this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. 1,228 people have now died from coronavirus in the uk — a rise of 209. deserted roads and empty parks. a top official says the uk could face up to six months of restrictions. over time, probably over the next six months, we will have a three—week review, we will see where we're going. we need to keep that lid on and then gradually we will be able to, hopefully, adjust some of the social distancing measures. as italy grapples with the world's highest death toll from coronavirus, there's a severe shortage of medical staff in the north. another 838 people die from covid 19 in spain — the country's highest daily number of deaths. and life and death in india

as prime minister modi apologizes for a chaotic lockdown that has hurt the country's poorest. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments in britain and globally. the british government has said all parts of the country are now on an "emergency footing" and it could be six months before life in the uk returns to "normal". at the latest downing street briefing, it was announced that millions of items of personal protective equipment were being delivered to nhs staff. across europe, the number of people killed by the virus has risen to more than 20,000. italy has seen the most deaths from coronavirus and the country's deputy health minister says

he believes italy is currently experiencing the peak of the outbreak. us president donald trump has backed away from imposing a quarantine on new york and two adjoining states, despite saying yesterday that he was considering the move. in south korea, everyone arriving from overseas will have to undergo two weeks of quarantine. the country has nearly 10,000 confirmed cases. more on the global picture in a moment but first this report on the uk's response by our science editor david shukman the stark reality of fighting coronavirus... from roundhay park in leeds, one of the biggest in europe, now almost deserted, to trafalgar square in london, usually crowded. evidence of social distancing in action. but we won't know how well it's working for two to three weeks. in this critically important time, the prime minister, borisjohnson, himself infected, has been chairing meetings whilst in self—isolation. he's written a letter to be sent to 30 million homes across the uk,

in which there's a stark message: "it's important for me to level with you", he says. "we know things will get worse before they get better. but we are making the right preparations", he says, "and the more we all follow the rules, the fewer lives will be lost and the sooner life can return to normal." but the signs are that won't come soon. the daily briefing at number 10 made that very clear. over time, probably over the next six months, we will have a three—week review, we will see where we're going. we need to keep that lid on and then gradually we will be able to, hopefully, adjust some of the social distancing measures and gradually get us all back to normal. so, i think three weeks for review, two or three months to see if we have really squashed it, but about 3—6 months, ideally, and lots of uncertainty in that, but then to see at which point we can actually get back to normal.

that idea of a long haul was echoed by scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon. 13 weeks is likely to be the kind of period that we have to be prepared to have measures in place. of course, we will continue to keep under review the type of measures and we will not keep measures in place for any longer than we have to do. all this on a painful day, made worse by the loss of an ent surgeon, amged el—hawrani. confirmed to have died of covid—i9, he passed away at glenfield hospital in leicester. he'd been volunteering in a&e. in a statement, his son ashraf said... "most of my dad's time was dedicated towards his family and the rest of that time was dedicated towards his profession. he taught me the significance of respect and equality." we've had confirmation of the very sad death of an ent surgeon, amged el—hawrani, what do you think that says, what message does that

send to nhs staff on the front line? i'm very saddened by the fact one of our professional colleagues has passed away. it clearly is a worrying event. it's worrying for the nation because it's another death in our statistics, it's another loss to a family and it will be a loss to an nhs family, as well. once again, a reminder of the incredible importance of everyone making an effort to stop the spread of the virus. a slow and difficult process. david shukman, bbc news. the british prime minister boris johnson has posted this video on twitter in the past hour. hi, folks. i want to update you on the latest steps the government is taking to fight the coronavirus. the first and most important thing is that our policy is unchanged, and that our policy is unchanged, and thatis that our policy is unchanged, and that is to delay the spread of the disease so as to reduce the pressure

on the nhs, reduce the demand on the nhs, at that critical peak moment, and that is how we hope to save many thousands of lives. and i want to thank everybody who has been complying with our instructions to stay at home, and we've already seen massive falls in railway uses, i think down about 95%, bus usage down 7596 think down about 95%, bus usage down 75% and people really trying to work from home if they possibly can. and that's what we want. stay at home, protect the nhs, save lives. again, i want to thank everybody in the nhs and all of our public sector workers. 0n the roll call of honour, you will be familiar with. and everybody in the private sector, one group in particular, notjust the supermarkets and all the workers in those businesses who help to keep oui’ those businesses who help to keep our country going, but our pharmacists as well. and i think of how important it is that our pharmacists are not only dispensing

vital medicines, but also very often reassurance to the customers they interact with, so thank you to our wonderful pharmacists for everything you are doing. and thank you, by the way, to everybody who is now coming back into the nhs in such huge numbers. just this evening, i can tell you we have 20,000 nhs staff coming back to the colours. doctors and nurses. it's the most amazing thing. and that is in addition to the 750,000 embers of the public who have volunteered to help us get through this crisis. we are going to do it. we are going to do it together. one thing i think coronavirus crisis has already proved is that there really is such a thing as society. so thank you to all of you, and remember, stay at home. protect our nhs and save lives. thanks very much. boris

johnson is video on social media he posed in the last hour. 0ur political corrrespondent chris mason is in westminster and explained a little earlier what the uk can expect over the coming weeks. as far as the uk is concerned we got a real sense today, perhaps more explicitly than we've had before about the likely potential timeline in terms of the impact of the virus on our day—to—day lives and those measures that will put in place by borisjohnson almost a week ago now. doctorjenny harris, the chief medical officer for england, talking about a timeline of around six months which takes us to october. she acknowledged that the government, the experts, can't be specific. they can't be explicit because they are dealing with what they described as a moving target, but, clearly, they say, they cannot allow these measures that were imposed a week ago to be removed suddenly because the fear would be, a couple of weeks after, there could be another spike in cases.

they are not saying that there is going to be what has been described as some by some as this lockdown continuing unchanged for six months, but the measures put in place will have to be removed very, very gradually, and that means we won't be back to normal any time soon. and so there is huge implications for all parts of our lives, whether it's our income, our jobs, our businesses, the education of our children, our capacity to move around the country, to go on holiday, to see our relatives. profound consequences lasting for quite some time. the head of italy's coronavirus response team has told the bbc there is now a severe shortage of medical staff in the north of the country — the area worst hit by the pandemic. doctors and nurses from across the country are being asked to volunteer to work there. there have now been almost 11,000 deaths from covid 19 in italy, with over 97 thousand confirmed infections. jean mackenzie reports.

they have come from around the world to serve on the front line of this crisis. doctors from russia, cuba and now albania and from every corner of italy too. ijust finished from the hospital after 12 hours. i'm so tired! giuseppe has never worked in an emergency room, he only qualified last year, but he's left his home in sicily for a field hospital at the epicentre. why did you decide to travel to work up here? the emergency was here and it's still here and so i'm here to get my contribution, my little contribution, and help my colleagues. the force at which this virus struck the north of italy has left it exposed. 300 doctors were flown in from different parts of the country last week, but this wasn't nearly enough. the situation in the north is so acute, so many doctors and nurses have fallen sick now,

that the government is appealing to people from all over the country to travel up there and help. the north is still in a deep crisis. we have a shortage of specialised people in the health sector because they have been contaminated. so, of course, more of them now are observing a quarantine period. with 4000 nurses now infected, hundreds more are being drafted in over the next two days. simone is one of them. the hospital, it's full. and so crowded. all the people were hit by that virus like a train, like a tornado.

it's terrible. tonight, there's been an improvement. the rate of new infections and deaths are slightly down but make no mistake, this country is still in crisis, with a long, hard fight ahead. jean mackenzie, bbc news, rome. in spain, the number of coronavirus fatalities rose by 838 overnight — marking the country's highest daily rise in deaths. much of the country remains in lockdown. six—and—a—half thousand people have now died from the virus there, and there are just under 80 thousand confirmed infections. it's one of europe's hardest hit countries, but spanish health officials say the virus there could be near its peak. graham keeley works for the independent newspaper, and told us more about what's happening in madrid. (tx sor) the government are going to approve these new restrictions. they will come into force from tomorrow. they will mean that essentially, non—essential workers,

who are for instance construction workers, postal workers, people working on production lines that 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. well, the government is saying that 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 in hospitals they say, "well, that may be what the government is saying, "but it seems that actually the problem "is that not enough people "are being tested because there is a shortage of testing kits", so the real picture may not be quite so optimistic. america's leading infectious diseases expert has warned that up

to 200,000 people in the us could die from the coronavirus. dr anthony fauci, who's a member of president trump's covid—19 task force, said millions of people in the country would catch the virus. some cities, including new york, have warned that they may soon run out of medical supplies. the latest figures show there've been 237 more deaths in new york state over the past 2a hours. president donald trump has backed away from imposing a quarantine on new york and two adjoining states saying it will ‘not be neccessary‘. instead, residents are being "strongly advised" against non—essential travel. on saturday, the president said he might impose a quarantine on new york, parts of newjersey and connecticut to slow the spread of covid—19. but the new york state governor said doing so would be "preposterous". some care workers in the uk supporting the most vulnerable people say they are running out of protective equipment for frontline staff dealing with patients during the coronavirus outbreak. they have called on the british government to provide more supplies including face masks, gloves, and hand sanitiser.

with many orders diverted to the nhs, some care providers have had to ask for donations from local businesses, as our home editor mark easton reports. these are our masks that we're desperate for and hoping for a supply very soon. as i say, our mask order has been delayed. they are down to one or two days of protective masks at this extra care home in northampton. supplies of hand gel are running low too. desperate staff fear they won't be able to protect vulnerable residents from a virus that might well kill them. the masks that we are using, we're not sure how to prioritise who has a mask first or which service user we go to that has a mask. so, we are managing at the moment but we don't know where our next supply would come from. the company that runs this centre has repeatedly ordered new masks for their 2000 carers across the uk, but supplies have told them the protection equipment has been diverted to the nhs.

we're really down to the bare bones now of masks and gel, in terms of supplies. and we are desperate, really, to try and get some more equipment through quickly so our care staff can be fully protected and deliver the important service that they do. the government says it's working around the clock to give the social care sector the equipment and support it needs but english local authorities have written to the health secretary to say supplies are not reaching the front line. councils across england are so worried about the shortage of masks for carers that they are appealing to a closed nail bars, construction firms — anyone who has got supplies to consider donating them to social services. mr ali died a few days ago after he tested positive for the virus in a london care home. only a handful were able to attend his burial. the family say more should have been done to protect him. any family who has someone in a care setting really should make the effort of talking

to the care home. really should find out what measures are in place so that their loved ones are being cared for. ash kabi, who has parkinson's and advanced dementia, need carers four times a day at his home in north london. his wife says they arrive on public transport without masks to protect him or themselves. they have to go within two metres of him and there's no protection. they could be asymptomatic but contagious and give it to him. if he gets it... i doubt he'd survive, to be honest. the government says every social care provider will get their supplies they need and denies the health service is being prioritised but this is a sector that has long felt it has played second fiddle to the nhs. mark easton, bbc news. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has asked for his country's forgiveness after imposing a sweeping coronavirus lockdown that he said had hurt millions of the country's poor.

in his weekly radio address, he apologised for the impact of the three—week lockdown, but said india was in a life and death battle. translation: possibly many will be angry at me for being locked in their homes. i understand your troubles, but there was no other way to wage a war against coronavirus. for a country like india with a population of 1.3 billion, it is a battle of life and death and we have to win it. the indian prime minister. criticism has mounted over the lack of planning ahead of the shutdown which was introduced with less than four hours' notice. many of india's1.3 billion citizens have been left jobless and hungry. as the bbc‘s nikhil inamdar reports now from delhi, tens of thousands of migrant labourers have been forced to walk hundreds of kilometres from cities to their home villages.

it has been a fairly chaotic 72 hours here in india because even as most of the country is in the grip of an unprecedented 21—day lockdown, literally hundreds of thousands of migrant workers across the country have begun journeys on foot to reach their villages as the economic cost of this curfew begins to take its toll, particularly on contract workers and on daily waged labourers. we have seen dramatic pictures of men, women, children, old, young, literally walking 400, 500, 600 kilometres to reach their villages. india has about 100 million internal migrants and quite contrary to the intentions of this 21—day lockdown, several federal governments have now had to actually make arrangements to ferry them from one place to another. evidently, the gravity of this crisis has now become apparent to the government as well because the prime minister, in an address to the country, actually apologised to the poor, but said he didn't

have much of a choice. while the government has expanded food and social security cover, there is mounting criticism about why it didn't pre—empt a situation like this before announcing the lockdown with just four hour's notice. india has about 1,000 coronavirus cases tested positive, but as many of these migrants go back to these rural villages in rural india, there is a fear that some of these travellers could be carrying the strain with them. a directive has now been issued by the centre to the state, saying that they should be quarantined for 1h days, but given the numbers that we are speaking about, it really remains to be seen how successfully this can be carried out. brazil only diagnosed its first case of covid—19 at the end of february — a number which is now approaching 4,000, with over 100 deaths. president bolsonaro has accused the media of scare—tactics —

and has criticised moves by state governments to shutdown certain areas. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson sent this report from sao paulo. as the world tries desperately to tackle this pandemic, brazil's president is doing his best to downplay it. it is just the sniffles, he says, hysteria and panic whipped up by the media. going against his own health ministry's advice, he has been shaking hands with supporters and posing for selfies. he is angry because he came to power promising a better economy and coronavirus has put a stop to that. so he is determined to make this pandemic political, blaming his adversaries for trying to destroy the country. this is what bolsonaro is annoyed about. shops, businesses, schools, public spaces have all been closed right across the state of sao paulo, a state that is responsible for a third of the country's wealth. and the city's streets, normally gridlocked, are now virtually empty. you would think a global

pandemic would unite a nation trying to find a solution. far from it. this video was shared by bolsonaro's son, a politician himself. the message is, brazil cannot stop. the government refused to claim ownership of the video, but it is exactly the message bolsonaro has been putting out and is supported by many. translation: when you suggest that if you go out on the streets, you could become infected, people become panicked. restrictive measures of social isolation are fine, but if you're going to be made to quarantine and there is no solution in two weeks, all you're doing is causing the economy to collapse. but sao paulo's governor, joao doria, is unrepentant. brazil can stop, he says, and should stop. this week he paid tribute to health professionals, scientists, and good brazilians, he said, who were saving lives, unlike some, who don't value them. banging pots

this has been the soundtrack to many an evening recently, people banging pots in protest, angry with a president they see as irresponsible and out of touch. clearly, bolsonaro is not well equipped to deal with this crisis and as a consequence, there is certainly a consensus among health specialists that more people will die and the suffering in terms of the number of victims, but also the economic impact will be more severe in brazil because of a lack of leadership. bolsonaro has always railed against the establishment. it is part of his dna. but in these times of crisis, people don't need a blame game, they need a problem solved and fast. katy watson, bbc news, in sao paulo. scientists around the world are racing to test new and existing treatments in the hope of alleviating the symptoms of covid—19. there are currently no proven treatments to reduce the severity of the illness,

as reged ahmad reports. a cruel virus that can attack our of very ability to breathe. more so because we don't have any proven treatments that can reduce the severity of covid—19. now, scientists in the uk are to start drug trials in the hope that early intervention can help stop people from ending up in hospital on a ventilator. the trial will begin with testing a well—known malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine. this intervention right now is aimed at those who are at higher risk of complications in the community and not yet that sick that they need to go to hospital. you might remember that the us president, donald trump, was heavily criticised when he touted the drug as a game—changer, but professor butler stresses that we don't yet know if it works.

i think we absolutely need much better clinical evidence before we start making assertions like that. there are other studies into malaria drugs under way, such as in norway and france, but many have focused on patients already very sick and in hospital. it might be quite a heavy lift to expect something like hydroxychloroquine to be making a dramatic difference when people are already on ventilators. instead, this widescale, randomised study will draw from a group of 3000 people over the age of 50 who have early signs of covid—19. scientists do however urge caution, trials generally take time, but do offer a glimmer of hope. and we end the programme

on a lighter note. piano plays this is how one italian intensive care doctor ended his long shift in lombardy, on piano in the hospital hall. his colleagues convinced him to share the video on social media, where it's been widely viewed. and in case you didn't guess the tune, it's the much loved ‘don‘t stop me now‘ by british rock band queen. two football matches in the belarusian premier league, have attracted unprecedented international attention today, as the only top—flight games taking place in europe. since all other european leagues shut down, belarus' football federation has signed broadcast deals with sports networks in ten countries and the league has been one of the only few options left for gamblers around the world. belarus has reported less than 100 cases of the coronavirus, but there's been criticism of the decision to keep playing.

much more on our website. just log on to our bbc news website, search bbc news online, or download our smartphone app. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. good evening. over the last week we have had some signs of spring from the weather and temperatures got up to 19 degrees earlier in the week but not so this weekend. it has been turning colder and this afternoon you were lucky to get to 9 degrees. feeling much more like winter, and high pressure has been in charge, an unusually strong area of high pressure sitting to the west of the british isles and the winds are blowing in a clockwise direction so it means it has been drawing some really cold air down from the north and talking of the winds, they've been pretty brisk and that has accentuated the chilly fail. while it stays quite blustery through the night, the winds will ease to some extent with large amounts of cloud

and showers in northern and eastern scotland down the eastern side of england. temperatures tending to hover around freezing and some spots might be a touch below, so a local frost for some into tomorrow morning and through tomorrow, another day of large amounts of cloud, some sunny spells but showers, mostly across northern and eastern parts of the uk but they could get across the midlands and even into parts of wales. still quite windy but not as windy as it has been, so feeling just a little bit less cold. those temperatures still a bit below par for this point in the year, between nine and 11 degrees. from monday into tuesday, the high—pressure slips south and that will allow the air to come from somewhere slightly different. the air is starting to come in off the atlantic. it doesn't mean any kind of heatwave or anything like that, but it will just feel a little bit less cold and you can see the temperatures of nine or 10 degrees. large amounts of cloud, some sunny spells and the odd shower.

for many of us, wednesday is similar, particularly across england, wales and northern ireland. a changeless column with a weak weather front bringing showery rain from the north —— a change for scotland. as we head towards the end of the week, the high—pressure retreats and low—pressure dives close to the north of the uk in the frontal system will push south bringing rain and hill snow across scotland and some colder air trying to dig back in from the north by the end of the week, it looks like mild air will win out. so after a chilly start to the week, we will see rain and snow in the north, turning milder from the south later on.

hello, this is bbc news — i'm martine croxall.