think they've all want to come to remember and look forward to the future. lovely to see. thanks very much. thank you. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. cloudy skies for much of the country for today. quite warm and muggy air, but there is a lot of cloud, bit of rain and drizzle here and there. later this evening and overnight, the winds start to strengthen, sweeping rain across northern ireland, some wet weather to come in scotland, some patchy rain easing down into england and wales. here it could be even warmer than last night. coolerfor could be even warmer than last night. cooler for scotland and northern ireland. what is left of any rain across england and wales is on the weather front, but behind it the areas cooler and fresher and we get sunshine and showers. some heavy showers blown into scotland and northern ireland, some over the irish sea into england and wales.

in the sunny skies and the south—east, 22 or 23 degrees. that will be tempered by the strength of the wind, particularly when the around the pennines. goodbye. hello this is bbc news. the headlines. a major easing of the coronavirus lockdown comes into effect in england — with pubs, restaurants, hotels, and cinemas all able to re—open. some hairdressers in england have been open since midnight — businesses will need to have new rules and procedures in place. a local lockdown comes into force in the city of leicester — hospitality businesses aren't allowed to open — and social gatherings and overnight stays are banned. spain's catalonia region reintroduces some local restrictions for an area of more than hundred thousand people — after a spike in coronavirus infections. now on bbc news, live sport

is returning to our screens though the pandemic is farfrom over. how has this happened? patrick gearey has spoken to those at the centre of what's been called ‘project restart.‘ for 100 days, sport was frozen. this was an earlier thaw than some thought possible. the day the english premier league returned, 1115 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the uk. so, how had sport re—emerged amid a pandemic? what are the risks and in the strange echoey bubble sport now sits in, what on earth comes next? london, on the morning of monday the 9th of march. headlines are dominated by talk of supermarket rationing and the coming pandemic.

but the culture secretary is being asked if sport can go on much longer. at this stage, we are not in the territory of cancelling or postponing events and i don't expect that to be the case after today. those words aged within the week. the cheltenham festival, liverpool versus atletico madrid would be the final scenes of sport as we knew it. tonight's premier league game between manchester city and arsenal has been called off... arsenal have just confirmed that head coach, mikael arteta, has tested positive for covid—19. chelsea reveal tonight their squad is self isolating after a player tested positive for the virus. i had a virus for the past couple of days... all english and scottish football matches are suspended because of the impact of coronavirus. the masters is off, as is england's cricket tour... formula 1 season is

set to be suspended. the london marathon marathon is the latest thing to go. the final round of the six nations fixtures are a complete write—off. as you have seen over the past 48 hours or so, in effect, is the collapse of the global sporting calendar. the dominoes fall, the tour de france pushed back. wimbledon cancelled. the men's european football championship delayed by a year and biggest of all, the 2020 tokyo olympic and paralympic games postponed until 2021. the chaotic way sport left the stage gave few clues as to its return, but after weeks of lockdown, the first socially distanced steps back were on the wide open spaces of golf courses. recreational golf, as well as angling and singles tennis were permitted as part of the first loosening

of restrictions. a more ambitious path was being plotted by those in power. it was known as project restart. a series of talks aimed at getting professional sport under way, despite the still present pandemic. on the 30th of may, there was a big announcement. today really is a significant milestone. we won't be sitting in the stands for a while and things will be very different to what we're used to, but live sport will be back on oui’ screens next week. the british sporting recovery has begun. horse racing in england was among the first out of the stalls, here experience of controlling equine disease was useful. and, though the stands remained empty, the sport could resume. we put a good system in place, obviously we have markers on the floor. we are riding with masks. as you know, it is not a contact sport, so we are very much within the guidelines and of course we will be in a fresh open—air.

the system has been tried, australia, america, and well before us and there are no problems. so i am very positive that we can do our sport safely. in the more claustrophobic world of contact sport, things are trickier. so, what do we know about the risks? well, scientists agree there is less of a risk of catching coronavirus outdoors, compared with indoors. you are at highest risk when you are within two metres of an infected person for 15 minutes or more. and, the disease is thought to be mainly spread by droplets from coughing or sneezing. but the virus was so new, that much remains unknown and there is little agreement on whether or not it can be spread by the aerosol we exhale when we breathe. this model from a company that makes engineering simulations shows how running behind someone could be risky. that is pretty much unavoidable in many sports. there have been cases associated, for example, it is not a sport,

but somewhere where people are forced to breathe and that is in singing, in choirs. we know that there have been cases where it looked like the actual act of being in a choir and singing quite loudly helps the virus spread, so i think anything which increases the amount of droplets that you potentially produce as you breathe will increase the risk of the virus transmitting, so i think top, elite athletes, running around a football pitch for 90 minutes a reasonable is amount, if one of them is infected, that they could be breathing out reasonable amounts of virus. there are also concerns about set pieces where players come together, as well as inadvertent spitting and tackles. communal areas like changing rooms and tunnels could pose problems, especially when the official advice in the uk suggests that coronavirus infection levels may still be high. professor peter openshaw is on the government's sage advisory committee. the degree to which social distancing can be maintained obviously varies a lot from sport sport.

direct contact sports are in a different class. i cannot see how that can be done in safety, except with a lot of monitoring, a lot of continuous testing and isolation if anyone is found to be infected. but it really is very very different from sport as we know it. this strange and expensive new world was not one all could enter. in scotland, the football season was curtailed, not universally popular and nor the decision to end the seasons in most women's sports. the early finish of the women's super league handed the trophy to chelsea, the expense of the still chasing manchester city. amid the frustration, the chance perhaps to take stock. for me personally it was a tough one. i like to see football as football, not men and women's football, so it would be nice to carry on, but i also understand that women's football hasn't got the funding that the men have got and we aren't supported as well as that. i think this has given us a time

now to ensure that we have everything, we have a restructure, will make sure women sports is better coming out of the pandemic then it was going into and especially football. there was so much uncertainty before the pandemic. elsewhere, team sport was restarted. germany, which had suffered less from coronavirus than many other european countries, allowed the bundesliga to return mid—may. the stands empty, the players regularly tested, football and in particular the english premier league, had a template. it was a confidence building prove a point that the germans can get there. they can put their league back on the pitch and back on television, we are interested to see it. they have been through all of the steps that we are going through currently. they have dealt with all of the issues we've been going through. they have managed to convince themselves that it is right to go back, it is safe to go back. and so from that perspective, we can learn from them. the premier league's

approach was shadowed by the second—tier championship. it meant bringing things together gradually. players went from exercising on their own to small groups, to contact training and eventually backed action. their lives now involve daily temperature checking and twice—weekly coronavirus testing. initially, not everyone was keen. watford's troy deeney and and chelsea's n'golo kante were among those who stayed away from training, but they came back. and the relatively low number of positive cases added to the momentum. still, british coronavirus infection rates remain higher than most of europe, and there is a lag between taking the test and getting the results, which might give the virus a window of opportunity. i think speaking as a scientist, it seems to me very risky indeed. it's possible that by having a lot of testing, that the risks could have been minimised, but that involves a lot of social disruption to the lives of those involved in sports and also

makes future fixtures uncertain because we can never anticipate when somebody is going to test positive and then the whole team potentially would have to be locked down. if there were a situation where multiple players and multiple clubs contracted, we would have to take stock of that situation. but, what we're to create is a very safe system where that is very unlikely to occur. even before the first game, three arsenal players were unable to train after one returned positive. prove, perhaps, both of the system working and its potential for disruption. but, by mid june, the premier league could celebrate a goal which had been unabated. we are back. football in england re—emerge, one team at a time, through tunnels, from car parks into cavernous empty stadiums. every game on tv, 33 of them free to air. passion measured in pixels. fans there in spirit, sometimes in outline,

but never in person. this was, for many people, wonderful relief, the long—awaited reward and at the same time, slightly hollow. we miss the people. it's not the same. it's nice because it's football but... it was very strange. something i properly won't get used to enjoy. you need the fans. but we understand why we're doing at the moment. it's a lot harder to play without fan then it is with fans. a lot of us thrive off the fans, especially our fans are so good for us. it's difficult. liverpool fans could accept difficult. they had waited 30 years, including the past few agonising months. now, the title was finally there is. the celebrations for supporters and players are mostly held privately, separately. but some spilled onto the streets. partying, trumping social distancing, at these times spontaneous collective joy cannot be part of the plan.

0n the other side of the world, another planet altogether. these are fans in new zealand getting ready to watch rugby together, in a stadium. the reward for purging the virus from their shores. these islands of normality with the exception. back in the uk, rugby remained a distance away. this is a sport where, if you are avoiding close contact, you are probably not doing it right. so, we decided to find out how much risk that is. we chose to look at the scrum. one of sport's most claustrophobic scenarios and got experts and buildings in relations to build as a scrum and have a player in its cough. the results were surprising. i was convinced that this guy would be contaminating everyone. i was wrong. the results show, as expected, that when these people are in the scrum, all the droplets that he can exhale will fall on the ground. we even consider this kind of lateral wind, and whether this win would be

blowing the droplets onto the faces of other people, but we see that the droplets would be moved further away. this is a model based on physics and not made by experts and viruses, but it shows that potentially disease carrying droplets missing the faces of the other players in the scrum. it models a back role player coughing, but some thought to be similar for second coughing, but some thought to be similarfor second rows. front row players may face a higher risk but the breeze blowing through the middle of the scrum may mitigate that. if you spoke to the general public what they will think about a high risk game, they would say the scrum, because of the proximity. because of the contact involved. and thatis because of the contact involved. and that is why the modelling is very interesting, they are in the same headspace, but they have almost move beyond each other and are breathing ina beyond each other and are breathing in a different direction. that kind of modelling is adding a really,

really interesting perspective to how we look at this and does in fact coincide with some of the thinking that we had already. the highest risk scenario models was when the scrum—half placing the ball in coughs. the risk is higher the longer that takes. we show the results to england scrum—half. longer that takes. we show the results to england scrum-half. to see the visuals of what a scrum half coughing can do to the whole scrum is quite scary really. i think maybe, obviously everybody would be tested before we start playing but, definitely was a shock to see that we are more at risk than somebody who is right in the middle of it. the research points to that if a situation where two players heads are facing each other are riskiest. this tallies with robbie's own findings. unlike many other sports, they are suggesting altering the way they are suggesting altering the way the game is played during the fan or pandemic, by offering possible law changes. they want fewer scrums,

reducing the amount of time both packs facing each other at close quarters waiting to engage. they also want to encourage players to tackle lower, alongside the usual regular testing and symptom checking. we have been focusing our attention on means of cutting out the introduction of an affected person to the group. we are also looking at, if there is someone who is infected does enter, how can we make it safer? as we looked at that, the scenarios we gave were, the are not only in contact but face—to—face. the real risk of the disease is the risk it's in the population. any measures that we put in will actually make their group of players safer than they would be if, for example, they went to have a coffee. measures are optional and most likely to be used as a recreational level initially. they haven't been taken up by the elite leagues in britain and ireland at the moment. with rugby league considering its own law changes, including abolishing scrums and reducing contact time, perhaps there

is momentum for change. cricket is of courses played at a more respectful distance, but the winter covers haven't come off when the sport was suspended. financially crucial summer of test matches was in the balance. the main problem we have a cricket is that it is a five—day game, with a lot of setting up five—day game, with a lot of setting up and people living on site, being away from home. so, to work back from that, we essentially had to secure the well—being of players and staff and ensure that virus couldn't on site. the england and wales cricket board solution was to build fortresses, to seal off the ground with three tests against the west indies would be played and place the players in their own protected world. this was secure cricket. the first job, world. this was secure cricket. the firstjob, persuading the visiting west indies team it would be safe. they were flown in by a chartered jet and spirited into emirates 0ld trafford in manchester. this would become their home. their real home, the caribbean, had seen relatively low levels of coronavirus. so this

was some sacrifice. put yourself in the position of a health care worker oi’ someone the position of a health care worker or someone who has worked in the front lines during this pandemic. they have not had the opportunity to sit back at home, they've had to deal with it full on. we are fortu nate deal with it full on. we are fortunate that we haven't been in opposition but, having said that, at some point, we have to make an effort to get back to some kind of normality. a lot of people are crying out for cricket and it's not the case that we want to be the guinea pigs. so how do you make the cricket round bicycle? you need a venue cricket round bicycle? you need a venue with lots of space in separate buildings. the perimeter is then sealed. everyone in sight has to pass a coronavirus test within the past five days. hotels on site are essential. each team will stay on separate floors. they will form an inner zone with access to the pitch and key areas. 0thers, inner zone with access to the pitch and key areas. others, including media, ground staff and contractors, will be on the outer zone. they will be based on other parts of the ground. they would be able to share

lift or walk ways with the players and they will be strictly controlled routes around the ground. and they will be strictly controlled routes around the groundm and they will be strictly controlled routes around the ground. it felt a bit like a movie. where everything was like a sci—fi movie, i guess. there was people with masks on everywhere and ppe. we obviously had to be checked in a temperature tent and we come in and spray our down on everything and everything is so claim. 0bviously, everything and everything is so claim. obviously, the organisers have done a greatjob in marking the plans, the left, not even keys. having constant access to hand gels and hand sanitiser is on things, so they have done a greatjob. and hand sanitiser is on things, so they have done a great job. weavers are effectively created a situation where everyone on that site was tested, everybody has a temperature check and check of symptoms. so the chance of someone being positive on the site is reduced as far as we

can go. so we think it is safer than going to sainsbury's or other supermarket brands. this all comes ata supermarket brands. this all comes at a cost. the two venues chosen, the gs bono southampton and emirates 0ld the gs bono southampton and emirates old were being asked to host a strange upside down summer. like if these matches don't happen behind closed doors, you losejobs across cricket. so the normal rules about what you wouldn't spend on staging a test match out of the window because this comes about saving the game in the industry as a whole. the bill will be beyond most, but what if you strip cricket back to its essence? the village green, the local rep. tom hope that the listing of restrictions in the uk will allow play to resume, but for now it seems that even though the pubs will open, the innings won't. in cricket, everybody understands that the ball isa everybody understands that the ball is a natural vector of the disease

and potentially at any rate, we have been rounded many times with our scientific friends. at the moment, we're still on ways to make cricket more covid—19 to go. we're still on ways to make cricket more covid-19 to go. the crickets medical expert is agrees. he thinks clu b medical expert is agrees. he thinks club cricket can't resume with ball hygiene measures in place.“ club cricket can't resume with ball hygiene measures in place. if you play cricket as a recreational event, where you turn up, you are already changed, no dressing room, outdoor seating. it's a really safe sport and so we are trying to push the domestic and recreational game back as quickly as we can with all the parameters that need to go into place. if this test summit successful, we might see bio—security exported to other big events in tennis, golf and formula 1. events in tennis, golf and formula i. but events in tennis, golf and formula 1. but can it work of the open the doors? we spoke to one expert who thinks it is possible to have bio—security with fans in the stands. but going to the match will bea stands. but going to the match will be a different experience. stands. but going to the match will be a different experiencelj stands. but going to the match will be a different experience. i think it is manageable behind closed doors for most sports. the challenge

comes when you are going to get thousands of people, were missed out to open up of people, were missed out to open up to audiences, you will see a huge amount of cashless transactions, you will only be able to use... i think grab and go food. you might be requested to turn up at the venue in a time slot. so there is not too much loitering around. but, what we have to be careful of is what the experiences, people want to go and see sport, they might be in a venue a lot longer than expected to be. see sport, they might be in a venue a lot longer than expected to hem all of this, there is a danger of going too far too fast. the world numberone going too far too fast. the world number one novak djokovic is the latest player to test positive for coronavirusjust latest player to test positive for coronavirus just days after hosting a numberof coronavirus just days after hosting a number of players at an exhibition event in croatia. djokovic had been playing in his own tournament. fellow players had been mixing off court as well. three of them tested positive and djokovic admitted it

was all too soon. so, what happens to athletes when they catch coronavirus? it usually takes a lot to stop rugby league player tom lynam. but he was hit hard by the disease in april. 0r lynam. but he was hit hard by the disease in april. or the first day, i couldn't do anything. emptying the dishwasher was too much of a daunting task. you just felt that rundown and then as the days go by commie start to feel better, but it's a good two weeks until, you know, you are anything near back to normal. i think i tried doing a little run in the second week of it, it was pointless. i couldn't get my breath. i couldn't run, effectively. you know what it's like when you're ill. every time your level of performance is reduced dramatically. but massive disadvantage if you get it. especially forget it badly, it could take five or six weeks to fully recover. tom says he is back to normal now and most athletes

won't suffer seriously from coronavirus. some don't even show symptoms. but we do know that sportspeople are more susceptible to respiratory infections. and, training hard perhaps to regain match fitness might actually harm the immune system compared to doing a normal amount of exercise. even a moderate bout of this virus could seriously disrupt training programmes. the recommendation is that you have at least attain days of rest. yet, in cases of moderate illness, if you have been bedbound or had to attend hospital, it may well be that it is two or three weeks of recommendation for you returning to exercise and when you do return, actually, it is a very graded and gradual response back into exercise, with close scrutiny of how that recovery is going. there is increasing evidence that coronavirus affects the body more extensively than first thought. scientists working with a charity on a cardiac risk in the young, have recommended additional heart screening of an athlete has suffered from the virus for more than a week

or been kept bedbound by it. and, the global trade union for sports and women once those at risk to have and women once those at risk to have a right to stay in the sidelines for now. they can't be obliged to work in an environment where there is a reasonable belief that it could be u nsafe reasonable belief that it could be unsafe and this is one of those environments. 0ne unsafe and this is one of those environments. one of the issues therefore that is being looked at in that context is that certain players should have the right to opt out of returning to play and to be entitled to do so without suffering any prejudice or disadvantage. for some, the decision to go back to action must be taken with particular care. david smith has cerebral palsy and has won world and paralympic titles. he was aiming for a third gold in tokyo but doesn't know when he can return to competition. been trying to be quite pragmatic about it. we have to be sensible and follow the

advice as best as possible, obviously you can't eliminate all risks and we don't really want to be stuck indoors the rest of our lives either. so there has to be a point to you kind of go, balance of probability, now is the time. again, i don't think we're there yet though. whatever the effort and innovation, so much for so many in sports depends on things outside most people because they might control. next year's party in tokyo sits over the horizon. depending on science and medicine are bouncing around the world. one scientist who advises the british government on this new virus is doubtful we will reach the start line in time. this new virus is doubtful we will reach the start line in timelj think it would be optimistic to think it would be optimistic to think that a vaccine is going to be available at that scale next summer. until a reasonable proportion of the population has been vaccinated, it is only at that time that we can anticipate that we would be able to return to these wonderful mass

events that we so enjoyed and took for granted for many years. the world health organization wants sport all over the planets to establish a common way of assessing risk. working with the organisers in tokyo, they are happy to measure and prepare. but less keen to predict. we are not in a position to forecast. it will depend on what is the start... and what are the solutions, therapeutic it will depend on how many athletes can travel from where and how it will be prepared for. much of sport has proven itself flexible, able to change rules, training routines and ways of life. whatever happens next might come down to that fundamental boating judgment. risk. this is a

reward. —— risk versus reward. hello there, cloudy skies for much of the country today. the best of the brightness continues to be across more sheltered, eastern parts of england and eastern scotland and perhaps into east wales. quite warm and muggy air mind you, a lot of cloud, bit of rain and drizzle here and there. later this evening, the winds start to strengthen, sweeping some rain across northern ireland, pretty wet weather to come in scotland, patchy rain easing down into england and wales. here, it could actually be even warmer than it was last night. a little bit cooler for scotland and northern ireland. what is left of any rain across england and wales is on that weather front there, but behind it, the air is cooler and fresher and we get sunshine and showers. a lot of showers, some of them heavy, blown

into scotland and northern ireland, some heading over the irish sea into england and wales. we have a sunny skies towards the south—east, temperatures may make 22 or even 23 degrees. that will be tempered by the strength of the winds, quite gusty winds for much of the country, particularly when the around the pennines.

this is bbc news the headlines at five. a major easing of the coronavirus lockdown comes into effect in england with restaurants, hotels, and cinemas all able to re—open. many pubs in england welcomed their first customers from early this morning for their first saturday opening in months. it's going to be a bit kind of touch and go figuring out how we are going to make everything as safe as possible, but i am pretty reassured by the systems we've got in place. some hairdressers in england have been open since midnight. businesses will have to have new rules and procedures in place. a local lockdown comes into force in leicester. hospitality businesses aren't allowed to open and social gatherings and overnight stays are banned. spain's catalonia region reintroduces some local restrictions for an area of more than 100,000 people after a spike