good afternoon. frontline nhs staff in england will start being tested this weekend to see whether they have coronavirus. workers with symptoms or those who live with people who have symptoms will be checked — starting with critical care doctors and nurses. it follows criticism over a lack of testing for health workers. angus crawford is at the excel centre in east london. he is at the sight of the new

nightingale hospital. the excel centre is about to become the biggest hospital in the country, potentially in europe. it is 100,000 square metres. it could fit the entire of terminal five at heathrow into its footprint and it is becoming the model for three other centres in cardiff, birmingham and manchester, all being prepared for the wave of cases to come. hoping for the best, but training for the worst. the car parts of the xl and incident command centre. specialists staff and paramedics preparing to serve as the new nhs nightingale. inside a hospital is taking shape, 500 beds next week, 4000 in total if needed. medical staff are being drafted in from across the uk, including the military, but will there be enough?

sickness has taken a toll and large numbers in self isolation means record levels of nhs absences. doctors' readers in england but not ona doctors' readers in england but not on a lack of testing. testing already in place in wales and scotland. for english hospitals at last that is about to change. a trial starting today. testing hundreds of those working in intensive care, a&e and gps. hundreds of those working in intensive care, a&e and gpsm hundreds of those working in intensive care, a&e and gps. it is what we have been calling for for a while now, to bring some reassurance to front—line staff, currently left uncertain with what to do when they develop symptoms, feeling under pressure to be at work are guilty for not being at work, and to keep oui’ for not being at work, and to keep our front line staff strong throughout this whole crisis the government has got to do whatever it can to support them. if successful the government says it will be scaled down next week. it is hoped putting thousands of staff back on

the front line. what a difference a week makes. seven days ago, parks, beauty spots were full. prompting urgent calls for a great tool social distancing, backed by the force of law. because that seem to be working. it is hoped slowing the spread, relieving pressure on the nhs. but at the xl, now nhs nightingale, still they make ready on standby. 0ur political correspondent helen catt is in westminster. as we know, the prime minister and the health secretary have tested positive — now there's talk of a possible third cabinet minister? yes, this is alisterjack, the scottish secretary. he said in the last 24 hours he has developed symptoms and he has gone on to self

isolation, which is the same position as the chief medical 0fficer. alisterjack was on the front bench in the house of commons near borisjohnson front bench in the house of commons near boris johnson and front bench in the house of commons near borisjohnson and also near matt hancock the health secretary cup, both of whom who have tested positive for coronavirus. boris johnson says, he released a video saying he has mild symptoms and has said he is going to be able to continue to lead the government's response to coronavirus, using technology while he is in isolation. in spain, the death toll from the virus has risen by more than 800 overnight. it brings the total of those infected to more than 5,600 people. the increase of 832 deaths exceeds yesterday's record—breaking one—day figure for fatalities. spain has now more than 72,000 people infected with the virus. a german air force plane has flown six italian coronavirus patients

to germany for treatment. italy has now recorded 9,000 deaths from the virus — the highest number so far. 0ur correspondentjean mackenzie joins me now from rome. the uk has been told that it is only two or three weeks behind the situation in italy. what is happening there at the moment? last night as you said we had that devastating news that italy had recorded more than 900 deaths in a single day, more than has ever been recorded here in a single day. more than 500 were recorded in one region alone in the north of the country where most of the cases of the virus are concentrated and that is one of the reasons why the death toll has been so high, they are so concentrated. the hospitals in the north of the country are overstretched and so many staff have fallen sick. the german military has

sent one of its planes converted into a coronavirus hospital to take some of the most critical patients out of the region back to germany for treatment. also the government has called on hundreds of nurses to volunteer to go up to the north to start working to ease some of the pressure. thousands responded and to start hundreds could be deployed in the next couple of days. the good news is the infection rate has slowed over the last week. it is felt the effects of the lockdown which came in nearly three weeks ago are starting to work but it is hard for italians to be hopeful at this stage when these deaths keeps coming so fast. thank you. coronavirus has caused a real shift in the jobs we do. sectors like hospitality, non—food retail and travel have been hit by the government's lockdown. now, many people are moving away from those jobs and shifting into areas where there is greater demand. our business correspondent katie prescott reports. alex ran a successful marquee

business until a ban on events forced him to mothball the company and fallow his staff. now, he's turning his hand to food deliveries. we need to find a solution for our ongoing costs, so we have diversified our fleets. we have eight vehicles and they are ready — prepped and ready — to deliver fruit and veg all over london. with shops and restaurants up and down the country closed and high streets emptied out, some businesses and workers are turning their hand to areas where there is great demand — for example working in supermarkets or in deliveries. thejobs platform harri has started a new website — hospitality unite — to help people switch roles away from hospitality forfree. this recruitment consultant has been supporting their efforts. i think there are a tonne of people who have been displaced from hospitality who know how to operate a till, they know how to deliver great

levels of customer service, and it's not a million miles away from what happens in retail a lot of the time. serving up frozen ready meals is allowing this event caterer to keep on staff who would otherwise have been laid off. working to meet an ever growing order book, adapting and changing to this newjobs market is the name of the game. katie prescott, bbc news. now, you might not be able to go out this weekend, but that doesn't mean that you can't still have fun. over the past week, millions of people have been taking part in virtual parties, online quiz nights and stay—at—home concerts — as rianna croxfrod has been finding out. not your average night out. these people on the app tiktok are not letting the news get them down. it's the first weekend since we were all told to stay indoors. 0ur usual events and hobbies might

be out the window but that's not stopping people finding new ways to socialise. good evening, everybody. cheers to you. welcome to tonight's quiz. 0nce hosted at your local, the battle of wits are now finding a new lease of life online. question two — what is the name of the third instalment of the harry potter books? quizzes seem to be the go—to game for those stuck indoors. comedians like mo gilligan are drawing in big audiences on instagram. welcome, everyone, to toilet roll trivia episode 7. it's my third week in self—isolation. ijumped at the chance to get involved. hi. where are you playing from? from my bedroom in north west london. not all prizes are that glamorous. you have done extremely well, rianna. i can tell you this, you're going to get a signed piece of this, right? this is worth more than a signature from the queen at the moment. and it's not all fun and games. others are using their time to stay fit and healthy.

i think it's a great thing to be working out during this isolation because for one, it makes you feel good, it really steps up the endorphins and i'm so happy i get to do it with all my friends around the world right here in my living room with all the things that i need because all you really need is your body, that's all you need. they might not be heading out but it's not stopping them from having a good time. djs are streaming their sets online with people trading the dance floor for the kitchen floor. rianna croxford, bbc news, london. bye for now. sunshine is getting harder to see out there this afternoon with cloud

increasing it brings the total of those struck down by the virus to more than 5000 600 in spain. an increase of 832 deaths exceeding yesterday's record—breaking one day figure for facilities in the country. spain is now more than 72,000 infected with the virus. let's talk now to our correspondent in madrid. is there any sense in spain that the country has a any sense in spain that the country hasa grip any sense in spain that the country has a grip on this crisis? because they had been lots of stories about parts of the health service simply becoming overwhelmed by the number of people who were needing hospital treatment. clearly these latest figures make for pretty grim reading. that the latest 832 died over the last 24 hours is pretty worrying and that is the highest figures are part of the daily death

toll. that continues to keep up and isa toll. that continues to keep up and is a worry. having said that, the authorities to believe the country is approaching the top of this u pwa rd is approaching the top of this upward curve, because the point to the statistics and say that the number of people or new infections that we are seeing each day, that is increasing at a lower rate than it was. that is easing off somewhat, so they believe that the country is reaching or getting close to some kind of pique. having said that, the health services are under tremendous pressure. we heard about an ice rink being turned into a makeshift morgue in madrid, a conference centre been turned into a hospital. those sort of measures are continuing any billing is that even after the peak of the impact of the virus, the health services are still going to be under tremendous pressure on that pressure might even increase after the peak has been reached. how successful have the authorities been in getting people to stick to the decisions about restricting their movements? 0bviously decisions about restricting their movements? obviously in madrid there

has been a formal lockdown, but around the country, what is the sense of people's willingness to cooperate? we are now two weeks into the state of emergency, under which the state of emergency, under which the whole country is under similar restrictions. nobody is allowed out of their home, unless they have a very specific reason to be out on the street. the police have been enforcing it pretty tightly. earlier this week they reported that they had fined over 100,000 people for violating the terms of those restrictions. they had also arrested 1000 people as well. that gives you a sense that the police are taking action. that may sound like a lot of people are breaking the terms of the restrictions, but if you walk around any town or city, the streets are pretty much deserted. it's really very rare to see people gathering in the streets. so it is a very different atmosphere across spain at the moment and a lot of that is to do with the police action. for

passengers of died on a cruise ship of panama. 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. thousands of people in the indian capital, delhi, are leaving the city —— despite the country having been in lockdown for four days. pictures show large numbers making their way along roads, in violation of strict rules in india. many of them are migrant workers trying to head home in any way they can. with industries closed by the lockdown, and no way to earn, workers say they are left with little choice but to leave. the government close—down is until at least april 14th.

it's thought that thousands of british travellers and holiday makers remain stranded in india. while other countries have begun arranging flights out for their citizens, some britons say they feel abandoned by the foreign office. 0ur south asia corr rajini vaidya nathan reports. there is no way to get any brit or water anywhere. we are trying to survive on what little we have left. we are down to eating a portion of rice with potatoes in the day and trying to make it stretch out. stranded and struggling. dream beach holidays in india now pure misery. sign might be because we're not hearing anything we had no idea how we're going to get out of here, the worse thing is when we are going to next get some food. as india suspended flights until mid april and embarked on the largest lockdown

in living memory, many brits have been left in limbo. in some parts of the country, basic supplies are running low. with fleas cracking down on heavily on anyone who breaks the curfew. this woman from leeds is ona the curfew. this woman from leeds is on a round the world trip with her boyfriend. she said she's had support moguls but as for around the virus grows, so to suspicion. i've been checked out of two places of accommodation in the last two days because i'm boring and they believe that foreigners have the virus. the last place we met promise an apartment, is to stay with and windows are not the guy on the balcony. we had to leave our money ina balcony. we had to leave our money in a separate room in order to be collected, so there is no face—to—face contact. collected, so there is no face-to-face contact. it is notjust tourists, many brits visiting family in india are also in a desperate situation. i'm trying to get a hold of my medication at the moment. i can get hold of it, i'm diabetic and

asthmatic and have chronic migraines andl asthmatic and have chronic migraines and i can have seizures. i'm not getting hold of anything at the moment. i'm still lucky about where lam, but moment. i'm still lucky about where i am, but the hotel are supposed to be closing down. we are literally just stuck in the situation. we could be on the street in the next couple of days. i have nowhere to go. please be assured that we are working on a plan to get you home as soon as possible. why might britain's high commissioner to india is working on a plan, she has promised. we are working on a round—the—clock plan to put arrangements in place. many travellers we have talked to say they're not getting any support. there are also asking why the uk isn't repatriating citizens from india when other countries like germany, japan and russia are. for many, the urge to return home is a call to action. this woman is a junior doctor in lincolnshire and also the reigning miss england. junior doctor in lincolnshire and also the reigning miss englandlj took also the reigning miss england.” took the hippocratic oath to save

lives and do what it takes. it is a tea m lives and do what it takes. it is a team feeling, when you're part of the nhs, i want to be part of that. i want to be in that team. earlier this week, brits stranded in peru returned home on an emergency flight. returned home on an emergency flight. thousands had signed —— have signed an online petition calling for the same from india. 0ne missionary had this message for the government. listed the right thing and bring them home. well, with travellers stranded, borders closed and many countries in lockdown, airlines have been forced to ground their fleet. it's not only an uncertain time for the industry but also for holidaymakers, many of whom remain unsure about what to do with their travel plans and whether or not they're entitled to a refund. for more, i'm joined by nicky kelvin, from the travel blog the points guy uk. let me ask you a broad point, it is

kind of a worrying time for people who aren't where they are supposed to be. what sort of advice would you offer generally when people are trying to deal with the situation, because it is one of those things where you think so many things in your head and you don't know really where to start. yes, it is an incredibly difficult situation for a lot of people and, actually, there are certain piece of advice that are very helpful, but when you look at some of the british have just seen now in places like india, some of this advice may not go far enough in the moment. —— some of the footage. depending on where your flight originated, they have a duty of care to look after the pastures, especially when they're at a destination and the return bout has been cancelled. eu regulations may mean they have to provide you with accommodation orfood. mean they have to provide you with accommodation or food. the other place to look as insurance, do you have adequate insurance and can that policy cover you to get you by until you get home and help you with the cost of getting home? the last

place, which is where many people who are really in trouble are going to go to, is the embassy in the country where they are. it is the embassy that are coordinating effo rts embassy that are coordinating efforts to start to repatriate people. we are seeing a lot more repatriating from other countries, as you just mentioned, and hopefully british citizens are going to be brought home much quicker, but it is difficult, commercial flights are shutting down as you said and it's going to need to be special place to bring more people. why might we had one charter flight this week from lima in peru that brought back 170 passengers to the uk.” lima in peru that brought back 170 passengers to the uk. i think there are another 1000 people have registered with emc there. he woman in cusco was stuck in her accommodation in the hostel desperate to find out how she was going to get back home. keen to get back home. presumably many of the emcees are actually overwhelmed by the number of enquiries they are receiving. —— many of the embassies.

absolutely, they're not equipped to be dealing with these problems in such a large scale. they're doing their best at the moment hopefully we will see improvements. 0n the foreign & commonwealth office site at the moment, they're showing that from which you can contact each of the emcees. some of them have twitter feeds, facebook the emcees. some of them have twitterfeeds, facebook pages the emcees. some of them have twitter feeds, facebook pages or even phone numbers you can call. the most important thing is ensure that the embassy is aware of your existence and that you're there in that country where you are in that you need to get home. then it is fingers crossed they can get their act together as quick as possible to get as many pupils possible home soon. hopefully that will help to reassure some people. any more information they combine on your blog. thank you for speaking to us. they —— they can find on your blog. earlier we saw pictures of the new hospital being built in east london. 3 more temporary hospitals are being built across the uk — in manchester, birmingham and

cardiff. 0ur correspondent paul martin is in cardiff — where rugby union's principality stadium will provide around two thousand additional beds to support the national health service. what is the thinking behind this plank was mac we heard there are real strains being felt in the nhs in wales at the moment. —— what is the thinking behind this? yes a stadium with 70,000 seats in the centre of cardiff to possibly become a 2000 bed field hospital as part of wales' battle against rotavirus. the welsh government says it is spending £1 million on the project and it is a sign of just £1 million on the project and it is a sign ofjust how serious it is taking this. the first minister has spoken about rewriting his budget to channel all his resources against the fight —— towards the fight against rotavirus. this move with the prince valley stadium is the most symbolic measure taken yet. ——

coronavirus. you referred to gwent in the south—east of the country, that has seen nearly half of the confirmed cases here and there has been a lot of attention paid to that pa rt been a lot of attention paid to that part of the country because of that. earlier this week senior management at the health board spoke about the area following a similar pattern as seenin area following a similar pattern as seen in parts of italy and made a plea for people living in the area to follow the guidance on social distancing and isolation and made a plea for staff to come forward to help the nhs in the area. we were reporting that this weekend nhs in england has begun testing of its staff? wise wales head of the game in this was mac deployments are announced the programme and testing here would include some nhs workers. they expanded the testing programme so it wouldn't include patients who

we re so it wouldn't include patients who were hospitalised, suspected to have a virus and also some front line nhs staff. the logic for that was, on the one hand, if staff return a negative test, then they are able to get back to the front line as soon as possible, and equally of the returning positive test, then of course they're able to limit the transmission within health service. the welsh government was initially operating at around 800 tests a day. we understand it is still around that level, but it has plans to increase with targets of around 9000 a day by the end of april. 0pposition parties who have been critical, they want to see that capacity increase more quickly and to ta ke capacity increase more quickly and to take in social care workers. underscoring the concern here is the fa ct underscoring the concern here is the fact that wales has an elderly population, many people underlying health conditions and that of course makes health conditions and that of course ma kes wales health conditions and that of course makes wales as a whole particularly vulnerable to this crisis.

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 and 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. a man who'd been due to take part in the london marathon next month has run the 26.2 miles in his back garden. the event has been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but that hasn't put off 36 year old james page. he completed 873 laps of his lawn in sidcup in kent, before crossing a finish line made by his son from toilet roll. 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.

now the weather with matt taylor. a lot more cloud compute in recent days. this afternoon, certainly for england and wales. cloud picking up are one or two showers. strength breeds to go with it. that gets colder across scotland. showers and a mixture of rain, sleet and snow was between. large amounts of cloud, northern ireland much sunnier compared to the rest of the country and for england and wales, temperatures dropping throughout. if you rangers here and there but a lot more cloud, best of the centring to the southern and eastern coast ——

rain showers. they whence came to strengthen, cloud amounts will come and go through the nights, it's a temperatures will be up a chance with the frost anywhere away from some of these eastern coastal counties of england ready breeze will be of the strongest moral. that will be of the strongest moral. that will give tomorrow an extra bit of added wind chill, close to freezing for some. lots of cloud around, but many stay dry despite few showers. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: 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. 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.

japan warns against complacency after a new virus hotspot emerges in its capital tokyo. 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. further restrictions to public life are announced for the republic of ireland as the prime minister says "now is the time for further action". a race against time — a cruise ship carrying more than 1,800 people off panama is trying to transfer healthy passengers to another ship after four people onboard die and another 130 say they're suffer flu—like symptoms. china loosens the lockdown in wuhan, as officials say all new cases were brought into the country.

rachel schofield will be here at the top of the hour with more news. rachel schofield will be here at the top of the hour with more news. now on bbc news, this week's episode of inside out comes from the east midlands and was filmed before restrictions could medical cannabis provide an alternative to painkillers?

we have been meeting the people who have been keeping our stores stocked and investigating the impact of coronavirus on the retail injury. first tonight, a week of panic buying has left supermarket shelves are stripped of essential items like pasta, loo rolls, and nappies, so why have so many of us felt the need to stockpile, even when we're told that there is plenty for everyone?