hello, good morning, how are you? welcome to bbc news, i'm victoria derbyshire with you until 11. we begin week two of our partial lockdown in britain. how's it going for you? let me know the challenges and also the positivies. send me an email victoria@bbc.co.uk or message me on twitter.

here are the headlines. a breathing aid that can help keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care has been created in less than seven days, and if trials are successful is expected to go into production next week. a week after strict measures were introduced, england's deputy chief medical officer warns it could be at least six months before life in the uk returns to normal. boris johnson announces 20,000 former nhs workers have returned to the health service to help with the crisis. one thing i think coronavirus crisis has already proved is there really thank you to everybody who has now coming back into the nhs in such huge numbers. doctors and nurses, it's the most amazing thing. spain tightens its coornavirus lockdown even further as the death toll continues to rise. all nonessential workers are told, stay at home. president trump extends federal coronavirus restrictions,

to the end of april as a leading government expert predicts 200,000 americans could die. australia tightens its grip in a bid to reduce the spread of the virus. the government limits social gatherings to just two people, down from 10. and in other news, president trump says the us will not foot the bill for prince harry and meghan‘s security amid reports the couple have moved to california. coming up in the next hour, two experts, just after 9:30am, to a nswer experts, just after 9:30am, to answer many of your questions. we will also focus on pregnancy at

about 9:45am, pregnant women who are due to give birth very soon, there are countries like ireland to have banned you having a birth partner alongside you. that's when you go into labour. we will talk about the situation here and how the shortage of midwives in this country is affecting things. do let me know, let's start the second week of partial lockdown, let me know what the positives are and what the challenges have been. send me a message on twitter and i will feed your messages into the programme. a team of uk—based experts has, within a week, designed an improved breathing aid for people suffering from coronavirus. the device has been made by clinicians working alongside engineers from university college london and mercedes formula one. the news comes as borisjohnson announces that 20,000 former nhs workers have returned to the health service to help with the crisis. this morning the head of the british medical association called for all health care staff

to be tested for coronavirus. elsewhere in the world, tighter coronavirus restrictions have come into force in spain, which has been in lockdown for two weeks. all nonessential workers have been told to stay at home for the next 11 days. australia has unveiled an 80 billion us dollar package to help buoy the economy. it includes a subsidy to help businesses retain six millionjobs over the next six months. in the us, president trump has extended virus restrictions until the end of april. he'd previously said he hoped america could re—open for business at easter. and let's hear more now about that new breathing aid which has been developed very quickly and is currently being tested in the uk. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. it's a small device that could make a big difference. known as continuous positive airway pressure, or cpap, it pushes oxygen into the lungs, keeping them open, making

it easier to breathe. they're already used in the nhs but are in short supply so a team modified and improved an existing design in less than a week which has now been approved for use by health regulators. normally medical device development would take years and in this instance we've been able to do it in days because we've cleverly thought about how we can go back to existing devices and models, reverse engineer them and then engage with our industry partners to manufacture them at scale. this demonstration was done at university college london hospital, which is now using the device to treat covid—i9 patients. i sincerely think it may actually save many lives by preventing patients from needing to go onto a ventilator and again saving that vital resource for the very, very severely ill. every second counts in motor racing. here, mercedes formula i partnered with doctors and healthcare engineers on a medical device that

could be mass produced. this is a great example of how the nhs, universities and industry are working together at extraordinary pace to meet the challenge posed by coronavirus. if the trials of this device go well, then mercedes formula i says it can produce up to 1,000 of these a day. in italy, around half of covid—i9 patients given cpap have avoided the need for intensive care, and unlike mechanical ventilators, there's no need for them to be sedated. fergus walsh, bbc news. frontline hospital staff in england are starting to be tested to see whether they have coronavirus. previously, only seriously ill patients were being screened, leading to criticism from nhs staff that they were being left unprotected. from today, critical care doctors and nurses in england will be checked if they show symptoms or live with people who do.

tests for a&e staff, paramedics, gps and social care staff are expected to follow. frontline staff in scotland and wales are already being screened, while in northern ireland testing also begins today. dr chaand nagpaul, the chair of the council of the british medical association told us that lack of testing meant that some health care staff who might be not be ill were not able to come into work. 0n the 16th of march, over two weeks ago, we heard that the government was ramping up testing and prioritising health care workers, the prime minister announced that. two weeks on, where just now starting testing. in those two weeks, we have recognisejust how much the nhs has suffered in terms of staff shortages. i haven't got an explanation for government but what i would say is it's really important

not to delay this any further, and make sure that this testing is available to all health care staff, certainly, as i said earlier, whilst it is being focused at the moment, i understand why we are focused on critical care staff, we need this extended to all staff. in general practice at the moment we are still waiting for a testing. lots of doctors contact me every day saying they want to get back to work. it is affecting the service because their gp practices are small units, and if you have two doctors, say, self isolating and two nurses, you cannot really effectively run a gp practice. we have some examples where practices have two buddy with others, patients need to be managed by other practices. it's a huge impactand it by other practices. it's a huge impact and it is important that we see this testing widespread as of this moment now. it's been a week since stricter measures changing all our lives were introduced in the uk

and we have been hearing that those measures could last for a significant period. let me know how it's going view, the challenges and the positives. i will read some of those messages in the moment. significant period was the phrase used by michael gove, that the measures could last for. the deputy cmo talked about a period of six months? she did, jenny harries was perhaps more candid than the politicians can be saying it may go on for six months. she actually said it was plausible it could go on even longer. that's not the whole lockdown, but some aspects of it may have to continue for many months. it was interesting this morning hearing from various government voices, none of them really wanted to accept the idea of six months because it's frankly daunting. that is a really long period of time. but when you listen to all the scientists, there

isa listen to all the scientists, there is a broad consensus that lockdown, roughly, as we know it, is likely to continue for 12, 13 weeks, that seems to be the consensus. there is little prospect when we have this review at easter of the restrictions being lifted because we will be at the height of the epidemic then. the broad consensus is we have three months worth of the lockdown. the question is what happens after that. hope is we can begin to ease off, but we genuinely don't know what will happen, if the virus starts to spread again. that's why there is this caution about how far and how quickly you can ease off. the basic problem is, we don't have a straightforward exit strategy from this virus because we know a vaccine is probably a year, 18 months away. the only other exit strategy seems to be extensive testing, as they have done in korea and taiwan, to try and isolate the virus, which allows some aspects of normal life to continue. this morning, helen

whately, the health minister, was saying that at the weekend, they tested 7000. that is pretty disappointing, it has to be said, because earlier we had been led to believe that michael gove that it would be nearer 10,000. we are quite a way of what they are doing in germany where they plan to test around half a million per week. there is also ongoing questions about pp equipment, protective equipment, stories and some papers of more care homes and hospitals not quite getting the resources they need although helen whately stressed this morning that millions of kit is being sent out. it is essential that those at the front line across health and social have the pp that they need —— the ppe that they need when they do close contact activities, it's imperative, we have been working very hard on that. 170 million items of ppe have gone across the nhs and care provider,

every registered care provider including over 25 million masks, so a huge effort. it is a logistical exercise to get the stocks to the front line when there has suddenly beena front line when there has suddenly been a huge call for that equipment, andl been a huge call for that equipment, and i know that people want to have very clear guidelines on when they should be using ppe and what, so we are looking again at the guidelines to make sure they are clear enough and also that they are clear to those who don't need to be using ppe. i have heard from quite be a public services —— heard from quite a few public services asking for ppe when the activities their staff is doing do not require ppe so the guidance has to be clear when you do and don't know it —— need to use it. this message, my ent surgeon husband is back in the front line, still the testing and still having to beg for

ppe. let's see this from the public health england, they havejust ppe. let's see this from the public health england, they have just said the latest figure for the daily test on saturday was just over 9000. that is relevant because matt hancock said yesterday, we have reached 10,000 per day ahead of schedule, then governments that said it was 7000 on saturday, now a third lot of figures say it was 9000 on saturday. imean, i figures say it was 9000 on saturday. i mean, i guess the bottom line is, the figures are coming in from numerous different trusts, and it mightjust be a bureaucratic difficulty in collating accurate and definitive figures. surely the bigger point is, that is still a long way short, whether it is seven, nine or ten, of what we need to be doing. we need first of all to roll out testing amongst medical staff to check whether they can return to work or whether they should not be at work, that needs to happen quickly. i come back to the point

made by the former health secretary jeremy hunt at the weekend, he has said this fairly consistently. he says, if you look at south korea, taiwan, where they have allowed some normality of life to resume, they have done so by extensively testing, that means driving test in four people, just like mcdonald's, stop and be tested. testing anyone and eve ryo ne and be tested. testing anyone and everyone who has any symptoms whatsoever and then contact tracing who those people have been in contact with. if you do that, you can isolate where the virus is which means in other parts of the city or society, life can resume as normal. to do that, you need hundreds of thousands of tests. germany appears to be gearing up down that road and it interesting, the death rate in germany is much lower than here even though the infection rate is higher. they plan to test half a million a week, we are on seven, 10,000 a day. we are not at the races. so it's not

all bad news. there is better news. we learned this morning that we may get the antibody test, this is the test to establish whether you have built up immunity to coronavirus, that could be days away, we're told. and perhaps even more encouraging, we heard from professor neil ferguson, leading the team at imperial providing much of the modelling and data for britain's response, suggesting the level of infection, the number of people getting coronavirus, could be actually beginning to slow down since the lockdown was introduced. in the uk, we can see some early sta rts in the uk, we can see some early starts —— signs of infections, less so in deaths because there is always a lack in death. if we look at the numbers of new hospital admissions a day, that appears to be slowing down a little bit. not yet plateaued, the

numbers can increase each day but the rate of that increase has slowed. we see numbers of european countries at the current time with the same pattern. what is significant about that is that the death rate will probably keep going up and quite sharply, for another two weeks. because there is another two weeks. because there is a lag, if you like, between people being infected. people are infected two weeks ago before the lockdown coming into force, and they are still at risk. the significance of what the professor has identified is that the rate of hospital admissions is just that the rate of hospital admissions isjust beginning to that the rate of hospital admissions is just beginning to ease off. if that trend continues, that would suggest the lockdown is having an impact. and that has to be good news. are you 0k, norman? in two absolutely fine, yeah, absolutely fine! so nice to see you smile! thank you

so much. norman is at home and he is absolutely fine, good to hear. thank you for your messages, you can treat me this morning, let me know how the partial lockdown is going for you. the positives and the challenges. you can send me an e—mail or tweet me. we are going to talk about pregnancy, at about 9:45am, we will talk to someone 3a weeks pregnant, and also the royal college of midwives as we get reports from other countries that mum is going into labour are not allowed to have a birthing partner with them, which isa a birthing partner with them, which is a real worry. we will see what the situation is in this country. the uk's biggest regional airline, loganair, is planning to ask the government for financial help. the airline has said that it, and every other operator, will need to be bailed out. meanwhile, easyjet has grounded its entire fleet because of the crisis. the company said in a statement that at this stage it couldn't be certain when it

would re—sta rt commercial flights. the headlines on bbc news. a breathing aid that can help keep patients out of intensive care has been created in just a few days by engineers at university college london working with clinicians and mercedes formula one. england's deputy chief medical 0fficer warns it could be at least six months before life in the uk returns to normal. 20,000 ex—nhs staff return to the service to help fight coronavirus. let me bring you this bit of breaking news. it is to do with a man being charged after an nhs staff member was punched in the face and left with a fractured cheekbone at the salford royal infirmary

yesterday. the man of no fixed address has been charged with one count of assault and one count and the public disorder act, he has been remanded in custody and will appear in court today. police were called yesterday afternoon to reports that a man had assaulted a member of nhs staff at a hospital in salford under 27 man was arrested on suspicion of assault. the nhs staff member was in his 50s, needed treatment for a fractured cheekbone but has since been discharged. more than 110 countries and territories around the world have now put in place widespread restrictions on the movement of their citizens. schools have closed and businesses have been forced to stop working. there are, though, still large differences in the approach that some countries have been taking. as jim reed reports. so, it's vital to slow the spread of the disease. stay at home.

it will break the chain of transmission, and it will save lives. a quarter of the world is now living under some form of lockdown. 3 billion people have been told to stay at home. in most of europe, day—to—day life has stopped. in the north of italy, hospitals are still struggling to cope. it's three weeks now since the start of the world's full national lockdown. the street is completely deserted. on a sunday afternoon, usually there would be certainly lots of people. translation: it's a special emergency situation. everyone of us has a responsibility to do our bit so we mustn't approach each other. in northern europe, similar measures are now in force. in the united kingdom, any social gathering is now banned. the public has been ordered to stay at home with only a few exceptions. so this is what a lockdown looks like in the south of london.

you are allowed to go out for essential needs, so i have been in the house for a couple of days now, about to go out to the big supermarket. they now restrict the number of people in the building at any one time so the queue to get in goes round there. and finishes there. there are differences, though. in sweden, schools, cafes and bars have stayed open, at least for the moment. in the united states, meanwhile, some individual states are moving faster than others. the sooner we get back to normal, the better, but obviously that's up to the experts. even the president has to listen to those people and hopefully he'll do that. new york state still makes up around half of all cases nationally. broadway theatres and schools have been shut, residents have been ordered to stay at home. in asia, 1.3 billion indians have been told to stay indoors for 21 days. the government is desperate to stop the virus spreading in its huge cities.

translation: no one is helping us. people are scared to give us a ride because of the virus. the police are also asking for our identity cards. in other countries, though, rigorous infection tracking has allowed life to go on. in singapore, the streets are busy and the shops open. it's closed its borders but there is no lockdown. here, a heat sensitive camera takes your temperature before you are allowed to enter an apartment building or restaurant. i have been very fortunate, we're living in a place like this. in this moment. because most of my friends and family members, they don't have the luxury to contemplate the idea of going out for a drink. in china, meanwhile, the number of new hospital infections in the city where the outbreak began has slowed to a trickle. and the residents of wuhan are now being allowed to walk the streets again. translation: for us, the news about lifting the lockdown is like the biggest recognition for us staying at home for more than two months.

it's a positive sign, a relaxation of restrictions in a world that elsewhere has been shutting itself down. with me is prof sir simon wesseley, consultant psychiatrist at king's college hospital. we are going to talk about the potential mental health effects of the lockdown. also i'm joined by claire barcham, who manages an emergency duty team in london and chair of the british association of social workers‘ mental health group. good morning both, thank you for coming on the programme. simon, would you expect to see a pretty dramatic rise in the numbers of people with mental health problems over the period in lockdown? the a nswer to over the period in lockdown? the answer to that is straightforward, yes, we would. we havejust published a review of what we know about the effects of quarantine on populations, i think there are 2a studies done so far. mainly from sars and ebola. 23 show a rise in

mental health problems, and nearly all of those confirm that those most vulnerable are those who already have pre—existing mental health problems. the answer to your question is unfortunately an undeniable yes. what kind of conditions would you expect to see? first of all, we're not talking about anxiety and frustration, boredom, that most of us are feeling most of the time, i suspect. we are talking about an increase in defined disorders, some post—traumatic stress disorder, depression, obsessive—compulsive disorders particularly, and a greater chance of relapse of severe mental illness. are your staff are seeing people with those kind of conditions, claire? definitely, we have seen over the last two or three weeks more people who have perhaps never beenin more people who have perhaps never been in contact with mental health services before, who perhaps had underlying mental health problems or didn't see us, have not been involved in services for very many

years, they are now presenting in crisis. at the same time, there is a decline in some of the more urgent assessments we were doing, which does give us the time to do this. you can definitely see the impact of the crisis and people's mental health. how do members operate, in these circumstances? do they still go to peoples homes, that they have protective equipment, do theyjust use video calls? video calls are certainly being used more in community mental health teams and services, or phone calls because i think one of the dilemmas is that some of the most unwell people that we work with may not have access to the internets. they may not, they may not trust it. there are some challenges therefore social workers in mental health and working directly with people in the community at the moment. we are trying to do more things remotely. ppe is starting to arrive on site

but it has been huge worry the country that it hasn't been as available up till now, but i know certainly in my team it is there now. people are trying to keep people we know about that we work with currently, as well as possible for as long as possible, but there isa for as long as possible, but there is a great deal of concern that underneath that there is a lot of people who will be filing this period very difficult. we heard yesterday from the deputy chief medical officer that this potential way of life could last for up to six months. what do you say to people who find that kind of information potentially overwhelming for their mental health? i think it isn't great news. we do have to accept that. the data that we have does suggest the longer quarantine goes on for, the more difficult it becomes to comply with. but we are in uncharted territory. at the

moment, this is remarkable, we had over the weekend there has been a reduction in the general population of mobility in the general population of 90%, which is close to what they have in rome and madrid and probably we will be there in another day or two. there is a remarkable degree of consent in the population. which i think has to be celebrated, actually, it is one of the biggest transformations we have ever seen. but how long we will see that, we don't know. we haven't been here before. the other problem is, the longer it goes on for, the greater the risks of side effects of quarantine will be, economic, social and on mental health, and sadly we are already seeing it in patients at the maudsley hospital which i am pa rt the maudsley hospital which i am part of, also an increase in paranoia, some of the more silly conspiracy theories in social media affecting some of our patients and causing them to be much more disturbed. we also have the problem

ofa disturbed. we also have the problem of a lot of our patients who were also physically unhealthy with diabetes or obesity, they are more likely to smoke, which certainly increases the tension and concern in their relatives. and for all of us finally, this loss of social contact that we experience, social connectivity is one of the best practice for general mental health, not just those with practice for general mental health, notjust those with mental disorders. it has been partly replaced by social media, only this time last year, ironically, i was talking on your show about how the social media had a negative impact on mental health. now we're talking about the positive impact it has, that we are more able to cope with quarantine and isolation then we would have done ten or 15 years ago. finally, some positive words for people watching who be struggling with mental health at this time, what can you say to them?”

with mental health at this time, what can you say to them? i would say that it is ok to be anxious. these are difficult times, but do try to keep a routine, try and stay in contact with people who you know and care about you. don't spend too much time on social media, but he is reliable sources like the bbc for your information because it can feel quite overwhelming. —— use reliable sources like the bbc. don't feel worried if you feel anxious, it only reasonable to feel anxious. thank you, both of you, claire bartram, and professor sir simon wesley. no doubt we will talk again over the coming weeks and months, i hope we will. thank you for your messages as well. on twitter, about how you are coping with the partial lockdown, the challenges and province plot —— positives. the biggest problem for

people like me with a learning disability is isolation and loneliness, my mother lives 20 minutes away, i have a learning disability and she gives me support andi disability and she gives me support and i haven't seen herfor a month. trinity says, i have been isolating for a week that my husband is still being. —— asked to work at a nonessential construction site so could bring it home and a risk to others travelling. this one is, balancing a business, not key work for me, technically we cannot even go to our storage facility to ship products. it's coming up to 9:30am. time for a look at the weather with carol. good morning. many of us will see double figures today. but still some cloud around. the cloud will produce

showers today, anywhere, but they are showers, so not all of us will catch one. some brighter breaks as well. not as windy as it was yesterday but there is a wind and if you are in it, it will feel the cold with temperatures between eight and 11 degrees. through this evening and overnight we hang onto some plant, some showers, the wind continuing to ease. despite the fact there will be holes in the cloud we are not anticipating any problems with frost, one or two pockets may occur but for most of us, too much cloud and too much wind. as we head into tomorrow another cloudy day in prospect for the bulk of the uk with some showers, brighter skies in the south—east and cloudy but not as cold by the time we get to wednesday. good morning. it's monday morning. hello, this is bbc news with me,

victoria derbyshire. the headlines... a breathing aid that can help keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care has been created in less than seven days — and if trials are sucessful is expected to go into production next week. a week after strict measures were introduced — england's deputy chief medical officer warns it could be at least six months before life in the uk returns to normal. it's announced 20,000 former nhs workers have returned to the health service to help with the crisis spain tightens its coronavirus lockdown, even further — as the death toll continues to rise. all non—essential workers are told — stay at home. president trump extends federal coronavirus restrictions, to the end of april — as a leading government expert predicts 200,000 americans could die. tighter coronavirus restrictions have come into force in spain, which has been in lockdown for two weeks.

all non—essential workers have been told to stay at home for the next 11 days. this report from tanya dendrinos. a lifeline in the midst of chaos, a military plane full of medical supplies arriving in madrid from the czech republic. and with the bump of elbows, a small glimmer the nation has not yet lost hope. the contents couldn't be more precious. 10,000 items of protective equipment for health workers after the government's request for medical aid from nato allies. and time is of the essence. more than 80,000 people have now been infected with covid—19 in spain, forcing a further tightening of the country's lockdown restrictions. non—essential workers — these are, for instance, 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. the streets are empty but it's a stark contrast to the hospitals and morgues struggling to cope under the weight of the crisis. 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's a shortage of testing kits. and that's an issue being raised the world over. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. donald trump has announced that the restrictions imposed in the united states to limit the spread of coronavirus will be extended until the end of april. the president had previously said he hoped america could re—open for business at easter.

now mr trump says the country will be well on the way to recovering byjune the first. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports this is how america's normally bustling city centres look today. chicago, empty. philadelphia, deserted. and new york city, unusually quiet. everyone ordered to stay at home except essential workers like nurses. and this is how it's going to stay. no more talk of getting back to work by easter. now president trump says social distancing guidelines will be extended to the end of april to slow the spread of covid—19. the peak, the highest point, of death rates, remember this, is likely to hit in two weeks. nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won, that would be the greatest loss of all.

but many more americans are expected to die in the weeks ahead. dr anthony fauci, the head of the president's medical task force, says the disease could kill more than 100,000 people in the us. the idea we may have as many cases played a role in our decision to make sure we don't do something prematurely, and pull back when we should be pushing. the president's advisors say it could have been much worse, with up to 2 million americans at risk of dying if drastic measures hadn't been taken. if we could hold that down, as we're saying, to 100,000, it's a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100,000 and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job. new york is still the epicentre of the outbreak in the us where some health workers are saying there is a desperate shortage of medical supplies. president trump has accused hospitals of hoarding vital equipment such as ventilators, which he said should

be released for wider use. peter bowes, bbc news. you've been contacting us in your thousands with questions about practical advice and support on covid—19. we are asking you today how you are coping with the first week of the lockdown. claire says i desperately miss going to work and my business but i am enjoying the tranquillity and not rushing and cooking and teaching my daughter who is seven yea rs teaching my daughter who is seven years old. alan says good morning, for me of the feeling of claustrophobia. we are all stuck indoors, feeling of anger and frustration are people still not following guidelines and still going out and meeting others. 25 people at a karaoke party? really? thank you

for those. we're going to do our best now to answer some of them now — on the bbc‘s your questions answered. we can speak to dr amir khan who is a gp in bradford. also i'm joined by dr katrina lythgoe who is an epidemiologist at oxford university. shejoins me from cheshire. welcome to both of you and thank you for volunteering to answer some of the questions sent in by our reviewers. liza sensed this in. five days into covid 19. reviewers. liza sensed this in. five days into covid19. starting to recover. i want to know how long i will be infectious for. 0k, yes, good morning. with regards to that person, seven days after the onset of the symptoms, she's five days into it now, another two days. she is still infectious, after that she shouldn't be shedding the virus any more. and can't go back to social

distancing rather than self isolation. however, if there are household contacts, people who live in the house with her, they should self isolate for 1h days from the onset of her symptoms. thank you. this is from sofia. he says i know scientists are discovering how the virus is contracted but do we know if it is airborne? yes, really good question and i think it depends what we call airborne. we know it can spread through droplets like coughing and sneezing, this is why we need to be careful with close contacts. there is some evidence that it can spread in the form of aerosols which are likely to stay in aerosols which are likely to stay in a room for a little bit longer. 0k. this question from marty who says i have a chest infection, not improving with medication. is it safe to go to hospital for an x—ray without putting myself at risk? what i would say is only go for an x—ray

if it's absolutely necessary. we can't say there's no risk at all because you yourself may well be a risk to other staff members and not know you've got the virus and again, it's the same for them. i would say only go for a chest x—ray if you are absolutely certain medication isn't working, you have the call for whatever symptoms for three weeks or more. it's been recommended by your gp. if at all you can avoid it i would try and avoid it but if there is no other option rather than to go for the x rate then you must go. katrina, can you get the virus from food cans and packaging, that's from julie? i think the first thing we need to do is understand the levels of risk and close contact is the biggest risk. there is evidence that it can survive on surfaces but for how long in the real world isn't really known. i would say if you are worried time is on your side, leave packages for a day or two, you could

wipe them down with a disinfectant but always be careful to wash your hands before and after and don't touch your face. thank you, the next question is about pregnancy, we will focus more on this in the next few minutes. we will talk to the royal couege minutes. we will talk to the royal college of midwives and someone who is about to give birth in the next few weeks but this is from lynn who says what should we do for family members who are pregnant and goes into labour? my son and daughter—in—law are due to have their baby in the next few days? we know pregnant women are in an at risk group and where possible, they should be self isolating for 12 weeks. if you are due to go into labour i would say stick to the birth plan that you've already had, don't change from it, lots of people are thinking about having home births rather than going into hospital, if your plan is to go into hospital, if your plan is to go into hospital that is still the safest thing to do for you and everything should be in place to reduce the risk of infection. there is some

evidence that children under the age of the year, including newborn babies are at risk of getting the virus and having symptoms from it so once baby born, it should be home as soon as possible. and back to self isolating. grandparents, really, should not be visiting, anyone else in the household should be isolating themselves as well. this question from vincent. the medical people are saying once you had the virus you are immune. and cannot pass it on. is this true? i think it almost certain that people who had coronavirus are immune, at least for a few months. but we don't know how long that immunity will last. it may be years, we don't know. really, when we've done further studies, reinfection studies, then we'll have more answers to that question. this is from and. do i have to keep washing my hands if i'm at home and

haven't been outside? yes, you should be washing your hands at least every two hours, regardless of where you've been and i know that might sound strange because you're just stuck inside but you can never be too careful. yes, please keep washing your hands, regardless. from gary, we get our exercise walking in the local countryside, but feel vulnerable when cyclists pass us. as the social distance two metres affected by strong winds?|j the social distance two metres affected by strong winds? i would say it's great you have the opportunity to explore the countryside near your home and i think it's really important to iterate the government message we should be exercising near our own homes. as i said before those different levels of risk. i would say it's extremely unlikely that you could catch the virus from a cyclist going past unless they right on top of you. and really, the psychological benefits of exercise for everyone, be that cycling,

walking, running, are really extremely high. i would say to cyclists, keep your distance. that would be a nice thing to do. cyclists, keep your distance. that would be a nice thing to dom certainly would be nice. the final question for the moment. ifeel like there's something stuck in my throat, sometimes it feels difficult to breathe, are these symptoms of the virus, that is from may? we note the virus, that is from may? we note the vast majority of people get a fever and a cough and some fatigue with the virus. but sore throat had been reported in up to a third of cases so if you feel like you've got a sore throat or something stuck in your throat i think the safest thing to do is assume it is the virus and self isolate for seven days, monitor your symptoms. in cases like difficulty of breathing, that is slightly more worrying, can be a complication of the virus, in which case you should go to the nhs111 website if you are having difficulty breathing because they may want to see you. i want to ask you finally,

doctor, we heard this weekend an nhs co nsulta nt doctor, we heard this weekend an nhs consultant has become the first front line worker to die in this crisis. how did you react when you heard the news of his death? it's absolutely devastating. a colleague dying. it was a matter of time, it was if rather than when, there's been a slow response with the ppe andi been a slow response with the ppe and i think a lot of health care professionals will feel the same, there is some anger amongst health ca re there is some anger amongst health care professionals including myself, about the lack of ppe, another government is stepping that up. that is with regards to testing as well. ijust hope is with regards to testing as well. i just hope that is with regards to testing as well. ijust hope that his death wasn't related directly to the absence of ppe but i can't be sure. but it is really, really tragic news to hear that a colleague in the front line, helping people, has died and sadly, it's sad to say, he won't be the only one. have you got proper

protective equipment? no, no we haven't. we are still seeing patients and the only protective equipment we've been given is very limited numbers, i must add, elastic pinafore, paper mask and a pair of gloves. it doesn't we've got no eyewea r, we know gloves. it doesn't we've got no eyewear, we know it can be contracted through the ayes or ears, they are not protected. bear arms as well. we are not being offered the protective gear we should be wearing when seeing patients with potential covid 19 symptoms. are you worried? i'm very worried. this week bradford, we set up these hot sites, patients who aren't unwell enough to need hospital but are unwell enough to be seen being seen by gps including myself. iwill to be seen being seen by gps including myself. i will rotate into that and i'm quite happy to do so, that's my duty but i will only be wearing a plastic pinafore. mask, gloves. i am very worried but i

can't do anything about it, tried to protest, do something about it, we are told we are limited to 100 items per practice, we've got 25,000 patients so you can imagine how long 100 masks and 100 pinafores will last so it's really worrying but i've got to balance that out with the duty i have to my patience. so i have to go into work and see these people and try and help them. thank you, thank you very much. thank you for coming on the programme. it's 9:45am. the headlines on bbc news... a breathing aid that can help keep patients out of intensive care has been created in just a few days by engineers at university college london working with clinicians and mercedes formula one england's deputy chief medical

officer warns it could be at least six months before life in the uk returns to normal. 20,000 ex—nhs staff return to the service to help fight coronavirus we've all seen the images of empty supermarket shelves and queues snaking outside supermarkets. demand for food has skyrocketed, and farmers are warning they're facing huge pressure to keep up. so how are producers coping behind the scenes? our correspondent sian lloyd has been to meet those working hard to keep food in the shops. keeping livestock moving. markets like this play their part in the food supply chain, but it's not business as usual. restrictions have been introduced in line with government advice and have been further tightened since we filmed here. hello. access is controlled and farmers are being told to do things differently.

they're very dyed in the wool traditionalists but we are asking them to drop the animals, leave them to us and go, so that we are restricting the amount of people even more. we don't want to be locked down, that is the last thing. it's got to be kept going to keep the public basically fed. those working on the land are facing unprecedented demand. lambing has just begun on this farm with more newborns arriving every day. but the family business is also trying to keep up with a huge increase in demand for potatoes grown here. one of bill's concerns is how future crops will be harvested, and across the agricultural sector there are calls for british people to fill the gaps that will be left by seasonal workers from abroad to keep farming moving. those opportunities are evermore here. it's a bit like the war. the war, farming was kept going by young women, the land girls, and old men.

and they kept producing food to keep our boys fed on the front. this site in hereford supplies poultry from its farms to large supermarket chains. the company produces 11.5 million chickens, turkeys and ducks a week. they've been working with their customers to ensure supplies are held up. it was necessary for everybody to get together and say, how do we really be as efficient as we can, so we've worked very closely with our customers to say what we do we need to do quickly? we started making those changes three weeks ago, we're seeing those changes come through the system, and although clearly it's been difficult with the level of demand that retailers in particular have seen, there is plenty of supply coming through, the system is not any less supplied than it was. the current pressure on the supply of food is unparalleled, but the sector recognises there will be further challenges to come. sian lloyd, bbc news, hereford.

let's talk about being pregnant in the coronavirus crisis. more than 100,000 people in the uk have signed a petition calling for the rights of partners to be protected so they can be present at the birth of their child. some hospitals in ireland have introduced tight restrictions allowing only one birthing partner and no visitors after the birth. english hospitals are now taking the same steps with some imposing even tighter measures. it comes as the nhs faces a severe shortage of midwives during the coronavirus pandemic with the number of unstaffed positions doubling to one in five since the virus arrived in britain. nearly 22% of senior midwives say their local maternity units have shut indefinitely because of staff self—isolating or being deployed elsewhere. with me now is dr mary ross—davie who is the director for scotland for the royal college of midwives. and also i'm joined byjess brammar who is editor of huffpost uk who is 3a weeks pregnant. welcome both of you. how are you?

i'm 0k. welcome both of you. how are you? i'm ok. i mean, i'm coping as well asi i'm ok. i mean, i'm coping as well as i guess any of us are. very strange time to be heavily pregnant, i have to say. are you allowed to have your partner with you when you give birth? currently i am, yes. i'm hopeful that will remain. i note those moves, there are some hospitals in ireland as far as i know that are saying no birth partners at all and they've done that in yourfridge partners at all and they've done that in your fridge is obviously quite worrying for women here but we are being told, we are about a month away from giving birth and at the moment, the situation is he can come with me as long as he doesn't have symptoms. we are self isolating in the house, he's not going to any shops or anything at the moment. sure. can you imagine giving birth alone? i mean, it's sort of slightly nightmarish, to be honest. but, i think through all of the last few weeks, i've been reminding myself we have incredible maternity care in

this country and women do this and all sorts of circumstances all over the world and have been for thousands of years. so, i'm really, really hoping it doesn't come to that but i think me and everyone i know who is pregnant, we are telling ourselves that we will get through this, whatever we have to do but clearly, there will be a massive knock on for the mental health of the mothers if we aren't allowed to have our birth partners with us. are there any hospitals in the uk as far as you know who are banning women from having someone with them when they give birth? we put out a really clear statement on friday from the royal college of midwives and the royal college of midwives and the royal college of obstetricians and gynaecologist recommending all hospitals continue to allow one birth partner who is asymptomatic, to be with the woman throughout labour and birth. and to be with the woman throughout labourand birth. and our understanding is with the great majority of units, they are following that guidance. where there are restrictions it's about allowing partners to be there for routine

antenatal visits and also to be on the antenatal and postnatal ward so there are restrictions there but in terms of a birth partner, we say is absolutely vital that a woman has her birth partner with her, if the birth partner is asymptomatic. it's really important that women think about who they're back at birth partner might be, if their first choice birth partner is not available because they are unwell. right, ok. you can imagine, if you are pregnant for the first time, in this crisis, routine appointments, the thought of going into labour, the thought of going into labour, the thought of your birth plan being thrown up in the air, it must be really quite a nerve wracking time? absolutely, we know pregnancy and childbirth are really nerve wracking in usual circumstances so it's usually anxiety provoking for women at this time, during the pandemic is what i would reassure women is that maternity services are open for

business. and that all maternity units are available for women and midwives are available for women.“ that true though? sorry to interrupt. we are hearing that some midwives are being pulled off midwifery duties in order to go and help elsewhere? which would be understandable. so, the situation is that there was a shortage of midwives before the pandemic and midwifery told us last week that increased to 20% shortage during a pandemic so we put out a call to say it's really important that maternity services are ring fenced during this period so we are just putting a line in the sand to say do not drop midwives, maternity support workers, student midwives and obstetricians into other services. keep them within maternity services to keep maternity services really safe. let me askjess, i know you had the same midwife all the way through your pregnancy until now. i think she has been pulled on other duties? she's been pulled on other duties? she's been pulled on other duties? she's been pulled onto the labour ward. i

was very lucky that i had a community midwife, the hospital i'm attached to in south london. it has attached to in south london. it has a very community oriented approach, i haven't been in a hospital very much during my pregnancy. they've disbanded the midwife group that she was part of an she's been pulled into the central maternity ward. obviously it is unnerving but i have to say i was very lucky, perhaps, to have one midwife all the way through. i know lots of people don't have that luxury. but yes, she rang last week to basically say goodbye and good luck. thank you to you, good luck. we wish you all the best and thanks both of you for coming on the programme. thank you. now time for the weather, here's carol. hello again, this week looking fairly cloudy for many of us. some exceptions to that us as we go through the week and today, compared to yesterday, it's not as windy but there is still went around and if you are exposed to it, it will still

feel cold. we've also got scattered showers. you can see in the satellite, high pressure firmly in charge, anchored in the atlantic. the wind has subtly changed direction because the high pressure has moved so instead of coming down from the arctic as it did at the weekend it's coming from the atlantic. lots of cloud around, some holes in the cloud, little bit of brightness, sunshine, but we have a fair few brightness, sunshine, but we have a fairfew showers, brightness, sunshine, but we have a fair few showers, continuing through the afternoon. some of them getting towards the west. these are the temperatures, 8—10, possibly 11 degrees, tempered attached by the wind. as we head into this evening and overnight the wind continues to ease, still a lot of cloud around, still some showers as well. where we've got the breaks we are not anticipating any issues with rust. you may find pockets in sheltered areas but for most there's too much cloud or it will be too breezy. tomorrow it's spot the difference. once again we are looking at a fair bit of cloud, still some showers,

perhaps some more brighter breaks, more sunshine, the best across the south—east of england, you will hang onto it for the longest. temperature wise, not as windy, it won't feel as cold, 8—11d. as the top temperature. still a bit below par for the last day of march. as we move into wednesday we still have high pressure in charge but we started to see a difference in the sense we have a weather front coming our way and on wednesday that will introduce rain eventually to the far north of scotland. we start on a fairly cloudy note, some breaks, some of us seeing sunshine, here comes the weather front introducing rain across the far north, starting to turn windy as well. across the northern isles for example. temperatures up to 11 degrees, 11 degrees along the east coast, we've not seen that for a little while. on thursday, this weather front sinks south, behind it cold air filtering income showers on the tops of the hills and mountains turning wintry and it will be windy. ahead of that

weather front, some brighter and it will be windy. ahead of that weatherfront, some brighter breaks, a lot of cloud.

hello, welcome to viewers around the world, this is bbc news, i'm victoria derbyshire. here are the headlines. in the uk, a breathing aid that can help keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care has been created in less than seven days and if trials are sucessful is expected to go into production next week. spain tightens its coornavirus lockdown, even further as the death toll continues to rise. all non—essential workers are told, stay at home. a week after strict measures were introduced, england's deputy chief medical officer warns it could be at least six months before life in the uk returns to normal. the british prime minister boris johnson announces 20,000 former nhs workers have returned to the health service to help with the crisis.

thank you to everybody who has now coming back into the nhs in such huge numbers. doctors and nurses, it's the most amazing thing. president trump extends federal coronavirus restrictions, to the end of april as a leading government expert predicts 200,000 americans could die. australia tightens its grip in a bid to reduce the spread of the virus, the government limits social gatherings to just two people, down from 10. and in other news, president trump says the us will not foot the bill for prince harry and meghan's security amid reports the couple have moved to california.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. you can let me know how you're getting on by sending me a message on twitter, the positives and the challenges. a team of uk—based experts has, within a week, designed an improved breathing aid for people suffering from coronavirus. the device has been made by clinicians working alongside engineers from university college london and mercedes formula one. the development comes as british prime minister boris johnson announces that 20,000 former nhs workers have returned to the health service to help with the crisis. elsewhere in the world, tighter coronavirus restrictions have come into force in spain, which has been in lockdown for two weeks. all non—essential workers have been told to stay at home for the next 11 days. australia has unveiled an 80 billion us dollar package to help buoy the economy.

it includes a subsidy to help businesses retain six millionjobs over the next six months. the number of cases in australia has risen by a quarter over the past two days in the us, president trump has extended virus restrictions until the end of april. he'd previously said he hoped america could re—open for business at easter. 143,000 people in the us have now been infected. and in india, prime minister modi has asked for his country's forgiveness after imposing a sweeping lockdown that he said had hurt millions of poor people. many of india's1.3 billion citizens have been leftjobless and hungry. and let's hear more now about that new breathing aid which has been developed very quickly and is currently being tested in the uk. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. it's a small device that could make a big difference.

known as continuous positive airway pressure, or cpap, it pushes oxygen into the lungs, keeping them open, making it easier to breathe. they're already used in the nhs but are in short supply so a team modified and improved an existing design in less than a week which has now been approved for use by health regulators. normally medical device development would take years and in this instance we've been able to do it in days because we've cleverly thought about how we can go back to existing devices and models, reverse engineer them and then engage with our industry partners to manufacture them at scale. this demonstration was done at university college london hospital, which is now using the device to treat covid—19 patients. i sincerely think it may actually save many lives by preventing patients from needing to go onto a ventilator and again saving that vital resource for the very, very severely ill. every second counts in motor racing.

here, mercedes formula 1 partnered with doctors and healthcare engineers on a medical device that could be mass produced. this is a great example of how the nhs, universities and industry are working together at extraordinary pace to meet the challenge posed by coronavirus. if the trials of this device go well, then mercedes formula 1 says it can produce up to 1,000 of these a day. in italy, around half of covid—19 patients given cpap have avoided the need for intensive care, and unlike mechanical ventilators, there's no need for them to be sedated. fergus walsh, bbc news. with me is professor rebecca shipley from university college london's institute of healthcare engineering. also, professor of intensive care at university college london

hospital, mervyn singer. professor shipley, tell us what you have managed to do. thank you, we have managed to do. thank you, we have had pretty fantastic and intense a week or so. we have intentionally managed to reverse engineer a breathing aid which has its own to be very effective at helping covid—19 patients in china and italy. we started off by putting together the right team, we partnered with ucl h and merlin can represent them, and a crack squad of mechanical engineers based at ucl, and also our industry partners, so we have been working with mercedes and oxford electronics. having that tea m and oxford electronics. having that team of expertise together has allowed us to go from the first prototype to within100 hours of our first meeting, then a prototype in ten days, and now we have moved to patient trials and we can now produce 1000 a day. how does reverse engineering work? it means going

back to the previous device which has been used in the nhs very widely which is of patents, we have taken it apart which is of patents, we have taken itapart —— which is of patents, we have taken it apart —— which is not patent it, we have taken it apart and re—done it. so it's not a ventilator? it targets a different part of the care pathway, but it is very effective for patients who need critical care for patients who need critical care for covid—19. for patients who need critical care for covid-19. how does it work? essentially it provides a positive airway pressure which splints open the lungs and enables you to supply oxygen the lungs and enables you to supply oxyg e n to the lungs and enables you to supply oxygen to the lungs which is needed for patients who are in respiratory failure. but how are you getting the air into the lungs, is it down the throat, how? it is through a mask or a herd which is connected to this device, essentially. gotyou, 0k.

professor singer, how desperately are these kind of devices needed? there is a huge demand. i think in london, we are being overladen with patients requiring inventive ventilation, and there is obviously a very limited resource, and clearly a very limited resource, and clearly a shortage of staff that can cope with this search. if we can keep people off the invasive ventilation, and hopefully get them well, there is this halfway house between an oxyge n is this halfway house between an oxygen mask and invasive ventilation. if we can prevent them deteriorating and get the better quickly, that would be a great move. and from what you know of this device is so far, does it sound safe to eat? yes, we have a chilly started —— does it sound safe to you? yes, we have started trialling in some hospitals in london, with our hospital and some sister hospitals, and if we all go well, i hope they will, hopefully the green

light can go to roll it out on the nhs and beyond. we are already getting enquiries from colleagues in france, germany and australia. very key point there is that we have already got regulator approval, that is the national regulator who defines whether a device or safe for use in the nhs, and we have got approvals from them for this device at the end of last week. let's talk about what you have managed to achieve in seven days, including that approval. talk to our audience through it. you go, mervyn! 0k! essentially, it was a bright idea over a essentially, it was a bright idea overa drink, i essentially, it was a bright idea over a drink, i thought, we essentially, it was a bright idea over a drink, ithought, we needed something as this halfway house, and i met with becky and tim baker, a professor of mechanical engineering at ucl, who has very long—standing links with mercedes formula 1. and

literally, the following day, mercedes were on board, three days later, my colleague and myself tried the device, and by sunday, we had bench tested a whole load of machines in the hospital to make sure they could run satisfactorily. and then they started producing them this week. on wednesday we went to the regulatory industry and on friday gave approval so amazing speed. so in terms of what happens next, what is the process? at the moment, we are doing a clinical study on these devices, there being tested in certain hospitals in london, including ucl h. once we have proved they are working as we hope they will with patients, we are essentially ready to manufacture at scale. mercedes can currently make

300 a day and they can scale up to 1000 with one—week notice so we are primed and ready to deliver to the nhs. so the mercedes input is the capacity to produce this? yes, we have teamed the mechanical engineers at ucl with the mechanical engineers and manufacturing capability at mercedes, and that has proved to be a formidable team in a relationship and they deserve massive credit. our mechanical engineers, they literally came into the office ten days ago, and haven't left, been working day and haven't left, been working day and night. that expertise across institutions has enabled us to both deliver the engineering capability required to do this and the capability to manufacture at scale to meet the needs of the health care service. can youjust to meet the needs of the health care service. can you just describe this device will ask? rebecca touched on it but can you describe it in layman terms? essentially, it's a simple device that plugs into the hospital

oxyge n device that plugs into the hospital oxygen supply, and instead of a usual face mask, a tight—fitting mask or helmet, a herd is placed over the nose or mouth or the helmet over the nose or mouth or the helmet over the nose or mouth or the helmet over the head, —— over the nose or mouth or the helmet overthe head, —— ehud. it is airtight, so the oxygen is delivered under continuous positive air pressure, so it keeps the basis of the lungs, the air sacs in the lungs, open and that has found to be a tremendous boon in operating to oxygenate the blood stream and delivering oxygen to the body's organs. you haven't got one handy to show us, have you? hang on one second. go for it, we know we have only got 8000 ventilators in this country, we need 30,000, so if anything can potentially replace it, 0k, anything can potentially replace it, ok, so talk me through it.

essentially, this goes into the oxyge n essentially, this goes into the oxygen supply. you put tubing from here to the patient, and —— again, mercedes and the ucl engineers are working on ways of improving the aerodynamics, the flow, and that will improve the oxygen use and the efficiency in the comfort for the patient. you have an on off switch, essentially, and you can modulate the oxygen supply and the flow. in the oxygen supply and the flow. in the air comes through this hole here, so people can see, i will turn it round. you have a mixture of oxyge n it round. you have a mixture of oxygen coming in, you can blend them to get the amount of oxygen correct, and we are working with oxford optronics who have come up with oxyge n optronics who have come up with oxygen analytics that they can generate in bulk. that's essentially all it is, very simple. and you believe that could replace

ventilators, or fill the gap, believe that could replace ventilators, orfill the gap, if you like? it's augmentation, it is not meant to replace, we are already becoming overwhelmed with patients needing invasive ventilation, so so ifa needing invasive ventilation, so so if a large proportion can be kept off the ventilators, preserving them for seriously ill, hopefully you can get those patients of this in a few days at home afterwards. 0k. amazing. it feels like a glimmer of good news in the middle of all this. there is still work to do, i get that. thank you so much, both of you, really appreciate your time and thanks are talking us through it. professor rebecca shipley, and professor rebecca shipley, and professor mervyn singer. the headlines on bbc news. in the uk, a breathing aid that can

help keep patients out of intensive care has been created in just a few days by engineers, clinicians and mercedes formula 1. spain tightens its coronavirus lockdown even further as the death toll continues to rise. all non—essential workers are told, stay at home. president trump extends federal coronavirus restrictions, to the end of april as a leading government expert predicts 200,000 americans could die. tighter coronavirus restrictions have come into force in spain, which has been in lockdown for two weeks. all non—essential workers have been told to stay at home for the next 11 days. this report from tanya dendrinos. a lifeline in the midst of chaos, a military plane full of medical supplies arriving in madrid from the czech republic.

and with the bump of elbows, a small glimmer the nation has not yet lost hope. the contents couldn't be more precious. 10,000 items of protective equipment for health workers after the government's request for medical aid from nato allies. and time is of the essence. more than 80,000 people have now been infected with covid—19 in spain, forcing a further tightening of the country's lockdown restrictions. non—essential workers — these are, for instance, 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. the streets are empty but it's a stark contrast to the hospitals and morgues struggling to cope under

the weight of the crisis. 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's a shortage of testing kits. and that's an issue being raised the world over. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. frontline hospital staff in england are starting to be tested to see whether they have coronavirus. previously, only seriously ill patients were being screened, leading to criticism from nhs staff that they were being left unprotected. from today, critical care doctors and nurses in england will be checked, if they show symptoms or live with people who do. tests for a&e staff, paramedics, gps and social care staff are expected to follow. frontline staff in scotland and

wales are already being screened, while in northern ireland testing also begins today. dr chaand nagpaul, the chair of the council of the british medical association told us that lack of testing meant that some health care staff who might be not be ill were not able to come into work. on the 16th of march, over two weeks ago, we heard that the government was ramping up testing and prioritising health care workers, the prime minister announced that. two weeks on, we're just now starting testing. in those two weeks, we have recognise just how much the nhs has suffered in terms of staff shortages. i haven't got an explanation for government but what i would say is it's really important not to delay this any further, and make sure that this testing is available to all health care staff, certainly, as i said earlier, whilst it is being focused at the moment, i understand while why we are focused

on critical care staff, we need this extended to all staff. in general practice at the moment we are still waiting for testing. lots of doctors contact me every day saying they want to get back to work. it is affecting the service because their gp practices are small units, and if you have two doctors, say, self isolating and two nurses, you cannot really effectively run a gp practice. we have some examples where practices have to buddy with others, patients need to be managed by other practices. it's having a huge impact and it is important that we see this testing widespread as of this moment now. it's been a week since stricter measures, changing all our lives, were introduced in the uk and we have been hearing that those measures could last for a significant period. let's talk to norman at home.

hello, norman. it could be up to six months? hello. it could be. it could be longer, actually, we simply don't know. i think what we do know is the rough ballpark, which i think all the medical experts and scientists seem to agree on, is that the lockdown is likely to last for 12 or 13 weeks, three months, basically. the suggestion it could go longer came from the deputy chief medical officerjenny harries yesterday who mooted the possibility that we might have to keep some aspect of the lockdown in place for an additional three months. that is because, blu ntly, three months. that is because, bluntly, we don't know what happens and we start easing off on the restrictions. and the great unknown is whether the virus then re—emerges again and we then have to go back to square one. genuinely, no one quite knows what happens when you try to relax the restrictions, which is why we have this possibility of a much longer period when we have two self—isolate, have to stay at home

and those sorts of things. there will probably be some gradual easing in the overall restrictions. elsewhere, we know the government is still trying to build up the amount of the pe equipment it is distributing, there are still reports —— the ppe equipment, there are still reports this morning of ca re are still reports this morning of care homes in particular struggling to get supplies, we heard from the leader of greenwich council saying he had been round at the weekend asking local head teachers seeing if they could pop into their school seeing if they could find any gloves that he could give to hospices. similarly asking businesses if they had any facemasks. there is a lot of work to do clearly in terms of an adequate supply. the health minister helen whately was insistent that overall numbers had been dramatically increased. it is essential that those at the front line across health and social care have the ppe that they need when they do close contact activities, it's imperative, we have been working very hard on that.

170 million items of ppe have gone across the nhs and care providers, in the last two weeks, every registered care provider including over 25 million masks, so a huge effort. it is a logistical exercise to get the stocks to the front line when there has suddenly been a huge call for that equipment, and i know that people want to have very clear guidelines on when they should be using ppe and what, so we are looking again at the guidelines to make sure they are clear enough and also that they are clear to those who don't need to be using ppe. i have heard from quite a few public services asking for ppe when the activities their staff is doing do not require ppe so the guidance has to be clear when you do and don't need to use it. on the more positive side, we heard

from professor neil ferguson of imperial college, he was the man who led the team which basically force the government to rethink its approach and go for the lockdown. this morning, he was saying there we re this morning, he was saying there were early signs, he called them, that the rate of infection, the rate of hospital admissions is beginning to slow down. that, of course, would be hugely encouraging. it does not reflect in the level of deaths, because there is a two week lag between people being infected and then becoming vulnerable and potentially even dying. but looking at the level of infections, people coming into hospital complaining of coronavirus, that appears to be easing of which might suggest that the lockdown is beginning to work. in the uk, we can see some early signs of slowing in some indicators,

less so in deaths because there is always a lag in death measures. if we look at the numbers of new hospital admissions a day, that appears to be slowing down a little bit. not yet plateaued, the numbers can increase each day but the rate of that increase has slowed. we see numbers of european countries at the current time with the same pattern. a couple of other things we learned from professor ferguson this morning, he calculates that between three and four, 5%, rather, of people in london could be affected. outside of london, one or 2%, so not nearly so significant. i think it was also suggesting that 40% of those infected, might not actually demonstrate any symptoms. so we are getting more of a handle on what this virus actually involves. thank you so much, stay well. a couple of messages, this is from eileen on twitter, i have been asking people about the challenges of lockdown and the positives. in the uk, we are on

partial lockdown, and have been for a week, we are moving into week two. eileen says, the biggest challenges being a health care worker who is pregnant. making the difficult decision of going to work or staying at home to keep my unborn baby safe. other pregnant women have been told to self—isolate for 12 weeks but it doesn't seem to apply to nhs workers. elaine says, we were very nervous for our daughter being admitted to be induced a week after her due date. it's herfirst pregnancy. she gave birth at 4:15am, toa pregnancy. she gave birth at 4:15am, to a beautiful baby girl, our fourth granddaughter, it was very well looked after at the princess alexandra hospital in harlow in essex. she was lucky as i believe her husband was one of the last birthing partner is to be allowed to support during the birth. huge thanks to all the staff. huge congratulations to you and all your

family. the uk's biggest regional airline, loganair, is planning to ask the government for financial help. the airline has said that it, and every other operator, will need to be bailed out. meanwhile easyjet has grounded its entire fleet because of the crisis. the company said in a statement that at this stage it couldn't be certain when it would re—sta rt commercial flights. president trump has announced that the restrictions imposed in the united states to limit the spread of coronavirus will be extended until the end of april. previously he hoped america could re—open for business at easter. now, mr trump said the death rate would peak by then, but added that he expects the us economy to be well on its way to recovery by the beginning ofjune. this is how america's normally bustling city centres look today. chicago, empty. philadelphia, deserted. and new york city, unusually quiet. everyone ordered to stay at home except essential

workers like nurses. and this is how it's going to stay. no more talk of getting back to work by easter. now president trump says social distancing guidelines will be extended to the end of april to slow the spread of covid—19. the peak, the highest point, of death rates, remember this, is likely to hit in two weeks. nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won, that would be the greatest loss of all. but many more americans are expected to die in the weeks ahead. dr anthony fauci, the head of the president's medical task force, says the disease could kill more than 100,000 people in the us. the idea we may have as many cases played a role in our decision to make sure we don't do something prematurely, and pull back when we should be pushing. the president's advisors say it

could have been much worse, with up to 2 million americans at risk of dying if drastic measures hadn't been taken. if we could hold that down, as we're saying, to 100,000, it's a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100,000 and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job. new york is still the epicentre of the outbreak in the us where some health workers are saying there is a desperate shortage of medical supplies. president trump has accused hospitals of hoarding vital equipment such as ventilators, which he said should be released for wider use. peter bowes, bbc news. president trump has also said the us will not foot the bill for prince harry and meghan's security amid reports the pair have moved to the us from canada. mr trump tweeted he was "a great friend and admirer of the queen and the united kingdom",

but added: "they must pay!" the couple responded saying they had no plans to ask for publicly funded security in the us. let's speak now to angela levin, royal biographer and author of harry: conversations with the prince. good morning to you. good morning. why do you think they have gone to california, was that always the plan? some people, including me, think that was always the plan. meghan didn't like the uk, it was too small for her, she hated the restrictions that she couldn't exactly restrictions that she couldn't exa ctly d o restrictions that she couldn't exactly do what she wanted when she wanted. and she missed the whole celebrity, visual, here i am, a one sort of scene. so she has swapped royal attention. to attention with that places how much more. some people feel, though, that they went

to canada to try life in the commonwealth and it didn't work for meghan, and so they have moved where her mother is, that is a very good reason for moving, but where all her celebrity friends are and her new tea m celebrity friends are and her new team of agents and pr people. what do you think they will make of being the subject of president trump's tweet at whatever time of day or night he decided to treat that the us would not pay for their security? it's not surprising that he said something, because the secret service would wonder whether they had to do anything and get them security. and they would have to ask to do that. perhaps, meghan and harry didn't tell anybody what they we re harry didn't tell anybody what they were up to, which wouldn't have surprised us. we have paid for the time they were in canada because canada is also in the commonwealth. but if they go to the united states, we have no power there. and they

will have to find some of it themselves, but i suspect that prince charles will make sure they will be ok because harry, of course, fighting in afghanistan, is a very interesting target for any unpleasant terrorists wandering around who wants to make his name. so he definitely needs security. but what is unreasonable, i think, is that the three of them go in different directions. so if you have got to have teams of six security guards, which to work out 2a hours, you have harry in one place, meghan in another and baby out she had to be protected, he is seventh in line to the —— baby archie has to be protected, he is seventh in line to the throne so we have to look after him. ithink the throne so we have to look after him. i think that is probably too much for prince charles. end of march, is the end of march when they sort of stop being loyal is that right? yes, from tastes -- mcgre 1st

of april, not april fools' day, they are no longer royal, they cannot use hrh. this is another reason why trump might have said i won't do it. if they are royals, they would pay. when meghan went for her rather controversial baby shower in new york and she was pregnant, he did papal the security. york and she was pregnant, he did pa pal the security. —— york and she was pregnant, he did papal the security. —— pay for the security. we did pay for some and he did as well. i suspect he doesn't like the fact that harry was caught out saying that he has blood on his hands, when was this leakage on his phone and he thought he was talking to greta thunberg and her father but it was to russian people who wanted to make a hoax call. i think if someone calls you that, particularly if you have a nature like mr trump, you feel a bit resentful about offering to pay.

we learned last week that boris johnson had tested positive for coronavirus. harry is miles away. —— that prince charles had tested positive. i thought it was such bad timing. the timing had been terrible. if they'd waited and been patient this could have been sorted out amicably with a joint statement. but they weren't, they were rushing like spoiled teenagers, it had to be now. they are well out of it and when, you know, that has been announced, your father aged 71, when, you know, that has been announced, yourfather aged 71, has got coronavirus, which is serious, evenif got coronavirus, which is serious, even if he's got mild symptoms, for you to then announce that you've left los angeles, you've left for los angeles, and make it will be voicing a documentary on elephants, it seems you are completely out of the picture, comes across callous,

i'm sure they did not mean it too but it's an inappropriate time. this country is going through as we all know, the most terrible situation imaginable. it's an absolute nightmare. to have them singing praises and we saw pictures of the house they are renting for £11,000 a week, it's actually so distasteful. angela, thank you. angela levin, royal biographer, thank you for your time. some news just coming to us from our political editor laura kuenssberg who says a number 10 source has confirmed that dominic cummings, the pm's chief adviser, has developed symptoms of coronavirus and is self—isolating at home. he is ‘in contact‘ with number 10 the prime minister ‘s chief adviser, dominic cummings, we saw him a couple of days ago legging it out of number ten, didn't become after the prime minister, it was confirmed he had tested positive for coronavirus,

he is said to have symptoms, self isolating at home, he is in contact with number 10 downing street, according to a source that's confirmed that to us and our political editor. as we've been hearing much of europe is in lockdown to try and tackle the spread of coronavirus. chiara rambaldi is a nottingham trent university student who has now returned to bologna in italy. we can talk to her now. and also let's talk to ricardo mexia, vice president of the european public health associations infectious disease control department. thank you forjoining us. what is your assessment of where we are now in europe in trying to beat this virus? ricardo, can you hear me ok? or not. clearly not. ok. i will go back to him in a moment. can you hear me? hello, how are you doing?

and good, thank you for inviting me. no problem. you left the uk to go back to italy almost two weeks ago and you were shocked, i think. can you tell us why? the situation when icame you tell us why? the situation when i came here was very different from what the media portrayed. the cities we re what the media portrayed. the cities were completely empty. we couldn't stay together, i couldn't hug my pa rents. stay together, i couldn't hug my parents. i had to wear a face mask within my house and i had to wear gloves for 1h days. because i could be in contact with someone who was already sick. so the situation was very difficult, yes. and you i think have lost people because of this virus? yes, unfortunately. my family lost a cousin. that was very difficult, you know. this virus becomes so real when you actually

experience it at first hand. so it was a shock, really. and a family friend, i gather, also lost their husband? yes, she lost her husband and she had to keep the body for several hours because the system is very much overloaded. it's difficult to get in touch with the ambulance, with the hospital. with the public officers. you mean there was no one who could remove the body of her husband immediately? not for several hours. she had to wait until the day after, u nfortu nately, hours. she had to wait until the day after, unfortunately, yes.|j hours. she had to wait until the day after, unfortunately, yes. i don't know if you will have seen some of the fake news, the social media posts, questioning the seriousness of the virus. how does that make you feel? it makes me feel very sad, u nfortu nately, feel? it makes me feel very sad,

unfortunately, this virus is very true, the situation is traumatic here. it's a tragedy so please, i am talking to everyone, keep your distance. wash your hands as much as you can. and trust your government, the public health, because i can't wait to hug my parents again, it's so real. when do you think you might see them? my quarantine is almost over. tomorrow, probably, going to be the big day and i really can't wait for them to stay with me. it's very difficult, it's very difficult. what has been the most challenging pa rt what has been the most challenging part of isolation for you? at the moment it's staying on my own, all the time. and having the thought that i might be sick. because you don't know what's going to happen in 14 don't know what's going to happen in 1a days. i have to check in my

favour, temperature, every morning and every night. and i need to clean every surface that i touch. to sanitise it. i feel every surface that i touch. to sanitise it. ifeel i'm every surface that i touch. to sanitise it. i feel i'm a every surface that i touch. to sanitise it. ifeel i'm a bit of every surface that i touch. to sanitise it. i feel i'm a bit of a problem but i can't wait for this to end, really. stay with us. let me bring in ricardo again, vice president of the infectious to disease control department. can you hear me ok? thank you forjoining us. i've got the latest virus death figures if i can put it like that for spain. they've just announced there had been 812 virus deaths in 21: there had been 812 virus deaths in 2a hours, taking the total number of fatalities to over 7300. i want to know what your assessment is of where we are now in europe in trying to tackle this virus? well, the

situation has been evolving in the different countries so not all countries are at the same stage. the expectations for spain is that they are very near to reaching the peak of the epidemic so the number of cases will tend to go down, that's at least the projections they are doing with the data in spain but they are now undergoing a dramatic situation with the health system being overwhelmed with the demand in particular in some regions like madrid. we are watching the situation unfold and we are worried that other countries might be facing similar problems in the near future. imean, the similar problems in the near future. i mean, the authorities are doing preventative measures in order to contain it but it's still very concerning for us all, help the situation might evolve in the different settings. which european country has got it right, in your view? i think it's too early to do an assessment like that. we do know

that some of the worst hit countries are italy, spain, but the other countries are, as i mentioned, probably at different stages in the epidemic so eventually, not, all countries will have the same burden of disease but still, i think it's too early to say which one has done it best. we have good data from germany which apparently has a lot of cases but has managed to contain the fatalities too, let's say, a smaller degree than other countries but it's the still too early to say. yes, it's very interesting in germany, they are testing we are told half a million people every week and they had this very low mortality rate compared to other eu nations. do you know why? that's actually something all of us are trying to figure out because we are

trying to figure out because we are trying to figure out because we are trying to implement good practices that have worked elsewhere in the different settings. so there's two main reasons why eventually germany is doing such a situation in preventing mortality so one of them is the massive testing, they've managed to do a lot of testing so isolating the cases and then quarantining the close contacts of those cases. that has managed to sort of limit the spread of the disease but in health care, they have one of the highest accounts of intensive care units in europe so that might account for their ability to deal better with the more severe cases that they are facing. which, as we've seen both in italy and germany, sorry, italy and spain, overwhelmed systems have a very hard time to deal with the increased demand so eventually, those factors, increased testing and the ability to deal with severe cases due to icy

you availability bubbly has a role to play. thank you so much for your time. i note you are really sad not seeing your parents but imagine the first time you are reunited with them, it will be absolutely amazing. yes, i cannot wait for it to happen, really. thank you so much, we appreciate your time. really interesting what's going on in germany and there are lessons there for many other countries, one would imagine. there is a crisis emerging in french retirement homes, with double—figure deaths reported in some homes, and more than 80 residents testing positive in one building alone. no nationalfigures for such fatalities are being made public — and they're not included in the daily briefing figures. relatives of those in care homes — who have been forbidden from visiting for more than a week

now — say they aren't being told when family member tests positive. lucy williamson reports. even when deaths are invisible, you can count the coffins. signs of a hidden crisis inside care homes across france. this home in paris has lost 16 residents to coronavirus — more than 80 more are infected. those delivering the coffins here told a waiting journalist it was non—stop. 21 people have died at this home, but while hospital deaths are recorded in the daily toll of coronavirus, deaths in care homes are not. translation: there was a cluster of about 50 people with fever over five days, followed by symptoms of severe pneumonia, so we had to use oxygen. at the height of the pandemic, there must have been 25 or 30 patients on oxygen.

so far, more than one third of care homes in the paris region are thought to have been affected by coronavirus. the government is launching an app to monitor these cases, and add them to the national totals, but france's most senior health official has said that numbers could spiral out of control. at the beginning of march, president macron visited a care home to talk about protection — no mask, no social distancing. a few days later, all visits to france's retirement homes were banned, and last week, the government said all residents should be individually isolated in their rooms. care workers say they are now the biggest risk to residents, and some homes were keeping masks in reserve for an outbreak and not giving them to staff. translation: as soon as the coronavirus enters a care home, it is all over, there is nothing we can do.

since we do not have enough staff, it will be dramatic. there will be a huge number of deaths once it enters. space in hospitals in the paris region is now critically low, and there are shortages of some drugs. the health minister minister has said france will begin mass testing of its population and has ordered 1 billion facemasks to protect healthcare staff. but polls suggest that trust in the government has plummeted, even before the wave of this epidemic has peaked. australia has unveiled a 80 billion us dollarfinancial package to help the economy, which is experiencing its worst hit for three decades. it includes a job keeper subsidy to try and help businesses retain at least six million jobs over the next six months of uncertainty. the new package is the latest in a series of huge announcements over the past week that will see the government invest heavily to support the unemployed and small

business owners during the crisis. the number of coronavirus cases in the country has risen to four thousand and earlier on monday, prime minister scott morrison increased restrictions, banning public gatherings of more than two people. there are calls for a british citizen who's being treated for covid—19 in south korea to be deported after he broke quarantine guidelines and may have spread the virus while travelling through the country. the man was examined at the airport, but showed no symptoms of coronavirus. he was told he should spend 1a days in self isolation as part of the country's covid—19 guidelines. instead, he reportedly visited four different cities developing symptoms during that time. he is now being treated for the virus and will be questioned after he recovers. countries around the world are closing their land and air borders to limit travel to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus. but thousands of people are also stuck out at sea on cruise ships as vessels are denied

permission to dock. let's get more on this then. joining me live now from manchester is suzi kilka, whose mum is on the coral princess cruise ship which is now heading to florida after being refused by brazil. thank you for talking to us. your mum is 68, travelling on her own, several countries refusing permission, notjust for several countries refusing permission, not just for brazil, which are they and why? they've been refused, uruguay, argentina, brazil. but there is spain, on all of those occasions, they were supposed to be able to dock and disembark if they had flights confirmed. but what we are finding is that has been revoked and they are being asked to leave the port so obviously they are on their way to florida now. but obviously we are concerned that's

going to be the same situation. do you know, does your mum know, does anyone on board had the virus? no, eve ryo ne anyone on board had the virus? no, everyone is healthy, physically anyway. it's just taking everyone is healthy, physically anyway. it'sjust taking its mental toll, to be honest. how is your mum? stressed, quite up and down, not knowing if she's going to be able to get home, get on a flight, get home, and then being told no, it's quite stressful, she just wants get home. when moshi due to be back? originally about a week ago. 0k. when moshi due to be back? originally about a week ago. ok. if she's stuck in a cabin, what are the restrictions? no, she still ok, ok to move around the ship. unless there's new illness or on the ship. everyone has been on there for quite some time. you know, luckily, in that respect, she can move around. but it's just about being able to

get home, whether she's going to be able to do that. the plant would be, ideally, she would get to florida, she would be allowed to get off. does she then have to book flights back from miami or what? no, princess cruises are dealing with that, they are trying to get flights for everybody. at the moment, they are being told they're going to be able to disembark once flights are confirmed in florida. and they will be taken to the airport and flown home. however, we've been told that three times already and that hasn't happened so obviously everyone is concerned, whether that's going to happen again in florida or whether they are actually going to be allowed to fly home. yes. keep in touch with us, let us know what happens. ok, thank you. and keep strong. she will be back before you know it! thank you. susie they're

talking about her 68—year—old mother who is on a cruise ship, heading to florida, after being denied the chance to dock in brazil, uruguay, argentina. it's been confirmed that number 10 downing street chief adviser dominic cummings has shown symptoms of coronavirus and a self isolating at home. as you know, the british prime minister borisjohnson already self isolating after testing positive for covid—19. norman smith joins isolating after testing positive for covid—19. norman smithjoins us now. they were all working closely in a small, victorian house so no surprise? people working day by day in very close confines, it spreads, the virus seems to be cutting a scythe through the top team at number ten, obviously the prime minister we know has tested positive, the health secretary, professor chris woody, the chief

medical officer, showing symptoms, he is self isolating, dominic cummings self isolating, that is the colonel of the top team who are meant to be addressing the coronavirus outbreak. it's not total calamity because they can still operate, even if not feeling great, they can talk to each other, they can still hold meetings by video link and so on. but you know, it's just evidence of how fast this virus moves, within days, we've seen pretty much the top team at number ten almost taken out by this virus. presumably, these individuals will now have to self—isolate for seven days, maybe a bit longer. and i imagine it's going to reinforce the need for people in downing street to be ever more vigilant in social distancing, trying not to hold face—to—face meetings we've seen quite a bit of that at cabinet and the daily news conferences. they are now carried out by video link at the

podiums are carefully placed two metres apart, they weren't in the early days, to be frank. but they have to observe these disciplines because as we've seen, the virus is just ripping through number ten. cheers, norman, thank you. norman smith at home. let's have a look at the new advice from the government. the latest advice means you can leave your home for only very strict conditions, shopping for food and medicine, you can't go outside for one form of exercise a day, alone or with members of your household. gatherings of more than two people are banned. you can leave home for any medical need or to care for a vulnerable person and finally, you can travel to and from work but only for absolutely necessary and if you cannot work from home. you can find out more about the symptoms of coronavirus and how to protect

yourself. that's on the bbc news app and on the website. as nhs doctors and nurses in intensive care units across the uk battle to save as many lives as they can, teams of volunteers are working to ensure they get fed. husband and wife actors damian lewis and helen mccrory are leading the "feednhs" campaign — in partnership with a number of food chains — which aims to provide free hot meals to nhs staff. one thing they said they needed was food but they said st marys paddington doesn't have a canteen, we send them pizzas. damian and i and various people have come up and have been working hard to get the imperial trust, ucl h, those hospitals, and leon together. to

start providing food. already this morning at 1130 it's1130? first meals going out. people quite rightly were wanting to donate and saying how can i help my local hospital in birmingham or manchester or liverpool? the news is we've now gone into cooperation with nhs charities together, which is the mother ship charity at the nhs. all the funds when you click on leon. co and you donate, that will go through to the central charity and they will then disperse to all 145 charitable trusts around the uk. that's the great news, we've managed to take it national now. with the help of the nhs. damian lewis and helen mccrory. thanks for your messages, gillian says i'm a shielding patient, cannot

get a delivery from any supermarket for at least three weeks. and peter says the togetherness of people through this crisis is amazing. you are watching bbc news. it's time for a look at the weather. here's carol. hello again. this week looking fairly cloudy for many of us, some exceptions as we go through the week. today compared to yesterday, certainly it's not as windy but there is still wind around and if you are exposed to it it will feel cold. we've also got scattered showers. you can see on the satellite high pressure firmly in charge. anchored out in the atlantic. the wind has subtly changed direction because the high pressure has moved so instead of coming from the arctic as it did at the weekend, it's coming from the atlantic. a lot of cloud around, some holes in the cloud, little bit of brightness, sunshine, but we have afairfew of brightness, sunshine, but we have a fairfew showers

of brightness, sunshine, but we have a fair few showers continuing through the afternoon. some of them also getting towards the west. these are the temperatures, eight — ten, maybe 11 degrees but tempered are touched by the wind. as we head through this evening and overnight the wind continues to ease, still a lot of cloud around, still some showers as well but where we've got the breaks, not anticipating any issues with frost. you may find pockets in sheltered areas but for most of us there's too much cloud or it will be too breezy. tomorrow it's spot the difference, once again we are looking at a fair bit of cloud around, still some showers. perhaps some more private breaks, a bit more sunshine the best of which in the south—east of england, you hang onto it for the longest. temperature wise, because it's not as windy, it won't feel as cold, 8—11d. that's the top temperature. still a bit below power for the last day of march. tuesday into wednesday we have high pressure in charge, then we start to see a difference in the sense we have this with a front

coming our way sense we have this with a front coming ourway and sense we have this with a front coming our way and that will introduce on wednesday reign eventually to the far north of scotland. we start on a fairly cloudy note, some breaks, some of us seeing sunshine, here comes the weather and introducing rain across the far north, starting to turn windy across the northern isles for example. temperatures up to 11 degrees. 11 degrees along the east coast, we've not seen that for a little while. on thursday, the weather front sinks south, cold air filtering in behind, showers on the tops of the hills and mountains turning wintry and it will be windy, ahead of the weather front some brighter breaks, lots of cloud.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. spain tightens its coronavirus lockdown even further, as the death tolljumps to 7,340 — a rise of 812 in 24 hours. in the uk, a breathing aid that can help keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care has been created in less than seven days — and if trials are sucessful, is expected to go into production next week. the british prime minister boris johnson announces 20,000 former nhs workers have returned to the health service to help with the crisis. thank you, by the way, to everyone who is now coming back to the nhs in such huge numbers.