this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the number of deaths in the uk from the coronavirus rises to 1,019 with another 260 people dying — making it the highest death toll in the uk in a single day. that takes the total number of people killed by covid—19 to more than 20,000 across europe. tests for frontline health service staff begin in england this weekend — 10 days after wales started theirs — following heavy criticism over a lack of testing for health workers. the english cities of birmingham and manchester join london with plans to open more temporary hospitals to help cope with the outbreak in the uk. masses of people try to leave delhi despite india being on its fourth day of lockdown

— raising concerns of the spread of the virus there. wuhan — the city where the outbreak began — has partially re—opened for the first time since it was cut off from the rest of china two months ago. 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. here in the uk, the number of people to have died from covid—19 is now more than a thousand. 260 people died overnight — taking the total to 1,019.

the number of positive tests has risen to 17,089. in europe overall, more than 20 thousand people have now died from the virus and around the world more than 600,000 cases have been confirmed. part of that increase is down to more testing. here in the uk, front line hospital staff in england are now also being screened for the virus — the hope is, it will mean people who have are not infected or who have recovered can return to work. the uk has also been rapidly fitting out temporary hospitals — which will provide thousands of extra beds to help the national health service cope when the infection reaches its peak. another senior british political figure is self—isolating after developing mild symptons. the scottish secretary alisterjack says he will follow medical guidance and work from home. elsewhere around the world, india's lockdown has triggered a mass movement of people — these huge crowds were leaving

delhi, despite being asked to remain indoors for three weeks. but these pictures from wuhan in china tell a different story — they show people now being allowed to move back into the city — which was at the centre of the outbreak — after several days of virtually no new infections being diagnosed there. we'll bring you more on those and other key developments in this bulletin. but first this report from angus crawford hoping for the best, but training for the worst. the car parks of the excel now an incident command centre. specialist staff and paramedics preparing to service the new nhs nightingale. inside, a hospital is taking shape. 500 beds next week, 4,000 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 leaders in england to blame that on a lack of testing. already in place in wales. for english hospitals and those in scotland, at last that is about to change. a trial starting today. testing hundreds of those working in intensive care, a&e and gps. it's what we've been calling forfor a while now to bring some reassurance to front—line staff. currently left uncertain with what to do when they develop their own symptoms. feeling either under pressure to be at work or guilty for not being at work. and to keep our front line staff strong throughout this whole crisis, you know, the government has got to do whatever it can to support them. if successful, the government says it will be scaled up next week. it's 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 greater social distancing. backed by the force of law. calls that seem to be working. it's hoped slowing the spread, relieving pressure on the nhs. but at the excel, now nhs nightingale, still they make ready and standby. angus is at the excel for us now. a huge undertaking going on there?‘ really extraordinary undertaking. that building there, 100,000 square metres, you could fit the whole of the footprint of terminal five at heathrow airport in there, and insight, pictures we've seen

released today show line upon line upon line of plastic people call is being constructed which stretched right the way down the holes. —— plastic cubicles. we think 500 bed should be operational next week with the potential of 4000 if needed, but there is another key question being asked, how are they going to staff this? 500 beds will need thousands of staff, and we know that in london alone, some of the sickness rates at the hospitals in london average between 20 to 50%. so the nhs as it's making a call for all nhs staff across london to volunteer, it's going to bring in others from around the uk, is hoping for retired staff to come back into service to help, it wants the stjohn‘s ambulance to help, too, they're going to provide hundreds of volunteers, and equally, we expect them to be military medics here, as well. angus thank you.

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. 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 number of infections is lower. that might be the assumption of many people, however, what we are seeing over time, including the incubation period, isjust a reflection of infections, which happened two weeks ago. explosive expansion — if that is already happening, this is not something we can discover right away — it will be two weeks before the numbers reflect that. and once it happens, then the speed of the infection will be uncontrollable. millions of homeless people

and migrant labourers have been left in the lurch after india announced a 21—day lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country. with factories and construction sites closing down, many have expressed fears that they would starve to death. state governments have announced that they will open centres to feed these people, but have been overwhelmed. many have opted to walk hundreds of miles to their villages as public transport has been suspended. 0ur correspondent faisal ali gave me this update from delhi. it's happening everywhere, after the prime minister announced a complete lockdown on the 24th evening, and the next day, all trains were cancelled from everywhere. then, that two days, the price also got cancelled. from a lot of states, there are a lot of migrant labourers

who are working in other states, they all are trying to get back... there are just they all are trying to get back... there arejust trudging they all are trying to get back... there are just trudging on foot with theirfamilies there are just trudging on foot with their families and since hotels are closed, cities are locked, so they don't have anything to eat, they're ina very don't have anything to eat, they're in a very bad condition, the moment. 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 5600 people. the increase of 832 deaths exceeds yesterday's record breaking one—day figure for fatalities. spain has now more than 72 thousand people infected with the virus. 0ur correspondent guy hedgecoe is in madrid with the latest. these latest figures make for pretty grim reading.

the latest figure of 832 dead over the last 24 hours is very worrying. and that is the highest figure so far for the daily death toll and that continues to creep up. that is a worry. having said that, the authorities do believe the country is approaching the top of this upward curve because they point to the statistics and say the number of people or new infections that we are seeing each day, that is increasing at a lower rate than it was, so that is easing off somewhat. they believe the country is reaching or getting close to some kind of peak. having said that, the health services are under tremendous pressure. we heard about an ice rink being turned into a makeshift morgue here in madrid, a conference centre being turned into a hospital. those sort of measures are continuing and the feeling is, even after the peak of the impact of the virus, the health services are still going to be under a tremendous pressure and that pressure might even increase after the peak has been reached.

let's bring you a little more optimistic news now. 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. wu han‘s train station, once an empty hub, is now busy with people with places to be. the city is slowly and steadily coming back to life. translation: i think this is the result of the hard work of all chinese people who came together as one and defeated the epidemic. for us, the news about lifting the lockdown is like the biggest recognition for us staying at home for more than two months. wuhan, a major engine of the chinese economy, got its freight train service back up and running. it's carrying medical supplies and electronics to europe. the city's banks opened earlier this week for business and buses

are back on the roads. but residents are still being advised against unnecessary travel, and those over 65 told to avoid taking public transport altogether. people are allowed to enter wuhan, but restrictions on those wishing to leave will not be lifted until april 8th. translation: it has been a long time since we last saw wuhan. people from hubei who travelled out of the province faced some discrimination. i hope people will not treat hubei people as a virus. the city in hubei province was placed under lockdown back injanuary. its 11 million people have faced some of the harshest restrictions on daily life. in hubei, more than 50,000 people have been infected with the disease. more than 3,000 have died. but the partial reopening of wuhan signals a turning point in china's fight against the virus. translation: yesterday, china's mainland reported 54 new confirmed cases, all

of which are imported cases. there are three fatalities reported, all of them in hubei. after months of enduring total lockdown, life for the people of wuhan is beginning to get back on track. james ransley, bbc news. as we've been hearing, tests on frontline nhs staff, showing symptoms of coronavirus are beginning this weekend in england. let's talk now to dr chaand nagpaul — council chair of the british medical association. very good of you to make time to speak to us this afternoon. how pleased are you that this is now getting under way in england, this redeem of testing? this is long overdue, and i hope it will now allow doctors, nurses and front line staff who are well to be able to return to the workforce on the front line, rather than staying at home in

south isolation. i should also add that this prioritisation should extend to household members of health care staff, because as you know, the current guidance is to self—isolate for 14 days even if a person is well, if one of their household members have symptoms of a cough orfever. household members have symptoms of a cough or fever. so this testing should extend to household members, as well. and in fact, what's really important is to now extend this to all staff in the health service, because at the moment, it's been restricted to a certain category. and, of course, you can only answer this anecdotally from your sense of the numbers, but how big a difference to think this could make in terms of freeing up staff who are stuck at home who to be? it's more than anecdotal, we know from experience of the two weeks, we've

had clinical staff, in some cases gp practice have been unable to function properly, we know that in hospitals, too, large numbers of departments have been short—staffed, again, similarly, between 30—40% in some cases. this is not an insignificant issue. and in fact, it's important that those doctors and nurses who are telling us they wa nt to and nurses who are telling us they want to come back to work, if they could have a test and negative, would come back to work. so i hope this will make a real difference. but it's been long overdue. and as we speak, it's only being targeted ata we speak, it's only being targeted at a certain category of critical ca re at a certain category of critical care doctors. we need to make it available to all health care professionals who are affected. that, i notice, is the second time you said it's overdue. do you feel this is something you've raised some time ago but wasn't taken seriously enough? at the onset of the guidance

from the government for south isolation, i raise this on behalf of uk doctors at that moment, because i knew that to self—isolate without a test would create difficulties. remember at this time of year, about 10% of the population would have a cough orfever, 10% of the population would have a cough or fever, regardless of coronavirus, so cough or fever, regardless of coronavirus, so we cough or fever, regardless of coronavirus, so we knew that significant numbers of health care staff would be self isolating and may not have the virus, or other family members may not have the virus, but would be needlessly away from work. if they could have been tested, they could have returned to work and we've now got emerging evidence from areas where there has been testing of health care staff, where the vast majority have been tested negative, and really, therefore, we've been denying the nhs of vital front line staff through lack of testing. finally, you make the point that there is a strong case, why do you think it

wasn't moved on more quickly?” strong case, why do you think it wasn't moved on more quickly? i find it inexplicable, surely the one thing the government wants and is doing is trying to increase the capacity of the nhs workforce, that's why they have called on retired doctors to come back to work. so at the same time, they've actually, do not testing, resulted in large numbers of existing doctors and nurses and staff being away from work. so i find it inexplicable. there may have been issues around provision of testing but, you know, there are other nations such as germany who have tested more than twice as many as we have, and we need to be making sure we are providing the level of tests needed for the nhs to function. so i'm, you know, i haven't got an explanation for the government but i do think this is really notjust overdue but needs to now be extended to all health care staff who are absent from work, but also, as i said earlier, theirfamily from work, but also, as i said earlier, their family members who may be the reason why they self isolating. certainly, message coming

through loud and clear there. thank you very much indeed. the headlines on bbc news... deaths from the virus in the uk rise to more than 1,000 after another 260 people died — making it the highest number recorded in the uk in a single day since the start of the pandemic. that takes the total number of people killed by covid—19 to more than 20,000 across europe. masses of people try to leave delhi despite india being on its fourth day of lockdown — raising concerns of the spread of the virus there. here in the uk, 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 the ban on events forced him to mothball the company and furlough his staff. now he's turning his hand to food deliveries. we needed to find a solution for our ongoing costs. so we've diversified our fleet, we have eight vehicles, and they're ready to, they're prepped and ready to deliver fruit and veg all over london. as 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. there's a new website to help people switch away from hospitality for free. this recruitment consultant

has been supporting their efforts.|j has been supporting their efforts.” think there are a tonne of people who have been displaced from hospitality who know how to operate at hill, they know how to deliver great levels of customer service. —— operate a till. and it's not one million miles away from what happens in retail a lot of the time. adapting and changing to this newjobs market is the name of the game. katie prescott, bbc news. 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 correspondent rajini vaidya nathan reports. there is no way to get any food 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. we're not hearing anything we had no idea how we're going to get out of here, the worst 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 police cracking down on heavily on anyone who breaks the curfew. this woman from leeds is on a round the world trip with her boyfriend. she said she's had support from locals but as fear around the virus grows, so does suspicion. i've been kicked out of two places of accommodation in the last two days because i'm foreign and they believe automatically that foreigners have the virus. the last place we moved from was an apartment, we were asked to stay away from windows, do not go out on the balcony. we had to leave our money

in a separate room in order to be 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't get hold of it, i'm diabetic and 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 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. britain's acting high commissioner to india has promised to help those who are stranded. this is an absolute priority for us, and 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. i took the hippocratic oath to save 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. thousands have signed an online petition calling for the same from india. 0ne signatory had this message for the government. let's do the right thing and bring them home. italians have been showing their support and solidarity from their windows and balconies with music. like trumpeter alberto anguzza from sicily — whose performance ofjohn lennon's ‘imagine' went viral online.

trumpet plays imagine byjohn lennon. well, alberto anguzza joined me from sicily earlier and told me why he took his trumpet out to play for his neighbours. it's so difficult time now, in whole the world. we stay at home from 15 days now, i don't know how many day we have to stay, because our government told us about all would be finished next, three april. but i don't think so. and we have just to respect the rules, stay at home,

and we have like, summer, now, day... in trapani city, in the west coast of sicily, it's a beautiful day, but we can't go outside. we have just to respect the rules. stay at home, pray, day by day, and enjoy with power of music. and just this. well, alberto, we will invite you to have a new audience here on bbc news. why don't you play some music for us as we move towards our next programme, the week in parliament? yeah. i have my trumpet with me. enjoy, people. he plays.

this is for everybody, god bless you, people. now the weather with nick miller. hello. sunshine harder to see out there this weekend, cloud increasing from the north, but the more significant thing about this weekend's weather is how much colder it's turning, and the colder feel enhanced by a stronger wind. we've got high pressure close by, so that would suggest a lot of dry weather, and a bar a few showers, that's the case. around the area of high pressure, though, the area's coming in from a cold direction, from the north or north—east, so that is introducing the cold air and the wind is quite strong, as well, particularly gusty towards the east and south of the uk, adding a wind chill factor here, as well. so overnight, a mixture of cloud and clear spells, cloud increasing again from the north later in the night. there's a chance of catching a shower. most places will avoid them and stay dry. temperatures dipping

away to a degree or so either side of freezing, so colder than this in the countryside, that does mean a frost for many of us going into the morning. now, clocks go forward overnight, to mark the arrival of british summer time. it's got nothing to do with the weather but very noticeably, tomorrow evening, sunset will be an hour later compared with this evening. let's take a look at a sunday's weather, then. a lot of cloud, as you can see. a few showers dotted about through northern and eastern scotland, north—east england, running down across east anglia toward south—east england. showers could be heavy, could have some hail, wintry on hills, perhaps at times to lower levels in scotland. and these are your wind gusts for sunday afternoon. particularly across eastern areas of england, southern england, through the english channel, could be gusting near 50 mph in places. it's already cold in the flow of air coming down from the north or north—east, but when you factor in that wind, and particularly again where it's strongest for some of us, it's going to feel like it's not too far away from freezing if you are outside. now, as we go on into monday, still a few showers running down

towards northern scotland, across eastern areas of england, one or two may filter a little bit further west during the day. actually, the wind isn't quite as strong on monday. it's changed direction a little bit, not going to be quite as chilly. temperatures head up a little bit as we go into the week, and as the week goes on, high—pressure squeezed away a little bit, low pressure developing near iceland, and that will start to bring in a few showers again across the north west. and if anything, that'll bring another shot of cold air later in the week. so a few locations, this is how your week is shaping up, and bar a few showers, a lot of dry weather out there.

this is bbc news. we're waiting for today's uk government news conference on coronavirus, but first the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the number of deaths in the uk from the coronavirus rises to 1,019 with another 260 people dying — making it the highest death toll in the uk in a single day. that takes the total number of people killed by covid—19 to more than 20,000 across europe. tests for frontline health service staff begin in england this weekend — ten days after wales started theirs — following heavy criticism over a lack of testing for health workers. the english cities of birmingham and manchester join london with plans to open more temporary hospitals to help cope