this is bbc news. our top stories: in the us, the death toll from the coronavirus rises to over 2,000, as president trump withdraws his plan to quarantine some of the worst affected states. the british prime minister sends a letter to every household in the uk and warns that the coronavirus crisis will get worse before it gets better. as europe tightens its lockdown, spain suffers another sharp rise in the number of covid—19 deaths, but officials say the spread of infections is starting to stabilise. south korea announces a mandatory two—week quarantine for all overseas arrivals, with a threat of deportation. this setup is all about protecting

south korea from a fresh outbreak of coronavirus. the world's oldest man is celebrating his 112th birthday, but without a party to celebrate. hello and welcome to bbc news. countries around the world are grappling with the coronavirus as the global death toll reaches nearly 31,000. there are now more than 665,000 confirmed cases worldwide. here's the latest. every person arriving in south korea from overseas will have to undergo two weeks of quarantine. the country has nearly 10,000 confirmed cases. the british prime minister has warned that the crisis will get worse before it gets better. more than 1,000 people have died there, with over 17,000 cases reported.

across europe, the number of people killed by the virus has risen to more than 20,000. spain has ordered all nonessential workers to stay at home for two weeks after reporting more than 800 deaths in one day. australia is reporting a decline in the rate of infections. and in the us, the global epicentre of the outbreak, the number of deaths have soared, doubling to more than 2,000 in two days. staying in the us, president trump has withdrawn a threat to quarantine two of the worst effected states — newjersey and new york. we begin our coverage with this report from freya cole. new york city, home to more than 8.5 million people, now a dangerous hotspot for the spread of disease. there are more than 53,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the city alone. across the entire state,

more than 700 people have died. president trump told reporters he was considering a two—week quarantine to stop the spread in new york and two other states but, just hours later, he backed away from the idea, saying... effective immediately, the centers for disease control and prevention urged residents in the three states to stop all nonessential domestic travel for 1h days. it says the advice does not apply to employees of critical infrastructure industries, including trucking, public health, financial services and food supply. the idea of an enforced quarantine had outraged some city leaders, who feared it would paralyse the economy and cause mass confusion.

i did not speak to him about any quarantine. i have not had those conversations. i don't even know what that means. the united states now has the highest numbers of cases in the world. some medical workers say they no longer feel safe, pleading with residents to do the right thing and stay at home. freya cole, bbc news. the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has warned that the coronavirus crisis will get worse before it gets better and urged everybody in britain to stay at home to save lives. the warning comes in a letter sent to 30 million british households, as the number of covid—19 deaths passed the 1,000 mark. mrjohnson, who is self—isolating at home with mild symptoms, says that the government is considering even more stringent controls on public life. 0ur correspondent andy moore reports. the nhs is gearing up for the coming storm with the preparation of emergency hospitals in major

cities across the country. this one in east london is due to take its first patients at the end of the week. it comes as a grim milestone is reached in the casualty figures, a total of more than 1000 people have died from coronavirus. 0ver17,000 people have tested positive. the prime minister isjust one of them but, from self—isolation at downing street, he is still chairing emergency meetings, and now he is writing to 30 million households across the uk. in the letter he says...

at the daily downing street briefing, we were told that every one of us had a part to play in keeping the death toll as low as possible. if it is less than 20,000, as sir patrick vallance said, that would be a good result, although every death, as i've said, is absolutely a tragedy. but we should not be complacent about that. although that would be a good result, it will only happen if we stop the transmission of the virus. the first 2,000 food parcels have now been delivered to old and vulnerable people who have been advised to stay at home. by the end of the week, it is hoped 50,000 packages will have been sent out. andy moore, bbc news. in europe, the number of people killed by the virus has risen above 20,000, with both italy and spain reporting more than 800 deaths in one day. italy became the first country to report more than 10,000 fatalities.

the government has further tightened restrictions, introducing temperature testing for all new arrivals from abroad and handing people masks. spain has also imposed tighter limits on people's movements, saying all nonessential staff who had been going to work must now stay at home for two weeks. in france, which has seen close to 2,000 deaths, the prime minister, edouard philippe, warned the "battle wasjust beginning". in a moment we will have the latest from germany, but first let's go to spain. graham keeley is a journalist based in madrid and the correspondent for the independent newspaper. what is the latest air on government restrictions on people? movements? today, the government will approve these new restrictions and they will come into force from tomorrow. they will mean that nonessential workers,

people are construction workers, postal workers, people working on production lines which don't relate to the epidemic, for instance car workers, some opticians and even people running shops that are not related to food, they will not be allowed to go to work for the next two weeks and will have to stay at home. in terms of the number of fatalities there, spain like italy is suffering particularly badly. is there any sense in spain as to whether the country is approaching the peak of the virus in terms of how much damage it is doing? the government is saying they are cheered to some extent by the fact that the number of cases is beginning to level out. however, when you speak to doctors and hospitals they say that might be what the government is saying, but it seems that the problem is not enough people are being tested

because there is a shortage of testing kits, so the real picture may not be quite so optimistic. how is the health service coping in spain? it's not, basically. when i have spoken to doctors in the past week, they said they have not got enough resources, not enough protective gear to wear. hospitals are completely overwhelmed, particularly the intensive care units. they are very scared themselves to go into these units and work every day because of the obvious risk of infection and younger people are getting infected and they are afraid that it might happen to them. is there a feeling that spain wasn't prepared for this crisis? absolutely. that is the general feeling. they crisis? absolutely. that is the generalfeeling. they feel crisis? absolutely. that is the general feeling. they feel that a crisis of this proportion was far too much for the existing health system and possibly spain acted too late to bring in the state of

emergency which has been in operation for the past two weeks. what is the mood as far as you can pick it up generally? are people happy to obey all the restrictions and social distancing restrictions and social distancing restrictions and regulations? yes, they are. there is a lot of cooperation with the authorities. there are some people who disregard the restrictions. the police have made over 900 arrests. generally, people are staying in their homes and not going out for unnecessary reasons. the general mood is trying to work together to overcome this. graham, thank you very much indeed. germany has just released its latest infection figures. the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in has risen to 52,5117 and 389 people have died of the disease. for more, i'mjoined now by our correspondent damien mcguinness in berlin.

compared to spain and italy, the death toll in germany is relatively low at the moment. yes, that's right. although germany has one of the highest rates of infection in the highest rates of infection in the world, the death toll is still relatively low. that is mainly because germany carries out a lot of testing for the virus, so that means that people who don't have any symptoms or few symptoms are also tested. what that indicates is not necessarily that germans are recovering better or are in any way better in dealing with the virus, it means elsewhere in other countries where there is less testing the actual infection rate is much higher than we know. here in germany, the debate is all about the rock —— the lockdown, because that has closed on the economy, effectively. germany is europe's biggest economy and it is

important for the eu that germany keeps going. there is quite a ferocious debate here in germany, especially with the relatively low death toll, about whether those restrictions could be lifted because everything is closed down here. angela merkel has said that restrictions will stay in place until at least the middle of april. she said the government will release some sort of timeframe and some sort of exit plan, but really what we will see in germany, these restrictions will be in place for an awful long time, certainly mid april if not much longer. for many months right throughout the summer there will be some sort of restrictions. that is a huge impact economically on germany, but also the whole of the european union. i was asking earlier how the spanish health service was coping. i has germany coped? so far, relatively well. at

the moment there is still spare capacity in intensive care units. there are still enough ventilators and capacity in the health service. that could change if the death toll rises. right now, germany is flying in intensive care corona patients from italy and france. it is a sign of solidarity. we have the same debate here as in britain and elsewhere, is there enough protection for medical staff? well, no. the masks are not coming in fast enough. are there enough beds at the death toll rises? germany has had to deal with austerity, is welcome over the last few years after the eurozone financial crisis. here there is a big debate about whether budget cuts have been too drastic and whether that means we are not

prepared enough for a crisis like this. you can compare it to the situation in italy or spain, where austerity for years has had such an impact on the health care system systems there and now those countries are really struggling. what leaders particularly in italy and spain are now saying is that the eu has to do more. we have to talk about the massive bailout programme for southern europe. much greater than in the eurozone crisis. we will return to the quite ferocious debate about whether northern european countries should help southern european countries economically and financially. a baby has died in the us state of illinois after testing positive with covid—19. while there have been reports of deaths of teenagers around the world, officials say this marks an extremely rare case ofjuvenile death during this pandemic. let's get more on this then. joining us live now is calum semple, a professor in child health

and 0utbreak medicine at the university of liverpool. thanks very much for being with us. it had been thought that young people want is badly affected by this virus is older people. is that in any way being revised? no, and it has to be taken in context. we had a report of infant death in the wuhan province at the start of the outbreak. looking at the figures in the whole, less than 2% of all those infected, severely affected, are under 18 and very few are infants. there is enough covid—19 disease going around that a child could be born within underlying heart disease and the presence of the covid—19 could be the tipping edge for a child that has severe underlying

conditions. it is hard to say when you get a single case like this out of the tens of thousands that we should revise our policy. if that is true, why is it then that covid—19 doesn't seem to affect younger people as much as older people?m is quite unusual. the honest answer is quite unusual. the honest answer is nobody really knows. we know that children can be infected the same way that adults are on that children to transmit the virus, but on the whole they don't get the same severe respiratory tract infection that the adults kept. it could be to do with the immune system being different, or perhaps the lung cells and develop in children don't have the lock that the virus is the key to. it may be to do with lung development, and that is why children are being spared. talk to us more children are being spared. talk to us more about the lock and the key then and how that affects people's

respiratory systems? viruses cabinet viruses themselves. they need to huack viruses themselves. they need to hijack a cell to make more virus. the cells that have the lock on them are in the nose, mouth, tongue, all the way down to the bottom of the lungs. the viruses are key that into that lot. children's lungs. the viruses are key that into that lot. child ren's nuns lungs. the viruses are key that into that lot. children's nuns are different because they keep developing at least until they are young teenagers and it may be that the lock which the virus uses isn't being presented in the lungs of developing children. it is a hypothesis. we need research. we are doing that research in the united kingdom. we talk about younger and older. is it possible to say at what age while it is relatively safe in this virus and at what age one becomes in more danger? yes, we can because now we have good data coming in from around the world. the united

kingdom is making a huge contribution to that data. the uplift in cases coming into hospital sta rts uplift in cases coming into hospital starts in the later teenage years. we are not seeing large numbers of pre—teenage children coming into hospital with this disease. they often come in with other problems and they test positive for covid—19, but it has to be understood there is so much of it in the community some kids will come in and be positive, but not necessarily suffering from that disease. they are infected, but not suffering from it. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: royal support for mental health during the pandemic. britain's duke and duchess of cambridge speak out on staying well during self—isolation.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines. president trump has ruled out imposing a quarantine on new york and two other states to slow the spread of the virus. the british prime minister has sent a letter to every household in the uk and warns that the coronavirus crisis will get worse before it gets better. south korea says it will quarantine all new arrivals from overseas for a fortnight. officials say half of all new confirmed cases in recent days have been diagnosed in people who have come into the country. arrivals will also have to download a quarantine app, to monitor their movements and any symptons. our correspondent laura bicker was at incheon airport as a flight arrived from london. this setup is all about protecting south korea from a fresh outbreak of coronavirus.

all arrivals from europe will be tested at one of the stations. there are eight of them, all standing by. over the last few days, around half of all south korea's new coronavirus cases have come from overseas. many of them from europe. and that is one of the reasons why everyone is being tested. to wait for the results, you are taken on a bus to a residential centre and get your results in about 12 hours. these testing centres are outside, but others within the country, you get this sort of plastic phone booth—type testing service, where you can walk in and be tested in a matter of minutes. before you arrive here into this area, you go through a series of checks. a temperature check, then you have to fill in all your contact details and they verify that. all arrivals have to download this application on their mobile phone and have to fill in their symptoms for 1h days while they are in self isolation.

if they fail to do so, the authorities will track them down. when it comes to self isolation, the government has said that anyone who breaks these rules, if south korean, will be fined, and if you are a foreigner you will be deported. the latest measure that they have introduced is that all passengers coming in on flights must pass a temperature check. if they don't, they will not be allowed on the flight. now, the south korean authorities are coming under increasing pressure to close their borders. people here feel like their own outbreak has been dealt with. the one thing they are worried about now is people coming from outside the country and reintroducing this virus. a fresh cluster could emerge. here in the uk, the duke and duchess of cambridge have lent their support

to a campaign to help maintain mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. the british government is also giving mental health charities £5 million, approximately $6 million, to expand their support services. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell has the details. the cambridges have both taken a close interest in mental health issues. they have also been playing their part in supporting the health services dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. just over a week ago, before the lockdown began, they visited an nhs centre in south london to thank staff for that tireless efforts. they have now endorsed the latest initiative by public health england to help people to look after their mental health. in a statement william and catherine said... the simple steps recommended by public health england include maintaining contact with friends and family via telephone and video

calls, and social media. keeping a regular routine and sleeping pattern, and focusing on a hobby or learning something new. an extra £5 million has been given to leading mental health charities so that they can expand their ability to support people who are struggling with their mental well—being during the coronavirus emergency. nicholas witchell, bbc news. the world's oldest man is celebrating his 112th birthday today. the former teacher and engineer from hampshire, in the south of england, was born in 1908, the year the wright brothers made their first public flight. he will be spending this year's birthday in isolation.

they are britain's oldest man and woman. bob weighton and joan hocquard. incredibly, both 112 years old today. bob, from hampshire, is now also the world's oldest living man. born on march 29,1908, he's seen everything, but never coronavirus. which means only his family and carers can get close for his birthday. coronavirus around, who knows what's going to happen? certainly there will be no parties. there will be no special visitors. i don't know. joan! joan did have a little party. she's also in quarantine, with her young partner, ken, who's a mere 92. but it wasn't always like that. joan's early life was in london and africa. speaking last year at her home in poole, she looked back at her school days.

i was very naughty. very naughty. two of us went down to the town, to the shops. and with our green uniform they recognised us. although joan and bob live in neighbouring counties, they've never met. but they do share one enduring philosophy that so relevant for today. even in adversity, they say, family and friends are at the heart of everything. hello, the clocks may have taken a step forward to british summer time, but the weather has taken a step back into winterfor but the weather has taken a step back into winter for some. snow and sleet showers in parts of the uk

today, and a royal wind, making it an especially cold across england and wales. a few rain showers in scotland, but most will be dry. in weston area staying dry throughout. varying amounts of cloud but sunshine will break through. longer sunny spells later this afternoon towards the south and east, but it is here we see the strongest. temperature is already below where they should be for the of year, and add on the window will feel closer to freezing. a chilly day in—store, but with his heading into british summertime it does mean the evening will be lighter for longer. here are some sunset times. into this evening and overnight, the showers will continue across parts of northern england and northern scotland, as well as down and eastern districts

of england. many parts in central and western areas will stay dry with clear skies. under the clear skies you will be more susceptible to a frost. it will be a cold start, but this is where we will see the best of the morning sunshine. rain and sleet showers and parts of eastern england. it is these areas with the wind will still be a keen feature, but elsewhere winds will be lighter, but elsewhere winds will be lighter, but not enough to stop the showers drifting westward throughout the day. with the wind is starting to fall lighter, the air a little less chilly, the temperatures will start to left. the winter still coming from this north—easterly direction. a greater chance for some widespread frost as we start the day. after a sunny, frosty start, more cloud builds up and spreads out in the afternoon, so the second half of the day more grey. a chance of showers in the far north. northern ireland

and scotland likely to see some longer spells of rain nature this week. further south staying dry with a few sunny spells. take care.