lot and eastern parts of the uk. a lot of dry weather, some sunny spells, a lot of cloud but windy, especially over england and wales. gusts of a0 mph or more. could see gusts of 50 mph or more for some eastern and southern coastal districts. that is really going to make it feel chilly. in places it will feel freezing. most in places it will feel freezing. m ost pla ces in places it will feel freezing. most places dry, not as windy by then.

hello, this is bbc news, with martine croxall. the headlines: us president trump says he's considering imposing a quarantine on new york to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. well, this would be an enforceable quarantine and, you know, i'd rather not do it, but we may need it. the number of deaths in the uk from the coronavirus rises to more than 1,000, 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. tests for frontline nhs staff begin in england this weekend, following criticism over a lack of testing for health workers. the total death toll in italy as a result of the coronavirus has now risen to over 10,000. now, it's time for dateline. hello and welcome to the programme which brings together leading uk journalists with the foreign

correspondents who file their stories for the folks back home with the dateline ‘london‘. that is normally what we do, but you don't need telling that these are not normal times, so for the next weeks we'll be bringing our guests together virtually. joining us today is annalisa piras, an italian writer and film maker. henry chu, europe editor for the the los angeles times. and here, sitting two metres away, the social distancing we're practising in the uk, is lyse doucet, the bbc‘s chief international correspondent. lyse, very good to have you with us. even at a distance, shaun! however far or close you are, it's always good to have you. the uk government's mantra as it imposed restrictions to try to contain the covid—i9 virus: "we're all in this together". the government was as good as its word. on friday, we learnt that borisjohnson, the prime minister, and his health secretary had been infected, and the chief medical 0fficerfor england is isolating himself because he has the symptoms. that's three people leading the uk's response to pandemic.

convention centres in london, birmingham and manchester are being converted into hospitals, as the national health service attempts to deal with the most serious cases. 0n the same day, the uk announced the highest number of deaths so far in 2a hours — 759. the number of people dying from coronavirus is doubling every three to four days. over 100,000 people have tested positive. let's talk about the implications of this in the uk. annalisa and henry, you are both forced as foreign correspondents to be here, to go through this crisis with us. what are your impressions so far of how the uk is coping? annalisa, do you want to kick us off? yes, well, there was a bit of disconcertion in the rest of europe about the choices that britain had taken in the early days of the outbreak.

it looks like now things are going more in the same direction of the other countries. let's not forget that italy is two weeks ahead of britain in the spreading of the virus, so we have a clear sense that what is happening in britain is what has happened in italy, so it is important that we compare notes in europe. there has been a bit of surprise that britain did not do that, is doing it now, but that delay might have consequences. henry, one of the striking thing is, i suppose, is because of the news we got at the end of the week about the prime minister and others, is that it looks like some people have been saying "do as i say, not as i do", that some of the instructions to the rest of us have not been observed by those who are telling us what to do. that's right. i mean, when you have borisjohnson

saying just a couple of weeks ago that he was still happily shaking hands with people, as politicians do as glad—handers, but now coming down with the virus, we now see perhaps the consequences of that. i am encouraged here in london when i look around and see deserted streets, that people are now starting to follow the guidance that is being put out by officials such as chris whitty, the chief medical officer of england. where there seemed to be spotty compliance before, i feel like people are now getting the message and realising that this phrase that none of us knew even a month ago, "flattening the cu rve " , is so important. i feel like that is happening. annalisa was referring to what's happened in italy. to compare that to what is happening in the united states, what is your observation? you are talking to people back home a lot about the situation there. yeah, and i wish i could say that the us was mounting a coordinated and coherent response, but because of our federal system and because we have an administration, and unfortunately a president, whose message has been

all over the map about this, we also see really disparate responses in different parts of the country. so, where i'm from, southern california, los angeles has now enacted a fairly stringent 'shelter—in—place' directive, as has new york, which is now the epicentre. we are beginning to see that the virus is now also moving into the centre of the country, to less populated areas in the middle, spots where i think the state officials have not been so stringent. unfortunately, we have also had a case where the president himself has almost pitted states against one another, saying duke it out for the ventilators, whoever can bid the highest for these, it ought to go for them. 0r underplaying the real dangers they face in terms of lack of equipment. i think the us response has been spotty at best. annalisa, when you compare the uk and italy, you made the point that italy are a couple of weeks ahead

and, therefore, in the uk people should expect some of the things that italy has experienced. what lessons do you draw from the italian experience that would be worth applying in the uk? first and foremost, take seriously the instructions. don't think it will not happen to you because that is what happened in italy and we know that it was devastating, especially in lombardy, the epicentre of the outbreak, because people at the beginning kept going out, they didn't take it seriously. that is the first lesson. if we consider it a war, it is quite an extraordinary advantage for britain to be able to see two weeks ahead of what this enemy, this invisible killer, is doing. i would urge everybody really to follow very, very closely what is happening in italy, try to make up your mind about what are the steps ahead and be alert and be informed all the time.

stay at home and keep vigilant and just prepare yourself to a kind of wartime experience, but with a positive attitude, because that is also what we have seen in italy, which is so encouraging. at a certain point, despair was replaced by a sense of unity and collective solidarity. this is what we need to see in britain, in my mind, if we look at italy. lyse, we saw on thursday night with that moment where, at eight o'clock uk time, people came out on their doorsteps and applauded those who were fighting the illness, in particular the health workers. real moments in which, as annalisa was saying we had seen in italy and some other european countries, people wanted to demonstrate solidarity in moments of isolation. it is quite extraordinary that these

moments, because we do talk about moments now, when you are isolated at home the clock ticks by very slowly. those moments matter, whether it was singing from the balconies in italy or in france and now in britain, it matters because we send a message that perhaps, more than ever before, we value those who are, to use the language of war, on the front line. also, what was so palpable that we all needed it. people wanted to know that while they were inside their homes their whole street was together. their neighbourhood was together. the cities were together. the world was together. in a moment where we feel enveloped, overwhelmed even by this darkness, we need this light, and it is of course in those pitch black moments when the light burns, it burns so brightly. it was a moment to cheer. everyone went inside their homes feeling better. and that is so important now,

to hold onto the moments where we feel better. we will need to come up with a few more moments as this crisis stretches for weeks and months ahead. we will talk more about the pandemic later in the programme. i wanted to pause at this point, if i may, and seize an opportunity, perhaps, to remind us that other things are happening in the world. maybe to get each of you to point out something that you would like to draw attention to in the course of this. it is easy when we all chase the same story to forget that life goes on and other things and other problems exist in the world simultaneously. henry, let's kick off with you. is there a story that you think, perhaps, we have taken our eye off the ball in recent weeks as we become obsessed by coronavirus? there is, and i wish i could say it was a nice one, but it is something else that is presenting humanity with a grave challenge,

that is climate change. particularly, the news that we got just in the last week or so that there was a catastrophic loss in the greenland ice sheet. we are talking about 600 billion tonnes of ice that have melted, broken away and actually caused the seas to rise by two millimetres in the space ofjust two months. in the best of times, people are getting a little bit weary, perhaps, of hearing about these environmental catastrophes, but this is quite a grave one and we need to meet that challenge and keep our sense that, although we hope this pandemic would be a more short—term crisis, we have a long—term one brewing up before us. annalisa, what about you? what is still catching your attention whilst you are also having to keep across all the developments on coronavirus? well, i have been struck

by something that is not really in the news, but i think it should be, which is the possibility of change. in relation to climate change this is very relevant, just to follow up on the story of climate change. things are getting worse on climate change, but coronavirus to showing us that something we thought could never happen can happen — the possibility of extraordinary change. this has happened because coronavirus faces us with the most fundamental question that every government should face — how do we protect citizens in a moment of life and death? we are seeing that when that choice, imminent death, imminent threat is posed to governments, everybody knows that you need to act and change and take extraordinary measures. i think a good story that we should look at and really stop and think,

is that we thought we couldn't stop cars, we thought we couldn't stop factories, but look at the financial times‘ satellite view over china and see how pollution has gone down overnight. yes, of course, this isn't something we can do forever, but change is possible. i think that we should really think that coronavirus is creating a watershed in what we thought could be possible and would could not. we should think how do we use what we are understanding now to make real change in the climate crisis, in the austerity about with the hospitals. we are seeing that we can do things, so we should be positive about it. henry, do you want to pick up on that thought? could it may be that we will change or will we just revert back in relief to the world as we knew it?

i agree with annalisa that this is showing us another way. we are also demonstrating that human beings are extremely adaptable, which is good. i also feel like i have covered other stories where societies have thought to themselves we will never be the same after this, whether it was the riots here in britain ten about years ago, and other events where the idea was that there was going to be a sea change in both behaviour and outlook. i think that although human beings can adapt quickly, they also revert back to being creatures of routine. when you have, for example, unfortunately again, an administration in the us that is talking about trying to get economic activity exactly back to where it was before, if not better, china relaxing environmental supervision of factories so they can get back to industrial activity, that doesn't bode well, unfortunately, from my point of view for the future.

lyse, is there a new story that you thinkjust hasn't popped into the headlines that you think maybe should have done, or maybe appeared only briefly? so many stories are flickering, but don't make enough of a signal to penetrate the noise of this pandemic. one of them which caught my eye, because i do cover conflicts around the world, is an attack on a sikh temple in the afghan capital, kabul, which killed 25 people of all ages while they were worshipping. this was particularly dreadful, as there was talk of possible possible peace talks between the taliban and the republic of afghanistan, this was committed by islamic state. remember that one? that was also a moment, to pick up on henry's point, where we understood palpably that threats cross borders, that we have to work together because the threat is truly global. also, it took us back to the 9/11

moment, remember that? when british, american and afghan leaders stood together saying, we are with you for the long run, we are standing shoulder to shoulder. news on afghanistan doesn't pierce through as much as it should, so we were reminded of a really old war at a time when we are all confronting a new war. that sort of profound sense that we don't learn from history, we don't take lessons to say can live differently and live together with collective solutions. you mentioned 9/11 and one of the striking things in new york this week was the return of those trucks in which bodies will be placed because there is expected to be such a demand as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, something we saw last on the street at the time of 9/11. it is the story of the week, the month and probably the year. globally, the world health 0rganization says covid—19 has

infected more than half a million people and killed more than 20,000. the united states now has more people infected than any other country. it also gave the most striking statistic on the economic impact of the pandemic — three million people registered jobless in the space ofjust one week. henry, we have this more than trillion dollar aid package that the president signed into law on friday evening, negotiated by congress, but the scale of the economic damage potentially to the united states is enormous, isn't it? it looks like it could indeed be disastrous. you mentioned the three million unemployed figure within a week applying for unemployment benefits. some economists are now predicting we could have 40 million people out of work by the end of april because of these restrictions being imposed on businesses, but rightfully so, in order to stop the spread of this virus. the $2 trillion stimulus package is at least a start in recognising that government does have a role to play in terms of helping individuals get through the crisis.

businesses, as well. a lot of money has been set aside to rescue very large businesses, including for example boeing, which has been deemed to be of national importance. the fear, though, also is that because money is being given directly to americans who are in need, which is a good thing for their day—to—day expenses, employers are not having any incentive to keep their workers on the payroll, unlike what is happening here in the uk or denmark, where the government has stepped in to guarantee portions of people's salaries as long as they are kept on the payroll, and that encourages businesses to keep their employees. that's not the approach the us has taken and it remains to be seen whether that will be a hindrance or not. annalisa, has there been much sign of european solidarity in the way continental european countries have responded to the coronavirus outbreak? yes, there is and it is part

of the great positive news about this extraordinary tragedy. it is bringing back some fundamental questions, and european solidarity is one of them. the virus doesn't stop on borders. we have seen that overnight european countries have locked their borders, but we know that this is not working. so it has become increasingly obvious to everybody that the continent has the force and the energy to fight this war better if it works together. we've seen at the beginning a bit of closures and nationalism creeping back, but very, very, very soon, the kind of fundamental solidarity mechanism at the foundation of the single market has kicked in. so we have seen special measures to keep the goods going through borders that were locked.

we have seen extraordinary help coming from the european union, first to italy, that was the first hit, but is now going to other countries. the european central bank has been supporting the euro extraordinarily, with extraordinary determination. we have seen a coming back of the very famous "whatever it takes" — the european central bank will do whatever it takes to support euro. mario draghi, the governor of the central bank, said that in 2012 when it was the height of the eurozone crisis and rescue of the euro. we have seen this coming back very strongly in the words of christine lagarde, saying almost the same message — the european central bank will do whatever is necessary and for as long as it is necessary to support the eurozone. more than one billion euros have already been allocated.

so, very, very quickly we see that solidarity and the awareness that united we stand and divided we fall is becoming obvious to most countries. there is still a bit of resistance to go for the real thing that everybody says we need right now, which is of the form of euro bond, a coronavirus bond, some formal obligation that will help the eurozone be stronger. but again, the voices that are against that, that come from some extreme hardliners in germany and the netherlands, are becoming weaker and weaker because there is this sense that our building, our condominium, is in fire and we need to call the fireman. this is happening in the part of the world that is best resourced, best equipped, has the institutions and the networks to survive best

if they pull together. spare a thought for the rest of the world. why hasn't there been a meeting of the united nations security council? why when the g7 met virtually they weren't able to issue a common statement? because the united states insisted on calling it the 'wuhan virus'. why are we fighting over words? i know words matter, but unless the world pulls together... this week, the un secretary—general launched a $2 billion appeal for those countries of the world. here we are sitting in britain with the nhs, for all of its imperfections, and now deficiencies as we see in protective equipment, tests and so on, it is one of the best health systems in the world. spare a thought for afghanistan. spare a thought for yemen, which was already going through the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, where less than half of the country's health facilities were functioning.

there are global solutions, but if countries pursue a 'my country first' attitude, we will all be last. yes, beggar thy neighbour is a very dangerous precedent, isn't it, at any time, particularly at a time like this? i wonder, before we finish, if i could ask you all to address a thought for people watching, or for people who are trying to deal with this crisis, whether they are viewers or not, is there a message you would like them to take away from what is happening at the moment? annalisa first. well, again, i would like to stress that sometimes in crisis there is an opportunity for change. in this crisis, i think the role that citizens, civic societies can play all over the world is very, very important, because we will need to be informed properly from trustworthy sources, know what is going on and hold accountable our leaders. because in too many places in the world we are seeing leaders

trying to politicise the crisis, trying to score political points. we need really to come together across borders, compare notes, compare information and say we understand what is going on, so it's a chance for civic societies to wake up and play a better role. so please be informed, stay informed and let's kind of connect information across borders. annalisa, thank you. henry? for the many of us who are in lockdown around the world, and that is a significant portion of the global population now, i think of the english phrase that we have 'killing with kindness', which is the opposite of what we need to think about. kindness is what will make us survive. in an atmosphere where tempers can easily fray, suspicions can rise, i think we need to have the mutual kindness that will get us through as a society and as a world.

i do have a message to those who are leading us on the charge against the coronavirus, and that is, just as you believe your own personal doctor and accept his or her advice for yourself, believe the doctors and the experts on this who tell us the best way to fight the coronavirus. it's not about faith, it's about on the ground experience and science that will get us through. henry, thank you very much. lyse, in the studio? well, i have long been a big believer that good can come out of bad, even though we don't want the bad to happen. this has been a consistent thread through all of our conversation today. in this darkness, we are looking at our world in a new way. i've been hearing on the radio this morning how people are looking out for their binmen, their garbage collector. they are looking at the traffic police, the person at the checkout counter. we are starting to appreciate the people who make our lives go round. who are the key workers?

what are the essentialjobs? what value do we place on those professions? there were arguments years ago about what junior doctors should be paid in britain, and now they are the ones keeping all of us safe. do you remember that poetic expression from many, many years ago that when a butterfly flaps its wings deep in the amazon forest of brazil it can cause a storm in texas? well, the new version is that when a bat in a wet market in wuhan flaps its wings, we feel it all around the world. for better, for worse, we are in this together. for better or worse, we will only get out of this together. lyse doucet, henry chu and annalisa piras, thank you all very much forjoining us on this, the first of many unusual editions of dateline. i have only one message, it's one that used to be said by a late presenter on british television after he told some terrible stories about crimes committed around the uk —

please, don't have nightmares. we'll be back with dateline at the same time next week. have a good week. goodbye. hello, good evening. it's certainly started to feel colder this weekend. we take that chilly feel with us into sunday. particularly when we factor in the strength of the wind. 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. you can see the brisk north—easterly wind going through the uk tonight. large areas of cloud, some clear spells allowing temperatures to drop to freezing. some spells in the countryside will be a few degrees below freezing. 0ne countryside will be a few degrees below freezing. one or two wintry showers which will continue at times

tomorrow, particularfor northern and eastern parts of the uk. as we go through the day, a lot of dry weather, some sunny spells, quite a lot of cloud but it will be windy across england and wales, a0 mph or more. maybe 50 for some eastern and southern coasts. temperatures on the thermometer not too impressive. factor in the strength of the wind and in some places it will feel like freezing. a few more showers on monday, most places will be dry, not quite as windy by then.

her. the number of people who have died in the uk with coronavirus is now more than a thousand — after the biggest daily increase so far. improvised centres are being set up to cope with the anticipated surge in cases, as testing gets under way this week for front line nhs staff — welcome news for those self—isolating. 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. the prime minister — in isolation having tested positive for the virus — is to write to every household urging people to stay at home. as italy's death toll rises to over 10,000, some of the country's critically ill are airlifted to germany.