and there was almost a part of me that thought, "well, maybe i could get it and if i could get what the chief medical officer talks of as being a mild or moderate case of it, then i can actually get it out of the way." the thing with you is you obviously are... you've got cancer, you've been treated for cancer and there are a lot of people out there who will be watching you now who are really frightened of getting this thing. what is your message to them? for all those people out there living with cancer, my message is firstly we all know what uncertainty is about, we all know what being in a life—threatening situation is about, and this needn't be like that. i don't want to trivialise it, simply because i seem to have had a mild or moderate case of covid—i9, but actually the very fact that we're living with cancer i think gives us an edge. we have confronted those kind of difficult, dark moments

in our lives and in some ways i think that we, those of us living with cancer, are stronger because we kind of know what it is like to go into something where the outcomes are uncertain. and i certainly feel that, having had that experience, in my case six years as a cancer patient, i went into this feeling actually quite strong. if i can live with cancer, then i can certainly live with covid—i9 — i kept telling myself that. and yes, ok, i'm lucky, sophie. i've had it in a mild way, but lots and lots of other people are going to have it in a mild way, too. great to see him smiling so well. time for a look at the weather, here's darren bett. that is good news, sophie. we've seen late sunshine across the southern half of the uk in the cloud has been melting away but it will turn cold here quickly. further

north, the cloud continues through the evening and overnight and there will be more showers, mainly across the northern half of scotland and some will head south as the cloud moves south, may be listing —— lifting the cloud and frost across south wales but still frosty across southern include where we start with sunshine early tomorrow. it might not last too long because the cloud is moving south and will bring a few showers, mainly coming in off the irish sea. some rain moving south across scotland and affecting western scotland that will move into northern ireland and once it clears we get sunshine following to the north of the country. temperatures between nine and ten, similar to today and for many parts of the country the wins will be light again. the wind will pick up as the rain clears away from scotland and there is some wind on the way on the way into thursday and the weather front is important because it will bring rain and drizzle south across the uk on thursday but behind that, the uk on thursday but behind that, the wind will strengthen on the air gets colder and the showers that follow will turn wintry as well. on

the weather front, still some follow will turn wintry as well. on the weatherfront, still some patchy rain and drizzle to clear away from northern ireland and southern scotla nd northern ireland and southern scotland which moves into northern england and wales and may be the midlands on thursday. following that, sunshine, some showers turning increasingly wintry in scotland with snow over the hills. for all of us the winds will be stronger on thursday, may be touching gale force in northern scotland just adding to the chill with temperatures no better than 6 degrees or so. decent temperatures across southern england and eastern england, 13 or 1a degrees. it will be chillier but less windy on friday and signs of some windy weather but warmer weather over the weekend. sophie. that's all from the bbc news at six. on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. goodbye. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun, and this is your latest sports news. football clubs are meeting tomorrow to discuss what wage sacrifices the game's top players should make to help sides cope in

the coronavirus pandemic. matches across the premier league and the efl have been postponed until at least the 30th the april. non—playing staff at some teams have already had their pay cut as they fight to protect jobs through the crisis. joe lynskey reports. it is the multi—billion pound industry that gets richer every year but even premier league finances will be effective in a pandemic. the matches are off and supporters are at home so now to top—flight clubs have cut down their staff. at newcastle, those behind the scenes have been put on leave. now totte n ha m , have been put on leave. now tottenham, too, so they have to adapt. ina tottenham, too, so they have to adapt. in a statement, their chairman said... spurs are the eight richest club in the world but now non—playing employees could go on the government for low scheme. but for now the players are still paid in full.

those that tend to get paid this multi—million pound a year contract so multi—million pound a year contract so it is easier in some ways to furlough your non—playing step because they're to i was much more in line with what we consider to be average salaries so that means government schemes can meet those requirements of non—play staff more easily. what we have seen is kind of good business acumen, let still the problem with —— as and when they arrive and they are now meeting to discuss how best to deal with this. right now, like all of the some are at home. tomorrow, english clubs will discuss differing wages to get clu bs will discuss differing wages to get clubs through the crisis. possible solutions have come from elsewhere. already one scottish club has offered all staff a pay cut and at some of europe's elite come of the resources a re some of europe's elite come of the resources are being shared around. barcelona's players are making contributions to those behind the scenes get full pay. and juventus‘s

swa h scenes get full pay. and juventus‘s swah will miss out on four months wage. the most visible way is to have a football wide solution to this. the premier league needs to ta ke this. the premier league needs to take hold of the situation and lobby its member clubs to make sure they do the right thing. you need a whole football system approach to this and not rely on one or two wealthy clubs to support the rest. normally this sport thrives on the inevitable. now like so many other businesses, football, too, is working out how to survive. the england and wales cricket board is making more than £60 million available to support all levels of the game. it includes a0 million which is being made available immediately to help with cash flow, and more than £20 million is to be made available in interest—free loans and grants to help amateur clubs. all cricket has been postponed until may 28th. options to starty the delayed season in june, july or august are being considered. the future of this summer's wimbledon championships is in the balance.

meetings are taking place over whether they will go ahead as planned thisjune in light of the coronavirus pandemic. the all england club, who run the championships, are yet to make a final decision. our tennis correspondent russell fuller feels it would be a big call from the organisers. it is the last call in the world they want to make, especially as we speak it is still march and if championships don't begin until the end ofjune. but i think those who are coming to a formal decision after a series of virtual emergency meetings today which may will continue into tomorrow, have known for a while it is not feasible to stage the championships this year because of the fight against coronavirus in the uk and the amount of time also it takes to prepare for championships of the stature. i think what is happening is also not just people at wimbledon are involved but people from the lta which runs events at the queen's clu b which runs events at the queen's club in eastbourne which will also be affected by the cancellation and

the men's atp tour and the wta tour all getting together and i think what is looking to happen is sometime in the latter half of wednesday we will have a series of coordinated announcements saying there will be no grass court tennis in 2020 and that means no professional tennis anywhere in the world before at least the middle of july. world before at least the middle of july. russell fuller there. that's all the sport for now. thank you very much, gavin. let's recap what we heard from the govenrment at today's coronavirus press conference. cabinet office minister michael gove made two new announcements. first, he said that thousands of new ventilators will roll off production lines this weekend and will be distributed across the nhs to the front—line next week. he also said rapid clinical trials are being conducted to identify existing drugs, such as anti—malarials, that may help ease symptoms of covid—19. and the medical director of nhs england, professor stephen powis,

says there are "green shoots" that show the number of infections may be plateauing, but he urged people to continue abiding by social distancing rules, emphasising that we are by no means "out of the woods" and suggesting the next two weeks are critical. let's listen again to what mr gove had to say. i'd like first to update you all on the facts about the spread of covid—19 and the steps that we are then taking in the battle against this virus. 143,186 people have now been tested for the virus. of those, 25,150 have tested positive. and sadly, yesterday we recorded the highest single increase in the number of deaths as a result covid—19. 381 people died, meaning that of those hospitalised in the uk, the number who have passed away

now totals 1789. every death is the loss of a loved one, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who are grieving. overall, 10,767 people in england have been admitted to hospital with covid—19 symptoms. the largest number of those is in london, with 3915 people in hospital care, while in the midlands, the number of those hospitalised is now 1918 and accelerating upwards. these numbers reinforce the vital importance of following the government's social distancing guidelines. the more we restrict contact, the more we slow the spread of the infection, the more that we can help the nhs build the capacity needed to care for those most in need. and that capacity is increasing. more nhs staff are returning to the front—line, and more testing is taking place to help those

self—isolating come back and to protect those working so hard in our hospitals and in social care. but while the rate of testing is increasing, we must go further faster. a critical constraint on the ability to rapidly increase testing capacity is the availability of the chemical reagents which are necessary in the testing. the prime minister and the health secretary are working with companies worldwide to ensure that we get the material we need to increase tests of all kinds. and as well as increasing the number of staff on the front—line and the tests which protect them, we must also increase the capacity to provide oxygen to those worst—affected by the disease. we have just over 8000 ventilators deployed in nhs hospitals now. this number has increased since the epidemic began thanks to the hard work of nhs professionals, but we need more.

that's why we are buying more ventilators from abroad, including from eu nations. and it's also why we are developing new sources of supply at home. before the epidemic struck, we had very little domestic manufacture of ventilators. but now, thanks to the dedication of existing medical supply companies and the ingenuity of our manufacturing base, we have existing models being produced in significantly greater numbers and new models coming on stream. orders have been placed with consortia led by ford, airbus, the formula 1 racing teams including mclaren, gkn aerospace and rolls—royce and dyson's. i can announce that this weekend, the first thousands of new ventilator devices will roll off the production line and be delivered to the nhs next week. from there, they will be rapidly distributed to the front—line. and as well as increasing the capacity for ventilation, which helps support those patients worst—affected, we're also

increasing the capacity to provide oxygen to affected patients at an earlier stage in the process of the disease, helping to avert, we hope, the deterioration of their condition. a team led by ucl working with mercedes—benz will produce 10,000 new cpap devices to support affected patients, and a team from oxford university are also developing related technology. and in our determination to prevent as many patients as possible seeing their condition worsen, we're conducting rapid cynical trials on those drugs, including anti—malarials, which may be able to reduce the impact of covid—19 on those affected. but even as we seek to explore every avenue to slow the spread of the disease, to reduce its impact and to save lives, i'm conscious of the sacrifices that so many are making. that's why the chancellor's economic package is in place, to support people through a difficult time.

that is the update from michael gove today. let's get reaction to the government's announcement at today's press conference from dr ron daniels. he's an icu consultant at university hospitals birmingham. first, doctor, how are you and your collea g u es first, doctor, how are you and your colleagues coping and argue heartened by what you today? so there is no doubt this is a challenging situation. we all knew it was going to be challenging. it is challenging the visual health professions and challenging the weight that disciplines within health care work together and it is challenging the supply chain and procurement chain of this protective equipment. however, we are coping. we are cupping through teamwork and coping through collaboration. some chinks in the armour in the way the nhs get supplies to the front line have been exposed but the reality is that we have never been short of ppe when assessing patients. you see you

have never been sure of ppe that we so have never been sure of ppe that we so the distribution problems in getting into the front line. we here for so many different medical professionals, the nursing staff and the cleaners they were so concerned that they don't have the ppe when they need it. is there not such a frustration that this is continuously happening? so this is a problem in the problem arises because procurement and getting goods to the front line is devolved to individual hospital trusts and individual departments within the trusts so some areas will be good at acquiring ppe and distributing to their staff and some will be less good. and that practice have to change because we cannot allow any health professional to assess any patient who is thought to have covid—19 without the appropriate ppe. when it comes to what we are hearing about ventilators and hearing about ventilators and hearing about ventilators and hearing about the testing that is being promised him of the increases, what is your priority? what is the thing you need the most? you're quite right. we have heard about the

tests and have heard about the ventilators and a friend about the ppe but the reality is there is so much more that we need. there are some commonly used intensive care drugs at some organisations are falling short on supplies for slightly. not just about ventilators in intensive care but the pumps with which to deliver the medicines to keep the patient is asleep to support their blood pressure. all of these things we named in volume three we have never seen before. and when it comes to testing, the government is setting out targets of 25,000 tests a day and they are not going to come until the end of april. germany is giving tens of thousands of tests a day. why are we not there? before i answer, it is important to the tests themselves are not perfect and negative tests do not mean you definitely don't have covid—19 and positive tests is likely to mean that you have it. so it is really important we get test of the front line professionals. i am supply flooding right now because i have some fairly typical symptoms

of this illness. he could just be a very bad cold. i would love to know because if i knew him out to be able to get back to the coal face. but i've not heard anything yet about how the test will be applied to me in my work force on the front line. so just to clarify, you your self, you are in theory showing such as what you have not been offered a test? that is correct. and i think there will be many clinicians in similar positions to me who are frustrated at having to self isolated home when they know their colleagues are working their socks off to deal with this crisis. so what is your masses into the government when i talk about these 25,000 tests today by the end of april when you need it now? my message would be to stop talking in big numbers. we know that there are huge stockpiles of ppe and we know there are these tests being procured and available and we also know as

was ported out earlier that we are struggling to get some of the reagents and chemicals that are needed. as we know there are problems and is not easy. but we are interested in on the front line is how we are going to get access to these. what does distribution look like? thank you so much. we wish you the best of luck in all your work and all your colleagues on the front line and also let's hope that you get back to the desperately needed work that you are doing. thank you so work that you are doing. thank you so much for your time. i want to go back to get a bit more reactions will heard from the government from the shadow of solicitor general for england and, the labour mp nick thomas simons whojoins england and, the labour mp nick thomas simons who joins us now. before we get reaction, you heard frustration there in his voice and what he was saying. he is showing symptoms and has not been tested. how is that happening?” symptoms and has not been tested. how is that happening? i think that frustration is very understandable. and i really do think we need transparency on testing because as

you mentioned in your last interview, the german government has managed half a million tests last week. now of course and has a different population and different characteristics and we all know that. but germany did not have any more advanced warning about covid—19 than we did here in the uk. i think we do need to ask why we cannot ramp up we do need to ask why we cannot ramp up our testing to that level extremely quickly when other countries clearly are able to do that. so why in terms of when you see the government and they talk about these increases in numbers and we heard the doctor say we don't need to be talking about these huge numbers, we need to see actual tests on the ground to people on the front line that need it. how do you as the opposition speed that up and support the government? members to support the government? members to support the government? members to support the government and the aim of increasing testing and testing is vital to protect our front—line workers in the nhs and that is why

thatis workers in the nhs and that is why that is obviously an initial priority. but in addition to that, we wa nt priority. but in addition to that, we want nhs workers who are no longer showing symptoms and perhaps have now an immunity to the disease to be able to come back to work. when he to protect and that is why the world health organisation said test, test, test and we also if we are going to end these social distancing measures, we would need mass testing to do that as well. and oui’ mass testing to do that as well. and our message to the government really is just be transparent about what is happening because i watch that press conferences afternoon and i heard michael gove on the one hand saying that it was a shortage of chemical rea g e nts that it was a shortage of chemical reagents that needed for testing not wrapped up in the way the government wa nt to wrapped up in the way the government want to but also the deputy chief medical officer say there have been a change in strategy on testing between government phase one and government phase two on the 13th of march. there was community testing going on when the government moved into phase two and it did not

happen. we support the government in the aim of increasing testing and we think it is vital but i think we do need transparency as well to know what the problems are here precisely. when it comes to ventilators, a lot of frustration that there are not more quite frankly and that it is taking so long to procure and set up consultations with companies that are potentially offering their help but the government go into different companies that possibly don't have the capacity. what would you advise? what would you have done in this kind of situation? i think there is a wider question that is not for now as to what are the capacity of our manufacturing sector in the uk was prior to coming into this crisis. my message to the government today is simple, procure the appropriate equipment from wherever you can get it from. we had that sort of discussion last week if i may say so

when we talked aboutjoint european union procurement where apparently people had not had e—mails as one explanation given and there was some kind of breakdown in communication. look, what i am a student here is getting the necessary amount of equipment to those that need it. do whatever it takes and do that and we have great companies here in the uk that are doing it and stepping up to the play and we can source internationally as well. source equipment we need, put party talent —— party politics and ideology to one side and get it done. thank you very much for your time. just some reaction to that press conference, the daily press conference that we heard a little bit earlier on. tens of thousands of britons stranded abroad by the coronavirus pandemic will be flown home under a new arrangement between the government and airlines. it's estimated there could be as many as a million britons stuck overseas. £75 million will be spent on charter planes to bring people home from countries where commercial

flights are no longer available. ba, virgin and easyjet are among airlines working with the government to fly britons back to the uk. both thousands stuck abroad will be brought home we are hearing. travel expert simon calderjoins me live. for those who are stuck abroad, for those who are worried, how on earth they get home, what is the first thing they should do having heard this? that if you register with which ever uk mission is closest to them, that is generally the embassy or the them, that is generally the embassy orthe high them, that is generally the embassy or the high commission in the country they are in. and then wait for instruction. but my goodness me, during the course of today i have had to increasingly strident concerns had to increasingly strident concerns from a whole range of people saying now we are over 24 hours since the flights were announced and i am not identifying anything that has actually been set

up anything that has actually been set up for people to return home. there is particular problems in india where there is a large number of holiday— makers trying to get brack ina holiday— makers trying to get brack in a particular people who have been visiting family in india who were announced stranded all over the place in a country which is now in lockdown. there was one rescue flight lockdown. there was one rescue flight in this morning from india but unfortunately it was air france and contained french citizens and landed in paris. all kinds of problems of people in the printjob at saying it is no good arranging flights from delhi, we need flights from here and we cannot cross the border to get within india to get to the capital. and there are many other problems in indochina and laos and cambodia particularly in the philippines where there has been trouble there and a great deal about people in australia and new zealand, although from what i can see, those very much most fit into the category of can you get home on a scheduled

flight of can you get home on a scheduled flight and there are still scheduled flights operating. people also in more remote places need papers to travel across to those larger airports that you mentioned and in that case when you are faced with something like this, what you talk about getting in touch with the government centres within those particular countries, e—mail, telephone, just how do you even start? i would call it twitter because most communication seems to because most communication seems to be happening via that particular social medium. everybody is being encouraged to register so the government knows exactly who is where and what they need. but the logistical problems are almost unimaginable. you will recall six month ago we had the thomas cook repatriation and that was fairly orderly. everybody knew where the thomas cook customers were and how many there were and when they were due to come back. and so at considerable expense of about £150 million from its wife's with this airlift is costing, flights were arranged for those people. for about

150,000 of them altogether. so now this particular challenge is extraordinary because if the government is serious about collecting everybody, if you got people stuck in as there are in the amazonian basin of peru, well, just getting from there to anywhere where they have got an international airport is really quite a challenge. so you can add to that people stranded in the galapagos islands, thousands of kilometres off the coast of ecuador. people are in all kinds of strife in all kinds of places. and it is very much a reaction to the international flight plans i have introduced even though clearly the uk has no such band and the world health organisation says once you've got local transmission of the coronavirus, there is no point having an international flight band, it will not help with controlling the spread and all you

will do is because social and economic harm which my goodness me these bands certainly are doing. people typically desperately want to get home. simon, thank you very much and good to see you safely at home as always good to get your expertise. simon always is some very sensible advice. much more on our website. without time for the weather. hello there. most of the country had a dry day today and there is more over scotland. that should bring showers further south as well and we will have clear skies for much of the night across southern england and south wells and east anglia. some places still by the end of the night having a touch of frost. when the cloud having a touch of frost. when the clou d m oves having a touch of frost. when the cloud moves in, a chance of a shower with temperatures at four or 5 degrees. some early sunshine tomorrow across southern england but

it will not last in the cloud moves in from the north bringing with it a few showers and mainly feeding and all the irish sea. some rain moving south across scotland eventually arriving in northern ireland and most of the ramp in western scotland brighterfor easter most of the ramp in western scotland brighter for easter scotland and then we get some rain in the northern half of the country. two pictures of nine or 10 degrees and similarto pictures of nine or 10 degrees and similar to what we had today. for many places, the winds will be light. we start to pick up in a scotla nd light. we start to pick up in a scotland after that rain moves through. then we get into some colder air behind that with her front. that front is important because while it certainly brings patches of rain southwards across the uk, behind at the winds start to pick up and we draw down colder and though showers that follow will be turning increasingly wintry as well. so we start with some patchy rain and drizzle across the scotland and northern ireland on that weather front and will seek its way down towards northern england and well and perhaps a midlands later on and then following that, some sunshine and showers and those turning increasingly wintry in scotland and some snow over the hills and they

went stronger everywhere i think my thursday and may be touching gale force in order scotland. adding to the chill with temperatures of only 6 degrees or sub but decent across southern and eastern parts of england of 13 or 14 which should state generally dry. they went lighter on friday and it will be a chilly start with plenty of sunshine and turning to cloud over more with some wintry showers over the northern half of scotland in particular where it is still quite cold even for the south of temperatures are down a bit. typically ten or 11 degrees. we have a high—pressure building in for friday so hence lighter winds and that pressure will move its way into continent of europe which is quite significant because it allows us to change the wind direction to more of a southerly that will strengthen during the weekend but at least it will mean those temperatures are going to be rising and it will be turning warmer by sunday.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk records its highest number of coronavirus deaths in a single day, 381 people die, bringing the total to 1,789. spain also records its biggest daily rise in coronavirus deaths, the number there passes 8,000. in new york state, the death toll from the coronavirus surpasses 1,500 as the us overtakes china in the number of declared deaths. also on the programme — the heroes and heroines of coronavirus — we look at the huge physical and mental challenges faced by nurses.