this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm rebecca jones. the number of people that have lost their lives to coronavirus in the uk now stands at 4,313 — a rise of 708 in just 2a hours. in just under an hour we'll be live at downing street for the daily government briefing, led by cabinet office minister michael gove and nhs england's national medical director stephen powis. .. with increasingly fine weather expected both here in the uk and europe — people are urged to stick to the strict lockdown restrictions to tackle coronavirus. when we come to enforcement, that

really is the last resort because, in a way, if we come to enforcement than everybody has failed to understand the significance of this endeavour. spain reports another 809 deaths to the virus — it is the lowest figure for a week — and the second day in a row that the daily death toll has fallen.... the us government issues clear advice — cover your faces in public to stop the spread of the coronavirus. but president trump says he has no intention of doing so himself. in the midst of the outbreak, sir keir starmer is elected the new leader of the labour party in the uk. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world — for all the latest developments

in the coronavirus pandemic. as the weather heats up across europe the authorities are ramping up efforts to keep people at home to help fight the spread of the disease. here in the uk — the association of police and crime commissioners has warned that forces are facing a "big challenge" this weekend. there is also expected to be a much heavier police presence on the streets of switzerland over the next couple of days. and france has stepped up checks to stop people leaving their homes at the start of spring school holidays. more than 8,000 officers have been deployed in paris to discourage residents from leaving for the provinces. meanwhile — the uk government's pledge to carry out 100,000 tests a day for coronavirus by the end of this month, has been called into question by nhs scientists and laboratory staff, who say they're short of key raw materials to carry out the work. the head of the international monetary fund has warned the impact

of the pandemic is "way worse" than the global financial crisis. and in the states — president trump has said he won't wear a face mask — even though health officials in the us are recommending them as a way of stopping the virus spreading. the president said the advice was voluntary — and he couldn't see himself wearing one in the oval office. (mix here in the uk, the department of health has confirmed that 4,313 have now died after contracting coronavirus. the rising death toll comes as one of the government's most senior advisors on the coronavirus pandemic has warned that the uk could see high rates of infection for "weeks and weeks", if the lockdown rules are flouted this weekend. professor neil ferguson said that while the epidemic was expected to plateau in the next week to 10 days, people's behaviour was critical to determining how soon

restrictions could be lifted beyond that. katherine da costa reports. with warm, sunny weather marking the start of what should have been the two—week easter getaway, there is a risk crowds may be tempted to head to beauty spots and beaches, but the government says "stay at home, save lives" is an instruction, not a request. police forces are on standby for what could be one of their biggest challenge this weekend. they are being encouraged to engage with people and advise them to return home. when we come to enforcement, that really is the last resort, because in a way, if we come to enforcement then everybody has failed to understand the significance of this endeavour. government guidelines state everyone must stay at home, but you can leave under the following circumstances. for one form of exercise a day — the advice is to stay as local as possible. you can shop for basic essentials like food and medicine.

you are also allowed to go out for any medical need or to provide care and assistance to someone vulnerable, and you can travel to work, but only if you cannot work from home. 0ne senior government adviser says people's behaviour this weekend is critical. professor niall ferguson says he expects the epidemic will plateau over the next week to ten days, but flouting the guidelines could see the infection remain high for weeks. clearly, we want to move to a situation where at least by the end of may we are able to substitute some less intensive measures and more based on technology and testing for the complete lockdown we have now. capacity is key. the government says it is doing all it can to increase beds and ventilators. a number of large field hospitals are opening across the country, with the first at london's excel centre expected to start taking patients from next week. 0n the ground, hospitals like luton

and dunstable have the beds to cope with current numbers, but if we see a surge in cases, and numbers of critically ill patients, staff here are fearful. there is no cure for this disease. this is not a virus that we can give medicines, anything to to make it go away, we can keep you alive, using the technology and the equipment, until your body gets over it, but we can't fix the virus, but the general public, you can fix the virus, you can stay at home, stay indoors and don't spread it. if nothing else, do not spread it. the warning couldn't be more stark. the peak has yet to come, and how we behave in the coming weeks will be crucial. katherine da costa, bbc news. and katherine has been giving me more details on the latest figures just released by the department of health here in the uk.

there are 183,190 people have been tested, and of those 41,903 were tested positive. that is an increase ofjust over 3700 on the previous day, and in the latest people to have died we know that as of five o'clock yesterday, that's the latest figures, 4313 people have now died, that's an increase of 708 and that's the largest increase in a day that we have seen so far. now, bbc analysis has been looking at that and saying that figures have been roughly in line with scientific expectations. we expect to see a lag of three to four weeks since stricter, tougher measures of social distancing were introduced before we start to see death figures start to fall. now, confirmed cases have started to slow down in the last week, they were at about 20%, this week it's been roughly 10% per day, as for deaths that's been growing byjust under 25% per day

so doubling every three to four days. so where we might have expected to see 5000 new cases and 800 new deaths, actually today's figures are just slightly lower than the expectations, but it's important not to read too much into that, that there could be peaks and dips but that should be seen as anomalies. so the peak is still yet to come, experts can't say for sure when that will happen. one of the government's most senior advisers, professor neil ferguson from imperial college london has said that we should expect to see figures plateau in the next week to ten days. he said people need to listen to the social distancing advice. if they don't, then we could see the infection rates stay high for weeks and weeks. if people do listen and the figure start to come down he thought that the restrictions might be able to be relaxed by the end of may by using more testing and contact tracing to, sort of, try and reduce things.

0ur political correspondent chris mason is at westminster. in less than an hour we will be hearing from the uk government for its daily briefing, won't we? i am just wondering how much pressure as the uk government under? just wondering how much pressure as the uk government undefim just wondering how much pressure as the uk government under? it is being stretched in every department in whitehall have is having pressures put upon it that none of the occu pa nts of put upon it that none of the occupants of the civil servants have ever had to wrestle with in their careers, the department for work and pensions processing an unprecedented amount of claims for universal credit, you think of the department of health, for obvious reasons a massive burden has been placed upon it, and then enter into that the reality of what you can see, a lovely spring day here in london, that's been replicated in many parts of the uk particularly in the

south—east of england so the temptation for people to go beyond the street or the park at the end of the street or the park at the end of the road and a little bit per further despite the advice we heard yesterday and i suspect that will be repeated by michael gove, the cabinet office minister and professor stephen powers who is the national medical director of nhs england who are leading the news conference that we expect to start at around five o'clock this afternoon and the reality of the messaging i suspect we are likely to hear is that desire that people maintain their discipline as we head towards the two week mark of this lockdown here in the uk. we know for certain it is going to go on for another week and all the expectation is it is likely to have to be extended for a considerable period beyond that and even when we get to the stage of the scientists and the government toying with the idea of limiting the amount of restrictions that we are currently living with aunt living under, the reality is they are going to have to be

removed, in all likelihood, very, very gradually because the consequence of pulling away too quickly could be a spike of cases beyond the capacity of the nhs, so thatis beyond the capacity of the nhs, so that is the reality of what we are going to have to get used to i think, for the coming weeks, the coming months. we will leave it there for now but no doubt talk to you later. 0ur political correspondent now. in france the number of dead continues to rise, with nearly 600 deaths recorded injust 2a hours. police are strictly enforcing the government's tough quarantine measures over the easter holidays. in paris, railway stations, airports and major roads are being monitored, to prevent people leaving the city. a man is being held by police in southeast france after he went on the rampage with a knife, killing two people and wounding several others. it happened not farfrom grenoble. the knifeman went into a tobacconist and stabbed the owners and a customer before he was overpowered and taken into custody.

the motive of the attacker, who is reported to be sudanese, is unclear. spain has recorded its lowest number of coronavirus deaths in a week. it's the second day in a row that the daily death—toll has fallen — suggesting the outbreak there could be stabilising. a total of 809 people died from the virus in the past 2a hours — down from 932. the number of new infections was also lower than friday's figure. as the coronavirus continues to spread across europe concern is turning to agriculture and the continent's farms. namely, who is going to tend the harvest. seasonal workers from eastern europe often travel into central and southern parts of the continent at this time of year, but in the face of coronavirus different countries have implemented different rules on freedom of movement which could now jeopardise the food supply

for millions of people. here to discuss this is european agricultural specialist horatio gonzalez ailman from the think tank farm europe. i wanted to talk about seasonal workers in a moment but i first wa nted workers in a moment but i first wanted to start by asking you, we have all seen pictures of empty supermarket shelves across europe. is there enough food to feed people? absolutely, there is. we have plenty of food. i can tell you that in general be whole food chain is working quite well across europe. we have a very flexible and highly sophisticated food chain and for the moment those issues you are talking about do not exist, i would say. everything is under control, at least for the moment. this is very

important. as you say, things are under control for the moment but this issue of seasonal workers travelling in europe, given the rules and people moving around at the moment, how much of a problem is that could become? well, let me try to give me three point which i think are very important, in the sense that the european commission is taking measures and this is very important. the first measure taken by the european commission has been concerning the free movement rules. the commission has approved guidelines in order to ease all kind of problems that we have had in the last days and the last weeks, in the borders of different countries, so thatis borders of different countries, so that is all for the moment and this is critical also for the food chain because this is the way to supply food to retail. the second message taken by the european commission has been concerning the... this is a

very political issue in central and east europe i would say and the commission is taking very very tough measures in order to allow people to move from one country to another. in the most important to mention is the last measure adopted by the commission which is to consider seeds and all agricultural workers as critical workers, because the food chain all over europe is as critical as many other, like for example from health, and in this guidelines the commission is asking the member states to please proceed and and ensure a small passage of workers. 0k, and and ensure a small passage of workers. ok, i appreciate that you are saying that the commission has put these guidelines in place, but how much are they being observed? well, this is my second comment. all over europe team member countries and organisations have the... for example in europe they are... all the red tape that will stop workers

coming into the country. in france, for example, they are extending the weekly working hours from 35 to 60. in spain, special contracts are in place for a local unemployed people, so measures are being taken on a national level and i also want to stress that the different trade organisations are taking their own measures, for example in france and also in spain, these farm organisations are putting in place online personality tests to match workers. so for the moment many measures have been taken so we expect the results. so are you saying that people need not worry that crops could be left to rot in fields because fans can't get access to the workers that they need? well, first of all, in order to give you an answeri first of all, in order to give you an answer i have to say that the main problem is focused on fresh produce, in this case food available

all over europe as i have said very clear. as i said before, for the moment measures have been taken and we expect them in the next weeks to give the expected results, and i am sure that it will be in place. 0k. member of the think tank farm in europe there, thank you very much for joining europe there, thank you very much forjoining us in really good to hear your thoughts there. the headlines on bbc news... the number of people that have lost their lives to coronavirus in the uk now stands at 4,313 — a rise of 708 in just 2a hours. it comes as spain reports another 809 deaths to the virus — but it is the lowest figure for a week in the country — and the second day in a row that the daily death toll has fallen.... and with good weather expected both here in the uk and europe police are urging people to stick

to the strict lockdown restrictions some doctors in the uk say they are hearing a growing number of myths about coronavirus from their patients — including that the virus cannot be spread by food or that drinking alcohol can protect you from catching it. let's speak to a gp who wants to dispel some of those rumours. dr anshu bhagat runs two nhs gp practices in north london and is also clinical director of gdpq, a service that provides video appointments with nhs doctors. doctor, we are very grateful for your time doctor, we are very grateful for yourtime and doctor, we are very grateful for your time and for attempting to bust some of these mists for us. so let's start with the one people are most contagious before they even know they have the virus. is that true or

false? i would say that's on true. i think most contagious is the bit that we need to reflect on here, i think certainly people are going to be most contagious when they actually have symptoms and just the nature that the this spreads is the droplets and certainly once people become symptomatic and start coughing that is how we start to spread it. i suppose we don't get to the point of can one be contagious without having any symptoms and the answer is yes, so we do need to continue our hygienic standards of making sure we are washing our hands very regularly. thank you 0k, making sure we are washing our hands very regularly. thank you ok, with many of us staying at home and having more things delivered to our homes, so if delivery drivers wear gloves, is it true that they won't spread the virus? again, i think very much on true, i think the delivery drivers wearing gloves if anything will probably protect themselves but we don't know what they're doing with those gloves to

be flare and when they —— to be fair and obviously we are all receiving many more parcels and things coming into our homes and it is important that we treat those as foreign objects for now, and as hard as we all try to self—isolate and to keep our homes from being virus three, things coming into the home can certainly carry that, so some of the early bits of advice i would suggest it is either use gloves to handle those items or, you know, you can leave those items for 24 hours and eventually the virus will decay on those surfaces as well. 0k, eventually the virus will decay on those surfaces as well. ok, so you are warning us about things coming into the home, does that include food, candy virus beef spread on food? absolutely, it can and it can sit on any surface. so over time depending on what surface and the temperature and source of environmental factors the virus will decay over time. doctor, i wanted to

ask about alcohol —based hand sanitiser, i don't know about you but my hand is a very rough and red and raw at the time from the hand washing, if i was to use alcohol sanitiser, i say 60% alcohol, is that as good as my hands with soap and water? i wouldn't say is good and water? i wouldn't say is good andl and water? i wouldn't say is good and i think we cannot replace washing our hands anything going back to your point about having very dry handsl back to your point about having very dry hands i think we are all feeling that at the moment because it is really important that we get the message out that regular hand washing continues with soap and water for at least 20 minutes it is not a quick rinse under the tap, i am aware there are some songs that people are singing now to recant their way into these hundred washing techniques. and gel, yes, they do need to have a minimum layer of alcohol to break down the fat layer on the virus, but not a small amount

but we do need to get that on our hands so we can get enough to apply that over both services so the back of the hands and between the fingers especially, so definitely the minimum alcohol content of these gels needs to be 60%. minimum alcohol content of these gels needs to be 6096. 0k, minimum alcohol content of these gels needs to be 6096. ok, i know we have got to leave it there but i know if we had more time with you would have also told us that drinking alcohol is not going to stop us getting the virus so thanks for that. i am afraid not. thank you very much, goodbye. millions of americans have been told they should now wear a face mask in public, following new medical guidance on coronavirus. however, president trump says he will not be wearing one himself, and we should be clear that here in the uk, the advice remains that people do not need to wear one. the us now has nearly a quarter—of—a—million confirmed cases. somehow, sitting in the oval office behind that beautiful resolute desk,

the great resolute desk, i think wearing a face mask as i greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, i don't know, somehow i don't see it for myself. the new labour leader in the uk, sir keir starmer, has said he will "engage constructively" with the government during the coronavirus pandemic. he won the party's leadership contest with 56 per cent of the vote —— defeating rebecca long—bailey and lisa nandy. here's our political correspondent, helen catt. sir keir starmer had been widely expected to win this contest, but few could have predicted the circumstances in which he would become labour's new leader. in a sign of the extraordinary times, his victory was announced by e—mail, his speech a prerecorded video. his first challenge, how to lead the opposition when party politics is pretty much set aside. -- his —— his victory was announced by tweet. under my leadership we will engage constructively with the government. not opposition for opposition's

sake, not scoring party political points, or making impossible demands. but with the courage to support where that is the right thing to do. but we will test the arguments that are put forward. we will shine a torch on critical issues, and where we see mistakes, orfaltering government, or things not happening as quickly ahas they should, we will challenge that. but as party lead he will face plenty of challenges. but as party leader he will face plenty of challenges. labour is still dealing with the fall out of its worst election result for decades. of course the task is huge, but that is why so much was vested in this election contest, and i am so pleased that keir starmer has now got the huge mandate of labour members across the country. tensions over anti—semitism have dogged the party in recent years. for many members, how keir starmer deals with that issue will be a key test. on behalf of the labour party, i am sorry. and i will tear out this poison by its roots,

and judge success by the return of ourjewish members. keir starmer‘s background as a human rights lawyer is well—known. he famously defended environmental activists against fast food chain mcdonalds. later was director of public prosecutions, but to many his politics are less well—known. he has pledged to keep some of the labour's recent policies on issues like public ownership and fighting austerity, but says it is vital labour speaks for the whole country. where that requires change, we will change. us to rethink, we will rethink. our mission has to be restore trust in our party as a force for good. keir starmer will have little time to settle in though. within hours of his election he had agreed to meet borisjohnson to work constructively together on tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

it is time to say goodbye now to our views on bbc world. you are watching bbc news. good afternoon. it is likely to remain warm, dry and fairly sunny for the rest of the afternoon. we will see cloud approaching from the west as we go through tomorrow as well but i think most notable ahead of this is the southerly winds drawn up of this is the southerly winds drawn up from africa and we will see temperatures well above where they should be for the rest of the year, even where we keep the rain in the north they are above where they were yesterday by two or three degrees andi yesterday by two or three degrees and i think we will notice that as well with increasing amounts of sunshine as i say. then as we go

through the night time period we will bring that dry air, strengthening winds, pushing the brain away towards the north and although we will have clear skies for many, actually because of the win we will largely escape a frost that would just about hold at temperatures above freezing and prevent many pockets of distant fog that are around particularly in southern areas this morning. they can't be ruled out entirely but if things turn hazy through the morning with the inviolable of some rain through the morning onwards, a strengthening wind notable i think tomorrow,. —— arrival as the rain. temperatures will be up to thaw degrees on today, well above average but also with high levels of pollen, it is tree pollen if you suffer at this time of year and england and wales is predicted to be high across the board tomorrow. through tomorrow

night is whether front pushes its way eastwards. it could be quite wet for the morning here, for the start of the afternoon, and even once it clears it freshens up and we had the showers following along behind so temperatures will fall away into the rest of the afternoon. then we are into the westerly atlantic flow for the next few days into the high pressure builds back but most of the showers and rain will be in the far north and west, that high pressure builds as i say as the winds goes on and temperatures rise once more. there is more on the website.

hello, this is bbc news. i'm kate silverton. . in the uk now stands at 4,313 — a rise of 708 in just 24 hours.