this is bedtime stories with bostock. i hope you're ready to sleep. here we go. long ago there lived a moose. he was big, he was tall, but his legs were too long. if you want to see what your club is doing, the bbc sport website has a daily updated list of what many clubs are doing in these unprecedented times. fantastic! now it's time for a look at the weather, with darren bett. we have more sunshine across england and wales. it's a different story for northern ireland and scotland, a week weather weather front producing patchy rain and drizzle. it's brightening up across parts of northern ireland, get some sunshine around dumfries and galloway and it could pop of or two sharp showers. the sunny dry weather continues in england and wales. an easterly

breeze, higher temperatures in western parts of england and wales. it's been 17 degrees in west wales. much coolerfor it's been 17 degrees in west wales. much cooler for aberdeen, dundee and edinburgh underneath the cloud in the cloud will be there tonight still producing some pockets of rain and drizzle, something a little bit drierfor northern and drizzle, something a little bit drier for northern ireland. and drizzle, something a little bit drierfor northern ireland. clear skies for england and wales, some mist and fog through the vale of york and another frost like it was this morning, widely for england and wales, and may be across the north west of scotland. here to the north of that band of cloud so some sunshine and maybe one or two showers on friday, we still got some pockets of rain and drizzle across central southern scotland, some brighter skies for northern ireland, the best of the sunshine for england and wales although they could be some cloud in the south—east but more of a breeze probably during tomorrow so temperature is not quite as high as today. more significant changes arrive this weekend. we've still got high pressure in charge, it's towards the north—west of the uk, but it's going to drag down more cloud across all parts of the country. the wind direction is

changing, more of a northerly wind coming and bringing with it colder airand a coming and bringing with it colder air and a stronger wind as well. throughout the course of saturday those winds do pick up and as you can see there's more cloud across england and wales. there will be a little sunshine at times, may one or two showers for the eastern coast but on the whole it will be dry. those temperatures beginning to ebb away a bit, still potentially i2 degrees across southern parts of england and wales but the winds will be picking up throughout the day, so it will start to feel a bit cold as well. that continues into sunday. we move into british summer time of course, but again, it looks like it's generally dry, a lot of cloud and sunshine are here and there and temperatures, well, looking like this. that's more typical of january, would you believe it. add on the strength of the wind which will be strongest across more southern and eastern parts of the uk and it may feel more like two three degrees. so quite a change from last weekend. as we move into the early

pa rt weekend. as we move into the early part of next week, well, we're going to find the quiet weather continuing. still a fair bit of cloud around. the winds won't be strong. it won't feel as cold by day but it could turn a bit chilly night. a reminder of our top story... the chancellor will unveil a package of measures later to help self—employed people after criticism that millions have lost income because of coronavirus. that's all from the bbc news at one.

good afternoon. you're watching bbc news. we will take you through the afternoon and keep you up—to—date with the latest developments regarding coronavirus. nhs hospitals are expected to see a surge in coronavirus cases, with the peak of the virus expected

injust over two weeks. work is under way to transform the excel conference centre in east london into a makeshift field hospitalfor 4,000 patients. our correspondent angus crawford has been at the site and sent this update. well, the excel centre, which normally host events like the boat show or in 2012 many of the london 0lympic events, this enormous venue, 600 metres long, 100,000 square feet of space in there, as you can see here, at the moment those enormous white objects are oxygen tanks which are being put into place, and pipes are then going to be run into the building to provide vitally needed oxygen to the patients 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 trusts in london yesterday, for volunteers

to come forward. everyone from hospital 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, a potential that is, to treat something like 4000 patients here in two separate wards. it's thought that the ambulances will arrive here, then the patients will be triaged just inside and pushed 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 wind sock. that is now closed to commercial aviation, but two days ago we saw a large raf transport aircraft do a landing herejust 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. but it is also clear there are other facilities being readied across the country. the department of health says there may be as many as ten or 13, and i know that the nec in birmingham, a vast space, even bigger than the excel, has also been approached and is on readiness to help. doctors and gps have complained to the government about a lack of protective equipment and medical staff falling ill. professor martin marshall, chair of the college of general practitioners, who has written to the health secretary, matt hancock, raising concerns over the lack of ppe equipment. this is a massive challenge for general practitioners. we know that tens of thousands of gps across the country are rising to this challenge.

they are working flat out. they are increasingly on the front line with people with covid, a lot of attention so far has been on the hospital sector but of course general practitioners are going to be dealing with more patients who are infected and increasingly sick patients who are infected as well. so, what we are hearing from gps across the country are ongoing concerns about 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 are experiencing, but what 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 there. the second one is about the quality of the protective equipment. are gps given adequate cover? at the moment, it comprises a face mask, plastic apron and gloves. the facemask is probably 0k, the plastic apron doesn't cover the arms or the neck.

we don't think it's adequate. and there is no eye protection equipment which the world health organization suggests we should have. so that's the second concern and the third concern is that whenever gps are seeing patients face—to—face, given that we know that probably a lot of patience that we see will be infected, with or without symptoms, should they be wearing protective equipment all the time now? that has policy implications because, if we do wear equipment for all face—to—face consultations, that will reduce the supply even further. another three people have died as a result of coronavirus in scotland, taking the number now to 25. the first minister said the scottish government has brought an extra 1.5 million face masks into use from the nhs stockpile, after they were tested to ensure they're safe and valid.

nicola sturgeon also revealed how new regulations were being prepared to give police in scotland enforcement powers to enforce social distancing rules. we are now preparing regulations to give police 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. the regulations give power to enforce rules which most people are now following anyway and i want to thank people for their compliance with the advice. 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, the regulations will give powers to require the closure of listed businesses and premises and help ensure that social distancing is enforced by these businesses and premises which are able to continue operating. we will also provide enforcement powers to the police

and where appropriate to people designated by local authorities. 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 the 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 household or medical supplies, travelling to or carrying out essential work, exercising once a day or providing care or assistance to others. those found not acting in line with the regulations can be directed to return home or 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 and ultimately, if necessary, prosecuted. as the chief constable set out earlier this week, and i echo these comments, we expect the vast

majority of people to do the right thing without any requirement for enforcement. i want to remind people why they are being asked to follow these rules, it is because by doing all these things 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 who need it and ultimately this is about saving lives. two prisoners have died from coronavirus in the uk. the first is an 84—year—old male sex offender at hmp littlehey, in cambridgeshire, who died in hospital on sunday. the second is a male offender held in manchester, both had underlying health issues. it comes as some 6,600 prison staff, about 12% of the workforce are off work because they are ill or self—isolating, and the government considers releasing some low risk offenders to ease pressures. my colleague annita mcveigh

spoke to mark fairhurst, the national chairfor the prison officer's association uk who said that coronavirus poses an acute risk to the uk's overcrowded prisons. it's under a great deal of stress, as are my members on the front line who are suffering from a lack of personal protective equipment. we do hope those supplies will get through as a matter of urgency and just to update you, the latest statistics tell us that there are currently 1a members of staff who have been diagnosed with covid—19, 20 prisoners and we are now up to 12% of our workforce, over 6600, who are self—isolating at home. we have managed to cope very well at the moment and it is admirable the effort that everybody is putting in and we are determined to keep working in partnership with the government and hmpps to keep everybody safe. but there are certain settings where maintaining the social distance that the government is advising is the ideal is just not possible and presumably prisons are

one of those places? it is not possible if we have rogue governors throughout the estate playing god with people's lives. they must adhere to the strict guidelines that have been issued this week to enforce social distancing, not have large groups of prisoners unlocked at any one time and to do the best we can for everybody. but in terms of the actual typical prison, explain to our viewers, presumably aren't the rooms, isolation cells and so on, for example, if prison officers suspect that a prisoner may be ill, to put someone in? and presumably it is quite difficult for them to take themselves off rota as well if they are feeling, well, i might have coronavirus but i might not? yes, we have some very effective procedures in place. but you're quite right that our prisons are overcrowded so if one person is sharing a cell with someone who doesn't show signs

01’ symptoms, both prisoners then have to self—isolate. but what a lot of prisons would have been doing which is good practice is to get all of those people who are showing signs of covid—19 onto the same wing so they remove them from the general population. but it is very difficult. it is difficult to self—isolate but it can be done. it can be done, social distancing, we just need to work differently and work together to get through this crisis that we face. if there is a reduced number of prison officers working currently because of the pandemic, how difficult is it to ensure the safety of your prison officers? well, we will always deliver essential services so we will make sure that we care for the most vulnerable who are in our prisons. we have support mechanisms in place, mental health teams in our prisons and we do regular checks on those who are most at risk. so, we have procedures in place. we will be getting prisoners out of their cells, a few at a time, to observe those social distancing protocols, to get showers.

we will make sure they have access to telephones so they can maintain those family contacts and we will give them exercise in the open air. again, working differently to observe as much as we practically can, those measures that we are all observing in the general public. the headlines on bbc news: self employed and freelance workers hit by the coronavirus downturn will be told later today how the government will help them. nhs staff say they need more protective equipment, as the army helps with the distribution of vital medical supplies. vacuum cleaner maker, dyson, is given an order to make 10,000 ventilators for critically ill covid—19 patients, but they may not be ready for several months.

with much of europe in lockdown, the european parliament is holding an extraordinary session about measures to tackle covid—19. 0ur correspondent gavin lee has more on that from brussels. today is a very interesting day for where the european union comes in. spain is one of a number of countries that are asking for help very quickly. so there are two things going on. one is you've got this procurement programme for equipment asap, basically you've got all countries trying to buy contracts forface masks, ventilators, clothing, protective stuff. that will take another 2—3 weeks, we're told, until that can be fairly distributed. so that process, it only started a couple of days ago officially. then you've got an emergency session of the european parliament today, no more going to strasbourg and brussels — as a matter in fact, the meps, 750 of them, just over 700 now without the british, have been told that you cannot go to a second country.

your place to live is your place of work, so most of these people will be in brussels, and they will vote remotely on a 37 billion euros packag of things like helping notjust for medicine but helping those out of work across europe, also helping to come up with a research programme and a vaccine. just to slightly complicate the matter a bit more, the european stability mechanism is adding 500 billion to the pot. the european central bank talking about adding 750 billion. so the president of the european parliament saying that they are looking at a possible e2 trillion. so in theory, actually, that sounds like a lot, but the reality is, if greece, italy takes some of these debt money, it adds to theirfurther debt. and a further note, eu leaders meet in further this afternoon, also by video conference, i think we'll get a sense of the dire situation that some countries are in a lot more clearly tonight. 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 at 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. the 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 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. here in the uk, measures to further limit our social contact have been in place since monday, here's a quick reminder of of the latest government guidance. the latest government restrictions mean you can now only leave your home at the very specific reasons. they are to shop for basic necessities like food and medicine. you can go outside the one form of exercise a day, alone or with members of your household. all gatherings of more than two people are banned. you can leave home for

any medical need or ought to care for a vulnerable person. and finally, you cannot travel to and from work, but only where absolutely necessary and if you cannot work from home. you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect yourself. that is all on the bbc news app and also on oui’ all on the bbc news app and also on our website. with social distancing measures tightening around the world, how can we maintain our love life during the coronavirus outbreak? well, many of you are coming up with creative solutions, such as video dating. 0livia le poidevin reports. these video dates, it kind of makes you connect on a different level. it is quite fun. let's be honest, if you are dating right now, there's probably one thing that's on your mind... coronavirus. around 180 million people worldwide are using dating apps and it seems

like a lot of you on them right now are talking about coronavirus. in many parts of the world, people are being asked to minimise all nonessential social contact. so, a lot of you are starting to take serious measures when it comes to dating and your love life. including one medical student in tunisia. because of the coronavirus, i have decided to stop using dating apps like tinder. and tonnes of you are suddenly having to do long distance because of the pandemic. like hannah, who is having to do long distance in malaysia, her boyfriend is in another city but they can't see each other due to restrictions on movement in the country. it is quite challenging. we are not used to not seeing each other for such a long time. so how can we maintain our love life during the coronavirus outbreak? don't worry, there could be some solutions. yes, video dating

is becoming a thing. how it works is you organise a video call with one of your matches and you both sit at home and chat. ok, but what could you plan to do on a video date? this is what one man from cape town, south africa, did in his. it was quite sweet. they were taking me out for dinner. sent me a recipe, we bought our ingredients, bought a bottle of wine and yes, we cooked together over face time and we just chatted like a normal dinner date. but is video dating actually worth it? i would definitely go on another video date. it is intimate on a different level and i kind of like that. but what about if you are already in a relationship and want to keep the spark alive without being able to leave your home? well, here is some inspiration from selena in washington, dc. because we are trying to do our part to be responsible and social distancing, we decided to have a stay at home at date night. so, i put on this really sparkly dress,

he put on his suit jacket, we ended up dancing in the living room and drinking some champagne that we had in the fridge. and here are some tips if you are having to do long distance. we call to make sure that we are ok while were studying. we would do movie nights through skype and honestly, it really, really helps. and for those who want to know if it is ok to hug or kiss your partner, here is that some advice from a professor. well, given that the virus is spread through droplets, if someone is feeling unwell or might have a high fever, dry cough, sneezing, it is probably better to hold off on kissing or holding hands for one or two weeks, until they are feeling better. if you are in doubt about any of this, probably the best thing to do is... stay safe, stay single. glad someone has got a solution. moving swiftly on, maybe we'll talk about that later on in the day. now, australia is in lockdown too, and one affected group is the pub choir.

so the organisers decided to start a choir for people stuck at home and in the end 1,000 people from 18 countries took part in this virtual choir performance. let's take a listen. # why do stars fall down from the sky # every time you walk by? # just like me, they want to be close to you # 0n the day that you were born # the angels got together # and decided to create a dream come true # so they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold # and starlight in your eyes are blue.#

do they take requests? have a bit of kylie. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. even as early as this morning, the temperature in west wales was up to 16 degrees. and we are continuing to see today the higher temperatures across the western side of england and wales thanks to the easterly breeze. further north in scotland and ireland, it's a bit cooler here, because we've still got this band of cloud. it's a very weak weather front, still producing some patchy rain, maybe across scotland. a little bit drier, thinner cloud coming into northern ireland. for england and wales, we will have some clear skies. may well find some mist and fog forming through the vale of york and there will be a widespread frost as there 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, may be the odd shower too. most of the rain continues across central southern scotland, generally light and patchy. drier, brighter weather i think for northern ireland. maybe some cloud affecting parts of the south—east for a while, but on the whole it is still pretty sunny for england and wales. but there will be more of a breeze i think on friday, so temperatures won't be quite

as high as we've seen today. more significant changes, though, coming this weekend. we've still got high pressured dominating our weather. it's sitting to the north—west of the uk. so it's changing the wind direction and where our air is coming from. so we're going to be picking up air coming from the north, so it's going to be colder. you'll notice that. but there will also be a stronger wind, which will make it feel colder as well, and that really starts to develop during saturday. you also notice much more cloud across the uk. not just in scotland and northern ireland, but pushing into england and wales. a chance of one or two light showers near some of those eastern coasts, but on the whole, i think it will be dry. but temperatures are going to start to ebb away, so perhaps 12 degrees across more southern parts of england and wales, but with the wind picking up through the day, it will feel colder as well. so that colder theme continues as we move into british summer time on sunday. again, a lot of cloud, still some sunshine here and there, but a fair bit of cloud. showers are more likely towards the north—west. those temperatures are more typical ofjanuary,

but when you add on the wind, with the strongest winds across more central and eastern parts of england, well, here it may feel more like two or three degrees. as we move into the early part of next week, we will find this quiet, generally dry and fairly cloudy weather continuing, but the winds won't be as strong. it won't feel as cold by day, but it could be chillier at night.

this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines at 2. the government is to announce new measures, giving financial support to self—employed and freelancers, who have lost millions because of coronavirus. i immediately went from earning to not earning. whereas friends who are employed, they are still getting their salary. as nhs staff say they need more protective equipment, the army helps with the distribution of vital medical supplies. vaccum cleaner maker dyson is given an order to make 10,000 ventilators for patients, but they may not be ready for months and the nhs estimate they need 30,000 ventilators in the united states, record numbers of unemployment