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 more than a thousand. with another 260 people dying in a single day, officials warn that social distancing restrictions must be kept in place. if we can keep deaths below 20,000, we will have done very well in this epidemic. us president trump says he's considering imposing a quarantine on new york to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus this would be an enforceable quarantine, and i'd rather not do it but we may need it. 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. the total death toll in italy as a result of the coronavirus has now risen to over ten thousand. that brings the total number of people across europe killed by covid—19 to more than 20,000. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments 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 the us president trump says he's considering imposing a quarantine on new york to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. new york has recorded more than fifty—two—thousand cases — around half of the total in the us — and over seven hundred deaths. in italy, the number of people who've died from the coronavirus since the outbreak began has now passed ten thousand. 889 have died in the past twenty—four hours — fewer than the previous day. meanwhile, spain has recorded 832 coronavirus deaths in a single day — its largest number yet. it brings the total to more than 5500, second only to italy worldwide. this report on the uk's response from dominic hughes. the logistics of setting up a new medical facility from scratch, a race against time to prepare the newly named nightingale hospital in east london ahead of the coming surge of those who fall seriously ill with covid—19.

the sharp rise in today's death toll shows why these facilities are needed. the pressure on staff in the coming weeks, especially in intensive care units, is going to be extreme. when the nhs is under increased demand, as we expect, and is already happening in london, is that we're not going to be able to maintain the normal levels of staffing that we currently do. and so we're going to have to dramatically change the way that we work. so rather than one intensive care nurse looking after one patient, we're going to have to work more as a team. new figures published today give an insight into who is being admitted to critical care units. the data cover 775 patients in england, wales and northern ireland. more than half of them are being looked after by hospitals in london. most are aged over the age of 50, and the number of male patients outnumbers those who are female. and in virus hotspots like london,

the pressure is already building. how full are intensive care units in london and around the uk at the moment? work is going on all over the country because as you are also aware, the infection has spread a bit quicker in london. so we are not at capacity yet within london but beds are being opened all the time to produce that extra surge capacity. and a reminder that in order to get the death toll down, this is no time for complacency. if we do reduce the deaths to a level which is below what we initially thought, i want to be absolutely clear, that won't be because we are somehow lucky. it won't be because somehow the virus is acting in this country differently from any other country. it will be because every citizen of this country, the british public, have complied with the instructions that the government has given based on the best scientific evidence to reduce the transmission of the disease. if the nhs is going

to avoid the crisis, it will require all hands on deck. that's why the introduction of testing staff across the uk who are currently having to self—isolate, as they've already been doing in wales, is a big step forward. this doctor is keen to work but a rough cough means he has to stay away at least until he's tested. has it been a bit frustrating, then, waiting to find out whether you've got it or not? yes, really frustrating, because i know the hospital is busy, even at this early, relatively early point, things are really heating up. i know my colleagues need me and it's quite frustrating, being sat here at home when i know i could be at work and i need to be at work. new hospitals, more testing, an immense effort is now under way to try and shore up the health service for what lies ahead. news that 260 people lost their lives in a 24—hour period to the coronavirus is shocking, but sadly, it is not out of line with predictions that deaths

will double every two or three days. so, unfortunately, this is the kind of news we are going to have to steel ourselves to hear in the next couple of weeks. however, it has to be said, and it is worth reminding people, that four out of five people who get this virus, who fall ill with it, the vast majority will only have a very mild form of the illness. and it's only a very small proportion who will fall seriously ill. of course, one of the people who has got those mild symptoms is the prime minister, borisjohnson. he is self isolating in his flat in downing street and today, a cabinet minister has told the bbc that the prime minister is still leading the response from the front. he assured the bbc there are no gaps in government and all of the cabinet are working very hard, led by the prime minister. president trump says he's considering imposing a quarantine on new york to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

he said similar measures could be introduced in newjersey and some parts of connecticut. new york has recorded more than fifty—two—thousand cases, around half of the total in the us, and over 700 deaths. some people would like to see new york quarantined because it's a hot spot. new york, newjersey, maybe one or two other places. certain parts of connecticut quarantined. i'm thinking about that right now. we might not have to do it but a possibility that some time today, we'll do a quarantine, short term, two weeks, on new york. probably newjersey, certain parts of connecticut. what about travel? restrict travel. because they're having problems down in florida, a lot of new yorkers are going there, we don't want that. they're heavily infected. we're having a really good dialogue with governor cuomo, we supplied him with a lot of things, we are giving him

an extra four medical centres, tents, that's beyond what we've already given. as you know, we are giving them to newjersey, we are doing a great job with the governor of newjersey, who's been very good. with ibm or enforceable kind of quarantine? —— would there be a more enforceable ? well, this would be an enforceable quarantine and, you know, i'd rather not do it but we may need it. so i will see you over at the ship. what about the state of washington? in italy the death toll has passed 10,000, another 898 people have died in the past 2a hours. it comes as a german air force plane flew six critically ill coronavirus patients to germany for treatment. here'sjean mackenzie from rome. a lifeline landing in lombardy. converted into a mobile hospital, this morning, the german military flew critically ill patients from italy's worst hit region to hospitals around germany. italy's outbreak has been so concentrated in the north that hospitals are struggling to cope. dr consentini's was one of the first to be overwhelmed. in my town, the situation

is a bit improving. i think we are a couple of weeks ahead of the rest of lombardy. so we now are at the plateau of the curve of new covid infections. to begin with, it was beds and ventilators in short supply. but now it's people. nurses and doctors. because we had some free beds inside our hospital, we couldn't use for patients, because we don't have any more nurses 01’ doctors. today, italy has reached a sobering milestone. more than 10,000 people dead, after nearly 900 more deaths were recorded since yesterday. there is some hope here. the rate of new infections has slowed over the past week, an indication that this lockdown which began nearly three weeks ago is starting to work. but italians are wary of being too hopefuljust yet,

with the number of deaths still coming so fast. but the government's medical researchers say these recent deaths don't mean italy isn't making progress. these people got the infection two or three weeks ago, so this is the image of italy some weeks ago. how many days away from the peak do you think that we are? we are expecting that the peak will be... in the next days. the days ahead will be critical in finding whether italy can hit its peak and turn the page. spain's prime minister pedro sanchez has announced that all nonessential workers must stay at home for two weeks as the death toll from the virus has risen by more than 800. it brings the total of those infected to more than 5 thousand 600 people.

——more than 5600. 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 in madrid guy hedgecoe says the pressure of the health service is increasing. these latest figures make for pretty grim reading. the latest figure of 832 dead over the last 2a 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. 0ur correspondent in berlin, damien mcguinness, has this update from germany where, there too, health authorities have witnessed a sharp rise in the number of infections. germany has one of the highest rate of infections in the world. it is now thought to be more than 50,000. interestingly, though, the death toll, the death rate, is still relatively low. if you compare that with other countries, 9,000 as you are saying earlier, in italy. a catastrophic death toll there. in germany, the death toll is thought to be very low because testing is so widespread here. every week local authorities say it is thought around half a million tests are being carried out.

that number is going to increase. the reason why this means a lower death toll is because lots of people who don't show many signs of infections are being tested. so that means, that indicates, that the actual real infection rate in other countries is a lot higher. now, german ministers have said, though, that the situation in germany is really the calm before the storm, those are the words they have used. so far we have had an excess supply of intensive care beds. some patients from italy and france are being flown into german hospitals to help those other countries. the difficulty for germany is that once the infection rate rises still further, it is thought of the death toll will rise. what we have here really is a feeling of an eerie sense of calm. everyone is looking at the figures every day to see if the death toll rises. angela merkel has said the current quite strict restrictions on social contact and going out

are going to be extended until at least the 20th of april, likely to be further. during that period, the economy is effectively in shut down. lots of questions and debates here in germany about how to keep the economy going and how to keep the health care system going when that death toll possibly does rise. the uk business secretary alok sharma outlined some measures, which he says whill help businesses ‘bounce back‘ after the lockdown ends. we will introduce measures to improve the insolvency system, which provides the legal options for companies running into major difficulties. 0ur overriding objective is to help uk companies which need to undergo a financial rescue or restructuring process to keep trading. these measures will give those firms extra time and space to weather the storm and be ready

when the crisis ends. whilst ensuring that creditors get the best return possible in the circumstances. the changes to the insolvency regime will include new rules to make sure companies undergoing restructuring can continue to get hold of supplies and raw materials. and, there will be a temporary suspension of wrongful trading provisions for company directors, to remove the threat of personal liability during the pandemic. this provision will have retrospective effect from the 1st of march. however, to be clear, all of the other checks and balances that help to ensure directors fulfil their duties properly will remain in force. we will bring forward legislation in these areas at the earliest opportunity. our business correspondent katie prescott has more on the announcements by alok sharma.

the first is around protective equipment, so things like facemasks for front line nhs staff and hand sanitiser, products that we know has been in really short supply. and the announcement today said that red tape around producing these products are going to be relaxed in order that businesses can make them more easily, the safety standards will be fast tracked and they'll be able to get them to market, the business secretary said, in the next couple of days. now, the second announcement was around the uk's insolvency regime. so really looking at those companies that are struggling, particularly because of the coronavirus pandemic. and the business secretary said that there is going to be a suspension of what are called wrongful trading laws. so these are rules which at the moment allow company directors to be prosecuted if they keep a business going when it really shouldn't. so the idea is that businesses can keep trading through this crisis without company directors worrying about being prosecuted. there are some saying, well, this could leave the system really open to abuse, but what it will do

is stop that spike that everyone's worried about in company collapses and, as the business secretary said, hopefully allow businesses to bounce back when this is all over. 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. faisal ali gave us 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, about two days, the flights also got cancelled. from a lot of states, especially in the eastern region, like bihar, uttar pradesh, there are a lot of migrant labourers who were working in other northern

states or southern states, like kerala or punjab, they all are trying to get back. there are no vacancies available. so they are just trudging on foot with their families and since hotels and all eateries are closed, cities are locked, so they don't have anything to eat, they're in a very bad condition, at the moment. meanwhile, the british foreign secretary dominic raab says he's spoken to his indian counterpart about ways to bring back british citizens stranded in india. it's thought that thousands of british travellers and holiday makers remain stuck there. the say they feel abandoned by the government. 0ur south asia correspondent rajini vaidya nathan reports. 0nce crowded beaches, now under curfew. for many british tourists in india, dream holidays have turned into misery. we're not hearing anything

and we have no idea how we're going to get out of here, and the worst thing is, when we're going to next get some food. as india suspended flights until mid—april and embarked on the largest lockdown in living memory, brits have been left in limbo. esther from leeds is on a round the world trip. she says most locals have been friendly to her, 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. that's because i'm foreign and they believe automatically that foreigners have the virus. the last place that we moved from was an apartment. we were asked to stay away from windows, to not go out on the balcony, we had to leave our money in a separate room, in order to be collected so that there was no face—to—face contact. and it's notjust tourists. many brits visiting family in india are also in a desperate situation. i'm trying to get hold of my medication at the moment.

i can't get hold of it. i'm diabetic, i'm asthmatic, i have chronic migraines and i can have seizures. i'm not getting hold of anything at moment. i'm still lucky in where i am, but the hotel is supposed to be closing down. we're literallyjust stuck. in some parts of the country, basic supplies are running low, with police cracking down heavily on anyone who breaks the curfew. britain's acting high commissioner to india has promised to help those who have been stranded. this is an absolute priority for us and we are working around the clock to put arrangements in place. but there is frustration at a lack of information. miss england, bhasha mukherjee, travelled to kolkata for charity work. a junior doctor in lincolnshire, she just wants to get back to the hospital. i took the hippocratic 0ath to save lives and, you know, do what it takes. and it's a team feeling, you know, when you're part of the nhs. tens of thousands have

signed an online petition calling on the government to bring people home. with other countries such as germany, japan and israel evacuating citizens from india, many are asking, why isn't the uk doing the same? 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 5a 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. now, staying in 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 croxford's been finding out. bbc news theme. 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

from 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 and munya chawawa 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. you'll never listen to the bbc news theme in the same way again! the royal mint is to manufacture up to 4,000 medical visors per day to help protect nhs staff from coronavirus. engineers — who are used to working on coins and related machinery — developed a successful prototype in 48 hours and the first visors are already in use at a hospital in wales. production is now moving to 2a hours

a day, seven days a week at the royal mint‘s south wales site and the team is aiming to increase this to 4,000 per day from tuesday. this is bbc news. time for a look at the weather forecast. it evening. it's out started to feel colder this weekend, we take that chilly feel with us into sunday. not only will it be cold, but also windy, significant wind chill, one oi’ windy, significant wind chill, one or two showers around as well but also a lot of dry weather thanks to this area of high pressure, quite a strong high—pressure area, which will stick with us through the next few days. and with the winds around the high—pressure flowing in a clockwise direction, it's bringing cold air down from the north and the strength of that wind really accentuates the chilly feel. so temperatures dip away through the evening and tonight, some clear spells around, large areas of cloud as well, and one or two of those showers wintry of a hybrid, but even

to low levels, bit of wintriness at times. temperatures generally hovering at about freezing, i think below freezing for some spots in the countryside. the other thing happening through the small hours, the clocks are going to spring forward an hour. these are the sunrise and sunset times tomorrow, sunset crucial, of course, the sun not setting until after eight o'clock in parts of northern ireland, so you'll notice the extra daylight tomorrow. but as far as the weather is concerned, large areas of cloud and sunny spells in between but again, some showers, some of which will be wintry and you will notice the strength of that wind. the windiest conditions across england and where is, gusts of a0 mph, or gusts of 50 mph or more for eastern and southern coastal districts, so that will really make it feel chilly. 0n the thermometer, most it feel chilly. 0n the thermometer, m ost pla ces it feel chilly. 0n the thermometer, most places tomorrow in single digits but factoring in the wind strength, this is what it will feel like and in many spots, not much better than freezing. as we move

into monday, similar sort of feel, the wind is a little lighter, you will notice the strength of the breeze, a lot of dry weather around, patches of cloud, some sunny spells, and one or two showers here and there. signs that things might be a little less chilly by the state, 9-11. little less chilly by the state, 9—11. heading deeper into the week, the strong area of high pressure, really stays with us, that will provide a lot of dry weather through the middle part of the week. frontal systems edging into the north, bringing outbreaks of rain here and eventually something cold a full subset temperatures across the north of the uk dipping away to the end of the week, something a little less chilly to the south, and plenty of dry weather.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines. the number of deaths in the uk from the coronavirus rises to more than a thousand, with another 260 people dying in a single day, officials warn that social distancing restrictions must be kept in place if we can keep deaths below 20,000, we will have done very well in this epidemic. us president trump says he's considering imposing a quarantine on new york to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus this would be an enforceable quarantine, and i'd rather not do it but we may need it. tests for front line 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. the total death toll in italy as a result of the coronavirus has we arejust we are just hearing from warsaw that poland now has 1638 cobit 19 cases according to a poll on‘s health ministry. they have recorded 157 new cases to take them to that total. 18 people have died from the coronavirus according to the health ministry and the number of cases has

risen by 2a9 today, the highest daily rise so far. the number of tests they have performed in poland is over 38 and a half thousand. councils across the uk are having to reduce and scale back services in the fight against coronavirus. it means that in some areas, people won't be able to visit their recycling centre, local library or physically visit relatives in a care home. it comes as some councils say their workers have been attacked as they try to do theirjobs. here's our correspondent judith moritz. shut until further notice, this recycling centre in harrogate is one of many run by councils to have locked the gates. people are being asked to hold onto their large household waste for now and not put it out for bin collection. play areas like this one are closed, too, along with a whole range of other services. it is to encourage social distancing and county councils say it is so their efforts can be redirected towards social care.

there's 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 is a real imperative to free up hospital beds, and so we are doing everything we can to get those patients out of hospital when it is safe to do so. many services are continuing. but there are reports that council workers, from bin collectors to highway crews, are experiencing increased attacks and abuse as tensions and emotions run high during this crisis. the local government association is calling on the public to respect the tireless efforts of council staff. i mean, frankly, it is disappointing and ridiculous that people are, you know, being aggressive towards binmen. you know, they are being aggressive towards people at tidy tips, when we did have them open. they are spitting at them, swearing at them. these are people who are going above and beyond their normal

duties. they are working seven days a week. they are working longer shifts to try and deliver services to our residents, and the last thing they need is abuse. they actually should be receiving praise. many libraries are closed and councils have said that library loans will be extended. they are also encouraging people to go online instead and use digital archives and services. judith moritz, bbc news. italy has been on a nationwide lockdown for nearly three weeks and remains the hardest—hit country in europe by the pandemic. even so, italians have shown 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 rachel schofield from sicily earlier and told us why he took his trumpet out to play for his neighbours. it's so difficult time now, in all the world. we stay at home from 15 days now, i don't know how many days we have to stay, at all, 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 yeah. i have my trumpet with me. enjoy, people. he plays. kiss for everybody, god bless you, people.

ok, let's get answering some of those questions. we can speak to doctor philippa kaye who is a gp in north—west london and mark harris, a professor of virology at the university of leeds. thank you forjoining us. philippa, let's start with you, a question from heather. when the prime minister and others test positive with mild symptoms, what are these mild symptoms? is there a danger that the ‘carry on as usual‘ attitude, albeit, she adds, in isolation, diminishes the seriousness of the situation? i think there is always a balance to be drawn between emphasising how serious this is without inducing panic and for most, they will have mild symptoms, about 80%, and by that we mean a fever, feeling unwell and a cough. that might last a few days, up to about a week or so, the coughing can persist.

but they might be able to potter around at home or work from home, like the prime minister is doing. if symptoms are more severe, by that we mean shortness of breath and dizziness, things like that, no matter where you are, then you must call 111 to get medical treatment. on that, i wonder if there is an element of reassurance that comes with seeing high profile people saying they are at home, as you say, pottering, albeit i am sure the prime minister is more than pottering! but is there a sense of reassurance that might come sometimes with hearing people carry on albeit in isolation? yes, i think that until people know someone in their family orfriends who have had it, there is a great amount of fear because some people will become much more unwell, so to hear somebody is managing and has a temperature and is managing with paracetamol and fluid can be reassuring.

mark, that leads me to this question from debbie, who is fearful. she said, should people who have tested positive stay inside? are they allowed to be out in the garden? she is worried about catching it from her neighbour, she says the gardens are close together and she has tested positive. people who are isolated are allowed to go into the garden. the same rule applies if you went for a walk. you must remain two metres apart from each other, so unless you are leaning over the fence talking to each other, you are ok. the rule is two metres. two metres is the minimum so you should be further away from each other, if possible. one can understand the social compromise this can bring sometimes if you are worried about the neighbour who has tested positive. that is right. in our everyday lives we have

to maintain distance from people, so we can talk to neighbours but maintain a distance from them. it is tough, but we have to abide by that in order to prevent transmission of the virus, particularly if you know your neighbour has tested positive. you should be mindful. philippa, my 89—year—old father thinks it is ok to go shopping because supermarkets have special slots for the elderly. can he go shopping, or should he stay at home? we are saying the over 70s should stay at home as much as possible which means if someone else could go shopping, an online delivery, i would advise that, especially as he is quite a way over 70 and the older you are, the more serious the infection can be. if there is someone else who can do that, i would recommend that. if there is not, no other options,

which is unusual because a lot of things are set up to help people, yes, if he was well, technically he could go but i would advise going in the special hours and maintaining two metres apart if possible. it is difficult for people with elderly parents who still like to have independence. mark, can the virus survive on newspapers and is it risky to read a paper handled by someone who is infected, from linda. a study looked at how the virus persisted and if it is on a hard surface, such as metal, plastic, it can survive up to 72 hours. the study looked at paper and showed the virus could not be detected after as little as an hour or so after putting onto paper, so you are pretty safe with paper. if you are concerned, after you have read the paper, wash your hands before

touching your face. that is a rule we should all follow. the same with the post, for people? absolutely, if it is paper it is unlikely to be contaminated but you should be careful. if you have brought anything in from outside, when you come back from your walk, you should wash your hands. it should be the first thing you do when you get back in the house. what about clothes? people are saying they would have a shower when they come in if they feel they were exposed. shower, washing clothes, would you advise that? as much as you can do to avoid any potential contamination. it might be excessive to wash your clothes every time you come in from going out for a walk. if you maintained a good distance and are not aware of touching anyone else, you are unlikely to be contaminated with virus so washing hands is the most important because that is the most likely

where you will transmit the virus. you have to touch your mouth, nose, eyes, that is most likely that would come from your hands. philippa, i am on my seventh day of self isolation after displaying symptoms and now my daughter displays symptoms. can i go out to get food and paracetamol, as we are running low? can i be around her as she is ill, to help her recover. just to clarify on the question before, if you are a health care professional, nurse, doctor and working for example in scrubs, those i would change when i got home because that is not the same as a normal hour of exercise. on this question, if you are on the seventh day of infection, you, as the person infecting the house, as long as you do not have a fever, can go out from day

eight to get supplies. even if you are on day eight, ten, you still have a fever, you have to stay at home. the only symptom we say you can go out with if it persists after a week is coughing because that can stay around another three, four weeks. she can go out from tomorrow on day eight as long as she is well but everybody else in the house has to stay in 1a days from the day she started her symptoms. if they get symptoms on top, so if i had a child who got symptoms on day 13, it is another seven days for that person from then. she can go out after seven days as long as she has no temperature. everybody else stays in for the 1a and if they develop symptoms, another seven. thank you. mark, a big question. with different countries infected at different times,

who will decide, and how, when global travel can start up again? from bob carter. i think the answer is the world will decide and it will be a gradual process. like we saw the lockdown in various countries, closing borders, flights from various countries being stopped in a piecemeal fashion, i guess when we come out the other side, the same will happen in reverse and gradually we will start to see flights resuming to other countries. it will be a slow process, i think, because we want to make sure we do not transmit the virus to other countries. in china they have had cases coming back in from people coming into china, that is a concern. i think a gradual process. it will not be one day we cannot travel and the next, wherever we want. it will be gradual. maybe bob was asking

the question in hope! philippa, i am 77 with a lung disease but i have not received the government letter to say i am in a high—risk category. should i self—isolate says michael richardson. there is a difference between self isolation which we advise for over 70s and almost a complete quarantine which we advise for people in high—risk groups which include people with blood cancers and those with an organ transplant. for those people, they do not leave the house, not to get groceries, groceries should be left, not even for a walk. for those self isolating, over 70s can go for a walk. he should definitely be self isolating. whether or not he would be counted as a high—risk vulnerable group, if he has not had a letter, that would suggest

he does not have to. you can have asthma that is not severe enough to make us think you are considered to be high risk. if he is not sure, ring the gp on monday and they will discuss with you further. mark, can a virus be passed by stroking pets? it is unlikely. if you have gone out for a walk with your dog and someone who was infected sneezed into their hand and stroked your dog, that would be a potential transmission but of course that is highly unlikely because you would be maintaining your two metres of distance. we cannot make it zero risk, risks are never zero, there is always a very small risk, if you are worried then after you have stroked your cat or dog, wash your hands. that is the mantra, wash your hands. philippa, what defines a persistent cough and how can i tell if i have a dry cough?

a dry cough is one that doesn't really produce mucus, we have all had that fruity, hacking cough at some point but a dry cough doesn't produce that. by persistent, what we mean is a cough that is happening for let's say half a day or you are coughing for an hour maybe three times a day and that is new for you, and i would say that that is persistent. if you are somebody that has a cough anyway, for example a smoker‘s cough, and your cough has got significantly worse for about half a day or feels different. a smoker‘s cough in the morning does sound rather wet or groggy, and a dry cough doesn't, so if you have a cough normally and you see a change in that, then you need to stay at home. do we know the proportion of people presenting with a cough? we know some people are asymptomatic, the cough seems to be the one thing that is definitive but you don't

necessarily need to have had a cough to have the virus. so, until we roll out testing and by testing in this case i mean antibody testing to say whether or not a person has had it, we don't know the percentage of people who have had it asymptomatically, which means that it is not then possible to say what percentage had it asymptomatically or had it with a cough or a fever. it is something that we will be studying for a long time to come as those antibody tests come out in the future. right now, we don't know. in the same way that i have a lot of patients ringing my surgery saying, i know it is not a coronavirus cough. we don't know that. the likelihood is that if you have a fever or a cough at the moment, it is related to coronavirus and you must stay at home. yes, the season for traditional seasonal flu has actually passed and so echoing what you have just said, it is more likely

to be coronavirus. absolutely, the seasonal flu season tends to end at the end of march, the only other thing to say is that patients are ringing up saying, i am sneezing but i think it is hay fever, and that can be a bit difficult to differentiate. apart from the fact that coronavirus doesn't tend to cause sneezing, if you are somebody who is sneezing and you have itchy eyes that are associated with it and are coughing occasionally, if you have all of those symptoms together, it is more likely to be hay fever, it is having a persistent cough that i described having it for an hour a few times a day, that is when i would self—isolate. it is just worth clarifying again, talking about testing, nhs workers will start to be tested this weekend, the difference between the antibody, antigen test, i think it is worth clarifying again. an antigen test tells

you that you have it now. we are testing a part of the virus and the one that we are thinking about doing will be a swab that you insert in the back of your throat and that tells you if you have the virus now and therefore could infect somebody and the reason to do that is that if you have a child at home who may be coughing or have a temperature for another reason, then we want to know which of our health care professionals are shedding and have the virus and therefore can't go to work and which ones can. an antibody test, which will be rolled out in the future and they are starting to test them right now, tells you whether or not you have had the infection, not whether or not you have it now and if you know you've had the infection and are therefore immune, as a health care professional it makes you into something of a superhero, it gives you a superpower because we know that you won't necessarily get it again and therefore you can go to work. mark, do we know for absolutely certain that if you have had it

you will now be safe? that is a good question. if you had any virus infection and you clear that virus and that virus goes away, it may be the common cold or flu or any other of virus, your body will raise an immune response to that virus and that immune response will enable your body to clear the virus from the body. after that, that immune response will persist so that if you become exposed to that virus again, that immune response will counteract the virus very rapidly so you should be immune to any subsequent infection with the same virus. that is why we think that it is very important to have an antibody test just to make sure that you have an immune response to this virus, and then if you have that immune response, you will be resistant to subsequent

infection and you can go and work with people who are infected with the reassurance that you won't be able to be reinfected. which is precisely why there has been so much angst and dare i say, anger in some quarters that we haven't had the testing sooner because it would help tremendously, it would be a game changer. that is true but of course, it takes a little longer to develop that test, as soon as the virus was identified in january, we knew what the genetic sequence of the virus was and that meant that we could devise a test, a very sensitive test, called a qpcr test that would allow us to test the presence of the virus. but to allow us to detect antibodies, you have to have a test which resembles the virus, it can detect whether the immune response is and that has taken a little bit longer to develop, i understand there are no tests available and i think the government

is buying three and a half million of those tests over the next few weeks and hopefully they will be able to be used for front—line workers to test if they have been infected. maybe we will hear more. another quick one for you mark, how long after having had the virus is someone still infectious? well, we heard from philippa earlier about the time in which you are supposed to stay indoors and quarantined after you have developed symptoms, so certainly after you have been infected, you should be looking at ia days before you really feel that you would be clear of any virus and after the symptoms have gone, there may be some residual infectivity but it won't last very long and i think that the government advice on that is a maximum ia days you should be in quarantine. final question, philippa, it is one that struck me, i saw this morning somebody was saying, this isn't about social distancing,

it should be called physical distancing, let us not forget that we can still talk to each other, human beings are very sociable and we mustn't forget that in the current time. i have seen a lot of people with their heads down and standing the two metres apart, but ijust wondered as a gp, what would you say on that, maybe we should consider it physical distancing but let us not forget that we still need each other. humans are pack animals and we need contact with each other, and that is why we are saying please check on your neighbours, telephone or elderly relatives, make sure that you are having regular contact. my personal experience walking outside with my children is that whilst we might be swerving off the pavements to keep that two metres, actually everybody is saying good morning in a rather wonderful way and yes, we absolutely can do that. if you are dropping shopping at somebody elderly down the road, you can stand at the bottom of their garden when they open the door and say hello as long as

you are maintaining that distance. if you can't, for whatever reason, please keep in touch whether that is by phone or technology. that is a lovely thought to end on. thank you so much for your time. good evening. it certainly started to feel colder this weekend, and we take that chilly feel with us into sunday. not only will it be cold, but also windy, quite a significant wind chill, one or two wintry showers around as well, but also a lot of dry weather thanks to this area of high pressure, quite a strong high pressure area, which will stick with us through the next few days. with winds around the high pressure flowing in a clockwise direction, that's bringing cold air down

from the north and the strength of that wind really accentuates the chilly feel. so temperatures dip away through this evening and tonight. some clear spells around, large areas of cloud as well, and one or two of those showers wintry over high ground, but even to low levels, a bit of wintriness mixing in at times. temperatures generally hovering at around freezing, i think will drop below freezing for some spots in the countryside. the other thing happening through the small hours is the clocks springing forward an hour, these are the sunrise and sunset times, sunset crucial, of course, the sun not setting until after eight o'clock across parts of northern ireland. so you will notice the extra daylight during tomorrow. but as far as the weather is concerned, large areas of cloud and some sunny spells in between, but again, some showers, some of which will be wintry and you will notice the strength of that wind. the windiest conditions across england and wales, gusts of a0 mph or more, could see 50 mph or more for some eastern and southern coastal districts.

so that will really feel chilly. 0n the thermometer, most places will be in single digits but when we factor in the strength of the wind this it what it will feel like and in many spots, it will not feel much better than freezing. as we move into monday, a similar sort of weather, winds a little bit lighter, you will still notice the strength of the breeze, lots of dry weather around, large patches of cloud, some sunny spells and one or two showers here and there. signs that things might be a bit less chilly by this stage, 9—11. heading deeper into the week, this strong area of high pressure really stays with us so that will provide a lot of dry weather through the middle part of the week. frontal systems trying to edge into the north, bringing outbreaks of rain here and eventually something colder. so temperatures will dip away to the end of the week in the north of the uk. something a bit less chilly further south, and plenty of dry weather.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. us president trump says he's considering imposing a quarantine on new york to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. this would be an enforceable quarantine. and rather not do it. the number of deaths in the uk from the coronavirus rises to more than a thousand, with another 260 people dying in a single day. officials warn that social distancing restrictions must be kept in place 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