this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. tests for front line nhs staff begin in england this weekend — 10 days after wales started theirs — following heavy criticism over a lack of testing for health workers. the three men spearheading the uk's fight against covid—19 self—isolate — two of them test postive for the virus and the third thinks he may have it. the english cities of birmingham and manchester join london with plans to open more temporary hospitals to help cope with the pandemic in the uk. president trump signs a stimulus bill worth more than two point two trillion dollars to help america cope with the coronavirus pandemic. one day we get help with this thing

that nobody ever heard of before, nobody even ever heard of before and now we are fighting a different battle. japan's prime minister says tokyo is on the brink of an emergency and urges people to avoid enclosed spaces as new virus cases increase. and in wuhan, where the outbreak began — after two months of total lockdown the city partially re—opens again. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. around 600,000 cases have now been confirmed worldwide. in england, the government begins testing front line nhs staff this weekend. it's following days of criticism that health workers with symptoms

have been unable to treat patients. wales began testing critical healthworkers last week prime minister borisjohnson has tested positive for coronavirus. health secretary matt hancock has also been diagnosed with covid—19, and chief medical officer chris whitty is in isolation after developing symptoms. three new temporary hospitals in birmingham, manchester and cardiff will be set up to help cope with the coronavirus crisis. another hospital is being set up in london's excel centre will be available for use next week. the city where the coronavirus pandemic began, wuhan in china, has partially re—opened — after more than two months of isolation. people are being allowed to enter but not leave. in the us, president trump approved a $2.2 trillion emergency spending package to give a lifeline to the economy. there are now more than 100,000 confirmed cases in the country. we'll have more on all of those developments — but we start with this report

from our correspondent andy moore. they're the three men spearheading the national fight against covid—19 and all three are now self—isolating because they have or think they have the virus. i've developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus, that's to say a temperature and a persistent cough. the prime minister is in self quarantine in this flat above 11 downing street, but says he remains firmly in charge. be in no doubt that i can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fight back against coronavirus. on wednesday, the prime minister was in the house of commons, with his health minister sitting close by. matt hancock has also now tested positive. i'll be continuing to do everything i can to get our carers

the support that they need and i'll be doing that from here, but with no less gusto. the government's chief medical officer hasn't tested positive, but professor chris witty said he had symptoms compatible with covid—19. the nhs is already treating over 6,000 coronavirus patients and thousands more are expected in the coming weeks at new hospitals like this one at the excel centre in london. drive—in testing centres for front line nhs staff have already opened up. this is in nottingham. more are coming on stream this weekend. if somebody falls ill, they can come into one of the driving centres that we have set up at boots and get tested, so that the very next day they will have a result to know if they do or don't have the coronavirus. and if they don't it's often safer than to go back to work. health workers have also been calling repeatedly for better personal protection equipment.

the government has changed its guidance to recommend the wearing of equipment for high—risk procedures that might generate droplets. but the hospital doctors union says it doesn't go far enough. they want all staff and patients in hospitals to have access to surgical masks whether they have the virus or not. in london, many streets are nearly empty. the capital is dealing with more coronavirus cases than any other part of the country. the stay—at—home message is getting through, but will it be enough to stop the nhs being overwhelmed? andy moore, bbc news. our political correspondent helen catt. is there a sort of degree of embarrassment at all in downing street that the three top figures in this fight back all appear to have been at least suffering from the symptoms, and chris what a's been at least suffering from the symptoms, and chris what as case, and that both matt hancock and boris johnson were seen earlier in the week clearly not observing the rules about physical distancing. yet they

have been the main face is telling us have been the main face is telling us to obey this. mac the rules about washing our hands. this was put to michael gove who stood in for boris johnson at his daily press briefing yesterday and what he said was, what this goes to show is that the virus doesn't discriminate. he said that government does has social distancing measures in place but that basically anyone could catch it. you are right, there have been questions asked about... you saw those pictures from house of commons earlier this week about whether they we re earlier this week about whether they were far enough apart. that daily press briefing, some questions about whether the lecterns had been far apart, there have been moved a lot further apart in recent days. aye thanks for now, we'll talk to you again. the first of several planned temporary hospitals is set to go online next week at the excel london exhibition centre with 500 of a planned 4,000 beds being made ready. angus crawford is there for us now.

tell us more about what kind of facilities are going to be available once the hospital goes live. it's an extraordinary logistical operation thatis extraordinary logistical operation that is taking place here, this is essentially an enormous empty barn and there in the process of converting into what might be the biggest hospital in the uk. next week they hope to have 500 intensive ca re week they hope to have 500 intensive care unit beds. beds which will have ventilators and oxygen. 500 potentially available by the middle of next week. they say if it should be necessary, both of those enormous halls, that's 100,000 square be necessary, both of those enormous halls, that's100,000 square metres, you could bet the footprint of terminal five at heathrow in there, they say that should it be needed, they say that should it be needed, they can escalate up to 4000 intensive care beds. why is that now is that your? that's because and

effect london has become the epicentre of the uk's coronavirus outbreak, with more than 30% of 30% of all of the cases, more than 4000 cases. there are realfears of all of the cases, more than 4000 cases. there are real fears that the critical care capacity in london could be overwhelmed. one doctor a couple of days ago spoke about what he saw as a tsunami of cases. well, following the news that britain's prime minister and health secretary have both fallen ill to the coronavirus, one of the country's most prestigious medicaljournals launched an attack against the government's handling of the virus epidemic. in an editorial in the lancet, health service officials are accused of having failed to adequately prepare for the arrival of the virus, leading to chaos and panic. it claims this has left britain's health service unprepared to handle the flow of patients requiring treatment. in spain, the country's health ministry reports the country's death toll from the virus rose by more than 800 overnight. it brings the total

of those struck down by the virus to more then 5,600 people. the increase of 832 deaths exceeds yesterday's record breaking one—day figure for fatalities in the country. spain has now more than 72,000 people infected with the virus. president trump has spoken to the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, after the pm tested positive for coronavirus —— with the two countries agreeing to work closely to fight the pandemic. in the us, mr trump signed into law a two—trillion—dollar emergency spending package to relieve the impact of the coronavirus on the us economy. millions of americans have lost theirjobs as a result of the crisis. from there, here's nick bryant. new york, new york, the worst infected city in what is now the worst infected country. there was always a sense that this planetary pandemic would end up ravaging this global hub.

while there is a deceptive calm on the quiet streets, behind the doors of its hospitals, the crisis is getting worse. emergency calls have hit their highest level since the attacks of september 11. hospital staff are describing a tsunami of patients flooding their emergency rooms. we are thought to be three weeks away from the peak here. and already they are exhausted. it's been like a war zone. a medical war zone. we are working with limited resources. with the constant disparities of pain and suffering we see not only with those afflicted with the coronavirus, but also those coming in for trauma. and so it is very physically and mentally exhausting. the very things that make new york so great have now made it vulnerable. its vibrancy, the fact it is such a melting pot. we are so dense, we are so together, which is what makes us special, gives us that new york energy,

gives us that new york mojo, it also, that density becomes the enemy in a situation like this. in midtown manhattan something we haven't seen since 9/11. refrigerated trucks ready to store the corpses of the dead. each one is capable of holding up to 44 bodies. these workmen were constructing a makeshift morgue. america is paying the price for not being prepared, for not taking the coronavirus seriously enough when it was ripping through china, for not ramping up testing quickly enough when it first came to these shores. for losing precious time. like the rest of the world, america is not just facing a public health crisis, but an economic emergency. category five style devastation to the businesses forced to shutter their doors.

at least congress has now passed a 2 trillion dollar stimulus package, a lifeline to an economy that this week saw its biggest unemployment spike in history. i never signed anything with a t on it. i don't know if i can handle this one! it was signed into law by america's billionaire president. republican lawmakers by his side. but the democrats cold shouldered. election political distancing. one day we get hit with this thing nobody ever heard of before, nobody ever even heard of before. now we are fighting a different battle. but i really think in a fairly short period of time, because of what they have done, and what everyone has done, i really think we are going to be stronger than ever. america is on a war footing, led by a commander—in—chief desperate but unable to declare victory. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. president trump has ordered general motors to make ventilators for patients, after he invoked the korean war—era

defence production act, which allows a president to force companies to make products for national defence. earlier today, mr trump said the us would deliver over 100,000 additional ventilators in the next 100 days. 29,000 ventilators are distributed in the united states each year. in the next 100 days, first of all we have already delivered thousands of them, but within the next 100 days people either make or get in some form over 100,000 additional units. i guess to put it in other words, in the next 100 days we will receive over three times the number of ventilators made during a regular yearin ventilators made during a regular year in the united states and that doesn't include all of the thousands and thousands that we've given to the various states, a lot of them. injapan, the number of cases appears to be rising again —

with more than fifty new infections in a single day in tokyo. the governor of the city urged people to stay indoors said the capital was now on the brink of an emergency. tokyo was due to host the olympic and paralympic games this year, but they have been postponed because of the outbreak. japan's prime minister, shinzo abe, warned people not to be complacent and to learn from what's happening in the west. translation: compared with western countries, the total number of infection is lower. what we are seeing over time, including incubation period, this is a reflection of what happened or infections which happen to weeks ago already. expansion, if that is already. expansion, if that is already happening, this is not something that we can discover right away, only in two weeks. it is to be

affected numbers, and whilst it happens, then the speed of the infection be uncontrollable. the headlines on bbc news... tests for front line nhs staff begin in england this weekend — ten days after wales started theirs — following heavy criticism over a lack of testing for health workers. president trump has signed into law a two—point two trillion— dollar emergency spending package to relieve the impact of the coronavirus on the us economy. another 832 people have died of the virus in spain in the past 24 hours — that's the highest number the country has recorded in a single day since the start of the pandemic. among the widespread changes to everyday lives as a result of the coronavirus crisis — local councils in england are warning that residents will see major changes to the public services

available to them. recycling facilities, care homes and library services will all be affected, according to the county councils network, which represents dozens of english local authorities. joining me now is the chairman of the network, david williams... thank you for being with us on bbc news. let's start with the decisions that councils took right at the start. some of the most visible things, for example a decision to shut libraries and some of the restrictions on care homes. how have they worked out? it has been a momentous seven days for us. we had to ta ke momentous seven days for us. we had to take some important decisions in relation to libraries, as you say, and also then, we have taken decisions to close our household waste recycling centres. really driven by the issues of social distancing, gathering and ensuring that our residents don't make unnecessary journeys. that our residents don't make unnecessaryjourneys. so that our residents don't make unnecessary journeys. so on that our residents don't make unnecessaryjourneys. so on the one

hand, we've had to suspend those services, but on the other we had to intensify our efforts in relation to social care, in relation to homelessness and rough sleeping and also the government has asked us to ta ke also the government has asked us to take on another service, to shield oui’ take on another service, to shield our clinically vulnerable residents in their own homes. there are some other measures that you have now indicated you are considering. one would affect recycling centres. why is that? we experience last weekend, i'm the leader of hertfordshire cou nty i'm the leader of hertfordshire county council and we experience our busiest weekend ever and are 16 recycling centres. and so we had to come to the conclusion that in terms of social distancing and gathering of social distancing and gathering of residents getting close to each other and to the operatives, we really had to make a call and it was a call that we just needed to shut that service down. in the meantime, however, our colleagues in district and borough councils are going to

continue with their kerb—side collections. what about for the coming weeks, because there are obviously additional financial pressures ? obviously additional financial pressures? presumably you are trying to free up money for some of the prioritiesthe obvious one is people are kind of vulnerable and you want to ensure don't get admitted to hospital all alternatively, if they are in hospital, can be released to free up a bed for someone who may be suffering from coronavirus. yeah. one bit of good news is that the government put £3.4 billion in our bank accounts on friday, so short—term, the resources are there to enable us to do what we need to do. but as i was saying, there has been a real important onus on intensifying our efforts to get patients out of hospitals, either back to their homes or into secure settings such as care homes. there isa settings such as care homes. there is a real imperative to free up hospital beds, so we are doing

everything we can to get those patients out of hospital when it is safe to do so. in the chinese city of wuhan — where the global coronavirus emergency began — some transport services are resuming as hubei province gradually lifts its lockdown with the coronavirus crisis apparently stabilizing there for the time being. james ra nsley reports. with a rampart,'s —— cut wuhan, train station is now a busy.|j with a rampart,'s —— cut wuhan, train station is now a busy. i think this is the hard work of all the chains people came together as one and defeated us, the use of lifting the lockdown is the biggest recognition about staying at home for more than two months. wuhan, a major engine of the chinese economy

got its freight train service back up got its freight train service back up service back up and running. it's carrying medical supplies and electronics to europe. the banks opened air there this week for business and buses are back on the roads. residents are still being advised against unnecessary travel and those over 65 are told to avoid taking public transport altogether. people are allowed to enter wuhan, but restrictions on those wishing to leave won't be lifted until april eight. translation: it's been a long time since we la salt with an. people travelled out of the province face discrimination. i hope they will not treat people as a gratis. the city incubate province was put on lockdown back injanuary. it's people had for some of the harsh restrictions on daily life. more than 3000 people have died. the partial reopening of and signals a turning point in china's fight

against the virus. translation: yesterday china's mainland reported 34 new cases, all of which are imported cases. there are three fatalities reported, all of them in hubei. after months after months of enjoying total lockdown, light for the people of wuhan is beginning to get back on track —— enduring total lockdown. four passengers have died on a cruise ship stranded off the pacific coast of panama. the zaandam, which is carrying 1800 people, has been refused permission to dock in several ports. it's now trying to reach florida, but has been denied access to the panama canal. more than 130 other people on board have flu—like symptoms. hundreds of north american, australian and british citizens are in isolation in their rooms and a boat—to—boat operation is underway to move some healthy travellers to a sister ship, the rotterdam, over the weekend. on thursday, the uk chancellor rishi sunak announced an "unprecedented" bailout package aimed at helping self—employed workers. workers will be able to receive up to 80 per cent of their profits up to a maximum of £2500 a month.

but even with a package this big — some people inevitably haven't been catered for. to help unpack the detail — let's speak to professorjulia rouse, an expert on self—employment and entrepreneurship from manchester metropolitan university... thanks for talking to us this weekend. there was a lot of detail in what the chancellor said. but the kind of headline that many people took from it was that basically, if you had a record of self—assessment payments to the uk treasury, so you can payments to the uk treasury, so you ca n prove payments to the uk treasury, so you can prove you had a business that had been viable until the bag is struck, you would be supported through. as ever, though, i suppose there are some bots. whatjumps out for you? i'm really concerned about

the staff of start—up businesses. basically anybody who has started to make profit, since april 2019, won't be covered under the scheme. business start—up is encouraged to oui’ business start—up is encouraged to our welfare system, our education system, our business support system. these are some of the heroes of our economy, they bring innovation. they are pivoting to combat unemployment or disadvantage. a lot of these people are highly undercapitalised. they haven't got anywhere to go, in terms of borrowing or in terms of savings because they are spending it on their start—ups. and yet they are not covered under the scheme. we are proposing that if the government allowed those people to do their self—assessment for this tax year, from april six for one month, they could establish that they are self—employed and therefore come under the scheme to get their payment in june. we are told there is certainly no lack of money. the

federation of small businesses said they had been involved in negotiations, a lot of it down to practicalities. do you think this is one way of getting around the practicality my challenge to the business support organisations is that start—up seem to have been thrown under the bus. these might not be the core members, a lot of these organisations, but nevertheless they are vital to our economy. they include some of our most vulnerable self—employed. people who start up and have a young business are more likely to be from a disadvantaged background, and imagine if we lose a whole year's worth of start—ups, what the long—term effect for the economy is going to be. so we really have a chance, it's nearly the end of the tax year... listen, the chancellor is worried about fraud, but there is three measures that mean there will bea three measures that mean there will be a low fraud under our proposal. first of all, the hassle and pay tax on your income if you do an early

self—assessment. the payment itself is tax. so those all remove loss of the incentive for would—be fraudsters. we have an opportunity, because it is the end of the tax year, to draw those people quickly into the self—assessment system and make sure they are covered under the system. i might say one further thing, they are invisible to the government, is a regulatory failure, initially confusing to what you have to do to register as self employed in this country. that was covered under par in the good work taylor report. the government does know that we need to clean up regulation. thank you forjoining us. much more on our website including this look at how a cruise ship near panama is trying to transfer healthy passengers to another vessel —

after an outbreak on board. just log on to our bbc news website — or download the bbc app. time there for a look at the weather. after a week in which a relic late spring at times, it's good to peel this weekend as though we are closer to winter. things are set to turn much colder, added winchell and to go with that a lot more cloud in some obscene this week. it is that is that when that will be the noticeable feature, coming all the way round from the arctic and greenland. it will be dropping temperatures uk wide through today and enters tomorrow. one or two isolated showers on that breeze, rain in wales and northern england and the midlands. sleet and snow mixed in. fair bit of cloud in this afternoon, still centring for many, best of which in the southern counties of england but it could hit 30 degrees. the far north—east of

scotland, here around 3—5dc. in the wind it will feel a little colder than at her. as we go into tonight, the breeze was to be boring, then it will strengthen. it won't stop the temperature from dropping, because well they will be up and down through the night, the overall theme will be many central and western areas, as well as scotland will see temperatures below freezing. the clocks go forward during the night, so tomorrow morning sunrise will be that little bit later by an error, and a lesson bed, the sunset will also be an hour later too. some longer evening daylight hours. there will be a little less sunshine around overall tomorrow, more cloud from the start of the day. still the odd shower, the greatest chance in the southeast with the cloud will break up to allow some sunshine, but is this you will see the wines are the strongest. could touch 40—50 mph in some spots. widely stronger winds than we have seen today, even though temperatures on the thermometers may

reach 7—10dc, it is going to feel substantially colder than that, particularly for england and wales. if you spot is getting closer to freezing. as we go into monday, after a chilly start, not as cold a day. still a chance of a view showers, england and wales especially. less cold air, searching to topple around the area. still a fair bit of cloud, some sunny spells and temperatures just about into double figures. high pressure to do week, pushing its way further southwards and eastwards, will allow his south than two occasional breaks in the cloud.

hello and welcome to the programme which brings together leading uk journalists with the foreign correspondents who file their stories for the folks with the dateline ‘london'. that is normally what we do, but you don't need telling that these are not normal times, so for the next weeks we'll be bringing our guests together virtually. joining us today is annalisa piras, an italian writer and film maker. henry chu, europe editor for the the los angeles times. and here, sitting two metres away, the social distancing we're practising in the uk, is lyse doucet, the bbc‘s chief international correspondent. very good to have you with