that is vague and imprecise. airlines say they've had "no clarity" from the uk government over plans to bring in a m day quarantine for passengers ariving into the uk. in germany, the infection rate rises again, just days after some lockdown restrictions were eased. president trump's handling of the pandemic is called a "chaotic disaster" by his predecessor, ba rack obama. let's bring you the latest figures we have heard from the number of deaths in the uk. there have been

1821.1,000,330 deaths in the uk. there have been 1821. 1,000,330 people have been tested, of which 219,183 tested positive. as of 5pm on the 9th of may of those tested positive for coronavirus across all settings, 31,855 have died. that is an increase of 269. those figures just released. we have more headlines at the top of the hour. now on bbc news, a sport focussed your questions answered — as sport attempts to return during the coronavirus crisis. welcome to a special programme, answering your questions

on the potential safe return of sport amid the coronavirus pandemic. with premier league clubs due to meet to discuss project restart on monday, we will assess the logistics of resuming, notjust football but all sports in britain. our correspondents are here to attempt to clarify the situation for you. we have our sports editor, dan roan, sports news reporter, laura scott, football reporter, simon stone and rugby union correspondent, chrisjones. a very warm welcome to you all. we will start with our first question for dan roan, it comes from jason. jason asks, if sports do start returning, are they going to test everyone involved before every match or race, and if so, it will the testing be paid for for by that sport? testing has emerged as probably the key medical protocol that's currently being worked through by public health and government officials

and the medical experts of the major professional sports before athletes can get back training, and then, in time, to full competition if government approval is granted. but it comes with some significant impacts. as you mentioned there, one is cost, who is actually going to meet the bill? these tests do not come cheap, they reckon they cost between £150—£180 for a privately conducted coronavirus test. make no mistake, for sports to get athletes back training and playing, they will have to foot the bill. this is not something that will be paid for by the government or by the taxpayer, clearly, that would not go down too well. what we understand is that the protocol is being worked on are going to insist on, for football for example, twice weekly tests. that could mean that for the premier league to complete the season, 92 matches left, given that all the players involved in all the different teams, that could be around 40,000 tests having to be conducted at a cost of around £30,000 a week perhaps. maybe that wouldn't be a problem

for premier league clubs, but certainly lower down the football league and in other sports that aren't quite as wealthy as premier league clubs, that could be a major issue. it seems clear that is one of the core fundamental medical protocols that will be insisted upon. the number of tests being conducted is clearly on the rise, i think sport feels increasingly confident this is something it can achieve without that bad pr, especially when you look elsewhere, in places like germany where they have already resumed training and hope to resume matches pretty quickly. the government with that 200,000 tests per day target by the end of the month. the next question comes from steve, who asks, if a restart is not safe now, it won't be safe in august to start a new season, so why not take time to safely finish this one, no rush? simon, i will give that one to you. i suppose the problem is that nobody knows what the situation is going to be like in august

and nobody knows what the situation is going to be like in september and october and november and beyond that either. so, it's easy and would be clean, i suppose, to say, stop all sports, stop football, don't think about playing until august. but then if you could have a situation where games, as is now almost certain, are going to be played in this month in germany and next month in other countries as well. if you have a situation where you could get games off injune and july and you do not do that and then you get to august and you find you cannot play because there is a second spike, then you have wasted your own time. i think that is why, fundamentally, leagues and clubs, organisations are looking at the earliest possible moment that they can get started because nobody really knows what is going to happen in the future. it is easy to say, we will start again in august.

but if nothing is happening in august, then you're in the same situation as now. of course, there's the worry of the second spike as well, which is what the bundesliga has been dealing with, especially with angela merkel mentioning it, and this is relevant to the next question. laura, this one is for you. it is from martin, he asks, will football players be given the option to resume matches or will they they feel pressured into playing by the respective clubs? what will happen when the first player or players refuse to participate? yes, this is a really key question. to be honest, we just don't know at the moment what they will do if they do get a number of players saying they don't want to play, or even, one player from a club saying they don't want to play. we do know that the consultation with the players will take place on monday with the premier league, probably next week with the efl, to try to ascertain how confident the players are in the medical

protocols that are put to them. of course, we have heard in the last few weeks of concerns of players about the risks that they will face, but also the risks that it poses to their families as well. it isn't outside the realms of possibility that there may be players with underlying health conditions that we don't know about, who might not be comfortable going back into these environments, even though there will be testing and safety precautions in place. that could be the deal—breaker here, if there are lots of players who at the end of the day say they do not want to play. but quite how that will be worked out and how many it will take for this all to fall down we really don't know yet, but we do know that the players are going to be consulted. of course, we have been speaking mainly about the premier league, the efl, but a viewer has sent us in a question on scottish football. that is for simon stone. hi, my name is danny, my question is, how can scottish football possibly continue without the support of the paying public?

we cannot survive without fans in the ground, itjust won't work, we urgently need government support — will this happen? that is a very interesting question. i suspect, in terms of lower league football, they are really looking at... i don't know, potentiallyjust shutting down in the same way that i would anticipate in leagues one and two in england have to do. ijust don't see how it would be viable for lower league teams in scotland to play football without fans because that is where most of their income comes from. i guess the issue is the scottish premier league. clearly you have some massive clubs there, celtic and rangers obviously, but hearts and aberdeen, dundee united, hibs — who get good support,

but others who don't get good support, how can they operate as professional clubs in a league that is aligned to uefa? there is an obligation on the top leagues to make next season work, to some extent, because there is uefa competition. obviously, rangers are still in this year's uefa competition. i think there's an interesting scenario developing there, it might notjust be in scotland, it might be in a number of countries. but whether there will be an obligation on the scottish government to help its senior football teams, at a time where many other businesses are feeling a real financial pain, i'm not sure. over the next few weeks and months, iwould imagine it's a question that will be asked. there will be an obligation, i guess, on the scottish premiership

to start the 2021 season. it's how financially able they are to do that, clearly, some clubs, celtic and rangers, have a big supporter base, others not so much. simon, i will let you ask nicola sturgeon that question about the finances. next up, one for dan from david, who asks, if the 2021 season is played behind closed doors, will there be more games on the bbc and itv channels, the free to view channels, or will sky and bt sport get everything? the first thing to say is that it will certainly be played behind closed doors, there is no doubt about that, everyone has made it very clear that if sport does resume, there will be no paying fans allowed inside the grounds or stadia at this time. i think that is going to continue for several months into the future depending on what happens with this pandemic and depending on what the government feels is appropriate in terms

of social distancing. when it comes to the matches, 47 in the premier league of the remaining 92 matches are contractually already assigned to the rights holders for live football, sky sports and bt of course. the other 45 that are outstanding, we know that the government wants them to as many of them to be made free to air as possible. for two reasons. one, the whole justification for getting premier league football and other sports back as soon as possible is because they have said that they think it will be a way of boosting morale after months in lockdown and lifting the spirits of the nation, that obviously would be undermined if only people who have bt and sky can watch these matches. the second reason is that we know the police, local authorities and government are concerned that, unless as many matches as possible are available to watch free to air, then it will encourage fans to gather outside stadia. putting them on free to air tv

is a way of deterring people doing that and breaching social distancing rules. neutral grounds are the other way in which they hope to prevent that happening. so we know that is their preference. the issue is, sky and bt have paid an awful lot of money for exclusivity for these 47 matches, and if all of the others are made available free to air, that dilutes that exclusivity and their product is perhaps not with as much. —— worth as much. it is really interesting to see what happens here, this is all up for discussion. i do know that the premier league are minded to have as many different times allocated for kick—offs as possible so that they can have as many matches live at different times of the day for people to enjoy and watch. i have had a few conversations today and suspect that they most likely route is that those outstanding matches that bt and sky are showing on the bbc and itv. i think it is more likely

they are shown through to air on sky and bt‘s youtube platforms, for example, or their website and app. we have seen bt do this with a champions league finalfor example. i do think they way that matches are broadcast is about to change significantly, assuming that they are given the go—ahead to begin again behind closed doors in the middle ofjune. let's bring in chrisjones for a question about rugby and most other sports as well. this is from kevin, he ask, how can sport return whilst players carry on spitting and rather disgustingly emptying the contents of their noses on the pitch? this ties into the way that we in society are adhering to strict social distancing guidelines, but then we are talking about bringing sports back. especially in contact sports,

the risk of transmission infection is so much higher than you would get in normal social distancing. it's a definite question that the governing bodies are looking to try and address. i have seen documents from world rugby talking about trying to reduce the amount of spitting, similarly in boxing. there are protocols around not having spent buckets of trying to reduce the amount of spirit, saliva and sweat. if you are asking these elite sports people reaching the peak of their capability, it is impossible to get them to not sweat or spit. sometimes it's a physical necessity, so it makes it really complicated. when it comes to something like rugby union, you bring in the physical contact of scrums etc, i don't think you could take any

risk in terms of people who have not been tested taking part in these sports because they will be such a high risk of transmission if you want the games to resume in their normal guise. i think the only solution has to be in terms of regular testing, making sure the players up against each other are not going to risk transmission. you certainly cannot eradicate that kind of risk of transmission when you are looking at the contact sports. i don't think you can tackle being socially distant, can you? then next question is from laura from david. my name is david from folkestone, i would like to know when we can start playing village cricket again and what rules we would need to have in place with regards to everyone touching the same ball? much like a lot of recreational sports, players and fans,

clearly this is a big issue and everyone will be doing everything they can to try and get village cricket back on. i know the ecb said to mps this week that they are very keen to try and help recreational cricket, junior cricket, get back on because it is a massive concern for them that people are not able to go down to the village cricket club. but that will be a question for the government when they review the lockdown restrictions. we expect the ecb to respond to that in terms of how they plan to phase the resumption of recreational spots in the same way as professional cricket. on the point of handling the ball, it follows on the question about saliva and sweat, because as you mention in cricket, using spit or saliva and sweat to shine the ball is such a key part of the sport that they are clearly going to have to do something to try and replicate this. we have heard there might be an option of using a wax instead

of sweat and saliva as a potential way, but clearly this will have to be accepted by the players and the authorities as a suitable temporary solution. clearly, using bodily fluids is going to have to be avoided. certainly an interestingly one that the sport is looking into at the moment. a couple of rugby union questions now for chrisjones. the first is — what is the likelihood of the premiership sees —— season being completed? that is what many fans are hoping for, for their season is to be completed. that is the million dollar question. there were some quite ambitious proclamations from premiership rugby a few months ago, sayign they wanted to be one of the first sports back on television. that is looking increasingly unlikely now because i think one of the union will have to take

lead from football. i know premiership rugby still has a desire to complete this current season, there are nine rounds of matches left. if they do that, it will have to take place behind closed doors, they are still aiming for a resumption in earlyjuly, only two months away. it is considered about 4—6 weeks minimum, it is not like football where maybe in two weeks an elite player to get ready for a match. in rugby union when you consider that the strains put on players in the scrums, it is more like six, maybe eight weeks they would need. rugby union has a dilemma, they cannot rush anything, they have to be really careful to heed the advice of the government and the authorities but they have also have to plan. they will not be able to get things up and running quickly, that is why they're putting measures in place. i think some players might return to training in the coming weeks in small groups. but i think they will be led by football, how the testing works with regards to the premier league,

because i think mass testing will be required. eliminating the risk of transmission in a contact sport looks practically impossible. the players, backroom staff, anyone involved in the production in the game for tv would have to get tests so it is an enormous operation, if there's ever been so many questions and problems. but rugby union are determined to try and get some rugby back on our tv screens but they do stress only when it is safe to do so. another one from jason that we have briefly touched on, he wants to know how the rfu will look to restarting grassroots rugby. will we be subject to uncontested scrums and how will they support grassroot clubs? in terms of the support, the rfu did announce a hardship fund. check out the rfu website to see if your club can get some help from the governing body. there are also some covid help

websites which have helped with the government side of things, maybe getting a grant for your rugby club, i know a few amateur clubs that have secured a grant to safeguard their future. in terms of resumption dates for the community game, nothing has been decided yet. the rfu will have to take the advice of the government. in terms of changing the whole complexion of the sport, i think that's an option for age groups. for kids, there may be a move to playing socially distant rugby. i know the ball is being passed for a player to player but you can't take tackling out, you can take scrums out and limit the risk of infecting each other. in terms of the leagues, professional and a semipro, i wouldn't have thought those measures will be taking. it really is a wait and see job, the premiership will go first because they are desperate for the income from television

and the rest of the community game will be guided by the rfu and by government. it is time for a few quickfire questions. feel free to answer these as quickly as possible. we start with simon. mohammed asks, if the season is not completed, how will champions league spots be filled? uefa have already said it has got to be based on this season, so either on points per game or on present positions where it has to be something that has happened this season. dan, what is the next stage of talks to bring back the premier league? these talks are ongoing on all the time. the next pivotal moment is on monday of next week, when there is a shareholders meeting involving all 20 clubs and the premier league bosses, when they will decide whether or not the clubs are prepared to accept natural stadiums,

that is the only way of resuming action by mid june. if seven or more clubs were to vote against that, that would effectively be the end of project restart. if rebel clubs do not amount to that many, we will carry on. ultimately, it does hinge on government approval but monday is the next big moment. adam asks, what is the likelihood of the rugby league ashes series going ahead in the autumn? very slim. when you look at the return to play the different levels, you'll start off with having games in the same region and border, then with the same continent, finally, cross hemisphere and transcontinental. that is still some way down the pecking order. i understand that both the super league and the nrl would be keen to focus on their domestic leagues for now and there might be the opportunity to play international rugby while they focus on catching up with some of their matches. i think with rugby league ashes, very slim chance that will go ahead this year.

the next question is from laura, coming from alison. my question is about tennis. how is lockdown going to affect the rankings, and therefore, eligibility to play in future events? rankings is a very messy subject. at the moment, the atp and the wta agreed to freeze the rankings where they are. that will clearly play into the hands of some players and not others. when tennis is able to be played again, those players who were fit and ready and in the ranking level to able to qualify for events like grand slams, which are obviously incredibly competitive, they will be at the front the queue. but the players like andy murray for example, injured and low down the rankings,

what this means for them will need to be worked out because the atp and wta will have to take into account that players have not been able to play games and improve their rankings, and also, they haven't been able to play games and defend the ranking points that they had from last year. whether those points will then get knocked off as soon as the tour starts again, they'll have to work that out. but at the moment, they are frozen and it seems like when tennis resumes, we'll go back to the ranking points at the point that those were frozen in march. it is going to be a little bit messy, isn't it? we have been talking about elite sports men and women and amateur sports men and women, but what about the people who can make sport, that is the fans? the next question is from graham, who says, sport relies on spectators as there is little point in playing it otherwise, so how will spectators be reintroduced into sport?

i think ultimately, it depends on which sport we are talking about. we have already heard sports like golf, which is played outside, where the risk of transmission is less than those sports played inside in tightly packed arenas, have a better chance of getting spectators back quicker than others. it is a huge fundamental question for all the sports, with profound ramifications for some of them in terms of their business model, which has always relied on the match going spectator. sport is going to have to adapt to this new future, where it cannot rely on the match going fan. it is going to be very tough sports but i think we will also see technology developed. we have been hearing about virtual reality and less sophisticated things, whether it has carboard cut outs of fans or putting music or fake fan noise into stadiums. i am reading a lot about virtual reality and how broadcasting may

have to change fundamentally to bring the tv viewer to the stadia and advanced their experience of these events. it will be fascinating to see how sports adapt if the ban on fans continues into the long term or until there is a vaccine. i hope we have addressed some of your queries and concerns about sport returning to britain. my thanks to all of our correspondents. socially distanced sport behind closed doors and at neutral venues perhaps is not the way we all wanted our season to end, but it may be the only solution to an unprecedented situation. let's hope it's a temporary one. stay safe and thanks for joining us, bye—bye. hello, there. our big weather cooldown is well under way. yesterday, we had temperatures as high as 25 celsius in the london area. summer—like heat.

today, we've seen some snow across northern scotland, with some winter—like cold. yes, it's been snowing in moray, in northern scotland, and further north than that, in shetland we've seen some of the snow settling onto the grassy hills here for a time. so, the weather has been turning progressively colder. the cold air being brought southwards by this cold front that continues, itself, to bring patches of rain across parts of england and wales. and that rain continues to edge a little bit further southwards as we head on into the evening time. the cold northerly winds follow. meanwhile, to our south, in france, we've got some extreme rainfall. now, across parts of the south west, 100 to 150 millimetres of rain, one to two months worth. meteo—france forecasters reckon that's the kind of rain you might expect to see once in 100 years. so, we could see some nasty flooding issues there. for us, well, for the rest of the night, it's the northerly winds that really do win out, bringing that colder air southwards. there will continue to be some wintry showers at times across the north and, as well as that, we are looking

at some frosty conditions settling in, particularly in the countryside in scotland and maybe in a few rural patches further south. tomorrow, well, yes, there will be some sunny spells. but also some scattered showers being brought in down the north sea and into coastal areas by those chilly winds. gusting again to 30 or a0 mph. it's going to be a cold day everywhere. temperatures not quite as low across the far north of scotland. 9 degrees or so in aberdeen, not a warm day. into tuesday, we have a weak weather front moving back in across northern scotland. and as this one moves in, it's going to be dragging in some colder air. again, we could see some of the showers or lenthgier the spells of rain turning to snow for a time, particularly across the high ground. but perhaps also to some lower levels for a time. colder again across the north of scotland. temperatures here around five or six celsius. further south, well, temperatures below par just about everywhere, 12—14 degrees.

for wednesday, high pressure to the west is beginning to send the winds coming in more off the north atlantic. so, it's not a warm direction, but it's not quite as cold as it has been at the same time. for the rest of the week, a fair amount of dry weather, with temperature slowly recovering, with some spells of sunshine around as well. that's your weather.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. borisjohnson says people should stay alert as he prepares to lay out his road map for lifting restrictions in england, but his government faces criticism — the message is confusing. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon eases restrictions in scotland slightly and says people can exercise more than once a day, but other rules will stay in place. it would be catastrophic for me to drop the stay at home message, which is why i am not prepared to do it. and i am particularly not prepared to do it in favour of a message that is vague and imprecise. it comes as a further 269 people