welcome to this bbc news special, as the lockdown enters its second week, we will be bringing you the daily press c0 nfe re nce we will be bringing you the daily press conference from downing street as soon as we get it but let's first of all take a look at today's main div elements. the death toll from coronavirus in the uk has now risen to more than 1400. it comes as the government insists it is ramping up its capacity to test health and social care workers for the virus, amid confusion over whether it has reached its target, set for yesterday at 10,000 tests a day. doctors leaders has warned shortage of tests has quality responds for the health service. this afternoon downing street has said that over 900 front line nhs staff were tested for the virus over the weekend. that is in addition to tests being carried out in a clinical setting.

it comes as the prime minister announced 20,000 former nhs staff have returned to work to help in the fight against the virus. also today, a breathing aid that helps keep patients out of intensive care has been created in this than a week by scientists working with the mercedes formula 1 team. 0ne scientists working with the mercedes formula 1 team. one of europe's biggest airlines, easyjet, formula 1 team. one of europe's biggestairlines, easyjet, is grounding its entire fleet because of the pandemic, and there is a warning the entire airline sector may need a government bailout. this morning, an expert adviser to the government has said the rate of coronavirus infections does appear to be slowing. that suggests government restrictions could be having an impact. 0ur health editor hugh pym has been to the temporary nhs nightingale hospital based at the nhl -- nhs nightingale hospital based at the nhl —— the excel centre in london, and has been talking to sir simon stevens about how prepared the temporary hospital is to admit coronavirus patients. today there

are over 9000 positive coronavirus patients in hospitals across england, and we know that number is only going to increase. that's why what you see here is a mass mobilisation taking place right across the country, but also at these new nightingale hospitals. this has been an extraordinary team effort on the part of nurses and doctors and therapists and pharmacists across london but also volu nteers pharmacists across london but also volunteers and paramedics and people returning to help. when these services are needed, they will be available beginning later this week and because this is a global health emergency, we are actually seeing similar types of hospitals being established in berlin and madrid and new york. will you be stretching your staff too much by moving people here and leaving of hospitals short—staffed? here and leaving of hospitals short-staffed? the whole of the nhs is freeing up hospital beds for coronavirus patients. we've got 9000 people across the country who are in a hospital right now, and we know

that number is bound to increase. that's why we are also creating this extra capacity to look after patients, staffed by health service professionals but also by those who are returning to health. 25,000 nurses and doctors have come back to health, as well as paramedics and volu nteers health, as well as paramedics and volunteers from all walks of life. can you give any indication how much staff sickness is affecting life and people needing to self monitor? nhs staff are affected just like people across the country as a whole, so we are seeing staff who are doing the right thing of having to self—isolate at home. that is one of the reasons why it is so important we are ramping up staff testing. but it is also why it is so vital that all of us take the medical advice and stay at home. that will reduce the infections and reduce the need for services such as this new nightingale hospital. how quickly

can you ramp up staff testing, because you have started with about 800, it doesn't seem a huge amount, how quickly can you get it to scale? by how quickly can you get it to scale? by the end of this week we will be able to do double the number of tests that were available last week. and we want to start with critical care, nurses, with a&e staff, with ambulance personnel, and then expand that to a much wider group of nhs staff over the coming days and weeks. the government said another 8000 ventilators were on the way to add to the stock of 8000. how quickly will they arrive and will they be enough? we are expanding the capacity to look after patients who need ventilation very rapidly. we are able to effectively double that, through using operating theatres and recovery areas in our existing nhs hospitals and then over and above that, we see new facilities coming on like the nhs nightingale hospital

here in london but also in manchester and birmingham if needed. how stretched our hospitals right now in london,? we have 9000 confirmed cases in hospital beds today and that number is bound to increase. as it happens, we have got available intensive care and available intensive care and available hospital beds, but we are also bringing online additional capacity, such as these nightingale hospitals, as we need them. what reassurance can you give nhs staff about protective equipment, some of whom we feel itjust isn't there? about protective equipment, some of whom we feel it just isn't there?m is vital nhs staff get the protective equipment they need. 170 million items of that protective equipment has been shipped. it is a huge logistics exercise. the army have been brilliant in helping but we know we are going to need more, and the government are pulling out all the stops to procure for us that

personal protective equipment that we will want over the coming days and weeks. that sir simon stevens, chief executive of the nhs in england, talking to hugh pym. let's speak to our correspondent, jon donnison, at the new nightingale hospital in east london. jon, when are we expecting the nightingale to actually open? well, we heard from simon stevens there. he was talking about later this week. we think possibly as early as wednesday. there has been a lot of activity here behind me today, we have seen some of the ambulance staff taking equipment in. inside it's not just staff taking equipment in. inside it's notjust the nhs who are setting this field hospital up, we have also had members of the armed services, engineers, medics, also involved. initially they're talking about 500 beds equipped with ventilators and oxygen, but that could expand to 4000 if needed. we've also got similar field

hospitals being set up at arenas in manchester, birmingham, glasgow and cardiff. and, jon, we're hearing that airline crew are volunteering to go and work there? that's right. this morning we heard two things from easyjet. first of all that they're grounded from easyjet. first of all that they‘ re grounded all their flights, but also that they have written to all of their 9000 staff including 4000 cabin staff and asking them that anyone who has first aid experience, cpr, that sort of thing, might want to volunteer to work in either the excel centre here or some of those other field hospitals i was talking about. that would be to do work that might involved changing bedding, that sort of thing, under the supervision of experienced doctors and nurses, and with some training beforehand, and virgin atla ntic training beforehand, and virgin atlantic has also written to its staff offering the same thing. it's not completely clear under what terms that will be agreed, whether they will continue to be paid in

full by the airlines, or whether their celery will reduce or alter in some way. jon, thank you very much indeed. jon donnison reporting there. as the government insits it's "ramping up" its capacity to test health and social care workers for the coronavirus — the doctors' union, the bma, has says the need for increased testing of healthcare staff is urgent. lauren moss reports. test, test, test. that's the global health advice to track, tackle and get on top of the coronavirus crisis. and it's what the uk government has promised to do. at the minute, public health england says capacity is at almost 11,000 a day. more than 40,000 tests were done in the past week, though, compared to germany, which is carrying out 500,000 tests a week. there are a handful of countries that have got higher rates of testing than us, but actually, we are amongst the highest testers in the world. and as i said, the

numbers are going up. and we recognise the importance of this — the importance of testing, the importance of the equipment, and also, i should say, the importance of having enough trained staff. 20,000 retired doctors and nurses have also answered the call to return, and final year medical students are being called up. instead of spending their final few months before graduation in australia, harriet and elizabeth are working in a&e at 0xford's john radcliffe hospital. when patients come in the front door, we'll direct them to the correct part of the department. and really that's just making sure that patients who might have covid—19 aren't coming into contact with those who don't have any symptoms. what is it like for you both, on a personal level? we've just been kind of thrown into doing it all, and we've all been handling it. and it's really great to use the skills that we've done over the past six years. getting personal protective equipment out is still a top priority for both medical staff and those in social care settings,

like at this care home in dorset. how are we supposed to keep the two metre rule? we can't. and we can't. i mean, we're doing personal care, we're talking to people who need us to be close because they can't hear. testing for frontline nhs staff with covid—19 symptoms also began over the weekend, so those self—isolating as a precaution can get back to work. in spain, 12,000 health workers have had the virus. we do need this extended to all staff. and certainly in general practice at the moment, we're still waiting for testing. so, i've got lots of doctors contacting me every day, saying that they want to get back to work. surgeon amged el—hawrani became one of the first frontline doctors in the uk to die at the weekend, after contracting coronavirus in leicester. doctors are calling for all medics to be eligible for full death in service if something happens to them during the outbreak. the welsh government has freed up £1 billion to spend on supporting businesses and public services.

this fund will help businesses to survive the coronavirus challenge, so that they are ready, when we come out on the other side of this, to go on providing jobs and futures here in wales. and this help is over and above the support schemes already announced by the chancellor of the exchequer. there are nearly 20,000 cases of covid—19 in the uk. but today, the government advisor modelling them offered a glimmer of hope when he said hospital admissions are slowing down. but, we are warned, it will be many more months before we can even think of life getting back to normal. lauren moss, bbc news. today, the royal college of nursing said it's unacceptable that some staff working on the front line are treating patients without personal protective equipment and are calling for immediate action from the government. joining me to talk about this more

is their chief executive, donna kinnair, who is in north london. thank you very much forjoining us. what do you want the government to do on this ppe, personal protective equipment, that they are not doing now? we have said it is completely unacceptable that nurses this far into the crisis are in all settings whether it is hospitals, community or care homes, have not been provided with personal protective equipment. and they are treating patients in covid—19 wards, some without any protection at all. we're talking about thousands of bits of kit, aren't we, to get them out as soon as possible around the country. that's not going to happen quickly. well, it needs to, because we have had some time to prepare for this, and my assurances, assurances were given to me a week ago by the government that they were pushing equipment out as far as possible.

they have said they have the equipment, so if they have the equipment, so if they have the equipment, then we need to be getting it out to hospitals, to care homes, so that people that need to nurse patients with covid—19 can be protected. from what you have been able to gather, what is morale amongst nursing staff on the front line, what is that like at the moment? the biggest thing that we are facing is that nurses and other health care professionals are frightened. they're health care professionals are frightened. they‘ re frightened health care professionals are frightened. they're frightened for themselves and they're frightened for theirfamilies, but themselves and they're frightened for their families, but actually many of us are trying to do this job, and we will step up to the plate and deliver nursing care. but there is no nurse that delivers nursing care in under a metre away from the patient. we have to touch patients. they're not all symptomatic when they have got covid—19. and we need to provide these nurses with the proper protection. and roughly how many nurses are off work at the moment, self—isolating? i nurses are off work at the moment, self—isolating ? i think nurses are off work at the moment, self—isolating? i think i saw a figure over the weekend of about one

in five. is that right, and to what extent in five. is that right, and to what exte nt d oes in five. is that right, and to what extent does that mean that the hospitals are very understaffed or short—staffed at the moment? hospitals are very understaffed or short-staffed at the moment? there are about 20% was my last reckoning of nurses that are off at the moment, or self isolated, so we started with a shortage of nurses as the royal college of nursing has been campaigning for some time, that we do not have enough nurses in this country. but we are seeing that many nurses, retired nurses and people that have left nursing, are coming back to help at the front line alongside others, so it is something that we can get through. but what we need to do is make sure that we're coming the fear of those nurses out there by providing them with the proper equipment. proper equipment is one of your appeals. what about testing as well? because we have heard that particularly from doctors' leaders desperate for an increase in testing. we only need to look across to countries that have

got this under control, such as korea, and we know that testing has been an important part of it. it is an important part to get our staff back to work, nurses back to work quickly, but also for surveillance about how this virus is spreading and what it is doing in the general population. so we need testing on two fronts, really, one so that you can be tested and if you haven't got the virus, you can go back to work and continue to do yourjob. and the other type of testing to tell us what's happening and who has got it in the communities. when you look at other countries, i know you just mention south korea, but germany is well has a lot more testing than we do, do you feel that in this country our health service and the authorities have been underprepared for this whole crisis? i think we embarked on a particular way of managing this, and as we've got more and more knowledge about the virus,

we've had to change some of our tactics. and i think testing has been demonstrated to be an effective mechanism. so, ithink been demonstrated to be an effective mechanism. so, i think we have been slow, because we are slowly building it, andi slow, because we are slowly building it, and i recognise that everybody is working as hard as they can, and i guess i wish we had got to it to— four weeks earlier. chief executive of the royal college of nursing, dame donna kinnair, thank you very much forjoining us. hello and welcome, you're watching a bbc news special. we'll be bringing you all the latest coronavirus developments — including the daily news briefing from downing street at 5pm, in about an hour's time, we're expecting to hear from the foreign secretary dominic raab. stay with us for that.

so, let's take a look at how medicines are being distributed and the supply chain there. let's talk now to the chair of the national pharmacy association, andrew lane, whojoins me from salisbury. 0ur pharmacy is getting all the medicines they need to distribute to the community? are they getting all the community? are they getting all the medicines they need? well, the supply chain has plenty of stop in it, ben, plenty. but what we are asking for a century from the public is to only order from a doctor, only the medicines you need, to allow extra time for it to be ready in the pharmacy as well, this is actually going to help as we replenish stocks. and it ensures everyone in the community gets the medicines they need. as i say, really, there is plenty of stock in the supply chain but you may see some pharmacies having to limit some of the most vital and in demand medicines so there is enough to go around. from what you say, it sounds like people have been stockpiling certain medicines? i think there was

an initial rush to get existing prescriptions that were in the system ordered. no one knew how long this was going to last. so, a lot of our teams have seen volumes increase by 140% beyond the normal monthly supply. so, yeah, isuppose you could call it the toilet roll effect, everybody cleared the shelves in the supermarkets of the toilet rolls, well, clearly we've been a bit more organised, we haven't let everyone clear as out of things like paracetamol, but clearly, you will find now that some of the most vital and in demand medicines will be limited. how is it working in terms of this army of volu nteers working in terms of this army of volunteers who are helping to collect prescriptions and medicines for the people who are self—isolating, especially the 1.5 million people who are vulnerable, who are being shielded and told to stay in their homes for three months? so, at this point in time,

many pharmacies have an existing delivery service. the volunteer service hasn't really kicked off in many areas, it was late to progress. we are still waiting to hear on the ground what that might look like, but clearly, we are asking people to... if they have someone at home with them, if they are self—isolating and they‘ re with them, if they are self—isolating and they're infected, can they make sure that they send a neighbour or a volunteer to collect the medicines, clearly the number of pharmacists is finite and we are not invincible, we want to preserve our heroic workforce for the benefit of the public, and the big advice is pleased not to pass the virus on to our pharmacy teams. 0bserve pleased not to pass the virus on to our pharmacy teams. observe the distancing rules to keep yourselves and ourteam distancing rules to keep yourselves and our team safe. normally one person in, one person out, would be the norm, because our premises are normally quite small. of course we

talk about doctors and nurses being on the frontline of the crisis, but in some ways, pharmacists are also, toa in some ways, pharmacists are also, to a certain extent — how difficult is it for them, obviously they have got a huge workload at the moment and they must be nervous of people coming into pharmacies potentially with symptoms of coronavirus? absolutely, hence my point there, we wa nt to absolutely, hence my point there, we want to keep our teams safe. the other thing that is obviously an issue to us at the moment is, we've seen a lot of abuse, some of our staff are getting abuse because the queues are obviously longer, if it is one person in and one person out. they're under extreme is one person in and one person out. they‘ re under extreme pressure, they're trying to do their best to support the public at this challenging time and many of the teams are reporting that abuse, it isn't acceptable. they are trying to help the public. in terms of the infection, we don't want to get our tea m infection, we don't want to get our team is infected any more than the gps. what you have found is, many

gps. what you have found is, many gps went on to telephone triage a few weeks ago, so that has had a knock—on effect of the number of people coming into the pharmacy. many surgeries have closed their doors to the public, and it is a triage only service via the phone, so clearly people go where the doors are open, and our doors at this point in time are still open. we don't really want to see our teams infected any more than we want to see any frontline staff infected. infected any more than we want to see any frontline staff infectedm is extraordinary that pharmacists are being abused, and also i gather they are working very long days? very long days. some pharmacists have reduced their opening hours to give the staff a chance to clean the premises and get through the dispensing workload. it is likely to become the norm as many of our teams fall ill or self—isolate. 0ne become the norm as many of our teams fall ill or self—isolate. one of my collea g u es fall ill or self—isolate. one of my colleagues in gloucester the other day, three of his team were all self—isolating and that brings us on

quite neatly i suspect to the testing, because we need our frontline pharmacy staff to be tested, not just to frontline pharmacy staff to be tested, notjust to keep the public safe but also to allow sustainability of the workforce, so that the staff can continue to serve the public and not self—isolate unnecessarily. thank you very much for that update, andrew lane, the chair of the national pharmacy association. well, we've heard today from scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon, who has confirmed that another six people have died from the virus there, taking the total to 47. she also outlined further plans to cope with the spread of the virus by announcing that the scottish exhibition centre in glasgow will be turned into a temporary nhs hospital. initially it will offer an extra 300 beds but will have the capacity to house more than 1,000 patients. she also announced the suspension of various screening programmes. it's not an easy decision, i want to repeat that. but the balance of risk supports

the approach that we are taking. it is, however, worth stressing that if you detect any symptoms of the conditions we would normally screen for — if you notice a lump in your breast, for example — then you should contact your gp immediately. we will restart the screening programmes that we have paused as soon as we can. this is a temporary suspension and it will be reviewed after 12 weeks, or earlier, if evidence suggests that restarting the programme is feasible. however, at this moment, pausing these programs is an important way of allowing the nhs to deal effectively with the impact of covid—19. if there is a message that has united many of us, it is that we must flatten the curve, it is a mantra being shared by doctors and nurses and members of the public as well. what is more contentious is how exactly to do that.

joining me now is professor of genetic epidemiology at kings college london, tim spector. he has developed an app to try to monitor the disease and how it progresses. thank you very much for being with us. first of all, tell us how the app works, and what is the idea of it? well, the basic concept is an early warning device, a bit like radar. by using citizen scientists all around the uk, we can get early symptoms reported via a simple app which you can use on your phone, for apple or android, and eve ryo ne phone, for apple or android, and everyone gets that and within a few minutes will just tell us everyone gets that and within a few minutes willjust tell us centrally whether they have any symptoms or they are feeling quite normal. and then there is a drop—down menu of risk factors and drugs and symptoms. and the idea is, that you then build

up and the idea is, that you then build up this network of individuals who are likea up this network of individuals who are like a reporting system, but several weeks in advance of what the government she is current statistics are, which is people coming into intensive care units or the number of fatalities. so, the idea is, you get a much earlier idea of what's going on, you see what's going on in the population rather than just going on, you see what's going on in the population rather thanjust in that very severe group. and so this is the whole concept of citizen scientists doing this and the information being used by the nhs in order to look at particular hotspots, areas of the country that don't need resources, others that do, ora don't need resources, others that do, or a will don't need resources, others that do, ora will do, don't need resources, others that do, or a will do, in a couple of weeks' time, allowing planners to work out which areas look like they really need help, and also, actually understanding the disease, doing some very understanding the disease, doing some very simple epidemiology about risk factors and sorting out these

odd symptoms that many people around the country are reporting back to us that they are experiencing. the country are reporting back to us that they are experiencinglj the country are reporting back to us that they are experiencing. i talked at the beginning about flattening the curve — what is your perspective on how we are doing in terms of the social distancing measures and what effect you think they are having? well, they are being effective, but time will tell how much that is happening. certainly, from the app we're cn, we are seeing the people at high risk having some lower rates of infection than some of the young people. so that is an early sign that this might be starting to work and that certainly people with those risk factors we've talked about our hiding themselves away. but the other factor here is, hiding themselves away. but the otherfactor here is, what hiding themselves away. but the other factor here is, what we are trying to understand is, how common is asymptomatic or very mild disease

in the population? and that is what this app is really managing to tell us, because we've now got nearly 2 million people so far, just in the last five days, have signed up for this app, and are reporting back to us. and they're telling us things that we didn't know before about the infection. and of course doesn't a lwa ys infection. and of course doesn't always some caveats with self—reported data, but we are finding some rather novel types of symptoms that have not been reported before, so this loss of taste, for example, and loss of smell, is more common than fever, and may actually be more important in terms of what's going on. we're seeing fatigue is a really common symptom across the board, with 10% of people having so much fatigue, they can't get out of bed. chest pains is another one, and a horse voice, coming up in these

clusters that we are seeing. we still need to play with the data, because we have only really had it for a few hours, or days, to play with, but we're building up these maps, we sent you some of those maps, we sent you some of those maps, i don't know whether you can see them at all, but they're showing these different rates around the country where people are reporting either fevers or coughs or this loss of taste. it gives us a picture of what is happening. but the overall impression is from the people we're seeing so far, this first couple of million, that many people have symptoms that are essentially fairly mild and not needing hospital treatment. so far in our survey, we've only got about 1000 positive cases picked up, who have reported, andi cases picked up, who have reported, and i think they've screened over 5000 of these people, so we are matching those blood tests with these reported symptoms. the data is very exciting. professor, many

thanks indeed for your time. a breathing aid that can help keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care has been created in just a few days by engineers at university college london. they've been working with clinicians, and the mercedes formula 1 team, to develop the device, which delivers oxygen to the lungs without the need for a ventilator. if trials are successful, it could go into mass production , relieving the pressure on intensive care units. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. 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 on to 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 health care 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 is no need for them to be sedated. meanwhile, a consortium of companies including airbus, bae systems, ford and rolls—royce havejoined forces to produce much—needed ventilators for the nhs. they've received orders for more than 10,000 ventilators, and are ready to start production, pending regulatory approval. fergus walsh, bbc news. lets talk more now about the national effort to get more ventilators. joining me now is graeme macdonald, the chief executive of manufacturers jcb, who will be opening a previously closed factory to manufacture steel casings for the ventilators being made by dyson.

thank you for being with us. tell us exactly what you are making, these cases and why they are important. we we re cases and why they are important. we were approached by the prime minister just were approached by the prime ministerjust a were approached by the prime minister just a couple were approached by the prime ministerjust a couple of were approached by the prime minister just a couple of weeks were approached by the prime ministerjust a couple of weeks ago, on the 13th of march, to help with the production of ventilators and through consortium of technology partnership and dyson we were asked to make the ventilator housings. we've made the first prototypes of them and shipped them to dyson, and as you said in your article there, subject to approval by the regulators, we are ready to go with production later this week. when you think you might get that approval krasniqi is that being tracked? i'm not that familiar with the approvals, but i would imagine they usually take weeks and months, and we we re usually take weeks and months, and we were hoping in the next few days we were hoping in the next few days we can get approval, and as i said by wednesday or thursday we can be in full production. we have estimated we can do at least a thousand of these housings per day. so you are bringing back some of your workers and reopening one of your workers and reopening one of

your factories? we are, all of our uk factories have been completely closed down since the 18th of march, and that includes our overseas factories at the moment. so we have got a team of 50 people mobilised, engineers, manufacturing staff, and they are now back in the factory and ready to go. to what extent is this a difficult task for your designers and engineers? because this is pretty different from what you normally make. it is very different, however the basics are still the same, it distiller piece of metal that needs cut and bent and painted, so it is right up our street in that sense, and all the team who have been involved with this have done a fantastic job to been involved with this have done a fantasticjob to do what usually ta kes wee ks fantasticjob to do what usually takes weeks and months in a matter of days. we are seeing some of the best minds in british manufacturing and engineering really collectively coming together to help on problems like this, aren't we? we have formula 1, people from mercedes and mclaren involved as well, it really

isa mclaren involved as well, it really is a national effort? it is, and this is an economic and health crisis, and every country in the uk wa nts to crisis, and every country in the uk wants to do its part right now. once you get making them, how many can you get making them, how many can you produce in what sort of timescale? we are confident we can dojust over a timescale? we are confident we can do just over a thousand a day, and if we had to do more we probably could. 0ur if we had to do more we probably could. our view is that we will not be the constraint on making these ventilators. and are there other things that you could potentially make that would help in this crisis? if other companies wish us to do anything in terms of this type of component, absolutely we are willing to help, and our teams are on hand. graham mcdonald, ceo ofjcb, thank you forjoining us. the scottish regional airline loganair has said it will ask the government for emergency financial support. the company has warned it will be impossible for most british airlines

to continue operating without a bailout. easyjet announced this morning that it has grounded its entire fleet. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge reports. easyjet, the latest airline to park up its entire fleet of aircraft. it can't say when commercial flights will run again. aviation has largely ground to a halt, and airlines are fighting to survive. then you have a situation where, if you're not flying properly during this summer, you're missing a very profitable part of the flying schedule, and you will go into the winter, where airlines typically are loss—making, in a position where you also have potentially much more debt than you would expect to have. easyjet will seek government support via existing schemes, but not an additional bailout.

virgin atlantic is expected to apply for one of those in the coming days. and the uk's largest regionalairline, loganair, which links scottish islands to regional airports, has confirmed it will, too. i think, really, the magnitude of what we're dealing with as an industry here is so significant, i would be very, very surprised if any airline is able to get through this without a request for support in some form or other. but cabin crew staff from easyjet and virgin atlantic, who've been temporarily laid off, can now volunteer to work in support roles at three temporary hospitals being set up here in london and in birmingham and manchester. the airlines will continue to pay staff who sign up, and they will provide valuable support to the nhs. tom burridge, bbc news. the travel industry is just one of a number of sectors threatened by the pandemic, with other well—known

companies signalling they too are under great pressure. 0ur personal finance correspondent simon gompertz gave us the latest on companies threatened by the coronavirus. we're talking about brighthouse, and the reason that we're particularly worried about them is that it's just been confirmed that they're going into administration, and this is the terrible news that 2,400 staff have been waiting for, and their 240 shops that are threatened as well. what's happened is that although thousands of people rely on them for their appliances like washing machines and tvs, they've been widely criticised for their charges, so they've faced a price cap, they were losing money after that, they're facing misselling claims from former customers, and the coronavirus and the blight that's brought to the high street has also hit them. so, it's been confirmed that they're going into administration. it's not entirely clear

what will happen to customers as a result of this, but we'll wait to hear what the administrators have to say. simon gompertz, our personalfinance correspondent. the government has appealed for thousands of retired medical staff to come back to help with the fight against coronavirus, as well as appealing for hundreds of thousands of volunteers. 0ne returning nurse is anne carr, and she joins us now from conwy. thank you for being with us. why did you want to volunteer to come back? everybody looked very seriously ill when you see it on the tv, and i think i've got a lot of skills left to come back, and i would like to help and help my colleagues and be pa rt help and help my colleagues and be part of a team again. and how long is it since you've been away from the health service? i was working as a nurse practitioner 18 months ago, so only a year ago, and i have had 37 years experience in nursing,

varied roles from district to palliative care to school nursing, soi palliative care to school nursing, so i feel as if i've got a lot to offer. and do you know where you might be working? would it be in a hospital, or would it be as a district nurse? at the moment, the nmcjust confirmed my registration and said that my details would be passed on to the health board and they will be in touch, so i'm just waiting to find out. and we were talking to the head of the royal couege talking to the head of the royal college of nursing a few minutes ago, she was saying a lot of nursing staff are pretty nervous at the moment, or even scared, actually, because of the lack of personal protective equipment especially means that they are on the front line with covid—19 patients with very little protection. does that make you nervous? i'm confident that they will get the resources there for us. there seems to be lots of people trying to get everything. no, i'm not nervous. i'm confident

they'll get it for us. and you are one of those really who is itching to do your bit to help the health service? well, it is nice to help, isn't it? and would you encourage other nurses, other doctors who have recently left the health service, to join up again as the government have asked for? well, i think a lot of people have responded already. so i just think i will be one amongst many that will be returning, so it's great. it's a great response, wonderful. and you're looking forward to the challenge, are you? yes. looking forward to caring for people again. thank you very much for being with us, and good luck when you do go back to work, wherever it may be. that's a returning nurse there, who hasjust joined us from conway. thank you. to spain now, where its government has told all nonessential workers to stay at home for the next 11

days as part of a series of tighter restrictions. there was another big increase in deaths in the last 24 hours of more than 800 people, and now more than 7,340 people have died with coronavirus in spain — more than in any country apart from italy. 0ur correspondent guy hedgecoe is in madrid and explained what the new measures were. well, spain has already been under lockdown for the last two weeks or so, and under quite a strict lockdown whereby you're not allowed to leave your home unless you have a very specific reason to do so, whether it's buying food, going to work or buying medicine. as of today, nonessential workers are not allowed to travel to their workplace. they also have to stay at home as well. so, that's the main novelty, and the government has done that because it says it wants to really make sure that there's no resurgence, or no increase in the spread, of the virus. it believes that although the latest

figures do make for rather harrowing reading — we had over 800 people who've died over the last 24 hours because of the virus — despite those figures, the government says that the virus is coming to the end of its upward curve, that the figures are starting to flatten out, but it wants to make sure of that with these new measures. its big concern right now is the health service. the health service is under tremendous pressure in spain and the government believes that taking these measures will help relieve that pressure. guy hedgecoe there with the latest developments from spain. president trump has said restrictions imposed because of coronavirus will be in place across the us until at least the end of april. he had previously said that he hoped to relax the measures at easter. the government's medical adviser, dr anthony fauci, has warned the virus could kill up to 200,000 americans. paul adams reports. cheering and applause. as this global pandemic

spreads, waves of gratitude are quick to follow. other cities have already thanked their health workers, but this is new york — a deafening chorus of appreciation echoing down manhattan's misty canyons. but there's disquiet, too. nurses and doctors say they don't have enough protective equipment, told to wear masks notjust for one patient but for up to five days. it's putting all of us in danger because we're reusing masks that should never be reused, we're running out of so many things, other protective equipment. with america's city streets increasingly deserted, the prospects of a swift return to normality are fading. officials are now warning of as many as 200,000 american fatalities. if we can 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.

but with the virus and the lockdown comes mounting economic hardship. new york's busy foodbanks are now inundated with newcomers — people deprived in the blink of an eye of the ability to put food on their tables. in new orleans before dawn, this emergency room doctor prepares for another long shift in a nearby hospital. he says he's not used to seeing so many people not recovering. instead, they have gotten worse while they've been in the hospital, and in fact, many of them have passed away already, in a way that's... it's not normal. a vast hospital ship is now moored off los angeles, helping to relieve the pressure on california. the mercy has 1,000 beds for non—coronavirus patients. america's most populous state is now bracing for difficulties. paul adams, bbc news.

earlier we earlier, i spoke to cbs correspondent david begnaud on the latest on the situation in new york. it is arguably the hardest hit area in the country, and hospitals are doing everything they can to answer the call of the governor to do more. you have a hospital known as mount sinai, who is setting up tents in central park to treat people who are afflicted with the coronavirus. i'm personally speaking with icu nurses who are saying, "i still don't have the masks that i need." i spoke with one woman who said, "i've been using the same mask for the last four days." she said, "i hang it up every time i leave work, i spray some lysol on it and i come back and i reuse the mask." the disconnect seems to be with what we're hearing from the frontline workers, from the governor and the mayor, and the president. the president says, the supplies are arriving by the planeload — tonnes and tonnes and tonnes, and he doesn't understand how they don't have enough. but the frontline workers are saying, regardless of what the president is saying, "i'm telling you..." i had an icu nurse that said there were four people treating one

patient who ended up dying of coronavirus, and not one of them had the mask that they needed. four. they didn't stop working, they did what was required, but they are begging that they get those masks. if you'vejustjoined us, you're watching a bbc news special, bringing you all the latest coronavirus developments, including the daily news briefing from downing street at 5pm. we're expecting to hear from the foreign secretary, dominic raab. stay with us for that. as we've been reporting, the temporary 4,000—bed nhs nightingale hospital in the excel centre is due to open this week. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, has been there, and spoke to the chief executive of the nhs, sir simon stevens, about how prepared the hospital is to admit

coronavirus patients. today, there are over 9,000 positive coronavirus patients in hospitals across england, and we know that number is only going to increase. that's why what you see here is a mass mobilisation, taking place right across the country, but also at these new nightingale hospitals. this has been an extraordinary team effort on the part of nurses and doctors and therapists and pharmacists across london, but also volunteers and paramedics and people returning to help. and when these services are needed, they will be available, beginning later this week, and because this is a global health emergency, we're actually seeing similar types of hospitals being established in berlin and madrid and new york. will you be stretching your staff too much by moving people here and leaving other hospitals short—staffed? the whole of the nhs is freeing up hospital beds

for coronavirus patients. we've got 9,000 people across the country who are in a hospital right now, and we know that number is bound to increase. that's why we're also creating this extra capacity to look after patients, staffed by health service professionals, but also by those who are returning to help — 20,000 nurses and doctors have come back to help, as well as paramedics and volunteers from all walks of life. can you give any indication of how much staff sickness is affecting the nhs and people needing to self—isolate? nhs staff are affected just like people across the country as a whole. and so, we are seeing staff who are doing the right thing, having to self—isolate at home. that's one of the reasons why it's so important that we are ramping up staff testing, but it's also why it's so vital that all of us take the medical advice and stay at home. that will reduce the infections and reduce the need for services

such as this new nightingale hospital. how quickly can you ramp up staff testing? because you started with about 800, it doesn't seem a huge amount, how quickly can you get it to scale? by the end of this week, we will be able to do double the number of tests that were available last week, and we want to start with critical care nurses, with a&e staff, with ambulance personnel, and then expand that to a much wider group of nhs staff over the coming days and weeks. the government said another 8,000 ventilators were on their way to add to the stock of 8,000 — how quickly will they arrive and will they be enough? we're expanding the capacity to look after patients who need ventilation very rapidly. we're able to effectively double that through using operating theatres and recovery areas

in our existing nhs hospitals, and then over and above that, you see new facilities coming online like the nhs nightingale hospital here in london but also in manchester and birmingham, if needed. how stretched are hospitals, particularly in london, right now, in intensive care? across the country as a whole, we've got over 9,000 confirmed coronavirus patients in hospital beds today. and that number is bound to increase. as it happens, we have got available intensive care and available hospital beds, but we are also bringing online additional capacity such as these nightingale hospitals as we need them. what reassurance can you give nhs staff about protective equipment? some of them feel it just isn't there. it is vital that frontline staff get the protective equipment they need. 170 million items of that protective equipment have been shipped, it's a huge logistics exercise, the army have been brilliant in helping, but we know

we are going to need more, and the government are pulling out all the stops to procure for us that personal protective equipment that we will want over the coming days and weeks. two flights bringing british people home from peru have arrived back in the uk. but the foreign office says there may be as many as a million other britons abroad, and many want to get home. they're struggling with grounded airlines, restrictions on movement, airlines, restrictions on movement and businesses closed in shutdowns. and we may hear more on what the foreign office is doing for those stranded britons abroad from the foreign secretary, dominic raab, who will be giving that downing street press co nfe re nce will be giving that downing street press conference in a few minutes' time. but first... caroline hawley reports. this is one of the rescue planes sent to peru to bring stranded

british tourists home. by the end of tomorrow, with specially chartered flights, the government hopes to have about 1,000 people back on uk soil. last week, some of the most vulnerable of the british travellers in peru were brought home on the first of the evacuation flights. but peru is in a state of emergency, and some tourists are still stuck in remote places. to make it worse, there are coronavirus cases in some of the hostels where british people are staying. we'll have two more british airways flights flying back from lima to london, bringing british nationals back to the uk, back to their friends and families. it's now a week since the foreign office advised all british tourists abroad to head home. hundreds of thousands have somehow made it back, mostly on commercial flights. but many people are still stuck in india, australia, new zealand and in almost every corner of the globe. the foreign office minister today estimated there are a million people abroad, many now scrambling to get back. this doctor is in cape town. her husband is a trauma surgeon.

she is a doctor. they're keen to return to help in the fight against coronavirus. i think it's very frustrating, particularly around a time of... obviously, we saw the situation deteriorating and we tried to get out. but by the time we tried to get out, the flights were all booked. we're not receiving updates on what's being done. we do appreciate it can take time to arrange these things, but we're in the dark and we're not being told anything. and imagine how it feels on this cruise ship, where four people have already died of coronavirus. healthy passengers were transferred over the weekend to another cruise liner. they're hoping to make it to florida, where the british people on board will have to attempt to find flights. as desperation grows among those stranded far from home, new measures to help are expected to be announced within the next couple of days. caroline hawley, bbc news.

0ur health correspondent nick triggle is here. we've got new figures on the death rate in the uk, the number of deaths from coronavirus, what is the latest you have for us? well, we haven't got the full uk picture yet, england figures are out, and that shows that 159 people have died with coronavirus over the last 24 hours, all but four had underlying health conditions, said nhs england. it brings the total in england to 1284. yesterday, there were just over 100 deaths in the rest of uk, so we are around the 1400 figure. the numbers dying have dropped slightly in the last two days, but we shouldn't read too much into that. we have seen in italy, sometimes the numbers can go up italy, sometimes the numbers can go up and down, and it is too early to

tell whether that is a sign of a glimmer of hope. but certainly it is encouraging, they're not rising as fast as we expected. last week, the projections were saying every two or three days, it would double, and it is certainly not doing that. we've been hearing from one of the scientists who has done a lot of the modelling on this, neil ferguson, what has he been saying? he has been talking about hospital admissions and he says there has been early signs of progress. 0n hospital admissions you would expect to see some progress before you see any improvement in the numbers of people dying. two weeks ago the prime minister told people not to go to theatres and pubs, and what seems to be happening, he says, is that new hospital admissions are slowing, he says they have not yet plateaued but the rate of increase has slowed. so again, there is some glimmer of hope, but it is, he says, still early days as her and in the meantime, when we were running that interview with hugh payne, who had been talking to the head of the nhs

in england, sir simon stevens, and he was being asked about one of the key issues, which is getting personal protective equipment for those frontline nhs staff, doctors, nurses, we were talking to the chief executive of the royal college of nursing, saying, it is imperative to get this ppe equipment to medical staff as soon as possible and that some of her nursing members are frankly terrified of going in to treat covid—19 patients? yes, the government has been heavily criticised for the lack of protective equipment. not all hospitals, some hospitals do have enough equipment, i am told, but there are shortages in some places. simon stevens says it is absolutely vital that frontline staff get this equipment to protect them. the army have been enlisted to help the nhs tea m have been enlisted to help the nhs team which is supplying the masks, the gloves and aprons, he says it is

beginning to get out there. he was just talking also about testing, which has been rolled out to staff for the first time. for the last few weeks we have been concentrating on testing just hospital patients, but over the weekend, over 800 nhs staff have been tested, and this is vital, because staff are having to isolate, or they are often sick themselves with symptoms of coronavirus. the royal college of physicians says a quarter of its members may not be at work. the royal college of nursing said a fifth of their staff. if they can get tested, obviously they can return to work quickly if they have not got coronavirus. so that is very important. and so is the issue of ventilators. we were talking tojcb, one of the big rail companies who are helping to make ventilator casings, and there is a huge national effort to get ventilators made and manufactured as soon as possible? yes, we have got a consortium of companies now working

to get hundreds and thousands of ventilators into the nhs. if we look where we were just a month ago, we had 4000 adult critical care beds available. we are now told there is 8000 ventilated beds available in the uk. and that number we are promised will keep going up. we are seeing at the excel centre in london, there should be 500 beds available later in the week. as you say, it is a big national effort and a lot of work being done behind the scenes. nick triggle, thank you very much indeed, our health correspondent. we are expecting that daily press briefing inside downing street just after five o'clock. daily press briefing inside downing streetjust after five o'clock. we can speak to our political correspondent nick eardley, who is there for us in central london, at westminster. nick, we think we are going to hearfrom westminster. nick, we think we are going to hear from the westminster. nick, we think we are going to hearfrom the foreign secretary, dominic raab, talking in pa rt secretary, dominic raab, talking in part at least about those britons who are still stranded abroad? that's right. we have heard a lot of

stories over the last few days about brits who are stranded in all parts of the world, really struggling to get back to the uk because of the various lockdowns in cities, because of the various closures of borders, in many places around the world, so i wouldn't be surprised if we hear from the foreign secretary in about half an hour, some more detail about exactly what the government is going to do to try and help those people get home. there's been a lot of political pressure to come up with a broader plan. normally, the foreign 0ffice broader plan. normally, the foreign office and embassies around the world quite frankly aren't used to dealing with cases on this scale, where you have multiple different countries where people are struggling to get home from, as planes are being grounded, and airports in many places are being shot or severely curtailed. so, there will be a lot of eyes on the foreign secretary to see whether he comes up with a concrete plan to try

and get as many of those brits home as possible. the other thing i would expect to hear a bit more about in the next half an hour is exactly how long this might last. i say exactly, i don't mean exactly, maybe a broader picture of how long it might last. we heard over the weekend some figures suggesting that potentially it could be up to six months before the uk gets back to life as we knew it before this outbreak. i think a lot of people are still looking for some more indications of exactly how those decisions will be made. we are also going to hearfrom those decisions will be made. we are also going to hear from the chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, the man many people will have seen on the telly over the last couple of weeks with big graphs telling us exactly how they were trying to make sure that the peak of the outbreak would be kept as low as possible, to make sure that there wasn't too much pressure on the nhs. that is another thing that potentially we might know nor about

in the next hour or so. we are just getting the latest figures on the deaths from coronavirus. a total of 1408 people have died in the uk as of 5pm yesterday, so 1408, which is up of 5pm yesterday, so 1408, which is up by of 5pm yesterday, so 1408, which is up by 180 from 1228 the day before, and i'm sure there will be questions to sir patrick vallance, chief scientific officer, about the curve and what is happening to the curve. we hear so much about it and when and how it will be flat in. absolutely. it is worth pointing out that both the prime minister in that letter he is sending out to everyone in the country and the deputy chief medical officer in that press conference yesterday had said that there are likely to be increases in these death figures, notjust there are likely to be increases in these death figures, not just the overall figure but the daily figure as well, potentially going up over

the next few days because of the fa ct the next few days because of the fact that this outbreak hasn't reached its peak in the uk yet. those figures are likely to be more alarming over the next few days. the phrase the prime minister used was this is likely to get worse before it gets better. but you are absolutely right, one of the things we are all asking, and the scientists are still trying to figure out exactly, is when that peakis figure out exactly, is when that peak is likely to come. we know that the thinking now is that it is likely to be earlier than was originally thought, they had originally thought, they had originally been talking about it coming in mid may. it is now likely to bea coming in mid may. it is now likely to be a few weeks before that, which could mean that the numbers start decreasing in the next two or three weeks, but before that, obviously to decrease it has to go up a bit further, so it is likely that we will see more alarming figures like that over the next few days and potentially the next fortnight, a little bit longer. nick eardley,

political correspondent, thank you very much indeed. 0ne political correspondent, thank you very much indeed. one of the biggest problems faced by hospitals, care homes and other buildings during the coronavirus pandemic is cleaning rooms properly after someone has tested positive. 0ur reporter duncan kennedy has been given access to a company which is carrying out coronavirus deep cleaning across the uk. he sent us this report. when its buildings not people that need to be cleaned, this is how you kill coronavirus. a special chemical spray that destroys all biological matter, including covid—19. we were given access to a small team from hampshire that has become one of the uk's leading units working against the virus. by using a fogging system, we are micro misting the formula throughout the entire building to sanitise it, and neutralise any biohazard threat. gym is currently getting two or three co re is currently getting two or three

core likes every single day. so important is the whole idea of safety that even to go into his workshop here, i have to wearfull protective clothing. jim demonstrated how the droplets, no wider than a human hair, must reach every pa rt wider than a human hair, must reach every part of a room. so what does this involve? 0nce once the fogging is finished, rooms can reopen to people after around ten minutes. the chemical protection could keep the virus at bay for several weeks, depending on the environment in which it is used and how many times the surfaces are handled. what we do when we prepared to go to work... the team members who create and spray the formula are fully aware of the dangers of coronavirus. it is very frightening,

the way it has kind of taken over the way it has kind of taken over the whole world. but when we get into a the whole world. but when we get intoajob, we the whole world. but when we get into a job, we are wearing the very best gear that you can possibly get. i actually feel safer going to work than what i do walking out on the street. in the past week, the team have been everywhere from a london hospital to a portsmouth care home. 18 hour days are driven by professionalism and pride. to be out there with the thought that i'm actually protecting people and helping to stop this virus is actually quite a proud thing for me to do, yes. covid-19 leaves its mark on people and places. this team say they'll only stop when the virus has been removed. duncan kennedy, bbc news. just to repeat those latest figures on deaths from coronavirus in the uk which we have just had on deaths from coronavirus in the uk which we havejust had in on deaths from coronavirus in the uk which we have just had in from the department of health. another 180

deaths of people in the uk diagnosed with the virus. that brings the total to 1408. just a line of contact about those figures, to help us understand what they might mean from the bbc‘s head of statistics, and he is saying there is a glimmer of hope in those figures, because deaths continue to grow at the recent daily rate, which was roughly a third day, had that happened, we might have expected to see 350 on sunday at 450 today but we have actually seen slight falls in the number of deaths per day, 260 new deaths on saturday, 209 on sunday and then another fall from 209 to 180 today, so our head of statistics saying actually that is a glimmer of hope, but at the same time we shouldn't get carried away, because last week's sunday into monday figures also showed slight dips on

the previous saturday, so it is too soon to know really whether this is a cause of optimism orjust a bit of a cause of optimism orjust a bit of a blip. we will have to obviously wait. but some small encouragement conceivably in those latest figures according to our head of statistics, robert cuffe. long queues of shoppers outside supermarkets are a daily reality for us all now, as are empty shelves as retail staff struggle to restock quickly enough. at the other end of the supply chain, farmers are warning that they are facing huge pressure to keep up. so, how are producers coping behind the scenes? 0ur 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 are very dyed in the wool traditionalists but we are asking them to drop the animals, leave them to us and go so we restrict the amount of people even more. we don't want to be locked down. that's 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 ever more 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 4.5 million chickens, turkeys and ducks a week. they have been working with their customers to ensure supplies hold up. it was necessary for everybody to come together and say, "how do we really be as efficient as we can?" so we worked very closely with our customers to say, "what we need to do quickly?" we started making those changes three weeks ago. we are 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, herefordshire. the olympic games injapan will take place injuly and august next year. the tokyo games was postponed last week amid mounting fear over the pandemic. it was the first time the olympics have been delayed in peace time. our sports news reporter laura scott explains the decision by the organisers. they mayjust not be able to make the new dates, because prolonging their careers by a year, if they were planning on using tokyo as the last event in their career, itjust might not be possible for them to make it, and of course this does mean that there will be new qualification and new selection events, so some athletes who were on track to make the games this summer, they will have to go through trials this time next year instead. so a lot of athletes, this will mean perhaps that they don't make it, but the decision has been made to protect the athletes, so i would imagine, and we have

already seen some welcoming this decision and the 78 provides but it will be a popular decision to have moved it by a year to replicate what they would have had this summer. the world athletics championships is likely to be moved to 2022, world athletics have said they are already looking at dates in 2022. so a big decision has been made, but this will now enable people to plan knowing that they have these dates in mind, and that the idea of a spring 0lympic in mind, and that the idea of a spring olympic and paralympic games has been shelved, and they are going for the summer months much like it was meant to be this summer. laura scott reporting there. let's bring you the latest from new york. the new york city mayor, bill de blasio, says the arrival of a us navy

hospital ship, the us and s comfort, 1200 medical staff and sailors, 750 beds will be used immediately from the comfort medical ship. here, prince charles is out of self—isolation, a week after it was announced he tested positive for coronavirus. clarence house said the prince of wales is in good health and is following government advice. his wife, the duchess of cornwall, tested negative for the virus but also spent the period in isolation. 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. 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. every one 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. 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. welcome to this bbc news special as the lockdown enters its second week. welcome to bbc one viewers, if you'rejustjoining us. we'll be bringing you the daily press conference from downing street as soon as it begins. but let's take a look at the main developments today. the death toll of coronavirus in the uk has risen to more than 1,400. it comes as the government insists it is "ramping up" its capacity to test health and social care workers for the virus, amid confusion over whether it has reached its target, set for yesterday, of 10,000 tests a day. doctors' leaders have warned the shortage of tests has

caused serious problems for the health service. this afternoon, downing street have said that over 900 frontline nhs staff were tested for the virus over the weekend. that's in addition to tests being carried out in a clinical setting. it comes as the prime minister announced 20,000 former nhs staff have returned to work, to help in the fight against the virus. a breathing aid that helps keep patients out of intensive care has been created in less than a week by scientists working with the mercedes formula 1 team. one of europe's biggest airlines, easyjet, is grounding its entire fleet because of the pandemic, and there's a warning that the entire airline sector may need a government bailout. this morning, an expert adviser to the government has said the rate of coronavirus infections appears to be slowing, suggesting government restrictions could be having an impact. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, has been to the temporary nhs

nightingale hospital based in the excel centre in london today. he's been speaking to the chief executive of the nhs, sir simon stevens, about how prepared the temporary hospital is to admit coronavirus patients. today, there are over 9,000 positive coronavirus patients in hospitals across england, and we know that number is only going to increase. that's why what you see here is a mass mobilisation, taking place right across the country, but also at these new nightingale hospitals. this has been an extraordinary team effort on the part of nurses and doctors and therapists and pharmacists across london, but also volunteers and paramedics and people returning to help. and when these services are needed, they will be available, beginning later this week, and because this is a global health emergency, we're actually seeing similar types of hospitals being established in berlin and madrid and new york. will you be stretching your

staff too much by moving people here and leaving other hospitals short—staffed? the whole of the nhs is freeing up hospital beds for coronavirus patients. we've got 9,000 people across the country who are in a hospital right now, and we know that that number is bound to increase. that's why we're also creating this extra capacity to look after patients, staffed by health service professionals, but also by those who are returning to help — 20,000 nurses and doctors have come back to help, as well as paramedics and volunteers from all walks of life. can you give any indication of how much staff sickness is affecting the nhs, and people needing to self—isolate? nhs staff are affected just like people across the country as a whole. and so, we are seeing staff who are doing the right thing, having to self—isolate at home. that's one of the reasons why it's so important that we are ramping up staff

testing, but it's also why it's so vital that all of us take the medical advice and stay at home. that will reduce the infections and reduce the need for services such as this new nightingale hospital. how quickly can you ramp up staff testing? because you started with about 800 — it doesn't seem a huge amount — how quickly can you get it to scale? by the end of this week, we will be able to do double the number of tests that were available last week, and we want to start with critical care nurses, with a&e staff, with ambulance personnel, and then expand that to a much wider group of nhs staff over the coming days and weeks. the government said another 8,000 ventilators were on their way to add to the stock of 8,000 — how quickly will they arrive and will they be enough? we're expanding the capacity to look after patients who need ventilation very rapidly.

we're able to effectively double that through using operating theatres and recovery areas in our existing nhs hospitals, and then over and above that, you see new facilities coming online like the nhs nightingale hospital here in london but also in manchester and birmingham, if needed. how stretched are hospitals, particularly in london, right now, in intensive care? across the country as a whole, we've got over 9,000 confirmed coronavirus patients in hospital beds today. and that number is bound to increase. as it happens, we have got available intensive care and available hospital beds, but we are also bringing online additional capacity such as these nightingale hospitals as we need them. what reassurance can you give nhs staff about protective equipment? some of them feel it just isn't there. it is vital that frontline staff get the protective equipment they need. 170 million items of that protective

equipment have been shipped, it's a huge logistics exercise, the army have been brilliant in helping, but we know we are going to need more, and the government are pulling out all the stops to procure for us that personal protective equipment that we will want over the coming days and weeks. that was a sir simon stevens, chief executive of the nhs. a group of uk manufacturers has received a government order to build 10,000 ventilators to help treat patients infected with covid—19. the consortium includes several uk—based formula 1 teams including mclaren, mercedes and williams. it follows an announcement from dyson that it had received an order from prime minister borisjohnson — who himself has coronavirus — to build 10,000 of its own

covent design devices. for more on this, i'm joined by ruth nicaoidh, executive director for commercial and legal at mclaren. you're used to formula 1 racing, but this is a race against time, i supposed to come up with these ventilators, what exactly are you doing? we are part of the ventilator consortium which is headed up by the high value manufacturing catapult. the consortium comprises businesses from the industrial sector, engineering and technology and primarily from aerospace, automotive and medical sectors in the uk. we have tasked ourselves with answering the call to develop, produce and when you factor ventilators to assist with the fight against covid—19. assist with the fight against covid-19. people might think this is a world away from formula 1 racing, but what is their skill set that your people have which means that

they are capable in helping in the design and development of new ventilators? as everyone knows, formula 1 is all about going fast, both on the track, but actually, the way we do that is through rapid development and rapid manufacture of parts. so, from mclaren's perspective, parts. so, from mclaren's ers ective we're parts. so, from mclaren's perspective, we're contributing our experience in design and engineering and rapid prototyping to the consortium, and we are looking to assist with manufacturing parts, sourcing the parts, developing and fast testing procedures to qualify the ventilators to be produced, and also developing trolleys to transport the ventilators around hospitals once they are ready to go into use. so all of the formula 1 experience on track is highly releva nt to experience on track is highly relevant to this race against time. but all of your experience is in competing with your rivals, and now you are collaborating with mercedes anne williams, it is a different experience for you? it absolutely is but what it shows is that formula 1 is really relevant, both to racing and to the wider world. we're the uk

have huge experience in innovation, both from a technology and manufacturing perspective, a lot of thatis manufacturing perspective, a lot of that is demonstrated in formula 1 and it has been a pleasure to date or collaborate with our traditional competitors to actually try to win this race. everybody has seen what we have done on the racetracks in the past in competing against each other, and i think tonight we are showing the power of our industry with our collaboration and alignment around meeting this task must really good luck to you with that enterprise, its brilliant work. that was the was the mclaren executive director. many thanks. we're expecting the daily press briefing inside downing street. also the government's chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, we are expecting to be there. let's talk to our political correspondent nick eardley. the fact that the foreign secretary

is going to be there we think would indicate that he will be talking about recovering the british nationals who are stranded abroad? yes, i would think so. there has been pressure on the government to get these brits back to the uk, and it is an unprecedented situation in so many ways, and this isjust one element of the pressure the government is under to try and get some results on this. brits stuck really across the world trying to get home. we have heard a lot of stories over the past few days about people trying to get in touch with the foreign office, or embassies perhaps struggling to get through to someone to speak to to get some sort of flight back. so it would not surprise me if in the next five minutes or so we do hear more from the government about exactly what they are going to try to do to make it easierfor people they are going to try to do to make it easier for people who are stuck abroad, to get back. we do know already that the foreign office has put on some special flights to bring

back brits from places like peru, in recent days, from south america. maybe we will see a bit more of that. but absolutely, maybe we will see a bit more of that. butabsolutely, one maybe we will see a bit more of that. but absolutely, one of those areas where the government thinks it needs to do a bit more, and i expect we will hear that quite soon. so, the government is under pressure on that, but of course it is still under pressure on all of the issues related to covid—19, getting protective equipment to frontline nhs staff, improving testing, getting more ventilators, it is really under pressure to do all of those things, and more? it is a huge, unprecedented challenge for government, isn't it? the prime minister has made it pretty clear that he thinks things are going to get worse before they get better. but we are getting these daily briefings from the government because they want to be seen to be telling us how hard they are working to fill all these gaps, to get the health service ready for the peak of this crisis, whenever that comes,

and to really have all the medical equipment in place. and as you say, there have been numerous questions about ppe, about making sure that doctors and nurses across the uk have enough equipment to protect themselves when they're helping the thousands of patients that are now coming through the doors. there has also been a big question about testing — testing has been one of those areas where the government has been under pressure really for quite a few weeks now. the question that has been coming up today is, just exactly how many people are being tested ? we know exactly how many people are being tested? we know the government said over the weekend that it was now reaching its 10,000 target for the number of tests which can be done. the latest figures suggest that about 8000 tests were done in the last daily period for which they we re last daily period for which they were collated, but that does not necessarily mean that 8000 people are being tested, it is actually far fewer, around 5000 people, who are getting those tests. some people need to have it more than once.

there may be some questions on that as well, ben. another question that came up over the weekend, and that we are all wondering, is how long this is going to go on for? there have been suggestions that potentially it could be up to six months, perhaps even longer, before we get back to daily life being as we get back to daily life being as we head it before this crisis. there may be more questions on this. really interesting that sir patrick valla nce really interesting that sir patrick vallance is at the press conference today. he's the chief scientific adviser, he's the man who's been explaining a lot about why decisions are being made, and the data behind them, to really inform the government about exactly why they might need to take more measures. so, it will be interesting to see if we get more detail from so, it will be interesting to see if we get more detailfrom him on what has been so far, and what might might need to happen still. while we wait for the conference to

begin, let's go to nick triggle, and i will interrupt you if you don't mind as soon as the press conference starts. let's talk first of all about the number of deaths in the uk. we have just about the number of deaths in the uk. we havejust had the about the number of deaths in the uk. we have just had the latest figures on that, and just explain what we can read into those figures. there were 180 deaths over the last day, bringing the total to just over 1400. what is interesting is, if you look back at this time last week, the number of daily deaths were doubling every two days. 0ver the number of daily deaths were doubling every two days. over the last three days, we have seen 260 announced on saturday, 209 on sunday and then of course 180 today. so it is an early encouraging sign that maybe things are going in the right direction. but i would add in italy, that have seen the most deaths across the world, they saw the numbersjump around a across the world, they saw the numbers jump around a little across the world, they saw the numbersjump around a little bit before they have started to plateau.

let's go to downing street in that press briefing, the foreign secretary and the chief scientific adviser. good afternoon. welcome to downing street for today's coronavirus press briefing. i'm joined by chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance, a up to yvonne doyle, medical director at public health england. before sir patrick provides an update on the latest data from our coronavirus dashboard, ijust wa nt to our coronavirus dashboard, ijust want to give you an update on the steps that we as a government have been taking to defeat coronavirus. 0ur step—by—step action plan is aiming to slow the spread of the virus, so fewer people need hospital treatment at any one time, thereby protecting the nhs's capacity. at each point we have been following the scientific and medical advice, and we have been very deliberate in our actions, taking the right steps at the right moments. we are also

taking unprecedented action to expand nhs capacity, life—saving beds, key staff, life—saving equipment, so that we give people the care they need when they need it most. that's why we are instructing people to stay at home so we can protect our nhs and save lives. i can report that through the government's ongoing monitoring and testing programme, as of today, 134,946 people have now been tested for the virus, 112,805 have tested negative, 22,141 have tested positive. of those who have contracted the virus, 1408 have very sadly died. we express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who have passed away, and i think those figures are away, and i think those figures are a powerful reminder to us all of the

importance of following the government's guidelines. we must stay at home to protect our nhs and save lives. i would like to thank all of those involved on the front line in particular all of those in the nhs for their battle against this virus, the amazing doctors, the amazing nurses, all the support staff working day and night and thousands of other key workers from our teachers to supermarket workers to our fantastic diplomatic network who are all as a team working around the clock to get us through this unprecedented coronavirus challenge. this is a united national effort, and the spirit of selflessness shown by so many is an inspiration. i now wa nt to by so many is an inspiration. i now want to turn to what we have been doing to support british people travelling around the world. coronavirus hasn't just travelling around the world. coronavirus hasn'tjust challenged us at home. it is the greatest global challenge in a generation. and as the countries work to secure their borders and stop the further

spread of this deadly virus, we appreciate that an unprecedented number of uk travellers are trying to get home, and we are not talking a few hundred or even a few thousand, we are talking hundreds of thousands of people travelling around the world. so with that in mind, on the 17th of march, we advised people against all nonessential travel around the world. since the 23rd of march, we have advised that all uk residents who are currently travelling abroad should return home. hundreds of thousands have already done so. but many travellers haven't yet managed to get back home, from young backpackers to retired couples and cruises, and we appreciate the difficult predicament that they find themselves in. we also recognise the anxiety of families here in the uk who are concerned to get their loved ones home. it is a worrying time for all of those who have been affected. and i want to assure them that this

government, their government, is working around the clock to support, advice and to help british travellers get home. i have spoken to more than 20 foreign ministers around the world in the last week or so to support this effort to keep airports and ports open and to facilitate access to them by british travellers. 0ver facilitate access to them by british travellers. over the weekend, facilitate access to them by british travellers. 0verthe weekend, i spoke to foreign ministers from australia, new zealand, india and brazil and pakistan, and i also spoke to the ethiopian prime minister. and in all of those cases iurge minister. and in all of those cases i urge them to work with us to keep commercial routes flying. given the scale and the complexity of this challenge, it inevitably requires a tea m challenge, it inevitably requires a team effort. so the foreign office is working with other governments. there is a particularfocus is working with other governments. there is a particular focus on transit hubs, and we are also working with the airlines to keep as many flights running as possible. we have got a lot more to do, but we have got a lot more to do, but we have already helped hundreds of

thousands of britons get home. the first priority has been to keep as many commercial flights running as we can, and that is based on just purely the scale and the number of people who want to come home. and as a result of those efforts and the cooperation we have received from the spanish government, we have helped an estimated 150 uk nationals to get back from spain. another commercial routes we work with partner governments and airlines to get back 8500 uk travellers from morocco, around 5000 uk nationals from cyprus. that gives you a sense of the scale of the challenge at the number of british travellers abroad. in circumstances where commercial flights can't operate, we have already charted flights which proved necessary to return 1400 uk nationals on flights for example from china at the outset of this crisis, and more recently from peru.

we have not faced challenges like this in getting people home from abroad on this scale in recent memory. airports are closing down or preventing airlines from operating ona preventing airlines from operating on a commercial basis. local authorities have placed restrictions on movement that prevent people from getting to the airport. and the critical transit hubs that we rely on for long haul flights are also shutting down or in some cases limiting theirflights. shutting down or in some cases limiting their flights. some of these restrictions have been done with very little notice, some with no notice at all, which makes it very difficult to respond. so international collaboration is absolutely vital. as i said, it is a tea m absolutely vital. as i said, it is a team effort, and it involves government working with other governments, but also working with the airlines. so with that in mind, ican the airlines. so with that in mind, i can today announce a new arrangement between the government and airlines to fly home tens of thousands of stranded british travellers where commercial flights are no longer possible. partner

airlines include british airways, virgin, easyjet, jet2 and titan, and this list can be expanded. under the arrangements that we are putting in place, we will target flights from a range of priority countries, starting this week. let me explain a little bit about how this will work in practice. where commercial routes remain an option, airlines will be responsible for getting passengers home. that means offering alternative flights at little to no cost where routes have been cancelled. and it means allowing passengers to change tickets, including between carriers. so for those still in those countries where commercial options are still available, don't wait. don't run the risk of getting stranded. the airlines are standing by to help you, please book your tickets as soon as possible. where commercial flights are no longer running, the government will provide the necessary financial support for special charter flights to bring necessary financial support for

special charterflights to bring uk nationals back home. 0nce special charter flights have been nationals back home. 0nce special charterflights have been arranged, we will promote them through the government's travel advice and by the british embassy or high commission in the relevant country. british travellers who want a seat on those flights were booked and paid directly through a dedicated travel management company. we designated £75 million to support those flights and the airlines in order to keep the costs down and affordable for those seeking to return to the uk. and in arranging these flights, our priority will be these flights, our priority will be the most vulnerable, including the elderly or those with particularly pressing medical needs, and also looking in particular at countries where we have got large numbers of uk tourists are struggling to get home. uk travellers if they haven't already done so should check the foreign office travel advice, and that advice is under constant review. it can help travellers find out more details about how to access the flights under this arrangement. they should also follow the social

media of the uk embassy or high commission in the country where they find themselves, so that they can be directed to accurate, real—time information from the local authorities. for any questions that can't be answered in that travel advice or by the uk embassies or high commission, we also have our call centre working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. now i know it has been difficult to get through for some travellers. just to give you a sense of the sheer volume, on average we normally receive 1000 calls a day to that call centre. last tuesday we had nearly 15,000, the highest on record. so we boosted our resources, we redeployed people to assist in the call centre, and we have tripled our capacity. yesterday the call centre answered 99% of calls and help thousands of british travellers to get the answer is that they need. so for those stranded, or forfamilies they need. so for those stranded, or for families nervously awaiting they need. so for those stranded, or forfamilies nervously awaiting news and wanted to see their loved ones

return home, we are doing everything we can. we've improved our advice and boosted the call centre so travellers get better and swifter information. we've put in place this arrangement with the airlines so that we can reach more british citizens in vulnerable circumstances abroad, where commercial flights aren't running. and we are working intensively around the clock with all of our partner countries and governments around the world to keep open the airports, ports and the flights to bring people home. we have not faced an international challenge quite like this before, but together, we are going to rise to it. and of course here at home, we can all support our nhs by continuing to follow the guidance to stay at home, protect our nhs and save lives. i think i will now hand over to patrick vallance, who will give a presentation on the latest data, and then we will take some questions after that. thank you very much. i wanted to share with you some of the information about where

we are in this outbreak and some of the measures that have been taken, and the idea, as we have said repeatedly, is to try and break and slow transmission of the virus, through staying at home and keeping distant. so the first slide shows that actually this has been successful in terms of the behaviour changes, and i want to thank everybody for the way in which eve ryo ne everybody for the way in which everyone is adhering to the measures that have been put in place. this shows the use of transport over time from the end of february through to now. you can see a dramatic falloff in the use of the london tube, down to just in the use of the london tube, down tojust a in the use of the london tube, down to just a few percent of what it was back at the end of february, a decrease in bus use, a decrease in national rail, and a decrease also in the use of all motor vehicles. so the measures are in place. they are making a difference, they are decreasing the contact which is so important to spread the disease. and we are doing a good job at cutting that down. now, the reason that's

important is because of course it then prevents the number of cases, reduces the number of cases. next slide, please. so this shows the number of new uk cases, and i will repeat what i have said before. this is cases that are detected with a positive test, so it is an underestimate of the total number of cases, and it is those cases which have been tested because they have come to hospital. what you can see as there has been an increase in the number of cases since the middle of march through to today. we expect that the measures that are in place, that the measures that are in place, that have caused that social distancing, the stay at home message, will be reducing the number of cases of transmission in the community and are decreasing the number cases overall. as the case is flat and off, and we shouldn't take too much attention to individual day—to—day variation, we need to look over time and see what is happening. we would expect this in turn to decrease the number of people needing admission to

hospital. next slide, please. this graph shows the total number of people admitted to hospital since the middle of march, which is now 8000 people with coronavirus. that has gone up pretty much the same amount each day for the last few days. that shows that it is going up not in an increasing amount but in a co nsta nt not in an increasing amount but in a constant amount, which may suggest that we are already beginning to see some effects through. about half of those cases, slightly under half, are in london, but what you can see in the lower lines on this graph is that we are also seeing cases throughout the uk. so the message, stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives, is true everywhere in the uk. we all need to do this in order to break and slow the transmission of this virus, decrease the number of cases and in turn decrease the number of people coming

into hospital. what i have said recently is that we expect this to get worse over the next couple of weeks, because there is a lag phase between getting the disease and people turning up in hospital, because we would expect to see a continuation of this at least over three —— two or three weeks, then a stabilisation and a gradual decrease thereafter. the number of hospital admissions has gone up roughly the same amount each day, suggesting that we are not on a fast acceleration at the moment. next slide, please. all of this is about preventing deaths and preventing the nhs becoming overwhelmed in the intensive care units with ventilators. this graph tracks the deaths that have occurred globally, across some countries, not all countries, obviously. it shows that there is a per turn of increasing deaths which

you expect to reach a plateau and to come down eventually, and you can see in the uk here, which is the purple line, we're tracking roughly along the same path as france, we are behind italy in terms of the curve, you can see that spain has a higher number than italy at the moment in terms of its trajectory, the total number, and the direction in which it is going. the uk is tracking alongside france, the measures we are taking to stop and delay the transmission, reduce the number of cases, the number of people becoming infected in the community and reduce the number of people therefore that need to go on to ventilators, and therefore reduce the number of people also that might die, all willdie, the number of people also that might die, all will die, from this infection. i want to thank all of the people in the nhs who are working unbelievably hard at the frontline to look after this. what all of us can do is make sure that we heed the advice to stay at home

and reduce those contacts so that we ultimately decrease the number of people who are going to be seriously ill or dying from this infection. and i think we will turn to questions now, laura kuenssberg, first. sir, based on what you know now, are the restrictions working, and could we avoid the nhs are being overwhelmed if the trajectory continues like this? and the foreign secretary, you are asking a huge amount of the public, is it the government's view that the people need to be winning to follow these restrictions for as long as six months, if that is what it takes? the trajectory, what we know is that the measures that have been taken are having a very big effect on contacts. are having a very big effect on co nta cts. i are having a very big effect on contacts. i showed you the data on transport, you can see the dramatic reductions in the amount of transport being used, dramatic reductions in full, we know that

restau ra nts a nd reductions in full, we know that restaurants and pubs, places where people aggregate, have been closed, so we are seeing a big change in contacts, that is predicted to have a very significant effect on the so—called r value, the number of people on average infected by one infected person. the idea is to get that number below one, at which point the epidemic stops and starts to go down. on the basis of the contacts, you would expect that r value now, in terms of the early phases of transmission in the community, to be coming down below one. so that we think that that has had the effect that is desired. that ta kes two had the effect that is desired. that takes two or three weeks to feed through into the number of people who might be appearing in hospital, a little longer in terms of those who are seriously ill or those that might die. so, we expect to see a lag phase before we really see these curves changing. i will also make a

comment about the duration. it is important that we do this now to the numbers below nhs icu capacity. that is the absolute priority at the moment. 0nce is the absolute priority at the moment. once that is achieved, once we know that we have got this curve below the icu capacity, and stable, then, of course, it is time to start asking the question which is being asked across the world at the moment — how do we release those measures and manage this going forward? i think it is premature to put an absolute time on how long this goes on for. we need to do phase one and then we think about how we release these in the right way, and with the right approach, in order to allow the curve to stay below the icu capacity. i think the only thing that i would add is that obviously the more the members of the public, as they are doing increasingly, follow this guidance, the quicker we will be able to get into a position where we will be able to review

whether and how we will be able to ease and anyway there was restrictions. a question for sir. on friday, the nhs chief said there we re friday, the nhs chief said there were 6200 coronavirus patients in hospital, today, he said it was 9000, that is nearly 1000 new patients a day, do you think those numbers will accelerate over the next two to three weeks, and at what stage do you think the nhs could hit capacity? and then just a stage do you think the nhs could hit capacity? and thenjust a quick question for the foreign secretary, please, germany is testing 70,000 people a day, countries like south korea are doing mass testing and contact tracing to try and control the spread of coronavirus — our target is 25 contests —— 25,000 tests a day, is that because you think that number is optimal, or rather it is because we can't get our hands on the equipment because other countries have been faster out

of the blocks? to answer the question about the numbers. 6000 and 9000, roughly a thousand a day, going up, in that measure, that is not an acceleration, it is quite important. it tells you that actually this is a bit more stable thanit actually this is a bit more stable than it has been. i do expect that number to continue, i expect the number to continue, i expect the number of people coming everyday to be about that, it may go up a little bit. and then into or three weeks, you would expect that to stabilise and then start to go down a bit. but it is important that it is not a rapidly accelerating number, it is an important number, a very difficult number to deal with, and it isa difficult number to deal with, and it is a number that the nhs staff are it is a number that the nhs staff a re clea ry it is a number that the nhs staff are cleary coping with at the moment. the numbers as projected, as the chief medical officer has said, it is designed to keep this below the icu capacity. i certainly could not promise that every single icu is never going to breach its number,

because that happens every winter. but the aim is to try and keep that low, across the country, that is what we are shooting for, that is what we are shooting for, that is what the numbers suggest we should achieve, they're all thereabouts, and that is what we need to keep striving for, that's why it is so important that we continue to stop the transmission in the community, because that keeps the numbers down going into that critical stage. because that keeps the numbers down going into that critical stagelj would going into that critical stage.” would say that we are operating on multiple fronts to increase the testing which includes purchasing tests, and also the progress we have been making in bringing former nhs staff back into the workforce and we wa nt staff back into the workforce and we want to scale it up as quickly as possible but it has got to be reliable. i think it was the chief medical officer who said, one thing worse than no tests is a bad test. as of this morning, over 900 frontline nhs staff have been tested as part of our new testing scheme and we will be rapidly expanding that. andy bell from channel 5 macro. a question for the foreign

secretary, first of all, do you worry that in some parts of the country, police forces are interpreting the instructions from the government, shall we say, over zealously, and maybe encroaching a little bit too much on the way people maybe want to exercise, for instance? question for the doctor, asa instance? question for the doctor, as a health service professional, are you concerned that we are still seeing lots of examples on social media of people in the frontline of the nhs who feel that they simply don't have the correct ppe that they should have, you must be worried about that? and a final question for sir patrick, are you thinking of adding the symptoms of loss of taste and smell as possible pointer symptoms? on the protective equipment, there has been a huge amount of material delivered to the

hospitals and clinics on the frontline, 170 million items. over this weekend, it is certainly an acknowledgement that people need more of this. tens of millions of equipment has been delivered, and will continue to be. getting supplies to the frontline is absolutely critical to ensuring that people feel safe. it comes alongside a refreshing of the guidance to make sure that people are clear what equipment should be used in what circumstances. that is very active at the moment. on the question about police forces, i've got huge admiration for the incredible job all of our emergency services are doing, including the police. obviously we need some common sense in the way that that is approached. on the other hand, let's also bear in mind the number one thing, the numberone in mind the number one thing, the number one message which the police are rightly trying to convey in my

view is that people need to follow the guidance, not just view is that people need to follow the guidance, notjust to view is that people need to follow the guidance, not just to the letter, but also to the spirit. that is the way we tackle this challenge and get through it as quickly as possible. so, ifully and get through it as quickly as possible. so, i fully support the police in what they are trying to achieve. the symptoms that the chief medical officer has outlined as being the ones that you self—isolate on are a persistent new cough or fever. loss of taste and smell is something that can happen with other respiratory viruses as well, it does seem to be a feature of this, from what people are reporting, and it is something that people should take into account as they think about their symptoms. i think it is really for the chief medical officer to decide at what point if any a diagnostic change takes place in terms of self isolation. and those in symptoms, we are going to get more information on them over time.

but new persistent cough or fever captures the vast majority of people with this illness. thank you, foreign secretary. just to pick up on andy's question. lord sumption, the former supreme court justice, suggested today that some areas of the country are turning into a police state, so will there be further guidance on what the police should and shouldn't find people for so that ordinary members of the public don't get criminalised for shopping for the wrong thing or taking a breather on a park bench? is this is your first press conference since the china issue has come up, do you believe, like some of your colleagues apparently do, that china should or will face a reckoning when all this is over? and lastly, a question for sir patrick — cani lastly, a question for sir patrick — can i ask you, sir patrick, how reliable are the official figures on the number of deaths from coronavirus that we back in? downing

street has admitted today that there isa street has admitted today that there is a lag in the figures. we're told that some of the figures that are coming out are up to two weeks old in some cases, and the ons is going to be putting out figures tomorrow on how many people who have died who aren't in hospital. so, have we only been given half of the truth so far? asi been given half of the truth so far? as i said already on the police, of course we back the police doing a very difficultjob in unprecedented circumstances. of course, there needs to be common sense in the way it is interpreted but overall, the overriding message that we want to convey to the british public, and i think the police are rightly trying to convey, is that we need to all be following the letter and the spirit of that guidance, and that is the way we get through this challenge has quickly as possible. on china, in terms of tackling this coronavirus prices challenge, we need to come together as a team. internationally, we need to bring as many countries together if we are

going to collaborate effectively in tackling this crisis and stopping further waves. we have good co—operation with the chinese government in terms of repatriating uk nationals from wuhan, but obviously after the crisis has abated, i think it read will be the right time to conduct investigations and i'm sure the world health organization will be at the forefront of that. in answer to the question about deaths, yes, there is a lag in the data, i think the cmo has expressed this before in terms of verifying exactly the time and cause of death and making sure that it is all accurate because you get presumed, and then you get confirmed, in terms of the virus. so, yes, there is a lag in the data and there will always be some lag and there will always be some lag andl and there will always be some lag and i think the nhs and public health england are working very hard to close that gap and make sure that they like is as short as possible. ons, i have been speaking to the national statistician and the ons data will also pick up those people

who didn't die in hospital but may have died from coronavirus in the community. so, that will lead to some extra numbers. i don't expect those to be large, and it is important going forward that we have this reconciliation between all of the numbers. thank you, the foreign secretary. the daily mirror is campaigning to give a medal to our brave nhs workers on the frontline fighting this virus — will you back that campaign today?” fighting this virus — will you back that campaign today? i think the job they're doing is amazing and inspirational, we've all talked about it from these podiums and of course they deserve all the tributes and recognition and i'm sure we will look very carefully about how we do that once we have got to the other side of this crisis. ijust that once we have got to the other side of this crisis. i just wanted to ask a very specific question on antibody testing. when will these tests actually be rolled out and what will the testing regime look

like, will people be able to take them at home, will there be special stations set up, how widely available will they be? and one more question for the foreign secretary ifi question for the foreign secretary if i may question for the foreign secretary ifimay— question for the foreign secretary if i may — since the prime minister and the health secretary have tested positive for coronavirus, can i enquire about your health, how are you feeling? i am feeling terrific, thank you very much, and the prime minister was chairing the 915 air meeting and chairing the team in terms of getting the country through this crisis. he was in good spirits. on your technical question on the testing, i defer to yvonne doyle. testing is a crucial part of our strategy to deal with this epidemic, and there are a number of strands. we have heard one mentioned already here which is the 25,000 tests per day that public health england and the nhs are well on the way to meeting. that will —— that will be

by mid to the end of april. the antibody testing is at the moment under investigation. it is a test thatis under investigation. it is a test that is novel and would be a point—of—care testing, so it could be done for instance in the home, and it could be done at scale, but i come back to the statement that the chief medical officer made, which is there is one thing worse than no testis there is one thing worse than no test is a bad test, and this testing needs to be evaluated to make sure it is valid, in other words it does what it says, and at scale, and this would be large numbers. we want to make sure that we are doing something that is safe and actually valid, that it is correct when it is read. thank you all very much. studio: that is the end of that downing street press conference. let's just sum up what we were hearing from the government's chief

scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, saying that the government's restrictions have had a very big, dramatic effect, he said on contact that could lead to the spread of the coronavirus, but he did say it would be premature to put any kind of time limit on how long those government restrictions need to last. we also heard from the foreign secretary, dominic raab, announcing plans to fly home british nationals who currently can't get back to the uk. airlines he said like virgin, easyjet, jet2, titan, have signed a memorandum of understanding with the government, and ba are going to work with the government as well to get people back to the uk. the government is promising £75 million in funding to help british nationals get back. also a question towards the end about dominic rob, the foreign secretary's health, he said he was feeling well and the prime minister who has tested positive for

coronavirus is full of vigour and chaired a meeting this morning. let's get some analysis now from our political correspondent nick ea rdley. political correspondent nick eardley. nick, let'sjust pick through that a little bit. everybody is asking the question about how long the restrictions will go on for, and therefore trying to read into what the scientists are saying. we did hear some slightly cautiously optimistic noises perhaps from sir patrick vallance the. yes, i think that there were some slightly optimistic noises. one of the slides that didn't pop up in the presentation was of the use of transport over the last while, and it showed a dramatic decrease in the number of people using public transport, in london using the underground, of private drivers as well being out and about in their cars, real decline in the numbers, all of which led patrick vallance to say that the contact that we are all having with other people was

radically down, and that is obviously a good thing. it really reduces the chance for the virus to spread. but also a note of caution about what is likely to happen over the next few weeks. you also heard the next few weeks. you also heard the chief scientific adviser saying that in the next fortnight or three weeks, the number of people being admitted to hospital is likely to go up, notjust admitted to hospital is likely to go up, not just the admitted to hospital is likely to go up, notjust the overall number but the number going in daily as well is likely to go up. the hope the government has is that that will then stabilise and stay roughly the same for a period of time before going down. but what is also really crucial just to going down. but what is also really crucialjust to point out is the government and its advisers have consistently said that this is a movable feast. what sir patrick valla nce movable feast. what sir patrick vallance was also hammering home is that a lot of this could change over the next few weeks, and it is not com pletely the next few weeks, and it is not completely clear when we will get back to normal and when the restrictions to all of our lives that we are just starting to get

used to will be able to be lifted and life gets back to normal. and of course, questions as well at the briefing about personal protective equipment forfront line briefing about personal protective equipment for front line nhs staff and about testing as well. there a lwa ys and about testing as well. there always are, and that issue of testing is one that the pressure will continue on for the government. we know there are many people saying they need to have more tests, may be mirroring countries like germany that are doing far more than the uk to try and figure out exactly where the disease is spreading. one other thing i think it is worth flagging, we have seen so many stories over the last few weeks about people being stranded abroad wanting to get back to the uk but being unable to get flights, and that new package with the airlines is a fairly significant one, so the government is putting £75 million into chartering special flights to those priority areas where flights are

available. at the moment that is clearly reacting to some of the criticism that has happened over the last few days that not enough was being done to help people who were stranded in different parts of the world. the other element of that package is the airline saying that they understand people need to get back so they are offering people the chance to change their tickets to get back a lot sooner. the advice for that is already up on the government's website, so for those people who are trying to find out if they can get back or if maybe a family member or friend can they can get back or if maybe a family member orfriend can get back, that information is up there now, so go and have a look. nick, thank you very much indeed. that is nick eardley, our political correspondent at westminster. as we have been reporting today, the temporary 4000 bed nhs night in hospital in the excel centre is due to open this week in london. our health editor hugh pym has been that today and spoken to the chief executive of the nhs in england, sir simon stevens about how prepared the

hospital is to admit coronavirus patients. today, there are over 9,000 positive coronavirus patients in hospitals across england, and we know that number is only going to increase. that's why what you see here is a mass mobilisation, taking place right across the country, but also at these new nightingale hospitals. this has been an extraordinary team effort on the part of nurses and doctors and therapists and pharmacists across london, but also volunteers and paramedics and people returning to help. and when these services are needed, they will be available, beginning later this week, and because this is a global health emergency, we're actually seeing similar types of hospitals being established in berlin and madrid and new york. will you be stretching your staff too much by moving people here and leaving other hospitals short—staffed? the whole of the nhs is freeing up hospital beds

for coronavirus patients. we've got 9,000 people across the country who are in a hospital right now, and we know that that number is bound to increase. that's why we're also creating this extra capacity to look after patients, staffed by health service professionals, but also by those who are returning to help — 20,000 nurses and doctors have come back to help, as well as paramedics and volunteers from all walks of life. can you give any indication of how much staff sickness is affecting the nhs, and people needing to self—isolate? nhs staff are affected just like people across the country as a whole. and so, we are seeing staff who are doing the right thing, having to self—isolate at home. that's one of the reasons why it's so important that we are ramping up staff testing, but it's also why it's so vital that all of us take the medical advice and stay at home. that will reduce the infections and reduce the need for services such as this new nightingale

hospital. how quickly can you ramp up staff testing? because you started with about 800. it doesn't seem a huge amount. how quickly can you get it to scale? by the end of this week, we will be able to do double the number of tests that were available last week, and we want to start with critical care nurses, with a&e staff, with ambulance personnel, and then expand that to a much wider group of nhs staff over the coming days and weeks. the government said another 8,000 ventilators were on their way to add to the stock of 8,000 — how quickly will they arrive and will they be enough? we're expanding the capacity to look after patients who need ventilation very rapidly. we're able to effectively double that through using operating theatres and recovery areas in our existing nhs hospitals, and then over and above that,

you see new facilities coming online like the nhs nightingale hospital here in london but also in manchester and birmingham, if needed. how stretched are hospitals, particularly in london, right now, in intensive care? across the country as a whole, we've got over 9,000 confirmed coronavirus patients in hospital beds today. and that number is bound to increase. as it happens, we have got available intensive care and available hospital beds, but we are also bringing online additional capacity such as these nightingale hospitals as we need them. what reassurance can you give nhs staff about protective equipment? some of them feel it just isn't there. it is vital that frontline staff get the protective equipment they need. 170 million items of that protective equipment have been shipped, it's a huge logistics exercise, the army have been brilliant in helping, but we know we're going to need more, and the government are pulling out all the stops to procure for us that

personal protective equipment that we will want over the coming days and weeks. that was a sir simon stevens, chief executive of the nhs. just to recap on that downing street press co nfe re nce , just to recap on that downing street press conference , we just to recap on that downing street press conference, we heard in that briefing the government's chief scientific adviser sir patrick valla nce scientific adviser sir patrick vallance saying the government's restrictions so far have been having a dramatic effect on contacts that could lead to the spread of coronavirus, but it would be premature to put any limit on how long the construction is needed to last. the six o'clock news is coming up last. the six o'clock news is coming up with fiona in a moment, but first let's get a look at the latest weather forecast with louise lear. hello there. it has been showery for some, with threatening looking cloud across ba rnsley threatening looking cloud across barnsley over the reservoir. we have also had some pretty stubborn cloud

on the north and west as you can see from this weather watcher in cumbria. generally speaking there has been a lot of cloud around for the course of the day, particularly into the afternoon, and the showers have been through northern and eastern scotland, eastern england, stretching down into the midlands and a little bit further south as we went through the afternoon. one of the reasons that we've had lighter winds is at the high sinking down to the south—west, and the isobars are opening up, and so the winds are going to continue to slacken off through the evening and overnight, with the shower is fading away as well and clear skies developing, so well and clear skies developing, so we could see some breaks and a chilly night to follow. low single figures where we get breaks in the cloud. it is going to be a chilly start to tuesday morning, but again, we will see plenty of cloud developing as we go through the day, and it will be a fairly a fairly overcast story. the winds will change direction in a subtle way, coming in from the north—west, and that will feed more cloud and a few showers into northern scotland and across northern and lead.

temperatures a little bit disappointing for the beginning of april, highs of 9—11. the high will continue to drift south—west, and eventually we will start to see a weather front starting to threaten into the far north. it's going to ta ke into the far north. it's going to take its time and arriving on wednesday, but it will start to bring a change to the story for much of scotland. clowning over, outbreaks of rain to the north—west of the great glen and the wins will strengthen here. quite a cloudy day generally on wednesday, so temperature struggling a little again. as that front pushes through, it is going to introduce colder air across scotland. as the winds revert back to a more northerly direction. we could see showers tied into that low pressure, turning wintry to the tops of the hills across the north and west. so although we stay slightly milder across the south with that northerly flow into scotland, it means a noticeable difference to the feel of the weather. turning increasingly windy, with gales to the north and a little bit milder across the south. hopefully a little more sunshine

coming through. that's it. take care.

built in a week — the new hospital ready to take its first patients on wednesday. the london nightingale hospital will be ready for up to 500 patients this week, rising eventually to 4,000 of all ages. we've been surprised by how many young people we are seeing, and people who don't have other health conditions. and i think the messages that are coming out from government to young people, that they're not invincible, are really, really important. as some stranded british nationals manage to get home, the government announces rescue flights for tens of thousands still stuck abroad.