my lovely wife suggested sticking frozen peas on it. daisy! even stair climbers have sherpas, during what's also a sponsored effort byjohn to raise money to help people who use food banks. alexa, play move any mountain. yeah! john summited last night, to his waiting wife niri, daughter daisy and his neighbours. ending the kind of uplifting achievement he hopes will soon put everyone back on top of the world. thank you. duncan kennedy, bbc news. it's getting stranger and stranger. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. temperatures got up to 17 degrees today where we had the best of the sunshine. tomorrow, more of us will see the sunshine and it will be even warmer.

quite breezy and also some rain later in the day across the west. as we go through tonight, cloud that has been affecting the northern half of the uk today will tend to melt away to allow clearer skies overhead. despite that, not an especially cold night because the breeze will be picking up. this southerly wind quite a big feature of the weather tomorrow. parts of northern ireland in western scotland, there could be wind gusts of 50 mph or more. windy further east as well, but holding onto some sunshine and those temperatures in london up to 21 degrees. even further north seeing a high of 18. it does turn a bit cooler on monday as some rain clears through, but that won't last. it warms up again later in the week.

hello this is bbc news, the headlines: the government urges

people to stay at home, as the death toll from coronavirus in the uk rises by 700, including a five—year—old boy. and 13 residents of a care home in scotland are feared to have died after becoming infected with the virus. spain records its lowest number of deaths this week, as the government says the crisis might be reaching its peak there. new york, the epicentre of america's outbreak, suffers its worst day, as 630 deaths are recorded in the past 2a hours. and sir keir starmer becomes labour leader and promises to work with the government to tackle the coronavirus crisis. now on bbc news, annita mcveigh has more information and health advice on the coronavirus outbreak in this special programme.

hello and welcome to this bbc news special. i'm annita mcveigh. stay with us as we share the latest information, health advice and reports about the coronavirus. we'll show you exactly what scientists think of the virus covid—19 is and ask, how close are we to a vaccine? and a reminder that there's further advice and information about the pandemic on the bbc news website. but first, this coronavirus may be dominating headlines around the world and changing the lives of hundreds of millions of people, but what exactly do we know about covid—19, and how close are we to a vaccine? the bbc‘sjim reed reports. sars—cov—2 is the technical name for the virus that causes covid—19.

it's part of the coronavirus family, one of at least six that can affect humans. we're in the amazing position today where we can get the genetic code of a virus really quickly, and it turns out this particular virus is very closely related to bat and pangolin viruses. one of the theories is that it could have spread through one of those species to humans. the virus is made up ofjust 30 genes, compared with 20,000 for humans. it mutates or changes over time, allowing scientists to draw a family tree, showing where different strains have come from and how they have spread. because of the slight shift, slight mutations that the virus accumulates, we can actually track which one came from china versus which one came from the west coast, for instance, that are landing into new york and so on. so that is what the virologists are looking at right now, to track the virus.

the virus typically enters the human body through the nose or mouth. those spikes on the outside grab onto a protein called ace—2, which is common on cells in the throat and lungs. most covid—19 infections cause a fever, as our immune system fights to clear the virus from our body. essentially, viruses, when they're in that phase of infection, basically hijack the host cell, turn it into a virus—making factory, releasing new virus particles that are then free to infect other neighbouring cells within the same host or, of course, if they are exhaled or coughed or sneezed out, are then able to infect a new person. it's not unusual for a virus to cause different symptoms in different people. that could depend on age, genetics and the amount you are exposed to. so you always get this wide spectrum of responses to infections. and covid is no different, so we know that age is one of the key factors for whether you are more likely to suffer from severe disease.

this map shows how eight different strains of the virus are now circulating quickly across the world. that's partly because virtually no—one is immune. it may also be that a proportion of those infected show very mild symptoms but can still pass the virus onto others. so there are a few things that are going right for this virus to be very successful. one big one is the fact that there seems to be an incubation period between the time you become infected and you start shedding the virus to the time you feel very sick. so it is really impossible to catch those types of people, unless we implement massive screening for the virus. biotech and drug companies across the world are now working on vaccines and treatments. 0ne promising target is those spikes on the outside of the virus itself. i have got a colleague at university college london who is using the biggest

supercomputer in europe to search through old libraries of drugs which have already been tried and tested for other viruses and other infections, just to see if one of them has got the ability to interfere with the spikes on the coronavirus. in the longer term, there is the promise of a vaccine, which should be able to stop us getting the disease in the first place. but testing and manufacturing takes time. even if scientists are successful, it's unlikely to be rolled out widely until sometime next year. in china, where the virus originated, authorities there say they have now have got a grip on the outbreak. it's widely believed beijing is harnessing the power of its sophisticated surveillance state to track, monitor and control people to stop the spread of the disease. the use of mobile phone data has proven particularly effective and now, some of the techniques are being copied by a growing number of countries around the world, including singapore, south korea and iran. so how can surveillance state tools help in a pandemic and what are the potential pitfalls for privacy and freedom?

0ur cybersecurity reporter joe tidy explains. it all starts with this — a national id card. you need one to pretty much do anything in china. from buying a mobile phone to using any app, everything you do leaves a data trail linked back to your id. in areas in lockdown, phone location data is being used to monitor movement and enforce cu rfews. if a patient is meant to be in quarantine, geolocation pings on their phone can alert authorities if they stray out of their homes. phone location data is also being used to map exactly where that person visited in the two weeks before being diagnosed. a combination of human and automated computer analysis work out who they may have infected. if they went on a train and got too close to other commuters, a text message is sent out through one of the major apps, alerting those at risk.

every person is being assigned a coloured qr code, depending on the risk they pose. green — no risk. 0range — they have entered a potential virus hotspot. and red — if they've tested positive to the virus and could still be contagious. none of this cyber surveillance would be any good without the chinese state's strict enforcement teams, too. police and volunteers have literally manned the exits of apartment blocks to keep places on lockdown. but in countries where these data surveillance powers are being brought in to help deal with coronavirus, some people are worried about the long term. my name is adam schwartz, i am a senior lawyer at the electronic frontier foundation. there is a great concern that when government gets new powers in a crisis, government never gives those powers away, even when the crisis ends. so for example, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks,

the united states created vast new surveillance powers, and 19 years later, those powers are still very much in the hands of the us government. adam and others also have questions aboutjust how much of a difference this data surveillance can make — and if it's worth it. what we are basically saying to governments around the world is before you unveil or, you know, unleash a brand—new mass surveillance power, it's necessary for governments to come forward — and, really, public health professionals to come forward — and show that these technologies would actually address the crisis. striking the delicate balance between privacy and security is an age—old problem for governments and the public. but perhaps never in history has the dilemma been more pressing and more life—threatening. now, many of us are facing the challenges of dealing with coronavirus and also dealing with very different working conditions.

you'll have noticed the way you're receiving the news has become very different — not least that the programme you're watching now didn't exist two weeks ago. the bbc‘s media editor, amol rajan, has been looking at the challenges the news and media industry is facing. good evening. 0ur headlines for you this morning... britain's coronavirus crisis... coronavirus. .. in a crisis... coronavirus. it's horrible. pandemic. ..especially one in the information age... hand sanitiser. covid—19. ..trusted news becomes a precious commodity... social distancing. ..for which there is high demand. coronavirus. .. britain has a range of regulated public service broadcasters doing their best to produce world—class journalism. ratings for news programmes across all channels are soaring with many presenters broadcasting from home. published data showing that transport use across the country... but actually producing broadcast news is exceptionally hard in a global pandemic. i'm just going to script a line

about northern ireland there to put in at this point. innovation is the only solution. there is plenty of it about. recording. the nhs scheme only covers england and northern ireland... here, correspondentjudith moritz is at home in manchester, working on a bbc news piece with her cameraman and editor rob wood, who is nearly 30 miles away in derbyshire. the nhs scheme only covers england... news reports are the result of teamwork between correspondents, producers, camera operators and studio editors. oh, and children too, who can make their presence felt when correspondents work from home. what are your thoughts? keeping both staff and contributors safe is a priority. video interviews has become the norm of late. keeping two metres away from interviewees can be hard, but boom mics allow sound to be captured safely in high quality. good morning. it's seven o'clock. the headlines this morning... and it's notjust television. kitchens and front lounges have been converted into makeshift radio studios, like those of the today programme. here is the bbc‘s david sillito

using a duvet to improve sound quality. furnishings can absorb sound and reduce echo. to a much greater extent than is generally acknowledged, journalism is the product of a particular energy, camaraderie and culture from within a newsroom, like that of the bbc. it's hard to replicate that when, like these days, like these designated keyworkers, you are sat two metres apart. this place is usually densely packed but, like millions of others also facing logistical challenges, most editors and producers are now working from home. i'm working on a piece with david hockney... apps such as skype and zoom are therefore replacing face—to—face daily editorial meetings. jonty, what do you think about using that clip that we've already laid down? we can do that. broadcasting is always a technical adventure, but right now more than ever. amol rajan in central london, working with producer elizabeth in kent, and editorjonathan in north london, bbc news. that's it for now, but before we go,

we thought we'd share some of the striking images from the last week from around the world as the coronavirus continues to upend the lives of hundreds of millions of people. and a reminder you can keep up to date with all of the latest information on the lockdown in your area and your country on our website. thanks for watching. now on bbc news, mark kermode gives his unique take on the best and worst of the week's streaming and dvd releases.