this is bbc news, the headlines at four: british tourists are set to be allowed to travel to european countries including spain, france and greece without having to quarantine on their return. the emotion is carried and the dail has agreed to nominate deputy michael martin for appointment by the president to be taoiseach. ireland swears in its new prime minister, micheal martin, as the country's two largest parties, fianna fail and fine gael, form a coalition for the first time. a man who stabbed six people at a hotel in glasgow yesterday warned others he planned to carry out the attack, the bbc understands. since he said that he wants to attack, i could not feel comfortable

until now. as texas and florida reimpose virus restrictions, the us infectious disease chief says the nation has a "serious problem" in its handling of covid—i9. india records its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases so far, surging to over half a million. the government is to ease restrictions on travel abroad which were introduced to help to control coronavirus. the advice to avoid all but essential travel is being relaxed from the sixth ofjuly. it's expected british holiday—makers will be able to head to popular destinations like spain, italy, france and greece without having to spend 14 days in quarantine when they return. details will be announced next week.

tom burridge reports. after a long lockdown, some people are desperate for a holiday abroad. we just want to get away from the familiarity of home — you know, being locked up together, as much as i love my family dearly! like others, john is relieved that he and his family won't have to quarantine once they travel back from their holiday in spain. the self—isolation would be a real barrier to going away because of the timing of our holiday. when we get back, we haven't got 14 days before our little ones need to go back to school. you know, they've missed out so much, we can't have them missing out on any more. a series of travel corridors are planned from july 6th. it will mean that people from low—risk countries, categorised as either green or orange, like france, spain, italy, germany, the netherlands, greece, turkey, norway and finland, will not have to self—isolate after they travel.

a final list will be confirmed next week. portugal and sweden are expected to be given a red rating because of concerns about infection rates. anyone travelling in from there and much of the rest of the world will still be subject to the quarantine rules. the republic of ireland has always been exempt. but the uk is behind most european countries. governments abroad are monitoring the prevalence of the virus here, too. the way things are now, we always have to put this asterisk that the health situation has to continue to be on the same track as it is now, that we can certainly lift the restrictions in the next few days or two to three weeks. we believe it can be safe to operate without the need for quarantine. for airlines, which have been battered by the pandemic, it's a move in the right direction. we really need to move quickly to establish some safe corridors, and we're not talking about throwing

it open to the entire world, but where it is safe to operate we fundamentally believe that we are also safe to operate and we need to do that quickly. we will now begin boarding by seat rows... with quarantine set to be removed for many destinations, travel companies hope more people will feel confident enough to book a holiday abroad. tom burridge, bbc news. and we'll be putting some of the travel questions you've been sending us to the travel editor of the sun newspaper and a spokesperson from abta in about ten minutes' time, so stay with us for that. let's take a look at the latest figures released showing the number of people who've died after testing positive for coronavirus in the uk. in the past 2a hours, a further 100 people in the uk have died following a positive test for covid—i9, according to the deparment of health. that takes the total number of uk deaths to 43,514. a new government is being formed

in ireland after two parties which have dominated politics for decades, fine gael and fianna fail agreed to enter a coalition with the green party. the leader of fianna fail, michael martin, is set to be formally elected taoiseach by members of the dail. our ireland correspondent chris page reports. after more than 30 years in politics, micheal martin has reached the pinnacle. he's taking over as prime minister as the result of an unprecedented coalition deal. the irish parliament is meeting in socially—distanced format, away from its usual venue, to install the new government. mr martin, who is the leader of fianna fail, was voted into the job by fine gael, which is the party of the outgoing taoiseach, leo varadkar. this is a historic occasion. i believe civil war politics ended a long time ago in our country, but today civil war politics ends in our parliament. two great parties, fianna fail and fine gael, coming together with another great party, the green party, to offer what this country needs. fianna fail and fine gael have dominated governments in dublin

for almost a century, but never before have they gone into coalition with each other. they grew out of the two sides in the irish civil war in the 1920s, and the historical rivalry between them has been fierce. broadly speaking, they are both parties of the political centre, though fine gael has tended to be slightly to the right of fianna fail. their combined electoral strength has dropped in the last decade. in another big change, sinn fein, which is in government in northern ireland, will now lead the opposition in dublin for the first time. micheal martin and his ministers will face challenges none of their predecessors had. as well as the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, there's also the trade negotiations between the eu and ireland's nearest neighbour, the uk. chris page, bbc news, dublin. an officer from police scotland, who was stabbed in glasgow yesterday, has been praised for his bravery. constable david whyte is in a stable condition in hospital. he was one of six men injured in yesterday's knife attack, in a hotel housing asylum seekers.

the suspect was hot dead by armed police. —— the suspect was shot dead by armed police. let's talk to our correspondent in glasgow, g ra ha m stewart. the police have yet to release any details of the attacker, but we do know he was a resident of the park hotel which was housing asylum seekers. another resident said that the attacker warned him. he described the attackers agitated and complaining about noise from adjoining rooms. let's hear what he had to say. he said they want to attack them, they are against me, they hate me. because, like, the hotel, you can hear the next room,

you can hear all the floor. he was saying, they are noisesjust you can hear all the floor. he was saying, they are noises just to disturb him. he was thinking like that. we said to him, no, everyone is trying to enjoy in the room. but he is saying that they are making noise to disturb him. we tried to tell him. every time he is setting along, he is not with us, he will stay high and then go to any place where no one is setting and he is sitting alone. —— it was a lot. we do not know why he is that —— like that, we try to talk to him and asking to come and sit with us. all of us were sitting on the stairs just to talk. those who do not have anyone to talk with. but really, since he said that he wanted attack, i could not feel comfortable until i'iow. i could not feel comfortable until now. well, the group which has a home office contracted to have as asylu m home office contracted to have as asylum seekers in glasgow said it was necessary to take them out of

their homes and into hotel accommodation because of the problems of securing lights during the global pandemic. they have also said that it was designed to keep them safe from covid—i9 dash securing lets. groups representing asylu m securing lets. groups representing asylum seekers and some local politicians, including the local mp here, have raised concerns about the conditions in which they were situated without access to support networks, and also adequate food, which is something the group denies. let me update you on the condition of the six people who are injured. pc david whyte, who was stabbed in the incident, is now any stable condition in hospital. he was critical, he is now stable. five other people were injured. three of them were asylum seekers staying in them were asylum seekers staying in the hope tale. two of them are hotel staff. we believe that they are all still in hospital but one of them is ata still in hospital but one of them is at a critical but stable condition. —— staying in the hotel. there had

been antiracism protests in glasgow in recent weeks and that has incorporated some of the concerns about asylum seekers here. police scotla nd about asylum seekers here. police scotland and ministers have employed the public not to gather in numbers in glasgow city centre and so far this weekend, that has indeed been heeded. thank you very much that update. the us has recorded an all—time daily high of 40,000 coronavirus infections, according to figures from johns hopkins university. the white house coronavirus task force warned young people that their behaviour posed a risk to older people who are more vulnerable. 866,000 people aged between 18 and 44 have coronavirus. that's 200,000 more than the next age range and four times more than those over 75, who are among the most vulnerable. two of the country's biggest states, texas and florida, have reimposed some lockdown restrictions, with the governor of texas ordering all bars to close.

our north america correspondent david willis reports. florida's decision to relax restrictions brought sun—worshippers flocking back to the beach. but just a few weeks later, the coronavirus has come surging back with a vengeance. nearly 9,000 new cases were reported in the sunshine state in the space ofjust 24 hours, a record. hospitals in some parts of the country now fear they could be overwhelmed, and it's no longer mainly elderly patients that they are dealing with. we are seeing more younger patients than older patients. the older patients tend to be sicker, so we are seeing more younger patients who are getting admitted to the hospital, and that's a trend that is new. call it quarantine fatigue. young people in some parts of the country, bored after weeks indoors, are starting to socialise. understandably, no blame there.

understandably. but the thing that you really need to realise is that when you do that, you are part of a process. so, if you get infected, you will infect someone else who clearly will infect someone else. we know that happens. closed again. in texas, another hotspot, bars that had onlyjust reopened are shutting their doors once more, and sending back their beer. the staggering spike in daily infections has put the white house on the defensive. the trump administration claims to have flattened the curve, but the vice president conceded that infections are on the rise in 16 states, and he seemed uneasy. as we see new cases rising, and we're tracking them very carefully, there may be a tendency among the american people to think that we are back to that place that we were two months ago. that we're in a time of great losses and great hardship

on the american people. the reality is we're in a much better place. medical experts are more cautious, however. they warn that, if the current outbreak isn't contained quickly, it could spread to states that are doing better, rendering the sacrifices of the last few months invalid. david willis, bbc news. india now has half a million cases of the outbreak and the rate of infection appears to be rising. yesterday more than 18,000 new cases were declared — the highest number so far. the western state of maharashtra is the worst—affected area. delhi has been hit hard too — with more than 77,000 cases in the city. india imposed a strict lockdown across the country in march but many of the restrictions were eased this month. more than 15,000 people are known to have died as a result of contracting covid—19.

(ani)india's prime minister narendra modi praised the results india's prime minister narendra modi praised the results of what he called the ‘people—driven fight‘ against coronavirus — and called for people to continue wearing masks and to maintain social distancing. from delhi, the bbc‘s zubair ahmed has this update. a lot of cases go unreported. even in the number of deaths that we talk about, you said 15,500, but there are doctors who have come out and said, that many patients who die of covid—19 are not being put on the death register is under covid—19 deaths. this pandemic, actually, has thoroughly exposed india's woefully inadequate health care system. it is ironic that india is the leading exporter of generic drugs as well exporter of generic drugs as well exporter of generic drugs as well exporter of doctors and nurses to many countries, including where you are in the uk. it has sent medicine to so many countries and medical help during the covid—19 spread, but

at home, it seems like indians are struggling to find beds in hospitals. nearly every day we hear studies of patients dying after they we re studies of patients dying after they were turned away by hospitals and —— stories. things are not well. during the first two months of the lockdown, the government had enough time to increase testing facilities and to ramp up beds here in icus, but not enough has been done. some work has been done, but not enough. the headlines on bbc news: british tourists are set to be allowed to travel to european countries including spain, france and greece without having to quarantine on their return. ireland swears in its new prime minister, micheal martin, as the country's two largest parties, fianna fail and fine gael, form a coalition for the first time. a man who stabbed six people at a hotel in glasgow yesterday warned others he planned to carry out the attack, the bbc understands

let's stay with our top story this hour — news that from the 6th ofjuly the government is to ease restrictions on travel abroad which were introduced to help to control coronavirus. well, you've been sending us your questions — and we can put them to the experts now in your questions answered. with me to answer your questions is lisa minot who's travel editor at the sun. and also with me is sean tipton from abta. anki are both very much indeed. i hope we can see you both. at some point. —— thank you. they are p°ppin9 point. —— thank you. they are p°pping up point. —— thank you. they are popping up on our screens any moment. i will start with lisa. we have a question from michael who says, great, you can fly accorded to spain and back, but what about those hours on the plane questioning how farapart hours on the plane questioning how

far apart well baby, one metre, two metres, on an aircraft built to do hundred and 50 people, how many will be allowed? there is no restriction on any number of people allowed in the paling. it is down to the airline to decide and most airlines have said that they will not be doing any kind of social distancing to start with. they do not expect loads to be that heavy. but they are basically saying that they think the measures they had put in place in terms of having had filtration filters on board the planes and the air flow filters on board the planes and the airflow going filters on board the planes and the air flow going through the pain being replaced every three to four minutes, everyone waiting in mass, they regard that as being, basically, the best that they can do to make it as safe as possible for the customers —— wearing a mask. sean, let me know to a question from morgan. is it conceivable that while the particle mainland might be excluded, there is still a chance that medina might be made an exception —— portugal. there is

still a chance that medina might be made an exception? that is possible. they will make an announcement sometime next week about what particular brand of safety countries will fall into. we will now definitely next week, but it is possible, but i would not like to commit to that. lisa, a question from market. with the lifting of quarantine restrictions looking imminent, bill bebe receptacle track and trace arrangement in place and cross—border cooperation in this regard? i definitely think that the government countries —— the countries that the government is planning on having these cottages with they will be cooperation between the governments. there is no point saying brits can go to a particular destination if they do not want to and are not willing to let british tourist in i'm sure all of those discussions will have been donein of those discussions will have been done in the process to then say, right, we both agree, this is what we are going to do. i think track and trace it will be very much part of it. even if you're not coming

back from a country and going into quarantine in the case of maybe we are thinking spain or france, it is still going to help everybody to say where they will be saying when they come back into the country so track and trace can be put in place. although of course without any apps you cannot know whether your in any restau ra nt you cannot know whether your in any restaurant or cafe with people you do not know. it will be much harder, isn't it? ok let us move on to shun. this is a question from marcus bailey. can you please confirm that my car insurance will remain valid within europe, even though the uk government is currently only advising against all but essential travel? well, as we have been discussing, next week we are going to see the government actually lifting restrictions and saying which countries we will be able to travel to and that will include changing the foreign office travel advice. as it stands, if you go to any destination where the foreign office is advising against travel, you invalidate your insured and

straightaway. that normally refers to insurance, but i do not see any reason why it should not apply to current trends as well, but fundamentally, if the foreign office is saying should not travel a destination, he should heed that are not go there, but those restrictions look like they're likely to be lifted very soon so i do not wait date of travel were talking, but if at that time the foreign office restriction has been lifted, and the quarantine requirement has also been lifted, then i do not think you need to worry, just go as normal instead of worrying about whether your insurance valid or not.|j of worrying about whether your insurance valid or not. i have no idea what the specifics are in this case, but if you are flying into spain you are allowed to, but if you drive to portugal, for example, is your car insurance are valid? that could be an issue. i think for travel insurance it would definitely be an issue because if you go to a country the foreign office are advising against travel, your insurance is valid. the current terms, a check with the insurance company directly, but i suspect the same. a question from rosemary. all

this about relaxing restrictions aboutair this about relaxing restrictions about air travel, does it also apply to independent travel by car and buy very? it will notjust be for airlines. we are already seeing the likes of brittany ferries coming up with their new schedules. they will not be putting on as many sailings as they normally would have done this time of year, but they are definitely lunching and we think around the 13th ofjuly. they will be coming back on—board fencing —— on board soon. the question from anna who says she booked flights for their villa in majorca —— menorca thenit their villa in majorca —— menorca then it closed down and they heard that they would not be accepting british holidays. we purchase insurance before that, would i be able to get a refund my? were similarly she is able to —— going to be travelling during the summer and it is likely the foreign office will

have lifted its travel restrictions to spain and the travel requirement will not be —— quarantine requirement will not be in place. and she would still be able to go. if she just doesn't want to go now, that would be up to the airline. if they are operating, they would not be underany they are operating, they would not be under any obligation to refund her money and the airline will take the same year view, it is called disinclination to travel. if you think about going of those restrictions have been lifted. on the question of insurance, if you plan to go somewhere and it is a sudden immediate closure because there is a lockdown, the foreign office advice has to change, does it, before your insurance will cover a change questioning the foreign office had made it very clear, the government, that they will keep you very close eye on this. if things do change. they will change the advice very quickly. it is slightly different, when the pandemic for satie, there was a mass exodus of travel insurance countries —— company saying they would not cover covid—19. more and more of them are

now coming back saying they will cover it. that is something to bear in mind, as well, if you're going that you should be able to find a policy fairly easily and that would not have been the case if you weeks ago. that is very interesting. lisa, ago. that is very interesting. lisa, a question from sean. i need to go to portugal, can i spy —— site a spanish airport and a drive across the border to avoid the uk quarantine. there is the case in point that there is nothing to stop you from doing that and it is going to be an issue for people. i think the only thing it comes down to is whether or not car hire companies are going to allow you to take cars across the border. whether they would even know whether it would invalidate any insurance that you have got on the skies. it is very difficult because the insurance is really crucial to holiday safely. —— on there vehicles. i am not seeing many policies that will cover for cancellation per coronavirus it tends to be cover for a cancellation per coronavirus it tends to be coverfor a medical problems because you catch coronavirus abroad. you're probably

covered for that, but very few for cancellations. that will mean it is going to dampen demand slightly, i think because there are people who will just not feel safe to travel. sean, ifi will just not feel safe to travel. sean, if i canjust pick on the insurance question, it is important for so many people. if you book with a company and we know that lots of travel companies are struggling financially, if they go bust, whilst you are there or there is a problem there, abta are supposed to pick up covering you, aren't they, as long as that firm is within the first night question it is. basically, to be fair, the largest financial protection scheme for all package holidays is atol and we run a similar scheme for non—packages holidays also if you booked a package holiday, if your travel operator goes out of business and your overseas, it has the job of either atol or abta to get your home. that is what we do. it is another question if you have booked independently, which a lot of people do. it is about a 50—50... and if

the airline failed it would be your next responsibility to get yourself home. it could be very expensive, some operate rescue fares, some not. if there are many looking for sites, you may end up in the country longer than you intended. if you want that belt and braces protection, book a package and i know there have been some surveys recently that people are looking more and more to taking package holidays because of those kinds of concerns. another one for you. my family lives in egypt, i have a ticket to go in the middle of july, what are my options questioning we do not know precisely what the government are going to say in terms of which countries you will be able to travel to. that announcement will be made sometime next week. we have been told, but not the exact dates. i do not know where egypt will come on that. there has been a lot of circulating about which countries you will be able to go to and which won't. we are trying to buy that at first like at the moment, but we do not want to commit

to anything because it turns out to be wrong. it will be a question of what the government are saying about travel to egypt. if they say it is 0k travel to egypt. if they say it is ok for you to fly there, you should be able to go. and a lisa, as a long—term worker and traveller, this person asks why countries in asia that have much less rates of cover 19 then you'll all european countries are not being included on the uk government's so—called green list of safe countries? well, very start we do not know that hong kong is not on that greenness, but the main problem with that is that right now hong kong does not want anybody who is not a hong kong resident coming into the country. and even hong kong residents will have to do a test at the airport and then self—isolate for 40 days when they go in. so it is very little point in our government saying you can fly to hong kong in hong kong will not let you in. this is where we started at the start of the pandemic with bird to shut down like that. we are going to shut down like that. we are going to see them reopen, that it will have to be a reciprocal arrangement.

—— birders are shut down. have to be a reciprocal arrangement. -- birders are shut down. sean, a question from julia, we urge due to miami via boston with a ba in august and currently there are not letting non—us citizens in and we cannot get entry visas. what happens if a va —— b says they're still fine because they have citizens to fly home? what is our rights because we cannot enter the country so we cannot lie question make there will be very few us citizens in the uk. i do not think it is very likely that there would be that many american citizens travelling back to the usa for starters, but we are talking about august. we do not know what the situation will be by them. hopefully america will have improved drastically. it is obviously not at the moment. as you say, donald trump has said that no europeans are allowed into the country at the moment. i'm pretty sure, worst case scenario, let's say that british airways was flying again, for whatever reason, but the foreign office advice was still not to travel to the usa, we were not allowed in by the americans, airlines have on the whole been

pretty good about being flexible. letting people rebook on to a later date if they appreciate that people are in the skate of difficulties, but i think really come out looking at august, it will depend on what the situation is like at the time. that is a fair few months away. absolutely. lisa, just asking in general, i do not know how much i've looked into the science of this, but how safe is it for people who are worried about that, for example to stay any hotel or villa or flat where there has been lots and lots of coming through. have you seen what the signs is unpicking a transmission from bedding or soft furnishings, for example? transmission from bedding or soft furnishings, for example ?|j transmission from bedding or soft furnishings, for example? i have not seen it but i don't know that across the entire industry there has been vast numbers of new protocols put in place, lots of different measures and companies are not going to put their guest at risk. it does not —— it is not worth it for them. i know that there are very enhance hygiene and sanitation schemes going on and hotels that cannot guarantee that, they are simply not opening up. the

likes of our biggest tour operator, tui, they will only go back to hotels abroad when they feel their customers can have the same experience that they have bought, they are not going to have such a different experience that it is not what they actually bought and paid for in the first place. so i think i can say with confidence that there isa can say with confidence that there is a lot of enhance measures in place and i think those will get increasingly more as we go forward just so that they can reassure their guests. sean, the same point on planes, lots of people wondering just how safe is it to get on board a flight now? well, the experts in this area have recommended that basically anyone getting on a plane has too face mask. they do have any efficient filters, as lisa will sing earlier. there will be social distancing at the airport. as you fly it, if distancing at the airport. as you fly it, if i fly distancing at the airport. as you fly it, if i fly out, as a contender ina few fly it, if i fly out, as a contender in a few weeks, it will be a very different experience at the airport, and that will be done following guidance from experts in this area. i think the issue will really be

there be some people, who clearly do not feel safe going and they will chose not to. there will be others like me who have been and now the industry have been pretty reassured by what is going on and cannot wait to get away. lisa, we have seen obviously people having lots of cheap deals, is the experience going to be quite stressful whenever you go? because of the hygiene restrictions? masks and distancing? how much can rely on other people to keep their distance beach? as long as you look after yourself and you make sure you are caring for others, you are washing your hands and wearing a mask, there is nothing to stop us going abroad and having pretty similar holidays to the ones we have had before. there will be differences in that social distancing and it will depend on where you are in europe, other countries have different ideas as to whether it should be one or two metres, but it's more than likely

you can have a decent