all those on the frontline fighting coronavirus. a small act to show huge appreciation. charlotte rose, bbc news.

doctors have warned about the lack of personal protective equipment to help front line nhs staff treat coronavirus patients. the health minister, edward argar, told bbc breakfast that the government was listening to the concerns of the health service, and delivering millions of protective masks and gloves. we entirely understand how important it is that you get the kit you need and feel safe and are safe in doing this amazing work that you are doing. we are ramping up deliveries of ppe radically, we have brought the army in to help with what is a huge logistics exercise. in the past few days, i may get my figures a little bit out, but in the past few days about 24 million pairs of protective gloves delivered, 13 million protective face masks and similar delivered, just two examples, but every day we are getting masses of ppe out.

thatis that is the government position. 0ur assistant political editor, norman smith, joins us now from his home. despite efforts by the government to reassure health workers and the public that ppe as it is known is arriving, we are still seeing a tide of concern and anxiety. we are. we've heard from one labour mp who was saying that his local hospital, northwick park, which has been at the centre of the coronavirus crisis, remember it had to close its intensive care unit last week. staff there were still waiting for some supplies of ppe, and that has been a story which has been echoed around the country. so although the government are insistent that they've got adequate stocks, the army is now involved, they are distributing it. there are still shortages. 0n distributing it. there are still shortages. on top of which there is theissue shortages. on top of which there is the issue of care homes. we've had

the issue of care homes. we've had the promise that care homes will also get ppe clothing by the end of this week. we are in thursday now, so this week. we are in thursday now, so they will have to be a lot distributed pretty quickly. and i think that's becoming a bit of the story of this crisis. we've had pledges made by the government which frankly have been hard to deliver on, whether it's on ramping up testing, on the new immunity virus, there were hopes that that would be rolled out pretty quickly, maybe even next week. now it seems as if that could be more distant. similarly with ventilators, we know we've got more, we've got around 8000 ventilators in the nhs, another 8000 ventilators in the nhs, another 8000 on order, but we don't quite know when they are going to come online, andi know when they are going to come online, and i think the real trick for ministers is yes of course you wa nt to for ministers is yes of course you want to give a positive, hopeful, can—do message, but to marry that with realism, because the danger is if you start making the sort of commitments and then you can't deliver on them, inevitably that

results in disappointment, a feeling that you've been let down, and that dents confidence in the government's ability to deliver, so it is getting that balance right. and that balance is in notjust the medicalfront line but also the economic front line, and today we expect the chancellor's package for the self—employed, but again a difficult balancing act? this is going to be a huge, andi balancing act? this is going to be a huge, and i suspect pretty complex, package. trying to provide a system which can cater for quite well off self—employed people and then those who really are eking out a living is very, very tricky. added to which of course the income of the self—employed varies hugely, and many declare their earnings so much in arrears. so it is very hard to devise a uniform system. nevertheless, that is what the chancellor has had to do. he has had to do it quickly, because a normal

time is the biggest brains and the treasury would be spending weeks, months, coming up with the sort of programme. now they are having to put it in place in days, and that is the other side of it. this new system is going to have to be functioning at operating very, very quickly. you can't have a long lead—in time, because we know already there is a sort of surge of people losing theirjobs. we heard yesterday half a million new universal credit claims. you absolutely do not want a huge bulk of self—employed also having to apply for universal credit, which means you've got to get this new system out quickly. it's going to have to be big. now the prime minister said yesterday there would be parity with the support provided to employees. that would suggest that again, you're looking at some sort of scheme which will provide self—employed with 80% of their income, which of course it's going to bea income, which of course it's going to be a huge amount of money. just

to be a huge amount of money. just to give you a sense of how much we're talking about, the institute for fiscal studies calculated that for fiscal studies calculated that for the scheme for employees, every 196 for the scheme for employees, every 1% of the population who had 80% of their wages paid by the state for their wages paid by the state for the next three months would cost £1 billion. easy sum, that. 1%, £1 billion. easy sum, that. 1%, £1 billion. there are 5 million self—employed people. this is going to be expensive. absolutely. and then turning to the third area of balancing this, difficult judgment call from the government. this line on social distancing, how much to get the public to do it voluntarily and how much to make it compulsory. we have seen the issue over public transport, construction sites. there is the government shuffling itself towards a position where it is co mforta ble towards a position where it is comfortable with the degree of volu nta ry comfortable with the degree of voluntary and the degree of compulsory? i think that is still

very much the inclination and the intention, that they want people themselves almost to police themselves, so if you're walking down the street and you see someone coming towards you, take a body swerve, go round. similarly in the workplace, think, i'm not going to sit next to someone, just sit over there. in some scenarios it is very hard, if you are in a call centre and cheek by jowl with hard, if you are in a call centre and cheek byjowl with someone at the next phone, that is difficult. if you are on a construction site having to help someone put up scaffolding, that's difficult. but in broad terms the government does not want to have the police rushing around ordering people about. they wa nt around ordering people about. they want this to be something which almost by peer pressure we enforce ourselves. but clearly there are many, ourselves. but clearly there are any ourselves. but clearly there are many, many situations where it's going to be difficult, but i think the onus from the government's perspective is on us as individuals to police ourselves, and, yes, to some extent to police our friends, family and work colleagues. norman, thanks for that, we will talk to you

again later. now let's go back to the medicalfront line. professor martin marshall is chair of the royal college of general practitioners. he's written a letter to the health secretary, matt hancock, raising concerns of gps carrying out patient consultations without adequate personal protective equipment. hejoins me now from west london. professor marshall, thank you so much for talking to us. what is your concern, and the concern of the gps you represent? this is a massive challenge for general practice. we know that tens of thousands of gps across the country are rising to this challenge. they're working flat out, they're increasingly on the front of care for people with covid, they will be dealing with more patients who are infected, and increasingly sick patience who are infected as well, so what we are

concerned about is the availability of the protective gear that we need. we hear what ministers are saying, we understand how frustrating it is, the logistic challenges that they're experiencing, but what we're hearing from gps around the country are three concerns. the first one is about the availability of the protective equipment. is there enough out there and is it getting to the right places? there remains gaps. the second is about the quality of the protective equipment. 0urgps given quality of the protective equipment. 0ur gps given adequate cover? at the moment, it comprises a face mask a plastic apron and gloves. the face mask is probably 0k, plastic apron and gloves. the face mask is probably ok, the plastic apron doesn't cover the arms and doesn't cover the neck, we don't think it is adequate. and there is no eye protection equipment which the world health organization suggests we should have. so that is the second concern. and then the third concern is, whenever gps are seeing patients face—to—face, given that we know that a lot of patients we see will be infected, with or without symptoms, should they wear protective equipment or time now?

that has policy implications, because if we do wear equipment for all face—to—face consultations, then thatis all face—to—face consultations, then that is going to reduce the supply even further. indeed. one wonders, listening to that, whether that is even realistic, given the problems that public health england and the other public health organisations seem other public health organisations seem to have had in getting this equipment out even to front lines where they know they're dealing with covid—19 patients. the idea that they could aptly supply it in situations for gps dealing with any member of the public, do you think thatis member of the public, do you think that is realistic? it may not be realistic, and of course we have to accept that the number of face—to—face consultations in general practice is going down dramatically. far more of our consultations are now done by telephone or online. but whether it is realistic or not, we need to recognise the importance of supporting clinicians who are putting themselves at risk, who are worried not about their own health, they are worried about the health of their staff, but also worried about

being potential transmitters of infections ourselves to other patients, however good the hygienic processes might be. so this is a very real concern which we believe the nhs and government needs to respond to. so obviously it has been responding, i suppose is one answer. there is government —— various government officials, politicians and medics representing public health england and the other national bodies have been on the air repeatedly over recent days saying the scientific advice is what we're following in the kit that we offer. that answer is one of your points. does it not satisfy you? it doesn't satisfy us completely. very clearly we hear what people are saying in terms of the availability of equipment, but we wrote to the secretary of state to say that is an experience of gps on the ground, the secretary of state cares about this and wants to hear that message and has received it positively, which is

good. in terms of the evidence behind the equipment, we know that the evidence for paper masks is good enough, that's fine. but there actually isn't any evidence, and we have to use our common sense, about four example aprons. if we have got aprons and people who have bare arms, and the aprons don't cover those arms, then that clearly is a risk, and i think we need to speak some common sense here, really. so ina way some common sense here, really. so in a way between those two concerns you have raised, the one about availability is one that the government answered by saying, it's been a logistical problem, it is not a supply problem, we are getting the logistics organised, it will come. and to a certain extent, one can imagine that that is a lesser problem that the problem that you say is still there, which is all the kit is the wrong kit anyway, or a significant part of it. not all of the kit is, particularly the aprons at the eye protection, those elements. we are happy with the gloves in the face masks. it is the apron and the eye protection that we

are apron and the eye protection that we a re really apron and the eye protection that we are really concerned about, and we don't believe that there is rigorous evidence out there, particularly as i say when general practitioners are starting to see higher risk patients and more patients who might well either have or will be carrying the virus in some way or another. do you sense that government admits the blizzard of challenge it faces right now, and it scientific adviser, they are listening to what you are saying, or are they basically saying, or are they basically saying, we are so up to here with the problems right now, we cannot deal with this? we are working closely with nhs england and with government on these issues. we know that they are hearing, we know that they understand, we know that they ca re greatly they understand, we know that they care greatly about staff. that is their responsibility. and we know that they're frustrated that what mightappearto be that they're frustrated that what might appear to be a simple logistics challenge seems to be so difficult to rectify on the ground. so we know that we are in the right place, but at the same time, whilst they are worrying about it, we are

seeing gps on a daily basis who are exposing themselves to significant risk, risk which is a risk to their patients, a risk that their staff and a risk that they might well be taken out of the workforce at some stage or other and be unable to provide the care that they're providing. and i suppose that raises ina way providing. and i suppose that raises inawaya providing. and i suppose that raises in a way a question from one of your previous answers, because you said toa previous answers, because you said to a certain extent gps are working online now and on screen. do you think that is one solution that you can take more into your own hands and say, without the kit that we need, we are just going to have to move the vast bulk of our patients into on—screen consultations? move the vast bulk of our patients into on-screen consultations? yes, i think that is absolutely right, and indeed that is happening at a remarkable pace. i am a gp in east london, i did a surgery on monday, and every single patient that had been pre—booked into a face—to—face appointment had been converted willingly into a telephone appointment, and it worked perfectly well for most of those patients.

some of them you can't assess folly, when the crisis is over, we need to be very clear which patients need face—to—face appointments and which ones don't. but you are absolutely right that during this crisis in particular, the vast majority of ca re particular, the vast majority of care that you provide can be provided on the telephone or online. professor marshall, we wish you and all your colleagues all the very best in dealing with the challenges ahead. thank you for talking to us now. now let's go back to some of the economic implications and costs for individuals. as we've been reporting, a package of measures to help self—employed people is to be announced later. first though a look at what rights and support are available to different workers in this crisis. if you can't work because of coronavirus, your first stop all support is your employer. many firms are still paying staff as usualfor the moment. if they can't meet the costs themselves, the government has said it will cover 80% of wages.

for the first time in our history, the government is going to step in and help to pay people's wagers. the process is automatic, so you won't have to claim. it gets more complex for workers on zero hours of flexible contracts. if you are paid like a regular worker through paye, the government should pick up some of the bill, but it is not clear how your earnings will be calculated. otherwise, you might qualify for statutory sick pay or other benefits like employment and support allowance. the government says it is still working on detailed measures to support the self—employed. an announcement is expected soon. as things stand, you can claim universal credit — the amount you get depends on factors like savings, the size of your family and your partner's income. there have already been reports of large queues to register online as tens of thousands try to apply at once. let's look in more detail at a personal experience of that problem

for the self—employed. ian mcintosh is ceo of red driving school, which represents 1,500 self—employed driving instructors. he joins us from beverley in east yorkshire. thank you very much for talking to us. thank you very much for talking to us. 0bviously thank you very much for talking to us. obviously we are going to get this package for the self—employed inafew this package for the self—employed in a few hours' time. what do you hope to see in it? i certainly would hope to see in it? i certainly would hope to see the levels of support that we've been hearing about, so £2500 or something like that per month, that would be enormously helpful. it is a great concern for not just our helpful. it is a great concern for notjust our instructors but the 39,000 driving instructors in the uk who have had no income since this has happened, the vast majority not now working, and they have no income, so some sort of support for the industry would be most welcome.

there is other to some frustration that this has taken longer than in the case of employed workers, but do you accept that it is more complex, given that incomes for the self—employed vary over time, there is no paye structure for the hmrc to bolt assistance onto? oh, yes. i think the government are doing all they can under very difficult circumstances to make this work for the self—employed, although i would say let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the possible. in other words, let's do something, because there are a lot of self—employed people out there who are beginning to have serious financial problems. so i'm hoping that the measures that come out tonight will help, but i'm sure the government have been working around the clock to find a solution, and we need to be patient for a little longer to find out what

those solutions are. one concern many instructors may have is how long they have to be patient for. because we've seen measures announced for the employed workers and increased measures announced for businesses themselves and other players in the economy but actually it is very difficult for the system to adjust to the enormous scale that is required for these new measures to beddy. indeed, but on the other hand, this is a crisis that has happened at a rapid rate of knots. we area happened at a rapid rate of knots. we are a week or two into it, and it is understandable it will take some time to work out how to make that happen for the self—employed. it is more difficult for sure that it is for paye employees, and there is momentum to make this happen. if for example we look at other countries

in europe, they are having exactly the same problems in figuring out how to make this work for the self—employed, and what i read recently, only norway and belgium have a scheme up and running, everybody are struggling with this problem. but i am confident that the chancellor will come good and help the self—employed in the near future. but do you fear, are your instructors telling you that in the meantime it is driving them back out to work and to flout social distancing rules because it is a question of whether to eat or whether to stay healthy?” question of whether to eat or whether to stay healthy? i get the temptation, and we are all seeing other sectors of the self—employed market out there are still working. we have asked our driving instructors, red driving instructors, red driving instructors, not to work. we have cancelled all their fees. they can still use the cards for personal

reasons or voluntary work, they're still insured and on the road and they can use the cars free of charge, if you like, but we have asked them not to work. and i'm pretty confident that in all cases they have now ceased. that is certainly the feedback i'm getting from across the country. and i wonder whether, you mention the norwegians and the belgians. the united states has ordered ad hoc payments to the self—employed, just a flat amount. the germans are giving grants to some self—employed individuals. and we have seen some people are urging an unconditional temporary basic income for all is just a quicker, more effective way of getting support to every member of getting support to every member of the public. do you sometimes think that that would have been a way to go? who knows? that still might be what is announced tonight. who knows for sure what the chancellor is going to announce? and i think it is better to do something

than nothing, as i was saying earlier. so if it's a case of a grant until they figure things out, until they have had time to go through everybody‘s tax return and see what they earned over the last three years and work out some sort of average scheme, may be the solution is in the short term provide a grant along the lines of the us. it's an enormously complex situation, but as i say, i'm confident we are about to hear some good news in this respect. we wish all the best to you, ian mcintosh, and to all the instructors that you represent. let's turn to events around the world. the us senate has unanimously passed an historic $2 trillion bill to stimulate the american economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. it's the largest financial response to date to the crisis, which has devastated financial and health care systems around the world. the bill will go before the house of representatives on friday. rich preston reports.

when the coronavirus first started to grip america, president trump promised that the economy and the wallets of everyday americans would be protected. this package passed the senate with bipartisan support. i am proud to announce tonight that not a single senator voted against this $2 trillion rescue bill to save american individuals, small businesses, large businesses, and to provide considerable funding for the health care workers and a scientist and doctors. it is an historic day, because it matches a historic crisis. and our people need help, they were crying out to us to help. the legislation now needs approval from the house of representatives before being signed off by the president. as the number of infections has continued to rise, millions of americans have been told to stay at home — an order that will save lives

but is killing business. the package includes aid for businesses to help them weather the storm, as well as payments of around $1000 made directly to many american adults. the average worker who has lost his or herjob will receive 100% of their salary for up to fourfull months. unlike normal unemployment benefits, independent contractors and the self—employed will be eligible. it is the largest economic stimulus package in us history under a president who wants to keep america open for business. a report earlier this week gave a dire warning about the economic impact of the coronavirus, suggesting america's national gross domestic product could shrink by 24% in the second quarter of the year. keeping the economy afloat in tricky times is crucialfor this business orientated president, ahead of a presidential election due later this year. this may be the biggest

test of the president's negotiating skills yet — he keen to keep people working and companies producing, and public health officials are urging for restraint and patience in the face of an invisible killer who can't be negotiated with. rich preston, bbc news. the world health organization says there are "encouraging signs" in italy, after it reported a lower rate of infections. the number of new cases has slowed for a fourth consecutive day. a strict lockdown remains in place, with fines and prison terms for those who break the rules. 0ur correspondent mark lowen has more. eyes in the sky to keep italians off the streets. the police now using every method they can to stop the flow of people and the virus. with fines stepped up and more police checks, they're toughening the clampdown to flatten the curve. and this is why. the urgent need to help hospitals.

this one in rome now opening a new wing for coronavirus patients, and already under pressure. translation: the italian health system in the north is at a very critical point. in rome, we've been able to learn from what they've experienced. for my part, i need to show all the courage i can, because we have to fight with all our strength. we don't know what the situation will be in rome this weekend. more than two weeks into the lockdown that has emptied the streets and closed virtually everything, there are some signs the measures are beginning to work. the latest figures show a slight fall in the number of deaths and, for the fourth day in a row, a slower increase in the total number of infected. this drained country is desperate to reach a turning point. it can't come soon enough for crematoria that can't cope. the army brought in to take coffins away. it's that word again they're more used to — war.

man versus virus, and the latter is still winning. mark lowen, bbc news, rome. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: self—employed and freelance workers hit by the coronavirus downturn will be told later today how the government will help them. employees have been guaranteed up to 80% of their wages. will the chancellor offer the same deal to hairdressers, taxi drivers, it experts, more than five million people who work for themselves? the government has announced that all nhs staff working in hospitals will be given free car parking, during the coronavirus pandemic. vacuum cleaner maker, dyson, is given an order to make 10,000 ventilators for critically ill covid—19 patients. in italy, the rate of new infections slows forfour days running, but in the south of the country cases are on the rise.

the virus is surging in the us — the country has almost 70,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,000 deaths. the second day of a nationwide lockdown in india has seen empty city centres and quiet streets as the country moves to contain the spread of coronavirus. police are enforcing the strict rules imposed on 1.3 billion people, but as our correspondent arunoday murkhaji has been telling us, there is growing concern over access to essential supplies. the feeling of concern and anxiety continues across the country as india observes day two of the lockdown. the primary worry among citizens is to get access to essential supplies. while the announcement was made by the prime minister at the top, down below on the ground, where the police is implementing those orders, there seems to be some confusion.

but in this regard, fresh guidelines are being issued, telling the police who they need to stop and who they need to give free access to, and officials say that in the next few days at least the supply of essential commodities is likely to be restored. the other big challenge for the government is to address the poor, the homeless and migrant labourers who were stranded without shelters, migrant labourers who have not been able to go back to their villages because of the restrictions on transport. many state governments have set up makeshift shelters where they are providing them with food. the big challenge will be for the government to come up with that economic bailout package, especially for the poor. some of the things that are being considered is to provide cash transfers to various accounts, to ramp up government schemes as well. now, medical professionals are also saying that while the lockdown is well and good, it needs to be coupled with testing, with many more instances of testing, that is the only way, in a combined effort, that the country will be able to battle the rising cases of coronavirus. india is in this for 21 days

of complete lockdown. arunoday murkhaji, bbc news, delhi. let's catch up with some of the latest developments in asia. in the japanese capital tokyo, authorities are urging people to stay at home on the weekend, warning otherwise of an "explosion" of new infections. wednesday saw a record 41 new cases discovered. a state of emergency has been declared in thailand to help deal with the coronavirus. the new measure will allow the prime minister to restrict travel, keep people inside and censor the media. international airline air asia has announced that it is temporarily hibernating most of its fleet across the network, due to the extensive and increasing border restrictions imposed by various countries due to the covid—19 pandemic. south korea appears to have succeeded where other countries have failed. it has managed to flatten

the curve of new infections. and it has done so without china's draconian restrictions on movement and without a large scale lockdown. it also has one of the lowest fatality rates of any country. the bbc‘s team in seoul has gained exclusive access to one of the country's intensive care units, dedicated to coronavirus treatments. laura bicker reports. in every war, a foot soldier needs their armour. this kit is crucial to keep staff safe. "is the air going through 0k?" she asks. now fully equipped, she can head into the intensive care unit. the two—hour shift takes its toll. we saw this nurse emerge drenched in sweat after her turn. seriously ill covid—19 patients need a lot of care. they are on a steady drip of sedation, medication and fluids.

ventilators help supply their lungs with badly needed oxygen. the protective clothing helps keep staff safe, but it also hinders. translation: it's hard to hear, and your senses get dull. the hardest thing is communicating. it makes you feel more anxious because of it. there is fear here, but i like to just think of them as our patients, and when you think of it that way, it's not that scary. all of the patients struggling to breathe in this icu are over 65. they are one of a dwindling number of people who need critical care in the country — the benefits of flattening the curve mean there is even time to smile. translation: those who come to the icu are really bad cases, so it's hard to completely predict whether they will live or not. but when these tough cases gets better, it's especially rewarding.

this is the key to saving lives, according to south korean health officials — staying ahead of the virus by tracing potentially infected patients and testing them. but doctors are worried about a second wave of covid—19 and say this country needs to be ready. translation: can we respond as well as we did in the first wave? will there be five, ten times more patients? i do not know, we do not have immunity. so all countries' scientists should work together to develop a treatment and a vaccine. there's also a new threat from overseas. thousands of arrivals from europe, and many from the us, are now being tested to prevent a fresh outbreak. south korea may be breathing a sigh of relief now, but this crisis is far from over. laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. more now on the government's plans to help millions of the uk's

self—employed and freelance workers who have had their incomes slashed because of the coronavirus outbreak. the chancellor, rishi sunak, will announce a package of new measures to help hairdressers, driving instructors and actors, who work for themselves. in germany, the government has already announced a 50 million euro rescue package to help the country's self—employed. with me to discuss this is professor friederike welter, president of ifm bonn, a german institute for small business. what is germany's solution to this problem for the self employed? they are actually dealing with the most pressing problem, most of the very small self employed and even those with very few employers... there is

a big package of dealing with the problem. what i think is a very encouraging is actually recognising that there is a huge part of the business population which is hurt insta ntly. business population which is hurt instantly. they have set up as one pa rt instantly. they have set up as one part of this huge package, something which is called instant aid or emergency aid for someone who is self—employed and micro enterprises. when i checked this morning, i discovered that it is not only the federal government supporting the self employed with a one off payment for three months, depending on the size of the business, but it is also all of the 16 federal states coming in and actually setting up additional instant aid. and is it working? how many people have already been assisted in this programme? if it is instant, is it insta nt programme? if it is instant, is it instant is the question? it is insta nt instant is the question? it is instant but still instant also needs to go through some procedures. the federal states are in the process of setting this up. you need to recognise, and i think it is the

same in your country, parliament actually passed this yesterday, going through the federal state parliament on friday and at the same time the federal states are setting up time the federal states are setting up the procedures so that businesses actually can access this online. up the procedures so that businesses actually can access this onlinelj suppose one of the key questions about this, when we come out at the end of this we will look back and see, it really highlights inequality and vulnerability of what is often known as the precarious act of people who are in a flexible economy where a lot of the risk is held by the people at the bottom of the pile. this lack of welfare support in place for people like this is really very evident now as we face this crisis. yes, when we talk about the self—employed, both with and without employees, micro—businesses if they have some employees, we are talking about what you call a precarious act but also people who enjoy being self employed so are not

forced into that. just think if after the crisis, we wouldn't find the people at the market stall, the independent higher dresser, so i find it really important that government set out some routes and he at this instant aid is of great importance. when it comes to those who are in precarious self employment, they will benefit from this as well and there are a few rules they will have to apply to but asi rules they will have to apply to but as i said, this is only part of a huge package in germany to deal with the crisis on behalf of micro businesses, self—employed and small and medium—sized businesses put up there are also other programmes or other regulations which are softened at the moment where people can access welfare. the self employed can access welfare. the self employed ca n a ccess access welfare. the self employed can access welfare much easier than they could before the crisis. one last question for you, because you do work in an institute which is dedicated to small business, is

there a message for the chancellor of the exchequer here, minister of finance in other countries, the one thing, the most important thing you need to help small business through this is, what would it be? it would be instant money. think of those who are not in medium and small sized businesses but really the ones who have one or two employees. thank you so much forjoining us. scotland's chief medical officer has acknowledged there has been a distribution problem with getting personal protective equipment to health workers. dr catherine calderwood told the bbc that the current distribution model is being changed after it got "clogged up" with huge orders that didn't get processed. dr calderwood said the supply of such equipment "shouldn't be a problem next week."

0ur scotland correspondent, lorna gordon, is in glasgow. this is significant. yes, she was speaking and this morning she said a couple of interesting things. she is a practising clinician, she has been hearing from colleagues in the nhs that they were really worried and she said that makes her uncomfortable. she said she thought that the problem was with these really big orders coming in that we re really big orders coming in that were clogging up the system but they had redesigned the distribution so that it would be separated out into primary care sock, social care and to hospitals and her hope was that this new system will be up and running this week and that distribution should not be a problem by next week. another interesting point that came out in that interview was to do with how the nhs here in scotland will cope with increasing numbers of people, perhaps needing intensive care as this epidemic spreads. we keep getting told that here in scotland

we are on the cusp of the number is rising rapidly. at the moment, we have 51 people in icu beds. the health secretary appear said earlier this week that they were looking to free up space to quadruple the number of icu beds to over 700 but this morning she confirmed that they we re this morning she confirmed that they were looking to set up temporary hospitals like those ones being set up hospitals like those ones being set up in london. —— catherine said. they are being considered in scotla nd they are being considered in scotland this week, she said. one of the controversies that was going on a couple of days back was about people socially distancing themselves to the highlands and islands and potentially putting pressure on communities there and their infrastructure. has that problem now been resolved? as it mitigated? there is a little discomfort over the weekend, camper

va ns discomfort over the weekend, camper vans going to the campsites up in the highlands. there was a very clear message sent out by scotland's first minister that this should not be happening. that you cannot outrun the virus. campsites closed, they shut down the ferries to all but essential traffic. we hear this morning that many of the airports out in the islands are also closing to all but essential traffic as well. a clear message going out. it doesn't seem to be getting through. you look at the transport scotland figures that were released yesterday, they show a massive reduction in those using the railways, the main arterial routes in scotland, so there is a big reduction in traffic on the roads, big reduction in those and the buses. and a very firm message not to travel to those areas are where

the health system is already under pressure because of the distances people have to travel to get to hospital. in a way, that is slightly different waiting that we have seen from the first minister in scotland about the social distancing message, the kind of clarity and simplicity and almost brutality compared to the english message that you must not go to work unless your work is critical, perhaps that is, are they claiming the government there, but thatis claiming the government there, but that is responsible for this relatively quiet transport and economic situation? nicola sturgeon was very clear, right from the very beginning, is the started to unfold, that all four nations were leaning on the same, or taking the lead, from the same scientific advice, that set committee that would perhaps be differences around the edges of how that was interpreted and she was very clear at the

beginning that there had to be a very clear message sent out to the public. —— sage committee. there has been clarity from the scottish government. she said she didn't want people working on construction sites u nless people working on construction sites unless they were critical to infrastructure. from critical comment to hospitals and things like that. clear about construction sites, clear about shops closing. the police have said, they police by consent. they're trying to get people on board but as this legislation comes in, if there are people not adhering to the rules, then they will gently, and then progressively more firmly, try to enforce them. but would was interesting yesterday, nicola sturgeon said that she is setting up a scientific committee here in scotla nd a scientific committee here in scotland led by a professor over at edinburgh university to look at

whether the policy information going forward should be different here in scotla nd forward should be different here in scotland to elsewhere in the uk. look at the modelling, the spread, and see whether in scotland, the same model should apply or whether perhaps it should be relaxed slightly in certain areas or indeed enforced more firmly in certain areas as the number of people with covid—19 continues to increase. thank you. south africa is the latest country to go into lockdown — it will be locked down for three weeks from midnight tonight after the number of infections there rose from 62 to more than 700 in a week. nomsa maseko reports from johannesburg. it is very quiet on the streets of johannesburg. around this time of the morning there would be peak hour traffic with thousands, if not millions, of people trying to make their way to work but it is very quiet this time around because the lockdown is expected to be in place

from midnight tonight until the 16th of april. the military is expected to be on the streets this afternoon. in fact, president cyril ramaphosa has urged south africans that at 6pm tonight, to indulge themselves in a two—minute prayer, if not praying, then people need to be singing the national anthem. but what has made south africans a bit more upset before this lockdown was that they were told yesterday, and this morning by the police minister, that yes, they need to stay home and that they will not be allowed to jog, they will not be allowed to walk their dogs and no sale of alcohol will be permitted during the 21—day lockdown and only restricted movements will be made when people go out to buy food and also seeking medical attention. a charity which supports people

with anxiety issues says it's seen an unprecedented rise in calls to its helpline in recent days, because of concerns about virus. here's our social affairs correspondent, alison holt. these are difficult times. feel very panicked, short of breath... the way ahead is hard. a changing world is particularly troubling if you already have an issue with anxiety. if i don't have a plan or something to work towards, that is when i start cracking a little bit. she was sobbing her heart out because she was so worried. for someone like francesca with a history of heart problems, watching each coronavirus development as she cares for her daughter, her stress levels have been rising. it basically comes in waves. to begin with, you take note of everything, then the more the news ramps up, being a new mum, suffering from health anxiety myself, it has progressively got harder.

not everyone's cup of tea, but i love a creepy—crawly! lauren runs therapy groups for schools, business had been good, but bookings have disappeared. i have suffered with depression and anxiety all of my life, and just as i seem to get on top of myself, something will smash you down, and it is really, really hard. in a matter of days, all our lives have changed dramatically, which makes it really important that we find our own way of dealing with that stress. panic attacks are a certain spike of anxiety and adrenaline. at the charity anxiety uk, they have had to extend hours to deal with increasing calls to their helpline. i can't recall anything on this scale. it is just simply uncharted territory. for some of the more than 8 million people in the uk who have an anxiety disorder,

a technique called apple helps — acknowledge that you are worried, pause, push back against the thought, let go of the worry and explore the moment, because right now you are fine. and francesca has found plenty of reassurance from friends online. i was having a really panicked day, and i asked people to reassure me that everything would be ok, and it really helped to calm me. lauren is now offering online animal classes. having a plan helps. this situation you can't be in control of, i need to find something i can be in control of. and picking our own techniques for coping in the coming weeks will be important. alison holt, bbc news. families who live in flats and don't have access to gardens are finding it particularly hard, especially if they're at the top of tower blocks. fiona lamdin has been to bristol. up on the 15th floor of this high—rise in bristol lives single

dad samuel smith with his two young boys, aged six and two. it is like rabbits in a hutch! we are all cooped up. there is not all that much we can do, because we are just in a one—bedroom. we can't really open the windows that much, because it gets cold, being on the 15th floor. this is the bedroom... spending 23 hours in here with no garden is a challenge. the boys just ransacked the flat! toys everywhere. we have all been told we can go outside once a day to exercise, and for samuel and his boys, time is precious. on their way out, they see theirfriend and neighbour brenda. do you need anything at all, brenda? they have a balcony, but her children want to play outside.

i feel bad, yeah. do the children understand? he understands, but he doesn't, yeah. do they keep asking you to go out? yes. what do you say? i try to explain to them, yeah. and then we meet alan and his five—year—old daughter. he'd normally be at work in the barber's. you have got to forget about the view, forget about the weather, health and safety are more important than what it looks like outside. she is going to be safe, the people outside are going to be safe, the older people are going to be safe, it is good. it is the right thing to do. it is the best thing to do, absolutely. ten minutes later, samuel and his boys arrive at the park. used to playing inside, they now know the railings are to keep them out. feels good being out, alexander?

yes! it is really fun! in a world that is changing so fast, they are just taking one day at a time. fiona lamdin, bbc news. good luck to parents everywhere, heroes. now‘s time to say goodbye to viewers on bbc world news and for viewers in the uk, here's the weather with carole. hello again. we still very much have our week of weather front draped across scotland and also northern ireland at the moment. and it's still pretty using a fair bit of cloud, and also some patchy rain. now, to either side of that, the north west highlands, for england and wales, we are in for another dry day with a fair bit of sunshine. sunshine at times will be hazy and we have a noticeable breeze coming in from the north sea across the south—east, just taking the edge off these temperatures. later, it should brighten up across northern ireland, also south—west scotland. although in south—west scotland you could see the odd shower. temperatures rising from nine in the north

to about 15 in the south. somewhere in north—west england, it will hit 17 today. as we head on through the evening and overnight, the weather front is still with us. under this cloud and patchy rain, temperatures will remain up a little bit higher. still going to feel cold, mind you. either side of it, under clear skies, it will be cold enough for a touch of frost. around the midlands, for example, we could see some patchy fog. that will left readily tomorrow. and then again for england and wales, a dry and sunny day, as it will be across the north highlands in scotland. 0ur weak weatherfront are becoming even weaker. but it will still be the odd spot of rain in it. temperatures coming down a touch. that process will continue into the weekend, as eventually we say goodbye to that weather front that has been with us all week. high pressure builds in, changes the wind direction to more of a north—easterly. that's a cold direction for us, as illustrated by the blues across the whole of the land as going the weekend. not only will it feel cold, the temperatures will be lower. so, for saturday, we are looking

at a fair bit of cloud coming in on this wind from the north sea. one or two wintry showers in the east. the further away you are from that, we are looking at some stellar conditions and also some brighter conditions. by sunday, if anything, it's going to feel colder. still this noticeable breeze, still the chance of some wintry showers coming in, especially across the north—east. and temperatures, well, we are looking at seven in lerwick, to about eight in london. when you add on the wind chill, it's going to feel colder than that. that eight in london will feel more like three than eight. even as we head into the new working week, we carry on with a fairly settled theme. a lot of dry weather around until the end of the week. and we see further wintry showers in the north.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. self—employed and freelance workers hit by the coronavirus downturn will be told later today how the government will help them. employees have been guaranteed up to 80% of their wages. will the chancellor offer the same deal to hairdressers, taxi drivers, it experts — more than five million people who work for themselves? vaccum cleaner maker dyson is given an order to make 10,000 ventilators for critically ill covid—19 patients. in italy, the rate of new infections slows for four days running, but in the south of the country cases are on the rise.

the virus is surging in the us — the country has almost 70,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,000 deaths. hello and welcome to viewers here in the uk and around the world. the uk government is expected to announce new measures to help self employed and freelance workers struggling with the coronavirus downturn. the chancellor, rishi sunak, is expected to unveil a package of measures to five million people — including taxi drivers, hairdressers, and it consultants — who work for themselves. vacuum cleaner maker dyson is given an order to make 10,000 ventilators for critically ill covid—19 patients in the nhs. the government scraps parking charges for nhs staff in england after 400,000 sign petition.

in scotland and wales the charges have already been waived. across the world, more than 22,000 people have now died. nearly half a million people are recorded as having contracted the virus. spain reports that the death toll has topped 4,000 in the country. italy remains the worst—hit country in europe, with more than 7,500 deaths. nearly $2 trillion will be pumped into the american economy in response to the pandemic, after an historic bill was unanimously passed by the us senate. confirmed cases in america surged by more than 10,000 on wednesday. we'll have the latest reports from around the world and answer some of your questions on coronavirus in about half an hour, but first, with the latest in the uk, here's our correspondent charlotte rose. for five million self—employed

people in the uk, today is the day they finally expect to hear what the government will do to help them through the coronavirus outbreak. a very worrying time at the moment due to all the customers cancelling, not being able to get materials for the jobs that we do have, and it's also very unclear whether we should be carrying on working or not. yesterday, the prime minister suggested he wanted support for self—employed workers to be as generous as that offered to employees, but that it was a complex situation. there are particular complexities about the self—employed which do need to be addressed. they are not all in the same position, and all i can say is we're working as fast as we possibly can to get the appropriate package of support for everybody in this country. it comes as the uk death toll reached 465, up by 43 in the past 24 hours. more than 9,500 people have been infected with the virus,

whilst 97,000 people in the uk have now been tested. last week, the health secretary called for manufacturers to help produce much—needed ventilators and dyson has answered. the government ordered 10,000 machines from the vacuum maker, although the prototype will first have to pass strict medical tests. and even if it gets the green light, it will still take several weeks to scale up the manufacturing, meaning they won't be available to the nhs until mid—april. but some good news for the government. i'm volunteering so there will still be an nhs around for my children when they're all grown up. more than 500,000 people signed up to volunteer to help the nhs in the past 24 hours, more than double the number asked for. they will be driving medicines from pharmacies to patients, they will be bringing patients home from hospital. very importantly, they'll be making regular phone calls to check on and support people who are staying on their own at home.

one of those staying at home is her majesty the queen. pictures of her on the phone to the pm emerged last night as buckingham palace said the monarch was in good health after news prince charles had tested positive for the virus. tonight, the uk will follow the example of other countries by offering thanks to nhs and social care staff. the clap for carers campaign wants people to stand outside their homes at 8pm to applaud all those on the frontline fighting coronavirus. a small act to show huge appreciation. charlotte rose, bbc news. doctors have warned about the lack of personal protective equipment to help front line nhs staff treat coronavirus patients. the health minister, edward argar told bbc breakfast that the government was listening to the concerns of the health service, and delivering millions of protective masks and gloves.

we entirely understand how important it is that you get the kit you need and feel safe and are safe in doing this amazing work that you are doing. we are ramping up deliveries of ppe radically, we have brought the army in to help with what is a huge logistics exercise. in the past few days, i may get my figures a little bit out, but in the past few days about 24 million pairs of protective gloves delivered, 13 million protective face masks and similar delivered, just two examples, but every day we are getting masses of ppe out. that is the government view on ppe, and the other thing that they have struggled with this testing. let's ask our assisted political editor, norman smith, whether there is any progress on the numbers. i'm sorry

to say it is still pretty limited progress. number 10 have just released the figures for testing yesterday. 6643. last week we were at 5000, so yes it is going up, but pretty slowly, let's be honest, because we had the target of getting to 10,000, and the prime minister said we would get to 25,000, and he had that aspiration of getting to 250,000 a day. yesterday it was 6643, so there is a lot of work to do is the honest truth. the problem seems to be just getting hold of the tests, because everyone is trying to get hold of them around the rest of the world, and the chief medical 0fficer chris whitty at the news conference yesterday was pretty upfront about it saying it is a global challenge and there is a global challenge and there is a global shortage of getting hold of these tests. but given that it is regarded as crucial in terms of tackling the virus to test people and then to trace people you have beenin and then to trace people you have been in contact with, that is how

other countries that have been successful such as south korea have gone about getting a grip on this crisis. so the lockdown is one part of it, but the other part of it very obviously is getting more tests. this morning ministers were still being pretty coy about when they we re being pretty coy about when they were really going to be able to ramp up were really going to be able to ramp up the numbers, and what we heard from government today was, when i'll be going to get 25,000? in the coming weeks. so i think we are going to see more concern about this, because progress seems pretty slow. studio: and let's turn to issues around the lockdown and issues for that with households. the chancellor is expected to unveil his plan for the self—employed, and the institute for fiscal studies says the self—employed are potentially likely to be hit harder than employees? yes, this is actually quite worrying research which the iff have released on the eve of rishi sunak setting out what we think is going to be a

pretty big package for the self—employed. but the point of the ims research is that they believe that the self—employed are proportionately more at risk of working in sectors which are either going to be shut down or facing severe restrictions, and they calculate nearly 1 severe restrictions, and they calculate nearly1 million of the country's 5 million self—employed could fall into that category. that isa could fall into that category. that is a truly frightening picture when we already know that unemployment is increasing pretty rapidly, with yesterday an additional half a million people in the past week claiming universal credit. so there are claiming universal credit. so there a re clear claiming universal credit. so there are clear signs here that this package which the chancellor is putting together really is going to have to be focused on helping those self—employed like hairdressers, taxi drivers, cleaners, those who may be fear their sectors will be closed down, to guarantee them some proportion of their income so that

they can carry on having a decent income coming into the house. and norman, just as you are talking, we are getting lines coming in from the bank of england, which is holding its midday news conference, and talking about the economic shock being big but temporary, talking about the depreciation of sterling, and keeping its interest rate, its key interest rate, at a record low of 0.1%. it has got a difficult role right now, as does the government? genuinely there doesn't seem to me to be much more the bank of england can do now in terms of monetary policy. interest rates have never been this low before, and anyway interest rates are not the solution here. the difficulty is mainly sustaining demand, and that means getting cash into people's pockets.

i guess what is encouraging from the bank bring a's perspective is that they do believe this is a temporary hit, in other words the hope is that companies can keep ticking over and are not so fundamentally damage that you have perfectly good companies going to the wall, which is why of course the first rescue package unveiled by the chancellor was actually the business rescue package, that £330 billion of loan guarantees to keep businesses going over. some sectors are still saying, what about us? noticeably airports and airlines, who don't seem to be getting the targeted support that they were hoping for. i think the chancellor's view is they are quite large, wealthy companies and maybe they ought to look at their own ways of sustaining themselves through this crisis rather than expecting the taxpayer to pile in. but the hope is to be the hit to the economy will be temporary, albeit that is based on coronavirus may not going

on for a considerable amount of time, and genuinely we don't know how long it's going to go on for. yes, that question of a big hit to the economy but temporary. the temporary is dependent on so many factors outside their control. just read you doing on a couple of lines coming in, norman, the bank of england says, without support measures, a material number of businesses could fail with large and persistent rises in unemployment, and that it is expecting, or some of the indicators suggest, a material contraction of gdp. and so i suppose, if the chancellor needed anything else to concentrate his mind before the package is going to announce ina mind before the package is going to announce in a few months, the looming shadow of the great depression style contraction is what must be keeping him awake at night. i think it also explains, actually, there has been huge criticism over

there has been huge criticism over the past few days of people going to work, particularly construction workers, and the mixed messages we have had from the government where they started off saying, stay at home, save lives, and then seemed to morph more into a message, you can go into work if you are not within two metres of any work colleagues, and you really can't work from home. the reason for that was, bluntly, to keep the economy ticking over. this we heard as much from the health secretary, matt hancock, who said they wanted people to go and work to keep the economy running. and that points to the broader fear that coronavirus has the potential to cause significant damage to the economy of everyone basically downed tools and stays at home. but as we have discussed before, it is a balancing act. you want to ensure the virus is limited in the number of people it can in fact, so you wa nt of people it can in fact, so you want people to stay at home. at the same time, you don't want such a

crushing economic blow that we're plunged into recession for months and months and months with all the hardship that that may entail. so it is this extraordinarily difficult balancing act of trying to put in place the health measures while at the same time also trying to protect as far as possible the economy. norman, thank you so much as always. let's go back to the medical front line now. preparations are under way to turn the excel london into the nhs nightingale, housing 4,000 patients. angus crawford is there for us. ican i can see building work going on behind you, angus. what is happening? well, bit by bit, as you say, the excel centre, which normally host events like the boat show or in 2012 many of the london olympic events, this enormous venue, 600 metres long, 100,000 square feet

of space in there, as you can see, at the moment there is enormous white objects are oxygen tanks which are being put into place, and pipes are being put into place, and pipes are then going to be run into the building to provide vitally needed oxygen building to provide vitally needed oxyg e n to building to provide vitally needed oxygen to the patient‘s who will be treated here. slowly but surely, this is beginning to take place. we expect by the middle of next week there may be 500 beds up and operational with ventilators. it will be staffed by a mixture of nhs staff. a call went out across london, across the trust in london yesterday, for volunteers to come forward. everyone from hospital porters all the way through to co nsulta nts porters all the way through to consultants and everyone in between. there will also be some military medics and also stjohn ambulance. that is the first wave, about 500 beds. but clearly it is available should and if there be a need for a greater surge, and they are talking about having a potential to treat

something like 4000 patients here in two separate wards. it's thought that the ambulances will arrive, then the patients will be triage just inside and push through into the facility where there is both intensive care and other less invasive care facilities their too. what is also crucial to point out, behind you, behind the camera, is london city airport. it is barely half a mile away, i can see the landing lights here and the winsock. that is now closed to commercial aviation, but two days ago we saw a large raf transport aircraft do a landing herejust large raf transport aircraft do a landing here just as a routine practice, we were told. but it would be hugely useful if that was then open for military and other aircraft to come in to deliver patients across the bridge into the excel behind me. it is also clear there are other facilities being behind me. it is also clear there are otherfacilities being readied across the country, may be as many as ten or 13, and i know the nec in

birmingham, a vast space, even bigger than the excel, is being approached and is on hand to help. thank you, angus, a fascinating update into the scale and speed of the work going on there. let us turn to direct medical issues without correspondent nick triggle. the parliamentarians responsible for health have been meeting today? yes, with parliament close, they have been having to change the way they work, and have been taking evidence from medical officials via link up, so we have had to follow it on twitter rather than a live feed. yvonne doyle, medical director, was the first to give evidence, and she was given a tough grilling on testing, which is obviously a very hot topic at the moment. she was

talking about the antigen testing, the one that looks at whether people are currently infected. the uk government's been criticised because we are not doing enough at the moment, only hospital patients are tested. there are up to 7000 tests a day carried out. but she gave concrete promises for when more people would be tested. she said by the end of march they would be 12,000 tests a day done, and by mid april, 25,000 tests done, and that will allow health staff to be tested, which the british medical association leader chand naipaul said was essential. he said it was illogical that nhs staff cannot currently be tested. they are having to isolate, causing significant problems on the front line. what about, then, the other big controversy? that they make any progress in chipping away on the questions around personal protective equipment? doctor nang paul did

mention the personal protective equipment, these are gloves, suit and mask that are essential for staff treating patient in hospital. the government has said that they are guessing on top of this, 7 million pieces of kit are being distributed across the uk. some hospitals i have heard have got enough equipment, and with the peak just two or three weeks away, the need to get that equipment out to staff is one of the most important steps the government needs to take. and obviously it is a regional patchwork. we have seen in italy and other countries there are some clusters of the virus, and some clusters of the virus, and some clusters where there is a real surge in health services. and to the extent that we can tell so far, london is one of those? yes, it is. we have seen a third of the cases diagnosed in the uk so far have been

in london. we have been hearing from chris hobson, the head of nhs providers, about the precious hospitals in the capital are facing. he described it as a tsunami of cases, complicated by the high rates of sickness and absence of work by staff having to isolate. he said intensive care capacity had increased five to seven fold leading up increased five to seven fold leading up to this week, but those beds were soon up to this week, but those beds were soon getting filled up, and that is why the excel centre we have been hearing about, it's going to be essential in the coming weeks. the peak is, as i say, about two to three weeks away. health officials, the chief medical officer, professor chris whitty, has said he thinks it is probably manageable, but clearly the coming month is going to be crucial. nick, thank you. and in terms of the other nations, scotland, bisley, northern ireland and wales, how are they looking by comparison right now? it is

interesting, because like you say, there are hotspots. london certainly perhaps a week or two ahead of other parts of the uk. i have heard about some pressure growing in derby and nottingham, but elsewhere, i think it perhaps is the calm before the storm. a lot of hospitals have discharged patients, started stopping routine operations, so there is a degree of space in these hospitals, but the fear is they will soon hospitals, but the fear is they will soon start filling up. nick, thank you so much for coming in and talking to us about the latest there. let's look now at other countries. spain has extended its national lockdown for at least another two weeks after the number of deaths there has passed four thousand. the spanish prime minister pedro sanchez says social isolation is the only efficient option to counter the virus. the number of people killed by it there has surged to 4,089 after the health ministry confirmed 655 people died within 24 hours.

there are now more than 56,000 known cases of covid—19 in spain. let's turn to events around the world. the us senate has unanimously trillion passed an historic $2 the us senate has unanimously passed an historic $2 trillion bill to stimulate the american economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. it's the largest financial response to date to the crisis, which has devastated financial and healthcare systems around the world. the bill will go before the house of representatives on friday. rich preston reports when the coronavirus first started to grip america, president trump promised that the economy and the wallets of everyday americans would be protected. this package passed the senate with bipartisan support.

i am proud to announce tonight that not a single senator voted against this $2 trillion rescue bill to save american individuals, small businesses, large businesses, and to provide considerable funding for the health care workers and a scientist and doctors. it is an historic day, because it matches a historic crisis. and our people need help, they were crying out to us to help. the legislation now needs approval from the house of representatives before being signed off by the president. as the number of infections has continued to rise, millions of americans have been told to stay at home — an order that will save lives but is killing business. the package includes aid for businesses to help them weather the storm, as well as payments of around $1000 made directly to many american adults. the average worker who has lost his or herjob will receive 100% of their salary for up to fourfull months. unlike normal unemployment benefits, independent contractors and the self—employed

will be eligible. it's the largest economic stimulus package in us history under a president who wants to keep america open for business. a report earlier this week gave a dire warning about the economic impact of the coronavirus, suggesting america's national gross domestic product could shrink by 24% in the second quarter of the year. keeping the economy afloat in tricky times is crucialfor this business orientated president, ahead of a presidential election due later this year. this may be the biggest test of the president's he, keen to keep people working and companies producing, and public health officials are urging for restraint and patience in the face of an invisible killer who can't be negotiated with. rich preston, bbc news.

now let's have a couple of minutes which i hope is going to be more cheerful. with the uk in lockdown and people being told not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary, many people have struggled to have the right food to make their favourite dishes, due to the lack of ingredients on british supermarkets shelves. the food writerjack monroe is known for making recipes on a budget, and she has been asking people on twitter to send pictures of what is left in their cupboards, and has come up with some interesting meal suggestions. and jackjoins us now from southend. thank you forjoining us. what is the most interesting, give us some interesting examples of la rders the most interesting, give us some interesting examples of larders or cupboards you have looked into, and interesting dishes you have come up with from that? the other day a guy sent me a picture of his larder and it had instant jellyfish sent me a picture of his larder and it had instantjellyfish and foie gras, andi it had instantjellyfish and foie gras, and i said this is a bit of a challenge for me as a food writer, but i managed to come up with some ideas for his instantjellyfish. it tends to be more regular things like

packs of lentils or cans of tomatoes, tins of beans people have picked up a not entirely sure what to do with, or odd bits of veg or whatever. you can't leave the insta nt whatever. you can't leave the instant jellyfish hanging there. whatever. you can't leave the instantjellyfish hanging there. i don't suppose there are many of us with them in our cupboard when we open the door, but what did you suggest? apparent you can marinated in soy sauce and vinegar and leave it for 30 minutes and then finely slice it and it is really nice, apparently. but it's not one i'm going to be rushing to try myself, but i'm glad i could get a use out of it for him. so going back to the most common odds and ends that people stare at and think, what on earth ami people stare at and think, what on earth am i going to do that is interesting with that, just give us a couple of ideas while you are here. most things can be made into a curry, soup, stew or casserole. if you have any basic veg, cans of beans, pulses or grains, selling them all in a pan, cook them slowly with a little bit of flavour and

bring out the best in them, basically. there has not been a picture yet that i've not been able to make a meal out of, but it does tend to be a roster of curry, soup, stew, casserole, or if all else fails, if you still have a bit of rice kicking around, you can make pretty much anything into a risotto. so it is basically undoing everything you think you know about cooking and following recipes, and just being intuitive and substituting things for what you have. and our people universally grateful, or as anything just simply not worked? i have had nothing but love from people, which is really nice. i think when people are looking in their cupboards, and they don't know what to do with it, to have a voice there going, you could make it into this or that, people are genuinely really grateful, and it is quite nice to feel useful in a time of crisis, so it's good to be doing something. was at a time that we just heard? are you cooking something right now? know, i think

that was my front door bell, so i'm ignoring it in this brave new world we live in. life going on in the background over there, but whatever it is, i'm not there! what about substitutions? what if you are somebody who always cooks with eggs, but you haven't been able to get any eggsin but you haven't been able to get any eggs in the supermarket or wherever due to the lockdown, and you just think, i don't know how to cook anything that i like now? you can't substitute it for scrambled eggs, but you can use mashed banana or apple sauce in baking, or even in some recipes just a apple sauce in baking, or even in some recipesjust a dash apple sauce in baking, or even in some recipes just a dash of vinegar. for some reason, science willjust replace what the egg does in a recipe to bind it all together, so mashed banana, apple sauce or a dash of vinegar can replace eggs in most baking recipes, but you can't scramble them and call it breakfast, u nfortu nately. scramble them and call it breakfast, unfortunately. any other lifehacker coronavirus substitutions that we absolutely need to know about right now? also eggs, you can use a can of

fizzy drink and a cake recipe instead of using eggs. someone yesterday made an irn—bru loaf. i was so yesterday made an irn—bru loaf. i was so proud of them. so fizzy drinks instead of eggs as well. but there is loads of things. shameless plug, but if you have a look on the hashtag on my twitter, there is literally hundreds of hints and tips, and it is notjust me now, other people are coming in. nigella has come along and given tips and advice, and a couple of other chefs have joined advice, and a couple of other chefs havejoined in, so it is really nice, takes the pressure off a bit. there are literally hundreds of ideas will stop so if you have something in your cupboard orjust a desperate handful of ingredients and you want to make it an out of it, send me a picture and i will do my very best. you are so kind. we will. and what is the twitter handle, then? it is jack munro's lockdown

larder. and that is monroes? yes, without an', and i'm looking at various spellings of my name to hoover up anyone who might have got it wrong. white mightjust before i let you go, what are you having for lunch from jack monroes lockdown larder? i threw a stew to get the other night, a can of chickpeas, a can of spaghetti hoops, is a manky old carrots with stock and spices, i have made it sound ghastly but it is delicious. send us a picture! post a picture! jack, thank you. enjoy your lunch. thank you. families who live in flats and don't have access to gardens are finding it particularly hard, especially if they're at the top of tower blocks. when they do get outside for their one chance to exercise a day,

play parks are now out of bounds. fiona lamdin has been to bristol. up on the 15th floor of this high—rise in bristol lives single dad samuel smith with his two young boys, aged six and two. it is like rabbits in a hutch! we are all cooped up. there is not that much we can do, because we are just in a one—bedroom. we can't really open the windows that much, because it gets cold, being on the 15th floor. this is the hallway. this is the bedroom... spending 23 hours in here with no garden is a challenge. the boys just ransacked the flat! toys everywhere. we have all been told we can go outside once a day to exercise, and for samuel and his boys at the time is precious. on their way out, they see their friend and neighbour brenda. do you need anything at all, brenda?

they have a balcony, but her children want to play outside. i feel bad, yeah. do the children understand? he understands, but he doesn't, yeah. do they keep asking you to go out? yeah. what do you say? i try to explain to them, yeah. and then we meet alan and his five—year—old daughter. he'd normally be at work in the barber's. you have got to forget about the view, forget about the weather, health and safety are more important than what it looks like outside. she is going to be safe, the people outside are going to be safe, the older people are going to be safe, it is good. it is the right thing to do. it is the best thing to do, absolutely. ten minutes later, samuel and his boys arrive at the park. used to playing inside, they now know the railings are to keep them out.

feels good being out, alexander? yes! it is really nice. it is really fun! in a world that is changing so fast, they are just taking one day at a time. fiona lamdin, bbc news. you're watching bbc news. self—employed and freelance workers hit by the coronavirus downturn will be told later today how the government will help them. employees have been guaranteed up to 80% of their wages. will the chancellor offer the same deal to hairdressers, taxi drivers, it experts, more than five million people who work for themselves? the government has announced that all nhs staff working in hospitals will be given free car parking during the coronavirus pandemic. vacuum cleaner maker, dyson,

is given an order to make 10,000 ventilators for critically ill covid—19 patients. in italy, the rate of new infections slows for four days running, but in the south of the country cases are on the rise. the virus is surging in the us — the country has almost 70,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,000 deaths. we have been reporting that measures are being announced today for the self—employed. let's look at what support is currently available for people in the crisis. if you can't work because of coronavirus, your first stop is the support as your employer. many firms are still paying staff as usual for the

moment. if they can't beat the costs themselves but the government has said it will cover 80% of wages. for the first time in our history, the garment is going to step in to help pay peoples wages. this process is automatic so you won't have to claim. it gets more complex for workers on zero hours or flexing contracts. if you are paid through paye, the government should pick up some of the bill but it is not yet clear how your earnings will be calculated. at the way, you might qualify for statutory sick pay or other benefits like employment and support allowance. the government says it is still working on detailed measures to support the self—employed and an announcement is expected soon. as things stand, you can claim the benefits in universal credit, the amount you get depends on factors such as savings, the size of yourfamily and your on factors such as savings, the size of your family and your partner is income. they have already been supports up on large queues to register online as tens of thousands try to apply at once.

nicola sturgeon is speaking in edinburgh. it is with sadness that i can report a further three deaths of patients who tested positive taking the total number of deaths in scotla nd the total number of deaths in scotland now to 25. i want to extend my condolences to all those who have lost loved ones and again thank the nhs staff who are continuing to care for people suffering from the virus. there efforts are enormously appreciated. i also want to thank the other many people keeping the essential services are going at this time of crisis. i've got a few things i want to update you on to date before i hand over to the cabinet secretary and chief medical officer and take your questions. the first of those is that coronavirus bill, passed by the uk parliament yesterday, gained royal assent yesterday. that means the scottish government now has the power to make regulations to enforce the social distancing measures that we announced on monday. we are now

preparing regulations to give police in scotland enforcement powers, collea g u es in scotland enforcement powers, colleagues in the uk government are working to do the same, and we expect these regulations to be in force as soon as possible, perhaps as early as today pulled up the regulus and give power to enforce rules which most people are now following anyway and i want to thank people for their compliance. these enforcement powers i hope do not have to be used but they are there to make sure we can ensure the right things are done to help us delay the spread of the virus. where necessary , spread of the virus. where necessary, the regulations will give powers to close at businesses and premises and help ensure that social distancing is in force by these businesses and premises which continue operating. we will also provide enforcement and they will help to enforce the rule that there should be no public gatherings of more than two people except where these are people from the same household or in other limited

circumstances such as responding to an emergency or work—related purposes that is genuinely essential. they will also enforce restrictions on people staying at home. it will now be the rule that you should only be outside for a reasonable purpose, buying food or essential health or medical supplies, travelling to or carrying out essential work, exercising once a day or providing care or assistance to others. those are found not acting in line with the regulations can be directed to return home made to return home. they can also be subject to prohibition notices and if people don't follow prohibition notices or instructions to return home, they could be liable to an on the spot fine. ultimately, if necessary, prosecuted. as the chief constable set out earlier this week and i echoed these comments, we expect the vast majority of people to do the right thing without any requirement for enforcement for that i want to remind people why they are being asked to follow these rules, it is

because by doing all these things that we help to slow the spread of the virus, reduce its impact on our nhs and ensure that the health service can provide treatment to those he needed and ultimately this is about saving lives so i note that many people want to do the right thing and! many people want to do the right thing and i encourage people to continue to do that. this will get harder to stay harder as every day that passes it to stay at home but it remains essential that we all do so. it remains essential that we all do so. the police will continue to take a softer approach to enforcement but they will, as of these regulations coming into force, have the power to act if that is deemed necessary. i recognise, i cutely recognise, how unusual and other character these regulations are. they will have important safeguards, they must root reviewed at least once every 21 days and we were acted to remove these restrictions completely as soon as it is safe to do so up the legislation itself will last for a maximum of six months. these

regulations would have been unimaginablejust regulations would have been unimaginable just a few weeks ago about the measures i repeat are essential in order to tackle this virus and the impact it will have on all of us. one question we have continually been asked, and this is the next issue i want to update on, is about equipment for health and ca re is about equipment for health and care staff. today, i want to take the opportunity to emphasise lit mag are emphasised to nhs workers and those working in the wider care sector that we know how important this is and it is an issue that we attach the highest priority too. today, we are announcing that we have brought an extra one and a half million face masks back into use from the nhs scotland central stockpile. these protective masks we re stockpile. these protective masks were stockpiled because they were past their expiry date but they have now undergone extensive testing which has shown them to be fit for use. i will ask the cabinet secretary to say a word or two more about ppe. we will also continue to

do everything necessary to protect businesses and communities from the economic impact of these essential public health measures. i welcome the fact that the chancellor will provide details for self—employed people later on today. this is something the scottish government has consistently called for and if there is a role for the scottish government following his announcement, we will do whatever is required to ensure that self—employed people in scotland get the help they need. we appreciate that people may be beginning to struggle now and that some people face the prospect of several weeks waiting forfunding. face the prospect of several weeks waiting for funding. last week it was announced that £350 million of funding, which included extra support for councils to help people cope with the social and economic crisis. as part of that, we more than doubled the scottish welfare fund which is administered by local councils and that makes a community gra nts councils and that makes a community grants and crisis grants available to those who are in immediate need. these funds now have more flexibility and people should know that they are there for anyone who

is facing real hardship. other support is also available. while i know there are long waits, i would encourage people to ensure that they apply for statutory sick pay or universal credit. speak to your local council about your council tax to find out if you are eligible for a council tax reduction for top scottish government has given councils more money to support that. speak to your energy provider if you are finding it hard to pay your energy bills or have any issues with the payment metre. they have schemes in place to help with that. you should speak to your mortgage provider or landlord about your rent or mortgage. we have been very clear that six months mortgage holidays should be available and that nobody, absolutely nobody, should be facing eviction as a result of this crisis. my eviction as a result of this crisis. my message today is that help is available so if you are suffering hardship and you haven't yet explored these options, please reach out. the earlier you do that, the earlier you can access assistance. that helps to summarise some of the

key developments in the last 24 hours. however, as you will have gathered, our key message remains the same. the scottish government, working with the uk government, is supporting our nhs to meet the challenge that it currently faces and the even tougher challenge that we anticipate lies ahead. we are also working flat out to ensure that communities and businesses and individuals across the country get to support as well. this is, indeed it has to be, a collective effort. the power to stop this epidemic rests with each and every one of us as individuals. by sticking to the lockdown, by staying at home, except when it is essential not to and keeping it two metres apart, all of us can keeping it two metres apart, all of us can help to slow the spread of cases and ultimately that helps us to reduce the number of people who will die from this virus. if we help each other, as we do that, finding existing and new ways to support each other, even as we are physically separated, we can all

help each other get through this. once again, i want to thank everybody across scotland who are taking these steps and it please note that no matter how difficult this is, and it will get more difficult as the days pass, in complying with these measures, each and every one of you is helping to save lives. so thank you for that. i will hand over to the cabinet secretary say a few words and then i will hand over to the chief medical officer. thank you. can i start with the ffp three respiratory masks that we have released for use today from the central stockpile. the first minister mentioned those. they had expiry dates ofjune and august 2019 which is why we have not reduced —— released them until now. we have them independently tested to ensure that they remained safe and valid. that testing has been supplemented by the view of the health and safety

executive and our own h ps and also has the support of the chair of the academy of medical oncology is and faculties in scotland. all ensuring that these masks are safe to use and they will now be issued across those parts of our health service where there are the appropriate masks to use. in addition, we are paying very close and detailed daily attention to the overall stock of ppe for our health and social care staff. we are “ we health and social care staff. we are — — we have health and social care staff. we are —— we have taken over the ordering supply and distribution of ppe to social care and care at home staff and are looking daily at not only the ordering but also what is in the pipeline. as of today, we have no

shortages in those areas. we are increasing the distribution routes and networks in order to ensure that the supplies people need get to where they are needed across the country, including in ruralareas, as quickly as possible. because as has been said, the safety of our health and social care staff is of critical importance. we are taking every step we can to make sure they have the equipment they need as quickly as they needed. we have orders in the pipeline to ensure that the stocks are consistently replenished. thank you, first minister. once again we have seen the numberof minister. once again we have seen the number of confirmed cases in scotland rise and very sadly the numberof scotland rise and very sadly the number of deaths has again risen. as i have said before, this of course isa very i have said before, this of course is a very significant underestimate of the numberof

is a very significant underestimate of the number of cases in scotland. we are probably looking at of the order of perhaps 40 to 50,000 people in scotland who are now infected with coronavirus. many of them don't yet know that they are infected, nor did they realise that they are potentially going to infect those around them. it has been very encouraging to see the empty streets and the empty shops and the empty transport in scotland. this is going to bea transport in scotland. this is going to be a long haul and ijust encourage people to come as a weekend comes, the weekend perhaps unlike any other you have ever experienced, the children are already asking if they can go back to school because they miss their friends and the fun at that school can bring as well as the hard work. but as we approach the weekend, do not relax those rules, do not be tempted to see other families from other households. that confining yourself to your own household, not mixing with other people is so key

and so important and i thank those who have been able to do this so far andl who have been able to do this so far and i really just who have been able to do this so far and i reallyjust encourage. the viruses out there and you do not know who has it, stay away from as many people as possible. please do get out and exercise just once a day. that is very important for all of us, too. thank you, can open to any questions. how much... what is the maximum if you are prosecuted and will there be penalties for businesses? on the health side, are there —— what are the nhs are

volunteers in scotland ? there —— what are the nhs are volunteers in scotland? the numbers that you mentioned of 50,000, that is never nearly 50% they were talking a few weeks ago, are we now at risk of a second wave?|j talking a few weeks ago, are we now at risk of a second wave? i will pass over to catherine on the health questions. on the questions about penalties, right now you understand how quickly we are doing this work. we arejust finalising how quickly we are doing this work. we are just finalising all of the details around penalties and things like the fine labelling and potential imprisonment and that will be finalised today for that we don't have as consistent as possible for that we will publish that as soon as possible today. i would take the opportunity now to stress that these enforcement measures, i would hope never have to be used. they are there as a last resort. they are there as a last resort. they are there to underline the seriousness

of what we're asking people to do and the importance of very high compliance. my hope is that people will comply the right reasons, the health reasons, and that we will not have to use these enforcement measures was not but the detail you are asking for will be published later on. on the about the volunteers. there are numerous roots and we can set this out for people, people are offering their services to the nhs and community efforts and these will be coordinated by local resilience partnerships. what we're looking at right now is bringing together a central point, whatever people skills are, can they can register their interest and i'll be more information provided shortly. i will hand over to the chief medical officer about a second wave. we know from modelling that these measures

need to be in place for a long time. we have said that repeatedly. we do also know that there will be a spike of crisis once we have suppressed and released those measures. we have and released those measures. we have a new covid—19 scientific advisory group in scotland which is meeting today and one of the asks i have of them is to look at what is happening in other countries as those measures are lifted. for example, china has lifted its measure it took five days before they were starting to report new cases again. we want to follow what is happening across the world so what is happening across the world so that through that scientific advisory group we can provide the bespoke scientific new based evidence as to what we should be doing in scotland. you mentioned field hospitals. those words are used perhaps more loosely than a traditional field hospital that we have all the time. we have our

scottish field hospital or is available and training to support the armed forces if they need to be deployed. what we are talking about is increasing nhs hospital capacity. we have been an early discussion with our colleagues in the armed forces, that is a uk armed forces offered across the uk and we are looking to what we would want and needin looking to what we would want and need in scotland and also where those sites would be. we want to have our nhs capacity is maximised as possible and one possibility is therefore having temporary hospitals to increase that capacity. therefore having temporary hospitals to increase that capacitylj therefore having temporary hospitals to increase that capacity. i just wanting to discuss intensive care. we have seen trajectories across the uk in terms of capacity of our intensive care beds have been rising steeply of the past few days. where are we in terms of getting that

additional capacity? the cabinet secretary talked about quadrupling to 700 so how many do we have ready now and again following on about extra capacity, are you now in a position to say we could be using places as an opportunity to make more beds? can ijust say a couple of words and that. and then to the cabinet secretary about nhs capacity. i gave a number yesterday for those that we know, as of the night before, that were in intensive care, that number today is 57. we have spare capacity in intensive ca re have spare capacity in intensive care right now but that is being monitored closely and work to increase intensive care capacity is ongoing and will continue to be ongoing. catherine, do you want to maybe address the point of where we are in relation to other parts of

the uk and thenjane can say a bit more about maximising capacity, not just in intensive care because the nhs? we still remain behind, particularly london, but other parts of england as it to the number of cases and that pressure on the nhs, both acute beds and also intensive ca re both acute beds and also intensive care beds. we perhaps have put the submission, so it suppression measures, in earlier on that upsurge of the curve and we hope that that rapidly acceleration we have talked about is perhaps not as rapid as has been seen in other parts of the country. it is not that i'm saying that it country. it is not that i'm saying thatitis country. it is not that i'm saying that it is not going to be rapid and these numbers of cases are already seeing day after day increasing but perhaps not as rapid, particularly when we have good compliance with the suppression measures. what we

said initially in terms of intensive ca re said initially in terms of intensive care beds was we aim to double the numberwe care beds was we aim to double the number we currently had to take that to 380. we are well on track to doing that but we need to keep a numberof doing that but we need to keep a number of those doing that but we need to keep a numberof those in doing that but we need to keep a number of those in terms of calculations at the non—covert patients because emergency care continues in our nhs. —— covid patients. we have the aim of quadrupling the number so we would double that again and that work is under way to look at all the ways by which we might do that, alongside our work on securing additional ventilators and the supply of medical equipment that would be needed for that quadrupling of intensive care beds. on the other measure which was increasing the capacity inside our nhs, at the moment in terms of beds, not

intensive care beds but beds, we said we would release 3000 from the existing bed capacity to have that set aside the covid patients and we have almost secured that, we are a couple of hundred short but we will get to that 3000 very quickly. that has come largely from the other steps we have taken. and we are going to leave the news conference at their in scotland. numbers are up by three to 25 deaths unfortunately and numbers of infections underestimated. we say goodbye to viewers on bbc world. more on that coming up. also more on the virtual meeting of the g20, held

by saudi arabia. with many world leaders attending. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. we are continuing to see today the higher temperatures across the western side of england and wales thanked the easterly breeze. we still have this band of cloud, it is a week where the front, producing some patchy rain, mainly across scotla nd some patchy rain, mainly across scotland for a bit dry, then a cloud coming into northern ireland. the england and wales, we will have some clear skies. it may well find is a mess and fog in the vale of york and there will be widespread frost, as i was last night. there may be frost for the highlands of scotland to the north of that band of cloud where we will see some sunshine on friday and may be the odd shower. generally light and patchy, dry a brighter weather than northern ireland. maybe some cloud affecting parts of the south—east for a while but on the whole, still pretty sunny for england and wales. that will be more ofa england and wales. that will be more of a breeze on friday so

temperatures would be quite as high as we have seen today. more significant changes are coming this weekend. we still have high pressure dominating our weather. sitting to the north—west of the uk. it is changing the wind direction and where ourair is changing the wind direction and where our air is coming from so we are going to be picking up air coming from the north so it is going to be colder. you will notice that but there will also be a stronger wind which will make it feel colder as well. that's really starts to develop during a saturday. we also noticed much more cloud across the uk, notjust in scotland and northern ireland but putting into england and wales. chance of one or two light showers but on the whole i think it will be dry. temperatures are going to start to ebb away so perhaps 12 degrees but with the wind picking up through the day it will feel colder as well. that colder theme continues as we move into a british summer time on sunday. again, a lot of cloud. still some sunshine here and there but a fair bit of cloud. ciao is more likely it

was the north—west. they temperatures are more typical of january. —— showers are more likely. here, it may feel more like two or three degrees. as we move into the early pa rt three degrees. as we move into the early part of next week, we will find this quiet, generally dry and cloudy weather continuing but the winds that won't be a strong, it won't feel as cold by day but could be chillier at night.

new measures are expected, giving financial support to self—employed people and freelancers. the chancellor will unveil a package of help later — after criticism that millions had lost income because of coronavirus. i immediately went from earning to not earning, whereas people i know that are employed are still getting their salary. it's not clear whether all self—employed people will be eligible for help — we'll have more on what's expected. also this lunchtime... as nhs staff say they need more protective equipment, the army helps with the distribution of medical supplies. the death toll in the united states goes over 1000. we have exclusive access to south korea's intensive—care units —